Actually, this may be part of that solution. For the most part the guy behind the wheel causes his own problems with gas mileage by driving like a 12 year old jackoff who's high on Jolt cola. In this age, the more control we take from the driver the better off we probably are. We'd exceed the 1 mpg/year claim that a lot of environmentalists make by getting Joe Sixpack to sit back and enjoy the nice music instead of having him ride the ass of the car in front of him only to break hard at the first sign of a slow down ahead and switching lanes (thus forcing other drivers to slam their breaks on).
Aside from that the best thing consumers can do is continue to buy high MPG cars in the hopes that it pushes researchers to produce better goods by demand. Legislation is a poor substitute for listening to the will of the consumer who sees his dollars as votes.
From the blurb: I would like for the Slashdot community to clarify matters.
Yeah, and people in hell want iced water.
Seriously? This is not the place to look for anything substantial. Most Slashdotters are not lawyers (myself included). Few know the actual law and even less are able to separate the standing law from their Utopian ideals. Slashdot makes Wikipedia look like an absolute braintrust in comparison.
And that's not to say that people shouldn't express themselves. Not at all. What it is to say is that if you're looking for the solid leggings of today's law this simply isn't the right place to look. Tons of posters have all kinds of good ideas and good intentions but that's not going to get you anywhere if you find yourself standing in front of a judge. There is a lot of talk on Slashdot about change in the laws involving IP but so far I haven't seen anything aside from talk. From time to time I like to call one of the more vocal anti-IP talkers out and tell them why don't they openly break the law and let me know how their reasoning works out in court. I have yet to find anyone who takes up this challenge. Regardless of where we stand on IP law, we all know the basic truth behind it and all the intellectual masturbation that goes on around here doesn't amount to a hill of beans in the face of the reality of the situation.
And to be very honest, most of the ideals that people spread around involving the lessening or even revoking of IP laws simply can't stand up in our society. We have far too much riding on this structure and drastic changes to that structure are going to cause wide spread hardship. I don't think that today's society is built out of the kind of people who are willing to bear hardship for any real length of time to right the wrongs of yesteryear.
It's going to be both a sad and comic day if most of the changes that people suggest and support around here ever come into being. If we want serious change that isn't going to leave itself open to short term corruption we're all going to have to take a loss. Most people here don't care about loss until it's their loss that we're talking about. The revolution will not be on Slashdot.
One of the things that always seemed out of place for me was the use of Hit Points.
Yeah, it is a funny system. That's why I always liked Call of Cthulhu a bit better from the stats aspect.
CoC lacks levels. You have your basic physical attributes, including hit points, and a set of skills. While your stats never increased wildly there were long and tedious methods to get a couple of points here and there. What did increase was the skills. So if on an adventure you used your pistol skill it had a chance to increase and this chance to increase decreased as you became more skilled. It seemed more balanced as the person never changed much physically over the course of an adventure but they could become better at a skill by employing it. AFAIK you don't even have to use a skill in D&D (by the book) in order to increase it when you level up. That means I can have a cleric with a +20 heal check and have never used the heal skill at all. Not to say that skills can't be raised without practical application but it's not by much and it's normally hard to do and that's the way CoC plays it out.
But I do agree with you, if it weren't for having a steady group of friends that I've been playing the games with for such a long time I'd probably just rather play a MMORPG too. When my current group breaks up I doubt I'll ever roll another d20 again.
And I do see it in the younger generation; my nephew (16) lost his pen and paper group about 8 months back and doesn't seem too motivated in getting together another one but his XFire stats I can see he plays over 20 hours of WoW a week. Not to say that pen and paper is doomed but it's pretty damn close.
What? You didn't find The Complete Potato Farmer v 3.504.321a to be worth the 30 USD?
