Like I said in my original post, it's okay as long as everyone understands that that's what they can expect to see when they visit the world, watch the play, rent the movie, etc... When it comes out of the blue, is unexpected, is out of character for the game, then you have a problem.
Playing a slave trader for your personal entertainment when that's not the standard of the community is not okay. Playing a slave trader for your personal entertainment when that's what's expected is okay.
The problem arises when different people are playing it for different reasons, in which case there needs to be a set of *community agreed upon* rules of conduct. In this case, there were, but the gamemaster chose to ignore them.
So, if the gamemaster starts ignoring the community rules, then you have problems. In these instances, the gamemaster needs to be clear up front about how he/she is going to play the game and also state why it will be different from the community standards so that those who don't agree have the option to not play. For instance, in this case, the gamemaster should have been upfront and said that he was going to be portraying ancient Egypt in a true-to-life manner, so any characters that would have been of slave status in that time period may be treated that way in the game. If the gamemaster is doing this for educational purposes, it's great, because roleplaying is a great way to learn about things in a very personal manner.
However, if he was just playing the game this way for non-educational purposes, just entertainment for himself, then I question his ethics. Roleplaying as a Nazi or slave trader for purely entertainment purposes is not what I would consider a healthy mentality. Doing so to spark discussion on issues of race and gender discrimination is fine, but again, it needs to be stated upfront that this is what's happening.
It's not always just about good code. It's also often about time of implementation, flexibility for change, and domain knowledge, which can not always be accomplished with outsourced development. This is why some companies are turning back from outsourcing after finding that it's costing them more to send their solutions offshore and why some companies haven't even considered outsourcing, because they know it would kill them.
So, when you're paying a programmer more in the U.S., you're paying not just for the coding, but also for the proximity to you. It's not a premium, just a cost of doing business.
Yeah, the New Deal was such a failure. Things like:
- Establishment of a minimum wage. - Abolishment of child labor. - Creation of civil and public works to build up our road systems, national parks, public schools hospitals, dams, runways, etc. - Establishment of the SEC and rules for publicly traded companies to abide by for the benefit of investors. - Formation of the FDIC to insure bank deposits, thereby restoring trust in the nations banks.
Social Security may not provide the best investment return you're hoping for, but it has allowed millions of Americans the ability to retire with some sense of stability. And unemployment insurance gives out of work Americans the ability to keep on their feet while they seek new jobs.
Of course there are people who game the system, and the challengs is how to get them to realize that they'll be much better off working for a living rather than just taking in an unemployment check every month. But I think the problem of poor people gaming the system is nothing compared to that of rich people who game the system and don't pay their fair share of taxes.
Without these social benefit programs, the number of people living on the streets would be far, far greater than it is now and our country's status in the world would be far, far lower. I'm more than happy to pay the $500 or so a month to keep that from happening while at the same time ensuring that no matter what happens to my personal investments, I'll still have a nice income waiting for me when I retire.
In a civilized society, the good of the many outweigh the good of the few. It may be overplayed, but it's true.
How do you deal with the tumultuous hordes of fanboys on Slashdot relating their every waking moment to some aspect of your novels? What's it like to have to deal with that amount of slavering attention?
[singing] It's fun to charter an accountant And sail the wide accountancy, To find, explore the funds offshore And skirt the shoals of bankruptcy!
It can be manly in insurance. We'll up your premium semi-annually. It's all tax deductible. We're fairly incorruptible, We're sailing on the wide accountancy!
Damn the regulations, I say! This aint some high-falootin' 1st world society here! This here's the wild west and we don't need none o' your damn regulations! So get's out o' my bidness, you stinkin' regulatin' guvmint! Yeah, take that Guvmint! You suck. You and your damn regulations! You know, the regulations that keep our highways in good working condition, the regulations that make sure our cars don't create a health hazard with their toxic exhaust, the regulations that require airlines to carefully document every maintenance action they take to make it easy to find the culprit when an aircraft goes down, regulations on the quality of our drinking water so that we don't get poisoned by some unscrupulous business, the regulations on our doctors to make sure they actually have a license to do doctor stuff, the regulations in our national parks to make sure Walmart doesn't build a superstore right in the middle of a grazing herd of buffalo, the regulations that require public companies to disclose their financial records for the public to scrutinize...
etc. etc. etc.
Christ almighty! There are some stupid ass people here that seem to think everything the government does is bad. For pete's sake, if you want to go live without government in your lives, go move to Afghanistan. Me, I'll take government regulation of private space flight over a free-for-all anyday.
