"the other difference between a gun and a hammer is that when both are held by an attacker and an intended victim, only the gun offers either a level field or possibly gives the victim an advantage, where the hammer gives the advantage to whoever is strongest and most violent."
And what are the stats on this sort of thing where there is actually a standoff?
And compared to the number of fatal gun-related accidents?
Hmmm.
This is another one of those fantasy crime situations americans like to get involved in. Like the "home invasion" scenario. Very rare, very rare indeed and less likely to involve harm for either party in countries where gun ownership is not commonplace.
It doesn't bother me in the slightest, it just doesn't really do it for me either.
Don't get me wrong, I've enjoyed stuff on the wii, but it doesn't have lasting appeal. This thread should be evidence enough for third party games companies that there *is* an audience of folks like me, regardless of the validity of my opinions on cartoony games.
"The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess" - Really rather boring. "House of the Dead 2 and 3 Return" - Too arcadey, not much substance really. "Super Smash Bros. Brawl," - Cartoon beat-em-ups are fun, but not really that involved or compelling "Super Mario Galaxy" - Again, cartoony "Manhunt 2," - played on PS2
The rest perhaps I should look into.
It doesn't detract from the original point though - that decemt, in depth games can work on the Wii too, not just endless reruns of "Super Mario: Lets shake the controller as fast as we can or pretend to be fishing maybe"
"One is the typical lone player in a room somewhere, the other is a social or family game played in the living room. I don't think we'd play hardcore games on the wii at all."
That's just, like, your opinion, man!
Personally I like the 360, I like FPS, but I also like doing it with friends, preferably in the same room. This is why things like Gears of War 2 utterly rock. It's an involved, all action shooter you can play split-screen co-op.
The Wii sits largely unused because basically the games are usually like a collection of flash games with a funky controller.
Give me something hardcore that makes good use of the Wiimote please. I know I'm not the only gamer that feels this way. I have this funny feeling that the Wii may be about the best selling console we ever see, but also with a historically low attach rate as kids/families love it but don't buy many games, and the likes of me just leave it in a corner.
Myself, I'm not quite up to taking the leap to rural living, but I get what you mean about feeling stifled in the city, about not doing much because it all seems like so much effort to organise.
I'm planning on moving to the other side of the planet as soon as I get a visa (Australia here we come), to the outskirts of a small city (well, 1M is small, right?), somewhere I can ride a pedal bike to work and drive out into the middle of nowhere inside an hour, rather than get in the car and find myself pissed off and *still in this damned city* an hour later.
Londoners have the same disease, to a slightly lesser extent.
I'm moving away from *my* City, London, in a few months and I just hope I don't turn into one of those people.
"Oh, well when I was in London..." "In London you can get..." "Well in London these things are open 24 hours..." "What, you don't have any sushi/thai/dim-sum restaurants within walking distance?" "Oh but in London I could always find..."
I wonder if they studied city people or country folk?
Personally I like having that level of movement and activity around, I find it somehow comforting. I certainly don't find "coping" with city streets stressful, except when it's nearing christmas and all the f*ck-damned tourists are crowding up the place and getting in the way.
Guess I've lived in the city long enough to not find it a problem.
On highly technical websites, I don't block ads. This is because they aren't intrusive or annoying, and usually aren't flash or evil-javascript based (i.e. intrusive).
"Ad blocking tech blocks more content than the ads themselves ever obscure, and getting rid of obscuring ads is usually a one click operation, unblocking is often a multi-click operation."
I don't get this at all. I've never noticed content being blocked by ABP (though maybe I wouldn't) or had the need to unblock. Flashblock puts a little icon where the animation would be so that I can choose to play it if I like.
I agree with point 2 though and as I said - steer clear of annoying popups, popunders, javascript annoyances and flash objects floating around in the way of the site and we're fine. Use those and I don't mind if you block me because I wouldn't be visiting anyway.
People don't want to read advertorial, sites employing advertorial become useless and folks will stop reading them.
And yes, blocking will win the race because all they have to do is download the ads and not display them, then the server really is none the wiser. Unless you get into all sorts of crazy technology like embedding client-side javascript that validates the page layout before loading up the content, or some such thing.
Still, in the end it's the person controlling the browser (end-user) that has the power here. This is a fundamental difference from television, and one I really like.
I'm working on my plan to move to a better country as we speak.
You're not the only one.
I think the UK is undergoing a minor exodus at the moment as people get fed up with it, and get fed up with the sheeple who seem to lap up all this nonsense and beg to be made "safer".
Not only that, but protesters seem to be viewed by the American public as whiny, smelly, "liberal" hippies. At best. At worst they're considered disloyal and criminal.
I was on a tour of Alcatraz a little while back, and the tour guide very patiently explained about the occupation of the island by students sympathetic to the plight of native americans. She very, very carefully explained how sometimes, in hindsight, we can look at these criminal acts and maybe understand that there was some legitimate point behind them. I found this need for explanation disturbing.
(now that private possession of firearms has been completely outlawed).
when did that happen?
Handguns, sure, and guns are not considered reasonable force if used to defend oneself - they are for hunting or sport only - but they aren't outlawed.
