Everyone else is getting contracts which require them to sign away their works forever, sign away any future works in the same genre, sign away all electronic rights, etc... for a $5K advance on a one or two book contract.
Exactly. Somehow, those predatory publisher contracts never come up in these threads about how evil Amazon is.
And the barrel riding was supposed to be a leisurely ride down the river
Yeeeeah, we'll get right on that. Everyone from the studio execs to the Oscar committee will positively leap with glee when we release our new $200,000,000 holiday-season spectacular, THE HOBBIT, PART II: A LEISURELY RIDE DOWN THE RIVER.
Pro tip: Don't quit your day job to move to Hollywood.
"Why are scientists continuing to take chances with uranium?" "Why are scientists continuing to take chances with high voltage?" "Why are scientists continuing to take chances with dimethyl mercury?"
Because science.
Also, there's no reason to obsess over the presence of a few virus particles in a jar on a shelf somewhere, if we have the source code in the form of its gene sequence. In that case we'll be able to resynthesize the virus at our leisure, at some point in the not-too-distant future.
And if we don't already have the gene sequence in hand, well, that's a problem in itself.
When you own the CIA, you're a little bit more responsible than the people in Congress who don't know anything about the supposed "threat" but what they're told.
Probably so. Mahatma Gandhi advocated fighting the Nazis with a one-two knockout punch of surrender and mass suicide. Mother Theresa was a galactic douche with PR talents that you might expect from the love child of Oprah Winfrey and Gandalf. And FDR, well, about the best you can say about FDR is that he made World War II look like a lucky break for the US economy.
Woz? Um, well, I heard he was caught doing 115 MPH in a Prius. That's about the only bad thing anyone has ever said about him. Personally, I would have given him a trophy rather than a ticket, but that's probably why I'm not a cop.
It is always a temptation to an armed and agile nation
To call upon a neighbour and to say: -- "We invaded you last night--we are quite prepared to fight,
Unless you pay us cash to go away."
And that is called asking for Dane-geld,
And the people who ask it explain That you've only to pay 'em the Dane-geld
And then you'll get rid of the Dane!
It is always a temptation for a rich and lazy nation,
To puff and look important and to say: -- "Though we know we should defeat you, we have not the time to meet you.
We will therefore pay you cash to go away."
And that is called paying the Dane-geld;
But we've proved it again and again, That if once you have paid him the Dane-geld
You never get rid of the Dane.
It is wrong to put temptation in the path of any nation,
For fear they should succumb and go astray; So when you are requested to pay up or be molested,
You will find it better policy to say: --
"We never pay any-one Dane-geld,
No matter how trifling the cost; For the end of that game is oppression and shame,
And the nation that pays it is lost!"
If it's not obvious to you that you can (and should) respond to unintentional acceleration by shoving the gearshift into neutral, you shouldn't be driving.
I think Snowden's 'crime' was unfortunately necessary because there was no other way to call attention to the government's Constitutional abuses, past, present and future. But here's the problem with civil-rights era analogies: Rosa Parks, MLK Jr., and other prominent dissidents stuck around and took the heat. They spent time in jails that probably made Guantanamo look like Club Med by comparison. They were attacked by police dogs, sprayed with fire hoses, and were generally treated like shit. In many cases they watched their friends and compatriots die violently.
What they did not do was haul ass to Hong Kong.
Now, I can see why Snowden did that, and I certainly would have done it, myself. Why stick around for the disproportionate punishment that would follow an Espionage Act indictment? Snowden has no reason to believe he would even be given a trial, much less a fair one. He is no different from Anwar Al-Awlaki in this administration's eyes, being a US citizen who (we're told) stepped a little too far out of line for the judicial system to handle. Snowden just has a whiter sounding name, that's all. I don't expect him to martyr himself.
Nevertheless, the fact remains that he did flee to the far ends of the Earth, which isn't a valid act of civil disobedience as we know it from earlier eras. Right or wrong, he can never get that lost moral authority back. So it's best not to defend him by comparing him to Civil Rights figures who faced the consequences of their illegal acts.
I happen to believe in trials. So did the founding fathers.
Great, that makes three of us. We can start with Clapper and Alexander, since they're easy to apprehend and Snowden isn't. We don't even have to extradite them from Russia or Hong Kong. We can send some Federal marshals to pick them up after breakfast tomorrow. Sound good to you?
We really need a revolution soon, or I think we're going to find that we don't like where we end up. I know it sounds trivial because these are all free services, and most of what's communicated on them is trivial anyway. Still, it's transforming the Internet into a less free place, where we're all at the whim of a small handful of companies. I think it's a bigger problem than we've yet realized.
(Shrug) The next revolution will be co-opted to sell ads, just like the last one was. I don't know what we need, but it's not another "revolution."
Slashdot Mirror
That's pre-9/11 talk, citizen. Now pick up that can!
Everyone else is getting contracts which require them to sign away their works forever, sign away any future works in the same genre, sign away all electronic rights, etc... for a $5K advance on a one or two book contract.
Exactly. Somehow, those predatory publisher contracts never come up in these threads about how evil Amazon is.
And the barrel riding was supposed to be a leisurely ride down the river
Yeeeeah, we'll get right on that. Everyone from the studio execs to the Oscar committee will positively leap with glee when we release our new $200,000,000 holiday-season spectacular, THE HOBBIT, PART II: A LEISURELY RIDE DOWN THE RIVER.
Pro tip: Don't quit your day job to move to Hollywood.
"Why are scientists continuing to take chances with uranium?"
