Bumdark

I've recently upgraded my old PC and bought a brand new 22-inch widescreen flatscreen monitor, yet instead of throwing the old one (slightly smaller) out, I hooked it up to have dual screens. __________________________________________ _________________ |................................|.....----------------- |................1..............|.....|.........2.........| |............(main)..........|.....|....................| |________________|.....|__________| Monitor 1 Resolution:.1600x1050 Monitor 2 Resolution: 1200x1024 __________________________________________ Now, I'm trying to operate thus: have SimCity 4 operating on the secondary, older monitor (to the right of the new central one), in fullscreen, yet keep the first one uncluttered and able to move around, peruse Internet, whatever. Is this in any way possible? I've done some searching, both Google and here on ST, yet I can't find anythign that addresses this specific goal. Any help on how to achieve this, or comments on my insanity at thinking it's possible if it's not, would be appreciated. Otherwise, I've already tried to do this, but all that happens is that SC4 opens (I currently have it in Windowed mode, but I tried this in fullscreen) on Monitor 1 just fine, yet Monitor 2 blacks out, bugs and generally begs to be put out of its misery until I quite SC4, at which time it returns to normal. Please note I'm quite new to dual monitors and the differences in mechanics and workings they have from single monitors. * * * If the above is impossible (running SC4 in fullscreen on Monitor 2 while keeping Monitor 1 free), then is it possible to have SC4 running in Windowed mode, on Monitor 2, at 1200x1024 (which is Monitor 2's resolution BTW)? Only, when I open it on Monitor 1 (which is set at 1680x1050) at 1200x1024, the 'window' bit of SC4 disappears and I can't move it. I know, lots of complicated issues, but I wouldn't be asking here if I could figure this stuff out by myself. Please help. Thanks.

SUCCESS!!! ... Sort of! I've followed Argon Vex' suggestion of entering a resolution that the monitor specifically supports (instead of what I was doing, just lowering the numbers while keeping it to the 4:3 (or whatever it is) ratio). The command line now reads: '"C:\Program Files\Maxis\SimCity 4 Deluxe\Apps\SimCity 4.exe" -CustomResolution:enabled -w -introff -r1152x864x32'. And for once, SC4 isn't switching it to another resolution, it's staying there! Bout time something worked right ... So now I've got my almost-full-screen SC4 window running on Monitor 2 while Monitor 1 is free to do whatever else I want. Yay! @Argon Vex: About your name: I dunno, I just like the sound of it. Half high-tech, half-'old'-ish ... I dunno, I just like it. Yeah, as I said, I forgot about the ratio and decided to input a resolution the monitor specifically supports, and there we go! Thought the game failed to launch again, then it just popped up after a few moments. Playing it right now! *Stupid Sims, stop striking ...!* Thanks for your help bud! You definitely have more experience than your 12 posts allow for ... @sam: Well, glad it works out for you. Now it does for me too. Thanks for the help. Thanks to everyone ... and happy holidays. Now s'cuse me, got my own birthday to attend ... *God I'm old. 17. :'( *

Ok, I've just tried it once more, this time moving the 'CustomResolution:enabled' bit to the front, so it read like '"C:\Program Files\Maxis\SimCity 4 Deluxe\Apps\SimCity 4.exe" -CustomResolution:enabled -w -introff -r1200x960x32'. It still didn't work, game wouldn't even launch at all. Same thing when I tried it without caps. Then I wondered if somehow the game wasn't launching, period, whether 'CustomResolution' was there or not, so I deleted it from the target field, and the game launched (though in the wrong resolution). @sam: Just did, still didn't work. Dang. @SWAT-MEDIC: tungston's right, caps don't matter at all. But thanks for trying to help anyway, of course. @tungston: Right you are. Ah well, thanks for the ideas guys. I dunno, maybe it's just my PC. Is it normal that the custom resolution you input (the '-r____x___x__' bit) keeps changing back to a 'default' setting that closer matches what you input? That's what mine does, and I never heard of it happening to anyone else. So, to summarize: "[Path]" -w -introff -r1200x960x32 = Game automatically switches resolution to 1280x1024. "[Path]" -w -introff -CustomResolution:enabled -r1200x960x32 = Game doesn't launch at all. "[Path]" -CustomResolution:enabled -w -introff -r1200x960x32 = Again, game just won't launch at all.

