I believe that the minimum age for credit cards holds here as well. However, the US is plumb full of kiddies whose parents will get them a card with a tiny (or sometimes) not card that they can use.
Of course, I still don't think that there would be many 13 year olds that have them.
Mac is short for Macintosh. not McIntosh or even MacIntosh, and certainly isn't an acronym. those of you in the northern US, where an A.T.M. is sometimes called a M.A.C. i can understand, but these are not cash machines!
sorry, i stand by my original statement. for one thing, not everyone (and this may be hard for someone in college to understand) has access to good printers, or even good computers for that matter.
the average schmo kid probably just listens to MP3s to make purchase decisions, and then spends money on the real CD. as for hauling around a stack of cds...gesus! that wasn't the point i was making. i was trying to say that there is still something damn romantic about coming home with some music from a shop and sitting down with the sleeves and thumbing through the pages while the first chords come rumbling forth from the speakers...it's just a part of the experience that d'loading "forgot about dre" and being able to play the song immediately just doesn't have. there's no chill there, most of the time....
as for ftp for remote listening, see above: not everyone can do that kind of thing. just wait, my friend, that hi-speed access that you enjoy for free at UCSD will be pricey as hell when you get out of school.
it was both DK and Circle Jerks who pulled this prank. The text on the B-Side of DK's In God We Trust read, "home made tapes have caused sales to go down in the record industry. We left this side blank so you could do your part."
I don't know what the Circle Jerks cassette reads....
Next thing you know you won't be able to record that new 'Puff Mama' CD you just bought onto a RIO or like devices.....
Which is pretty much the kind of crap the Record Companies tried to pull in the 80's, when the Walkman came out. "If you tape music, you'll be tempted to pass it around, and that's bad for the artists (read: bad for our bottom line)"
on a semi-related note: the Dead Kennedys released one of their tapes with a message that said "The B-Side of this tape has been left blank so that you can rip off the music industry (paraphrased).
Of course, that really didn't happen. The Music Industry is just pissy about these things because they can't control them. There are not really that many people out there who get most of their music from the Internet, are there? I mean, how could NSync sell 2.6 million copies of their CD if that were the case? What is the advantage??? Answer: Actual CDs/Tapes/Vinyl from the Companies will always have a serious advantage over Internet-related transmission methods: the Album Art/Liner Notes/etc. You can't very well download and print up your own sleeves for each Disc you get....
So, it's hard to understand why the record companies have their collective panties in a wad. If it were about the artists' copyrights, you'd think they'd at least pay those artists properly and not treat them like shit. If it's about profits, then they are just being tight-asses over revenue losses that they probably can't accurately project.
And if they really are concerned about falling profits, maybe they should stop releasing utter shite.
I was present at that same lecture. As I recall, the commercials were absolute cheese! Total 60's shag style stuff, and the mood music was dead on!
As for the Humanities, it is boring!!!
http://www.cnn.com/2000/TECH/computing/03/21/hacke r.take.over.idg/index.html Imagine how easy it would be to fake data, showing US troops as enemy units. This is just a plain old bad idea. Armies and Machines of war in general are bad ideas, but this takes it to a whole new level....
Well, so Billington says that the new website will put the Library Of Congress at our "fingertips," eh???
So why only only maps and sound recordings? Isn't that kind of the same drek he complains about early in the article?
And, if the Internet is "largely amplifying the worst features of television's preoccupation with sex and violence, semi-literate chatter, shortened attention spans, and near-total subservience to commercial marketing," as he says, then why doesn't he want to change all that by digitizing the Library's holdings??? is he a hypocrit, or just plain stupid??
or, maybe he realized what a pain in the ass digitizing the entire Library would be?
Re:I think the Earth would look better over there.
on
Wormholes? Maybe.
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· Score: 1
What would happen if someone creates a wormhole here and since it would be centered around our planet, could conceivably trap us in and deposit our planet in a completely different area of space. What would we do then? Hope that after creating the phenomena once that we could repeat the process in reverse and get us back?
Um, nothing would happen. Or, rather, nothing that we would be aware of... Assuming that one could A) open a wormhole and B) open one large enough for earth to pass through, the resulting re-emergence of earth in a "different are of space" would in itself be enough to kill all life on the planet. maybe not all at once and maybe not because of the trip, but certainly the sudden loss of orbital/gravitational stability, not to mention loss of sunlight...
yea, we'd die and not know anything about it.... so, to all you budding Sisko's out there, leave it alone....
