Jonanananas

I'm not quite sure what you mean tbh. Afaik, Amazon's Kindle is the only reader that's really restricted (well Apple stuff too, but who would want to read books on a LCD Screen...). You can still read books from other sources, you just may need to convert it first (Amazon offers a conversion service itself, not sure if for all formats, but if not, there's great e-reader software like Calibre). There are definitely things that bother me about the Kindle (I got one as a present when there were still few alternatives, else I'd not buy an Amazon one), but practically they don't really matter. Amazon being able to delete your books is one thing, but of course the chances of that happening are small and well - my books are saved on my computer via calibre too, so what. The bigger problem here is imo what allows Amazon to do that in the first place - the fact that you don't actually own the digital book, like you would own a physical one, you merely buy a license. Of course no one tells you that... The other problem I guess is DRM (Though there are some publishers without DRM, mainly TOR) even preventing me from legal sharing with family and close friends. Personally, I just remove it, even though it's technically illegal. Again our laws considering digital files and copyright are unfortunately terribly out of date, and with publishers, the music industry etc. keeping on lobbying for it, it seems like that is unlikely to change :/ Still, I have found the Kindle to be very useful, you can always have a bunch of books with you, can read anywhere, and it's a nice source of cheap and good books too. I wouldn't want to give up paper books completely...but neither would I like to give up my Kindle at this point.

RE: Game of Thrones -- I hated the books but enjoy the TV show. :anxious: You...you...what? :eek: I think the books are definitely better, though the show does a good job at adapting them. For me, they're without a doubt the best fantasy series I've read (and unlikely to change) but it depends on why you stopped watching the show... Brandon Sanderson is also great, he's a good, not great, writer, but he brings a lot of needed innovation to fantasy and his magic systems are really interesting. Recommend to start with Elantris or Mistborn.

I'm somewhat torn on gun control. On the one hand, I think it's better for a society not to have access to a lot of guns, and I'm happy in that respect that I live in Germany and not the USA...but I'm not sure how effective legislation there would be. First of all, you have the problem that a lot of guns are already in circulation, so it would take a long time to get rid of those. Gun culture is also way different, and you have to wonder how much laws are going to do under those circumstances. I can't see the problem with banning assault rifles or large magazines though. I also think people need to be realistic about what gun laws might possibly improve. Laws won't keep criminals from using guns. However, what it might improve are e.g. escalated arguments in a family - if things get out of hand, chances of survival are far higher if you're being attacked with a knife instead of a gun. It also won't prevent shootings, but it might help lessen the damage. Of the last 6 recent attacks, one was commited without firearms (No one died) and two other shooters probably wouldn't have had access to guns if the laws had been followed (One got the guns from the unlocked safe of his dad, the other was a legal owner, but tricked on some of the requirements in a way which the authorities should have noticed) As said, shootings and other crimes aren't going to be prevented, but the number of casualties might be reduced, and if that's possible without really having an impact on normal people, I think that's good.

Well, it's HBO and apparently they think they need to show T&A every episode or they'll lose viewership...Well, at least they mostly get at least some exposition in those scenes. Not a big fan of it either. Daenarys is a bit high and low for me. I don't have the hate for her that some others harbor, but sometimes she really makes it hard to like her, especially when the storyline doesn't do her any favor. S1 Dany is okay, S2 Dany is mostly annoying as hell, S3 Dany is somewhat awesome, but from there it'll probably go downhill again. Nefarast: I think Jojen's actor is okay, it's rather the writing - right now, Bran's storyline doesn't really have anything major happen, and the attempts to make it more interesting have failed largely

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=miJJQeigC9U

Nah, you'll know when you get to it. Think the bit in 1984 where Winston reads that book O'Brien gave him except so much worse. O_o I really liked that part in 1984...found it quite interesting. Also, I've read the Tom Sawyer & Huckleberry Finn books, really loved them. Had me laughing all the time. Now starting with "The Hotel New Hampshire" by David Irving. edit: whoops, John Irving. Not a holocaust denier...

