I hear ya. Personally I feel little obligation to our country anymore. Seems like its at the point now where elitist greed and corporatism have deemed that having an entire country of middle class "haves" isn't sustainable. The "have nots" now must reside inside US (vs just in undeveloped parts of the world) as the middle class drops away into oblivion. I propose saving your money somewhere safe, moving to the third world and doing your thing there. Sure its a little more dangerous, but the standard of living is at least comparable, the people are more friendly, and its not nearly as frustrating. The ex-pats I have met in Central America seem happier on average than people still in the USA. As satellite technology and high speed interconnects to poorer nations improves, its becoming easier every year to work remotely too. I don't know if you can tell, but I've been thinking pretty seriously about this for a while now...
That we need less punishment for publishing state secrets as the government become more and more overbearing with things like the Patriot Act, foreign wars, and free market manipulation. What are we supposed to do when the government runs afoul if that same government can throw us in prison for talking about it? Representative King is more interested in having his name in the papers than representing the people. Protecting intelligence assets is the responsibility of the intelligence community, not the publishers that it gets leaked too.
I RTFAs and still can't figure out why it has to be further out than the moon to get good pictures. Shouldn't it be able to take nice pics in LEO? Why so far away?
It seems like it'll be next to impossible to fix if anything goes wrong, like it did over and over again with Hubble.
"Screw paying for anything" doesn't mean stealing things that I would otherwise pay for. I have been a library patron my entire life. I've never bought books except as gifts, and I will continue to do that. Donating $10 to the Calibre developer is a good idea. Propping up a broken publishing model is not.
/. peeps can mod me flaimbate and call me names all they want, it doesn't change the fact that the system is broken as far as authors and readers are concerned. It has been for years. Now publishing companies are seeing red because the they have been exploiting the market for so long that they don't know of any other way. The future is hazy to them and they are scared. Amazon, Apple, and other content providers are throwing them a life preserver but it carries a heavy toll, perhaps a little retribution exploitation.
I don't know whats going to happen to the publishing companies, or the record companies, or the movie industry. Honestly I don't care. Writers will continue to write. Musicians will continue to play music. And movies will continue to be made. There might be a shitty period where things slump, but they will come back because people want to be entertained.
I figured I should answer bitz's questions. At first I was too pissed...
I wasn't trying to impress anyone. Was just pointing out that calibre is a useful tool, especially with torrents that come in various ebook formats, in case people hadn't heard of it. The only reason I knew about it was through a friend.
If my boss says "screw paying for my time" I will find another boss. I produce things that have value. Without my skill set, certain things don't happen. If things fell apart, computers became irrelevant, and I couldn't find work for my skill set anymore, i would have to learn a new skill set and start over making lower pay.
I think the French (various politicians) said it best:
"If a man is not a socialist in his youth, he has no heart. If he is not a conservative by the time he is 30 he has no head."
I'm 30, with a bachelors, and feel that my political perception of events has swayed to and fro but as I've gotten older its been leaning more right.
The only "truth" that I can see regarding politics, is that once politicians rise above the local level they are lost. They no longer have any sense of right or wrong regarding their policies and they cannot be trusted with anything. They are easily swayed by their advisers, who have their own agendas. Career politicians should be given as little power as possible by the people.
The Federal Government is arbitrary, expensive, and non-productive. I think it is difficult for young people (it was for me) to understand that just because bureaucrats work for a government agency it does not mean they have any interests in making sure the goal of their agency is achieved. To the contrary, their jobs are often at stake if they succeed, so it often does not make sense to them to do their jobs. Like the parent post said, "looking out for number one is the name of the game."
Scientology seems to be a weird combination of smart people like Haggis who want to better themselves, and "good old boys" that keep things running. In the end, its really just a group of people networking themselves into careers. It reminds me of the stories about the Masons but it is the entertainment industry rather than politics.
Anyway, I think that the church is losing relevance now that stories like this have become so common. Everyone knows Scientology is a stupid sue-happy cult. While the membership may continue to grow, I think the prestige of the average new members has declined over the last decade. Like the Masons, I expect Scientology to continue on but to lose relevance over time. And like the Masons, it has become a favorite topic of conspiracy theorists...
You are correct sir. I should have mentioned that part in my first post but was too lazy... It was really the only argument I thought should have been included in the paper but I also thought he didn't go into enough detail on it. If he had presented more evidence, and supported it with references to the ongoing cases it would have been much more powerful.
Not too mention, it was following the opening napster argument, which is played out and will never get any traction with politicians or Joe the plumber. The name "Napster" is universally seen as a tool to let kid's steal music, and even a 500 page book arguing in favor of napster's model is unlikely to change most people's viewpoints. To me, the napster thing really overshadowed the whole paper.
