Yes, but not everyone celebrates it the same and some don't observe the holiday at all. I have several European friends who found the American tradition odd even though they were aware of it.
Here's another clue: I'm not as stupid nor as ethnocentric as you think I am. If you took the time to actually read and digest my post, you would know that I was trying to say that other cultures and holidays are special and they should be recognized in the game as well. I'm sorry you are just too prejudice to realize that.
Your repsonse once again aptly displays your ignorance and prejudice. I have worked with the homeless and know quite well how they act, which is why I find your comments so offensive.
First of all, very very few people choose to be homeless and those who do, have severe mental issues and should get help (not being sarcastic). There are mitigating circumstances that lead them to become homeless. Anyone who has ANY experience with the homeless know that everyone has their story.
Well, if memory serves me right, I do believe there were such institutions up until the 1950's and a little bit after that (they closed slowly). Why did they close these institutions you ask? Well, they were closed because it was found to be UNCONSTITUTIONAL to permanently commit someone against their will. They also found that putting individuals in this situation was not helping them.
See before this ruling (actually originating form the days of Dorethea Dix), they threw all sorts of mentally ill and mentally deficient people in there. Families basically threw away their sick relatives into these institutions (some times without valid reason).
To make a long short, after they closed these institutions, a good majority of the people ended up on the streets as homeless because they got lost in the system. This still happens today when families abandon their mentally ill relatives or they run away. The system is no longer able to handle these people anymore so they fall in the cracks. Also, many of these individuals are not capable enough to properly seek the help they need.
As far as committing these illegal actions in public, you obviously have not been around a college town or bar area on a Friday or Saturday night. Many of these individuals drink, urinate and even throw up on public streets. I have witnessed this first hand.
Also, how are homeless people going to afford heroin? Don't you also think that there haven't been people who are not homeless who have used drugs in public?
Well, I also guess you don't believe pleading insanity defense valid; even though the government itself recognizes that people who are mentally ill are not fully responsible for their actions. It is not used as an excuse for bad behvavior but as an explanation for it.
You should learn to be less judgemental and more forgiving. It will make you a better person for it. You should also educate yourself a little better.
Obviously you are a very insensitive ignorant jerk. IF you knew anything, you would realize that a good majority of the homeless are mentally ill in one way or another. IF you were intelligent you would know that such people often have a hard time abiding by social norms.
Also, IF you had any feelings of value, you would pity these people because most of the time they don't know what they are doing. Just because they don't always behave appropriately adn just because they don't have a place to sleep at night DOES NOT entitle the government to take away basic rights of citizenship.
On the note of mental illness, many homeless people are very paranoid and suffer from schizophrenia, which causes them to yell on the street as you so indelicately put it. This paranoia of being tracked would also prevent them from getting the help they need at shelters and from free medical care. So, the won't be able to get off the streets. If you would take the time to educate yourself about the homeless you might have known that.
So, are homeless people now second class citizens. This system will deny them of their basic right for privacy. Why should the government have open rights to all their medical information? Last I checked medical information is highly guarded and not something you can request on a whim.
I think the government needs to remember that the homeless are human beings and not some wild animal that can be tracked like on Animal Planet. They should consider putting more money into rehabiltation and work programs.
Maybe this will be another Futures Market scheme where they can profit on the misfortunes of others instead of doing something proactive.
It's not just a matter of translating (which does take a long time for colloquialisms). It's also a matter of changing the code in the game, which if you ask any programmer can take a very long time.
You may think that there aren't that many American specific holidays in there but if you look at the Japanese version there are many. You are also failing to notice that there are many countries that do have many specific holidays that they feel aren't irrelevant. So, not only would they have to research these holidays but they would also have to come up with a theme (i.e. Finding the Turkey on Thanksgiving or the candy on Halloween, both American specific holidays), and rewrite the code for these days. This whole process could take months just to cover the holidays of one country.
That is the point of the game to be taylored to the region it is being produced for. I believe I read somewhere that it took an extra six months to release AC in America to make the changes.
I fully realize that not everything is taylored like that but this game is. Part of the fun of the game is celebrating the holidays and seeing what happens during them. (For the American Thanksgiving, you try to find a Turkey to get presents.) It's those little things that make the game special and enjoyable.
With all the different regional holidays that Europe has to offer, it would be hard to decide which ones to integrate into the game and even harder to figure out how to do so (i.e. deciding how to celebrate the holiday).
Okay, does anybody realize that Europe is one of the most multicultural areas of the world and the AC is highly based upon the culture of the users playing it?
