Blizzard has removed features known to players of the original SC. New players aren't going to know these features are missing, so they aren't going to complain about them not being there. To these new players the lack of a feature they didn't know existed isn't a detriment to the quality of the game itself. It will only affect players who know how good the game COULD have been if the feature had been there. Ignorance is bliss.
The fact that the game is still popular despite having these features removed proves only two things: 1: The game is a good game anyway so people play it 2: The people who know about the feature are such a minority that any drop in sales they cause has no effect on the overall popularity
I think the lack of these feautres might hurt the longevity of the game, though, and it is possible that they plan to compensate for this by using the two expansions to support the long term popularity instead. That remains to be seen, however. It's certainly possible that Blizzard will still make changes to battlenet.
Zidane was imo one of the more tolerable main characters among the modern games since FF7 came out. I think only Cloud is as good as him, really. Squall is utterly boring and a complete annoying... Argh. Tidus is bland as hell and wth his outfit is ridiculous. I haven't played FFXII and FFXIII though so they might change my mind...
Are you insane? No I mean that seriously. You think that it is actually worse to look at forbidden pictures than to murder someone? Seriously?
The worst possible scenario for the images would have been if he had created them himself, but this seems unlikely seeing that he was only charged with possession.
The second worst possible scenario would've been if he had paid for them, which isn't necessary with current technology. By paying for it, you are in a way supporting the industry.
The third scenario is that he downloaded it through p2p which has no effect on the original producer and does not provably create incentive to make more. If it does, it is so neglible as to be practically non-existant.
Furthermore there is the underlying assumption that the pictures depict sexual abuse, which is not necessary for the images to be classified as child pornography. Infact it is possible (read likely) that the pictures are only nude posing pictures, and in that case there is no actual sexual abuse behind the creation of the images. If there is no abuse it is not possible for the abuse to "create further abuse".
In addition to this you assume that abuse leads to further abuse which has not been proven. The cause for paedophilia is unknown.
I said nothing about CIA. I said nothing about FBI or NSA or KGB. I'm not blaming outside influence here at all. I'm saying that the system is not behaving as it should be behaving and many things here are not as they should be.
Add to this the fact that the Swedish definition of rape might not be what you or anyone else would define as rape, and we have a bit of a situation.
There is a bit of a problem with not enough information about this case, so I'll try to summary what I know so far.
1: Two women who had sex with Assange went to the police and were adviced to file charges of rape 2: A prosecutor releases the accusations publicly to the press (not a common thing here in Sweden afaik) 3: The case is withdrawn because they realize Assange cannot be nailed for rape. The remaining charge is something akin to sexual harassment. 4: The rape charges are revived 5:... 6: Profit?
No seriously I'm starting to wonder what the fuck is up with the swedish legal system.
The postal service had a monopoly on delivering mail across all of Sweden. The postal service was regulated by law to cover as much of the country as possible.
Then the monopoly law was removed, opening up for City Mail. City Mail took over the profitable city areas while completely ignoring the unprofitable countryside. The postal service is now having extreme difficulties to maintain itself, because it is suffering from competition within the only profitable districts. This leads to lack of efficiency and inhumane policies at the postal service workplaces thanks to regulations from management. (I should know, I have worked there)
Competition doesn't lead to efficiency if the competition isn't equal, and the competition isn't equal because the postal office still has to serve the countryside. You could say that the regulation is the fault of the government, but the fucking POINT of the postal service is to serve mail everywhere. If that regulation is removed then the countryside will no longer get any mail as the postal service and city mail will both compete within the profitable areas.
The only other possibility is that prices in the countryside explode to ridiculous levels to compensate for the lack of profit in these areas.
People don't want to admit to doing any of those things because they are generally frowned upon, not because they are wrong. The fact that they are frowned upon does not make them wrong, as that would make anything that is frowned upon wrong, and being a witch was at one point frowned upon.
"It has been shown, in multiple studies, that pornography leads to sexual deviancy and inconsistent expectations of sex -- and that individuals will seek out to attempt these acts."
