What I have done for all the DVDs in my OWN collection is bypass the DRM using DVD decrypter (w00t!) because I am sick of these goddamn preveiews, menus, copyright notices, birth control notices, and other shit. DVD Shrink is a nice utility that allows you to reformat a DVD so that you can put the disc in the drive and JUST WATCH THE MOVIE. Some of these more recent DVDs that have come out require ten minutes of mandatory (e.g. you can't fast forward) viewing of SHITE before you can see WHAT YOU PAID TO WATCH. For rental DVD's, don't even bother... it's worse than the old VHS tapes, even though the retailers are PAYING LESS now to maintain their inventory!!
Look at it the other way... suppose I (not sarcastically) thanked you by saying, "Thank you my friend Mr. John Smith and may the peace of the heavens be upon you always." Is that anything more special?
It's supposed to be respectful, nothing more, nothing less. The Koran does not require it. I'm really not sure how I could be more clear.
Also, I forgot to mention in my original post... Allah is not the name of God in Islam or any other religion that I know of, like TFA claims. In fact, if you ever said the true name of God in front of a devout Muslim, you would find yourself in hot water very fast. I strongly suggest you don't try it at home. I shit you not, consider yourself warned.
isn't abbreviating it something of a bit of heresy?
No.
And, if "PBUH" is OK, why not "P"? And, if that's OK, why not simply think it, instead, and know that appropriately devout readers are going to be thinking it anyway, and those that aren't already thinking like that aren't going to be converted by having to read it (or an acronyum of it) anyway?
If I come to your house and ask, "Could you get me a beer?" is it different from "Could you get me a beer please?"... and if you were kind enough to get that beer, what's the difference if I say "Thank you" or if I think it? Wouldn't you know that it was implied if I was your friend... presumably I don't hate you for getting me a beer. One is just more respectful.
In any event I am a Zen Buddhist and we don't have any official texts or steadfast rules. And I am off to get a beer now.
This would not be considered offensive in Islam the same way the depiction of the Prophet Muhammed (PBUH) would... it is certainly inappropriate but I am not sure that banning screen names of people who want to be called ALLAHIN06 is that big of a deal.
Personally I use Easynews -- I think it's $9.95 a month and 20 GB of transfer, if you don't use all of it you can carry it over to the next month. They have a web interface too.
Giganews is the best IMHO (even though I don't use it now, I did before) if you download a LOT... It's $24.95 a month for unlimited.
As for software, for Mac you will want to use Unison... for PC you will want to use "Power Grab" -- a freeware program which is now difficult to find for some reason but it's out there. No matter what anyone says, Power Grab is the best software, take it from one who knows -- small overhead, no registry and installer crap, easy interface, fast searches, etc.
I'm a Rogers user and I have found BT to be unusable because of this.
However, nothing personal, I REALLY REALLY wish that people who wanted to download TV shows, movies, apps, music, warez, etc. would use USENET.
USENET is a bit more difficult to use at first but it is fast as fast can be if you get the right server, and you are far less likely to run into trouble with anyone. I could (if I wanted) grab an entire season to a TV show in less than two hours. Probably more like 45 minutes even... (seriously... Rogers is fucking fast)
Using USENET would also really really really cut waaaaaay down on that traffic that is bothering the hell out of the ISPs... (epecially for the cable providers since it all but eliminates the upstream)
Sadly, Rogers no longer offers Usenet services because they are really cheap and greedy, so you have to pay for a premium news server, which is like $9 a month.
Shaw and Rogers are Canadian high speed cable ISPs.
Though I hate Rogers, I get consistent speeds of 800/kb sec (I hope I got that unit right!) when downloading. That is on their highest tier account, which is 100 GB of transfer per month.
Is it normal for cable companies in the US to provide that kind of speed?
I would like to say I am totally fucking furious that Rogers feels it can do this.
I appriciate that Bitorrent constitutes a gargantuan proportion of network traffic. I appriciate this is a problem.
However, the reason that I feel this is unfair, which nobody seems to have mentioned yet, is that Rogers customers are limited to 60 GB of transfer total, both ways, each month. (Unless, of course, you upgrade to the $50 account + modem rental which is 100 GB). If you exceed this limit, it's not just a matter of waiting until next month -- it is a matter of having your account shut down.
I think it is fair to do one or the other, but not both. I once wasted three days trying to figure out why Bittorrent wasn't working, only to find out it was thanks to Rogers. This was just as they had started shaping network traffic so I had no furious posts on message boards to turn to for the origin of the problem.
Sadly, there is no alternative to Rogers for high speed access in my area. It's Rogers or dial up.
Honey is not really an antibiotic, it is a preservative, and that is the way the Egyptians used it.
Due to the extraodinarily high sugar content, no bacteria can grow in honey, and it is, at least in theory, possible to preserve things in honey indefinately. (Obviously air exposure is limited as well.) People have even been mumified in honey.
