It was mentioned prominently last time we discussed the RIAA, so I'll throw it out again.
Support independent music you can listen to before you buy at cdbaby.com.
The great thing about CD Baby is that most artists there have at least four streamable songs (in mp3) per disc. You get to listen to the first two minutes of each song, and I don't have a problem with this (as opposed to the full song). Why? Because the indie artist doesn't make me feel like I'm the enemy for listening to their music before paying for it.
A feature that I also like from CD Baby is that you can search for indie artists that are similar to a national artist you know. That helps get you moving in a direction you're comfortable with.
For those of us who are trying to wean themselves off the RIAA but haven't yet kicked the habit, I recommend half.com (owned by Ebay). As an example, I recently got into Tori Amos. (Regardless of how you feel about her music, you do have to admit she's talented and original.) I picked up her latest CD a few months ago because it had 70 minutes of music and it cost me $10 new. I found myself really liking it, and willing to look at her other work.
Now, I could go to Best Buy and drop over $100 picking up the major discs of her backcatalog (5 discs plus a 2 CD-set), or I could go to half.com and get the same discs (albeit used) shipped to me for a grand total less than $30. As long as I can get a decent rip off the used discs, I don't care about their condition.
Between CD Baby and half.com, I really don't see myself buying many new discs from RIAA artists.
I'm glad that they appear to be giving the information out freely. I applaud that.
Now imagine that they went and {patented | copyrighted | appropriate IP protection} the information first so they could commercially leverage it. Wouldn't there be a worldwide public outcry?
Then why isn't there one when other genetic information, that could possibly save even more lives, is locked down? Just my thoughts...
I don't see how laws on Spam are going to be effective. How can they thwart someone in China?
Bombs. Lots and lots of bombs.
To quote someone from the discussion of the national do-not-call list administered by the FCC, "I'm looking forward to the national do-not-spam list, administered by the U.S. Army."
(Note for the humor-impaired: I'm not serious about the above)
It was actually developed on a Dell notebook. I'm not espescially proud of the way the site turned out, as I taught myself HTML as I put it together. I intend to redo it sometime, banishing the frames and making it truly cross-browser compliant (I made the site in September '02 and switched entirely to Linux in November '02.)
I think the colors appeared brighter on the notebook that was my sole computer until a few months ago. I have noticed the difficulty in making out the text. However, with starting my own business I've found myself pressed for time:).
For those in this thread complaining about Iraqi deaths, remember that almost all of the Iraqis who are being killed are soldiers.
For months (years?) the US and UK have been dropping leaflets over Iraq instructing Iraqi soliders how to surrender. If Iraqis try to surrender and are then summarily shot, there should be strong uproar and coalition forces on trial for war crimes.
The coalition forces are there enforcing international laws (specifically UN Resolutions 678 and 687) that are still in effect that required Iraq to declare and surrender all WMD as a condition of the Persian Gulf War ceasefire. Since Saddam did not cooperate, the ceasefire is no longer in effect, and the invasion resumes after a 12-year hiatus.
We've given Iraqi soldiers months of advance warning, and are practically televising our movements so they know when the tanks will be arriving. If they choose to fire on our soldiers, our soldiers will fire back, and probably with bigger weapons.
To summarize: I feel little pity for a soldier who has been given every opportunity to surrender with dignity and honor and be peacefully returned to his family, but instead chooses to be wiped out by the largest military on the planet.
I recently started an IT/Support business, and with my limited budget, I've found scrounging up old 14" and 15" monitors useful. Specifically, I keep them over on my workbench, as it beats unplugging and moving my personal 19" monitors when I work on a client's computer that I have temporarily. The smaller screen takes up considerably less space, and it's easier to move out of the way if the need arises.
You might want to consider donating them to your local school with a suggestion that they be used in a similar arrangement for kids wanting to poke around with cases of older hardware.
"The XP GUI is the most garish set of colors. It looks like the artwork of the mentally ill."
As someone who is mentally ill, I find your statement insulting. Even without my medication I could do a much better job than the color scheme of XP.
Note: Before I'm attacked for joking about mental illness, check the site below my name. I've personally been through the hell of mental treason. Therefore, I'm allowed to use my condition to insult Microsoft. Thank you.