@sam: Indeed, I just found that out myself on Google. But it didn't work any better; the code in the shortcut is now '"C:\Program Files\Maxis\SimCity 4 Deluxe\Apps\SimCity 4.exe" -w -introff -CustomResolution:enabled -r1200x960x32' Alas, it still won't work -- this time, the game doesn't even launch at all. PC seems to work up for a moment, then revs back down and then stops again.

@Argon Vex: Whenever I input any form of a custom resolution (widescreen or not), the stupid game automatically chooses, within its Graphic Options menu, the closest 'standard format' resolution to open with. I tried opening the game in 1200x1000 resolution as you wrote, and I get this: ^ A screencap with my dual screens, with SimCity 4 in 'Windowed mode'. The code that's entered in the SC4 shortcut (in my Quick Launch bar) is: 'C:\Program Files\Maxis\SimCity 4 Deluxe\Apps\SimCity 4.exe" -w -introff -r1200x1024x32' NOTE I manually entered '-r1200x1000x32' before launching the game. This is now, after the game has been launched (and subsequently closed). It changed by itself. Thank you for your help nonetheless. Always open to more solutions, of course. And may I add, I like your username.

Hey y'all. One of my friends has Windows Vista on his laptop (his screen's Native Resolution is 1280x800). SimCity runs, naturally, only on default monitor resolutions by default (800x600, 1600x1200, etc.) so his Widescreen's res is not in there. Now, I must admit I'm a total n o o b with Vista, still using XP SP2 (and proud of it!), so many things I can do with XP I either can't do, or can only do different, with his laptop. Now, I tried to enable the Custom Resolution 1280x800 on his machine in the Shortcut's Properties > "Target" line. Problem is, it's faded out and can't be modified, stuck to "SimCity 4 Deluxe". Am I missing something? Or is this really not the way to enable Widescreen in Vista's shortcut? Please help, I can't stand those forced-widescreen roads and buildings any longer... (And BTW, WTH is the simple, absolutely not-insulting word "n-o-o-b" censored here!? Not to be confrontational, but this just seems totally ridiculous.)

... Then how do you do it?

My friend (I'm getting tired of calling him that, let's just call him Vince for now), Vince, is the only user (and therefore has the only account) on his laptop, so I'm pretty sure he's got Administrative rights, right? Unless there's a way to enter Properties in "Administrator Mode", or something... Anyway, thanks. Hoping to get that miracle answer soon! How has anyone else with Vista done it? How have you set it to run on a custom resolution via the "Target" line?

Whoa, lot of answers real fast! Just to clear a few things up... He had installed the game himself a few days ago (Deluxe Edition for anyone who cares), and he says it went picture-perfect. Somehow, no Desktop icon shortcut was created (either that, or he deleted without telling me, unimportant anyway) so I went to Computer > C: > Program Files > Maxis > Etc. until the .exe icon appeared. I copied and pasted a Shorcut of it on the Desktop, tested it and it worked (I always test the hell out of everything). But, when I tried to change the Resolution, I went in Properties (of said shortcut), and the "Target" line was faded out, you know, innaccessible. In it is "SimCity 4 Deluxe" (without the appostrophes) , and NOT the actual filepath. I have no idea if this is how it works on Vista, as I said it's my first experience with the OS. I thought briefly about "Running as Administrator", but wouldn't that just launch the game? I don't want to launch it, just modify the "Target" line with the custom resolution (which I know how to do anyway, I've done it countless times on XP). I'm sorry if I'm repeating myself without really clarifying anything, I really do not know how to proceed here or what to expect. If the "Target" line is faded out, how the heck do you chang it then? Thanks again for all the help.

