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Chops

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Everything posted by Chops

  1. Can't you just write a paper opposing it?
  2. Not entirely necessary. Paid server transfers cost like $15. Characters on different factions WOULD need to level up again, though.
  3. In regards to SNL being not-funny, I can't help but disagree on a few key skits: Almost anything with Chris Farley still leaves me in stitches (the Japanese Gameshow, so awesome), and pretty much every Celebrity Jeopardy.
  4. Yeah, I noticed that too. About 80% of the forum links on the OO.net homepage were broken links because the posts were cleaned out. Was it a single troll, or a bunch of different ones?
  5. From the "Money Speech" in Atlas Shrugged:
  6. I've found "Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle" to be a pretty effective system. http://www.fitnesstipsforlife.com/burnthefat.htm. It was worth the $35 or whatever it cost for the PDF.
  7. Chops

    Spore

    Like I said, the internet connection thing isn't a game-breaker for me, but it unquestionably would be for someone who's just looking for a fun single-player game without an internet connection. The game-breaker for me is having to call when I want to re-install, which is guaranteed to happen (In the 9 years it's been out, I've probably reinstalled Quake 3 something like 15 times). I value my time enough to not be willing to put myself through that. Single player games and MMO games are incomparable. With a single player game, you get the game, you play it. No extra connections to get content, no required patch downloads. None of that. With an MMO, the content is online, you pay additional fees for the bandwidth of running centrally maintained servers. When comparing Apples to Apples, and you have the choice of purchasing a game that 1) allows you to re-install without hassle, or 2) requires you to call customer service and wait on hold for 45 minutes before explaining why you are re-installing (after all, it's totally EA's business that I just got a new hard drive), frankly, I'll choose option (1) - there are plenty of games that don't require it. My upgrade cycle is between 9 and 12 months. Upgrading either a motherboard or hard drive almost always means re-installing Windows. Which means that a little over once a year, I go through a re-install cycle, reinstalling pretty much all the games I MIGHT play over the next year. If I had to call to re-install every time, there's no way in hell I'd do it. It does. It inconveniences only the legitimate user - the pirate already has the DRM deactivated, and it's not like they deactivated it themselves. We all know how easy it is to download popular software from piracy sites.
  8. Chops

    Spore

    I'd like to briefly follow up by clarifying that I'm not advocating piracy, nor will I be pirating this game. I will be avoiding it altogether.
  9. Chops

    Spore

    Yes, but this isn't an MMO game. This is a single player game. MMO games, by their very nature, require you to log in to operate, as the content is online. Someone who buys an MMO game expects to play it online, and will have a regular internet connection. This, however, is a game that could very well be played single-player, running all content from the hard drive, the only purpose for logging in is to check up and make sure you haven't pirated the game. For someone who isn't going to pirate the game, it's merely an inconvenience, but for someone who doesn't have an active internet connection (think someone in Alaska, or living way in the boonies), it's a complete game-breaker. That said, my personal beef has nothing to do with the login aspect, as I, like many, have a reliable internet connection. The game-breaker for me is the 3-installation limit. If the game has ANY lasting power whatsoever, it will be installed over and over again, as I upgrade and/or format my system (or if I w ant to run it on my laptop as well as my desktop). Even the MMO Games that you cite don't have an arbitrary installation limit. This is perfectly within the rights of EA, but it's also within my rights to refuse to purchase. Having to call a company every time I want to re-install the game is enough to convince me from purchasing it.
  10. For quick tabs on the status of the Earth with respect to the LHC, this site has been set up to notify you if the LHC has destroyed the earth. Note: humor
  11. It's important to note that rights are not axiomatic, but instead are derivative from the requirements of man. Man, to live as a man (rationally), must not live under constant threat of force (which is how animals live). Without rights, man must live as an animal, killing when it benefits the short term. Anarchy is the distinct lack of rights. Rights, however, ONLY exist as a derivative of the requirements of man's life, by his nature. I'm going to post a brief summary of the Objectivst Ethics that deals with the nature of man, and the derivation of rights (I had written this up for another forum, in a debate about animal rights, but it rather neatly addresses your issues). But before I do this, I'll briefly answer your second thing: What, then, is "right" (in the right/wrong sense)? By my definition, "right" means "moral" which means "live affirming." If life is the choice, survival by exploiting resources is right - the alternative is death. So here's my brief essay. Keep in mind his is my attempt at a brief summary of "The Objectivist Ethics" (I also cut out the bits about animal rights, since that's irrelevant to the current discussion).
  12. Hey, no sweat. Searching for "FDA" isn't going to work, as I think the search doesn't index 3-letter words (If MySQL fulltext indexes, then the admins could modify the index to support 3-letter or 2-letter queries)
  13. Here's another thread about this debate.
  14. I use the home page for the metablog and for the "Recent Posts" thinger.
  15. You know how it goes, though, define a market specifically enough, and eventually everyone's a monopolist. The FTC may not act on it, but I ca nsee many people viewing this practice as "monopolistic."
  16. That makes a total of three threads on Religulous
  17. You guys might appreciate this video then, if you found the raspy whisper amusing:
  18. Agreed. That was a phenomenal summary of the consequences of prudent predation.
  19. I'm a business owner (no employees yet), but I run a web hosting company for video game players. This is my exclusive income. Does that count? I don't manage people, but I deal with every aspect of the business (programming, networking, customer service/tech support, financial).
  20. Chops

    Capitalism

    I'll be very brief here, since your question about drugs and weapons have been answered and debated to great extent elsewhere on these forums. Narcotics violate no rights and therefore should not be banned to any extent whatsoever. Individuals under the influence of narcotics can violate rights, but so can an individual not under the influence of narcotics. Guns serve as self-defense (but, like a pencil, knife, or big stick) can also serve as an offensive, and a man has a right to defend himself. Nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons, however, serve no individual defensive purpose, but instead constitute a constant threat of force to anyone within the range of the weapon itself. It's no different than pointing a gun at everyone within range, and as such should be restricted to military use only. Other forum reading for you: Should someone be allowed to own a tank? Should the sale of antibiotics be restricted? Keep in mind that Objectivism holds that the initiation of force is not only immoral, but that the sole purpose of government is the prevention and punishment of the initiation of force. Pointing a gun at someone without pulling the trigger constitutes an initiation of force.
  21. Unless, however, you are more than just "overweight." RB had said that he wishes to lose about 100 pounds total, which would likely put him (starting) around 260-280 pounds. With 100 pounds of fat to lose, I imagine that losing 3 pounds per week in the early stages (as he is) is reasonable. But it is important to monitor your body-fat percentage, which is a much more useful a metric than BMI. I would like to reinforce eriatarka's concern, however, that resistance training is important to maintaining muscle (which itself is important to keeping one's metabolism up).
  22. Paul Graham has an position, claiming that (at least when it comes to starting a business in computers) where you go to school doesn't matter. Like most PG essays, it's a good one, and talks about a number of angles, with (like most PG essays) and emphasis on starting a startup. The general rule is this: Starting a business only requires that you make something people want and are willing to pay for (meaning school isn't a primary concern), while getting a job pretty much does, since HR departments put more emphasis on school than necessary.
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