the only people left with handguns will be the criminals and the law enforcement agencies....and law enforcement would be greatly outnumbered.
Napster facilitated copyright violation on their own network daily. They knew about it and did nothing. The software was specifically designed for sharing MP3s. It was then used to share MP3s. Illegally.
It's really the same arguement as whether or not a hosting service is responsible for, say, hosting a kiddie porn site. Should companies be held responsible for the content that they are serving? They ARE making money off of the service, and thereby profiting from an illegal act.
If you are an artist and want to give away your music, please do so. I never said you couldn't. I am speaking of what the majority use of napster was. If you think it was something other than theft of copyrighted material, you are quite kidding yourself.
Napster providing the avenue for the theft is an accessory to copyright violation. That is a crime. The getaway car analogy is childish.
Folks, I am sorry, but Npaster was truly only a place where people stole copyrighted material. The arguements that it helped/hurt the industry do not matter. The arguements that they weren't hurting anyone do not matter.
Right now sharing music in the way that we want to share software is illegal. There is no musical GPL. Even if there were, the artists who's music we want would not be released under it. Napster could have been a great place for budding artists to get some coverage. Instead it was used to get the Staind tracks onto CD without ever making it to Sam Goody.
One of the things that would help this community tremendously is to respect the laws and try to get done what needs to be done within the framework of them. Crying out as a group because some poor little business that was struggling along broke a law and that aided in their demise is worthless.
In Boston we can get the fans at the Fleetcenter to chant "Wife-beater" at Jason Kidd during a playoff game. Maybe we need to come up with a chant for Lucas to be heard at theaters across the nation.
"NERD ABU-SER! NERD ABU-SER!"
Of course any chant with Jar-Jar's name in it wouldn't be worth the breath it expelled...so we'll leave him out of it!
...Because there is another movie to come, and that is where the alliance is formed. The formation of the rebellion could come from any number of things in the next movie.
On the side of why the empire is evil, Senator Palpatine created the situation under which he took over by arranging the slaughter of the inhabitants of Naboo. Nevermind the desgtuction of Alderan, which could be attributed to the mistrust in Leah. They attacked a peaceful planet, killing many for the sole purpose of achieving a political end. Evil.
Yes, yes, the arguement could also be made that the slaughter of the Gungans (Jar Jar included) could be the best thing ever to happen in the universe...but I don't think it is relavant to this particular discussion.
...Wicked (the life and times of the Wicked Witch of the West) by Gregory MacGuire. It is a funny book and a fun read. Oz from the other side, if you will. Well worth the hours!!!
I went to school for Mechanical Engineering. When I got out I found myself working in the graphics industry. Very unrelated. What I found was that the thinking ability I gained from college made me extraordinarily proficient at understanding the complex elements behind digital imaging and computer graphics. It also gave me an advanced understanding of workflow and systems.
That was 9 years ago. Today the entire company runs a workflow that I designed, and has been making money doing it for a long time.
I think the point is that if you go to college and work at it, getting as much knowledge as you can about computers and systems, you will find yourself in a significantly advanced position compared to someone that has just been hacking their way through it for a few years. You will also have a bit more respect years on down the line. College is good, and in most cases, it is expected by companies.
Actually, The US is not a Democracy.
on
A New Kind of War
·
· Score: 1
This is a common mistake made in discussions and posts. The US is a constitutional republic, which is very different from a democracy.
While most of the Americans reading this probably already know the difference and just mis-represent it in discussion, it is possible that many people in the world do not know the difference. The lack of this knowledge could lead to the conclusion of the people being ultimately responsible for the acts of the government.
What we are responsible for is CHOOSING the people that will make the laws. We are generally out of the loop when it comes to actually deciding the laws, at least on a federal level. These laws that we don't directly decide are influenced by and must adhere to a constitution that, while a great guideline for how to live and legislate, is 200+ years old.
This doesn't even touch upon the fact that with the electoral college our votes do not even directly count towards deciding the Presidency.
Just wanted to throw in some clarification for any non-us citizens that needed it.
While I agree with your general sentiment, AIDS kills AIDS patients. These drugs do not prevent death, they prolong life. In the end, the people will die, and from AIDS.
The drugs that are in question are not a cure for aids, they just delay and suppress the effects. There is no cure. For the time being, the HIV virus remains unkillable.
