I'll always have my Betrayal at Krondor. In the box, with all the original contents. First RPG I ever played, and still my favorite game of all time. Still have SW : Dark Forces in pretty much mint condition as well.
I've always ignored the Gamespot review score and just looked at user reviews. Nothing more honest than a pissed off user spilling the beans about bugs and crashes and what not.
Well, I guess I'm about to get reviled as a racist, but here it goes:
A teacher I had in college a number of years ago was a strikingly intelligent, and even wise, black woman. She was the teacher of Social Sciences and another course that I didn't take that had something to do with Social aspect. The very first day of class she talked about the differences between races : black, white, jew, chinese/asian, indian, American indian, so on and so forth. She showed us charts and graphs that showed which race was the most likely to be wealthy, poor, have large savings accounts, have higher intelligence and so on. Keep in mind that she is a BLACK WOMAN in her 40's.
One of the first things she pointed out is that blacks, on average, tend to spend their money on garbage like Cristal, rims, Fubu clothes, drugs, and hair/nails/makeup/hooker heels. She also bluntly said that there is a reason that 75% of the all the cops in Omaha (where I live) are on duty EAST of 60th street. Because that is where the majority of blacks and hispanics live. She then stated that she believes that this is not an error, and that it is not because of racial profiling. She said, and I quote "There NEEDS to be more cops over there because the blacks and hispanics in that area are getting out of control. They contribute to more violent crime in this city than any of the other races combined. Period. Yeah, I'm black and I'm saying that blacks in Omaha are acting like fools. The cops have a reason to be there."
She also went on to tell us some Prison statistics, arrest charges statistics and other stuff. According to her, A BLACK WOMAN, blacks are being arrested more often than any other race because blacks tend to commit MORE CRIMES than any other race.
Before you get all in a huff, she also stated that crimes commited by blacks are statistically LESS extreme than by whites. There are generally more murders by blacks, but whites perpetrate more kidnappings, rapes, and mass/serial murders. The reason for the larger number of black arrests is mostly drugs and prostitution/pimping. One out of every ten black females is in prison for murder. One out of every 5 white females is for murder. But there are literaly 10 times the amount of black females in jail than white females. The numbers for males in prison are about 40% black, 25% white, 35% hispanic/other. These are general figures and in no way meant to be taken as strictly accurate.
I guess what I'm trying to say with all of this is that there is a REASON that blacks are profiled and are in jails and prisons in larger percentages than whites. They commit more crimes. Period. End of story. No room for argument and provable by anyone with a brain.
HOWEVER, white people tend to commit sicker, more vicious, and more death-penalty-worth crimes than blacks do.
Now, profiling is NOT limited to blacks. White teenagers and poverty level whites are also profiled as being gang relate/drug related/assault related (wife-beaters). I know this from first hand experience, as I was treated like a criminal as a teen because I wore a bomber jacket, sagged my pants a bit, and had my hat tilted to the side. I was a straight A student with all friends and no enemies, never got into fights, and treated everyone equally. But a cop at a mall thought I didn't look like I belonged in Younkers and treated me like I stole something and tried to arrest me with no proof. I was 14 at the time, and my mom ripped him a new asshole like you wouldn't believe. Same situation happened to my brother. He was hit in the nuts with a long flashlight while COMPLYING with a cops demands. The cop hit him in the crotch because he looked at his friend and said "What the fuck did we do, dude?". All they were doing was skateboarding outside of a building that ALLOWED skaters to use their parking lot.
So don't get all "RACISM!! RACISM!!" on me just because your black. It happens to white people too (LOOK AT THE LATEST TASERING VIDEOS ON YOUTUBE).
Ok. So I'm still not convinced that a photon has no mass. It exists, has volume and is detecable as a particle/atom or whatever. A photon can be singled out and measured. We may not be able to measure its mass yet, but I just can't bring myself to see how it can be truly mass-less. That would seem, to me, to be completely the opposite of a photon. But, like I said, I'm not a physicist or scientist, I just think about things a lot and try to use different perspectives and information that I can glean from wherever to try to make a well-informed decision as to what I accept as possible and not possible with these kinds of things. I appreciate all the answers so far!
At least, going by TFA, I should be instantaneously like the 8th post AND the first post! w00t!!
Anyway, I'm not all that convinced that the speed of light would require infinite energy to be broken. According to E=MC2 and all the special relativity and all that crabopple, just to travel AT the speed of light requires almost all the energy in the universe and the mass of the object increases to nearly the same amount of mass in the universe (purely from memory and I'm not a scientist/physicist/quantum physicist/lawyer). If such is the case, or something relatively similar to what I just said, then how does a photon, WHICH HAS VOLUME AND MASS, travel at the speed of light without having the same mass/energy as the whole of the universe?
