I remember how long HL2 got delayed. I bought my ATI AIW 9600 Pro, because of the deal for HL2. Just so happens it got so delayed you only got the key. Of course, they did lots to try to make this up by providing the original HL catalog. These sorts of things happen, this isn't the first game delayed and surely won't be the last, especially when Valve is involved.
(Frankly, too, I've been around a while and I don't remember the supposed phase you're describing in rgps and adventure games.)
I believe he is recalling that phase where he stopped playing simplified hack-and-slash RPGs and started playing real ones that actually made you worry about items that had been part of PnP RPGs since their creation. Honestly, this is another one of those trolls who wants his pretty graphics and could care less about real gameplay. There is something I really dislike about how games seem to just be repeating them self with better graphics.
Innovation is big here. The only thing I have seen that was close to this was the fishing controller for DC and that was very specialized for a single game. I think it is great to get video games that require more interaction. I also think this will change how some people view video games. This may still not bring games in line with actually going outside and playing, but the amount of physical activity required for playing a game just went way up. I personally look forward to the chance to play Tiger Woods or Baseball on the Wii. The ability to actually have "real" control is very cool. (And if Lucasarts does make a lightsaber game for Wii, oh I will be in heaven.)
You have a 17 year old daughter who plays video games? You might have a lot of requests from teenage slashdotters for a/s/l now...and in a year possibly the rest of the/. community.
And like I said, Intel is doing quad-core too. Also, note these are Opteron, which means their use is designed for server usage, where multithreaded processes are a lot more common and multiple CPUs can have great improvement in performance. With a mid-2007 release and even longer before quad-core comes to desktop, there will be even more programs that take advantage of multi-core technology. Remember, that just because your processes are not multi-threaded does not mean that you will gain no improvement from multiple cores. By the way, do you know that AMD has only been focusing on adding more cores? Are you working there on the design team? Have you read the roadmaps lately? You would be real dense to think that AMD is taking a singular approach to catchin Intel. Intel surely didn't take this method when they were behind, it just happens they found that they could push out MHz to try to keep up until a better solution was complete.
The religious fundamentalist may not have popped up in the last six years, but the politicians pandering to them certainly has. This is quite evident in recent legislative attempts and red herrings of recent years. The gay marriage bans are very much religion based. I do not know that I have ever heard a good reason against gay marriage, most of them seem to center on the fact that it says it is wrong in the bible. (I just love how x-ians selectively choose what they read in that book.) The stem cell research is another example. The logic used behind the bans and limitations placed on the research by our federal government are always quoted as some religious/moral dilemma. I do believe are the village idiot (and current president) and invoked the g-man a few times in his support for such limits/bans.
Note that about one third of Americans reject the concept of evolution. It's unfortunate that even if people do want to have a religious or spiritual belief, they can't reconcile it with fairly firmly established scientific truth.
Without more detailed numbers this will be hard to argue. Remember, about 74% of the people in this country claim to be x-ian. Less than 15% are considered "non-religious" and that probably isn't just the atheists and agnostics either. I would imagine you will find a very small number of atheists and just about as few agnostics who will tell you they do not believe in evolution. Most who will tell you they do not, probably have a misunderstanding of evolution, since it has been skewed in public view without providing real details or facts.
I really do not think that the use of "politicization of science" and "widespread fundamentalism" are as politically motivated as you might thing (well at least not the former). The "widespread fundamentalism" is debatable, but when I saw polls on election night 2004 that people in Ohio cared more about the religion (or religious beliefs) of a candidate then they cared about the economy or unemployment, I knew things were pretty sad. I am a firm believer that religion and politics do not mix, and I really do not think I am alone in that matter. The politicization of science is happening though. School boards voting to include "intelligent design" in public school teachings, along with evolution. I wouldn't be too surprised if there were teachers, who despite their training and knowledge on the subject, refused to teach evolution anyway, because of their own religious beliefs. Like it or not, science in America does appear to have been politicized. Take the following examples from recent history: Global Warming, Second Hand Smoke (surely you know of public smoking bans), "Intelligent Design", and Stem Cell research.
I will admit, this study really does nothing more than remind me of things I already knew. I think it might also reflect the closed minded attitude of the country. It almost borders on the Catholic churches persecution of people who said that Earth wasn't in the middle of the universe and challenged the religious dogma with science.
