Link to law? I can't find reference to an active national helmet law for motorcycles. Wisconsin, being the home of Harley that we are, also does not require helmets (last I checked) - but I was not aware that there was some federal shenanigans going on.
And one of my points is that its already being done by companies. Sony and Microsoft being two notable ones. Considering the marketshare both of them have, I don't really see a need for any such image preservation tactics. Besides - the parental controls could default to not allowing voice chat, thus maintaining the illusion that Nintendo actually cares.
I know, I know... don't feed the trolls... but I kind of have to.
Seriously, dude - no one can be a victim of a sexual predator by voice chat. They have to take active steps to place themselves in danger, like "Hey, my name is Sue, and I am all alone right now, so why not come by and rape me at address XXXXX scary man?". The child can also do this without online voice chat, by simply going outside and talking to people.
Also, the parent could shoulder some responsibility and simply lock the system down. They do all support parental controls nowadays.
She confided later that she was embarassed by the things this guy was pressing her on, and didn't know how to extricate herself from the situation.
So... your daughter didn't know how to stop talking to someone online. Was "bye" too hard? I mean, seriously... this was an online chat. Ignoring the person, leaving the situation, or just plain logging off would seem to work quite well. Thats one of the other things my parents taught me - that I could (and should) leave situations that make me uncomfortable.
there is afterall a fine line between being a good parent and being invasive
I dare say that passing laws is somewhat invasive... especially to other parents, who might not feel the same way as you.
I am sure, though, that I am not happy with the level of monitoring that went on (or didn't) at her friend's house.
Ok. So talk to this friend's parents. This is the rational person's response. The irrational person petitions governmental bodies to make laws so they don't have to talk to other people. Besides, WoW would be entirely outside the scope of this law. How many laws would you plan on passing? How many forms of communication will need to be controlled before you feel "safe"?
I'm also pretty sure that explanation or not, you parents would have stepped in and taken control had the situation arose when you were six where you could have made the choice to take heroin.
I doubt I would have been able to hold a needle properly at 6. Besides, my parents told me not to talk to strangers, so I wouldn't have talked to the creepy guy who would be offering a 6 year old his first hit of heroin. Truly, the more common situation would be with pot - and it would be offered by a friend, and my parents would have little in the way of power to stop this. When that did happen, however, I refused - and since I had good quality friends, they respected my decision and passed. More for them, so I doubt they were disappointed.
I agree with your motives. Protecting children is a good thing. However, that discretion and responsibility should be solely left up to the parent. Besides, this truly is a tiny spec of the true dangers to children. The online world is a safe place, given minor precuation. Only those who actively go out of their way to expose themselves are in any way at risk. Those who do so are probably either aware of the risk, and able to handle it, or not at all suited for survival in this world. I fully support Darwinism - let the dumb fall prey to their mistakes (so long as it hurts only them). They will either learn, or perish - and the human race benefits.
Every single one of your scenarios involves adults controlling their children directly. Stop attacking the symptoms and go for the cause. Raise your child to be responsible, and trust them. If you can't do this - then that isn't my problem, nor is it myspace's. Leave our internet alone.
Whats next? Your kid has a friend with an XBOX? ZOMG! We can't let that happen - lets have laws mandating that all XBOX Live voice chat must go through age verification.
Of course, even if you put constraints on all media/communication ever (may that day never come to pass), your kid will still just be able to wander down the street to the local mall and pick up the hot older guys. The internet isn't nearly this bad, since it requires your kid to be really stupid and post personal information in order to be harmed.
When I was a kid, my parents told me not to do stupid things, and then (for the most part) left me alone. They didn't scream in my ear to stay away from drugs. Far from it. My dad said they felt great... then he went through all the withdrawl symptoms. He told me which ones were probably best left alone, and which probably wouldn't do anything to you at all - despite what the DARE officer may say. He, of course, said he would prefer me not to do drugs, and they should never be in the house, but my life was mine to screw up as I please. To this day, I have not done any drugs. I have immense respect for the trust my parents placed in me, and that alone kept me more in line than any punishment I can remember.
We are (currently) the only known intelligent species in existence. I dare say the genetic material that made that possible is darn special, and worth preserving. Oh sure, at some future date we may find out that we aren't so unique - but until that day, we are the only beings to have even considered the meaning of our own existence in this way.
