Here's an idea: Go to McCorporate, purchase a couple dozen (or hundered, depending on your choice/desire of music) of the meals, but not for yourself. Have the meals donated to some hunger program, keep the free songs for yourself. You get the music, and you can write off the purchase of the McMeals as a tax exemption or whatever.
While many people may not enjoy the thought of eating at McDonald's, I'm sure that quite a few homeless/poor people would be overjoyed at the thought of a full meal for free, regardless of the grease (homeless people don't care about carbs.) You get the music, they get the food, everyone's happy. Oh, and you get a tax exemption.
Just something that came to my mind, I wouldn't actually do this. [no money]
/eats a Double Cheese a day, has stayed at a constant weight (don't know if I can say the same about cholesterol)
I think I'm still finding it hard to catch that freaking Pikachu.
Seriously, though, I'm a college student with a full time job at the moment, but I still love my SP dearly. Not just for the abundance of games, but for the compactability and portability. I can play it anywhere. Not that I have a lot of time now, but I still get a chance.
Sure, the screen is 'tiny' (bigger than most cellphones,) and it can't do amazingly wonderful graphics like the XBox or Gamecube. But, then, if I wanted to play XBox or Gamecube, I'd first of all own one, and then I'd get a portable screen for them and lug them around in a cooler.
One of the reasons Nintendo's 8-bit hand held stood above the colorful and vibrant competition was price. Price price and more price. That, and it didn't eat batteries like some... battery... eating... monster. Yeah. It's a reason Nintendo survived for some time (N64's pains were not because of price), and a reason they will still survive.
I mean, yeah. Handhelds are marketed towards the younger demographic. But will a parent be more willing to buy a $150 handheld with N64-like graphics or a $300 handheld with useless features that has PS1-like graphics when the kid doesn't really care?
Rather than protecting our children and giving our parents a tool to help raise healthy kids, the multi-billion dollar entertainment industry was allowed to shoot down necessary legislation."
For someone to be able to use a tool, they must have the knowledge on how it works and what to do with it. Lots of stupid parents still buy their ten year old games like Vice City or Manhunt because the kids beg and the parents say "Ok". I highly doubt this 'tool' would be used effectively (if passed,) it would just make parents bitch that they have to go to a different part of the store to buy their children the 'cool' games.
"Wired News has a story about how American companies are outsourcing not because of cheap labor but because of the American school system not being up to snuff. In a report by the AeA, they contend that American schools don't teach enough math and science anymore."
That sounds about right. Even going to a 'technical ' college, there's a strong basis on stuff that doesn't have a whole lot to do with CS. And don't get me started about High School.
I mean, really, has McGuyver (sp) ever gotten out of a situation because he knew proper grammar?
I can't attest to the CE portion, but I'm currently a CS at Kettering U. I don't think either the CS or CE is really geared toward Networking, but you might have a good chance in CE. They also allow you to set up your own 'major', so if you can find a good list of courses you could make a Networking Specialist major or something. While it's definately more costly than, say, a community college (but then, what isn't), it has huge merits.
The biggest of which is their co-op program. This isn't some internship that you do for a summer and don't get paid for; this is something that you (hopefully) do throughout all four and a half years of college. It works three months of classes, three months of co-op, repeat that and you have a year. Yes, it's almost year around.
Even so, you're going to get a lot more job offers if you have past work experience than if you just have a degree.
Unfortunatly, because of the economy (and I'm just a freshman), I haven't been able to find a co-op job yet. Sun Microsystems is 'looking' at me (all I know is that they have my Resume, they haven't contacted me since, it's been about a week, so I'm giving them time just in case), and I'll be applying to work for Google (yes, the search engine) next week when I can get some required stuff from the offices. They also have partnerships with a crap load of other companies, so you could end up with someone really cool.
Maybe the answer doesn't lie in paying for e-mails, but for big companies (Microsoft, ISPs, Yahoo!) to stop selling e-mail lists to those damned spammers.
Oh, sure, you have the web bots and fake sign up forms and what have you, but I bet if some law was passed (that punished heavily and was inforced heavily as well) that made it illegal to sell a person's e-mail address without their prior knowledge of exactly who it is going to, things would dry up.
