For what it's worth, I stopped believing several years ago. It doesn't make me any happier. On the surface, it didn't really change a thing. Didn't free me from anything, I'm not secretly wanting to engage in "forbidden" activities. I'm cleared from any reasons not to, but my tastes have developed in such a way that I'm honestly just not that interested.
Nothing really changed, except that when I'm not actively engaged, my mind will wander and think. And the thoughts are pretty bleak. I'm alive, I work, I have friends, hobbies, but on the inside I don't feel like I'm there, because losing even the idea of significance makes me feel like I don't exist.
So I don't have to worry too much about the insecurity of an illogical faith, but it really wasn't worth it. Worse, there's no turning back. I'm sure most people don't feel this way. Perhaps it's because I grew up with a worldview where there was always a spiritual subtext to events and consequences. But without that context, it's like not being able to see color, everything has a subtle hollowness to it.
I don't share this with Christians because...well, I hate this. I'm not some sociopath, I wouldn't want to inflict this on others. I won't raise my kids to be religious, but I don't want those who are, to stop. Extremists are just a rare exception, because that's a form of self-defense. But to bother with the harmless practicioners, that just seems like the same aggression from the extremists in reverse for me..
While I like the idea of leaving Iraq, a "just go home" plan has a load of consequences unaccounted for. Just like the "kick out Saddam" plan didn't turn out so hot.
The devil's in the details, and we/are/ immersed in Iraq. It takes time and money to take everything back, and it has to be paced as such that critical functions remain in place until the last departure. We've still got a ton of private contractors, non-combatants, and unspent money tied up in government contracts that need to be extricated.
Some might also want to leave infrastructure accomplishments intact. The infrastructure was blown to hell, then partially rebuilt, it'll take time to make sure what's been rebuilt doesn't just fall apart once you're gone or the country will pretty much be ruined not once but twice. So the republicans screwed them, then democrats screw them too? It's a responsibility that most of the country didn't want, but it's one that we have nonetheless.
There are some who didn't want the war, and want it to end, but don't want to compound the mistakes that have already been made.
Google is the one who made the minimum bid proposal of 4.6billion that got this auction reserve to be set at 4.6billion. And this proposal was on the stipulation that the winner would be required to lease out to competitors. Thus, competition. Even if Google wins. Even if Google loses.
Google isn't worried about competition, they're worried about being locked out.
I don't resent ads fundamentally. I only have a problem when the advertisement steps across the line of my personal tastes. Pop-ups, Flash-scrolling across the screen, loud, flashing.gifs, all of which cause me to block the source. I have adblock installed, I just don't use any of the suscriptions.
I understand what ads are, what role they serve, and how they be beneficial or detrimental.
Penny Arcade serves up ads that I'm interested in, original ads using the webcomic's art style, and they screen them so that they'll only show products that they themselves find interesting. My opinions often coincide with theirs, so I find that these ads are targeted to me very well. I'll click on ads I'm interested in. I'll ignore ads I'm not interested in. I adblock ads that annoy or upset me.
The reason he's pointing out the Superbowl ads is that they are the exception to the rule. It's hugely competitive, and the quality of the commercials are usually higher than regular TV commercials because buying this spot already costs the companies millions upon millions of dollars for that short clip. They are often quite funny, so rather than simply being sold a brand or product, audiences are also entertained. So for the loss of their time, they are compensated with humor. GP is wondering why more companies don't just make good commercials all the time instead of only bringing it out for the incredibly expensive Superbowl airtime.
I am one of those people who watch the superbowl for the ads. I don't know anything about football and I'm not interested in the sport at all. I turn it on in the background until the commercial breaks unless I'm at a party where the superbowl becomes a group activity.
Terry Tate: Office Linebacker. One of my personal favorites from a few years back.
These superbowl commercials are not the norm, and it's understandable that you don't get his reference since your company has been replacing the ads with their own.
Y'know, I don't particularly mind an indian customer service rep if they have support via chat service.
