"Sorry, the web page you are trying to access is secured with a 128-bit version of Secure Sockets Layer (SSL). In order to view this resource, you need a browser with this level of SSL."
Oh well, like I need another place to receive mail about my student loans...
Recent years have seen the ever-increasing corporate-ownership convergence of the companies that make physical devices and media with those that constitute the "music industry". An example of this is Sony Music. When you play a disc by a Sony-signed artist on your Sony CD player, they have total control of your ability to use that music.
I have just been wondering what happens when this convergence becomes total - when all large recording companies are co-owned with music hardware companies. What happens when a new digital media format is specifically designed by its manufacturers' consortium to force users to adhere to excessively restrictive use limitations? As much as people might like to tout Open-Source software and standards and Free (speech) software, I'm guessing few of you have the resources to manufacture an alternate physical media type which could be used instead of CD's/audio-DVD/whatever if the need arose.
I would hate to live in a world where transnational corporations controlled not only information but the means for distributing it in such a fashion. Of course, one might say "Well, we'll just have to distribute digital copies on the internet through system foo-ster etc." but what if a) music becomes almost impossible to copy in the first place (heavy encryption), and b) there's no media which will accept the copies anyway?
I thought they said "orgasmic lasers"...
on
Plastic Lasers
·
· Score: 1
And I was all worried that if I accidentally hit a certain lasing frequency I'd blow the wall out of my bathroom... uh, I mean my bedroom;-)
It is with grave concern that I (and many other music lovers) watch the current legal proceedings between your organization and Napster. I feel that the RIAA's actions in this matter have been premature and based on a flawed understanding of the nature of Napster's service to its users.
I enjoy the use of Napster because it allows me to "try before I buy", albeit through unofficial channels. I can think of several CD's that I have purchased after downloading songs from Napster - songs that were _not_ getting heavy rotation on the radio. I do not "steal" whole CD's worth of music using this service, simply because I enjoy owning a physical copy of the music, with liner notes, and pictures of the band, and a disc that I can play without turning on my computer. Therefore, using Napster will never cause me to not buy a CD that I would otherwise buy.
It is with great regret that I must now refrain from purchasing discs by RIAA-represented artists, as a form of protest over the shutting-down of Napster. I guess I will probably miss some good CD's that I was looking forward to buying, but I would miss Napster more, should you succeed in permanently eliminating it. Thank you.
Hmm, I know you're joking, but gosh, that would be pretty silly. Maybe a mass sell-off at used CD stores instead, to shuck off unwanted discs and support the aftermarket that the RIAA would so love to kill.
It mislabels Zvezda as an American component for one thing...
But enough quibbling over typos. Notice some interesting things:
1) The Japanese module with a vacuum-exposed platform and separate arm for playing space chess.
2) The Brazilian Window Observation Research Facility (WORF), and its associated modules, the Main Operational Gyroscope Housing (MOGH), Developmental Utility Research-Associated System (DURAS), and Greenhouse Over-watch Room and Optional Nacelle (GOWRON)
Nope, it started white, just like all of the other similar buildings of its era. But wasn't it Aaron Burr who wanted to paint it black?
Heh, guess us Canucks have our legends as well. But it did get burnt, which was mighty obnoxious of us come to think of it:-) That's why war sucks, people do the stupidest things. Kind of like Aaron Burr's taste in architecture I guess.
The Star Wars universe is stuck in a kind of technological plateau - not much new technology gets invented, and many actual objects are very very old (eg. the Falcon!) simply because they did not become obsolete. This would also be one of the reasons there's so much "cruft" technology in the SW universe. Based on this, there could very well have been a technologically advanced galactic civilization 4000 years before the movies. It might have been somewhat less advanced (eg. slower hyperdrives, no bacta, etc.) but it could easily be spacefaring.
Read David Brin's Uplift books to see how something like this might work.
In fact, I seem to recall that the White House was originally white because they had to whitewash it to hide the burn marks. No lie.
It could be argued that the British won the war of 1812, but of course it was born Canadians who did a lot of the dying. But yes, the American invasion attempt was repulsed. Of course, Fenian (anti-British Irish expats) militias kept coming across the border and bugging us for a while after that...
So does this mean that there will never again be an excuse for nuclear weapons testing? If there's a complete computer simulation of an A-bomb or H-bomb, is it easy or hard to plug in different parameters such as "below 50m of rock of crushing constant x", or "under 100m seawater"? I guess it depends on wheither you'd have to run the whole thing again from scratch or not. I'm not really sure wheither this was a "model" they constructed, or an "algorithm for making future models which won't take so long to process"...
