Heavy-handed = effective and without loopholes the size of container ships
19th Century = an era when people recognized the role of government was to manage the commons for the benefit of the people
Regulations = the most inconvenient kind of rule, one that corporations actually have to follow (as opposed to rules that they get to ignore, like laws against murder)
Hope that helps. I'll see you in the next financial crisis thread to translate terms like innovation and risk.
I would be all for a robust public transportation system here in LA, funded by gasoline taxes if necessary. It would get cars off the road (making my commute easier when I need to travel by car), possibly including mine (if I could get to work in under an hour, not currently possible).
In today's political climate, there's far far too much controversy surrounding the individual issues of taxes and energy, alone (much less combined), to permit any real legislation to succeed.
A sane society would tax things like gasoline, diesel fuel, fuel oil, etc., highly enough to discourage its profligate consumption and apply the funds to develop practical implementations of an array of alternative renewable energy sources (fusion, solar, biofuels, etc.).
But in the USA, if you proposed adding another $2/gallon tax on gasoline, it would be political suicide. (Hell, just suggesting it on/. risks karma suicide.) In the meantime, many of us still drive gas guzzling hummers and SUVs, and pride ourselves on it.
We need to break the loop somewhere. As long as that behavior is affordable, it will continue to be popular; as long as that behavior is popular it will continue to be affordable.
And eventually, when scarcity will inevitably drive up the cost of this fuel, it will be the energy corporations who will make the profits on the higher prices, not the governments... perpetuating another problem of too much corporate money influencing government policy. The smart thing to do is drive the price up now, via taxes, and use the revenue to do something more useful than line the pockets of corporate executives and stockholders.
Perhaps the culture where choice of t-shirt slogan (and not work performance) is the measure of one's "professionalism" is why his desire to work there has evaporated?
how does giving the wifi data to a government solve anything.
That was my first thought, too. First of all, handing it over doesn't guarantee that you haven't made a copy of it. And distributing either an original or a copy doesn't guarantee any security, even if it is the German government.
Besides, there's the obligatory troll, you know who *else* was a German government? Someone's gonna go there...
These are simply links to the coverage maps advertised by the providers, in which service quality is frequently exaggerated, if not blatantly false.
For example, AT&T (my provider) claims "good" coverage in two neighborhoods in my home town, Pasadena, where I know for a fact that there is no coverage, or worse, sporadic one-bar-then-no-bar coverage that drains my cellphone battery in an hour. And even worse, they show "best" coverage throughout San Marino, a town in which I can never make or receive calls on AT&T.
My price was $50, and I think I'd be getting my money's worth at twice that. I put most into the developers and child's play columns, since I have already donated to EFF separately (and encourage you to, also).
There seem to be very few transactions these days that are a positive-sum. This is one of them.
And with all those outputs turned off, people are just going to abandon Cable and Satellite TV altogether. Upon finding it harder to watch what they want, the cable companies' customers (imminent ex-customers most likely) will just download their content... legal or bootlegged. Most consumers don't really care - they'll follow the path of least resistance and rationalize their behavior.
Tactics like this are exactly why I prefer systems like MythTV for windows and EyeTV for Mac. Heck, I can much more easily expand my storage space and install commercial skipping scripts with those, so I'll just roll my own PVR.
For sources, you can get clear QAM service on most cable systems, including broadcast digital HDTV. And there's things like Boxee, Hulu, Miro and of course, bittorrent.
Somehow I doubt that general release will meet that schedule. There are still widespread installer issues with the Mac beta, and reading the beta forums one is left with impression that there are still severe balance issues between races.
So I expect they'll delay release. Or -- worse -- they'll delay the Mac release until sometime after the PC release.
Remember the original StarCraft? The Mac Release was more than a year after the Windows release. Few people seem to remember it, but I do; I was pissed. Blizzard pledged "never again" but somehow I doubt that they'll stick to that pledge if it threatens them with any real opportunity costs.
Most of my friends are already playing the Windows version on PCs or using BootCamp. But if that becomes a requirement, why even bother pretending to cater to Mac users?
you must recall what 'tech illiterate' meant back then
Back then it meant 'the parents'. Those commercials are mostly aimed at the parents of teenagers who wanted a computer. I know I constantly begged my parents for a Trash-80, but I never got one. (By the time the Amiga and the Mac came out, I was making my own purchases.)
Today the young computer-literate parents are grown up and buying their own toys. Thus, the commercials now are more practical and informative, since their audience will be the users, too.
Slashdot Mirror
In Wyoming, there are sheep to hear you scream.
Translations:
Heavy-handed = effective and without loopholes the size of container ships
19th Century = an era when people recognized the role of government was to manage the commons for the benefit of the people
Regulations = the most inconvenient kind of rule, one that corporations actually have to follow (as opposed to rules that they get to ignore, like laws against murder)
Hope that helps. I'll see you in the next financial crisis thread to translate terms like innovation and risk.
Yep. Except instead of putting spare CPU cycles to work like SETI@Home, Boinc, etc., the Zooniverse projects put spare user cycles to useful work.
I many times enjoyed getting a buzz and staring at mind staggeringly distant galaxies for an hour or two, with some freakishly talented electric guitarists providing some recorded accompaniment. While I consider it "down time," my friends the astronomers consider it useful work.
I would be all for a robust public transportation system here in LA, funded by gasoline taxes if necessary. It would get cars off the road (making my commute easier when I need to travel by car), possibly including mine (if I could get to work in under an hour, not currently possible).
In today's political climate, there's far far too much controversy surrounding the individual issues of taxes and energy, alone (much less combined), to permit any real legislation to succeed.
A sane society would tax things like gasoline, diesel fuel, fuel oil, etc., highly enough to discourage its profligate consumption and apply the funds to develop practical implementations of an array of alternative renewable energy sources (fusion, solar, biofuels, etc.).