To answer fukuda, we here in Quebec pay astonomically high tax rates (we have two taxes actually... One for the country, one for the province... Does this occur anywhere else? I'm curious), and current legislature is trying to increase them even more... Problem is, it's what the gov't uses the money for that prevents proper funding from ever reaching what needs to be reached in the first place. Americans think their gov't is crap? Come to our place for a while, see if that changes. At least the US gov't "tries" to help it's people - here, they don't even try to cover up their incompetence, with so many emerging scandals all the time it's a wonder there hasn't been a revolution somewhere down the line. Lord I miss America... I miss the mass deep-frying, the head-sized hamburgers, the blistering heat (well, OK, not that much), the FUNDING in schools, etc... Melodramatic situation aside, I'm just sick of our government doing everything it can to keep us in the dirt and to keep getting richer. For every man and woman in power that's trying to make our lives better, there are many more man and women, higher in power, that try to silence them... Yet now I'm seriously digressing yet again, so back on track. We pay our taxes just like anyone else (talking for the people here), yet none of it ever changes... If at least we weren't so bloody deep in debt, to the point where each newborn hereditarily owns about $30,000 to the gov't before they even take their first breath... And to comment on the "finding jobs" part just discussed, well, my dad has a saying: "If you de well in school, you won't be looking for jobs... Jobs will be looking for you". Lord knows it's absolutely true.

