the people who are gay or have abortions are consenting adults and are fully aware of the consequences of their actions.
Err...the innocent kid that's being killed is hardly a consenting adult.
Woo, -1 Flamebait!
No, but seriously...the debate is not, nor has it ever been about whether or not women have the right to do what they want with their bodies anymore than it is about whether God claims it is evil or not. The ONLY debate that has any significance at all is whether or not an embry/fetus between the moment of conception and whatever month they've arbitrarily decided is not worthy of legally protected status like all other human beings are. The claim that the controversy of abortion is about a woman's right to choose is propoganda is only put out so that anyone who opposes abortion, for whatever reason, can be labelled as wanting to take away someone's rights when the reality is that the core reason pro-lifers oppose abortion is to protect a human's rights.
And how did R* market the game to kids? Unless they were advertising the game during saturday morning cartoons or buying ads in kids magazines you're going to have a hard time convincing anyone that R* aimed their game at kids.
Were there a lot of kids who wanted GTA:SA? Sure. But there's plenty of kids who want to go see every new R-rated shoot 'em up movie. We know that mature games and movies are going to appeal to kids, but what do you want R* to do about it? They're not going to be able to stop older siblings from talking about it in front of their younger siblings, they're not going to make kids who have already played it not to talk to their friends, they're not going to tell websites not to put stuff up about GTA because a kid somewhere might see. Unless you want to start blaming the creator of anything with adult themes because the creator should have known children would be interested in it regardless of how it was marketed you can hardly start blaming R* for "marketing the game to the kids."
So yeah, in most cases this IS as clear cut as we think it is in most cases. Some kids may have bought the game on their own or borrowed it from a friend, and in that case some fault does rest on the store who sold it to a minor, but I would stake money that the majority of minors who played GTA:SA got it from their parent. At which point any blame for the children playing a violent video game rests solely on their shoulders.
Two clothed models dry humping != explicit sexual content. There are R rated movies far far worse than this, but all people ever hear is "sex scene" and start making assumptions.
Graphic sex is THE taboo thing that the grandson's parents and yourselves think he is a BIT young for!
Umm...well then it's a good thing that there is no graphic sex in the hot coffee mod. Err...but wait...why let a little thing like reality get in the way of self righteous indignation.
it contained hidden, sexually explicit scenes
So in the very first sentence of the article they prove that they don't mind spreading blatant disinformation. It's articles like this, with the journalistic integrity of a ball of earwax, that allow retarded subjects like this to continue on in the public eye.
On a side note, I hope that R*/Take Two has the balls to countersue for libel, fraud, and extortion.
But they don't "simply regurgitate" the videos they think will be the most popular. They make those videos popular through over-playing the video and repeatedly hyping the artist. If a VJ says someone or something is cool people will accept it. MTV is not in the business of playing music videos, they are in the business of controlling pop culture. The majority of teenagers want crap because MTV tells them they want crap.
Unless they're hearing things above 20kHz, they're not hearing any more information from an analog signal than a digital signal. If we sample at twice the bandwidth of our analog signal we can perfectly reconstruct the original according to the Nyquist Theorem. A CD samples at 44.1 kHz which is enough to cover the standard human auditory range. Now maybe some people can detect frequencies higher than 20kHz, enough that the CD's digital signal cannot accurately reproduce the original frequencies above 20kHz for them, but this is a fault of the 44.1 kHz sampling rate, not digital encoding itself. Digital signals sampled at much higher rates do exist and are used today, just not in your standard CD. So when the CD format changes eventually to allow for higher bit rate recordings, unless these people can detect frequencies above 86 kHz, they won't be detecting anything in an analog signal that they can't in a 192 kHz sampled digital signal.
Now, just to cover my ass, yes the frequencies above 20 kHz are still present during the recording process and therefore they will add a very slight amount of distortion to the resulting digital signal. HOWEVER notice that any resulting difference between the digital and analog signal is NOT in the form of missing information but rather in very slightly differing information.
Err, no, I think step 3 is watch the XBox choke trying to load environments 5-10 times larger and more complex than what it's able to. Level size and complexity is a huge limitation on consoles FPS's at the moment.