It is called the 65nm process. While these might not be running the 65nm yet (the information seems vague but leans to it still being a 90), by the time the quad cores reach desktops, I would suspect 65nm will be a lot more common, and should help considerably in improving the power consumption. (This is part of what helped Intel keep their CPUs under control for a while.)
Um, no. Because both are forcing more cores into the chips. The comparison you make is actually rather poor, because when Intel did that AMD was not pushing their speed with them. If you bothered to RTFA, or even any article on the subject of multi-core processing, you would know that both companies are working on, and have been working on, quad-core (and I think 8-core) designs.
The AMD grasp to hang on was the 4x4 socket, which is an interesting idea if nothing else. I really think you should read up more on multi-core systems, because your statements are a tad off.
There is a HUGE difference. People with certain types of HPV may or may not get cancer. It is not a given. You are right to some degree in that the important thing is they have found A cancer that is contagious. Don't say all cancer is contagious that is for the sensationalist media to provide.
The RIAA's members continue to sell unencumbered media for the most part.
A large number of new release CDs are getting DRM type protections. The only time these things get any real press or notice though is when Sony screws up big time and installs a root kit without permission. Most of the methods invented can be circumvented, but the CSS was circumvented LONG AGO.
The illegality of the issue, which could result in jail time, is actually a result of the DMCA. The RIAA could go after people for circumventing these protections but they chose to go after individuals instead. The MPAA hasn't made a major push after individuals but has continued to focus the bulk of its efforts on the people who are mass producing pirate movies and on the people creating circumventing software. (Note: I do not support the MPAA going after the software folks. Many of them have created software with a legitimate use. The DMCA is as evil as the acronym suggests.)
Neither are perfect bodies, but the RIAA so far hasn't tried to micromanage how I listen to music.
On the contrary they have done a mighty fine job of doing it. So well in fact you do not even realize it. There have been instances of protected CDs not working in certain CD players or preventing them from being used on PC. Look at most MP3 download services. The reason they will not let you transfer MP3s as you wish is because of deals setup with the RIAA. They did the same thing to Sirius over recordable receivers and are trying the same with XM. These people are far worse then you give them credit for. Also, the MPAA is charging me $15 for DVDs with special features and a two-hour movie. The RIAA is charging you $13 for less than an hour of music and no bonuses. (Yes, I know it is not them directly, but the pricing for CDs is crazy compared to DVDs.)
In the end, if I had to choose one of the two bodies to deal with it would probably be the MPAA. Heck, I won't even buy new CDs anymore. They still get me buying movies on DVD every once in a while.
There is a big difference. In the HPV case, there is a viral infection THAT MAY cause cancer in people with the virus. This is talking about the tumor cells actually transferring from one animal to another to cause infection. So to recap, HPV is a virus that may cause cancer in women with it and should not be confused with communicable cancer. A communicable cancer would be transferred from person one to person two and cause a cancer infection. (You know, how the flu, common cold, and a host of other diseases work.)
What's there to challenge? A state makes a perfectly reasonable law that requires you to check an e-mail against a database of registered users who don't want that mail. Take some porn and go to your downtown local metropolis. Now hand out those pornographic pictures to everyone, young and old alike. See how long you can do that until you're arrested. Nobody challenges those laws, why the hell would anybody be able to challenge laws against people who randomly distribute lewd messages online? The least they can do is check if the person has registered not to receive them. Ohhh, that's right. Silly me, porn is a $10 billion dollar industry. They'll just throw money and lawyers at that problem to fix it.
Free speech? I do not see them slapping fines on people for unsolicited snail mail. And trust me, you can get a lot of that crap and getting addresses is really damn easy. Also, the article isn't clear about the Utah law. It could be using those nice, vague terms that make the law unenforceable and could even target e-mail that was solicited. Remember, people sometimes identify items as spam that really are not.
I'm sure that if you start hitting these companies with $10,000 fines per violation that they would pay attention to the list. And if they stole it, it's all the more fines.
The problem is that a lot of the real spam companies are outside the US. It is sort of hard to enforce US laws outside the US. If a spam company has no office, no location and no connection to the US, it will be hard to enforce. Also $10k per violation will be hard to uphold. If you charge that by millions of e-mails, companies will claim you are asking for unreasonable damages and the truth is you would. The damage caused per spam e-mail is minimal, and certainly not a $10k violation. This idea that the children are being hurt (the articles own words almost) is nothing more then a red herring.
