EmuParadise has removed its entire library of retro game ROMs and ISOs

[JBerel]

Please keep politics out of this discussion.

 

Ah well, so much for getting this topic shut down. we tried. I guess Albert is too busy banning Biff to get the joke.

[adamchevy]

 

Are we talking like, you learned how to use the internet early on, or are we talking like... you used to BBS, download 3l1T3 w4r3z, and were part of the cracking team INC (International Network of Crackers), as in... your BBS was part of their distribution network, and you'd occasionally get games to crack, and hoped it'd be a Sierra game because CPC.com was so easy to crack, and then you'd make a cool "FILEID.DIZ" and include it in the zip file, along with a flashy .ANS file saying... "Cracked by Stoney from Stoney's Whore House BBS, member of International Network of Crackers, Props by Toilet Duck, Thedwick, and Beandip," … and then thought you were so awesome, but apparently too embarrassed about it that you never told a soul in high school that you even knew how to use computers because what you did at home was so horrifically nerdy that you didn't want to be branded? And then you joined the track team JUST because you wanted to ask out a girl... but then later totally lost interest and spent your weekends going to the 930 club in DC and knocking over Port-O-Potties, until the police put out a BOLO for the "Port-O-Pottie Bandits," but then... they never caught you or friends, and then you confessed at church, and then grew up and got a job and started to buy your games?

 

 

 

 

So... you can do that, but I warn you, you won't like how it tastes the second time around.

No, I’m a little Young for BBS’s. I started on AOL chatrooms, then the SomethingAwful forums, then Typhoon, and then I finally got a job that paid decent. Now Demonoid from time to time. Sometimes I need an episode of a show I missed, or some roms, or some music. It’s amazing how many times I’ve re-downloaded the same Metallica and Led Zeppelin Albums. My first computer was a Packard Bell 60mhz pentium with Windows 3.1. Edited September 7, 2018 by adamchevy

[mr_me]

Yeah - indefinite copyrights for all IP seems like a bad idea, obviously. But then so does having a hard date for all copyrights, regardless of their current usage or enforcement.

 

Letting copyrights naturally expire after a pre-determined time since they were previously renewed or enforced makes sense. But say in the case of Disney, where they are clearly still using Mickey Mouse to this day, and very much have a vested interest in protecting their IP since it is still very much their corporate image - I don't see how a set date/time period is helpful.

 

In some cases, you're looking at taking away an artist's ability to profit from their own art, before they even reach middle age. That's not public domain, that's robbery.

Mickey Mouse shouldn't be an issue after copyright expires. Disney can still have him as a trademark indefinitely. All that means is that if someone wants to make and sell copies of Steamboat Willie they can't have Mickey Mouse prominently on the box.

 

The government wouldn't be taking away anything from artists they didn't have in the first place. Without the government's laws, artists wouldn't have any copyrights at all. They'd have to sell tickets and hope people show up; and they could do that even if they are middle aged. Governments gives artists exlusive copyrights for a limited time to encourage them to create.

[Andromeda Stardust]

 

probably more like theft, since we're all being sticklers for accurate language

 

people often say their hose has been "robbed" when they've actually been burgled

 

/annoying pedant

Yeah, with theft or burglary, the victim usually isn't aware or present at the time of the incident. If being robbed, possession is taken off your person.

 

So is pick-pocketing robbery or theft?

[Flojomojo]

You wouldn't pickpocket a car, would you?

[digdugnate]

just make sure to not re-show the ROM on an oil rig.

[82-T/A]

You wouldn't pickpocket a car, would you?

 

That depends on whether or not the car had pockets.

 

The seats in the front of my 2002 Ford Crown Victoria LX have pockets in the front... and thus, could be pick-pocketed if I was unsuspecting and / or left it unlocked or outside!!! Oooh, snap!!! Hahah... just being a pain in the ass.

 

 

 

Incidentally, I keep the car in the garage, and rarely drive it. As a matter of fact, I start it MAYBE once every 3-4 months... and take it for a ~4 mile drive. I haven't washed it in like 3 years... and other than the dust on the roof and the cobwebs that sometimes form in the wheel wells, it's basically a brand new car.

[82-T/A]

PLEASE KEEP DISCUSSIONS OF CARS OUT OF THIS THREAD, THANK YOU!

 

 

Damn Flojomojo, look what you started?

[Flojomojo]

I want to talk about that Crown Vic! Are/were you a cop? Do you worry about getting rear ended and having it EXPLODE because of the placement of the fuel tank?

 

https://www.autosafety.org/popular-police-cars-crown-victorias-prone-explode-tied-deaths/

 

(You know this is way more interesting than armchair lawyers and linguists bickering over well-trod discussions of copyrights)

 

My elderly parents had a car like yours and when I shared the safety stories, they traded it THE NEXT DAY for a tank of a Volvo, which they still have.

 

The Crown Vic is a nice ride, like a flying sofa. It gets like 8 MPG but you can't have it all.

 

Workaround for getting rear-ended: drive really fast, because this car has horses to spare.

[PlaysWithWolves]

I never heard of Crown Vics doing that, but I knew well about another car:

 

 

 

[82-T/A]

I want to talk about that Crown Vic! Are/were you a cop? Do you worry about getting rear ended and having it EXPLODE because of the placement of the fuel tank?

