I was going to say something about Bonsai kittens...but I can't. I just can't. Even entertaining the concept of a Bonsai kitten makes me queasy. Who knew?
"Keep right except to pass" only applies on two-lane roads. On a three-lane road, you're supposed to cruise on the middle lane. This is safer for merging and departing traffic. It's safer for cruising traffic, too, since you can swerve to the left or right to avoid an accident. And it's better for passing traffic, because you can also pass on the left or the right.
Let your preconceptions go, you've not been completely informed.
Yes. Everyone in the U.S.A. is sold a gun at birth. Fear us.
I'd worry more about Switzerland. Every household is required to have a machine gun & ammo.
There is one place in the United States where gun ownership is mandatory, also by household. Kennesaw GA.
Switzerland has the 2nd lowest crime rate in the world, and Kennesaw has seen a decrease in crime with an increase of population since the law was passed 16 years ago.
Opportunity is actually back up to the normal output...Spirit doesn't seem to be doing nearly as well.
It is funny how the rovers' names match their situations. Opportunity is lucking out. But Spirit is trying hard against adversity, and its body is weak.
Those kids that named 'em must have been psychic, or something.
I disagree. I believe that the rights you have are those that society thinks you have. Not government, but society. You have a right to free speech because (I assume) you live in the U.S. and Americans think that Americans have the right to free speech.
But if you lived in ancient Egypt, would you have the right to free speech? You say "yes," but no one around you would agree, even in principle.
Levelling is meaningless. You get bigger numbers on your character, and fight pictures of monsters which require bigger numbers to fight, with a net change in the challenge of zero.
In a MMORPG without leveling, you'd still have tougher areas and easier areas. You'd have to have a way of taking on monsters in the tougher areas and winning.
One way to do this through acquiring equipment or spells from the environment, and maybe specializing your combat strategy to be particularly effective against certain types of monsters. This isn't really any different than leveling, except for a greater reliance on the biggest & best equipment.
Another way to do this would be to rely on the player's skills. That is, make the game into a twitch game. Because what other skills does a player have, as far as gaming is concerned? This means that the most advanced areas will only be reachable by the power gamers. I am not a power gamer. I want to be able to see those areas too. After all, I help pay for them.
So, really, leveling is a fair way to do things.
Now, you could object to the premise. "Why should there be tough areas and easy areas?" That's easy. To provide a sense of exploration. Let me illustrate with an anecdote:
In World of Warcraft recently, I got a mission to deliver some orders to a distant outpost, through a region called Ashenvale. I've been to the border of Ashenvale before. I knew it was there, but I'd never been inside. It was totally out of my league. I'd have been monster chow. Ashenvale was forbidden fruit--plus, it was in the hands of the enemy.
So when I got this mission, I wanted to tell the guy, "Are you crazy? I can't cross half a continent that I've never seen, I'd be dead before I got to the first fork in the road!" But I tried, even though I knew it was my funeral. And I succeeded, too. Felt great.
In a game without levels, how could that emotional dynamic be created?
You are correct, we don't know effect in advance of cause, the Universe does not work that way, and we have not been granted an exemption.
"You have a right to do anything that does not harm another."
You can never know whether some action does or does not harm another. So, the question is, "what do you have a right to do?"
All you can do is guess whether someone will be harmed by your actions. So what do you have a right to do? The answer is, "anything that you guess is probably okay."
That is the way it has to be, the only way it can be, for us mere mortals.
Don't try to push off your responsibility onto the law, either. Politicians are no better at guessing right or wrong than you, and they have less interest in doing so--and I'm not just slamming on their honesty. A politician can't have more interest than you in the right-ness or wrong-ness of an action you are considering, because a) they're not you, and b) they're just writing laws, they don't have a decision sitting in front of them.
But if a few children are being exploited, does this mean you have a free society at all?
Yes. Do you think that a "free society" means everybody is safe and happy? No. That's not what a free society is. A free society is one where you can succeed or screw up on your own, where the Man doesn't force you down 'cause there is no Man.