While I understand your feelings and think that the stats being abstracted beyond the knowledge of the player might not always be bad, I personally enjoy the ability to see stats and how they interact. I enjoy using my knowledge of the stats to determine strategy and I also derive enjoyment from seeing the stats increase as I play. Stats are almost like a measure of accomplishment. I'm proud when I level up and I'm proud when I get to drop a few more points into strength or check out my new sword that does 8 more damage than my old one. To people like me, the stats may almost be more important than the storyline. No one played Diablo II for the storyline, they played it to get another level, better gear, higher numbers. You may dislike that kind of game style, but I can guarantee you there would be people who would complain if they couldn't check out the stats too. I think there's room for games on both sides of the spectrum, those who enjoy the "role playing "part and those who enjoy the "game" part.
And what if 225 years or so ago the British government had been able to monitor all communications in America, saw the revolution being planned, and crushed it before it ever came to be? It's a matter of perspective. The American government certainly at this point in time does not need to be overthrown, but what if in 25 years we're not so lucky? What if they started abusing their information more subtly? Would you even know? The government sees someone who opposes the administration rising in prominance so they use his private information against him in some manner. I would rather live in a world where my well being does not rely on the benevolence of an all-knowing Uncle Sam because I cannot be guaranteed of that continuing benevolence.
if the FBI needs 10 minute wiretapping on a WIFI setup to keep my plane from being blown up by a bunch of Islamic radicals, then so be it.
The examples they provide about how it would be useful are dubious at best. Remote detonation is definitely NOT the M.O. of radical terrorists. And once the terrorists are already aboard the plane I'd say it's a little too late. If terrorists have managed to board a plane the only thing that can stop them are the people on board the plane or war planes destroying it. Now maybe the feds actually think that such an ability would be useful, but when they cite reasons for which wire tapping doesn't seem all that useful it kind of makes people suspicious. It casts doubt on the premise that the FBI needs 10 minute wiretapping to prevent terrorism. This particular instance is not an extraordinarly egregious (sp) instance of infringing on privacy rights, but all such instances are worrying nonetheless.
And for the record, the people who oppose measures such as this shouldn't be lumped together as "liberals." I'm fiscally conservative, socially moderate to conservative, but I oppose government invasion of privacy.
why don't you try looking up the definition of the word troll. When you're done you can look up the definition of a joke too.
If you can't tell the difference between a troll and what is obviously a joke I suggest you uncheck the "Willing to Mod" box because believe it or not there ARE people with senses of humor around here.
Valve was legally bound to not set their online verison price lower than the box version price because of their contract with Vivendi. Any publishing company working with any game company will have similar clause in the contract stating that the game company may not undercut the price of the box version. The publisher simply is never going to agree to any other situation in order to protect their profits. If they let Valve sell HL2 for $40 when they have to sell for $50 no one is going to purchase the box version. Don't expect this to be any different in the future either. You will never see an online distributed game sell for less than a box version of the same game.
I'd wager that MS would consider Sony its primary adversary, not Nintendo. That's probably why they're supporting the DS. It doesn't hurt them because they don't have a portable system, but I bet they'd love it if this hurt Sony (by influencing people to favor DSs over PSPs). In a heads up fight between MS and Nintendo, MS is probably sure they would dominate so they'd like to see Sony as weakened as possible even if it means Nintendo gains a little ground.
If it's easier to wire up the urban areas it goes to follow that the telcos will get to wiring up the rural areas faster. When you can get 60% of your population wired by covering only 200 000 km^2 (roughly twice the size of Ohio) you can spend more time and money wiring up your rural areas.
No, no, no President Fox. We didn't accidentally shoot a rocket into Mexico. It was simply a gift for the Mexican people...delivered at high velocities!
President George W. Bush has declared Dennis an international terrorist, guilty of violent acts in Jamaica and Cuba. In response to Dennis's threats against Kennedy Space Center he has ordered that Dennis be arrested and detained at Gitmo as an unlawful combatant indefinitely. In response to an aide's attempt to explain to Mr. Bush that Dennis was an "Act of God", Bush responsed "Well fine then, we'll go after him next."
Whew, really treading the line between -1 Troll and +5 Funny on this one.
Slashdot Mirror
the people who are gay or have abortions are consenting adults and are fully aware of the consequences of their actions.
Err...the innocent kid that's being killed is hardly a consenting adult.
Woo, -1 Flamebait!
