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| Posted by: CrowScape | Posted on: Sunday April 30 2006 12:45am |
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No, Cloud is a dandy, and with that wonderful segue to an RPG series that I think I'm the only one here that plays, Square has finally released Advent Children to DVD in the US, and boy if the fan editors aren't going wild with it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tLyAELCKziY&search=advent%20children%20parody I picked this one because it seems to hit on all the problems Justin has with anime fight sequences, including a hitpoint guage. |
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| Posted by: B_W | Posted on: Friday April 28 2006 1:24pm |
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Most of you are dandy's. B_W |
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| Posted by: intrigue | Posted on: Friday April 28 2006 7:29am |
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http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/details?mid=ca7cf8cec847450edce754ea1e837a4 doublerig, you need to add a little TOS action to google earth |
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| Posted by: intrigue | Posted on: Friday April 28 2006 7:24am |
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http://sketchup.google.com/product_suf.html google releases free 3d program |
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| Posted by: CrowScape | Posted on: Thursday April 27 2006 9:37pm |
| "Sell"is the necessary word that is missing from that MySpace disclaimer, so I don't think they could get away with an iTunes-ish service. MySpace's disclaimer seems pretty similar to any free hosting service I've run across. It's basically used for promoting the service. | |
| Posted by: nearscape | Posted on: Thursday April 27 2006 2:08pm |
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regarding MySpace :) http://www.theonion.com/content/node/47486 What I find amazing is that all these musicians put their stuff up there, because the terms that I read are pretty harsh. Basically, they can do whatever they want with any copies they make without paying royalties. I could see a "MySpace Music Store" in the future, selling tracks at half the cost of iTunes.... http://collect.myspace.com/misc/terms.html?z=1&MyToken=12897166 "Proprietary Rights in Content on MySpace.com. By displaying or publishing ("posting") any Content, messages, text, files, images, photos, video, sounds, profiles, works of authorship, or any other materials (collectively, "Content") on or through the Services, you hereby grant to MySpace.com, a non-exclusive, fully-paid and royalty-free, worldwide license (with the right to sublicense through unlimited levels of sublicensees) to use, copy, modify, adapt, translate, publicly perform, publicly display, store, reproduce, transmit, and distribute such Content on and through the Services." |
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| Posted by: intrigue | Posted on: Thursday April 27 2006 11:40am |
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http://www.gamespot.com/news/6148455.html i am going go to go insaine waiting for the revolution, this will bring new life to the meaning of addiction, they should call it nintencrack. this article title should be "EA will actually innovate with Nintendo Revolution" |
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| Posted by: nearscape | Posted on: Thursday April 27 2006 10:01am |
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discreet has technically been a part of Autodesk for as long as I can remember, they are listed in the max R4 books, they just starting asserting their name more recently, right around the Alias acquisition, and focusing on software. If you look up the hardware systems, they still refer to them as "Discreet Flame" and "Discreet Lustre" last time I checked. So far the products haven't suffered so I don't think they shuffled the personnel too much. I do wonder what they plan on doing with Maya, though it has never really been viable as a visual effects solution, focusing more on character animation. The rendering pipeline and compositing metadata just aren't there. From the people I've talked to in LA, Lightwave is turning most of the heads these days for 3D effects, but it is more of a one-trick pony, while max/Autodesk have tried to be everything to everyone. This Alias acquisition does eliminate what little competition max had in the games industry, for instance. Consolidation has been rampant with these software giants lately. Avid has been gobbling up companies such as Softimage and Digidesign left and right. So far the most tangible result has been that everything has been getting cheaper. Although I'm starting to wonder what they're thinking over at Adobe. They're really starting to mess with Premiere and After Effects and it seems to be pissing people off. Personally, I'm concerned that they're going to start sweeping older Macromedia products like Director under the rug, which is going to make my life more difficult. One thing I'm excited about is how fast Windows software is running on the Intel Macs with Boot Camp. If I could have the Windows version of Director and the Mac versions of Flash and Illustrator running on the same box, that would simplify development over here. |
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| Posted by: CrowScape | Posted on: Wednesday April 26 2006 11:47pm |
| Um... when did Autodesk buy EVERYTHING? Autodesk 3DS Max? Autodesk Maya? | |
| Posted by: CrowScape | Posted on: Wednesday April 26 2006 9:01pm |
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Employers do use MySpace to check out potential employees, so Pete is not far off with his idea that it is a form of tracking. Hmm... you know, I actually like some of the legal principles in that bill, and I would take them and merge them with the principles of another bill to create some legislation that would be EVEN BETTER. Combining the punishment structure of the new DMCA with the political speech-restricting elements of Bipartisan Campaign Finance Reform Act aka McCain-Feingold (which for whatever reason never gets mentioned here, even though it is orders of magnitude more damaging to civil liberties than the PATRIOT Act and the DMCA combined), I would create a law that first: repealed McCain-Fiedgold and the DMCA and second: made it a crime, punishable by being publicly raped in the ass by a horny rhinocerous, for any politician to propose any law like McCain-Feingold or the DMCA. Oh, and both Sens McCain and Feingold would be have their skin flayed from their bodies and THEN be raped by a horny rhinocerous, unless the flaying would result in their deaths. Maybe just partially flay them, then finish the job after the rhino has finished his. I don't know, I don't have all the technical details fleshed out, but you get the idea. |
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| Posted by: Peter | Posted on: Wednesday April 26 2006 5:25pm |
| Fools...you do not see the dangers before your very eyes. MySpace is an evil entity poised on destroying life as we know it and you are gingerly ushering it in. I do not have a MySpace account because I see it for what it truly is, the rest of you have fallen victime to its perilous grasp. Like it's counterpart, facebook, MySpace is method of tracking disguised as a socially acceptible meeting and uniting website that apparently lulls even the most skeptical antithesi of conformity into acceptance without being aware of its underpinnings. That is, to expound upon my response to Adam, what the problem is and that's why it answers its own question. For once, choose red over blue... ....two by two....hands of blue... | |
| Posted by: intrigue | Posted on: Wednesday April 26 2006 9:24am |
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check this out, especially you JB http://digg.com/music/Piracy_worse_than_child_pornography#c1555394 this one sums it up "Actually, I'm pretty sure that this copyright act has absolutely nothiong to do with its stated goal of "fighting piracy" and is simply one more piece of legislation to make certain that American's don't get the impression that they live in a free state anymore. If you combine this bill with the text of some others which have been introduced recently, and then multiply those bills by congress' lack of action on network neutrality, you see that THE NEO-CONS HAVE LAUNCHED A WAR ON INFORMATION! With zany laws like those being introduced in place, the government will be able to (if it already cannot...) see who's saying what, take issue with it (copyright, terrorism, whatever) and TOSS THEM IN JAIL." |
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| Posted by: intrigue | Posted on: Wednesday April 26 2006 8:25am |
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pete how dare you not have a myspace account, ps are you going to make it to this years memorial day bash? |
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| Posted by: B_W | Posted on: Tuesday April 25 2006 10:11pm |
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Yeah adam...Peter is what's wrong with MySpace. Or rather, that Pete doesn't have a myspace. B_W |
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| Posted by: Peter | Posted on: Tuesday April 25 2006 4:25pm |
| Adam, you answered your own question. | |
| Posted by: adam | Posted on: Tuesday April 25 2006 3:49pm |
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Pete... What's wrong with MySpace? -A |
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| Posted by: intrigue | Posted on: Tuesday April 25 2006 6:14am |
| http://www.eff.org/share/petition/ | |
| Posted by: intrigue | Posted on: Monday April 24 2006 9:29pm |
| http://media.xbox360.ign.com/articles/702/702389/vids_1.html | |
| Posted by: sysop | Posted on: Monday April 24 2006 12:23pm |
| testing response path | |
| Posted by: sysop | Posted on: Monday April 24 2006 12:20pm |
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v1.7 24 April 2006 - Eliminated static html form used for posting. The "post comments" button at the top of the page now submits to the script, which generates the form all dynamic-like. The form displays in the current window and the pop-up is eliminated. In the future, recent posts will be attached at the bottom of the dynamic form for easy quoting. - Having a dynamic form allows me to tag each post with a identifier, which for now is just a pseudo-random number based on the post time. This is the beginning of a perma-link system to be attempted with the next patch. Since the seed only changes once a second, there isn't any fancy checking to see if this number is truly unique, but I haven't decided whether I want to spend any time on that. I might just change it to a simple counter in the future. - Before a new post is added, the identifier is checked, which should finally provide reliable detection against accidental duplicate posts. The most common cause is people refreshing on the script response. If you post data again, the same ID will be sent and the post will be ignored (and the script response will update to reflect this). - Since the form and script response are no longer in a new window, the response page has been updated and now provides a link back to the main forum page. - Moved the buttons around, mostly just to annoy people. Script version put down at the bottom of the forum where it belongs. Forum Archives now at the top. - Hyperlinking improved using quantification, which may or may not be a real word. This should prevent acronyms like U.S.A. from turning into links, even if you are sneaky and prefix it. Also, links without sub-domains (http://digg.com) should pop now. - About those prefixes...for now, you'll need one. I'm looking into ways around this, but the good news is that ftp and https links should now maintain their integrity and not trigger wierd google searches anymore. http:// ftp:// and https:// needs to precede your link, though other qualifications need to be met before it becomes active, so posting http://blahblahblah will not result in a broken link. The problem I'm balancing is that if I don't require a prefix, an assumption needs to be made about which type it is, which before was always http, and this broke other links. Ideally, you could specify https or ftp and that would override the assumption, but in all other cases the prefix would be optional. However, I haven't been able to come up with a regex that allows this without recursion errors. For example, if a post had prefixed links and also non-prefixed links, the prefixed links would match twice. There should be a look-behind assertion that handles this but I haven't got the syntax down yet. - The security escapes for percent signs and pipes no longer create extra whitespace, which was breaking links and just looking strange. |
