I can speak to one commercial use of DAT... Before moving to a randomized playlist controlled by computer, a radio station where I grew up prerecorded shows for their late night hours on DAT and had 2 decks they swapped between. They recorded new tapes about once a month to keep up with what was popular, randomized the order they played the tapes in every night, and just had some poor bastard sit in the studio and transfer between the two for the graveyard shift.
Actually, I'd say that would be a great job - just having to push a button or two and change a tape every hour or so - but because of FCC regulations against broadcasting dead air, they actually had to listen to the crap that was being broadcast to make sure everything was working as it should. Poor sap.
Well, that, and I had actually had a job where I was paid to sleep 7 out of 8 hours a day unless there was an emergency. Kind of hard to beat that, even if the pay was horrible.
Anyone remember DAT cassettes? The record industry legislated them out of existance with a special tax. Interesting... I picked up a DAT deck around the same time as a CD burner, and a few years later I got a used Alesis ADAT deck, but I don't remember the decks or the tapes costing a whole hell of a lot for either.
Not that I don't believe you, a quick look at the Wikipedia pages on DAT and SCMS (DRM used on DAT) mentions RIAA actions - but honestly, I never knew about it or noticed it at the time. Until you mentioned it and I looked it up, I actually had no clue that DAT even had a form of DRM - I used it solely for original recordings.
A quick explanation for those that don't know - DAT is a digital audio tape, using PCM and roughly the size of a regular audio cassette. ADAT is similar, but uses something the size of a VHS tape and is capable of recording/playing 8 channels - until digital audio workstations and interfaces were common ADAT was the de facto standard for use in multitrack recording.
Thanks for bringing that up, it brought me back to a time many years ago, and taught me a few things along the way:) I just wish one of the lessons learned wasn't "the more things change, the more they stay the same".
You know, I tried to work His Noodly Appendage into my comment somewhere, but I just couldn't find a way for it to come naturally... You have a good point though. Perhaps instead of a ninja army I need some pirates of my own...
How much is my vote worth? I can answer that pretty easily...
Give me enough cash to live on comfortably, buy an island of my own where I won't be bothered, enough to bring people I want to visit there, and of course protect against pirates. Anyone know how much an army of ninjas costs?
Time Warner doesn't have FOX in the Pullman, WA and Moscow, ID area... Pullman is home to Washington State University. Moscow is home to the University of Idaho.
I dealt with Comcast in Portland, OR for quite some time... As much as I hated them, they are 1,000,000% better than Time Warner.
As far as not getting FOX? Take a look at KAYU. If you're in the right place you can get it with an antenna or satellite, otherwise you don't get it at all in this area. The area I live in is basically a bunch of hills... I can't pick up a single HD channel on the antenna I picked up, I don't get more then local channels on the giant antenna that's in the attic here. It's basically cable, sat, or nothing.
I've long advocated that the US be split into several separate countries. I'm most interested in Cascadia, but I think there are several other divisions that could be made that would benefit everyone.
What I think might be interesting is to decouple the wire from the service provider. I could not agree more! Here, Time Warner is the only cable provider... If you choose to go with cable, you're basically screwed. In this area, Time Warner doesn't even carry FOX... I'm only missing out on The Simpson's - and it's not like FOX has much to offer, but that's a pretty major network to just say "nope, sorry, you don't get it no matter how much you pay!"
Open up the wires, and find a way to fairly charge those who use it for repairs... Tax consumers for the upkeep if need be, require the companies to pay a percentage of the upkeep cost based on how many subscribers they have, but please - can we break up the local monopolies? Sure, cable company X may only have Y% of the total national market, but if you can't get service from anyone else they're as good as a monopoly as far as you're concerned.
Sorry to double post, but there are a few things I thought about after writing this...
First off, I mentioned a borosilicate rod thrown against a brick wall. Just for the sake of completeness, this was a 3/8" rod about 3" in length, flame polished on both ends and annealed.
