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Weekend PC digital deals: strategy-o-rama
38 Studios, Harry Potter Kinect - Shacknews Daily: May 25, 2012
Minecraft for Xbox 360 dev working on 'Adventure' update
Demon's Souls servers extended again
Morning Discussion
by Jeff "geedeck" Gondek, Dec 01, 2007 7:45am PSTLooks like a nice easy going weekend around here. What do you guys have going on? Some holiday shopping? Some gaming? I think I might try finishing up some Mass Effect. I perhaps had stronger feelings over certain aspects of it before, but with that one frustrating battle behind me it's not so bad. Unquestionably worth checking out.
So don't forget that we've got a writing contest going on, so if your jealousy is stoked every time you see another photoshopping contest on the internet then we've got you covered. And hey, a fresh ShackCast too, how great is that? Or if you feel like reading, we've got November in Review. It's all so beautiful.
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Obviously they did the whole "cook the books" trick where they moved debt into other companys, but what is incredible is that there were so many people in on it. Major banks, accounting firms, lawyers. The list reads like the whose who of Wall Street players.
They were also the cause of the California blackouts. I remember this but I never realize they were responsible. Thier traders actually called up power plants in California (that Enron owned) and instructed them to shut off. They kept doing this and every time there was a blackout it put energy prices through the roof... which they had bet in futures would go through the roof. They were literally betting on a fixed game and were causing millions and millions of people to suffer not just due to the blackout, but due to the inflated prices of the power. In a taped phone conversation one of the traders was actually talking to another trader and joking about stealing money from grandmas and "sticking those rate hikes up her ass".
These blackouts are also what fueled the recall on governor Davis and got Schwarzenegger elected. Davis sought federal intervention to force Enron to stop screwing with the electrical prices but was refused by President Bush, who was good friends with Enron execs, and also had a motivation to see Davis go down politically as Davis was a likely contender for the next presidential election.
Part of the reason the traders were as insane as they were was the environment Enron created. 15% of the employees were fired each year based on performance ratings. This was a set number, the bottom 15% would be fired regardless of how well they did.
Pretty much beyond belief. It just goes to show that ya, there really are people in great numbers on Wall Street that will do ANYTHING for money and have no ethics what-so-ever. In fact, if Enron is any judge, the good guys are probably a minority.
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http://www.untoldentertainment.com/games/theHardestVideoGameQuizEvar/game.html
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What game has made you feel EXTRAORDINARY?
This could be in any game. What makes you feel just simply incredible. I'm talking over the top EPIC. I'm expecting God of War and maybe Crysis, but I'm sure there's more. For me? Overall I'd have to say City of Heroes. Heavenly Sword is a real close second.
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Hey guys I got my White Elephant crap from a mystery shacker. Mysterious! In reply.
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If you just have regular questions I guess that's fine too maybe
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Amnesty International has a new ad campaign about Female Genital Mutilation, and I was interested in hearing the opinion of dudes here:
http://www.flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=2081527104&size=o
http://www.flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=2080741017&context=photostream&size=o
It's sort of clichéd imagery, but it's still rather striking in my mind.
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New Steven Erikson inteview. http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/erikson_interview.html Awesome Excerpt:
How do you think you've changed as a writer over the years, and does writing novels get easier?
The first part of that question is a hard one to answer. I recently wrote a preface to a re-release of Gardens of the Moon, (the first in the series) that Bantam UK is planning, and in it I spoke of ambition; observing that through most of my career as both an unpublished and a published writer, I have often faced rejection wherein I have been criticized for being "too ambitious." Looking back, then, I realized (with bemused surprise), that in this one area I have not changed one whit. If I'm not pushing things I just don't see the point, and that's what drives my writing — it did in my very first stories and it still does.
