JanYpe

Originally posted by: Duke87 Okay, tangent over. Point being, public schools are inherently inferior to private schools. So hows about getting rid of the public education system and just letting the private sector handle it, eh? Or at least stop federal and state interference with something that really ought to be a local matter. quote> Oh this is just disappointing as hell. You go and build that post up and then completely ride it off the rails with the last two lines. Education is in no way an entirely local matter. It needs local direction and focus, yes, but not without a national framework to ensure there's a standard to education. Letting the private sector handle it introduces financial barriers that should never be there and gives absolutely no guarantee of providing a better education. The free market is lovely, but you'd have to be criminally naive to think you can use it like a box of magical fairy dust that will cure all that ails ya. If the public system is failing it needs to be overhauled, not abandoned to the private sector. When your tv breaks you buy a new one, you don't start filling your evenings by sitting in a corner and punching yourself in the face. Your conclusion is disappointing, because for a while there you seemed to be on the right track: no two kids are alike. Different kids are better at different things. And some kids are more capable than others overall. quote>...so why in the name of everything decent keep around a system that maintains the farce that everyone is the same? Being equal does not mean being the same. Giving kids equal chances means giving them the opportunity to do the best they can with what they have. That means sorting them by drive and ability, and specializing schools. That means teaching and testing them on a level that is on par with their abilities. You can't just round kids up, stick them in a classroom and hope they all come out okay. Originally posted by: coolotter88 girls are not dumber at math and science, they just don't like it.quote>That's just part of the same stereotype. There is no more basis for assuming this then there is for assuming that girls would somehow be dumber.

I wouldn't say the franchise is down to nothing, but I agree it's all getting a bit disappointing. They seem to be too frightened to step off the old basic RTS model, so you end up with mainly cosmetic improvements. It makes the games both accessible and pretty, but there comes a point where the shiny pictures alone just don't cut it. The RTS genre hasn't been sitting still for the past years, and the C&C franchise has to show new depth instead of clinging to the gameplay we've seen since Dune 2 and C&C1. From the looks of things, there could actually be more to RAIII than there was to Tiberium Wars. Using the water as an extra dimension of the aircraft like the trailer showed is a step forward, but at the same time similar to what they did with underground vehicles in Tiberian Sun.

Originally posted by: Mebert The only problem is, anybody who says something is wrong with it is automatically labeled a nutjob by the scientific community, and once again, blind dogma gets in the way of progress. It's not unique to religion. It happens to everybody, all the time.quote>That's because nine times out of ten they are nutjobs working from their own bias, their lack of actual knowledge, or probably both. It's very well to say not to get religious about your science, but at the same time you ignore the point that it is this very change that drives progress. The unchanging set-in-stone nature of the bible and every other piece of dogma is what make them so utterly inadequate in this "debate". Even calling it a debate is ludicrous. Evolution is the best current empirically proven explanation of the species. Unproven religious texts are simply not on the same playing field as that. They're not even the same sport. Trying to ram a literal interpretation of the bible into it is never going to accomplish anything except showing one's ignorance of both the science behind evolution and the religion behind the bible. Frankly, it's stupid for a religious person to argue the existence of god, and an atheist to argue that he doesn't. It's even worse when they argue with each other.quote>Amen to that. I don't consider it any of my business what someone chooses to believe in, unless it is invasive and harmful, and I expect that courtesy from everyone else. Originally posted by: coolotter88 yes, but aristotle doesn't count as real science. He was basically like any other person in ancient times, he made up stuff to explain nature.quote> That's the fun part of Greek natural philosophers, they really just were philosophizing. Experiments were below their dignity. If they thought that the world floated in a giant bathtub, then they had worked that out in their mind and that was pretty much all they felt they needed.

