No, it's not OK to kill protesters. Some members of the government messed up there. A lot of people came under legal fire for their actions (part of that looking it up thing I mentioned earlier would tell you this). However, they're not trying to cover it up. They're not arresting and torturing people merely for telling the truth about the situation. That is indeed a very interesting thing to hang moral superiority on. The US isn't infallable but at least its citizens can learn from the US's mistakes because the US allows its citizens to pass information to each other freely.
You seem a little hazy on the specifics. Why don't you go to a US public library and read up on the protests in the sixties? Unlike China, they have a lot of information related to deaths in protests with many different uncensored viewpoints of what happened there. Private bookstores in the US are also free to carry such information if you'd like to buy a copy of works dealing with the protests in the sixties.
"Again, nice and confusing, especially when you consider that these statistics don't add up to 100%"
That's because the concepts are not mutually exclusive. Evolution certainly does happen. That doesn't mean that all life came through evolution. Sure the thoery of evolution might wrap up the beginning of life in a nice little bow-tied package, but that doesn't mean that's the way it actually happened. Nobody knows for sure how it actually happened.
Q: "Wait... motion sickness on a stationary bike?" A: I don't understand it too well as I don't get motion sickness as far as I've ever noticed. From what I understand, it's because your head is moving back and forth a bit while you are pedaling. Apparently some people who are susceptible to motion sickness cannot handle that while reading.
Q: "Try turning a few pages with hands constantly dripping... not very pretty.;)" A: "Wristbands" (They're also good for keeping sweat off your hands while lifting.)
I'm sure it's a good workout. Just like weight lifting and riding a stationary bike are good workouts. I was just making the point that DDR can be just as ho-hum as the other two. It just depends on your perspective. Personally, I think DDR is ok, but I'd rather get aerobic exercise riding a stationary bike. Then again, I can read on a stationary bike. I hear that some people can't due to motion sickness reasons.
Personally, I despise learning modes. If you're game is so complicated that I can't pick it up and figure it out as I go along, I'm not interested. And I can't speak for all women, but my wife also hates learning modes. She was even a little put off when the pink team in Sonic Heroes was the only one that had a learning mode. She considered it a bit condescending that the only team in the game that developers felt needed to be told how to control the characters was the team geared towards female players.
I would think not. The big difference between Tim Roberts and I is that I don't pretend to have a product out there capable of what I propose. I'm merely giving the conditions under which casual gamers would go out en masse to get a video game system.
$5 a game is nice but there's a $400 entrance fee. When you can pay less than $100 for a system and $5 per download, then you'll see the casual gamers come out of the woodwork for console gaming.
No, the US subsidizes the corn farmers so that they limit production. If there were no subsidy, the corn farmers would produce a lot more corn, resulting in LOWER corn prices (which is good in my opinion). Not allowing us to get cane sugar from one of the largest producers of cane sugar on earth (Cuba) is what's keeping sugar prices so high. In other countries a lot of soft drink makers still use cane sugar because it's dirt cheap in most parts of the world.
That's because they consider the sale to happen based on where the purchaser is at the time of purchase. I live in Georgia and go to South Carolina frequently. I pay my sales taxes to the state of South Carolina when I'm there and I buy something (ex. gas for my boat). I am in no way obligated to pay those taxes to the state of Georgia. When I buy something online I'm purchasing it FROM Georgia and I'm subject ot pay those taxes to the state of Georgia.
Now some states get you on boat and automobile taxes when you register the vehicle. I guess you could stop people from getting around those restrictions by requiring registrations on luxury items, but there would still be ways around it. For example, you could buy a small piece of land in another state and claim that as your residence. For about $2000-$5000 you could do that in some of the more rural regions of this country. Then you could just claim that your luxury item is here temporarily and it belongs in that state on a regular basis.
So this guy's "extreme" sin tax solution is wrong but your "extreme" luxury tax idea is OK? Sounds to me like they're both implementations of the same idea: moving the tax burden from many people to fewer people. At least sin taxes are harder to sidestep. Luxury taxes generally don't work because the people who have the money to buy the luxury item typically also have the money to travel elsewhere to get said item.
