Religion is based on faith, science is not. If you think they are compatible you are ignorant.
I think you're the one that is mistaken actually. Science does not say if there is or is not a god or gods. Science doesn't care. Only people care. Science is just a thought process that is pretty damned helpful for learning about our universe and everything in it.
In fact I'd say your theory on the belief in God on faith and the reasoning on how the universe works based on science not being compatible is easily debunked. Thousands if not millions of people use both simultaneously. Sure, they believe God created man "in his own image". Whatever that means. But who are they to say that means they were literally baked from clay? Who's to say that God didn't give the spark of life and let it evolve and change and grow. Depending which contradiction you follow, either God guided the evolution or he (for the Free Will proponents) let it evolve on its own accord.
Don't let your bias against the Dark Ages (or for the Dark Ages in the case of all those Fundamentalists) blind you. Enjoy your vendetta against organized religion but don't pretend that science can replace religion. They serve different purposes. The real issue is explaining to people what science actually is. You yourself seem to be confused.
By the way, for all intensive purposes I'm an atheist who leans towards the agnostic. While nothing is as amusing as an atheist who knows his subject (I know a gal who major'd in religious studies and wooee those are fun shows when someone tries to argue with her) I tend to find this, well, blind fanaticism that all points brought up by religion is by default wrong kind of annoying. Particularly on a harmless subject such as saying religion doesn't have to hate science. I mean, you aren't helping anything.
And it looks like we got a liar on our hands. Aside from the obvious issue, that of Steam being for-profit and banning a consumer isn't good for business, their ban policy is very publicly stated here.
The only way you can get banned is if VAC gets you banned. If you get VAC banned you can't transfer CD-Keys to another account (which contrary to popular antagonist opinion you actually can do normally) and can't play on VAC secured servers. You can still play online on a non-VAC server, you can still play single player.
Just make sure you aren't playing on a PC that has an aimbot/wallhack or any other kind of cheat that the VAC system (which is fully automated by the way) can actually detect. So be sure your friends who may have access to your account or you may have used their computer to play don't have any hacks either.
Oh, and you can check your VAC status at any time to see if you are in good standing or not. If you see a message like "STEAMID IS BANNED" then you got *SERVER* banned which means you need to talk to the server admin, not Valve/Steam. If you are in "good standing" and banned from several servers, something like Punkbuster got you.
Point is, VAC bans do not happen at random. And they take a while to process because they want to be sure before they ban you. Never mind you can still buy video games when VAC banned and can still play the games as long as they aren't on a VAC server (so you could play say Dawn of War 2 without issue if you got banned for using an aimbot on CounterStrike).
Anyone saying otherwise is full of shit.
Your argument is vastly flawed. This is not the same as Microsoft and IE by any measure (which is NOT as big an issue as you seem to believe BTW). Really, Valve does have some competition thanks to Microsoft's Live! (Xbox/PC games) but you are missing the biggest reasoning to why you WANT only one or two companies handling all of that:
Games are social.
Steam is not just a game distribution system, and does not just have a DRM element to appease some publishers. It is also a giant social network tied in to your games so you can easily join friends, talk to friends in game, form clans/guilds/groups and gain achievements. Its like combining MySpace/Facebook with Xfire without having to have anything additional installed.
And just like with MySpace/Facebook the value is with the number of participants. Now you don't have to join the Steam Community, but the community is large and that's why it will stay large. "Everyone" is on it already so you can already talk to "everyone". This Is A Good Thing. Otherwise the service would be useless.
What you were comparing it to was a company actively trying to inhibit consumers from doing what they want and to use questionable ethics in dealings with competitors and OEMs in order to foist their product on everyone. Steam does not make any of the games there (parent company Valve does make some but not all) and they actively try to *enable* the consumer.
Right now there is really only two things to complain about, and one you'll complain about if Steam was gone: 1) You have to briefly connect to the internet when installing the game (YOU DO NOT HAVE TO ONCE ITS BEEN INSTALLED; They have long since fixed "offline mode") and 2) Its Windows only (this is the bit you'd complain about anyways thanks to DirectX). The pricing is again NOT determined by them alone. Steam also actively enables the DEVELOPER who gets more say in setting the price than they would through someone like Vivindi.
