It also helps that terrorism is all about terror -- and people are usually already scared shitless of flying. Toss in the possibility of being exploded to people's minds and you can make them tinkle their pants.
I wouldn't trust them with your laptop. I put my desktop in my checked-in luggage and Homeland Security ripped it apart. Tore my heatsink off, popped my gfx card out (without unscrewing it), and tried to pry open my case (there are 2 easily visible thumb-screws on the back). I wouldn't trust them with anything of value, including my life.
I am one of the people who likes to use the gravity gun whenever possible. Not only is it challenging, but it also gives a better show with the engine's ragdoll physics. I've just never tried with the soda cans (I know the glass bottles will not, making me assume the soda cans also do not... but that doesn't mean I won't try when I get off work).
You know, I just realized I never tried this -- can you kill enemies by launching soda cans at them with the gravity gun? I'd like to load that level with the gravity gun enabled just so I could show that bossy gaurd where to stick that can.
The first electric chair was AC... although this wasn't because DC is a kitty-cat -- Edison and Co wanted to push DC, so they decided to try and make Westinghouse's AC current look dangerous. They held public demonstrations where they electrocuted animals (including an elephant).
Also, I read somewhere on the internet that Edison got his kicks off hooking car batteries to his nipples.
Shadowrun was amazing. You could play the game however you wanted with so many aspects -- street tough fist-fighter, gunman, magic user, sneaky spy, charismatic talker... combine the endless customizability with the party system (3 characters in your party at a time), the story, and the great gameplay and you end up with an amazing game.
Take the piece of crap Microsoft is making and you have... a big, smelly, piece of crap.
Video game haters have been using that arguement for ages -- I remember when Columbine happened and they tried blaming Duke Nukem (I believe it was Duke Nukem, I could be mistaken). When people use that arguement, I like to have fun, "Oh yeah, I totally agree with you... like that Oblivion game -- it looks so realistic: ever since it came out, people have been so desensitized by its violence that they've been running around with swords trying to chop each other up and casting magic missile at the darkness!".
Exactly, if they make games I want to buy -- I will buy them! *gasp*
Everytime I see these idiots from industries complain "boo hoo, pirates hurt us", I want to smack them and tell them "maybe the reason your sales suck is because of your product -- supply and demand!". It happens with the music industry all the time -- some trashy no-talent "artist" will complain that piracy is bad because they haven't had a platinum record... get a clue *smack*!
My friend got FarCry when it came out and offered to burn it for me, I said "no thanks, that game looks good, I'll buy it". Doom3 came out, I watched my friend play it... it looked neat for about a minute and a half... then it became *yawn* boring. Quake4 was Doom3, just with different skins for the bad guys and different weapons. I actually had some hope earlier this summer that good games were coming -- Prey looked pretty good... but it ended up being crap (tried to substitute portal-gimmicks for gameplay, way too short, same graphics and non-interactive environment as Doom3, crapcrapCRAP!). I still have hope for good games in the future: STALKER: Shadow of Chernobyl, Crysis, and C&C 3 are on the horizon... let's hope they don't suck! [note: I don't just play FPS games, but they seem to have the games that are hyped up the most that fall the furthest from expectations]
"Nothing for you to see here." *gasp* They got to/.!!!
In all seriousness, this scares the bejesus out of me... and I don't even live in the UK. This would make Big Brother a whole lot bigger... do people really need the government "watching out for them" every step of their lives? And what's with the reverse-feedback? I could see some useful situations (i.e. a bar could see that a patron had a DUI and call him a cab), but overall it seems rather Orwellian.
How dare the state of Maine prosecute the federal government engaging in illegal activities! Let's hope the U.S. DOJ gets a proper smack-down in the courts... otherwise we're all fscked!
Nanobot terrorism would be extremely unlikely. The complex process of manufacturing nanobots is complex enough for corporations with billions in R&D funds, PhD scientists, and massive cleanrooms. There are also ways to stop nanobots (one such way would be pitting other nanobots against them and filming it -- providing hours of entertainment!). Much more effective means of applying terrorist resources (money, manpower, and facilities) would be to manufacture dirty bombs. Try not to fear the future too much, because everyone's gotta die sometime.
Which is exactly why I hope they sue Circuit City. Any logical person (apparently no one in the MPAA/RIAA is logical... or their just blinded by their own clout) can see that fair-use is GOOD, it means people can fairly use what they paid for. If they took this issue to court, the MPAA would get their ass handed to them, maybe then they would realize how wrong they are....or at the very least, it would cost them large amounts of cash in lawyer fees (particularly if CC filed a counter-suit against them for court costs).