Just to respond to some replies I've recieved. I admit, some points I should have explained more clearly... Ah well. SkiGeek Are you saying there is not a graduated licensing system? In Maryland, teens first get a learner's permit, then a provisional license, then a full license. It is possible to get a full license a few months before your 18th birthday but it doesn't happen in most cases.quote> There is also a "provisional" license here, where your parents or legal guardians need to sign them, you need to pass some basic tests, etc... What I meant is any 16yo is then legally allowed to take these tests, get the license and then go wreak havoc on the streets. Hell, the newspapers around here are just full of deaths caused by 16 to 20 year olds. Some of them even occasionally get headline news when things get ugly enough. At my school, I've so far counted 4 TIMES that I've nearly been run over by some moronic arseholes – not kidding. Twice of those, were drunk teens (I SAW the beer bottles on their seats) and they purposefully swove in the lane (leading in and out of the school's parking) to "mock" hit me, yelling and laughing. Sorry if I seem a bit prejudiced about youths, but when no youth you see is respectable and decent, you realize something's off... I'm not familiar with the teens in your area but I know many teenagers who are nothing like that.quote> I imagine it would be a combination of factors that contribute to our incredibly high moronic levels in younger people. First of all, most parents these days are single parents (usually fathers, the mothers usually move out with their new boyfriends), parents who like the fridge to be stocked with booze rather than food, you know? Then there's the incredibly bad influences hanging around. From where I am, it's only a short drive to Montreal (the great urban city around), and gang problems there are continually expanding across the neighboring suburbs – some "colors" routinely pass in the neighborhood, scoping things out (I think that's what they do...). Lord knows kids tend to gravitate towards those who show power; in influencable minds, what's more powerful than evading the Law, selling drugs and getting rich, carrying tons of guns and getting wasted all the time? To most kids (those I know at least, which does comprise a fair few) that's their personal slice of heaven right there. ... Which is really sad. Finally, just the general crumminess of the gov't and fundings around here. Schools are crumbling (TWO roofs caved in this winter alone under the snow, which hadn't happened in many years), hospitals are so over-capacity it's like in SC4 when you plant one for a million Sims and reduce the budget by half; etc... Just general discontentment of the people. Parents pass this on to their kids, who harbor it. Wow, that was long. Now, don't get me wrong – this is by no means all kids I'm talking about... just roughly three quarters of them. There are some nicer, decent kids, who actually DON'T get their thrills by picking on others (like me)... But explain this: my school holds well over 3,200 students, the largest in the area. (Suburbs here.) Our library has more books than a country could read in a decade, ranging from culture to science, literature, joke books, Guiness World Records, etc. Yet, how come, even during the long breaks, there's hardly ever a soul, except me, in there? Kids would rather smoke and act dumb than be decent. I know first hand. It's just too bad, really... Basically a lost generation in my area. But enough of that now. Try that at work and you'll wind up fired.quote> I'm well aware of that... Which is why I (among many other mroe important reasons) I have no intention of working in offices or stuff. I intend to use my creativity to get me through, I've already earned a pretty penny selling my stuff (drawings, music, etc.) and I intend to get nothing but better. I'd rather eat my nuts (metaphorically...) than have some tyrannical boss that's always on my back. I've got a damn father just for that. SIGH Besides, it's not like I'm dumb enough to do it at work. I just do it in schools 'cause... 1 – To be perfectly honest, I'm always teaching our IT techs how to do stuff (is that normal!?), so one could question their skills; 2 – Our computors are so old and crappy (some still run on Windows 98... 'nuff said) so the better I boost their performances, the better (see note below); 3 – During my considerable free time, as I've already passed all the classes and their tests (special reasons), I simply have nothing better to do than to flex my skills. (Note – I'm a Hacker and proud of it. Now, DO NOT MISTAKE THIS WITH CRACKER. Notice the "C". There is a substantial – say, polar opposite – difference between Hacking and Cracking. To Hack means to test systems, improve them, increase security. Crack (as in break, strain, split, etc.) is to destroy them, implement code, steal info, etc. Medias and stuff always use the term Hack when the term Crack should be used, which is greatly annoying. Just to clear that up.) Again, the schools own the lockers; they can do whatever they want with them. But I take your point: requiring something resembling "probable cause" would be nice.quote> I'm not complaining against the fact that it's "their" lockers, I fully agree with and respect that. They paid and built them, it's theirs. I just mean, they should show more consideration before opening them and ferreting through the contents, some of which could be incredibly personal (that's what lockable lockers are for in the first place!). Say a girl kept her diary in there – if some jackass official came and opened the locker on a whim, and read that stuff – how on Earth could that be justified as "fair"? I just mean they could show more respect with people's personal stuff. It's not 'cause we're not adults that we can't have private lives we'd like to keep sheltered and secret. (Hence, "Private" lives.) Your school has a policy of no going at all during class? That does seem a bit extreme. Around here, students get X number of passes per semester. The idea is they can't use it as a repeated excuse to leave class but can go when they need to.quote> Nope, we can only leave in very special circumstances; such as when girls are in their "time of the month" and etc. When you say, while hopping and squirming like you're sitting on hot coals, that you need to go the the restroom NOW, and they keep asking "Do you really need to go? Can it wait?"... That's when I just lose my temper. "Look, jackass, I gotta go! Be right back!" ... Which usually lands me in detention. Circle of of life. Time for my rant: schools should have funding to keep the buildings in good shape. and to keep equipment and supplies in the classrooms. Teachers should have higher salaries. Education should have a higher priority. The whole system needs to be overhauled. Various jurisdictions have tried overhauling it bit by bit with mixed results. Teachers are expected to do so much more now than when I was a kid, it's not surprising that some of them can't do it all.quote> Well, I wouldn't know about the situation in the US, but here in Canada, it's the gov't that controls everything: Health, Education, Law Enforcement, etc. All in all, what we do: Blame the gov't. Schools all around the Province are continually holding sales, marathons, etc,; just to increase money. At my school, we've got about 6 TV sets (all of them smaller than 30-inches, which, to show a class of over 30 which is standard, is pathetically small) and only about a dozen projectors (for correcting work and stuff). Our cafeterial food tastes like it comes straight from the dump, not because the cooks suck, just because they haven't got any good food to work with to begin with (that's why I don't even eat there, I choose to starve instead). Roughly a quarter of the school's lights are burnt out, with a few being replaced now and then. The sewage systems have backed up twice in this year alone (in November and in May) because some pipes burst due to being rusted clean through. And etc. Need I go longer? And yet, our dear Prime Minister Charest "pas-de-couilles" (means gormless in slang) keeps stating he plans to increase our funding to Education, Healthcare, etc... Hell, people are dying in Hospitals because the waiting's too long, but that's taboo around here so I'll shut up about that. Charest has been promising that raise ever since his first election, several years ago. Never seen a penny of it, yet he and his people dine in 5-star restaurants and sleep in hotels that make Hiltons look like pigsties... Eh. Anyway, let's not turn this into a political rant. Now, changing users... beebs: You aren't there to go on YouTube or Gamestop, you're there to learn. It might suck, but life doesn't cater to your ever need (or want).quote> I'm talking during free time, which is about as big a misnomer as can be around here. Our "free time" means study up on tests we've already passed, read boring educational sites (is there any other kind, except Wikipedia...?) and chatting with MSN in secret ('cause that's not allowed either). I mean, there are plenty worse sites to block (XXX for example) than Gamespot, which is as innocent a site as any. So yes, it does suck. Major. If you don't want them rooting through your valuables, don't keep anything valuable in your locker. It might be "your" locker because you claimed it and put your lock on it, but it is still the property of the school.quote> It's not valuables I mean, just personal stuff. Your agenda (timetables and stuff), your school books, etc. – none of it is particularly personally valuable, that still doesn't mean they should have the right to look at it and take it for themselves whenever they fancy. I paid for the damn things, they're mine, no matter whose locker they're in. In the end, I mean, if they have good reason to suspect a locker of containing anything illicit or dangerous, then I'm all for breaking the lock and exposing the contents, but when it's just like a freakin' witch hunt (random girl: "Hey, that guy has Playboy in his locker" without any proof or evidence at all), it's unfair and frankly insulting. Take yourself for example. Say you bought some books to read. It's not like they're particularly precious or valuable to you; just casual entertainment. Yet, that doesn't mean you wouldn't get miffed when someone decided to take them off their shelves and rifle through them for nothing, right? That's it for now. Got some SC4 to play!

