Well, I don't really believe that governments are supposed to act fast or SHOULD act fast. Except in the case of war. Think about it. If they acted fast, a governor or president or whoever could call up the 'Bureau of Screwing Citizens' and say they wanted something done. Before we know it, something very unpopular could be done and without the proper public discourse. I agree that much of the government needs streamlined and to be made more transparent - but not FAST.
Issue was dealing with what to do with a stranded whale.
Discussions have been ongoing for 2 months.
People are getting worried that the Whale will die before anybody decides what to do.
In another example;
Ten years 'planning' so far for a (insert current hip modern mass transit system of choice here).
They are SLOOWLY getting there, but each time they revise their plan it gets less and less useful.
Entire NATIONS have built mass transit systems faster then this one section of a State can even AGREE on something to do.
Not that voters have not passed "Get it the hell done" resolutions.
Which they have indeed done;
more then once.
But the planners keep on planning, trying to please everybody.
Hell I say shove it down the middle of the most busy streets, put stops where most people go to work at and in all of the major commercial centers (those big ass things called SHOPPING MALLS for instance. . ..) and be done with it.
Yeesh.
What ever happened to the government requisitioning land in the name of progress?
Re:If you examine the Judges Original ruling
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5. Encode to two CDs [MPEG-1 at around 1.2Mbps] 6. Return DVD
For around 8$ I have a virtually perfect rip [on two CDs] and I don't have to waste tons of bandwidth.
I will object to this, I am blind in one eye and have had confirmed video-philes tell me en-masse that I am a dumb shit when it comes to recognizing errors in video;
but even I can tell ya that a VCD sucks ass.:)
Now a PROPERLY done MPEG4 encoding DOES INDEED look just like the original source material, and in the case of the BETTER MPEG4 rips the rip can actually SURPASS the source material (Virtual Dub filterchains can work some magic.:) ).
Now you are likely to be encoding at a fraction of a frame per second when you get to doing this high of quality;
but oooh is it ever crystal smooth!:)
Once again this is an issue of actually figuring out what is what.
When you buy a DVD you are buying a license to view the movie, not own the data on the disc. Or something like that
Which is the problem.
Now on my site I actually specify that people are purchasing the rights to 'use' a copy a 3d model from me.
Now after I give them that model they can do whatever they want with it, within reason. (if I donate it to a GPL cause then if they go closed source and commercial, they are required to pay me, but that about the extent of it). The SOLE purpose of the licensing agreement is to ensure that I can keep on selling that model again and again and again. I am just working on retaining my rights to my artistic creation, that is all.
But hell once a person HAS a copy of it they can print it up and duct tape it to their asscheecks for all I care. Hell they can duct tape it to their AND all of their friend's asscheecks. Up to them. I am NOT going to try and tell a person what they can do with the model.
They purchase the right to finitz around with a data set. That is how I see it.
A data set.
On a whole 'nother branch of the same tree;
my house;
my property;
f*ck off.:)
NOBODY SHOULD EVER have the right to DICTATE WHAT YOU DO ON YOUR OWN PROPERTY.
and indeed this USED TO BE the way that it was.
If I completely recreated Starwars: The Empire Strikes Back out of colored play dough, a perfect rendition of it, then I could stick that reel of rather oddly textured film wherever I wanted to.
And NOBODY could stop me.
Now I could not charge attendance for others to see it, but hell;
what is mine is mine.
Same with driving cars on private property. If I want to let a 6 year old child drive a car, assuming I have proper release of liability from the child's parents (or it is my own offspring, which ever) it is my own damn choice, no cop is going to come on to my property and pull the kid over for driving without a license.
But ah, I decide to use a computer program on MY computer that _I_ built;
hell even if I made the computer program myself;
it could still very well be illegal.
Now I can understand in SOME cases how SOME self constructed objects could be reasonably outlawed.
Items like nuclear devices, radiation danger and all can spread to others within the community (or worse) and thus no matter how safe I may think I am in building such a device, I do not have the right to endanger my fellow citizens so.
But watching a movie that has been transcoded to MPEG4?
I understand what you're talking about. However, if the record/media companies own all of the networks, etc. what gives you the idea that they will ALLOW anti-DMCA types to play campaign ads on their stations? It's free speech, remember - they can put any voice forward that they wish - and that voice will slowly become more and more an echo of their corporate line.
It is highly unlikely that a candidate will get elected on any sort of anti-DMCA issues, and it is doubtful that a candidate would even air their opinions on the DMCA in public at all.
It is more of one of those things that you kind of have to guesstimate about a candidate.
Well that and Maria Cantwell has also fought against other tech-censorship laws in the past and has a pretty darn good track record as being pro-dothings.:)
She actually made a formal statement today commenting on how dog assed slow one department or another here in Washington State was moving in just making an official plan of action, hehe. I loved that, it is a major gripe of mine that most government bureaucracies take soooo long to even think up of a solution for a problem that by the time that they DO think up of even possible course of action to take in SEEKING a possible course of action, hell, the problem has long since gotten far worse. ^_^
"The internet sees censorship as damage and routes around it.". I can't remember who said it, but it'strue for the most part. National laws are merely annoyances to the locals.
Well yah, but, err, the feds have this awful habit of working even with overseas police and arresting people, or arresting anybody who lives in America, or arresting anybody who sets foot into America, who has violated any part of the DMCA.
Lovely. . . . just looovely.
Anybody know of a way to exist completely anonymously? No? Damnit. . . .::sighs:: After that last anon naming service thing went offline (the really really good one that you had to pay for as you go) things have kind of sucked on the online privacy front.
I SOOO need to get rich and donate gobs of money to the EFF.:)
.") I'd figure most kids cluefull enough to find their age pr0n will know not to inform the people in the channel that they are a kid, or leave a trail.
