So what happens in any legal suit where there is unmonitored, illegal activity taking place over this network? Is the city liable?
Is the city monitoring the traffic to prevent kids under the age of 18 from viewing illicit material?
Will the RIAA come after them if someone uses this hardware to download illegal songs?
For some reason I fail to see this hidden legal problem people are mentioning. Does your current internet provider monitor your activity? Do they block certain ports? Are they liable for you downloading illegal files?
If you answer "yes" to either of the first two questions, then you should get a new service provider (ie. stop using AOL); the answer to the third question is "no".
It's not that difficult to understand, don't make it more complicated than it is. I fail to see how this is any different than a pay service, just without paying.
But then, it probably is just a matter of time before some mentally handicapped parent tries to sue the city government 'cause little Johnny blew his hand off trying to make a bomb from the online Anarchists Cookbook. I feel confident that the civil suit would lose though.
Well, the car didn't explode, although it was filled up with gasoline just a few minutes before the accident.
The fact that you had a full tank of gas may have been the thing that prevented your car from exploding. With a full tank, there is no oxygen in the tank/lines; no oxygen=no fire. If you had an empty tank though, chances are there would be oxygen and gas fumes in the tank, which could explode. That is why when you take your car in to have gas tank work (with torch/weld not epoxy) they have you fill up the tank. It's actually less dangerous to work on a full tank than empty tank.
Oddly, I don't see any flicker on my monitor (Aoc 9klr) when it's set at 1280x1024 @60hz, but if I pump up the hertz it starts to flicker. The monitor is rated to go higher (90 I believe) and I have a decent vid card (radeon 9600xt). I blame it on the cheap monitor though.
On topic: I think the true question is, "what do you use your monitor for?" If all you do is word process/program/compile/surf (non-video/non-color stuff) LCDs are great. However, if you do anything involving movement (video games, movies, etc) or color (graphic design, picture/video editing, etc) CRT are far superior.
I went out and bought the highest spec 17" LCD in my price range (~$400) that supposedly had a good response time (11ms I think), and it still looked horrible. I ended up returning it in favor of my 19" $100 Aoc CRT, which is bottom of the barrel for monitors. I'll buy a high end CRT before a decent LCD any day, but then that is mostly due to my needs/uses of a monitor.
I sometimes consider the possible side effects of the radiation, but I think they are neglible. We are constantly bathed in radiation from a plethora of sources, and from what I understand some of it is just not dangerous (in a cancer causing sense). You can't get cancer from microwaves, for example, although you may cook yourself if you take the door off.
While your concerns are legitimate, I think that they are somewhat extreme. For one thing, I don't think anyone would agree to your steps 4 and onward. The "terrorist" schtik is going to disappear in a couple years, just like McCarthyism. The government doesn't control doctors and hospitals (where would you get this done anyway? a University seems most likely). Orwellian distopias are (perhaps) possible, but I think there is too much of a conflict of interests for a true government/corporation controlled world.
Why don't you say these things about the internet, or about any other technology? How do you know you don't have a chip in your head right now, implanted by the government/corporations when you were born? (I know I don't, I was born at home). Paranoia is a slippery slope...
Maybe that NASA stuff is good, but I think this iteration of brain-controlled technology is going the right way. It's simply a matter of refining it until the tech can be integrated into a healthy human with a minimum amount of side effects.
On the surface it may appear that this tech is helping the disabled people, but another way of looking at it is that the disabled are the only ones desperate enough at this point to use it. Hence, they are our guinea pigs (kind of cold perspective, I know); after this stuff is refined for disabled people, it may just be non-invasive enough that healthy folks can use it.
It's the next step in human evolution. Physically we do not need to evolve anymore, as it's more efficient to evolve our intellectual abilities.
Cyborgs and, ultimetly, robots are the future of humanity.
Sure, these "features" (brain controlled computing) will initially be for the disabled, but how long before it becomes acceptable in the general populace to get these modifactions? People will begin seeing them as everyday occurances, and then we will know we've reached the next level.
Because fear has become an excellent tool that can be used to control the populace. Just look at the PATRIOT act, Iraq war, New McCarthyism etc all supported by fear.
While I'm not a big Michael Moore fan, one thing Bowling for Columbine drove home was the "media of fear" idea. He certainly beat it to death, but there's no denying the prevalence of vague fear in todays (U.S.) media and government.
