Thats exactly the first thing I thought when I read 4th edition was coming out...... How long until 4.5? 5? 15? 1st edition reloaded? 10th edition is the new 3.5? Oh well, here's waiting until May 08....
I don't know about you, but I did not enjoy either WoW or EQ. It is nearly impossible to solo after probably level 25. Why? Because you need good gear. to get good gear you have to go through dungeons or instances which require other players. Almost all of those "other players" are guild members. IF you are not a member of that guild you will not get any of the good loot and thus will not be able to solo.
if you are a member of a guild then count on doing not what you want to do but what the guild wants/needs to do. IF you are a guild member there is no such thing as casually being in a guild. You are either productive or they kick you out.
Point is, if you only have about an hour or two a week to play, forget MMORPGs. Play single player games like NWN2 or some such.
Thats why I quit both EQ and WoW at around level 30.
Well, since I am a prosecutor here is what I would do. Assuming the state where I work has a similar law, I would not just simply drop the case because I think that shouldn't be the law. If there is a statute or ordinance that prohibits the activity I will review the police/witness reports first to see if there is enough evidence and if the facts fit the law. Next I would check the defendant's criminal history to see if she routinely engages in this type of activity. Then I would charge it out if I find there was a violation of the law. Just because you are arrested for a crime doesn't mean you will be prosecuted for that crime or any other.
Once charged I would probably look into diverting her assuming she has no criminal history. The 1 year in jail and 2500 fine bit is the definition of a high level misdemeanor. (Which I find surprising b/c that means a person can careen down the highway drunk and it is a lower level misdemeanor than filming a movie in the theater. Odd, but thats legislation for ya).
Now, if any defense attorney started yammering on about fair use and all that bull, I would laugh them out of my office and tell them I would see them at jury trial. Why? Because it has absolutely no bearing on whether she violated the statute as written. If defense counsel wanted to take the time and energy and money to file some kind of motion to declare the statute unconstitutional, I say go for it. I don't write the laws I only prosecute violators of the law.
Speaking of the preemption by football, what if the announcer had instead said: "Sunday night football on FOX will not be seen tonight. Instead we bring you this episode of Futurama, followed by an hour of Star Trek:TNG" Say that to the non-geeky sport fan and watch the light come on as they perhaps finally understand why a person could be so upset about missing episodes of their favorite sci-fi show....
The parent brings up some good points. The State statutes where I live state that it is illegal for a person to access a computer network they do not have explicit permission to be on. There is no implied permission, or need for "stay off the network" signs. If you are on a network without permission you could be found guilty of a crime, assuming proof beyond a reasonable doubt of course. Now, a computer network is defined by statute. It includes all hardware and software used to make up the computer network. Thus if you sneak into an office building and use their keyboards or access the network remotely via unsecured wireless access point then you have met the elements of the crime.
I am at a loss to see where the debate is over this issue. Either you have permission or you don't. If you don't and you are on a network, as defined by statute, you can be convicted of the crime. Whether you are on the network browsing private files or stealing the internet connection, you are on the network without permission, and thus, by statute, potentially guilty of a crime.
I agree 100% and the first Tull album I thought of was Stormwatch with Dun Ringill, Flying Dutchman, Dark Ages. The whole album has a dark gloomy feel to it and each song seems to reinforce that theme.
Trying to stay somewhat on topic, I rarely see that kind of consistency with the popular artists of today and music seems cheap and disposable, which is sad. Things like iTunes (et al), propagate the one-hit wonder. With that in mind, it is not hard to understand why "albums" do not sell anymore. I'm not saying this is bad. To each his own, I say.
Mod parent up. IAAL (but not in IL)and from what I can see, any litigation on this law will hinge on the definition of "social networking site" and the compliance issue.
I found one of those "wife" units at that chain of stores and test drove it for a while. She is the 1.0 version but must have rebooted after purchase and automatically rolled back her libido drivers.........strange
In the first grade I feigned illness to go home from school and play Adventure on the Atari 2600. My gaming addiction went through the coin op video game phase (taking quarters from my parents coin stash to play Joust [our small town only had two coin op games: joust and ms pacman]) to the present day addictions (less stealing involved), like WoW for a short time then Civ4 and BFME2..........
When they mentioned the G.I. Joe reference I thought it might be the saying they usually had at the end of the show after the little PSA skit. Like, little Timmy shouldn't play with fire etc.
"Now you know........and knowing is half the battle!"