If someone can explain that to me, I'd very much like to hear it.
Umm, some of us (read : 97% of Slashdotters) don't believe in God in any manner. So while your reply to the parent is respectful (initially) to that fact, it still is offtopic, somewhat flamebait, and just asking for a whole slew of rude responses.
I respect your right to your beliefs, and your right to voice them. But you must respect the rights of others to not to be included as a group or part of a group that you belong to or believe in, ie. "as revealed to us in the Bible". This was not revealed to me in the Bible, nor was it revealed to the majority of the Earths population, including the majority of people who have actually read the Bible. Most people have other religious beliefs than Christianity, or no religious beliefs at all.
To put it simply, Slashdot is definitely NOT the place to include others in your religious views.
But, kudos to a mostly impartial and non-force-feeding post, even though it is slightly misplaced.
Now, as for the topic, I personally agree with the idea of the Big Bang. For now. It, for me, has made the most sense of any theory posited so far. Until something better comes along, String Theory and Big Rumble are nothing more than interesting mathematics and triva knowledge.
I'm all for them doing a slight overhaul on TOS. As long as its only the ships/planets/space scenes, then I call it an alternative improvement. As long as they keep the originals and have them available as well, theres no harm done.
Now, if they start adding creatures running around in the background of planets, Kirk shooting second, or changing the way characters looked (Klingons for example), then I'll probably still watch, but with a bad taste in my mouth.
Of course, I'd not mind if they change the viewscreen to make it look less like a crappy splice job. Heck, maybe they can even tweak phaser shots to look like they were actually pointed at the spot where the beam hits, instead of the beam magically changing direction right out of the phasers tip.
I know a lot of people don't want these things changed, because it's the cheesiness that gave the show much of its charm. But think of the people who will be introduced to the show for the first time. They will be much more likely to watch the show and become fans if the show is a bit less cheesy feeling. This in turn will hopefully lead to a stronger Trek following, which in turn will hopefully lead to a new series or movies with better writing and so forth.
I'm looking at the positive side of this, and hoping for a better future for the Trek franchise.
Well, if your a twitch gamer, you can improve your twitch with any good porno book. One hand at a time, or both at the same time if your pretty well endowed. Of course, being as this is/., I have to assume that your vertical twitch rate is already nearing escape velocity.
The word comes from the Greek paidophilia ()--pais (, "child") and philia (, "love, friendship").
The term paedophilia erotica was coined in 1896 by the Vienna psychiatrist Richard von Krafft-Ebing in his writing Psychopathia Sexualis. He gives the following characteristics:
the sexual interest is toward children, either prepubescent or at the beginning of puberty
the sexual interest is the primary one, that is, exclusively or mainly toward children
the sexual interest remains over time
Taken from Wikipedia
Parent is wrong. Downloading kiddy porn IS pedophelia, as the point of downloading it is sexual interest. You can't tell me that you download Jenna Haze facial vids for the artistic value.
If this court decision is the final say and starts a chain reaction in court decisions everywhere, then I'm going to sue RIAA and MPA for every cent they have. Because, technically according to the decision of this court, all 3000 mp3's I've burned and 250 movies (give or take) are new creations that I created that didn't exist before, and I had a hand in "making" them. So I want my damned money : recording fees, sales percentages, box office royalties, rental and DVD royalties. With interest. Seriously, I don't condone child porn in any way, shape, or form. But this ruling is a rediculous scare tactic, created by old, wrinkled retards who still think it's 1946 and that LCD and iPod are some kind of illegal drugs us punk kids are taking. That has been and always will be the problem with court systems. They are generally full of old, outdated, disconnected duesche bags who go by a world view that is 50 years outdated. Thus we have stupid judgements, asanine laws, and the continued existence of paradoxical things like RIAA. Our generation (20's and 30's) will be these people in another 30 years or so, which means that in 2035, we will finally legalize file sharing and what not, but our children will be writing the same kind of rants on/. about us making it illegal to share your holodeck programs.
You forgot the best line of that little song: "They're not even a real country anyway!"
I personally blame video games for every stupid thing I've ever done.
Thanks to the GTA series, I stole a car in 1991 when I was 14.
Thanks to Betrayal at Krondor, I broke a kids arm in 1990 with a big stick while pretending it was a sword.
Thanks to Everquest I killed a relatives pet rat when in 1982 when I was 5 by squeezing it too tight.
