It's possible that the free distribution of existing child porn over the internet is probably the best thing that could happen (short of a cure) re: the problem of pedophilia. With its ease of accessibility, supply becomes high, resulting in, one would guess, a reduced chance for someone afflicted with pedophilia to use actual children to satisfy his desires, much in the same way that "normal" internet porn may reduce the occurrence of rape.
What pedophiles need is help, especially when evidence proves that some pedophilic urges are caused by physical problems and can be cured by surgery. (I'm not saying all pedophilia has physical causes; it seems obvious that much of it is caused by psychological problems during adolescent development)
I think the USA is the more likely culprit. Iran created an oil bourse to trade oil in non-US dollars a few years ago (the same time all those undersea internet trunk lines were "coincidentally" damaged in the Persian Gulf). The US needs to keep people trading oil in their currency at all costs, or the value of the US dollar will drastically drop and hyper-inflation will destroy the economy.
Remember what happened to Iraq when they switched to trading oil from US dollars to the Euro in November 2000: the US invaded under false pretenses and forced Iraq to immediately switch oil trading back to US dollars.
In other discussions I've seen, the assumption seems to be that the first game that betrays expectations will doom the whole system.
Kind of an odd comment for some people to make, considering how often the publisher model ends up betraying expectations and it's still around (unfortunately).
Dysfunctional Console Industry Struggles For New Profit Centers
Here's an idea for a new profit center: console industry executive salaries. The CEO of Electronic Arts, Larry Probst, is overpaid by at least $12 million dollars annually. And that's just one executive. There's easily hundreds of millions of dollars in the untapped profit source of console industry executive salaries.
So computer programs appear out of thin air? They don't require programmers, artists or project managers?
Why don't they sell that service, instead of doing it entirely on spec and then, once it's totally complete, trying to recoup their costs by selling something demonstrably worthless, instead? Seems like kind of a broken business model.
Oh, wait, I know the answer: "BECAUSE THAT'S HOW IT'S ALWAYS BEEN DONE."
Could you explain how the service would work, because I can't envision it.
Mass effect was pretty much the closest thing to "hard sci fi" I've encountered in a video game. A google search for "hard sci fi videogames" came up with two yahoo questions asking if there were any, mass effect was mentioned in both as the closest examples of it, so I'm not alone in that opinion. There was a scientific explanation in the codex (text that got added under a menu nearly every time you encountered something new in the game) that was surprisingly detailed. You could just play the game and ignore the explanations, but in case you were wondering why your guns overheated but never ran out of ammo in ME1, there was a detailed explanation you could pull up.
Just having techno-babble explanations for how things work does not make scifi "hard". Having explanations for how things work which do not require handwavium (e.g. "element zero") or magic (e.g. "biotics") and which follow the known laws of physics makes scifi "hard".
The various technologies depicted in the Mass Effect games are most definitely "soft" scifi.
I'm sure calling mass effect hard sci fi would annoy some slashdotters,
Well, at least the ones who know what the term "hard scifi" means.:-P
I have a feeling that I just responded to an "April Fools' Day" joke-post, though...
Tim Schafer raised over 3 million dollars with just the promise of a new game. Gamers are disloyal to companies that don't respect us.
Brian Fargo also got a million and a half dollars in less than two days from fans in order to make a sequel to Wasteland (the predecessor to the first two Fallout games).
There is *far* more developer loyalty and appreciation among fans than the OP thinks. The publishers made the same mistake in their thinking. For a decade they refused to help Brian Fargo get a Wasteland 2 game made, thinking it would not make money. Then someone gave Fargo the idea of raising money via Kickstarter and *boom*.
The *publishers* deserve the little to no appreciation or loyalty they get. They only get in the way of the gamers and game makers who want to make each other happy. They are the ones who insist on ridiculous DRM schemes, DLC scams, and such.
How is this news? Sure its uncommon for these stars to have planets but its not impossible.
It's not impossible that these stars have planets; it's impossible that the planets are thirteen billion years old. The universe itself is only about six thousand years old...