At the very least, make it so that if a company does sell someone's e-mail, that person gets some kind of reimbursment for now having to waste their time guessing is an e-mail is spam or not.
However, Sony are staying out of allowing other kinds of software on the PSP, suggesting: "We feel very strongly that what the consumer wants is a dedicated gaming device."
I can recall interviews with Nintendo personel that they didn't put a DVD player, etc., in the Gamecube because they think the people are interested in dedicated gaming devices, which I agree with. Is Sony saying Nintendo is right?
I'm all for the second bill, mainly because Mature titles are, for the most part, kept higher than the rest of the games (though not all stores do this), and all it would do is make a legal statement of something already happening. Plus, as some pointed out, it would get various activists and parents groups off the backs of stores and video game developers because it would be 'harder' for a child to see one of these games.
Though, really, they could probably still see it by craning their neck. Not to mention that if a 10 year old kid is playing M-rated games already, his parents are probably being irresponsible and buying the games for the kid, so putting them higher will just make the 'parents' complain that they have to lift their kids up to let them see the 'good' games.
As for the first bill, that should be shot down PDQ. The reason is of the extending of the definition of 'harmful matter' to "games where the player can injure another human character 'in a manner that is especially heinous, atrocious or cruel.'"
People can interpret that in various ways. I would hope that most of America (and the world) would take games like Manhunt to be in that definition. But there are people out there (both crazy and non), who think that it isn't cruel or heinous at all. Instead of describing one's feelings about something, it should list specific acts (i.e. cutting off a head with a butcher's knife, repeatedly stabbing a man with sharpened bat, forcing people to watch Richard Simmons tapes, etc.) that can be easily identified, so there would be no question.
Before I had to start moving every three months and gave my legos to the siblings, I had all of them (quite a lot, too) stored in these nail organizer things. I can't remember what the correct name for them is, but I found them to work nicely. I had boughten about $50 worth (or three things) and sorted my Legos into the small drawers. A good one costs about $10-$20 a piece in your local Wal-mart hardware isle, or at a hardware store.
A drawer for flat unos and 2x1s, another for flat 3x1s and 4x1s, one for lego men heads, one for their bodies, one for helmets/hats, etc. It takes some time to organize them all, but the result is very nice, especially if you build with them often (I wish I could). And if/when you move, just put cardboard along the front so the drawers don't slide out.
As for everything else, get small plastic bins. Books should go on a book shelf, but depending on the size of your gear, buying lots of small platic bins that are stackable can help out a lot. Or just go to Wal-Mart and see what they have in the household section. There's usually a lot of organizing stuff including drawers.
Seeing as how I work at a local Best Buy, in computers no less. I'm tasked to be a runner on Black Friday (day after Turkey Day to the uninitiated), which means that I go around busting my ass getting everyone the computer bundle (or just plain computer) they get. I also work more than 10 hours straight that day. It makes me want to cry now.
Heh, I can't believe no one's pointed this out yet (maybe everyone's forced themselves to forget), but Zelda HAS had Voice Acting!
Anyone recall a little defunct system called the CD-i (IIRC) made by Phillips? It had not one, but THREE Legend of Zelda games, all of which were apparently quite bad. I know one, and I think another, had voice acting.
Or maybe we should just sweep that one under the rug and pretend the games were meant to be fire fuel.
Sonic Adventure did have some bad VA, but it didn't make me cringe. Much.
Sonic Adventure 2 did much better, but they apparently never figured out how to make the sentences they spoke short enough so they didn't overlap with someone else's.
Some games make good use of VAs, most don't. I really don't find VAs to be a selling point of a game. I'm prefectly fine with just hearing Link scream as he races towards the bottom of a canyon in OoT.
And if there's voice acting, how can I quickly get through the scene if I'm playing through again? In Zelda games I just press A or B repeatedly so I can continue playing... will that end if it starts using VAs?
(Slightly OT: I've found that if you hold R + B (could be A, I sold my copy a while back) and using the alternating button to move while reading text in OoT, the text pops up a lot faster. Or maybe I just got bored waiting for it to do that and I forced myself to believe that.)
