We'll they're better off doing it that way then by phone
They'd be better off randomly selecting businesses in different areas, and going there in person to interview them.
The idea is to get a representative sample. There are some historical examples of people messing up their sample group (in a political poll) by using a phone book to pick their sample group of voters "randomly" -- the problem is that it wasn't random at all, they only got people who owned a phone. They left out all of the low-income voters, who were more likely as a group to vote a certain way.
Their prediction of how the election would swing was way off as a result.
d20 simplified the matricies compared with the old THAC0 (to hit armor class zero) rules and the like.
THAC0 was based on a d20 attack roll -- you rolled a d20, added or subtracted from your roll how much AC the opponent had above or below 0, and then if your adjusted d20 roll was higher than your THAC0, you hit.
Example: My THAC0 is 10. I attack someone with an AC of 3, and I roll an 8. 8+3 is 11, and 11 is >10, so I hit. If I had rolled a 5 instead of an 8, 5+3=8, and 8 is less than 10, so therefore I would miss.
The final bit is just cleaning up some of the more ridiculous skills out there which nobody uses.
I use the 'use rope' skill all the time, it's useful. You never know when you'll have to tie knots on a ship, tie up a bounty, climb out of a well, rappel down the side of a castle wall... if you don't carry around 50 ft. of silk rope all the time, you're just asking for trouble.
They have nice server hardware, no doubt, WotC is a wealthy company... that save vs. nerds DC must have been really high. We're talking a DC of 40 or 50 here.
There sure are a lot of nerds... actually, it was probably like the same 3 guys refreshing the page every 5 seconds.
I probably don't have to worry about this, anyway, my music library isn't exactly brimming with a bunch of hot-ticket RIAA acts, I... don't like shitty music.
They come to your house and they take all your computers.
Really? The media description of all the cases leads me to believe that what they'll do before going to that length is send me a scary letter in the mail, demanding money in an out-of-court settlement.
but the cycle of reboot-and-rewrite that began with 2nd Edition is definitely accelerating.
I don't see it a pointless scheme just to make money -- 3.0 made some changes to the game that AD&D needed. THAC0 is a joke, and in 3.0 the way the ability scores work is beautifully simplified. Also, replacing "backstab" with "flanking" makes the DM's job a lot easier, since he no longer has to worry about facing in combat. Not to mention, is it true that "Elf" used to be a class, instead of a race? Because that's just... unclean.
The way I see it, D&D has significant, periodic changes made to the system that enhance the experience, while M:TG's tournament-legal card sweatshops are just a way to trick people into opening their wallets every weekend.
I mean, I started playing ~3 years ago, in high school, and the system was 3.5 then. It's not like 3.5 came out last month, you've had a full four years to play with your $90 set of core books -- and it shouldn't be too hard to adjust all of that content you bought to 4.0 rules, if you're lame enough to use that stuff.
(Your collection might cost more than $90, but man, don't buy the completes, download them! If it's not something you need every 2 minutes at the table, you can just consult it during character/NPC creation, and print out any relevant bits you might need to reference during the game.)
Each paper product will include codes to unlock digital versions
Wait, wait. They're selling you sourcebooks... that have codes inside so that they can sell you shit that should have been in the book in the first place? Like that's going to fly.
My interpretation isn't that they're selling materials that aren't in the book, they're just selling you their version of those.pdf copies of the books that fly around bittorrent all the time -- exact digital copies of the sourcebook material.
Of course, why anyone who had the actual book might want that is beyond me, unless maybe their primary computer was a laptop or they traveled a lot.
My law background is exclusively in criminal-styled Mock Trial competition, so, that could definitely skew my ideas about what would be feasible.
However, it'd seem to me that you'd have quite a hard time proving intent, especially if cleaning up the system was the first thing I did after receiving their letter, and testified that it was an ongoing problem before the RIAA contacted me.
