If all we had were truly talented artists, who only made truly good and artistic music, who would my 11 year-old daughter and all of her friends have to scream and swoon over? There's a market for the pre-fabbed boy bands and girl groups. Their tunes are crap, but they're the stick-in-your-head type of music. Practically commercial jingle-level swill.
Sure, but a zip file on a web site won't get them beer, coke and groupies. That tip jar won't buy them a new tour van either.
Actually, I think this is the most important point of this entire discussion, and the main point of his comments. Listen to the commercials on your local radio stations. How often do you hear announcments of concerts and tours that are months in advance.
Do you think EVERY individual artist/group has the skills or industry contacts to market themselves and set up a huge, multi-million dollar tour? Groups rely on the brick & mortars to handle this ridiculously complicated aspect of being a popular artist.
No, the industry won't go away, but it may morph into more of a marketing industry than it already is. I see labels, that currently rely on signing artists, changing the paradigm and being hired by artists or groups to market them for a percentage of the concert/tour proceeds.
We're not talking about raising the rent. Our current government has no problem thowing as much of our money away as possibly can. We're talking about effectively cutting off the inroute for our troops, who need food, weapons, transportation and medical supplies. I would be horrified if these items were stopped, as I very much support our troops, if not the war.
Honestly, at this point, if that happened I think people would cry out for impeachment if the Bush admin got violent over cutting the route off. Our troops would probably be brought home.
I agree, the scenario is not likely, just that it's a possibility.
Actually, I think you missed the sarcasm flag he was waving around.
We ARE in a war in Iraq.
We ARE in a war in Afganistan.
We have military bases in Turkey & Kuwait and that is where we move troops through to Iraq.
If Kuwait & Turkey suddenly said "Go away, USA.", do you think we would just abandon the "war" effort in Iraq? Of course not! Not with so much oil at stake!
Hmmm. I seem to remember one Dolores Umbridge saybing these exact words to the students/staff of Hogwarts. I thought she was mad then, and I still do today.
Change breeds innovation. It may be cliche', but "Thinking Outside The Box" is still a valid way to think. Innovation and inventiveness lead to the next big thing.
How many things have been imagined as a cure for boredom, or an excercise in thought, and realized as an amazing new tool/toy?
It only goes bad when the sought improvements are not rational -- such as, for example, attempts to make us all Christians, or blonde, or obedient.
I had to stop reading your post at this point as I was suddenly very nervous.
Blonde!?!? You mean he could really do this? Make everyone blonde? Well this is about as Orwellian as it gets! I mean a world full of people with only::shudders:: blonde hair!
I moved my home's marker just fine, but when I went to move my parents', I got this error: "Because of technical restrictions, you cannot edit this location at this time."
I wonder, does it check to make sure my IP address is near the location I'm moving, or is it just a glitch?
I edited my house, then edited my parents' house and finally edited my sister's house. Had no issues, and I did it all from the same machine.
Working as both a salaried employee and a contractor at times, I've had quite a few employers. I've only been escorted once, and that was a week after I knew (grape-vine) I would be laid off.
Usually I was given notice and at times a severance package.
In fact, my last position as a contractor, I was given 3 1/2 weeks notice and allowed to work from home if I wanted.
I've found that if you have a good relationship with your employer and don't work for assholes, end-of-contracts or lay offs can be quite civil.
I know women who make a shitload of money taking off their clohes - I pity them.
Why would you pity them? Most professional (professional being the key word here) strippers/dancers/prostitutes know that what they do is a form of entertainment. And I really wouldn't pity them, as they have A LOT more power and control over the men & women who are watching them to feed their inner animal.
Many women I have spoken to who peddle flesh for a living know that they call the shots, and quite a few of them make a very respectable living.
Now, I feel bad for women who feel that they have no choice but to prostitute themselves, but I do not pity them. It's not the oldest profession for no reason. Women have been doing it for thousands of years, and making money doing it.
Yes, they can be exploited, and that is a true tragedy. but I do not Pity them. When it comes to sex, the females truly have power.
You know, I've been a/. reader for awhile now, and I usually keep my threshold around 3. I enjoy RTFAs, browsing the comments and usually getting a kick out of the more intelligent and knowledgable posts.
Recently, though, I realized I was clicking on n reply beneath your current threshold. a little too often to see where certain threads took me. I started reading at a threshold of -1 to ease up on the mouse-clicks, and found that there were some deeply nested comments that should have higher mod-points.
I felt satisfied with my decision and now browse at -1 consistantly.
Until today,/. was an escape for me at work where I could read posts from "enlightened" posters. I was looking forward to technobabble revolving around blackhole theory.
What I got was A LOT of mean-spirited rascist comments. And I mean A LOT. Browse at -1 if you don't believe me and read some of these.
I know/. is filled with people of differing views and opinions such as evolution vs. creationism vs. intelligent design (which are some of my favorite/. debates), Democrats vs. Republicans vs. Independants, Specialists vs. laymen etc. I enjoy the civilized debates and even the heated arguments.
But the level of ignorance I witnessed today was appalling. I know some of it was meant to be humorous and not hurtful, but even humorous racist posts feed the ignorant "Anonymous" posters and give them validation.
Racism is one of the worst socail problems we have on this planet, right up there with religious differneces. It's disgusting, and I'm ashamed to be a part of/. today.
But I'm not leaving. If everyone that was sickened by comments such as these left, there wouldn't be anyone worth reading left. So I'm putting up with it today, and hoping to see less of it in the future.