I start college in July, and, going a bit over budget, I got myself a Compaq Presario laptop with Athlon and accompaning DVD/CD-RW combo from Best Buy. It was a reasonable price, and I have maybe $350 in rebates coming back.
I still plan on using a lot of paper and pencil, as you really can't say "Don't start yet, I have a BSoD. Lemmie reboot." The laptop is more for in between classes and voice recording (I'm going to try recording lectures and playing them back as I sleep- I heard that that can help) and maybe even video recording.
Also, if anyone is going to buy a laptop, I highly suggest getting an extended warranty. It may seem like a lot when you get it, but as time goes and you have to replace the hard drive or CD-ROm for various reasons, those can cost a lot more on a laptop than a desktop, but a warranty can get those replaced free (at least mine can).
I do plan on bringing my desktop so that I can have a backup place incase my laptop gets stolen (I have things to prevent that, though). Oh, that's the other thing: If you get a laptop and plan to carry it around, DO NOT get a laptop carrying case. If you set it down for even a bit, it can be an easy target to those less scrupulous. I got this backpack that is made to hold laptops, so I don't have to set it down, just keep it on my back.
Yup. They talk about Vision of Escaflowne being 'new' to the Anime scene, and are hoping for a good dubbing of Kiki's Delivery Service (which has already been played a good hundred times on the Disney channel.) So, in conclusion, this article is OLD.
Plus, if they locked up everyone, it would be something like a big LAN party IRL, minus the actual LAN. People would meet people they know online, friends will come together.
Nintendo can go to the massive prisons (not the small ones, because they would be worthless) and set up real Camp Hyrules! because, of course, everyone would sneak in their GBAs.:)
Lock all 60 Million + users away? They'd have to build at least another 1,000 prisons. Even if we're just talking America here. Plus, jailing that many people may just up the defecite (sp?) of the US, because not only would the government have to pay for new jails to house all us bad file traders, but they'd also loose tax income.
All this so the RIAA/MPAA can get a few hundred thousand back?
Here's a better idea: Find everyone who trades. Go to their house. Ask them for five dollars. Everyone can find five dollars. Pay that once, and the RIAA will get upward of 100 million (25,000,000 * 5, figuring that there are 25,000,000 P2P users in America). That will hold them over for a few years, I think.
If they do use this, they'll probably go after the people who have the most files downloaded and share the most. Makes me glad I only have 300 songs (and not all copyrighted) and don't share.:) So if you have a quarter TB of songs, better move.:O
I'd have to agree in the fullist. Using age as a basis for what you can or can't do is overrated, because, as you said, you don't instantly gain a lot of wisdom and maturity the second you turn 18. Of course, there is no good way otherwise to know if a person is responsible or mature enough to be able to buy or do something, so they use age.
Certain things, like alcohol and tobacco, make this seem like something that would make sense. In a way, it does. But only for things like that. But not being able to sell ANY (violent) video games to people under 18? That's ludicris (...sp?).
We have proven tests that alcohol and tobacco can hurt you, both physically and immediatly. However, 'violence' can be a matter of opinon. What would be considered the line for a 'violent' game? A game where people are hurt? A game containing guns? A game that involves battle? Will Pokémon, that Monster's Inc. Dodge Ball game, and Kingdom Hearts be tossed in with games such as Duke Nukem, GTA: Vice City, and such? I'm not saying those are bad games, but those are what I'd consider 'violent'.
Also, hasn't anyone considered the possibility that violent people aren't made violent by games, but play the games because they're violent? Maybe they're looking for a release, and think that violent games such as Mortal Kombat will bring that.
Registration really isn't all that bad. It's bad if it's used to sign you up for spam without your knowing it (or is that illegal now?), or even with your knowledge but saying you can't do anything about it, or if they want a lot of personal info. If all that's asked for is a name, password, geographical location, e-mail, and one or two other bits of info, that's great.