The thesis "Current IP law stifles innovation" is a good one, however I don't agree with the examples provided in the paper. I think a more persuasive argument would have used company vs company lawsuits are are going crazy right now (between the like of Apple, RIM, and Sony) and the hoops that things like the GPL has to jump through to placate Novell selling out to M$ amongst other attacks on open source software. Comparing the situation to the aircraft industry pre-WWI and using other examples of stifled innovation would have given our current situation more context as well./sighs
Anyway, I just think the sheer amount of licensing boondoggles and lawyers required to build any kind of useful tech device these days is completely out of control, and I don't know if the paper made that clear (it didn't to me anyway).
Don't get me wrong. I like China. I like the food, the women, the Chinese sense of humor. It's more my style than the USA nowadays. But the parent poster is dead on. Modern Chinese have all kinds of complexes about their role in the world.
Just wanted to share a personal story that totally goes with your statements.
5 years ago I worked for a small company with around 20 engineers that hired a married couple that moved to the USA from mainland China. They both had PhDs from Beijing's premier university (it's name escapes me) and were very smart. They were hired to perform the job that 2 lab techs (one was me) and 1 intern had been doing for the previous 2-3 years. Namely to collect electrical and thermal efficiency data on computer systems. At the time, we had implemented somewhat advanced automation tools and had a pretty neat setup going to collect data.
When the couple started, I immediately took the lead trying to train them on our current methodologies. It was a NIGHTMARE. They refused to listen to me, as I was a "technician" and consistently interrupted when I provided explanations with forceful statements like "No! That is not right! You are not doing it right! This data is inaccurate!!!!" and would then start lecturing on really simple stuff like EMI shielding etc. that really had nothing to do with what I was showing them. Long story short, I attempted, unsuccessfully to train them for 2 months, then handed over all thermal and electrical testing. The "massive inferiority complex" was so intense that they wouldn't even use the test instruments we tried to train them on. Instead, they tried to purchase new stuff (with some success) that was orders of magnitude more expensive and that they simply didn't need. Their manager (not my manager) was a dolt so he did nothing to rectify, and in fact fueled the flames. For a year we essentially had zero data on our products in those respects, unless I snuck into the lab and ran covert tests for my manager under their noses. When downsizing hit, they were the first let go and I assumed their responsibilities.
Looking back today, I still don't think there is anything I could have done differently. In fact if I went through the same thing again, I would probably just give up and walk away after a couple weeks, knowing that there is no way I could overcome the egos.
It can definitely make it difficult to do business. 75% of my engineering team is in Beijing. Lucky for us engineers, your reputation, salary, and job rely on the ability to produce accurate, repeatable, results. It has nothing to do with politics, cultural stammering, or hurt feelings. If they tried to move technical support or anything other than engineering over there, we'd be in deep shit. Similarly, if it wasn't for the US team working closely with them, we'd be in deep shit.
It has gotten to the point where China has first crack at everything, then provides their results and notes to US engineers, then we find holes that get fixed, and give it back to China to do again. usually after 2 or 3 rounds of this we have a solid product. It probably takes 3 times longer than doing it with an all US team and we have to deal with weird cultural things (like everyone over there having inflated titles and egos), but total labor costs are way cheaper and Chinese engineers are smart people. IMO, it's pretty much a wash vs doing it all in the USA.
Hehe thanks.:) I can't take the credit though. My buddy mentioned the episode when California passed our own high speed rail thing in the last election. Total boondoggle...
That "article" is just an attempt to drive traffic to that site, which is un-interestingly enough, a SEO news site. Of course the site doesn't generate any content, beyond poorly written articles about things that don't matter. I'm curious as to how it made it up onto/.at all. Sigh.
I worked for a company that grew into SEO. It's a joke. Everyone with half a brain knows it. Unfortunately a lot of marketing people don't have half a brain so SEO continues to generate revenue. Instead of getting a decent web developer, marketing types pay enormous sums of money for people to look at their meta tags and give advice about what to put into h1 headers. Its retarded.
Slashdot Mirror
I hear ya. Personally I feel little obligation to our country anymore. Seems like its at the point now where elitist greed and corporatism have deemed that having an entire country of middle class "haves" isn't sustainable. The "have nots" now must reside inside US (vs just in undeveloped parts of the world) as the middle class drops away into oblivion. I propose saving your money somewhere safe, moving to the third world and doing your thing there. Sure its a little more dangerous, but the standard of living is at least comparable, the people are more friendly, and its not nearly as frustrating. The ex-pats I have met in Central America seem happier on average than people still in the USA. As satellite technology and high speed interconnects to poorer nations improves, its becoming easier every year to work remotely too. I don't know if you can tell, but I've been thinking pretty seriously about this for a while now...