I can still know there's someone talking to me in real-time, I don't have to be anal-retentive about listening for the response since I have a good minute or two window to notice a response instead of a few seconds. No accent or hearing issues going either way, communicating tags and ID numbers is cake. And simple and easy referencing of previous sessions, just cut and paste. Plus, you don't need to occupy a hand or tilt your head (though some have head/ear pieces now for their phones).
I only like to talk on the phone for either speed, "I'm at the table on the far right wall as soon as you walk in." or for non-factual emphasis like negotiation and emotion-based approaches.
For everything else I prefer e-mail, or IM.
The best part about cutting out the e-mail here is making sure everybody talks to a human. But I don't mind the e-mail part at all, I just want the assurance that something is indeed happening on my issue rather than an automated template response.
At no point in school do they tell you what jobs entail. The ONLY job a student is familiar with at that point is teaching a class because they're around one throughout their K-12 education.
At the end of sophmore year in college, I had finally taken enough courses in computer science to realize that I don't want to do it! And even at that point, I still have only the faintest idea of what an actual programming job might entail.
Students have little to no preparation for making an educated decision on what career they want to pursue. Asking them to make that decision was already ridiculous in college, and more ridiculous in highschool. There would need to be a course outlining various fields for them to determine the best choice, rather than having to label each an acceptable choice or an unacceptable choice through trial and error.
My fantasy candidate, but sadly, when he says he's not running for president, I don't think he's stalling. He just doesn't want to run. This far into 2007, I don't think he has time to catch up in terms of public mindspace.
She supported Jack thompson in anti-gaming fearmongering. This is of course, far less reprehensible than Rudy's constant terrorism fearmongering, but such actions are indicative of the same thing, just to different degrees. It's a willingness to blow minor problem out of proportion in order to foster fear in the public in an appeal to garner their votes by this misrepresentation. I can't trust a candidate after such a thing unless they renege and admit they were mistaken(which is nearly impossible). It's a minor infraction, but is still demonstrative of the characteristics that lead to the greater infraction which will surely present itself as an opportunity if elected president.
But on the other hand...what mainstream candidate hasn't done something similar at one point or the other? There aren't any candidates that I can fully support without any qualifying statement. I just have to pick the least worrisome of them all.
Also, overweight and obese are different. Consuming a livable amount of healthy foods and consistent moderate exercise, they can still be considered "overweight" but can be quite healthy underneath the fat if they meet those two requirements. But despite living healthy, they/will/ be overweight. Everyone's body resists fat loss as weight loss continues, and eventually additional fat loss will start producing unhealthy side effects and the fat loss will still be quite slow. Not everyone is cut out to be slim, but the bodyfat itself is not a terrible problem so long as the body underneath is getting a clean intake and consistent exercise.
The difficulty level each person faces can vary, pretending you know what it's like to be in someone else's shoes is foolish and arrogant. Quitting smoking is easy...when you've hardly smoked at all. Nobody can know how much effort is really being put forward by another person. But with that in mind, the only person who does know is the individual, and they have to be the hardest taskmaster of all since they are the ones who will have to deal with the consequences.
Using the term SKU isn't any more lame than complaining about the use of an equivalent word. Box, PC, computer, desktop, rig, shall henceforth be strictly referred to as "Personal Computer"
Hell, those words aren't even necessarily synonmous but are still regularly interchanged.
I respect Michael Pachter's opinions most of the time. He's made some interesting commentary in the past, but has been drifting too far into blind speculation. To be fair, he's supposed to be an analyst, and he really only has to answer to his employer Wedbush Morgan. But when statements go up without reliable references to back them up, that's fast and loose reporting. Don't know if Michael Pachter should be held responsible for providing that information, or the poster for not corraborating the information.