Am I like the only one who when he was 14 was unable to find/any/ porn that wasn't of woman with huge ass breasts the size of watermelons or bigger?
Bleh.
I have always been able to find damn nearly anything online, but as a youngster searches for pr0n would be more likely to turn up granny smith (What in the world was up with the grannie pr0n craze on the 'net a few years back any ways? WTF brought that on? Damn nearly every warez site out there had pop up banners showing all these old people. Bizzare) then anything of remote interest.
So eventually I got bored and just went back to warez instead and then got into 3d modeling.:)
See, who says the net isn't productive!
(actually I have always had very little interest in porn, too blah and boring, same old same old. Now if you want real entertainment you have to head over to places like alt.tasteless and such.:) )
Re:If you examine the Judges Original ruling
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was akin to the anarchist arguing that bomb making was protected because his political opinions were.
Information on how to make a bomb is perfectly legal though;
Now USING that bomb IS illegal.
People shouldn't pirate movies, but it somebody wants to rip their own DVDs and put'em on their HD, transcode them to MPEG4 for size efficiency, and stream them off of a box running an OS of their choice;
NOBODY, and I repeat, NOBODY should have the right to stop a person from doing that.
If it is within the sanctity of a person's own home and they are NOT harming ANYBODY AT ALL;
then it should be allowed.
Period.
The DMCA is equivalent to "outlawing people scratching on their walls because it harms the plaster wall industry".
Or outlawing private citizens owning hatchets because it would harm the lumber industry (they will go down to lumber mills and hack at the lumber and ruin it all, oh nooo!!!!!).
Quite frankly companies should just not release products with piss poor copy protection.
Imagine if Boeing made a plane that totally sucked and crashed into the ground all the time.
And then pushed a law through congress saying that making emergency landings was against the law and that any other plane crashes were obviously the fault of the pilot.
The planes would still be crashing, but Boeing would now have no encouragement to change things (well outside of financial pressure, but with the case of software it is even more limited, especially since there is not a negative effect upon the consumer as there is with airplanes crashing. ^_^ )
I swear, the shit that comes out of geeks' mouths when they start talking politics is appalling.
What the hell did you expect on slashdot, x-stian conservatives?
(well aside from the trolls that is, they do a pretty darn good x-stian conservative routine. ^_^ )
The next step is to elect a new legislature.
Got that done in Washington State, Maria Cantwell is senator here, unfortunately it is a bit hard to find self made millionaires who are on top of both technological and environmental issues and who are willing to go completely broke just to keep their campaign clean.
If you DO find a large willing pool of such candidates though, by all means convince them to run for office.:)
If the supreme court refuses to hear the case do we formaly rebel or something then?
I mean what ARE the options left after both the legislative and the judicial branch have f*cked you in the ass?
Granted it wouldn't be MUCH of a rebelion (well, one way or the other. Not like Nerds / Geeks can agree on anything, getting us all organized would be hell, everybody would start fighting over minor ass stuff), but if we ever did get organized we would rule the world.
(in about ten seconds, heh.)
Somebody else can comment on the irony of the highest potential power being held by people who are unable to get together to use it. ^_^
Nuclear Power ---> Radation Therapy ---> Cancer Treatments. (yah yah so man made radation has caused tons of cancer as well, heh.)
Airplanes -> bombing -> death.
Airplanes ---> Transport Planes ---> Quick delivery of life saving medical resources.
Boats -> armada -> war. death. famine. pestilence.
War came LOOONG before boats.:)
See what I mean? What's next bioengineered virii?
Already have those. . . ..
Just working on the life saving ones now.:)
(actualy viruses are not the first choice for a biological weapon, bacteria are a lot easier to work with, heh. )
Not a good troll if it was an attempt though, not likely to get anybody made or upset, just to make'em chuckle and reply with a minor quick correction.
I doubt the US has a "negative population curve" (whatever that is).
Oh that was just to shutup the people who always yell out "but our population is really shrinking, it is just the immigrants that are the problem!"
Which of course is compleat bullshit since very few first generation immigrants go first thing into the city and buy condos.
Condos are EEEEVVIIILLLL as far as I am concerned.
I do like how Anthony put it (say he is a crackpot author or not, I still like him.:P )
"Don't you see how close we are already? This whole district-one mass of hutchs for people, tier upon teier, each one fed by piped in pellets called groceries . . . . Every mind idstracted by standard-formula canned entertainment that someone has prorammed so there won't be too much fuss. . . . . and we have drugs too, don't we, so we can stand it all a little longer."
----Anthony, Piers. Omnivore; 1968. pg75(original print, and damn proud of it.:) )
Ah, anyways. Buy a house, get some land, your future offspring will thank you.:)
Re:I Cancelled My Earthlink Account
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Your tip #1 won't always work, I used to program VRUs for a Credit Card company, and all our apps removed that option( something about people flooding the ACD because they didn't want to spend all day in voice menu hell ).
Shame on you.
More on topic it took me about 2 hours and 2 different calls to un-earthlink myself. They even billed me for DSL service which they could not provide in my area??
No one can ever justify the statement -insert music genre here- sucks monkey ass donkey balls.
Sure I can.
The singers are horrific, little if any vocal training, sometimes just enough to make them sound 'great' to people who have never heard a real singer's voice, those who know better recognize crap when some RIAA exec tries to disguise it as pansies.
The instrumentals often times either suck or are covered up by previously mentioned crappy vocals. I remember one SNL episode where a band came out and started playing this LOVELY instrumental piece, absolutely great stuff, violinists playing such wondrous music;
and then some damn rapper had to happen his mouth and start shouting obscenities. . ..