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| Posted by: sysop | Posted on: Monday April 24 2006 12:11pm |
| backing up and swapping script | |
| Posted by: Peter | Posted on: Monday April 24 2006 11:09am |
| NS, way to go to the Dark Side. I never thought you would sell out to the soul-less entity corrupting the Athenian youth known as MySpace. Now to drink some Hemlock... | |
| Posted by: B_W | Posted on: Monday April 24 2006 10:05am |
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Tycho seemed to sum up one of my tennants in Friday's talking segment: "When good things happen to me, it is hard to enjoy them because I am sure I must suffer an equal amount at some future time. I don't know where this idea came from. I don't actually believe that there exists a comprehensive spiritual physics. All the same, this imagery is so vivid that it must have some origin beyond my transient mortal equipment: a blinding God of polished brass, one hand heavy with my blessings, the other exquisite palm raised in imminent violence." I have indeed experienced some good times in my day, and now I think it's time to pay the piper. B_W |
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| Posted by: nearscape | Posted on: Sunday April 23 2006 5:54pm |
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www.myspace.com/nearscape My god...what have i done? |
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| Posted by: intrigue | Posted on: Sunday April 23 2006 12:30pm |
| i will have a special prize for the person that brings the most amount of games, by any means | |
| Posted by: nearscape | Posted on: Friday April 21 2006 12:34pm |
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"Aren't some DVD streams progressive today, with the players performing a pull-down? I seem to recall running into this when editing AMVs." I'm pretty sure this is the case with most movie DVDs these days. I would imagine there are compression advantages to not encoding it interlaced as well, when your source is 24p anyways. Whisky can probably elaborate. |
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| Posted by: intrigue | Posted on: Friday April 21 2006 12:14pm |
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the game between sony and microsoft is doing exactly what competition should do, all three parties are risking something: 1. microsoft, decided to launch early, get sales and make a convincing argument for games because of a well developed online presence, for developers because writting for the xbox is almost like writting for a PC and for the multimedia crowd because they can buffer content to a 20g? hard drive in any resolution, bit rate that is avalible today. (ms spent 1-2billion on the development of xbox360, and has now spent close to 4 billion towards its sucess) 2. sony has decided that it is going to gamble 2-8 billion on PS3 production (6million units @ 700$ = 4.2 billion), Sony is going to produce 1 million units a month starting in june, to finaly win a content war, while they have spent very little time actually designing games for the ps3, there will be 2-5 ok launch titles, but there will be 20-50 bluray movies out, ps3 is not going to be hot until late 2007, sony is using the ps3 only to sell bluray to studios 3. nintendo, the wise nintendog of the group, looked at the stakes in this game and said, ahem, where is the gaming, where is the family in all of this? so nintendo decided to change gaming, not thier wager. nintendo has decided to gamble on interface, and i think they have already won that round since they are the only ones competing on that plain. i bet in 2k7 both ms and sony will have after market wand controllers just like the revolution. the really big news about e3 this year is that you should be able to wand it up at the nintendo both, while the ps3 will be press only and limited playability on still development boxes. PS3 will ship this year, but there will be no games on it that look that much better on it from an xbox360. GO NINTENDO |
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| Posted by: CrowScape | Posted on: Friday April 21 2006 11:52am |
| Aren't some DVD streams progressive today, with the players performing a pull-down? I seem to recall running into this when editing AMVs. | |
| Posted by: nearscape | Posted on: Friday April 21 2006 10:25am |
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"Frankly, I don't think Sony HAS a PS3 yet. If they do, why haven't we seen them?" Good question. It's all very nebulous right now. Of course, Sony isn't alone here...I have yet to see this hypothetical HD-DVD drive that the Xbox360 was supposed to ship with like 6 months ago. "Oh, that reminds me, Blu-Ray SUX...If what we saw was final Blu-Ray, and HD-DVD can outperform it, (which it should be able to do with one layer tied behind it's back) I don't think 1080p matters." It wasn't great. But how do you know HD-DVD is better? I haven't seen one. But given the fact that it has significantly less capacity at launch, and no quad-layer support on the roadmap, I find it hard to believe it's going to look much better. If it does look better, you're going to need like 6 discs to watch a movie, and we all know how well that worked out for Betamax and Laserdisc. For example, if they used DVCPRO-HD, you're talking in the neighborhood of a whopping 20 minutes on that 15-gig disc, assuming no extra audio streams. And 1080p matters because that's how the studios want to release their movies. They don't have any interlaced content. And it's not like 1080p content can't be made to work on an interlaced monitor, I'm sure they've got a plan for the players to do a pull-down. If you look at the long list of studio support Blu-ray, that translates into content volume. And that wins. But the bottom line is that all these discs suck. DVD to HD-DVD is only a 3x capacity gain at launch! Pretty weak. Going from CD to DVD was like 6x. I think they should have just waited until they have a format that can actually handle HD. Now we're going to be stuck with more shitty compression for another decade. And for Sony's solvency, they're probably relying on the contingency that they can sell a stand-alone Blu-ray player to Ma and Pa Suburbia for $1000 with a huge margin. And then lots and lots of liscensing fees. Ma and Pa Suburbia aren't going to buy a PS3 because it's a "toy". Its a risk but they've taken it many times before (and usually losing) and they're still around. If Blu-ray starts shipping thousdands of titles a year like DVD does, that dwarfs whatever the PS3 is going to move. www.sims.berkeley.edu:8000/research/projects/how-much-info-2003/optical.htm As far as people re-buying obsolete TVs...well, BOTH disc formats are going to obsolete most HDTVs in the name of DRM anyways, so which disc you choose will have little relevance. |
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| Posted by: CrowScape | Posted on: Friday April 21 2006 2:15am |
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Yup, that's what Bethesda did... and we spent the $50 for a tall glass of it. It was so shiny, so promising, so initially fulfilling... but then the little things started to make you wonder, such as why are all the bandits now wearing chainmail and steel plate armor, when they were wearing leather a while back? Why aren't my fireballs as effective on this ghost as they were a few days ago? Why were there novice calcinators on this shelf last week, but this week there are apprentice ones? Soon, you start to discover the dark secret. Soon you realize that the threat to Cyrodil is not Oblivion, but your very existence! You learn that if it wasn't for you, vampires would not be a threat to anyone, as people could sneeze and accidently kill one that was in the same room. If it wasn't for you, travelers would not be at risk of getting mauled by bears. If it wasn't for you, those Sigil Stones would be guarded by a single scamp runt that any hyper-active kid with a stick could take care of. And then, finally SPOILER ALERT: you realize that the solution has nothing to do with finding the lost heir to the throne. No, instead you must climb one of the many cliffs in Oblivion, overlooking the lakes of fire, and cast yourself off of it, to be consumed, body and soul, by the glowing hot magma. Only in this way shall you emerge victorious, as evil can no longer draw off of your strength to augment its own. Once this is done, the deadra will be as threatening as your average puppy dog, and the Oblivion gates will be harnessed as a power source to spur Cyrodill's upcoming indusrial revolution. Everyone will be happy and capitalistic, but you will never see it, because you are dead. Instead, you will simply see a screen that tells you to load a previously saved game, but you are so overcome with ennui that you cannot bear to continue on. Thus, in conclusion, Oblivion is a brilliant game for its nihilistic themes and unconventional immersiveness that actually breaks down the psyche of the player as he begins to realize the pointlessness of living. The force for good turns out to be the impetus of evil as the depths of this postmodernist world are explored and then re-explored, over and over again. We are reminded of our repetitive lives through the saterical level design, where all buildings are roughly the same as the next, showcasing our culture's obsession with conformity. So Bravo to Bethesda for creating this beatuiful and terrifying metaphor of today's human condition. |
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| Posted by: B_W | Posted on: Thursday April 20 2006 10:06pm |
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piss piss piss. B_W |
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| Posted by: CrowScape | Posted on: Thursday April 20 2006 9:11pm |
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Whiskey, wait till you get into the Arcane University. Once you can make your own spells, the game loses all challenge (The Illusion skill is the most unbalanced skill in the history of RPGs). Playing Oblivion is like playing against a five-year old. You have to play with a lot of self-imposed restraint if you want to have fun. Of course, the wackiness of the AI occasionally makes it all worth while (such as provoking the guards into a killing spree inflicted on the townsfolk). And hours of fun can be had in using the Havok engine to decorate one of your many houses... but for that I would prefer The Sims instead. |