I mean, the violence in D&D is typically glossed over (some might say to its detrement -- barbarian heroes don't seem to live up to their Conanic legacy without rivers of gore to wade through). You roll. You hit. You kill the monster or it kills you. The survivors gets on with their lives. Not a lot of description going on, when it comes to combat.
No, you either haven't been exposed to the right way to play or play with a mediocre DM. Sure, there isn't a list of bloody, descriptive text that you read everytime you do something; that's because it is the responsibility of the DM, with help from the players, to tell the story/make the world come alive. When you hit something, you don't do "6 points of damage!" you "gauge the orc in the belly with your short sword, spilling its entrails onto the ground (6 points of damage)"
RPGs are meant to be active--imagination, storytelling and whatnot. The munchkinism has existed the whole time (since the '70s), but 3rd edition has contributed a lot to it.
I'll stop playing violent videogames when basketball players no longer strangle coaches, the president/congress stops endorsing war and TV stops broadcasting violent movies/shows.
American football is basically gladitorial arena combat (which makes it neat), but nobody complains about the violence it induces in our children.
To the Media: Stop the perpetuation of unfounded fear! It's almost as though they want to keep humanity in constant fear...oh wait, they do.
I've heard a lot of the "no one needs dual cores, one core is all we'll ever need." But I think dualies will be great, especially for AMD. Intel has HT to make multi-tasking quicker, but amd has nothing in that department. An additional cpu will be perfect to cover that deficiency.
For example, the other day I wanted to author a dvd, but I also wanted to download/install patches for an mmorpg. I decided to do them at the same time. Ugh, each process slowed dramatically; if I had a dual core machine this wouldn't have been a problem. The moderate price increase for a dualie will be worth a "moderate" performance increase. The important thing isn't making a faster one cpu style machine, but allowing multiple tasks to be done simultaneously. I would love to be able to encode a dvd while playing a game, or convert mp3s to wavs (for cd burning) while playing a game.
Your melodramatic tone is amusing. Basically, you are not a gamer but still want to play a MMORPG. According to you, anyone who spends more than 2 hours a day on a game is one of either "High school kids [or] people out of work."
Amusing, but I don't think that statement is very accurate. I know I work 8 hours a day in an office building, and make more than enough money to live comfortably. If I'm in an MMO "phase" I can get 7-8 hours of playtime a day out of my schedule.
From what I've seen this argument boils down to two viewpoints: "I work/have a wife/have kids/don't have freetime, therefore I want to advance fast and easy through a game" and "you should have to work for everything in the game, if it was just handed to you what fun would that be?"
I'm pretty sure you're in the first category; you're "too busy" to dedicate time to the game, so the game should be made easier to fit you. Well, now you have a place: WoW.
Many people play WoW, it is a popular game; that's because it gives you things. Death? No debt, just have to run a bit. Go ahead, try killing that powerful enemy as many times as you have patience for. Advancement? "everyone knows people play MMOs for character development, so let's just give people levels extremely fast!"
Things like this take the competition and sense of achievement out of a game. Now, I'm not gonna say that WoW will fail, obviously the reverse is true, but that doesn't mean that it's a truly good game. Perhaps it deserves notice for making MMORPGs more accessible to average people (which could be a bad thing; I know I don't like dealing with clueless players who "don't have the time" to learn how to play properly and courteously), but it isn't anything special beyond that.
Microsoft's master plan is to release Halo 3 on the same day as the PS3, that way people will run out and buy the Xbox just to play halo instead of buying a PS3.
Seriously though, aren't people already either gonna have an xbox or not, and have their minds made up what they want? I think Microsoft is trying its strongarm approach against the wrong type of company. Gates & co. are used to crushing weak opposition, and using their huge size advantage to overshadow the opponent (like Apple).
I got news for ya Microsoft: Sony is good at this!
Postscript: I would like to see sony "win" the next console war, only 'cause I don't like Microsoft; but I'm gonna be playin' The Revolution!
I don't see how the Tag-team feature is "unfinished". It works perfectly in Tekken Tag team (#3); I thought the implementation was excellent, despite me not liking the Tekken series.
Street Fighter (EX series and Marvel vs Capcom) both use tagging, and the only reason I prefer those methods is that I prefer that style of fighting game. There's nothing quite like a Dr. Doom air super combo -> Sentenal Plasma Ball super -> Iron Man Proton Cannon (MvC 2 is the best fighting game evar!)