I'm not sure how feasible that idea is, however. I would recommend just hitting the company that owns the last server to forward the e-mail. If they can't provide/prove another source from which the e-mail came, hit them with the $10,000 fine. I would wager that companies would be awful quick to clamp down their SMTP servers and keep records of where everything came from. Not only would this increase a company's security but it would reduce much of the spam you see that has a legitimate address from a careless company.
This only hurts ISPs. Watch the way an e-mail hops from router to router, point to point, on the "information super highway". Your statement almost screams, "I do not understand networks or the internet." This is unreasonable and puts blame on providers because of the actions of their users.
Under recently passed legislation, we have changed our name from the General Accounting Office to the Government Accountability Office. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) is an agency that works for Congress and the American people. Congress asks GAO to study the programs and expenditures of the federal government. GAO, commonly called the investigative arm of Congress or the congressional watchdog, is independent and nonpartisan. It studies how the federal government spends taxpayer dollars. GAO advises Congress and the heads of executive agencies (such as Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, Department of Defense, DOD, and Health and Human Services, HHS) about ways to make government more effective and responsive. GAO evaluates federal programs, audits federal expenditures, and issues legal opinions. When GAO reports its findings to Congress, it recommends actions. Its work leads to laws and acts that improve government operations, and save billions of dollars.
This come to your from here. So based on this description, wouldn't monitoring the ESRB be outside the departments normal duties? Also, wouldn't this take away from the Office's real job...you know acting like it is making the government accountable. I guess when your government is so corrupt and backwards (and yes I live in the US) distracting the Government Accountability Office isn't such a bad idea...
Seriously, it works just fine. Setup your standard OOC and IC channels and in some cases a separate dice channel and let it go. I personally would ditch the team speak, the vocal communication is not needed and in many cases most people I know are better at explaining themselves in type because they can actually work it out before sending it.
I have roleplayed on IRC for over 10 years. Some of my best friends play on there and I haven't even met all of them in person. You will have a plethora of players at your disposal (recommended finding sane networks, irc.sorcery.net isn't bad for RPG). Most people in the channel I play in still do TT games on occassion, but they are more grown up then me (but not that much so) and have established groups of friends.
To be honest, I still think the IRC path works better for WoD games. Honestly, I never recall coming across many, if any, D&D games. If you are a D&D crowd with decent PCs, may I suggest attempting running campaigns using NWN. I have not had the opportunity to try it, but since the game with two expansions and Kingmaker can be had for $30 (the Diamond Edition), it isn't too insane and has good single player campaigns as well.
Otherwise, you can try openRPG, but I really do not think it is that necessary. It sometimes takes a bit of getting used to not having everyone sitting five feet from each other, but you can definitely have enjoyable experiences with RPGs on IRC.
are getting old and bordering on FUD and trolling. Dell has issued recalls for batteries that might cause this problem (and power supplies but those haven't been the problems in the reported cases). Remember, keep your laptops cool by not blocking the ventilation holes, the things are already hot enough...if you haven't checked your Dell battery then please do so here and avoid a disaster like this.
You see, I once used to collect innocent things...Star Trek figures, Star Wars figures...I even had a few CCGs...Star Wars, Overpower and M:tG come to mind. None of these really broke my bank. I worked a steady job in high school and since I was really only paying for gas and insurance, I had loads of money to spend. I actually had somewhere near $2000 saved up before college, so I didn't have to work in order to eat out and have fun doing things my parents weren't paying for (which was just school and books, and that nasty meal plan).
Well, now my new "toys" are computers and electronics. When I spend money, it is a lot less frequent, but the items I am buying are much more expensive. I guess it comes with my more grown up interests. I have tons of DVDs and buy many used CDs now. The real disaster comes from my electronics though. I am about to purchase another computer. (Well, build it myself, but you know...) I own a Dell Inspiron 8600 and recently got a G3 iBook (nice and white, 800MHz, DVD/CD-RW, etc.) on ebay for $300. I also have a lot of electronics, HDTV, media player, and audio-phile 5.1 system.
My other interest include guns, which are not cheap by any definition of the word either. I have managed to curb some of my PC/console gaming, though I really think I am just stashing up until it comes time for the Wii. Actually the new PC is mostly for Oblivion and maybe the next UT. The fact is, even these are typically 10x or more expensive then my old habits and I am not really making 10x as much as in high school. Well actually I am, but I now have real bills...like electricity, water, gas...oh and that pesky rent...
