The purpose of the Death Star was to deal with planets that had planetary shield generators. Two or three Star Destroyers are capable of reducing the surface of a habitable world to slag in a matter of hours, but they don't have the firepower to overwhelm a planetary shield generator. Additional Death Stars would be unnecessary, since the Imperial fleet could blockade a rebellious world until the Death Star arrived.
Also, bear in mind that the Death Star represents an enormous concentration of power. With several of them, the Imperial fleet might be tempted to consider a coup against the Emperor.
When I saw the line about "no unannounced DRM," the first thing I thought of was Kazaa saying "contains no spyware." This denial from Intel is about as believable.
At the risk of putting words in the grandparent's mouth, I believe the "fake orgasms" being referred to were the over-the-top screaming and yelling that the actresses do.
Guess it all depends on what kind of stuff you're dealing with. Most of the furniture and appliances I've seen shipped just come in cardboard boxes, perhaps with a built-in pallet on the bottom. These weren't little items, either; we had 450 pound armoires and entertainment centers coming in with nothing but a chintzy layer of cardboard to protect them from being banged around in shipment. The number of open freight claims we had at any given time was just insane.
In about two years of work, I think I can remember a grand total of one wooden crate.
I hear you; the Babylon 5 collections have been sitting on my wish list for similar reasons. $80 a season times 5 seasons adds up to the cost of some of the computer upgrades I want, like a GeForce 6800 Ultra to replace my FX5200. If the ST collections follow the same pricing... ouch.
Where is the hardware getting the list of 'banned warez/movies/mp3s from ?
More likely it would be a list of what media your system is specifically permitted to play; a whitelist would be shorter and easier to maintain than a blacklist. It's also a better fit with the "you can't do it unless we say so" mentality of TC.
The question would be how soon they plan to implement DRM. If they wait and see how Intel's chips do, and there's a big backlash like with the P3's processor serial number, then AMD may yet decide that customers don't want this crap.
At least, I hope that's the approach they take... I covet those new dual-core Athlon 64 chips.
No, pirates have ruined it for everyone. The "moguls" are just reacting to piracy, there would be no motivation for DRM if people purchased what they used.
"Now, the question comes, well, all right, what is wrong with the VCR. One of the Japanese lobbyists, Mr. Ferris, has said that the VCR -- well, if I am saying something wrong, forgive me. I don't know. He certainly is not MGM's lobbyist. That is for sure. He has said that the VCR is the greatest friend that the American film producer ever had.
I say to you that the VCR is to the American film producer and the American public as the Boston strangler is to the woman home alone."
-Jack Valenti, 1982 testimony before the subcomittee on courts, civil liberties,
and the adminstration of justice
We've heard this song and dance from the RIAA and MPAA before. They didn't like cassette tapes. They didn't like the VCR. They didn't like DAT. They didn't like CD-R. They didn't like DeCSS. Now they don't like P2P. Why should I believe them this time? In the RIAA's case, it strikes me as being far more likely that high prices, reduced selection, and mediocre quality are the cause of the reduced growth that they're bitching about. In the MPAA's case, their 14-week box office slump would seem to have a lot more to do with the number of people who prefer staying home and watching movies on DVD to paying $8 at the box office.
Of course, none of that is as easy to fix as going to their buddies in Congress and wailing about the damned dirty downloaders.
Knights of the Old Republic is also set 1,000 years before the events of episodes I-VI, which would substantiate the "extinct for a millenium" quote in The Phantom Menace. Even if we assume that the quote is hyperbole, the Republic hasn't seen a war in so long that they don't have an army. I have a hard time believing that this could be true if the Sith had been playing "galactic overlords" only 88 years previously.
Of course, it's not like Lucas has ever felt bound to honor the continuity of expanded universe material (take the Thrawn trilogy as a case in point, in which the Clones were being used against the Old Republic.)
I doubt it's even true with music; I can think of a good 20 or so CDs that I bought after downloading a few tracks and deciding I liked them. Now that I'm off the P2P networks, I've only made a handful of purchases (the score for Revenge of the Sith and the new Nine Inch Nails album,) so in my case cracking down on P2P has actually cost the RIAA some sales.
It might not work with the power monopoly or the water monopoly, but no-one "needs" to buy CDs or watch movies/TV. A boycott is at least theoretically workable, although I have my doubts about how many people would actually be willing to stop buying and/or viewing.