Of course, maybe a better idea would just be to keep an old junker computer around the house, running, and do all of your legitimate word-processing on that. After all, if the RIAA get any IP it'll be your router IP... which shouldn't be terminal-specific. You'd get to turn in a squeaky-clean system, with nothing but a bunch of word documents showing what a productive student/lawyer/doctor/lab assistant/teacher you are.
And if the forensics don't find a trojan, your probably getting called on it.
The argument isn't that the trojan virus downloaded that stuff, at least not explicitly -- the argument is that to my knowledge it was never downloaded from my IP at all (and no one can prove that I'm lying).
Besides, even the knowledgeable get the occasional virus -- antivirus providers don't get everything, all the time, because they're fighting a perpetual code war with the blackhats, and they're at a natural disadvantage because they have to react to the viruses after they're produced. The only difference in my case (the reason the trojan isn't still on the computer) is that I knew what I was doing after my firewall failed, and what the cure was -- a full system reformat and a fresh install of windows.
The reformat is why the forensics team won't find any traces of a virus -- and yes, I'm aware that they scan the drive physically for ghost memory, and I will run a wiper to remove that -- while the forensics expert will lecture the court about how the nonsensical ghost memory on the HD is a telltale sign of someone who ran an advanced program and has something to hide, I'll just respond that I know what I'm doing, I'm very thorough, and that I don't take chances with worms and viruses.
Thing is, they can get the court to demand you turn over your hard drive and get forensic experts to look for remnants of the files
*Hands the feds my recently-formatted boot drive (not the big one with the actual goods)* "No sir, you won't find anything in there..."
Later, in court: "Isn't it true that your install of windows was only one week old?"
"Ha! Well you know, that is true sir. Have you ever heard of a trojan horse virus?"
*Insert 15 minutes of knowledgeable rambling about computers here, probably during re-direct since a confident response will likely cause the cross-examiner to drop the subject*
*Insert the defense lecturing the court about reasonable doubt in the closing statements*
"What the company does describe as revolutionary is the method of product delivery, which will incorporate online play for the first time. WotC is incorporating online components into the game through a new Website, DnDInsider.com. Each paper product will include codes to unlock digital versions on the site for a "nominal" activation fee. Players will also be able to use DnDInsider tools and access regular new content similar to the material that was previously released in Dragon and Dungeon magazines (see "Interview with Liz Schuh") for a monthly fee (as yet undetermined) greater than the old subscription price, but less than a MMORPG subscription. Magazine-style content will be added to the site three times a week and compiled into digital "issues" monthly."
I like how WotC's idea of "revolutionary product delivery" is "We can sell them paper... on computers!"
Granted, they are adding that online client "to 'supplement, not replace' meatspace play," and a client like that is something that me and my friends have been saying would be cool for years now, but...
They're still just selling us paper, but on computers.
"This move will only alienate their consumer base. The fact that 3.5 is working, and in no need of overhaul, exposes the fact that they are doing this under the motivation of short-sighted greed."
I understand your pain, having a ton of books basically invalidated is like losing a long-term investment, and like you, I play D&D because it isn't as big of a scheme for your money as Magic: The Gathering or World of Warcraft -- I like being able to buy a $29.95 book (or download the.pdf, shhh!) and a $10 (well, more, once you get into it) bag of dice, and being able to play a really rich game with my friends for as many hours as I desire, for like, a couple years.
So I know where you're coming from. But we haven't seen any of the 4th edition changes, and I think that there's a good chance that they are "concerned about the integrity of the game." Let's just give them the benefit of the doubt and hold our comments until 4th edition comes out -- I mean, they might make changes that address issues that we haven't been aware of individually, or changes that add to the experience of the game. They've done so in the past, and quite well.
Trust me, though, if it's a pile of crap I'll be right out there with you picketing the company's sidewalk. I just want to see what they've done first.
Not only is the surveillance they are contemplating intrusive and omnipresent, it's also invisible. And that's what makes this so dangerous.