Please tell me that you just forgot to put your "sarcasm" tags on that post...Please?
To say that "social responsibility" for a company begins and ends with getting a product out cheap is to completely ignore the overall impact that production has on "society" while overemphasizing the fact that you got something cheap. That's arrogant and disgusting.
F'rinstance, if a hardware company makes high-end PCs and sells them for less than $500, but only does so because it uses underpaid labor (with no benefits and probably not in the U$) *and* gets away with dumping toxic by-products of the production into streams and lakes near the plant *and* employs predatory sales/business practices, does that mean that they are *IN ANY WAY* a good company just because they got you a PC for $499 (sales tax not included, void where prohibited, etc)??? No! That makes them a capitalist entity, and one that is particularly nasty to a number of people to benefit another number of people. That's exploitation, and it is (to me, and probably most people) wrong no matter how many people are benefitted on the purchasing side....
The most moral and ethical thing a person can do is work hard and get the most from your money.
I would suggest asking them directly, whether by visiting their websites and looking for info on their practices (this would apply mostly to info on charitable involvement, since most companies would not willingly (or even truthfully) post info on workplace conditions). Having done that, you could also e-mail their PR/HR offices and simply ask for info on what they do and how they treat people, etc, etc.... By the way, there is an article on mired.com about "Microsoft's right-wing capitalism versus Apple's pleasant communism," but since it is a mired column, it is a little more opinion and conjecture than actual fact. Still, damn amusing....
So, when can we expect a major break-in from a 21st century Captain Midnight??? Evil thought, a song, sung to the tune of "Where Have All the Flowers Gone?" where have all the hackers gone? long time coding....
you may now pretend that this post never happened.
Where to even begin on a question like this one. Hmm, at the beginning of course. I had my first online experience in late 1995, probably mid-October, while I was a student at a small community college in Virginia. At first, there were only a few of us who knew about this magic thing that could be found by clicking on something called "netscape navigator 1.1" on the library macintoshs. But, word spread.
I was amazed. Intrigued. Here at last was something that called to me. Here's where I found out that not only were there people like myself, but lots of them. My only regret looking back on those days is that I never took seriously the impact that this "internet" and "world wide web" would have. I missed the boat. Even a year ago I could probably have worked for any number of sites, but now even HTML programmers need a college degree.
And now, 4 1/2 years later, I count myself as a middle child. Not as smart as my older brothers and sisters (which would probably be about 90% of this community), yet almost infinitely wise when compared to my younger kin; people who never got past the forwarded/chain-email and chat room stage, or those who got online for the first time yesterday, or those who have been online but ask strange questions, or (last but not least) anyone still on AOL. And it feels weird. When I got to North Carolina (where the university system's access was way faster than the CC in VA) I found out about UNIX and usenet and gopher and other fun things. and i liked them alot. But, i don't see why people bitch about them being dead. If you abandoned the newsgroups just because you didn't like to hit 'delete' when coming upon spam, then don't bitch about its current state. if the core users of the net (pre 90's) were still interested in these things, they would still be around...right?
As for corporate/govt influence, well, think about it. There is virtually zero chance of really getting the business world offline or of preventing their influence from further dirtying up the cyberscape with banner ads and stupid websites. But, with gov't, people can make some change happen. Remember MADD? That was started by one mother. so why don't we start up a group called GABBA (Geeks Against Business Banner Ads) or some such.
I don't, maybe it's my utter lack of sleep in the past week that's causing me to vent this way. Or, maybe I am just overstepping myself and talking out of my ass. After all, I am a spoiled brat who has never paid a dime for access. The point that I am unable to get across here is that things change and that's just the way it is. If you don't like the Internet anymore, then follow the earlier suggestion of setting up new networks and connecting them the old fashioned way....
Or, throw a virtual brick through the virtual window of the latest DotComIPOStartUp to hit the streets. After all, the destruction of everything is the creation of something new......
I was seriously bored halfway thru Matrix. I admit , PM was not the greatest move out there but at least was not boring.
My only problem with the Matrix came in the scene where they are trying to avoid those big electric squid type things and someone says they are going to use an EMP bomb to disable the critter. At this point, Keanu's character says, "EMP? What's that?" Now, he's been "chosen" because of his skills. Because he is smart, because he is smarter than most, right? Well then how come he doesn't know what an EMP is?
