I'm floored by how incredibly bad that is! This is the wonder of the NBN?? I almost get those speeds for that price for unlimited data, right fucking now, on my adsl2+ connection in Brisbane. Even if this plan is only for the most isolated of outback towns, that's dreadful. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that we'll get utterly shafted yet again, but I had hoped with it being a public project... ugh.
The Beatles sold 30 million albums in the US alone in the last decade (2000-10), making them the number 2 musical act overall in sales. The figures would be similar for the EU. Everyone knows this extension is wrong, but there's no way they'll ever leave that kind of money on the table. If there's one thing that drives politics, it's money and greed. In 20 years, it will be extended again, unless everyone has stopped buying.
The reason buying games from GOG is a no-brainer for me is because they don't have any DRM, and are vehemently against it on principle. Just to be clear, as suggesting it has less DRM is like saying your drink has less urine in it than this one over here... no urine for me, please!
A good April Fool's stitches itself into plausible reality, and yet when revealed is clearly foolish. It's difficult to think of a more important lesson a participant in media/news could learn, than to understand it is never a perfect reflection of reality and critical thinking is called for. It's like a worldwide Gullibility Awareness/Critical Thinking day
Beside, there's a pretty strong implicit rule that's generally followed that the joke is never anything serious and no-one ever falsely claims it isn't an April Fool's joke when called on it.
I've been reading about this on the Bioware forums, and another bombshell hit me: apparently SecuROM has been put on DA2, even though it was declared to be free of it by EA.
Personally, I'd say I'm boycotting EA over this, but really I'm merely continuing to boycott them over how I was punished by them in multiple ways for daring to buy the first Dragon Age, and this.
One of the interesting developments is the return of the true Pirate radio stations. The concept of a DJ actually loving music, being in control and playing what they think is the best stuff has been so neglected, for decades, that it is actually revolutionary now. It exists out there in what are true Pirate radio stations, because anyone can now make a internet radio stream. Sometimes my friends do this when we're chatting online, but out there on the high seas of the web, there are Pirate internet radio stations that have become popular with people in the know. Places where music comes first; seemingly the only places out there where that's true. They may be difficult to find, sometimes in closed communities, but if you love music, you'll find them.
Funnily enough, they tend to never play RIAA or BPI music. There's so much amazing music out there, it's never been a better time for it, you just won't find it very often within those two rotted corpses.
Yep, this happened to me with the first Blue ray (and last!) I ever bought, at the worst time. We'd been working our asses off packing for a move, took a break on the last night to watch a movie we'd been waiting for before packing the TV—one that I'd bought that morning (on Blue ray since the DVD wasn't in stock, I'd even made sure it was region free)—and the ps3 said we had to update the key to watch it at all. The internet had just been disconnected which meant the disc was as good as a coaster for our purposes. Seriously, this shit only hurts customers; if I'd snatched it from the internet, which I could have easily, we'd have had no hassle. The only way not to feel like a sucker is to pirate, a much better experience.
This is one of those half-truths that sound well. Government isn't the enemy the free citizens are fighting; it's the very forum for the fight, the battlefield itself. They who define the role of Government and shape it will be the victors. So yes, a lackey but—whose lackey? (And no, I don't think it's going well for us, particularly...)
Just one is when they show clips from the movie whenever you do something in the menu. I remember sitting down to watch '30 Days of Night' with my brother on DVD. He knew nothing about it but I'd seen it at the theatre, I thought it was a good film. They spend almost half the movie building up the tension to a big reveal as to what the monsters are. There's this dramatic scene where they are finally revealed, it's really good. So I press play and and before it starts the feature it plays that exact scene in its full glory. Thanks, assholes.
I can't see that attitude existing at all in Australia, most of us are glad for the support against our own government. Sad, but there it is.
However, you may have a point in a way. Make enough stink about other country's filtering and perhaps your own citizens won't think you're messing with, or spying, on their connections.
Atkinson's censorship of games is a part of a pattern of behaviour. This is the man who also passed a law making anonymous speech illegal specifically for this election campaign. He then had the cheek, after intense criticism, to say if he was re-elected he'd remove it after the election. It's likely that this was more damaging to the Labor party in this election than the R18 issue.
I am very happy to hear he no longer holds office, as I detest the man and what he stands for. Australia is now a slightly better place. Next up, hopefully, Conroy and the internet filter.
His support for ACTA is consistent with what I expect of Obama, fair enough. However, one of the planks of his campaign was transparency and openness in Government. Why does he not come out and support open negotiations for ACTA? That is a broken promise.