Thanks to Americas Army I almost joined the Marine Corps in 1997 when I was 20.
I whole heartedly agree with every poster who says where is the responsibility liability of the parents? Why is it so fricking hard to understand that PARENTS have the responsibility to teach and influence their children to NOT do stupid shit, to be responsible, and that video games and movies are ENTERTAINMENT, NOT MANUALS.
From my answering machine message: "If you are suffering from paranoia, don't bother pressing a button. We already know who you are and what you want." I get a lot of calls that hang up before the message is done cause they think they dialed the wrong number.
And now I'm going to go back to painting my computer room with lead paint, and I still gotta fix the self contained power generator that powers my system. Oh, and just a tip: first layer of tin foil/lead foil should touch scalp, second layer should have 2 millimeter standoffs to allow for insulation space!
Actually, the ironic thing is that I am a Microsoft supporter, and use Microsoft exclusively. I'm not riding the bandwagon, I'm simply waving hello to it as it passes by. As for my life being redundant, well, you don't know me, so shut your cake hole and go upstairs and apologize to your mom for being a basement hermit. Then go get a job at Taco Bell, where you can be their first 50 year old first-time-job-holder. Asshat.
You know, I am sick and tired of this drivel. There is always some deusche bag trying to ban this or that. "Won't someone PLEASE think of the children." FUCK YOU! I have been playing video games for 20 years. I'm 28 years old this month. I STILL play GTA 3, and a host of other games that are extremely violent/sexual/anti-conservative-view. I have NEVER killed another person, senselessly beat someone (although I have beaten a couple of people out of self defense), never ran over a pedestrian (1500 style points!), nor have I ever banged a hooker or done drugs (well, I've smoked pot like 4 times my whole life, twice in college, once at a funeral gathering for a big pot head, and once with my ex wife). I watch all sorts of gory, dirty, horrific movies. I've seen everything that shock sites can dish out, and some stuff that you can't get anymore (ahh, the good old days of Compuserve/America Online 2.0/BBS/FTP). I've seen it all. Been there done that. Been around the block MANY times.
Yeah, I'm only 28, but I've lived in 15 states, Canada, Mexico, Australia, and spent a short stint in England. I've witnessed a murder, at least a dozen gang shootings/driveby's/beat downs, been through 2 riots, and survived a tornado, an earthquake, AND a serious accident involving a three-wheel ATV and a barbed wire fence.
I've seen the infamous Unknown Russian Soldier video, several mafia-style execution videos, various executions of other styles, suicides, wrecks, etc. I've read everything from Crowley to King, and I am NOT a violent person. I do NOT use drugs. I do NOT have the urge to shoot someone with a rail gun. I do NOT "smack my bitch up".
I apologize for the rant and the apparrent attempt at bragging. I am simply trying to make the statement that the media doesn't have jack shit to do with a persons lifestyle/perspective/actions, unless that person is already fucked up in the head enough to allow persuasion of that inconsequential amount to take them over. I was raised by an abusive, alcoholic father, but I don't even drink alcohol. I never once hit a woman (well, once in self defense), nor am I abusive mentally or socially to them. My mother taught me the difference between right and wrong, and how to think for myself. She is still my best friend to this day (and no, I'm not a basement dweller. I have my own home, thank you very much).
The whole point of this post is that outside influences are just that: influences. They don't make up your mind for you, nor are they responsible for your actions. If they were, I'd have more murders under my belt than all of Christianity's history. Now THERE is a truly BAD influence. Religion has been far more of a danger than any video game or book or song in the history of mankind. If you want to make a difference, get rid of religion. I know I'm better off without it.
That said, my last comment is this : STOP STIFLING INNOVATION AND FREEDOM OF SPEECH/CHOICE/LIFE!!!!!!
Shit. Can we say "1984", or THX-1138? This big brother crap is getting rediculous. There have been many posts already pointing out ownership rights, legality issues and so forth. All I wish to say is that I will NEVER spend a dime on any electronics device (or any device at all for that matter) that can be controlled by someone else in a babysitter capacity. Fuck that.
I was getting fairly excited about Blu-ray technology, but now I can see that I will probably never purchase it. It is not up to a corporation to tell me that I can't watch a region 3 disc on a region 1 player, or that I can or cannot customize the device that I OWN. If I am unable to do as I see fit with something I paid money for, then why pay money for it in the first place? I can understand not being able to run someone over with my car if I feel that it is a good way to excercise my ownership of my vehicle, but GM isn't going to remotely disable my engine because I flattened an old lady. Thats why we have law enforcement agencies (all jokes and bad examples of their ineptitude aside). It's not the private sectors place or right to enforce laws or rules.