Oh and this statement: "It's probably also worth noting that Gamestop refused to sell Dawn of War 2 in the end for exactly the reason that it forced Steam, a competing distribution channel, on it's customers." is bullshit. Go here: http://www.gamestop.com/Catalog/ProductDetails.aspx?sku=647337 and look you can buy the damn thing. There were rumors GameStop was being pissy, but you can't blame Valve/Steam if Relic decided to use their DRM solution rather than something else. God forbid anyone make anything good, they'll get a monopoly and we'll all be doomed.
DOW2 has a lot of issues. The only ones I've had seem to be related to the NVIDIA drivers (of which there have been 2 update in a rather short period and most of the issues have gone away for me after the 2nd one). I've yet to hear of any DRM or Steam related issues. All the issues have been graphic driver or memory related.
But they aren't always the SAME game. Stuff gets changed all the time, particularlly with the mature games, so it can be sold in Europe or Australia. Take Left4Dead: The logo had to be changed because a *zombie* hand missing part of a *thumb* was too "graphic" to be used on the cover. Other games have actually had the *content* changed. Nintendo has a big history of doing this, and talk to any Aussie gamer to find out how it affects them.
Also, Valve/Steam do not set the prices except for Valve games. The developer has a lot of say as to how much they want to sell the stuff for. For all those great sales and package deals, Steam is either told to do it or has to ask. Luckily Valve has the numbers to show the unusually high spikes of sales when they do these to make them happen.
Also, comparing Valve to a nanny government is a little unrealistic. Sure, Lombardi worked at Microsoft a long time ago. He left to make video games for a reason. Valve is good people you might say. I know people go all nuts over Google being a "good company" but Valve is one of the few I actually don't think are asshats. Anyone who can make a great game like Half Life, and then actually take their sweet time to work on the sequel (and still make it happen) without milking the series entirely is okay in my book. This is why I still buy their games.
Don't like them? Don't use them. But when they say that should the Steam servers go down the games will get unlocked, and when they actively try to fight against 99% of DRM and talk companies out of using it (and make a DRM system that actually has never gotten in my way, even when I don't have a 'Net connection) I tend to lean towards believing them when they say they'll kill the DRM if their servers are shutting down. It would be in character.
First post WAS Godwin-ed. Rightfully so judging by the way they're acting. Governments in general suck because the people that want that kind of power and authority are not the kind of people you want with that kind of power and authority. But since they're the only ones going for it . . .
Okay, I'm no pacifist by any means. But that's a fucking retarded idea. There are other ways to fight, that won't allow them to justify declaring you a terrorist. Remember, *most* police officers in *most* countries are largely innocent. They might be naive or even cowardly, but they aren't exactly evil.
Don't let a few bad apples ruin the rest. Though I've noticed over the years the number of "bad apples" has been growing. The point is this: let them draw first blood. Don't give them an excuse. You need to make it abundantly clear who is the bad guy, and blowing up a SWAT team doesn't do anything to help. It's the reaction of a child. Grow up.
No. Halo is really not a "damned excellent game". The story nor the gameplay compares to other games. Course I could be biased as I tend to think Half Life and System Shock are two of the bestests games ever. Halo was marketed to your stereotypical frat boy rather than 'hardcore' gamers. Really, its one of the big reasons gaming has taken off (expanded the player base) but it is a very, very mediocre game and this is coming from someone who had an okay time playing BREED for crying out loud.
Jury duty is part of the price for having a free society (theory). It's about being an adult and taking responsibility for trying to live in the kind of society the US is (or was depending how cynical you are) trying to be. Sure, the reality is it sucks and feels like a huge waste of time but if your only motivator for doing something you don't want is money then chances are you're A) bad with relationships and B) going to lose some rights you'd really rather not.
I find myself saying this more and more, there are two things people in general need to do: Lighten up and grow up.
