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krbe

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Everything posted by krbe

  1. Show us What you're Working On

    krbe replied to Haljackey's topic in SC4 Showcase

    Also be mindful of the liveries if you're going for real life locations -- such as WestJet and Southwest 737s together with Austrian and Lauda 737s (although WestJet and Norwegian are running 737-800s across the pond now...)

  2. World Affairs

    krbe replied to A Nonny Moose's topic in Current Events

    I'm not really sure what you mean with this, as I can't really remember any other nuclear state behaving in such an overtly hostile way; South African may have had nuclear weapons, Israel and Saudi Arabia probably have, and India and Pakistan have -- a bit back and forth with their neighbours of course, but nothing of the sort that Kim puts up. However: Ukraine used to have them, and they traded them for a Russian "guarantee". And that's what Kim sees: Placate your interested major power -- be it Russia for Ukraine, US/NATO/EU for Libya, or the US for Syria, and they will turn on you. He also lives in the shadow of Chinese statecraft, which dictates that smaller states, such as Korea, are either cordial allies to be nurtured while defending their guardian's interests, or hostile states to be subdued in any manner possible -- be it militarily, economically or diplomatically. Couple that with years of sanctions, and you have the perfect recipe for a Hitler-style bunker syndrom. Are the North Korean missiles pointed at Guam the same as the Third Reich ghost brigades when the Russians closed in on Berlin in 1945? Kim is as unstable as Kim is; that family kidnaps chefs and actors with subs off of Japanese beaches, for heaven's sake. While Mr Trump certainly seems more like a five-year old trying to rule his bedroom than a president, I do feel that we're still at that point with him as we were with Vladimir Putin shortly after the Crimea takeover, where it was alleged that Mr Putin only ruled according to one-page memos set in 18pt fonts... And look at him now, like an Obama just presiding like a dictator light over a bankruptcy estate (according to some European media outlets). Mr Trump has taken a lot of losses as president, and he will continue to. It should just not be broadcasted. However, he might give the impression that "fire and fury" will bring a bloody end to the North Korean regime, but I doubt he'd be willing to commit a large number of dead American soldiers to make up for his Obamacare replace and repeal failures. If you feel you can shed some light on it, I'd really like to hear more about how it is being stationed there. What you're told before/when you're there, what you're doing, how relations are with South Korea, if one feel whether it at all makes sense being there. The only thing I've seen regarding the US presence in Korea lately was when out-of-country evacuation drills started.
  3. Yes I suppose you'd be hard pressed to find anyone that has finished a city (unless we're talking about a faithful recreation to a specific point in time); it quite simply goes against the entire point of cities and city builders. You'd find thousands of examples of people who've given up tho

  4. announcement Simtropolis 9.0 Site Upgrade

    krbe replied to Cyclone Boom's topic in Simtropolis Related

    I notice the login is still plain HTTP. Considering how normal it is to reuse account names and passwords that's rather unfortunate. Any chance to secure it?

  5. announcement Simtropolis 9.0 Site Upgrade

    krbe replied to Cyclone Boom's topic in Simtropolis Related

    Ugly as sin! Perfect if you're a roadworker or as a life jacket, though.

  6. World Affairs

    krbe replied to A Nonny Moose's topic in Current Events

    That seems like an understatement. I'd like to know what media you consume if you really believe there is 'no threat to North Korea'. Note that I don't care as to why there's a threat -- the facts on the ground support a notion that pursuing the development of nuclear weapons is a rational choice for a dictatorship whose arch enemy is the US and whose main interest is the prolonging of its life. If the US truly did not pose a threat to NK it would have sought to end the conflict a long time ago. They can't of course, if you've had a cursory look at the post-1953 relationship.