Indeed. The textbook for my first year programming class for Engineering extensively used quotes throughout from Alice/Through The Looking Glass to illustrate concepts about algorithms and object-oriented programming. They were very suitable for the purpose, I found. It was a book for teaching Pascal though...
Because then you can mix and match. Or you can replace a lost or damaged half. Funnily enough, having choice is always preferable to having no choice. Everyone has their own reasons.
Many people see the benefit of personal filters for their children. Not many appear to agree with a mandatory filter for everybody. I'll grant you though that most people are apathetic, as about most things.
Not that I agree with censorship in any medium, but TV and radio are dumb terminals once you've tuned into a channel. The only valid justification for the censorship, in my opinion, is that people therefore want to have a reasonable expectation for what content they will get. The internet however is completely different. You have to seek out your own content and specifically request it. And if you don't like it you can filter it out yourself with perfect ease. I completely object to this choice being made for me by anyone else, especially this government which has shown itself to be fairly puritanical in its leanings (anti-gay marriage; want to ban depictions of small breasts, female ejaculation, and cartoon characters; want to raise the drinking age to 21, don't understand the concept of adult satire re. the various Chaser incidents, etc. and so on)
This filtering scheme would be like turning on SBS TV and finding it's been totally blocked by the Goverment because they feel they've shown too many foreign films with nude scenes.
And I assure you, the majority of Australians oppose the filter. Even most of the usual pro-censorship 'decency' or religious organisations oppose it. It's very hard to find people who support it. The Government is being incredibly anti-democratic to push this through. There's certainly a background motive to it, of why they're so determined against all reason and support - I wonder if Australia is being used as a testbed for this type of filtering?
It's a highly ridiculous result for what is something like a 2 second sample of a string arrangement. Somehow they end up losing the entire songwriting copyright, the lyrics, the actual composed music, everything. Certainly not justice. I try to look at it postively, as adding to the meaning of the song. They write a hit song, and get the fame and people coming to their concerts, but then get their song stolen by very rich musicians through legal injustice. It's a bittersweet symphony indeed.
I used to say the same thing, except I've come to realize it's all semantics, and the constitution never meant a damn thing, not since its ratification, not now, not ever.
Sadly, I have to agree, and it happened right from the start, as you say. For example:
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."
Oh, except for the men from Africa or anyone recently from that lineage. They can be enslaved. I always wondered how they could write those words, then go home to their slaves. (I suppose they didn't see them as "men", which is even more depressing. What groups aren't seen as "men" now?)
The problem is people are looking at it from two different perspectives. As someone accepting money there are plenty of alternatives, as shown in that link. Yet as someone paying money, there's no real choice as everyone accepting seems to use Paypal! I'd love to boycott Paypal as a customer/donator but it's the standard. So I have to boycott the majority of things on the internet; whether it's buying the new album from an indie artist or donating to a charity. To anyone transacting business or asking for donations, please God don't use Paypal - then we won't have to consider boycotting you over their actions.
I completely agree that since they have set up a rights-free zone, they deserve no benefit of the doubt. Until they stop their systematic abuse and act like the public servants they are, I will dismiss them as a menace.
They should not be allowed to examine any document. They should be explicitly forbidden, and terminated if they do so, with possible criminal charges. Documents present no threat whatsoever to the security and safety of the planes and the airport. Their function (if they have a legitimate one) is to provide for the immediate physical safety of the passengers and planes. They are not investigators, they are not police - they are security guards. The only time private documents should be forcibly read is under the force of a warrant issued by a public court and supported by solid evidence of criminal activity.
Not sure if this story is true, but it's certainly believable.
I agree. The only thing that was gained was the fact that 83% of voters don't want to, or can't, use this method for voting. Shouldn't that tell the people who implemented it something? Seems like a clear majority to me.
Do you ever click on the ads? Usually that's the only way a site gets paid; so if you never do click on them, disabling them will lower the bandwidth requirement on the adservers (ever so slightly). I don't know what deal slashdot has for their ads but maybe that is part of the reason for the offer, besides the good will it creates.
I was given the option as well, though I haven't chosen to disable yet. I was a little surprised with the reminder there were ads. I use adblock!
Slashdot Mirror
I'm floored by how incredibly bad that is! This is the wonder of the NBN?? I almost get those speeds for that price for unlimited data, right fucking now, on my adsl2+ connection in Brisbane. Even if this plan is only for the most isolated of outback towns, that's dreadful. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that we'll get utterly shafted yet again, but I had hoped with it being a public project... ugh.