That depends on which kinds of acts were examined. I could imagine someone would, as is indicated in another reply, for example try having sex in the shower or something as a result of a porn movie. But what if it was a movie with rape? Would the watcher now suddenly go out and rape someone? There is a BIG difference between changing your sexual habits and committing a violent crime.
There has in fact been absolutely no evidence to support a connection between pornography and violent crime and rape.
"One year ago, you probably considered even the CONCEPT of having child pornography as something despicable. Now, if you bother to look, you're advocating the filth. It's not the world that's changed -- you've probably even degraded to the point where you'll tell me that there's not even such a thing as "right" and "wrong" because those are oh so relative!"
But indeed right and wrong ARE relative. For example it was at one point extremely wrong to be a witch, as you would then be burned at the stake. Most people thought that was right. After all, "she's just a witch."
My own opinion is as follows: Drawings of any nature should be legal to possess. No exceptions. Child pornographic photographies should be focused on with the intent of tracking down the main distributors and producers.
Are you saying con artists and fraudsters (i thought those two were the same thing) are not a danger to other people?
I agree that marijuana possession is just a ridiculous thing to throw someone in prison for, but the other two are very dangerous with potential to ruin lives.
Slashdot Mirror
Blizzard has removed features known to players of the original SC. New players aren't going to know these features are missing, so they aren't going to complain about them not being there. To these new players the lack of a feature they didn't know existed isn't a detriment to the quality of the game itself. It will only affect players who know how good the game COULD have been if the feature had been there. Ignorance is bliss.
The fact that the game is still popular despite having these features removed proves only two things:
1: The game is a good game anyway so people play it
2: The people who know about the feature are such a minority that any drop in sales they cause has no effect on the overall popularity
I think the lack of these feautres might hurt the longevity of the game, though, and it is possible that they plan to compensate for this by using the two expansions to support the long term popularity instead. That remains to be seen, however. It's certainly possible that Blizzard will still make changes to battlenet.
Zidane was imo one of the more tolerable main characters among the modern games since FF7 came out. I think only Cloud is as good as him, really. Squall is utterly boring and a complete annoying... Argh. Tidus is bland as hell and wth his outfit is ridiculous. I haven't played FFXII and FFXIII though so they might change my mind...
I'd personally aim for people writing "would of" instead of "would have" and similar...
Are you insane? No I mean that seriously. You think that it is actually worse to look at forbidden pictures than to murder someone? Seriously?
The worst possible scenario for the images would have been if he had created them himself, but this seems unlikely seeing that he was only charged with possession.
The second worst possible scenario would've been if he had paid for them, which isn't necessary with current technology. By paying for it, you are in a way supporting the industry.
The third scenario is that he downloaded it through p2p which has no effect on the original producer and does not provably create incentive to make more. If it does, it is so neglible as to be practically non-existant.
Furthermore there is the underlying assumption that the pictures depict sexual abuse, which is not necessary for the images to be classified as child pornography. Infact it is possible (read likely) that the pictures are only nude posing pictures, and in that case there is no actual sexual abuse behind the creation of the images. If there is no abuse it is not possible for the abuse to "create further abuse".
In addition to this you assume that abuse leads to further abuse which has not been proven. The cause for paedophilia is unknown.
You are making too many assumptions.
I guess it would've been better if he had just simply killed someone.
Sounds to me like the US system is totally and utterly fucked up.
Way to put words in my mouth.
I said nothing about CIA. I said nothing about FBI or NSA or KGB. I'm not blaming outside influence here at all. I'm saying that the system is not behaving as it should be behaving and many things here are not as they should be.
Add to this the fact that the Swedish definition of rape might not be what you or anyone else would define as rape, and we have a bit of a situation.
Let me add that the Swedish laws on rape are also strongly discriminatory.
A male fingering a sleeping female in her sleep is rape.
A male masturbating a sleeping man is not rape.
There is a bit of a problem with not enough information about this case, so I'll try to summary what I know so far.
1: Two women who had sex with Assange went to the police and were adviced to file charges of rape ...
2: A prosecutor releases the accusations publicly to the press (not a common thing here in Sweden afaik)
3: The case is withdrawn because they realize Assange cannot be nailed for rape. The remaining charge is something akin to sexual harassment.