There is no such place as Utopia. Some people will always be fated to suffer, but, in a free society, most people have every chance to make their own destiny. A free society is as close to Utopia as we can get.
What you are arguing, sir, is the fallacy of the excluded middle.
Are stock options to be recorded as "liabilities" or as "expenses"? In my limited understanding of double-entry bookkeeping and accrual accounting, there is a difference between the two.
You mention "liability", but the article says "expense".
Miss Scarlet: "No, Mr. Green. Communism is just a red herring. Like all members of the oldest profession, I'm a capitalist..."
I think this accurately sums up the philosophy of the average Chinaman. See, they talk the talk of communism, but they sure as hell don't walk the walk.
It's the job of government to keep society running smoothly. Vigilante killings undermine that.
Actually, no. Cops are not legally obligated to protect you. They know that safety is impossible to guarantee. So what can you do? Get a gun, so that if the cops don't show, you are still okay.
Additionally, I'd say that vigilante killings make a society substantially easier to run smoothly. Why make the government's job harder than it has to be? We know that they aren't as competent as we'd like. So it makes sense to...help out the government a bit.
Slashdot Mirror
I was going to say something about Bonsai kittens...but I can't. I just can't. Even entertaining the concept of a Bonsai kitten makes me queasy. Who knew?
Because all the bad drivers were killed already?
Say what you want about Darwinism; it works.
"Keep right except to pass" only applies on two-lane roads. On a three-lane road, you're supposed to cruise on the middle lane. This is safer for merging and departing traffic. It's safer for cruising traffic, too, since you can swerve to the left or right to avoid an accident. And it's better for passing traffic, because you can also pass on the left or the right.
Let your preconceptions go, you've not been completely informed.
lowercase is easier to read than uppercase. so he is actually far more courteous than thou.
Yes. Everyone in the U.S.A. is sold a gun at birth. Fear us.
I'd worry more about Switzerland. Every household is required to have a machine gun & ammo.
There is one place in the United States where gun ownership is mandatory, also by household. Kennesaw GA.
Switzerland has the 2nd lowest crime rate in the world, and Kennesaw has seen a decrease in crime with an increase of population since the law was passed 16 years ago.
Some remarks.
In Korea, only old people have stories. Everyone else has an ad that they tell.
That's a question I ask myself every time I see an episode on the Cartoon Network.
I still have no idea.
But it is weird.
Opportunity is actually back up to the normal output...Spirit doesn't seem to be doing nearly as well.
It is funny how the rovers' names match their situations. Opportunity is lucking out. But Spirit is trying hard against adversity, and its body is weak.
Those kids that named 'em must have been psychic, or something.
the only real solution is a government ban
Government bans don't work. See prohibition, the drug war, blue laws, DeCSS, speeding...
Our rights are ours by virtue of our existence.
I disagree. I believe that the rights you have are those that society thinks you have. Not government, but society. You have a right to free speech because (I assume) you live in the U.S. and Americans think that Americans have the right to free speech.
But if you lived in ancient Egypt, would you have the right to free speech? You say "yes," but no one around you would agree, even in principle.
Ha ha. It is to laugh. :-)
Levelling is meaningless. You get bigger numbers on your character, and fight pictures of monsters which require bigger numbers to fight, with a net change in the challenge of zero.
In a MMORPG without leveling, you'd still have tougher areas and easier areas. You'd have to have a way of taking on monsters in the tougher areas and winning.
One way to do this through acquiring equipment or spells from the environment, and maybe specializing your combat strategy to be particularly effective against certain types of monsters. This isn't really any different than leveling, except for a greater reliance on the biggest & best equipment.
Another way to do this would be to rely on the player's skills. That is, make the game into a twitch game. Because what other skills does a player have, as far as gaming is concerned? This means that the most advanced areas will only be reachable by the power gamers. I am not a power gamer. I want to be able to see those areas too. After all, I help pay for them.
