As second of five, I have the brains in the family too, although my older brother is not far behind IMHO. The interesting thing is that the next three are all girls. Even more interesting is that before the "oldest" (my bro) there was a little girl that died shortly after birth, and a miscarriage.
I don't distinctly remember which one it was, but I remember reading it.
Apparently a judge (most likely federal) told them that they *must* sue individuals and not large groups of people, unless those people were all involved in the alleged lawbreaking as a whole unit (ie. conspiracy) or a single occurance. Basically the judge told them they couldn't do this just because it was convenient for them. What it amounts to is that a single case with 21 "John Doe" persons = 1 filing fee (read; less money). But since each person's alleged infringement has no relation to the other's, they are *supposed* to file 21 separate cases (read: significantly more money).
Also, by doing it this way, it costs more money for the court to send out the proper notices to the participants. Money that they aren't getting from the RIAA. *Money that we pay in our taxes.*
Also, about protection against rifle rounds.
Yes, it is possible to defeat those threats. But it cannot currently be done with this type of ballistic armor. That is why you see SWAT teams and the military in "tactical" armor. These are both kevlar-type materials, as well as ceramic and metal plates. They know they are going into a highly dangerous situation and are prepared for the worst. Departments don't want their "street" officers in tactical gear though, it would be too intimidating to the populace. That is where the concealable armor comes into play.
Since I work for a large company that sells body armor, I have to know about this sort of thing to help our customers. In essence, no body armor is "bulletproof". That is why if you look at any reputable manufacturer or distributor's catalog, they will list it as "ballistic armor". While it is designed, tested, and certified to defeat a large selection of threats, there can be no guarantee that it will always stop everything. As others have noted, the type of body armor that uses these materials is designed to be concealable beneath an officer's uniform. As a result, the highest threat that it can be expected to protect against are from handguns. Rifle rounds will go right through them. Also, as a side note, ballistic armor will NOT protect against a knife, you would have to specifically purchase stab armor, which is designed differently. Combination ballistic & stab armor is very expensive, although it exists.
As far as Zylon is concerned, there is no vest currently being manufactured or sold with Zylon as a component. Recently I found a couple of old vests that had been stashed away and forgotten about. Since we could not sell them (one was at about 4.5 years old, and the other was Zylon), I talked my way into getting them for free. A few days later some friends (including a police officer) and myself went out to a farm and had a fun day shooting skeet. We also shot the vests. The first was your typical Kevlar construction, and it stopped everything from.22 caliber to a.45 magnum. It would not have passed certification because of the back-face on the higher calibers (look up the NIJ's testing standards), but it still worked. The Zylon vest didn't even stop a 9mm. Interesting, no?
Sorry, I couldn't help you with that question. I've never set foot inside a public school except to vote. With the exceptions of 3rd, 4th, 9th, and 10th grades, I was home-schooled by my parents, mostly my stay-at-home mom. Those other four grades were private schools.
(That does really annoy me when I have to fund everyone else's poor education by my tax dollars, but that's something else entirely beside the point.)
But it's not that home-schooling is for everyone either. It really takes dedication on the part of whoever is going to do the tutoring. Not to mention that the student needs to be able to focus and learn much on his/her own.
Oh, and concerns about socials skills are over-rated. Not only do you get to avoid all the really messed-up things that happen in public schools (granted, I've only *heard* about them, never experienced), but any well-balanced kid is going to make friends regardless.
I still use Windows98SE. It's on my 6-year old Gateway 600mhz Athlon tower. I used it today to do some work in Blender. Feel free to check it out at http://netlate.com/ and see what I've done. Why do I use 98 still? Because my nice, expensive XP-running 64-bit Athlon laptop is inoperative at the moment. There's nothing wrong with an older operating system if it fills the needs. I used to keep that same tower on the network at my parent's house as a print server and web-browsing machine. It doesn't need anything stronger than 98. I *have* comtemplated installing Linux on it to see what all the fuss is about, but honestly, I could care less.
Maybe that affects my geek-cred or something. Maybe I'm not all big and bad and a 1337 h4x0r like the rest of you. Maybe I'm just some nerd wannabe that can't code (true) and wonders what the heck everyone means when they argue about "vi" and "emacs" (again, true). Then again, maybe I'm a normal person who just isn't interested in applying the perceived effort required to install, learn, and operate a new OS that provides no benefits to me over my existing options.
It's called convenience. The majority of people go for the easy route. Me too.
While the crate (in particular the original, immobile variety) is an important gameplay innovation, the most important aspect of traditional gameplay is, in fact, exploding barrels.
Where would be be without the massive explosions inherent in games of yore? Yes, exploding objects (not just barrels) are FTW!
Slashdot Mirror
It's not like we pay them for our internet access or anything.
Oh wait, we do... crap.
Ahh, interesting.
As second of five, I have the brains in the family too, although my older brother is not far behind IMHO.
The interesting thing is that the next three are all girls. Even more interesting is that before the "oldest" (my bro) there was a little girl that died shortly after birth, and a miscarriage.
