You miss my thesis: I'm claiming that the class of "people who will pirate because it's cheap" are outnumbered by the other classes. The ??AA and SPA are assuming that the "people who will pirate because it's cheap" is the only class.
These specific situations still suffer from the false assumption that a pirated copy is a lost sale.
I would wager that very few pirated copies represent a copy that would have been sold at retail, either:
The person has no interest in the game, but will download a "free" copy because it's "free,"
The person cannot afford the full retail price of the game, or
The person wants to evaluate the full version, not some crippled demo,
When I was a starving student (and associate engineer struggling to pay rent), I had a very slim budget, and would play "warez" until I could save/beg/borrow enough to buy the full versions, and I would *unless* the game sucked anyway. Now that I can afford software and music, I make it a point not to pirate copyrighted info, but I will still "evaluate" music before I buy it from MPAA publishers. And most people I know feel the same way.
So, the real product that DRM protects is the "Turd in a Can," a product that the consumer would not pay for if they knew beforehand that they were buying crap.
Lyle Lanley: Well, sir, there's nothing on earth Like a genuine, Bona fide, Electrified, Six-car Monorail!... What'd I say? Ned Flanders: Monorail! Lyle Lanley: What's it called? Patty+Selma: Monorail! Lyle Lanley: That's right! Monorail!
Agreed. If I already have a device whose main function is to connect me to a network, why do I need to have *another* one because I want to send a different kind of data? It's the same network, same protocol, same everything, except for the opportunity to sell me something I already have. So explain to me again why I need a MiFi in addition to a 3G cellphone?
While this is a good idea, it is missing a critical component: privacy.
Without real privacy, this "dollhouse" is nothing more than a well-equipped cubicle. (How am I gonna pleasure myself to naked goat-chix and elf-babes without secrecy and security from prying eyes?)
The last question my employer asked me during the conversation in which I accepted their offer of employment was "Mac or PC?"
On my first day, I was issued a Macbook Pro with a disabled camera, and a sticker adjacent to the lens reading "this camera has been physically disabled per [companyname] policy."
Vernor Vinge touches on this concept in his 2007 Hugo winning novel Rainbow's End, a very slashdot-review-worthy book that deals with emergent AI from distributed networks, augmented reality/virtual reality, and networked strategic intelligence/warfare... among other things. Set in San Diego, and about half of it takes place in or around UCSD. In the novel, Vinge does rather unpleasant things to the Geisel Library, inside and out. I give it 8/10 (with his earlier title Deepness in the Sky being a 10/10.
The history of science suggests that exploring the intersection of two bodies of theory is a very important kind of experiment. It was Thomas Young's double slit experiments, Planck's study of blackbody radiation, and Einstein's work with the photoelectric effect that revealed the necessary clues to the quantum theory that resolved the paradox of the apparent wave/particle duality of electromagentic radiation.
It took 19th century classical physicists an entire century to resolve this issue, so long that the discipline became a little stagnant and some folks were beginning to claim that physics had explained everything there was to explain. However, Planck's work was especially important in revealing the quantized energy nature of light that was the key to opening up 20th century physics.
Anyway, to keep this short, I suggest that we find ourselves in a similar situation. Our current models have been played out, and are leaving a lot of important questions unanswered. There are a few candidate theories that hold promise but aren't supported by observations. Looking at the cracks between our building blocks worked before -- it opened up whole universes of possiblility. We need to keep doing it. This experiment is a great example of that kind of work.
I think the point here is that now SL and RL currencies are linked by a transaction rate, blurring that distinction, and thus creating the legal squabble.
Somehow, I don't see it being very long before someone applies this to the technology of sexual aids. And being Japanese in origin, I think it may actually be the intended use.
By switching parties he's preventing a small group of very conservative voters from restricting the people of PA from electing somebody they've supported over and over in the past.
Furthermore, there's a lack of precision. A useable touch-free interface must recognize hand gestures, even if just a state toggle ("active/inactive") and a binary command ("mouseup/mousedown") if not for a whole range of gestural commands. This appears to just detect limb position, which will inevitably lead to the kind of HHGTTG situations earning scads of +1 Funny mods ITT.
Ahh - but that's not a good example of a Jeopardy type answer. On Jeopardy, many of the answers have hints or clues or other little tricks that give confidence to a correct question. Especially in Final Jeopardy. In your example, the answer would be phrased: "This city was formed by the wandering brothers Romulus and Remus."