No, but seriously...the debate is not, nor has it ever been about whether or not women have the right to do what they want with their bodies anymore than it is about whether God claims it is evil or not. The ONLY debate that has any significance at all is whether or not an embry/fetus between the moment of conception and whatever month they've arbitrarily decided is not worthy of legally protected status like all other human beings are. The claim that the controversy of abortion is about a woman's right to choose is propoganda is only put out so that anyone who opposes abortion, for whatever reason, can be labelled as wanting to take away someone's rights when the reality is that the core reason pro-lifers oppose abortion is to protect a human's rights.
And how did R* market the game to kids? Unless they were advertising the game during saturday morning cartoons or buying ads in kids magazines you're going to have a hard time convincing anyone that R* aimed their game at kids.
Were there a lot of kids who wanted GTA:SA? Sure. But there's plenty of kids who want to go see every new R-rated shoot 'em up movie. We know that mature games and movies are going to appeal to kids, but what do you want R* to do about it? They're not going to be able to stop older siblings from talking about it in front of their younger siblings, they're not going to make kids who have already played it not to talk to their friends, they're not going to tell websites not to put stuff up about GTA because a kid somewhere might see. Unless you want to start blaming the creator of anything with adult themes because the creator should have known children would be interested in it regardless of how it was marketed you can hardly start blaming R* for "marketing the game to the kids."
So yeah, in most cases this IS as clear cut as we think it is in most cases. Some kids may have bought the game on their own or borrowed it from a friend, and in that case some fault does rest on the store who sold it to a minor, but I would stake money that the majority of minors who played GTA:SA got it from their parent. At which point any blame for the children playing a violent video game rests solely on their shoulders.
Two clothed models dry humping != explicit sexual content. There are R rated movies far far worse than this, but all people ever hear is "sex scene" and start making assumptions.
Graphic sex is THE taboo thing that the grandson's parents and yourselves think he is a BIT young for!
Umm...well then it's a good thing that there is no graphic sex in the hot coffee mod. Err...but wait...why let a little thing like reality get in the way of self righteous indignation.
it contained hidden, sexually explicit scenes
So in the very first sentence of the article they prove that they don't mind spreading blatant disinformation. It's articles like this, with the journalistic integrity of a ball of earwax, that allow retarded subjects like this to continue on in the public eye.
On a side note, I hope that R*/Take Two has the balls to countersue for libel, fraud, and extortion.
But they don't "simply regurgitate" the videos they think will be the most popular. They make those videos popular through over-playing the video and repeatedly hyping the artist. If a VJ says someone or something is cool people will accept it. MTV is not in the business of playing music videos, they are in the business of controlling pop culture. The majority of teenagers want crap because MTV tells them they want crap.
Unless they're hearing things above 20kHz, they're not hearing any more information from an analog signal than a digital signal. If we sample at twice the bandwidth of our analog signal we can perfectly reconstruct the original according to the Nyquist Theorem. A CD samples at 44.1 kHz which is enough to cover the standard human auditory range. Now maybe some people can detect frequencies higher than 20kHz, enough that the CD's digital signal cannot accurately reproduce the original frequencies above 20kHz for them, but this is a fault of the 44.1 kHz sampling rate, not digital encoding itself. Digital signals sampled at much higher rates do exist and are used today, just not in your standard CD. So when the CD format changes eventually to allow for higher bit rate recordings, unless these people can detect frequencies above 86 kHz, they won't be detecting anything in an analog signal that they can't in a 192 kHz sampled digital signal. Now, just to cover my ass, yes the frequencies above 20 kHz are still present during the recording process and therefore they will add a very slight amount of distortion to the resulting digital signal. HOWEVER notice that any resulting difference between the digital and analog signal is NOT in the form of missing information but rather in very slightly differing information.
I propose the name "Open Sauce" for this beer.
It already is...in Boston.
There are many reasons, one is the community, on a MUD like the one I play there are only about 40 of us and we know each other well.
Hey, same could be said about Shadowbane. ^_^
No, they dont.
Pff, killing yourself is for noobie griefers. Real griefers play boot-the-noob. :D
Err, no, I think step 3 is watch the XBox choke trying to load environments 5-10 times larger and more complex than what it's able to. Level size and complexity is a huge limitation on consoles FPS's at the moment.