::sighs::
But even cases like that are the exception rather then the rule.
Generic repetitive instrumentals, seem like they were composed by a four year old.
Of course each Genre does indeed have its songs that ARE good, hell even rap has put out a good song or two, but in general those are quite rare and something that is occasional palatable is not worth* having to listen to all of the other crap that people insist on playing out loud on their boomboxs.
I really would not have too much of a problem with other musical genres, but that so many people who listen to them seem insistent on sharing their obscenities of choice with the rest of the world.
Just as or even more annoying;
people with headphones who then sing the lyrics out loud anyway.
Yah it is mostly a listener thing that I have a problem with (don't get me wrong, the music is crap and it is repetitive), but the listeners are generated by the community surrounding the music.
A community that often times seems to generate a "I don't give a fuck" sort of an attitude.
(And no that is NOT how teenagers have to act, that is actually a relatively modern happening. Just because I know somebody is going to bitch about that one, heh. Obviously 20somethings who have their fancy ricer cars with their stereos blaring are just as annoying as well. Or even 20somethings without ricer cars but with the same blaring stereo.)
Besides, there are few modern composers out there, the music that is generated today IS INDEED TECHNICAL AND ARTISTIC CRAP.
Repetitive lyrics, repetitive instrumentals, and the thinking that goes into the generation of those songs is negligible.
Well except for the thinking that goes into SELLING those songs. Oh now THAT is quite sufficient.
Until the RIAA came around and told us that 'everybody deserves to be heard' society had NO PROBLEM saying that something was crap.
Hell crap is crap, if you cannot RECOGNIZE IT you run the risk of letting crap exist.
Look at how many pop singers people have only latter on realized where absolutely horrible. But at the time they were MARKETED into BUYING those singers. Not because of any qualities that the 'artist' might have possessed, but because of sheer marketing forces.
Thus crap was sold and people where encouraged to buy it because "denying the artist is soooo judging others and that's wrong m'kay?".
Bullshit. People HAVE TO make judgements and assumptions or else they will end up dead or dumb or dead and dumb rather quickly.
Hell I make Judgements as to my various Professors's teaching abilities each time I decide which classes to sign up for next quarter. Some of them do indeed suck. Now I make sure to separate my sense of "they are not a good teacher" from "I do not like them." Hell I have taken classes from Professors whom I do not like but whom I know are GOOD teachers. In the same way I have had Professors whom I liked but who I had to admit where not good teachers.
Yes there is indeed a difference and I have talked about both in this message. It works the same way for music, art, teachers, or people in general. There is indeed a definable level of crap out there;
one easy way to tell is to figure out how hard something is being marketed on you. The heavier the marketing the lower the likely hood of artistic value. Now it does not always work this way, (especially NOT for movies) but hell, once the "Don't judge it, it is art!" propaganda movement starts turning up, you can pretty much be assured that something is rotten.
*Most debatable point right here, how much pain should we tolerate to generate that one piece of non-crappy music?
Choice doesn't necessarily mean everyone is gunna pay doctors to use their high-tech coathangers on them, then shoot them and their whole family.
Actualy since population growth is exponential, if you just cut one generation in half instead of letting it grow, you will have signifigent long term effects (well at least until the curve catchs up again, heh, but it will never equal what it would have been before.)
Besides, people die naturaly sooner or latter, it is just the production of more people. . ..
(Yah I know the US supposidly has a negative population curve, but why the fuck do they keep on building more and more damn condos then?)
One more description of how to 'rape a bitch' 'fuck a hoe' or otherwise insert a penis into a females body and I am going to shove the next boombox I see up some whiteboy wannabe gangbangers ass.
(and yah thats the Radio, the station annoucements pretty much guarantee that. . ..)
Radio does have somewhat stricter limitations then TV does though, but then again those are for good reasons. Almost anybody can easily get access to a radio, and what is more, people often times have to contend with OTHERS who force feed their chosen radio preferences down surrounding people's throats.
A parent can easily tell JR to not watch the tv, but it would be a bit harder keeping somebody else from playing sexually explicit songs on their own private radio and playing them far to loudly.
Heck even just switching between radio stations should not involve hearing a auditory stream that resembles
"Fuck thaScrew her in thCunt lickiMy Whores lik"::peaceful blues music comes into focus::
Not a good thing.:)
The low cost of entry to listeners likely predominates the reasons as to why radio still has some rather minimal censorship on it though.
And it is NOT like the *COUGH*artists*COUGH* (like hell they are) are being censored completely by the government though. If they can get a big label to publish them, the government is not going to stop them. Though in some cases I think that they should have. . . . (I am all for freedom of speech and freely sharing information, but some dickhead shouting out profanity at the top of his lungs does NOT count in my book as being free speech. Wouldn't be so bad, but, aah, see above comment about pasty faced whiteboys with boomboxs.:) )
If a big 5 label won't have yah then you can always publish your own CDs, many have done it, and a few have even made a living from it. Nothing stopping you from doing so. (though do not use blank Music CDs, since part of their cost goes to the RIAA. Use regularly labeled CDRs instead.:) )
This is not like, say, Australia, in which ALL works have to go through a government review*cough*censorship*cough* board (eeeew!).
they can spend all of the money that they want making their software better and better (hey, Win2K does indeed rock. Heh.:) ) but fact is;
keep pissing people off and they will lose customers faster then 'software security audits' up to hell will gain them customers.
(oh yah, and not making each OS more and more bleeping 'beautified' would be nice as well, I swear, if I wanted a pretty-boy interface I would've bought a mac!)
::hopes somebody hurries up and forces McNeel software to port Rhino3d to other x86 platforms. Is willing to provide crowbar to volenteer 'encourages' if necessary::
It's almost like the athiest saying "since there is evil/suffering in the world, god can not exist", brilliant.
