People who believe in astrology don't do so because of logic.
People who believe in anything that isn't objectively verifiable, do not believe because of logic. This includes religious belief, since it is, by definition, faith-based. Faith is not rational or logical- it is merely a manner in which we choose to structure our worldview.
The link to purchase it, for those so inclined, belongs to none other than the one company whose spirit embodies innovation, amazon.com. I'd avoid buying it for that reason alone, although I do think that $800 for something that offers about 1/10th of a desktop for the same price is a little, um, uneconomical.
...just like always. Congress (asumming enough ahem, donations, are at stake, they'll make laws that favor the corporate interest.
With respect to wiki[pm]edia...I think this is quite an awesome development- the encapsulation of knowledge by people, for people. Nice. Now, what's to say some overpaid moron decides that they own the patent, or some other means that will make the dissemination, or use, or demonstration of this information increasingly difficult, if not impossible? I'm surprised this hasn't already happened.
This is the only thing that corporations, especially clueless, greedy corporations like Amazon will understand. If it affects their bottom line by removing money they don't deserve, then they'll be encouraged to take remedial action. In this case, it might entail buying a few clues as to what innovation is really all about.
I don't think it's a service, I think it's a good... much like a book is a good. What's problematic, is that rather than protecting a single expression of a concept, patenting makes it possible for only one means of expression. It would be like taking a symphony, which arguably would be borrowing from the collective work of others, and stating that you now own a particular method of musical expression. Sounds rediculous, but that's exactly what's happening with software patents.
It's not just a matter of coercing comanies into being responsible with information, it's a matter of giving citizens much more control over who has it, who is allowed to have it, and what they do with it.
Just stop using common utilities as a way to extract more money from taxpayers. Half my phone bill is taxes. A good portion of my power bill is taxes and other "fees". Now it looks like they're preparing to turn broadband into the same steaming pile of crap.
I agree. Often I'd log on to put in my hour or so, and immediatlely get sidetracked - either I was being PvP'd, or getting asked to help. Before you know it, the hour is up, and you haven't progressed AT ALL. Kinda irritating.
The same is true for amazon that holds for *AA. As long as people continue to pay Amazon to continue this behavior, they will. I've done just fine buying hardware from other vendors.
The best part is that I'm not supporting the patent lunacy. You are.
I've lived in various parts of my metro area, and no matter wahre I am, PBS only "sorta" comes in. I know that digital, and or a cable TV subcription would take care of this, but still...I gotta wonder.
No. Aside from missing my attempt at levity, your analogy is wrong. Online retailers don't just shove things into your shopping cart because they think you might want it...they ask, and they suggest, and you indicate your interest by adding the suggested item(s) to your cart. This is nothing like your Sam/Norm analogy.
I have YET to purchase a single thing from Amason. Their prices (especially on nerd-type books) aren't that good anyway. I get mine from Nerdbooks.com. The services is always very good, and prices are outstanding.
Prices aside, I will NOT support a company that continues to rape the meaning of the word "innovation" by patenting rediculously obvious methods.
See, fame comes from without, and the joy of performing comes from within.
It's so refreshing to hear someone from that side of the fence (having been a popular actor), say something like this. I'm always dismayed when I hear someone say, "I want to be a famous [insert favorite activity]," because it shows that they truly don't understand what it's about.
These words can be applied to many aspects of life- not all of us may act on stage or in front of a camera, but we do carry out the roles that we establish for ourselves.
I think I read somewhere that dogs are attracted to cat doodie because of its protein content. In fact, I think it was on a web site I came across purely by happenstance...I think the title was "The Scoop on Poop", or something similar.
I remember back when Guy Kawasaki was evangelizing for Apple, his mantra was always "under-promise, over-deliver". I will give you a recent example...
We had a copier with a fan that was going bad. We could hear the bearings creating all kinds of racket every time copied something. I contacted someone whose name I foudn in the local phone directory, and he left me with a very positive impression. Instead of giving us some bull about "such-and-such minimum, so-much for every 15 minutes thereafter," he explained that the repair itself wasn't that big a deal - if we wanted to save some money, we could probably order the part and do it ourselves.
We ordered the part and did it ourselves, and we did save some money in the process. But you can BET that the next some time something serious happened, we'd be talking to HIM as opposed to someone else.
I'm surprised that people pay for service from big companies like Xerox. They charge an absolute fortune, and they won't even answer questions if you don't have an active support agreement.
If you want to impress someone (gain their gratitude and potentially their business), go the extra mile. When you look at how bad things can be, it's not all that difficult.
This is an educational push, if I understand it correctly, because one of the requirements is that you have to be a student in order to participate. Feel free to correct me if I am mistaken, but I seem to remember seeing some complaints by more seasoned developers (non-students) that this limitation seemed somewhat arbitrary.
