That's why I hated Daggerfall. For all the open-endedness and dozens of differently named NPCs, it felt incredibly lifeless and lonely. There were essentially two NPCs in the game: the randomly generated walking signpost and the static quest bulletin board.
So you lose all your toes, and have your genitals fried off, because you *CAN'T* give them what they want. This is why torture is useless.
After all that, you *do* give them what they want... a confession and lots of information.
Sure, it's crap you made up in a delirium that'll waste hundreds of hours of valuable time that would be better spent going after actual criminals. But the White House parrots will claim this proves torture "works" anyways.
In addition to the "no ammendments" stipulation, debate is limited to 20 minutes for each side.
Slashdotters are constantly complaining that bills with major implications are given little to no debate and yet, here they are, complaining that a bill with *huge* implications wasn't passed with little to no debate.
The suspension resolutions are meant for bills renaming post offices and "We like puppies" declarations that no one really opposes, not legislation that has has huge ramifications for free speech.
Ask yourself... why are people so eager to rush this through the House *without debate* and without considering ammendments?
At work, we bought a couple of the cheaper models to use for recording interviews. (Planning to do some podcasting)
Very non-intuitive. Buttons aren't used in any kind of a consistant manner. It's a pain in the ass.
I know little things like "ease of use", "consistancy" and "documentation" don't matter to most of the OSS crowd here, but they do to everyone else. Things like this aren't just about $ per GB of space. The whole package matters and Apple currently does it best.
It amazes me that people here STILL DON'T GET IT. Yes, people will pay more for something that isn't ugly. Yes, people will pay more for something that's easy to use. Yes, people will pay more for something that's more compact.
It's hard to get people to take this seriously, but the idea of abolishing the IRS, income tax, capital gains and estate taxes, and implementing a National sales tax makes a lot of sense.
No it doesn't. The sales tax is *incredibly* regressive. And the % necessary to even begin to make up the difference would be insanely high.
The basic end result is that the poor and middle class get screwed out and the rich get a massive tax break. I won't even tough the myriad of other problems. Whether it's rampant opportunities for fraud(With no IRS, how will you make sure people pay the sales tax?) to the massive invasion of privacy necessary to enforce it (now, instead of tracking your income, the gov't tracks *all* your purchases), it's just a bad bad bad bad idea.
The first $80,000 or so you earn abroad is exempt and isn't subject to SSI or Medicare payroll taxes. And that's before you even touch the usual cornucopia of tax exemptions.
Why would the Autons, the Rift, the Slovenes, the gas creatures, and Rose's home all be in Cardiff? I'd never heard of this place before; the coincidence strains credulity.
The Autons in invaded *London* as did the Slithenes. Rose grew up in *London*. The gas creatures created the Rift which is why Margaret Slithene later went to Cardiff.
Not exactly the "coincidence" you're straining for.
One episode had the Doctor developing some kind of force field so the Tardis wouldn't get hit by Dalek missiles
Using the extrapolator they picked up in Boomtown. It was a neat piece of continuity.
(how can you get hit by a missile when your ship dematerializes to travel through both space AND time?).
Presumably, the Daleks had developed anti-TARDIS technology in order to be a threat against the Time Lords. And in any case, the ship was only travelling through space.
And when it came right down to it, the whole "Bad Wolf" plot thread was a huge letdown at the end and didn't really make any kind of sense at all.
Rose interpreted the Bad Wolf messages to mean she could still go back and save the Doctor. Once Bad Wolf Rose had the time vortex running through her head, she scattered references to Bad Wolf everywhere she had been so she would get the message. Thus, Bad Wolf Rose created herself. It's a predestination paradox.
It was intentionally a Deus Ex Machina type ending, but it wasn't without consequences. And hopefully there'll be more consequences for Rose in the 2nd series. It's too bad Faction Paradox isn't around or else they might have a new member...
And while we're on the subject, why does the 'empire' not simply go exterminate them?