Actually what you listed there is a crisis of faith and it is what the RELIGIOUS people have (no atheist worth their salt would use that argument.:P )
The real atheists often times DO use a somewhat related argument though. They assume that God does indeed exist and then prove that it cannot be so, and that thus he must therefore not exist.
(err, proof by negati. . . annnyways. One of those, been awhile since I had to learn the names of the types of proofs.:) )
The argument goes something like this (in one of its bazzilion forms).
Assume that God exists.
God is by definition Perfect* and Knows all that shall happen.
God created His worst Enemy Satan.
God was fully aware of the actions that Satan would take.
God was not pleased with the actions Satan took.
God is therefore either not perfect (thus not existing under the standard "God is Perfect" holding) or a masochist.
Take your pick.:)
Ok not the strongest argument ever put forward, but it does work. Same thing goes for Adam and Eve actualy (knew that they were going to f*ck up before it even happened; still made it that way.)
Oh yah it also completely defeats free will as well. If a Being knows the future with 100% certainty then you have no choice in the matter since your actions have already by definition been predetermined (or else how would The Being know of what your actions would be ahead of time.)
Astute readers will note my personal system of belief from the capitalization system that I use. . . . -_^
*Judo-Christian God here. Many other religions and even a few early Christian offshoots do not define God as being perfect. This is not the only argument out there, but it does counter the standard modern day bible thumper.
Germany has this problem with violence, similar to the US trying to censor "indecent material". You can say "fuck" on German TV without problems.
Ignoring translation issues posed by the above AC;
you can say pretty much whatever you want to on network TV in America now days as well, just so long as it is not during prime time or preschooler kiddie hours.
Hell you seen what MadTV and SNL are putting out these days? Apparently after the humor mill ran dry they decided to go for pure shock value instead. . ..
(though more MadTV then SNL, and Fox does traditionally Not Give A Fuck as to what their more popular shows say vocally. Well they occasionally give a fuck, but it is an on again off again thing.:) )
Hell pretty much anything except for full frontal nudity (though that does at time slip by as well) goes past on US tv now.
Hell people this ain't the 50s, while it may be against the law to show full blown orgies on the 6'oclock news, hell that is about the ONLY restriction TV stations seem to have.
(though in the bible belt things can indeed be different. Hell do NOT take them seriously, the rest of us American's sure don't.:) )
Heck I have seen the local news show autopsy photos before. The really really gruesome ones of the same type that you can find on rotten.com.
Sex? no problem. Graphical descriptions of how some guy rapped some preschool child? Ok to show. Nobody in this area has (to my knowledge) showed footage of a sex change operation yet though.;)
Disclaimer: I live in a very liberal part of the nation that holds yearly nudist parades (no not state endorsed, err, at least I do not/think/ they are. . ..) and has not had a repub in position in, err, heh. Since the early 80s or so.:)
Support technicians? I was a support technician, they dont make shitloads of money, Think 40-60k per year (which is about average)
There are various levels of physical support.
Yah just doing yum-cha repairs of computers isn't going to earn you much, but then again neither is being a pool boy the most lucrative area of plumbing related specialties.
Labor in demand? Thats why we have factories now?
Wrong type of labor.
Car mechanics, electricians, plumbers, tv repair, and so forth.
Now the guys moving the TV set into your house and setting up the cables may not earn much, but the guy working in the shop fixing large rear projection TVs, ah now he's earning the dough.:)
Same with computers. Sure you won't earn much fixing home PCs (though quite frankly 60k a year isn't bad, safely middle class, and double what my parents raised me while earning), but if you are behind the scenes at some large company on call keeping their fleet of mainframes up and running and in tip top shape;
then you have the cash.
Oh, and AI is a pipe dream, it has been 'ten years coming' since around 1970. . ..
Quantum computers offer SOME hope for AI, as do biological computers, but even so sooner or later the physical layer will break down and somebody has to fix it. Unless you propose sending out an AI droid to do that to. . . . (heh, and if such was so, droids being able to do anything for us with as much flexibility in thinking as humans have, then nobody would ever have to work again and I wouldn't need to give a fuck about money because we would all be living in a money free world.:P Either that or all be dead after the Great Revolt.:D )
But without the happening of AI that can think as swiftly and as flexibly as humans, hell;
I would call fixing shit to be pretty darn good job security.
My faith in the invalidness of this statement is why I am going into comp repair / maintenance and such.
Labor is ALWAYS in demand. Always. Period.
You know how much independent all around support technicians earn? Hint; assloads of money!:)
System Administration is a bit of an odd single career, but the bonus to it is that if a person knows what they are doing they can easily branch out into other areas of expertise with very little difficulty.
A 'network specialist' concentrated more towards the physical layer is just a few short hops away, as is a 'network security analyst' and a bunch of other buzzword worthy terms.
Slashdot Mirror
Well, I don't really believe that governments are supposed to act fast or SHOULD act fast. Except in the case of war. Think about it. If they acted fast, a governor or president or whoever could call up the 'Bureau of Screwing Citizens' and say they wanted something done. Before we know it, something very unpopular could be done and without the proper public discourse. I agree that much of the government needs streamlined and to be made more transparent - but not FAST.
.) and be done with it.
Issue was dealing with what to do with a stranded whale.
Discussions have been ongoing for 2 months.
People are getting worried that the Whale will die before anybody decides what to do.
In another example;
Ten years 'planning' so far for a (insert current hip modern mass transit system of choice here).
They are SLOOWLY getting there, but each time they revise their plan it gets less and less useful.
Entire NATIONS have built mass transit systems faster then this one section of a State can even AGREE on something to do.