But in either case, without any evidence, his speculation doesn't amount to much more than any other random gamer's speculation. And with that in mind:
GTAIV's delays were caused by Shigeru Miyamoto's ninja assasins conducting a night raid on Rockstar offices sparking a terrible and bloody war of attrition between the two companies in an underground struggle for supremacy over the hearts and minds of gamers everywhere. You heard it here first people.
Well, the good news is that they've started to fix the flaw. They're adding another heatsink and a heatpipe to consoles that are returned for RROD repairs.
The bad news is that the turnaround time on repairs has also increased to 6-8/weeks/!
New Xbox360 elites from manufacture batches after 7/23 have the 65nm chip and the quieter Benq drives.
However, there are a lot of Xbox360 premiums, so they are going to be clearing all the older ones out into the retail channel before 65nm premium bundles start to show up in stores. I don't know if those will also have the quieter Benq drives. And I'm guessing all those still in the retail channel are still the flawed 90nm ones so people buying those will end up running in the RROD and have to go through the warranty process down the line.
Given what the first Manhunt was like, the debate will be pretty short. Manhunt kinda...sucked. Snuff-film violence for the sake of violence is no substitute for interesting gameplay. It was similar to Splintercell in that stealth was emphasized, and nothing like Splinter Cell in that the elements composing the gameplay were heavily dumbed down or not included. The major feature was a "grainy" filter when doing an execution, as seen from the spectating audience.
Some might be fascinated by the violence at first, but most will get bored of recycling the same tired animations and notice that the game is repetitive. Gamers like good gameplay, and the violence fails to cover up Manhunt's lacking gameplay.
Games can be art I would say. Games aren't necessarily art. Pictures can be pr0n or Mona Lisa. Text can be "_____ For Dummies!" or deathless prose. Comics can range from "Archie" to "The Watchmen" or "V for Vendetta". It's just a medium, the substance being borne by that medium is how the end result will distinguish itself.
This game doesn't really have a place in such a discussion.
But still, regardless of whatever motives and intentions they may have behind closed doors, their actions will speak for them.
And I would much rather face a company that is just "acting" good, vs. a company that doesn't even pretend it's not trying to @#%& me over as hard as possible.
The example was given to show how poorly the "Then they came for me" reasoning stands up. It can be used in both directions and is ridiculous in both directions because they're both based on unsound reasoning. I'm saying that both applications fail. Not that one or the other is valid. Neither is. And as for terrorism: heart disease, cancers, alcohol abuse, etc. create far greater death tolls and damage to the country. I am well aware of how ridiculous the terrorism FUD is. http://stpeteforpeace.org/real.threat.html
The part that needs to be watched is what the ACLU is advocating. They want proper controls on the usage of the tool so that it does not overstep its bounds into a real intrusion into the lives of the citizenry. The license plate reading itself is not a real intrusion, or if it is, it is an intrusion that has already been in place for many years. The license plate reading is fine, cataloguing movements is not.
The ability to make distinctions is important and in this case, reading the license plate is fine and useful. Cataloguing movements of non-suspects is not. If people are criminalized via unjust laws and then monitored by this system, then the problem is the unjust laws.
This is a tool, like computers, that enhances human efficiency for either good or evil. So the way to handle it is ensure that it's not used for evil, not to ban them wholesale. It's just like the "thinkofthechildren" concept of restricting internet freedoms. "All or Nothing" is not a reasonable response without justification. All intermediate scenarios between All and Nothing have to be individually weighed and discounted with regards to their pros and cons.
First terrorists crashed the planes into the WTC in Sept. 11th, and we clung to our liberties instead of our security.
Then the terrorists blew up our subway station in November 21st, 2008, and we clung to our liberties instead of our security.
Then they detonated a nuclear weapon in my neighborhood, and it was too late. ----
Both of these silly little stories are based on the same slippery slope "what-if" reasoning. This reasoning works both for AND against privacy. The details are what distinguish the two, and they are/necessary/ to make a useful argument.
A better example would just be facial recognition. Barcoding foreheads and RFID tagging mean alternation to a physical person. The plausibility of the technology's implementation is not critical to this argument based on theoretical circumstance.