And the correct question, "What is Rome," includes a homophone for a synonym of the hint in the answer: "wandering."
To beat a good human player, an AI would need to be able to handle these kinds hints... or at least detect them and discard the extraneous information.
Sorry but it only takes one bad handmade cable to blow every penny you saved about 1000x over.
And I believe this is the principle on which the submitter's boss operates.
Sure, you can save a lot of money custom fitting and testing every cable, but someone, somewhere is going to be late for lunch, or thinking about their hot date the night before, or busy socializing while they work, and forget to test... or overlook a bad test result, or depending on your karma, even intentionally sabotage a connection.
And while it's aesthetic to have custom-fitted and dressed cables, it's not necessary. In fact, having a meter or two of extra cable can save you some major headaches down the line when you need to alter the installation somehow. And if you're right on the bleeding edge of cable length such that an extra few meters is going to limit your performance, then you're either using the wrong cable, or the wrong protocol.
The bigger your installation, the more nines of reliability you need and connectors are the place where shit goes bad most often, so that's the easiest place to apply money to improve reliability. It's worth it to pay more for the better reliability that automated production, both lot tested and unit acceptance tested, will give you. If you're in a small company or a mom-and-pop-shop, then handmaking all your cables isn't a problem. But if you're in a large-staff or large-volume facility, then buy as much as you can, don't handcraft it.
Finally, when you compare the cost of the factory cable vs. professional-crafted, don't leave out the opportunity cost of the work that your professional is NOT otherwise doing while he's doing a job a robot could do. And realize that you're assuming that a supervisor is NEVER going to say "we need that professional to go do something else... I'll give the tedious job that robots can do to the chronically-stoned intern."
Slashdot Mirror
You miss my thesis: I'm claiming that the class of "people who will pirate because it's cheap" are outnumbered by the other classes. The ??AA and SPA are assuming that the "people who will pirate because it's cheap" is the only class.
(...I'd like to know more about this Butt Zappers game.)
When I was a starving student (and associate engineer struggling to pay rent), I had a very slim budget, and would play "warez" until I could save/beg/borrow enough to buy the full versions, and I would *unless* the game sucked anyway. Now that I can afford software and music, I make it a point not to pirate copyrighted info, but I will still "evaluate" music before I buy it from MPAA publishers. And most people I know feel the same way.
So, the real product that DRM protects is the "Turd in a Can," a product that the consumer would not pay for if they knew beforehand that they were buying crap.
Lyle Lanley: Well, sir, there's nothing on earth ...
Like a genuine,
Bona fide,
Electrified,
Six-car
Monorail!
What'd I say?
Ned Flanders: Monorail!
Lyle Lanley: What's it called?
Patty+Selma: Monorail!
Lyle Lanley: That's right! Monorail!
[http://www.snpp.com/episodes/9F10.html]
Areological Automobile Association, actually.
Agreed. If I already have a device whose main function is to connect me to a network, why do I need to have *another* one because I want to send a different kind of data? It's the same network, same protocol, same everything, except for the opportunity to sell me something I already have. So explain to me again why I need a MiFi in addition to a 3G cellphone?
While this is a good idea, it is missing a critical component: privacy.
Without real privacy, this "dollhouse" is nothing more than a well-equipped cubicle. (How am I gonna pleasure myself to naked goat-chix and elf-babes without secrecy and security from prying eyes?)
PS: Must credit Homer Simpson for prior art.
Umm. Dude. The "dashing asterisk" represents a rock. Or maybe a coin.
(But who am I to dictate your fantasies... have fun with that.)
On my first day, I was issued a Macbook Pro with a disabled camera, and a sticker adjacent to the lens reading "this camera has been physically disabled per [companyname] policy."
Vernor Vinge touches on this concept in his 2007 Hugo winning novel Rainbow's End, a very slashdot-review-worthy book that deals with emergent AI from distributed networks, augmented reality/virtual reality, and networked strategic intelligence/warfare... among other things. Set in San Diego, and about half of it takes place in or around UCSD. In the novel, Vinge does rather unpleasant things to the Geisel Library, inside and out. I give it 8/10 (with his earlier title Deepness in the Sky being a 10/10.
