> a Soldier (a man whose whole purpose is violence)
I have to take issue with this. A soldier's whole purpose is to defend his/her country. That CAN include violence, but there are *many* ways a soldier carries out his/her duty without involving violence on another person or property. I read something once that I think has merit: a soldier has as much love for war as a firefighter has for fires.
You are as entitled to that opinion as I am to mine. I have had a cop show up in my office once, asking to talk to me. It's a jarring experience to say the least. All I know is, if I'm ever in a position where cops are telling me--in no uncertain terms--to go with them, you can bet your liberal hiney that I'm going to do so immediately, and non-threateningly. And that's cause *I EXPECT* them to use physical force if I attempt to resist or make a scene in order to get others to leap to my "aid". Because I still have faith that they are doing their jobs and not part of some fascist gestapo. If you like living in that paranoid fantasy world, well, I hope at least the food's good there.
He wasn't tasered for not having ID. He was tasered for his belligerance and acting in a provocative manner towards police. He was also warned repeatedly that he would be tasered for continuing to behave that way. There is only so much the police should have to put up with before it becomes necessary to establish their authority in that situation. And THEY DO HAVE AUTHORITY. You challenge that at your own peril.
Re:Scientific consensus not quite there yet...
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An Inconvenient Truth
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And what you had there is a potential mob. When you are surrounded by 50 students who think they know something about law enforcement and are watching you carrying out your training in a way you KNOW they do not understand--all they understand are the overdramatized shrieking of the trespasser--damn right that's a potential mob. Are you not reading the other tough-guy posts on this thread claiming they would have attacked the police? It's so easy for all these armchair ACLU lawyers to whine about rights and freedoms, but the fact of the matter is the police responded appropriately, and did so for the safety of the public, and did so according to their training.
What part of "Stand up or you will be tasered again" is difficult to understand?
You're going to ATTACK the police? That's almost as smart as refusing to comply with police (and screaming like a baby to manufacture a scene) and getting yourself tasered. If you're "principled" at all, you'd see that the person in the wrong here was the Iranian student (?) who a) did not produce identification when asked b) did not leave when asked and c) tried to incite a racial standoff with police.
There were some students uncomfortable enough with the situation to be asking for badge numbers. That's what you do when you see something police are doing that offends your sensibilities. Aggressively attacking the police is EXACTLY the wrong thing to do.
Good god. Look, I don't agree with this person, but modding him TROLL?? wtf. Mods, if you don't agree with him, fine, but USE OF MODERATION AS AN ARGUMENT is a fscking misuse of moderation. This person's arguments are not abusive, on-topic, and clearly stated. If you don't agree with him make your case in a reply. Modding him "troll" is even more cowardly than replying AC.
Bah, I'm not threatened. Did you see what the little robot looks like? Reminds me too much of this guy. I can even hear his little voice: "Haaaay, thees tastes LIKE... bacon!"
I know what you're saying, but I think you're splitting hairs. Apple knows you can successfully convert an iTMS download to an MP3 without requiring any other software or special hardware. They even give you instructions on how to do so. ("Here's how you burn a CD. We've made this easy for you to do." "Here's how to rip a CD to MP3. See, it's easy.")
Your house/burglary analogy isn't consistent because you're talking about an action that is illegal. Besides, if the homeowner has told me that he's leaving the house AND that there's a key under the doormat, but DOESN'T tell me that I am expressly not allowed in, doesn't that imply that I am empowered to use the key if I wish? I have never once read that Apple expressly discourages the use of iTunes to convert to MP3 in this way. Apple knows full well that their DRM is weak in this respect, they've known it ever since the service launched, but they don't change it because they know better than to disallow it (the ability to convert downloads to MP3). Their customers would revolt.
> nobody's allowing people to transcode their DRMed formats to MP3.
I have no trouble 'transcoding' my iTMS downloads to MP3. Apple allows me to burn them to CD, and Apple allows me to rip the newly burned CD to MP3s. Therefore Apple allows me to convert their DRMed format to MP3.