4: The rape charges are revived
5:
6: Profit?
No seriously I'm starting to wonder what the fuck is up with the swedish legal system.
If you have a vegetarian and an omnivore and feed them both meat, are you treating them equally?
What?
You pay for X and get Y. That. Is. Fraud.
So you have your own Pirate Party? Very interesting...
Not being an australian I haven't seen much of the LDP before. What was their stance on the filtering etc. etc?
The only realistic vote in Australia seems to be a vote for the Australian Sex Party.
The other parties seem totally infested by moralism and corruption.
Heh. I didn't know that at all. Japan has the benefit of quite extreme population density afaik, though.
20 people per sqkm vs 337 people per sqkm.
You would have to tell them that you moved in order for this system to work, though.
Exactly this happened in Sweden.
The postal service had a monopoly on delivering mail across all of Sweden. The postal service was regulated by law to cover as much of the country as possible.
Then the monopoly law was removed, opening up for City Mail. City Mail took over the profitable city areas while completely ignoring the unprofitable countryside. The postal service is now having extreme difficulties to maintain itself, because it is suffering from competition within the only profitable districts. This leads to lack of efficiency and inhumane policies at the postal service workplaces thanks to regulations from management. (I should know, I have worked there)
Competition doesn't lead to efficiency if the competition isn't equal, and the competition isn't equal because the postal office still has to serve the countryside. You could say that the regulation is the fault of the government, but the fucking POINT of the postal service is to serve mail everywhere. If that regulation is removed then the countryside will no longer get any mail as the postal service and city mail will both compete within the profitable areas.
The only other possibility is that prices in the countryside explode to ridiculous levels to compensate for the lack of profit in these areas.
That's not an electric piano.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_piano
The chipophone is clearly a synth. It doesn't create the sounds mechanically, unlike an electric piano.
What about the verses removed from the Quran? I speak of the so-called satanic verses?
Someone removed them because it wasn't seen as wise to keep a statement in which Mohammed alluded to polytheism as acceptable in the book.
It seems Mr Motti has mixed up "freedom to" and "freedom from".
"Frankly if this bothers you -- what weird sick stuff are you into? Stop it."
Could be a jew in nazi Germany. Just saying.
Maybe a homosexual in the middle east.
Could have impopular political opinions that would not be suitable for stating in public.
You have to PAY for using the library?
I think what he might mean is anarcho-capitalism which is a more extreme form of libertarianism.
As far as I know there is no such thing as corporate anarchists.
People don't want to admit to doing any of those things because they are generally frowned upon, not because they are wrong. The fact that they are frowned upon does not make them wrong, as that would make anything that is frowned upon wrong, and being a witch was at one point frowned upon.
"It has been shown, in multiple studies, that pornography leads to sexual deviancy and inconsistent expectations of sex -- and that individuals will seek out to attempt these acts."
That depends on which kinds of acts were examined. I could imagine someone would, as is indicated in another reply, for example try having sex in the shower or something as a result of a porn movie. But what if it was a movie with rape? Would the watcher now suddenly go out and rape someone? There is a BIG difference between changing your sexual habits and committing a violent crime.
There has in fact been absolutely no evidence to support a connection between pornography and violent crime and rape.
"One year ago, you probably considered even the CONCEPT of having child pornography as something despicable. Now, if you bother to look, you're advocating the filth. It's not the world that's changed -- you've probably even degraded to the point where you'll tell me that there's not even such a thing as "right" and "wrong" because those are oh so relative!"
But indeed right and wrong ARE relative. For example it was at one point extremely wrong to be a witch, as you would then be burned at the stake. Most people thought that was right. After all, "she's just a witch."
My own opinion is as follows: Drawings of any nature should be legal to possess. No exceptions. Child pornographic photographies should be focused on with the intent of tracking down the main distributors and producers.
Are you saying con artists and fraudsters (i thought those two were the same thing) are not a danger to other people?
I agree that marijuana possession is just a ridiculous thing to throw someone in prison for, but the other two are very dangerous with potential to ruin lives.