So what does THAT say about this?
I don't distinctly remember which one it was, but I remember reading it.
Apparently a judge (most likely federal) told them that they *must* sue individuals and not large groups of people, unless those people were all involved in the alleged lawbreaking as a whole unit (ie. conspiracy) or a single occurance. Basically the judge told them they couldn't do this just because it was convenient for them. What it amounts to is that a single case with 21 "John Doe" persons = 1 filing fee (read; less money). But since each person's alleged infringement has no relation to the other's, they are *supposed* to file 21 separate cases (read: significantly more money).
Also, by doing it this way, it costs more money for the court to send out the proper notices to the participants. Money that they aren't getting from the RIAA.
*Money that we pay in our taxes.*
Also, about protection against rifle rounds. Yes, it is possible to defeat those threats. But it cannot currently be done with this type of ballistic armor. That is why you see SWAT teams and the military in "tactical" armor. These are both kevlar-type materials, as well as ceramic and metal plates. They know they are going into a highly dangerous situation and are prepared for the worst. Departments don't want their "street" officers in tactical gear though, it would be too intimidating to the populace. That is where the concealable armor comes into play.
Since I work for a large company that sells body armor, I have to know about this sort of thing to help our customers. In essence, no body armor is "bulletproof". That is why if you look at any reputable manufacturer or distributor's catalog, they will list it as "ballistic armor". While it is designed, tested, and certified to defeat a large selection of threats, there can be no guarantee that it will always stop everything. As others have noted, the type of body armor that uses these materials is designed to be concealable beneath an officer's uniform. As a result, the highest threat that it can be expected to protect against are from handguns. Rifle rounds will go right through them. Also, as a side note, ballistic armor will NOT protect against a knife, you would have to specifically purchase stab armor, which is designed differently. Combination ballistic & stab armor is very expensive, although it exists. As far as Zylon is concerned, there is no vest currently being manufactured or sold with Zylon as a component. Recently I found a couple of old vests that had been stashed away and forgotten about. Since we could not sell them (one was at about 4.5 years old, and the other was Zylon), I talked my way into getting them for free. A few days later some friends (including a police officer) and myself went out to a farm and had a fun day shooting skeet. We also shot the vests. The first was your typical Kevlar construction, and it stopped everything from .22 caliber to a .45 magnum. It would not have passed certification because of the back-face on the higher calibers (look up the NIJ's testing standards), but it still worked. The Zylon vest didn't even stop a 9mm. Interesting, no?
http://www.googlefight.com/index.php?lang=en_GB&wo rd1=09+F9+11+02+9D+74+E3+5B+D8+41+56+C5+63+56+88+C 0&word2=31337
I guess it still isn't THAT popular...
Sorry, I couldn't help you with that question. I've never set foot inside a public school except to vote. With the exceptions of 3rd, 4th, 9th, and 10th grades, I was home-schooled by my parents, mostly my stay-at-home mom. Those other four grades were private schools. (That does really annoy me when I have to fund everyone else's poor education by my tax dollars, but that's something else entirely beside the point.) But it's not that home-schooling is for everyone either. It really takes dedication on the part of whoever is going to do the tutoring. Not to mention that the student needs to be able to focus and learn much on his/her own. Oh, and concerns about socials skills are over-rated. Not only do you get to avoid all the really messed-up things that happen in public schools (granted, I've only *heard* about them, never experienced), but any well-balanced kid is going to make friends regardless.
I still use Windows98SE. It's on my 6-year old Gateway 600mhz Athlon tower. I used it today to do some work in Blender. Feel free to check it out at http://netlate.com/ and see what I've done. Why do I use 98 still? Because my nice, expensive XP-running 64-bit Athlon laptop is inoperative at the moment. There's nothing wrong with an older operating system if it fills the needs. I used to keep that same tower on the network at my parent's house as a print server and web-browsing machine. It doesn't need anything stronger than 98. I *have* comtemplated installing Linux on it to see what all the fuss is about, but honestly, I could care less. Maybe that affects my geek-cred or something. Maybe I'm not all big and bad and a 1337 h4x0r like the rest of you. Maybe I'm just some nerd wannabe that can't code (true) and wonders what the heck everyone means when they argue about "vi" and "emacs" (again, true). Then again, maybe I'm a normal person who just isn't interested in applying the perceived effort required to install, learn, and operate a new OS that provides no benefits to me over my existing options. It's called convenience. The majority of people go for the easy route. Me too.
If the past few years hasn't been a strong indicator, the Penny-Arcade Expo is now officially the only real place to be. Well, count me in!
In other news, commercial printing companies fear running out of purple ink as marketing companies plan a slew of "Epic" promotional items.
While the crate (in particular the original, immobile variety) is an important gameplay innovation, the most important aspect of traditional gameplay is, in fact, exploding barrels. Where would be be without the massive explosions inherent in games of yore? Yes, exploding objects (not just barrels) are FTW!