Re:So isolated, but so populated
on
Birth of an Island
·
· Score: 2, Informative
It is amazing that someone would be around to witness this. With the population explosion we've seen in the last 20 years, it makes you wonder how crowded our solar system is going to be in 200 years.
But... (a bit off-topic)
maggard wrote:
It really does bring home that there are now more folks alive today then have died in the history of our species This is actually an urban legend. Demographers put the estimate at roughly 80 billion dead throughout history. Modest estimates put the total number of people alive today at approximately 6% of the total of all people who have ever lived.
Slashdot Mirror
Buy hey! That's capitalism at it's best, baby!
So who funds the tours? Is it only the advertisers?
Actually, I think this is the most important point of this entire discussion, and the main point of his comments. Listen to the commercials on your local radio stations. How often do you hear announcments of concerts and tours that are months in advance.
Do you think EVERY individual artist/group has the skills or industry contacts to market themselves and set up a huge, multi-million dollar tour? Groups rely on the brick & mortars to handle this ridiculously complicated aspect of being a popular artist.
No, the industry won't go away, but it may morph into more of a marketing industry than it already is. I see labels, that currently rely on signing artists, changing the paradigm and being hired by artists or groups to market them for a percentage of the concert/tour proceeds.
IF this happened, how would the US react?
We're not talking about raising the rent. Our current government has no problem thowing as much of our money away as possibly can. We're talking about effectively cutting off the inroute for our troops, who need food, weapons, transportation and medical supplies. I would be horrified if these items were stopped, as I very much support our troops, if not the war.
Honestly, at this point, if that happened I think people would cry out for impeachment if the Bush admin got violent over cutting the route off. Our troops would probably be brought home.
I agree, the scenario is not likely, just that it's a possibility.
We ARE in a war in Iraq.
We ARE in a war in Afganistan.
We have military bases in Turkey & Kuwait and that is where we move troops through to Iraq.
If Kuwait & Turkey suddenly said "Go away, USA.", do you think we would just abandon the "war" effort in Iraq? Of course not! Not with so much oil at stake!
Sheesh!
Hmmm. I seem to remember one Dolores Umbridge saybing these exact words to the students/staff of Hogwarts. I thought she was mad then, and I still do today.
Change breeds innovation. It may be cliche', but "Thinking Outside The Box" is still a valid way to think. Innovation and inventiveness lead to the next big thing.
How many things have been imagined as a cure for boredom, or an excercise in thought, and realized as an amazing new tool/toy?
I had to stop reading your post at this point as I was suddenly very nervous.
Blonde!?!? You mean he could really do this? Make everyone blonde? Well this is about as Orwellian as it gets! I mean a world full of people with only ::shudders:: blonde hair!
Please tell me you were kidding.
If not, then this Eugene guy needs to be stopped.
There. Fixed that for you.
I'm thinking glitch.
Working as both a salaried employee and a contractor at times, I've had quite a few employers. I've only been escorted once, and that was a week after I knew (grape-vine) I would be laid off. Usually I was given notice and at times a severance package.
In fact, my last position as a contractor, I was given 3 1/2 weeks notice and allowed to work from home if I wanted.
I've found that if you have a good relationship with your employer and don't work for assholes, end-of-contracts or lay offs can be quite civil.
Many women I have spoken to who peddle flesh for a living know that they call the shots, and quite a few of them make a very respectable living.
Now, I feel bad for women who feel that they have no choice but to prostitute themselves, but I do not pity them. It's not the oldest profession for no reason. Women have been doing it for thousands of years, and making money doing it.
Yes, they can be exploited, and that is a true tragedy. but I do not Pity them. When it comes to sex, the females truly have power.
Recently, though, I realized I was clicking on n reply beneath your current threshold. a little too often to see where certain threads took me. I started reading at a threshold of -1 to ease up on the mouse-clicks, and found that there were some deeply nested comments that should have higher mod-points.
I felt satisfied with my decision and now browse at -1 consistantly.
Until today, /. was an escape for me at work where I could read posts from "enlightened" posters. I was looking forward to technobabble revolving around blackhole theory.
What I got was A LOT of mean-spirited rascist comments. And I mean A LOT. Browse at -1 if you don't believe me and read some of these.
I know /. is filled with people of differing views and opinions such as evolution vs. creationism vs. intelligent design (which are some of my favorite /. debates), Democrats vs. Republicans vs. Independants, Specialists vs. laymen etc. I enjoy the civilized debates and even the heated arguments.
But the level of ignorance I witnessed today was appalling. I know some of it was meant to be humorous and not hurtful, but even humorous racist posts feed the ignorant "Anonymous" posters and give them validation.
Racism is one of the worst socail problems we have on this planet, right up there with religious differneces. It's disgusting, and I'm ashamed to be a part of /. today.
But I'm not leaving. If everyone that was sickened by comments such as these left, there wouldn't be anyone worth reading left. So I'm putting up with it today, and hoping to see less of it in the future.
Link for the Tick-challenged - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chairface_Chippendale
But... (a bit off-topic)
maggard wrote: It really does bring home that there are now more folks alive today then have died in the history of our species This is actually an urban legend. Demographers put the estimate at roughly 80 billion dead throughout history. Modest estimates put the total number of people alive today at approximately 6% of the total of all people who have ever lived.
Links:
http://www.economist.com/diversions/millennium/di
http://www.snopes.com/science/stats/dead.htm
http://www.rateitall.com/i-885386-the-number-of-p