It's not worth it.
Whats to stop a class action lawsuit after this?
That we need less punishment for publishing state secrets as the government become more and more overbearing with things like the Patriot Act, foreign wars, and free market manipulation. What are we supposed to do when the government runs afoul if that same government can throw us in prison for talking about it? Representative King is more interested in having his name in the papers than representing the people. Protecting intelligence assets is the responsibility of the intelligence community, not the publishers that it gets leaked too.
I RTFAs and still can't figure out why it has to be further out than the moon to get good pictures. Shouldn't it be able to take nice pics in LEO? Why so far away?
It seems like it'll be next to impossible to fix if anything goes wrong, like it did over and over again with Hubble.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6wRkzCW5qI
"Screw paying for anything" doesn't mean stealing things that I would otherwise pay for. I have been a library patron my entire life. I've never bought books except as gifts, and I will continue to do that. Donating $10 to the Calibre developer is a good idea. Propping up a broken publishing model is not.
/. peeps can mod me flaimbate and call me names all they want, it doesn't change the fact that the system is broken as far as authors and readers are concerned. It has been for years. Now publishing companies are seeing red because the they have been exploiting the market for so long that they don't know of any other way. The future is hazy to them and they are scared. Amazon, Apple, and other content providers are throwing them a life preserver but it carries a heavy toll, perhaps a little retribution exploitation.
I don't know whats going to happen to the publishing companies, or the record companies, or the movie industry. Honestly I don't care. Writers will continue to write. Musicians will continue to play music. And movies will continue to be made. There might be a shitty period where things slump, but they will come back because people want to be entertained.
I figured I should answer bitz's questions. At first I was too pissed...
I wasn't trying to impress anyone. Was just pointing out that calibre is a useful tool, especially with torrents that come in various ebook formats, in case people hadn't heard of it. The only reason I knew about it was through a friend.
If my boss says "screw paying for my time" I will find another boss. I produce things that have value. Without my skill set, certain things don't happen. If things fell apart, computers became irrelevant, and I couldn't find work for my skill set anymore, i would have to learn a new skill set and start over making lower pay.
By the way, thanks for calling me an "ignorant shit" after jumping to a conclusion. I bet you are a blast to be around.
Thanks! I guess /. doens't allow in the subject... :(
Why does "torrents" mean stealing? Do you work for *IAA or something?
Kindle + calibre + torrents = awesomeness. Screw paying for anything.
I think the French (various politicians) said it best:
"If a man is not a socialist in his youth, he has no heart. If he is not a conservative by the time he is 30 he has no head."
I'm 30, with a bachelors, and feel that my political perception of events has swayed to and fro but as I've gotten older its been leaning more right.
The only "truth" that I can see regarding politics, is that once politicians rise above the local level they are lost. They no longer have any sense of right or wrong regarding their policies and they cannot be trusted with anything. They are easily swayed by their advisers, who have their own agendas. Career politicians should be given as little power as possible by the people.
The Federal Government is arbitrary, expensive, and non-productive. I think it is difficult for young people (it was for me) to understand that just because bureaucrats work for a government agency it does not mean they have any interests in making sure the goal of their agency is achieved. To the contrary, their jobs are often at stake if they succeed, so it often does not make sense to them to do their jobs. Like the parent post said, "looking out for number one is the name of the game."
Scientology seems to be a weird combination of smart people like Haggis who want to better themselves, and "good old boys" that keep things running. In the end, its really just a group of people networking themselves into careers. It reminds me of the stories about the Masons but it is the entertainment industry rather than politics.
Anyway, I think that the church is losing relevance now that stories like this have become so common. Everyone knows Scientology is a stupid sue-happy cult. While the membership may continue to grow, I think the prestige of the average new members has declined over the last decade. Like the Masons, I expect Scientology to continue on but to lose relevance over time. And like the Masons, it has become a favorite topic of conspiracy theorists...
You are correct sir. I should have mentioned that part in my first post but was too lazy... It was really the only argument I thought should have been included in the paper but I also thought he didn't go into enough detail on it. If he had presented more evidence, and supported it with references to the ongoing cases it would have been much more powerful.
Not too mention, it was following the opening napster argument, which is played out and will never get any traction with politicians or Joe the plumber. The name "Napster" is universally seen as a tool to let kid's steal music, and even a 500 page book arguing in favor of napster's model is unlikely to change most people's viewpoints. To me, the napster thing really overshadowed the whole paper.
