Uhmm... there seems to be a logic error in this statement:
I don't agree. If you "steal" something, you are depriving someone else of said item. If I make an illegal copy of my pal's music CD, I am not depriving him of his ability to listen to the CD, ergo, it isn't theft.
The "theft" is not in reference to the "CD owner". Rather, when you illegally copy a CD, you are "stealing" from the person who markets and sells the CD (i.e. the record label, artist, etc.). The reason is simple - that is who you are "depriving"; legally you wouldn't be able to procure a copy of the CD without buying it. Therefore copying a CD that you have not purchased is illegal and is theft.
i got a replaytv for christmas last year. it sucked. the picture quality was horrible, there was interference on several stations (including HBO), and the service was the worst. it was not a cabling problem either...
when you get the unit, you only have a few "free" days before you have to sign up for the service. during those days i could not get anyone from support to help. in fact, when calling support, they had so many calls that i couldn't even get into the queue to have my call answered!
i tried the phone options for a couple days. then i sent them an email to their support group. a week went by with no access to support and no response to my email.
so, it got returned and exchanged for a Sony Clie. about a month or so later, I received an email from replaytv customer support with some suggestions for fixes. A MONTH!
won't buy their products ever again.... and i think you shouldn't as well.
Having a fixed "response time" would be appropriate. But it seems simpler to add a random delay before replying than it is it determine the elapsed time and then compensate with a difference delay.
In other words:
x = time to process
random delay: response time = x + Rand(y)
fixed delay: response time = x + (FixedTime - x)
The other problem with a Biggest Possible Fixed Time is performance. Encryption already causes overhead; maximizing overhead on remote network connections is not generally viewed as a Good Thing (TM). Plus you have to figure out what the Biggest Possible delay is, and that just sounds like homework (yuch!).
So, there's a bunch of starving artists on Slashdot making albums for under $10k. Big deal. It's a whole different ball game when you talk about big commercial albums. Certainly you can get good quality at home with your cakewalk and do it all on a weekend. Big records don't happen this way.
Where's the money go? Studio time, engineers, producers, and song writers. Notice that studio time does NOT cover engineers. As some on here have pointed out, you can record your album in a "real" studio for not much cash ($10k). In fact, the big studios are do not cost much different from other studios in terms of flat studio time (average is probably about $65/hour nationwide).
Now, when you add in a big name producer, things are real different. You can either pay the producer flat hourly, or royalties, or some combination.
Engineers are the same way - although they are more often paid for their time. So now you're paying $65/hour for the studio PLUS another $50/hour (or more) for Joe Engineer. And possibly more for the producer.
So, how does that end up being big money? Figure it like this:
Typical album has a min. of 12 songs, right? Let's make each one an average of 3.5 minutes.
How many instruments (tracks) on each song? Hard to say, but let's create a typical virtual album:
Drums (obviously taking several tracks but one take for all tracks) Bass guitar 2 Rhythm guitars 2 Acoustic guitars 1 Solo guitar 1 Lead vocal 3 Backing vocals 2 Keyboard 2 Sound effects
This is a reasonably simple setup for a joe average commercial crossover pop/rock song.
That's 15 individual "takes" that have to be recorded. At 3.5 minutes each - that's 53 minutes (about an hour). Just to record them all perfectly on the first try.
Of course, that never happens. So, you really are going to probably spend at least 4 or 5 takes to "get it right" - not to mention recording "alternate" versions. Also, between each take you go back and listen to the previous one to see if you're happy with it. So, 5 takes really takes the time of 10 takes. Now your one simple rock song is going to eat up a minimum of 10 studio hours just to track it. This of course, assumes you have written and practiced the song before getting to the studio (not always the case).
My 12 song album will then take a minimum of 120 studio hours, just to lay the basic tracks. At $115/hour that comes to $13,800.
Mixing a commercial album averages about a song a day - that's an 8 hour day times 12 songs. That's another 96 hours or $11040.
Mastering is the next step and probably costs at least a week of time at $150/hour for the mastering engineer. That's $6000.
Then you have your "other" costs. Creating the art work for the disc and packaging. You pay some marketing agency a boatload for this (maybe $10K or more just for the design). Then comes printing, cd duplication, and assembly.
But that's not all you're paying. Now, with a big rock band, they are probably going out and buying some new gear for the studio (every guitarist needs several guitars and amps, right?). There's easily $25k to $100k in new gear (ever price a studio quality drum kit?)
If it's an analog studio (as most big studios recording rock bands still are), then you are also paying for the tapes you record to.
For many commercial albums there's also the cost of songwriters and arrangers as well as studio musicians. Many times big recording companies will hire hit writers for new bands (and established ones) as well as big names performers to help ensure success. How many times have you seen "Joe Average band featuring Big Name Singer!" on MTV? Imagine paying out $25K to $50K for the song to the writer, then another $10K plus to have some known folks come and perform. Need an example - think about Alanis Morrisette and here first big hit (You oughtta know) - the album was recorded with one band, but that song was recorded with musicians from the Red Hot Chili Peppers - partly for the name, partly to ensure it had the right "groove". Somebody paid for that.