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| Posted by: B_W | Posted on: Thursday April 20 2006 4:37pm |
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Frankly, I don't think Sony HAS a PS3 yet. If they do, why haven't we seen them? We were at Sony's headquarters for goodness sake. Why go to their place and see stuff, if they don't have demos of the production models that will be out in the next year. Isn't that the whole point of these 'showrooms of the future' these companies have? Oh, that reminds me, Blu-Ray SUX. AND I DIDN'T EVEN SEE ONE PAN!!! If what we saw was final Blu-Ray, and HD-DVD can outperform it, (which it should be able to do with one layer tied behind it's back) I don't think 1080p matters. Also, I have yet to see a 1080p monitor, so I don't even understand how that plays into anything. I don't think everyone who bought a 1080i TV is going to rebuy at this point now that there is finally going to be some market saturation. Finally, I doubt they will be bringing this theoretical PS3 in at $500, I just don't think Sony can float it at that price and remain solvent right now. After all, they have a new building to build, because the one I saw BLEW!!! And that's the way it is. Paul Harvey...umm...I mean B_W P.S. OBLIVION ROCKS MY NEWLY BROADENED WORLDVIEW! OH MY GOOD LORD IS IT OUTSTANDINGLY GOOD! WHOO! |
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| Posted by: intrigue | Posted on: Wednesday April 19 2006 7:59pm |
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check this out aural vampire flash video www.auralvampire.com/av-008/ ahhhh tokyo we misss you |
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| Posted by: nearscape | Posted on: Wednesday April 19 2006 12:13pm |
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I was reading the C | Net article that Tycho linked regarding the (theoretically) forthcoming high-def optical discs. So, HD-DVD has no 1080p support? Meaning, no 1080p on Xbox360? It seems like that might be a big deal in the PS3 success. Not so much for games...1080p games don't make much sense if you can do interlaced...but if these next-gen consoles are trying to take over home theater duties, PS3 looks like a no-brainer. Especially if Sony can really release them at $500. Since you have to buy the HD-DVD accessory separate for XBox, PS3 is probably going to be cheaper than Xbox+HDDVD...with more gaming horsepower...and better studio support for HD movies. Although I'm a little disappointed that I won't be able to get my boomerang controller. |
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| Posted by: intrigue | Posted on: Wednesday April 19 2006 9:05am |
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dave maybe you can still get your iFish www.akihabaranews.com/en/index.php |
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| Posted by: CrowScape | Posted on: Tuesday April 18 2006 11:23pm |
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You've got it backwards. First we control the stars, then we leverage that power to control the world. See, right now NOBODY controls the stars, so we won't have to bomb them. Instead, we just send out robotic probes with tiny American flags, and then we shoot down anyone else's flag-bearing robotic probes. So, to sum up: Step 1: Collect Stars Step 2: ???? Step 3: Profit! |
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| Posted by: Big_Whisky | Posted on: Tuesday April 18 2006 12:05pm |
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Is that what happens next, once we control the whole earth we have to control the stars as well. What a slippery slope! B_W |
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| Posted by: CrowScape | Posted on: Sunday April 16 2006 2:03pm |
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Potential Star Control Sequel www.gamespot.com/pages/news/show_blog_entry.php?topic_id=24521940 |
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| Posted by: B_W | Posted on: Friday April 14 2006 8:01pm |
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As a wise man once said... "This LAN is your LAN...this LAN is my LAN..." i'm in like sin bitches... B_W |
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| Posted by: sysop | Posted on: Friday April 14 2006 3:30pm |
| hmm...that wasn't supposed to end up here just yet. Backed up just in case. | |
| Posted by: sysop | Posted on: Friday April 14 2006 3:12pm |
| 1.7 first test | |
| Posted by: nearscape | Posted on: Friday April 14 2006 2:20pm |
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I see Intel Core is now supported by Firefox. www.mozilla.com/firefox/releases/1.5.0.2.html Link markers? Bah. If I wanted to be like everyone else I would have just installed a working BBS. ;) |
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| Posted by: intrigue | Posted on: Friday April 14 2006 7:43am |
| i think you should just have a link marker like everyone else | |
| Posted by: intrigue | Posted on: Friday April 14 2006 7:42am |
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yo NYC in other news memories, check these out boiz www.pingmag.jp/2006/04/13/10-pictures-of-tokyo-gotham/ |
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| Posted by: Dream BBQ Child | Posted on: Thursday April 13 2006 5:28pm |
| Hello Hello from NYC! | |
| Posted by: nearscape | Posted on: Thursday April 13 2006 1:59pm |
| So are we locked into Memorial Day then for the LAN? | |
| Posted by: nearscape | Posted on: Thursday April 13 2006 1:16pm |
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Ah, I see what you mean about https. Although www.digg.com seems to go to the right place. But it's been an issure with slashdot.org as well. Currently, it doesn't matter what the sub-domain is, there just has to be something there for it to pick up on the link. I'll try removing that requirement in the next patch and see what happens, a test of which should start tomorrow. For a sure-fire way to give 3ds max a heart attack, assign a material with ray-traced refraction to a meta-particle emitter, turn on motion-blur, and hit render. HUUGGHH! |
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| Posted by: bugg reporter | Posted on: Thursday April 13 2006 11:49am |
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the hyperlink detection engine, is not working right with https:// links, it prepends and then the entire link is sent as a search query in google. mouse over it to see what i mean. copy and paste the link for it to work. digg.com links have a simular problem on your site as they dont have a www.digg.com just digg.com |
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| Posted by: nearscape | Posted on: Thursday April 13 2006 9:53am |
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I just got bounced to the same boring wiki on both of those links. Here's some post GDC stuff that I found interesting. console.hardocp.com/article.html?art=MTAyNiwxLCxoY29uc29sZQ |
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| Posted by: CrowScape | Posted on: Wednesday April 12 2006 7:47pm |
| Can't attend LAN. 12 page paper due that Tuesday. | |
| Posted by: intrigue | Posted on: Wednesday April 12 2006 11:55am |
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2 inside articles on the future of gaming from GDC https://www.cmpevents.com/GD06/a.asp?option=C&V=11&SessID=2385 https://www.cmpevents.com/GD06/a.asp?option=C&V=11&SessID=2113 |
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| Posted by: Intrigue | Posted on: Wednesday April 12 2006 9:13am |
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first crow, i am in no way open to hear arguements in favor of the patriot act, when i have better things to do with my time, like plan the next lan party!!!! memorial day weekend is the thursday 25th - monday 29th what hot games do we want to play? we didnt play civ 4 all that much last time and it deserves some serious time in my opinion Age of Empires III might also be fun and then there are the oldies and the goodies Fear UT2k4 Starcraft Armagetron TA Tank Wars any others? so we can get good and ready for some gaming |
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| Posted by: CrowScape | Posted on: Tuesday April 11 2006 7:21pm |
| NearScape, may I remind you that it was you who first introduced the fallacy of questionable cause, by claiming that Japanese gun control laws were responsible for their low crime. My introduction of Switzerland was simply to show how such simplistic comparisons did not hold up. You may want to re-read your postings on March 31. Or perhaps you were just hoping no one would notice your duplicitousness. You are right, though. After such a demonstration of your lack of intellectual honesty, I have no desire to debate you any more. (Though I do promise Intrigue that when I'm through with my current delluge of papers I will gladly debate the merits and shortcomings of the PATRIOT Act with him, if he so chooses) | |
| Posted by: nearscape | Posted on: Tuesday April 11 2006 5:27pm |
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In any case, I grow weary of CrowScape trying to make this conversation something it's not. So in conclusion, Japan is pretty awesome, and I'm bummed that the US is so different. But as I said at the beginning, it's not for everyone. And that's really all I have to say about that. In other news, the Rammstein album "Rosenrot" is very confusing! While many tracks are very good, some are just inexplicable, such as the Spanish one, and others are extremely gay, as in that special greasy man-action that Germans seem to excel at. And supposedly there's a video that got banned in Europe, which is usually a sign of something good. ;) |
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| Posted by: nearscape | Posted on: Tuesday April 11 2006 10:05am |
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Trust me, you really don't want to start the fallacy game, because it opens you to a whole new slew of attacks. For example, you can't claim straw man when committing a fallacy of division. Or, the fact that most of your points are based on questionable cause, particularily pertaining to gun control. You brought up Switzerland and I let it slide even though it is irrelevant. You really need to learn something about proofs. Specifically, you need a control variable, and by comparing Switzerland to the US you already changed 2 variables (gun control laws and the population involved), thus invalidating your whole claim. On the other hand, I clearly stated that while I prefer the results of Japanese gun control, the U.S. is a completely different population (March 31). You, however, seem to think that Switzerland and the U.S. are the same thing. Pretty shaky ground. Similarily, you assume that the behavior of the Japanese we met is the result of the goverment (the police state, you called it), again without proof. Your "government of fear". The problem we have with that is that many of our experiences were in private establishments such as clubs, free from police pressure and surveilance, yet we were still treated with utmost respect. This is also not representative proof, since there are many Japanese that we did not meet, but since you have no experience with which to counter ours (or anyone we know), your arguments have little effect. Also, I believe that the US was founded to be better than the fear-based regimes that preceeded it, and that the government should fear it's people just as the British learned to fear the colonists, but that's just my belief. You bring up a number of good examples of prior acts, though I don't see how this invalidates our fears. It justifies them, in fact. All of these acts are considered invalid today and have been retired, usually because they pertained to a specific war or emergency which also ended. The problem with associating similar legislation with a war on terror is there are no defined and agreed upon terms for the termination of such a "war", making such legislation stink of a permanent change in governement purview, and not a temporary measure to deal with an emergency. I just don't think we're in an emergency right now, certainly not like WWII (many people considered Pearl Harbor an attack on US territory, BTW, a point not lost on FDR). So I'd rather not have the government running around with emergency powers just for the fuck of it, as this government has proven to be a poor judge of such things, as Iraq's WMDs were clearly not an emergency. Further, these acts demonstrate that our government is not beyond abusing its power, and warrant caution and the use of a very short leash. Not sure what you're trying to prove here, though my statement of "never needed before" was clearly incomplete. It should have been "never needed before during peacetime." |
