If you want to complain about poor UN choices, let's start with giving countries Permanent Security Council seats (oh, and have a veto while you're at it!)
I would argue that those five countries have done more damage to UN's credibility than Libya has.
To me the bigger question is: can Linux systems cater to the average end-user who has no intention of ever understanding how the system works, without losing everything I love about Linux? You just can't do that without dumbing-down the system.
I'd say it's perfectly possible. I used to be a tinkerer-type, but I just don't have the time anymore. I don't use Linux anymore because I had to choose between "tinkering with my computer" and "doing what I wanted to do in the first place". So I will demote myself from "technically inclined" to "average user who wants his machine to work"
And here's all I need - I need to install Ubuntu, and it just works. Video cards, sound cards, all the peripherals. I wish I had time to tinker with config files and settings - I really do - but I don't. It needs to Just Work Out Of The Box. All the power user settings aren't scaring people away, but the requirement that you need to know how all the internals work so I can check my email. To use the classical car analogy, I don't mind being able to pop the hood and tinker with my car - I just also need the ability to get in, turn the ignition, and drive somewhere hassle-free.
No, not really. Though it's one of the big positives of digital delivery, there's absolutely nothing stating that you *need* to be able to instantly download it. They're producing the product, just... later.
And while I'd accept "servers are down" and "technical difficulties" as reasons why he can't download his game (as they fall under "circumstances outside our control"), I'd say this is a pretty clear case of them having the ability to produce the product and refusing to do so.
Steam can also turn off and delete your license whenever they want.
So yeah, there is risk with digital downloads.
But as you say, even the physical media is requiring online verification, so in the end you still end up at the mercy of some far-off server.
You know why I'll choose Steam over physical? Because Steam *depends* on those online sales - that's the business model. If they pull the plug, they go out of business. Even if they just shut down "old games that no-one plays anymore", they lose most of their credibility regarding the advantages of buying online.
Contrast with the game-company specific servers, where as soon as the game is old enough, they pull the plug. They don't need to care that they're hosing old customers, because that's not their core business.
I like Steam (mainly because they at least offer something in exchange for the DRM - namely the "we'll let you download this as much as you need, and keep the game patched for you").
If I could ask one thing, it'd be that they steal a page from GameTap's book, and allow subaccounts. (Even if it still enforces the one-at-a-time rule.)
I would suspect that won't hold up under any scrutiny - "I'm sorry, you're banned from our mall for a year. Oh, and everything you bought from us will stop working as well."
$1.2 Million is pretty cheap to learn that lesson, all considered.
And I'll be very surprised if they take any action against the lucky winners - the bad publicity (and risk of accidentally tagging someone who just happened to redeem their three codes at the wrong time) won't be worth the hassle.
I am not sure if people are aware, but many states already push hospitals to obtain DNA samples of newborns for all sorts of varied reasons. No matter, anyone with a brain can figure out what the hell the hospitals and these states are doing: They are building a DNA bank to make the state's job easier.
And this one is particularly abhorrent - anyone who's been a parent knows that they're not functioning at full mental capacity for the next day or two. When the nurse brings up the consent form and rattles off all the horrible things that this test will prevent, you're not really in a good place to say "hang on, what *else* will they use it for?"
If DNA testing will exonerate you, why not sample your DNA?
Same reason why I know a few parents who won't get their kids fingerprinted for the police "safety program" - scope creep.
I'd have less objection to supplying DNA when charged with a crime, but they won't throw that sample out afterwards, will they? They'll stash it away, and you're now a de facto suspect in every crime from now on.
By which I mean, every time they get a DNA sample, they're going to run it against yours to see if you match. The same principle applies to the child safety program - sure, it sounds good to protect your kid, but they also plug that fingerprint data into the national databases. So twenty years from now, if Little Timmy ends up in the wrong bar one night, he's screwed.
Slightly off-topic, but relevant - when I enrolled in university they asked for an "emergency contact" (name and phone number). Turns out that info goes straight to the fundraising department, so that when you move, they can call your relative and "update their records". Scope creep.
The Senate bill would transition the Patent Office to a so-called first-to-file system, bringing the U.S. system in line with the patent regimes of much of the rest of the world. The shift would confer patent rights on the first inventor or company to file an application, rather than the current first-to-invent system.
So, since the rest of the world already does it this way, I'd say you'll have to look elsewhere for your troll problem.
What benefits does a console offer that a PC doesn't?
Speaking as someone who owns a Wii, PS2, N64 and NES to go along with multiple PCs and a Mac, here's what I like about consoles:
1. They Just Work - if someone buys me a console game, all they need to know is that I have that console. Any PS2 game will work in any PS2, period. I've had multiple experiences of getting PC games and finding out that (a) my video card isn't the right variety (particularly bad on laptops) or (b) the game is just plain slow (GH3, I'm looking at you).