Originally posted by: hamish What I don't get... Why do boy racers, or street racers, Make their cars rev noises sound as deep as they can? (Im basing this on what they drive where I live) The car sounds literally sick. And aren't good cars, for example super cars, meant to have a high rev tone??? And the bass from the music they play, I thought well built cars weren't meant to vibrate when a high amount of bass passes through them... Thats just what I don't get.quote> I think this can all be explained by mentioning that street racers are generally a bunch of halfwits with more money then sense, who wouldn't recognize a quality car even if they were ran over by one repeatedly.

Originally posted by: Patricius Maximus Gridlock: That is a lot of rambling humbug. That elaborate history was partly invented to scare medieval Europeans into accepting the pope's dictatorial grip on them. The Church invented a whole mythology of the "evil deity" Satan and his corrupt demons that are infecting the Earth. In fact, Christians are violating their own commandment: "Do not have any other gods before me." Satan, the "rebel angels", and the domain of Hell constitute a polytheistic mythology, instead of a monotheistic one. Also, what evidence exists for this supposed history? Show me one piece of verifiable evidence that Satan and his demons are rampant on the Earth, or even exist. This is the biggest humbug I have ever heard of. If people accept these myths as facts with no proof, no progress can be made in the search for greater knowledge and understanding of the Universe through verifiable findings. This is what is called Science. - Patricius Maximusquote> That "rambling humbug" is also known as 'Paradise Lost' , a not entirely unimportant piece of English literature.

Hero buildings? It looks like a cross between Societies and 3000. its like they don't understand graphics and gameplay are meant to be good.quote> This is a game for the Wii, remember? There's limits to the kind of graphics they can squeeze out of it.

In the vein of "Where do they find these people?" Parents who come up with ridiculous names: New Zealand children have been given names such as Number 16 Bus Shelter, Violence and Benson and Hedges(twins). But other names, including Fish and Chips, Yeah Detroit, Stallion, Twisty Poi, Keenan Got Lucy and Sex Fruit, have been blocked by registration officials. The revelations came during written findings by Family Court Judge Murfitt, who ordered a girl be put in court guardianship so her name - Talula Does The Hula From Hawaii - could be changed. The girl's lawyer told the judge she was so embarrassed by her name she refused to reveal it to friends.quote>

Originally posted by: confused04 Oh, we have this statue but we have this magical program that can read contours of a statue FROM A PHOTOGRAPH and match it with this COMPLETE database of statues (is this where our tax dollars are going?!). Never mind that the interface (all like, 2 buttons) for "scanning" the statue was like, instantaneous and didn't require the cops from rotating, sizing, tilting, deforming or anything... it just HAPPENED to do what they wanted by waving their mouse over the statue... BALONEY! quote> You're missing the biggest load of baloney yet: zoom....enhance!

Originally posted by: Yoman3 Originally posted by: JanYpe Originally posted by: Red1530 We now know that the New York Times is in the tank for Senator Obama because they refused to print Senator John McCain rebuttal to a Senator Obama op-ed unless he included a timetable for withdrawal from Iraq. If that is not bias, I don't know what is.quote>This looks like the actually relevant part of the text: “It is standard procedure on our Op-Ed page, and that of other newspapers, to go back and forth with an author on his or her submission. We look forward to publishing Senator McCain’s views in our paper just as we have in the past. We have published at least seven op-ed pieces by Senator McCain since 1996. The New York Times endorsed Senator McCain as the Republican candidate in the presidential primaries. We take his views very seriously,” said Times spokeswoman Catherine Mathis.quote>The NYT is under no obligation to just run any old scrap of writing, now is it?quote> No, but this thread isn't about what Papers have to or don't have to publish, its about the bias of the media, now is it?quote> Yes, and to do that you're actually going to need some defined bias. A newspaper setting standards as to what it will print, followed by campaign spokespeople stomping their feet and having a little cry hardly qualifies as a serious example of bias.