To keep the populace in fear. Stick close to the Alliance and they'll protect you from the big bad Reavers who may strike at any moment. It's only those rebel outlying planets that get snatched after all. Sure, you'll have to give up a few freedoms in exchange but it's worth it right?
The first bit is that all the AI races know where the yellow stars are off the bat. Human players have to research a tech to get that info.
The other bit is resources but it goes both ways. At lower AI levels, the computer gets less resources every turn(like 40%, 60%,80%). At Normal it gets 100%. At the higher levels, it gets 120% and so on.
O'Reilly wonders how the flag could be inadvertently set through noise and invokes the programs listings being fine. Because the listings aren't derived from the signal, dumbass?
I'm guessing the flag is part of the same part of the signal that does closed captioning. CC gets corrupted pretty easily but no one extrapolates that into some nefarious conspiracy at NBC to mock the hearing impaired.
The problem really is that the expiration flag is in the signal and can be enabled with no error checking at Tivo home central. It really ought be part of the program listings data.
And frankly, I don't see what the fuss is about having Pay Per View expire. I don't get upset because I can't bring a camcorder into a movie theatre. Why should I get upset about that?
As for MythTV... I can buy a TiVO box and it works. MythTV does not. It's saddled with that same user-hostile interface design philosophy that plagues nearly all open source software.
Also in the US disaster preparedness and recovery are normally the venue of the States and localities. By tradition they are supposed to ask for aid.
They did, days before Katrina hit, Bush declared it a disaster, invoking the Stafford Act. At that point, the *National* Response Plan took effect and disaster management became federal responsibility, a "Incident of national Significance". That was 3 days *before* Katrina hit. A state of emergency was declared *before* Katrina hit. Martial law was declared shortly after. State and locals were asking for helping, the bush administration just wasn't listening.
The locals did well with what they had. New Orleans, a city of half a million people, was 80% evacuated in two days before Katrina hit, which is astounding and most of the those that were still there were given shelter from the storm.
Unfortunately, the cavalry from the feds didn't arrive in a timely fashion, despite repeated acknowledged requests for assistance.
the only "infactuality" I've seen reported in the movie is some video footage of an NRA rally shown as an example which was not filmed at the exact rally he was talking about.
It's not clear in the film but the clip in question(Heston's "my cold dead hands") is routinely shown on screens prior to Heston's speeches.
When you see me going in to the bank and walking out with my new gun in "Bowling for Columbine" - that is exactly as it happened. Nothing was done out of the ordinary other than to phone ahead and ask permission to let me bring a camera in to film me opening up my account. I walked into that bank in northern Michigan for the first time ever on that day in June 2001, and, with cameras rolling, gave the bank teller $1,000 - and opened up a 20-year CD account. After you see me filling out the required federal forms ("How do you spell Caucasian?") - which I am filling out here for the first time - the bank manager faxed it to the bank's main office for them to do the background check. The bank is a licensed federal arms dealer and thus can have guns on the premises and do the instant background checks (the ATF's Federal Firearms database--which includes all federally approved gun dealers--lists North Country Bank with Federal Firearms License #4-38-153-01-5C-39922).
Within 10 minutes, the "OK" came through from the firearms background check agency and, 5 minutes later, just as you see it in the film, they handed me a Weatherby Mark V Magnum rifle (If you'd like to see the outtakes, click here).
Apparently, Moore didn't "lie" often enough in BfC that his detractors didn't have to make shit up. Funny, really.
Slashdot Mirror
Xbox 360: Good, but not great
Right there in bold in big letters at the top of the article.
That's why I hated Daggerfall. For all the open-endedness and dozens of differently named NPCs, it felt incredibly lifeless and lonely. There were essentially two NPCs in the game: the randomly generated walking signpost and the static quest bulletin board.
So you lose all your toes, and have your genitals fried off, because you *CAN'T* give them what they want. This is why torture is useless.
After all that, you *do* give them what they want... a confession and lots of information.
Sure, it's crap you made up in a delirium that'll waste hundreds of hours of valuable time that would be better spent going after actual criminals. But the White House parrots will claim this proves torture "works" anyways.