Secondly, I mentioned ruby glass... That could lead to a misunderstanding. "Ruby glass" generally refers to a method of coloring a softer glass to give it a ruby like color - that's not what I'm talking about. I mean fused ruby, which is extremely rare and incredibly expensive. I can't find any references to it now, but if I remember right it's basically ruby dust that is melted down (~2,200 degrees C) and formed into glass. High CoE, but over double the strength of fused quartz.
This is all coming from someone who's down some glassblowing as a hobby on and off over the years, and have talked with some people who are on the cutting edge of glassworking. That said, I don't have much practical experience myself.
You can fabricate some pretty sturdy pieces of glass that you could beat a person to death with, It's going to cost you a fortune but thats hasn't stopepd the military yet. If I remember correctly glass in theory is stronger then steel it's just that during the cooling process many micro fractures form in it. Strength and cost varies widely depending on the type of glass you use. Borosilicate is pretty cheap, and I've seen rods of that thrown against a brick wall without taking any visible damage (I didn't check it with a polariscope - a tool used to view internal stresses in glass). If you need something stronger you can use fused quartz, ruby, and I'm sure many more exotic forms.
As far as the micro fractures thing? That's not quite correct. What you get is a build up of internal stresses. This weakens the glass, and reduces it's ability to handle thermal and mechanical shocks. I may be mistaken, but I believe this is related to the coefficient of thermal expansion - basically as the outside of the glass cools it contracts. This leaves the cooled glass pushing against the pressure of the still molten glass, and once completely cooled, that stress remains.
That's all pretty much a non-issue though. Controlled cooling in an annealing oven takes care of it well enough.
I couldn't agree more... That said, at the extreme ends of both parties you'll find some interesting choices.
Whether it's Kuninich or Gravel on the left (both of whom are bat-shit insane if you believe the hype - and both of who are probably the best thing that could happen to America), or Ron Paul (the closest thing to a true Republican running, instead of the neo-con asshats that dominate the party).
I hate the two-party system we have, and would love to see proportional representation and a condorcet voting system put in place nation-wide... But really, I think even if we just went from a 2-party system to a 4-party sytem (Democrats and Republicans as they are generally accepted, plus "progressive democrats" like Kucinich and Gravel, as well as a more Libertarian party like what Paul represents), and if all parties were given the same attention my the main stream media and voters in general, a lot of people would be surprised at the results.
Voting in America is viewed by so many as choosing the lesser of two evils... And when the two evils have so much in common, well, it's not much of a choice unfortunately. A little diversity in the field would do wonders, and I have a feeling it would drastically change the political scene. Of course, that's exactly why those who are entrenched in the system as it stands will never allow a change in the status quo.
About time for a revolution if you ask me.
Now if you'll excuse me, I need to get back to my daydreams of a Kucinich vs. Paul election.
Hmmm, I don't know. I've seen some pretty crazy arguments about filesharing, but I don't know that I've ever seen a quote that quite rivals this one.
"With all the press present at this flamboyant murder trial in Newark New Jersey, in 1938, the pharmacologist said, and I quote, in response to the question "When you used the drug, what happened?", his exact response was: "After two puffs on a marijuana cigarette, I was turned into a bat."
He wasn't done yet. He testified that he flew around the room for fifteen minutes and then found himself at the bottom of a two-hundred-foot high ink well"
I was thinking about Dutch or Swedish actually. I have a few friends who are fluent in both, and having someone to converse with and get corrections from should make things much easier.
In addition to the little bit of Spanish that I learned, I also took a year and a half in Japanese in high school... Along with that, I did learn a bit of Mandarin from an old friend of mine. Most of the Chinese is lost for me now - the only phrase that comes to mind has to do with asking Asian girls for a BJ;)
I may not have learned much Mandarin, but at least the parts I remember are useful.
This is so blatantly cynical it is sickening, and it rings vaguely of 1984 newspeak. Recdep views this as malreported. Please proceed to the nearest joycamp.
For those keeping track, the PATRIOT Act was only 342 pages (PDF warning) - and wasn't really read by anyone who signed off on it because it was long, had a nice name, and there was a sense of urgency to pass it.