But in the USA, if you proposed adding another $2/gallon tax on gasoline, it would be political suicide. (Hell, just suggesting it on /. risks karma suicide.) In the meantime, many of us still drive gas guzzling hummers and SUVs, and pride ourselves on it.
We need to break the loop somewhere. As long as that behavior is affordable, it will continue to be popular; as long as that behavior is popular it will continue to be affordable.
And eventually, when scarcity will inevitably drive up the cost of this fuel, it will be the energy corporations who will make the profits on the higher prices, not the governments... perpetuating another problem of too much corporate money influencing government policy. The smart thing to do is drive the price up now, via taxes, and use the revenue to do something more useful than line the pockets of corporate executives and stockholders.
It depends on your definition of 'pirate.'
If you mean casual copyright violator or file-sharing software operator, then never.
If you mean purveyor of bootleg recordings in places like flea markets, military bases, and some third-world cities, then always.
If you mean "Avast ye scurvy dogs, prepare to board" honest-to-goodness pirates, then you'd be lucky if they just "ask."
Perhaps the culture where choice of t-shirt slogan (and not work performance) is the measure of one's "professionalism" is why his desire to work there has evaporated?
I don't consider anything I broadcast private. That's why I encrypt it if I plan to broadcast anything potentially sensitive.
You'd think that even the smallest minds in the German government could understand broadcast =/= private, almost by definition.
how does giving the wifi data to a government solve anything.
That was my first thought, too. First of all, handing it over doesn't guarantee that you haven't made a copy of it. And distributing either an original or a copy doesn't guarantee any security, even if it is the German government.
Besides, there's the obligatory troll, you know who *else* was a German government? Someone's gonna go there...
These are simply links to the coverage maps advertised by the providers, in which service quality is frequently exaggerated, if not blatantly false.
For example, AT&T (my provider) claims "good" coverage in two neighborhoods in my home town, Pasadena, where I know for a fact that there is no coverage, or worse, sporadic one-bar-then-no-bar coverage that drains my cellphone battery in an hour. And even worse, they show "best" coverage throughout San Marino, a town in which I can never make or receive calls on AT&T.
The algorithm can then identify sarcastic sentences that are nothing like the examples.
Good luck with that.
"dildo", "douche" "anus", "jerk-off", "retarded"
You've just recited my porn search history.
The 210,000 figure you saw was probably a conversion of the 5000 barrel/day estimate into gallons (at 42 gallons per barrel).
That number was being used a lot early on when 5000 didn't seem big enough. Now that the pessimists are estimating the rate at 1,100,000 barrels per day, conversion to gallons for exaggeration effect is superfluous.
To them, fusion is much like the female orgasm: Rumored to exist, frequently boasted of in the West, but nearly impossible to achieve on command.
It's far easier to just announce it (loudly and repetitively, preferably with frequent appeals to one's deity).
I wish I had a mod point for you today my friend. You posted exactly what I would have said.
Feds will ban Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation on the assumption that it can be used recreationally.
My price was $50, and I think I'd be getting my money's worth at twice that. I put most into the developers and child's play columns, since I have already donated to EFF separately (and encourage you to, also).
There seem to be very few transactions these days that are a positive-sum. This is one of them.
From an old Eddie Murphy routine:
Rub salt into your pubes and the crabs will go insane from thirst. Then just go wading. Naked.
(OK - Murphy's delivery was better...)
3) legit customers resort to piracy
4) MPAA cites increasing piracy to justify further usability-sacrificing restrictions
GOTO 1)
(really, you could flatten this loop anywhere, but the only realistic place to break out of it is at step 4)
And with all those outputs turned off, people are just going to abandon Cable and Satellite TV altogether. Upon finding it harder to watch what they want, the cable companies' customers (imminent ex-customers most likely) will just download their content... legal or bootlegged. Most consumers don't really care - they'll follow the path of least resistance and rationalize their behavior.
Tactics like this are exactly why I prefer systems like MythTV for windows and EyeTV for Mac. Heck, I can much more easily expand my storage space and install commercial skipping scripts with those, so I'll just roll my own PVR.
For sources, you can get clear QAM service on most cable systems, including broadcast digital HDTV. And there's things like Boxee, Hulu, Miro and of course, bittorrent.
Oh, I agree entirely. But the fact remains that there are people who think it's funny to trick you into downloading CP.
Right. Now you can go to 4chan /s/ and download a bunch of pictures of tits.
Usenet hasn't so much evolved as it has migrated... or perhaps mutated.
(If you want naked children, download your tits from /b/ -- it's not accidental, because someone thinks it's funny.)
Somehow I doubt that general release will meet that schedule. There are still widespread installer issues with the Mac beta, and reading the beta forums one is left with impression that there are still severe balance issues between races.
So I expect they'll delay release. Or -- worse -- they'll delay the Mac release until sometime after the PC release.
Remember the original StarCraft? The Mac Release was more than a year after the Windows release. Few people seem to remember it, but I do; I was pissed. Blizzard pledged "never again" but somehow I doubt that they'll stick to that pledge if it threatens them with any real opportunity costs.
Most of my friends are already playing the Windows version on PCs or using BootCamp. But if that becomes a requirement, why even bother pretending to cater to Mac users?
you must recall what 'tech illiterate' meant back then
Back then it meant 'the parents'. Those commercials are mostly aimed at the parents of teenagers who wanted a computer. I know I constantly begged my parents for a Trash-80, but I never got one. (By the time the Amiga and the Mac came out, I was making my own purchases.)
Today the young computer-literate parents are grown up and buying their own toys. Thus, the commercials now are more practical and informative, since their audience will be the users, too.