Dear GOD do I know what you mean by reckless kids in cars, Hailman. I don't know how it is around the world, but here in Qu

652,820 Residents in my Regions. (Thanks, Region Census!) (... Actually, I've only developed one region, a custom one named Norath, and most of that population is in my primary city, Crimson Straights...) Still small for a total agglomeration, but it's growing fast...

... I'm not sure exactly how this woman could have gotten so high in the gov't without knowing some basic things, such as the plainly simple fact that a person's sexual orientation is written into their genes and DNA, which makes them effectively hardwired that way... No-one can change or alter their sexual orientation, no matter how much pressure they're under to do so. This "counselling" and "we have turned them into heteros" stuff is some of the most loony BS I've read in a long time, and frankly, it's indignating. She should definately be removed at once.

To be perfectly honest, I don't even want to think what I would've done if I'd been told my best friends had been killed, let to wallow in my pain and grief for a few hours, then suddenly told it was a hoax... I'd definately be the angriest I'd ever been in my life, for one thing. Another thing is, sadly, when I get angry... Well, most people don't literally "lose control"... I do... There are a crapload of ways to get these messages across. Playing with people's minds and souls like this is simply barbaric and unnacceptable. Those bastards should be fired pronto.

Holy crap... Some (scratch that - ALL) of these pics make you wonder what the hell kind of idiots we're letting on our roads these days... Toll booth two at a time? A friggin' moron trying to squeeze through two busses? And WTH is the third picture, anyway? Looks like the thing's sandwhiched between two houses... How the hell is that even possible!? Indeed, an epic Fail if there's ever been one... Yet I'm too much of a lazy slob to do it. And to be a buzzkill for a moment, I'm pretty sure the pic with the car hanging from the wires is either faked (unlikely), or was set up specially and on purpose - there's just no way a moving car could fall through the air (ramp, tornado, whatever) and land on the wires and not snap the wires like, well, wires. Sure, electrical cables are tough - I've heard stories about mooses being dragged up by their antlers (accidentally) in the Northlands - yet we're talking about several tons of car here... Better open your eyes on the road I guess, or you'll end up a victim to these twits. As the prophet House once said, "Idiots are fun. No wonder every village wants one." lol.

I didn't mean serials or anything, by "code" I meant actual code, the kind all software is made from. You know, the kind of code that only those whose brains occupy a small room to themselves can read...