By having a login (that would be free), whatever site does this will be able to track user habits- not to sell their e-mails to spammers, but to know what sections to put more resources to, user tools (winamp? WMP? Real?) so they can try to think about what they might run up against, and other things. If you have a problem with free, simple registration, then you probably don't use half the internet.
"L33t" speak is almost nothing like what they are talking about. "l33t" (or leet/1337, as it's properly called) speak is a (total) substitution of numbers and symbols for English characters (i.e. 'the' is '7|-|3'). 133t speak actually started as a cheating system using basic calculators. Someone would write out the answers on their calculator in this code, then pass it to a friend to let them 'borrow' the calculator, giving them the answer. This somehow caught onto the internet as has been used (and hideously raped) over and over.
Now, I don't go around using it everyday, and it's really more of a 'for fun' thing, but it gets a bad rap as it is, and I feel a need to defend it. What the kids are using is what I call 'chat spek' (spek intentionally misspelled to mock the excessive misspellings and shortenings of words in chat). The fact that anyone uses 'chat spek' is appalling itself- given, someone may not have the quick typing skills that others have in most chat rooms, but that still is no excuse. It's worse that they bring it over into forums, and then, even worse, notes passed in school. The occasional misspelled word is expected and forgiven, but using these alternatives are just plain stupid. Really. Because, at least to me, it seems you need to have a lower intellect to use these words. There's not other explanation that I can think of.
Now, some things that could be labeled chat speak I have no problem with, as long as they're kept to chat. For instance, 'brb' instead of 'Be Right back', because if you're called away or the phone rings, you don't have time to call it out. Similarily, 'AFAIK' is shorthand for 'as far as I know', because it's easier than typing it out, even for the fastest typers. Though these could be construed as 'chat spek', I just think of them as shortenings because you're not substituting already short words or something like that. 'IMO' is not the same thing as 'b4'.
But that's all IMO, 'n e way'.
Slashdot Mirror
Here's an idea: Go to McCorporate, purchase a couple dozen (or hundered, depending on your choice/desire of music) of the meals, but not for yourself. Have the meals donated to some hunger program, keep the free songs for yourself. You get the music, and you can write off the purchase of the McMeals as a tax exemption or whatever.
/eats a Double Cheese a day, has stayed at a constant weight (don't know if I can say the same about cholesterol)
While many people may not enjoy the thought of eating at McDonald's, I'm sure that quite a few homeless/poor people would be overjoyed at the thought of a full meal for free, regardless of the grease (homeless people don't care about carbs.) You get the music, they get the food, everyone's happy. Oh, and you get a tax exemption.
Just something that came to my mind, I wouldn't actually do this. [no money]
HELL F*CKING YES.
I want to have sex with the screen shots, they look that good. Or at least kiss them vigourosly.
I think I'm still finding it hard to catch that freaking Pikachu.
Seriously, though, I'm a college student with a full time job at the moment, but I still love my SP dearly. Not just for the abundance of games, but for the compactability and portability. I can play it anywhere. Not that I have a lot of time now, but I still get a chance.
Sure, the screen is 'tiny' (bigger than most cellphones,) and it can't do amazingly wonderful graphics like the XBox or Gamecube. But, then, if I wanted to play XBox or Gamecube, I'd first of all own one, and then I'd get a portable screen for them and lug them around in a cooler.
One of the reasons Nintendo's 8-bit hand held stood above the colorful and vibrant competition was price. Price price and more price. That, and it didn't eat batteries like some... battery... eating... monster. Yeah. It's a reason Nintendo survived for some time (N64's pains were not because of price), and a reason they will still survive.
I mean, yeah. Handhelds are marketed towards the younger demographic. But will a parent be more willing to buy a $150 handheld with N64-like graphics or a $300 handheld with useless features that has PS1-like graphics when the kid doesn't really care?
Rather than protecting our children and giving our parents a tool to help raise healthy kids, the multi-billion dollar entertainment industry was allowed to shoot down necessary legislation."
For someone to be able to use a tool, they must have the knowledge on how it works and what to do with it. Lots of stupid parents still buy their ten year old games like Vice City or Manhunt because the kids beg and the parents say "Ok". I highly doubt this 'tool' would be used effectively (if passed,) it would just make parents bitch that they have to go to a different part of the store to buy their children the 'cool' games.