I get the feeling that with more than twice the pages and a nice name attatched to it (College Opportunity and Affordability Act), this will get a similar reception. "Oh, well, it has a nice name - and it's far too long to bother reading and understanding... Plus, if I vote against it I'll be mentioned as voting against opportunity and affordability for students!"
From the office of naming-things-for-exactly-the-opposite-of-what-they-do:
This is part of the "College Opportunity and Affordability Act". Mmhmmm. Because the rising cost of higher education, coupled with a failing economy, additional costs for universities, and a chance to deny students financial aid really gives more people opportunities and certainly makes it more affordable.
The United States is in a race to the bottom. Every great empire falls - I just wish I wasn't stuck in the middle of this one. I'm just glad I'm about to start learning a second language (I know a bit of Spanish, but not enough to call it my second language). Hopefully I'll be able to jump ship before it goes under.
For many years, I've heard the chants of the "if you don't like it, leave!" crowd. For a long time, I fought back. I believed that the right thing to do if you loved America was to not leave, but to fight for a better nation. I'm afraid I've lost that faith. Unless things drastically change over the next few years, as a freedom loving individual, I'm sad to say I'll have no choice but to leave and watch the country implode from the sidelines.
Since I posted this on the original story, and it seems fitting to repost here, I'm going to. If the editors can dupe stories, I might as well dupe comments (oh, I can feel my karma going up in flames for this already).
I lived in Portland for quite a few years, and saw the benefits of Flexcar. It's such a pedestrian/mass transit friendly city (as long as you're in Portland proper, and not out in Tigard or Lake NoNegro or any of the other wretched suburbs), and at least in the areas I lived in many people chose not to own a car because they simply didn't need one. That, or they prefered to walk, bike, or take the bus/light rail. Flexcar gave a few people I knew the option to pick up a car and use it on the rare occassion they needed one.
I never made use of one - I had a car of my own there for quite some time, and after I got rid of it I had my girlfriend's car to drive around on the rare occassion I needed to. That said, for quite some time I lived near one of the designated parking areas for them (in front of the substation on Belmont around 30th for anyone who knows the area). I walked past one at least once or twice a week on the way to the store, rode with someone in one, and from what I saw they always seemed to be in very nice condition. No graffiti, no damage at all to speak of.
Lots of people may be worthless douchebags who ruin good things for everyone else - but usually those people aren't the ones who are willing to put down a credit card to be able to do it.
BOINC was a huge step forward for distributed computing, and yes, it was originally designed for use with SETI@Home.
However, in all fairness, distributed.net was really one of the first to successfully pull off the model of using volunteer's spare CPU cycles. I was using DNETC back in 1997, SETI@Home was released in 1999, and BOINC didn't show up until (I believe) 2003.
BOINC was a significant incremental improvement over the widely used clients that came before it (in that it could readily support third-party projects), but it was far from the first successful example of distributed-computing for the masses.
I have to say, I'm really disappointed in MIT for even considering hiring Gehry... He's designed some absolutely stunning, beautiful buildings - I'm not about to argue that. But come on now. MIT? Really? I would expect them to choose function over form 110% of the time.
Who knows what sorts of scientific advances we could have had if those $300,000,000 were spent on research instead?
In response to this, I used one of the domain names I've had for a while and not used to inform my friends about what is going on. I link to information regarding personal security, advise my friends to switch to Linux + TrueCrypt, give links to GnuPG, and reference this article (as well as the standard "use Firefox/Adblock+/NoScript/FilterSet.G" advice) as my email sig...
I'm not a conspiracy nut... When I was born I was very thankful to be born in America. I remember, as a child, hearing "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!" - and even at 5 years old I knew it was an event that shook the foundations of the world. I can remember where I was when the Bush 41 election results were being reported - seeing state after state light up red on the TV. Not bad for someone who is just 25 years old.
I have had my eye on politics since I was very young... And in my lifetime, I have never been more scared for my country, and for the world, than I am now. We have people in the administration who are guilty of treason on multiple counts - and very few people are willing to call them out.
