This reminds me of Richard Feynman's story Safecracker Meets Safecracker (.pdf) about the how he learned to pick locks. When he demonstrated how he could pick the lock on a big, fancy safe that belonged to a colonel at Oak Ridge, the colonel didn't make improvements to the locks on safes and filing cabinets, he simply ordered everyone to change the combinations on their safes and filiing cabinets if Feynman had been in their office. --- You can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink.
I have Netflix too and was thinking the same thing ($1 per movie) but I would be willing to pay $2 for a current release.
Also, I think there will be a further backlash against Hollywood when people see them selling HD DVD movies. Many have already purchased their favorite movies on VHS *AND* DVD and to be offered it a 3rd time is too much. I expect Netflix will do bang-up business when HD DVDs become available.
There are a TON of cool documentaries that could/should be made. I remember watching Mr. Roger's neighborhood when they went through a tire plant to see how automobile tires are made. Fascinating stuff. We need WAY more of this and less reality tv, which has begun spoofing itself.
Check out http://www.channel101.com/ and submit a pilot tv show. See if you can top the production value of "Computer Man". The story line can't be touched!
There's a willing buyer and a willing seller in the legal transactions.
Re:idiotic that mp3 is not used...
on
Real Problems
·
· Score: 1
The sales flyer analogy is a good one. What are they worried about? That someone will make a rap song using Ira Glass's voice? Again, they only benefit from redistribution of their progrmamming.
Here's my latest million dollar idea. Copyleft 2003. Patent not pending.
If there were software that would make it relatively easy to set up an online music store you could turn a "bunch of pirates" into a legion of online merchants selling music. Such software would not be trivial, I know, but we're talking about changing the world.;o)
It seems to me that the vast majority of musicians would prefer a market where the "cream rises to the top" rather than the promoter-driven, sexy-packaging market that exists today.
With the proper software, thousands of online music merchants could specialize in specific genres, artists, eras, whatever. Imagine online music utopia. It would be great for everybody but the RIAA, the dishonest, disliked, obsolete, greedy middle man. What fun!
No one likes to get gouged. The artists are ready, the consumers are ready, the RIAA sees the handwriting on the wall.
All we need are a few good coders to give P2P users, a.k.a. music fans, the tools they need to change from music pirate to music merchant. I'm not a coder, but someone did a pretty good job creating MP3.COM. What if that web template were available to anyone for $500 a pop?
Revolution, bay-bee!
-- Duct tape is like the Force. It has a light side and a dark side and it binds the universe together.
or "When they came for the cartoons I did nothing because I wasn't a cartoon"
Weren't there some government hearings on cartoon violence a few years ago? Didn't the television folks agree to straighten up and fly right? It sounds like that's about the time cartoons started getting lame. Coincidence? I don't think so. I got curious about what happened and did some googling....
STEP 1. OMG! Marvin the Martian just blew up the Earth, and that's supposed to be funny?
from TRUCE -
Teachers Resiting Unhealty Children's Entertainment
"Too much of what children see on television is violence as entertainment. It undermines lessons we teach at home and school about how people treat each other, and encourages the use of violence to solve problems and to have fun. We have seen the effects of this glamorized violence in such events as school shootings."
STEP 2. I am shocked and appalled and am going to do something about it.
"The mission of The Lion & Lamb Project is to stop the marketing of violence to children. We do this by helping parents, industry and government officials recognize that violence is not child's play - and by galvanizing concerned adults to take action."
"Lion & Lamb works to reduce the marketing of violent toys, games and entertainment to children in two distinct ways. We work with parents and other concerned adults to reduce the demand for violent "entertainment" products, and with industry and government to reduce the supply of such products."
"We believe that attitudes about violence as "entertainment" can be changed over time. Just as attitudes about drunk driving and smoking have changed, we believe that Lion & Lamb can help forge a national consensus that violence is not child's play. Just as it has become "uncool" to pollute and to litter, we are working to change the tolerance level for violence as a "cool" theme for toys and other entertainment products for children."
STEP 3. Well, if you think about it, we can't do it ourselves, so we need the government to force everyone to do the right thing.
"Too often, both government and the entertainment industry place all responsibility for monitoring the games children play on the shoulders of their parents. Certainly, parents need to be vigilant and provide their kids with guidance. But in a culture where $1 billion a year is spent by industries of all sorts to advertise their products directly to children, parents can't stem the tide of "entertainment" violence on their own." - snippet from an article at LionLamb.org
STEP 4. The Government is only too happy to oblige. Who could vote against protecting children?
