I can deal with the credit card applications and whatnot that come in my mailbox. At least the other guy pays for that, and I don't have to give up more than a few seconds, at my leisure, to tear the bloody things into confetti.
Telemarketing calls are a nuisance because I'm not in control of when they call me; and spam is a nuisance because I have to pay for it. But normal junk mail, I can deal with.
What's the name of that company in Redmond again? The one that makes all the overpriced office and operating system software? I'm drawing a total blank. ..
While NASA might be legally liable, it would seem kinda tacky to sue them for the damage. Did this acquaintance of yours have renter's insurance, perhaps?
one, it doesn't cost the software companies a thing. you steal a car, it takes steel, rubber, plastic from somewhere. you make a DIGITAL copy, it costs software co. nothing. and many of the "pirates" wouldn't have bought the software.
I tend to agree with this point; however, I saw software piracy referred to as "counterfeiting" in another post, further down the page, and I think maybe that's a better analogy to piracy than theft.
If people were allowed to get away with printing their own money, what effect might that have on a country's economy? The value of the money will decline, and people that have legitimate money find that the value of their money has dropped.
You can look at piracy the same way. Businesses do take a hit, in terms of lost sales potential; but companies and individuals who bought legitimate copies of the software are the ones who, I think, suffer the greater harm--imagine buying fifty Photoshop licences to stay legitimate and having to compete with someone who got the same copies of Photoshop illegally?
You're missing one point: astronauts understand the risks of spaceflight. They know that anytime they climb aboard that spacecraft, they can end up like the Challenger or the Columbia, or dead in any one of a million ways in-between. They accept that risk, not for money or fame but to advance the fields of science.
The seven dead astronauts are heroes because every astronaut is a hero. What makes them heroes is having the cojones to risk their lives to make everyone else's lives a little better.
If I may paraphrase an old clich: MIRC doesn't DDoS networks, people with insecure PCs DDos networks. Granted, it's been a while since I've been on IRC; but MIRC does have a setting that allows the program to prompt the user before accepting a DCC connection or transfer. This probably ought to be the default. . . maybe it is.:) Like I said, it's been a while.
But even if it is, I can envision a lot of people who don't know better changing that setting to automatically accept every file sent their way. And then it's a security risk. But if the user is responsible for changing the setting and/or accepting the download, then the user is responsible for the security risk.
And DALNet should care about losing warez kiddies because. . ?
Face it: they're a waste of server bandwidth. DALNet is better off if they leave, not worse. And it may not be all that difficult for the IRCops to program a bot that could collect enough information about a channel to determine whether it was a #warez-kiddie channel, and act accordingly.
Y'know, I'm against the Iraq war, too. But that point is completely off the topic of this thread; and it really doesn't have anything to do with the Columbia disaster to begin with. That's even more asinine than trying to equate Iraq with 9/11.
If you can't write concisely enough to get your point across the first time, why should I waste time reading it twice?
Let me make something clear. There is a world of difference, in terms of opportunity cost and emotional cost, between losing an unmanned craft vs. losing a manned craft. How many people ridiculed NASA when they lost a Mars orbiter because of a metric-to-English conversion error? I did. . . but the orbiter was nothing more or less than a machine. You can rebuild a machine. You can't rebuild a spouse or a parent.
That's why your little, "Who's laughing now" came across as mean-spirited and petty. Your 2 rant about military use of space was an extra bonus--because I'm not sure where else you would find people willing to do something as dangerous as flying a spacecraft for less than $90,000 per year.
...laughed when our Ariane 5+ exploded a couple of months ago. So, do you see me laughing now?
And how many people were on-board your Ariane 5+? Asshole.
Re:Game developers shooting themselves in the foot
on
Infinite Games?
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· Score: 1
Sorta. But at least the next time their mega-release fell three years behind schedule, we'd still be happy enough with the last game they sold that we wouldn't kvetch about it.
Re:I've been playing infinite games for years.
on
Infinite Games?
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· Score: 1
Actually, I do.:) And I remember that LoRD had a distinct ending. ..
I don't think Tradewars did, though. The SysOp just reset the game periodically, after one player had established clear dominance over everyone else who was interested in playing.
The single-player games that had me the most hooked were games like StarFlight (1 and 2) and Privateer for the PC, and Space Rogue for the Commodore 64. There was a plot, but you were pretty free to do as you pleased if you decided you didn't want to trigger plot elements at a given time.
Putting the RP in RPGs
on
Infinite Games?