Maybe they should give this to the French military as a public service to the rest of the world.
I'm not sure it's such a good idea for Sci Am to suggest that individuals play with carcinogenic/mutagenic reagents at home. I mean, I am growing increasingly leery of all the shit I use in the lab (I'm a molecular biologist) and its cumulative effects on my body. I'm only 26 and I don't want to have flipper babies because I breathed in some fumes once or twice.
That said, this is an informative article, because it serves to "de-mystify" the science of DNA manipulation. That's important because IMHO, a lot of the public's fear of this technology stems from not understanding it. Of course, that portion of the public probably doesn't read Sci Am...
Was it just me or were the Psychlo's spaceships (the ones that looked a lot like locusts and were on the poster) pretty darn cool. I mean, good fictional spaceship design is not easy, even some of the ones in Star Wars were pretty bland (eg. Y-wing). But these seemed to convey an air of menace as well as look like actual combat craft might if fuel efficiency and aerodynamics were not reall all that important.
For starters, if a university pays you to administer their server, the contents aren't "yours" to sell or even jerk off to. It's obvious why you have your own company, nobody else can tolerate your attitude!
Does that make it clear enough? It's time you college students, riding on daddy's money in your paid for apartment driving about in your paid for automobile, slacking about campus, wearing Birkenstocks, Bob Marley T-shirts, with backpack slung over one shoulder with your 'save the rainforest' anti-free market business, plastic petroleum made coffee mugs, gets a clue about the real world if like and learns that no one's going to pay for your screw ups anymore and that you, and no one else, must bear the full brunt of responsibility for your actions.
Hmm, a little bitter are we? Those of us from less affluent families go to university too you know. My "daddy" needs his money to pay the mortgage and keep his car running, he doesn't have any extra to buy me a car or pay my tuition.
Oh yeah, and if there's one thing I *did* learn from higher education, it's that I AM the only one who'll pay for my screwups and nobody else. So there. I doubt you're even reading this, bitter Sysadmin man, but if you are, think next time you make a sweeping, insulting generalization.
Special Relativity explains how mass and energy are equivalent (Energy=Mass*(C squared)). Well, that's almost all I remember, but since photons have energy (mass), they can have momentum, right? I think that's how it works.
I don't see why the Recording Industry A$$holes Association would object to this device. It states in the specs that it is designed to not copy content from CSS'ed source discs. Isn't this more of a "put your home movies on disc" type of thing? You could transfer every baby's-first-steps tape you own to one disc and mail it to the relatives! (or save it to drag out when "baby" grows up and starts bringing dates home...)
I'm a molecular biologist who works frequently with "database homology searches" and I can tell you that there are actually quite a few errors in sequence information submitted to GenBank and other public sequence databases. Usually they are fairly minor, such as the guy in our lab whose submitted protein sequence contained letters from the following sentence of his thesis on the end! Most others are just from incorrectly read data at the lab-bench level I think. But this seems like a pretty big screw-up by most standards, one that could have been caught if they weren't in such a freakin' hurry! Oh well, at least it was caught.
I guess these replies really point out the nature of films like eXistenZ. They either appeal to you or you hate them. Not much avoiding that, when a film is this distinctive. I personally liked it, especially the twisted "mutant reptiles & amphibians" theme and Cronenberg's patented orifice fixation. Mmmm, Bioport-ilingus on Jennifer Jason Leigh! Oh yeah and I'm Canadian, we mindlessly boost our own films dontcha know:-)
That said, I thoroughly enjoyed The Matrix. It deserved every award it got last night. And Keanu must have enjoyed making the movie, he was making the hand gestures when the guy mentioned the red & blue pills...
She was a remarkable scientist. By some accounts she was robbed, by others she was less-than-collegial and missed out on some collaborative rewards as a result. One of the more interesting (and tragic) things I learned about her was that, as a Jew, she had a hard time finding somebody who would allow her to rent a room to live in. She spent a lot of her time living in a nasty garret which she rented from a landlady who openly despised her and didn't even want her to use the same bathroom. And I imagine she had to deal with a lot of other discrimination in her life too.
I guess in the interests of fairness it's good to post a link to Greenpeace here. I mean, why not trust information from people who dress up as "ears of corn with scorpion pincers" to protest against GMO's, and engage in misleading sensationalism (for intance, their adoption of the X-files like "X" logo to summon up visions of scary alien-human hybrids, or government conspiracies, or whatever the hell it is they're trying to do) to further their cause? (is the cause really "protecting us" or is it "collecting donations for Greenpeace"):-)
Hmmm, perhaps Kaczynski believed that technology would bring about the extinction of humanity because he thought everyone else was a sick murderous fu*k like him... Hell, all he needed was stamps, some dynamite and a couple of cut-up pie plates to kill people.
