Well, I'm no naderite, but the arrogance of Jack Valenti's MPAA and Hillary Rosen's RIAA -- and the supine compliance of federal judges who aren't supposed to be whoring for the corporations -- makes me think these guys need to be spanked. Unfortunately, increasing government power doesn't do much to enhance individual freedom.
At the moment, such groups or entities probably would have to purchase protection from a suitable nation-state. That shouldn't be hard. Nigeria, for example, would probably come cheap.
Loved 'em both, but Cryptonomicon is less traditionally science-fictionish so I guess I can see the point, even though I loved it.
Has anybody noticed that it's harder to tell what science fiction is when things like "terminator" and "jurassic park" count as mainstream even though they involve robots, time travel, and genetic engineering?
I've got a bottle of Stoli in the freezer now. Maybe I'll give it a try. Or maybe I'll just chill -- I've noticed that after a shot or two, having a slower CPU doesn't bother me as much.
Academics are descended from the courtier intellectuals of the 14-17th centuries. They've always, for the most part, been suckups to power. In the 20th century that was government power. Now it's corporate power. Given how the 20th century went, this is probably an improvement.
My mother is a school librarian, and she's been getting more and more pressure on these issues. The yahoos are coming out of the woodwork on both the left (ban Dr. Doolittle! And Huck Finn!) and the right (ban "Of Mice and Men" because it has the word "damn" in it!). Personally, I think that public officials who espouse censorship should commit ritual suicide. But I might settle for tarring and feathering.
James Woolsey, former head of the CIA, doesn't. Not now that he's taken a pro bono immigration case and seen how this stuff really works. See this article from the NY Times magazine.
I have watched Britain's gradual transformation into a police state for some years with dismay. At the moment, it's a largely benign police state. But such conditions are seldom stable. Hey: the Brits are wiretapping everyone and have abandoned traditional Anglo notions of due process. Everything important in Europe is run by Germans. Who won the war again?
By suing Microsoft, etc. for having such crappy software and security. Of course, that may be a cure worse than the disease.... Question: is the court system really like a computer that runs on people and paper? And are bogus lawsuits its version of a virus?
Titan's atmosphere contains lots hydrocarbons, meaning that it could perhaps support life. That makes it interesting, but it also means that any spacecraft must be highly sterilized to keep earthlife from maybe getting a foothold on Titan. Yeah, it's really cold. But there's earthlife in places that get within spitting distance of those temperatures -- and it's not entirely sure that everywhere on Titan is that cold. Previous sterilization efforts have been fairly half-assed. This one shouldn't be.
This is so old-media it's pathetic. First of all, who would buy these ads. They'll annoy users. Users already are bombarded with ads everywhere. Ads are fine, but in an ad-ubiquitous environment, I don't see how you can make money by slapping on another layer of ads. Especially when the ads are obtrusive and annoying, which it sounds like these will be.
Boy, that's the truth. My guy, from Bellsouth, took 4 hours, gave up, and left. I had to finish it myself. (Took me about an hour). Hey, come to think of it, I've already done this DIY DSL thing! It wasn't that hard.
So, all I have to do is post some bad stuff about a company I hate, and they'll pay somebody thousands to track me down? Hehehe. You could do a lot of damage with this.
Well, what you're actually hearing are harmonics of the subsonic fundamentals. I emailed with one of these guys a while back; he said that they played it on a barge in Amsterdam (I think) and that down inside the barge you could hear the most amazing pure tones at various harmonic steps. Did you do the lofi stream or the full 128 kbps? B/c you can hear a lot more at the hifi setting.
Absolutely right. Under NASA's old structure, everyone had the right to stop things if their part wasn't going right -- and was expected to know the difference. Then, in the 1970s, NASA switched (under budgetary pressure) to something called "success oriented management" -- which, naturally, didn't produce nearly as much in the way of success. It was based on assuming that things would probably work. Need I say more?
Slashdot Mirror
Well, I'm no naderite, but the arrogance of Jack Valenti's MPAA and Hillary Rosen's RIAA -- and the supine compliance of federal judges who aren't supposed to be whoring for the corporations -- makes me think these guys need to be spanked. Unfortunately, increasing government power doesn't do much to enhance individual freedom.