Absolutely. I can remember being 12, and playing around on the computer with BBS software and learning to use MS Word, etc. etc. --- meanwhile, in class, we were using this program called "All the Right Type", a "typing tutor" which was absolute shit... where you had to type "hhh jjj hhh jjj hhh jjj hhh jjj" over and over again, to move to the next level. To say the least, the typing tutor was a waste of time. Of the people I still know who had to take that course, most still type at the same speed. (In this area, I subscribe to the "whole language" theory of typing.)
In any event, as the years progressed, I managed to acquire copies of MSDN studio (when it was first released) so I could play with Visual Basic... and I also learned how to operate a small server, eventually to use IIS, Windows 95 beta, etc. The ONLY reason that I ever reccomended these programs in the past is because I knew how to use them and repair them. Today, I would reccomend the average user buy Mac hardware and software...
I can only imagine that if I did not have access to programs of "questionable" legality, I would not know how to operate any of these things today. I certainly haven't taken any courses. Although now I use OS X... and I have a legal copy:-) ---- (though is there any way to own an illegal copy of OSX when you buy Mac Hardware?)
The bottom line is that I think software companies do not/should not discourage piracy... as for movies, I think it is a bad idea as well. 100% of the movies that I watch on my computer are movies that I would not watch otherwise, so I consider it a favour that I am sitting through what mostly is shit to see the latest offerings from Hollywood.
I am willing to bet that somewhere behind the scenes, it was the MPAA who was behind this, rather than software companies. I suspect that software companies learned long ago that piracy, generally speaking, can help their business and market share in the long run. All the MPAA has learned is that intimidating people works 95% of the time, and that they have not yet figured out how to produce movies that aren't total shit.
Gmail is invite only to make it very difficult, if not impossible, for spammers to create a large volume of accounts to spam with. For any other normal user, it should be a joke to get an invite however. If you live in the US you can get Google to send you one via SMS.
This is functionality built into Windows Live. If you live in the USA right now, you should be able to go to www.live.com and access "Outlook" Hotmail.
Slashdot Mirror
What I have done for all the DVDs in my OWN collection is bypass the DRM using DVD decrypter (w00t!) because I am sick of these goddamn preveiews, menus, copyright notices, birth control notices, and other shit. DVD Shrink is a nice utility that allows you to reformat a DVD so that you can put the disc in the drive and JUST WATCH THE MOVIE. Some of these more recent DVDs that have come out require ten minutes of mandatory (e.g. you can't fast forward) viewing of SHITE before you can see WHAT YOU PAID TO WATCH. For rental DVD's, don't even bother... it's worse than the old VHS tapes, even though the retailers are PAYING LESS now to maintain their inventory!!
Hmmmmm.... yes... but what about gaffes like THIS ONE?
Look at it the other way... suppose I (not sarcastically) thanked you by saying, "Thank you my friend Mr. John Smith and may the peace of the heavens be upon you always." Is that anything more special?
It's supposed to be respectful, nothing more, nothing less. The Koran does not require it. I'm really not sure how I could be more clear.
Also, I forgot to mention in my original post... Allah is not the name of God in Islam or any other religion that I know of, like TFA claims. In fact, if you ever said the true name of God in front of a devout Muslim, you would find yourself in hot water very fast. I strongly suggest you don't try it at home. I shit you not, consider yourself warned.
I assume your post was not a troll...
... and if you were kind enough to get that beer, what's the difference if I say "Thank you" or if I think it? Wouldn't you know that it was implied if I was your friend... presumably I don't hate you for getting me a beer. One is just more respectful.
isn't abbreviating it something of a bit of heresy?
No.
And, if "PBUH" is OK, why not "P"? And, if that's OK, why not simply think it, instead, and know that appropriately devout readers are going to be thinking it anyway, and those that aren't already thinking like that aren't going to be converted by having to read it (or an acronyum of it) anyway?
If I come to your house and ask, "Could you get me a beer?" is it different from "Could you get me a beer please?"
In any event I am a Zen Buddhist and we don't have any official texts or steadfast rules. And I am off to get a beer now.
This would not be considered offensive in Islam the same way the depiction of the Prophet Muhammed (PBUH) would... it is certainly inappropriate but I am not sure that banning screen names of people who want to be called ALLAHIN06 is that big of a deal.
Who says Apple won't switch chips again? The current relationship isn't all roses, despite all we have heard. Apple won't put those retarded "Intel inside" stickers on their products.
And, it would seem, the Intel core duo is full of serious bugs which Intel doesn't really care about.
Personally I use Easynews -- I think it's $9.95 a month and 20 GB of transfer, if you don't use all of it you can carry it over to the next month. They have a web interface too.
... It's $24.95 a month for unlimited.
Giganews is the best IMHO (even though I don't use it now, I did before) if you download a LOT
As for software, for Mac you will want to use Unison... for PC you will want to use "Power Grab" -- a freeware program which is now difficult to find for some reason but it's out there. No matter what anyone says, Power Grab is the best software, take it from one who knows -- small overhead, no registry and installer crap, easy interface, fast searches, etc.