Not that voters have not passed "Get it the hell done" resolutions.
Which they have indeed done;
more then once.
But the planners keep on planning, trying to please everybody.
Hell I say shove it down the middle of the most busy streets, put stops where most people go to work at and in all of the major commercial centers (those big ass things called SHOPPING MALLS for instance. . .
Yeesh.
What ever happened to the government requisitioning land in the name of progress?
The first rule of Operation Total Chaos is that we do not talk about Operation Total Chaos.
SO SHUT UP!
::notes that this would explain the lack of communication between parties::
Jeff Vogal for President!
5. Encode to two CDs [MPEG-1 at around 1.2Mbps]
:)
:) ).
:)
:)
6. Return DVD
For around 8$ I have a virtually perfect rip [on two CDs] and I don't have to waste tons of bandwidth.
I will object to this, I am blind in one eye and have had confirmed video-philes tell me en-masse that I am a dumb shit when it comes to recognizing errors in video;
but even I can tell ya that a VCD sucks ass.
Now a PROPERLY done MPEG4 encoding DOES INDEED look just like the original source material, and in the case of the BETTER MPEG4 rips the rip can actually SURPASS the source material (Virtual Dub filterchains can work some magic.
Now you are likely to be encoding at a fraction of a frame per second when you get to doing this high of quality;
but oooh is it ever crystal smooth!
Once again this is an issue of actually figuring out what is what.
When you buy a DVD you are buying a license to view the movie, not own the data on the disc. Or something like that
Which is the problem.
Now on my site I actually specify that people are purchasing the rights to 'use' a copy a 3d model from me.
Now after I give them that model they can do whatever they want with it, within reason. (if I donate it to a GPL cause then if they go closed source and commercial, they are required to pay me, but that about the extent of it). The SOLE purpose of the licensing agreement is to ensure that I can keep on selling that model again and again and again. I am just working on retaining my rights to my artistic creation, that is all.
But hell once a person HAS a copy of it they can print it up and duct tape it to their asscheecks for all I care. Hell they can duct tape it to their AND all of their friend's asscheecks. Up to them. I am NOT going to try and tell a person what they can do with the model.
They purchase the right to finitz around with a data set. That is how I see it.
A data set.
On a whole 'nother branch of the same tree;
my house;
my property;
f*ck off.
NOBODY SHOULD EVER have the right to DICTATE WHAT YOU DO ON YOUR OWN PROPERTY.
and indeed this USED TO BE the way that it was.
If I completely recreated Starwars: The Empire Strikes Back out of colored play dough, a perfect rendition of it, then I could stick that reel of rather oddly textured film wherever I wanted to.
And NOBODY could stop me.
Now I could not charge attendance for others to see it, but hell;
what is mine is mine.
Same with driving cars on private property. If I want to let a 6 year old child drive a car, assuming I have proper release of liability from the child's parents (or it is my own offspring, which ever) it is my own damn choice, no cop is going to come on to my property and pull the kid over for driving without a license.
But ah, I decide to use a computer program on MY computer that _I_ built;
hell even if I made the computer program myself;
it could still very well be illegal.
Now I can understand in SOME cases how SOME self constructed objects could be reasonably outlawed.
Items like nuclear devices, radiation danger and all can spread to others within the community (or worse) and thus no matter how safe I may think I am in building such a device, I do not have the right to endanger my fellow citizens so.
But watching a movie that has been transcoded to MPEG4?
Bah;
Hardly going to give anyone cancer there.
I understand what you're talking about. However, if the record/media companies own all of the networks, etc. what gives you the idea that they will ALLOW anti-DMCA types to play campaign ads on their stations? It's free speech, remember - they can put any voice forward that they wish - and that voice will slowly become more and more an echo of their corporate line.
:)
It is highly unlikely that a candidate will get elected on any sort of anti-DMCA issues, and it is doubtful that a candidate would even air their opinions on the DMCA in public at all.
It is more of one of those things that you kind of have to guesstimate about a candidate.
Well that and Maria Cantwell has also fought against other tech-censorship laws in the past and has a pretty darn good track record as being pro-dothings.
She actually made a formal statement today commenting on how dog assed slow one department or another here in Washington State was moving in just making an official plan of action, hehe. I loved that, it is a major gripe of mine that most government bureaucracies take soooo long to even think up of a solution for a problem that by the time that they DO think up of even possible course of action to take in SEEKING a possible course of action, hell, the problem has long since gotten far worse. ^_^
"The internet sees censorship as damage and routes around it.". I can't remember who said it, but it'strue for the most part. National laws are merely annoyances to the locals.
::sighs:: After that last anon naming service thing went offline (the really really good one that you had to pay for as you go) things have kind of sucked on the online privacy front.
:)
Well yah, but, err, the feds have this awful habit of working even with overseas police and arresting people, or arresting anybody who lives in America, or arresting anybody who sets foot into America, who has violated any part of the DMCA.
Lovely. . . . just looovely.
Anybody know of a way to exist completely anonymously? No? Damnit. . . .
I SOOO need to get rich and donate gobs of money to the EFF.
.") I'd figure most kids cluefull enough to find their age pr0n will know not to inform the people in the channel that they are a kid, or leave a trail.
/any/ porn that wasn't of woman with huge ass breasts the size of watermelons or bigger?
:)
:) )
Am I like the only one who when he was 14 was unable to find
Bleh.
I have always been able to find damn nearly anything online, but as a youngster searches for pr0n would be more likely to turn up granny smith (What in the world was up with the grannie pr0n craze on the 'net a few years back any ways? WTF brought that on? Damn nearly every warez site out there had pop up banners showing all these old people. Bizzare) then anything of remote interest.