I mean do you think that everyone in the world celebrates Thanksgiving and the 4th of July? It takes time to taylor the culture in AC. This tayloring not only includes the holidays but the items too. Not only that, they would have to make it multilingual (not everyone in Europe speaks English).
However, in Australia they do speak English and they only have to change/add a few holidays here and there. So, I don't think it's a personal beef with Europe. I just think Europe is a little bit more complicated place than other areas, which would take more time to produce a game for them.
If you feel so righteous about the point, why don't you proclaim its virtues in its own posting, instead of just to my little thread. Since it's so onesided no one, but you, will ever read it.
Obviously you are not going to change my mind. But, maybe you can get those people who are sitting on the fence. I'm sure they'll be more receptive.
I was speaking to the people who, like me, disagree with the research. If they agreed with me and they wanted to, they could write. If not then they don't have to. Just giving them an avenue to go down.
And no, I'm not a high-school girl. I'm a college gradate and that explains nothing except that you are being condescending.
If you hate my point of view so much, why do you keep writing back? Is it that you can't stand to let me have the last word?
Another thing is, you don't know me and I don't know you. If you knew me, then you would know that I do not shout and I do not waste my time with people who do so.
Conversely, I don't know you and I don't know if you are close minded or not. This leads me to my next comment, since I don't know you, I have a hard time trusting information.
I am willing to let you have your opinion but you must also be willing to let me have mine.
I wasn't looking to argue a case. I think I've made that point clear. I was dispensing info as to what they could do if they felt they wanted to do something to stop the research. That is all.
I made no religious connotations. If you thought I did, that was your own hangup.
This model was never meant to infer human behavior. The only forums, to my knowledge it has been used in are for economic purposes. I have every right to have a moral objection to something and to express it so. Not all moral objections are bad (ie to slavery in the US, since you are so fond of using these examples).
I also think you misunderstood the purposes of my initial comment. My intention was that if people wanted to get involved in this matter, they could contact their legal body. NOT a discussion on the issue of military research.
As far as I am concerned, I'm glad they cancelled this research before they wasted anymore time or money. The topic they chose was a bad idea. It was wrong for multiple reasons. I don't have the time nor the energy to get into it with you. You obviously don't see things the way I do and that is fine, it is your right.
Okay, I'm not opposed to ALL research. I'm a big proponent of stem cell research and the like. I'm against research that will end up having people bet on when someone will be assassinated or when the next suicide bomber will happen.
The people who would be placing money on these things would not be making educated guesses, in most cases, because the info is simply not available to them. How could they? A majority of the info is classified. Terrorists certainly wouldn't do it because that would lead the govt right to them.
Plus, the information they would get would be very value laden which is never good data. This incarnation of the future market is/was a bad idea from inception. I feel they went too far with it. They did not look at the bigger social implications of it and shame on them for not doing so.
Just like not all moral objections are wrong and not all of them are right either. You are taking things very black and white and that is very dangerous.
I don't believe I said all of DAPRA research was a waste of money, thank you very much. I just said this venture was.
Yes, I do believe that more govt money should be placed in public services and not research projects that will go nowhere and cause more harm than good.
After wasting $600,000 of the tax payers dollars the military has decided that it's futures market was a bad idea.
One place where that money could/should have been spent thing is fixing the problems in Afghanistan (remember that little country we destroyed and were suppose to help rebuild 2 years ago). It's now being over run, again, by warlords. Another is finding Saddam, why don't they invest some research dollars into finding him? Or Osama for that matter. Or investigate N. Korea a little bit more for the nuclear weapons program?
I'm seriously starting to wonder where they find these research people. Did they find them on the psychic network?
I'm sorry but I just find the fact that they are wasting my money rather disturbing. Especially when there are problems going on right now in Afghanistan that need immediate attention vs. finding out ways to predict terrorist attacks using models that are no better than calling a psychic.
The fact that they are even considering such methods is abhorrent. We are so much better than that and I believe there are better ways to obtain such information.
And just because someone objects to something on a moral basis does not mean they are not open minded.
There is no way the government is going to find ANY valuable information this method. It is just disgusting that people could make money off of other's misfortunes.
Our government has already spent $600,000 developing this program and they plan to spend another $149,000 this year, all of which could've gone to better places. The House plans to approve more money for next year. Please write your local Representative and ask them to vote against it if you don't want your money being wasted. http://www.house.gov/writerep/
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Yes, but not everyone celebrates it the same and some don't observe the holiday at all. I have several European friends who found the American tradition odd even though they were aware of it.