"Senator Paul Simon, speaking to a conference organized in Beverly Hills on August 2 by the National Council for Families and Television, told some 650 representatives of the broadcasting business who were present that he was giving them sixty days to come up with a plan to regulate themselves with respect to the portrayal of violence--or else they would face some sort of government regulation." - from newcriterion.com
article archived from Sept. 1993
Step 5. Mission Accomplished
"Culminating a protracted campaign against TV violence, both Houses of Congress have passed legislation requiring that new televisions be equipped with the so-called v-chip -- a computerized chip capable of detecting program ratings and blocking adversely rated programs from view." - from an article in the ACLU Archive
The set-top DVD-R recorder is definitely the way to go. It converts to MPEG-2 in realtime and you really want to avoid any software conversion. DVD-R ($1.25 oper 4.7 GB) is curently about 4x cheaper than hard disk space ($1 per GB).
from http://www.intriguing.com/mp/scripts/mp-holy.txt
**SNIP**
ARTHUR
Cut down a tree with a herring? It can't be done!
OTHER KNIGHTS (they all recoil in horror)
Oh!
TALL KNIGHT
Don't say that word.
ARTHUR
What word?
TALL KNIGHT
I cannot tell you. Suffice to say is one of the words the Knights of Ni! cannot hear!
ARTHUR
How can we not say the word, if you don't tell us what it is?
TALL KNIGHT (cringing in fear)
You said it again!
ARTHUR
What, "is"?
TALL KNIGHT (dismissively)
No, no... not "is"!
OTHER KNIGHTS
Not "is"! Not "is"!
Suddenly singing is heard from deep in the forest.
SIR ROBIN'S SINGERS
Bravely good Sir Robin was not at all afraid
To have his eyeballs skewered...
TALL KNIGHT (irritated)
"Is" is all right... You wouldn't get far not saying "Is"!
BEDEVERE
My liege, it's Sir Robin!
TALL KNIGHT (covering his ears)
You've said the word again!
SIR ROBIN and his SINGERS appear in the clearing. The SINGERS are going on
cheerfully as usual and ROBIN walks in front of them, continually embarrassed at their presence.
SINGERS
... and his kidneys burnt and his nipples skewered off...
ROBIN holds his hand up for silence.
ARTHUR
Sir Robin!
He shakes his hand warmly.
ROBIN
My liege! It's good to have found you again...
TALL KNIGHT
Now he's said the word!
ARTHUR
Where are you going good Sir Robin?
ROBIN'S SINGERS (starting up again)
He was going home... he was giving up,
He was throwing in the sponge.
ROBIN (to SINGERS)
Shut up! No... er... no... I... er... I... er... I certainly wasn't giving up... I was actually looking for the grail... er thing... in this forest.
ARTHUR
No... it lies beyond this forest.
TALL KNIGHT
Stop saying the word!
OTHER KNIGHTS
Stop saying the word! The word we cannot hear! The word...
ARTHUR (losing his patience with the fearful KNIGHTS OF "NI")
Oh, stop it!
Terrific confusion amongst the KNIGHTS OF "NI", they roll on the ground covering their ears. The TALL KNIGHT remains standing trying to controlhis MEN.
OTHER KNIGHTS
They're all saying the word...
TALL KNIGHT
Stop saying it. AAAArghh!... I've said it...
OTHER KNIGHTS
You've said it! Aaaaarghhh!... We've said it... We're all saying it.
ARTHUR beckons to BEDEVERE and ROBIN and they pick their way through the helpless KNIGHTS OF "NI" and away into the forest.
This is an odd date only for the short-sighted people who are not using Y10K ISO compliant dates. Today's date is 01999-11-19, and since zero is not an odd number it will be a long time (forever) before we see a truly odd day.
Slashdot Mirror
for those that didn't see Gottfried roast Bob Saget, here's the video link
Gilbert Gottfried roasts Bob Saget
This reminds me of Richard Feynman's story Safecracker Meets Safecracker (.pdf) about the how he learned to pick locks. When he demonstrated how he could pick the lock on a big, fancy safe that belonged to a colonel at Oak Ridge, the colonel didn't make improvements to the locks on safes and filing cabinets, he simply ordered everyone to change the combinations on their safes and filiing cabinets if Feynman had been in their office.