You must never travel *anywhere* then, possibly not even within your own state. Understanding someone with a thick accent is just something all adults need to learn to deal with. Nevermind that most of the time they speak better English than your neighbor, though they may have a hard time understanding you as its A) not their primary language and B) you probably don't enunciate clearly either.
I spend about half of every day speaking with technical support departments, some based in the US, some in Poland, other in the Philippines, and yes a bunch in India. I've almost never had issues speaking with the person on the other line, or understanding what they are saying. Sure, they have accents but at least they don't mumble like I tend to.
Other way around. The Gov has to justify hiding information from people. The excuses he gives are moot since someone can just get the address and drive there anyways.
Basically, I can't get a onboard TV-tuner on my PC so I can't just buy a large monitor and have it double as a TV. I don't actually have any more USB slots available due to other USB devices being connected and I'd really rather not get a USB hub on top of all the other junk I have taking up space on my desk attached to my computer, especially for one more device.
A long enough cable to be outputting from my PC to a TV is more expensive than 50 bucks and that means my computer *always* has to be in the same room as my TV. Since I'm planning on moving inside of 6-8 months (or at least packing for moving) that may or may not be acceptable.
So using the XBOX is a good solution for me. I have a home server for files anyways as I didn't want a bunch of music and movies on my WD 'raptors which have limited space, so I can throw Windows Home Server on it and use my XBOX to play stuff to my entertainment center.
I'm choosing Windows Home Server + XBOX over an open source solution mainly to save on space. I have an XBOX already so why build yet another box to do something that I can do if I just put WHS on the file server currently running linux. Plus since I have Vista Ultimate for DX10 for Crysis/UT3 (how I wish there were more games that ran well with DX10...) WHS is an added advantage as I can manage backups and stuff from the server. Or watch/listen to stuff from my PC if I'm working at the same time.
I actually think it was only second to AoC for the dodgiest game releases of late. It looked terrible and played like old people fuck - jittery and awkward.
That sounds like your computer. The game looks great to me. A lot of detail on the player models and they kept the tabletop's style. Gameplay was smooth except in huge RvR fights, which they fixed within weeks of release.
If I A) had more time and B) all my friends hadn't stopped playing due to school (only two went back to WoW and only because they don't have to pay for it) and work eating up large portions of their time I'd probably still be playing it. Like any other MMO, its no fun alone. On the bright side, your Guild only needs to be half a dozen people if you play at the same times.
I'll never stop griping about how all these people from other MMOs have to have huge guilds with hundreds of people when the whole point to the game is to let you have a whole bunch of small-mid size guilds and form alliances. I mean, its not like you can do a full guild RvR fight unless its open field.
Sad but true. The pain that is WiFi on Linux is a bigger hurdle than the games IMO. I'd take Linux on my laptop if I could do so without extensive work to get the WiFi working. And the laptops with Linux that the WiFi works on don't meet my needs.
Okay, no. Heinlein is a great author (at least in my opinion) but he did not come up with powered armor for soldiers first. That officially belongs to E.E. Smith's Lensman series. That's right, over a decade before Starship Troopers.
If you like space operas and haven't read Lensman get yourself a copy. You won't regret it.
That really can't be put more fairly, and is true more so now than in the past. The Xbox360, PS3, and Wii all have their high points and low points. For the Xbox, it seems to be getting "all" the games (and woo i get to use it as a bridge from my PC to my TV without buying a TV tuner card that wouldn't fit on my already fully loaded motherboard), the Wii gets a lot of "just plain fun" games that are also great with groups of people, and the PS3 gets some pretty games and is the only bluray player worth buying if Sony hasn't stopped changing the format already. And all of them get Rock Band / Guitar Hero which are a pretty solid money making fad (and unusually fun for a rhythm game).
There's something for everyone. The pissing contest is kind of moot.
I will have you know that facial hair does NOT equate gender. This is why so-called "neck beards" do not make you a man and why you can have "Bearded Ladies".
Gender is defined based on chromosomes and I think on a species to species basis.