Kill Bill 1&2 - Meh. I can live with illogical films if it's presented the right way, but this was a bit too far. Far worse, I really didn't get a lot of the character's motivations (Such as fighting&then sitting down and talking). It was moderately enjoyable though - 6/10 The life of benjamin button - I did not see it fully (missed the end) but it didn't particularly excite me anyway. I didn't really feel with the characters and the story was not that interesting either - 5/10 True Grit - Enjoyed it, good plot, good actors - 8/10

Only a month to go, and the first trailer is out too! Who's pumped for season 3?

I've quit about half a year ago, I haven't regretted the decision, and I want to make it final by helping friends out a bit. I've already given away my cash, but my items are still worth something too (Even if considerably less than they used too >.>) Anyways, is there any way to transfer member items on f2p worlds?

Thanks Randox, I've had a look and it seems great! It'll take some time to get used to it all, but I think this mod will make me quite happy :)

I've been playing a bit of Minecraft again these past days, but I'm hitting the same problems as before. I don't have enough patience to really build something big and awesome, and survival mode doesn't really interest me that much. Also, when I'm building something, it's usually with a lot of redstone/piston mechanics and I get very quickly annoyed by the restrictions this has in minecraft. I can think of several things that would be *really useful for me* 1.When you move a block with doors, redstone, torches, whatever attached to it with a piston, the attachment should move with the block 2.You should be able to connect as many blocks as you want with slime, so you can pull more than one block 3. A way to avoid connecting parallel lines of redstone 4. being able to lay redstone veritcally 5. being able to compress logic gates somehow 6. Having blocks to be able to wire inside walls or directly under the floor without anything being visible. I'm currently looking for mods that might at least make some of these possible...

Saw Shaun of the Dead. I'd give it 6/10. It had it's moments but nothing where I was really laughing. Most of the time it was just...meh. Surprises me bit since I loved Hot Fuzz and thought I'd like this too....

I can't. Marriage is a contract between private parties; anyone who can sign a contract should not be kept from marrying anyone else who can sign a contract. Presumably, adoption agencies can choose to not deal with clients for any reason (or no reason at all), so I can't justify forcing them to do business with any specific class, but I don't understand a refusal to place with a gay couple any more than a refusal to place with a couple of a different race. Well, the argument I hear is that kids are better off with having a mom and a dad, because that's the "natural" way. I personally think it's BS and afaik, what research there is points to the contrary but I can understand that some people might think like that and thus want no adoption rights for gays to "protect the children". There's no link between sexual orientation of parents and how kids turn out. I didn't say there was, but a lot of people still think that way, and it's one of the few parts concering gay rights where I can at least understand where they're coming from, that's all I'm saying.

I can't. Marriage is a contract between private parties; anyone who can sign a contract should not be kept from marrying anyone else who can sign a contract. Presumably, adoption agencies can choose to not deal with clients for any reason (or no reason at all), so I can't justify forcing them to do business with any specific class, but I don't understand a refusal to place with a gay couple any more than a refusal to place with a couple of a different race. Well, the argument I hear is that kids are better off with having a mom and a dad, because that's the "natural" way. I personally think it's BS and afaik, what research there is points to the contrary but I can understand that some people might think like that and thus want no adoption rights for gays to "protect the children".

Wow, that's sickening. Crazy that religions have still so much power that they could potentially force such a disgusting law. I can understand people who are against certain gay rights like adoption(even though I don't agree with them) and maybe even marriage, but this...It's just sad.

This, like many others. I'm trying not to finish it in a day like I usually do, because I need something to read between classes... It's much harder to put down than it should be :cry: . Also got a kindle, which I used to read Brandon Sanderson's Warbreaker a week or so ago, as it's free and I can't really do anything else with it without registering a credit card. Can't be bothered to do that yet. It's free? Dangit I just shelled out a few bucks to buy that maybe two weeks earlier :P

I started DA2 but I got tired of the pop-up enemies pretty quickly, not my type of game. And I too was hit on by several guys as male hawke...and I was referred to as female in several conversations (I played it in german, so there's a difference between male and female version of nouns)