2. Ease of Use - I put in the game, then I play it. No restarts, installations (although those are getting more common), or antivirus popups. My daughter's been playing on the Wii since she was three, and she's started playing on the PS2 now (at 4).
3. They Keep Working. Go grab an old PC game (say, from early-mid 90s) and fire it up on your PC. There's a reason GOG is popular for resurrecting old games - compatability breaks both ways. My NES is still working, and it still plays NES games.
4. PCs haven't really handled hot-seating (or any sort of simultaneous play) in years. I can play Mario Kart with my daughter.
5. While you can plug your PC into your TV (I used to do that when playing Riven with my wife), it's quickly obvious that PC games aren't designed to be seen at that size/viewing distance.
All that said, I do play some games on my PC. So it boils down to "right tool for right job".
If I am wrong, please show me where in the world this idea has actually worked?
Marriage and roommates are the two examples that pop to mind (group control over group resources). But I'll agree that it tends to break down at larger scales (I suspect because once you don't personally know everyone involved, the temptation to skim off the top grows).
What's your friend do for editing with the ebooks? Does she edit her own? Hire a freelance editor? That seems to be one of the sticking points for DIY publishing, and I'm always curious how people get around those obstacles.
Generally hire their own. And for first-time authors, there are resources out there where people volunteer their time to edit.
Digital selling means that "Hollywood accounting" will start to decline. While you probably still won't be able to prove that they're screwing you, you will be able to pay others to do it piecemeal and see that they're keeping more money.
My favorite reply-to-all story (which is 100% true; I was there, I participated, and I got in trouble for it at the end).
My high school had just got "email" (in the "you can email your teacher and other students" sense - they didn't trust us with outside links, or didn't trust the outside with us, one or the other). First Class, if you know the software. A few interesting facts:
You could see everyone who was online at the moment (and select the name(s) to send them an email).
When you recieved email, it made a nice loud "ping" (and since everything was internal, it was near instant from "send" to "ping").
From one of the walkways (that had computers for homework-use), you had a clear view/hearing to three different labs. (Just a quirk of the layout).
This was '94, and the first experience most of these kids had with email.
Combine these facts, and you can mess with an entire school at once:
1. Pull up the list of everyone online, select all, send an email saying "Hi!"
2. Listen to the near-synchronous "ping" sound from three labs as they all receive the email.
3. Wait about ten seconds - at least two people will hit reply-all and say "who is this?" or similar.
4. Listen to a double-dose of "pings".
Wash, rinse, repeat - our best day we managed to have a continual storm of pings as emails whizzed back and forth. It only stopped when they sent teachers to the labs to instruct everyone to hit delete and leave it. (Which lead to getting in trouble part - although I think we got in more trouble for bogging the server down than for disrupting three classes *shrug*.)
The only better story I have is using Waterloo MacJanet's inability to delete a message without opening it first, combined with the ability to use alias to send an email to the same guy twenty times (as in, I hit send once, he gets twenty copies), to completely bury a friend's email account.
So, I would advise you (guy from TFA) that you don't need to wear the hat if you just go to the supermarket... but if you don't want your wife to find out that you have a mistress, and you pass some camera's on the way there, then the hat is advisable.
I'd extend that - so long as you never intend on having a mistress, you're probably OK. Because they'll be able to tell from your changing patterns that something is up.
That's the freaky part about things like Facebook's new "tracking like buttons" and the "let us manage your forums for you" features - my newspaper turned on the "you must log in to Facebook to write us" feature, and frankly, it feels a little expensive to have to hand over access to your complete profile in order to give them content to publish...
Also, because a library is one of the last places where Everyone Is Equal. So long as you're well behaved, a library doesn't care who you are. Which is how it should be.
A favorite story of mine is a library system that tried to fix their "homeless problem", and so added rules prohibiting sleeping. Which lasted until the librarians kicked out a wealthier patron who was caught catnapping in one of the chairs. The rule was quickly revoked...
that's what videogames and school/teachers are for
If I had to pick between a good teacher and a good librarian, I'd take the librarian. The upside of spending your work day surrounded by books is that you tend to become well-rounded and well-informed.
Disclaimer: I spent a summer in my youth working in a library (upgrading the card catalog from Apple II to PC). You can't help but learn things in that environment.
Hey, we got cash for new sports stadiums and missiles and what-not, why not libraries - at least they target generally lower-income people.
Edmonton moved to the "high-tech" libraries a few years ago, and the only complaint I have about them is the self-checkout, and that's just because I like librarians (the machines generally work just fine).
Videogames get kids in the door, at which point there's a chance they'll actually pick up a book. Ditto movies and music. Public wi-fi is a logical partner to libraries (open access, etc.)
Haven't finished it yet (it's 400+ pages long!) There's a Canadian institute on the funding page, so it might be as simple as "we already paid for it".