The thesis "Current IP law stifles innovation" is a good one, however I don't agree with the examples provided in the paper. I think a more persuasive argument would have used company vs company lawsuits are are going crazy right now (between the like of Apple, RIM, and Sony) and the hoops that things like the GPL has to jump through to placate Novell selling out to M$ amongst other attacks on open source software. Comparing the situation to the aircraft industry pre-WWI and using other examples of stifled innovation would have given our current situation more context as well. /sighs
Anyway, I just think the sheer amount of licensing boondoggles and lawyers required to build any kind of useful tech device these days is completely out of control, and I don't know if the paper made that clear (it didn't to me anyway).
The truth isn't always classy. Have you ever been to China? Here is some reading:
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,187654,00.html
http://edition.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/asiapcf/east/05/13/asia.whitening/
http://www.newsweek.com/2008/07/25/china-s-agony-of-defeat.html
Don't get me wrong. I like China. I like the food, the women, the Chinese sense of humor. It's more my style than the USA nowadays. But the parent poster is dead on. Modern Chinese have all kinds of complexes about their role in the world.
Just wanted to share a personal story that totally goes with your statements.
5 years ago I worked for a small company with around 20 engineers that hired a married couple that moved to the USA from mainland China. They both had PhDs from Beijing's premier university (it's name escapes me) and were very smart. They were hired to perform the job that 2 lab techs (one was me) and 1 intern had been doing for the previous 2-3 years. Namely to collect electrical and thermal efficiency data on computer systems. At the time, we had implemented somewhat advanced automation tools and had a pretty neat setup going to collect data.
When the couple started, I immediately took the lead trying to train them on our current methodologies. It was a NIGHTMARE. They refused to listen to me, as I was a "technician" and consistently interrupted when I provided explanations with forceful statements like "No! That is not right! You are not doing it right! This data is inaccurate!!!!" and would then start lecturing on really simple stuff like EMI shielding etc. that really had nothing to do with what I was showing them. Long story short, I attempted, unsuccessfully to train them for 2 months, then handed over all thermal and electrical testing. The "massive inferiority complex" was so intense that they wouldn't even use the test instruments we tried to train them on. Instead, they tried to purchase new stuff (with some success) that was orders of magnitude more expensive and that they simply didn't need. Their manager (not my manager) was a dolt so he did nothing to rectify, and in fact fueled the flames. For a year we essentially had zero data on our products in those respects, unless I snuck into the lab and ran covert tests for my manager under their noses. When downsizing hit, they were the first let go and I assumed their responsibilities.
Looking back today, I still don't think there is anything I could have done differently. In fact if I went through the same thing again, I would probably just give up and walk away after a couple weeks, knowing that there is no way I could overcome the egos.
Just their women. And cheap labor. Oh, and their food. I love me some dim sum. :)
It can definitely make it difficult to do business. 75% of my engineering team is in Beijing. Lucky for us engineers, your reputation, salary, and job rely on the ability to produce accurate, repeatable, results. It has nothing to do with politics, cultural stammering, or hurt feelings. If they tried to move technical support or anything other than engineering over there, we'd be in deep shit. Similarly, if it wasn't for the US team working closely with them, we'd be in deep shit.
It has gotten to the point where China has first crack at everything, then provides their results and notes to US engineers, then we find holes that get fixed, and give it back to China to do again. usually after 2 or 3 rounds of this we have a solid product. It probably takes 3 times longer than doing it with an all US team and we have to deal with weird cultural things (like everyone over there having inflated titles and egos), but total labor costs are way cheaper and Chinese engineers are smart people. IMO, it's pretty much a wash vs doing it all in the USA.
Yeah,,, I'm trying to understand how not one of 18 dudes would step and say "Wtf are you doing flushing that shit?!!"
Booger sugar ain't that easy to come by...
Totally. We should be using steam engines. It's the future.
Hehe thanks. :) I can't take the credit though. My buddy mentioned the episode when California passed our own high speed rail thing in the last election. Total boondoggle...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AEZjzsnPhnw
Maybe his cybertherapist decided not to re-up his prescription.
That "article" is just an attempt to drive traffic to that site, which is un-interestingly enough, a SEO news site. Of course the site doesn't generate any content, beyond poorly written articles about things that don't matter. I'm curious as to how it made it up onto /.at all. Sigh.
I worked for a company that grew into SEO. It's a joke. Everyone with half a brain knows it. Unfortunately a lot of marketing people don't have half a brain so SEO continues to generate revenue. Instead of getting a decent web developer, marketing types pay enormous sums of money for people to look at their meta tags and give advice about what to put into h1 headers. Its retarded.