The point is, any hobby or habit can get really expensive. I guess it just eventually comes down to what kind of money you are willing to spend and what you find interesting.
do they even read wtf they are agreeing to...or do they just hear the words porn and children in the same sentence and freak out? Like most laws this uses grossly broad language, almost to the point of being non-enforceable in the US. I seriously do hope this gets challenged and defeated in court, because honestly, laws like this that are meants to "protect the children" are really just another means to assert some level of control...most the people voting for this could really care less and a lot wouldn't vote against this now because it is an election year...
I think people focus on this a lot, or I just notice this more then other things. But it is highly overstated. There are far worse devices then a console. Check this out. Look at the listed items (the list is a bit old, consoles still showing at 1.1 W): Digital Cable Box - 23 Watts. A regular one is still over 15 W in idle. I would be far more concerned with those then I would be consoles. (I am pretty sure there are more cable boxes in the US and Worldwide then game consoles that are actually plugged in, not counting those dust collecting NES and Atari).
Actually, let us take a look at the soon to be average (if we ever get converted to digital) TV setup. Digital TV = 8.8W, Digital Cable Box = 23W, and DVD Player (don't most people have these?) 4.4W. Now, idling that is 36.2W of power usage. This is for something that is very likely more common then a console is. Power "leakage" (such a horrible word) is bad, but it is a sympton of two things:
1) Instant Gratification: Devices receiving power constantly are that much closer to being instant-on, allowing you to get to enjoying your DVDs and television programming faster. They have to keep certain things in standby modes to keep load times down.
2) Features and Adv. Functionality: You know, being able to power on devices with the remote, having time-of-day clock setups (there are a few devices that really do not need them), and external displays with time and other information on them at all times.
I am sure there are other reasons related to technology needed certain power requirements, but I really believe some of the great increases in idle power usage (cause that really is what "leakage" is) are not necessity. I am sure governments will attempt to regulate this a bit better, but we all know what a joke government regulations can turn into.
Hit the Sections "Link" At the top of the sections section...after a moment this will load an option window that lets you select to do the "small" view which gives a title only, or no view...there are other options, but I figure these are the ones you want most...
Would that server making be HP by any chance? I mean the did help develop Itanium 2. Just about every workstation or server I've seen with an Itanium is an HP...hm....come now, if it is HP you wouldn't be breaking the NDA by revealing common knowledge.
the failed DIVX experiment...sans the media. At least with DIVX we got a pretty cool comic character. I mean look at him. Drunk electronic are funny, what do you think made Bender so great...
You are somewhat right in the notion that you cannot get rid of "the state." Government is almost a necessary evil, which is why most revolutions seek to replace one government with another. This has happened many times; human history is full of violent uprising that result in a change of the status quo, and provide people with a new leadership, which they hope will be more to their liking. Where you lose me is on the notion that you cannot be rid of a state's "coercion", which to you includes censorship.
Censorship is a touchy subject, and you often have to remind people what exactly it means. There are certain things in US society that could be considered "state sponsored censorship", including the FCC regulations. But are any of these truly censorship? So, the FCC instituted decency rules to prevent individuals from saying or doing certain things over broadcast media. This problem was resolved; cable was invented. The limits that do still exist are often ones imposed to protect the rights of others. You remember that thing about freedom not being absolute, well there comes a time where you must ask, "When do my rights interfere with the rights or well-being of my neighbor?"
Next, you begin to talk about taxation, almost like you are comparing it to censorship in some way. Sales tax is an increasing pain in some areas, but your supposed dodge may not be one at all. You see, many states have had "Use Tax" in place since the pre-Internet days (some added them after the Internet came along). A "use tax" typically charges you the state sales tax rate for items purchased for which you did not pay Sales Tax. I am certain most people skip this, and I really doubt many states have the time or resources to really care...this is probably why they just want taxes charged at time of purchase.
Now, the non-smoking debate is yet another one to go 'round and 'round. IF the law is created by being voted on during an election, I have minimal complaints about it. They would merely be implementing something that the majority voted for. I get upset when I find places where overzealous politicians pass these measures without any real regard of the community's opinion and base it solely off of unsubstantiated health concerns. (Yes, there still is much debate on how much of a threat second-hand smoke really is)
There is one big problem with your whole assumption...that is that enough people will care. Even if information is available to some, you wind up creating (or expanding) the supposed social and/or economical dichotomy. If information is only free to those who can afford it is it free at all? A large majority of the country lives in apathy. People here things on TV or read something in print that should enrage a normal person...but because it "protects" them from terrorism or makes them feel "safe", they write it off as a necessity. Besides, you enter a slippery slope by allowing censorship to grow into a norm. At what stage do you then make thought no longer free...will your children, or you children's children begin to spy on you...because the state tells them to while they are at state sponsored schools (because you cannot teach them at home)...you are monitors 24/7...yes, a Totalitarian state is such a great idea (oh, can you feel the sarcasm). I highly recommend reading dystopian literature. It may be fiction, but when you start seeing parallels in the real world...it really can be scary...At the least, read 1984 and Brave New World if you haven't already.