There's many a state right now gnashing their teeth over the almost universal jump in tobacco taxes a few years ago. They claimed that they were raising those taxes to get people to quit smoking. Well it worked and now they're complaining that they're not getting as much tax revenue from cigarettes. Sin taxes don't work because they do work. If you raise the tax high enough, a lot of people will drop the "sin."
Also, if you put a $10000 tax on abortions in the state of Texas, people WILL leave Texas to get abortions. A much smarter method would be to tax it such that it's not worth leaving the state for.
You are correct. That's why I also mentioned the folks working at the gaming shops. They have a decent idea (from my experience at least) of the current state of multiplayer in most older but good games.
I guess it depends on your definition of "casual." By the time the game is significantly older, there are many, many reviews of the game available. Also, the folks working the gaming shops tend to be more honest about what games are good after they're a year old. They're not going to tell you some big new game is crap, but they might admit it later on in the game's lifespan. If those things cut into your casualness (which I completely understand), then I really don't have another solution.
"goofy gaming shows obviously hosted by non-gamers are replaced by serious coverage of tournament events"
ABC just learned a valuable lesson in the NFL by allowing Monday Night Football (the ONLY NFL product to steadily lose ratings over the last 4 years) to die a tragic death by making the event less and less about football. They wanted a Super Bowl every week and realized that it wasn't hardcore football fans who liked all the non-football stuff in the Super Bowl and that non-fans aren't going to watch every week no matter what celebrity you have stop by to say hello or what comedian you put in the press box as a commentator.
Much like the NFL, competitive gaming is only going to as far as the product itself can carry it. They shouldn't try to fluff it up or make it super cool. I think compretitive gaming can be cool enough as it is. If it's not, no amount of fluff is going to make up for that.
Re:People are better teachers
on
Chess for Kids?
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· Score: 1
"I'm sure you're more social than the machine."
This is Slashdot. I wouldn't be so quick to make that assumption.
If you can't enjoy playing a game that's been out a year because the skill level of everyone else is much higher, then condition 2 as laid out by the GP has not been met.
Likewise, if there is no mechanism for a user to host their own server in the case that a publisher shuts down the game, condition 2 is also not met.
You call yourself a tightwad and you only wait 1 year to buy a new game? I just bought a Gamecube last November (right before Gamestop jacked up the price $20 for the Christmas rush). I only bought it because I had about $60 worth of stuff to take back to Wal-Mart and the Gamestop next door had Metroid Prime to go with it for $5. I've now got a veritable trasure trove of new-to-me games at dirt cheap prices. I did buy Madden 06 but only after I found it for $24 shipped at an on-line pawn shop in Vegas. The rest I've spent $5 - $10 and they look pretty darn good on my non-HD TV. I am planning on getting X-Men Legends 2 when it goes to $20 but that'll be my only other "newer" game.
As far as PC gaming goes, I just bought Generals and I'm a bit disappointed. I still prefer RA2/Yuri's Revenge. That game is only a year old as far as I'm concerned. At least my wife really likes Generals. I also picked up Max Payne and it's pretty good but short. It was good for the $5 I spent on it.
And you are correct that good online multiplayer games are still good after a year or two. I still occasionaly play Quake 3, Wolfenstein ET, and Unreal Tournament and it seems like there are fewer punks and such out there now.
The Atari 5200 had analog sticks before 1982. Not that they were any good. Now if you mean only self-centering or functional analog sticks, I'll give that to you for the Arcadia.
An arcade operator might not see things from your point of view. DDR is one of the few things keeping them in business right now. If you don't like it, then you and anyone else who goes to the arcade need to put your money where your mouth is and pump enough quarters into other machines that the profits made from DDR are marginalized.
Slashdot Mirror
No, it's not OK to kill protesters. Some members of the government messed up there. A lot of people came under legal fire for their actions (part of that looking it up thing I mentioned earlier would tell you this). However, they're not trying to cover it up. They're not arresting and torturing people merely for telling the truth about the situation. That is indeed a very interesting thing to hang moral superiority on. The US isn't infallable but at least its citizens can learn from the US's mistakes because the US allows its citizens to pass information to each other freely.
