1) Pedo Probability Calculator PPC
Tool which would calculate the chance of your new online friend being a Pedo! You would be able to mark real friends as ones you have met in Meatspace, and the PPC would calculate the odds on ones you haven't. Factors would include:
-Few, or no people marking the profile as having been met in Meatspace. This one would be easy to get around by making multiple profiles, but improvements could be made.
-How often their user photo turn up on other profiles, and other websites. (You know, how instead of using a real picture, Pedos will use a picture of some other girl they found online. Pedos aren't the only ones who do it. I don't know how many dating site profiles I've seen where the girl uses pictures of Keyra Agustina's butt and pretend's it's her own)
2) Being able to view pages in Default layout, as opposed to the layouts choosen by the owner of the profile.
Too many idiots think having using a picture of a car as their tile background is cool. Too many idiots pick fonts, sizes, and colors that make their pages unreadable without highlighting the text. Too many idiots have a thing for exclaimation mark strings so long that only a 3200 X 1800 resolution monitor could display them. Wouldn't it be great to just view thier pages without such silliness... who are we kidding... anyone who does do this probably has nothing useful to say anyway...
3)Spelling and Grammar regulations.
Internet Shorthand is acceptable in one place, and only one place. Online games. WHen you need to communicate fast, you can use as many commonly accepted acronyms as you want. When you have time to actually compose your thoughts, there is no excuse for typing like an idiot. If you've ever played Kingdom of Loathing, then you know they have people complete a simple english test before they let them into the chat-room. I say we do the same thing on mySpace!
I'm so hardcore, I didn't even bother buying the bastardized original trilogy when it came out on DVD! I was pissed off THAT MUCH, and that was before I even heard they replaced Anakin's Force Ghost in RotJ...
I resisted the temptation to give myself the Dark side... and now my foresight has rewarded me!
O RLY? All the reviews I've seen are pretty positive. Or are you one of the folks who still think McIGN has objective review staff? After a 45 hour play through on Proud Difficulty, I thouhgt it was a massive improvement over the first.
1) Anime is not a good place to learn Japanese. A useful anecdote for this would be to imagine a Japanese person learning English from episodes of Simpsons and Family Guy. While such thoughts are no doubt filled with hillarity, they do prove just how silly Anime-bin Japanese would seem to native speakers...
That said, I'm not totally ripping on Anime. Watch it if you want to, but mix it up with some live action Japanese films (Ringu is one of my favorites).
2) If you're into video games, I suggest downloading an Emulator and some ROMs of old Japanese video games. Ones that have a decent deal of text (SNES era RPGs), but not ones that require to much reading. Also, pick games that you may be somewhat familiar with. I'm a big Front Mission 3 fan, so I got the Japanese SNES (or should I say Super Famicom) ROM of the original. Fun times!
3) Get a good dictionary. You'll need it for everything.
4) Also, get a Grammar guide. Japanese Grammar is crazy compared to English, and is, IMHO, comparable to some programming languages.
Well, formal Japanese grammar may be difficult. Casual Japanese is more forgiving when it comes to particle usage.
Othe rthen that, all I can recommend is taking some actual Japanese classes. It's a hard language to learn, but not impossible. It will take a great deal of time before you get any good at it, but after 2 years of studying it myself... I'm still learning, but I have no regrets!
An ambitious politician (we'll just call him... Mr. X) is looking to gain some bi-partisan appeal. Mr. X becomes aware of the Hot Coffee issue and it's run off, and decides to push forward a law banning the sale of M rated video games to minors. The bill isn't all that well writen, but that's not the point.
Mr. X has several others sign on to his planned bill, including folks from the othr side of the political spectrum. The bill gains huge support from both sides of Mr. X's legislative body.
The bill is passed, and signed by the Governer.
The game industry has the state sued for violation of the first amendment of the constitution, and the state supreme court rules in the game industry's favor. The state is forced to pay for the game industry's legal costs.
