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 Posted: Tue Oct 05, 2010 10:06 pm
If you find something in the news that you think is weird or funny or interesting post it here...
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Posted: Wed Oct 20, 2010 5:22 pm
Microsoft: “No Reviews of Kinect!”
Microsoft is attempting to stop reviews of Kinect from surfacing before the controller is released – which many are taking as a sign Microsoft is trying to cover up a sub-standard product.
The gaming press complains about not being sent review copies:
Kinect is Microsoft’s biggest push for the Xbox gaming division to date. The Xbox division could sink or swim depending on the success of the device. However, in an unusual move the company has been hesitant to send out the device for review.
Many journalists in the gaming industry have complained about Microsoft’s hesitation to send the Kinect and any of its software offerings for review. This is actually something that has been actively talked about on game press forums.
In addition the publisher has also placed an embargo on posting any sort of review for the device prior to launch. Microsoft’s internal anti piracy investigation group has also issued a take-down notice to Destructoid, who incidentally made fun of the Kinect’s new commercials.
The fact that Microsoft is being so sensitive about any sort of criticism towards the device is a major concern. Just like how film studios won’t hold a pre-screening for movies that is expected to tank, the video game industry operates exactly the same way.
[...]
Typically its a very bad sign when publishers do this as it means that there is something wrong and the company wants to rely on ignorance and marketing rather than letting the public find out early. I am not saying this is the case for the Kinect, but it is very concerning nevertheless.
Square Enix was recently caught trying the same thing with Final Fantasy XIV, and seeing how that turned out it is easy to see why some identify this as a worrying sign...
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Posted: Sun Aug 21, 2011 9:35 am
NY man, 61, suing over skimpy lifeguard trunks
A 61-year-old New York man says he lost his job as a lifeguard when he refused to wear skimpy swim trunks for the annual swim test.
Roy Lester tells the New York Daily News ( http://nydn.us/oFL3E0) he was forced out of the job after 40 years in 2007 when he wanted to take the swim test in biking shorts instead of the tiny swim trunks.
He filed a lawsuit against the state Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation in 2009. The lawsuit had been dismissed but was reinstated by an appeals court last week.
Lester is a triathlete, but says no one his age should be wearing tiny trunks. He says the bathing suit requirement was aimed at getting rid of older lifeguards.
State officials declined to comment.
(Seems more than a little creepy to me that anyone would wanna see a 61 year old in shorts anyway lol)
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Posted: Sat May 26, 2012 9:35 pm
I know that it has been a very long time since I last posted here... But I do have a bit of strange news (or at least it will seem strange to people who really know me & know how much I hate school)... I'm taking classes & I am trying to earn my Bachelors of Science (BS) in Game Art & Design... mrgreen
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Posted: Tue Jun 12, 2012 12:33 am
States carefully monitor motorists' license 2 B creative on personalized plates
By Jason McLure, Reuters
When Whitney Calk sought a personalized license plate from a Tennessee state agency to tout her vegetarian ideals, she was annoyed when she was told no. Turns out the letters ILVTOFU can be construed to mean more than enjoying bean curd.
"When I see T-O-F-U, I see tofu," said Calk, who requested the so-called vanity plate from the Tennessee Department of Revenue last September. "I can't control the way anyone else interprets that," added Calk, a 26-year-old animal rights activist from Murfreesboro, Tenn.
The dilemma faced by Tennessee authorities last year is not unusual, as officials at motor vehicle agencies nationwide consider hundreds of thousands of personalized plate requests each year. There are an estimated 9 million personalized license plates in the United States.
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The vast majority of the requests are not objectionable, but thousands offer insight not only into the boundaries of free speech but also the amount of human ingenuity expended to display seven- and eight-character insults, sexual references and descriptions of bodily functions to other motorists.
The battle to keep highways free of offensive phrases means state officials must track everything from Internet slang to foreign languages to commands like 3MTA3, which reveals its meaning when read backwards in a rear view mirror.
Virginia may be the capital of vanity plate mischief. Personalized plates in the state cost just $10 more than regular license plates — compared with $94 in Illinois and as much as $395 for a seven-character "Freedom" plate for one year in Texas. One million of Virginia's 7.8 million vehicles have them.
In 2009 alone, the state denied more than 700 plate requests including IHAV2P and IAMHIGH along with 100 requests beginning with the letter "F" and myriad proposals involving the number "69," according to state documents.
Questionable formulations are so common that a 20-person committee of motor vehicle staff members meets for an hour each month to review suspicious applications. State guidelines ban deceptive plates with letters such as FBI or confusing configurations like O0O0O and NOTAG as well as excretory, sexual, racial or drug references.
"It's the only time you get to talk like that at DMV, that's for sure," said Department of Motor Vehicles spokeswoman Melanie Stokes, who sits on the review panel. Less offensive and more playful ideas, including EWOBAMA, IPUNCHU and DMYANKI, have all been reviewed and rejected at the meetings.
Some slip through. Pictures have been posted on the Internet of the Virginia-issued 370H55V — which has to be read upside-down to get the full message.
In Maryland, a software program checks requests against 4,331 banned license plate formulations, a list that includes WILDPIG, TOILET and GAY. State prisoners who make the plates also help out by identifying drug, gang or sexual references that slip by the computer and the civil servants, said Philip Dacey, a spokesman for the Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration.
"A lot of these are gray areas," said Dacey. "TOILET is on the list, and if people want to challenge it they can have a hearing."
That's what one motorist did after Maryland revoked his MIERDA vanity plate following a complaint. Though the Spanish term would seem to embody the state's ban on "scatological" references, an administrator is currently considering the man's appeal that the license plate should be interpreted as a non-vulgar reference to a form of fertilizer.
More recently Maryland attempted to revoke a plate reading WTF, an abbreviation for a three-word phrase beginning "what the ... " that is widely used in Internet chat. The agency reversed course after an investigation revealed that the plate predated the Internet, and was a reference to the motorist's waterfront home.
In Florida, the state's motor vehicle agency takes a permissive stance toward celebrations of clothing-optional bathing. O2B NUDE, BARE ALL and BE NAKED have all been deemed acceptable by the director of the agency, who nonetheless spiked 4NICK8, CAT BUTT and COW PADY, according to records released by the state.
Other states are less permissive. Utah, which faced a lawsuit in the 1990s for issuing plates with the term "Redskins" because it offended Native Americans, has recently denied"‘IH8TBYU," "MNKYBUM," and "MYSHRAZ" for being derogatory, vulgar and an alcohol reference to a popular wine.
Massachusetts' vanity application form now instructs motorists that the letters "I," "O," "Q" and "U" can only be used "as part of a word that is clearly defined and correctly spelled." California requires applicants to explain the meaning of any request.
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Posted: Tue May 23, 2017 6:42 am
DEATHFROST TAMED & DOMESTICATED BY MY SISTERS
News at 11! mrgreen
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