>>"The way cable companies make money is by getting you to watch as many commercials as possible."
That's funny, I thought they made money through my Cable Bill!
If I'm watching TV and there's a commercial, I (90% of the time) Mute the button and switch to my laptop while I wait for the commercial break. In an odd sort of way, I get more done because my time between doing different tasks is indirectly managed by the commercial breaks, lol. There is also of course, change to a different channel, or turn off the TV completely. If the commercials really get to me, I just aquire the episode later on through means already mentioned elsewhere in this thread.
I agree in most part with what you and the post you quoted have said.
I've found within people my own age and even with the white collar class that there is a deep and resounding feeling of "Why Bother?" and this is a very telling tale of what is wrong with this country.
(Please do not take what I am about to say next out of context)
However, the Iraq War, for all of its atrocities and entirely corrosive effect on the truth in the President and his cabinet, it did provide as a crucial point of discussion for these same peers. Why? Because it affects a lot of people, including myself. My best friend shipped off to the Marines last year and knowing that Iraq duty is largely mandatory, I know I will be worrying a lot more about the positions that the candiates take on Iraq. In effect, the war brought about a higher percentage of voters, ALMOST enough to slice through the pig fag and corruption in Washington.
Now regarding my friend: Since he only joined last year, I didn't have quite as much of a real stance on the issue of the War. Sure, I heard the various viewpoints, but it didn't really strike me at home. (Disclaimer: I am an Independent, both in spirit and in registration). Looking back on the 2004 Elections, I can actually see why a lot of people voted for Bush. The war started in 2003, the Elections were at the end of 2004. I bet a lot of people had convictions in that Bush would continue his work and end the war in another year or so and we could all go home and have a drink. If people had an inclination of what Bush would do in the 3 years following, I would bet that Kerry would have won.
Continuing on, Now that I know someone personally who will be sent to Iraq, I'm naturally going to pay more attention to what these candidate's stances are, and will be more vocal in my support or opposition of a certain candidate BECAUSE of their stance on the War. I was watching the Democrat Debate on youtube and aside from spotting the weasel words, evading the questions (and all the other tricks used in these debates) etc., I also noted exactly what were the contingency plans & solutions for the Iraq Catastrophe.
This is part of the reason why the people (The mainstream) don't pay attention to the debates: Because they will still be able to hear the platforms of the candidates in the primaries for both parties, "so why bother now?".
Final thought: If they gave the same sort of media attention to the president votes that they did for 'American Idol', I bet we'd see a much more interesting election. If anything it would force those running to actually back their promises up.
The problem with that is: How do we get the majority of American People involved with Politics in the same fervor, excitement and sheer number size as 'Idol'? Ok, perhaps excitement is the wrong word to use, but... the same level of "Awareness" that Idol has. I can walk down the street and ask Joe Somebody what they think of Idol, and they will right off the bat let me know what they think, but if I ask them what they think of Ron Paul or Barack Obama, I MIGHT get a reply of "Who? Oh the Republican and the Black Guy"... and that's terrible.
I make my own music occasionally and have even gave out an album to friends and I was even asked if I could have my music broadcast on one of their radio shows. Fine by me, more exposure can only do good. I am NOT signed with any sort of record label and I plan to keep it that way forEVER.
The RIAA has ABSOLUTELY NO authority to tell ME what I can do with MY music.
I want to see this little deceleration by them struck down, as soon as possible.
I think this is just a brilliant marketing strategy: NBC claims "lol u cant broadcast unless
under these terms" people cry foul, rip on NBC for its idiocy, and as a result more people
watch the NBC broadcast of the debates and NBC, at the last minute, retracts its draconian
fair use terms, and gains a large extra viewership.
In Summary:
1. Set draconian re-broadcast terms
2. People get upset & complain
3. (More) People watch the broadcast
4. Retract those terms right after the broadcast
4. ????
5. PROFIT!
>>Second, how is this different from TV?
Well, Television as a medium for communication and entertainment,
had commercials RIGHT from the VERY
BEGINNING.
From Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Television_commercia l)
"The first television advertisement was broadcast in the United States at 14:29 on July 1, 1941, when the Bulova Watch Company paid $9 to New York City NBC affiliate WNBT (now WNBC) for a 20-second spot aired before a baseball game between the Brooklyn Dodgers and Philadelphia Phillies. It simply displayed a Bulova watch over a map of the U.S., with a voiceover of the company's slogan "America runs on Bulova time!" 1941... There were ads on Television even before World War II was done with. Considering that TV wasn't that popular until the mid-late 50s, its clear that Ads have been an integral part of television; if not for financial reasons, but also as a means for a company to quickly and WIDELY distribute information about a product they have developed or a service they are offering.
Internet Video on the other hand, is limited by bandwidth and so for a large part of its growth, video was seen more as just a 'gimmick'
by Big/Old Media, and their only concern is/was with stopping pirated content. However thanks (in both good and bad was) to sites like Youtube,
Metacafe, Google Video, etc., the Big Media companies are starting to realize that there is a new, UNTAPPED market for
distribution of their ads/making money off the pirated content, and so they move to distribute that content, but on THIER terms.