Just making another instance isn't going to appease the horde of people that are around level 30-40 and will be at 60 soon (ie the ones who got the game around xmas and actually have day jobs/school).
(For reference, my characters are level 41, 35, 23, 20, 17, 14, and 13, though the 14 should hit 15 or 16 tonight. Yes, I'm bragging. Nyah.)
That's the problem with WoW. The creators made an MMO that was easy and "isn't a grind" because that's what everyone wants, supposedly. So people are gonna get maxed out characters real fast, then the forum whining will commence (not that it isn't there for all MMOs). Personally, I find this type of game a little...hedonistic. Very little effort for large rewards. It's probably related to the reason why I hate AFK powerlevelling in MMOs. This is, of course, my opinion, but I think that WoW is going to have a fast turn-over time.
I say, thank heavens! Let WoW absorb all the weekend warriors while I get to enjoy a true MMO that's not pussified.
I realize that a lot of/.ers are not big fans of hip-hop. Still, JayZ/Rocafella never tried to stop DM from distributing the album (to my knowlege). It's a common practice for major-label hip-hop artists to release mixtapes and other free content to their fans. 50Cent made his name from mixtapes, and many others have realized that these free albums are great marketing tools. Yes, a lot of people here hate hip-hop, but they've got to respect the copyright holder's generosity...and the fact that they encourage some of their works to be freely distributed.
I don't have a problem with a Dj winning an award like this; I do have a problem with a Dj winning an award for mixing together 2 over-hyped albums. Someone else mentioned the X-ecutioners; sure they use samples, but they practically create their own beats out of these samples. Their premise is a "band" where each instrument is a Dj with a turntable. They use the scratches to create beats.
Dangermouse just rode Jayz's overhyped "hip-hop" to success. An outfit like the x-ecutioners is more deserving of an award than this guy. Heck, I can think of a dozen dj/producers more original, people like blocktop, rjd2, buck 65, Mr. Dibbs, etc. Dangermouse doesn't deserve jack for doin' something that could easily be replicated with a computer and some wavs.
Yes, I agree that these ridiculous politicians and media-hungry church mongers are deserving of any attacks they draw.
What I'm saying is that there are people on both sides that are like that; the world of Popular Mechanics, "Mainstream" (ie dumbed down Newsweek style science(think: "eggs are bad for you" "NO, now they're good for you" "NO, now they're bad for you" same with wine, and atkins))science etc, as well as stubborn, doting science zealots that believe the current form of science is the end-all be-all of reality. This is equally as bad as the crazy fundamentalists we see all over. While these people may be less common on/. than religious zealots, they do exist.
Learn that science is as much a belief as religion, while it is foolish to refuse and deride theories such as natural selection and gravity it is equally foolish to declare the current state of science as Absolute Truth. By nature it is theoretical and subject to monumental change at the smallest findings.
Essentially, it seems that any argument on slashdot that involves religion quickly degenerates into "oh yeah, well those crazy religious people outlawed the teaching of evolution in so-and-so state."
My point is that science is gauged by its academic knowledge here on/., while religion is gauged by its layman knowledge. The tired cliche of religious people staunchly refusing to admit any findings of science died a long time ago; even the catholic church officially accepts all findings of science as truths that do not interfere with religious doctrine. And if you honestly believe that evolution and religion are exclusive to each other, then you are a bull-headed idiot whether on the religious side of the fence or the scientific side.
Slashdot Mirror
Is the city monitoring the traffic to prevent kids under the age of 18 from viewing illicit material?
Will the RIAA come after them if someone uses this hardware to download illegal songs?
For some reason I fail to see this hidden legal problem people are mentioning. Does your current internet provider monitor your activity? Do they block certain ports? Are they liable for you downloading illegal files?
If you answer "yes" to either of the first two questions, then you should get a new service provider (ie. stop using AOL); the answer to the third question is "no".
It's not that difficult to understand, don't make it more complicated than it is. I fail to see how this is any different than a pay service, just without paying.
But then, it probably is just a matter of time before some mentally handicapped parent tries to sue the city government 'cause little Johnny blew his hand off trying to make a bomb from the online Anarchists Cookbook. I feel confident that the civil suit would lose though.
Additionally, the 840 will support Intel's EM64T 64-bit technology out of the chute, so the 840 and the Pentium D will be 64-bit ready
Shoulda said, "will support the AMD64 64 bit technology out of..."