·
· Score: 4, Insightful
Even the best RPGs I've played for the PC have always felt scripted to me. You're limited in the actions you can take or the things you can say. I suppose this is a constraint of dealing with computers. . . but it's also why old-fashioned pencil-and-paper RPGs are still my favorite. You can come up with something the GM/Storyteller never thought of, pull off your idea, and see the results. Most computer RPGs stifle you at step 2.
Much as it may suck, that's a consequence of capitalism. Companies don't have an inherent right to exist if they can't make a profit. Besides, I think what we'd end up seeing is the replacement of national conglomerates with regional ones. **Shrugs** It wouldn't be significantly different from what we have now, really, except that more people would have a shot at the cookie jar.
If I say I'll have it done in five weeks, it means I can really have it done in two, but I'll be damned if I'm going to have management breathing down my neck in a week and a half because they changed the requirements and they need it all tomorrow.
I know, I know, everyone's heard of this, right? But no one knows that's your formula unless you tell them. . . **sighs** besides, somehow, after all the requirements creep that I have zero control over, I manage to just make that five weeks anyway.
Re:Who Is the Greatest Programmer?
on
Immortal Code
·
· Score: 1
Good point. Would that point to the possibility of a pseudo-Deity, such that the odds of His existence are randomly scattered between 0 and 1?
At what point would they determine that sitting in front of a computer for extended periods will produce blood clots? After they've keeled over from a stroke?
This is where the thinking part comes in - and maybe a little analysis, too. If you've heard on the news that people are having medical conditions with blood clots in their legs and such due to sitting in one spot on an airplane, ask yourself: What part of sitting on the airplane may have caused those blood clots? Either it's being on the airplane in the first place, or it's sitting in the same location for too long. In the latter case, if it can happen on an airplane, then it can happen anywhere.
Good point. People in general seem to expect to be told everything they need to know, rather than going through any effort to figure it out for themselves. "Oh, sitting on a plane for six hours is bad for me; but sitting in front of a computer for six hours is okay!" Or, as you pointed out, "I'm coughing up my lungs, but smoking must be okay, because no one's told me otherwise!"
This may be why we have lawsuits like the McDonalds "I'm suing because you made me fat" suit that a judge recently dismissed. When you hear someone say, "I didn't know because someone else told me," just think: that's Darwinism in action.
Re:Who Is the Greatest Programmer?
on
Immortal Code
·
· Score: 1
The "God is the Great Programmer" analogy was even worse. What's your point?
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I can deal with the credit card applications and whatnot that come in my mailbox. At least the other guy pays for that, and I don't have to give up more than a few seconds, at my leisure, to tear the bloody things into confetti.
Telemarketing calls are a nuisance because I'm not in control of when they call me; and spam is a nuisance because I have to pay for it. But normal junk mail, I can deal with.
What's the name of that company in Redmond again? The one that makes all the overpriced office and operating system software? I'm drawing a total blank. . .
:)
1) If it's a condo, then they should have *owner's* insurance.
2) If someone's "of modest means," they wouldn't own a condo in the first place. Condos cost more than most houses.
3) Have the balls to make that statement with an actual login.
While NASA might be legally liable, it would seem kinda tacky to sue them for the damage. Did this acquaintance of yours have renter's insurance, perhaps?
one, it doesn't cost the software companies a thing. you steal a car, it takes steel, rubber, plastic from somewhere. you make a DIGITAL copy, it costs software co. nothing. and many of the "pirates" wouldn't have bought the software.
I tend to agree with this point; however, I saw software piracy referred to as "counterfeiting" in another post, further down the page, and I think maybe that's a better analogy to piracy than theft.
If people were allowed to get away with printing their own money, what effect might that have on a country's economy? The value of the money will decline, and people that have legitimate money find that the value of their money has dropped.
You can look at piracy the same way. Businesses do take a hit, in terms of lost sales potential; but companies and individuals who bought legitimate copies of the software are the ones who, I think, suffer the greater harm--imagine buying fifty Photoshop licences to stay legitimate and having to compete with someone who got the same copies of Photoshop illegally?
You're missing one point: astronauts understand the risks of spaceflight. They know that anytime they climb aboard that spacecraft, they can end up like the Challenger or the Columbia, or dead in any one of a million ways in-between. They accept that risk, not for money or fame but to advance the fields of science.
The seven dead astronauts are heroes because every astronaut is a hero. What makes them heroes is having the cojones to risk their lives to make everyone else's lives a little better.
The Department of Defense was using the internet for "online testing" long before these schmucks came along.
**Files under: "You know you've read too much Strong Bad when. . ."**
If I may paraphrase an old clich: MIRC doesn't DDoS networks, people with insecure PCs DDos networks. Granted, it's been a while since I've been on IRC; but MIRC does have a setting that allows the program to prompt the user before accepting a DCC connection or transfer. This probably ought to be the default. . . maybe it is. :) Like I said, it's been a while.