I'm a Rogers user and I have found BT to be unusable because of this.
However, nothing personal, I REALLY REALLY wish that people who wanted to download TV shows, movies, apps, music, warez, etc. would use USENET.
USENET is a bit more difficult to use at first but it is fast as fast can be if you get the right server, and you are far less likely to run into trouble with anyone. I could (if I wanted) grab an entire season to a TV show in less than two hours. Probably more like 45 minutes even... (seriously... Rogers is fucking fast)
Using USENET would also really really really cut waaaaaay down on that traffic that is bothering the hell out of the ISPs... (epecially for the cable providers since it all but eliminates the upstream)
Sadly, Rogers no longer offers Usenet services because they are really cheap and greedy, so you have to pay for a premium news server, which is like $9 a month.
Shaw and Rogers are Canadian high speed cable ISPs.
Though I hate Rogers, I get consistent speeds of 800/kb sec (I hope I got that unit right!) when downloading. That is on their highest tier account, which is 100 GB of transfer per month.
Is it normal for cable companies in the US to provide that kind of speed?
I would like to say I am totally fucking furious that Rogers feels it can do this.
I appriciate that Bitorrent constitutes a gargantuan proportion of network traffic. I appriciate this is a problem.
However, the reason that I feel this is unfair, which nobody seems to have mentioned yet, is that Rogers customers are limited to 60 GB of transfer total, both ways, each month. (Unless, of course, you upgrade to the $50 account + modem rental which is 100 GB). If you exceed this limit, it's not just a matter of waiting until next month -- it is a matter of having your account shut down.
I think it is fair to do one or the other, but not both. I once wasted three days trying to figure out why Bittorrent wasn't working, only to find out it was thanks to Rogers. This was just as they had started shaping network traffic so I had no furious posts on message boards to turn to for the origin of the problem.
Sadly, there is no alternative to Rogers for high speed access in my area. It's Rogers or dial up.
Honey is not really an antibiotic, it is a preservative, and that is the way the Egyptians used it.
Due to the extraodinarily high sugar content, no bacteria can grow in honey, and it is, at least in theory, possible to preserve things in honey indefinately. (Obviously air exposure is limited as well.) People have even been mumified in honey.
Will this have the same effect as other licensing schemes (i.e. to completely discourage use of the product?)
Specifically I am thinking of the difficulty experienced by Firewire, and Macintosh Hardware...
Absolutely. I can remember being 12, and playing around on the computer with BBS software and learning to use MS Word, etc. etc. --- meanwhile, in class, we were using this program called "All the Right Type", a "typing tutor" which was absolute shit... where you had to type "hhh jjj hhh jjj hhh jjj hhh jjj" over and over again, to move to the next level. To say the least, the typing tutor was a waste of time. Of the people I still know who had to take that course, most still type at the same speed. (In this area, I subscribe to the "whole language" theory of typing.)
... and I have a legal copy :-) ---- (though is there any way to own an illegal copy of OSX when you buy Mac Hardware?)
In any event, as the years progressed, I managed to acquire copies of MSDN studio (when it was first released) so I could play with Visual Basic... and I also learned how to operate a small server, eventually to use IIS, Windows 95 beta, etc. The ONLY reason that I ever reccomended these programs in the past is because I knew how to use them and repair them. Today, I would reccomend the average user buy Mac hardware and software...
I can only imagine that if I did not have access to programs of "questionable" legality, I would not know how to operate any of these things today. I certainly haven't taken any courses. Although now I use OS X
The bottom line is that I think software companies do not/should not discourage piracy... as for movies, I think it is a bad idea as well. 100% of the movies that I watch on my computer are movies that I would not watch otherwise, so I consider it a favour that I am sitting through what mostly is shit to see the latest offerings from Hollywood.
I am willing to bet that somewhere behind the scenes, it was the MPAA who was behind this, rather than software companies. I suspect that software companies learned long ago that piracy, generally speaking, can help their business and market share in the long run. All the MPAA has learned is that intimidating people works 95% of the time, and that they have not yet figured out how to produce movies that aren't total shit.
Pardon me, but anyone or anything who spends $120-million a year on something does not come accross as a "mom and pop" operation.
Isn't this just wonderful? First, the government decides it is going to read e-mails and bug phone calls without warrants.
So is Google supposed to feel guilty now?
What's next: the rewards from the government if you "turn in" your neighbours for being Jewish?
Gmail is invite only to make it very difficult, if not impossible, for spammers to create a large volume of accounts to spam with. For any other normal user, it should be a joke to get an invite however. If you live in the US you can get Google to send you one via SMS.
This is functionality built into Windows Live. If you live in the USA right now, you should be able to go to www.live.com and access "Outlook" Hotmail.
It's not available yet for other countries.
I am such a procrastinator... I didn't get my birthmark until I was 8...
I intend to post a more serious reply to this thread in a couple of days...