Mod up I say. I think the flamebait mod was a bit harsh. I too think that most of the "game" has gone from video games. I have not played FF12, but from what I have read in reviews and these posts it sounds like FF12 involves robot movement through a story where you are given the illusion of choice. Random battles were what is needed to make choices seem less like an illusion (not that this will completely destroy the illusion; see FF7). For example: when you get to point X in the story you know EXACTLY how many xps you will have (if this game even uses xps). You will be EXACTLY level Y. Every time. It will never change. Whats the point?
In FF7 or games like Balder's Gate, if I wanted to cruise around and kill monsters all day in the forests I could. I could be level 10 for the next story element even if the "game" has it at level 5. Thats fun. Thats what computer/console RPGs are all about.
Basically it goes like this: Either the wireless AP will be secured or not. This will be either intentional or not. No matter which scenario, the owner of the wireless AP is the only one who can give you permission to access it. Is it ethical to leech an unsecured wireless AP? Thats up to you to decide. Is it against the law? Yes.
In my state it is against the law to access a wireless AP without permission. If Windoze accidentally connects to an AP and you don't have permission to use said AP, the law says you are in the wrong, accident or not. Comparing this to houses or cars etc, is all semantics. The law plainly states do not access a computer network without permission. Does leaving it unsecured imply permission? No. It never has and never will. (unless the law changes)
Just because the signal is transmitted over the air does not magically make it free. But what about t.v. you say? A few channels are transmitted over the air. Those are free because the stations broadcast them for free. (Because of gov't regulations, FCC whatever)
With all that said, do you have to ask for permission? Yes. I'm afraid the burden is on you the would be leecher to ask for permission unless you are put on notice otherwise (like coffee shops with signs that say free wireless etc).
But, how was the owner of the WAP damaged? Doesn't matter. Thats not part of the law. Its a form of strict liability (not to be confused with strict liability in civil cases, Its just an analogy.). There is no provision within the law that says you have to have substantially impaired the use of the victims WAP or the victim is out X dollars of use or over 1 MB of my access was impaired or whatever.
But, you say, I can't ask because its a huge apartment complex, or the airport didn't have signs up. Again, doesn't matter. It is entirely up to you to determine if you have permission or not to access the WAP.
So what does all this mean? You can talk all you want about the ethics of leeching wireless internet, but it matters not one bit (pun intended) when it comes to the criminal side of things. Why is this illegal? Ask your legislator.
They had me at "Megadeth - Hanger 18". Great song from a great album. 5 magicks would have been a cool song to include from the same album. I didn't see any Iron Maiden though.....so that sucks.
Back in my day, in like the 4th grade or so we learned our computer skills on TSR-80s. Obviously, the computers increased in quality as your schooling went on. Now, in our local highschool every student is issued (not for keeps) a macintosh laptop with full wifi capabilities. The entire high school is wireless and all students MUST submit homework via the net. Whats wrong with this? Stolen/damaged/never returned laptops (one resurfaced about a thousand miles away on the east coast), highschoolers updating myspace pages, uploading/downloading porn and emailing it to each other, taking the lap tops war-driving, selling the lap tops online, the list goes on. A school administration that wipes hard-drives before law enforcement can seize them. And now they want to put it in the middle schools as well. Should kids have access to computers in schools, absolutely. But I think it needs to be in a more controlled environment. how that is achieved, I do not know.
I do, when you are hauling ass down the interstate in your 18-wheeler hopped up on meth and coke and you plow into a busload of kids or worse you plow into me. Drugs make people do crazy shit that can and could very well hurt others. It would all be well and good if the drug addicts shot up at home and STAYED home. But they don't.................
Slashdot Mirror
I read slashdot for the pictures...........oh wait....
Thats exactly the first thing I thought when I read 4th edition was coming out...... How long until 4.5? 5? 15? 1st edition reloaded? 10th edition is the new 3.5? Oh well, here's waiting until May 08....
if you are a member of a guild then count on doing not what you want to do but what the guild wants/needs to do. IF you are a guild member there is no such thing as casually being in a guild. You are either productive or they kick you out.
Point is, if you only have about an hour or two a week to play, forget MMORPGs. Play single player games like NWN2 or some such.
Thats why I quit both EQ and WoW at around level 30.
Once charged I would probably look into diverting her assuming she has no criminal history. The 1 year in jail and 2500 fine bit is the definition of a high level misdemeanor. (Which I find surprising b/c that means a person can careen down the highway drunk and it is a lower level misdemeanor than filming a movie in the theater. Odd, but thats legislation for ya).