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| Posted by: intrigue | Posted on: Tuesday April 11 2006 10:03am |
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i am going to have to disagree on two counts here, first i am not in favor of abolishing the MILITARY, i am in favor of it instituting a QUICK and appropriate response such that further attacks and MILITARY spending can be kept to a minimum and my civil rights are not imposed upon. I WAS ENTIRELY FOR THE MILITARY IN AFGANISTAN, in fact things like that lead me to vote for BUSH the FIRST TIME. However, Afganistan did not create quite the economic motivator and the nationalism that BUSH was hoping for, so, we went to war with IRAQ and partially defeted them in 2-5 days. I was understanding of such a war because I understand how countrys act like 5 year olds in kindergarden. I AM NOT HOWEVER FOR SPENDING BILLIONS OF DOLLARS, approaching a TRILLION dollars so that we can stabilize the price of OIL. That is a bull crap economic and national security reason, and it is the best reason this administration has got to continue abusing our rights and meddling in the middle east. IF OIL is so damn precious in this day and age when the US has several companies tring to figure out how to deploy hydrogen/hybrid/methenol based vehicals to the market place because they dont know the size of the market place, and when we have nanotech that can replace most oil based plastics, then why are we not spending that MONEY advancing OUR TECHNOLOGY ADVANTAGE, and the SELLLLLLLLING IT to the world. That is what i don't fraking understand, why are we cowering in fear and consipiousy when we could be dominating the market place. LET CAPITOLISM DEFEAT TERRORISM if it can topple the USSR why can't it destroy CHINA AND TERRORISM both. We have such a lead in alternate fuel source vehicals, and nanotech that it should be a no brainer that a war with the MIDDLE EAST should be a war of economics much like the cold war was, but this time we have the knowledge from the first economic war that we won. LETS MAKE AN ARMS RACE OUT OF ALTERNATIVE FUEL SOURCES, instead of paying thousands of people to get shot at and stand around with guns telling people that have different beleifs that they need to change. This is not like WWII when we destroyed germany and japan, and then rebuilt them out of sympathy, we hardly destroyed anything in Iraq, except for targeted areas, they don't need us, they have SOOOOO MUCH OIL MONEY that they could reap, they could rebuild right away, but if we took that money away from them, through economic war, then the whole middle east would need to redevelop a new ecnonomy, we would take their cash cow. GAME OVER. in the mean time we are spying on our own public without cause or reason, we have presidents over streching thier implied power and we have the FBI and the CIA breaking laws building machines that JUDGES HAVE said no to so many times that i cant even count them any more. CARNIVOR has been deemed unconstitutional as it invades the privacy of law abiding citizens. THE GOVERNMENT, under BUSHES direct order, even asked for all of googles index data, search queries, and search results for a period of 2 MONTHS, when GOOOOOOOOOGLE said no, the government would not let it go, they argued that because other companies complied, that google should to. WHY DOES THE GOVERNMENT NEEEEEED THAT DATA, because they wanted to prove that porn was on the internet. For crying out loud you could ask anyone what is on the interent and many of them would respond with porn. Especially since that musical made a song about it. THE GOVERNMENT WANTED that data for another reason and I dont need to be parinoid to know the truth about that, they were using the guise of child porn as a fear tactic to get information on something related to power control and manipulation. There is little reason left to trust the government, when was the last time that they gave us rights instead of taking them away?????????????????????????????????????????????????????? |
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| Posted by: CrowScape | Posted on: Tuesday April 11 2006 1:03am |
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Sorry Intrigue, I'm going to have to put you on the backburner for a bit. I appreciate that you have actually responded to my inquiry, but at this point I have too much on plate to go into a debate over the PATRIOT Act. Instead, I will turn to Justin: "The side I'm on? So we're all the same?" Straw Man. You are all arguing the same position on this topic. It doesn't matter if you or Intrigue have a difference on the usefulness of the military, as that does not factor in to the debate over whether Japan is more free than the US. Gun control is tangentally related, simply because it is useful for me to point out the contradictions in Whiskey's position, but not essential as I still have plenty of other examples (e.g. motor vehicles) to point to. But, as you all express an unwarrented amount of concern about unmanned airial vehicals in the US and all think Japan is so much better in this regard, you are all on the same side of this debate. Just as even though I differ strongly with Christopher Hitchens on social issues, I am on the same side as he is on the Iraq War debate. "such legislation is dubious because we've never required it in the past." Alien and Sedition Act: 1798 (illegal to criticize the federal government) Proclamation Suspending the Writ of Habeas Corpus: 1862 (citizens may be imprisioned and held without trial) Espionage Act of 1917: (Illegal to interfere with the operation of the US armed forces, so all those people protesting ROTC, they'd be imprissoned if this law was in effect today) Sedition Act: 1918 (see Alien and Sedition Act of 1798) Japanese Internment: 1942 (Americans of Japanese descent along the west coast had property seized and were relocated to "internment" camps for the duration of the war. No trials.) And these are simply the most outrageous. The PATRIOT Act does not even approach the level of threat to American Civil Liberties that these did. In the historical sense, the PATRIOT Act is extremely mild considering that this was the first time the US had been attacked on US soil since the War of 1812. A small group of crazy Islamists did what no nation had been capable of for 200 years. I would expect something far more severe in that context. "I'm advocating a return to the way it was before we started governing based on fear; the status quo if you will." So you want a return to before 1776? All government is based on fear, whether it is fear of violence or fear of economic hardship or fear of change. People obey because if they do not, then either the government will exert violence on them or society risks collapse, exposing them to those three fears and many others. Where those fears no longer exist, you get disobedience, as you see in France. Intrigue is right in that there are too many lawyers in the US. They significantly decrease the amount of fear the US government is able to inspire in its citizenry. Thus, people are free to disrespect police. Our low conviction rate means the legal system does not need to be respected. Seeing this, police become frustrated, so they sometimes decide to get their justice in before the courts let them off. It is not that the government is governing by too much fear, but instead by too little. What you saw in Japan is a government with the credible capacity to inspire fear in its citizens (76 % of crimes solved). As long as people believe that you will back up the fear that you create, and as long as that fear outweighs any other fears the people possess, the less you will need to exercise your enforcement capabilities. The question then becomes how much do you fear disorder. The more orderly you want your society, the more fear you want the government to wield. |
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| Posted by: nearscape | Posted on: Monday April 10 2006 11:54pm |
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"Just because the Great Nearscape hasn't said it directly, and even hedged against it, does not mean that the side you are on is not holding up the Japanese model as something to be imitated." The side I'm on? So we're all the same? You really haven't been paying attention. I think the NRA has outlived it's usefulness and should be put down. That puts me and Whisky on different platforms. I believe strongly in the usefulness and honor of our military and other permanent government bodies, which puts me diametrically opposed to the Libertarian platform which Intrigue holds. I don't think that puts me on anyone here's "side". That fact that you must lump me into inaccurate categories to launch ad hominem attacks is amusing, and reveals the frailty of your arguments. |
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| Posted by: nearscape | Posted on: Monday April 10 2006 11:04pm |
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"Why is indescriminate, unobtrusive survelience just fine and dandy in Japan, but if done in the US it places us on the road to Fascism?" Attitude and intent. And thank you for demonstrating my point so effectively. There's nothing definitively evil about a gun. Just a gun in the hands of the wrong people. Fearing the gun is irrational when the people wielding it are benevolent. Since the Japanese authorities have not disrespected me (yet), it's not a problem. If and when they do, I'll probably be singing a different song. Until then it is just paranoia. The authorities in Japan have broader legal powers than those in the US, however, they appear to use them with more restraint and responsibility. I'm not comfortable with new legislation that gives our government more authority for a number of reasons: first, our government has not demonstrated respect and restraint regarding law-abiding citizens. Second, even though I don't believe that Dubya is the Antichrist, I don't know (and have little control over) who will follow him, so any such provisions are simply a liability, given the ineptitude demonstrated by the Democrats in the last election, coupled by the animosity that the Bush administration is generating. And third, such legislation is dubious because we've never required it in the past. Politicians like to talk about how "9/11 changed everything", and I call bullshit. There have been terrorist, political, and national entities out to get us since long before that, and there is no evidence that the PATRIOT Act and similar legislation would have prevented it. So I wonder: what is it really for? You see, CrowScape, I'm not advocating change in America. I'm advocating a return to the way it was before we started governing based on fear; the status quo if you will. You sure are being defensive. Any particular reason? |