So, really, leveling is a fair way to do things.
Now, you could object to the premise. "Why should there be tough areas and easy areas?" That's easy. To provide a sense of exploration. Let me illustrate with an anecdote:
In World of Warcraft recently, I got a mission to deliver some orders to a distant outpost, through a region called Ashenvale. I've been to the border of Ashenvale before. I knew it was there, but I'd never been inside. It was totally out of my league. I'd have been monster chow. Ashenvale was forbidden fruit--plus, it was in the hands of the enemy.
So when I got this mission, I wanted to tell the guy, "Are you crazy? I can't cross half a continent that I've never seen, I'd be dead before I got to the first fork in the road!" But I tried, even though I knew it was my funeral. And I succeeded, too. Felt great.
In a game without levels, how could that emotional dynamic be created?
Mod up! The law doesn't know "right" or "wrong." It's a harsh set of rules, to be used only in conjunction with case-by-case exemptions.
I believe you are missing his point.
You are correct, we don't know effect in advance of cause, the Universe does not work that way, and we have not been granted an exemption.
"You have a right to do anything that does not harm another."
You can never know whether some action does or does not harm another. So, the question is, "what do you have a right to do?"
All you can do is guess whether someone will be harmed by your actions. So what do you have a right to do? The answer is, "anything that you guess is probably okay."
That is the way it has to be, the only way it can be, for us mere mortals.
Don't try to push off your responsibility onto the law, either. Politicians are no better at guessing right or wrong than you, and they have less interest in doing so--and I'm not just slamming on their honesty. A politician can't have more interest than you in the right-ness or wrong-ness of an action you are considering, because a) they're not you, and b) they're just writing laws, they don't have a decision sitting in front of them.
I expect some Insightful mods here, people.
But if a few children are being exploited, does this mean you have a free society at all?
Yes. Do you think that a "free society" means everybody is safe and happy? No. That's not what a free society is. A free society is one where you can succeed or screw up on your own, where the Man doesn't force you down 'cause there is no Man.
There is no such place as Utopia. Some people will always be fated to suffer, but, in a free society, most people have every chance to make their own destiny. A free society is as close to Utopia as we can get.
What you are arguing, sir, is the fallacy of the excluded middle.
And, of course, once you incorporate, you have a corporate sponsor.
Genius!!
Are stock options to be recorded as "liabilities" or as "expenses"? In my limited understanding of double-entry bookkeeping and accrual accounting, there is a difference between the two.
You mention "liability", but the article says "expense".
Hey, the QD isn't that bad!
(I'm already hard at work building my psychological defensive walls)
You mean it's not the aliens? *takes off tinfoil hat*
NO! Don't take off the--too late.
You know, the mind control satellites are still up there. But now, of course, since you took off the hat, you don't believe me.
If I buy a bunch of tenements, can I make a Beowulf cluster?
Since this one game is pretty much at the moment the entirety of the macintosh games library... ... ... not so much.
Ooooh, burn!
and now the fuckers want to avoid all of that by adding it on to some fisheries decision.
This your first experience with a rider? Welcome to cynical-ville, enjoy your stay.
Miss Scarlet: "No, Mr. Green. Communism is just a red herring. Like all members of the oldest profession, I'm a capitalist..."
I think this accurately sums up the philosophy of the average Chinaman. See, they talk the talk of communism, but they sure as hell don't walk the walk.
Heh. I have gained all new respect for the French.
It's the job of government to keep society running smoothly. Vigilante killings undermine that.
Actually, no. Cops are not legally obligated to protect you. They know that safety is impossible to guarantee. So what can you do? Get a gun, so that if the cops don't show, you are still okay.
Additionally, I'd say that vigilante killings make a society substantially easier to run smoothly. Why make the government's job harder than it has to be? We know that they aren't as competent as we'd like. So it makes sense to...help out the government a bit.