Even Windows 64 is calling it AMD64, which is hard to believe considering the close ties between Intel and Windows.
The fact that you had a full tank of gas may have been the thing that prevented your car from exploding. With a full tank, there is no oxygen in the tank/lines; no oxygen=no fire. If you had an empty tank though, chances are there would be oxygen and gas fumes in the tank, which could explode. That is why when you take your car in to have gas tank work (with torch/weld not epoxy) they have you fill up the tank. It's actually less dangerous to work on a full tank than empty tank.
On topic: I think the true question is, "what do you use your monitor for?" If all you do is word process/program/compile/surf (non-video/non-color stuff) LCDs are great. However, if you do anything involving movement (video games, movies, etc) or color (graphic design, picture/video editing, etc) CRT are far superior.
I went out and bought the highest spec 17" LCD in my price range (~$400) that supposedly had a good response time (11ms I think), and it still looked horrible. I ended up returning it in favor of my 19" $100 Aoc CRT, which is bottom of the barrel for monitors. I'll buy a high end CRT before a decent LCD any day, but then that is mostly due to my needs/uses of a monitor.
I sometimes consider the possible side effects of the radiation, but I think they are neglible. We are constantly bathed in radiation from a plethora of sources, and from what I understand some of it is just not dangerous (in a cancer causing sense). You can't get cancer from microwaves, for example, although you may cook yourself if you take the door off.
Mod -1, missed the joke.
Why don't you say these things about the internet, or about any other technology? How do you know you don't have a chip in your head right now, implanted by the government/corporations when you were born? (I know I don't, I was born at home). Paranoia is a slippery slope...
On the surface it may appear that this tech is helping the disabled people, but another way of looking at it is that the disabled are the only ones desperate enough at this point to use it. Hence, they are our guinea pigs (kind of cold perspective, I know); after this stuff is refined for disabled people, it may just be non-invasive enough that healthy folks can use it.
Cyborgs and, ultimetly, robots are the future of humanity.
Sure, these "features" (brain controlled computing) will initially be for the disabled, but how long before it becomes acceptable in the general populace to get these modifactions? People will begin seeing them as everyday occurances, and then we will know we've reached the next level.
Johnny Mnemonic!
While I'm not a big Michael Moore fan, one thing Bowling for Columbine drove home was the "media of fear" idea. He certainly beat it to death, but there's no denying the prevalence of vague fear in todays (U.S.) media and government.
They should put the barcode on your neck or wrist.
In Fascist U.S., government terrorizes YOU.
No, you either haven't been exposed to the right way to play or play with a mediocre DM. Sure, there isn't a list of bloody, descriptive text that you read everytime you do something; that's because it is the responsibility of the DM, with help from the players, to tell the story/make the world come alive. When you hit something, you don't do "6 points of damage!" you "gauge the orc in the belly with your short sword, spilling its entrails onto the ground (6 points of damage)"
RPGs are meant to be active--imagination, storytelling and whatnot. The munchkinism has existed the whole time (since the '70s), but 3rd edition has contributed a lot to it.
That, and you don't have to worry about the whole "while playing a game" thing!
I jest, I jest.
American football is basically gladitorial arena combat (which makes it neat), but nobody complains about the violence it induces in our children.
To the Media: Stop the perpetuation of unfounded fear! It's almost as though they want to keep humanity in constant fear...oh wait, they do.
For example, the other day I wanted to author a dvd, but I also wanted to download/install patches for an mmorpg. I decided to do them at the same time. Ugh, each process slowed dramatically; if I had a dual core machine this wouldn't have been a problem. The moderate price increase for a dualie will be worth a "moderate" performance increase. The important thing isn't making a faster one cpu style machine, but allowing multiple tasks to be done simultaneously. I would love to be able to encode a dvd while playing a game, or convert mp3s to wavs (for cd burning) while playing a game.
The 13 Root Servers Buwahahahahaha
I welcome our 13 Demonic Server Overlords
Amusing, but I don't think that statement is very accurate. I know I work 8 hours a day in an office building, and make more than enough money to live comfortably. If I'm in an MMO "phase" I can get 7-8 hours of playtime a day out of my schedule.
From what I've seen this argument boils down to two viewpoints: "I work/have a wife/have kids/don't have freetime, therefore I want to advance fast and easy through a game" and "you should have to work for everything in the game, if it was just handed to you what fun would that be?"