The Beatles sold 30 million albums in the US alone in the last decade (2000-10), making them the number 2 musical act overall in sales. The figures would be similar for the EU. Everyone knows this extension is wrong, but there's no way they'll ever leave that kind of money on the table. If there's one thing that drives politics, it's money and greed. In 20 years, it will be extended again, unless everyone has stopped buying.
Impulse has more DRM than GOG.
The reason buying games from GOG is a no-brainer for me is because they don't have any DRM, and are vehemently against it on principle. Just to be clear, as suggesting it has less DRM is like saying your drink has less urine in it than this one over here... no urine for me, please!
A good April Fool's stitches itself into plausible reality, and yet when revealed is clearly foolish. It's difficult to think of a more important lesson a participant in media/news could learn, than to understand it is never a perfect reflection of reality and critical thinking is called for. It's like a worldwide Gullibility Awareness/Critical Thinking day
Beside, there's a pretty strong implicit rule that's generally followed that the joke is never anything serious and no-one ever falsely claims it isn't an April Fool's joke when called on it.
I've been reading about this on the Bioware forums, and another bombshell hit me: apparently SecuROM has been put on DA2, even though it was declared to be free of it by EA.
http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2011/03/dragon-age-ii-features-hated-securom-despite-previous-ea-claims.ars
Personally, I'd say I'm boycotting EA over this, but really I'm merely continuing to boycott them over how I was punished by them in multiple ways for daring to buy the first Dragon Age, and this.
One of the interesting developments is the return of the true Pirate radio stations. The concept of a DJ actually loving music, being in control and playing what they think is the best stuff has been so neglected, for decades, that it is actually revolutionary now. It exists out there in what are true Pirate radio stations, because anyone can now make a internet radio stream. Sometimes my friends do this when we're chatting online, but out there on the high seas of the web, there are Pirate internet radio stations that have become popular with people in the know. Places where music comes first; seemingly the only places out there where that's true. They may be difficult to find, sometimes in closed communities, but if you love music, you'll find them.
Funnily enough, they tend to never play RIAA or BPI music. There's so much amazing music out there, it's never been a better time for it, you just won't find it very often within those two rotted corpses.
Yep, this happened to me with the first Blue ray (and last!) I ever bought, at the worst time. We'd been working our asses off packing for a move, took a break on the last night to watch a movie we'd been waiting for before packing the TV—one that I'd bought that morning (on Blue ray since the DVD wasn't in stock, I'd even made sure it was region free)—and the ps3 said we had to update the key to watch it at all. The internet had just been disconnected which meant the disc was as good as a coaster for our purposes. Seriously, this shit only hurts customers; if I'd snatched it from the internet, which I could have easily, we'd have had no hassle. The only way not to feel like a sucker is to pirate, a much better experience.
This is one of those half-truths that sound well. Government isn't the enemy the free citizens are fighting; it's the very forum for the fight, the battlefield itself. They who define the role of Government and shape it will be the victors. So yes, a lackey but—whose lackey? (And no, I don't think it's going well for us, particularly...)
So many annoyances on DVDs....
Just one is when they show clips from the movie whenever you do something in the menu. I remember sitting down to watch '30 Days of Night' with my brother on DVD. He knew nothing about it but I'd seen it at the theatre, I thought it was a good film. They spend almost half the movie building up the tension to a big reveal as to what the monsters are. There's this dramatic scene where they are finally revealed, it's really good. So I press play and and before it starts the feature it plays that exact scene in its full glory. Thanks, assholes.
I heard Grigori Perelman is EM sensitive...
*runs*
I can't see that attitude existing at all in Australia, most of us are glad for the support against our own government. Sad, but there it is.
However, you may have a point in a way. Make enough stink about other country's filtering and perhaps your own citizens won't think you're messing with, or spying, on their connections.
Ditto for "capitalism". Idealism is always foiled by human nature. The best systems I've seen are a mix of elements.
Atkinson's censorship of games is a part of a pattern of behaviour. This is the man who also passed a law making anonymous speech illegal specifically for this election campaign.
He then had the cheek, after intense criticism, to say if he was re-elected he'd remove it after the election. It's likely that this was more damaging to the Labor party in this election than the R18 issue.
I am very happy to hear he no longer holds office, as I detest the man and what he stands for. Australia is now a slightly better place. Next up, hopefully, Conroy and the internet filter.