I was wondering about that myself - big reason why I snagged a (free) copy was to see if they explain why.
Of course, I'll probably see it used as "proof" that Canada is a haven for piracy or some such nonsense next week...
Count yourself lucky - the "cheap theaters" have been ruthlessly squeezed out of my town over the years - I think the cheapest I can get into a movie now is $5, and that's if I drive out of town to the place they reno'ed from an old supermarket.
Of course, it doesn't help that the average home theater systems are more than sufficient for all but the latest special effects blockbuster.
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If you want to complain about poor UN choices, let's start with giving countries Permanent Security Council seats (oh, and have a veto while you're at it!)
I would argue that those five countries have done more damage to UN's credibility than Libya has.
I'd say it's perfectly possible. I used to be a tinkerer-type, but I just don't have the time anymore. I don't use Linux anymore because I had to choose between "tinkering with my computer" and "doing what I wanted to do in the first place". So I will demote myself from "technically inclined" to "average user who wants his machine to work"
And here's all I need - I need to install Ubuntu, and it just works. Video cards, sound cards, all the peripherals. I wish I had time to tinker with config files and settings - I really do - but I don't. It needs to Just Work Out Of The Box. All the power user settings aren't scaring people away, but the requirement that you need to know how all the internals work so I can check my email. To use the classical car analogy, I don't mind being able to pop the hood and tinker with my car - I just also need the ability to get in, turn the ignition, and drive somewhere hassle-free.
No, not really. Though it's one of the big positives of digital delivery, there's absolutely nothing stating that you *need* to be able to instantly download it. They're producing the product, just... later.
And while I'd accept "servers are down" and "technical difficulties" as reasons why he can't download his game (as they fall under "circumstances outside our control"), I'd say this is a pretty clear case of them having the ability to produce the product and refusing to do so.
The restaurant would still be responsible for providing the product purchased, however. (Probably by bringing it to the door.)
Steam can also turn off and delete your license whenever they want.
So yeah, there is risk with digital downloads.
But as you say, even the physical media is requiring online verification, so in the end you still end up at the mercy of some far-off server.
You know why I'll choose Steam over physical? Because Steam *depends* on those online sales - that's the business model. If they pull the plug, they go out of business. Even if they just shut down "old games that no-one plays anymore", they lose most of their credibility regarding the advantages of buying online.
Contrast with the game-company specific servers, where as soon as the game is old enough, they pull the plug. They don't need to care that they're hosing old customers, because that's not their core business.
I like Steam (mainly because they at least offer something in exchange for the DRM - namely the "we'll let you download this as much as you need, and keep the game patched for you").
If I could ask one thing, it'd be that they steal a page from GameTap's book, and allow subaccounts. (Even if it still enforces the one-at-a-time rule.)
I would suspect that won't hold up under any scrutiny - "I'm sorry, you're banned from our mall for a year. Oh, and everything you bought from us will stop working as well."
And my mod points expired this morning, no less...
$1.2 Million is pretty cheap to learn that lesson, all considered.
And I'll be very surprised if they take any action against the lucky winners - the bad publicity (and risk of accidentally tagging someone who just happened to redeem their three codes at the wrong time) won't be worth the hassle.
Just to add:
I am not sure if people are aware, but many states already push hospitals to obtain DNA samples of newborns for all sorts of varied reasons. No matter, anyone with a brain can figure out what the hell the hospitals and these states are doing: They are building a DNA bank to make the state's job easier.
And this one is particularly abhorrent - anyone who's been a parent knows that they're not functioning at full mental capacity for the next day or two. When the nurse brings up the consent form and rattles off all the horrible things that this test will prevent, you're not really in a good place to say "hang on, what *else* will they use it for?"
If DNA testing will exonerate you, why not sample your DNA?
Same reason why I know a few parents who won't get their kids fingerprinted for the police "safety program" - scope creep.
I'd have less objection to supplying DNA when charged with a crime, but they won't throw that sample out afterwards, will they? They'll stash it away, and you're now a de facto suspect in every crime from now on.
By which I mean, every time they get a DNA sample, they're going to run it against yours to see if you match. The same principle applies to the child safety program - sure, it sounds good to protect your kid, but they also plug that fingerprint data into the national databases. So twenty years from now, if Little Timmy ends up in the wrong bar one night, he's screwed.
Slightly off-topic, but relevant - when I enrolled in university they asked for an "emergency contact" (name and phone number). Turns out that info goes straight to the fundraising department, so that when you move, they can call your relative and "update their records". Scope creep.
Well, anyone who has a "perfectly working PC" and doesn't have to invest time to upkeep is one lucky person. I've never met one of them myself.