With all this in mind, I agree that the breaking of the patents is a bad thing. Drug companies need financial incentives to continue to develop drugs. Maybe there is a better system somewhere, but until it exists we should undercut the current one. It we take the wind out of the sails of the researchers, we may never find a true cure to the disease!
I can only speak of my own experience, but as the postmaster at my company (along with the 14 other hats I wear) I get bombarded with junk mail for people that have signed up for this service or that on the net, only to have the auto-mail cannon fire off an ever growing selection of useless crap.
When I want to read about something, I want to read what I need to read and be left alone. I don't want to know about the special offer, or the monthly promotion, or some computer generated profile's expecataions of what I am logically attracted to.
Basically, privacy and intrusion are the two largest factors for me in not signing up for things. Even companies that let you "check the box" to not receive spam or to have you address kept quiet will sell the information under the right circumstances. And woe to those that are not saavy to the check box. They clog up my mail servers!!!
Getting paid for training is great, as is having your company pay for you to take classes that will improve your worth. In the end, though, the company is paying you to produce, not to go to school.
I believe that the responsibility to keep one's skills updated lies in the hands of the techies. Companies will reimburse you for your learning, and most people expect to make more when they know more and are more valuable. Isn't it a bit greedy to expect to do this on their time as well?
Yes, he was getting C's and D's, but he was also smart enough to crack the system. The grades would seem to be from a lack of effort, not inability to measure up.
Perhaps his parents didn't give him somethoing that he needed. My parents didn't give me things I needed as a kid, either. The still don't understand me very well, and I'm almost 30.
The only person to blame is the kid. He is old enough to understand his own death, and decided to carry it out. Leave it at that.
This is like saying that stricter gun laws is going to get guns out of the hands of criminals. By definition, a criminal is one that BREAKS the law. And it's not like Joe criminal hangs out, picks up a law book, reads through it and decides which law to break today. They have no regard for law and do what they please, like illegally owning a weapon and using it on someone.
If I were a drug dealer, why on earth would I participate in a computer game that adds to my chance of getting caught. I want to stay as anonymous as possible. I also wouldn't CARE if someone was getting hurt or if the war on drugs was costing taxpayers millions of dollars, because I am a criminal and am not paying taxes on my lucrative drug sales.
Sorry...alternative solutions to problems are always great, but how about something that would actually catch a bad guy and get them off the street.
There is no correlation from one person to another, and therefore the probablility of guessing correctly is merely 50%. Each hat is determined by an unrelated coin flip, and therefore the guesses are unrelated. The probability of one flip getting a red hat does not affect the probability of the color of the next. Don't think in terms of three's, think in terms of infinite flips. It all evens out in the end, and the pattern is completely random.
Who are you, or anyone else, to demand that one person bear a higher percentage of the tax burden than another. People that have more money pay more in taxes because their income is higher. Simple math. If you make 50K and I make 75K, and there is a tax rate of 10%, you paid 5K in taxes and I paid 7.5K. Why should my percentage be higher?
Actually what I am asking is what makes you think you have the right to take more money from some people than others. What's wrong with the rich getting a tax cut? Where does it say that someone with more should be required by law to give a disproportionate amout of help in a free society? How is that free?
Rebellion by kids against the school could actually be okay, if they went about it in a respectful, adult manner and not like kids lashing out thoughtlessly.
If this kid had a problem with one of the administrators, he could have written a letter to the schoolboard, attended meetings, and spoken his peace. Instead he made the guy look like a pedophile (sp?) on a website. Not right, and he should be taught that. Certainly by his parents, if not by someone else.
Having the right to free speech is deserves as much respect as any establishment/institution in this country. It IS an institution. People get censored because they choose to use this right in an abusive manner. There is always a way to say what you want without defacing someone or doing something offensive.
And tell me, why is it different for the kid to do what he did and get suspended, or for me to tell a female coworker that I like the way her butt looks in those pants? How free should free speech be? Do you advocate sexual harrassment? Where's the line?
Slashdot Mirror
hand gun bans mean one thing...
the only people left with handguns will be the criminals and the law enforcement agencies....and law enforcement would be greatly outnumbered.
Napster facilitated copyright violation on their own network daily. They knew about it and did nothing. The software was specifically designed for sharing MP3s. It was then used to share MP3s.
Illegally.
It's really the same arguement as whether or not a hosting service is responsible for, say, hosting a kiddie porn site. Should companies be held responsible for the content that they are serving? They ARE making money off of the service, and thereby profiting from an illegal act.
you are comparing music theft with Jesus' acts, the boston tea party, and the freedon of slaves?
