The Ranting Room

stonebeard wrote: If I were Australian, I'd be ranting pretty hard now about how your government treats you like babies regarding video games. Wait a few weeks and Modern Warfare 2 will be banned.

Censorship reflects society's lack of confidence in itself. It is a hallmark of an authoritarian regime.

-Justice Potter Stewart


Not banned, just editing out the civilian killing mission (Which I'm fine with) and taking out most of the blood. That revised version came out last thursday. Apparently, whilst checking the game to decide if it was alright for us and our feeble minds to experience, they happened to miss the No Russian mission, in which you kill the civilians in the airport. They found out after it had already shipped (HA!) and decided to release the weak version.

Its pretty ridiculous - The average age of gamers in Australia is 30, and then went up from 28 over the past two years. I remember when I was super hyped for Fallout 3 and they said they had to ban it, I read the official statement about why, and it was complete and utter bullsh*t about how some people might just kill someone in the game and think it's alright in real life, which is ridiculous and I don't think even he believes it. People who don't know the difference between murder in a game and murder in real life are idiots already.

The maximum rating we have here is MA: 15+, even though thats half the age of the average gamer. Movies and DVD's here have up to R: 18+, even though the average age of people who partake in movie watching is obviously far less than that of gamers.

I mean seriously... The government thinks they can sensor nearly everything here, and they're not gonna get away with it.


Video Games

In June 2009, it was confirmed that the Government's proposed internet censorship regime would block downloadable games, flash-based web games and sites which sell physical copies of games that do not meet the MA15+ standard, such as Ebay and Amazon.

From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_censorship_in_Australia

If they think they're seriously going to be able to flash games, then I laugh in their faces. If they think they're going to stop me from buying US copies of PS3 games from Amazon, or from Australian stores which sell American copies on eBay so that they can continue their price discrimination and force me to pay LITERALLY twice as much for a censored (and often much more buggy because of it) version of a game, well then they can

They've tested the filter, and from the same Wikipedia article, the filters reduced download speeds by 22% when they weren't even filtering anything. My parents don't pay money for the internet every month so the government can limit the freedom AND speed. (yes, I'm aware of how snobby that sentence sounded )

If the government tries to run the blacklist without a referendum, they're going to have a whole lot of crap on their hands to deal with, and once they do open the polls on the subject, well then they're wasting everyone's time by making us vote, because it'll never pass anyway.
Moreover, they're wasting tax payers money on a project which no-one wants, no-one likes and no-one needs. People are going to access porn and government protest sites anyway, so they're idiots for thinking the internet is the only media for such product, and also for thinking they have the right to control our freedoms.



/rant

NuLabour. NuRant!!      

As Britain braces itself for a General Election, Gordon Brooon has backflipped, somersaulted and u-turned once again. This time, on how the party has treated the 'white working class' in the UK. The conclusion being that the government needs to do more to address the needs of these communities, and not focus all its energy on the minority immigrant population.

Of course, it's not Gordie himself making the claims, oh no. He's clearly given the go ahead for prize pillock and communities Tzar John Denham to stick his neck out and state the mother ing obvious. So, D!ckhead Denham wins this weeks 'No sh*t, Sherlock' award, and the party, true to form has suddenly decided - and it's nothing to do with the election - that it should address the concerns of the nation. Twelve months ago, any discussion of this matter within NuLab circles would have had party members choking on their organic muesli, but when there is an election to win, suddenly they give a sh*t, and it becomes a legitimate and acceptable topic for discussion.

NuLab has achieved what it set out to do with it's immigration policy; to acquire an unskilled labour force, from abroad, many working for below min wage, for contract companies, agressively bidding for work in publically funded institutions like the NHS. In doing so, it has also imported armies of potential voters, grateful for the opportunity to shovel our crap from pile A to pile B for a handful of loose change. In the meantime, 50% of youngsters are bulldozed into university and into lifelong debt, to achieve a degree, with barely a fraction of what the same qualification would have been worth 20 years ago,just so they can qualify for even the most basic of jobs after they graduate. At the same time, vast swathes of the working class population fall into hopeless chavdom with no prospects whatsoever.

Fear not, NuLab now cares about you all and will save you...... Did I mention there was an election next year...???

Nu Labour, slave Labour...

^ 

Edited by floydispink - January 08 2010 at 07:57

To mr blacksword...there speaks the true voice of the tories...anti-european and xenophobic. If the poles or whoever didn't tkae these jobs on minimum wage ...the lazy scum in the uk won't...so get your facts right. At least labour aren't going to make million pound homes free from inheritance tax.....how many uk people own a million pound home...erm tories.

Edited by alphawave10 - December 28 2009 at 19:59

We're not allowed to clear our driveways or pavements in case someone does slip and then sues us.

Dean wrote: There was a Canadian on UK TV yesterday bemoaning the fact that Gatwick Airport only has 2 snow ploughs when Calgary Airport has 60... we usually have snow once a year, it lasts a couple of days.

When we were on Newfoundland last year in a small town called Woody Point (which in the UK would have been a moderately sized village) we noticed a compound containing about 20 snowploughs... and another in the next town along... and another in the next town along...



Mind you, they do have in excess of 50 feet of snow a year...

chopper wrote: We're not allowed to clear our driveways or pavements in case someone does slip and then sues us.

Slipping isn't really a problem here, until it comes to freezing rain. That causes the ground to be more slippery than anything, at least here. Then again, we have no sidewalks out here, and since there is at least 3/4 feet of snow on the ground plowing/ blowing/ shoveling it still leaves enough for traction.

The Doctor wrote: Time for a rant from The Doctor.  For a long time, I thought this was a level of stupidity that only afflicted Americans.  However, in my travels abroad, I have seen that it also afflicts the Polish and the Germans, and is perhaps at least an affliction among those of European descent.  Although perhaps it is a world-wide phenomenon.  I am referring to snow removal.  It doesn't take a rocket scientist to realize that walking through 6 inches of snow (while annoying) is so much better and so much safer than walking on a 1/2 inch sheet of ice.  So if you are going to shovel the snow, for  sake, remove the ice underneath.  If you're unable or unwilling to invest the time and energy to get rid of the layer of ice underneath, leave the freaking snow there.  It provides traction which the ice doesn't (although failure to remove the ice may lead one to end up in traction).  Yes, it is a pain to walk through snow.  It is even more painful to slip on the ice, bust your skull wide open and have to be rushed to the hospital.    Rant over.

Edited by mystic fred - January 09 2010 at 05:16

alphawave10 wrote: To mr blacksword...there speaks the true voice of the tories...anti-european and xenophobic. If the poles or whoever didn't tkae these jobs on minimum wage ...the lazy scum in the uk won't...so get your facts right. At least labour aren't going to make million pound homes free from inheritance tax.....how many uk people own a million pound home...erm tories.   Also, at least any labour chancellor hasn't had to have elocution lessons because they had a squeaky voice....step forward gideon osborne...now why did he change his name to george????