---
You can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink.
> If you have nothing to hide, there's no reason to be hidden.
I DESPISE that so-called argument. I have nothing to hide either, but that doesn't mean I should give up my right to privacy just because you have.
I have Netflix too and was thinking the same thing ($1 per movie) but I would be willing to pay $2 for a current release.
Also, I think there will be a further backlash against Hollywood when people see them selling HD DVD movies. Many have already purchased their favorite movies on VHS *AND* DVD and to be offered it a 3rd time is too much. I expect Netflix will do bang-up business when HD DVDs become available.
I use FilePC because it is reasonably priced, encrypted and does incremental backup once the initial backup is completed.
it only encourages them
All of this shiznit should be available on the web, but if I post a torrent I'm criminal. F*CK THE MAN!
There are a TON of cool documentaries that could/should be made. I remember watching Mr. Roger's neighborhood when they went through a tire plant to see how automobile tires are made. Fascinating stuff. We need WAY more of this and less reality tv, which has begun spoofing itself.
Check out http://www.channel101.com/ and submit a pilot tv show. See if you can top the production value of "Computer Man". The story line can't be touched!
There's a willing buyer and a willing seller in the legal transactions.
The sales flyer analogy is a good one. What are they worried about? That someone will make a rap song using Ira Glass's voice? Again, they only benefit from redistribution of their progrmamming.
The bits they want to be free!
Here's my latest million dollar idea. Copyleft 2003. Patent not pending.
;o)
If there were software that would make it relatively easy to set up an online music store you could turn a "bunch of pirates" into a legion of online merchants selling music. Such software would not be trivial, I know, but we're talking about changing the world.
It seems to me that the vast majority of musicians would prefer a market where the "cream rises to the top" rather than the promoter-driven, sexy-packaging market that exists today.
With the proper software, thousands of online music merchants could specialize in specific genres, artists, eras, whatever. Imagine online music utopia. It would be great for everybody but the RIAA, the dishonest, disliked, obsolete, greedy middle man. What fun!
No one likes to get gouged. The artists are ready, the consumers are ready, the RIAA sees the handwriting on the wall.
All we need are a few good coders to give P2P users, a.k.a. music fans, the tools they need to change from music pirate to music merchant. I'm not a coder, but someone did a pretty good job creating MP3.COM. What if that web template were available to anyone for $500 a pop?
Revolution, bay-bee!
--
Duct tape is like the Force. It has a light side and a dark side and it binds the universe together.
Most of the books I'd recommend have already been mentioned, but I'd like to add a 'second' to...
Surely You're Joking Mr. Feynman - Richard Feynman
Microserfs - Douglas Coupland
Crytonomicon - Neil Stephenson
Cuckoo's Nest - Clifford Stoll
Hitchiker's Guide Triology - Douglas Adams
Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency - Douglas Adams
or "When they came for the cartoons I did nothing because I wasn't a cartoon"
Weren't there some government hearings on cartoon violence a few years ago? Didn't the television folks agree to straighten up and fly right? It sounds like that's about the time cartoons started getting lame. Coincidence? I don't think so. I got curious about what happened and did some googling....
STEP 1. OMG! Marvin the Martian just blew up the Earth, and that's supposed to be funny?
from TRUCE - Teachers Resiting Unhealty Children's Entertainment
"Too much of what children see on television is violence as entertainment. It undermines lessons we teach at home and school about how people treat each other, and encourages the use of violence to solve problems and to have fun. We have seen the effects of this glamorized violence in such events as school shootings."
STEP 2. I am shocked and appalled and am going to do something about it.
from lionlamb.org
"The mission of The Lion & Lamb Project is to stop the marketing of violence to children. We do this by helping parents, industry and government officials recognize that violence is not child's play - and by galvanizing concerned adults to take action."
"Lion & Lamb works to reduce the marketing of violent toys, games and entertainment to children in two distinct ways. We work with parents and other concerned adults to reduce the demand for violent "entertainment" products, and with industry and government to reduce the supply of such products."
"We believe that attitudes about violence as "entertainment" can be changed over time. Just as attitudes about drunk driving and smoking have changed, we believe that Lion & Lamb can help forge a national consensus that violence is not child's play. Just as it has become "uncool" to pollute and to litter, we are working to change the tolerance level for violence as a "cool" theme for toys and other entertainment products for children."