From what I've heard, 'Nintendo Swiss Army Video System' would fit quite well.
"Wired News has a story about how American companies are outsourcing not because of cheap labor but because of the American school system not being up to snuff. In a report by the AeA, they contend that American schools don't teach enough math and science anymore."
That sounds about right. Even going to a 'technical ' college, there's a strong basis on stuff that doesn't have a whole lot to do with CS. And don't get me started about High School.
I mean, really, has McGuyver (sp) ever gotten out of a situation because he knew proper grammar?
They should just call it the Nintendo Two-Way, because you might be able to use the two screens for two-player stuff.
Why is everyone laughing?
I can't attest to the CE portion, but I'm currently a CS at Kettering U. I don't think either the CS or CE is really geared toward Networking, but you might have a good chance in CE. They also allow you to set up your own 'major', so if you can find a good list of courses you could make a Networking Specialist major or something. While it's definately more costly than, say, a community college (but then, what isn't), it has huge merits.
The biggest of which is their co-op program. This isn't some internship that you do for a summer and don't get paid for; this is something that you (hopefully) do throughout all four and a half years of college. It works three months of classes, three months of co-op, repeat that and you have a year. Yes, it's almost year around.
Even so, you're going to get a lot more job offers if you have past work experience than if you just have a degree.
Unfortunatly, because of the economy (and I'm just a freshman), I haven't been able to find a co-op job yet. Sun Microsystems is 'looking' at me (all I know is that they have my Resume, they haven't contacted me since, it's been about a week, so I'm giving them time just in case), and I'll be applying to work for Google (yes, the search engine) next week when I can get some required stuff from the offices. They also have partnerships with a crap load of other companies, so you could end up with someone really cool.
Maybe the answer doesn't lie in paying for e-mails, but for big companies (Microsoft, ISPs, Yahoo!) to stop selling e-mail lists to those damned spammers.
Oh, sure, you have the web bots and fake sign up forms and what have you, but I bet if some law was passed (that punished heavily and was inforced heavily as well) that made it illegal to sell a person's e-mail address without their prior knowledge of exactly who it is going to, things would dry up.
At the very least, make it so that if a company does sell someone's e-mail, that person gets some kind of reimbursment for now having to waste their time guessing is an e-mail is spam or not.
However, Sony are staying out of allowing other kinds of software on the PSP, suggesting: "We feel very strongly that what the consumer wants is a dedicated gaming device."
I can recall interviews with Nintendo personel that they didn't put a DVD player, etc., in the Gamecube because they think the people are interested in dedicated gaming devices, which I agree with. Is Sony saying Nintendo is right?
I'm all for the second bill, mainly because Mature titles are, for the most part, kept higher than the rest of the games (though not all stores do this), and all it would do is make a legal statement of something already happening. Plus, as some pointed out, it would get various activists and parents groups off the backs of stores and video game developers because it would be 'harder' for a child to see one of these games.
Though, really, they could probably still see it by craning their neck. Not to mention that if a 10 year old kid is playing M-rated games already, his parents are probably being irresponsible and buying the games for the kid, so putting them higher will just make the 'parents' complain that they have to lift their kids up to let them see the 'good' games.
As for the first bill, that should be shot down PDQ. The reason is of the extending of the definition of 'harmful matter' to "games where the player can injure another human character 'in a manner that is especially heinous, atrocious or cruel.'"
People can interpret that in various ways. I would hope that most of America (and the world) would take games like Manhunt to be in that definition. But there are people out there (both crazy and non), who think that it isn't cruel or heinous at all. Instead of describing one's feelings about something, it should list specific acts (i.e. cutting off a head with a butcher's knife, repeatedly stabbing a man with sharpened bat, forcing people to watch Richard Simmons tapes, etc.) that can be easily identified, so there would be no question.