If there is one change I can observe without too much cynicism, it's that I find I am less and less frustrated in facing that particular criticism. When young, I received it with disbelief. Now, I just shrug. Is this what scars do? Am I simply desensitized, or do I just not give a fuck anymore? I suspect that if I was as poor, as struggling, as I once was, then my feeling would be very different than it is right now. Is this what "comfort" purchases in a life? Could be.
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(plz work tags)
Before I even begin, let me say that I am guilty of this as well, and shall start doing my best to change it. But, recently, in the last couple weeks maybe, I have noticed an increased level of ass-hattery taking place on the shack servers with regards to the makeup of teams. Its sort of starting to ruin games for me and some other people. It seems like it used to be every now and then you'd get some completely unbalanced teams and one would just get steamrolled over and over, but usually things were pretty fair. Lately it seems like this is happening three or four maps in a row. As if people have stopped using random and are actually selecting teams based on who is on the team.
Now I know its not possible to have some perfectly matched teams every game, but im talking about instances where one team has an average score of like 15 points, and the other team has an average score of like 45. Ive also seen lots of instances of teams being up by two three (even four) players, and refusing to do anything about it until people start quitting and the autoteam starts kicking in (It doesn't help that the auto-team in TF2 sucks beyond belief and rarely does a proper job of balancing the teams). On top of that, when someone says something about evening the teams the winning team jumps all over them telling them to stop crying and generally acting like idiots instead of fixing the teams. And yes, I know sometimes a bunch of people will quit at the same time, but ive been seeing entire rounds proceed like this. Its really just ruining the game for a lot of folks.
Yeah, being on the winning team is the greatest, repeatedly killing the other team that has no chance because they have much fewer players, or lesser skilled players, but comon everyone. One of the reasons the shack servers are regarded as being so great is because crap like this is usually kept to a minimum, and it seems like many of us have forgotten that lately. So im asking here on the forums, that everyone, especially the very good players who are always at the top of the scoreboards, could you all please make an effort to balance the teams, and for godsakes don't switch TO the winning team putting the other team down players and down another skilled player (I saw this going on today and it was just ridiculous). Having one or two good players switch can drastically change the makeup of a game, and at least allow everyone to have a chance to have some fun. I know team balance can't always be perfect, but lets try to not let things like this go on for 2 or 3 rounds in a row, its putting a bad taste in a lot of people's mouths.
I guess thats it, feel free to call me a fag and newb, I wont be upset:)
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t9-CS2v8wcc
Wait till 1:04 or so. When you hear it, you'll shit bricks.
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FUCK YOU LUIGI!
God damn, I burned up so many lives on that stage. Only 10 stars to go and I'm a free man!
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Can't wait to go back and play all the other levels. This game is pure concentrated amazing.
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http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,140217-c,mergersacquisitions/article.html
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So it looks like we might be getting together for some rock band action in TO somewhere. Unofficially the date is set for Friday, but dantastic can't make that. If you guys are willing to do a Saturday we could bump it back another day. What's the take on this? Also, other activity suggestions are obviously welcome.
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http://www.sc2blog.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/11/teh-thor.jpg
I'm just so happy Firebats are going to be in the game.
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You were so fun! Then, after the mine mission, when you made me float around that goddamn alien thing for-fucking ever you started to get not-so-fun. now, everything is frozen, and there are aliens that attack, and have ONE HIT KILL, OMG WHY CRYTEK?! Didn't you learn from the last game that people do not want to fight enemies that take a bajillion bullets to kill, and have the ability to one hit kill you? Please Crysis, I'm begging you, turn fun again.
Signed
SadSkot :(
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http://www.amazon.com/Uranium-Ore/dp/B000796XXM
The customer reviews must all be from Shackers...
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Looking forward to the Justice League vol 2 & 3 novels.. Doug Braithwaite and Alex Ross are just amazing.
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http://www.spacetelescope.org/images/publicationjpg/heic0710a.jpg
not only is it a sharp image of the galaxy but you can see a ton of galaxies in the background. friggen awesome.
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