In addition to the "no ammendments" stipulation, debate is limited to 20 minutes for each side.
Slashdotters are constantly complaining that bills with major implications are given little to no debate and yet, here they are, complaining that a bill with *huge* implications wasn't passed with little to no debate.
The suspension resolutions are meant for bills renaming post offices and "We like puppies" declarations that no one really opposes, not legislation that has has huge ramifications for free speech.
Ask yourself... why are people so eager to rush this through the House *without debate* and without considering ammendments?
At work, we bought a couple of the cheaper models to use for recording interviews. (Planning to do some podcasting)
Very non-intuitive. Buttons aren't used in any kind of a consistant manner. It's a pain in the ass.
I know little things like "ease of use", "consistancy" and "documentation" don't matter to most of the OSS crowd here, but they do to everyone else. Things like this aren't just about $ per GB of space. The whole package matters and Apple currently does it best.
It amazes me that people here STILL DON'T GET IT. Yes, people will pay more for something that isn't ugly. Yes, people will pay more for something that's easy to use. Yes, people will pay more for something that's more compact.
It's hard to get people to take this seriously, but the idea of abolishing the IRS, income tax, capital gains and estate taxes, and implementing a National sales tax makes a lot of sense.
No it doesn't. The sales tax is *incredibly* regressive. And the % necessary to even begin to make up the difference would be insanely high.
The basic end result is that the poor and middle class get screwed out and the rich get a massive tax break. I won't even tough the myriad of other problems. Whether it's rampant opportunities for fraud(With no IRS, how will you make sure people pay the sales tax?) to the massive invasion of privacy necessary to enforce it (now, instead of tracking your income, the gov't tracks *all* your purchases), it's just a bad bad bad bad idea.
The first $80,000 or so you earn abroad is exempt and isn't subject to SSI or Medicare payroll taxes. And that's before you even touch the usual cornucopia of tax exemptions.
Blizzard sucks because they didn't prevent cheating in Diablo 2!
Waaaah!
Blizzard sucks because they prevent cheating in World of Warcraft!
Waaaah!
Why would the Autons, the Rift, the Slovenes, the gas creatures, and Rose's home all be in Cardiff? I'd never heard of this place before; the coincidence strains credulity.
The Autons in invaded *London* as did the Slithenes. Rose grew up in *London*. The gas creatures created the Rift which is why Margaret Slithene later went to Cardiff.
Not exactly the "coincidence" you're straining for.
It airs without issue on a premium channel.
Queer As Folk
You realize that was originally a British series... and as it happens, created by Mr. Davies...
One episode had the Doctor developing some kind of force field so the Tardis wouldn't get hit by Dalek missiles
Using the extrapolator they picked up in Boomtown. It was a neat piece of continuity.
(how can you get hit by a missile when your ship dematerializes to travel through both space AND time?).
Presumably, the Daleks had developed anti-TARDIS technology in order to be a threat against the Time Lords. And in any case, the ship was only travelling through space.
And when it came right down to it, the whole "Bad Wolf" plot thread was a huge letdown at the end and didn't really make any kind of sense at all.
Rose interpreted the Bad Wolf messages to mean she could still go back and save the Doctor. Once Bad Wolf Rose had the time vortex running through her head, she scattered references to Bad Wolf everywhere she had been so she would get the message. Thus, Bad Wolf Rose created herself. It's a predestination paradox.
It was intentionally a Deus Ex Machina type ending, but it wasn't without consequences. And hopefully there'll be more consequences for Rose in the 2nd series. It's too bad Faction Paradox isn't around or else they might have a new member...
Sci-fi meets cowboy theme has already been stretched in 26 episodes (plus a movie) of Cowboy Bebop.
Firefly and Cowboy Bebop have a similar setting but have very different moods and themes.
Einstein fled Nazi Germany.
Not really the best example.
And while we're on the subject, why does the 'empire' not simply go exterminate them?
