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The battle is one to define the next generation DVD standard and the winner will be at the successful end of a billion dollar enterprise. One standard is supported by some large players in the computer industry (sony and ibm to name a few) , but the other one is backward compatible with previous DVD standards and is rumored to be supported by many of the large movie industry companies. The backward compatible technology is developed by NEC and supported by Toshiba.
The US Supreme Court decided not to hear the Mass. case regarding gay marriage. This case was based not on the legitimatimacy of gay marriage, but if the court useped the law, and by proxy the US constituion, by legalizing gay marraige without the consent of the state house, or any state bill approving gay marriage. By their action the supreme cout leaves open the possibility to hear future cases on gay marraiage, but deny’s the petition (by the citizens of Massuchuet) claiming that the Supreme court must act to insure a representative form form of government within the state. The matter may be resolved soon via the passing of a state law
outlawing gay marriage.
http://washingtontimes.com/upi-breaking/20041129-112238-5643r.htm
Supreme Court Chief Justice Reinquist is still not at work and is not showing any signs returning soon. From the little information that is coming out some speculate that Reinquist has the fast growing type of Tyroid cancer. His admin duties are being handled by a senior clerk and he is ruling on cases based on transcipts from the court.
It is time for Reinquist to announce his retirement and step down This would allow President Bush to begin the search for a new justice and the process of selecting the next chief justice to begin among the current eight that are sitting.
Reinquiest retiring is the probably the first of three justices that Bush will nominate over the next four years.
The file sharing giant Kaaza and it’s owners go to trial in Austrialia to determine if they are liable for the copyrighted info that is shared computer to computer by using their software. They are basically using the Xerox argument that they are not liable for what their technology is used for. The Austrialian record industry is using the argument that Kaaza could prevent the sharing of copyrighted info. The Aussie record industry is using information they gained from raiding the computers of Kaaza users to boolster the case. This is what makes this case different the case Kaaza faced and defeated in the Netherlands and the current case that Supreme Court in the US has not decided if it will hear yet. In the US the software creators won at the appealate court level.
To all our visitors, supports, and contributors we wish you and your families a HAPPY THANKSGIVING! Be thankful today for all that you have, not just for the things that you want, and remember that all good things come from the Father and the thing we should be the most thankful for is Christ and His sacrifice on the cross that saved us from our sins.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair is considering the disbanding of Scotland’s regiments. This is a travesty. Scotland has long been a proud nation with a great history of military service. The UK’s support of America in our foreign endeavors is appreciated, but the heritage of the Scot’s must not be destroyed for the sake of modern military convenience and efficiency There is a place for heritage and tradition in modern society, and the modern military. Please follow the link below and encourage Prime Minister Blair to find a way to maintain both a modern UK force and the tradition of the Scots.
Link To The Scotsman (Scotland’s Online Newspaper) to save Scotland’s regiments.
“Tennessee’s 278th starts shipping out for Kuwait” on the KnoxNews Web site:
http://www.knoxnews.com/kns/278th_news/article/0,2555,KNS_19816_3343309,00.html
TN’s own 278th is on the move. To all our friends and family that are heading out know we are praying for you. For the families that you are leaving behind, know that we are praying for you as well.
JFK Reloaded. Well it is interesting, and maybe it will help a few younger people look into history, but at it’s core it is out of bounds. No one needs to practice shooting the president, be it JFK or any other president before or after. Regardless of the realism this is one that the entire TEAM SWAP TEAM will pass on, and we are all history buffs too. Teach Traffic (the games Scottish developer) the lesson that their skills are better used elsewhere by not giving them your money on this one. -
The Following is a Slate article about JFK Reloaded -
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A View to a Kill
JFK Reloaded is just plain creepy.
By Clive Thompson
Posted Monday, Nov. 22, 2004, at 3:34 PM PT
As I watch the limo creep down Dealey Plaza, I put my finger on the trigger and peer down my rifle’s telescope. I can see my target in the cross hairs. It’s Nov. 22, 1963. I’m trying to kill the president.