IIRC, Mario Party comes out this week. That will cause a significant disruption in the american economy, as droves of people stay home and play with their Wiis. Nintendo must space such releases out, in order to safeguard our nation.
I don't disagree that the affects are good and all - but why should I spend my tax dollars helping such a relatively small group of people? Shouldn't that go towards more universally beneficail things - like education? Or perhaps towards feeding the poor, or something...
Nothing prevents these people from going out on their own and getting the vaccine. What we are talking about here is a law that will basically force the cost of it onto the american populace. While I agree the affect would be a good one, I think we have more important things to do with that money.
While the article is talking about a rather large squid, it isn't (strictly speaking) the Giant Squid. Instead, its Taningia danae - a less impressive cousin.
The governement does manage land. We pay taxes on our land - roughlay analagous to how the providers license the spectrum. The government does also maintain parks and other such public resources, much like how there are sections of the airwaves set aside for public use.
This is why I like living in Wisconsin. I had the 1:)
Feingold has my vote for quite some time for that stunt. Sure, he is a bit of an attention whore, but he does the right things for attention.
Well, yes - which is why I was bringing up the point that your grievances against XP (long boot time) were not really true, so there isn't much point to buying the server version for IE7.
I will be celebrating January 30th with Windows format day. All of my Microsoft Windows partitions will be formatted and replaced with some flavor of Linux or another. The laptop is already cleaned - now running Ubuntu. The gaming PC is next - downloading the latest Mandriva release as we speak. Of course, I will leave 10 Gigs open for a future XP install whenever the next must-play game comes out, but that will be the only such OS on my network.
While XP is essentially built on top of 2k, they actually reduced the boot time. XP Pro is pretty much just as usable as 2k, and you can turn off all the shinies. Not quite as efficient (min specs went from 133 to 166 IIRC), but still pretty speedy.
You know that GenCon was huge before this guy acquired it, right? Indeed, it started small, but that was some time ago. There is a place for small local cons, and they do rock. GenCon, however, is the Mecca of geek - and it has been for some time. This guy just took it from WotC, which is a good thing, since they are much more open to a wider variety of games now.
If I remember correctly, the 86 and 89 (probably even the 83) will let you write text on the screen. They have an ALPHA button that lets you write text, each button having a letter of the alphabet written above it in blue (to match the button). These calculators also let you save a screenshot of your "annotated graph" (aka notecard) for future reference (aka cheating).
I suppose I was one of the few to figure that out... quite a helpful device.
Slashdot Mirror
Or point them at Parrot ... which isn't covered by Microsoft's shadow.
I live in Wisconsin. We make good cheese.
n g/WisconsinCheeseAwards.aspx
http://www.wisdairy.com/AllAboutCheese/Cheesemaki
Carr Valley makes some of the best stuff out there. Try some Cave Aged Cardona and have your opinion of American cheese forever changed.
Slight modification - never get a new _Windows_ OS - which I am not all that sad about.
Link to law? I can't find reference to an active national helmet law for motorcycles. Wisconsin, being the home of Harley that we are, also does not require helmets (last I checked) - but I was not aware that there was some federal shenanigans going on.
Privacy aids the protection of freedom ... which is barely a step away from aiding freedom directly.
And one of my points is that its already being done by companies. Sony and Microsoft being two notable ones. Considering the marketshare both of them have, I don't really see a need for any such image preservation tactics. Besides - the parental controls could default to not allowing voice chat, thus maintaining the illusion that Nintendo actually cares.
I know, I know ... don't feed the trolls ... but I kind of have to.
Seriously, dude - no one can be a victim of a sexual predator by voice chat. They have to take active steps to place themselves in danger, like "Hey, my name is Sue, and I am all alone right now, so why not come by and rape me at address XXXXX scary man?". The child can also do this without online voice chat, by simply going outside and talking to people.
Also, the parent could shoulder some responsibility and simply lock the system down. They do all support parental controls nowadays.
I agree with your motives. Protecting children is a good thing. However, that discretion and responsibility should be solely left up to the parent. Besides, this truly is a tiny spec of the true dangers to children. The online world is a safe place, given minor precuation. Only those who actively go out of their way to expose themselves are in any way at risk. Those who do so are probably either aware of the risk, and able to handle it, or not at all suited for survival in this world. I fully support Darwinism - let the dumb fall prey to their mistakes (so long as it hurts only them). They will either learn, or perish - and the human race benefits.