After reading that article, the question arises: What exactly is the difference between a "professional" and an "amateur?"
In my view, there is none. Both groups are comprised of people devoted to their crafts, with the knowledge and passion to succeed. It may be that professionals are more likely to have learned their crafts under the tutelage of a master craftsman or through some sort of schooling, while an amateur is more likely to have learned his trade "on his own" but in most cases, there is a large crossover. Many professionals learned their trade themselves without much tutelage and many amateurs actually have some formal training in their field.
Rather than say it's a professional vs. amateur situation, I'd be more likely to term it as a for-a-living/on-your-spare-time type of thing, because oftentime, being labeled an amateur means that you somehow don't know as much as a professional, but that is often wrong. It's more that they are all professionals, but some do it just for a paycheck or recognition, some do it just because they love it, but (hopefully) most do it for both.
Hey, we can't blame the dems for a lack for healthcare or education reform. Most of the last 12 years, the Republican party has been in control of Congress, which is the law writing body of these here United States.
On a related note, I really don't understand people's aversion to global healthcare. It removes the burden from companies to provide health insurance, thereby freeing up funds for R&D and more employment. It removes the chances of people without healthcare being treated by hospitals, which is what drives up health costs (Hospitals are required to treat people, whether they have insurance or not - who do you think shoulders that burden? The hospitals themselves, and thus the rest of us from higher fees). It would make the general health of the country more important to the government, and thus provide more reasons to have strict pollution and environment laws that would make people healthier and less likely to go to the hospital, which would drive down healthcare costs over the long run. It would probably end up as a zero sum game with regards to taxes, because the extra taxes you'd pay for government insurance would be offset by the money you'd stop paying at work for health insurance. It's just a no-brainer...
Anyone thinking that the Republicans or Democrats are any different are really blind. The only difference they have is the way they do things, they have the same goals and agendas.
Yeah, they both want a better America, except that Republicans think a better America is formed by corporations with slave workers (that's what a growing economy is for them), while Democrats think it's formed by a well educated and well taken care of populace. They are far, far different.
...another reason to remove the Bush administration from office: it's inability to push for open markets when it would hurt existing market stranglers like Microsoft. Republicans like to talk about free markets, but as soon as it takes away their power, they cringe in fear.
That soothing blue color is just there to make sure you don't see anything that could alarm or disrupt you this morning, like for instance an erupting volcano.
What none of these providers are telling you is that 3/4 of that storage space will be filled with spam that you'll start receiving after they've sold your email address to the world to pay for it.
ENUM. <snip> ENUM calls for telephone numbers to be written DNS-style, rooted at the domain e164.arpa. So, 1.212.543.6789 becomes 9.8.7.6.3.4.5.2.1.2.1.e164.arpa. Interestingly, each digit is treated as a subdomain. This allows ENUM to ignore the nuances of country codes, city codes, etc. that vary broadly worldwide. When this address is queried, the DNS can return a specific IP address corresponding to the telephone number, or it can return a rule for rewriting the original number into some other form. For example, rules can be returned to rewrite 1.212.543.6789 as sip:36789@nyc-gw.example.net, sip:caryfitz@service-provider.com. ENUM offers the possibility to reuse the worldwide DNS for VoIP. ENUM is a standard set by the IETF as RFC3761.
Me: Beep boop boop beep boop boop boop beep "Hello, refrigerator? Yes, can you please order a jug of milk, some butter and a box of Kraft macaroni and cheese for delivery this afternoon? Thank you!"
Beep boop boop beep boop boop boop boop "Hello, stove? Yes, at 6:15, please turn on the gas burner in the lower left hand corner and place a pot of water on the burner. Use the recipe for mac and cheese for further instructions. Talk to the refrigerator for the necessary ingredients. Thanks."
Slashdot Mirror
Here's hoping they don't, like, find any pyramidal temples or anything under the ice there, cause that would suck bad.
Frodo Lives!!!
Like I said in my original post, it's okay as long as everyone understands that that's what they can expect to see when they visit the world, watch the play, rent the movie, etc... When it comes out of the blue, is unexpected, is out of character for the game, then you have a problem.
Playing a slave trader for your personal entertainment when that's not the standard of the community is not okay. Playing a slave trader for your personal entertainment when that's what's expected is okay.
THAT's what my post was about.