The game I’m playing, JFK Reloaded, was released today by the Scottish company Traffic, on the 41st anniversary of the Kennedy assassination. Not surprisingly, it provoked a backlash before anyone ever played it. “It’s despicable. There’s really no further comment,” said a spokesman for Ted Kennedy.
On the surface, the game certainly seems like a loathsome piece of opportunism. The designers, though, claim the game’s intent is to educate. The stated goal of JFK Reloaded is to debunk assassination conspiracy theories by buttressing the Warren Commission’s conclusion that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone and fired only three bullets. So, the game places you in the precise place where Oswald stood—the sixth-floor window of the Texas Schoolbook Depository—and challenges you to re-create his three shots. One shot missed the car entirely; another hit JFK in the neck; and a third hit the president’s head, causing what the commission called “a massive and fatal wound.” The closer you get to matching those three trajectories, the closer you get to a perfect score of 1,000. (The game designers are also offering a cash prize to the player who gets the highest score.) You can replay the scene as many times as you’d like.
On its face, this is an interesting concept. If people still don’t believe that Oswald acted alone, why not create a realistic 3-D simulation of the event to show it could have worked that way? This is what video games are uniquely suited to do—set up a system and let people mess around in it so they can discover what’s possible and what’s impossible. That’s part of the pleasure of everything from the Sims to Super Mario 64.
After playing JFK Reloaded for a couple of hours, I have to give Traffic credit for the game’s unbelievably precise physics. Every bullet bounces around with a super-realistic trajectory, behaving in the incredibly complicated way that bullets do. Sometimes I’d hit the back of the limo and the bullet would careen forward, smashing the glass; other times it would embed itself in the metal. After each round, the game lets you view the scene in a dozen different ways, including the classic Zapruder film angle or even from the perspective of a camera mounted on the limo. Then you get a 3-D model of the limo that you can rotate however you want, with the bullet trajectories traced in freeze-frame. As a physics simulation, it’s remarkable.
But as an experience? It’s nauseating.
When I play blood-soaked shoot-’em-up games, the vamped-up violence doesn’t really bother me—the more cartoonish the action, the fewer consequences the game seems to have. Even war games where you’re theoretically fighting a real enemy—like German or American or Japanese armies—don’t really feel personal. But JFK Reloaded is different. When you peer through the rifle scope, the faces of JFK and Jacqueline Kennedy (and Texas Gov. John Connally and his wife Nellie) are completely recognizable. These are real people who still have immediate living relatives—or, in the case of Nellie Connally, are still alive. While the game’s ostensible purpose is simply to re-kill Kennedy as accurately as possible, you can perform any number of alternative scenarios. Shoot the driver first, and the motorcade comes to a halt, allowing you to pick off anyone you want. Or sometimes the driver dies with his foot on the accelerator, driving the car off the road and into a lamppost. You can, if you wish, kill Jackie instead.
When I finally managed to kill JFK and watched his head blow open while he flopped forward like a rag doll, I was genuinely horrified. The game wants you to think about what’s happening as a mere physics experiment, but you can’t, nor would you want to. Because it’s focused solely on the narrow question of whether you can replicate Oswald’s shots, it doesn’t try to achieve the sort of catharsis that is supposed to come from wrenching art. When the ballistics reports told me, for example, that one of my shots hit JFK in the right shoulder, exited his chest, bounced off his right fingers, and ricocheted through the limo until it hit Connally in the shin, I wasn’t really thinking about how if I just aimed a little higher, then I could’ve gotten closer to 1,000 points.
After about an hour, I got my score up to 430. I was pretty good at the game, but I didn’t feel like I’d won anything.
Clive Thompson writes about gaming and technology for Slate.
Looks like CBS has begun their move to try to get legitimate again. The Rather retirement has been rumored for over a year, and after the recent scandels it was a only a matter of time before it was set. Rather has worn out his welcome in America’s homes. The CBS Evening news is a distant third and Rather’s demographics are helping him any longer either. By Dan, please leave quietly and salvage a bit of dignity.
Reuters.com - Veteran CBS News Anchor Dan Rather to Resign
http://olympics.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=6898395