Slashdot Mirror
I'm 100% certain that killing your own child for backtalking (Exodus 21:17, Leviticus 10:9) is not "the best thing for yourself".
The sooner the entire world can bury all their holy books in the trash heap of history, the better.
If you look closely at the document, you can see where he erased "Wozniak" and wrote "Jobs"...
Um, the "Pirates" are the mainstream...
The coast guard?
Are we sure that it was Apple and not Siri itself that made the change?
*cue spooky music*
I would have preferred if Vic Toews himself disappeared down a dark hole, but I'll take what I can get.
It's possible that the free distribution of existing child porn over the internet is probably the best thing that could happen (short of a cure) re: the problem of pedophilia. With its ease of accessibility, supply becomes high, resulting in, one would guess, a reduced chance for someone afflicted with pedophilia to use actual children to satisfy his desires, much in the same way that "normal" internet porn may reduce the occurrence of rape.
What pedophiles need is help, especially when evidence proves that some pedophilic urges are caused by physical problems and can be cured by surgery . (I'm not saying all pedophilia has physical causes; it seems obvious that much of it is caused by psychological problems during adolescent development)
I'd have to disagree on that one. Growing pot is far easier than making alcohol, yet it's illegal.
There have to be other reasons...
Exactly. You guys keep voting in Democrats and Republicans; this is what you get!
"Troll" and "Flamebait" mods, eh? Interesting...
I think the USA is the more likely culprit. Iran created an oil bourse to trade oil in non-US dollars a few years ago (the same time all those undersea internet trunk lines were "coincidentally" damaged in the Persian Gulf). The US needs to keep people trading oil in their currency at all costs, or the value of the US dollar will drastically drop and hyper-inflation will destroy the economy.
Remember what happened to Iraq when they switched to trading oil from US dollars to the Euro in November 2000: the US invaded under false pretenses and forced Iraq to immediately switch oil trading back to US dollars.
Well, duh.
Nice to see some intelligence in the courts now and then.
Nice try, Mr. Probst.
Kind of an odd comment for some people to make, considering how often the publisher model ends up betraying expectations and it's still around (unfortunately).
This is, perhaps, the funniest thing I have ever read on Slashdot!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:20th-century_military_history
Here's an idea for a new profit center: console industry executive salaries. The CEO of Electronic Arts, Larry Probst, is overpaid by at least $12 million dollars annually. And that's just one executive. There's easily hundreds of millions of dollars in the untapped profit source of console industry executive salaries.
Like this, or this
I tried playing the embedded video to watch the Diablo 3 Beta video, but when I hit play it started some weird commercial or something for HP instead.
Please fix the video link, mods. Thanks.
Good god, you people are scared out of your wits.
Oh, I forgot this: Mass Effect Explains Everything.
Just having techno-babble explanations for how things work does not make scifi "hard". Having explanations for how things work which do not require handwavium (e.g. "element zero") or magic (e.g. "biotics") and which follow the known laws of physics makes scifi "hard".
The various technologies depicted in the Mass Effect games are most definitely "soft" scifi.
Well, at least the ones who know what the term "hard scifi" means. :-P
I have a feeling that I just responded to an "April Fools' Day" joke-post, though...
Brian Fargo also got a million and a half dollars in less than two days from fans in order to make a sequel to Wasteland (the predecessor to the first two Fallout games).
There is *far* more developer loyalty and appreciation among fans than the OP thinks. The publishers made the same mistake in their thinking. For a decade they refused to help Brian Fargo get a Wasteland 2 game made, thinking it would not make money. Then someone gave Fargo the idea of raising money via Kickstarter and *boom*.
The *publishers* deserve the little to no appreciation or loyalty they get. They only get in the way of the gamers and game makers who want to make each other happy. They are the ones who insist on ridiculous DRM schemes, DLC scams, and such.
It's not impossible that these stars have planets; it's impossible that the planets are thirteen billion years old. The universe itself is only about six thousand years old...
It is not for us to ask why the Slashdot Servers do what they do, peace be upon them.
The Internet Age has proven you completely wrong on this one. :-P