Every single one of your scenarios involves adults controlling their children directly. Stop attacking the symptoms and go for the cause. Raise your child to be responsible, and trust them. If you can't do this - then that isn't my problem, nor is it myspace's. Leave our internet alone.
... then he went through all the withdrawl symptoms. He told me which ones were probably best left alone, and which probably wouldn't do anything to you at all - despite what the DARE officer may say. He, of course, said he would prefer me not to do drugs, and they should never be in the house, but my life was mine to screw up as I please. To this day, I have not done any drugs. I have immense respect for the trust my parents placed in me, and that alone kept me more in line than any punishment I can remember.
Whats next? Your kid has a friend with an XBOX? ZOMG! We can't let that happen - lets have laws mandating that all XBOX Live voice chat must go through age verification.
Of course, even if you put constraints on all media/communication ever (may that day never come to pass), your kid will still just be able to wander down the street to the local mall and pick up the hot older guys. The internet isn't nearly this bad, since it requires your kid to be really stupid and post personal information in order to be harmed.
When I was a kid, my parents told me not to do stupid things, and then (for the most part) left me alone. They didn't scream in my ear to stay away from drugs. Far from it. My dad said they felt great
We are (currently) the only known intelligent species in existence. I dare say the genetic material that made that possible is darn special, and worth preserving. Oh sure, at some future date we may find out that we aren't so unique - but until that day, we are the only beings to have even considered the meaning of our own existence in this way.
IIRC, Mario Party comes out this week. That will cause a significant disruption in the american economy, as droves of people stay home and play with their Wiis. Nintendo must space such releases out, in order to safeguard our nation.
I don't disagree that the affects are good and all - but why should I spend my tax dollars helping such a relatively small group of people? Shouldn't that go towards more universally beneficail things - like education? Or perhaps towards feeding the poor, or something ...
Nothing prevents these people from going out on their own and getting the vaccine. What we are talking about here is a law that will basically force the cost of it onto the american populace. While I agree the affect would be a good one, I think we have more important things to do with that money.
While the article is talking about a rather large squid, it isn't (strictly speaking) the Giant Squid. Instead, its Taningia danae - a less impressive cousin.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dana_Octopus_Squid
The governement does manage land. We pay taxes on our land - roughlay analagous to how the providers license the spectrum. The government does also maintain parks and other such public resources, much like how there are sections of the airwaves set aside for public use.
I believe most of the iD software games work in Linux. Or ... just get this.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cedega
It wont, which is why Microsoft cuts off support after so many years. Businesses dont care about the shinies, but they do care about support.
This is why I like living in Wisconsin. I had the 1 :)
Feingold has my vote for quite some time for that stunt. Sure, he is a bit of an attention whore, but he does the right things for attention.
Well, yes - which is why I was bringing up the point that your grievances against XP (long boot time) were not really true, so there isn't much point to buying the server version for IE7.
I will be celebrating January 30th with Windows format day. All of my Microsoft Windows partitions will be formatted and replaced with some flavor of Linux or another. The laptop is already cleaned - now running Ubuntu. The gaming PC is next - downloading the latest Mandriva release as we speak. Of course, I will leave 10 Gigs open for a future XP install whenever the next must-play game comes out, but that will be the only such OS on my network.
Check his wikipedia entry : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Adkison
Yes, he was a founding member of WotC, but he is no longer a part of that company. And he did buy GenCon from them after the Hasbro thing.
True, but its also ungodly more expensive, last I checked :-P
I like my shiny green things.
... run windows.
While XP is essentially built on top of 2k, they actually reduced the boot time. XP Pro is pretty much just as usable as 2k, and you can turn off all the shinies. Not quite as efficient (min specs went from 133 to 166 IIRC), but still pretty speedy.
You know that GenCon was huge before this guy acquired it, right? Indeed, it started small, but that was some time ago. There is a place for small local cons, and they do rock. GenCon, however, is the Mecca of geek - and it has been for some time. This guy just took it from WotC, which is a good thing, since they are much more open to a wider variety of games now.
If I remember correctly, the 86 and 89 (probably even the 83) will let you write text on the screen. They have an ALPHA button that lets you write text, each button having a letter of the alphabet written above it in blue (to match the button). These calculators also let you save a screenshot of your "annotated graph" (aka notecard) for future reference (aka cheating).
... quite a helpful device.
I suppose I was one of the few to figure that out