I for one did NOT elect the head of Sony to the position of Whiny Enforcer of Nonsensical About-to-backfire Rules.
I have to agree with the parent 100 percent. I download every new movie that I am interested in and watch it, sometimes before it's actual theatrical release, and regardless of whether it is a CAM, telesync, shakycam, screener, etc. I still go and buy the DVD when it comes out, IF the movie is good. I'm not spending 8 to 10 bucks to sit in a theatre for 2 hours to watch something that has a 50% chance of being shit. I'm also not going to spend anywhere from 17 to 30 bucks on the DVD if the movie sucks ass. I want to know BEFORE I spend money on something whether or not it's worth spending the money on. I collect DVD's, and have over 150 of them. But not a single movie I don't like or regret buying. All of them are legal retail copies bought brand new from any number of stores or online shops. I look at it as similar to a radio. I can hear songs on the radio for free. Songs I don't like, I don't buy, so I'm not losing anything. Songs I do like, I go pay money for it either online per song, or in a physical store per CD.
There is all sorts of precedence for this line of thinking. Radio=buy what you know you like. Test drive car=buy car you like the most. Dressing room=buy the pair of jeans that fits the best. Ice Cream Stores mini-spoons=buy a cone with the flavor that tastes the best.
If anyone says that trailers are the equivilant of try before you buy, I will rip your nuts off (or breasts) and feed them to you. We all know that trailers either show the whole movie/best parts/substory that doesn't even relate to what the movie is about, or shows a bunch of scenes that don't even make it to the final cut.
Granted, this doesn't work for everyone. Some people only watch a movie once and that's it. With those people, downloading a copy would be a revenue loss because they aren't ever gonna spend the bucks on the DVD. But with people like me (and I think most DVD player owners), it's just insurance against wasting our money on crap that shouldn't have gotten a green light in the first place (such as Dungeons & Dragons, which pushed me to download first, spend/save money later).
Anyway, that's just my two bits. I'm sure everyone has a different opinion, and you're welcome to them.
I don't know about anyone else, but my best Star Trek memory of Mr. Doohan will always be the clear aluminum formula scene from The Voyage Home. His interactions with the computer mouse, and trying to talk to the computer are hilarious and so perfectly fitting to the moment. I distinctly remember thinking "That's awesome! Clear aluminum would be so cool. You kick ass, Mr. Scott!"
Rest in peace, James. I bet God is glad to have another miracle worker on his team.
I never said it BLOCKS spam. But it WILL help alleviate spam by putting some restrictions on what a spammer can or can't do to get their spam into your mailbox (assuming your mailbox is setup with SPF and Sender-ID). It may not make a noticible dent in the amount of spam out there, but even a tiny flaw in the surface of spam is a good thing, especially if that flaw is just the start.
I feel the same way as you do. It only works on about 2% of the spam I get. Most of the sender addresses that are in the headers are obviously fakes or one time uses. Thats why I usually just block the sender. But that doesn't even help much. Either way, something needs to be done to stop all this spamming. It's damn annoying, and I applaud any effort to get it under control.
It's all well and good that something is being attempted to alleviate spam in this manner, but I think a much bigger problem that needs to be addressed is ISP's selling your email address before you even log in the first time to check your mail. *Cough*Cox*Cough*. I've had 3 seperate email addresses (from 3 seperate accounts) with Cox and each one filled up with junk mail without me giving anyone the email address.
The best thing I have come across so far is Incredimail, but even that is a pain in the ass to right click each spam and choose block sender or bounce to sender. What Incredimail needs to do is come up with an automatically updated block list for known spam. It would help greatly.
In the end, I think that spammers should be beaten, shot, stabbed, hanged, drawn and quartered, eviscerated, castrated, tortured, set ablaze, and be kicked in the shin.
I actually agree with your post. Linus is very honest, and does not make over the top flamebait claims. He tells it like it is, which is in stark contrast to his fanbase, who has a penchant for putting Linux on a heavenly pedestal and putting anything MS in a hellish glow, without rhyme or reason much of the time. It is refreshing to hear some sense from a person of his persuasion, and not just a bunch of fodder and spin-doctoring.
Slashdot Mirror
I'll always have my Betrayal at Krondor. In the box, with all the original contents. First RPG I ever played, and still my favorite game of all time. Still have SW : Dark Forces in pretty much mint condition as well.
