sanahtlig

The ice cap cycles over periods of about 9 years. I would take care before trusting the analyses of some random conservative blogger. What you're looking for is peer-reviewed research done by experts without partisan leanings or conflicts of interest. NASA Finds Thickest Parts of Arctic Ice Cap Melting Faster The takehome point here is that the ice caps are melting in such a way that they're unlikely to recover to previous levels as they have in the past. That's not good. Ice cap dynamics are complex. Sea level analyses are more straightforward. NASA puts this in further perspective. The climate change debate isn't about the individual. It's about public policy. You can't rely on individuals to live in a sustainable fashion--individuals have little or no incentive to live sustainably. You have to set up a framework that penalizes unsustainable practices and rewards sustainable practices to reliably alter behavior at a societal level. Ozone depletion has only tangental relevance to the climate change debate (ozone depletion is actually thought to have a cooling effect). If anything, the ozone issue shows how public policy initiatives successfully stabilized the situation, though it may be difficult to undo the damage already done.

The PC VN market is dominated by adult releases. If you want to release a nonadult game with decent production values, it makes more sense to do a console release.

By "experiment", I was referring to an act conducted by a sentient being--which excludes all of prehistory. From my admittedly shallow study of world climate over the course of the 4 billion years of Earth's history, it can be summed up as follows. The world was largely tropical until the Carboniferous period, when plants spread across the world and soaked up much of the CO2, causing a global cooling that has cycled ever since. Much of this carbon remains locked in organic matter both under the Earth (fossil fuels) and frozen in permafrost. By burning fossil fuels, we are releasing this carbon back into the atmosphere as CO2. While the amounts we contribute are rather insignificant, the problem is that even a small change in global climate could cause further release of carbon (in the form of methane) from the permafrost as the organic material thaws and begins to rot (essentially a chain reaction), and because melting ice contributes to a feedforward loop of more of the sun's radiation being absorbed by the planet (since water absorbs more radiation than ice). The resulting model of climate change is known as runaway climate change. Here's a chart that shows how C02 levels have tracked with global temperatures over geologic time. Methane is another important greenhouse gas which this particular chart doesn't track.

The overwhelming consensus among scientists is that climate change is real, it's manmade, and it will radically alter our environment over the course of the next few centuries if we continue on our present course. Browse through the editorials in reputable scientific journals and you'll see scientists puzzling over how to convince the public that climate change isn't some sort of elaborate hoax, but also that it's a complex topic and can't be conveniently predicted like the 5-day weather forecast. The unfortunate fact of the matter is that we as a species are currently conducting the grandest experiment the world has ever seen: just how much greenhouse gas can we pump into our atmosphere before we set off a cascade of climatological events that cannot be reversed? No one knows, but we may be about to find out.

Uninteresting filler dialogue that neither shows us something new about the characters nor advances the plot--like random battles in RPGs that you have to grind through to get to the good stuff. Too much of this and I'll drop the game.

I'd just like to point out that sound bytes carefully picked to demonstrate a point neither confirm nor refute the point in question. Especially when the source material in question is a single word or otherwise not a complete sentence. I could pick out some phrases from my FF14 chat log that would have you scratching your head too if I asked you to "translate" them.

I typically expect to pay about $1/hr of game content for a quality professional title. Any more than $2/hr and I'll likely balk, though I'll also be dissatisfied if the content is padded to the point of not being enjoyable. Short games tend to have poor value by these criteria. It's worth mentioning however that I usually take 2-3x as long to complete the same content as other people.

I do fine with 300 kanji or so and basic vocabulary. Like others here, I use ITH with JParser for vocabulary I don't know, and ATLAS for complex grammar. It's enough to handle even more advanced writing like that in the Ikusa Megami series. Loli nukige should be no problem.

I like JAST because they release the sort of high profile games I want to play. Mangagamer releases more titles, but not more titles I want to play. Since I started playing titles in Japanese ho-hum titles in English just don't excite me anymore. JAST provided added value there by licensing the HQ edition. The fan translation was for the original release.

You're paraphrasing the Miller Test. A true loli-ge (e.g., http://vndb.org/v1620) would fail the first two criteria. Many eroge would likely pass the third criterium, but some nukige might not. Even assuming whatever you're trying to import was illegal, you have to factor in the chances of actually being prosecuted--nearly zero since I know of no cases where someone was prosecuted in the US for eroge since the Protect Act of 2003 was passed. However, in the unfortunate case that you DID end up getting prosecuted, you have to put yourself in that person's shoes. If you appeal to one of these special interests to defend you, you're going to become a national spectacle and paraded in front of the media as a pedophile. That's life-altering. Most people would sooner plead guilty and quietly go to jail.

