Date: 06/30/2003 04:16 PM
From: Colin ([email protected])
Subject: Navy to Defend Sonar in Court
So Osama has a boomer he's going to sneak into Chesapeake Bay? Come on, what is Bush smoking now? We're just not going to be happy until we sterilize every wild place and animal on this planet, then we're next ("Navy to Defend Sonar in Court," June 30, 2003).
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Date: 06/30/2003 10:52 PM
From: Chad Ivey ([email protected])
Subject: Navy to Defend Sonar in Court
Why don't we put some Navy divers in the water while the tests are conducted? They can observe the whales directly and be subject to the tests at the same time ("Navy to Defend Sonar in Court," June 30, 2003).
"Come on son -- this is for National Security!"
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Date: 06/27/2003 12:45 PM
From: John Primmer ([email protected])
Subject: Online Voters Lean to Dean
Gee. A motivated group of lefties gets a quarter of its members to vote, and Dean gets nearly half. Kucinich gets a quarter. I guess Dubya must be pretty worried ("Online Voters Lean to Dean," June 27, 2003).
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Date: 06/27/2003 09:14 AM
From: Ray Brown ([email protected])
Subject: Quiet Birth for Star Wars World
The real reason that SWG (Star Wars Galaxies) will fail is because they virtually ignored the PvP (player-versus-player ) market ("Quiet Birth for Star Wars World," June 26, 2003).
SWG is little more than EverQuest with the Star Wars named tacked onto it -- you go out, kill very small, weak creatures and level up continually, all the while being irritated to no end at the other players, but having no recourse to dispose of them. Without player-versus-player combat and systems, an MMORPG (multiplayer online role-playing game) is surely doomed.
Everywhere I go people are dismissing SWG as just another MMORPG clone without any real innovation. SWG was dead before they released it -- it won't perform well and the service will be scaled back or shut down completely relatively soon.
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Date: 06/27/2003 07:57 PM
From: Dick ([email protected])
Subject: Are You in RIAA's Cross Hairs?
This too will pass. Agile minds will stay ahead of the money-grubbing lawyers ("Are You in RIAA's Cross Hairs?" June 26, 2003).
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Date: 06/28/2003 08:38 AM
From: Gahlord Dewald ([email protected])
Subject: FTC to Telemarketers: Shaddup
Great case of you guys using AP to your detriment ("FTC to Telemarketers: Shaddup," June 27, 2003).
Did you happen to notice what types of companies are exempt from Do Not Call? How many telemarketing calls do you get that aren't one of those exemptions? And how many new "telephone surveys" do you think we'll be getting in the future?
It's actually pretty good. It'll force telemarketers to be more interactive (asking us what we think as a way to provide spin and generate interest in a product/company/service/whatever). Or not. Maybe I'm too cynical. But with the existing exemptions, I only see a change in the tactics of telemarketers, not in the volume of calls they generate.
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Date: 06/30/2003 07:38 PM
From: William Wilgus ([email protected])
Subject: Bloggers Gain Libel Protection
Contrary to her declaration, "I know what free speech is, and I support it, " Batzel does not know what free speech is ("Bloggers Gain Libel Protection," June 30, 2003).
Although commonly used as a synonym for "freedom of speech," free speech is speech anarchy. Under it, libel, slander, perjury and other actions would not be crimes and therefore not prosecutable.
The Free Speech Movement began as a freedom of speech protest at UC's Berkeley Campus in March, 1964, but radical students almost immediately changed it into a free speech protest simply because they wanted to use foul and obscene language whenever and wherever they wanted. Considering the event's time, the media coverage was quite extensive. Unfortunately, commonly available histories of the event do not mention this fact.
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