Off topic, but if someone argued that this was an intentional marketing ploy (with video game sites) I wouldn't disagree with them. The illusion of scarcity, exclusivity, or overwhelming popularity are standard marketing tools. It is much more exciting to brag about how you were able to snag a copy of CoD or GTA before the server crashed to your less lucky friends than for everyone who wants one to be able to easily get it. It creates demand for the next release.
Yeah, it doesn't work that way at all with online games. If the servers are down or crashing the devs just look incompotent and it can cause severe damage to their reputation and the games. Their is no upside to it.
Actually it is pretty much exactly how our government was designed to function. Thank God we had such smart Founding Fathers.
I don't know enough about online games to argue against that. Also, I wish we had rep back so that could be a rep comment instead of an actual reply. The lack of rep comments is a ploy by The Powers That Be to drive up posting!
I thought the democrats have been compromising. Haven't they come doun on the amount of the CR to match what the Republicans have been asking for?
Got a link? I've seen no such report. What i do know is that the House said "defund obamacare" Senate said "piss off" House said "okay, let's defund it for a year at least" Senate said "piss off" House said "can we at least put the Congressional exemption aside so we don't go away with nothing?" Senate said "piss off" (notwithstanding a Bohner staffer apparently was scheming behind the scenes, probably with his bosses endorsement, to NOT actually do that, but to be able to blame it on Obama) And I'm pretty sure I'm leaving one movement out there but i can't remember what it was. If the senate has submitted counteroffers, I've not seen the reporting on it.
Games have gone from being products to being more of a service. You play the game online for as long as you like and pay an agreed upon fee. if your servers crash, the developers are in breach of the service agreement... well theoretically. Most players don't read the EULAs. Needless to say, if your servers crash, you suck as a developer today for underestimating the market.
Doesn't the fact that the Senate was simply stripping out the riders and sending it back imply that they were accepting the amount for the CR?
Speaking of GTA and suckage. Really not surprising. No matter how much experience you have, when something goes live and millions of people hit your site all at once, you're going to run into problems you didn't expect.
The amount of the continuing resolution isn't at dispute, exactly. It's the fact that several Republican congressman/women won election in 2012 on the promise of fighting to stop the ACA/Obamacare. Just because Pres.Obama won his re-election as well doesn't absolve those congressmen/women of their promises to their constituents. If I recall the initial chain of events correctly, the House passed a CR, which included language that de-funded the ACA. Upon receipt of this CR, Senator Harry Reid stripped the ACA de-funding language out of the House CR. That's what the Senate passed back to the House. The original House bill was never considered or debated or voted on. Since then, the House has amended/scaled down their demands as to the funding of the ACA. To which, the Senate & Pres. Obama have refused to even talk about. Ignoring the fact that the law has already been modified, delayed, and exemptions to politacal allies by Presidential fiat, (something that no President has the legal authority to do) several times. The fact that the Republicans in the House are using the CR (or possibly later in the month, the debt ceiling) for leverage is because the Democrats simply won't negotiate at all on spending without such pressure being brought to bear.
Similarly, turning a lightswitch to the "on" position is deep meditation, while turning it to the "off" is yoga.
Except what you posted: So, have the Democrats lowered their budget to match what the House Republicans have offered or haven't they? If they have, would you consider that a compromise of some sort?
They went about this in a retarded way. Since they both have said "absolutely no compromise" and drawn a line in the sand...now there is no way that will allow both sides to save face. One side or the other is going to have to buckle. AND IT WILL BE THE REPUBLICANS. Boehner is going to be forced to eventually call a vote on a clean bill, and it will pass.
Still waiting for you to stop your paycheck. Or are you still only a moral crusader when it doesn't hurt you?
You know exactly how it makes sense. You're just a blowhard who is ready to fight "the man" as long as it in no way affects you. Congrats, you are exactly like Dayton who is ready to start wars with every country on the planet as long as he can sit and watch it on CNN FOXNEWS.
As I said, I'm unaware that there was ever a difference in the financial terms of the CR, and if there wasn't, then there would be no reason for movement on that matter. I stand willing to be corrected by reliable evidence.
all analysis of fault aside, the executive branch controls the choices of what is essential and what is not, which means they have complete liberty to manipulate the public mood by closing the most inflammatory targets. Shall we shut down NIH so that the public will be shocked and outraged that little kids with cancer are (supposedly) missing their treatments? Yes! Lets!!! Rinse and repeat until you win the public relations war and the Republicans cave. Right or wrong on the issues, the Republicans have already lost because Obama's people are far more ruthless than any who came before them at manipulating the political outcomes.
I'm not sure what you think I'm saying. So let me rephrase: Who caves will not necessarily correlate with who was right, or indeed demonstrate that either side was right. Just which side was playing the stronger hand. Honestly, the ACA is NOT going away and the GOP is pissing in the wind and, conceivably, could fuck up the immediate concerns of my own life in their futile effort. On the other hand, I don't by the argument that they have no right to tilt at the windmill if they want to. I find the arguments by partisans on both sides (as represented by what i see on Facebook and twitter) to be predictable, tedious, usually misleading, and narrow minded. Emotionally, I'd like to see both sides "lose" - neither crowd of clusterfucks - the ones the right support or the ones the left support - deserve to be considered heroes or winners in all this shit. So I'm basically just making "looking at it from outside the debate" observations. I'm not "playing a card"
In all fairness, you're not supposed to negotiate with hostage takers... unless you want them to take more hostages in the future.
Some Federal employees have taken to writing coded messages over the shutdown. Screengrab at the link.
well, all this is certainly an inconvenience. next week will be a catastrophe if they fail to raise the debt ceiling. we should start to think over what will happen if the deadline passes. i'll start: failure to pay interest on the trillions of debt will sent the dollar plummeting vs. all the other major currencies at first. meaning it will suddenly be worthless as a global reserve currency. everybody who holds anything in US$ - and that's pretty much everybody who has any kind of investment plan, insurance or whatever - will lose a huge chunk of their money. we're talking global big badda boom. there is no more money or political will to save banks with taxpayer money so we might see a cataclysmic crash in the sector. whoever's exposed the most will fall first, and if we have learned anything from lehman, the others will follow. no more bank = no more money at the end of the month for millions. since many currencies are backed by the dollar, they will follow too. the whole economic magic the US has done by having the greenback established pretty much as the world's currency could come crashing down on everybody's head. on a positive note: that trip to america or europe will be much more affordable for chinese tourists there will be a lot more fallout than just that. go!
