Thanks for everything!

No, you're right. In those cases, it probably really IS ball lightning. But some reported cases of ball lightning might actually be hallucinations, and not the real thing.

...this just delays it a bit.

But the Government has a clear mandate here, and now that SA has a new Attorney-General (one who is on record as being a proponent of harmonising game rating with film/tv/book ratings), I think this will actually happen. Might be another year or two (the legislative process is pretty slow) but it will happen.

The govt. does have a point though. If you have a consultation where one 'side' spams you up with 50,000 individual submissions, but the other 'side' consolidates their arguments into a few submissions, it is important not to let the former drown out the latter. It's not a vote - the Government will consider all the viewpoints and their own constitutional obligations re responsible government, and come to a reasoned conclusion. I'm still pretty confident that conclusion will be pro-R18+ rating for games though. It has pretty overwhelming support.

There's no question that the current setup, in which the European Patent Office only performs a unified examination of a patent application but doesn't really grant a single European patent, is suboptimal from the perspective of those taking out patents. It's also an inefficiency that patent litigation can currently only take place on a country-by-country basis (including invalidation, unless oppositions happens early enough so that the EPO itself could reject the patent application).

However, if an international construct such as the European patent system is made more efficient and powerful, then that increase in power and efficiency should be accompanied by an at least proportional increase in power of democratically elected lawmakers governing the same field of policy-making. That should be a governing principle regardless of whether hardware, software or other patents are at stake. The patent examiners' union raises that point and basically says that the exact opposite is happening from their point of view: more power and less control.

> Because of points 1 and 2, uncrackable DRM/Copy Protection would produce no significant increase in revenue -- certainly nowhere near the absurd number claimed by the BSA.

Now consider that they may actually realise this, and you have an explanation why DRM never turns out as good as it could be.

A year too late :(

Unfortunately the future of PC gaming through traditional (dedicated server) means is in jeopardy as far as mainstream titles are concerned.

PC games used to have an online edge because even if a game was created across many platforms the PC game would have Modding capabilities as well as dedicated servers. This edge would continue as games would become timeless and online play would only be limited by community support rather than some douche behind a desk crunching numbers.

Unfortunately this differentiation has been eroded by the idea that simplification sells.

SOURCE: http://modernwarfare2.infinityward.com/

His job is to vote yes or no. It's actually not a hard job. I'm not certain he needs to or should be paying attention to do his job well. The R behind his name implies he's going to vote against abortion. It's not his responsibility to listen to the other side of the aisle and all their arguments. His job is to vote the way he thinks the people who put him there want him to vote.

whether or not these guys should be paid so much to do such an easy job is up for argument.

if every idea was protected forever, that would eventually create a legal minefield for anyone trying to publish something new. they'd have to go through ages of creations to check if anything remotely resembled their own, and it'll only grow as more people find gaps. eventually, you'll need someone specialized in finding these gaps to assist you while you create. is that your dream world? it isn't mine.

the shitty bit about this is that i own a "3G" ipod touch 8gb, which is nothing more then a 2G ipod with an exterior update to look like the actual 3Gs

So apple sells this as a new ipod touch, but it wont run their newest software.. i wonder if OS 4.0 means the death of the 2.5G 8gb ipod.

I'll survive though, considering ive gotten along without multitasking so far. I would have really liked it, but eh.. if i really want it i'll just have to pony up the dough for a new iPad nano...

not using it as a phone is my guess

my GF had her 3GS on plane-mode while on vacation (because of the excessive data-roaming charges), and suddenly battery-life is almost a week.. it basically becomes and ipod touch with a larger battery, and it survives on zero power :P