They did not become rockstars by playing Guitar Hero, just like NFL stars didn't make it to the NFL by playing madden.
No, but they probably had fun playing those games, which is what games are meant to be for. I doubt many GH players retain any illusions about the efficacy of the toy guitar connected to their XBox as an actual guitarist training tool.
To put it another way, I'm currently reading a detective novel. It's quite an enjoyable read, but should I be upset because the characters in the book aren't handling things totally as professionals in the real world would, rendering the novel useless as PI training material? Along those lines, am I shirking some social responsibility by enjoying a fictional representation of crime-solving instead of dropping my day job, undergoing private investigator training, opening up my own detective agency, and solving a real murder case? Or is it acceptable that I am simply enjoying reading a book that was crafted for the enjoyment of its readers?
I'm worried about the singing aspect. While it's lots of fun to use a simple row of controller buttons to trigger pre-recorded power chords and sound like a pro, there's really no way to amateur-proof singing. I am not a fan of "Karaoke Revolution," or just plain Karaoke for that matter.
I'm gonna produce a Playstation game that just flashes up some scrolling text, stating the following:
Learn to play REAL instruments, and write your OWN fucking songs.
Will that come before or after the ones that scroll "drive your OWN fucking NASCAR vehicle," "join your OWN fucking Major League Baseball team," or "get your OWN fucking BFG 9000 to blow up REAL demons from Hell?"
'JavaScript Hijacking allows an unauthorized attacker to read sensitive data from a vulnerable application using a technique similar to the one commonly used to create mashups'
I love this one. It's also fun to use as a security measure. For example if someone who isn't you tries to drive your car, you can script the driver's seat to eject them a few hundred meters into the air. That'll teach 'em..
The other, and I feel even more important, issue is.. who gets to decide what "porn" is? The definition of what is and isn't acceptable changes from year to year, country to country, state to state, and household to household. People have been arguing over what's acceptable for (literally) ages, and it's definitely not going to be solved anytime soon.
So, if we did get the.xxx domain, what has to be moved there? One person's obscenity is another person's fine art, medical diagram, or even religious iconography. Everything from Gray's Anatomy to cultural studies to the contents of any art museum could end up sequestered to.xxx because someone somewhere doesn't want the kiddies to accidentally see naughty bits.
I'll own up and admit to having used exclusively animated cursors in the past... but then again, I was a mouthbreathing teenager in the mid 1990s with my first Pentium. I also had Star Trek WAVs hooked to all my Windows events, ran After Dark's screensaver app at all times, used any excuse to look things up Compton's Interactive Encyclopedia CD-ROM, and obsessively hoarded Voyager publicity photos from Compuserve. A few blinky wiggly pointers shaped like phasers and lightsabers were the least of my crimes against good taste, but frankly, I would have totally deserved getting owned as a result.
I mean, seriously, why so much attention for a game where the first two things that happen when you login are some loser wanting you to go offline with them to engage in "sex chat" for cash and someone trying to sell you random crap?
You mean like the Internet?
SL isn't much of a game in that sense, but it's a neat Internet-based platform for many different types of content. It's basically a big chatroom in a user-generated 3D environment. Like any chat platform, if you're not looking for the lowest common denominator, you have to actively seek out something that pertains to your own interests.
The news is EA securing the exclusive rights to the films and books through 2008. Before, EA had the exclusive rights to the films, but couldn't use things from the books that were not in the films. Sierra was able to grab game rights to the books, without being allowed to use the material from the films, but still able to cash in on the renewed interest in all things LOTR.
If you change that "is" to "should be", I'm all with you, with emphasis on the sharing of the why.
Hence the "in my eyes." Ask 47 activists why they do what they do, and you'll probably get 47 different answers. That's one of mine.
Are you sure the learned about it? One Man's information is another man's propoganda.
This is very true, and this is why it's important for people to be willing to discuss this stuff and openly exchange their information, and be willing to back up their beliefs with more than "my (dad/president/priest/favorite TV guy) says you're wrong." While I may feel secure in my beliefs on a subject, I know there is a chance someone could come along with arguments that will at the very least help me maintain and refine my position, and at most could blow a hole in every one of my points and prove me totally misguided. Either way is good for me.
This is why I want to understand why "the other side" believes what they do just as much as I want them to know why and how I came to my own beliefs.
For a debate to be of any value, both parties should be learning something from it, and for a political belief to be of any value, it should be the result of one's own reasoned processing of as many different sides of the story as one can get hold of. That's why I throw my side into the ring, and that's why it's good to see public figures like these musicians throw in theirs. Not only is it encouraging the debate, but in the case of previously uninspired people who don't normally follow this sort of issue and would have no idea about it without celebrities kicking it into the spoltlight, it lets them know that there even is a debate. This story would never be on something as mainstream as CNN now had the debate not been brewing in the less-mainstream corners of the Internet for so long.
