Newgrounds.com — Everything, By Everyone.

At 1/11/10 06:28 AM, chairmankem wrote: In relatively stable areas that aren't completely devastated by civil war, there is economic freedom to set up legitimate businesses because there is no market regulation whatsoever.

I hope you do understand that regulations are put into place in order to protect the economy from recessions and depressions, along with protecting consumers and workers from unsafe business practices.

The telecommunications industry is doing better than usual for most African countries because there isn't any government to (corruptly) regulate them.

Our communications sector is doing great. There's a cell phone in every hand in America. Besides, there aren't any evil, corrupt regulations put on these companies.

because it has a lot of unexplored natural resources.

That nobody will attempt to get at. If there are pirates in the oceans, no one is going to try to ship oil out of the country. Also, there would be constant attacks on the drilling sites from rebels and people who are taking a page from the pirate's book.

As far as piracy goes, it IS reviving their economy, for better or for worse.

Just like drug dealing and theft (the latter of which is what they actually do)

The loot that the pirates get often goes into the economy, providing jobs.

They aren't buying the kinds of things that create jobs. They're buying imported cars and jewelery. The only thing you could say is helping create jobs is that the pirates are building huge houses.

My main point is that the country has potential, despite the rife political problems.

It has potential because it's rife with political problems.

At 1/11/10 07:18 PM, Warforger wrote:

At 1/11/10 03:04 PM, gumOnShoe wrote: This just in, Palin works for Foxnews now: Source New York Times via Time.com

Great. Palin is smart at gaining Conservative support, she knows the only way to have public support is to not run for President/Vice President, because if she does get elected then her support will start dropping after a month or two like Obama, and people will be wondering "WAAAAAA WHY DID WE ELECT HER"

First off, all approval ratings drop after the first couple of months. Obama is no exception, especially with the severe attacks from the right he has to face.

Second, with 24% of people thinking that she's fit to lead, Democrats would love to have her on a ticket.

At the current moment, space exploration should be the last thing on our minds.

But if we had a better economy and had the ability to get some kind of resource from the moon or Mars, then I'd say we should. And I'm not talking about gold; I mean if we could harvest water from the moon or Mars in order to create a base there for scientific research, I'd be okay with it.

At 1/10/10 10:08 PM, chairmankem wrote:

At 1/10/10 10:04 PM, TheThing wrote: It's growing because governments are paying the pirates to get off their freighters.
That's like saying the Detroit economy is growing because heroin sales are up.

Piracy only makes a very small fraction of the Somali economy.

What does Somalia produce besides pirates? If the only job opportunities are to become a pauper or a pirate, there's very little economic activity going on.

Either way, there is some investment in Somalia, and markets are doing well in the absence of government regulation.

The only markets they have are like the ones described in the article - markets set up by pirates in order to get outside funding. There are literally illegal activities going on in this stock market, and I'm not talking about ponzi schemes or insider trading.

At 1/10/10 07:56 PM, Korriken wrote:

At 1/10/10 11:36 AM, gumOnShoe wrote:

No, no, I don't think it ever was front page of anything, it was part of a comedy routine, on Comedy Central. Ever heard of the daily show? Is that what you mean by Main Stream Media? lol

actually...

Wouldn't really call Mail Online MSM.

it was well documented

While The Guardian is a major news outlet, the British like making fun of us Americans all the time anyway. Bush just happened to give them a lot of ammunition.

the media made sure of it.

Alright, I'll give you Reuters. But this particular incident wasn't really publicized. I don't recall CNN, Fox, or MSMBC picking up the story. Legitimate news sources tend to stay away from the funny, haha he said the wrong thing! kind of stories, except maybe to end the show on a light note, and they'll spend all of 30 seconds on it.

Relating to Bush, the legitimate media outlets mostly focused on his political and policy blunders, such as Katrina and the War on Terror, rather than giggling at Bush's gaffes. At least after the first year or 2, when it really wasn't funny anymore, and we had some problems to take care of.