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| Posted by: intrigue | Posted on: Monday April 10 2006 8:37pm |
| it is not the drones that concern me alone, it is the order of things, US PATRIOT ACT which does not repect our rights. then its drones that give up privacy, to someone that first did not respect our rights, that is the problem. if they had respected my rights i might have trusted the admin, but now i dont get it. | |
| Posted by: CrowScape | Posted on: Monday April 10 2006 5:33pm |
| Intrigue, you have not been talking about a simple "difference in worlds." You have instead been passing normative judgements on those worlds. These normative judgements, however, have no consistency. Why is indescriminate, unobtrusive survelience just fine and dandy in Japan, but if done in the US it places us on the road to Fascism? Why are ubiquitous survellience cameras in Tokyo benign while unmanned reconassaince drones over Milwaukee are malignant? You've put out a great deal of noise on your end but have failed to even begin to address my question. Instead you lash out at every other conceivable greivance you have in a desperate attempt to avoid recognizing this contradiction. If your next response continues to ignore this issue then I will simply ignore any future postings you may have on the subject, as you have demonstrated that you have nothing to say and I am growing tired of being the target of your ravings. | |
| Posted by: intrigue | Posted on: Monday April 10 2006 4:39pm |
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there was a bill that was on the table and passed that is soooooo anti american it levies my desicion to stay here and entices me to live else where while i retain my us citizenship and vote safely abroad incase the perverbial shit hits the fan, which you think the goverment should just throw around because it hasnt harmed anyone yet. i would like to remind you that the reason that i am alive, that my father is alive and that my grandfather had the chance to live is because when nazi germany decided to get weird he changed the spelling of his last name and left the country!!! not durring wwII when the nazi party was too large, but much earlier when he could have been considered parinoid and obtusely emotional. my genes are rattleing and i dont like where this country is going, period. it did not take a trip to japan for me to speak out and distrust our government, a trip to japan just allowed me to see that my fears are not without some merit. my intent was not to win an arguement, it was to demonstrate a difference in worlds, and crow, you just want to win an arguement and in the process you have turned one more sholder away from the human elment of society and have turned it in to a turntable of words. THIS IS WHY LAWYERS SHOULD NEVER BE POLITITIONS, they dont know how to relate to the rest of us, only words. |
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| Posted by: CrowScape | Posted on: Monday April 10 2006 3:10pm |
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Nearscape, I can probably cite several orders of magnitude more people that I know "who have spent years living and working in" the US "and still don't have any issues with the government there" than you can with Japan. Therefore, by weight of anecdotal evidence, which is what you seem to want to base everything on, I guess that means I win. Do you have any idea what kind of dark alleys I have gone down in Chicago? New York? Berlin? The funny thing about my anecdotes is while none of them are international, you still have to go through the EXACT SAME security screening process. Once I'm past the metal detectors I can stroll on down to the gates where Lufthansa is boarding. So, although I do agree with you that they are irrlevant, they are no more irrelevant than any of yours. Unfortunately for you, anecdotal evidence is all that you have to go on. Also nearscape, in the event that you have not been paying attention, there are currently three people I am dealing with in this debate. In addition to yourself, there is Intrigue, and there is Whiskey (3 to 1. Slightly mismatched, don't you think? You should get three more people to help you out). Just because the Great Nearscape hasn't said it directly, and even hedged against it, does not mean that the side you are on is not holding up the Japanese model as something to be imitated. I also don't recall that I said none of what you experienced happened. I believe I was saying that your experience was not representative, but then again I might just be making that up "as usual." If you could please provide the quote where I said that, it would be quite helpful. Intrigue: There are all sorts of bills on all sorts of tabels throughout the governement. Hell, Charlie Rangle introduced a bill to reinstate the draft in 2004. Remarkably, even though it was put forward, there wasn't a draft! Can you believe it? Surprised me as well when I learned that a bill being debated in the legislature does not mean that it is likely to be made law. If that is all you had to go by, then you shouldn't have even brought it up. Although it would be hillarious to see Chicago trying to legislate what Aurora, Joliet, and Kenosha have to do on their platforms. |
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| Posted by: nearscape | Posted on: Monday April 10 2006 1:39pm |
| Oh, and your anecdote is cute but irrelevant, seeing as none of those trips are international. | |
| Posted by: nearscape | Posted on: Monday April 10 2006 1:31pm |
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"The person who moves to a higher crime area because he happened to be the one who was robbed in a low crime area is not "right." That person is simply reacting to fear." I think you're getting it now. This is exactly the kind of thinking that runs this country. It created homeland security and the TSA, and even a few wars last century. And you really can't fight it. Do I know everything about Japan? Nope, that's why I'm anxious to go back and find out more. You, on the other hand, seem to have read a number somewhere and think that concludes something. I don't think that the U.S. should be Japan, in fact early on I acknowledged that their system wouldn't work here, the damage has been done and our culture is too different. So you're the one making shit up, as usual. I also have no opinion on American trains, because unlike Japanese trains, they are not a viable substitution for air travel, due to the fact that they are expensive, slow, and our country is just too big. None of this has ever been an issue for me. And my friends who have spent years living and working in Japan, and still don't have any issues with the government there kinda blows your "tourist experience" theory out of the water...that, and you have no idea the kind of dark alleys we went down... But here you are, still trying to tell us that none of this happened! We all must have been enjoying some good hallucinogens. |
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| Posted by: intrigue | Posted on: Monday April 10 2006 1:29pm |
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so i was reading this www.bcr.com/opinion/imho/uma_wireless_convergence_20060201898.htm and some how woundup here reading about a headless chicken that lived for 18 months en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_the_Headless_Chicken |
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| Posted by: intrigue | Posted on: Monday April 10 2006 1:28pm |
| there are bills on the table to add security to subways and trains, i dont know the bill numbers but i know chicago and new york have threatend it several times. | |
| Posted by: CrowScape | Posted on: Monday April 10 2006 12:30pm |
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nearscape, sorry, I have experienced being in a foreign land where everything seems wonderful. I was in Germany for three weeks, actually living with a German family. It was great, and I went through such wonderful experiences as the Frankfurt International Airport and rode on the ICE trains. I saw things such as an adult toy story right next to a children's toy store (still wish I took that picture). But you know what? I knew that my experience was not representative of what it is actually like in Germany. I got the tourist experience. I did not have to pay taxes, I did not have to deal with the German legal system nor government beuracracy, I did not have to pay attention to the big issues of the national elections. At the time I had no idea about the immigrant problems they were facing. That issue was dwelt on for a whole thirty seconds, simply acknowledging that many immigrants come from the Middle East. Today, that has radical implications that results in thousands of cars being torched in recurring riots and artists being killed throughout Europe. I remarked how great it was that Berlin was the only city I had been in where the Star of David was the graffiti tag of choice. I had no inkling of the speech laws that created this atmosphere. Nope, my superficial experience resulted in a predictably superficial understanding of Germany. However, I maintained no delusions. The person who moves to a higher crime area because he happened to be the one who was robbed in a low crime area is not "right." That person is simply reacting to fear. I could very well convince that person that it was not a rational decision, he may even agree that it was a stupid thing to do, but as long as that fear is there, he will state that he simply feels safer in his new home. It's not a rational approach for the individual to take, as he has actually raised his chances of being robbed again, but it is a reasonable approach, in that he at least has some inner peace. However, just because one individual feels safer in an area of high crime does not mean that the high crime neighborhood is a model that the low crime neighborhood should follow. That kind of reasoning is completely idiotic. But if you want to play the anecdotal game, I could also turn this whole thing around. After 9/11 I have been on flights to/from O'Hare, Newark, and Greensboro airports multiple times. I fly roughly three times a year. I have NEVER had any of the problems you guys apparently had on a single trip at a single airport. I can get my ticket and be at the gate in ten minutes in any of these airports. Therefore, I will take my experience and extrapolate it to the whole, and state that the TSA is a model of efficiency that gets people through security with the minimum of fuss. And yes, this type of reasoning is as dumb as the kind that you are advocating. I know better than to do this. You, apparently, do not. The other thing I apparently have to get used to is people just flat making sh*t up, like the idea that there is some kind of intrusive security setup on trains in the US. |
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| Posted by: intrigue | Posted on: Monday April 10 2006 8:02am |
| paste the link, do not click, the script clipped it | |
| Posted by: intrigue | Posted on: Monday April 10 2006 7:57am |
| en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optimus_Prime_(person) | |
| Posted by: nearscape | Posted on: Monday April 10 2006 2:14am |