There's only so far that the "downloaders are dirty thieves who are starving our children" line will take them, though. They already look silly whining about it being on BitTorrent; if Episode III goes on to pile up more money than the GDP of a small nation, "OMG pirates are stealing Revenge of the Sith" won't pass the laugh test with anyone.
Evidently my opinion on the last two differs from yours. I can understand where you're coming from, though; I gave up on watching Star Trek after the first season of Voyager. I made two exceptions (Nemesis and the pilot episode of Enterprise) and concluded that if Rick Berman's name is in the credits, I want nothing to do with it.
Usually those types can be delt with by pointing out how bloody and violent certain parts of the bible are.
Usually those types will respond to any especially violent and bloody bible verse by insisting that you're taking the verse out of context, that the verse isn't intended literally, that it's Old Testament and Christians follow the New Testament, etc.
Fanatics are impervious to reason.
That was my initial reaction as well; "Oh no... the evil movie pirates got hold of an Episode III screener, and it only made $50 million in one day! Boohoo!" In all seriousness though, I'd hesitate before saying that the record opening contradicts the MPAA claims about losing assloads of money because of P2P. Considering the massive budget and the Star Wars fanbase, it was to be expected that Revenge of the Sith would make a pile of cash on opening day. The real test will be to see where the box office totals are two or three weeks from now.
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Also, bear in mind that the Death Star represents an enormous concentration of power. With several of them, the Imperial fleet might be tempted to consider a coup against the Emperor.
I foresee billboards featuring the goatse guy.
When I saw the line about "no unannounced DRM," the first thing I thought of was Kazaa saying "contains no spyware." This denial from Intel is about as believable.
In about two years of work, I think I can remember a grand total of one wooden crate.
I hear you; the Babylon 5 collections have been sitting on my wish list for similar reasons. $80 a season times 5 seasons adds up to the cost of some of the computer upgrades I want, like a GeForce 6800 Ultra to replace my FX5200. If the ST collections follow the same pricing... ouch.
That's my dad's preferred solution as well; I think he still has an old reel-to-reel player sitting around somewhere.
At least, I hope that's the approach they take... I covet those new dual-core Athlon 64 chips.
I say to you that the VCR is to the American film producer and the American public as the Boston strangler is to the woman home alone."
-Jack Valenti, 1982 testimony before the subcomittee on courts, civil liberties, and the adminstration of justice
We've heard this song and dance from the RIAA and MPAA before. They didn't like cassette tapes. They didn't like the VCR. They didn't like DAT. They didn't like CD-R. They didn't like DeCSS. Now they don't like P2P. Why should I believe them this time? In the RIAA's case, it strikes me as being far more likely that high prices, reduced selection, and mediocre quality are the cause of the reduced growth that they're bitching about. In the MPAA's case, their 14-week box office slump would seem to have a lot more to do with the number of people who prefer staying home and watching movies on DVD to paying $8 at the box office.
Of course, none of that is as easy to fix as going to their buddies in Congress and wailing about the damned dirty downloaders.
Oops. You're right; that's what I get for relying on my memory.
Of course, it's not like Lucas has ever felt bound to honor the continuity of expanded universe material (take the Thrawn trilogy as a case in point, in which the Clones were being used against the Old Republic.)
I doubt it's even true with music; I can think of a good 20 or so CDs that I bought after downloading a few tracks and deciding I liked them. Now that I'm off the P2P networks, I've only made a handful of purchases (the score for Revenge of the Sith and the new Nine Inch Nails album,) so in my case cracking down on P2P has actually cost the RIAA some sales.
It might not work with the power monopoly or the water monopoly, but no-one "needs" to buy CDs or watch movies/TV. A boycott is at least theoretically workable, although I have my doubts about how many people would actually be willing to stop buying and/or viewing.
Evidently my opinion on the last two differs from yours. I can understand where you're coming from, though; I gave up on watching Star Trek after the first season of Voyager. I made two exceptions (Nemesis and the pilot episode of Enterprise) and concluded that if Rick Berman's name is in the credits, I want nothing to do with it.
That was my initial reaction as well; "Oh no... the evil movie pirates got hold of an Episode III screener, and it only made $50 million in one day! Boohoo!" In all seriousness though, I'd hesitate before saying that the record opening contradicts the MPAA claims about losing assloads of money because of P2P. Considering the massive budget and the Star Wars fanbase, it was to be expected that Revenge of the Sith would make a pile of cash on opening day. The real test will be to see where the box office totals are two or three weeks from now.