Thanks for making my point. You really did just fall off the turnip truck.
If you are an artist and want to give away your music, please do so. I never said you couldn't. I am speaking of what the majority use of napster was. If you think it was something other than theft of copyrighted material, you are quite kidding yourself.
Napster providing the avenue for the theft is an accessory to copyright violation. That is a crime. The getaway car analogy is childish.
(jumps up on soapbox)
Folks, I am sorry, but Npaster was truly only a place where people stole copyrighted material. The arguements that it helped/hurt the industry do not matter. The arguements that they weren't hurting anyone do not matter.
Right now sharing music in the way that we want to share software is illegal. There is no musical GPL. Even if there were, the artists who's music we want would not be released under it. Napster could have been a great place for budding artists to get some coverage. Instead it was used to get the Staind tracks onto CD without ever making it to Sam Goody.
One of the things that would help this community tremendously is to respect the laws and try to get done what needs to be done within the framework of them. Crying out as a group because some poor little business that was struggling along broke a law and that aided in their demise is worthless.
I mean, isn't that the bible for college living?
How else would anyone get to the Cheeseburger at the end of the Universe...
In Boston we can get the fans at the Fleetcenter to chant "Wife-beater" at Jason Kidd during a playoff game. Maybe we need to come up with a chant for Lucas to be heard at theaters across the nation.
"NERD ABU-SER! NERD ABU-SER!"
Of course any chant with Jar-Jar's name in it wouldn't be worth the breath it expelled...so we'll leave him out of it!
...Because there is another movie to come, and that is where the alliance is formed. The formation of the rebellion could come from any number of things in the next movie.
On the side of why the empire is evil, Senator Palpatine created the situation under which he took over by arranging the slaughter of the inhabitants of Naboo. Nevermind the desgtuction of Alderan, which could be attributed to the mistrust in Leah. They attacked a peaceful planet, killing many for the sole purpose of achieving a political end. Evil.
Yes, yes, the arguement could also be made that the slaughter of the Gungans (Jar Jar included) could be the best thing ever to happen in the universe...but I don't think it is relavant to this particular discussion.
...Wicked (the life and times of the Wicked Witch of the West) by Gregory MacGuire. It is a funny book and a fun read. Oz from the other side, if you will. Well worth the hours!!!
...and complex thinking.
I went to school for Mechanical Engineering. When I got out I found myself working in the graphics industry. Very unrelated. What I found was that the thinking ability I gained from college made me extraordinarily proficient at understanding the complex elements behind digital imaging and computer graphics. It also gave me an advanced understanding of workflow and systems.
That was 9 years ago. Today the entire company runs a workflow that I designed, and has been making money doing it for a long time.
I think the point is that if you go to college and work at it, getting as much knowledge as you can about computers and systems, you will find yourself in a significantly advanced position compared to someone that has just been hacking their way through it for a few years. You will also have a bit more respect years on down the line. College is good, and in most cases, it is expected by companies.
he must think high karma will help him get chicks...
and THAT, my friends, is why Mac users get more tail! "Oooh! What a Solid G4 you have, Mr. Gorbie. Can I give that nice mouse a click?"
Heh...argue cheap hardware now!
heh-heh...
He said "load"
Heh-heh...
Yeah...Load...in the port...
heh.
This is a common mistake made in discussions and posts. The US is a constitutional republic, which is very different from a democracy.
While most of the Americans reading this probably already know the difference and just mis-represent it in discussion, it is possible that many people in the world do not know the difference. The lack of this knowledge could lead to the conclusion of the people being ultimately responsible for the acts of the government.
What we are responsible for is CHOOSING the people that will make the laws. We are generally out of the loop when it comes to actually deciding the laws, at least on a federal level. These laws that we don't directly decide are influenced by and must adhere to a constitution that, while a great guideline for how to live and legislate, is 200+ years old.
This doesn't even touch upon the fact that with the electoral college our votes do not even directly count towards deciding the Presidency.
Just wanted to throw in some clarification for any non-us citizens that needed it.
While I agree with your general sentiment, AIDS kills AIDS patients. These drugs do not prevent death, they prolong life. In the end, the people will die, and from AIDS.
The drugs that are in question are not a cure for aids, they just delay and suppress the effects. There is no cure. For the time being, the HIV virus remains unkillable.