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Have you figured it out yet, Crowscape? What you are experiencing is the futility of trying to argue academics against experience. Get used to the feeling, because you're going to encounter it a lot in your professional life. You may be perfectly right on paper. There may be numbers and stats and powerpoint presentations to prove your point. But you see, none of that can undo our experience, so there really is no argument here. We all experienced something in Japan, and despite divergent itineraries and political preferences, we all came to the same conclusion. It's something you'll never understand until it happens to you. Meanwhile, here's a logical excercise for you. Find a town in the U.S. that is "rated" highly for safety. Then find a former resident who was assaulted, robbed, raped, or whatever you want in that "safe" town, and subsequently moved to another town which - curiously enough - is considered more dangerous by the statisticians. Try explaining to that person how wrong they are, and then you may have the beginnings of a clue. There's being right on paper, and then there's being right. Come on, I know you've had professors that are "experts" on paper, but don't know a thing about how the real world operates. You can't touch our experience, and that's the end of that. So let's talk academics. Do you have any information on the methodology behind your Freedom House and Corruption Perceptions numbers? I'm betting there's a lot of paper-sense in there. Tallying of laws and so forth. Very orderly and logical, and a complete fantasy as well. If everything was so cut and dry, numerically categorized if you will, what would we ever need lawyers for? There isn't a whole lot of ambiguity in a number. Back in reality, however, you have people who stretch and abuse the powers granted to them by law, and people who use restraint. Apparently, the USA is dominated by the former, and Japan is filled with the latter. We never could have known the truth of this until we saw it ourselves, just as you don't. I hope you can come with us in 2008. |
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| Posted by: Peter | Posted on: Sunday April 9 2006 4:28pm |
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Just so you know....I was nowhere near Washington D.C. today...That's my story and I'm sticking to it. www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12239161/ |
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| Posted by: CrowScape | Posted on: Sunday April 9 2006 7:09am |
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Intrigue on April 9 2006: "Jim i have never stated that i have a problem with passive survalance, or equal treatment." Intrigue on March 30 2006: "and then some more bad news for the land of the SAFE AND SECURE, get ready for a prefacist America! hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/03/30/0113220&from=rss" In other words, yes you did state that you have a problem with passive survellience, which is the statement that actually started this whole debate. |
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| Posted by: Intrigue | Posted on: Sunday April 9 2006 2:27am |
| jim i have never stated that i have a problem with passive survalance, or equal treatment. what i dont like is the fact that someone with who knows what is riffling through my clothes making who knows what desicions, under secret laws that are illegal to question or make fun of. i am for bomb detectors, i am for metal detectors, i am for not allowing metal or glass in the passenger compartment, i am for doing this with a curtious smile and an effortless trip. i am not for hours of lines rude TSA officials and depants'ng myself and walking on dirty public floors with my socks on. if they want me to take off my belt and my shoes, give me slippers and a privacy room so that someone can pat me down in private with a camera there to asure consitancy. i dont want cpu's deciding if something is right or wrong with a citation on my doorstep and only a week to dispute it. I think the goverments place is to SERVE the public, not terrorize them. i would like to be treated better in this country than in any other country in the world, we should have a "world class military that up holds professonalism at every corner" and "TSA should be even more professional and curtious, as they should be welcoming the world to the greatest country on the planet". instead we get, "joking about security may lead to arrest and imprisonment" and rude people directing us around as we wait for friends, and unexplaind procedures mandating who knows what tasks with our luggage. an open, democratic and free society does not hide things from the public. if a safer america means that we have checks at the boarders, tell us let us know what you are looking for let us know what will inconvince our trip if it is detected. put the burden on the individual to conform before enforcement is put in place, and don't create policies unless you can enforce them. If you claim that an 80 % enforcement rate is required, then prove that you can enforce at that rate before you make it law. | |
| Posted by: CrowScape | Posted on: Saturday April 8 2006 11:19pm |
| Actually intrigue, I'm mainly making fun of the contradictory position you guys seem to be in where a) you panic over a security measure such as unmanned drones while b) upholding Japan as some great model a relationship between a government and its people. This is what is known as "cognitive dissonance." I'm not arguing what is correct nor what is "right," though your attempts to draw in more and more red herrings to distract from the issue has met with some unfortunate success. Instead, I am arguing for some logic. Try reconciling your respect for non-obtrusive, indescriminate surveillence in Japan with your outrage over a similar measure in the US. | |
| Posted by: intrigue | Posted on: Saturday April 8 2006 7:42pm |
| as it has been planly made, Crow, is nolonger defending what is correct, but what is RIGHT. Nearscape thank for clearing my point up. Crow just wants to make me into a stupid democrat and argue right vs left retoric instead of how to make this country free, and rational agian. | |
| Posted by: intrigue | Posted on: Saturday April 8 2006 7:32pm |
| frangipani.info/photography/v/manholes_of_japan?set_albumName=manholes_of_japan | |
| Posted by: CrowScape | Posted on: Friday April 7 2006 11:44am |
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The reason you had to spell out you perception with a sledge hammer is because your perception differs greatly from reality. Thus, anyone who is not you but is familiar with the way things work would be greatly confused by your logic. Instead, now I can simply have a good laugh. The government will not wonder why you have a recon drone, because people have been putting video or still cameras on remote control aircraft, kites, ballons, and rockets for a good, long time. It's a common practice for hobbyists. Infact, taking high altitude photographs is a hobby for some people (see arch.ced.berkeley.edu/kap/ ). Now, if you use it is the government going to "bitch slap" you? Well, that depends on two things. A) Where are you flying it and B) what do you define as "bitch slap." As you are prone to hyperbole, I imagine you would include having an officer come up to you and question what you are doing would be considered a bitch slap, which is the worst that would happen unless you were, say, flying your drone around the White House. In that case, yes, you would probably get into a lot more trouble, but no worse than the occasional idiot who accidentally flys his Cesna into the same restricted airspace. Of course though, since you seem to think that you have more freedom with a gun, I would have you please run a little experiment. Go to downtown Milwaukee in the daytime and fly your drone, and see what response you get from the police. The next day, go to downtown Milwaukee in the daytime and fire your gun, and then see what response you get from doing that. I think you may be surprised at which action merits a real "bitch slap" from The Man. BTW: If you want a survellience drone, you can just buy one from the Discovery Channel store for two hundred bucks, and you don't even need to register it with the government or pass a background check as you would have to for a gun. I don't even think you have to be bothered to go to a place like the DMV to prove you can operate it safely before legally opperating it. shopping.discovery.com/product-59180.html |
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| Posted by: B_W | Posted on: Friday April 7 2006 9:26am |
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"I don't quite get how you would not have the capability to use a recon drone in an illegal manner." Do I have to spell everything out with a sledge hammer. If I get CAUGHT with a recon drone, the government will wonder why I have it, and if I USE IT ONCE, they will bitch slap me up and down. The whole part of a RECON drone is that you use it EVERY DAY TO MONITOR SHIT. ARRRRRGRGRGRGRRGGRGRGRGRRGRGRGRGRGRGGRGRGRRGRG!!! B_W BWWWAHAHAHAHAHHA! p.s. |
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| Posted by: Peter | Posted on: Wednesday April 5 2006 2:43pm |
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Nearscape, I sent the referral number for hostsave/gate to your hotmail email. Thanks for listing me as a referral. |
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| Posted by: CrowScape | Posted on: Wednesday April 5 2006 11:43am |
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Now this is my kind of astronomy: news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060404/sc_afp/spaceastronomyoffbeat;_ylt=Asv6WTOfvGm37YNX0EG5aY6s0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA3ODdxdHBhBHNlYwM5NjQ- I predict that this discovery will spur a dramatic space program from either Kentucky or Ireland. |
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| Posted by: CrowScape | Posted on: Wednesday April 5 2006 1:06am |
| See, that can't be what Intrigue was refering to, because I take trains all the time, I'm by Amtrak stations all the time and I see families rushing to get on said Amtrak trains all the time, and I don't experience and I don't see any invasive security or any lines or any baggage checking. Just "Please, no visitors" signs and messages over the loud speakers about being vigilent for unattended packages. And let's face it, a terrorist is not going to hit Amtrak when he can hit Metra and get a lot more people in an enclosed space and affect the commute of an entire city, so I would expect Metra to have the greater security of the two (but, of course, I'm assuming a logical beuracracy. Who knows, with the geniuses who run these things maybe they do all the checking while the train is in route, but then that screws up the part about having to wait). The tightest security I ever saw were some police dogs on the platform of the Red Line and a few extra officers when there was the specific threat against Chicago last year. | |
| Posted by: nearscape | Posted on: Tuesday April 4 2006 11:50pm |