His support for ACTA is consistent with what I expect of Obama, fair enough. However, one of the planks of his campaign was transparency and openness in Government. Why does he not come out and support open negotiations for ACTA? That is a broken promise.
Indeed. The textbook for my first year programming class for Engineering extensively used quotes throughout from Alice/Through The Looking Glass to illustrate concepts about algorithms and object-oriented programming. They were very suitable for the purpose, I found. It was a book for teaching Pascal though...
Because then you can mix and match. Or you can replace a lost or damaged half. Funnily enough, having choice is always preferable to having no choice. Everyone has their own reasons.
I'd be less scared of a biker as Attorney General than a puritan nutjob like Atkinson.
That originally popped into my head as a joke, but I think it's actually true! See also his recent law banning anonymous speech.
So then you don't support it?
Many people see the benefit of personal filters for their children. Not many appear to agree with a mandatory filter for everybody. I'll grant you though that most people are apathetic, as about most things.
Not that I agree with censorship in any medium, but TV and radio are dumb terminals once you've tuned into a channel. The only valid justification for the censorship, in my opinion, is that people therefore want to have a reasonable expectation for what content they will get. The internet however is completely different. You have to seek out your own content and specifically request it. And if you don't like it you can filter it out yourself with perfect ease. I completely object to this choice being made for me by anyone else, especially this government which has shown itself to be fairly puritanical in its leanings (anti-gay marriage; want to ban depictions of small breasts, female ejaculation, and cartoon characters; want to raise the drinking age to 21, don't understand the concept of adult satire re. the various Chaser incidents, etc. and so on)
This filtering scheme would be like turning on SBS TV and finding it's been totally blocked by the Goverment because they feel they've shown too many foreign films with nude scenes.
And I assure you, the majority of Australians oppose the filter. Even most of the usual pro-censorship 'decency' or religious organisations oppose it. It's very hard to find people who support it. The Government is being incredibly anti-democratic to push this through. There's certainly a background motive to it, of why they're so determined against all reason and support - I wonder if Australia is being used as a testbed for this type of filtering?
It's a highly ridiculous result for what is something like a 2 second sample of a string arrangement. Somehow they end up losing the entire songwriting copyright, the lyrics, the actual composed music, everything. Certainly not justice. I try to look at it postively, as adding to the meaning of the song. They write a hit song, and get the fame and people coming to their concerts, but then get their song stolen by very rich musicians through legal injustice. It's a bittersweet symphony indeed.
I used to say the same thing, except I've come to realize it's all semantics, and the constitution never meant a damn thing, not since its ratification, not now, not ever.
Sadly, I have to agree, and it happened right from the start, as you say. For example:
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."
Oh, except for the men from Africa or anyone recently from that lineage. They can be enslaved. I always wondered how they could write those words, then go home to their slaves. (I suppose they didn't see them as "men", which is even more depressing. What groups aren't seen as "men" now?)
The problem is people are looking at it from two different perspectives. As someone accepting money there are plenty of alternatives, as shown in that link. Yet as someone paying money, there's no real choice as everyone accepting seems to use Paypal! I'd love to boycott Paypal as a customer/donator but it's the standard. So I have to boycott the majority of things on the internet; whether it's buying the new album from an indie artist or donating to a charity. To anyone transacting business or asking for donations, please God don't use Paypal - then we won't have to consider boycotting you over their actions.
I completely agree that since they have set up a rights-free zone, they deserve no benefit of the doubt. Until they stop their systematic abuse and act like the public servants they are, I will dismiss them as a menace.
They should not be allowed to examine any document. They should be explicitly forbidden, and terminated if they do so, with possible criminal charges. Documents present no threat whatsoever to the security and safety of the planes and the airport. Their function (if they have a legitimate one) is to provide for the immediate physical safety of the passengers and planes. They are not investigators, they are not police - they are security guards. The only time private documents should be forcibly read is under the force of a warrant issued by a public court and supported by solid evidence of criminal activity.
Not sure if this story is true, but it's certainly believable.
I agree. The only thing that was gained was the fact that 83% of voters don't want to, or can't, use this method for voting. Shouldn't that tell the people who implemented it something? Seems like a clear majority to me.
Do you ever click on the ads? Usually that's the only way a site gets paid; so if you never do click on them, disabling them will lower the bandwidth requirement on the adservers (ever so slightly). I don't know what deal slashdot has for their ads but maybe that is part of the reason for the offer, besides the good will it creates.
I was given the option as well, though I haven't chosen to disable yet. I was a little surprised with the reminder there were ads. I use adblock!