To keep the populace in fear. Stick close to the Alliance and they'll protect you from the big bad Reavers who may strike at any moment. It's only those rebel outlying planets that get snatched after all. Sure, you'll have to give up a few freedoms in exchange but it's worth it right?
This sounds familiar for some reason...
The first bit is that all the AI races know where the yellow stars are off the bat. Human players have to research a tech to get that info.
The other bit is resources but it goes both ways. At lower AI levels, the computer gets less resources every turn(like 40%, 60%,80%). At Normal it gets 100%. At the higher levels, it gets 120% and so on.
Otherwise, it plays fairly, IIRC.
All that still happens in the original Japanese.
Even though I already had a lifetime membership for it, I'm unable to transfer that to another brand new Tivo I was given free by my parents.
Sheesh. They're clear up-front that the lifetime membership isn't transferable to other machines. That's why I didn't go for it.
O'Reilly wonders how the flag could be inadvertently set through noise and invokes the programs listings being fine. Because the listings aren't derived from the signal, dumbass?
I'm guessing the flag is part of the same part of the signal that does closed captioning. CC gets corrupted pretty easily but no one extrapolates that into some nefarious conspiracy at NBC to mock the hearing impaired.
The problem really is that the expiration flag is in the signal and can be enabled with no error checking at Tivo home central. It really ought be part of the program listings data.
And frankly, I don't see what the fuss is about having Pay Per View expire. I don't get upset because I can't bring a camcorder into a movie theatre. Why should I get upset about that?
As for MythTV... I can buy a TiVO box and it works. MythTV does not. It's saddled with that same user-hostile interface design philosophy that plagues nearly all open source software.
Also in the US disaster preparedness and recovery are normally the venue of the States and localities. By tradition they are supposed to ask for aid.
They did, days before Katrina hit, Bush declared it a disaster, invoking the Stafford Act. At that point, the *National* Response Plan took effect and disaster management became federal responsibility, a "Incident of national Significance". That was 3 days *before* Katrina hit. A state of emergency was declared *before* Katrina hit. Martial law was declared shortly after. State and locals were asking for helping, the bush administration just wasn't listening.
The locals did well with what they had. New Orleans, a city of half a million people, was 80% evacuated in two days before Katrina hit, which is astounding and most of the those that were still there were given shelter from the storm.
Unfortunately, the cavalry from the feds didn't arrive in a timely fashion, despite repeated acknowledged requests for assistance.
"The Twenty" starts twenty minutes BEFORE the movie starts. When the movie time arrives, it's straight to movie previews, no ads.
As long as you're not stupid about it, you'll never get caught.
Browse at -1
the only "infactuality" I've seen reported in the movie is some video footage of an NRA rally shown as an example which was not filmed at the exact rally he was talking about.
It's not clear in the film but the clip in question(Heston's "my cold dead hands") is routinely shown on screens prior to Heston's speeches.
Well, there was the fact that the bank scene was staged.
How exactly?
When you see me going in to the bank and walking out with my new gun in "Bowling for Columbine" - that is exactly as it happened. Nothing was done out of the ordinary other than to phone ahead and ask permission to let me bring a camera in to film me opening up my account. I walked into that bank in northern Michigan for the first time ever on that day in June 2001, and, with cameras rolling, gave the bank teller $1,000 - and opened up a 20-year CD account. After you see me filling out the required federal forms ("How do you spell Caucasian?") - which I am filling out here for the first time - the bank manager faxed it to the bank's main office for them to do the background check. The bank is a licensed federal arms dealer and thus can have guns on the premises and do the instant background checks (the ATF's Federal Firearms database--which includes all federally approved gun dealers--lists North Country Bank with Federal Firearms License #4-38-153-01-5C-39922).
Within 10 minutes, the "OK" came through from the firearms background check agency and, 5 minutes later, just as you see it in the film, they handed me a Weatherby Mark V Magnum rifle (If you'd like to see the outtakes, click here).
Apparently, Moore didn't "lie" often enough in BfC that his detractors didn't have to make shit up. Funny, really.