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"I'm not quite sure what being able to board a 200mph train in Japan has to do with the TSA screwing things up." He wasn't very clear, but I believe the comparison he intended and that I'll reiterate, isn't trains vs planes. Obviously, the geography of Japan is not the geography of the U.S. It's about the freedom to use those systems, whatever the technology. The issue is the ease with which we, as law-abiding foreigners, were free to use the transportation system without giving up our personal privacy, pants, or pride, versus the insulting mistreatment we recieve as citizens in our own fucking country. And all because of foreign terror instigated by a Saudi family that can't keep tabs of it's own offspring, terrorists that we trained in the 80's to annoy those evil Communists. A train, like an airplane, gun or any other tool, can be deadly in the hands of the wrong people. Japan knows this, having recently had some issues with domestic terror on trains (Aum Shinrikyo). But they dealt with it like rational adults. They are smart enough to know that you can't make yourself impervious to terrorism without giving up everything that makes you a target in the first place. This is more than we can say for the various powers in this country, who insist on fighting a pointless battle using the wrong tactics (except for the invasion of Iraq, the one thing we've done right to distract terrorists, though that was probably incidental). Japan throws up a few non-invasive cameras and goes about the business of being free. The terrorists are proven ineffective. I'm sure they'll be the target of more terror in the future, but so will we. The difference is that we are already humbled and cowering in fear. |
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| Posted by: nearscape | Posted on: Tuesday April 4 2006 10:50pm |
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The thing about all this government surveilance...is that I simply don't believe this is news. The non-elected wing of the government has run whole buildings dedicated to this stuff since long before the Bush administration. Most likely this is just a clever way of declassifying what they've been doing anyways. It's not like Bush's approval rating can get much lower, so he makes a great opportunity. After all, you've gotta keep those teeming masses convinced that they have some control. |
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| Posted by: CrowScape | Posted on: Tuesday April 4 2006 10:34pm |
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Whiskey is trying to have it both ways. Great, if your life is in danger you have the capability to use your car in an illegal manner. I don't quite get how you would not have the capability to use a recon drone in an illegal manner. Whiskey is quite on this. Perhaps there is some physical law whereby police sirens cause wings to stop producing lift. How long until I wind up in Gitmo, beaten to a pulp? Well, if I do that tomorrow, probably in the same ammount of times it will take porsines to evolve the ability to slip the bonds of earth and touch the face of God. Intrigue, if you think abortion is purely a religious issue, then you are clueless. If you do not have a problem with nine judges creating law, then quite frankly you are not as into freedom as you may think. BTW: it's not "unlawful searches and seizures," it's "unreasonable searches and seizures." And you don't even want to get me started on the logical inconsistencies inherent in the current conception of a seperation of Church and State. Additionally, that term appears nowhere in the Constitution, and just because space cadet Jefferson said it does not mean this society has to bow down before it. And if you notice, I stated that I think the TSA guidelines are rediculous, that I want people to carry guns on planes. The argument here is that A) remote controled aircraft are a supposed threat to the people and B) Japan is more free than the US, not that the TSA is a great model of logic and efficiency. You won't find anyone to argue that point with you here. As for Japan, every objective measure I can find indicates that Japan is less free than the US. It may well be a more rationally ordered society, and there is nothing inherently wrong in sacrificing some freedom for increased order, but that is a different matter entirely. I'm not quite sure what being able to board a 200mph train in Japan has to do with the TSA screwing things up. Of course, what you can do in Japan should most definately be replicated in the US. I mean, it's not like we have a significantly lower population density that makes the economics of such mass transportation projects highly questionable or anything. It is nice that you would rather be protected from China than terrorists. Please give a detailed plan how the government can accomodate your wish while fullfilling its obligations to the rest of the public to protect them from people who want to cause mass civilian casualties. |
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| Posted by: B_W | Posted on: Tuesday April 4 2006 10:22pm |
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Now this guy was securing the homeland... news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060405/ap_on_re_us/press_secretary_arrested homeland security is on the MF'ing job children... B_W |
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| Posted by: Peter | Posted on: Tuesday April 4 2006 8:24pm |
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Frodo and Sam....secret lovers? Check out this great commercial by TBS! tbs.com/stories/story/0,,70708,00.html |
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| Posted by: Peter | Posted on: Tuesday April 4 2006 7:57pm |
| Congrats to Intrigue for writing the next great American novel! | |
| Posted by: Intrigue | Posted on: Tuesday April 4 2006 4:48pm |
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To sum it up I would rather have the government protect me from china, than from terrorists and abortion clinics. Ok, I would like to clear up my view on civil liberties vs. safety systems to prevent true physical victimizations. 1. Many of the Bills Of Rights were put into place because the British government abused said rights and so the people wanted rights so that they could keep the government honest in the United States. Our civil rights were not created to prevent or to protect us from crime or from being victimized from each other, but rather to establish a fair means of power between the people of this land and its government. 2. many of the laws of this country have been based on religious principals, and have been described as religious principals and as such have had laws created to enforce religious principals. In contrast we created national laws and beliefs that the church and the state should be separate, and so we incorrectly designed a system which relies on conforming to a set of homogenous religious principals that are fading away as we accept a more and more diverse set of international immigrants. 3. the right to bear arms and the right to free speech, unlawful search and seizure, freedom of religion were hot topics at the time of rebellion from Brittan and were more reactionary than well thought out, the hot topics of today relate to the scalability of technology and the ease at which technology will make a likely guess from its observed information and the belief that technology solutions will not see all of the evidence. I don’t want a technology based judge hearing my case, I want my peers. 4. Judgment by jury although nice in theory, I did not like how the case that I was on turned out. It was obvious that the two were in a fight and that some racial statements were said and a fight broke out, however, because the lawyers sucked and we could not ask questions, the truth was not presented and a partial truth became the “facts” that we had to rule on. We had to let some guy off because the lawyers on both sides did not do their jobs, any one on the jury could have asked better questions than the two lawyers that had other things to do that day. 5. If we are going to be an open culture to the world and a port to the world, we are going to have crazy people that want to do things to us to change our policies. THEY WON THIS TIME AND SO THEY WILL DO IT AGAIN. I always like the policy of no negotiation with terrorists, however after 911 we no longer were Proud Americans, but rather a scared, scared and emotional country that did not act very rationally. I had friends that wanted to join the military just so they could KILL TERRORISTS. They wanted a legal reason to kill someone that might be related to what happened. 6. As a port country to the world, yes it is necessary to search and seize dangerous properties, however, which does not mean that the government has to treat us like criminals. I have traveled more than most of you since 9/11 and I have to say that it is a crying shame how they treat us. I was once in DC returning from the inauguration in which I was intrusively searched every 30 minutes. While I waited in crowded spaces with unsearched office buildings all around, there were snipers on every building top in the area, and I just felt like we expected to get attacked, I felt less safe. The snipers were more there to scare a terrorist than to prevent it, which is why they were so visible. Airport security works on the same principal. It is there to intimidate the entire population that is boarding the plane; it is not there to prevent dangerous things from getting on the plane. I am pro metal detectors, I am pro bomb detectors, I am pro high energy scanners. I am not pro taking my shoes, belt, and pants down in a public space that is unclean and is not regularly sanitized. I do not like my things being searched in an open space, anyone else in line does not need to see what belongings are in my bag so that they can steal it while I am asleep on the plane or hold me up later. I should not have to take my wallet and my keys out of my pockets. If I must take off my shoes, then they should have one use slippers for me to put on before taking off my shoes so that I do not have to walk on the floor. If they are going to prevent terrorism, then liquids should not be allowed on the plane, except from airport staff. A bottle of water can have undetectable bio-elements in it and could be designed to infect everyone on the plane and upon landing cause an undetectable epidemic. The point is that we can not out think the terrorists, because that will always use something that appeals to who we are as a people against us. If they won’t allow me to take a wine opener on a plain than someone should not have glass bottles on a plane either, no matter the source. I am sure prisoners can give you a list of common items on a plane that can be turned in to shivs or weapons of choice while riding a plane, none of these things can be prevented, common sense must be returned to the people, the people must ultimately realize that we can control only our own persons and observe the small space that is around us. We must all work together to track down crime and to prevent things that look ODDDDD. 7. I don’t think the next attack will use planes at all, I think it will be someplace that we have not even considered yet and is entirely American and requires complete anonymity. I do not plan to mention it, however do some thinking and you might know what I am talking about. Terrorists are not going to hit the same target over and over; they are going to make a point and try to instill terror. It’s like when virus writers write viri, they don’t make something that will fail, they look at the trajectory of protection from the antivirus software and they use some trick that is in different direction for each new virus. Terrorism is the same way. 8. Any passive non intrusive and line free searching technique is fine with me as long as it is anonymous until there is a problem detected is fine with me. I don’t mind the idea of a log less system that looks for any set of conditions that does not id me and does not link me to a permanent record until I have made a violation. For example, if the sign says no metal of x size or of any sharpness can pass through this point, I can read the sign and chose to obey before stepping through. If I chose to ignore the sign and I step through I have violated an obvious law and so I have consented to an intrusive search. I have then made it a point to consent to a search if what I have brought through the door way did not match the specifications presented before hand. If on the other hand I were to walk through said door way and nothing was found that triggered said alarm, and so the alarm was triggered in accurately I would feel like my rights were violated, since I did not bring through anything that was not on the do not bring list and so what ever my personal effects were have now been linked to my identity and so the government can play favorites and has the opportunity to be corrupted based on opinions and power. 