Of course, what Joy really means to say is "Technology will bring about the downfall of our species, unless you all start running 'Jini' on your toasters RIGHT NOW!":-)
Any suggestions for non-RTG, non-solar power sources for these things? IANAE, but for a Mars lander maybe you could use solar collectors on an areosynchronous orbiter and transmit the power to the surface via microwaves. On the other hand, RTG's are inherently hazardous, but maybe the public will eventually get over their fear of one blowing up in the atmosphere once space launces become more routine and the next-generation reusable launch vehicles are on line...
Slashdot Mirror
"Sorry, the web page you are trying to access is secured with a 128-bit version of Secure Sockets Layer (SSL). In order to view this resource, you need a browser with this level of SSL."
Oh well, like I need another place to receive mail about my student loans...
I have just been wondering what happens when this convergence becomes total - when all large recording companies are co-owned with music hardware companies. What happens when a new digital media format is specifically designed by its manufacturers' consortium to force users to adhere to excessively restrictive use limitations? As much as people might like to tout Open-Source software and standards and Free (speech) software, I'm guessing few of you have the resources to manufacture an alternate physical media type which could be used instead of CD's/audio-DVD/whatever if the need arose.
I would hate to live in a world where transnational corporations controlled not only information but the means for distributing it in such a fashion. Of course, one might say "Well, we'll just have to distribute digital copies on the internet through system foo-ster etc." but what if a) music becomes almost impossible to copy in the first place (heavy encryption), and b) there's no media which will accept the copies anyway?
And I was all worried that if I accidentally hit a certain lasing frequency I'd blow the wall out of my bathroom... uh, I mean my bedroom ;-)
To whom it may concern,
It is with grave concern that I (and many other music lovers) watch the current legal proceedings between your organization and Napster. I feel that the RIAA's actions in this matter have been premature and based on a flawed understanding of the nature of Napster's service to its users.
I enjoy the use of Napster because it allows me to "try before I buy", albeit through unofficial channels. I can think of several CD's that I have purchased after downloading songs from Napster - songs that were _not_ getting heavy rotation on the radio. I do not "steal" whole CD's worth of music using this service, simply because I enjoy owning a physical copy of the music, with liner notes, and pictures of the band, and a disc that I can play without turning on my computer. Therefore, using Napster will never cause me to not buy a CD that I would otherwise buy.
It is with great regret that I must now refrain from purchasing discs by RIAA-represented artists, as a form of protest over the shutting-down of Napster. I guess I will probably miss some good CD's that I was looking forward to buying, but I would miss Napster more, should you succeed in permanently eliminating it. Thank you.
Burn CD's, don't _burn_ CD's!
But enough quibbling over typos. Notice some interesting things:
1) The Japanese module with a vacuum-exposed platform and separate arm for playing space chess.
2) The Brazilian Window Observation Research Facility (WORF), and its associated modules, the Main Operational Gyroscope Housing (MOGH), Developmental Utility Research-Associated System (DURAS), and Greenhouse Over-watch Room and Optional Nacelle (GOWRON)
Heh, guess us Canucks have our legends as well. But it did get burnt, which was mighty obnoxious of us come to think of it :-) That's why war sucks, people do the stupidest things. Kind of like Aaron Burr's taste in architecture I guess.
Read David Brin's Uplift books to see how something like this might work.
It could be argued that the British won the war of 1812, but of course it was born Canadians who did a lot of the dying. But yes, the American invasion attempt was repulsed. Of course, Fenian (anti-British Irish expats) militias kept coming across the border and bugging us for a while after that...
Maybe they should give this to the French military as a public service to the rest of the world.
I'm not sure it's such a good idea for Sci Am to suggest that individuals play with carcinogenic/mutagenic reagents at home. I mean, I am growing increasingly leery of all the shit I use in the lab (I'm a molecular biologist) and its cumulative effects on my body. I'm only 26 and I don't want to have flipper babies because I breathed in some fumes once or twice.
That said, this is an informative article, because it serves to "de-mystify" the science of DNA manipulation. That's important because IMHO, a lot of the public's fear of this technology stems from not understanding it. Of course, that portion of the public probably doesn't read Sci Am...
Was it just me or were the Psychlo's spaceships (the ones that looked a lot like locusts and were on the poster) pretty darn cool. I mean, good fictional spaceship design is not easy, even some of the ones in Star Wars were pretty bland (eg. Y-wing). But these seemed to convey an air of menace as well as look like actual combat craft might if fuel efficiency and aerodynamics were not reall all that important.