So eventually I got bored and just went back to warez instead and then got into 3d modeling.
See, who says the net isn't productive!
(actually I have always had very little interest in porn, too blah and boring, same old same old. Now if you want real entertainment you have to head over to places like alt.tasteless and such.
was akin to the anarchist arguing that bomb making was protected because his political opinions were.
Information on how to make a bomb is perfectly legal though;
Now USING that bomb IS illegal.
People shouldn't pirate movies, but it somebody wants to rip their own DVDs and put'em on their HD, transcode them to MPEG4 for size efficiency, and stream them off of a box running an OS of their choice;
NOBODY, and I repeat, NOBODY should have the right to stop a person from doing that.
If it is within the sanctity of a person's own home and they are NOT harming ANYBODY AT ALL;
then it should be allowed.
Period.
The DMCA is equivalent to "outlawing people scratching on their walls because it harms the plaster wall industry".
Or outlawing private citizens owning hatchets because it would harm the lumber industry (they will go down to lumber mills and hack at the lumber and ruin it all, oh nooo!!!!!).
Quite frankly companies should just not release products with piss poor copy protection.
Imagine if Boeing made a plane that totally sucked and crashed into the ground all the time.
And then pushed a law through congress saying that making emergency landings was against the law and that any other plane crashes were obviously the fault of the pilot.
The planes would still be crashing, but Boeing would now have no encouragement to change things (well outside of financial pressure, but with the case of software it is even more limited, especially since there is not a negative effect upon the consumer as there is with airplanes crashing. ^_^ )
I swear, the shit that comes out of geeks' mouths when they start talking politics is appalling.
:)
What the hell did you expect on slashdot, x-stian conservatives?
(well aside from the trolls that is, they do a pretty darn good x-stian conservative routine. ^_^ )
The next step is to elect a new legislature.
Got that done in Washington State, Maria Cantwell is senator here, unfortunately it is a bit hard to find self made millionaires who are on top of both technological and environmental issues and who are willing to go completely broke just to keep their campaign clean.
If you DO find a large willing pool of such candidates though, by all means convince them to run for office.
If the supreme court refuses to hear the case do we formaly rebel or something then?
I mean what ARE the options left after both the legislative and the judicial branch have f*cked you in the ass?
Granted it wouldn't be MUCH of a rebelion (well, one way or the other. Not like Nerds / Geeks can agree on anything, getting us all organized would be hell, everybody would start fighting over minor ass stuff), but if we ever did get organized we would rule the world.
(in about ten seconds, heh.)
Somebody else can comment on the irony of the highest potential power being held by people who are unable to get together to use it. ^_^
Bah, I am more then happy to tell them that I, a lower class american, am doing something besides watching MTV or using (insert drug of choice here.)
:)
Hell, I'd love to see on the news;
"New survey shows that largest percentage of New York times readers reading the politcal section earn under $30,000 annualy."
Kick ass.
Too bad it isn't going to happen though, heh.
Nuclear power -> nuclear weapons -> nuclear war.
:)
.
:)
Nuclear Power ---> Radation Therapy ---> Cancer Treatments. (yah yah so man made radation has caused tons of cancer as well, heh.)
Airplanes -> bombing -> death.
Airplanes ---> Transport Planes ---> Quick delivery of life saving medical resources.
Boats -> armada -> war. death. famine. pestilence.
War came LOOONG before boats.
See what I mean? What's next bioengineered virii?
Already have those. . . .
Just working on the life saving ones now.
(actualy viruses are not the first choice for a biological weapon, bacteria are a lot easier to work with, heh. )
Not a good troll if it was an attempt though, not likely to get anybody made or upset, just to make'em chuckle and reply with a minor quick correction.
I doubt the US has a "negative population curve" (whatever that is).
:P )
:) )
:)
Oh that was just to shutup the people who always yell out "but our population is really shrinking, it is just the immigrants that are the problem!"
Which of course is compleat bullshit since very few first generation immigrants go first thing into the city and buy condos.
Condos are EEEEVVIIILLLL as far as I am concerned.
I do like how Anthony put it (say he is a crackpot author or not, I still like him.
"Don't you see how close we are already? This whole district-one mass of hutchs for people, tier upon teier, each one fed by piped in pellets called groceries . . . . Every mind idstracted by standard-formula canned entertainment that someone has prorammed so there won't be too much fuss. . . . . and we have drugs too, don't we, so we can stand it all a little longer."
----Anthony, Piers. Omnivore; 1968. pg75(original print, and damn proud of it.
Ah, anyways. Buy a house, get some land, your future offspring will thank you.
Your tip #1 won't always work, I used to program VRUs for a Credit Card company, and all our apps removed that option( something about people flooding the ACD because they didn't want to spend all day in voice menu hell ).
:)
Shame on you.
More on topic it took me about 2 hours and 2 different calls to un-earthlink myself. They even billed me for DSL service which they could not provide in my area??
Karmatic punishment!
No one can ever justify the statement -insert music genre here- sucks monkey ass donkey balls.
.
Sure I can.
The singers are horrific, little if any vocal training, sometimes just enough to make them sound 'great' to people who have never heard a real singer's voice, those who know better recognize crap when some RIAA exec tries to disguise it as pansies.
The instrumentals often times either suck or are covered up by previously mentioned crappy vocals. I remember one SNL episode where a band came out and started playing this LOVELY instrumental piece, absolutely great stuff, violinists playing such wondrous music;
and then some damn rapper had to happen his mouth and start shouting obscenities. . .
::sighs::
But even cases like that are the exception rather then the rule.
Generic repetitive instrumentals, seem like they were composed by a four year old.
