6/10

I go with T.G.I. Friday's if i have to choose from the red 'n' white family restaurant trio (Applebee's, Chili's, T.G.I. Friday's).

Hopefully it's done in time for the game night.

I just got accepted to the University of South Carolina School of Engineering.  I'm going in as a computer science major but I'm thinking of switching that to auto engineering.

What are your views on piracy?  Lately it's become a hot-button issue what with Ubisoft's comments in the past year about pirates being the cause of low PC sales and the conundrum just yesterday where people who had pirated Far Cry 4 before the release date got BTFO.  The subject of pirating movies and music is also mixed with controversy.  It's projected that piracy costs the music industry $12.5 billion per year.

I'm not going to pretend that I don't pirate media.  I pirated Euro Truck Simulator 2 some time ago just to see if I liked the experience.  I bought it today when I saw it was on sale.  This is what I tend to do with games that I pirate and end up either (a) enjoying or (b) playing until the end.  I also consider pirating games to be an alternative to getting a demo.  While console gamers are able to spend a few bucks and have full access to a game for a few days, PC gamers don't have that luxury, and with all of the different hardware configurations out there, no one can be 100% certain a game will run well on their machine unless they test it out themselves.  I don't pirate music or movies.  I have a Google Play Music subscription for all-access music and I can usually find movies on one of the on-demand services my parents are subscribed to.

Quote from: Maverick on November 17, 2014, 08:26:34 PM

I would be much more impressed if I read a study that shows Republicans are better informed on issues than Democrats.

Indeed. However, considering the mouthpiece of the Republican party is Fox News...I doubt that would be the case.

Each party tends to be more informed on issues that they're passionate about (shocking, I know).  Democrats tend to be more educated when it comes to things like LGBT rights and drug legalization, while Republicans tend to be more educated when it comes to things like gun rights and privacy rights (at least up until the whole NSA scandal).

That's just how it goes.  I try to stay informed on everything, but that's hard to do when there's so much going on.  I imagine it's the same with many of the people that use this forum.

I feel like this is being blown way out of proportion.

But I don't live there, so what do I know?

It probably comes down to what set the universe in motion.  Scientists still aren't sure, and they might have broken the laws of physics trying to find out.

Quote from: BrenMan 94 on November 17, 2014, 08:45:27 PM

Quote from: Lord Commissar on November 17, 2014, 08:39:36 PM

Quote from: BrenMan 94 on November 17, 2014, 08:30:30 PM

I think this gives a good idea of what U.S. citizens can expect if Net Neutrality is passed.

So you don't have apprehensions about opening the door for government regulation of the internet?

Are you genuinely retarded? that isn't what net neutrality is.

Net neutrality means that shitty ISPs can't fuck you and netflix out the ass and force you to pay a premium for a decent connection to watch your movies, it also prevents faggots like comcast trying to artificially raise the prices on the internet, forcing you to pay more for a shitty connection.

in what fucking world is that a bad thing?

copypasta

Do NN advocates imagine they're supporting Netflix and Silicon Valley paying nothing for their traffic? I don't think so. Netflix are just using 'Net Neutrality' as a way of drumming up support for a subsidy. They know that most people already support Net Neutrality, so they blame their problems on Comcast citing it as a a NN violation. In reality they would just rather pay nothing for their traffic.

A lot of people say that the home-users ordered the traffic, so Netflix shouldn't have to pay. But so what? It has always been a two-sided market. Why mess with something that clearly is working well? If you put all the cost-burden on the home-user, the price of their connection will need to go up substantially to cover the infrastructure costs. This might be a wash for Netflix users, because Netflix could lower their subscription prices. So you pay less for Netflix, but more for your ISP. But it's a sucky deal for people who don't use Netflix. The way it works right now is more fair. You pay your ISP less, and Netflix a bit more. The bit more that you're paying Netflix goes towards paying for their bandwidth costs on their side of the network. Some of that money eventually goes to your ISP indirectly or directly through various contracts between companies on that side. That means Netflix's customers end up paying for the infrastructure that is needed to deliver the massive amount of Netflix traffic, and non Netflix customers don't pay as much. That's perfectly legitimate and another good example of the way the free market and price mechanism arranges things nicely when there is no central planning to get in the way.
Traditionally-defined NN remains still a theoretical problem only. The Comcast 'shakedown' of Netflix is not a real example. Demanding government regulation, and really expansive Title II reclassification no less, seems really foolhardy on the back of a theoretical problem. The only real examples are very few -- things like Comcast blocking BitTorrent very briefly. Would the market have handled that without it being against FCC rules? I think so, especially if the ISP market was more free to begin with. Customers don't want it.

TL;DR  Everyone supporting NN is a shill for Netflix and other companies that don't want to have to pay their bandwidth providers and ISPs more for using more bandwidth.  Seriously.  Do some research.

Quote from: BrenMan 94 on November 17, 2014, 08:30:30 PM

I think this gives a good idea of what U.S. citizens can expect if Net Neutrality is passed.

So you don't have apprehensions about opening the door for government regulation of the internet?

>Expecting a Republican to pass a bill that raises taxes right after mid-terms

How the hell does this surprise you?

>Thinking that modern Russia and Stalinist Russia are comparable

Everything Russia is doing right now is to show that it has balls.  And every other major world government is trying their best to be "outraged" while not getting involved.

That said, I'd lift sanctions on Russia in order to ease tensions.  Sanctions end up hurting civilians the most, anyway.

Republicans hold more college degrees than democrats

...

...

...So?

Quote from: Lemy the Lizerd on November 16, 2014, 05:45:08 PM

In competition, which is the soul of capitalism, it does pay off not to limit oneself with strict ethics or moral rules.

>edgy socialist detected

I wonder why slavery, a far more efficient business tactic with no ethical value, no longer exists.

Consensual employment will always be more productive than slavery.

In competition, which is the soul of capitalism, it does pay off not to limit oneself with strict ethics or moral rules.

^This