It's also a useful tool, especially in regard to securing the border. I like having a system in place to keep track of who goes in and out of the country -- it's only a problem when the system itself is misused; inherently it's a good idea, and serves it's function (I actually know of a guy who deserted the army overseas, after stealing sensitive info, and months later was then stupid enough to take a flight that had a brief layover in the U.S. -- his passport was flagged, and they arrested him right there).
In any case, if the border patrol isn't using this technology already, using it would make it next to impossible to sneak across.
Just remember, kids, all you need to avoid incriminating yourself to a spy satellite is a roof over your head!
So don't grow pot in your backyard or anything, they might check for that now.
It doesn't "flagrantly ignore the most basic concepts of Newtonian mechanics," it just presumes that the bus is able to produce more acceleration than that sort of bus actually can -- it's not like the bus is flying around through space and time, with "F!=MA" painted on the side.
Really? It seems that the US really isn't as high [illovosugar.com] as what you'd expect.
Stop being a fucking troll and blaming Americans for everything.
Those other countries may have a higher per-capita consumption of sugar, but I'd bet my white ass that they also have a higher per-capita level of activity.
The original inspiration aside, I think that what we can agree on is that Sentai Team anime is a genre unto itself, and that that's what the power rangers owe their everything to.
It makes some good points from an angle you may not have previously considered; for example, it's in the universe's best interest to keep us around. We make things fun.
I'm sorry, did I just hear you suggest that:
A)The universe is consciously aware of our existence, B)The universe, as a cohesive entity, has direct and absolute control over the natural phenomena that affect the survival of our race ("disasters," as we sometimes like to call them) and C)That the universe is going to use its omniscient powers to keep our race alive, because it thinks we make things fun?
Is that really what you just suggested?
*facepalm* I think that the scientific method died a little today, and I mourn its passing.
Slashdot Mirror
We'll they're better off doing it that way then by phone
They'd be better off randomly selecting businesses in different areas, and going there in person to interview them.
The idea is to get a representative sample. There are some historical examples of people messing up their sample group (in a political poll) by using a phone book to pick their sample group of voters "randomly" -- the problem is that it wasn't random at all, they only got people who owned a phone. They left out all of the low-income voters, who were more likely as a group to vote a certain way.
Their prediction of how the election would swing was way off as a result.
d20 simplified the matricies compared with the old THAC0 (to hit armor class zero) rules and the like.
THAC0 was based on a d20 attack roll -- you rolled a d20, added or subtracted from your roll how much AC the opponent had above or below 0, and then if your adjusted d20 roll was higher than your THAC0, you hit.
Example: My THAC0 is 10. I attack someone with an AC of 3, and I roll an 8. 8+3 is 11, and 11 is >10, so I hit. If I had rolled a 5 instead of an 8, 5+3=8, and 8 is less than 10, so therefore I would miss.
The final bit is just cleaning up some of the more ridiculous skills out there which nobody uses.
I use the 'use rope' skill all the time, it's useful. You never know when you'll have to tie knots on a ship, tie up a bounty, climb out of a well, rappel down the side of a castle wall ... if you don't carry around 50 ft. of silk rope all the time, you're just asking for trouble.
-20,000 xp since the DM didn't want you to ...
Anything that anyone might say after a statement like this, will show they don't know how to structure their game, or DM well.
The players will always end up killing NPC's you didn't mean for them to ... you can't penalize them, you just have to work around the developments.
If believing in something brings positive things, then why are you getting so up tight about it?
Right. Religion has brought us peace and happiness, not war and corruption. That's exactly what it's done.
The crusades? Nah, those didn't happen. Hush.
Umm... yeah, right up until he mentioned that school is basically worthless and that the exceptional will be bored by everything.
Sounds like my high school experience.
FTFA: Each paper product will include codes to unlock digital versions on the site for a "nominal" activation fee
They have nice server hardware, no doubt, WotC is a wealthy company ... that save vs. nerds DC must have been really high. We're talking a DC of 40 or 50 here.
There sure are a lot of nerds ... actually, it was probably like the same 3 guys refreshing the page every 5 seconds.