So, I WAS upset, but NOT surprised to hear about this movie from Adobe. It was only a matter of time before
some sort of forced or required viewing of Ads, that sort of idea, would come from mainstream entertainment content providers.
Now its time to see how things will turn out.
Personally, I've gone to some video sites where they have 30 second ads, and what I ALWAYS do is mute the volume and do some other task
for that time, and then switch back to the video. Sure it requires the TINIEST bit of effort, but I'd rather do that then be forced to
watch about how liquid cartoon soap bubbles can clean your bathroom sparkly clean.
I know there's a joke about the three blind mice in
all of this but I just can't find it.
But irregardless, I can't wait until they get to 16-bit color
with those genes!
Watch out, Record Execs, I'm an Independent Musician and I'm
distributing my self-made music (Meaning I am the sole copyright holder)
with a Creative Commons License and NO DRM attached!
Whachoo going to do about that? HUH? HUH?
I'm currently attending Collins College, based in Tempe, AZ.
For our email system, the college opted to go with a web-based outlook, which in my opinion is fine because it doesn't require having a certain kind of computer or operating system, and it works in all major browsers (To my knowelege).
See since its about a rouble 50/50 (Could be 60/40 or 40/60, but all around fairly evenly divided) ratio between students on Powerbooks and students on Laptops, the college has to allow all of the students equal access to the email system. While its certainly not my only email address, its useful for getting updates on assignments from teachers as well as sending in assignments (Although the teacher usually just passes around a USB stick).
My recommendation is to drop the whole Live-thing. I'm fairly non-platform when it comes to Mac or PC (Both have their places), but requiring that students adhere to a certain platform because the corporation is being paid extra 'donations' by Microsoft is not the proper way to go. This would be the same if the school had switched over to Apple. Now the big question is: Does this place have an active placement of Macs or PCs, because if it were INTENTIONALLY directed towards PCs/Laptops, then the Live Hotmail thing might be more understandable.
As for a replacement? I'd say either a centralized Linux-Server dedicated towards the email system (Separate from the servers for http/ftp usage), or as my college did, have the email system online, with a client-server setup.
The biggest problem with their setup is of course no support for regular standards of email (POP3, etc.,), which is surprising for an educational institution. That is why I suggested that maybe Microsoft is paying extra 'donations' so that their new Live thing gets more users, and by extension, more market share.
I totally agree, CounterStrike should be an essential skill to learn at an early age. It will teach teamwork, anger management, and social skills. Plus all the kids can be reward for the number of kills per month, and the student who scores the highest can be known as the "Fragger of the Month".
"And I'm sure pupils would love the idea to do a walk to a different classrom."
Better yet, have each classroom be a different server/level, make 3-B "Dusk", and 4-A "Office".
For a second there I thought it said "Destruction", and I thought of Waterworld.
Actually though, the prospect of an ocean planet doesn't seem as far fetched as
you might think. Take Star Wars or Star Trek, who both feature worlds that
are either entirely or a +90% covered by water, like Mon Calimari or Kamino.
That's why I usually tell my torrent client to only go at a certain speed, like 100 or 150kbps. Sure its not as fast as it could go, but then, say when I'm showing my friends youtube videos, there won't be as long of a loading time either.
Slashdot Mirror
Just wait until Nintendo sues for Copyright Infringement on their own efforts in
An Encyclopedia, cataloging all known species of life - The PokéDex.
Yes, I went there.
>>"The way cable companies make money is by getting you to watch as many commercials as possible."
That's funny, I thought they made money through my Cable Bill!
If I'm watching TV and there's a commercial, I (90% of the time) Mute the button and switch to my laptop while
I wait for the commercial break. In an odd sort of way, I get more done because my time between doing different tasks
is indirectly managed by the commercial breaks, lol. There is also of course, change to a different channel, or turn
off the TV completely. If the commercials really get to me, I just aquire the episode later on through means already
mentioned elsewhere in this thread.
I agree in most part with what you and the post you quoted have said.
I've found within people my own age and even with the white collar class that
there is a deep and resounding feeling of "Why Bother?" and this is a very telling
tale of what is wrong with this country.
(Please do not take what I am about to say next out of context)
However, the Iraq War, for all of its atrocities and entirely corrosive effect on the
truth in the President and his cabinet, it did provide as a crucial point of discussion for
these same peers. Why? Because it affects a lot of people, including myself. My best friend
shipped off to the Marines last year and knowing that Iraq duty is largely mandatory, I know
I will be worrying a lot more about the positions that the candiates take on Iraq. In effect,
the war brought about a higher percentage of voters, ALMOST enough to slice through the pig fag
and corruption in Washington.
Now regarding my friend: Since he only joined last year, I didn't have quite as much of a real stance on the issue of the War.
Sure, I heard the various viewpoints, but it didn't really strike me at home.
(Disclaimer: I am an Independent, both in spirit and in registration).
Looking back on the 2004 Elections, I can actually see why a lot of people voted for Bush.