The problem you're seeing with being seen in public is that you're afraid of the system being abused. So/that/ is the real problem here, not the system inherently. This license plate reading system is a good thing if implemented correctly. The ACLU's objection is that correct implementation is not being ensured, and the potential for abuse is left open. The system is good if implemented with proper controls to prevent abuse. Slippery slope changes ought to be fought at the point where the slope turns against you.
If a driver is arrest unjustly through the use of this system, then the problem is the injustice, not the existence of this system.
This system is a tool, just like many of the other tools we have, it has the potential for beneficial and malevolent uses. What society has to watch out for is the use, not the existence. It's the abusers that need to be weeded out, not their tools.
The critical part is funding, and then the prodigous task of implementation.
I can come up with a design concept that keeps people playing for years on end while breaking from the MMO grind:
Starcraft Counter-strike
Consider the massive popularity of the two games, and the relatively small amount of updates placed on these games. If converted into an MMO format while keeping the core gameplay with the added bonus of consistent update content, then these games could be even more popular with even more staying power. Hell, there isn't even any progression. Just encapsulated matches of the same thing over and over.
The hard part is making it happen though, easy to say, hard as hell to do.
Or another idea presented by Will Wright at GDC 2005.
Spore uses procedural content, almost impossible at this level of technology. However, he also envisioned user-driven content to relieve the costs of developer man-hours in development. Seed a game with content. Release content development tools. Accept user-designed submissions, and then balance, tweak, and make sure it passes the developer's standards of quality. Place it in the gameworld. Tons of man-hours at a reduced cost. But incredibly risky.
Slashdot Mirror
Hmm.
For what it's worth, I stopped believing several years ago. It doesn't make me any happier. On the surface, it didn't really change a thing. Didn't free me from anything, I'm not secretly wanting to engage in "forbidden" activities. I'm cleared from any reasons not to, but my tastes have developed in such a way that I'm honestly just not that interested.
Nothing really changed, except that when I'm not actively engaged, my mind will wander and think. And the thoughts are pretty bleak. I'm alive, I work, I have friends, hobbies, but on the inside I don't feel like I'm there, because losing even the idea of significance makes me feel like I don't exist.
So I don't have to worry too much about the insecurity of an illogical faith, but it really wasn't worth it. Worse, there's no turning back. I'm sure most people don't feel this way. Perhaps it's because I grew up with a worldview where there was always a spiritual subtext to events and consequences. But without that context, it's like not being able to see color, everything has a subtle hollowness to it.
I don't share this with Christians because...well, I hate this. I'm not some sociopath, I wouldn't want to inflict this on others. I won't raise my kids to be religious, but I don't want those who are, to stop. Extremists are just a rare exception, because that's a form of self-defense. But to bother with the harmless practicioners, that just seems like the same aggression from the extremists in reverse for me..
While I like the idea of leaving Iraq, a "just go home" plan has a load of consequences unaccounted for. Just like the "kick out Saddam" plan didn't turn out so hot.
/are/ immersed in Iraq. It takes time and money to take everything back, and it has to be paced as such that critical functions remain in place until the last departure. We've still got a ton of private contractors, non-combatants, and unspent money tied up in government contracts that need to be extricated.
The devil's in the details, and we
Some might also want to leave infrastructure accomplishments intact. The infrastructure was blown to hell, then partially rebuilt, it'll take time to make sure what's been rebuilt doesn't just fall apart once you're gone or the country will pretty much be ruined not once but twice. So the republicans screwed them, then democrats screw them too? It's a responsibility that most of the country didn't want, but it's one that we have nonetheless.
There are some who didn't want the war, and want it to end, but don't want to compound the mistakes that have already been made.
Google is the one who made the minimum bid proposal of 4.6billion that got this auction reserve to be set at 4.6billion. And this proposal was on the stipulation that the winner would be required to lease out to competitors. Thus, competition. Even if Google wins. Even if Google loses.
