Not only could you search the Internet, but you could refine your searches just to other people's thoughts, etc.
Sweet screaming monkeys would that be pointless. Blogs are like dreams; they're only interesting to the people they belong to. If by some freakish twist of fate I cared about your last trip to Reno or what kind of sandwich you ate last week, I'd ask you.
My main point was that the law is complicated for a reason. Yes, sometimes things that shouldn't be illegal are made so, but there's a corrective mechanism called prosecutorial judgement. If you had no idea that something was illegal, chances are you won't be arrested for it.
Like someone posted in a different subthread, we can't get hurt by not knowing physics.
So if a 5-ton weight falls on me from a height of 400 meters, I won't get hurt as long as I don't know physics.
The cartoon model of the universe I guess.
Seriously though legal language is complicated because the law itself is complicated, and this isn't necessarily a bad thing. Most of it is eliminating loopholes, vagueness, and ambiguity. Once law becomes simple enough for anyone to understand, it's probably too simple to be of use.
If you don't believe me, then write a simple, brief law, and I'll misinterpret it for you.
I haven't really noticed any reliability issues with http anymore. If it starts loading it usually finishes, and I haven't run into any corruption problems. Maybe if you were serving huge files ftp would be a good idea, but for 1-6 mb it's probably not worth it.
This is slashdot, so you're expecting to nod knowingly and pretend you understand it. Or do you really think all those people who discuss quantum mechanics at length really know what they're talking about?
Well the point is that laws are written in a legal vocabulary that takes a while to obtain. It's kind of like math; open a graduate-level math book and it looks infinitely incomprehensible. The difference with law is people assume that since the symbols it uses are verbal that they should be able to understand it.
Physics shouldn't be inaccessible to the general public; I mean, look at any physics journal, you need to know all that math and stuff just to understand it!
There's a difference between general redistibution of wealth and EVEN distribution of wealth. I'm not calling for the confiscation and completely equal redistribution of wealth; logistically it's impossible and morally it's questionable.
Some redistribution of wealth is healthy, though, conducted through tax channels. Experience has shown that standard of living is highest in places where the difference between the wealthy and the poor is less.
And it could be snake oil as well. The fact that some extraordinary claims of the past were in fact shown to be true doesn't mean that we have to give the benefit of the doubt to every cold fusionist and unbreakable cryptographer that comes down the pike. Sometimes all the experts really ARE right.
In the future we won't use money in vending machines. Or credit cards, debit cards, or biometry.
We'll still use vending machines, however; we'll be prying them open with a jagged metal bar we ripped from the shattered remains of a destroyed car, hoping that the rats and other scavengers missed a dessicated candy bar, while we keep an eye out for the psychotic gangs that terrorize the wasteland. If we do find any food in the vending machines, we head back to our barricaded shelter on the outskirts of the city, with a finger on the trigger of the sawed-off shotgun we always keep next to us, hoping to survive another day in the post-nuclear world.
Yep, Gleick is one of the premier science writers alive, kind of funny how the submitter just threw out the name without realizing who it was.
Reminded me of that Conan O'Brien skit where Andy is reminiscing about that GREAT little local breakfast place he found, pancake house or was it house of pancakes?
I just don't understand the mentality of "wow, that was a great book--they should make a movie of it!". Does anyone truly think that it won't be changed drastically to get on the screen? I mean, hell, there weren't really any bad guys, so they're probably going to add some.
Another 2001: A Space Odyssey would be great, but I doubt it's going to be anything like that. That movie came out during that tiny window between the bland, silly, middle-american movies of the 40's, 50's, and 60's, and the soulless blockbusters of the 80's. Right now the chances of a decent, introspective, philosophical sf book being faithfully copied to the big screen is close to nil. Probably just be focus-grouped into mediocrity.
Slashdot Mirror
Not only could you search the Internet, but you could refine your searches just to other people's thoughts, etc.
Sweet screaming monkeys would that be pointless. Blogs are like dreams; they're only interesting to the people they belong to. If by some freakish twist of fate I cared about your last trip to Reno or what kind of sandwich you ate last week, I'd ask you.
While it is a bit dated
What's slightly dated stuff doing making slashdot's main page?! I'm outraged; it's supposed to be VERY dated before you people post it!
I'd like to assure you that I a) don't have a job, b) if I had a job it wouldn't be one that you'd want, and c)lock my doors at night.
what is needed is institutions that effectively manage common resources, and such institutions have emerged repeatedly and continue to exist
Yes, we call those institutions "governments".