Of course each Genre does indeed have its songs that ARE good, hell even rap has put out a good song or two, but in general those are quite rare and something that is occasional palatable is not worth* having to listen to all of the other crap that people insist on playing out loud on their boomboxs.
I really would not have too much of a problem with other musical genres, but that so many people who listen to them seem insistent on sharing their obscenities of choice with the rest of the world.
Just as or even more annoying;
people with headphones who then sing the lyrics out loud anyway.
Yah it is mostly a listener thing that I have a problem with (don't get me wrong, the music is crap and it is repetitive), but the listeners are generated by the community surrounding the music.
A community that often times seems to generate a "I don't give a fuck" sort of an attitude.
(And no that is NOT how teenagers have to act, that is actually a relatively modern happening. Just because I know somebody is going to bitch about that one, heh. Obviously 20somethings who have their fancy ricer cars with their stereos blaring are just as annoying as well. Or even 20somethings without ricer cars but with the same blaring stereo.)
Besides, there are few modern composers out there, the music that is generated today IS INDEED TECHNICAL AND ARTISTIC CRAP.
Repetitive lyrics, repetitive instrumentals, and the thinking that goes into the generation of those songs is negligible.
Well except for the thinking that goes into SELLING those songs. Oh now THAT is quite sufficient.
Until the RIAA came around and told us that 'everybody deserves to be heard' society had NO PROBLEM saying that something was crap.
Hell crap is crap, if you cannot RECOGNIZE IT you run the risk of letting crap exist.
Look at how many pop singers people have only latter on realized where absolutely horrible. But at the time they were MARKETED into BUYING those singers. Not because of any qualities that the 'artist' might have possessed, but because of sheer marketing forces.
Thus crap was sold and people where encouraged to buy it because "denying the artist is soooo judging others and that's wrong m'kay?".
Bullshit. People HAVE TO make judgements and assumptions or else they will end up dead or dumb or dead and dumb rather quickly.
Hell I make Judgements as to my various Professors's teaching abilities each time I decide which classes to sign up for next quarter. Some of them do indeed suck. Now I make sure to separate my sense of "they are not a good teacher" from "I do not like them." Hell I have taken classes from Professors whom I do not like but whom I know are GOOD teachers. In the same way I have had Professors whom I liked but who I had to admit where not good teachers.
Yes there is indeed a difference and I have talked about both in this message. It works the same way for music, art, teachers, or people in general. There is indeed a definable level of crap out there;
one easy way to tell is to figure out how hard something is being marketed on you. The heavier the marketing the lower the likely hood of artistic value. Now it does not always work this way, (especially NOT for movies) but hell, once the "Don't judge it, it is art!" propaganda movement starts turning up, you can pretty much be assured that something is rotten.
*Most debatable point right here, how much pain should we tolerate to generate that one piece of non-crappy music?
Choice doesn't necessarily mean everyone is gunna pay doctors to use their high-tech coathangers on them, then shoot them and their whole family.
.
Actualy since population growth is exponential, if you just cut one generation in half instead of letting it grow, you will have signifigent long term effects (well at least until the curve catchs up again, heh, but it will never equal what it would have been before.)
Besides, people die naturaly sooner or latter, it is just the production of more people. . .
(Yah I know the US supposidly has a negative population curve, but why the fuck do they keep on building more and more damn condos then?)
Airing pessimistic and anti-linux or pro-DMCA
:) )
I have often times gotten modded up for anti-linux arguments.
You just have to provide BACKING and FOUNDATIONS for your rantings that is all.
(so far nobody has found ANYTHING good to say about the DMCA.
that was not a first post type post man!
:) ) and posted a comment. . . .
No shit, wasn't aiming for first;
3 or 4 (5 already? shnitz) years, first time I have gotten first post.
Weird.
Just hit refresh, read story, read part of the article (speed reading rocks.
bizzare.
How is this conversation going to go?
:)
Shall we go around on the censorship thing or just do the whole entire pro-life VS pro-choice thing.
I'm game for either.
Pro-choice, because there are too many damn people already!
Why not shove it up a wannabe blackboy gangbanger's ass?
:)
Mostly because white middle class'ers piss me off more.
Heck, ever listened to a rap song on the radio?
.)
:)
:) )
:) )
Yah, I wonder how the shit gets on the air.
One more description of how to 'rape a bitch' 'fuck a hoe' or otherwise insert a penis into a females body and I am going to shove the next boombox I see up some whiteboy wannabe gangbangers ass.
(and yah thats the Radio, the station annoucements pretty much guarantee that. . .
Radio does have somewhat stricter limitations then TV does though, but then again those are for good reasons. Almost anybody can easily get access to a radio, and what is more, people often times have to contend with OTHERS who force feed their chosen radio preferences down surrounding people's throats.
A parent can easily tell JR to not watch the tv, but it would be a bit harder keeping somebody else from playing sexually explicit songs on their own private radio and playing them far to loudly.
Heck even just switching between radio stations should not involve hearing a auditory stream that resembles
"Fuck thaScrew her in thCunt lickiMy Whores lik"::peaceful blues music comes into focus::
Not a good thing.
The low cost of entry to listeners likely predominates the reasons as to why radio still has some rather minimal censorship on it though.
And it is NOT like the *COUGH*artists*COUGH* (like hell they are) are being censored completely by the government though. If they can get a big label to publish them, the government is not going to stop them. Though in some cases I think that they should have. . . . (I am all for freedom of speech and freely sharing information, but some dickhead shouting out profanity at the top of his lungs does NOT count in my book as being free speech. Wouldn't be so bad, but, aah, see above comment about pasty faced whiteboys with boomboxs.
If a big 5 label won't have yah then you can always publish your own CDs, many have done it, and a few have even made a living from it. Nothing stopping you from doing so. (though do not use blank Music CDs, since part of their cost goes to the RIAA. Use regularly labeled CDRs instead.
