Posts by slycrane94

LibreOffice works perfectly fine, and I’d honestly recommend it—plus, being free is a massive win.

And what kind of prices were we looking at? You can sometimes find clips for up to 70 cents or DVDs for around $1.50, but that’s usually just for the ancient stuff or things nobody actually wants to buy anyway.

Angela Roberts said:Yeah, you can't be a cop if you aren't stupid.

Well, did you see what happened in Sweden? Honestly, it isn't really their fault when the government acts like a total sellout just to please big industry, but still.

Look, this might sound like nonsense, but things have changed lately. Besides, I’m not even sure where you picked all that up. Even in places like Chicago, you’ve got street vendors selling bootlegs at the flea market.

And if you think spending $250 or $300 on a single DVD is a bargain, then by all means, go ahead and burn through your cash.

The truth is, the laws have gone completely off the rails and need to be scrapped. You guys at least seem to have decent cops. In Sweden, the Minister of Justice is such an absolute moron—some former athlete who thinks he's Big Brother—that the whole situation is just grim.

John Palmer4 said:Look, from what I know, DVD movies in some Scandinavian countries cost way less than they do here in America, and the wages and standard of living are much higher.

If I'm making 10 or 15 thousand dollars a month, and a special edition or director's cut of Blade Runner costs $37, why would I bother risking it all with piracy?

We spent a fortune on movies and music up there, yet it still ended up being half the price you'd pay in New York. When three CDs cost less than $50, does anyone actually think twice about burning them?

Not in Sweden. Over there, a DVD is at least 250 SEK, and an Audio CD runs between 180 and 250 SEK.
Sure, you can find junk or old stuff cheaper, but even then, the prices are ridiculous. Why do you think piracy is so widespread in Scandinavia? It isn't because the prices are reasonable.

By the way, if you're pulling in 10,000 SEK a month, you aren't exactly blowing cash on DVDs. Once you factor in rent at 4,000-5,000, food at 2,000-3,000, and a few other basics, you've hit 10,000 before you even blink.

Ethan Perez97 said:I really wonder if people over in Western Europe or the States look at piracy the same way we do. Like you said, everyone pretty much has movies, music, and cracked games on their PC, and it feels totally normal. I wonder what the vibe is like out there.

It's exactly the same. Most sane people think it’s ridiculous to charge $30 for a DVD. Not to mention paying $20 for an audio CD with some garbage DRM that wrecks your computer and still won't let you listen to your music wherever you want.

I agree that the industry plays a bit of a weak hand, but let’s be honest: the entire copyright and patent system has turned into more of a circus than anything else. Not to mention how it fuels monopolies and stifles innovation—which is ironic, considering the whole point was supposed to spark competition and speed up progress.

What we actually need is to slash copyright terms down to somewhere between 5 and 20 years at most. Maybe make them paid licenses too; if you want protection, pay up, otherwise, don't complain.
We also need much stricter patent rules and a total ban on patenting things like correlations or genomic data. We should implement a global patent system—with pricing similar to copyright—and, of course, strictly prohibit retroactive patenting.

And finally, there should be a legal right to bypass patents during a crisis—think about those insanely overpriced drugs for HIV and stuff like that.

Steven Green2 said:You've got a point. Maybe I phrased that poorly. When I mentioned that besides being part of all cell membranes, fats are responsible for transporting fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E, and K; they protect organs like the liver, heart, and kidneys through their unique properties, and play a role in calcium retention in teeth and bones by transporting vitamin D... I wasn't strictly referring to unsaturated fats. I don't have a specific source handy, unfortunately.

That applies to saturated fats too, and the trick is needing both types. Not to mention staying active.

Regarding calcium, I’m not quite following how fats help. Does anyone actually know how the calcium cycle works in the body? If fat is required, we can't be talking about a simple calcium ion, since that's hydrophilic—meaning there has to be some kind of hydrophobic compound involved. Is it just a question of which one? Carbonate doesn't seem right.

Steven Green2 said:"Saturated fatty acids primarily serve as an energy source. Unsaturated fatty acids are required for the 'building' of various tissues and cellular structures. Beyond being components of all cell membranes, they play a role in transporting fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E, and K. Body fat also protects organs like the liver, heart, and kidneys, and aids in retaining calcium in teeth and bones by facilitating vitamin D transport..."

From what I recall of cell biology, the lipid bilayer consists of both saturated and unsaturated parts.
I also don't remember vitamin solubility being strictly tied to unsaturation. Do you actually have a reliable reference for this? (And don't say Wikipedia.)

And what’s the actual practical value of unsaturated fats? It's just energy either way.

If you want a perfect example of how people obsess over the "dangers" of fat, look at the dockworkers in NY. They traditionally eat foods loaded with cholesterol, yet there isn't a shred of evidence that it's causing them issues.

But then again, those guys are actually moving, while the modern man spends his entire life glued to a chair. Is a different type of fat really going to save you if you spend all day sitting still?

I drink at least a quart of milk a day, and even when I burn a few calories on a couple of pizzas here and there—which isn't an everyday thing, just a few times a month—I haven't dealt with a single allergy or issue in the 25 years I've been doing this.

So, even if the sample size is small, it seems to me that the idea that milk is toxic is just nonsense cooked up by failed doctors-in-training. If nothing else, shouldn't we consider that the human body has been adapted to dairy for roughly 20,000 years? That's a long enough stretch of time to figure out if something doesn't suit you.

Hold on. If the father smokes weed, how does that mean the mother and child will never be exposed to it? That sounds a bit off to me. I also can't help but wonder: just how committed is someone to being a parent if they aren't willing to give up the weed?

It’s probably for the best that you understand how hackers actually operate...

How exactly did it fail to protect anything?

Stealth mode is just pure nonsense for people who don't get how this works. Just because a port is sending SYN-ACK packets doesn't mean a damn thing.

rapidheron
God, people are so incredibly lazy these days. I get the feeling most would treat a child like a toy—something you just toss into a corner when it becomes an inconvenience.
And if they’re born with some kind of disorder? Well, that’s just a small price to pay for a little indulgence, right? We all know who actually matters in these scenarios. This collective egocentrism is going to be the death of us.

Justin Fox, if we're talking about the same chemical compound, there shouldn't be much of a difference. Besides, only an idiot risks a child's health like that. Surely everyone has at least that much instinct left.

If you're looking for something high-quality without the price tag, give Core Force a shot.

clayface said:the best 👍

http://www.netveda.com/consumer/safetynet.htm

Haha, did you actually join this forum just to drop an ad?

The new version is pretty buggy, honestly—what was the developer thinking? And 2.15 feels way too bloated. Even though it’s still an excellent firewall, it really needs better process startup controls and things like that, which would be super helpful when you're trying to run newer DRM-protected CDs on your PC.