You seem very confused. *De*regulation did more damage than the regulation, but as has already been said more eloquently than I could it wasn't really either that was the issue. It was the bank institutions using flawed risk assessment methods in an attempt to make more money for themselves that has lead to this.
You are missing the point. With a business model like Netflix's where you do NOT actually own the content, you are only renting it from Netflix, it makes PERFECT sense to have a DRM scheme (so long as it doesn't actually hinder people from viewing what they actually are paying to rent). Just like you should not be allowed to burn copies of movies you rent from blockbuster/hollywood video you shouldn't be able to record or copy the movies you rent from netflix.
It is when they do silly things like put DRM on video games you OWN, or music you OWN, and so forth that DRM becomes unacceptable.
Oh, and given each country has separate laws people need to stop bitching how Hulu doesn't work outside the US. There is no global copyright system. Stuff gets registered multiple times in different countries and the folks at Hulu don't want to pay several hundred times for you to be able to watch Robot Holocaust once.
As has been beaten into the ground (and Ubuntu is striving to change), Linux is hard. Stupid people won't bother with it particularly when their computer already has an OS when they get it. Your bias is showing if the old and tired mantra of "windows is more prevalent" didn't answer that for you right away.
In The Real World people have to use Windows. Thankfully this is changing (albeit very slowly) but we're still stuck in the days where Windows is dominant. So it is no surprise that the government will be using Windows for a while to come. Especially considering legacy programs and hardware that Linux either can't run or can't support. Running it in a VM also isn't always A) successful or B) plausible so as I said, they're in a rut currently.
As for the insecurities of Windows, again please note that probably greater than 90% of these data breaches are the result of *human error* or *negligence* and not the systems themselves. From a security standpoint and even an organizational standpoint I'd prefer *NIX over Windows myself, but typically Windows is "good enough".
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I think you are confused on the meaning of the word paranoid.
Religion is based on faith, science is not. If you think they are compatible you are ignorant.
I think you're the one that is mistaken actually. Science does not say if there is or is not a god or gods. Science doesn't care. Only people care. Science is just a thought process that is pretty damned helpful for learning about our universe and everything in it.
In fact I'd say your theory on the belief in God on faith and the reasoning on how the universe works based on science not being compatible is easily debunked. Thousands if not millions of people use both simultaneously. Sure, they believe God created man "in his own image". Whatever that means. But who are they to say that means they were literally baked from clay? Who's to say that God didn't give the spark of life and let it evolve and change and grow. Depending which contradiction you follow, either God guided the evolution or he (for the Free Will proponents) let it evolve on its own accord.
Don't let your bias against the Dark Ages (or for the Dark Ages in the case of all those Fundamentalists) blind you. Enjoy your vendetta against organized religion but don't pretend that science can replace religion. They serve different purposes. The real issue is explaining to people what science actually is. You yourself seem to be confused.
By the way, for all intensive purposes I'm an atheist who leans towards the agnostic. While nothing is as amusing as an atheist who knows his subject (I know a gal who major'd in religious studies and wooee those are fun shows when someone tries to argue with her) I tend to find this, well, blind fanaticism that all points brought up by religion is by default wrong kind of annoying. Particularly on a harmless subject such as saying religion doesn't have to hate science. I mean, you aren't helping anything.
And it looks like we got a liar on our hands. Aside from the obvious issue, that of Steam being for-profit and banning a consumer isn't good for business, their ban policy is very publicly stated here. The only way you can get banned is if VAC gets you banned. If you get VAC banned you can't transfer CD-Keys to another account (which contrary to popular antagonist opinion you actually can do normally) and can't play on VAC secured servers. You can still play online on a non-VAC server, you can still play single player. Just make sure you aren't playing on a PC that has an aimbot/wallhack or any other kind of cheat that the VAC system (which is fully automated by the way) can actually detect. So be sure your friends who may have access to your account or you may have used their computer to play don't have any hacks either. Oh, and you can check your VAC status at any time to see if you are in good standing or not. If you see a message like "STEAMID IS BANNED" then you got *SERVER* banned which means you need to talk to the server admin, not Valve/Steam. If you are in "good standing" and banned from several servers, something like Punkbuster got you. Point is, VAC bans do not happen at random. And they take a while to process because they want to be sure before they ban you. Never mind you can still buy video games when VAC banned and can still play the games as long as they aren't on a VAC server (so you could play say Dawn of War 2 without issue if you got banned for using an aimbot on CounterStrike). Anyone saying otherwise is full of shit.