But even if it is, I can envision a lot of people who don't know better changing that setting to automatically accept every file sent their way. And then it's a security risk. But if the user is responsible for changing the setting and/or accepting the download, then the user is responsible for the security risk.
And DALNet should care about losing warez kiddies because. . ?
Face it: they're a waste of server bandwidth. DALNet is better off if they leave, not worse. And it may not be all that difficult for the IRCops to program a bot that could collect enough information about a channel to determine whether it was a #warez-kiddie channel, and act accordingly.
Y'know, I'm against the Iraq war, too. But that point is completely off the topic of this thread; and it really doesn't have anything to do with the Columbia disaster to begin with. That's even more asinine than trying to equate Iraq with 9/11.
If you can't write concisely enough to get your point across the first time, why should I waste time reading it twice?
Let me make something clear. There is a world of difference, in terms of opportunity cost and emotional cost, between losing an unmanned craft vs. losing a manned craft. How many people ridiculed NASA when they lost a Mars orbiter because of a metric-to-English conversion error? I did. . . but the orbiter was nothing more or less than a machine. You can rebuild a machine. You can't rebuild a spouse or a parent.
That's why your little, "Who's laughing now" came across as mean-spirited and petty. Your 2 rant about military use of space was an extra bonus--because I'm not sure where else you would find people willing to do something as dangerous as flying a spacecraft for less than $90,000 per year.
And how many people were on-board your Ariane 5+? Asshole.
Sorta. But at least the next time their mega-release fell three years behind schedule, we'd still be happy enough with the last game they sold that we wouldn't kvetch about it.
Actually, I do. :) And I remember that LoRD had a distinct ending. . .
I don't think Tradewars did, though. The SysOp just reset the game periodically, after one player had established clear dominance over everyone else who was interested in playing.
The single-player games that had me the most hooked were games like StarFlight (1 and 2) and Privateer for the PC, and Space Rogue for the Commodore 64. There was a plot, but you were pretty free to do as you pleased if you decided you didn't want to trigger plot elements at a given time.
Even the best RPGs I've played for the PC have always felt scripted to me. You're limited in the actions you can take or the things you can say. I suppose this is a constraint of dealing with computers. . . but it's also why old-fashioned pencil-and-paper RPGs are still my favorite. You can come up with something the GM/Storyteller never thought of, pull off your idea, and see the results. Most computer RPGs stifle you at step 2.
True. But then, neither did Ma Bell.
Much as it may suck, that's a consequence of capitalism. Companies don't have an inherent right to exist if they can't make a profit. Besides, I think what we'd end up seeing is the replacement of national conglomerates with regional ones. **Shrugs** It wouldn't be significantly different from what we have now, really, except that more people would have a shot at the cookie jar.
Should the liver have read 'Warning: may contain traces of nut'?
Maybe we could tattoo, "Warning: nut contains traces of liver" on the guy's forehead instead?
And I suppose you want the hot grits included?
If I say I'll have it done in five weeks, it means I can really have it done in two, but I'll be damned if I'm going to have management breathing down my neck in a week and a half because they changed the requirements and they need it all tomorrow.
I know, I know, everyone's heard of this, right? But no one knows that's your formula unless you tell them. . . **sighs** besides, somehow, after all the requirements creep that I have zero control over, I manage to just make that five weeks anyway.
Good point. Would that point to the possibility of a pseudo-Deity, such that the odds of His existence are randomly scattered between 0 and 1?
At what point would they determine that sitting in front of a computer for extended periods will produce blood clots? After they've keeled over from a stroke?
This is where the thinking part comes in - and maybe a little analysis, too. If you've heard on the news that people are having medical conditions with blood clots in their legs and such due to sitting in one spot on an airplane, ask yourself: What part of sitting on the airplane may have caused those blood clots? Either it's being on the airplane in the first place, or it's sitting in the same location for too long. In the latter case, if it can happen on an airplane, then it can happen anywhere.
Good point. People in general seem to expect to be told everything they need to know, rather than going through any effort to figure it out for themselves. "Oh, sitting on a plane for six hours is bad for me; but sitting in front of a computer for six hours is okay!" Or, as you pointed out, "I'm coughing up my lungs, but smoking must be okay, because no one's told me otherwise!"
This may be why we have lawsuits like the McDonalds "I'm suing because you made me fat" suit that a judge recently dismissed. When you hear someone say, "I didn't know because someone else told me," just think: that's Darwinism in action.
The "God is the Great Programmer" analogy was even worse. What's your point?