After all of that you still have to distribute and market the thing. That means boxing it up and sending it to cdnow.com and your local music store. It also means getting the hits onto the radio station so that people will know to go to the store and buy it.
And we haven't even started talking about videos and MTV yet.
It adds up fast. Think about a "Britney" album costing $20K to $50K just for someone to write her songs.
I don't have a full theory, but I would like to suggest a general direction for a theory. Since being introduced to this concept, I find it a bit intriguing (or perhaps I just have too much free time) - anyhow...
the number 196 yields 887 in its quest for Lychel-ness. When computing the solution for 887, there are some interesting patterns that emerge. For instance, the 8th through the 13th sequence look like this:
But the really really interesting sequence is the 23rd:
23: 71272 788 37206
The 788 in the middle will be added to an 887 reversed, and thus might have the affect of an infinite loop. It's seems similar to dividing 10 by 3 - you always end up with a remainder and keep dividing.
Creating a theory to find these might be quite difficult. Imagine a formula to determine all of the irrational numbers -
While trying to "guess" at a likely Lychel candidate using 887 as a middle pattern basis, I tried a few such as 58872 (pall. at 3 iteration) and 58876 (pall. at 27th iteration). What's interesting abough 58876 is that 25th and 26th sequences show a similar pattern as 887's 8th and 9th sequence by itself:
25: 1115552 11 1455111 26: 2231093 22 4010222
Which of course was quelched by the 27th sequence:
27: 44511974 47911544
I still don't fully understand why 887 doesn't resolve but it seems to have something to do with the numbers being higher than 5 and/or causing a carrying 1 when adding.
How many people do you know that have free cable TV? Wouldn't it make more sense for these idiots to spend their time trying to bill people the $30/month for cable tv rather than $6.95 for an extra IP address? I guess prioritizing business goals is not a characteristic of cable broadband providers (see "Excite@Home").
Slashdot Mirror
Uhmm... there seems to be a logic error in this statement:
I don't agree. If you "steal" something, you are depriving someone else of said item. If I make an illegal copy of my pal's music CD, I am not depriving him of his ability to listen to the CD, ergo, it isn't theft.
The "theft" is not in reference to the "CD owner". Rather, when you illegally copy a CD, you are "stealing" from the person who markets and sells the CD (i.e. the record label, artist, etc.). The reason is simple - that is who you are "depriving"; legally you wouldn't be able to procure a copy of the CD without buying it. Therefore copying a CD that you have not purchased is illegal and is theft.
Would there be an advantage to using a modified sniffer agent on the firewall to detect the sequence?
i got a replaytv for christmas last year. it sucked. the picture quality was horrible, there was interference on several stations (including HBO), and the service was the worst. it was not a cabling problem either...
when you get the unit, you only have a few "free" days before you have to sign up for the service. during those days i could not get anyone from support to help. in fact, when calling support, they had so many calls that i couldn't even get into the queue to have my call answered!
i tried the phone options for a couple days. then i sent them an email to their support group. a week went by with no access to support and no response to my email.
so, it got returned and exchanged for a Sony Clie. about a month or so later, I received an email from replaytv customer support with some suggestions for fixes. A MONTH!
won't buy their products ever again.... and i think you shouldn't as well.
Having a fixed "response time" would be appropriate. But it seems simpler to add a random delay before replying than it is it determine the elapsed time and then compensate with a difference delay.
In other words:
x = time to process
random delay:
response time = x + Rand(y)
fixed delay:
response time = x + (FixedTime - x)
The other problem with a Biggest Possible Fixed Time is performance. Encryption already causes overhead; maximizing overhead on remote network connections is not generally viewed as a Good Thing (TM). Plus you have to figure out what the Biggest Possible delay is, and that just sounds like homework (yuch!).
I think the tech ops guy on Alias is pretty realistic. In fact, they routinely show "real" computer screens such as:
* actual internet web pages in IE
* actual Unix command prompts
* actual C code
* actual pinging
there have been several times when I leaned over to my wife and said "See that! They showed real computer stuff!! That NEVER happens on TV!"
plus he's entirely wrapped up in his work, is socially challenged, and knows the source for Pong by memory!
So, there's a bunch of starving artists on Slashdot making albums for under $10k. Big deal. It's a whole different ball game when you talk about big commercial albums. Certainly you can get good quality at home with your cakewalk and do it all on a weekend. Big records don't happen this way.
Where's the money go? Studio time, engineers, producers, and song writers. Notice that studio time does NOT cover engineers. As some on here have pointed out, you can record your album in a "real" studio for not much cash ($10k). In fact, the big studios are do not cost much different from other studios in terms of flat studio time (average is probably about $65/hour nationwide).
Now, when you add in a big name producer, things are real different. You can either pay the producer flat hourly, or royalties, or some combination.