Sadly, and I know that someone will probably bitch at me, the WotC business model is based on people consuming what they normally don't need at an alarming rate. They gained wide popularity in the business of CCGs. Anyone who's ever spent any serious time playing CCGs knows that it's a scam; a monetary blackhole where rules are made up to make perfectly good cards obsolete and create an atmosphere where players (normally teens) beleive that their cards are going to be worth big money and are, in fact, an investment instead of a gaming supply. Come on folks, enough already.
I felt that this would be the case with D&D when Wizards got their hooks into it and the speed with which 3.5 was announced only confirmed my thoughts. And this isn't even to mention the meager software offerings that went toes-up before the bittorrent could even be completed.
While I still maintain and interest in the game and still play with the same small group I have for the better part of the last decade, I still clutch onto my 3.0 core rules and a copy of Tomes and Blood. I will not spend 30+ USD on more books for a game that does not justify it. I'm still running just fine with my Call of Cthulhu 5.0 rulebook. I've had it just as long or longer than most people have had their AD&D 2.0 books. And it's the only book needed for the game!
They've not tried to integrate their speakers with their mice (Microsoft would find a way to do this!)
If Microsoft "would" find a way to do this why haven't they?
Your claims are stupid on their face when you see the amount of hardware that MS does produce and doesn't do what you'd claim that they'd try to do.
instead just try to make useful products that stand on their own merit.
Yeah, because you can't get a MS straight forward two button mouse or anything.
Not to mention that I've never had to install a driver for a MS mouse, keyboard or whatever. I can't say the same of Logitech or Kingston. That includes using MS products on Linux.
You mean, like the way MS uses Linux on servers, and how a lot of its staff use Firefox?;)
And that's a problem how?
Maybe MS testing the waters of compatibility among other products is a good thing? At least that's the kind of mantra I hear from the OSS crowd.
So scoff all you want, it's not hurting MSs bottomline and their willingness to adopt and test other technologies should be heralded as a step in the right direction instead of being used as some strawman against them? Oh, sorry, that only works if you're OSS. Right....
Maybe MS is working to keep their position as number 1. Who wouldn't? And as long as they're making steps to meet others half way I think that's a damn sight better than them simply closing themselves off. Or maybe that's what some of the OSS crowd needs to think in order to keep up their fanatical frenzy.
Sorry, I deal in the real world. I have to use MS in my job. While other options may be better I simply can't say "death to Microsoft". And in the mean time if it leaves room open for innovation I'm not going to turn them away because of the logo that's on a splash screen. MS may not always be number 1. And that's also OK with me but it's going to be years and years before they become so downgraded that they can be ignored in the marketplace and probably longer until I don't have to deal with their products at my job.
It's only presented as news here because they know it's going to start a flurry of comments and potential flame wars. That makes more hits on the site. More hits means more money for those at the top.
The vast majority of non-stories that make it to the front page of Slashdot are done for no other reason than to pump traffic.
So, yeah, you're right. This is just some random guy with a blog. If he was in a position where he could cause this change to happen I'd be interested (such as a legislator) but since he isn't it's just so much intellectually masturbation. And it's hardly even that!
This guy is talking down the industry but tell me who's more childish?
A. An industry fighting legally to protect it's product.
B. People who decide that they don't want to pay the price so they simply take what isn't rightfully theirs.
I know it's an unpopular stance and I do agree that copyright could use some revision but this guy is acting like the RIAA made this come about and that the current rate of infringement is justice. Completely wrong.
I've said it before and I'll say it again; if you don't want to pay for the product than don't take it either. Had all the supposed fighters for artistic freedom boycotted the industry instead of resorting to infringement tactics the industry would still be in decline and without a scapegoat. The industry would have adjusted itself at this point and if all the infringers are as honorable as they say they are we'd probably have a more reasonably priced product.
But all the while I still can't help but think that no price beats free. That's the bottomline at this point. For everyone with a legitimate concern of copyright and its effect on society there are probably a couple of hundred that are simply taking what isn't theirs and hoping not to get caught. Sure, the genie is out of the bottle but don't think it isn't going to be messy.