I'm pretty sure you're in the first category; you're "too busy" to dedicate time to the game, so the game should be made easier to fit you. Well, now you have a place: WoW.
Many people play WoW, it is a popular game; that's because it gives you things. Death? No debt, just have to run a bit. Go ahead, try killing that powerful enemy as many times as you have patience for. Advancement? "everyone knows people play MMOs for character development, so let's just give people levels extremely fast!"
Things like this take the competition and sense of achievement out of a game. Now, I'm not gonna say that WoW will fail, obviously the reverse is true, but that doesn't mean that it's a truly good game. Perhaps it deserves notice for making MMORPGs more accessible to average people (which could be a bad thing; I know I don't like dealing with clueless players who "don't have the time" to learn how to play properly and courteously), but it isn't anything special beyond that.
Well then microsoft didn't make any money off you, they probably lost money, because they make the cash off the games and not the hardware.
Microsoft's master plan is to release Halo 3 on the same day as the PS3, that way people will run out and buy the Xbox just to play halo instead of buying a PS3.
Seriously though, aren't people already either gonna have an xbox or not, and have their minds made up what they want? I think Microsoft is trying its strongarm approach against the wrong type of company. Gates & co. are used to crushing weak opposition, and using their huge size advantage to overshadow the opponent (like Apple).
I got news for ya Microsoft: Sony is good at this!
Postscript: I would like to see sony "win" the next console war, only 'cause I don't like Microsoft; but I'm gonna be playin' The Revolution!
Street Fighter (EX series and Marvel vs Capcom) both use tagging, and the only reason I prefer those methods is that I prefer that style of fighting game. There's nothing quite like a Dr. Doom air super combo -> Sentenal Plasma Ball super -> Iron Man Proton Cannon (MvC 2 is the best fighting game evar!)
That's the problem with WoW. The creators made an MMO that was easy and "isn't a grind" because that's what everyone wants, supposedly. So people are gonna get maxed out characters real fast, then the forum whining will commence (not that it isn't there for all MMOs).
Personally, I find this type of game a little...hedonistic. Very little effort for large rewards. It's probably related to the reason why I hate AFK powerlevelling in MMOs. This is, of course, my opinion, but I think that WoW is going to have a fast turn-over time.
I say, thank heavens! Let WoW absorb all the weekend warriors while I get to enjoy a true MMO that's not pussified.
I don't have a problem with a Dj winning an award like this; I do have a problem with a Dj winning an award for mixing together 2 over-hyped albums. Someone else mentioned the X-ecutioners; sure they use samples, but they practically create their own beats out of these samples. Their premise is a "band" where each instrument is a Dj with a turntable. They use the scratches to create beats.
Dangermouse just rode Jayz's overhyped "hip-hop" to success. An outfit like the x-ecutioners is more deserving of an award than this guy. Heck, I can think of a dozen dj/producers more original, people like blocktop, rjd2, buck 65, Mr. Dibbs, etc. Dangermouse doesn't deserve jack for doin' something that could easily be replicated with a computer and some wavs.
What I'm saying is that there are people on both sides that are like that; the world of Popular Mechanics, "Mainstream" (ie dumbed down Newsweek style science(think: "eggs are bad for you" "NO, now they're good for you" "NO, now they're bad for you" same with wine, and atkins))science etc, as well as stubborn, doting science zealots that believe the current form of science is the end-all be-all of reality. This is equally as bad as the crazy fundamentalists we see all over. While these people may be less common on /. than religious zealots, they do exist.
Learn that science is as much a belief as religion, while it is foolish to refuse and deride theories such as natural selection and gravity it is equally foolish to declare the current state of science as Absolute Truth. By nature it is theoretical and subject to monumental change at the smallest findings.
Essentially, it seems that any argument on slashdot that involves religion quickly degenerates into "oh yeah, well those crazy religious people outlawed the teaching of evolution in so-and-so state."
My point is that science is gauged by its academic knowledge here on /., while religion is gauged by its layman knowledge. The tired cliche of religious people staunchly refusing to admit any findings of science died a long time ago; even the catholic church officially accepts all findings of science as truths that do not interfere with religious doctrine. And if you honestly believe that evolution and religion are exclusive to each other, then you are a bull-headed idiot whether on the religious side of the fence or the scientific side.
Yes, but does it utilize the broadcast flag?