What are you talking about? How the HELL will this inconvenience Microsoft in the LEAST?
So basically they got upset that MSN intentionally messed up their page for opera browsers by messing it up even more. That's a great idea.
It was a JOKE.
My main point was that the law is complicated for a reason. Yes, sometimes things that shouldn't be illegal are made so, but there's a corrective mechanism called prosecutorial judgement. If you had no idea that something was illegal, chances are you won't be arrested for it.
Right, but for 1-6 mb I'd rather just try my luck with http. Especially since http is faster to connect to than ftp.
Like someone posted in a different subthread, we can't get hurt by not knowing physics.
So if a 5-ton weight falls on me from a height of 400 meters, I won't get hurt as long as I don't know physics.
The cartoon model of the universe I guess.
Seriously though legal language is complicated because the law itself is complicated, and this isn't necessarily a bad thing. Most of it is eliminating loopholes, vagueness, and ambiguity. Once law becomes simple enough for anyone to understand, it's probably too simple to be of use.
If you don't believe me, then write a simple, brief law, and I'll misinterpret it for you.
I haven't really noticed any reliability issues with http anymore. If it starts loading it usually finishes, and I haven't run into any corruption problems. Maybe if you were serving huge files ftp would be a good idea, but for 1-6 mb it's probably not worth it.
This is slashdot, so you're expecting to nod knowingly and pretend you understand it. Or do you really think all those people who discuss quantum mechanics at length really know what they're talking about?
Well the point is that laws are written in a legal vocabulary that takes a while to obtain. It's kind of like math; open a graduate-level math book and it looks infinitely incomprehensible. The difference with law is people assume that since the symbols it uses are verbal that they should be able to understand it.
but knowledge of the law would practically require omniscience.
Or three years of law school.
You're right about the rules of law.
However, as a completely separate, and irrelevant point, the AMA really does try to limit the number of doctors in order to keep salaries high.
Physics shouldn't be inaccessible to the general public; I mean, look at any physics journal, you need to know all that math and stuff just to understand it!
Brutus' assassination of Caesar resulted in his death a very short time later, so he'd probably agree with me...
Murder to effect social change? Not sure that's a good idea.
Volume!
There's a difference between general redistibution of wealth and EVEN distribution of wealth. I'm not calling for the confiscation and completely equal redistribution of wealth; logistically it's impossible and morally it's questionable.
Some redistribution of wealth is healthy, though, conducted through tax channels. Experience has shown that standard of living is highest in places where the difference between the wealthy and the poor is less.
Sounds good to me.
And it could be snake oil as well. The fact that some extraordinary claims of the past were in fact shown to be true doesn't mean that we have to give the benefit of the doubt to every cold fusionist and unbreakable cryptographer that comes down the pike. Sometimes all the experts really ARE right.
In the future we won't use money in vending machines. Or credit cards, debit cards, or biometry.
We'll still use vending machines, however; we'll be prying them open with a jagged metal bar we ripped from the shattered remains of a destroyed car, hoping that the rats and other scavengers missed a dessicated candy bar, while we keep an eye out for the psychotic gangs that terrorize the wasteland. If we do find any food in the vending machines, we head back to our barricaded shelter on the outskirts of the city, with a finger on the trigger of the sawed-off shotgun we always keep next to us, hoping to survive another day in the post-nuclear world.
Yep, Gleick is one of the premier science writers alive, kind of funny how the submitter just threw out the name without realizing who it was.
Reminded me of that Conan O'Brien skit where Andy is reminiscing about that GREAT little local breakfast place he found, pancake house or was it house of pancakes?
I just don't understand the mentality of "wow, that was a great book--they should make a movie of it!". Does anyone truly think that it won't be changed drastically to get on the screen? I mean, hell, there weren't really any bad guys, so they're probably going to add some.
Another 2001: A Space Odyssey would be great, but I doubt it's going to be anything like that. That movie came out during that tiny window between the bland, silly, middle-american movies of the 40's, 50's, and 60's, and the soulless blockbusters of the 80's. Right now the chances of a decent, introspective, philosophical sf book being faithfully copied to the big screen is close to nil. Probably just be focus-grouped into mediocrity.
Microsoft will continue to do it because they think they can do it with impunity. And they're probably right.