Engineers are the same way - although they are more often paid for their time. So now you're paying $65/hour for the studio PLUS another $50/hour (or more) for Joe Engineer. And possibly more for the producer.
So, how does that end up being big money? Figure it like this:
Typical album has a min. of 12 songs, right? Let's make each one an average of 3.5 minutes.
How many instruments (tracks) on each song? Hard to say, but let's create a typical virtual album:
Drums (obviously taking several tracks but one take for all tracks)
Bass guitar
2 Rhythm guitars
2 Acoustic guitars
1 Solo guitar
1 Lead vocal
3 Backing vocals
2 Keyboard
2 Sound effects
This is a reasonably simple setup for a joe average commercial crossover pop/rock song.
That's 15 individual "takes" that have to be recorded. At 3.5 minutes each - that's 53 minutes (about an hour). Just to record them all perfectly on the first try.
Of course, that never happens. So, you really are going to probably spend at least 4 or 5 takes to "get it right" - not to mention recording "alternate" versions. Also, between each take you go back and listen to the previous one to see if you're happy with it. So, 5 takes really takes the time of 10 takes. Now your one simple rock song is going to eat up a minimum of 10 studio hours just to track it. This of course, assumes you have written and practiced the song before getting to the studio (not always the case).
My 12 song album will then take a minimum of 120 studio hours, just to lay the basic tracks. At $115/hour that comes to $13,800.
Mixing a commercial album averages about a song a day - that's an 8 hour day times 12 songs. That's another 96 hours or $11040.
Mastering is the next step and probably costs at least a week of time at $150/hour for the mastering engineer. That's $6000.
Then you have your "other" costs. Creating the art work for the disc and packaging. You pay some marketing agency a boatload for this (maybe $10K or more just for the design). Then comes printing, cd duplication, and assembly.
But that's not all you're paying. Now, with a big rock band, they are probably going out and buying some new gear for the studio (every guitarist needs several guitars and amps, right?). There's easily $25k to $100k in new gear (ever price a studio quality drum kit?)
If it's an analog studio (as most big studios recording rock bands still are), then you are also paying for the tapes you record to.
For many commercial albums there's also the cost of songwriters and arrangers as well as studio musicians. Many times big recording companies will hire hit writers for new bands (and established ones) as well as big names performers to help ensure success. How many times have you seen "Joe Average band featuring Big Name Singer!" on MTV? Imagine paying out $25K to $50K for the song to the writer, then another $10K plus to have some known folks come and perform. Need an example - think about Alanis Morrisette and here first big hit (You oughtta know) - the album was recorded with one band, but that song was recorded with musicians from the Red Hot Chili Peppers - partly for the name, partly to ensure it had the right "groove". Somebody paid for that.
After all of that you still have to distribute and market the thing. That means boxing it up and sending it to cdnow.com and your local music store. It also means getting the hits onto the radio station so that people will know to go to the store and buy it.
And we haven't even started talking about videos and MTV yet.
It adds up fast. Think about a "Britney" album costing $20K to $50K just for someone to write her songs.
I don't have a full theory, but I would like to suggest a general direction for a theory. Since being introduced to this concept, I find it a bit intriguing (or perhaps I just have too much free time) - anyhow...
3 9
the number 196 yields 887 in its quest for Lychel-ness. When computing the solution for 887, there are some interesting patterns that emerge. For instance, the 8th through the 13th sequence look like this:
18211171
17111271
--------
35322452
2542234
--------
40744805
50844704
--------
9158950
90598519
--------
182188028
The interesting aspect is the middle pattern of 11, 22, 44, 89/98, 188. In the 15th, 17th, 18th, and 21st, there's another pattern of sorts:
15: 1004 266 2310
17: 2273 556 2622
18: 4536 211 6344
21: 8739 2221 9467
But the really really interesting sequence is the 23rd:
23: 71272 788 37206
The 788 in the middle will be added to an 887 reversed, and thus might have the affect of an infinite loop. It's seems similar to dividing 10 by 3 - you always end up with a remainder and keep dividing.
Creating a theory to find these might be quite difficult. Imagine a formula to determine all of the irrational numbers -
While trying to "guess" at a likely Lychel candidate using 887 as a middle pattern basis, I tried a few such as 58872 (pall. at 3 iteration) and 58876 (pall. at 27th iteration). What's interesting abough 58876 is that 25th and 26th sequences show a similar pattern as 887's 8th and 9th sequence by itself:
25: 1115552 11 1455111
26: 2231093 22 4010222
Which of course was quelched by the 27th sequence:
27: 44511974 47911544
I still don't fully understand why 887 doesn't resolve but it seems to have something to do with the numbers being higher than 5 and/or causing a carrying 1 when adding.
my $.05 worth...
does someone want to explain this in layman's terms?
How many people do you know that have free cable TV? Wouldn't it make more sense for these idiots to spend their time trying to bill people the $30/month for cable tv rather than $6.95 for an extra IP address? I guess prioritizing business goals is not a characteristic of cable broadband providers (see "Excite@Home").