I tried Googling for more info about this but all I got was some general information about the iTunes service and this at the bottom of the screen:
"According to local laws and policies, some search results are not shown."
You seem a little hazy on the specifics. Why don't you go to a US public library and read up on the protests in the sixties? Unlike China, they have a lot of information related to deaths in protests with many different uncensored viewpoints of what happened there. Private bookstores in the US are also free to carry such information if you'd like to buy a copy of works dealing with the protests in the sixties.
Yeah just because the Chinese government kills a few protesters and then covers it up with the help of Google doesn't mean they're doing something evil in their culture. What they did wasn't even illegal. Get a grip, people.
"Again, nice and confusing, especially when you consider that these statistics don't add up to 100%"
That's because the concepts are not mutually exclusive. Evolution certainly does happen. That doesn't mean that all life came through evolution. Sure the thoery of evolution might wrap up the beginning of life in a nice little bow-tied package, but that doesn't mean that's the way it actually happened. Nobody knows for sure how it actually happened.
Q: "Wait... motion sickness on a stationary bike?"
;)"
A: I don't understand it too well as I don't get motion sickness as far as I've ever noticed. From what I understand, it's because your head is moving back and forth a bit while you are pedaling. Apparently some people who are susceptible to motion sickness cannot handle that while reading.
Q: "Try turning a few pages with hands constantly dripping... not very pretty.
A: "Wristbands" (They're also good for keeping sweat off your hands while lifting.)
I'm sure it's a good workout. Just like weight lifting and riding a stationary bike are good workouts. I was just making the point that DDR can be just as ho-hum as the other two. It just depends on your perspective. Personally, I think DDR is ok, but I'd rather get aerobic exercise riding a stationary bike. Then again, I can read on a stationary bike. I hear that some people can't due to motion sickness reasons.
Personally, I despise learning modes. If you're game is so complicated that I can't pick it up and figure it out as I go along, I'm not interested. And I can't speak for all women, but my wife also hates learning modes. She was even a little put off when the pink team in Sonic Heroes was the only one that had a learning mode. She considered it a bit condescending that the only team in the game that developers felt needed to be told how to control the characters was the team geared towards female players.
"I hate going to the gym and shoving weights around, or spending a half hour pedalling to nowhere."
So instead you play Simon with your feet?
I would think not. The big difference between Tim Roberts and I is that I don't pretend to have a product out there capable of what I propose. I'm merely giving the conditions under which casual gamers would go out en masse to get a video game system.
$5 a game is nice but there's a $400 entrance fee. When you can pay less than $100 for a system and $5 per download, then you'll see the casual gamers come out of the woodwork for console gaming.
No, the US subsidizes the corn farmers so that they limit production. If there were no subsidy, the corn farmers would produce a lot more corn, resulting in LOWER corn prices (which is good in my opinion). Not allowing us to get cane sugar from one of the largest producers of cane sugar on earth (Cuba) is what's keeping sugar prices so high. In other countries a lot of soft drink makers still use cane sugar because it's dirt cheap in most parts of the world.
That's right. My Governor is a Jewish Cowboy.
That's because they consider the sale to happen based on where the purchaser is at the time of purchase. I live in Georgia and go to South Carolina frequently. I pay my sales taxes to the state of South Carolina when I'm there and I buy something (ex. gas for my boat). I am in no way obligated to pay those taxes to the state of Georgia. When I buy something online I'm purchasing it FROM Georgia and I'm subject ot pay those taxes to the state of Georgia.
Now some states get you on boat and automobile taxes when you register the vehicle. I guess you could stop people from getting around those restrictions by requiring registrations on luxury items, but there would still be ways around it. For example, you could buy a small piece of land in another state and claim that as your residence. For about $2000-$5000 you could do that in some of the more rural regions of this country. Then you could just claim that your luxury item is here temporarily and it belongs in that state on a regular basis.
