You apparently don't have small kids. My 6 year old loves games, and we get him new games all the time! They're all demos, usually playing the first couple of levels allowed over and over and over again for weeks. Thanks to my XBOX 360 LIVE, once he's done with them, I delete them and get new demos.
I know my kid enough to know he has thrown stuff at the driver, and he's gotten in big trouble before for it. He knows it's a very serious rule.
Parents should know their children.
"we have not forgotten what happens when secret police or intelligence agencies disregard privacy" I heard stories from my parents about these secret police, but I suppose the U.S. hasn't experienced them quite yet.
I tell everyone who loves Blue Ray the same thing. It's useless. We don't need expensive discs to hold up space when hard drives and "the cloud" have so much space to hold. Most people would rather prefer Netflix or saving movies on a drive versus keeping a bunch of scratchable discs around.
I have to say that violent games don't cause people to be violent. But spending an unusual amount of time in anything (whether it be games, or books, or whatever) will mold someone's mentality away from reality. Playing violent video games 10 hours a day for weeks and months, in my opinion, will BECOME reality to that person, and that is where the danger is.
I see this situation turning out much differently than what I've read so far. I think that Microsoft is just trying to dominate the used game market, and that it's trying to mimic eBay's effect with Paypal. Already, games (Like Mass Effect 3) come with "DLC" that are free if you bought the game new with an activation code, and they sell the code by itself for I don't remember how much. I'm sure there are other games that also need that code just to place the online multiplayer portions. Gamestop really does sell a lot of new console games for $5 less than new games, and push those sales quite a bit more. Personally I prefer spending a little more to buy a disc that's not scratched, since I don't buy that many games and $5 extra isn't the end of the world for me. I think that people will end up paying some small amount like $2 or 5% for every used game transfer (like a fee) and then use Xbox to buy/sell their used games that were purchased through there and attached to their accounts. Gamestop is just the middleman in used game sales.
In California, tips aren't considered income, therefore "tipped minimum wage" doesn't apply. But I live in Colorado now, and I get paid less since I get tips. Also, managers there pretty much all work full-time hours, while the tipped employees all work 15-20 hours.
This article reminds me of a law when I lived in California limiting the number of yard sales one can have at their home per year. I'm sure it wouldn't be too hard to find someone abusing this website to make money under the table and avoid situations such as cleanliness. Bed bugs anyone?
Online classes are a joke. I've taken several, and they're pretty much the same format. Answer homework questions in a general forum (or just copy everyone else's answer since they all just wait until one guy posts the answer), then leave 2 comments on two other people's answers (like saying good job!). THEN, you take quizzes/tests online, most of them multiple choice. You can either do it the hard way be flipping through the index of your textbook for every question, or you can just copy/paste the questions into an online search engine. One class even used the quiz/test questions from the textbook publishers, which made it easy to find answer keys online.
In a city nearby, the provided a study that "proves" that red light cameras decrease traffic accidents. In the actual study, it shows that they compared the data after increasing yellow light times WITH the traffic cameras. Fortunately enough, there were previous studies that show that increasing the yellow light times alone had the same effect, but it was apparently overlooked.
In a recent experience, I almost did get a ticket with a traffic camera. It was snowing, and the light turned yellow at a very uneasy time. I slid, spun around, and ended up sideways in both lanes (while ducking my face behind the steering wheel), barely making it to the line without crossing it. If it wasn't for that camera, I'd have rolled through it since it was very icy on that road.
Also, I've had my picture taken numerous times when the lights were faulty. One time, the light turned from green to red with no yellow light, and I got a picture taken. Many times the flash when I've been going through a green light. There was even one intersection where the lights would flash constantly (light a strobe light) blinding everyone in the intersection whenever a car was stopped in a certain right turn only lane with a red light. I have never received a ticket from those cameras but it seems they don't work very well to begin with. Perhaps it's too expensive to have proper working ones.
And just to show I'm not some camera hating person, I will tell you there was ONE instance I liked seeing a red light camera in place. It was at a very busy intersection, the kind where you are extremely lucky if you made it through the intersection the first time you saw a green light. Lots of cars used to run the red light, up to half a dozen of them after the light turned from yellow to red. I think it works for intersections where there's always congested traffic and there's those A-holes who block the intersection or just run the red because they don't want to wait their turn.
It seems like the Feds have had in interest in this Bitcoin situation because Mt. Gox has been deceptive on whether Bitcoin is either a product or a currency. I got the impression they label their transactions whichever way makes them more money (or costs less taxes). Perfect example would be people who claim certain income to get approved for loans but omit those incomes when they're looking for welfare or lower taxes.
You don't have kids
Re: Waterballoons
Parents should know their children.
Secret Police
Secret Works!
Blue Ray is dead
Re:
Re:
I told you so
The Great Irony
I agree with...
I see it differently
Tips vs non-tips
Re:
Examples
Online Classes a Joke
Redlight cameras are horrible
In a recent experience, I almost did get a ticket with a traffic camera. It was snowing, and the light turned yellow at a very uneasy time. I slid, spun around, and ended up sideways in both lanes (while ducking my face behind the steering wheel), barely making it to the line without crossing it. If it wasn't for that camera, I'd have rolled through it since it was very icy on that road.
Also, I've had my picture taken numerous times when the lights were faulty. One time, the light turned from green to red with no yellow light, and I got a picture taken. Many times the flash when I've been going through a green light. There was even one intersection where the lights would flash constantly (light a strobe light) blinding everyone in the intersection whenever a car was stopped in a certain right turn only lane with a red light. I have never received a ticket from those cameras but it seems they don't work very well to begin with. Perhaps it's too expensive to have proper working ones.
And just to show I'm not some camera hating person, I will tell you there was ONE instance I liked seeing a red light camera in place. It was at a very busy intersection, the kind where you are extremely lucky if you made it through the intersection the first time you saw a green light. Lots of cars used to run the red light, up to half a dozen of them after the light turned from yellow to red. I think it works for intersections where there's always congested traffic and there's those A-holes who block the intersection or just run the red because they don't want to wait their turn.
Both Ways
At work
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