At 1/10/10 09:58 PM, chairmankem wrote: Overall, Somalia's economy seems to be growing, which is a good thing.

It's growing because governments are paying the pirates to get off their freighters.

That's like saying the Detroit economy is growing because heroin sales are up.

At 1/10/10 02:31 AM, reverend wrote: The Cowboys winning wasn't too much of a surprise to me, but having the Jets beating down the Bengals was unexpected. I'm not sure if it was the Jets being pretty good or the Bengals not showing up. I know Ocho didn't.

Neither did Shane Graham. 2 missed field goals that would have made the Bengals at least competitive.

Please tell me I'm not the only one who got bad first cars.

- 2003 Ford Focus. Hand-me-down from my dad, who drove 45 minutes to work in New Jersey traffic. Not sure how he's still alive. Also, my dad is 6 feet tall, ~230 lbs. Not sure how he fit into it. Anyway, I was lucky that it had AC and heating, and the steering wheel would shake (but not turn the car) if I let go. Was a rental before we owned it. I shared it with my sister.

- 2000 Pontiac Bonneville. Once my sister claimed the car to go to college, I bought this for $1,000. For the price, it's pretty damn good. A good bit of the technology (radio, automatic door locks/lights) in it is just becoming standard today. Probably around $35,000-$45,000 brand new. Got a V6 and a spoiler. Close to 200,000 miles. The tranny is rebuilt, although recently it's been leaking, and the shop either can't fix it, or is too retarded to.

At 1/8/10 06:36 PM, TheSporkLord wrote: Natal

Personally, I think it will be more relevant than the PS Eye or Eyetoy. It has the ability to track certain body parts, along with the depth of it. It's also much more accurate (I remember hearing that you basically need a small sun in your living room in order for the Eye to pick you up).

But by no means am I saying it'll be like what jelly was to a peanut butter sandwich. It's still an upgraded Eye. I just think you guys are selling it a bit too short.

Same goes for Ps3 wand thingy.

Once again, selling it a bit short. It has all of the capabilities of Natal (supposedly), with the ability to actually play a game.

For those who care and didn't know, the Rock Band 2 Network Store patch was released today.

The Network Store allows artists to get their music into the Rock Band store much quicker by removing the licensing agree from the equation and replacing it with a freelance developer who can code a Rock Band song.

11) [Level 9: 94%: +35%] [Trophies: 562: +39] TheThing : TheThingNG

Well, I guess finishing Dead Space was a good idea after all. Fuck schoolwork and sleep.

Going to finish my Rock Band 2 tour, then on to more trophies from Uncharted 1 and Dead Space.

At 1/7/10 10:43 PM, Bassanova-001 wrote: What are the best PS3 games for a starter? My first game is going to be Fallout 3, but other then that,
I'm all out of ideas. But I like adventure games and shooters. But not CoDMW. Don't ask.

Uncharted 2 is a ridiculously good game, as is Killzone 2. LittleBig Planet is a fun, cute platformer with a very in depth level creator.

There's also Metal Gear Solid 4 and Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction.

Should I think about upgrading my harddrive soon?

Depends. Some games have installs (usually around 3-5 gigs, but it varies), and there are a bunch of great downloadable games (I feel the PSN Store has better games than the Market Place, but that's just me), and of course any pictures, music and video you want to store on it.

Really, it's circumstantial. It took me about 2 years to eat up all but 11 Gb on my 80 Gb PS3, but like I said, it depends on how much you put on it.

TL;DR - Give it a few months before deciding

and the least important question
My PS3 doesn't have a PSN pass. Should I be worried, or can I still get on the PSN?

There is no "PSN" pass. Once you boot it up, download all of the firmware updates, and make all of your settings, you'll be able to create a PSN screen name right from the console, totally free.

At 1/7/10 09:42 AM, gumOnShoe wrote:

At 1/6/10 10:54 PM, TheThing wrote:

At 1/6/10 09:14 PM, WritersBlock wrote: Who wants to judge the next contest? Anybody? Come, it's fun!