It just blew the entire movie for me, and it is really common. Just like in Star Trek where there is always someone on the bridge who has to ask for something to be explained when it seems to be common knowledge for the rest of the crew. I suppose that this is because television/movie people just assume that their audience will contain really stupid people (when in fact most of the audience of The Matrix and Star Trek are probably fairly bright; stupid people watch 'Who Wants to Be A Millionaire) and so they have to explain things. Well, I think it's an insult to our intelligence to have it done in that way. Maybe if these writers came up with some explanation that doesn't interrupt the flow of the script, or violate the character, it would be different....
I am pretty sure that the sound award is given for the design of the sound, what gets put into the movie and that the editing award is for how it got put in (if it matches the action, if it flows well, etcetcetc....)
I don't know, some friends of mine have seen 'Pi' and they said that it was OK, but it kept going on and on in circles and seemed like it would never end....
...but i just don't buy this at all. Why, if the Army really thinks this could happen, would they advertise it? "Hey, you too can get control of our tanks! Commandeer a APC and take your friends to the Prom in real All-American (tm) style!!! It could just be more of the government's "cyber-criminal/terrorist" rhetoric aimed at eroding more people's right to hack. Well, not that there is a right to hack....yet. Am I just crazy? Am I placing to little faith in our military? Can you place too little faith in an organization that practices better ways to kill people?
You know, I am only guessing, but if the union wants its members to have free machines, it might have something to do with these people being unable to afford anything better. That, and the fact that I don't think that too many people in this country get it. A machine is a machine is a machine is a hunk of plastic on the kitchen table that will somehow magically acquire a ton of porn and useless mp3s and then get dumped after one too many blue screen episodes.... Besides, it's free for Fuck's Sake. So who cares?
as a devoted follower of the Zodiac, and how it affects me (i am totally aware of how my sign interacts with the planets to prevent me from obtaining any sort of good job or even a menial one) i am concerned... will this moon exert any pull over me as i try to appease the gods and the signs? will this alter my chances of attaining zen, although, being a devotee of astrology, i don't follow zen? should i worry that i was born under this moon and will never live long enough to see it return? this is too much for someone with no sense of self-determination!!!!!
the inertia exists because lawyers are not really all that smart. in fact, they can be outright dumb..
http://www.freespeech.org/mat/spam/lawyersrdumb.ht ml
now, as for a real answer, who knows? maybe they just spent so much time learning WP in the first place, they don't think they could learn anything else.
i wouldn't think of flaming someone who takes a similar viewpoint. in fact, i am moved to post (for the first time) to back you up.... it is true that no study was ever conducted to *prove* that HIV=AIDS (and you can ask any doctor you want, and they will not be able to point to a study and say, "here it is"). it seems to me like this "therapy" suffers from the same problem that the supposed AIDS therapy AZT suffered from: it can't tell what cells it should go after. that's what made AZT such a useless and deadly drug (it does more harm than good). why aren't people interested in finding and eradicating *causes* of disease and such instead of merely cures? after all, most of the damage has been done by the time you are cured.... and, btw, the url to look up some of this info is http://www.virusmyth.com/aids/news.htm
Slashdot Mirror
Of course, I still don't think that there would be many 13 year olds that have them.
the average schmo kid probably just listens to MP3s to make purchase decisions, and then spends money on the real CD.
as for hauling around a stack of cds...gesus! that wasn't the point i was making. i was trying to say that there is still something damn romantic about coming home with some music from a shop and sitting down with the sleeves and thumbing through the pages while the first chords come rumbling forth from the speakers...it's just a part of the experience that d'loading "forgot about dre" and being able to play the song immediately just doesn't have. there's no chill there, most of the time....
as for ftp for remote listening, see above: not everyone can do that kind of thing. just wait, my friend, that hi-speed access that you enjoy for free at UCSD will be pricey as hell when you get out of school.
it was both DK and Circle Jerks who pulled this prank.
The text on the B-Side of DK's In God We Trust read, "home made tapes have caused sales to go down in the record industry. We left this side blank so you could do your part."
I don't know what the Circle Jerks cassette reads....
Which is pretty much the kind of crap the Record Companies tried to pull in the 80's, when the Walkman came out. "If you tape music, you'll be tempted to pass it around, and that's bad for the artists (read: bad for our bottom line)"
Of course, that really didn't happen. The Music Industry is just pissy about these things because they can't control them. There are not really that many people out there who get most of their music from the Internet, are there? I mean, how could NSync sell 2.6 million copies of their CD if that were the case? What is the advantage???
Answer: Actual CDs/Tapes/Vinyl from the Companies will always have a serious advantage over Internet-related transmission methods: the Album Art/Liner Notes/etc. You can't very well download and print up your own sleeves for each Disc you get....