So this guy's "extreme" sin tax solution is wrong but your "extreme" luxury tax idea is OK? Sounds to me like they're both implementations of the same idea: moving the tax burden from many people to fewer people. At least sin taxes are harder to sidestep. Luxury taxes generally don't work because the people who have the money to buy the luxury item typically also have the money to travel elsewhere to get said item.
There's many a state right now gnashing their teeth over the almost universal jump in tobacco taxes a few years ago. They claimed that they were raising those taxes to get people to quit smoking. Well it worked and now they're complaining that they're not getting as much tax revenue from cigarettes. Sin taxes don't work because they do work. If you raise the tax high enough, a lot of people will drop the "sin."
Also, if you put a $10000 tax on abortions in the state of Texas, people WILL leave Texas to get abortions. A much smarter method would be to tax it such that it's not worth leaving the state for.
You are correct. That's why I also mentioned the folks working at the gaming shops. They have a decent idea (from my experience at least) of the current state of multiplayer in most older but good games.
I guess it depends on your definition of "casual." By the time the game is significantly older, there are many, many reviews of the game available. Also, the folks working the gaming shops tend to be more honest about what games are good after they're a year old. They're not going to tell you some big new game is crap, but they might admit it later on in the game's lifespan. If those things cut into your casualness (which I completely understand), then I really don't have another solution.
"goofy gaming shows obviously hosted by non-gamers are replaced by serious coverage of tournament events"
ABC just learned a valuable lesson in the NFL by allowing Monday Night Football (the ONLY NFL product to steadily lose ratings over the last 4 years) to die a tragic death by making the event less and less about football. They wanted a Super Bowl every week and realized that it wasn't hardcore football fans who liked all the non-football stuff in the Super Bowl and that non-fans aren't going to watch every week no matter what celebrity you have stop by to say hello or what comedian you put in the press box as a commentator.
Much like the NFL, competitive gaming is only going to as far as the product itself can carry it. They shouldn't try to fluff it up or make it super cool. I think compretitive gaming can be cool enough as it is. If it's not, no amount of fluff is going to make up for that.
"I'm sure you're more social than the machine."
This is Slashdot. I wouldn't be so quick to make that assumption.
Yeah, I've had my eye on Rise of Nations. Still too much. I haven't heard of "Act of War." I'll check it out. Thanks for the tips.
If you can't enjoy playing a game that's been out a year because the skill level of everyone else is much higher, then condition 2 as laid out by the GP has not been met.
Likewise, if there is no mechanism for a user to host their own server in the case that a publisher shuts down the game, condition 2 is also not met.
You call yourself a tightwad and you only wait 1 year to buy a new game? I just bought a Gamecube last November (right before Gamestop jacked up the price $20 for the Christmas rush). I only bought it because I had about $60 worth of stuff to take back to Wal-Mart and the Gamestop next door had Metroid Prime to go with it for $5. I've now got a veritable trasure trove of new-to-me games at dirt cheap prices. I did buy Madden 06 but only after I found it for $24 shipped at an on-line pawn shop in Vegas. The rest I've spent $5 - $10 and they look pretty darn good on my non-HD TV. I am planning on getting X-Men Legends 2 when it goes to $20 but that'll be my only other "newer" game.
As far as PC gaming goes, I just bought Generals and I'm a bit disappointed. I still prefer RA2/Yuri's Revenge. That game is only a year old as far as I'm concerned. At least my wife really likes Generals. I also picked up Max Payne and it's pretty good but short. It was good for the $5 I spent on it.
And you are correct that good online multiplayer games are still good after a year or two. I still occasionaly play Quake 3, Wolfenstein ET, and Unreal Tournament and it seems like there are fewer punks and such out there now.
The Atari 5200 had analog sticks before 1982. Not that they were any good. Now if you mean only self-centering or functional analog sticks, I'll give that to you for the Arcadia.
An arcade operator might not see things from your point of view. DDR is one of the few things keeping them in business right now. If you don't like it, then you and anyone else who goes to the arcade need to put your money where your mouth is and pump enough quarters into other machines that the profits made from DDR are marginalized.