Now, if any defense attorney started yammering on about fair use and all that bull, I would laugh them out of my office and tell them I would see them at jury trial. Why? Because it has absolutely no bearing on whether she violated the statute as written. If defense counsel wanted to take the time and energy and money to file some kind of motion to declare the statute unconstitutional, I say go for it. I don't write the laws I only prosecute violators of the law.
Speaking of the preemption by football, what if the announcer had instead said: "Sunday night football on FOX will not be seen tonight. Instead we bring you this episode of Futurama, followed by an hour of Star Trek:TNG" Say that to the non-geeky sport fan and watch the light come on as they perhaps finally understand why a person could be so upset about missing episodes of their favorite sci-fi show....
I assumed all the articles would be posted in Esperanto. . . go figure.
Ditto. I have a feeling it will be just as craptastic as FarCry........
I am at a loss to see where the debate is over this issue. Either you have permission or you don't. If you don't and you are on a network, as defined by statute, you can be convicted of the crime. Whether you are on the network browsing private files or stealing the internet connection, you are on the network without permission, and thus, by statute, potentially guilty of a crime.
Trying to stay somewhat on topic, I rarely see that kind of consistency with the popular artists of today and music seems cheap and disposable, which is sad. Things like iTunes (et al), propagate the one-hit wonder. With that in mind, it is not hard to understand why "albums" do not sell anymore. I'm not saying this is bad. To each his own, I say.
More like, Lewis Black, is that you?
For a second I thought they bought the planet Hyperion. Look out for the Shrike is all I have to say.
Mod parent up. IAAL (but not in IL)and from what I can see, any litigation on this law will hinge on the definition of "social networking site" and the compliance issue.
I found one of those "wife" units at that chain of stores and test drove it for a while. She is the 1.0 version but must have rebooted after purchase and automatically rolled back her libido drivers .........strange
When I first saw those graphs I thought they were advertisements and ignored them......
--Clippy......
Best time I ever had playing Medal of Honor online was while intoxicated. (Probably the only way to enjoy it)
In the first grade I feigned illness to go home from school and play Adventure on the Atari 2600. My gaming addiction went through the coin op video game phase (taking quarters from my parents coin stash to play Joust [our small town only had two coin op games: joust and ms pacman]) to the present day addictions (less stealing involved), like WoW for a short time then Civ4 and BFME2 ..........
Sort of reminds me of Guild Wars...
"Now you know........and knowing is half the battle!"
In FF7 or games like Balder's Gate, if I wanted to cruise around and kill monsters all day in the forests I could. I could be level 10 for the next story element even if the "game" has it at level 5. Thats fun. Thats what computer/console RPGs are all about.
In my state it is against the law to access a wireless AP without permission. If Windoze accidentally connects to an AP and you don't have permission to use said AP, the law says you are in the wrong, accident or not. Comparing this to houses or cars etc, is all semantics. The law plainly states do not access a computer network without permission. Does leaving it unsecured imply permission? No. It never has and never will. (unless the law changes)
Just because the signal is transmitted over the air does not magically make it free. But what about t.v. you say? A few channels are transmitted over the air. Those are free because the stations broadcast them for free. (Because of gov't regulations, FCC whatever)
With all that said, do you have to ask for permission? Yes. I'm afraid the burden is on you the would be leecher to ask for permission unless you are put on notice otherwise (like coffee shops with signs that say free wireless etc).
But, how was the owner of the WAP damaged? Doesn't matter. Thats not part of the law. Its a form of strict liability (not to be confused with strict liability in civil cases, Its just an analogy.). There is no provision within the law that says you have to have substantially impaired the use of the victims WAP or the victim is out X dollars of use or over 1 MB of my access was impaired or whatever.
But, you say, I can't ask because its a huge apartment complex, or the airport didn't have signs up. Again, doesn't matter. It is entirely up to you to determine if you have permission or not to access the WAP.
So what does all this mean? You can talk all you want about the ethics of leeching wireless internet, but it matters not one bit (pun intended) when it comes to the criminal side of things. Why is this illegal? Ask your legislator.
You would think the smell would give them away.
They had me at "Megadeth - Hanger 18". Great song from a great album. 5 magicks would have been a cool song to include from the same album. I didn't see any Iron Maiden though.....so that sucks.
Just my 2 cents
FWIW