Google isn't worried about competition, they're worried about being locked out.
I don't resent ads fundamentally. I only have a problem when the advertisement steps across the line of my personal tastes. Pop-ups, Flash-scrolling across the screen, loud, flashing .gifs, all of which cause me to block the source. I have adblock installed, I just don't use any of the suscriptions.
I understand what ads are, what role they serve, and how they be beneficial or detrimental.
Penny Arcade serves up ads that I'm interested in, original ads using the webcomic's art style, and they screen them so that they'll only show products that they themselves find interesting. My opinions often coincide with theirs, so I find that these ads are targeted to me very well. I'll click on ads I'm interested in. I'll ignore ads I'm not interested in. I adblock ads that annoy or upset me.
The reason he's pointing out the Superbowl ads is that they are the exception to the rule. It's hugely competitive, and the quality of the commercials are usually higher than regular TV commercials because buying this spot already costs the companies millions upon millions of dollars for that short clip. They are often quite funny, so rather than simply being sold a brand or product, audiences are also entertained. So for the loss of their time, they are compensated with humor. GP is wondering why more companies don't just make good commercials all the time instead of only bringing it out for the incredibly expensive Superbowl airtime.
8 5626218421
I am one of those people who watch the superbowl for the ads. I don't know anything about football and I'm not interested in the sport at all. I turn it on in the background until the commercial breaks unless I'm at a party where the superbowl becomes a group activity.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-62389536
Terry Tate: Office Linebacker. One of my personal favorites from a few years back.
These superbowl commercials are not the norm, and it's understandable that you don't get his reference since your company has been replacing the ads with their own.
Y'know, I don't particularly mind an indian customer service rep if they have support via chat service.
I can still know there's someone talking to me in real-time, I don't have to be anal-retentive about listening for the response since I have a good minute or two window to notice a response instead of a few seconds. No accent or hearing issues going either way, communicating tags and ID numbers is cake. And simple and easy referencing of previous sessions, just cut and paste. Plus, you don't need to occupy a hand or tilt your head (though some have head/ear pieces now for their phones).
I only like to talk on the phone for either speed, "I'm at the table on the far right wall as soon as you walk in." or for non-factual emphasis like negotiation and emotion-based approaches.
For everything else I prefer e-mail, or IM.
The best part about cutting out the e-mail here is making sure everybody talks to a human. But I don't mind the e-mail part at all, I just want the assurance that something is indeed happening on my issue rather than an automated template response.
Agreed,
At no point in school do they tell you what jobs entail. The ONLY job a student is familiar with at that point is teaching a class because they're around one throughout their K-12 education.
At the end of sophmore year in college, I had finally taken enough courses in computer science to realize that I don't want to do it! And even at that point, I still have only the faintest idea of what an actual programming job might entail.
Students have little to no preparation for making an educated decision on what career they want to pursue. Asking them to make that decision was already ridiculous in college, and more ridiculous in highschool. There would need to be a course outlining various fields for them to determine the best choice, rather than having to label each an acceptable choice or an unacceptable choice through trial and error.
My fantasy candidate, but sadly, when he says he's not running for president, I don't think he's stalling. He just doesn't want to run. This far into 2007, I don't think he has time to catch up in terms of public mindspace.
She supported Jack thompson in anti-gaming fearmongering. This is of course, far less reprehensible than Rudy's constant terrorism fearmongering, but such actions are indicative of the same thing, just to different degrees. It's a willingness to blow minor problem out of proportion in order to foster fear in the public in an appeal to garner their votes by this misrepresentation. I can't trust a candidate after such a thing unless they renege and admit they were mistaken(which is nearly impossible). It's a minor infraction, but is still demonstrative of the characteristics that lead to the greater infraction which will surely present itself as an opportunity if elected president.
But on the other hand...what mainstream candidate hasn't done something similar at one point or the other? There aren't any candidates that I can fully support without any qualifying statement. I just have to pick the least worrisome of them all.