Before I had to start moving every three months and gave my legos to the siblings, I had all of them (quite a lot, too) stored in these nail organizer things. I can't remember what the correct name for them is, but I found them to work nicely. I had boughten about $50 worth (or three things) and sorted my Legos into the small drawers. A good one costs about $10-$20 a piece in your local Wal-mart hardware isle, or at a hardware store.
A drawer for flat unos and 2x1s, another for flat 3x1s and 4x1s, one for lego men heads, one for their bodies, one for helmets/hats, etc. It takes some time to organize them all, but the result is very nice, especially if you build with them often (I wish I could). And if/when you move, just put cardboard along the front so the drawers don't slide out.
As for everything else, get small plastic bins. Books should go on a book shelf, but depending on the size of your gear, buying lots of small platic bins that are stackable can help out a lot. Or just go to Wal-Mart and see what they have in the household section. There's usually a lot of organizing stuff including drawers.
Seeing as how I work at a local Best Buy, in computers no less. I'm tasked to be a runner on Black Friday (day after Turkey Day to the uninitiated), which means that I go around busting my ass getting everyone the computer bundle (or just plain computer) they get. I also work more than 10 hours straight that day. It makes me want to cry now.
Screw dress code, I'm wearing tennis shoes.
Ah, correct. I forgot to mention that in my original post. Thanks for the reminder.
Heh, I can't believe no one's pointed this out yet (maybe everyone's forced themselves to forget), but Zelda HAS had Voice Acting!
Anyone recall a little defunct system called the CD-i (IIRC) made by Phillips? It had not one, but THREE Legend of Zelda games, all of which were apparently quite bad. I know one, and I think another, had voice acting.
Or maybe we should just sweep that one under the rug and pretend the games were meant to be fire fuel.
Sonic Adventure did have some bad VA, but it didn't make me cringe. Much.
Sonic Adventure 2 did much better, but they apparently never figured out how to make the sentences they spoke short enough so they didn't overlap with someone else's.
[172 emblems and counting in SA2]
Some games make good use of VAs, most don't. I really don't find VAs to be a selling point of a game. I'm prefectly fine with just hearing Link scream as he races towards the bottom of a canyon in OoT.
And if there's voice acting, how can I quickly get through the scene if I'm playing through again? In Zelda games I just press A or B repeatedly so I can continue playing... will that end if it starts using VAs?
(Slightly OT: I've found that if you hold R + B (could be A, I sold my copy a while back) and using the alternating button to move while reading text in OoT, the text pops up a lot faster. Or maybe I just got bored waiting for it to do that and I forced myself to believe that.)
I start college in July, and, going a bit over budget, I got myself a Compaq Presario laptop with Athlon and accompaning DVD/CD-RW combo from Best Buy. It was a reasonable price, and I have maybe $350 in rebates coming back.
I still plan on using a lot of paper and pencil, as you really can't say "Don't start yet, I have a BSoD. Lemmie reboot." The laptop is more for in between classes and voice recording (I'm going to try recording lectures and playing them back as I sleep- I heard that that can help) and maybe even video recording.
Also, if anyone is going to buy a laptop, I highly suggest getting an extended warranty. It may seem like a lot when you get it, but as time goes and you have to replace the hard drive or CD-ROm for various reasons, those can cost a lot more on a laptop than a desktop, but a warranty can get those replaced free (at least mine can).
I do plan on bringing my desktop so that I can have a backup place incase my laptop gets stolen (I have things to prevent that, though). Oh, that's the other thing: If you get a laptop and plan to carry it around, DO NOT get a laptop carrying case. If you set it down for even a bit, it can be an easy target to those less scrupulous. I got this backpack that is made to hold laptops, so I don't have to set it down, just keep it on my back.
Yup. They talk about Vision of Escaflowne being 'new' to the Anime scene, and are hoping for a good dubbing of Kiki's Delivery Service (which has already been played a good hundred times on the Disney channel.) So, in conclusion, this article is OLD.
Plus, if they locked up everyone, it would be something like a big LAN party IRL, minus the actual LAN. People would meet people they know online, friends will come together. Nintendo can go to the massive prisons (not the small ones, because they would be worthless) and set up real Camp Hyrules! because, of course, everyone would sneak in their GBAs. :)
Lock all 60 Million + users away? They'd have to build at least another 1,000 prisons. Even if we're just talking America here. Plus, jailing that many people may just up the defecite (sp?) of the US, because not only would the government have to pay for new jails to house all us bad file traders, but they'd also loose tax income.