9. my wine opener had a blade that was less than 3inches in length and under previous rules was allowed because it could not cause a fatal injury. This rule changed and was not posted and so I felt violated when I had to have my bags search when I could have easily left it somewhere else, and so I had to “throw out” a $5 to board a plane. These tactics are dangerous and can be used to be prejudicial against its passenger lists such that someone can be unfairly bullied. 10. TSA is especially a joke, because it is not designed to make travel safer and easier, but rather acts as a deterrents to travel and as such make it harder and harder to get anywhere in this country quickly. JB and I were able to get to Tokyo Station and within 5 minutes were able to board a 200mph train that would take us to Kyoto within 2 hours. This is not a possibility in the United States. Even though planes could go the distance and maybe even do it faster, TSA has made is so that you need to be at the airport 2 hours before your national flight and 3-4 hours before an international flight. In the early days of air travel, you could walk on to the plane and go! Planes were much slower but travel times were faster. Our government messed up the train system in this country and now it is making it hard for people to think about short trips on planes. A flight needs to be almost 1.5-2 hours long before it can beat a car going the same distance at 1/10th the speed. It is faster for me to drive to Indianapolis than it is to fly if travel is judged point to point. 11. The difference between Japan and the US is that Japan will use silent consumer pressure to “correct” problems, as a result engineers are enabled to use technology to solve cultural ambiguity. Where as in the US we us a reactive system of half ass lawyers to complain about a problem in front of a jury until they get tired and want to go home to their TV dinner and families, and next year another company has the same problem with the public and so we complain about it again and again and so that is why Japan has 3 times the engineers and 1/3 the lawyers of the US, they are using technology to solve social problems, and we are writing laws without a common sense of what is right. We can not even agree enough on abortion enough in this country that we elect presidents based on a 1 issue religious topic that should not be an issue because we have decided to separate church from state and yet it becomes a point of contention for the Red team or the Blue team to score points on, while in the mean time we have serious problems to concern ourselves with. 12. We were the worlds leader in terms of manufacturing and innovation and that afforded us a certain a status as a world leader, and we are letting our petty differences on topics like abortion and gay marriage get in the way of our world position in manufacturing and innovation. We are letting countries like China steal their way into becoming a super power. We are letting American businesses take billions of dollars over to china so that years of innovation can be copied in months by government sponsored competitors, while factories, and manufacturing capacity is becoming so limited that we will not be able to produce our own inventions, we will need the world to do so. China HAS seized the means of production and they will use it against us if we don’t watch. |
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| Posted by: B_W | Posted on: Tuesday April 4 2006 4:01pm |
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"So Wiskey, are you telling me that you cannot go down to RadioShack, get a remote controled airplane, and fix a camera and a transmitter to it? That is illegal? Please, you CAN own a survellience drone if you want (and have the time/money/skill). You can own a survellience SATELITE if you want and put it into orbit (if, of course, you have the cash)." BTW, Mine can't have MACHINE GUNS crow...like the 'official models'. Even so, I would like to see you build a survelance drone to 'check up' on the local law enforcement effors, or perhaps government facilities, and see how quick pictures of you beaten to a pulp in Guantanamo show up on the Internets. Wouldn't be too long I recon. It's not a two way street, baby! The government can do unto you, and you can take it, or get *ucked. Viva le Revolution! B_W Perhaps I need to spell my name out more, it's WHISKY not WISKEY. I think they need a little more of that down in the Dark_State, things are getting soft down there. |
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| Posted by: B_W | Posted on: Tuesday April 4 2006 3:51pm |
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" Just like you technically can own a car, but there are regulations you must abide by to operate it, or that you technically can own a gun, but there are regulations you must abide by to operate it.So no, Wiskey isn't right at all." You don't GET IT Jim. I have a car. If I need to I will use it any way I can to defend myself or those I care about. If that means breaking the 'LAW' so be it. Just like our founding fathers broke the 'rules' to establish this great nation you call home. I will do what I have to do to defend my freedom. F-the rules, regulations, mores, social orders, etc. This is just like the fact that a jury has the RIGHT to disreguard the LAW if they feel a situation requires it. (but you don't hear anyone talk about that anymore...wonder why?) Law's are established by men, and can and will be broken by me at any time if I feel it is the RIGHT thing to do. That's the spirit this country was founded under, and that's the spirit by which I live my life. Guess what Jim, there are people in this country currently using weapons, and everything else, for bad purposes RIGHT NOW. Law's don't stop them. Never have never will. Law's only stop the law abiding from defending themselves, living their lives, etc. When we flew on that aircraft they STOLE kruger's wine opener, but dished out glass and knives to EVERYONE. How does that work? It doesn't...what would stop a skilled terrorist from siezing all those knives and using them, or just being a great martal artist? Nothing. Yet we are still scrutianized like we are all terrorists every day, though none of us are. Thanks Uncle Sam. Makes me want to cut you that check next week. Send it out a whole minute early. Oh and by the way...Whisky is right ALL THE TIME, EVERY DAY, ALL DAY, and into the NIGHT. Baby. B_W |
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| Posted by: intrigue | Posted on: Tuesday April 4 2006 3:16pm |
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this was a fasinating read www.carotids.com/lifestyle/health-problems-related-to-the-geek-lifestyle/ |
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| Posted by: Dream BBQ Child | Posted on: Tuesday April 4 2006 8:24am |
| I have to keep my MacBook Pro running in an infinate loop (with sleeps) in order to keep it from making this annoying humming noise. But it is a first generation Apple product so I suppose it's to be expected. | |
| Posted by: Peter | Posted on: Monday April 3 2006 8:38pm |
| I don't know...if I saw a box with question marks on it randomly hanging from a tree, I would start looking for Jokey smurf. | |
| Posted by: CrowScape | Posted on: Monday April 3 2006 8:04pm |
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Suspicious packages were always a concern before 9/11, it's just that today people are more aware of them and more likely to alert the cops, which then will prompt them to call out the bombsquad and waste tens of thousands of dollars from the local coffers in order to determine that their public artwork is, in fact, public artwork. Hell, if you take public transportation on any regular basis you will notice the constant messages through the intercom speaker asking people to be on the lookout for unattended packages. These people were just stupid. It's not like you cannot put these question blocks up in public, so long as an external inspection can determine that they are empty, such as leaving the bottom open. Considering there was nothing in the 8-bit version of SMB to tell you that there was a question mark on all sides, it's not like you would be going against canon with that approach. |
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| Posted by: Dream BBQ Child | Posted on: Monday April 3 2006 7:20pm |
| So far-- so good. Still nervous SOMETHING will happen. But I'm typing this on my new MacBook Pro. It feels bigger than the PowerBook did yet I think I recall reading it was smaller. So far too, my impression of it is it's better. | |
| Posted by: nearscape | Posted on: Monday April 3 2006 1:43pm |
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Holy shit, did you read the articles linked at the top? www.recordpub.com/article.php?pathToFile=archive/04012006/news/&file=_news1.txt&article=1&tD=04012006 McCoy said even though no harm was intended by the girls, they could face criminal charges for their actions. “The potential is always present when dealing with a suspicious package that it could be deadly,” McCoy said. “In today’s day and age, you just cannot do this kind of stuff.” Wow. Just...wow. I can just see Osama reading crap like this and laughing his ass off. What a sad nation we have indeed become. |
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| Posted by: intrigue | Posted on: Monday April 3 2006 12:50am |
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www.qwantz.com/posterchild/ super mario cubes for you own town |
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| Posted by: CrowScape | Posted on: Monday April 3 2006 12:26am |
| Watching re-runs of Mission Hill on Cartoon Network, and the following line popped out at me: "We don't need liquor to have fun, not when we have the Babylon 5 collectable card game." Fools! Don't they realize that the Psi-Corps expansion only realizes its full potential until after getting blitzed off of Wild Turkey? | |
| Posted by: CrowScape | Posted on: Saturday April 1 2006 5:45pm |
| Just like you technically can own a car, but there are regulations you must abide by to operate it, or that you technically can own a gun, but there are regulations you must abide by to operate it. Remember Peter, my statement is in response to Wiskey's statement: "Also, with the motorcycles and etc, I can own a gun, a dog, a motorcycle, a radio, but I can't own a police robot." So no, Wiskey isn't right at all. | |
| Posted by: Peter | Posted on: Saturday April 1 2006 4:42pm |
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Crow, You are correct that you CAN build the surveillance drone, however there are several regulations that you must abide by in order to operate said device (or else it can be viewed as an invasion of privacy and/or attempt to hijack airspace depending upon the heights reached). There is a fine line here but technically bot you and B_W are right. |
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