Mr. X can then blame the failure of his efforts to 'protect children from violent video games' (a duty ment for parents) on 'Activist Judges'.
In the end... the losses are:
-A unknown amount of time lost to pushing forward the game legislation that could have gone to more meaningful efforts.
-Taxpayer dollars lost trying to defend the bill in court.
The gains, however:
-Mr. X gains a reputation as a politician who wants to protect children, and has another example to use when playing the 'Activist Judge' card.
I recall an old issue of EGM that contained a lengthy article on MGS2. Kojima mentioned that if their was a MGS movie, he wouldn't want to direct it, but would rather have the Wachowski brothers direct it...
I don't care what any of you though of the Matrix Sequals. No matter what happens, the Wachowski's can still direct better then Uwe 'Toliet' Boll.
Let's see...
Memory Cards
Extra Controllers
Multiplayer Adapters
Modem for PS2
Hard Drive for PS2
EyeToy(?)
It's a bit of a strech, but not completely out of reason if the number is 1.8 Bil.
PS3, or the Phantom?
Duke Nukem Forever, or the Phantom?
The end of the occupation of Iraq, or the Phantom?
Mankind lands on Mars, or the Phantom?
Dick Clark dies, or the Phantom?
A woman is elected President of the United States, or the Phantom?
The enslavement of mankind by our new insect overlord (whom I, for one, welcome), or the Phantom?
Is it a quick cash grab on the developers side, or do they see themselves getting rid of, or at least lowering, the monthly fees.
From a business perspective, dropping the monthly fees could trigger the coming of more players, which means the ad space would become more expensive (a flood of new players may also put some strain on the servers, which, in theory, would be covered by ad revenue).
Still, I don't know what the $ figures are for TMO. However, it still seems greedy to charge people by the month just to look at ads.
...the PS2 shortage. Who are we kidding, executives go orgasmic when long line ups and riots occur because of their shitty products. Sure, if you wait a few weeks, you can get one... but WHY WAIT WHEN YOU CAN HAVE IT NOW!
Or better yet, get one of the first ones, and sell it on Ebay for thousands! Profit!
If his comments on GamePolitics are to be believed, he wants Spector to go to Alabama to testify for his case against Rockstar/Take-Two/Wal-Mart/Best-Buy/Sony/Common-Se nce. While his critisism of GTA is somewhat damning, it's not the damning that Thompson needs.
As far as Game Culture is concerned, I have to agree with Spector. Too many folks think gaming is all GTA this and Halo that. We need more stuff like Katamari dammit!
How do you use your mob connections to sell a crappy game system anyway?
Mobster1 and Monster2 enter Gamestop. Mobster1 looks at the clerk witha cold stare. Mobster2 looks at the shelf with the DS and PSP hardwares
Mobster2: I see you're selling PSPs and DSs... but I see no Gizmondos... why might I ask?
Clerk: Um... Gizmondo's don't sell. No one wants them. Mobster1 alks slowly up to the clerk, the desk beign the only thing between them.
Mobster2: I'm sorry, could you repeat that?
Clerk: I said that no one wants a GizmoAHH!! Mobster1 grabs the Clerk by the neck, draging him over the top of the desk, and throws him on to the ground between the two Mobsters.
Mobster2: You look here you little puke! This store doesn't sell PSPs and DSs anymore. It sells Gizmondos. Do you understand! While he says this, Mobster1 picks him up and hold him against a wall of Gamecube games.
Clerk:...But...OUMPH! Mobster1 Punches him in the gut.
Mobster2: Do... you... UNDERSTAND?
Clerk: Yes, please, just don't hurt me!