I've always ignored the Gamespot review score and just looked at user reviews. Nothing more honest than a pissed off user spilling the beans about bugs and crashes and what not.
Well, I guess I'm about to get reviled as a racist, but here it goes: A teacher I had in college a number of years ago was a strikingly intelligent, and even wise, black woman. She was the teacher of Social Sciences and another course that I didn't take that had something to do with Social aspect. The very first day of class she talked about the differences between races : black, white, jew, chinese/asian, indian, American indian, so on and so forth. She showed us charts and graphs that showed which race was the most likely to be wealthy, poor, have large savings accounts, have higher intelligence and so on. Keep in mind that she is a BLACK WOMAN in her 40's. One of the first things she pointed out is that blacks, on average, tend to spend their money on garbage like Cristal, rims, Fubu clothes, drugs, and hair/nails/makeup/hooker heels. She also bluntly said that there is a reason that 75% of the all the cops in Omaha (where I live) are on duty EAST of 60th street. Because that is where the majority of blacks and hispanics live. She then stated that she believes that this is not an error, and that it is not because of racial profiling. She said, and I quote "There NEEDS to be more cops over there because the blacks and hispanics in that area are getting out of control. They contribute to more violent crime in this city than any of the other races combined. Period. Yeah, I'm black and I'm saying that blacks in Omaha are acting like fools. The cops have a reason to be there." She also went on to tell us some Prison statistics, arrest charges statistics and other stuff. According to her, A BLACK WOMAN, blacks are being arrested more often than any other race because blacks tend to commit MORE CRIMES than any other race. Before you get all in a huff, she also stated that crimes commited by blacks are statistically LESS extreme than by whites. There are generally more murders by blacks, but whites perpetrate more kidnappings, rapes, and mass/serial murders. The reason for the larger number of black arrests is mostly drugs and prostitution/pimping. One out of every ten black females is in prison for murder. One out of every 5 white females is for murder. But there are literaly 10 times the amount of black females in jail than white females. The numbers for males in prison are about 40% black, 25% white, 35% hispanic/other. These are general figures and in no way meant to be taken as strictly accurate. I guess what I'm trying to say with all of this is that there is a REASON that blacks are profiled and are in jails and prisons in larger percentages than whites. They commit more crimes. Period. End of story. No room for argument and provable by anyone with a brain. HOWEVER, white people tend to commit sicker, more vicious, and more death-penalty-worth crimes than blacks do. Now, profiling is NOT limited to blacks. White teenagers and poverty level whites are also profiled as being gang relate/drug related/assault related (wife-beaters). I know this from first hand experience, as I was treated like a criminal as a teen because I wore a bomber jacket, sagged my pants a bit, and had my hat tilted to the side. I was a straight A student with all friends and no enemies, never got into fights, and treated everyone equally. But a cop at a mall thought I didn't look like I belonged in Younkers and treated me like I stole something and tried to arrest me with no proof. I was 14 at the time, and my mom ripped him a new asshole like you wouldn't believe. Same situation happened to my brother. He was hit in the nuts with a long flashlight while COMPLYING with a cops demands. The cop hit him in the crotch because he looked at his friend and said "What the fuck did we do, dude?". All they were doing was skateboarding outside of a building that ALLOWED skaters to use their parking lot. So don't get all "RACISM!! RACISM!!" on me just because your black. It happens to white people too (LOOK AT THE LATEST TASERING VIDEOS ON YOUTUBE).
Ok. So I'm still not convinced that a photon has no mass. It exists, has volume and is detecable as a particle/atom or whatever. A photon can be singled out and measured. We may not be able to measure its mass yet, but I just can't bring myself to see how it can be truly mass-less. That would seem, to me, to be completely the opposite of a photon. But, like I said, I'm not a physicist or scientist, I just think about things a lot and try to use different perspectives and information that I can glean from wherever to try to make a well-informed decision as to what I accept as possible and not possible with these kinds of things. I appreciate all the answers so far!
At least, going by TFA, I should be instantaneously like the 8th post AND the first post! w00t!!
Anyway, I'm not all that convinced that the speed of light would require infinite energy to be broken. According to E=MC2 and all the special relativity and all that crabopple, just to travel AT the speed of light requires almost all the energy in the universe and the mass of the object increases to nearly the same amount of mass in the universe (purely from memory and I'm not a scientist/physicist/quantum physicist/lawyer). If such is the case, or something relatively similar to what I just said, then how does a photon, WHICH HAS VOLUME AND MASS, travel at the speed of light without having the same mass/energy as the whole of the universe?
If someone can explain that to me, I'd very much like to hear it.