I was only waiting for these for the supposed AMD price cuts. The only reason my A64 3000+ system is getting the boot is because it is socket 754, so I need to be rid of the dead socket and get me some DDR2, SATA-II, and PCI-X lovin'. The PCI-X is the main reason since my 9600AIW is showing age, though it did get me the best free game with a vid card ever, HL2. Real performance increase for me will come from the GPU (though the CPU won't hurt).
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I remember how long HL2 got delayed. I bought my ATI AIW 9600 Pro, because of the deal for HL2. Just so happens it got so delayed you only got the key. Of course, they did lots to try to make this up by providing the original HL catalog. These sorts of things happen, this isn't the first game delayed and surely won't be the last, especially when Valve is involved.
(Frankly, too, I've been around a while and I don't remember the supposed phase you're describing in rgps and adventure games.)
I believe he is recalling that phase where he stopped playing simplified hack-and-slash RPGs and started playing real ones that actually made you worry about items that had been part of PnP RPGs since their creation. Honestly, this is another one of those trolls who wants his pretty graphics and could care less about real gameplay. There is something I really dislike about how games seem to just be repeating them self with better graphics.
Innovation is big here. The only thing I have seen that was close to this was the fishing controller for DC and that was very specialized for a single game. I think it is great to get video games that require more interaction. I also think this will change how some people view video games. This may still not bring games in line with actually going outside and playing, but the amount of physical activity required for playing a game just went way up. I personally look forward to the chance to play Tiger Woods or Baseball on the Wii. The ability to actually have "real" control is very cool. (And if Lucasarts does make a lightsaber game for Wii, oh I will be in heaven.)
You have a 17 year old daughter who plays video games? You might have a lot of requests from teenage slashdotters for a/s/l now...and in a year possibly the rest of the /. community.
And like I said, Intel is doing quad-core too. Also, note these are Opteron, which means their use is designed for server usage, where multithreaded processes are a lot more common and multiple CPUs can have great improvement in performance. With a mid-2007 release and even longer before quad-core comes to desktop, there will be even more programs that take advantage of multi-core technology. Remember, that just because your processes are not multi-threaded does not mean that you will gain no improvement from multiple cores. By the way, do you know that AMD has only been focusing on adding more cores? Are you working there on the design team? Have you read the roadmaps lately? You would be real dense to think that AMD is taking a singular approach to catchin Intel. Intel surely didn't take this method when they were behind, it just happens they found that they could push out MHz to try to keep up until a better solution was complete.
The religious fundamentalist may not have popped up in the last six years, but the politicians pandering to them certainly has. This is quite evident in recent legislative attempts and red herrings of recent years. The gay marriage bans are very much religion based. I do not know that I have ever heard a good reason against gay marriage, most of them seem to center on the fact that it says it is wrong in the bible. (I just love how x-ians selectively choose what they read in that book.) The stem cell research is another example. The logic used behind the bans and limitations placed on the research by our federal government are always quoted as some religious/moral dilemma. I do believe are the village idiot (and current president) and invoked the g-man a few times in his support for such limits/bans.
Note that about one third of Americans reject the concept of evolution. It's unfortunate that even if people do want to have a religious or spiritual belief, they can't reconcile it with fairly firmly established scientific truth.
Without more detailed numbers this will be hard to argue. Remember, about 74% of the people in this country claim to be x-ian. Less than 15% are considered "non-religious" and that probably isn't just the atheists and agnostics either. I would imagine you will find a very small number of atheists and just about as few agnostics who will tell you they do not believe in evolution. Most who will tell you they do not, probably have a misunderstanding of evolution, since it has been skewed in public view without providing real details or facts.