While I understand your feelings and think that the stats being abstracted beyond the knowledge of the player might not always be bad, I personally enjoy the ability to see stats and how they interact. I enjoy using my knowledge of the stats to determine strategy and I also derive enjoyment from seeing the stats increase as I play. Stats are almost like a measure of accomplishment. I'm proud when I level up and I'm proud when I get to drop a few more points into strength or check out my new sword that does 8 more damage than my old one. To people like me, the stats may almost be more important than the storyline. No one played Diablo II for the storyline, they played it to get another level, better gear, higher numbers. You may dislike that kind of game style, but I can guarantee you there would be people who would complain if they couldn't check out the stats too. I think there's room for games on both sides of the spectrum, those who enjoy the "role playing "part and those who enjoy the "game" part.
And what if 225 years or so ago the British government had been able to monitor all communications in America, saw the revolution being planned, and crushed it before it ever came to be? It's a matter of perspective. The American government certainly at this point in time does not need to be overthrown, but what if in 25 years we're not so lucky? What if they started abusing their information more subtly? Would you even know? The government sees someone who opposes the administration rising in prominance so they use his private information against him in some manner. I would rather live in a world where my well being does not rely on the benevolence of an all-knowing Uncle Sam because I cannot be guaranteed of that continuing benevolence.
if the FBI needs 10 minute wiretapping on a WIFI setup to keep my plane from being blown up by a bunch of Islamic radicals, then so be it.
The examples they provide about how it would be useful are dubious at best. Remote detonation is definitely NOT the M.O. of radical terrorists. And once the terrorists are already aboard the plane I'd say it's a little too late. If terrorists have managed to board a plane the only thing that can stop them are the people on board the plane or war planes destroying it. Now maybe the feds actually think that such an ability would be useful, but when they cite reasons for which wire tapping doesn't seem all that useful it kind of makes people suspicious. It casts doubt on the premise that the FBI needs 10 minute wiretapping to prevent terrorism. This particular instance is not an extraordinarly egregious (sp) instance of infringing on privacy rights, but all such instances are worrying nonetheless.
And for the record, the people who oppose measures such as this shouldn't be lumped together as "liberals." I'm fiscally conservative, socially moderate to conservative, but I oppose government invasion of privacy.
why don't you try looking up the definition of the word troll. When you're done you can look up the definition of a joke too.
If you can't tell the difference between a troll and what is obviously a joke I suggest you uncheck the "Willing to Mod" box because believe it or not there ARE people with senses of humor around here.
They were packing firepower enough to defend East Boston from invasion by any nation smaller than France.
.45 and a sock full of quarters? I mean...you're not exactly setting the bar too too high by referencing France
:)
So what'd they have? An empty Colt
*ducks* Sorry, sorry, sorry, I couldn't resist.
I think we have some people who need to have their joke detectors fixed.
Valve was legally bound to not set their online verison price lower than the box version price because of their contract with Vivendi. Any publishing company working with any game company will have similar clause in the contract stating that the game company may not undercut the price of the box version. The publisher simply is never going to agree to any other situation in order to protect their profits. If they let Valve sell HL2 for $40 when they have to sell for $50 no one is going to purchase the box version. Don't expect this to be any different in the future either. You will never see an online distributed game sell for less than a box version of the same game.
I'd wager that MS would consider Sony its primary adversary, not Nintendo. That's probably why they're supporting the DS. It doesn't hurt them because they don't have a portable system, but I bet they'd love it if this hurt Sony (by influencing people to favor DSs over PSPs). In a heads up fight between MS and Nintendo, MS is probably sure they would dominate so they'd like to see Sony as weakened as possible even if it means Nintendo gains a little ground.
"Ah beer. The cause of, and solution to, all of life's problems."
Homer was right after all.
If it's easier to wire up the urban areas it goes to follow that the telcos will get to wiring up the rural areas faster. When you can get 60% of your population wired by covering only 200 000 km^2 (roughly twice the size of Ohio) you can spend more time and money wiring up your rural areas.
Id be willing to pay $600 all by myself to get the ability to "edit" my "FCK".
No, no, no President Fox. We didn't accidentally shoot a rocket into Mexico. It was simply a gift for the Mexican people...delivered at high velocities!
President George W. Bush has declared Dennis an international terrorist, guilty of violent acts in Jamaica and Cuba. In response to Dennis's threats against Kennedy Space Center he has ordered that Dennis be arrested and detained at Gitmo as an unlawful combatant indefinitely. In response to an aide's attempt to explain to Mr. Bush that Dennis was an "Act of God", Bush responsed "Well fine then, we'll go after him next."
Whew, really treading the line between -1 Troll and +5 Funny on this one.