It's interesting that you draw a parallel to political protests, because the two situations have something in common I think you might have missed.
Of course I can only speak for myself, but when I participate in a protest, I'm not there to change people's minds who don't agree with me. I'm there to make my voice heard, show solidarity with others who do agree with me, and most of all to educate people who might be curious about whatever issue inspired us all to show up and protest. If someone sees me protesting and asks about the issue, I'll happily explain my side of it. Whether they take that as gospel or tell me I'm an idiot isn't important.. what's important is they have more information on which to base their decision. In my eyes, the main point of a protest is simply to let everyone know what you think and why you think it.
If someone is inspired to learn more about the Net Neutrality issue, whether by a bunch of stereotype hippies holding signs and chanting or their favorite musicians throwing in on something like this, surely it's still a good thing that they went and learned about it? Whichever side you take on this or any other issue, educating the masses enough so they can make their own informed decision and then go forward in their beliefs is really the key.
I'm sick of people entering my house through the open front door while I'm away, and stealing all my stuff. I want to make it illegal for people to just walk through open doors.
I know, you're thinking "why don't you just do something about your open front door?" But dammit, I've based my entire security model around having my front door open at all times, and I really can't be bothered to dream up a more secure system than a wide open front door. I'd much rather make it everyone else's problem instead.
And they said I was stupid to invest in all this uranium when it was cheap! Now, if I could just stop coughing up blood long enough to take some photos for eBay, I'll be set for life...
on the Internet the chances of being personally associated with a protest are lower.
Beg pardon?
Do you really trust Google and your ISP enough to feel anonymous on Youtube? And even if you don't think your info will be turned over willingly, do you trust every last employee of those organizations not to do something shady at their desks? Do you trust their security measures to never get hacked and leak your info?
Unless you are covertly using a stolen Internet account from a well-hidden location, you are perfectly traceable by those with the means.
Anyone can attend a protest, and not every member of that protest will be followed home afterward. The way I see it you can wear sunglasses and a hat and have a lot more anonymity at a real protest than in anything you do online.
On the off-chance that it wasn't automatically filtered out before any humans saw it, the person who read that email is probably in the middle of trashing a few hundred or thousand indistinguishable from it, and will probably just groan and move on in much the same way that a McDonald's cashier would do if you started complaining that the food was unhealthy. It's not their decision, and there isn't much they can do about it if they want to keep their thankless jobs.
Don't get me wrong, I've been involved in more than my share of clueless public + front-line employee encounters, from both sides of the equation, occasionally to amusing results for at least myself, and often the other person as well. However, that email will disappear into the crowd of other uncreative rants just like it.
Now, if you called that number, did something clever with the opportunity, and got a decent enough recording to post online...
Slashdot Mirror
To put it another way, I'm currently reading a detective novel. It's quite an enjoyable read, but should I be upset because the characters in the book aren't handling things totally as professionals in the real world would, rendering the novel useless as PI training material? Along those lines, am I shirking some social responsibility by enjoying a fictional representation of crime-solving instead of dropping my day job, undergoing private investigator training, opening up my own detective agency, and solving a real murder case? Or is it acceptable that I am simply enjoying reading a book that was crafted for the enjoyment of its readers?
I'm worried about the singing aspect. While it's lots of fun to use a simple row of controller buttons to trigger pre-recorded power chords and sound like a pro, there's really no way to amateur-proof singing. I am not a fan of "Karaoke Revolution," or just plain Karaoke for that matter.
Thanks for the correction! I'm still pretty new at LSL. Either way you do it, it's a fun effect!
Hooray! Go EFF! You tell him about the wonderful DMC -- no, wait.
Yay! Go Mark Cuban! You tell that EFF son of a -- no, that's not right either.
Umm... screw it, I'm going back to bed.
I love this one. It's also fun to use as a security measure. For example if someone who isn't you tries to drive your car, you can script the driver's seat to eject them a few hundred meters into the air. That'll teach 'em..
The other, and I feel even more important, issue is.. who gets to decide what "porn" is? The definition of what is and isn't acceptable changes from year to year, country to country, state to state, and household to household. People have been arguing over what's acceptable for (literally) ages, and it's definitely not going to be solved anytime soon.
.xxx domain, what has to be moved there? One person's obscenity is another person's fine art, medical diagram, or even religious iconography. Everything from Gray's Anatomy to cultural studies to the contents of any art museum could end up sequestered to .xxx because someone somewhere doesn't want the kiddies to accidentally see naughty bits.