STEP 3. Well, if you think about it, we can't do it ourselves, so we need the government to force everyone to do the right thing.
"Too often, both government and the entertainment industry place all responsibility for monitoring the games children play on the shoulders of their parents. Certainly, parents need to be vigilant and provide their kids with guidance. But in a culture where $1 billion a year is spent by industries of all sorts to advertise their products directly to children, parents can't stem the tide of "entertainment" violence on their own." - snippet from an article at LionLamb.org
STEP 4. The Government is only too happy to oblige. Who could vote against protecting children?
"Senator Paul Simon, speaking to a conference organized in Beverly Hills on August 2 by the National Council for Families and Television, told some 650 representatives of the broadcasting business who were present that he was giving them sixty days to come up with a plan to regulate themselves with respect to the portrayal of violence--or else they would face some sort of government regulation." - from newcriterion.com article archived from Sept. 1993
Step 5. Mission Accomplished
"Culminating a protracted campaign against TV violence, both Houses of Congress have passed legislation requiring that new televisions be equipped with the so-called v-chip -- a computerized chip capable of detecting program ratings and blocking adversely rated programs from view." - from an article in the ACLU Archive
The set-top DVD-R recorder is definitely the way to go. It converts to MPEG-2 in realtime and you really want to avoid any software conversion. DVD-R ($1.25 oper 4.7 GB) is curently about 4x cheaper than hard disk space ($1 per GB).
from http://www.intriguing.com/mp/scripts/mp-holy.txt
... not "is"!
...
... You wouldn't get far not saying "Is"!
...
...
... he was giving up,
... er ... no ... I ... er ... I ... er ... I certainly wasn't giving up ... I was actually looking for the grail ... er thing ... in this forest.
... it lies beyond this forest.
...
...
... I've said it ...
... We've said it ... We're all saying it.
**SNIP**
ARTHUR
Cut down a tree with a herring? It can't be done!
OTHER KNIGHTS (they all recoil in horror)
Oh!
TALL KNIGHT
Don't say that word.
ARTHUR
What word?
TALL KNIGHT
I cannot tell you. Suffice to say is one of the words the Knights of Ni! cannot hear!
ARTHUR
How can we not say the word, if you don't tell us what it is?
TALL KNIGHT (cringing in fear)
You said it again!
ARTHUR
What, "is"?
TALL KNIGHT (dismissively)
No, no
OTHER KNIGHTS
Not "is"! Not "is"!
Suddenly singing is heard from deep in the forest.
SIR ROBIN'S SINGERS
Bravely good Sir Robin was not at all afraid
To have his eyeballs skewered
TALL KNIGHT (irritated)
"Is" is all right
BEDEVERE
My liege, it's Sir Robin!
TALL KNIGHT (covering his ears)
You've said the word again!
SIR ROBIN and his SINGERS appear in the clearing. The SINGERS are going on
cheerfully as usual and ROBIN walks in front of them, continually embarrassed at their presence.
SINGERS
... and his kidneys burnt and his nipples skewered off
ROBIN holds his hand up for silence.
ARTHUR
Sir Robin!
He shakes his hand warmly.
ROBIN
My liege! It's good to have found you again
TALL KNIGHT
Now he's said the word!
ARTHUR
Where are you going good Sir Robin?
ROBIN'S SINGERS (starting up again)
He was going home
He was throwing in the sponge.
ROBIN (to SINGERS)
Shut up! No
ARTHUR
No
TALL KNIGHT
Stop saying the word!
OTHER KNIGHTS
Stop saying the word! The word we cannot hear! The word
ARTHUR (losing his patience with the fearful KNIGHTS OF "NI")
Oh, stop it!
Terrific confusion amongst the KNIGHTS OF "NI", they roll on the ground covering their ears. The TALL KNIGHT remains standing trying to controlhis MEN.
OTHER KNIGHTS
They're all saying the word
TALL KNIGHT
Stop saying it. AAAArghh!
OTHER KNIGHTS
You've said it! Aaaaarghhh!
ARTHUR beckons to BEDEVERE and ROBIN and they pick their way through the helpless KNIGHTS OF "NI" and away into the forest.
**SNIP**
This is an odd date only for the short-sighted people who are not using Y10K ISO compliant dates. Today's date is 01999-11-19, and since zero is not an odd number it will be a long time (forever) before we see a truly odd day.