Protip - Don't wait until the contest is over to start judging; try to judge as the entries come in.

Otherwise we get a Punkoween scenario with a thread of disappointment, then rage, then lack of caring.

Most entries were posted in the last 2 days of the contest. >:(

I know, but there were a few posted well before the end. I counted a good 10 or so by October 30th.

At 1/7/10 11:56 AM, Ismael92 wrote: If the replies were in the same page, multi-quoting would be difficult. Unless the new "quoted" post appears at the bottom in the existing reply box when you click "Reply & Quote". In that case, it would be better and more stylish.

That would be cool, although I'd accept a new box appearing below each post you "Reply & Quote" to and just copy/pasta

At 1/7/10 08:29 PM, KingExodus wrote:

At 1/7/10 06:48 PM, SlntCobra1 wrote: You're in COLLEGE ALREADY?! You're only 17, that denotes a senior in high school by the US standards. maybe I'm wrong, but that's what I know to be true at least.

Well I'm a freshman and I went to school early so yeah I'm gonna be 18 this year lol...

I had that option a long time ago. Well, my mom did anyway. She had the choice of putting me in school a year ahead. But at the time, I was a tiny kid, and she didn't want me to be made fun of. Of course, I was one of the tallest kids in my age by 8th grade, but hindsight is 20/20.

Anyway, that's cool you're in college. What are you majoring in?

At 1/7/10 01:17 PM, IrishGun wrote:

At 1/6/10 10:39 PM, TheThing wrote: How does some Amerifag

But... he's from here D:

I know. I meant to say that I know more about him than you.

At 1/6/10 07:11 PM, SlntCobra1 wrote: Hmm, I wonder if any of the Admins are contemplating making it so that replies on the BBS also open in the same page as well. If you ask me, I think that would be great.

That would be helpful, or at the very least more convienant than my current way of opening the reply in a new tab so I can go back to the thread to check the conversation.

Hopefully all this talk of changing things actually leads to, you know, change.

At 1/6/10 09:14 PM, WritersBlock wrote: Who wants to judge the next contest? Anybody? Come, it's fun!

Protip - Don't wait until the contest is over to start judging; try to judge as the entries come in.

Otherwise we get a Punkoween scenario with a thread of disappointment, then rage, then lack of caring.

Damn, forgot this

At 1/6/10 05:23 PM, scetch00 wrote: Japan is releasing a Michael Jackson PS3 bundle, with the This Is It documentary with it. Charcoal Black PS3.

Should be a Plastic White PS3

I don't give a fuck if he's dead.

So as soon as dual-layered Blu-Ray discs start becoming common, you'll be able to fit 66.8GB of data on a disc.

You won't see it with movies. Most modern movies, even in full HD, only take a few gigs of storage, so your movie companies won't care about that extra 8.4 gigs. But, as you said, Game companies will love it, since it allows them to lessen the compression of the games.

In other words, that's an awesome piece of news.

At 1/6/10 05:24 PM, IrishGun wrote:

At 1/6/10 11:31 AM, Centurion-Ryan wrote:

At 1/5/10 01:05 PM, IrishGun wrote: I ended up deleting him last night.

Without the context of our friends list, this makes you sound like a Cyberman.

The only thing I know about Dr. Who is that he uses a magical phone box.

How does some Amerifag know more about your national hero than you? Well, not your national hero, but the national hero of a country close to you. Regardless, I shouldn't know more about him than you.

Bill Sheridan, Giants defensive coordinator, was fired yesterday. Even before the 3-8 slide the Giants defense wasn't all that good (40 points in Dallas?), and with the injuries they had to the major motivators, Bill didn't step up to get his team fired up.

At 1/4/10 11:43 PM, reverend wrote: Wild Card Round
NY Jets at Cincinnati

Bengals. Not even sure how the Jets made it into the playoffs.