With all this in mind, I agree that the breaking of the patents is a bad thing. Drug companies need financial incentives to continue to develop drugs. Maybe there is a better system somewhere, but until it exists we should undercut the current one. It we take the wind out of the sails of the researchers, we may never find a true cure to the disease!
I can only speak of my own experience, but as the postmaster at my company (along with the 14 other hats I wear) I get bombarded with junk mail for people that have signed up for this service or that on the net, only to have the auto-mail cannon fire off an ever growing selection of useless crap.
When I want to read about something, I want to read what I need to read and be left alone. I don't want to know about the special offer, or the monthly promotion, or some computer generated profile's expecataions of what I am logically attracted to.
Basically, privacy and intrusion are the two largest factors for me in not signing up for things. Even companies that let you "check the box" to not receive spam or to have you address kept quiet will sell the information under the right circumstances. And woe to those that are not saavy to the check box. They clog up my mail servers!!!
Getting paid for training is great, as is having your company pay for you to take classes that will improve your worth. In the end, though, the company is paying you to produce, not to go to school.
I believe that the responsibility to keep one's skills updated lies in the hands of the techies. Companies will reimburse you for your learning, and most people expect to make more when they know more and are more valuable. Isn't it a bit greedy to expect to do this on their time as well?
Yes, he was getting C's and D's, but he was also smart enough to crack the system. The grades would seem to be from a lack of effort, not inability to measure up.
Perhaps his parents didn't give him somethoing that he needed. My parents didn't give me things I needed as a kid, either. The still don't understand me very well, and I'm almost 30.
The only person to blame is the kid. He is old enough to understand his own death, and decided to carry it out. Leave it at that.
Thanks for nit-picking. Change "Theft" to "Espionage", and then it even sounds worse. It is a bad thing. Simple.
Where is the sense in this?
This is like saying that stricter gun laws is going to get guns out of the hands of criminals. By definition, a criminal is one that BREAKS the law. And it's not like Joe criminal hangs out, picks up a law book, reads through it and decides which law to break today. They have no regard for law and do what they please, like illegally owning a weapon and using it on someone.
If I were a drug dealer, why on earth would I participate in a computer game that adds to my chance of getting caught. I want to stay as anonymous as possible. I also wouldn't CARE if someone was getting hurt or if the war on drugs was costing taxpayers millions of dollars, because I am a criminal and am not paying taxes on my lucrative drug sales.
Sorry...alternative solutions to problems are always great, but how about something that would actually catch a bad guy and get them off the street.
and I always thought LUG stood for Lesbian UnderGrad. What's the world coming to.
Anna Paquin. Mmmmmm.
Not really. Always got A's in math. Sigh. Coin flip arguements...
There is no correlation from one person to another, and therefore the probablility of guessing correctly is merely 50%. Each hat is determined by an unrelated coin flip, and therefore the guesses are unrelated. The probability of one flip getting a red hat does not affect the probability of the color of the next. Don't think in terms of three's, think in terms of infinite flips. It all evens out in the end, and the pattern is completely random.
To whomever submitted the topic:
(and I know I am about to get killed for this)
Who are you, or anyone else, to demand that one person bear a higher percentage of the tax burden than another. People that have more money pay more in taxes because their income is higher. Simple math. If you make 50K and I make 75K, and there is a tax rate of 10%, you paid 5K in taxes and I paid 7.5K. Why should my percentage be higher?
Actually what I am asking is what makes you think you have the right to take more money from some people than others. What's wrong with the rich getting a tax cut? Where does it say that someone with more should be required by law to give a disproportionate amout of help in a free society? How is that free?
endrant
Rebellion by kids against the school could actually be okay, if they went about it in a respectful, adult manner and not like kids lashing out thoughtlessly.
If this kid had a problem with one of the administrators, he could have written a letter to the schoolboard, attended meetings, and spoken his peace. Instead he made the guy look like a pedophile (sp?) on a website. Not right, and he should be taught that. Certainly by his parents, if not by someone else.
Having the right to free speech is deserves as much respect as any establishment/institution in this country. It IS an institution. People get censored because they choose to use this right in an abusive manner. There is always a way to say what you want without defacing someone or doing something offensive.
And tell me, why is it different for the kid to do what he did and get suspended, or for me to tell a female coworker that I like the way her butt looks in those pants? How free should free speech be? Do you advocate sexual harrassment? Where's the line?