So, it's hard to understand why the record companies have their collective panties in a wad. If it were about the artists' copyrights, you'd think they'd at least pay those artists properly and not treat them like shit. If it's about profits, then they are just being tight-asses over revenue losses that they probably can't accurately project.
And if they really are concerned about falling profits, maybe they should stop releasing utter shite.
As for the Humanities, it is boring!!!
if you don't want to register, try one of the 'cyberpunk' accounts... login: cyberpunk69 passwd: cyberpunk69 it should work for you....
http://www.cnn.com/2000/TECH/computing/03/21/hacke r.take.over.idg/index.html Imagine how easy it would be to fake data, showing US troops as enemy units. This is just a plain old bad idea. Armies and Machines of war in general are bad ideas, but this takes it to a whole new level....
um, if there aren't well stocked video stores, what are the odds that there will be broadband access (or access at all)???
So why only only maps and sound recordings? Isn't that kind of the same drek he complains about early in the article?
And, if the Internet is "largely amplifying the worst features of television's preoccupation with sex and violence, semi-literate chatter, shortened attention spans, and near-total subservience to commercial marketing," as he says, then why doesn't he want to change all that by digitizing the Library's holdings???
is he a hypocrit, or just plain stupid??
or, maybe he realized what a pain in the ass digitizing the entire Library would be?
Um, nothing would happen. Or, rather, nothing that we would be aware of...
Assuming that one could A) open a wormhole and B) open one large enough for earth to pass through, the resulting re-emergence of earth in a "different are of space" would in itself be enough to kill all life on the planet.
maybe not all at once and maybe not because of the trip, but certainly the sudden loss of orbital/gravitational stability, not to mention loss of sunlight...
yea, we'd die and not know anything about it....
so, to all you budding Sisko's out there, leave it alone....
To say that "social responsibility" for a company begins and ends with getting a product out cheap is to completely ignore the overall impact that production has on "society" while overemphasizing the fact that you got something cheap. That's arrogant and disgusting.
F'rinstance, if a hardware company makes high-end PCs and sells them for less than $500, but only does so because it uses underpaid labor (with no benefits and probably not in the U$) *and* gets away with dumping toxic by-products of the production into streams and lakes near the plant *and* employs predatory sales/business practices, does that mean that they are *IN ANY WAY* a good company just because they got you a PC for $499 (sales tax not included, void where prohibited, etc)??? No! That makes them a capitalist entity, and one that is particularly nasty to a number of people to benefit another number of people. That's exploitation, and it is (to me, and probably most people) wrong no matter how many people are benefitted on the purchasing side....
Again, you are kidding, right?I would suggest asking them directly, whether by visiting their websites and looking for info on their practices (this would apply mostly to info on charitable involvement, since most companies would not willingly (or even truthfully) post info on workplace conditions).
Having done that, you could also e-mail their PR/HR offices and simply ask for info on what they do and how they treat people, etc, etc.... By the way, there is an article on mired.com about "Microsoft's right-wing capitalism versus Apple's pleasant communism," but since it is a mired column, it is a little more opinion and conjecture than actual fact. Still, damn amusing....
Evil thought, a song, sung to the tune of "Where Have All the Flowers Gone?"
where have all the hackers gone?
long time coding....
you may now pretend that this post never happened.
I had my first online experience in late 1995, probably mid-October, while I was a student at a small community college in Virginia. At first, there were only a few of us who knew about this magic thing that could be found by clicking on something called "netscape navigator 1.1" on the library macintoshs. But, word spread.
I was amazed. Intrigued. Here at last was something that called to me. Here's where I found out that not only were there people like myself, but lots of them. My only regret looking back on those days is that I never took seriously the impact that this "internet" and "world wide web" would have. I missed the boat. Even a year ago I could probably have worked for any number of sites, but now even HTML programmers need a college degree.
And now, 4 1/2 years later, I count myself as a middle child. Not as smart as my older brothers and sisters (which would probably be about 90% of this community), yet almost infinitely wise when compared to my younger kin; people who never got past the forwarded/chain-email and chat room stage, or those who got online for the first time yesterday, or those who have been online but ask strange questions, or (last but not least) anyone still on AOL.
And it feels weird. When I got to North Carolina (where the university system's access was way faster than the CC in VA) I found out about UNIX and usenet and gopher and other fun things. and i liked them alot. But, i don't see why people bitch about them being dead. If you abandoned the newsgroups just because you didn't like to hit 'delete' when coming upon spam, then don't bitch about its current state.
if the core users of the net (pre 90's) were still interested in these things, they would still be around...right?