Here's your explaination: The Federal Aviation Administration has found that fire-protection systems in the cargo hold of passenger planes can't put out fires sparked in lithium batteries.
This was in the second article. I think even Joe Sixpack can understand this.
Perhaps Slashdotters should be forced to read the articles before going off on a tangent?
Or maybe you were too busy reading the other posters who posted the same thing as you and got modded up even though they're all dead wrong?
How about you explain that to grandma? Be seeing you again next Thursday.
Seriously, most people I know, as bad of a practice as it is, switch the resolution instead of the font. If you try to educate them they give you the oh-lord-a-computer-geek eye roll. It's a real fun time.
I can't speak for this service but it irks me to find stuff on iTunes (mostly classical, in my experience) that I can buy for cheaper at Borders on CD than I can from the iTunes store.
And I have a feeling with CD sales on the decline we're going to see more of the same. Especially compilations that will come in under the 10 USD watermark that will offer more than enough tracks to make it worth getting tracks you don't like for the ones that you do.
They'll have a much different attitude when Gozer reappears next. He may even take the form of a giant Sloar again. During the last reconciliation many Shubs and Zuuls knew what it was to be roasted in the depths of the Sloar that day, I can tell you!
Slashdot Mirror
How about cars that dont get shitty gas mileage?
Actually, this may be part of that solution. For the most part the guy behind the wheel causes his own problems with gas mileage by driving like a 12 year old jackoff who's high on Jolt cola. In this age, the more control we take from the driver the better off we probably are. We'd exceed the 1 mpg/year claim that a lot of environmentalists make by getting Joe Sixpack to sit back and enjoy the nice music instead of having him ride the ass of the car in front of him only to break hard at the first sign of a slow down ahead and switching lanes (thus forcing other drivers to slam their breaks on).
Aside from that the best thing consumers can do is continue to buy high MPG cars in the hopes that it pushes researchers to produce better goods by demand. Legislation is a poor substitute for listening to the will of the consumer who sees his dollars as votes.
From the blurb: I would like for the Slashdot community to clarify matters.
Yeah, and people in hell want iced water.
Seriously? This is not the place to look for anything substantial. Most Slashdotters are not lawyers (myself included). Few know the actual law and even less are able to separate the standing law from their Utopian ideals. Slashdot makes Wikipedia look like an absolute braintrust in comparison.
And that's not to say that people shouldn't express themselves. Not at all. What it is to say is that if you're looking for the solid leggings of today's law this simply isn't the right place to look. Tons of posters have all kinds of good ideas and good intentions but that's not going to get you anywhere if you find yourself standing in front of a judge. There is a lot of talk on Slashdot about change in the laws involving IP but so far I haven't seen anything aside from talk. From time to time I like to call one of the more vocal anti-IP talkers out and tell them why don't they openly break the law and let me know how their reasoning works out in court. I have yet to find anyone who takes up this challenge. Regardless of where we stand on IP law, we all know the basic truth behind it and all the intellectual masturbation that goes on around here doesn't amount to a hill of beans in the face of the reality of the situation.
And to be very honest, most of the ideals that people spread around involving the lessening or even revoking of IP laws simply can't stand up in our society. We have far too much riding on this structure and drastic changes to that structure are going to cause wide spread hardship. I don't think that today's society is built out of the kind of people who are willing to bear hardship for any real length of time to right the wrongs of yesteryear.
It's going to be both a sad and comic day if most of the changes that people suggest and support around here ever come into being. If we want serious change that isn't going to leave itself open to short term corruption we're all going to have to take a loss. Most people here don't care about loss until it's their loss that we're talking about. The revolution will not be on Slashdot.
One of the things that always seemed out of place for me was the use of Hit Points.
Yeah, it is a funny system. That's why I always liked Call of Cthulhu a bit better from the stats aspect.