Wow. Tell us how you really feel.
Your argument is vastly flawed. This is not the same as Microsoft and IE by any measure (which is NOT as big an issue as you seem to believe BTW). Really, Valve does have some competition thanks to Microsoft's Live! (Xbox/PC games) but you are missing the biggest reasoning to why you WANT only one or two companies handling all of that:
Games are social.
Steam is not just a game distribution system, and does not just have a DRM element to appease some publishers. It is also a giant social network tied in to your games so you can easily join friends, talk to friends in game, form clans/guilds/groups and gain achievements. Its like combining MySpace/Facebook with Xfire without having to have anything additional installed.
And just like with MySpace/Facebook the value is with the number of participants. Now you don't have to join the Steam Community, but the community is large and that's why it will stay large. "Everyone" is on it already so you can already talk to "everyone". This Is A Good Thing. Otherwise the service would be useless.
What you were comparing it to was a company actively trying to inhibit consumers from doing what they want and to use questionable ethics in dealings with competitors and OEMs in order to foist their product on everyone. Steam does not make any of the games there (parent company Valve does make some but not all) and they actively try to *enable* the consumer.
Right now there is really only two things to complain about, and one you'll complain about if Steam was gone: 1) You have to briefly connect to the internet when installing the game (YOU DO NOT HAVE TO ONCE ITS BEEN INSTALLED; They have long since fixed "offline mode") and 2) Its Windows only (this is the bit you'd complain about anyways thanks to DirectX). The pricing is again NOT determined by them alone. Steam also actively enables the DEVELOPER who gets more say in setting the price than they would through someone like Vivindi.
Oh and this statement: "It's probably also worth noting that Gamestop refused to sell Dawn of War 2 in the end for exactly the reason that it forced Steam, a competing distribution channel, on it's customers." is bullshit. Go here: http://www.gamestop.com/Catalog/ProductDetails.aspx?sku=647337 and look you can buy the damn thing. There were rumors GameStop was being pissy, but you can't blame Valve/Steam if Relic decided to use their DRM solution rather than something else. God forbid anyone make anything good, they'll get a monopoly and we'll all be doomed.
DOW2 has a lot of issues. The only ones I've had seem to be related to the NVIDIA drivers (of which there have been 2 update in a rather short period and most of the issues have gone away for me after the 2nd one). I've yet to hear of any DRM or Steam related issues. All the issues have been graphic driver or memory related.
But they aren't always the SAME game. Stuff gets changed all the time, particularlly with the mature games, so it can be sold in Europe or Australia. Take Left4Dead: The logo had to be changed because a *zombie* hand missing part of a *thumb* was too "graphic" to be used on the cover. Other games have actually had the *content* changed. Nintendo has a big history of doing this, and talk to any Aussie gamer to find out how it affects them.
Also, Valve/Steam do not set the prices except for Valve games. The developer has a lot of say as to how much they want to sell the stuff for. For all those great sales and package deals, Steam is either told to do it or has to ask. Luckily Valve has the numbers to show the unusually high spikes of sales when they do these to make them happen.
Also, comparing Valve to a nanny government is a little unrealistic. Sure, Lombardi worked at Microsoft a long time ago. He left to make video games for a reason. Valve is good people you might say. I know people go all nuts over Google being a "good company" but Valve is one of the few I actually don't think are asshats. Anyone who can make a great game like Half Life, and then actually take their sweet time to work on the sequel (and still make it happen) without milking the series entirely is okay in my book. This is why I still buy their games.