I hardly see what they're crying about. I mean, this would just be, as previously stated, for "exceptional" cases, when things are looking rather bad for the suspect. By then, if the suspect is "exceptional" enough to land him a 42-day confinement time, then it means officials must have a fair bit of proof in their hands for the conviction, right? Sure, the possibility of misidentification always exists - anyone seen the based-on-true-story movie Rendition? - but chances are you've got a true terrorist in your hands. Personally, if it really is a terror-monger they've got holed up, to hell with all those idiots crying "inhumane!" and "against human rights!" and all that BS. Hell, if it's a true terrorist, let him be tortured for eternity until he croaks. Let me do it. I'd be happy to share just a bit, a small fragment, of the pain, suffering and humiliation these "freedom fighters" have given us over the years... (And BTW, yes I'm Canadian so I wouldn't have experienced first-hand any terrorism activities, I meant "us" as "humankind", all people.) Sorry, only I really, REALLY don't like these guys. The day they all drop dead will be a truly blessed day for everyone alive.

There's already a thread about this elsewhere... Yet chances are it was mangled beyond repair by the Attack, so this is the new one! Yay! It's too bad, really, I actually had an interest in Spore once... I mean, it would be cool to be as close as ever to playing God - creating planets and ecosystems, very much literally... Then came along fatass EA and crushed those hopes, as usual, with their stupid activation. I've rarely heard about controversy such as the type this generated. In the words of (user who's name I'll probably never remember): EA, you fail. Epically. AGAIN. Ah well, it's not like pirates won't find their way around the problem, right? We're talking about people that can write code in their sleep... Anything EA does, they can undo it just as easily. (Or almost.)

Hiya, Santos16! I assume you mean "Commute" time? There are a few ways to get your Sims around faster, yet there aren't any miracle cures, sadly. First thing to do is lower any traffic problems you have. Even very short roads can become impassible if moronic Sims all converge and bottleneck-it-up all the time. Use Mass Transit here - a great friend, that is. Also, even if your Roads are perfectly uncongested, if they're too long, it will naturally take your Sims a long time to head over to their destinations, right? Either use Mass Transit once again, or you could build Jobs and Commerces closer to your Residential zones (or vice versa). Hope this helps.

Well, a good Welcome to you, good sir! Enjoy your stay!

Well, hello, baymavision. There are a few basic ways to transfer cities and regions to different systems, and they're all relatively simple and similar. (There are detailed tutorials in the Omnibus, but seeing as it's under repairs I wouldn't know if it's ready and I'm too much of a lazy bastard to check for myself). First of all, any and all of these files and folders, mentioned below, are in your My Documents > SimCity 4 folder. To move individual cities to the same Regions on different systems, copy the appropriate .sc4 file in the Regions > REGION NAME folder, and transfer it into the very same folder on the new machine (transfer it any way you can imagine, whether by CD, USB key or cord, etc. I personally use an external Hard Drive, a back-up drive in case my primary Hard Disk fails, and I just connect this outside drive to any systems I want to transfer files to). Make sure it replaces the new machine's folder's .sc4 file - conflicting files can get messy. To move entire regions from one system to another, well I'm a bit out of my field here, but first of all copy and transfer the Region's folder to the new system... And then I'm of no further use as I don't know how. Sorry *feeling sheepish*. In the end, just head to the Omnibus if it's ready (or wait for it to be). It can explain how a million times better and more effeciently than anyone can on here. (That's what it's FOR!) Enjoy.