I really do not think that the use of "politicization of science" and "widespread fundamentalism" are as politically motivated as you might thing (well at least not the former). The "widespread fundamentalism" is debatable, but when I saw polls on election night 2004 that people in Ohio cared more about the religion (or religious beliefs) of a candidate then they cared about the economy or unemployment, I knew things were pretty sad. I am a firm believer that religion and politics do not mix, and I really do not think I am alone in that matter. The politicization of science is happening though. School boards voting to include "intelligent design" in public school teachings, along with evolution. I wouldn't be too surprised if there were teachers, who despite their training and knowledge on the subject, refused to teach evolution anyway, because of their own religious beliefs. Like it or not, science in America does appear to have been politicized. Take the following examples from recent history: Global Warming, Second Hand Smoke (surely you know of public smoking bans), "Intelligent Design", and Stem Cell research.
I will admit, this study really does nothing more than remind me of things I already knew. I think it might also reflect the closed minded attitude of the country. It almost borders on the Catholic churches persecution of people who said that Earth wasn't in the middle of the universe and challenged the religious dogma with science.
It is called the 65nm process. While these might not be running the 65nm yet (the information seems vague but leans to it still being a 90), by the time the quad cores reach desktops, I would suspect 65nm will be a lot more common, and should help considerably in improving the power consumption. (This is part of what helped Intel keep their CPUs under control for a while.)
Um, no. Because both are forcing more cores into the chips. The comparison you make is actually rather poor, because when Intel did that AMD was not pushing their speed with them. If you bothered to RTFA, or even any article on the subject of multi-core processing, you would know that both companies are working on, and have been working on, quad-core (and I think 8-core) designs.
The AMD grasp to hang on was the 4x4 socket, which is an interesting idea if nothing else. I really think you should read up more on multi-core systems, because your statements are a tad off.
There is a HUGE difference. People with certain types of HPV may or may not get cancer. It is not a given. You are right to some degree in that the important thing is they have found A cancer that is contagious. Don't say all cancer is contagious that is for the sensationalist media to provide.
The RIAA's members continue to sell unencumbered media for the most part.
A large number of new release CDs are getting DRM type protections. The only time these things get any real press or notice though is when Sony screws up big time and installs a root kit without permission. Most of the methods invented can be circumvented, but the CSS was circumvented LONG AGO.
The illegality of the issue, which could result in jail time, is actually a result of the DMCA. The RIAA could go after people for circumventing these protections but they chose to go after individuals instead. The MPAA hasn't made a major push after individuals but has continued to focus the bulk of its efforts on the people who are mass producing pirate movies and on the people creating circumventing software. (Note: I do not support the MPAA going after the software folks. Many of them have created software with a legitimate use. The DMCA is as evil as the acronym suggests.)
Neither are perfect bodies, but the RIAA so far hasn't tried to micromanage how I listen to music.
On the contrary they have done a mighty fine job of doing it. So well in fact you do not even realize it. There have been instances of protected CDs not working in certain CD players or preventing them from being used on PC. Look at most MP3 download services. The reason they will not let you transfer MP3s as you wish is because of deals setup with the RIAA. They did the same thing to Sirius over recordable receivers and are trying the same with XM. These people are far worse then you give them credit for. Also, the MPAA is charging me $15 for DVDs with special features and a two-hour movie. The RIAA is charging you $13 for less than an hour of music and no bonuses. (Yes, I know it is not them directly, but the pricing for CDs is crazy compared to DVDs.)
In the end, if I had to choose one of the two bodies to deal with it would probably be the MPAA. Heck, I won't even buy new CDs anymore. They still get me buying movies on DVD every once in a while.
There is a big difference. In the HPV case, there is a viral infection THAT MAY cause cancer in people with the virus. This is talking about the tumor cells actually transferring from one animal to another to cause infection. So to recap, HPV is a virus that may cause cancer in women with it and should not be confused with communicable cancer. A communicable cancer would be transferred from person one to person two and cause a cancer infection. (You know, how the flu, common cold, and a host of other diseases work.)
The problem is that a lot of the real spam companies are outside the US. It is sort of hard to enforce US laws outside the US. If a spam company has no office, no location and no connection to the US, it will be hard to enforce. Also $10k per violation will be hard to uphold. If you charge that by millions of e-mails, companies will claim you are asking for unreasonable damages and the truth is you would. The damage caused per spam e-mail is minimal, and certainly not a $10k violation. This idea that the children are being hurt (the articles own words almost) is nothing more then a red herring.
This only hurts ISPs. Watch the way an e-mail hops from router to router, point to point, on the "information super highway". Your statement almost screams, "I do not understand networks or the internet." This is unreasonable and puts blame on providers because of the actions of their users.