I wholeheartedly HOPE Circuit City gets sued -- because I think they have a good chance of winning. It's about time big business stood up for fair-use rights... even if they're only doing it so they can make a quick buck. The end justifies the means in this case, because I don't see any other chance for fair use rights to be debated by 2 large businesses (CC vs. MPAA). The MPAA always picks on individuals and then sues them into the ground with its army of lawyers -- Circuit City has a pretty good band of lawyers, so it can defend itself and fair-use rights.
------------Now-----------
MS: "Have it Vista, hackers -- see if you can find any exploits"
BHs: *they go to it* "Nope, we don't have any security holes to report to you, it looks like Vista is impenetrable."
------------Vista is released-----------
MS: "What the heck? How can there be over twelve-thousand viruses for Vista on the day it's released?!"
BHs: "All your Vistas are belong to us! Thanks for your help Microsoft!"
It's not that we just want a lower price (everyone wants a lower price) -- we just want to get our moneys worth. Paying ~$20 for a CD is not worth it (and I REALLY enjoy music). You can buy a movie for $20... movies are longer, more content filled (more costly to make), and are on more expensive discs [DVDs > CDs]... so why the fudge are they the same price? Oh yeah, because the music industry is an oligopoly and they like to rip people off (artists [discounting mega-artists like Metallica etc.] do NOT make much money from CDs -- all of their money comes from merchandise: I'd much rather support an artist by buying a t-shirt from them [which only costs $10-15] than a CD where all of the money goes to the rich bastards that sit in boardrooms and say "how can we squeeze more money out of our artists' work today?".
The RIAA complains about music piracy hurting CD sales -- well maybe piracy is so rampant because the RIAA is using a broken business model (CDs are massively cheaper to make/distribute than tapes or vinyl, yet prices have only gone up).
And 5... 4... 3... 2... 1... *whistle and confetti!* congratulations Circuit City!!! You just got sued!
That is, unless Circuit City is giving a cut of the money to the MPAA. Thankfully Circuit City has deep pockets and good lawyers, it should be interesting to see the MPAA go up against them instead of picking on little kids.
Exactly -- there are many other things I'd rather spend my $20 bucks on than a cd that gives me ~45 minutes of music (and I don't even drink or use the services of hookers [not that a $20 hooker would be good anyways]!). A good $20-$60 video game can give you a good 10-40 hours of gameplay, that's much better cost-benefit time-wise... and it's more fun than a music CD because it's interactive! A CD salesman would have to catch me pretty early in the morning to get me to piddle my money away on a thin piece of plastic that has music from one my favorite artists (who see no money from CD sales).
Exactly. "OMG IT'S LIKE MY IPOD WHICH IS SO COOL (I have a whooping 58 songs on it - I definitely needed the 60 GB video version), I GOTTA HAVE IT EVEN THOUGH MY CURRENT PHONE WORKS FINE".
I doubt Apple would ever make an iPhone, it seems like an idiotic business decision -- phones are a whole different creature from mp3 players, if this was not FUD then we would have it backed up by "hey, Apple hired a bunch of *insert cell-phone manufacturer here* employees"... but if they did make one, I would have to take an oath to shove each and every iPhone I saw up the users iAnus.
I wish $5 CDs would happen. If the price of an album of music was 5 dollars, I would buy music again... as it is, I probably have about $20 to spend on "fun" per week (I'm a poor college student) -- current CD prices steer me clear of buying music (except from local bands) because I could only buy 1 per week and that would be my only source of fun. I can easily get the music from those CDs by clicking a button online that says "download torrent"... and that still leaves me with my $20 to spend on other sources of fun.
I justify all my purchases on how much happiness it will bring me and for how long versus its cost: with CDs being almost 20 bucks after tax, I cannot justify this -- I make $10 an hour (University Helpdesk, crappy pay) and most CDs have less than an hour of music -- so two hours of work to get less than an hour of pleasure... pleasure that is only so-so... it's hard to justify that. I already have a lot of music, does that new CD from "Stabby McStabStab" really mean that much to me?
If CDs were $5, I would easily be able to justify spending my money on them: "it's a half hour of work for 45 minutes of rockin' good tunes!" plus I wouldn't shy away from buying CDs due to "duds" -- so what if I bought one $5 CD that royally sucked; I also bought three really amazing ones.
Oh well, it's not as if the recording industry dinosaurs are smart. Hopefully they'll be extinct soon.
Slashdot Mirror
Why not? -- they're giving advice on Windows updates.
It also helps that terrorism is all about terror -- and people are usually already scared shitless of flying. Toss in the possibility of being exploded to people's minds and you can make them tinkle their pants.