97% wasn't a scientific figure. I mean, c'mon. 68% of statistics are made up on the spot.
I was just making a point.
Umm, some of us (read : 97% of Slashdotters) don't believe in God in any manner. So while your reply to the parent is respectful (initially) to that fact, it still is offtopic, somewhat flamebait, and just asking for a whole slew of rude responses.
I respect your right to your beliefs, and your right to voice them. But you must respect the rights of others to not to be included as a group or part of a group that you belong to or believe in, ie. "as revealed to us in the Bible". This was not revealed to me in the Bible, nor was it revealed to the majority of the Earths population, including the majority of people who have actually read the Bible. Most people have other religious beliefs than Christianity, or no religious beliefs at all.
To put it simply, Slashdot is definitely NOT the place to include others in your religious views.
But, kudos to a mostly impartial and non-force-feeding post, even though it is slightly misplaced.
Now, as for the topic, I personally agree with the idea of the Big Bang. For now. It, for me, has made the most sense of any theory posited so far. Until something better comes along, String Theory and Big Rumble are nothing more than interesting mathematics and triva knowledge.
This camera will take awesome pictures AND it comes with doodoo? SWEET!
I'm all for them doing a slight overhaul on TOS. As long as its only the ships/planets/space scenes, then I call it an alternative improvement. As long as they keep the originals and have them available as well, theres no harm done. Now, if they start adding creatures running around in the background of planets, Kirk shooting second, or changing the way characters looked (Klingons for example), then I'll probably still watch, but with a bad taste in my mouth. Of course, I'd not mind if they change the viewscreen to make it look less like a crappy splice job. Heck, maybe they can even tweak phaser shots to look like they were actually pointed at the spot where the beam hits, instead of the beam magically changing direction right out of the phasers tip. I know a lot of people don't want these things changed, because it's the cheesiness that gave the show much of its charm. But think of the people who will be introduced to the show for the first time. They will be much more likely to watch the show and become fans if the show is a bit less cheesy feeling. This in turn will hopefully lead to a stronger Trek following, which in turn will hopefully lead to a new series or movies with better writing and so forth. I'm looking at the positive side of this, and hoping for a better future for the Trek franchise.
Well, if your a twitch gamer, you can improve your twitch with any good porno book. One hand at a time, or both at the same time if your pretty well endowed. Of course, being as this is /., I have to assume that your vertical twitch rate is already nearing escape velocity.
We can't go to Mars! That is the lair of Manbearpig! I'm being super serial!!
The word comes from the Greek paidophilia ()--pais (, "child") and philia (, "love, friendship").
The term paedophilia erotica was coined in 1896 by the Vienna psychiatrist Richard von Krafft-Ebing in his writing Psychopathia Sexualis. He gives the following characteristics:
the sexual interest is toward children, either prepubescent or at the beginning of puberty
the sexual interest is the primary one, that is, exclusively or mainly toward children
the sexual interest remains over time
Taken from Wikipedia
Parent is wrong. Downloading kiddy porn IS pedophelia, as the point of downloading it is sexual interest. You can't tell me that you download Jenna Haze facial vids for the artistic value.
If this court decision is the final say and starts a chain reaction in court decisions everywhere, then I'm going to sue RIAA and MPA for every cent they have. Because, technically according to the decision of this court, all 3000 mp3's I've burned and 250 movies (give or take) are new creations that I created that didn't exist before, and I had a hand in "making" them. So I want my damned money : recording fees, sales percentages, box office royalties, rental and DVD royalties. With interest. /. about us making it illegal to share your holodeck programs.
Seriously, I don't condone child porn in any way, shape, or form. But this ruling is a rediculous scare tactic, created by old, wrinkled retards who still think it's 1946 and that LCD and iPod are some kind of illegal drugs us punk kids are taking.
That has been and always will be the problem with court systems. They are generally full of old, outdated, disconnected duesche bags who go by a world view that is 50 years outdated. Thus we have stupid judgements, asanine laws, and the continued existence of paradoxical things like RIAA. Our generation (20's and 30's) will be these people in another 30 years or so, which means that in 2035, we will finally legalize file sharing and what not, but our children will be writing the same kind of rants on
You forgot the best line of that little song: "They're not even a real country anyway!"
/begin Napolean Dynamite voice
/end Napolean Dynamite voice
I personally blame video games for every stupid thing I've ever done.
Thanks to the GTA series, I stole a car in 1991 when I was 14.
Thanks to Betrayal at Krondor, I broke a kids arm in 1990 with a big stick while pretending it was a sword.