Does that make it clear enough? It's time you college students, riding on daddy's money in your paid for apartment driving about in your paid for automobile, slacking about campus, wearing Birkenstocks, Bob Marley T-shirts, with backpack slung over one shoulder with your 'save the rainforest' anti-free market business, plastic petroleum made coffee mugs, gets a clue about the real world if like and learns that no one's going to pay for your screw ups anymore and that you, and no one else, must bear the full brunt of responsibility for your actions.
Hmm, a little bitter are we? Those of us from less affluent families go to university too you know. My "daddy" needs his money to pay the mortgage and keep his car running, he doesn't have any extra to buy me a car or pay my tuition.
Oh yeah, and if there's one thing I *did* learn from higher education, it's that I AM the only one who'll pay for my screwups and nobody else. So there. I doubt you're even reading this, bitter Sysadmin man, but if you are, think next time you make a sweeping, insulting generalization.
Because M$ is a big freakin' Wookiee that'll rip the arms off any man or droid who tries to beat them at court or 3d chess. Correct?
Is this the first time /. has linked to Playboy?
Heh heh, yer correct Jackmama. Got my a$$holes mixed up :-)
Special Relativity explains how mass and energy are equivalent (Energy=Mass*(C squared)). Well, that's almost all I remember, but since photons have energy (mass), they can have momentum, right? I think that's how it works.
I don't see why the Recording Industry A$$holes Association would object to this device. It states in the specs that it is designed to not copy content from CSS'ed source discs. Isn't this more of a "put your home movies on disc" type of thing? You could transfer every baby's-first-steps tape you own to one disc and mail it to the relatives! (or save it to drag out when "baby" grows up and starts bringing dates home...)
I'm a molecular biologist who works frequently with "database homology searches" and I can tell you that there are actually quite a few errors in sequence information submitted to GenBank and other public sequence databases. Usually they are fairly minor, such as the guy in our lab whose submitted protein sequence contained letters from the following sentence of his thesis on the end! Most others are just from incorrectly read data at the lab-bench level I think. But this seems like a pretty big screw-up by most standards, one that could have been caught if they weren't in such a freakin' hurry! Oh well, at least it was caught.
I guess these replies really point out the nature of films like eXistenZ. They either appeal to you or you hate them. Not much avoiding that, when a film is this distinctive. I personally liked it, especially the twisted "mutant reptiles & amphibians" theme and Cronenberg's patented orifice fixation. Mmmm, Bioport-ilingus on Jennifer Jason Leigh! Oh yeah and I'm Canadian, we mindlessly boost our own films dontcha know :-)
That said, I thoroughly enjoyed The Matrix. It deserved every award it got last night. And Keanu must have enjoyed making the movie, he was making the hand gestures when the guy mentioned the red & blue pills...
She was a remarkable scientist. By some accounts she was robbed, by others she was less-than-collegial and missed out on some collaborative rewards as a result. One of the more interesting (and tragic) things I learned about her was that, as a Jew, she had a hard time finding somebody who would allow her to rent a room to live in. She spent a lot of her time living in a nasty garret which she rented from a landlady who openly despised her and didn't even want her to use the same bathroom. And I imagine she had to deal with a lot of other discrimination in her life too.
I guess in the interests of fairness it's good to post a link to Greenpeace here. I mean, why not trust information from people who dress up as "ears of corn with scorpion pincers" to protest against GMO's, and engage in misleading sensationalism (for intance, their adoption of the X-files like "X" logo to summon up visions of scary alien-human hybrids, or government conspiracies, or whatever the hell it is they're trying to do) to further their cause? (is the cause really "protecting us" or is it "collecting donations for Greenpeace") :-)
That said, Monsanto Sucks!
Hmmm, perhaps Kaczynski believed that technology would bring about the extinction of humanity because he thought everyone else was a sick murderous fu*k like him... Hell, all he needed was stamps, some dynamite and a couple of cut-up pie plates to kill people.
:-)
Of course, what Joy really means to say is "Technology will bring about the downfall of our species, unless you all start running 'Jini' on your toasters RIGHT NOW!"
And I'm running the most unstable POS windows box ever. Why would this link crash my computer? All I got was a 404.
Any suggestions for non-RTG, non-solar power sources for these things? IANAE, but for a Mars lander maybe you could use solar collectors on an areosynchronous orbiter and transmit the power to the surface via microwaves. On the other hand, RTG's are inherently hazardous, but maybe the public will eventually get over their fear of one blowing up in the atmosphere once space launces become more routine and the next-generation reusable launch vehicles are on line...