Don't like them? Don't use them. But when they say that should the Steam servers go down the games will get unlocked, and when they actively try to fight against 99% of DRM and talk companies out of using it (and make a DRM system that actually has never gotten in my way, even when I don't have a 'Net connection) I tend to lean towards believing them when they say they'll kill the DRM if their servers are shutting down. It would be in character.
First post WAS Godwin-ed. Rightfully so judging by the way they're acting. Governments in general suck because the people that want that kind of power and authority are not the kind of people you want with that kind of power and authority. But since they're the only ones going for it . . .
Okay, I'm no pacifist by any means. But that's a fucking retarded idea. There are other ways to fight, that won't allow them to justify declaring you a terrorist. Remember, *most* police officers in *most* countries are largely innocent. They might be naive or even cowardly, but they aren't exactly evil.
Don't let a few bad apples ruin the rest. Though I've noticed over the years the number of "bad apples" has been growing. The point is this: let them draw first blood. Don't give them an excuse. You need to make it abundantly clear who is the bad guy, and blowing up a SWAT team doesn't do anything to help. It's the reaction of a child. Grow up.
Completely off topic but very insightful. Thank you.
No. Halo is really not a "damned excellent game". The story nor the gameplay compares to other games. Course I could be biased as I tend to think Half Life and System Shock are two of the bestests games ever. Halo was marketed to your stereotypical frat boy rather than 'hardcore' gamers. Really, its one of the big reasons gaming has taken off (expanded the player base) but it is a very, very mediocre game and this is coming from someone who had an okay time playing BREED for crying out loud.
Jury duty is part of the price for having a free society (theory). It's about being an adult and taking responsibility for trying to live in the kind of society the US is (or was depending how cynical you are) trying to be. Sure, the reality is it sucks and feels like a huge waste of time but if your only motivator for doing something you don't want is money then chances are you're A) bad with relationships and B) going to lose some rights you'd really rather not.
I find myself saying this more and more, there are two things people in general need to do: Lighten up and grow up.
You must never travel *anywhere* then, possibly not even within your own state. Understanding someone with a thick accent is just something all adults need to learn to deal with. Nevermind that most of the time they speak better English than your neighbor, though they may have a hard time understanding you as its A) not their primary language and B) you probably don't enunciate clearly either.
I spend about half of every day speaking with technical support departments, some based in the US, some in Poland, other in the Philippines, and yes a bunch in India. I've almost never had issues speaking with the person on the other line, or understanding what they are saying. Sure, they have accents but at least they don't mumble like I tend to.
They are a printer vendor.
Oh come now... I prefer Windows over Linux usually myself but this was funny. Silly humorless moderators...
Other way around. The Gov has to justify hiding information from people. The excuses he gives are moot since someone can just get the address and drive there anyways.
The dangers of not being verbose.
Basically, I can't get a onboard TV-tuner on my PC so I can't just buy a large monitor and have it double as a TV. I don't actually have any more USB slots available due to other USB devices being connected and I'd really rather not get a USB hub on top of all the other junk I have taking up space on my desk attached to my computer, especially for one more device.
A long enough cable to be outputting from my PC to a TV is more expensive than 50 bucks and that means my computer *always* has to be in the same room as my TV. Since I'm planning on moving inside of 6-8 months (or at least packing for moving) that may or may not be acceptable.
So using the XBOX is a good solution for me. I have a home server for files anyways as I didn't want a bunch of music and movies on my WD 'raptors which have limited space, so I can throw Windows Home Server on it and use my XBOX to play stuff to my entertainment center.
I'm choosing Windows Home Server + XBOX over an open source solution mainly to save on space. I have an XBOX already so why build yet another box to do something that I can do if I just put WHS on the file server currently running linux. Plus since I have Vista Ultimate for DX10 for Crysis/UT3 (how I wish there were more games that ran well with DX10...) WHS is an added advantage as I can manage backups and stuff from the server. Or watch/listen to stuff from my PC if I'm working at the same time.
I actually think it was only second to AoC for the dodgiest game releases of late. It looked terrible and played like old people fuck - jittery and awkward.
That sounds like your computer. The game looks great to me. A lot of detail on the player models and they kept the tabletop's style. Gameplay was smooth except in huge RvR fights, which they fixed within weeks of release.