I probably don't have to worry about this, anyway, my music library isn't exactly brimming with a bunch of hot-ticket RIAA acts, I ... don't like shitty music.
They come to your house and they take all your computers.
Really? The media description of all the cases leads me to believe that what they'll do before going to that length is send me a scary letter in the mail, demanding money in an out-of-court settlement.
but the cycle of reboot-and-rewrite that began with 2nd Edition is definitely accelerating.
I don't see it a pointless scheme just to make money -- 3.0 made some changes to the game that AD&D needed. THAC0 is a joke, and in 3.0 the way the ability scores work is beautifully simplified. Also, replacing "backstab" with "flanking" makes the DM's job a lot easier, since he no longer has to worry about facing in combat. Not to mention, is it true that "Elf" used to be a class, instead of a race? Because that's just ... unclean.
The way I see it, D&D has significant, periodic changes made to the system that enhance the experience, while M:TG's tournament-legal card sweatshops are just a way to trick people into opening their wallets every weekend.
I mean, I started playing ~3 years ago, in high school, and the system was 3.5 then. It's not like 3.5 came out last month, you've had a full four years to play with your $90 set of core books -- and it shouldn't be too hard to adjust all of that content you bought to 4.0 rules, if you're lame enough to use that stuff.
(Your collection might cost more than $90, but man, don't buy the completes, download them! If it's not something you need every 2 minutes at the table, you can just consult it during character/NPC creation, and print out any relevant bits you might need to reference during the game.)
Each paper product will include codes to unlock digital versions
Wait, wait. They're selling you sourcebooks... that have codes inside so that they can sell you shit that should have been in the book in the first place? Like that's going to fly.
My interpretation isn't that they're selling materials that aren't in the book, they're just selling you their version of those .pdf copies of the books that fly around bittorrent all the time -- exact digital copies of the sourcebook material.
Of course, why anyone who had the actual book might want that is beyond me, unless maybe their primary computer was a laptop or they traveled a lot.
However, it'd seem to me that you'd have quite a hard time proving intent, especially if cleaning up the system was the first thing I did after receiving their letter, and testified that it was an ongoing problem before the RIAA contacted me.
Of course, maybe a better idea would just be to keep an old junker computer around the house, running, and do all of your legitimate word-processing on that. After all, if the RIAA get any IP it'll be your router IP ... which shouldn't be terminal-specific. You'd get to turn in a squeaky-clean system, with nothing but a bunch of word documents showing what a productive student/lawyer/doctor/lab assistant/teacher you are.
And if the forensics don't find a trojan, your probably getting called on it.
The argument isn't that the trojan virus downloaded that stuff, at least not explicitly -- the argument is that to my knowledge it was never downloaded from my IP at all (and no one can prove that I'm lying).
Besides, even the knowledgeable get the occasional virus -- antivirus providers don't get everything, all the time, because they're fighting a perpetual code war with the blackhats, and they're at a natural disadvantage because they have to react to the viruses after they're produced. The only difference in my case (the reason the trojan isn't still on the computer) is that I knew what I was doing after my firewall failed, and what the cure was -- a full system reformat and a fresh install of windows.
The reformat is why the forensics team won't find any traces of a virus -- and yes, I'm aware that they scan the drive physically for ghost memory, and I will run a wiper to remove that -- while the forensics expert will lecture the court about how the nonsensical ghost memory on the HD is a telltale sign of someone who ran an advanced program and has something to hide, I'll just respond that I know what I'm doing, I'm very thorough, and that I don't take chances with worms and viruses.
Thing is, they can get the court to demand you turn over your hard drive and get forensic experts to look for remnants of the files
*Hands the feds my recently-formatted boot drive (not the big one with the actual goods)* "No sir, you won't find anything in there ..."
Later, in court: "Isn't it true that your install of windows was only one week old?"
"Ha! Well you know, that is true sir. Have you ever heard of a trojan horse virus?"