The problem arises when different people are playing it for different reasons, in which case there needs to be a set of *community agreed upon* rules of conduct. In this case, there were, but the gamemaster chose to ignore them.
So, if the gamemaster starts ignoring the community rules, then you have problems. In these instances, the gamemaster needs to be clear up front about how he/she is going to play the game and also state why it will be different from the community standards so that those who don't agree have the option to not play. For instance, in this case, the gamemaster should have been upfront and said that he was going to be portraying ancient Egypt in a true-to-life manner, so any characters that would have been of slave status in that time period may be treated that way in the game. If the gamemaster is doing this for educational purposes, it's great, because roleplaying is a great way to learn about things in a very personal manner.
However, if he was just playing the game this way for non-educational purposes, just entertainment for himself, then I question his ethics. Roleplaying as a Nazi or slave trader for purely entertainment purposes is not what I would consider a healthy mentality. Doing so to spark discussion on issues of race and gender discrimination is fine, but again, it needs to be stated upfront that this is what's happening.
It's not always just about good code. It's also often about time of implementation, flexibility for change, and domain knowledge, which can not always be accomplished with outsourced development. This is why some companies are turning back from outsourcing after finding that it's costing them more to send their solutions offshore and why some companies haven't even considered outsourcing, because they know it would kill them.
So, when you're paying a programmer more in the U.S., you're paying not just for the coding, but also for the proximity to you. It's not a premium, just a cost of doing business.
The cameras are installed at a friend's house, and the application runs at mine.
camera at "friend's" house...
...
application at his.
*ahem*
*cough cough*
...
Yes, I see now...
Yeah, the New Deal was such a failure. Things like:
- Establishment of a minimum wage.
- Abolishment of child labor.
- Creation of civil and public works to build up our road systems, national parks, public schools hospitals, dams, runways, etc.
- Establishment of the SEC and rules for publicly traded companies to abide by for the benefit of investors.
- Formation of the FDIC to insure bank deposits, thereby restoring trust in the nations banks.
Social Security may not provide the best investment return you're hoping for, but it has allowed millions of Americans the ability to retire with some sense of stability. And unemployment insurance gives out of work Americans the ability to keep on their feet while they seek new jobs.
Of course there are people who game the system, and the challengs is how to get them to realize that they'll be much better off working for a living rather than just taking in an unemployment check every month. But I think the problem of poor people gaming the system is nothing compared to that of rich people who game the system and don't pay their fair share of taxes.
Without these social benefit programs, the number of people living on the streets would be far, far greater than it is now and our country's status in the world would be far, far lower. I'm more than happy to pay the $500 or so a month to keep that from happening while at the same time ensuring that no matter what happens to my personal investments, I'll still have a nice income waiting for me when I retire.
In a civilized society, the good of the many outweigh the good of the few. It may be overplayed, but it's true.
Altered trees that make better paper, insect-resistant cotton, potatoes that contain the right kinds of starches.
Where's the CowboyNeal option?
Neal,
How do you deal with the tumultuous hordes of fanboys on Slashdot relating their every waking moment to some aspect of your novels? What's it like to have to deal with that amount of slavering attention?
Hello? The original post was about saying it's okay to steal from big companies, but not from small.
How about you try again.
Ah, relative morals, don't you just love 'em?
A crook's a crook, no matter his target.
[singing]
It's fun to charter an accountant
And sail the wide accountancy,
To find, explore the funds offshore
And skirt the shoals of bankruptcy!
It can be manly in insurance.
We'll up your premium semi-annually.
It's all tax deductible.
We're fairly incorruptible,
We're sailing on the wide accountancy!
Damn the regulations, I say! This aint some high-falootin' 1st world society here! This here's the wild west and we don't need none o' your damn regulations! So get's out o' my bidness, you stinkin' regulatin' guvmint! Yeah, take that Guvmint! You suck. You and your damn regulations! You know, the regulations that keep our highways in good working condition, the regulations that make sure our cars don't create a health hazard with their toxic exhaust, the regulations that require airlines to carefully document every maintenance action they take to make it easy to find the culprit when an aircraft goes down, regulations on the quality of our drinking water so that we don't get poisoned by some unscrupulous business, the regulations on our doctors to make sure they actually have a license to do doctor stuff, the regulations in our national parks to make sure Walmart doesn't build a superstore right in the middle of a grazing herd of buffalo, the regulations that require public companies to disclose their financial records for the public to scrutinize...
etc. etc. etc.