Here's another clue: I'm not as stupid nor as ethnocentric as you think I am. If you took the time to actually read and digest my post, you would know that I was trying to say that other cultures and holidays are special and they should be recognized in the game as well. I'm sorry you are just too prejudice to realize that.
Your repsonse once again aptly displays your ignorance and prejudice. I have worked with the homeless and know quite well how they act, which is why I find your comments so offensive.
First of all, very very few people choose to be homeless and those who do, have severe mental issues and should get help (not being sarcastic). There are mitigating circumstances that lead them to become homeless. Anyone who has ANY experience with the homeless know that everyone has their story.
Well, if memory serves me right, I do believe there were such institutions up until the 1950's and a little bit after that (they closed slowly). Why did they close these institutions you ask? Well, they were closed because it was found to be UNCONSTITUTIONAL to permanently commit someone against their will. They also found that putting individuals in this situation was not helping them.
See before this ruling (actually originating form the days of Dorethea Dix), they threw all sorts of mentally ill and mentally deficient people in there. Families basically threw away their sick relatives into these institutions (some times without valid reason).
To make a long short, after they closed these institutions, a good majority of the people ended up on the streets as homeless because they got lost in the system. This still happens today when families abandon their mentally ill relatives or they run away. The system is no longer able to handle these people anymore so they fall in the cracks. Also, many of these individuals are not capable enough to properly seek the help they need.
As far as committing these illegal actions in public, you obviously have not been around a college town or bar area on a Friday or Saturday night. Many of these individuals drink, urinate and even throw up on public streets. I have witnessed this first hand.
Also, how are homeless people going to afford heroin? Don't you also think that there haven't been people who are not homeless who have used drugs in public?
Well, I also guess you don't believe pleading insanity defense valid; even though the government itself recognizes that people who are mentally ill are not fully responsible for their actions. It is not used as an excuse for bad behvavior but as an explanation for it.
You should learn to be less judgemental and more forgiving. It will make you a better person for it. You should also educate yourself a little better.
Obviously you are a very insensitive ignorant jerk. IF you knew anything, you would realize that a good majority of the homeless are mentally ill in one way or another. IF you were intelligent you would know that such people often have a hard time abiding by social norms.
Also, IF you had any feelings of value, you would pity these people because most of the time they don't know what they are doing. Just because they don't always behave appropriately adn just because they don't have a place to sleep at night DOES NOT entitle the government to take away basic rights of citizenship.
On the note of mental illness, many homeless people are very paranoid and suffer from schizophrenia, which causes them to yell on the street as you so indelicately put it. This paranoia of being tracked would also prevent them from getting the help they need at shelters and from free medical care. So, the won't be able to get off the streets. If you would take the time to educate yourself about the homeless you might have known that.
So, are homeless people now second class citizens. This system will deny them of their basic right for privacy. Why should the government have open rights to all their medical information? Last I checked medical information is highly guarded and not something you can request on a whim.
I think the government needs to remember that the homeless are human beings and not some wild animal that can be tracked like on Animal Planet. They should consider putting more money into rehabiltation and work programs.
Maybe this will be another Futures Market scheme where they can profit on the misfortunes of others instead of doing something proactive.
It's not just a matter of translating (which does take a long time for colloquialisms). It's also a matter of changing the code in the game, which if you ask any programmer can take a very long time.
You may think that there aren't that many American specific holidays in there but if you look at the Japanese version there are many. You are also failing to notice that there are many countries that do have many specific holidays that they feel aren't irrelevant. So, not only would they have to research these holidays but they would also have to come up with a theme (i.e. Finding the Turkey on Thanksgiving or the candy on Halloween, both American specific holidays), and rewrite the code for these days. This whole process could take months just to cover the holidays of one country.
That is the point of the game to be taylored to the region it is being produced for. I believe I read somewhere that it took an extra six months to release AC in America to make the changes.
I fully realize that not everything is taylored like that but this game is. Part of the fun of the game is celebrating the holidays and seeing what happens during them. (For the American Thanksgiving, you try to find a Turkey to get presents.) It's those little things that make the game special and enjoyable.
With all the different regional holidays that Europe has to offer, it would be hard to decide which ones to integrate into the game and even harder to figure out how to do so (i.e. deciding how to celebrate the holiday).
I'm American. I already have the game. Just trying to put an alternative reason for the lack of release in Europe.