 

https://www.autosafety.org/popular-police-cars-crown-victorias-prone-explode-tied-deaths/

 

(You know this is way more interesting than armchair lawyers and linguists bickering over well-trod discussions of copyrights)

 

My elderly parents had a car like yours and when I shared the safety stories, they traded it THE NEXT DAY for a tank of a Volvo, which they still have.

 

The Crown Vic is a nice ride, like a flying sofa. It gets like 8 MPG but you can't have it all.

 

Workaround for getting rear-ended: drive really fast, because this car has horses to spare.

 

 

Hahah... so... I got it from my grandfather back in 2004 with about 9 thousand miles on it at the time, when he passed away. I've just kept it in my garage, and taken it with me when I've moved. It's basically immaculate.

 

The thing about the gas tank isn't 100% accurate. The Crown Victoria is the only vehicle that's impact tested to 75 miles an hour front and back, and it passes. They did that BECAUSE it's used for police duty. At 75 miles an hour, most vehicles would be less than a crumpled mass, but you can walk away from it in a Crown Victoria. But AT THAT SPEED... it would typically cause the rear-differential to get pushed into the gas tank and the bolts would puncture it. The truth is though, it's much, much safer than any other car that size and design. Most cars of that design had the gas tank behind (as in, closer to the bumper) of the rear differential, and under significant impact, gas would be all over the place.

 

But, if we're going to talk vehicle fires... my other two hobby cars is a 1973 Volkswagen Bus (which is prone to fires because the gas lines deteriorate), and a Pontiac Fiero (which used to catch fire because the 4 cyls had hairline fractures in the connecting rods from the factory). But.. my VW Bus has all new steel lines (so not an issue), and my Fiero has a V6, so also not an issue.

 

I'm not a police officer, and that Crown Vic isn't a cop car. It's got all the high-end and performance options, but it doesn't look like a police vehicle. It has white-wall tires, big leather bench seats, and a wood steering wheel, and chrome everywhere.

 

 

I'm not going to say I'm a real fan of the car... but it is pretty powerful. I mean, if I'm being honest, I've done some work to it:

 

1 - Magnaflow header pipes w/ free-flow cats (aft and forward).

2 - Mercury Grand Marquis LSE Quiet-Flow exhaust (super quiet, unless you are at wide open throttle).

3 - Mercury Marauder 80mm MAF and air box.

4 - Police Interceptor / P71 intake tube

5 - 2000 Police Interceptor Metal Matrix Aluminum / Carbon Fiber driveshaft

6 - ECM reprogramming (super smooth shifts at anything below 1/2 throttle, but insane hard shifts above 3/4 throttle).

7 - Larger throttle body, can't even remember... maybe 80mm? don't remember

8 - Ported / polished intake plenum

 

I mean, all kinds of stuff, I don't even really remember all that I've done. But it's all OEM looking, didn't want the car to be gawdy, ghetto, or... quite frankly... look any different than a totally stock Crown Victoria LX.

 

It's actually not that bad on fuel economy. It has the 2.73:1 final drive ratio, and I've managed 28.2 miles to the gallon on the highway (US gallons) going from Fort Lauderdale to Orlando.

 

 

I RARELY drive it. Last time I really took it for a long drive, was when I drove it here to Texas from Florida, and the time before that was like 9 years ago when I used it to tow a Porsche 944 that I bought (and restored) from Valdosta, GA to Fort Lauderdale.

 

I've had huge cars before, like I had a 1978 Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz that I cut the roof off of, and then I also had an all-original 1973 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme. I also had a 1981 TransAm (the 70s kind), and also a 1976 Camaro LT-350. But I really like smaller cars. Like, we've had a bunch of small Jettas, and right now I drive a 2-door Explorer and the wife drives a Jeep patriot. I typically like small sports cars, and I've had a few of those.

 

 

But... I keep it because it was my grandfathers, and... it's kind of a cool car. But really, it just sits in my garage. I don't have the heart to get rid of it, and insurance is next to nothing on it.

[Andromeda Stardust]

just make sure to not re-show the ROM on an oil rig.

I bet you one of those guys has an old Atari or NES squirreled away in his bunker somewhere. I wouldn't dream of living and working on a rig though. That profession takes guts...

[digdugnate]

I bet you one of those guys has an old Atari or NES squirreled away in his bunker somewhere. I wouldn't dream of living and working on a rig though. That profession takes guts...

i was making the joke because i had recently seen the 'don't show this disc' warning on one of my movies, hehe. i knew a guy that worked on an offshore rig and i couldn't do it.

[Andromeda Stardust]

i was making the joke because i had recently seen the 'don't show this disc' warning on one of my movies, hehe. i knew a guy that worked on an offshore rig and i couldn't do it.

I guess the "offshore" joke is that they're technically in international waters and immune to copyright laws?

 

The offshore rigging industry hits close to home. I live in Louisiana, and the feds ruled the state cannot collect taxes on oil drilled more than 10 miles offshore. However the federal government can and does profit from gulf oil exploration. Seems hardly fair when my state is hemorrhaging money and has the worst public education system in the country.

 

Oh yeah, and in 2010, BP happened...

[digdugnate]

man, i bet.