Originally posted by: Red1530 We now know that the New York Times is in the tank for Senator Obama because they refused to print Senator John McCain rebuttal to a Senator Obama op-ed unless he included a timetable for withdrawal from Iraq. If that is not bias, I don't know what is.quote>This looks like the actually relevant part of the text: “It is standard procedure on our Op-Ed page, and that of other newspapers, to go back and forth with an author on his or her submission. We look forward to publishing Senator McCain’s views in our paper just as we have in the past. We have published at least seven op-ed pieces by Senator McCain since 1996. The New York Times endorsed Senator McCain as the Republican candidate in the presidential primaries. We take his views very seriously,” said Times spokeswoman Catherine Mathis.quote>The NYT is under no obligation to just run any old scrap of writing, now is it?

Because if it was, everyone would drive on the same side.quote> Everybody does. We use the right side. It's just all you crazy island dwelling types who still like the left side.

Totally awesome update. Also: that captain has a moustache for the ages.

Originally posted by: masochist Originally posted by: JanYpe C. really think it was just EA bad attempt to keep the simcity name alive, I think its a safe bet we see a SC5 a true sequel one day myself...more so now i seen sc creator, think spores has really messed and slowed things up unfortunatly quote> Spore's messed up how? It's been the main Maxis focus for years. It's not a minor side project they took on before hurrying back to the city builder genre.quote> I don't think he meant Spore itself was messed up, but that Maxis spent so much time and effort on Spore that the SimCity series was sort of tossed to the side for others to pick up...and so "Spore messed and slowed things up."quote> I know. My point was that there was no guarantee of a grand new Will Wright city builder after SC4 at all, and that there was nothing much that got tossed to the side in favour of Spore. Spore was what there was, and what was going to get worked on. Originally posted by: Hahayoudied Right, if EA wants to keep SimCity alive and make money, why don't they create a massive update that allows SC4 to use muti cores, more types of OS and graphic card, allow mod programs to edit the hard coded parts of the game, and fix some of the major program bugs.quote>Because that would require massively retooling the game for gains that will never justify the cost? It's still a five year old game underneath. Then EA will make more money, and keep SimCity alive.quote>There's no way that spending time, ie money, on altering SC4 is going to make them more money then just re-releasing the original. SCC isn't a true SimCity game.quote> EA basicly used SC3000 to create SCC, and SCC can only be played on Wii and DS.quote>Hold on now. If they used SC3000 for SCC and SCC isn't a true SimCity game, then you're saying that SC3000 wasn't a true SimCity game. And that just doesn't make sense.

Originally posted by: Robstersfive Hey Folks been to simcity.com recently and with all the news with the simcity box and titledmill working on a new game and the new simcity creator i think its a safe bet SCS was made just to keep the simcity name alive, sorry if this has been said already but lets look at the facts here A. Simcity creator going back to traditional SC gameplay with RCI and looks more like simcity game over SCS. It reminds me of sc3000 but still unrealstic (kinda hate the wii)quote> SimCity Creator is on a completely different and less powerful platform. The traditional gameplay has already proven to work just fine on a more basic system. The SimCity name wasn't so dead that it needed a pc-game to revive it on the way to a console game. B. Simcity Box is having to inc SC4 Which states the most realstic city simulator in exsistance (as we all know) but SCS clearly to weak to sell alone which makes me laugh SC4 still being promoted by EA a 5 year old game!! so it kinda proves EA know SCS sucksquote> Is having to include? Are you kidding me? It is a bestselling game that's still in demand years after release. You'd have to be a complete moron not to try and monetize that. Tell me, have EA ever slacked when it came to finding ways to make money? Thought not. This box deal would have happened even if SCS had sold like hotcakes. C. really think it was just EA bad attempt to keep the simcity name alive, I think its a safe bet we see a SC5 a true sequel one day myself...more so now i seen sc creator, think spores has really messed and slowed things up unfortunatly quote>Spore's messed up how? It's been the main Maxis focus for years. It's not a minor side project they took on before hurrying back to the city builder genre.

They've outdone themselves this time. Obama on a unicorn. XD

Isn't it awesome? I love all the goofy dancing.

Lighten up already people, nobody forced you to click that link.