This made me laugh out loud. "Give me a brand experience" ?? What utter BS! Find me one person who bought a media player on this criteria. I bought an iPod because it was cool and because it did what I wanted. Maybe this J. Allard can sell that steaming bowl of BS upwards to his bosses because he looks vaguely like Moby or Jonathan Ive, and maybe his line of reasoning holds water in the magical land of Whatthefuckia where he and the rest of Microsoft strategy planners clearly have taken up residence, but here in reality they're just condemning the Zine to the slice of the pie chart that doesn't look like Pac-Man with all the rest of the not-iPod music/media players out there.
Never played Pathways, but the Marathon storyline was riveting. I was playing through levels not so much because all the fragging was fun, but because I really wanted to know what was next in store, what was going to happen next. That entire series of games was some of the best I've ever played in my life.
I don't disagree, there may be some loss of quality in the process of doing it via WireTap. But, while I very much enjoy listening to music and do so for most of my waking hours, my ear cannot tell the difference between a freshly-downloaded song from iTMS and its MP3 via WireTap.
> no one should be on for 24 hours straight or 80 hours a week
After my summer law class ended--a four-week gruelling ordeal--I took a week off work to stay home and "recover". I spent much of that time playing MxO. It felt great to be able to indulge in 12, 14 hours straight gaming with no other demands on my time.
Do I do this often? Of course not, almost never. The demands of real life don't allow it, and I do have other hobbies and interests besides. But if the system had logged me off because someone else decided for me that it was unhealthy would really have pissed me off.
Now, if they were serious about wanting people to limit their online time, they'd charge by the hour instead of by the month. They'd probably rake in a lot more money that way too--it would certainly be enough for me to cut down my time spent gaming, that's for certain. It would also piss a lot of people off though.
I know plenty of MMO players who have lousy character stats but have been playing longer than I have. (I've been playing since May 06 and have reached the max level with my character.) They play to socialize and roleplay. Others play to PVP. Others play to explore the environment and earn money so they can collect and craft clothes and items. That's the cool thing about many MMOs.. there's no one way the game is designed for you to enjoy it. You can do whatever you want.
Uh, no. iTunes will refuse to convert anything that was purchased from iTMS to MP3. You will get an error message. The only way to do this is to either burn a CD and then rip the tracks back as MP3, or do what I do, which is use a little program called WireTap that writes all audio output of the computer to an AIFF file, and then use iTunes to rip that file to MP3.
It's a bit time consuming, but well worth the removal of the DRM.
You were exactly NOT the kind of audience they were making the movie for. I saw SMB in theaters when I was in my early 20s, and I have to say I rather enjoyed it. It was experimenting with CG special effects (this was the same year Jurassic Park came out), was imaginative and silly, and the plot--what plot there was to speak of--was just not the reason I went to see the film. SMB was the first of its kind and the filmmakers (and writers) were exploring this new genre with a kind of Alice In Wonderland sort of approach. They couldn't replicate the actual video world of Super Mario Brothers without it looking something like TRON, so they imagined their own, that they could put real actors into. I wasn't expecting it to be Star Wars or even Charlie & the Chocolate Factory. It turned out more like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.. you just have to shake your head at it and laugh, and not take it terribly seriously. One thing they did do right was cast Bob Hoskins and Dennis Hopper.. maybe they weren't ideal for the roles but these were A-list Hollywood actors and they started the genre out with an opening salvo of credibility. So while the movie wasn't meant to be taken seriously, the genre was, and still is, fortunately.
Did I miss something? The Sims has had "homosexuality" in the game for over 6 years. Players could actually encourage their Sims to pair up with same-sex Sims and fall in love, kiss, etc. if they wanted. I do not remember any huge controversy about that. I don't know if that is available in Sims 2 or not, but why wouldn't it be? Why is this a big deal?
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> a Soldier (a man whose whole purpose is violence)
I have to take issue with this. A soldier's whole purpose is to defend his/her country. That CAN include violence, but there are *many* ways a soldier carries out his/her duty without involving violence on another person or property. I read something once that I think has merit: a soldier has as much love for war as a firefighter has for fires.