  7. World Affairs

    krbe replied to A Nonny Moose's topic in Current Events

    Bill Clinton looked into attacking North Korea but decided against it when the generals told him about the mass casualties amongst American troops if attempted. Ensuring a first strike capability against targets on American soil is the only way to ensure that NK can counter the US threat. I'm glad it's Donald Trump and not me that have to whip out the calculator and crunch the numbers on how many deaths are acceptable. I'm also glad it's Mr Trump that's issuing the threats.
  8. And this really is the core. The guy has spent probably hundreds of hours of his own free time for no compensation -- and then some players are going to get around to decide on how the creations are going to be handled? As much as I agree with a "custodian" feature similar to how the LEX is looking after abandoned files or how some Chinese/Japanese creators have English-language custodians for Western websites, the fact of the matter is that the community generally hasn't provided for this. And then we're back to the concerns that Jasoncw is voicing. Considering that most of us do not create anything, I think it's well worth listening to those who actually do -- after all, the community and its cohesion (as well as its presence) is mainly driven by the content creators. That being said, I seem to remember that the Barry Sanders Project /MiPro probably is one of the better candidates for what is proposed here -- few dependencies, concentrated work, quality content -- and as a player, consolidating work and perhaps dependencies would be considered very, very beneficial by me. But if creators don't want to contribute? Really, we should just steal their work?

  9. World Affairs

    krbe replied to A Nonny Moose's topic in Current Events

    See why it makes perfect sense for the guy to focus on nuclear weapons?

  10. Show us What you're Working On

    krbe replied to Haljackey's topic in SC4 Showcase

    A major English Atlantic getaway with a heavy Jewish population?
  11. Copyright law is one of the most exiting areas of the law! Now, if I remember correctly, "first sale" generally applies to tangible objects in the US and that the resale of digital goods -- the transfer of a file -- constitutes unauthorised reproduction. In contrast, in Europe UsedSoft v Oracle was a major case which upheld the right to the resale / transfer of digital goods (i.e. the transfer of the licence to use the software). Thus, in America it is technically illegal to pass on your files (i.e. redistribution is unauthorised redistribution), while in Europe I can pass on (redistribute) my single copy of your BAT file to one person, provided I do not have access to it any longer (after redistribution). This is because your copyright to your creative work is very real, whether you believe so yourself or not: The BAT is your creative work, which is protected, and the lot on which you place the BAT is your creative work, as well. --- Now, on the broader issue of starter packs / thematic packs, etc., I wholeheartedly support that. Especially in the light of the fact that there are now so many consistent related lots, e.g. New York buildings, Parisian buildings, IRM, seaports, airports and so on, it only makes sense to bundle these rather than requiring individual binge-downloading of them. However, two problems: Taking someone elses work infringes on the creator -- the rightholders' -- authorship rights; selling it, for whatever amount, infringes on their financial rights.

  12. President Donald Trump and his Administration

    krbe replied to BLANKBLANK's topic in Current Events

    Question: Why did Don II believe that it was a good idea to tell the world "yeah, turns out that I did meet some Russian as they said they had mud on the Throne Pretender's opponent, I just totally forgot I spent 20 minutes with her together with Mr Manafort as I didn't think a meeting with an arch enemy's national would be a problem at all, and even if it turned out to be so shortly afterwards I hoped to shield the Pretender so I didn't mention but my brain thought this was a good moment to show that yeah, we did talk to them and thought that was perfectly OK." Seriously, Donald Trump's 1993-1999 presidency wasn't as hilarious as this. --- Oh, almost forgot: Don I is speaking of his son in nice terms. Absent a regicide, Don II is probably out soon.
  13. Making the PDF versions would be so much easier if there was a print button or at least view single post link... However, if you're making them from scratch instead I'd think PowerPoint or a similar app would be your best bet, as it would also allow you to print full page pictures in 16:9 format from the start. If you use Word, making A4 landscape documents is probably an option too.
  14. Fair enough that that's their answer, but it wouldn't take much effort to clarify in their ToS. As of now, if they so decide that forums are a no-go area for their users, they can just point to their terms. Seriously -- it takes one sentence in their .htaccess to make it reflect their ToS -- or one sentence in their ToS to reflect their practice. As for Photobuckets practice... I checked my webhost, and they charge USD 140 a year for 500 GB and lots of other fun things. -catty You'll find that that sentence is standard for all services that host content. Without it, some wise guy would plausibly make the case that he'd uploaded content to Google, but never allowed them to show it to anyone else, or create thumbnails, or whatever, out of his content. --- However ... one idea that I really think we all should take to, is to make PDF versions of things we want stored for posterity. ST has been around long enough to see competitors and partners just vanish into thin air -- along with all their content. Sure it would be annoying, but if Corina had her work stored away in a PDF that could be freely shared -- or with any other set of restrictions she wishes for -- it could have been a single-file back-up with all the pictures and text preserved. Inferior, you say? Yes, but a lot easier to pass around. Think about it: Services come and go, 3rd party services come and go, they change their link structure, come up with nasty pricing plans, etc.; all of us change our interests, may see our countries blocking access if they so wish, and in the end, we all die.