I wouldn't trust them with your laptop. I put my desktop in my checked-in luggage and Homeland Security ripped it apart. Tore my heatsink off, popped my gfx card out (without unscrewing it), and tried to pry open my case (there are 2 easily visible thumb-screws on the back). I wouldn't trust them with anything of value, including my life.
I am one of the people who likes to use the gravity gun whenever possible. Not only is it challenging, but it also gives a better show with the engine's ragdoll physics. I've just never tried with the soda cans (I know the glass bottles will not, making me assume the soda cans also do not... but that doesn't mean I won't try when I get off work).
You know, I just realized I never tried this -- can you kill enemies by launching soda cans at them with the gravity gun? I'd like to load that level with the gravity gun enabled just so I could show that bossy gaurd where to stick that can.
The first electric chair was AC... although this wasn't because DC is a kitty-cat -- Edison and Co wanted to push DC, so they decided to try and make Westinghouse's AC current look dangerous. They held public demonstrations where they electrocuted animals (including an elephant).
Also, I read somewhere on the internet that Edison got his kicks off hooking car batteries to his nipples.
Shadowrun was amazing. You could play the game however you wanted with so many aspects -- street tough fist-fighter, gunman, magic user, sneaky spy, charismatic talker... combine the endless customizability with the party system (3 characters in your party at a time), the story, and the great gameplay and you end up with an amazing game.
Take the piece of crap Microsoft is making and you have... a big, smelly, piece of crap.
Video game haters have been using that arguement for ages -- I remember when Columbine happened and they tried blaming Duke Nukem (I believe it was Duke Nukem, I could be mistaken). When people use that arguement, I like to have fun, "Oh yeah, I totally agree with you... like that Oblivion game -- it looks so realistic: ever since it came out, people have been so desensitized by its violence that they've been running around with swords trying to chop each other up and casting magic missile at the darkness!".
Exactly, if they make games I want to buy -- I will buy them! *gasp*
Everytime I see these idiots from industries complain "boo hoo, pirates hurt us", I want to smack them and tell them "maybe the reason your sales suck is because of your product -- supply and demand!". It happens with the music industry all the time -- some trashy no-talent "artist" will complain that piracy is bad because they haven't had a platinum record... get a clue *smack*!
My friend got FarCry when it came out and offered to burn it for me, I said "no thanks, that game looks good, I'll buy it". Doom3 came out, I watched my friend play it... it looked neat for about a minute and a half... then it became *yawn* boring. Quake4 was Doom3, just with different skins for the bad guys and different weapons. I actually had some hope earlier this summer that good games were coming -- Prey looked pretty good... but it ended up being crap (tried to substitute portal-gimmicks for gameplay, way too short, same graphics and non-interactive environment as Doom3, crapcrapCRAP!). I still have hope for good games in the future: STALKER: Shadow of Chernobyl, Crysis, and C&C 3 are on the horizon... let's hope they don't suck! [note: I don't just play FPS games, but they seem to have the games that are hyped up the most that fall the furthest from expectations]
I believe you have my stapl... mp3's
"Nothing for you to see here." *gasp* They got to /.!!!
In all seriousness, this scares the bejesus out of me... and I don't even live in the UK. This would make Big Brother a whole lot bigger... do people really need the government "watching out for them" every step of their lives? And what's with the reverse-feedback? I could see some useful situations (i.e. a bar could see that a patron had a DUI and call him a cab), but overall it seems rather Orwellian.
My RIAA survival guide: 1. Go to the RIAA headquarters 2. Use fire... and lots of it 3. Sip drinks with those little umbrellas in them on a beach
We have the technology -- we can make him stronger, faster, better! ...now, if only there were some more seeders.
How dare the state of Maine prosecute the federal government engaging in illegal activities! Let's hope the U.S. DOJ gets a proper smack-down in the courts... otherwise we're all fscked!
Nanobot terrorism would be extremely unlikely. The complex process of manufacturing nanobots is complex enough for corporations with billions in R&D funds, PhD scientists, and massive cleanrooms. There are also ways to stop nanobots (one such way would be pitting other nanobots against them and filming it -- providing hours of entertainment!). Much more effective means of applying terrorist resources (money, manpower, and facilities) would be to manufacture dirty bombs. Try not to fear the future too much, because everyone's gotta die sometime.
Which is exactly why I hope they sue Circuit City. Any logical person (apparently no one in the MPAA/RIAA is logical... or their just blinded by their own clout) can see that fair-use is GOOD, it means people can fairly use what they paid for. If they took this issue to court, the MPAA would get their ass handed to them, maybe then they would realize how wrong they are. ...or at the very least, it would cost them large amounts of cash in lawyer fees (particularly if CC filed a counter-suit against them for court costs).