You are as entitled to that opinion as I am to mine. I have had a cop show up in my office once, asking to talk to me. It's a jarring experience to say the least. All I know is, if I'm ever in a position where cops are telling me--in no uncertain terms--to go with them, you can bet your liberal hiney that I'm going to do so immediately, and non-threateningly. And that's cause *I EXPECT* them to use physical force if I attempt to resist or make a scene in order to get others to leap to my "aid". Because I still have faith that they are doing their jobs and not part of some fascist gestapo. If you like living in that paranoid fantasy world, well, I hope at least the food's good there.
He wasn't tasered for not having ID. He was tasered for his belligerance and acting in a provocative manner towards police. He was also warned repeatedly that he would be tasered for continuing to behave that way. There is only so much the police should have to put up with before it becomes necessary to establish their authority in that situation. And THEY DO HAVE AUTHORITY. You challenge that at your own peril.
+1 Informative.
I am not a cop.
And what you had there is a potential mob. When you are surrounded by 50 students who think they know something about law enforcement and are watching you carrying out your training in a way you KNOW they do not understand--all they understand are the overdramatized shrieking of the trespasser--damn right that's a potential mob. Are you not reading the other tough-guy posts on this thread claiming they would have attacked the police? It's so easy for all these armchair ACLU lawyers to whine about rights and freedoms, but the fact of the matter is the police responded appropriately, and did so for the safety of the public, and did so according to their training.
What part of "Stand up or you will be tasered again" is difficult to understand?
You're going to ATTACK the police? That's almost as smart as refusing to comply with police (and screaming like a baby to manufacture a scene) and getting yourself tasered. If you're "principled" at all, you'd see that the person in the wrong here was the Iranian student (?) who a) did not produce identification when asked b) did not leave when asked and c) tried to incite a racial standoff with police.
There were some students uncomfortable enough with the situation to be asking for badge numbers. That's what you do when you see something police are doing that offends your sensibilities. Aggressively attacking the police is EXACTLY the wrong thing to do.
Thank you! Had I the mod points today, you would get one. Best analysis of the situation on the thread so far.
I'll just add that he was not just ignoring it. He was outright refusing and getting in the police's faces. Open and shut case.
Good god. Look, I don't agree with this person, but modding him TROLL?? wtf. Mods, if you don't agree with him, fine, but USE OF MODERATION AS AN ARGUMENT is a fscking misuse of moderation. This person's arguments are not abusive, on-topic, and clearly stated. If you don't agree with him make your case in a reply. Modding him "troll" is even more cowardly than replying AC.
Bah, I'm not threatened. Did you see what the little robot looks like? Reminds me too much of this guy. I can even hear his little voice: "Haaaay, thees tastes LIKE ... bacon!"
Can we get Triumph to go pay them a visit? Please??
I know what you're saying, but I think you're splitting hairs. Apple knows you can successfully convert an iTMS download to an MP3 without requiring any other software or special hardware. They even give you instructions on how to do so. ("Here's how you burn a CD. We've made this easy for you to do." "Here's how to rip a CD to MP3. See, it's easy.")
Your house/burglary analogy isn't consistent because you're talking about an action that is illegal. Besides, if the homeowner has told me that he's leaving the house AND that there's a key under the doormat, but DOESN'T tell me that I am expressly not allowed in, doesn't that imply that I am empowered to use the key if I wish? I have never once read that Apple expressly discourages the use of iTunes to convert to MP3 in this way. Apple knows full well that their DRM is weak in this respect, they've known it ever since the service launched, but they don't change it because they know better than to disallow it (the ability to convert downloads to MP3). Their customers would revolt.
> nobody's allowing people to transcode their DRMed formats to MP3.
I have no trouble 'transcoding' my iTMS downloads to MP3. Apple allows me to burn them to CD, and Apple allows me to rip the newly burned CD to MP3s. Therefore Apple allows me to convert their DRMed format to MP3.
An excellent point, sir. (sorry, I have no mod points today.)
The Philips GoGear players are cool too. And I like Philips products. But it does not do what I want it to do, so I did not buy it.
Sorry, faceless anonymous coward. Try again.