Before I ramble too much, let me just say that everyone is guilty of something. The poor get punished severely for the smallest of crimes, the rich get, at most, a few months in what is essentially a luxury resort. It's time for everyone to hide every activity they have - from the most benign to the questionable. And it's time we rise up and reject the system as it stands.
I lived in Portland for quite a few years, and saw the benefits of Flexcar. It's such a pedestrian/mass transit friendly city (as long as you're in Portland proper, and not out in Tigard or Lake NoNegro or any of the other wretched suburbs), and at least in the areas I lived in many people chose not to own a car because they simply didn't need one. That, or they prefered to walk, bike, or take the bus/light rail. Flexcar gave a few people I knew the option to pick up a car and use it on the rare occassion they needed one.
I never made use of one - I had a car of my own there for quite some time, and after I got rid of it I had my girlfriend's car to drive around on the rare occassion I needed to. That said, for quite some time I lived near one of the designated parking areas for them (in front of the substation on Belmont around 30th for anyone who knows the area). I walked past one at least once or twice a week on the way to the store, rode with someone in one, and from what I saw they always seemed to be in very nice condition. No graffiti, no damage at all to speak of.
Lots of people may be worthless douchebags who ruin good things for everyone else - but usually those people aren't the ones who are willing to put down a credit card to be able to do it.
I don't purchase music that falls under the RIAA in general. I don't download it either.
The music I listen to is either made by people I know and who give it to me for free - or it's from small studios (for the most part). What I don't get copies of for free, I'll check out on Soulseek or BitTorrent. I'll put it in my playlist for a week or two. If I don't like it, I delete it. If I enjoy it, I seek out a way to purchase it from a source that's as close to the artists as possible so that they get the largest cut of profits possible.
I don't see that as any different than going to a music store that lets you put on some headphones and sample the CD before you buy it. Or, for that matter, record stores that have turntables set up letting you listen to any vinyl they sell before you decide to buy (which any decent record shop does).
The only exception would be white labels that are produced in extremely limited runs... And I don't think any of the musicians putting those out would complain.
Really, it seems to me that the whole anti-piracy MAFIAA tactics focus on people who have no taste. Not that it makes what they're doing right by any means, but at least by not caring about the latest shitty pop-music, I insulate myself from their tactics a bit;)
I remember reading about a few of these when they happened... This is the first I've heard of Kapton tape, ("The tape is like duct tape but slippery and able to withstand both frigid cold and fiery hot temperatures."), but it looks like duct tape has played it's role in a number of ways for NASA.
Slashdot Mirror
I can speak to one commercial use of DAT... Before moving to a randomized playlist controlled by computer, a radio station where I grew up prerecorded shows for their late night hours on DAT and had 2 decks they swapped between. They recorded new tapes about once a month to keep up with what was popular, randomized the order they played the tapes in every night, and just had some poor bastard sit in the studio and transfer between the two for the graveyard shift.
Actually, I'd say that would be a great job - just having to push a button or two and change a tape every hour or so - but because of FCC regulations against broadcasting dead air, they actually had to listen to the crap that was being broadcast to make sure everything was working as it should. Poor sap.
Well, that, and I had actually had a job where I was paid to sleep 7 out of 8 hours a day unless there was an emergency. Kind of hard to beat that, even if the pay was horrible.
Not that I don't believe you, a quick look at the Wikipedia pages on DAT and SCMS (DRM used on DAT) mentions RIAA actions - but honestly, I never knew about it or noticed it at the time. Until you mentioned it and I looked it up, I actually had no clue that DAT even had a form of DRM - I used it solely for original recordings.
A quick explanation for those that don't know - DAT is a digital audio tape, using PCM and roughly the size of a regular audio cassette. ADAT is similar, but uses something the size of a VHS tape and is capable of recording/playing 8 channels - until digital audio workstations and interfaces were common ADAT was the de facto standard for use in multitrack recording.