The history of science suggests that exploring the intersection of two bodies of theory is a very important kind of experiment. It was Thomas Young's double slit experiments, Planck's study of blackbody radiation, and Einstein's work with the photoelectric effect that revealed the necessary clues to the quantum theory that resolved the paradox of the apparent wave/particle duality of electromagentic radiation.
It took 19th century classical physicists an entire century to resolve this issue, so long that the discipline became a little stagnant and some folks were beginning to claim that physics had explained everything there was to explain. However, Planck's work was especially important in revealing the quantized energy nature of light that was the key to opening up 20th century physics.
Anyway, to keep this short, I suggest that we find ourselves in a similar situation. Our current models have been played out, and are leaving a lot of important questions unanswered. There are a few candidate theories that hold promise but aren't supported by observations. Looking at the cracks between our building blocks worked before -- it opened up whole universes of possiblility. We need to keep doing it. This experiment is a great example of that kind of work.
I think the point here is that now SL and RL currencies are linked by a transaction rate, blurring that distinction, and thus creating the legal squabble.
Do I get a discount if I adopt a comment?
Oh yea: Good thing he didn't switch to the Whigs.
Somehow, I don't see it being very long before someone applies this to the technology of sexual aids. And being Japanese in origin, I think it may actually be the intended use.
Specter wasn't much of a party line voter when he was in the GOP, so I don't predict he'll be any more of a Democratic party line voter, either.
So he's going to go from being called a "RINO" to a "DINO."
Very astute analysis. Here's a TPM article exploring that idea in more detail.
As a politically-conscious geek, I also recommend Nate Silver's analysis of the impact of this move on Senate politics.
Gee - big surprise. This news comes just a weekend after news that his primary challenger, Pat Toomey, is showing a commanding lead in the polls.
I know elvis impersonator reggae isn't rap, but I wonder how the Mormon Crickets would react if you played 'em some Dread Zeppelin, mon?
But "robert" plants leave them Dazed and Confused.
Furthermore, there's a lack of precision. A useable touch-free interface must recognize hand gestures, even if just a state toggle ("active/inactive") and a binary command ("mouseup/mousedown") if not for a whole range of gestural commands. This appears to just detect limb position, which will inevitably lead to the kind of HHGTTG situations earning scads of +1 Funny mods ITT.
I lost the password to my Geocities page 10 years ago. Think you might be able to find it?
Ahh - but that's not a good example of a Jeopardy type answer. On Jeopardy, many of the answers have hints or clues or other little tricks that give confidence to a correct question. Especially in Final Jeopardy. In your example, the answer would be phrased: "This city was formed by the wandering brothers Romulus and Remus."
And the correct question, "What is Rome," includes a homophone for a synonym of the hint in the answer: "wandering."
To beat a good human player, an AI would need to be able to handle these kinds hints... or at least detect them and discard the extraneous information.
And I believe this is the principle on which the submitter's boss operates.
Sure, you can save a lot of money custom fitting and testing every cable, but someone, somewhere is going to be late for lunch, or thinking about their hot date the night before, or busy socializing while they work, and forget to test... or overlook a bad test result, or depending on your karma, even intentionally sabotage a connection.
And while it's aesthetic to have custom-fitted and dressed cables, it's not necessary. In fact, having a meter or two of extra cable can save you some major headaches down the line when you need to alter the installation somehow. And if you're right on the bleeding edge of cable length such that an extra few meters is going to limit your performance, then you're either using the wrong cable, or the wrong protocol.
The bigger your installation, the more nines of reliability you need and connectors are the place where shit goes bad most often, so that's the easiest place to apply money to improve reliability. It's worth it to pay more for the better reliability that automated production, both lot tested and unit acceptance tested, will give you. If you're in a small company or a mom-and-pop-shop, then handmaking all your cables isn't a problem. But if you're in a large-staff or large-volume facility, then buy as much as you can, don't handcraft it.
Finally, when you compare the cost of the factory cable vs. professional-crafted, don't leave out the opportunity cost of the work that your professional is NOT otherwise doing while he's doing a job a robot could do. And realize that you're assuming that a supervisor is NEVER going to say "we need that professional to go do something else... I'll give the tedious job that robots can do to the chronically-stoned intern."
and "non-transparency" -- sequestration of the facts behind many of the (now failed) schemes is the lynchpin of major financial fraud occurs.
cf. Enron.