This is not like, say, Australia, in which ALL works have to go through a government review*cough*censorship*cough* board (eeeew!).
I don't care how good MS's software gets;
:) ) but fact is;
they can spend all of the money that they want making their software better and better (hey, Win2K does indeed rock. Heh.
keep pissing people off and they will lose customers faster then 'software security audits' up to hell will gain them customers.
(oh yah, and not making each OS more and more bleeping 'beautified' would be nice as well, I swear, if I wanted a pretty-boy interface I would've bought a mac!)
::hopes somebody hurries up and forces McNeel software to port Rhino3d to other x86 platforms. Is willing to provide crowbar to volenteer 'encourages' if necessary::
It's almost like the athiest saying "since there is evil/suffering in the world, god can not exist", brilliant.
:P )
:) )
:)
Actually what you listed there is a crisis of faith and it is what the RELIGIOUS people have (no atheist worth their salt would use that argument.
The real atheists often times DO use a somewhat related argument though. They assume that God does indeed exist and then prove that it cannot be so, and that thus he must therefore not exist.
(err, proof by negati. . . annnyways. One of those, been awhile since I had to learn the names of the types of proofs.
The argument goes something like this (in one of its bazzilion forms).
Assume that God exists.
God is by definition Perfect* and Knows all that shall happen.
God created His worst Enemy Satan.
God was fully aware of the actions that Satan would take.
God was not pleased with the actions Satan took.
God is therefore either not perfect (thus not existing under the standard "God is Perfect" holding) or a masochist.
Take your pick.
Ok not the strongest argument ever put forward, but it does work. Same thing goes for Adam and Eve actualy (knew that they were going to f*ck up before it even happened; still made it that way.)
Oh yah it also completely defeats free will as well. If a Being knows the future with 100% certainty then you have no choice in the matter since your actions have already by definition been predetermined (or else how would The Being know of what your actions would be ahead of time.)
Astute readers will note my personal system of belief from the capitalization system that I use. . . . -_^
*Judo-Christian God here. Many other religions and even a few early Christian offshoots do not define God as being perfect. This is not the only argument out there, but it does counter the standard modern day bible thumper.
Germany has this problem with violence, similar to the US trying to censor "indecent material". You can say "fuck" on German TV without problems.
.
:) )
:) )
;)
/think/ they are. . . .) and has not had a repub in position in, err, heh. Since the early 80s or so. :)
Ignoring translation issues posed by the above AC;
you can say pretty much whatever you want to on network TV in America now days as well, just so long as it is not during prime time or preschooler kiddie hours.
Hell you seen what MadTV and SNL are putting out these days? Apparently after the humor mill ran dry they decided to go for pure shock value instead. . .
(though more MadTV then SNL, and Fox does traditionally Not Give A Fuck as to what their more popular shows say vocally. Well they occasionally give a fuck, but it is an on again off again thing.
Hell pretty much anything except for full frontal nudity (though that does at time slip by as well) goes past on US tv now.
Hell people this ain't the 50s, while it may be against the law to show full blown orgies on the 6'oclock news, hell that is about the ONLY restriction TV stations seem to have.
(though in the bible belt things can indeed be different. Hell do NOT take them seriously, the rest of us American's sure don't.
Heck I have seen the local news show autopsy photos before. The really really gruesome ones of the same type that you can find on rotten.com.
Sex? no problem. Graphical descriptions of how some guy rapped some preschool child? Ok to show. Nobody in this area has (to my knowledge) showed footage of a sex change operation yet though.
Disclaimer: I live in a very liberal part of the nation that holds yearly nudist parades (no not state endorsed, err, at least I do not
Support technicians? I was a support technician, they dont make shitloads of money, Think 40-60k per year (which is about average)
:)
.
:P Either that or all be dead after the Great Revolt. :D )
There are various levels of physical support.
Yah just doing yum-cha repairs of computers isn't going to earn you much, but then again neither is being a pool boy the most lucrative area of plumbing related specialties.
Labor in demand? Thats why we have factories now?
Wrong type of labor.
Car mechanics, electricians, plumbers, tv repair, and so forth.
Now the guys moving the TV set into your house and setting up the cables may not earn much, but the guy working in the shop fixing large rear projection TVs, ah now he's earning the dough.
Same with computers. Sure you won't earn much fixing home PCs (though quite frankly 60k a year isn't bad, safely middle class, and double what my parents raised me while earning), but if you are behind the scenes at some large company on call keeping their fleet of mainframes up and running and in tip top shape;
then you have the cash.
Oh, and AI is a pipe dream, it has been 'ten years coming' since around 1970. . .
Quantum computers offer SOME hope for AI, as do biological computers, but even so sooner or later the physical layer will break down and somebody has to fix it. Unless you propose sending out an AI droid to do that to. . . . (heh, and if such was so, droids being able to do anything for us with as much flexibility in thinking as humans have, then nobody would ever have to work again and I wouldn't need to give a fuck about money because we would all be living in a money free world.
But without the happening of AI that can think as swiftly and as flexibly as humans, hell;
I would call fixing shit to be pretty darn good job security.
Eventually servers will maintain themselves,
:)
My faith in the invalidness of this statement is why I am going into comp repair / maintenance and such.
Labor is ALWAYS in demand. Always. Period.
You know how much independent all around support technicians earn? Hint; assloads of money!
System Administration is a bit of an odd single career, but the bonus to it is that if a person knows what they are doing they can easily branch out into other areas of expertise with very little difficulty.
A 'network specialist' concentrated more towards the physical layer is just a few short hops away, as is a 'network security analyst' and a bunch of other buzzword worthy terms.