Red Alert is supposed to be cheesy and over the top isn't it? I really like the water they showed in this trailer.

Why is it the death of Societies though? The game is there, as well as an expansion. The sales figures suggest that it's not going to be a never ending add-on saga like 'The Sims'. Hinterland sounds cool so far. I think own products like this, and Children Of The Nile, are much more up TM's alley than churning out stuff for EA is.

Of course people may see it as tasteless and offensive. That's pretty much the point of the cartoon: to make fun of the tasteless and offensive attacks. I believe they announced there won't be a speech in front of the Brandenburger Tor, by the way.

They might have changed this within the past decade or so (and my apologies for being out-of-date if they have) but The Netherlands practice euthanasia and it has been estimated that as many as one quarter of the euthanizations performed were done against the patient's will. In other words, the patient was not of the opinion that their quality of life wasn't worth living, but their doctor did, and the doctor euthanized them anyway.quote>Because this is obviously a dystopia where every doctor is a socialist sponsored Mengele. Whatever the doctor says goes, and none of the next of kin will ever object. Since we don't have fancy inventions like "laws" or "ethical codes" in this third world country, anyone who looks a bit sickly will just have to grin and bear it. I'm sure the experiences of your granny's friend's cousin's neighbour with the eager to kill doctor were harrowing, but that is a damn big claim to make without providing any kind of facts or numbers behind it.

Quite frankly I don't see the point of this topic. It got split from the other thread at my post, so let me say this about that post: that was the politest way of expressing how mind-numbingly silly I thought it was to connect socialsm (omg help scary word) to the topic at hand. There is simply no use in sitting here when every genius in the joint is just going to come by to give their own tattered little view and definition of socialism. Full socialism is as idiotic as full untamed capitalism, but I see little point in giving explanations when people just want to lay their own ignorant prejudices on the table.

Originally posted by: vistla ...."if people feel so oppressed then they can move elsewhere." I knew someone would eventually say this. It's the stock response, you see. I wonder if crown loyalists' said the same thing to Franklin, Jefferson, Washington, Adams, and the boys? They really complained back in the 1770's! Why should people be expected to evacuate the nation of thier origin because they're, perhaps, disenfranchised, or simply unhappy with the current political trends? This country was founded on the principals of freedom and liberty. Not the ideals of socialism. It's those who support the move towards socialism that should move elsewhere.quote>How does socialism even enter into this? The bill of rights are under attack on multiple fronts by a rogue government hell bent on folding the US into a North American Union and eventual global governance.quote>

What a moron.

Originally posted by: nthooze Having done untold hours of research on the subject, and no I don't mean watching a few silly youtube videos I can tell you there is a whole lot wrong with the official 911 story. The subject warrants and is receiving independent investigations, though not official are very extensive.quote>You claim to have done untold hours of research and then use 'Loose Change', a supposed documentary, as proof? Way to establish credibility there. Anyone that is truly curious about the issue rather than just posturing for the stance that is most comfortable or most aligned with your reality I encourage you to look into:quote>Ah yes, the trusty backup for anyone who wants to argue the ridiculous merits of their pet conspiracies: claiming everyone but them is an idiot who has their eyes closed. ae911truth.org911scholars.org These are good places to START these are credible folks who have done a massive amount of research on the subject.quote> A good place to start looking at poorly thought out work from various "credible" sources. The FACTS are simply chilling and yes they do lead one down a path that is disappointing and reality bending to say the least. quote>A bunch of pissed off, misguided religious folks made a host of others suffer for their own delusions. The facts are chilling, some people sadly still don't have the fiber to accept them and realize that the world at large often does not make sense and does not have a grand and secret plan behind it. Also this film is worth watching: loose change final cut (documentary) http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3719259008768610598quote> Only if worth watching is defined as utter tripe which lacks in facts, logic and reason, but is accompanied by moody music. I will stay out of the debate other than that.quote> Probably for the best if that was the result of hours of research. Ah, what can we say about this evil organization of terrorists, the CIAquote>