I wholeheartedly HOPE Circuit City gets sued -- because I think they have a good chance of winning. It's about time big business stood up for fair-use rights... even if they're only doing it so they can make a quick buck. The end justifies the means in this case, because I don't see any other chance for fair use rights to be debated by 2 large businesses (CC vs. MPAA). The MPAA always picks on individuals and then sues them into the ground with its army of lawyers -- Circuit City has a pretty good band of lawyers, so it can defend itself and fair-use rights.
It's not fair use according to the MPAA
------------Now-----------
MS: "Have it Vista, hackers -- see if you can find any exploits"
BHs: *they go to it* "Nope, we don't have any security holes to report to you, it looks like Vista is impenetrable."
------------Vista is released-----------
MS: "What the heck? How can there be over twelve-thousand viruses for Vista on the day it's released?!"
BHs: "All your Vistas are belong to us! Thanks for your help Microsoft!"
It's not that we just want a lower price (everyone wants a lower price) -- we just want to get our moneys worth. Paying ~$20 for a CD is not worth it (and I REALLY enjoy music). You can buy a movie for $20... movies are longer, more content filled (more costly to make), and are on more expensive discs [DVDs > CDs]... so why the fudge are they the same price? Oh yeah, because the music industry is an oligopoly and they like to rip people off (artists [discounting mega-artists like Metallica etc.] do NOT make much money from CDs -- all of their money comes from merchandise: I'd much rather support an artist by buying a t-shirt from them [which only costs $10-15] than a CD where all of the money goes to the rich bastards that sit in boardrooms and say "how can we squeeze more money out of our artists' work today?".
The RIAA complains about music piracy hurting CD sales -- well maybe piracy is so rampant because the RIAA is using a broken business model (CDs are massively cheaper to make/distribute than tapes or vinyl, yet prices have only gone up).
And 5... 4... 3... 2... 1... *whistle and confetti!* congratulations Circuit City!!! You just got sued!
That is, unless Circuit City is giving a cut of the money to the MPAA. Thankfully Circuit City has deep pockets and good lawyers, it should be interesting to see the MPAA go up against them instead of picking on little kids.
Exactly -- there are many other things I'd rather spend my $20 bucks on than a cd that gives me ~45 minutes of music (and I don't even drink or use the services of hookers [not that a $20 hooker would be good anyways]!). A good $20-$60 video game can give you a good 10-40 hours of gameplay, that's much better cost-benefit time-wise... and it's more fun than a music CD because it's interactive! A CD salesman would have to catch me pretty early in the morning to get me to piddle my money away on a thin piece of plastic that has music from one my favorite artists (who see no money from CD sales).
Exactly. "OMG IT'S LIKE MY IPOD WHICH IS SO COOL (I have a whooping 58 songs on it - I definitely needed the 60 GB video version), I GOTTA HAVE IT EVEN THOUGH MY CURRENT PHONE WORKS FINE".
I doubt Apple would ever make an iPhone, it seems like an idiotic business decision -- phones are a whole different creature from mp3 players, if this was not FUD then we would have it backed up by "hey, Apple hired a bunch of *insert cell-phone manufacturer here* employees"... but if they did make one, I would have to take an oath to shove each and every iPhone I saw up the users iAnus.
I wish $5 CDs would happen. If the price of an album of music was 5 dollars, I would buy music again... as it is, I probably have about $20 to spend on "fun" per week (I'm a poor college student) -- current CD prices steer me clear of buying music (except from local bands) because I could only buy 1 per week and that would be my only source of fun. I can easily get the music from those CDs by clicking a button online that says "download torrent"... and that still leaves me with my $20 to spend on other sources of fun.
I justify all my purchases on how much happiness it will bring me and for how long versus its cost: with CDs being almost 20 bucks after tax, I cannot justify this -- I make $10 an hour (University Helpdesk, crappy pay) and most CDs have less than an hour of music -- so two hours of work to get less than an hour of pleasure... pleasure that is only so-so... it's hard to justify that. I already have a lot of music, does that new CD from "Stabby McStabStab" really mean that much to me?
If CDs were $5, I would easily be able to justify spending my money on them: "it's a half hour of work for 45 minutes of rockin' good tunes!" plus I wouldn't shy away from buying CDs due to "duds" -- so what if I bought one $5 CD that royally sucked; I also bought three really amazing ones.
Oh well, it's not as if the recording industry dinosaurs are smart. Hopefully they'll be extinct soon.
Show me a $400 xbox that can type papers, do database work, burn DVD's, surf the internet, etc...