This come to your from here. So based on this description, wouldn't monitoring the ESRB be outside the departments normal duties? Also, wouldn't this take away from the Office's real job...you know acting like it is making the government accountable. I guess when your government is so corrupt and backwards (and yes I live in the US) distracting the Government Accountability Office isn't such a bad idea...
Where have I heard this before? You know this sounds really familiar...I swear...this has been talked about before...Hm, maybe I am just confused...
No, I prefer using this idea...
Seriously, it works just fine. Setup your standard OOC and IC channels and in some cases a separate dice channel and let it go. I personally would ditch the team speak, the vocal communication is not needed and in many cases most people I know are better at explaining themselves in type because they can actually work it out before sending it.
I have roleplayed on IRC for over 10 years. Some of my best friends play on there and I haven't even met all of them in person. You will have a plethora of players at your disposal (recommended finding sane networks, irc.sorcery.net isn't bad for RPG). Most people in the channel I play in still do TT games on occassion, but they are more grown up then me (but not that much so) and have established groups of friends.
To be honest, I still think the IRC path works better for WoD games. Honestly, I never recall coming across many, if any, D&D games. If you are a D&D crowd with decent PCs, may I suggest attempting running campaigns using NWN. I have not had the opportunity to try it, but since the game with two expansions and Kingmaker can be had for $30 (the Diamond Edition), it isn't too insane and has good single player campaigns as well.
Otherwise, you can try openRPG, but I really do not think it is that necessary. It sometimes takes a bit of getting used to not having everyone sitting five feet from each other, but you can definitely have enjoyable experiences with RPGs on IRC.
are getting old and bordering on FUD and trolling. Dell has issued recalls for batteries that might cause this problem (and power supplies but those haven't been the problems in the reported cases). Remember, keep your laptops cool by not blocking the ventilation holes, the things are already hot enough...if you haven't checked your Dell battery then please do so here and avoid a disaster like this.
You see, I once used to collect innocent things...Star Trek figures, Star Wars figures...I even had a few CCGs...Star Wars, Overpower and M:tG come to mind. None of these really broke my bank. I worked a steady job in high school and since I was really only paying for gas and insurance, I had loads of money to spend. I actually had somewhere near $2000 saved up before college, so I didn't have to work in order to eat out and have fun doing things my parents weren't paying for (which was just school and books, and that nasty meal plan).
Well, now my new "toys" are computers and electronics. When I spend money, it is a lot less frequent, but the items I am buying are much more expensive. I guess it comes with my more grown up interests. I have tons of DVDs and buy many used CDs now. The real disaster comes from my electronics though. I am about to purchase another computer. (Well, build it myself, but you know...) I own a Dell Inspiron 8600 and recently got a G3 iBook (nice and white, 800MHz, DVD/CD-RW, etc.) on ebay for $300. I also have a lot of electronics, HDTV, media player, and audio-phile 5.1 system.
My other interest include guns, which are not cheap by any definition of the word either. I have managed to curb some of my PC/console gaming, though I really think I am just stashing up until it comes time for the Wii. Actually the new PC is mostly for Oblivion and maybe the next UT. The fact is, even these are typically 10x or more expensive then my old habits and I am not really making 10x as much as in high school. Well actually I am, but I now have real bills...like electricity, water, gas...oh and that pesky rent...
The point is, any hobby or habit can get really expensive. I guess it just eventually comes down to what kind of money you are willing to spend and what you find interesting.
do they even read wtf they are agreeing to...or do they just hear the words porn and children in the same sentence and freak out? Like most laws this uses grossly broad language, almost to the point of being non-enforceable in the US. I seriously do hope this gets challenged and defeated in court, because honestly, laws like this that are meants to "protect the children" are really just another means to assert some level of control...most the people voting for this could really care less and a lot wouldn't vote against this now because it is an election year...
I think people focus on this a lot, or I just notice this more then other things. But it is highly overstated. There are far worse devices then a console. Check this out. Look at the listed items (the list is a bit old, consoles still showing at 1.1 W): Digital Cable Box - 23 Watts. A regular one is still over 15 W in idle. I would be far more concerned with those then I would be consoles. (I am pretty sure there are more cable boxes in the US and Worldwide then game consoles that are actually plugged in, not counting those dust collecting NES and Atari).