The Senate bill would transition the Patent Office to a so-called first-to-file system, bringing the U.S. system in line with the patent regimes of much of the rest of the world. The shift would confer patent rights on the first inventor or company to file an application, rather than the current first-to-invent system.
So, since the rest of the world already does it this way, I'd say you'll have to look elsewhere for your troll problem.
What benefits does a console offer that a PC doesn't?
Speaking as someone who owns a Wii, PS2, N64 and NES to go along with multiple PCs and a Mac, here's what I like about consoles:
All that said, I do play some games on my PC. So it boils down to "right tool for right job".
If I am wrong, please show me where in the world this idea has actually worked?
Marriage and roommates are the two examples that pop to mind (group control over group resources). But I'll agree that it tends to break down at larger scales (I suspect because once you don't personally know everyone involved, the temptation to skim off the top grows).
What's your friend do for editing with the ebooks? Does she edit her own? Hire a freelance editor? That seems to be one of the sticking points for DIY publishing, and I'm always curious how people get around those obstacles.
Generally hire their own. And for first-time authors, there are resources out there where people volunteer their time to edit.
Digital selling means that "Hollywood accounting" will start to decline. While you probably still won't be able to prove that they're screwing you, you will be able to pay others to do it piecemeal and see that they're keeping more money.
My favorite reply-to-all story (which is 100% true; I was there, I participated, and I got in trouble for it at the end).
My high school had just got "email" (in the "you can email your teacher and other students" sense - they didn't trust us with outside links, or didn't trust the outside with us, one or the other). First Class, if you know the software. A few interesting facts:
Combine these facts, and you can mess with an entire school at once:
1. Pull up the list of everyone online, select all, send an email saying "Hi!"
2. Listen to the near-synchronous "ping" sound from three labs as they all receive the email.
3. Wait about ten seconds - at least two people will hit reply-all and say "who is this?" or similar.
4. Listen to a double-dose of "pings".
Wash, rinse, repeat - our best day we managed to have a continual storm of pings as emails whizzed back and forth. It only stopped when they sent teachers to the labs to instruct everyone to hit delete and leave it. (Which lead to getting in trouble part - although I think we got in more trouble for bogging the server down than for disrupting three classes *shrug*.)
The only better story I have is using Waterloo MacJanet's inability to delete a message without opening it first, combined with the ability to use alias to send an email to the same guy twenty times (as in, I hit send once, he gets twenty copies), to completely bury a friend's email account.
So, I would advise you (guy from TFA) that you don't need to wear the hat if you just go to the supermarket... but if you don't want your wife to find out that you have a mistress, and you pass some camera's on the way there, then the hat is advisable.
I'd extend that - so long as you never intend on having a mistress, you're probably OK. Because they'll be able to tell from your changing patterns that something is up.
That's the freaky part about things like Facebook's new "tracking like buttons" and the "let us manage your forums for you" features - my newspaper turned on the "you must log in to Facebook to write us" feature, and frankly, it feels a little expensive to have to hand over access to your complete profile in order to give them content to publish...
Also, because a library is one of the last places where Everyone Is Equal. So long as you're well behaved, a library doesn't care who you are. Which is how it should be.
A favorite story of mine is a library system that tried to fix their "homeless problem", and so added rules prohibiting sleeping. Which lasted until the librarians kicked out a wealthier patron who was caught catnapping in one of the chairs. The rule was quickly revoked...
>>>numerous child programs, tutoring
that's what videogames and school/teachers are for
If I had to pick between a good teacher and a good librarian, I'd take the librarian. The upside of spending your work day surrounded by books is that you tend to become well-rounded and well-informed.
Disclaimer: I spent a summer in my youth working in a library (upgrading the card catalog from Apple II to PC). You can't help but learn things in that environment.
Hey, we got cash for new sports stadiums and missiles and what-not, why not libraries - at least they target generally lower-income people.
Edmonton moved to the "high-tech" libraries a few years ago, and the only complaint I have about them is the self-checkout, and that's just because I like librarians (the machines generally work just fine).
Videogames get kids in the door, at which point there's a chance they'll actually pick up a book. Ditto movies and music. Public wi-fi is a logical partner to libraries (open access, etc.)
Haven't finished it yet (it's 400+ pages long!) There's a Canadian institute on the funding page, so it might be as simple as "we already paid for it".
... but people have and will pay what they perceive as "fair value" for things. That's how so many small-scale productions stay afloat.
I was wondering about that myself - big reason why I snagged a (free) copy was to see if they explain why. Of course, I'll probably see it used as "proof" that Canada is a haven for piracy or some such nonsense next week...
Count yourself lucky - the "cheap theaters" have been ruthlessly squeezed out of my town over the years - I think the cheapest I can get into a movie now is $5, and that's if I drive out of town to the place they reno'ed from an old supermarket.
Of course, it doesn't help that the average home theater systems are more than sufficient for all but the latest special effects blockbuster.