This made me laugh out loud. "Give me a brand experience" ?? What utter BS! Find me one person who bought a media player on this criteria. I bought an iPod because it was cool and because it did what I wanted. Maybe this J. Allard can sell that steaming bowl of BS upwards to his bosses because he looks vaguely like Moby or Jonathan Ive, and maybe his line of reasoning holds water in the magical land of Whatthefuckia where he and the rest of Microsoft strategy planners clearly have taken up residence, but here in reality they're just condemning the Zine to the slice of the pie chart that doesn't look like Pac-Man with all the rest of the not-iPod music/media players out there.
Never played Pathways, but the Marathon storyline was riveting. I was playing through levels not so much because all the fragging was fun, but because I really wanted to know what was next in store, what was going to happen next. That entire series of games was some of the best I've ever played in my life.
I don't disagree, there may be some loss of quality in the process of doing it via WireTap. But, while I very much enjoy listening to music and do so for most of my waking hours, my ear cannot tell the difference between a freshly-downloaded song from iTMS and its MP3 via WireTap.
> no one should be on for 24 hours straight or 80 hours a week
After my summer law class ended--a four-week gruelling ordeal--I took a week off work to stay home and "recover". I spent much of that time playing MxO. It felt great to be able to indulge in 12, 14 hours straight gaming with no other demands on my time.
Do I do this often? Of course not, almost never. The demands of real life don't allow it, and I do have other hobbies and interests besides. But if the system had logged me off because someone else decided for me that it was unhealthy would really have pissed me off.
Now, if they were serious about wanting people to limit their online time, they'd charge by the hour instead of by the month. They'd probably rake in a lot more money that way too--it would certainly be enough for me to cut down my time spent gaming, that's for certain. It would also piss a lot of people off though.
I know plenty of MMO players who have lousy character stats but have been playing longer than I have. (I've been playing since May 06 and have reached the max level with my character.) They play to socialize and roleplay. Others play to PVP. Others play to explore the environment and earn money so they can collect and craft clothes and items. That's the cool thing about many MMOs .. there's no one way the game is designed for you to enjoy it. You can do whatever you want.
Uh, no. iTunes will refuse to convert anything that was purchased from iTMS to MP3. You will get an error message. The only way to do this is to either burn a CD and then rip the tracks back as MP3, or do what I do, which is use a little program called WireTap that writes all audio output of the computer to an AIFF file, and then use iTunes to rip that file to MP3.
It's a bit time consuming, but well worth the removal of the DRM.
You were exactly NOT the kind of audience they were making the movie for. I saw SMB in theaters when I was in my early 20s, and I have to say I rather enjoyed it. It was experimenting with CG special effects (this was the same year Jurassic Park came out), was imaginative and silly, and the plot--what plot there was to speak of--was just not the reason I went to see the film. SMB was the first of its kind and the filmmakers (and writers) were exploring this new genre with a kind of Alice In Wonderland sort of approach. They couldn't replicate the actual video world of Super Mario Brothers without it looking something like TRON, so they imagined their own, that they could put real actors into. I wasn't expecting it to be Star Wars or even Charlie & the Chocolate Factory. It turned out more like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles .. you just have to shake your head at it and laugh, and not take it terribly seriously. One thing they did do right was cast Bob Hoskins and Dennis Hopper .. maybe they weren't ideal for the roles but these were A-list Hollywood actors and they started the genre out with an opening salvo of credibility. So while the movie wasn't meant to be taken seriously, the genre was, and still is, fortunately.
And maybe a little more opacity .. but yeah. Cortana would be worth seeing on the big screen. hmmm .. how about Rachel Leigh Cook?
Mortal Kombat proved that a movie based on a video game could be successful.
I don't know, man. I still see much re-watchability in the Tomb Raider movies. But I'm a guy ...
Did I miss something? The Sims has had "homosexuality" in the game for over 6 years. Players could actually encourage their Sims to pair up with same-sex Sims and fall in love, kiss, etc. if they wanted. I do not remember any huge controversy about that. I don't know if that is available in Sims 2 or not, but why wouldn't it be? Why is this a big deal?