Actually, let us take a look at the soon to be average (if we ever get converted to digital) TV setup. Digital TV = 8.8W, Digital Cable Box = 23W, and DVD Player (don't most people have these?) 4.4W. Now, idling that is 36.2W of power usage. This is for something that is very likely more common then a console is. Power "leakage" (such a horrible word) is bad, but it is a sympton of two things:
1) Instant Gratification: Devices receiving power constantly are that much closer to being instant-on, allowing you to get to enjoying your DVDs and television programming faster. They have to keep certain things in standby modes to keep load times down.
2) Features and Adv. Functionality: You know, being able to power on devices with the remote, having time-of-day clock setups (there are a few devices that really do not need them), and external displays with time and other information on them at all times.
I am sure there are other reasons related to technology needed certain power requirements, but I really believe some of the great increases in idle power usage (cause that really is what "leakage" is) are not necessity. I am sure governments will attempt to regulate this a bit better, but we all know what a joke government regulations can turn into.
Forget Vegas....Graceland....now there is as tacky as tacky comes...
Hit the Sections "Link" At the top of the sections section...after a moment this will load an option window that lets you select to do the "small" view which gives a title only, or no view...there are other options, but I figure these are the ones you want most...
Would that server making be HP by any chance? I mean the did help develop Itanium 2. Just about every workstation or server I've seen with an Itanium is an HP...hm....come now, if it is HP you wouldn't be breaking the NDA by revealing common knowledge.
the failed DIVX experiment...sans the media. At least with DIVX we got a pretty cool comic character. I mean look at him. Drunk electronic are funny, what do you think made Bender so great...
You are somewhat right in the notion that you cannot get rid of "the state." Government is almost a necessary evil, which is why most revolutions seek to replace one government with another. This has happened many times; human history is full of violent uprising that result in a change of the status quo, and provide people with a new leadership, which they hope will be more to their liking. Where you lose me is on the notion that you cannot be rid of a state's "coercion", which to you includes censorship.
Censorship is a touchy subject, and you often have to remind people what exactly it means. There are certain things in US society that could be considered "state sponsored censorship", including the FCC regulations. But are any of these truly censorship? So, the FCC instituted decency rules to prevent individuals from saying or doing certain things over broadcast media. This problem was resolved; cable was invented. The limits that do still exist are often ones imposed to protect the rights of others. You remember that thing about freedom not being absolute, well there comes a time where you must ask, "When do my rights interfere with the rights or well-being of my neighbor?"
Next, you begin to talk about taxation, almost like you are comparing it to censorship in some way. Sales tax is an increasing pain in some areas, but your supposed dodge may not be one at all. You see, many states have had "Use Tax" in place since the pre-Internet days (some added them after the Internet came along). A "use tax" typically charges you the state sales tax rate for items purchased for which you did not pay Sales Tax. I am certain most people skip this, and I really doubt many states have the time or resources to really care...this is probably why they just want taxes charged at time of purchase.
Now, the non-smoking debate is yet another one to go 'round and 'round. IF the law is created by being voted on during an election, I have minimal complaints about it. They would merely be implementing something that the majority voted for. I get upset when I find places where overzealous politicians pass these measures without any real regard of the community's opinion and base it solely off of unsubstantiated health concerns. (Yes, there still is much debate on how much of a threat second-hand smoke really is)
There is one big problem with your whole assumption...that is that enough people will care. Even if information is available to some, you wind up creating (or expanding) the supposed social and/or economical dichotomy. If information is only free to those who can afford it is it free at all? A large majority of the country lives in apathy. People here things on TV or read something in print that should enrage a normal person...but because it "protects" them from terrorism or makes them feel "safe", they write it off as a necessity. Besides, you enter a slippery slope by allowing censorship to grow into a norm. At what stage do you then make thought no longer free...will your children, or you children's children begin to spy on you...because the state tells them to while they are at state sponsored schools (because you cannot teach them at home)...you are monitors 24/7...yes, a Totalitarian state is such a great idea (oh, can you feel the sarcasm). I highly recommend reading dystopian literature. It may be fiction, but when you start seeing parallels in the real world...it really can be scary...At the least, read 1984 and Brave New World if you haven't already.
I was only waiting for these for the supposed AMD price cuts. The only reason my A64 3000+ system is getting the boot is because it is socket 754, so I need to be rid of the dead socket and get me some DDR2, SATA-II, and PCI-X lovin'. The PCI-X is the main reason since my 9600AIW is showing age, though it did get me the best free game with a vid card ever, HL2. Real performance increase for me will come from the GPU (though the CPU won't hurt).