Philadelphia at Dallas

Eagles, because Romo can't handle a playoff game, and McNabb likes to wait until the NFC Championship to break your heart.

Baltimore at New England

Patriots. I like the Ravens, but they have a young offense with no #1 receiver. Look for a better run next year.

Green Bay at Arizona

Arizona. I just don't see Green Bay as a good defensive team, and Arizona is too powerful offensively

Here are the next few rounds:

Philadelphia at New Orleans

Saints. Hopefully they took the week off to get back into mid-season form, while Philly, who has an explosive offense of their own, will see a stiff defense that won't let the receivers run free

Arizona at Minnesota

Vikings. They just look too good on paper, and the performance they showed at the end of the Bears game and first half of the Giants game should give them confidence

New England at Indy

Colts. While always a good game, the Patriots will need every weapon they can get, and with Welker out, they won't be able to match up.

Cincinnati at San Diego

Chargers. While the Bengals surprised everyone by actually being good this year, they aren't a championship team until their defense gets a bit older.

That's all I'm making for now. I'll adjust my picks next week, and make my future picks.

At 1/5/10 02:37 PM, BobbaQ wrote: So I downloaded the MAG beta today. 3 and a half hours of waiting and it isn't even that good. Weapons aren't powerful enough

Well, they aren't powerful when you're shooting, but the opponents have magic guns that can kill you in 2 shots.

But yeah, there really aren't too many options for equipment load outs. And the money limits are retarded.

and you have be level 10 to play the really big games.

I don't care about that. Unless the defending team sucks/attacking team is good, battles tend to feel pretty small, although you realize how big they are when you see other objectives opening up.

Also, it isn't anywhere near as good looking as Killzone or Uncharted. It's like they took the engine from Socom and just tarted it up a bit.

Of course, they're running it on a server that needs to handle up to 256 players at the same time, so the graphics aren't going to be stellar.

At 1/5/10 04:24 PM, SlipperyMooseCakes wrote: The preorders for the game are pretty staggering though.

That may change once more people play the beta. I know that I canceled my preorder after playing the private beta.

I knew I wasn't going to place, but overall, I'm pleased by the scores and comments. This is my first horror story (and punk for that matter), and I don't usually read that type of fiction. I was flying blind for most of the writing, and could only hope that the descriptions and action were what was needed.

Beat Dead Space. The story really could have been told in 45 minutes, but it followed the "hey, fix this" format of atmospheric games. For $20, I think I got a great deal though.

At 1/4/10 04:59 PM, Sunset-Hero wrote: Sorry to double post, but...

THE MAG BETA IS OPEN AGAIN!!!1

I need a towel...

But we can't keep our old characters from the private beta, and we had to redownload the 1.8 gig update again.

At 1/4/10 05:30 PM, jtm17 wrote: Uncharted 2...im not touching the story until i play the 1st game multiplayer and co-op for now...

Trust me, the single player has nothing to do with the 1st game (besides the sexual tension of Elena and Nate). And it's pretty meaty, although it doesn't feel like it, so expect to invest a few hours on it.

At 1/4/10 09:24 AM, Scarab wrote: If all things go to plan, I should have some time to write for myself again in a few weeks at most. How about you?

Pending my Mock Trial work, I should have some time by the end of this week.

I'm dieing Ferris.

At 1/3/10 02:12 PM, Idiot-Finder wrote: Some stupid comments for you to read.

90% of those have to be the same guy. There's no way that anyone could believe playing 15 weeks with a torn labrum makes you a pussy.

Although the guy complaining about the subway commercials is my favorite.

At 1/3/10 07:18 PM, scetch00 wrote: I saw this story on Sankaku this morning. A few things to wonder.

Where the fuck were the parents?

He was spending the weekend with his uncle and aunt. It's not that big of a deal to spend a weekend with your uncle and aunt without your parents.

Why didn't they notice?

Because the kid was stabbed, not shot. Last time I checked, knives don't make much noise.