Thanks for bringing that up, it brought me back to a time many years ago, and taught me a few things along the way
You know, I tried to work His Noodly Appendage into my comment somewhere, but I just couldn't find a way for it to come naturally... You have a good point though. Perhaps instead of a ninja army I need some pirates of my own...
How much is my vote worth? I can answer that pretty easily...
Give me enough cash to live on comfortably, buy an island of my own where I won't be bothered, enough to bring people I want to visit there, and of course protect against pirates. Anyone know how much an army of ninjas costs?
Everyone has their price - that's mine.
Time Warner doesn't have FOX in the Pullman, WA and Moscow, ID area... Pullman is home to Washington State University. Moscow is home to the University of Idaho.
I dealt with Comcast in Portland, OR for quite some time... As much as I hated them, they are 1,000,000% better than Time Warner.
As far as not getting FOX? Take a look at KAYU. If you're in the right place you can get it with an antenna or satellite, otherwise you don't get it at all in this area. The area I live in is basically a bunch of hills... I can't pick up a single HD channel on the antenna I picked up, I don't get more then local channels on the giant antenna that's in the attic here. It's basically cable, sat, or nothing.
I've long advocated that the US be split into several separate countries. I'm most interested in Cascadia, but I think there are several other divisions that could be made that would benefit everyone.
Open up the wires, and find a way to fairly charge those who use it for repairs... Tax consumers for the upkeep if need be, require the companies to pay a percentage of the upkeep cost based on how many subscribers they have, but please - can we break up the local monopolies? Sure, cable company X may only have Y% of the total national market, but if you can't get service from anyone else they're as good as a monopoly as far as you're concerned.
Sorry to double post, but there are a few things I thought about after writing this...
First off, I mentioned a borosilicate rod thrown against a brick wall. Just for the sake of completeness, this was a 3/8" rod about 3" in length, flame polished on both ends and annealed.
Secondly, I mentioned ruby glass... That could lead to a misunderstanding. "Ruby glass" generally refers to a method of coloring a softer glass to give it a ruby like color - that's not what I'm talking about. I mean fused ruby, which is extremely rare and incredibly expensive. I can't find any references to it now, but if I remember right it's basically ruby dust that is melted down (~2,200 degrees C) and formed into glass. High CoE, but over double the strength of fused quartz.
This is all coming from someone who's down some glassblowing as a hobby on and off over the years, and have talked with some people who are on the cutting edge of glassworking. That said, I don't have much practical experience myself.
As far as the micro fractures thing? That's not quite correct. What you get is a build up of internal stresses. This weakens the glass, and reduces it's ability to handle thermal and mechanical shocks. I may be mistaken, but I believe this is related to the coefficient of thermal expansion - basically as the outside of the glass cools it contracts. This leaves the cooled glass pushing against the pressure of the still molten glass, and once completely cooled, that stress remains.
That's all pretty much a non-issue though. Controlled cooling in an annealing oven takes care of it well enough.
I couldn't agree more... That said, at the extreme ends of both parties you'll find some interesting choices.
Whether it's Kuninich or Gravel on the left (both of whom are bat-shit insane if you believe the hype - and both of who are probably the best thing that could happen to America), or Ron Paul (the closest thing to a true Republican running, instead of the neo-con asshats that dominate the party).
I hate the two-party system we have, and would love to see proportional representation and a condorcet voting system put in place nation-wide... But really, I think even if we just went from a 2-party system to a 4-party sytem (Democrats and Republicans as they are generally accepted, plus "progressive democrats" like Kucinich and Gravel, as well as a more Libertarian party like what Paul represents), and if all parties were given the same attention my the main stream media and voters in general, a lot of people would be surprised at the results.
Voting in America is viewed by so many as choosing the lesser of two evils... And when the two evils have so much in common, well, it's not much of a choice unfortunately. A little diversity in the field would do wonders, and I have a feeling it would drastically change the political scene. Of course, that's exactly why those who are entrenched in the system as it stands will never allow a change in the status quo.
About time for a revolution if you ask me.
Now if you'll excuse me, I need to get back to my daydreams of a Kucinich vs. Paul election.