So, if we did get the
I'll own up and admit to having used exclusively animated cursors in the past... but then again, I was a mouthbreathing teenager in the mid 1990s with my first Pentium. I also had Star Trek WAVs hooked to all my Windows events, ran After Dark's screensaver app at all times, used any excuse to look things up Compton's Interactive Encyclopedia CD-ROM, and obsessively hoarded Voyager publicity photos from Compuserve. A few blinky wiggly pointers shaped like phasers and lightsabers were the least of my crimes against good taste, but frankly, I would have totally deserved getting owned as a result.
SL isn't much of a game in that sense, but it's a neat Internet-based platform for many different types of content. It's basically a big chatroom in a user-generated 3D environment. Like any chat platform, if you're not looking for the lowest common denominator, you have to actively seek out something that pertains to your own interests.
The news is EA securing the exclusive rights to the films and books through 2008. Before, EA had the exclusive rights to the films, but couldn't use things from the books that were not in the films. Sierra was able to grab game rights to the books, without being allowed to use the material from the films, but still able to cash in on the renewed interest in all things LOTR.
This is why I want to understand why "the other side" believes what they do just as much as I want them to know why and how I came to my own beliefs.
For a debate to be of any value, both parties should be learning something from it, and for a political belief to be of any value, it should be the result of one's own reasoned processing of as many different sides of the story as one can get hold of. That's why I throw my side into the ring, and that's why it's good to see public figures like these musicians throw in theirs. Not only is it encouraging the debate, but in the case of previously uninspired people who don't normally follow this sort of issue and would have no idea about it without celebrities kicking it into the spoltlight, it lets them know that there even is a debate. This story would never be on something as mainstream as CNN now had the debate not been brewing in the less-mainstream corners of the Internet for so long.
It's interesting that you draw a parallel to political protests, because the two situations have something in common I think you might have missed.
Of course I can only speak for myself, but when I participate in a protest, I'm not there to change people's minds who don't agree with me. I'm there to make my voice heard, show solidarity with others who do agree with me, and most of all to educate people who might be curious about whatever issue inspired us all to show up and protest. If someone sees me protesting and asks about the issue, I'll happily explain my side of it. Whether they take that as gospel or tell me I'm an idiot isn't important.. what's important is they have more information on which to base their decision. In my eyes, the main point of a protest is simply to let everyone know what you think and why you think it.
If someone is inspired to learn more about the Net Neutrality issue, whether by a bunch of stereotype hippies holding signs and chanting or their favorite musicians throwing in on something like this, surely it's still a good thing that they went and learned about it? Whichever side you take on this or any other issue, educating the masses enough so they can make their own informed decision and then go forward in their beliefs is really the key.
..will there be lemon-soaked paper napkins?
I'm sick of people entering my house through the open front door while I'm away, and stealing all my stuff. I want to make it illegal for people to just walk through open doors.
I know, you're thinking "why don't you just do something about your open front door?" But dammit, I've based my entire security model around having my front door open at all times, and I really can't be bothered to dream up a more secure system than a wide open front door. I'd much rather make it everyone else's problem instead.
And they said I was stupid to invest in all this uranium when it was cheap! Now, if I could just stop coughing up blood long enough to take some photos for eBay, I'll be set for life...
I can't believe you used a football reference in regards to Goatse, and it wasn't "wide receiver."
It's harder when you have to roll down the window with that little crank.
..the warranty on your car is invalid if you let someone smarter than you drive it.
Want to check for your name?
Do you really trust Google and your ISP enough to feel anonymous on Youtube? And even if you don't think your info will be turned over willingly, do you trust every last employee of those organizations not to do something shady at their desks? Do you trust their security measures to never get hacked and leak your info?
Unless you are covertly using a stolen Internet account from a well-hidden location, you are perfectly traceable by those with the means.
Anyone can attend a protest, and not every member of that protest will be followed home afterward. The way I see it you can wear sunglasses and a hat and have a lot more anonymity at a real protest than in anything you do online.
On the off-chance that it wasn't automatically filtered out before any humans saw it, the person who read that email is probably in the middle of trashing a few hundred or thousand indistinguishable from it, and will probably just groan and move on in much the same way that a McDonald's cashier would do if you started complaining that the food was unhealthy. It's not their decision, and there isn't much they can do about it if they want to keep their thankless jobs.
Don't get me wrong, I've been involved in more than my share of clueless public + front-line employee encounters, from both sides of the equation, occasionally to amusing results for at least myself, and often the other person as well. However, that email will disappear into the crowd of other uncreative rants just like it.
Now, if you called that number, did something clever with the opportunity, and got a decent enough recording to post online...
"Sorry mom, I'll have to call you back later, my battery's about to die. I promise I'll call back just as soon as I've shagged my phone.."