Thanks to Everquest I killed a relatives pet rat when in 1982 when I was 5 by squeezing it too tight.
Thanks to Americas Army I almost joined the Marine Corps in 1997 when I was 20.
I whole heartedly agree with every poster who says where is the responsibility liability of the parents? Why is it so fricking hard to understand that PARENTS have the responsibility to teach and influence their children to NOT do stupid shit, to be responsible, and that video games and movies are ENTERTAINMENT, NOT MANUALS.
Gosh!
From my answering machine message: "If you are suffering from paranoia, don't bother pressing a button. We already know who you are and what you want." I get a lot of calls that hang up before the message is done cause they think they dialed the wrong number.
And now I'm going to go back to painting my computer room with lead paint, and I still gotta fix the self contained power generator that powers my system. Oh, and just a tip: first layer of tin foil/lead foil should touch scalp, second layer should have 2 millimeter standoffs to allow for insulation space!
Actually, the ironic thing is that I am a Microsoft supporter, and use Microsoft exclusively. I'm not riding the bandwagon, I'm simply waving hello to it as it passes by. As for my life being redundant, well, you don't know me, so shut your cake hole and go upstairs and apologize to your mom for being a basement hermit. Then go get a job at Taco Bell, where you can be their first 50 year old first-time-job-holder. Asshat.
/end seriousness
Isn't saying that a story about a Microsoft "Innovation" is a hoax a redundant statement?
/end troll
;)
Seriously though, think about it. It is.
You know, I am sick and tired of this drivel. There is always some deusche bag trying to ban this or that. "Won't someone PLEASE think of the children." FUCK YOU! I have been playing video games for 20 years. I'm 28 years old this month. I STILL play GTA 3, and a host of other games that are extremely violent/sexual/anti-conservative-view. I have NEVER killed another person, senselessly beat someone (although I have beaten a couple of people out of self defense), never ran over a pedestrian (1500 style points!), nor have I ever banged a hooker or done drugs (well, I've smoked pot like 4 times my whole life, twice in college, once at a funeral gathering for a big pot head, and once with my ex wife). I watch all sorts of gory, dirty, horrific movies. I've seen everything that shock sites can dish out, and some stuff that you can't get anymore (ahh, the good old days of Compuserve/America Online 2.0/BBS/FTP). I've seen it all. Been there done that. Been around the block MANY times.
Yeah, I'm only 28, but I've lived in 15 states, Canada, Mexico, Australia, and spent a short stint in England. I've witnessed a murder, at least a dozen gang shootings/driveby's/beat downs, been through 2 riots, and survived a tornado, an earthquake, AND a serious accident involving a three-wheel ATV and a barbed wire fence.
I've seen the infamous Unknown Russian Soldier video, several mafia-style execution videos, various executions of other styles, suicides, wrecks, etc. I've read everything from Crowley to King, and I am NOT a violent person. I do NOT use drugs. I do NOT have the urge to shoot someone with a rail gun. I do NOT "smack my bitch up".
I apologize for the rant and the apparrent attempt at bragging. I am simply trying to make the statement that the media doesn't have jack shit to do with a persons lifestyle/perspective/actions, unless that person is already fucked up in the head enough to allow persuasion of that inconsequential amount to take them over. I was raised by an abusive, alcoholic father, but I don't even drink alcohol. I never once hit a woman (well, once in self defense), nor am I abusive mentally or socially to them. My mother taught me the difference between right and wrong, and how to think for myself. She is still my best friend to this day (and no, I'm not a basement dweller. I have my own home, thank you very much).
The whole point of this post is that outside influences are just that: influences. They don't make up your mind for you, nor are they responsible for your actions. If they were, I'd have more murders under my belt than all of Christianity's history. Now THERE is a truly BAD influence. Religion has been far more of a danger than any video game or book or song in the history of mankind. If you want to make a difference, get rid of religion. I know I'm better off without it.
That said, my last comment is this : STOP STIFLING INNOVATION AND FREEDOM OF SPEECH/CHOICE/LIFE!!!!!!
Shit. Can we say "1984", or THX-1138? This big brother crap is getting rediculous. There have been many posts already pointing out ownership rights, legality issues and so forth. All I wish to say is that I will NEVER spend a dime on any electronics device (or any device at all for that matter) that can be controlled by someone else in a babysitter capacity. Fuck that.