The modern US political system as an easily digested scoresheet:
Democracy - 1
Republic - 5
Xenophobic - 50
Oligarchy - 75
Plutocracy - 100
Hmmm, I don't know. I've seen some pretty crazy arguments about filesharing, but I don't know that I've ever seen a quote that quite rivals this one.
"With all the press present at this flamboyant murder trial in Newark New Jersey, in 1938, the pharmacologist said, and I quote, in response to the question "When you used the drug, what happened?", his exact response was: "After two puffs on a marijuana cigarette, I was turned into a bat."
He wasn't done yet. He testified that he flew around the room for fifteen minutes and then found himself at the bottom of a two-hundred-foot high ink well"
I was thinking about Dutch or Swedish actually. I have a few friends who are fluent in both, and having someone to converse with and get corrections from should make things much easier.
;)
In addition to the little bit of Spanish that I learned, I also took a year and a half in Japanese in high school... Along with that, I did learn a bit of Mandarin from an old friend of mine. Most of the Chinese is lost for me now - the only phrase that comes to mind has to do with asking Asian girls for a BJ
I may not have learned much Mandarin, but at least the parts I remember are useful.
For those keeping track, the PATRIOT Act was only 342 pages (PDF warning) - and wasn't really read by anyone who signed off on it because it was long, had a nice name, and there was a sense of urgency to pass it.
I get the feeling that with more than twice the pages and a nice name attatched to it (College Opportunity and Affordability Act), this will get a similar reception. "Oh, well, it has a nice name - and it's far too long to bother reading and understanding... Plus, if I vote against it I'll be mentioned as voting against opportunity and affordability for students!"
Sad, but true.
From the office of naming-things-for-exactly-the-opposite-of-what-they-do:
This is part of the "College Opportunity and Affordability Act". Mmhmmm. Because the rising cost of higher education, coupled with a failing economy, additional costs for universities, and a chance to deny students financial aid really gives more people opportunities and certainly makes it more affordable.
The United States is in a race to the bottom. Every great empire falls - I just wish I wasn't stuck in the middle of this one. I'm just glad I'm about to start learning a second language (I know a bit of Spanish, but not enough to call it my second language). Hopefully I'll be able to jump ship before it goes under.
For many years, I've heard the chants of the "if you don't like it, leave!" crowd. For a long time, I fought back. I believed that the right thing to do if you loved America was to not leave, but to fight for a better nation. I'm afraid I've lost that faith. Unless things drastically change over the next few years, as a freedom loving individual, I'm sad to say I'll have no choice but to leave and watch the country implode from the sidelines.
Since I posted this on the original story, and it seems fitting to repost here, I'm going to. If the editors can dupe stories, I might as well dupe comments (oh, I can feel my karma going up in flames for this already).
I lived in Portland for quite a few years, and saw the benefits of Flexcar. It's such a pedestrian/mass transit friendly city (as long as you're in Portland proper, and not out in Tigard or Lake NoNegro or any of the other wretched suburbs), and at least in the areas I lived in many people chose not to own a car because they simply didn't need one. That, or they prefered to walk, bike, or take the bus/light rail. Flexcar gave a few people I knew the option to pick up a car and use it on the rare occassion they needed one.
I never made use of one - I had a car of my own there for quite some time, and after I got rid of it I had my girlfriend's car to drive around on the rare occassion I needed to. That said, for quite some time I lived near one of the designated parking areas for them (in front of the substation on Belmont around 30th for anyone who knows the area). I walked past one at least once or twice a week on the way to the store, rode with someone in one, and from what I saw they always seemed to be in very nice condition. No graffiti, no damage at all to speak of.
Lots of people may be worthless douchebags who ruin good things for everyone else - but usually those people aren't the ones who are willing to put down a credit card to be able to do it.
BOINC was a huge step forward for distributed computing, and yes, it was originally designed for use with SETI@Home.