And the kitchen knives hyperbole is an outright fabrication.
Facts: use them.
OTOH I agree with the theme, we do have a government intent on removing people's rights, and it is terribly sad that a large proportion of the populace support them in this.
"I and no doubt 1001 other people know this and are creating software that can be used by site administrators to achieve the same thing, and in the long term this kind of thing is going to become more common."
Sounds good to me.
I am not prepared to put up with annoying flash or javascript ads. I will block them from being automatically loaded by my browser when I visit your page.
If that means you are not willing to provide me a service, so be it.
I have trouble with the idea that it doesn't affect your numbers, but then maybe people that use adblock are actually a tiny minority.
"Innovation comes from creativity and possibility(time) to implement it. I do not believe you can buy innovation or that the creative minds stop innovate just because it is an economic downturn."
Add money to the first bit. Innovative minds might not stop due to a downturn, but they may stop being paid, and not all innovative/creative folks are the types to do it in their spare time. A lot are (vis. FOSS), but by no means all.
Whether it's a statistically significant portion or not is up for debate and/or study. There are two factors that point towards the conclusion though:
1. Repeated examples. There are many examples (that often show up on fark.com) of the most vehement family values folks getting caught with coke and hookers, and right wing, anti-gay "christian" leaders being caught doing bad things with young male prostitutes. These may not be prevalent but do tend to stick in the mind.
2. The arguments used. When people argue that gay marriage somehow ruins straight marriage, or that legalising gay marriage will somehow spread teh gay, you've got to wonder what's going on in there. Maybe it's "hey, if it was legal and societally accepted I know I would, but that's bad and wrong!!". All that bile has to come from some sort of self-loathing, right?
A nudist hiker had his right to wander around the countryside wearing nothing but hiking boots and a backpack upheld in UK courts a little while ago. It was ruled that because he wasn't doing it to shock or for any sexual reasons then it was fine.
Slashdot Mirror
"the other difference between a gun and a hammer is that when both are held by an attacker and an intended victim, only the gun offers either a level field or possibly gives the victim an advantage, where the hammer gives the advantage to whoever is strongest and most violent."
And what are the stats on this sort of thing where there is actually a standoff?
And compared to the number of fatal gun-related accidents?
Hmmm.
This is another one of those fantasy crime situations americans like to get involved in. Like the "home invasion" scenario. Very rare, very rare indeed and less likely to involve harm for either party in countries where gun ownership is not commonplace.
It doesn't bother me in the slightest, it just doesn't really do it for me either.
Don't get me wrong, I've enjoyed stuff on the wii, but it doesn't have lasting appeal. This thread should be evidence enough for third party games companies that there *is* an audience of folks like me, regardless of the validity of my opinions on cartoony games.
Any evidence of this bird-killing?
The only thing I can find is that lights on towers can confuse migrating birds. Nothing about harm from RF.
"The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess" - Really rather boring.
"House of the Dead 2 and 3 Return" - Too arcadey, not much substance really.
"Super Smash Bros. Brawl," - Cartoon beat-em-ups are fun, but not really that involved or compelling
"Super Mario Galaxy" - Again, cartoony
"Manhunt 2," - played on PS2
The rest perhaps I should look into.
It doesn't detract from the original point though - that decemt, in depth games can work on the Wii too, not just endless reruns of "Super Mario: Lets shake the controller as fast as we can or pretend to be fishing maybe"
Seriously weird folks.
If you want to read more about "Orgone" and the crackpot that came up with it, look up Wilhelm Reich.
I have a wireless router under my bed, near the head end. Strange how I'm not suffering from the "illnesses" these idiots are claiming.
"One is the typical lone player in a room somewhere, the other is a social or family game played in the living room. I don't think we'd play hardcore games on the wii at all."
That's just, like, your opinion, man!
Personally I like the 360, I like FPS, but I also like doing it with friends, preferably in the same room. This is why things like Gears of War 2 utterly rock. It's an involved, all action shooter you can play split-screen co-op.
The Wii sits largely unused because basically the games are usually like a collection of flash games with a funky controller.
Give me something hardcore that makes good use of the Wiimote please. I know I'm not the only gamer that feels this way. I have this funny feeling that the Wii may be about the best selling console we ever see, but also with a historically low attach rate as kids/families love it but don't buy many games, and the likes of me just leave it in a corner.
Likewise.
And why is it not as fast as cable.? 3G over here in europe can be used with a variety of laptop/phone combinations and is really quite snappy.
Myself, I'm not quite up to taking the leap to rural living, but I get what you mean about feeling stifled in the city, about not doing much because it all seems like so much effort to organise.
I'm planning on moving to the other side of the planet as soon as I get a visa (Australia here we come), to the outskirts of a small city (well, 1M is small, right?), somewhere I can ride a pedal bike to work and drive out into the middle of nowhere inside an hour, rather than get in the car and find myself pissed off and *still in this damned city* an hour later.
Londoners have the same disease, to a slightly lesser extent.
I'm moving away from *my* City, London, in a few months and I just hope I don't turn into one of those people.
"Oh, well when I was in London..."
"In London you can get..."
"Well in London these things are open 24 hours..."