  15. Brexit

    krbe posted a topic in Current Events

    David Cameron is right now meeting with EU and EU country leaders in order to 'figure out' whether Britain is to remain in the EU or not. The referendum is to take place sometime before the end of 2017; apparently likely to be in June or September this year. While probably not the top topic around the world, and certainly not as entertaining as the American election (at least not before Boris Johnson makes his made up and joins the fry), before the election I'd like to hear some thoughts about sovereignty, international cooperation and similar issues -- and how far we can allow 'outsiders' to decide such issues? Not least because outside political unions -- the EU, ASEAN, GCC -- the trend is actually that the same politicians that rally against 'Brussels' seems to have no qualms against striking free trade deals completely without any democratic mechanisms built-in. The BBC on the referendum: Q&A: What Britain wants from Europe EU referendum: Guide to the 'In' campaign EU referendum: Who's who guide to the UK exit campaigns

  16. Show us What you're Working On

    krbe replied to Haljackey's topic in SC4 Showcase

    Jet bridges have nothing to do with the year, and everything to do with cost. Pop down to Rotterdam airport and you'll see it in action.
  17. I realise that you don't know much about this case. The quick version is here that 51 persons were involved by Dec 2016. By then, the operation had been running for ten months. While you can argue that infiltrating paedophile rings is "ordinary police work", the fact of the matter is that the identification of those who operated online only were only possible due to IP information stored for billing purposes by ISPs. Such information must by law be destroyed after 21 days if kept at all -- which means that anyone whose ISP does not store such information, or whose lead went cold after three weeks were effectively off the hook. The police is by law unable to investigate and prosecute those. The role of the service providers haven't been mentioned at all. The video services keep operating, of course, as their main purpose is porn and abuse and rape is merely incidental. They're also located abroad, which would complicate matters even further. Then there are the money remittance services. Financial services are heavily regulated, but thankfully criminals have a selection of internet services that do not have to comply with those regulations. You say that the dark net will exist as long as there are "servers, internet connections and encryption". What the internet requires in order to operate are connection; and dark net connections can be shut off today. The idea that the internet with proper regulation only will consist of content "big corporations want you to see" is ludicrous. Are internet services in stasis? What will happen, is that you will have to take greater responsibility for what is made accessible online and how. Will it upset the current crop internet giants? Hopefully, but that is an entirely different discussion.
  18. Massive paedophile ring uncovered by police in Norway after arrest of 51 men No, that is obviously not the Marc Dutroux version of paedophilia. This form is enabled by the internet; the exchange of information, videos, etc., which is illegal in itself happens on the dark net. Money changes hands probably using bitcoins, or maybe in some instances Western Union. The video sessions themselves use "legitimate" webcam services registered in different parts of the world. The abuse in itself takes place in the Philippines, either by the children's parents or by persons who do this as a business. Is this internet specific? No, it is not. The filming of, payment for and sharing of such abuse can very well take place through analogue means. However, the internet makes the marginal cost of doing this drop towards zero; you limit exposure of your identity; you widen your "hunting grounds" globally. Until now, we're talking about at least 300 identified victims in the Philippines, and an unkown number in Norway. We are voluntarily contributing to this by allowing cross-jurisdiction transactions take place with virtually no oversight. And yes, the platform is sanctified: It is so special that it is extremely hard to hold service providers liable for enabling crime; even when they know that their service is used to push particular forms of behaviour. Either we have to give the police a real chance to investegate and prosecute, something they don't have as several international jurisdictions are in play; OR we have to require that service providers take real, measurable steps towards monitoring their own services. Maybe paedophilia victims should file copyright complaints instead; it wasn't that hard for Google to come up with an automated screening system when they saw that YouTube was under threat from Sony and Viacom.
  19. Because it's about bloody time you stop viewing the internet as some free-for-all place where there are only flowers and rainbows and start realising that it is a platform that enables massive amounts of crime. Yes, those using the internet in order to perpetrate crimes will be punished if found, but that is no excuse to sanctify the platform in itself. Outside of the internet we surveil and crack down on mosques spreading radical, terroristic propaganda, killers, rapists, thieves and robbers, as well as those profiting off those crimes. Feebly, we try to sniff out white-collar criminals who buy a yacht that is a tad bit too large. Why should the internet be a place where such activities can take place in almost plain view, over great distances and many jurisdictions? It's high time we recognise the destructive potential we allow in our midst, on several levels. Either the internet must conform to society -- bringing what's carried out on the internet under the control of society in a broad sense (not only intelligence services or police, but also business authorities, customs, border protection, child protection services, health services, etc.); or society must conform to the internet; in effect creating one big jurisdiction for the regulation of the internet. And no, the second option is not viable. Take a simple matter as regulation and taxation of financial services. It'll take a thousand years to even start agreeing on some broad areas.
  20. "all elements related to cybersecurity" -- no doubt they'll also be looking for content viewed as a "threat" to Islam or national harmony or whatever excuses the Indonesian government will favour.