However, in all fairness, distributed.net was really one of the first to successfully pull off the model of using volunteer's spare CPU cycles. I was using DNETC back in 1997, SETI@Home was released in 1999, and BOINC didn't show up until (I believe) 2003.
BOINC was a significant incremental improvement over the widely used clients that came before it (in that it could readily support third-party projects), but it was far from the first successful example of distributed-computing for the masses.
I have to say, I'm really disappointed in MIT for even considering hiring Gehry... He's designed some absolutely stunning, beautiful buildings - I'm not about to argue that. But come on now. MIT? Really? I would expect them to choose function over form 110% of the time.
Who knows what sorts of scientific advances we could have had if those $300,000,000 were spent on research instead?
*sigh*
Assume I'm being tortured overseas.
In response to this, I used one of the domain names I've had for a while and not used to inform my friends about what is going on. I link to information regarding personal security, advise my friends to switch to Linux + TrueCrypt, give links to GnuPG, and reference this article (as well as the standard "use Firefox/Adblock+/NoScript/FilterSet.G" advice) as my email sig...
I'm not a conspiracy nut... When I was born I was very thankful to be born in America. I remember, as a child, hearing "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!" - and even at 5 years old I knew it was an event that shook the foundations of the world. I can remember where I was when the Bush 41 election results were being reported - seeing state after state light up red on the TV. Not bad for someone who is just 25 years old.
I have had my eye on politics since I was very young... And in my lifetime, I have never been more scared for my country, and for the world, than I am now. We have people in the administration who are guilty of treason on multiple counts - and very few people are willing to call them out.
Before I ramble too much, let me just say that everyone is guilty of something. The poor get punished severely for the smallest of crimes, the rich get, at most, a few months in what is essentially a luxury resort. It's time for everyone to hide every activity they have - from the most benign to the questionable. And it's time we rise up and reject the system as it stands.
I lived in Portland for quite a few years, and saw the benefits of Flexcar. It's such a pedestrian/mass transit friendly city (as long as you're in Portland proper, and not out in Tigard or Lake NoNegro or any of the other wretched suburbs), and at least in the areas I lived in many people chose not to own a car because they simply didn't need one. That, or they prefered to walk, bike, or take the bus/light rail. Flexcar gave a few people I knew the option to pick up a car and use it on the rare occassion they needed one.
I never made use of one - I had a car of my own there for quite some time, and after I got rid of it I had my girlfriend's car to drive around on the rare occassion I needed to. That said, for quite some time I lived near one of the designated parking areas for them (in front of the substation on Belmont around 30th for anyone who knows the area). I walked past one at least once or twice a week on the way to the store, rode with someone in one, and from what I saw they always seemed to be in very nice condition. No graffiti, no damage at all to speak of.
Lots of people may be worthless douchebags who ruin good things for everyone else - but usually those people aren't the ones who are willing to put down a credit card to be able to do it.
I don't purchase music that falls under the RIAA in general. I don't download it either.
;)
The music I listen to is either made by people I know and who give it to me for free - or it's from small studios (for the most part). What I don't get copies of for free, I'll check out on Soulseek or BitTorrent. I'll put it in my playlist for a week or two. If I don't like it, I delete it. If I enjoy it, I seek out a way to purchase it from a source that's as close to the artists as possible so that they get the largest cut of profits possible.
I don't see that as any different than going to a music store that lets you put on some headphones and sample the CD before you buy it. Or, for that matter, record stores that have turntables set up letting you listen to any vinyl they sell before you decide to buy (which any decent record shop does).
The only exception would be white labels that are produced in extremely limited runs... And I don't think any of the musicians putting those out would complain.
Really, it seems to me that the whole anti-piracy MAFIAA tactics focus on people who have no taste. Not that it makes what they're doing right by any means, but at least by not caring about the latest shitty pop-music, I insulate myself from their tactics a bit
Oh?
I remember reading about a few of these when they happened... This is the first I've heard of Kapton tape, ("The tape is like duct tape but slippery and able to withstand both frigid cold and fiery hot temperatures."), but it looks like duct tape has played it's role in a number of ways for NASA.