Christopher Handley got nailed by US customs for importing Japanese loli manga and other sexually offensive comics. I don't know if the details are public knowledge, but customs officials must've opened the package. Could've been because of the titles on the shipping list, or perhaps it was just a random inspection. Police later raided his Iowa residence and uncovered more such manga (but no actual child porn). He pled guilty, so the case never went to trial.

J-List offers all sorts of Japanese-language eroge and anime merchandise for inflated prices to US residents. They also sell localized eroge. All you need to worry about is blatant loli and highly offensive sexual content (e.g., bestiality, guro). As long as such content is not on the cover, you should be alright. Anything sold by J-List should be in the clear, since they have an outpost in the US. Do note that J-List doesn't typically carry games with potentially problematic content.

From the perspective of someone who's popped in and out for about 10 months now... What I think of Fuwanovel: It's more active than the other VN boards I hang around. Other than the new faces, I haven't really noticed any difference in the forum atmosphere. I get the impression that many of Fuwanovel's posters (both past and present) are younger and speak English as a second language. They're often more interested in "hanging out" than the pursuit of knowledge. In other words, it's a casual community, as it was meant to be.

Mangagamer said they have no plans to work on this title because the expected sales wouldn't be enough to offset the translation costs. But if this guy would do it cheap or for free, maybe they'd reconsider.

I think this graphic shows Japan's population problem nicely: http://www.economist.com/blogs/dailychart/2010/11/japans_population The age pyramid is turning into a club, which at some point will come crashing down and smite their economy. There won't be enough working-aged people to support the health bills of the elderly. Japan's economy is basically doomed to collapse in the next 50 years unless they address this ticking time bomb. The only real solution at this point is probably radical immigration reform.

There's no necessary connection between eye strain and eye health. This topic needs more evidence-based discussion. http://www.webmd.com/eye-health/computer-vision-syndrome http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/eyestrain/DS01084/DSECTION=complications Avoiding eye strain will not improve your eye health. You'll simply avoid incurring a headache. If you want to avoid eye health problems down the road, wear sunglasses while driving during the daytime. Don't smoke or drink. Avoid becoming overweight. Eat a balanced diet. However, genetics remains the most important factor for eye health. http://www.cdc.gov/visionhealth/basic_information/eye_disorders.htm http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/cataracts/DS00050/DSECTION=prevention http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20121001-should-you-read-in-the-dark/all

School Days HQ is fun, if you like love triangles and want to try something animated. Saya's Song offers a brand of "dark romance" that is a bit rare.

I believe MG only has like 2 full-time staff (Kouryuu and Evospace). JAST has 1 (Makoto). Everyone else is contract-based. Even the full-time people work multiple jobs. Forum moderation on MG forums is generally left to volunteers.

The amount of polish you're asking for is way outside the scope of Mangagamer's current budget and operations. Any effort they put into "improving customer experience" is effort they could've used to release a new game, or more importantly, market their titles at the type of people that would actually be inclined to buy them. They don't have money to burn on efforts that aren't guaranteed to reap a return. They don't even have a web design person on their team; as far as I know they beg Japanese developers to do it for them in their spare time. Simply redesigning their mascot was a huge splurge for them. While JAST has greater resources at their disposal, both Mangagamer and JAST are essentially shoe-string operations because that's all the market will currently support. More important than designing a smooth retail portal is getting OTHER retail portals (like Steam and Amazon) to carry their games. Why reinvent the wheel when there's operations already in place that can do the same thing better and more efficiently?

By "implement", I primarily meant purchasing and/or renting the license to use the DRM with their products. As an aside, according to the most recent J-List blog post JAST USA's titles are now all DRM-free. While I'm usually leery of any claims by Peter Payne (since he's known for sugar-coating and hyperbole), if true it indicates a complete departure from DRM in their business model.

I like what I see. Keep up the good work.

I hadn't realized authority over the blog had changed hands in the past 3 months or so.

Mangagamer and JAST appear to have different strategies when it comes to DRM. Mangagamer has good evidence that intact DRM is important for digital sales. In contrast, JAST USA's recent releases have been DRM-free, although they used to include DRM with all titles. I think the two strategies reflect the different audiences they're trying to target. Mangagamer is currently targeting the porn and hardcore VN audiences, who tend to only pay for something they can't pirate. JAST is targeting a wider swathe of customers that shop at places like RightStuf and PlayAsia, for whom DRM may not increase sales and might even decrease sales. MG also does DRM-free physical releases--but only after initial sales of the digital version are successful. Keep in mind that DRM costs money both to implement and to deal with the customer support issues that inevitably arise. Most companies would jump at the chance to cut costs if doing so wouldn't harm sales or harm their negotiating position with other companies.

JAST and J-List are essentially the same entity with a different coat of paint. There's really little reason to buy from one over the other. I honestly don't know why Peter Payne bothers maintaining 2 web shops that perform the same function.

I seriously doubt transcription (typing speed) is the rate limiting step in translation of visual novels.