  21. President Donald Trump and his Administration

    krbe replied to BLANKBLANK's topic in Current Events

    World Battleground, 1000 years of war that Europeans care about is a more accurate title.

  22. President Donald Trump and his Administration

    krbe replied to BLANKBLANK's topic in Current Events

    I agree, and considering the primitive structure of most Middle Eastern societies, such actions would perhaps resonate even stronger there than they did in Germany. However, forced starvation, the reduction of industry, dismantling of traditional leadership systems, systematic rape of women and mass movement and internment of people is no longer in vogue. Neither is the total war. You will not see Yemen firebombed or nuclear weapons over Damascus. The west has shown that it will only impose its will up to a certain point, and with time, it grows war weary. Wait it out and you can beat them -- they won't lay waste to the defeated anyway, allowing insurgencies to ferment. Winning hearts and minds? Rip out the heart, and the minds of who's left will understand the consequences well enough.

  23. President Donald Trump and his Administration

    krbe replied to BLANKBLANK's topic in Current Events

    Germans were also getting by on 1080 kcal on average after the war. Couple that with WWII being the first "total war" and the millions being evicted from former German territories, along with the Morgenthau Plan for Germany as a "pastoral state" there just wasn't much left to resist with. This state of affairs continued until 1949 -- when the rest of Europe needed Germany once again, and the US needed a forward operating base to counter the Soviets.

  24. President Donald Trump and his Administration

    krbe replied to BLANKBLANK's topic in Current Events

    There is not much to really understand here. The guy has a transactional mindset, which sometimes make him act like a child. I wouldn't be surprised if he's keeping scores in a little black book as the basis for decisions.

  25. Show us What you're Working On

    krbe replied to Haljackey's topic in SC4 Showcase

    Just as Sea-Land and Maersk Sealand, Maersk have long since killed off P&O... However, Sealand has risen again as a primarily American carrier, but I'm unsure if they have their own branded containers yet. Other Maersk brands with containers, however, are Safmarine (Africa), MCC Transport (Asia), Seago Line (Mediterranean) and Damco. And at least Maersk Line and Safmarine have white reefer (cold storage) containers as well.
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