At the moment, such groups or entities probably would have to purchase protection from a suitable nation-state. That shouldn't be hard. Nigeria, for example, would probably come cheap.
This is actually a good idea. Thus, it will never happen.
Loved 'em both, but Cryptonomicon is less traditionally science-fictionish so I guess I can see the point, even though I loved it. Has anybody noticed that it's harder to tell what science fiction is when things like "terminator" and "jurassic park" count as mainstream even though they involve robots, time travel, and genetic engineering?
I've got a bottle of Stoli in the freezer now. Maybe I'll give it a try. Or maybe I'll just chill -- I've noticed that after a shot or two, having a slower CPU doesn't bother me as much.
Academics are descended from the courtier intellectuals of the 14-17th centuries. They've always, for the most part, been suckups to power. In the 20th century that was government power. Now it's corporate power. Given how the 20th century went, this is probably an improvement.
But, naturally, I want it!
My mother is a school librarian, and she's been getting more and more pressure on these issues. The yahoos are coming out of the woodwork on both the left (ban Dr. Doolittle! And Huck Finn!) and the right (ban "Of Mice and Men" because it has the word "damn" in it!). Personally, I think that public officials who espouse censorship should commit ritual suicide. But I might settle for tarring and feathering.
Wonderdog Records is one of the many small indie labels that isn't an RIAA member and that encourages downloading, Napsterizing, etc.
"Suit Tests Power of Media Concerns To Control Access to Digital Content "
That somebody's done this? Or that there's probably a market for it? Heck, I might buy one.
Cause it's sure to be a bitch. I'd like to drive one of these things, though. Ah, but not the first one, okay?
James Woolsey, former head of the CIA, doesn't. Not now that he's taken a pro bono immigration case and seen how this stuff really works. See this article from the NY Times magazine.
Yeah, when they collect the data and make money off of it that should be seen as unjust enrichment. Hmm, not a bad angle, actually.
Good grief, it's really there! Ah, such a juxtaposition of the sublime and the quotidian. Or something like that.
I have watched Britain's gradual transformation into a police state for some years with dismay. At the moment, it's a largely benign police state. But such conditions are seldom stable. Hey: the Brits are wiretapping everyone and have abandoned traditional Anglo notions of due process. Everything important in Europe is run by Germans. Who won the war again?
By suing Microsoft, etc. for having such crappy software and security. Of course, that may be a cure worse than the disease.... Question: is the court system really like a computer that runs on people and paper? And are bogus lawsuits its version of a virus?
Titan's atmosphere contains lots hydrocarbons, meaning that it could perhaps support life. That makes it interesting, but it also means that any spacecraft must be highly sterilized to keep earthlife from maybe getting a foothold on Titan. Yeah, it's really cold. But there's earthlife in places that get within spitting distance of those temperatures -- and it's not entirely sure that everywhere on Titan is that cold. Previous sterilization efforts have been fairly half-assed. This one shouldn't be.
This is so old-media it's pathetic. First of all, who would buy these ads. They'll annoy users. Users already are bombarded with ads everywhere. Ads are fine, but in an ad-ubiquitous environment, I don't see how you can make money by slapping on another layer of ads. Especially when the ads are obtrusive and annoying, which it sounds like these will be.
Boy, that's the truth. My guy, from Bellsouth, took 4 hours, gave up, and left. I had to finish it myself. (Took me about an hour). Hey, come to think of it, I've already done this DIY DSL thing! It wasn't that hard.
So, all I have to do is post some bad stuff about a company I hate, and they'll pay somebody thousands to track me down? Hehehe. You could do a lot of damage with this.
Well, what you're actually hearing are harmonics of the subsonic fundamentals. I emailed with one of these guys a while back; he said that they played it on a barge in Amsterdam (I think) and that down inside the barge you could hear the most amazing pure tones at various harmonic steps. Did you do the lofi stream or the full 128 kbps? B/c you can hear a lot more at the hifi setting.
Well, at least Katz would be happy about that.
Somebody ought to be investigating this. If it's the French, so be it.
Absolutely right. Under NASA's old structure, everyone had the right to stop things if their part wasn't going right -- and was expected to know the difference. Then, in the 1970s, NASA switched (under budgetary pressure) to something called "success oriented management" -- which, naturally, didn't produce nearly as much in the way of success. It was based on assuming that things would probably work. Need I say more?