The war started in 2003, the Elections were at the end of 2004. I bet a lot of people had convictions in that
Bush would continue his work and end the war in another year or so and we could all go
home and have a drink. If people had an inclination of what Bush would do in the 3 years following,
I would bet that Kerry would have won.
Continuing on, Now that I know someone personally who will be sent to Iraq, I'm naturally going to pay more attention to what
these candidate's stances are, and will be more vocal in my support or opposition of a certain
candidate BECAUSE of their stance on the War. I was watching the Democrat Debate on youtube and
aside from spotting the weasel words, evading the questions (and all the other tricks used in these debates) etc.,
I also noted exactly what were the contingency plans & solutions for the Iraq Catastrophe.
This is part of the reason why the people (The mainstream) don't pay attention to the debates: Because they will
still be able to hear the platforms of the candidates in the primaries for both parties, "so why bother now?".
Final thought: If they gave the same sort of media attention to the president votes that they did for 'American Idol',
I bet we'd see a much more interesting election. If anything it would force those running to actually back their promises up.
The problem with that is: How do we get the majority of American People involved with Politics in the same fervor, excitement
and sheer number size as 'Idol'? Ok, perhaps excitement is the wrong word to use, but... the same level of "Awareness" that
Idol has. I can walk down the street and ask Joe Somebody what they think of Idol, and they will right off the bat let
me know what they think, but if I ask them what they think of Ron Paul or Barack Obama, I MIGHT get a reply of
"Who? Oh the Republican and the Black Guy"... and that's terrible.
I make my own music occasionally and have even gave out an album to friends and I was
even asked if I could have my music broadcast on one of their radio shows. Fine by me,
more exposure can only do good. I am NOT signed with any sort of record label and I plan
to keep it that way forEVER.
The RIAA has ABSOLUTELY NO authority to tell ME what I can do with MY music.
I want to see this little deceleration by them struck down, as soon as possible.
I think this is just a brilliant marketing strategy: NBC claims "lol u cant broadcast unless under these terms" people cry foul, rip on NBC for its idiocy, and as a result more people watch the NBC broadcast of the debates and NBC, at the last minute, retracts its draconian fair use terms, and gains a large extra viewership. In Summary: 1. Set draconian re-broadcast terms 2. People get upset & complain 3. (More) People watch the broadcast 4. Retract those terms right after the broadcast 4. ???? 5. PROFIT!
It's not like I'm in a hurry to go out and get Blu-Ray/HD-DVDs when I have my perfectly fine non-DRM'd DVD players & DVDs to entertain me.
I know there's a joke about the three blind mice in all of this but I just can't find it. But irregardless, I can't wait until they get to 16-bit color with those genes!
Watch out, Record Execs, I'm an Independent Musician and I'm distributing my self-made music (Meaning I am the sole copyright holder) with a Creative Commons License and NO DRM attached! Whachoo going to do about that? HUH? HUH?
I'm currently attending Collins College, based in Tempe, AZ.
For our email system, the college opted to go with a web-based outlook,
which in my opinion is fine because it doesn't require having a certain
kind of computer or operating system, and it works in all major browsers (To my knowelege).
See since its about a rouble 50/50 (Could be 60/40 or 40/60, but all around fairly evenly divided)
ratio between students on Powerbooks and students on Laptops, the college has to allow all of the
students equal access to the email system. While its certainly not
my only email address, its useful for getting updates on assignments from teachers as well
as sending in assignments (Although the teacher usually just passes around a USB stick).
My recommendation is to drop the whole Live-thing. I'm fairly non-platform when it comes to
Mac or PC (Both have their places), but requiring that students adhere to a certain platform because
the corporation is being paid extra 'donations' by Microsoft is not the proper way to go. This
would be the same if the school had switched over to Apple. Now the big question is: Does this
place have an active placement of Macs or PCs, because if it were INTENTIONALLY directed towards
PCs/Laptops, then the Live Hotmail thing might be more understandable.
As for a replacement? I'd say either a centralized Linux-Server dedicated towards the email system
(Separate from the servers for http/ftp usage), or as my college did, have the email system online,
with a client-server setup.
The biggest problem with their setup is of course no support for regular standards of email (POP3, etc.,),
which is surprising for an educational institution. That is why I suggested that maybe Microsoft is paying
extra 'donations' so that their new Live thing gets more users, and by extension, more market share.
I totally agree, CounterStrike should be an essential skill
to learn at an early age. It will teach teamwork, anger management,
and social skills. Plus all the kids can be reward for the number of kills
per month, and the student who scores the highest can be known as the
"Fragger of the Month".
"And I'm sure pupils would love the idea to do a walk to a different classrom."
Better yet, have each classroom be a different server/level, make
3-B "Dusk", and 4-A "Office".
For a second there I thought it said "Destruction", and I thought of Waterworld. Actually though, the prospect of an ocean planet doesn't seem as far fetched as you might think. Take Star Wars or Star Trek, who both feature worlds that are either entirely or a +90% covered by water, like Mon Calimari or Kamino.
That's why I usually tell my torrent client to only go at a certain speed, like 100 or 150kbps.
Sure its not as fast as it could go, but then, say when I'm showing my friends youtube videos,
there won't be as long of a loading time either.