Mobster2: Good to see we could come to an understanding Mobster1 starts to leave, but picks up a copie of San Andreas, and then leave with his partner
...in maintaining the myth that you have to a computer master to use Linux. For the most part, this myth, like all myths, is based on a fact, and blown out of proportion. Understand that:
Windows basic babysits you. They make you play with that nice shinny GUI so much, that the though of having to use a CLI like a Linux Shell scares one shit-less. To M$, that's just one more loyal consumer. On my first family computer, it booted to DOS (I can't remember which version), and I managed to get around the Shell just fine... at age 9.
What about games? As long as game boxes have Windows in the system requirments, you can bet gamers will steer away from Linux (at least until they find out about Wine).
Hell, some folks I know think that when you use Linux, you have to write YOUR OWN SOFTWARE... I kid you not.
I don't know where they get that, but I'd like to believe Microsoft had something to do with it...
...so that 24 hours a day, they can get a head of a guy that keeps saying 'War is Peace. Crush the evil doers. Work is freedom.'
Because state propagana is so much more epowerful when it's in digital quality.
OH!!!!!
Who's dumb as a rock and crazy as fuck!
Jack-Ass-Thomp-son!
Mature as a chimp and out of luck!
Jack-Ass-Thomp-son!
When cartoonists donated to charity...
Jack-Ass-Thomp-Son!
He asked them arrested, by the Seattle PD!
Jack-Ass-Thomp-Son!
OH! Jack-Ass-Thomp-Son, Jack-Ass-Thomp-Son!
JACK-ASS-THOMP-SON!!!!
Slashdot Mirror
I wonder if the name has anything to do with this Lauren Tom?
If he can't check his email while the nation is under attack... then the terrorists have won...
1) Pedo Probability Calculator
PPC
Tool which would calculate the chance of your new online friend being a Pedo! You would be able to mark real friends as ones you have met in Meatspace, and the PPC would calculate the odds on ones you haven't. Factors would include:
-Few, or no people marking the profile as having been met in Meatspace. This one would be easy to get around by making multiple profiles, but improvements could be made.
-How often their user photo turn up on other profiles, and other websites. (You know, how instead of using a real picture, Pedos will use a picture of some other girl they found online. Pedos aren't the only ones who do it. I don't know how many dating site profiles I've seen where the girl uses pictures of Keyra Agustina's butt and pretend's it's her own)
2) Being able to view pages in Default layout, as opposed to the layouts choosen by the owner of the profile.
Too many idiots think having using a picture of a car as their tile background is cool. Too many idiots pick fonts, sizes, and colors that make their pages unreadable without highlighting the text. Too many idiots have a thing for exclaimation mark strings so long that only a 3200 X 1800 resolution monitor could display them. Wouldn't it be great to just view thier pages without such silliness... who are we kidding... anyone who does do this probably has nothing useful to say anyway...
3)Spelling and Grammar regulations.
Internet Shorthand is acceptable in one place, and only one place. Online games. WHen you need to communicate fast, you can use as many commonly accepted acronyms as you want. When you have time to actually compose your thoughts, there is no excuse for typing like an idiot. If you've ever played Kingdom of Loathing, then you know they have people complete a simple english test before they let them into the chat-room. I say we do the same thing on mySpace!
Now we're going to have to find a new joke...
...By not giving a rats ass about that shitty sport.
However, I will partake in viewing videos of the only redeaming part of soccer... The riots!
I'm so hardcore, I didn't even bother buying the bastardized original trilogy when it came out on DVD! I was pissed off THAT MUCH, and that was before I even heard they replaced Anakin's Force Ghost in RotJ...
I resisted the temptation to give myself the Dark side... and now my foresight has rewarded me!
O RLY? All the reviews I've seen are pretty positive. Or are you one of the folks who still think McIGN has objective review staff? After a 45 hour play through on Proud Difficulty, I thouhgt it was a massive improvement over the first.
Also, the Tron world kicks ass!
1) Anime is not a good place to learn Japanese. A useful anecdote for this would be to imagine a Japanese person learning English from episodes of Simpsons and Family Guy. While such thoughts are no doubt filled with hillarity, they do prove just how silly Anime-bin Japanese would seem to native speakers...