Why was the rest of the family asleep?

Old people get tired easy. They can't stay up to 3 AM like they used to.

Why the hell was the kid playing games at 3:30 AM?

I'll give you this one. Even though the kid was excited about his PS3 and RIDE, he should have a reasonable bedtime.

Outside of the staying up to 3:30 AM and the murder, nothing in this story is too out of the ordinary for an average family. This is just a freak accident, and even though the article mentions Playstation about 46548464 times, we have no idea what was going through the guys mind when he stabbed his 9-year-old cousin. Maybe the kid didn't want to give up his turn in the game, or there was some there's something wrong with the guy, or maybe they hated each other. Who knows.

At 1/3/10 05:02 PM, Luxury-Yacht wrote:

At 1/3/10 03:04 PM, FatKidWitAJetPak wrote: I just got a 1200 page book by Stephen King called "The Dome".

Shit, I thought The Stand Uncut Edition was his longest at 1138 pages. Guess not.

The Dome is pretty new. It came out about a month or 2 ago.

I really need to start writing again. I haven't had time to write anything the last few weeks, besides college essays.

At 12/31/09 08:58 PM, Nev wrote:

At 12/31/09 06:31 PM, TheThing wrote:

Which was the Greek goddess and which was Paris?

Uncharted 2 is the goddess

So you think Paris Hilton is hot... urgh.

No, as I said, "she was once considered hot", much like the original Uncharted.

And as others have said, that metaphor was just a bit too complex for you. Try rereading it once or twice. Or more.

At 1/1/10 02:20 PM, scetch00 wrote: White whine sucks ass.

As opposed to a black whine, or even the strongest of them all, a Jewish whine?

Oh Christmas, you make racism so much better

That shit made me eat 9 POUNDS of lasagna, and I just shat it all out 10 minutes ago.

That must have felt so, so good.

At 1/1/10 11:39 AM, gumOnShoe wrote: I'd be very surprised if results weren't posted on or before Tuesday.

Wha... I... I don't know what you mean. What are these "results", and why are they going to be posted Tuesday?

Also, you guys wrote about 180 pages of material.

Nice job people. We could print it and make it into a book. Wait, that's a great idea! Seriously, hear me out:

We take all of the past winning entries (depending on how many that would make, we could go from Top 4 or just the #1's) and make them into a book. A forward would have all the rules, while each section would have the specific topics/rules for that topic. The material is pretty good; there's no reason why it wouldn't get picked up.

I know because I printed it all.

Let's hope you have one of them industrial printers that are in schools, otherwise you may need a new one.

At 12/31/09 11:36 AM, Nev wrote:

At 12/30/09 10:41 PM, TheThing wrote: Finished Uncharted 1. To use a colorful analogy to describe my experience playing the franchise backwards:

Which was the Greek goddess and which was Paris?

Uncharted 2 is the goddess

At 12/31/09 05:43 AM, ZpLiNtEh wrote: That's why I love Dead Space, I remember on halloween last year I was playing it in my room, and my mate was leaning right in to the TV, he shat himself more times than I can remember, t'was rather amusing.

I'm on the edge of whatever I'm sitting on for the entire game. Although the game isn't all that scary now. Most of the gags I've seen before (you can't fool me, scary alien hiding with some dead bodies!), and I've got more than enough ammo and health to take down whatever comes my way.

just you wait till chapter 5...muhaha

I think that's what I'm on. You have to go to the medical lab to fix the air supply, right? Just started.

At 12/31/09 12:31 AM, scetch00 wrote: I said the Video section you asshat. Your reply when it was gone seemed to have told me that you knew where to go.

I took a guess at the PSN store. I was trying Google, Amazon, even Newgrounds. Directing someone to the "video section" on the internet is like telling some one to go the trunk in a car lot. Yeah, maybe we're in a Mustang club, but that doesn't mean you can just start telling us to go somewhere without being a little more specific.