We also have the DMCA, DRM, and a continuous push for even more protective legislation by Big Media.
I am convinced that something along the lines of iTunes would have happened anyway- all it took was acting on one of the biggest complaints that people have- they're tired of paying $15 for a CD full of crap, when there's only one or two songs that really merit any value.
The students had a wonderful opportunity to show what a complete failure such draconian policies can be. But, just like with illegal file sharing, they'd rather push the other way, and end up further behind than when they started.
Campaign finance was reformed a coulple of years ago, making some real changes to the system. It wasn't nearly enough, and didn't address the real problem, simple bribery called contributions, especially from corporations. But they did back up their words with actions.
The fact that it wasn't nearly enough is exactly why I believe it was one of many token gestures crafted to give the impression that something is being done, but for all intents and purposes, results in very little real change. We're asking them to bite (hard) on the hand that feeds them. This requires leadership - something that is very rare in our current political climate.
I was told about an online job application where the company says it's secure (it is using https), but if you look at the URL, the information is sent to a location that has NOTHING to do with the company. Further, in the URL is a field entitled "email=", and has not one, but two different recipients- one of them *might* be the group that actually handles the employment applications for the company. The other appears to be some man-in-the-middle. The gist is that you submit all of this information, which includes your SSN, DOB, and drivers licence number, and you have no idea who gets access to it, nor do you have any control.
Think of all the people who fill out job applications in general...they ask for a mess load of information. I'm prepared to support a law which states that a) an organization can only request as much information as is absolutely pertinent to the transaction at hand, and b) should that transaction not be fully realized, the data MUST be purged. There is no reason, for example, for a company that doesn't hire you, to have any detailed information about you. Period.
I had a mortgage broker casually tell me, "just email me your social security number..." While I was smart enough to tell him that his wouldn't be an option for security reasons, think of how many others don't have enough of a clue.
How many other things does the governent "talk" about doing? Let's see...a couple of biggies are campaign finance reform (never happened), and social security. I truly believe that if they ever *did* accomplish anything with respect to these issues, they'd feel like there wouldn't be anything left to promise during the next election. The formula seems to be, "promise, do nothing, rinse, repeat".
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Don't you mean, marketing?
People who believe in astrology don't do so because of logic.
People who believe in anything that isn't objectively verifiable, do not believe because of logic. This includes religious belief, since it is, by definition, faith-based. Faith is not rational or logical- it is merely a manner in which we choose to structure our worldview.
The link to purchase it, for those so inclined, belongs to none other than the one company whose spirit embodies innovation, amazon.com. I'd avoid buying it for that reason alone, although I do think that $800 for something that offers about 1/10th of a desktop for the same price is a little, um, uneconomical.
With respect to wiki[pm]edia...I think this is quite an awesome development- the encapsulation of knowledge by people, for people. Nice. Now, what's to say some overpaid moron decides that they own the patent, or some other means that will make the dissemination, or use, or demonstration of this information increasingly difficult, if not impossible? I'm surprised this hasn't already happened.
This is the only thing that corporations, especially clueless, greedy corporations like Amazon will understand. If it affects their bottom line by removing money they don't deserve, then they'll be encouraged to take remedial action. In this case, it might entail buying a few clues as to what innovation is really all about.
I don't think it's a service, I think it's a good... much like a book is a good. What's problematic, is that rather than protecting a single expression of a concept, patenting makes it possible for only one means of expression. It would be like taking a symphony, which arguably would be borrowing from the collective work of others, and stating that you now own a particular method of musical expression. Sounds rediculous, but that's exactly what's happening with software patents.
They wanted to use "Robocop", but realized the MPAA would probably send in their special forces.
It's not just a matter of coercing comanies into being responsible with information, it's a matter of giving citizens much more control over who has it, who is allowed to have it, and what they do with it.
Just stop using common utilities as a way to extract more money from taxpayers. Half my phone bill is taxes. A good portion of my power bill is taxes and other "fees". Now it looks like they're preparing to turn broadband into the same steaming pile of crap.
I agree. Often I'd log on to put in my hour or so, and immediatlely get sidetracked - either I was being PvP'd, or getting asked to help. Before you know it, the hour is up, and you haven't progressed AT ALL. Kinda irritating.
The same is true for amazon that holds for *AA. As long as people continue to pay Amazon to continue this behavior, they will. I've done just fine buying hardware from other vendors.
The best part is that I'm not supporting the patent lunacy. You are.
I've lived in various parts of my metro area, and no matter wahre I am, PBS only "sorta" comes in. I know that digital, and or a cable TV subcription would take care of this, but still...I gotta wonder.