That said, I'm not totally ripping on Anime. Watch it if you want to, but mix it up with some live action Japanese films (Ringu is one of my favorites).
2) If you're into video games, I suggest downloading an Emulator and some ROMs of old Japanese video games. Ones that have a decent deal of text (SNES era RPGs), but not ones that require to much reading. Also, pick games that you may be somewhat familiar with. I'm a big Front Mission 3 fan, so I got the Japanese SNES (or should I say Super Famicom) ROM of the original. Fun times!
3) Get a good dictionary. You'll need it for everything.
4) Also, get a Grammar guide. Japanese Grammar is crazy compared to English, and is, IMHO, comparable to some programming languages.
Well, formal Japanese grammar may be difficult. Casual Japanese is more forgiving when it comes to particle usage.
Othe rthen that, all I can recommend is taking some actual Japanese classes. It's a hard language to learn, but not impossible. It will take a great deal of time before you get any good at it, but after 2 years of studying it myself... I'm still learning, but I have no regrets!
An ambitious politician (we'll just call him... Mr. X) is looking to gain some bi-partisan appeal. Mr. X becomes aware of the Hot Coffee issue and it's run off, and decides to push forward a law banning the sale of M rated video games to minors. The bill isn't all that well writen, but that's not the point.
Mr. X has several others sign on to his planned bill, including folks from the othr side of the political spectrum. The bill gains huge support from both sides of Mr. X's legislative body.
The bill is passed, and signed by the Governer.
The game industry has the state sued for violation of the first amendment of the constitution, and the state supreme court rules in the game industry's favor. The state is forced to pay for the game industry's legal costs.
Mr. X can then blame the failure of his efforts to 'protect children from violent video games' (a duty ment for parents) on 'Activist Judges'.
In the end... the losses are:
-A unknown amount of time lost to pushing forward the game legislation that could have gone to more meaningful efforts.
-Taxpayer dollars lost trying to defend the bill in court.
The gains, however:
-Mr. X gains a reputation as a politician who wants to protect children, and has another example to use when playing the 'Activist Judge' card.
I recall an old issue of EGM that contained a lengthy article on MGS2. Kojima mentioned that if their was a MGS movie, he wouldn't want to direct it, but would rather have the Wachowski brothers direct it... I don't care what any of you though of the Matrix Sequals. No matter what happens, the Wachowski's can still direct better then Uwe 'Toliet' Boll.
Let's see...
Memory Cards
Extra Controllers
Multiplayer Adapters
Modem for PS2
Hard Drive for PS2
EyeToy(?)
It's a bit of a strech, but not completely out of reason if the number is 1.8 Bil.
The theoretical physics of Photocopying ones butt on a copier with an inclined glass panel.
/. or a new frontier in physics...
I'm not sure is this is new low for
Maybe my kid will have a question related to this on a physics test in 20 or so years...
PS3, or the Phantom?
Duke Nukem Forever, or the Phantom?
The end of the occupation of Iraq, or the Phantom?
Mankind lands on Mars, or the Phantom?
Dick Clark dies, or the Phantom?
A woman is elected President of the United States, or the Phantom?
The enslavement of mankind by our new insect overlord (whom I, for one, welcome), or the Phantom?
Some would call this event a tragedy. Others would call this evolution...
Is it a quick cash grab on the developers side, or do they see themselves getting rid of, or at least lowering, the monthly fees.
From a business perspective, dropping the monthly fees could trigger the coming of more players, which means the ad space would become more expensive (a flood of new players may also put some strain on the servers, which, in theory, would be covered by ad revenue).
Still, I don't know what the $ figures are for TMO. However, it still seems greedy to charge people by the month just to look at ads.
...the PS2 shortage. Who are we kidding, executives go orgasmic when long line ups and riots occur because of their shitty products. Sure, if you wait a few weeks, you can get one... but WHY WAIT WHEN YOU CAN HAVE IT NOW!