"What, you don't have any sushi/thai/dim-sum restaurants within walking distance?"
"Oh but in London I could always find..."
Yeah.
I wonder if they studied city people or country folk?
Personally I like having that level of movement and activity around, I find it somehow comforting. I certainly don't find "coping" with city streets stressful, except when it's nearing christmas and all the f*ck-damned tourists are crowding up the place and getting in the way.
Guess I've lived in the city long enough to not find it a problem.
Well, I don't use NoScript, Flashblock and ABP are good enough for me.
And I've never bothered with a whitelist as I've never encountered problems with any site that is an absolute must.
On highly technical websites, I don't block ads. This is because they aren't intrusive or annoying, and usually aren't flash or evil-javascript based (i.e. intrusive).
"Ad blocking tech blocks more content than the ads themselves ever obscure, and getting rid of obscuring ads is usually a one click operation, unblocking is often a multi-click operation."
I don't get this at all. I've never noticed content being blocked by ABP (though maybe I wouldn't) or had the need to unblock. Flashblock puts a little icon where the animation would be so that I can choose to play it if I like.
I agree with point 2 though and as I said - steer clear of annoying popups, popunders, javascript annoyances and flash objects floating around in the way of the site and we're fine. Use those and I don't mind if you block me because I wouldn't be visiting anyway.
Depends on your priorities.
I'd rather give up on the site. Requiring flash is annoying. If it doesn't work with flashblock I'll just go elsewhere.
Advertorial isn't a problem.
People don't want to read advertorial, sites employing advertorial become useless and folks will stop reading them.
And yes, blocking will win the race because all they have to do is download the ads and not display them, then the server really is none the wiser. Unless you get into all sorts of crazy technology like embedding client-side javascript that validates the page layout before loading up the content, or some such thing.
Still, in the end it's the person controlling the browser (end-user) that has the power here. This is a fundamental difference from television, and one I really like.
(alright, I know, I can turn the tv off...)
I'm working on my plan to move to a better country as we speak.
You're not the only one.
I think the UK is undergoing a minor exodus at the moment as people get fed up with it, and get fed up with the sheeple who seem to lap up all this nonsense and beg to be made "safer".
It sickens me.
Not only that, but protesters seem to be viewed by the American public as whiny, smelly, "liberal" hippies. At best. At worst they're considered disloyal and criminal.
I was on a tour of Alcatraz a little while back, and the tour guide very patiently explained about the occupation of the island by students sympathetic to the plight of native americans. She very, very carefully explained how sometimes, in hindsight, we can look at these criminal acts and maybe understand that there was some legitimate point behind them. I found this need for explanation disturbing.
(now that private possession of firearms has been completely outlawed).
when did that happen?
Handguns, sure, and guns are not considered reasonable force if used to defend oneself - they are for hunting or sport only - but they aren't outlawed.
And the kitchen knives hyperbole is an outright fabrication.
Facts: use them.
OTOH I agree with the theme, we do have a government intent on removing people's rights, and it is terribly sad that a large proportion of the populace support them in this.
"I and no doubt 1001 other people know this and are creating software that can be used by site administrators to achieve the same thing, and in the long term this kind of thing is going to become more common."
Sounds good to me.
I am not prepared to put up with annoying flash or javascript ads. I will block them from being automatically loaded by my browser when I visit your page.
If that means you are not willing to provide me a service, so be it.
I have trouble with the idea that it doesn't affect your numbers, but then maybe people that use adblock are actually a tiny minority.
Yes, Singapore is pretending to be a free and democratic state, very much like the US and UK.
"Innovation comes from creativity and possibility(time) to implement it. I do not believe you can buy innovation or that the creative minds stop innovate just because it is an economic downturn."
Add money to the first bit. Innovative minds might not stop due to a downturn, but they may stop being paid, and not all innovative/creative folks are the types to do it in their spare time. A lot are (vis. FOSS), but by no means all.
Linux went mainstream years ago, just not on the Desktop. A hell of a lot of companies use Linux for serving pretty much everything.
Just not true.
80% of the US population lives in urban or suburban environments.
The US has a roughly equivalent size and population to the EU.
This excuse has run out of steam.
So porn makes you pregnant and addicted to drugs?
Your society is fucked up.
Whether it's a statistically significant portion or not is up for debate and/or study. There are two factors that point towards the conclusion though:
1. Repeated examples.
There are many examples (that often show up on fark.com) of the most vehement family values folks getting caught with coke and hookers, and right wing, anti-gay "christian" leaders being caught doing bad things with young male prostitutes. These may not be prevalent but do tend to stick in the mind.
2. The arguments used.
When people argue that gay marriage somehow ruins straight marriage, or that legalising gay marriage will somehow spread teh gay, you've got to wonder what's going on in there. Maybe it's "hey, if it was legal and societally accepted I know I would, but that's bad and wrong!!". All that bile has to come from some sort of self-loathing, right?
Already allowed in the good old UK.
A nudist hiker had his right to wander around the countryside wearing nothing but hiking boots and a backpack upheld in UK courts a little while ago. It was ruled that because he wasn't doing it to shock or for any sexual reasons then it was fine.