If I A) had more time and B) all my friends hadn't stopped playing due to school (only two went back to WoW and only because they don't have to pay for it) and work eating up large portions of their time I'd probably still be playing it. Like any other MMO, its no fun alone. On the bright side, your Guild only needs to be half a dozen people if you play at the same times.
I'll never stop griping about how all these people from other MMOs have to have huge guilds with hundreds of people when the whole point to the game is to let you have a whole bunch of small-mid size guilds and form alliances. I mean, its not like you can do a full guild RvR fight unless its open field.
Sad but true. The pain that is WiFi on Linux is a bigger hurdle than the games IMO. I'd take Linux on my laptop if I could do so without extensive work to get the WiFi working. And the laptops with Linux that the WiFi works on don't meet my needs.
Okay, no. Heinlein is a great author (at least in my opinion) but he did not come up with powered armor for soldiers first. That officially belongs to E.E. Smith's Lensman series. That's right, over a decade before Starship Troopers.
If you like space operas and haven't read Lensman get yourself a copy. You won't regret it.
+1 Underrated / Insightful.
That really can't be put more fairly, and is true more so now than in the past. The Xbox360, PS3, and Wii all have their high points and low points. For the Xbox, it seems to be getting "all" the games (and woo i get to use it as a bridge from my PC to my TV without buying a TV tuner card that wouldn't fit on my already fully loaded motherboard), the Wii gets a lot of "just plain fun" games that are also great with groups of people, and the PS3 gets some pretty games and is the only bluray player worth buying if Sony hasn't stopped changing the format already. And all of them get Rock Band / Guitar Hero which are a pretty solid money making fad (and unusually fun for a rhythm game).
There's something for everyone. The pissing contest is kind of moot.
INACCURATE!!!
I will have you know that facial hair does NOT equate gender. This is why so-called "neck beards" do not make you a man and why you can have "Bearded Ladies".
Gender is defined based on chromosomes and I think on a species to species basis.
These two AC's are owning you pretty hard dude, but I just had to point out that writing poorly is *not* a "writing style".
While funny, I can't help but think that if it was a joke supporting 'intelligent' design it would of been modded Troll/Flamebait...
You seem very confused. *De*regulation did more damage than the regulation, but as has already been said more eloquently than I could it wasn't really either that was the issue. It was the bank institutions using flawed risk assessment methods in an attempt to make more money for themselves that has lead to this.
You are missing the point. With a business model like Netflix's where you do NOT actually own the content, you are only renting it from Netflix, it makes PERFECT sense to have a DRM scheme (so long as it doesn't actually hinder people from viewing what they actually are paying to rent). Just like you should not be allowed to burn copies of movies you rent from blockbuster/hollywood video you shouldn't be able to record or copy the movies you rent from netflix.
It is when they do silly things like put DRM on video games you OWN, or music you OWN, and so forth that DRM becomes unacceptable.
Oh, and given each country has separate laws people need to stop bitching how Hulu doesn't work outside the US. There is no global copyright system. Stuff gets registered multiple times in different countries and the folks at Hulu don't want to pay several hundred times for you to be able to watch Robot Holocaust once.
As has been beaten into the ground (and Ubuntu is striving to change), Linux is hard. Stupid people won't bother with it particularly when their computer already has an OS when they get it. Your bias is showing if the old and tired mantra of "windows is more prevalent" didn't answer that for you right away.
In The Real World people have to use Windows. Thankfully this is changing (albeit very slowly) but we're still stuck in the days where Windows is dominant. So it is no surprise that the government will be using Windows for a while to come. Especially considering legacy programs and hardware that Linux either can't run or can't support. Running it in a VM also isn't always A) successful or B) plausible so as I said, they're in a rut currently.
As for the insecurities of Windows, again please note that probably greater than 90% of these data breaches are the result of *human error* or *negligence* and not the systems themselves. From a security standpoint and even an organizational standpoint I'd prefer *NIX over Windows myself, but typically Windows is "good enough".