"Why are scientists continuing to take chances with high voltage?"
"Why are scientists continuing to take chances with dimethyl mercury?"
Because science.
Also, there's no reason to obsess over the presence of a few virus particles in a jar on a shelf somewhere, if we have the source code in the form of its gene sequence. In that case we'll be able to resynthesize the virus at our leisure, at some point in the not-too-distant future.
And if we don't already have the gene sequence in hand, well, that's a problem in itself.
Not too familiar with Einstein's career and the massive amount of "consensus"-based opposition he had to deal with, I take it.
When you own the CIA, you're a little bit more responsible than the people in Congress who don't know anything about the supposed "threat" but what they're told.
Not everything has to be a Federal matter.
Probably so. Mahatma Gandhi advocated fighting the Nazis with a one-two knockout punch of surrender and mass suicide. Mother Theresa was a galactic douche with PR talents that you might expect from the love child of Oprah Winfrey and Gandalf. And FDR, well, about the best you can say about FDR is that he made World War II look like a lucky break for the US economy.
Woz? Um, well, I heard he was caught doing 115 MPH in a Prius. That's about the only bad thing anyone has ever said about him. Personally, I would have given him a trophy rather than a ticket, but that's probably why I'm not a cop.
Is that the sequel to "Stephen Wolfram Is a Big Fat Idiot"?
It will work by making the wearer look like a schizophrenic who's off his meds. Here's the patent drawing: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/47/Dt2wrr.jpg
"Murder."
So long as you set up an elaborate trap with the intention of killing, but don't pull the trigger yourself.
You're entitled to your own opinion, but not to your own dictionary.
It is always a temptation to an armed and agile nation
To call upon a neighbour and to say: --
"We invaded you last night--we are quite prepared to fight,
Unless you pay us cash to go away."
And that is called asking for Dane-geld,
And the people who ask it explain
That you've only to pay 'em the Dane-geld
And then you'll get rid of the Dane!
It is always a temptation for a rich and lazy nation,
To puff and look important and to say: --
"Though we know we should defeat you, we have not the time to meet you.
We will therefore pay you cash to go away."
And that is called paying the Dane-geld;
But we've proved it again and again,
That if once you have paid him the Dane-geld
You never get rid of the Dane.
It is wrong to put temptation in the path of any nation,
For fear they should succumb and go astray;
So when you are requested to pay up or be molested,
You will find it better policy to say: --
"We never pay any-one Dane-geld,
No matter how trifling the cost;
For the end of that game is oppression and shame,
And the nation that pays it is lost!"
...also sees cracks in accepted theory
And whose ability to spot those cracks mysteriously vanishes every Sunday morning for about two hours, along with any desire to do so.
Somebody should look into that. There might be a pill for it.
Yeah, it was a stupid idea to begin with, from an otherwise-brilliant man.
Geez, a guy can't come out in favor of fair trials without getting called an authoritarian. Who knew?
OK, how about "concern troll?" Does that fit any better than "authoritarian?"
As has been pointed out numerous times, the days when someone in Snowden's position could get any semblance of a fair trial are long gone.
In other news, 2007 Chevrolet Cobalts did not offer drive-by-wire transmissions.
Unless the victims were running PDK transmissions in their Cobalts, your insight is not applicable.
If it's not obvious to you that you can (and should) respond to unintentional acceleration by shoving the gearshift into neutral, you shouldn't be driving.
I think Snowden's 'crime' was unfortunately necessary because there was no other way to call attention to the government's Constitutional abuses, past, present and future. But here's the problem with civil-rights era analogies: Rosa Parks, MLK Jr., and other prominent dissidents stuck around and took the heat. They spent time in jails that probably made Guantanamo look like Club Med by comparison. They were attacked by police dogs, sprayed with fire hoses, and were generally treated like shit. In many cases they watched their friends and compatriots die violently.
What they did not do was haul ass to Hong Kong.
Now, I can see why Snowden did that, and I certainly would have done it, myself. Why stick around for the disproportionate punishment that would follow an Espionage Act indictment? Snowden has no reason to believe he would even be given a trial, much less a fair one. He is no different from Anwar Al-Awlaki in this administration's eyes, being a US citizen who (we're told) stepped a little too far out of line for the judicial system to handle. Snowden just has a whiter sounding name, that's all. I don't expect him to martyr himself.
Nevertheless, the fact remains that he did flee to the far ends of the Earth, which isn't a valid act of civil disobedience as we know it from earlier eras. Right or wrong, he can never get that lost moral authority back. So it's best not to defend him by comparing him to Civil Rights figures who faced the consequences of their illegal acts.
I happen to believe in trials. So did the founding fathers.
Great, that makes three of us. We can start with Clapper and Alexander, since they're easy to apprehend and Snowden isn't. We don't even have to extradite them from Russia or Hong Kong. We can send some Federal marshals to pick them up after breakfast tomorrow. Sound good to you?
Can't sleep nights.
We really need a revolution soon, or I think we're going to find that we don't like where we end up. I know it sounds trivial because these are all free services, and most of what's communicated on them is trivial anyway. Still, it's transforming the Internet into a less free place, where we're all at the whim of a small handful of companies. I think it's a bigger problem than we've yet realized.
(Shrug) The next revolution will be co-opted to sell ads, just like the last one was. I don't know what we need, but it's not another "revolution."
(Shrug) DRAM is a lot cheaper than my time.
In other news, U233 decays into Sn120 through antiproton emission. Hatmakers' stocks are up 140%.
Oh, wait, no, actually, further research reveals that the last part was caused by your post.