I was getting fairly excited about Blu-ray technology, but now I can see that I will probably never purchase it. It is not up to a corporation to tell me that I can't watch a region 3 disc on a region 1 player, or that I can or cannot customize the device that I OWN. If I am unable to do as I see fit with something I paid money for, then why pay money for it in the first place? I can understand not being able to run someone over with my car if I feel that it is a good way to excercise my ownership of my vehicle, but GM isn't going to remotely disable my engine because I flattened an old lady. Thats why we have law enforcement agencies (all jokes and bad examples of their ineptitude aside). It's not the private sectors place or right to enforce laws or rules.
I for one did NOT elect the head of Sony to the position of Whiny Enforcer of Nonsensical About-to-backfire Rules.
I have to agree with the parent 100 percent. I download every new movie that I am interested in and watch it, sometimes before it's actual theatrical release, and regardless of whether it is a CAM, telesync, shakycam, screener, etc. I still go and buy the DVD when it comes out, IF the movie is good. I'm not spending 8 to 10 bucks to sit in a theatre for 2 hours to watch something that has a 50% chance of being shit. I'm also not going to spend anywhere from 17 to 30 bucks on the DVD if the movie sucks ass. I want to know BEFORE I spend money on something whether or not it's worth spending the money on. I collect DVD's, and have over 150 of them. But not a single movie I don't like or regret buying. All of them are legal retail copies bought brand new from any number of stores or online shops. I look at it as similar to a radio. I can hear songs on the radio for free. Songs I don't like, I don't buy, so I'm not losing anything. Songs I do like, I go pay money for it either online per song, or in a physical store per CD.
There is all sorts of precedence for this line of thinking. Radio=buy what you know you like. Test drive car=buy car you like the most. Dressing room=buy the pair of jeans that fits the best. Ice Cream Stores mini-spoons=buy a cone with the flavor that tastes the best.
If anyone says that trailers are the equivilant of try before you buy, I will rip your nuts off (or breasts) and feed them to you. We all know that trailers either show the whole movie/best parts/substory that doesn't even relate to what the movie is about, or shows a bunch of scenes that don't even make it to the final cut.
Granted, this doesn't work for everyone. Some people only watch a movie once and that's it. With those people, downloading a copy would be a revenue loss because they aren't ever gonna spend the bucks on the DVD. But with people like me (and I think most DVD player owners), it's just insurance against wasting our money on crap that shouldn't have gotten a green light in the first place (such as Dungeons & Dragons, which pushed me to download first, spend/save money later).
Anyway, that's just my two bits. I'm sure everyone has a different opinion, and you're welcome to them.
I don't know about anyone else, but my best Star Trek memory of Mr. Doohan will always be the clear aluminum formula scene from The Voyage Home. His interactions with the computer mouse, and trying to talk to the computer are hilarious and so perfectly fitting to the moment. I distinctly remember thinking "That's awesome! Clear aluminum would be so cool. You kick ass, Mr. Scott!"
Rest in peace, James. I bet God is glad to have another miracle worker on his team.
I never said it BLOCKS spam. But it WILL help alleviate spam by putting some restrictions on what a spammer can or can't do to get their spam into your mailbox (assuming your mailbox is setup with SPF and Sender-ID). It may not make a noticible dent in the amount of spam out there, but even a tiny flaw in the surface of spam is a good thing, especially if that flaw is just the start.
I feel the same way as you do. It only works on about 2% of the spam I get. Most of the sender addresses that are in the headers are obviously fakes or one time uses. Thats why I usually just block the sender. But that doesn't even help much. Either way, something needs to be done to stop all this spamming. It's damn annoying, and I applaud any effort to get it under control.
It's all well and good that something is being attempted to alleviate spam in this manner, but I think a much bigger problem that needs to be addressed is ISP's selling your email address before you even log in the first time to check your mail. *Cough*Cox*Cough*. I've had 3 seperate email addresses (from 3 seperate accounts) with Cox and each one filled up with junk mail without me giving anyone the email address.
The best thing I have come across so far is Incredimail, but even that is a pain in the ass to right click each spam and choose block sender or bounce to sender. What Incredimail needs to do is come up with an automatically updated block list for known spam. It would help greatly.
In the end, I think that spammers should be beaten, shot, stabbed, hanged, drawn and quartered, eviscerated, castrated, tortured, set ablaze, and be kicked in the shin.
I actually agree with your post. Linus is very honest, and does not make over the top flamebait claims. He tells it like it is, which is in stark contrast to his fanbase, who has a penchant for putting Linux on a heavenly pedestal and putting anything MS in a hellish glow, without rhyme or reason much of the time. It is refreshing to hear some sense from a person of his persuasion, and not just a bunch of fodder and spin-doctoring.