Okay, does anybody realize that Europe is one of the most multicultural areas of the world and the AC is highly based upon the culture of the users playing it? I mean do you think that everyone in the world celebrates Thanksgiving and the 4th of July? It takes time to taylor the culture in AC. This tayloring not only includes the holidays but the items too. Not only that, they would have to make it multilingual (not everyone in Europe speaks English). However, in Australia they do speak English and they only have to change/add a few holidays here and there. So, I don't think it's a personal beef with Europe. I just think Europe is a little bit more complicated place than other areas, which would take more time to produce a game for them.
If you feel so righteous about the point, why don't you proclaim its virtues in its own posting, instead of just to my little thread. Since it's so onesided no one, but you, will ever read it. Obviously you are not going to change my mind. But, maybe you can get those people who are sitting on the fence. I'm sure they'll be more receptive.
I was speaking to the people who, like me, disagree with the research. If they agreed with me and they wanted to, they could write. If not then they don't have to. Just giving them an avenue to go down. And no, I'm not a high-school girl. I'm a college gradate and that explains nothing except that you are being condescending.
If you hate my point of view so much, why do you keep writing back? Is it that you can't stand to let me have the last word? Another thing is, you don't know me and I don't know you. If you knew me, then you would know that I do not shout and I do not waste my time with people who do so. Conversely, I don't know you and I don't know if you are close minded or not. This leads me to my next comment, since I don't know you, I have a hard time trusting information. I am willing to let you have your opinion but you must also be willing to let me have mine.
No, I have no respect for an organization that planned to make a stock market on the basis of death and destruction.
I wasn't looking to argue a case. I think I've made that point clear. I was dispensing info as to what they could do if they felt they wanted to do something to stop the research. That is all. I made no religious connotations. If you thought I did, that was your own hangup.
Yes, that is my point too. He likes to hammer away at that one. He hold onto it like a security blanket.
This model was never meant to infer human behavior. The only forums, to my knowledge it has been used in are for economic purposes. I have every right to have a moral objection to something and to express it so. Not all moral objections are bad (ie to slavery in the US, since you are so fond of using these examples). I also think you misunderstood the purposes of my initial comment. My intention was that if people wanted to get involved in this matter, they could contact their legal body. NOT a discussion on the issue of military research. As far as I am concerned, I'm glad they cancelled this research before they wasted anymore time or money. The topic they chose was a bad idea. It was wrong for multiple reasons. I don't have the time nor the energy to get into it with you. You obviously don't see things the way I do and that is fine, it is your right.
Okay, I'm not opposed to ALL research. I'm a big proponent of stem cell research and the like. I'm against research that will end up having people bet on when someone will be assassinated or when the next suicide bomber will happen. The people who would be placing money on these things would not be making educated guesses, in most cases, because the info is simply not available to them. How could they? A majority of the info is classified. Terrorists certainly wouldn't do it because that would lead the govt right to them. Plus, the information they would get would be very value laden which is never good data. This incarnation of the future market is/was a bad idea from inception. I feel they went too far with it. They did not look at the bigger social implications of it and shame on them for not doing so. Just like not all moral objections are wrong and not all of them are right either. You are taking things very black and white and that is very dangerous.
I don't believe I said all of DAPRA research was a waste of money, thank you very much. I just said this venture was. Yes, I do believe that more govt money should be placed in public services and not research projects that will go nowhere and cause more harm than good.
After wasting $600,000 of the tax payers dollars the military has decided that it's futures market was a bad idea. One place where that money could/should have been spent thing is fixing the problems in Afghanistan (remember that little country we destroyed and were suppose to help rebuild 2 years ago). It's now being over run, again, by warlords. Another is finding Saddam, why don't they invest some research dollars into finding him? Or Osama for that matter. Or investigate N. Korea a little bit more for the nuclear weapons program? I'm seriously starting to wonder where they find these research people. Did they find them on the psychic network?
I'm sorry but I just find the fact that they are wasting my money rather disturbing. Especially when there are problems going on right now in Afghanistan that need immediate attention vs. finding out ways to predict terrorist attacks using models that are no better than calling a psychic. The fact that they are even considering such methods is abhorrent. We are so much better than that and I believe there are better ways to obtain such information. And just because someone objects to something on a moral basis does not mean they are not open minded.
There is no way the government is going to find ANY valuable information this method. It is just disgusting that people could make money off of other's misfortunes. Our government has already spent $600,000 developing this program and they plan to spend another $149,000 this year, all of which could've gone to better places. The House plans to approve more money for next year. Please write your local Representative and ask them to vote against it if you don't want your money being wasted. http://www.house.gov/writerep/