As for corporate/govt influence, well, think about it. There is virtually zero chance of really getting the business world offline or of preventing their influence from further dirtying up the cyberscape with banner ads and stupid websites. But, with gov't, people can make some change happen. Remember MADD? That was started by one mother.
so why don't we start up a group called GABBA (Geeks Against Business Banner Ads) or some such.
I don't, maybe it's my utter lack of sleep in the past week that's causing me to vent this way. Or, maybe I am just overstepping myself and talking out of my ass. After all, I am a spoiled brat who has never paid a dime for access.
The point that I am unable to get across here is that things change and that's just the way it is. If you don't like the Internet anymore, then follow the earlier suggestion of setting up new networks and connecting them the old fashioned way....
Or, throw a virtual brick through the virtual window of the latest DotComIPOStartUp to hit the streets. After all, the destruction of everything is the creation of something new......
My only problem with the Matrix came in the scene where they are trying to avoid those big electric squid type things and someone says they are going to use an EMP bomb to disable the critter. At this point, Keanu's character says, "EMP? What's that?"
Now, he's been "chosen" because of his skills. Because he is smart, because he is smarter than most, right? Well then how come he doesn't know what an EMP is?
It just blew the entire movie for me, and it is really common. Just like in Star Trek where there is always someone on the bridge who has to ask for something to be explained when it seems to be common knowledge for the rest of the crew.
I suppose that this is because television/movie people just assume that their audience will contain really stupid people (when in fact most of the audience of The Matrix and Star Trek are probably fairly bright; stupid people watch 'Who Wants to Be A Millionaire) and so they have to explain things. Well, I think it's an insult to our intelligence to have it done in that way. Maybe if these writers came up with some explanation that doesn't interrupt the flow of the script, or violate the character, it would be different....
Sorry for ranting. I am a bit crabby today.
I am pretty sure that the sound award is given for the design of the sound, what gets put into the movie and that the editing award is for how it got put in (if it matches the action, if it flows well, etcetcetc....)
I don't know, some friends of mine have seen 'Pi' and they said that it was OK, but it kept going on and on in circles and seemed like it would never end....
...but i just don't buy this at all. Why, if the Army really thinks this could happen, would they advertise it? "Hey, you too can get control of our tanks! Commandeer a APC and take your friends to the Prom in real All-American (tm) style!!!
It could just be more of the government's "cyber-criminal/terrorist" rhetoric aimed at eroding more people's right to hack. Well, not that there is a right to hack....yet.
Am I just crazy? Am I placing to little faith in our military? Can you place too little faith in an organization that practices better ways to kill people?
That, and the fact that I don't think that too many people in this country get it. A machine is a machine is a machine is a hunk of plastic on the kitchen table that will somehow magically acquire a ton of porn and useless mp3s and then get dumped after one too many blue screen episodes....
Besides, it's free for Fuck's Sake. So who cares?
"i whupped batman's ass..."
as a devoted follower of the Zodiac, and how it affects me (i am totally aware of how my sign interacts with the planets to prevent me from obtaining any sort of good job or even a menial one) i am concerned... will this moon exert any pull over me as i try to appease the gods and the signs? will this alter my chances of attaining zen, although, being a devotee of astrology, i don't follow zen? should i worry that i was born under this moon and will never live long enough to see it return? this is too much for someone with no sense of self-determination!!!!!
in fact, they can be outright dumb..
http://www.freespeech.org/mat/spam/lawyersrdumb.ht ml
now, as for a real answer, who knows? maybe they just spent so much time learning WP in the first place, they don't think they could learn anything else.
Stern's your role model? I'm sorry.
you got some real issues... i can dig it.
i wouldn't think of flaming someone who takes a similar viewpoint. in fact, i am moved to post (for the first time) to back you up.... it is true that no study was ever conducted to *prove* that HIV=AIDS (and you can ask any doctor you want, and they will not be able to point to a study and say, "here it is"). it seems to me like this "therapy" suffers from the same problem that the supposed AIDS therapy AZT suffered from: it can't tell what cells it should go after. that's what made AZT such a useless and deadly drug (it does more harm than good). why aren't people interested in finding and eradicating *causes* of disease and such instead of merely cures? after all, most of the damage has been done by the time you are cured.... and, btw, the url to look up some of this info is http://www.virusmyth.com/aids/news.htm