" From the report The operatlonal results for the 9 month penod have been significantly impacted by a number of one-off exceptlonal charges as highlighted below - US Operatlons: Jagex establlshed a subsidiary in the United States as part of a wider group strategy to expand the range of games produced. Significant costs were incurred In the US ln pursuit of outstandlng talent and intellectual property. By the year end the few projects that were considered the most viable were chosen and the remainingg activities were ceased. Jagex expensed all costs incurred ln the US. Additonally, due to the curtailment of operatlons ln the US, a lease commitment became onerous. An onerous lease provision has been recognised in respect of this - New Cambridge Office: Jagex has taken a number of steps to improve the working environment for employees and allow for future growth This included the relocation from two separate buildings into one main office, housing all Cambridge employees. Consequently an onerous lease provision has been recorded for the vacant property - Change of Control liabilty: There was a change of control of Jagex Limited in December 2010. As a result of that transaction, the Company took on a liability to founding shareholders totalling £7.7 m which was expensed fully ln the financial period." So...I'm not an expert with this but most of it really sounds like one-off costs. They invested in development in the USA, moved into the new office. I'm not quite sure I understand the last part. Did Andrew, Paul etc. get money from Jagex after selling their shares? Did the investors pay with the money the product they bought generated? This is weird...(But I'm really not familiar with a lot of these financial terms) There is a lot of information in that report, I can't get much out of it unfortunately. The other two interesting things I saw were this: Analysis of Turnover (I'll give a percentage compared to last year, of course with the 9 months compared to a year respected) Game time sales: 31,893,489 (97% compared to last year) Advertising Revenue: 782,870 (70% compared to last year) Other income: 228,618 (2180% compared to last year) In total: 32,905,077 (97% compared to last year) At first I thought Other income were microtransactions, but even with the giant raise compared to last year, it still wouldn't be a lot. So maybe it's in with Game time sales, though I wonder what the other income is then. Also, not that it matters much but I found it interesting/funny: "The Group made charltable donatlons amounting to £207 dunng the perlod (year to 31 March 2011 - £150,076) Donations were made to a number of local and US based charities" Overall, with my limited understanding of things I'd say they're doing okay but not with a positive outlook. Investing will be good I guess, but the fact that altogether it got them almost a loss of ten million seems a little desparate, a move to get ahead in the playing field again before they completely fall behind...

is it the last, last book or has robert jordan's family decided yet if they want to also start work on the prequel series that robert had planned? Ummm no idea actually...I haven't heard about that.

Last Wheel of Time came out yesterday...even though my brother bought it and I'll get it after him (though that could be a few weeks depending on when I see him next) I'm seriously considering buying it just to be able to read it NOW :P

The red portal in clan wars does not work-if, under the trade limit, you die with more than 25k on you, only 25k is dropped and the rest of the items disappear permanently. Interesting...so they actually have to buy membership to transfer the gp? Or is there another method?

Though P2P probably has the larger percentage of bots, especially thanks to the free trial. That reminds me of something I've been wondering, sorry if it's a bit off-topic: F2P accounts still have the 25k unbalanced trade restriction on them, right? Does this apply for trial members too? (One would hope that it does, but knowing Jagex...) If yes, how do they transfer the wealth generated? Is it still possible to do that with the red clan wars portal?

Would you believe that most of the people I'm talking about are as far from being religious as you can get? I know what you mean as well. Both types of people tend to have many within their group which fall under the aforementioned attributes. I am sorry if 22 years of being taught false information has made my opinion towards certain groups slightly negative. I know the feeling. Although for me it's more about the way some religious people behave and the general way religions work, I sometimes tend to get to aggressive in debates about this.

That's just not how the human mind works though. Yeah, in theory we should mourn for everyone we don't know in the same way, but the facts just are it's going to hit closer to home if it's in your country, if it's in a place you know, if it's a one-time event as opposed to something going on for a longer time (As civilian casualties in wars do). That's just the way it is and saying someone should "check their values" if they're more upset about this than about a Pakistani dying is ridiculous.

It's horrible that something like this had to happen again so soon :( edit: And agreed with Vezon. Gun control should be discussed - but not in the direct connection to an actual incident. Such a tragedy should not be used for a political goal.