A couple of reasons I don't like her are that she kind of represents political royalty in this country (which is why I'm glad Jeb! is out as well) and 2 I don't see her as being that far away from the Republican stance. On the Republican side, they're all wackadoodle except for maybe Rubio, but I think he may be a Koch brother candidate.

Yeah, what the hell is that all about? What time are they starting these days - noon? Ring my doorbell before dinner and you get nada. And what happened to Hallowe'en being scary ... if you want to dress up your kids in cute costumes and parade them in front of judges / closet pedophiles, then enter them in Universal Royalty beauty pageants and stop screwing it up for the rest of us who like the tradition of witches, ghosts, goblins and zombies. Would have been pretty easy to show Goose with a good spinal compression fracture and bone sticking out of his neck or a cracked skull or something. Sheesh.

They're doing business with mexican drug cartels and tyrannical dictators. What did you expect? Morals? Ethics?
Not only can they themselves apply a ridiculous amount of financial leverage on international and local politics, their customers are rich (and therefore politically powerful) and sometimes politicians themselves (serving their own financial interests).
Given the United States' position as a international trade power of considerable magnitude and the complete corruption of the government by sponsoring election campaigns like race teams or top athletes, you will never see the power of the banks diminish. Just count how many millionaires are sitting in the senate or congress and ask yourself why they should risk loosing money over protecting your interests. You're only worth something to them as long as they can get your vote. They wouldn't dare to fuck with the people that count their money for you.
We used to have kings, now we have bankers and CEOs. At least you could behead royalty till none were left but these peoplecorporations just grow new heads. They're Hydras.

The way it was set up, the mod developer did have the choice whether to charge or not. The final price point was also at the mod developer's discretion.

The 25% figure sounds low, but it's the same cut that developers of hats and skins for TF2 and Dota 2 get for their sold items--and there are people making a living at it.

Also, after Valve's 30% cut, the Bethesda looked at what a fair breakdown of what was left would be. Valve--30 Bethesda--45, and modder--25. If you just look at the portion after Valve takes its cut, Bethesda took 65% of what was left, and the modder took 35%. Which is typically what a development studio gets back from sales from a game publisher.

The 25% sounds really low if you're not familiar with how this kind of thing usually works, but it's actually about what content creators typically get when they're given a percentage from a publisher. It's a lot higher than some industries--authors usually only get 10-15% royalties on book sales, and even then only after the first 10,000 books sold.

Yes, but who's the developer...developer of what? The game, or the mod? If that means the mod developer has the option, that's better.
I read it as 25-30% to Valve/Steam...the remaining 70-75% to be split between the game creator, and the mod creator, on a split to be determined by the game creator, usually giving the mod developer what amounts to 25-30% of the total. That seemed fair to me, since that means the work product is worth 75% of selling price, and the original creator did way more than 2/3 of that work...meaning the mod developer gets a great deal at 25%.
Auto repair is not analogous. Making a replica/kit car is closer, and I believe they do pay royalties...certainly replica car makers do. If the mod makers were fixing the game, that would be different, but they are not. Shelby and Ford had contracts where they shared profits, as do many other professional car modders.
It is a problem if someone takes a game, mods it, then sells the mod as if they created the entire thing...they did not. They used someone's work product to create something else. Without the original program, they would have nothing.
These companies are under no compulsion to allow mods, and if they believe charging for the privilege is a good business model, they have every right to try. I think it's a toss up. People expect them for free at this point, but developers have a right to demand payment for their product...and any new product based on their product.
Really, I have no idea what I'm talking about? I've played many a mod, and 'playable fan fiction' is an apt description to my eyes. (see Blood Dragon) It's taking a known series and skewing it in some way. What you end up with is BASED on the original, is created using the original as a 'template' (and in the case of games using the program itself), is using/riding the popularity of the original to be seen at all, and would not exist without the original. To me that's pretty damn close.
I think it's actually more analogous to plagiarism, which is actionable...or may be condoned and/or licensed....but it's up to the creator of the original to decide that.

"what if.... you ask so many 'what if's' that people stop caring.....?"