*Insert 15 minutes of knowledgeable rambling about computers here, probably during re-direct since a confident response will likely cause the cross-examiner to drop the subject*
*Insert the defense lecturing the court about reasonable doubt in the closing statements*
*profit*
I like how WotC's idea of "revolutionary product delivery" is "We can sell them paper ... on computers!"
Granted, they are adding that online client "to 'supplement, not replace' meatspace play," and a client like that is something that me and my friends have been saying would be cool for years now, but ...
They're still just selling us paper, but on computers.
"This move will only alienate their consumer base. The fact that 3.5 is working, and in no need of overhaul, exposes the fact that they are doing this under the motivation of short-sighted greed."
I understand your pain, having a ton of books basically invalidated is like losing a long-term investment, and like you, I play D&D because it isn't as big of a scheme for your money as Magic: The Gathering or World of Warcraft -- I like being able to buy a $29.95 book (or download the .pdf, shhh!) and a $10 (well, more, once you get into it) bag of dice, and being able to play a really rich game with my friends for as many hours as I desire, for like, a couple years.
So I know where you're coming from. But we haven't seen any of the 4th edition changes, and I think that there's a good chance that they are "concerned about the integrity of the game." Let's just give them the benefit of the doubt and hold our comments until 4th edition comes out -- I mean, they might make changes that address issues that we haven't been aware of individually, or changes that add to the experience of the game. They've done so in the past, and quite well.
Trust me, though, if it's a pile of crap I'll be right out there with you picketing the company's sidewalk. I just want to see what they've done first.
Not only is the surveillance they are contemplating intrusive and omnipresent, it's also invisible. And that's what makes this so dangerous.
It's also a useful tool, especially in regard to securing the border. I like having a system in place to keep track of who goes in and out of the country -- it's only a problem when the system itself is misused; inherently it's a good idea, and serves it's function (I actually know of a guy who deserted the army overseas, after stealing sensitive info, and months later was then stupid enough to take a flight that had a brief layover in the U.S. -- his passport was flagged, and they arrested him right there).
In any case, if the border patrol isn't using this technology already, using it would make it next to impossible to sneak across.
Just remember, kids, all you need to avoid incriminating yourself to a spy satellite is a roof over your head!
So don't grow pot in your backyard or anything, they might check for that now.
If you insist on using laymen's "cool-sounding" metaphors to describe scientific phenomena, at least check your facts and context
There might be something about "laymen's 'cool-sounding' metaphors" that you don't quite grasp here.
What I mean to say is that ... what you describe is impossible.
I'd say I'd help him if he finds the CD
You should tell him to find a friend's computer to use, a friend who wouldn't mind him making a few google searches for "Windows FD"
It doesn't "flagrantly ignore the most basic concepts of Newtonian mechanics," it just presumes that the bus is able to produce more acceleration than that sort of bus actually can -- it's not like the bus is flying around through space and time, with "F!=MA" painted on the side.
Really? It seems that the US really isn't as high [illovosugar.com] as what you'd expect.
Stop being a fucking troll and blaming Americans for everything.
Those other countries may have a higher per-capita consumption of sugar, but I'd bet my white ass that they also have a higher per-capita level of activity.
The original inspiration aside, I think that what we can agree on is that Sentai Team anime is a genre unto itself, and that that's what the power rangers owe their everything to.
Kinda hard to do that when my source format typically is .mp3, as opposed to actual redbook CDs.
Anyway, I'd rather waste all of that space on high-resolution video, the difference there is much more noticeable, in my opinion.
It makes some good points from an angle you may not have previously considered; for example, it's in the universe's best interest to keep us around. We make things fun.
I'm sorry, did I just hear you suggest that:
A)The universe is consciously aware of our existence,
B)The universe, as a cohesive entity, has direct and absolute control over the natural phenomena that affect the survival of our race ("disasters," as we sometimes like to call them)
and C)That the universe is going to use its omniscient powers to keep our race alive, because it thinks we make things fun?
Is that really what you just suggested?
*facepalm* I think that the scientific method died a little today, and I mourn its passing.