Christ almighty! There are some stupid ass people here that seem to think everything the government does is bad. For pete's sake, if you want to go live without government in your lives, go move to Afghanistan. Me, I'll take government regulation of private space flight over a free-for-all anyday.
After reading that article, the question arises: What exactly is the difference between a "professional" and an "amateur?"
In my view, there is none. Both groups are comprised of people devoted to their crafts, with the knowledge and passion to succeed. It may be that professionals are more likely to have learned their crafts under the tutelage of a master craftsman or through some sort of schooling, while an amateur is more likely to have learned his trade "on his own" but in most cases, there is a large crossover. Many professionals learned their trade themselves without much tutelage and many amateurs actually have some formal training in their field.
Rather than say it's a professional vs. amateur situation, I'd be more likely to term it as a for-a-living/on-your-spare-time type of thing, because oftentime, being labeled an amateur means that you somehow don't know as much as a professional, but that is often wrong. It's more that they are all professionals, but some do it just for a paycheck or recognition, some do it just because they love it, but (hopefully) most do it for both.
Hey, we can't blame the dems for a lack for healthcare or education reform. Most of the last 12 years, the Republican party has been in control of Congress, which is the law writing body of these here United States.
On a related note, I really don't understand people's aversion to global healthcare. It removes the burden from companies to provide health insurance, thereby freeing up funds for R&D and more employment. It removes the chances of people without healthcare being treated by hospitals, which is what drives up health costs (Hospitals are required to treat people, whether they have insurance or not - who do you think shoulders that burden? The hospitals themselves, and thus the rest of us from higher fees). It would make the general health of the country more important to the government, and thus provide more reasons to have strict pollution and environment laws that would make people healthier and less likely to go to the hospital, which would drive down healthcare costs over the long run. It would probably end up as a zero sum game with regards to taxes, because the extra taxes you'd pay for government insurance would be offset by the money you'd stop paying at work for health insurance. It's just a no-brainer...
I can't believe someone would believe this.
Why not?
Anyone thinking that the Republicans or Democrats are any different are really blind. The only difference they have is the way they do things, they have the same goals and agendas.
Yeah, they both want a better America, except that Republicans think a better America is formed by corporations with slave workers (that's what a growing economy is for them), while Democrats think it's formed by a well educated and well taken care of populace. They are far, far different.
The exact same argument holds when it comes to environmental (and other) regulation pushed by the Democrats.
Examples, please.
That's why I'm voting Libertarian.
Actually, you'll be voting Republican.
Ignorance is lovely, isn't it?
...another reason to remove the Bush administration from office: it's inability to push for open markets when it would hurt existing market stranglers like Microsoft. Republicans like to talk about free markets, but as soon as it takes away their power, they cringe in fear.
"At least we'll die doing what we love...inhaling molten rock"
-Homer
That soothing blue color is just there to make sure you don't see anything that could alarm or disrupt you this morning, like for instance an erupting volcano.
(Thank you D.A.!)
What none of these providers are telling you is that 3/4 of that storage space will be filled with spam that you'll start receiving after they've sold your email address to the world to pay for it.
I know, but just because it started as a radio play doesn't mean it's good as a radio play. I believe it's much, much better in the written form.
ENUM. <snip> ENUM calls for telephone numbers to be written DNS-style, rooted at the domain e164.arpa. So, 1.212.543.6789 becomes 9.8.7.6.3.4.5.2.1.2.1.e164.arpa. Interestingly, each digit is treated as a subdomain. This allows ENUM to ignore the nuances of country codes, city codes, etc. that vary broadly worldwide. When this address is queried, the DNS can return a specific IP address corresponding to the telephone number, or it can return a rule for rewriting the original number into some other form. For example, rules can be returned to rewrite 1.212.543.6789 as sip:36789@nyc-gw.example.net, sip:caryfitz@service-provider.com. ENUM offers the possibility to reuse the worldwide DNS for VoIP. ENUM is a standard set by the IETF as RFC3761.
Me: Beep boop boop beep boop boop boop beep "Hello, refrigerator? Yes, can you please order a jug of milk, some butter and a box of Kraft macaroni and cheese for delivery this afternoon? Thank you!"
Beep boop boop beep boop boop boop boop "Hello, stove? Yes, at 6:15, please turn on the gas burner in the lower left hand corner and place a pot of water on the burner. Use the recipe for mac and cheese for further instructions. Talk to the refrigerator for the necessary ingredients. Thanks."