Parent is on the money.
/will/ be overweight. Everyone's body resists fat loss as weight loss continues, and eventually additional fat loss will start producing unhealthy side effects and the fat loss will still be quite slow. Not everyone is cut out to be slim, but the bodyfat itself is not a terrible problem so long as the body underneath is getting a clean intake and consistent exercise.
Also, overweight and obese are different. Consuming a livable amount of healthy foods and consistent moderate exercise, they can still be considered "overweight" but can be quite healthy underneath the fat if they meet those two requirements. But despite living healthy, they
The difficulty level each person faces can vary, pretending you know what it's like to be in someone else's shoes is foolish and arrogant. Quitting smoking is easy...when you've hardly smoked at all. Nobody can know how much effort is really being put forward by another person. But with that in mind, the only person who does know is the individual, and they have to be the hardest taskmaster of all since they are the ones who will have to deal with the consequences.
Not true, you can also score sweet deals on C1A L IS to enlarge your pe n15!
Using the term SKU isn't any more lame than complaining about the use of an equivalent word. Box, PC, computer, desktop, rig, shall henceforth be strictly referred to as "Personal Computer"
Hell, those words aren't even necessarily synonmous but are still regularly interchanged.
I respect Michael Pachter's opinions most of the time. He's made some interesting commentary in the past, but has been drifting too far into blind speculation. To be fair, he's supposed to be an analyst, and he really only has to answer to his employer Wedbush Morgan. But when statements go up without reliable references to back them up, that's fast and loose reporting. Don't know if Michael Pachter should be held responsible for providing that information, or the poster for not corraborating the information.
But in either case, without any evidence, his speculation doesn't amount to much more than any other random gamer's speculation. And with that in mind:
GTAIV's delays were caused by Shigeru Miyamoto's ninja assasins conducting a night raid on Rockstar offices sparking a terrible and bloody war of attrition between the two companies in an underground struggle for supremacy over the hearts and minds of gamers everywhere. You heard it here first people.
Shhh, don't jinx it! You'll make it worse! :O
Nintendo? They're pretty adamant about releasing only when done.
I know he's on Timbaland's album.
Word I'm hearing is:
/weeks/!
Well, the good news is that they've started to fix the flaw. They're adding another heatsink and a heatpipe to consoles that are returned for RROD repairs.
The bad news is that the turnaround time on repairs has also increased to 6-8
New Xbox360 elites from manufacture batches after 7/23 have the 65nm chip and the quieter Benq drives.
However, there are a lot of Xbox360 premiums, so they are going to be clearing all the older ones out into the retail channel before 65nm premium bundles start to show up in stores. I don't know if those will also have the quieter Benq drives. And I'm guessing all those still in the retail channel are still the flawed 90nm ones so people buying those will end up running in the RROD and have to go through the warranty process down the line.
The Next Internet is serious business.
I agree, I had posted an addendum to my post noting exactly that, but it looks like it was nixed for posting twice so quickly.
Given what the first Manhunt was like, the debate will be pretty short. Manhunt kinda...sucked. Snuff-film violence for the sake of violence is no substitute for interesting gameplay. It was similar to Splintercell in that stealth was emphasized, and nothing like Splinter Cell in that the elements composing the gameplay were heavily dumbed down or not included. The major feature was a "grainy" filter when doing an execution, as seen from the spectating audience.
Some might be fascinated by the violence at first, but most will get bored of recycling the same tired animations and notice that the game is repetitive. Gamers like good gameplay, and the violence fails to cover up Manhunt's lacking gameplay.
Games can be art I would say. Games aren't necessarily art. Pictures can be pr0n or Mona Lisa. Text can be "_____ For Dummies!" or deathless prose. Comics can range from "Archie" to "The Watchmen" or "V for Vendetta". It's just a medium, the substance being borne by that medium is how the end result will distinguish itself.
This game doesn't really have a place in such a discussion.