Also they'll need to give royalties to the makers of Half Life for like.. every vehicle here.

That's kind of a silly thing to say.
Do you really think they could say anything even if they wanted to?

They have no choice but to return respect, even when it's not given in return. It's their Royalty. And in cultures that are so closely ruled by the system, no one would ever dare speak up against them. (out of fear)
You never speak out against those who rule you. Speaking up against the Saudi Royalty would mean instant death.


Saudi Prince Khaled Bin Farhan Al-Saud, who spoke to RT from Dusseldorf, Germany, confirmed reports of increased prosecution of anti-government activists and said that it’s exactly what forced him to defect from his family. He accused the monarchy of corruption and silencing all voices of dissent and explained how the Saudi mechanism for suppression functioned.

“There is no independent judiciary, as both police and the prosecutor’s office are accountable to the Interior Ministry. This ministry’s officials investigate ‘crimes’ (they call them crimes), related to freedom of speech. So they fabricate evidence, don’t allow people to have attorneys”, the prince told RT Arabic. “Even if a court rules to release such a ‘criminal’, the Ministry of Interior keeps him in prison, even though there is a court order to release him. There have even been killings! Killings! And as for the external opposition, Saudi intelligence forces find these people abroad! There is no safety inside or outside the country.”
http://rt.com/news/saudi-arabia-opposition-prince-374/

Respect??
Show respect for Royalty that can't respect the people enough to show up and shake people's hands personally.

If anything this is a slap in the face to the people/dignitaries there, who are too scared to not go through with the scam.

They deserve to be mocked.

While I agree, this may have been the Smart Move™ on Sam Smith's part to avoid a lengthy court battle over royalties and compensation and instead to negotiate a percentage through the writing credit - on the balance of probabilities in a court room a jury may well have found in Tom Petty's favour even if it was chance/coincidence.
But whatever. Sam Smith has a career ahead of him and Tom Petty has plenty of money.

Digging up an old post because I just saw this:
http://consequenceofsound.net/2015/01/tom-petty-awarded-songwriting-royalties-for-sam-smiths-stay-with-me/

"Tom Petty awarded songwriting royalties for Sam Smith’s “Stay With Me”"

“Recently the publishers for the song ‘I Won’t Back Down,’ written by Tom Petty and Jeff Lynne, contacted the publishers for ‘Stay With Me,’ written by Sam Smith, James Napier and William Phillips, about similarities heard in the melodies of the choruses of the two compositions. Not previously familiar with the 1989 Petty/Lynne song, the writers of ‘Stay With Me’ listened to ‘I Won’t Back Down’ and acknowledged the similarity.

“Although the likeness was a complete coincidence, all involved came to an immediate and amicable agreement in which Tom Petty and Jeff Lynne are now credited as co-writers of ‘Stay With Me’ along with Sam Smith, James Napier and William Phillips.”

I just want to take my hat off to you. That was a fantastic comment, and it boggles my mind that anyone can accept the concept of royalty in the 21st century.

I actually had to stop talking to some people around the time of the royal wedding / spawning / visit to NZ. It freaks me out how otherwise sane, rational people devolve into fawning sycophants the moment that family of inbred losers is brought up.

Ah, so pure breeding is much like royalty and southerners...

It's probably not as economical and convenient as white phosphorous.

My father was a physicist, and he told me a story (mind you, a great deal of his stories were apocryphal and he died before they could be sorted out--which is why I feel justified in claiming my great grandmother was Irish royalty and my great grandfather was an armless gypsy horse acrobat... but I digress). Anyways, he claimed that for a time in Spain there was a company marketing cigarette lighters that used white phosphorous so that you could merely flip the lid open, exposing a small amount to the air igniting it, and very suavely light a ladies cigarette for her. Unfortunately, sometimes the seals would fail while in a man's trouser pocket, which is where the slang "willy peter" comes from.

They'll be hearing from John Cage's lawyers for royalties.

to be fairbs, both Joan and Sarah had and have the hottie going for them and they like all good old Jewish royalty, milk for all it's worth until they can't or won't...