CoC lacks levels. You have your basic physical attributes, including hit points, and a set of skills. While your stats never increased wildly there were long and tedious methods to get a couple of points here and there. What did increase was the skills. So if on an adventure you used your pistol skill it had a chance to increase and this chance to increase decreased as you became more skilled. It seemed more balanced as the person never changed much physically over the course of an adventure but they could become better at a skill by employing it. AFAIK you don't even have to use a skill in D&D (by the book) in order to increase it when you level up. That means I can have a cleric with a +20 heal check and have never used the heal skill at all. Not to say that skills can't be raised without practical application but it's not by much and it's normally hard to do and that's the way CoC plays it out.
Storyline for one.
But I do agree with you, if it weren't for having a steady group of friends that I've been playing the games with for such a long time I'd probably just rather play a MMORPG too. When my current group breaks up I doubt I'll ever roll another d20 again.
And I do see it in the younger generation; my nephew (16) lost his pen and paper group about 8 months back and doesn't seem too motivated in getting together another one but his XFire stats I can see he plays over 20 hours of WoW a week. Not to say that pen and paper is doomed but it's pretty damn close.
What? You didn't find The Complete Potato Farmer v 3.504.321a to be worth the 30 USD?
Sadly, and I know that someone will probably bitch at me, the WotC business model is based on people consuming what they normally don't need at an alarming rate. They gained wide popularity in the business of CCGs. Anyone who's ever spent any serious time playing CCGs knows that it's a scam; a monetary blackhole where rules are made up to make perfectly good cards obsolete and create an atmosphere where players (normally teens) beleive that their cards are going to be worth big money and are, in fact, an investment instead of a gaming supply. Come on folks, enough already.
I felt that this would be the case with D&D when Wizards got their hooks into it and the speed with which 3.5 was announced only confirmed my thoughts. And this isn't even to mention the meager software offerings that went toes-up before the bittorrent could even be completed.
While I still maintain and interest in the game and still play with the same small group I have for the better part of the last decade, I still clutch onto my 3.0 core rules and a copy of Tomes and Blood. I will not spend 30+ USD on more books for a game that does not justify it. I'm still running just fine with my Call of Cthulhu 5.0 rulebook. I've had it just as long or longer than most people have had their AD&D 2.0 books. And it's the only book needed for the game!
iPod and Dreamweaver were designed for a different crowd. They're for the creative types.
To call iPods for creative types is a fearful claim considering what ends up on the best sellers lists on iTunes.
[Virtualization] also asks IT experts from different realms to work more closely together.
Oh yes, there will be blood.
They've not tried to integrate their speakers with their mice (Microsoft would find a way to do this!)
If Microsoft "would" find a way to do this why haven't they?
Your claims are stupid on their face when you see the amount of hardware that MS does produce and doesn't do what you'd claim that they'd try to do.
instead just try to make useful products that stand on their own merit.
Yeah, because you can't get a MS straight forward two button mouse or anything.
Not to mention that I've never had to install a driver for a MS mouse, keyboard or whatever. I can't say the same of Logitech or Kingston. That includes using MS products on Linux.
Stating "Fact, so and so happened" just makes you like like a douche with something to hide
How ironic coming from an AC.
You mean, like the way MS uses Linux on servers, and how a lot of its staff use Firefox? ;)
And that's a problem how?
Maybe MS testing the waters of compatibility among other products is a good thing? At least that's the kind of mantra I hear from the OSS crowd.
So scoff all you want, it's not hurting MSs bottomline and their willingness to adopt and test other technologies should be heralded as a step in the right direction instead of being used as some strawman against them? Oh, sorry, that only works if you're OSS. Right....
Maybe MS is working to keep their position as number 1. Who wouldn't? And as long as they're making steps to meet others half way I think that's a damn sight better than them simply closing themselves off. Or maybe that's what some of the OSS crowd needs to think in order to keep up their fanatical frenzy.