:) So if you have a quarter TB of songs, better move. :O
All this so the RIAA/MPAA can get a few hundred thousand back?
Here's a better idea: Find everyone who trades. Go to their house. Ask them for five dollars. Everyone can find five dollars. Pay that once, and the RIAA will get upward of 100 million (25,000,000 * 5, figuring that there are 25,000,000 P2P users in America). That will hold them over for a few years, I think.
If they do use this, they'll probably go after the people who have the most files downloaded and share the most. Makes me glad I only have 300 songs (and not all copyrighted) and don't share.
I'd have to agree in the fullist. Using age as a basis for what you can or can't do is overrated, because, as you said, you don't instantly gain a lot of wisdom and maturity the second you turn 18. Of course, there is no good way otherwise to know if a person is responsible or mature enough to be able to buy or do something, so they use age.
Certain things, like alcohol and tobacco, make this seem like something that would make sense. In a way, it does. But only for things like that. But not being able to sell ANY (violent) video games to people under 18? That's ludicris (...sp?).
We have proven tests that alcohol and tobacco can hurt you, both physically and immediatly. However, 'violence' can be a matter of opinon. What would be considered the line for a 'violent' game? A game where people are hurt? A game containing guns? A game that involves battle? Will Pokémon, that Monster's Inc. Dodge Ball game, and Kingdom Hearts be tossed in with games such as Duke Nukem, GTA: Vice City, and such? I'm not saying those are bad games, but those are what I'd consider 'violent'.
Also, hasn't anyone considered the possibility that violent people aren't made violent by games, but play the games because they're violent? Maybe they're looking for a release, and think that violent games such as Mortal Kombat will bring that.
Registration really isn't all that bad. It's bad if it's used to sign you up for spam without your knowing it (or is that illegal now?), or even with your knowledge but saying you can't do anything about it, or if they want a lot of personal info. If all that's asked for is a name, password, geographical location, e-mail, and one or two other bits of info, that's great. By having a login (that would be free), whatever site does this will be able to track user habits- not to sell their e-mails to spammers, but to know what sections to put more resources to, user tools (winamp? WMP? Real?) so they can try to think about what they might run up against, and other things. If you have a problem with free, simple registration, then you probably don't use half the internet.
"L33t" speak is almost nothing like what they are talking about. "l33t" (or leet/1337, as it's properly called) speak is a (total) substitution of numbers and symbols for English characters (i.e. 'the' is '7|-|3'). 133t speak actually started as a cheating system using basic calculators. Someone would write out the answers on their calculator in this code, then pass it to a friend to let them 'borrow' the calculator, giving them the answer. This somehow caught onto the internet as has been used (and hideously raped) over and over. Now, I don't go around using it everyday, and it's really more of a 'for fun' thing, but it gets a bad rap as it is, and I feel a need to defend it. What the kids are using is what I call 'chat spek' (spek intentionally misspelled to mock the excessive misspellings and shortenings of words in chat). The fact that anyone uses 'chat spek' is appalling itself- given, someone may not have the quick typing skills that others have in most chat rooms, but that still is no excuse. It's worse that they bring it over into forums, and then, even worse, notes passed in school. The occasional misspelled word is expected and forgiven, but using these alternatives are just plain stupid. Really. Because, at least to me, it seems you need to have a lower intellect to use these words. There's not other explanation that I can think of. Now, some things that could be labeled chat speak I have no problem with, as long as they're kept to chat. For instance, 'brb' instead of 'Be Right back', because if you're called away or the phone rings, you don't have time to call it out. Similarily, 'AFAIK' is shorthand for 'as far as I know', because it's easier than typing it out, even for the fastest typers. Though these could be construed as 'chat spek', I just think of them as shortenings because you're not substituting already short words or something like that. 'IMO' is not the same thing as 'b4'. But that's all IMO, 'n e way'.