If I can squeeze in a word (I know I did but I didn't have time to share my full views then)... First of all, we shouldn't interfere with them. I'm saying this, NIETHER to help, NOR to oppress in any way, and in both cases, neither directly, nor indirectly. I think that we should literally all leave them alone, try to let them forget about that big flying apparition they witnessed, and let them continue their lives as though we were never there to begin with. Now of course, this is quite simply impossible. Our civilization - I'm not talking about any which country or culture, but rather as an agglomerate of all countries and cultures - is, whether we deny it or not, the greatest thing on the planet. (NOTE - I mean "greatest" as in the sense "great = big", not "great = good", just so I don't confuse anyone.) Hell, we've got roughly every square inch of the planet covered by satellites at any which time. Our subs and ships make absolutely nowhere innaccessible, and our planes allow us to far outstrip anything the Human Body was concieved to be able to do by Nature, such as fly and survey everything from up high. The point of the whole preceding paragraph, is that if we can do all this, then there's no way in hell these people and we aren't gonna bump directly into each other sometime soon. So, in my mind this brings up what will inevitably happen, and what we should prepare for: First Contact. I'm talking about, when the time inevitably comes to meet them formally and officially (kinda like the Europeans met the Indians in the 1500s), how should it be carried off? Who should open communication first? And how? Now this is something I'd never risk myself in explaining or describing, as I really rather am terrible at this sort of thing, so I'll leave it to experts. My point just is, WE ARE GOING TO BUMP INTO EACH OTHER OFFICIALLY ONE WAY OR ANOTHER, ONE DAY OR ANOTHER. It's not like we can hide forever, or hide them from us without them knowing. Another subject... Continuing from the above stance of not interfering with them in any way (either oppressing them or saving them), let me clarify myself so people don't start warring me as they have with City2TheMax (call me a coward, but I hate confrontations, even virtual.) When I mean "not saving them" (or whichever variant I used above), I didn't mean, say, if some lunatic government or something decides, "They're squatting our land! Let's get rid of them!" In which case, we should do anything to stop a genocide. Those suck. I meant (and I think, so didCity2TheMax), saving them from anything that WE didn't bring up - illness, famine, natural disasters, etc. That's my stance, and I believe it to be firm. I'm a very, VERY firm believer of Darwin's Natural Selection. Survival of the fittest. Now, don't misunderstand me here, I don't mean it as in "we're stronger, so let's fight them and win". Far, very far from it. I mean, to put it as simply as humanly possible... What will happen, will happen. We can't stop it. If destiny and / or fate (yes, I do believe in such things) decides that they're to be wiped out for whatever reason, who are we to battle said decision? If their time has come, it would be, in my views, parallel to trying to save the life of a terminal cancer patient. It can't be done, and the more we fight it, the more pain we cause ourselves AND those we try to save fruitlessly. (Of course, even if we don't stop it, I sure as hell ain't saying we should agree with it, or even worse, accelerate the process... Just not get in its way.) That's about as clear as I can express myself here. I hope some people mirror my views... Oddly enough, the more people we try to save as a civilization, the more we end up hurting... That's just how it is, and we'd be blind fools to deny it. Sorry, that's how it is. In the end, to conclude it all in a few short words... "You can't save them all".

Please don't talk about RIAA... it gives me dark ideas and fantasies. People getting beaten to bloody pulps, that sort of stuff. Hate them so much. EDIT: I've just read the "interview" on the site you'd reffered. To put it simply, it's basically concretized my opinion about them – as well as many others'. They're still defending themselves, telling us what we read in news is lies, and etc... AND THEY WONDER WHY WE ALL HATE THE BASTARDS!?? *Pause to fume silently*

Let me see if I get this straight... Take a cyclist. Human and bike, roughly 200 lbs total (w/ gear and all). If that's going at about 30 mph (this was a race after all), generates around 90,000 Joules in kinetic energy (using the old formula, [0.5 x MASS x SPEED at the power of 2]). Now, take an averawge mid-size car, like the one implied here. Roughly 2 tons (4,000 lbs). Let's say it's also going at a steady 30 mph (we don't know the speed, probably never will, so it's a guess). That car's generating about 1,800,000 Joules in kinetic energy... Compared to "only" 90,000 for the cyclist. If we substract the cyclist's energy from the mix = leaving 1,710,000 Joules. Not much less, you'll agree, compared to the whole. So, that's something with a total energy of 1,710,000 hitting you straight-on. Somehow, I don't think ANY amount of helmets or padding could protect you from such an impact. At this point, broken bones would probably be the least of your worries, as you'd be trying to stay alive. (I know my math may be off a bit, it's the first time I've ever done this... But it's still in the neighborhood of the numbers above.) That driver should be sued for all he's got, IN ADDITION to rotting in jail for a few years. Killed one, injured ten... And let me go on record, stating that that image, the car ploughing through the bikes and sending people and equipment a dozen feet in the air in all directions, is easily the most disturbing and horrific image I've ever seen. This coming from a guy that once spend years looking up old war photos. Horrible.