Or better yet, get one of the first ones, and sell it on Ebay for thousands! Profit!
If his comments on GamePolitics are to be believed, he wants Spector to go to Alabama to testify for his case against Rockstar/Take-Two/Wal-Mart/Best-Buy/Sony/Common-Se nce. While his critisism of GTA is somewhat damning, it's not the damning that Thompson needs.
As far as Game Culture is concerned, I have to agree with Spector. Too many folks think gaming is all GTA this and Halo that. We need more stuff like Katamari dammit!
How do you use your mob connections to sell a crappy game system anyway?
...But...OUMPH!
Mobster1 and Monster2 enter Gamestop. Mobster1 looks at the clerk witha cold stare. Mobster2 looks at the shelf with the DS and PSP hardwares
Mobster2: I see you're selling PSPs and DSs... but I see no Gizmondos... why might I ask?
Clerk: Um... Gizmondo's don't sell. No one wants them.
Mobster1 alks slowly up to the clerk, the desk beign the only thing between them.
Mobster2: I'm sorry, could you repeat that?
Clerk: I said that no one wants a GizmoAHH!!
Mobster1 grabs the Clerk by the neck, draging him over the top of the desk, and throws him on to the ground between the two Mobsters.
Mobster2: You look here you little puke! This store doesn't sell PSPs and DSs anymore. It sells Gizmondos. Do you understand!
While he says this, Mobster1 picks him up and hold him against a wall of Gamecube games.
Clerk:
Mobster1 Punches him in the gut.
Mobster2: Do... you... UNDERSTAND?
Clerk: Yes, please, just don't hurt me!
Mobster2: Good to see we could come to an understanding
Mobster1 starts to leave, but picks up a copie of San Andreas, and then leave with his partner
...in maintaining the myth that you have to a computer master to use Linux. For the most part, this myth, like all myths, is based on a fact, and blown out of proportion. Understand that:
Windows basic babysits you. They make you play with that nice shinny GUI so much, that the though of having to use a CLI like a Linux Shell scares one shit-less. To M$, that's just one more loyal consumer. On my first family computer, it booted to DOS (I can't remember which version), and I managed to get around the Shell just fine... at age 9.
What about games? As long as game boxes have Windows in the system requirments, you can bet gamers will steer away from Linux (at least until they find out about Wine).
Hell, some folks I know think that when you use Linux, you have to write YOUR OWN SOFTWARE... I kid you not.
I don't know where they get that, but I'd like to believe Microsoft had something to do with it...
... let's say Congress passed a law making it illegal to have a first name that is a verb...
Wow, that one hit me straight in the chest... My name's Toss...
The Office of Internets Relations.
Ah, Internets... may you never die...
...so that 24 hours a day, they can get a head of a guy that keeps saying 'War is Peace. Crush the evil doers. Work is freedom.' Because state propagana is so much more epowerful when it's in digital quality.
OH!!!!!
Who's dumb as a rock and crazy as fuck!
Jack-Ass-Thomp-son!
Mature as a chimp and out of luck!
Jack-Ass-Thomp-son!
When cartoonists donated to charity...
Jack-Ass-Thomp-Son!
He asked them arrested, by the Seattle PD!
Jack-Ass-Thomp-Son!
OH! Jack-Ass-Thomp-Son, Jack-Ass-Thomp-Son!
JACK-ASS-THOMP-SON!!!!
Since when was FFVII scary? Awesome visuals ya...
Well, I will admit, it has been a while since I was in the Diserted Shin-Ra building for the first time, and the memory might have died a little...
Personally, I was scared when I first fought The End (MGS3). That fear was more psycological then visual. That's the kind of fear I like...
I agree, since when did Slashdot become a site for fanfics? This is a news site dammit! FF7 is not news! It's eight years old!