I wonder too.
But still, regardless of whatever motives and intentions they may have behind closed doors, their actions will speak for them.
And I would much rather face a company that is just "acting" good, vs. a company that doesn't even pretend it's not trying to @#%& me over as hard as possible.
You failed to read my post properly.
The example was given to show how poorly the "Then they came for me" reasoning stands up. It can be used in both directions and is ridiculous in both directions because they're both based on unsound reasoning. I'm saying that both applications fail. Not that one or the other is valid. Neither is. And as for terrorism: heart disease, cancers, alcohol abuse, etc. create far greater death tolls and damage to the country. I am well aware of how ridiculous the terrorism FUD is. http://stpeteforpeace.org/real.threat.html
The part that needs to be watched is what the ACLU is advocating. They want proper controls on the usage of the tool so that it does not overstep its bounds into a real intrusion into the lives of the citizenry. The license plate reading itself is not a real intrusion, or if it is, it is an intrusion that has already been in place for many years. The license plate reading is fine, cataloguing movements is not.
The ability to make distinctions is important and in this case, reading the license plate is fine and useful. Cataloguing movements of non-suspects is not. If people are criminalized via unjust laws and then monitored by this system, then the problem is the unjust laws.
This is a tool, like computers, that enhances human efficiency for either good or evil. So the way to handle it is ensure that it's not used for evil, not to ban them wholesale. It's just like the "thinkofthechildren" concept of restricting internet freedoms. "All or Nothing" is not a reasonable response without justification. All intermediate scenarios between All and Nothing have to be individually weighed and discounted with regards to their pros and cons.
First terrorists crashed the planes into the WTC in Sept. 11th, and we clung to our liberties instead of our security.
/necessary/ to make a useful argument.
/that/ is the real problem here, not the system inherently. This license plate reading system is a good thing if implemented correctly. The ACLU's objection is that correct implementation is not being ensured, and the potential for abuse is left open. The system is good if implemented with proper controls to prevent abuse. Slippery slope changes ought to be fought at the point where the slope turns against you.
Then the terrorists blew up our subway station in November 21st, 2008, and we clung to our liberties instead of our security.
Then they detonated a nuclear weapon in my neighborhood, and it was too late.
----
Both of these silly little stories are based on the same slippery slope "what-if" reasoning. This reasoning works both for AND against privacy. The details are what distinguish the two, and they are
A better example would just be facial recognition. Barcoding foreheads and RFID tagging mean alternation to a physical person. The plausibility of the technology's implementation is not critical to this argument based on theoretical circumstance.
The problem you're seeing with being seen in public is that you're afraid of the system being abused. So
If a driver is arrest unjustly through the use of this system, then the problem is the injustice, not the existence of this system.
This system is a tool, just like many of the other tools we have, it has the potential for beneficial and malevolent uses. What society has to watch out for is the use, not the existence. It's the abusers that need to be weeded out, not their tools.
The idea is the easiest part.
The critical part is funding, and then the prodigous task of implementation.
I can come up with a design concept that keeps people playing for years on end while breaking from the MMO grind:
Starcraft
Counter-strike
Consider the massive popularity of the two games, and the relatively small amount of updates placed on these games. If converted into an MMO format while keeping the core gameplay with the added bonus of consistent update content, then these games could be even more popular with even more staying power. Hell, there isn't even any progression. Just encapsulated matches of the same thing over and over.
The hard part is making it happen though, easy to say, hard as hell to do.
Or another idea presented by Will Wright at GDC 2005.
Spore uses procedural content, almost impossible at this level of technology. However, he also envisioned user-driven content to relieve the costs of developer man-hours in development. Seed a game with content. Release content development tools. Accept user-designed submissions, and then balance, tweak, and make sure it passes the developer's standards of quality. Place it in the gameworld. Tons of man-hours at a reduced cost. But incredibly risky.
Good point, that's an even simpler possibility. Won't make for a good movie though.
Needs more car chase.