No. Aside from missing my attempt at levity, your analogy is wrong. Online retailers don't just shove things into your shopping cart because they think you might want it...they ask, and they suggest, and you indicate your interest by adding the suggested item(s) to your cart. This is nothing like your Sam/Norm analogy.
"Would you like fries with that?"
I have YET to purchase a single thing from Amason. Their prices (especially on nerd-type books) aren't that good anyway. I get mine from Nerdbooks.com. The services is always very good, and prices are outstanding.
Prices aside, I will NOT support a company that continues to rape the meaning of the word "innovation" by patenting rediculously obvious methods.
See, fame comes from without, and the joy of performing comes from within.
It's so refreshing to hear someone from that side of the fence (having been a popular actor), say something like this. I'm always dismayed when I hear someone say, "I want to be a famous [insert favorite activity]," because it shows that they truly don't understand what it's about.
These words can be applied to many aspects of life- not all of us may act on stage or in front of a camera, but we do carry out the roles that we establish for ourselves.
I think I read somewhere that dogs are attracted to cat doodie because of its protein content. In fact, I think it was on a web site I came across purely by happenstance...I think the title was "The Scoop on Poop", or something similar.
I've even heard some people go so far as to say that Utah is resonsible for a lot of the decay in the United States today.
I think that's Washington D.C. you're referring to.
I remember back when Guy Kawasaki was evangelizing for Apple, his mantra was always "under-promise, over-deliver". I will give you a recent example...
We had a copier with a fan that was going bad. We could hear the bearings creating all kinds of racket every time copied something. I contacted someone whose name I foudn in the local phone directory, and he left me with a very positive impression. Instead of giving us some bull about "such-and-such minimum, so-much for every 15 minutes thereafter," he explained that the repair itself wasn't that big a deal - if we wanted to save some money, we could probably order the part and do it ourselves.
We ordered the part and did it ourselves, and we did save some money in the process. But you can BET that the next some time something serious happened, we'd be talking to HIM as opposed to someone else.
I'm surprised that people pay for service from big companies like Xerox. They charge an absolute fortune, and they won't even answer questions if you don't have an active support agreement.
If you want to impress someone (gain their gratitude and potentially their business), go the extra mile. When you look at how bad things can be, it's not all that difficult.
This is an educational push, if I understand it correctly, because one of the requirements is that you have to be a student in order to participate. Feel free to correct me if I am mistaken, but I seem to remember seeing some complaints by more seasoned developers (non-students) that this limitation seemed somewhat arbitrary.
We also have the DMCA, DRM, and a continuous push for even more protective legislation by Big Media.
I am convinced that something along the lines of iTunes would have happened anyway- all it took was acting on one of the biggest complaints that people have- they're tired of paying $15 for a CD full of crap, when there's only one or two songs that really merit any value.
I'd hand it right back. "No thanks".
The students had a wonderful opportunity to show what a complete failure such draconian policies can be. But, just like with illegal file sharing, they'd rather push the other way, and end up further behind than when they started.
Campaign finance was reformed a coulple of years ago, making some real changes to the system. It wasn't nearly enough, and didn't address the real problem, simple bribery called contributions, especially from corporations. But they did back up their words with actions.
The fact that it wasn't nearly enough is exactly why I believe it was one of many token gestures crafted to give the impression that something is being done, but for all intents and purposes, results in very little real change. We're asking them to bite (hard) on the hand that feeds them. This requires leadership - something that is very rare in our current political climate.
I was told about an online job application where the company says it's secure (it is using https), but if you look at the URL, the information is sent to a location that has NOTHING to do with the company. Further, in the URL is a field entitled "email=", and has not one, but two different recipients- one of them *might* be the group that actually handles the employment applications for the company. The other appears to be some man-in-the-middle. The gist is that you submit all of this information, which includes your SSN, DOB, and drivers licence number, and you have no idea who gets access to it, nor do you have any control.
Think of all the people who fill out job applications in general...they ask for a mess load of information. I'm prepared to support a law which states that a) an organization can only request as much information as is absolutely pertinent to the transaction at hand, and b) should that transaction not be fully realized, the data MUST be purged. There is no reason, for example, for a company that doesn't hire you, to have any detailed information about you. Period.
I had a mortgage broker casually tell me, "just email me your social security number..." While I was smart enough to tell him that his wouldn't be an option for security reasons, think of how many others don't have enough of a clue.
How many other things does the governent "talk" about doing? Let's see...a couple of biggies are campaign finance reform (never happened), and social security. I truly believe that if they ever *did* accomplish anything with respect to these issues, they'd feel like there wouldn't be anything left to promise during the next election. The formula seems to be, "promise, do nothing, rinse, repeat".