Sorry, I deal in the real world. I have to use MS in my job. While other options may be better I simply can't say "death to Microsoft". And in the mean time if it leaves room open for innovation I'm not going to turn them away because of the logo that's on a splash screen. MS may not always be number 1. And that's also OK with me but it's going to be years and years before they become so downgraded that they can be ignored in the marketplace and probably longer until I don't have to deal with their products at my job.
Yeah, they should use a sensible name with a product description like iPod, Gnome and Dreamweaver.
Oh, wait...
You mean like sites that don't work properly without Flash?
Company tries to spur adoption of their technology by actually using it themselves! The ultimate act of desperation!
Film at 11.
Seriously? Wouldn't it be a bit more suspect if the *didn't* use it?
It's not a monopoly. They didn't define their own rights. The rest of your arguement is moot.
It's only presented as news here because they know it's going to start a flurry of comments and potential flame wars. That makes more hits on the site. More hits means more money for those at the top.
The vast majority of non-stories that make it to the front page of Slashdot are done for no other reason than to pump traffic.
So, yeah, you're right. This is just some random guy with a blog. If he was in a position where he could cause this change to happen I'd be interested (such as a legislator) but since he isn't it's just so much intellectually masturbation. And it's hardly even that!
This guy is talking down the industry but tell me who's more childish?
A. An industry fighting legally to protect it's product.
B. People who decide that they don't want to pay the price so they simply take what isn't rightfully theirs.
I know it's an unpopular stance and I do agree that copyright could use some revision but this guy is acting like the RIAA made this come about and that the current rate of infringement is justice. Completely wrong.
I've said it before and I'll say it again; if you don't want to pay for the product than don't take it either. Had all the supposed fighters for artistic freedom boycotted the industry instead of resorting to infringement tactics the industry would still be in decline and without a scapegoat. The industry would have adjusted itself at this point and if all the infringers are as honorable as they say they are we'd probably have a more reasonably priced product.
But all the while I still can't help but think that no price beats free. That's the bottomline at this point. For everyone with a legitimate concern of copyright and its effect on society there are probably a couple of hundred that are simply taking what isn't theirs and hoping not to get caught. Sure, the genie is out of the bottle but don't think it isn't going to be messy.
Congratulations on your promotion to management.
where subjects were exposed either to 884 MHz GSM radiation or placebo.
Did they give them one of those plastic phones filled with Pez candies?
Here's your explaination: The Federal Aviation Administration has found that fire-protection systems in the cargo hold of passenger planes can't put out fires sparked in lithium batteries.
This was in the second article. I think even Joe Sixpack can understand this.
Perhaps Slashdotters should be forced to read the articles before going off on a tangent?
Or maybe you were too busy reading the other posters who posted the same thing as you and got modded up even though they're all dead wrong?
How about you explain that to grandma? Be seeing you again next Thursday.
Seriously, most people I know, as bad of a practice as it is, switch the resolution instead of the font. If you try to educate them they give you the oh-lord-a-computer-geek eye roll. It's a real fun time.
I can't speak for this service but it irks me to find stuff on iTunes (mostly classical, in my experience) that I can buy for cheaper at Borders on CD than I can from the iTunes store.
And I have a feeling with CD sales on the decline we're going to see more of the same. Especially compilations that will come in under the 10 USD watermark that will offer more than enough tracks to make it worth getting tracks you don't like for the ones that you do.
Yes, have some.
This exact comment has already been posted. Try to be more original...
Do I?
Who the hell modded this as funny?
They'll have a much different attitude when Gozer reappears next. He may even take the form of a giant Sloar again. During the last reconciliation many Shubs and Zuuls knew what it was to be roasted in the depths of the Sloar that day, I can tell you!
The distrubance you feel is Sir Alec Guinness spinning in his grave from knowing that his most quoted line from film was from Star Wars.