Agreed: There is no obligation, ethical or otherwise, to "share any modifications with the company" (in this case MySQL AB) if you are not directly distributing those modifications to them. However, what I quoted was from the writer of the article, not MySQL AB's CEO.
Your post reminded me of what a friend of mine did back in primary school. Being scientifically inclinded, he wanted to build a space shuttle. Since he had heard that the space shuttle used solid fuel, he decided that his first step would be to put some gasoline in the freezer.
He is now about to graduate from a prestigious private university with a degree in Nuclear Physics. He's come quite a ways:).
Anybody can download the product for free and use it for whatever they want, but in so doing they become ethically obliged to share any modifications with the company.
The GPL does not merely give you an ethical obligation to share your modifications with anyone you distribute them to. It gives you a legal obligation. Until shown otherwise by a court, the GPL is legally binding. As such, stating that the (presumably only) obligation that someone modifying the code has in an ethical one furthers the outdated notion that all pieces of Open Source Software are amateur projects that are only held together by people who choose to donate their time for whatever higher reason. Not that there is anything wrong with volunteering your skills, but there are major businesses investing time and money in OSS.
From a business standpoint, OSS is legitimate. It would be nice if CNN reported it that way.
Note: I contacted CNN.com regarding this when they first posted the article. Predictably, I have not yet received a response.
The reason to move more towards *nix platforms in public schools (pre-school through university) is the difference in what you take away from working with it. Under Windows, you are trained to click here, then click there, and if it doesn't work, you restart. With *nix, you have the opportunity to be educated in what is going on beneath the pretty graphics (assuming here that suitably pretty graphics exist for your application, YMMV).
Case in point: I switched over to Linux in November, and have a four box LAN at home. I'm trying to set up the ability to access different printers over the network. Is it taking me a lot longer than it would under Windows? Yes. Is it frustrating? Extremely. But that's the point! As a physics prof of mine put it, "the learning is in the struggle." I already understand many points of networking/printing better than when I started, and when I finally (with the help of others) get this blasted setup working, I'll be educated further. And that will make it easier the next time I see this problem or a variant thereof, because I will understand what's going on beneath the pretty interface.
By the way, another way of paraphrasing my physics prof is: "No pain, no gain."
I don't think we're being exploited by a markup, as long as the vendor provides the following:
Your preferred distro installed and fully tested. I would expect all hardware to work as well or better than it would under Windows
Popular software (possibly some non-gratis stuff like StarOffice or Loki game ports thrown in) installed and configured. Even automated installs can take time, and fixing dependencies can be a pain in the rear
Professional tech support on par with the major Wintel OEMs
You don't always get that by buying a notebook off the shelf and installing Linux yourself. For some people and/or businesses, it might be worth the markup to receive the hardware and know that it's already set up, everything works, and help is just a phone call away.
Slashdot Mirror
If the university complains about the bandwidth usage, just reply that you shouldn't be messed with.
After all, you now know people...
It was mentioned prominently last time we discussed the RIAA, so I'll throw it out again.
Support independent music you can listen to before you buy at cdbaby.com.
The great thing about CD Baby is that most artists there have at least four streamable songs (in mp3) per disc. You get to listen to the first two minutes of each song, and I don't have a problem with this (as opposed to the full song). Why? Because the indie artist doesn't make me feel like I'm the enemy for listening to their music before paying for it.
A feature that I also like from CD Baby is that you can search for indie artists that are similar to a national artist you know. That helps get you moving in a direction you're comfortable with.
For those of us who are trying to wean themselves off the RIAA but haven't yet kicked the habit, I recommend half.com (owned by Ebay). As an example, I recently got into Tori Amos. (Regardless of how you feel about her music, you do have to admit she's talented and original.) I picked up her latest CD a few months ago because it had 70 minutes of music and it cost me $10 new. I found myself really liking it, and willing to look at her other work.
Now, I could go to Best Buy and drop over $100 picking up the major discs of her backcatalog (5 discs plus a 2 CD-set), or I could go to half.com and get the same discs (albeit used) shipped to me for a grand total less than $30. As long as I can get a decent rip off the used discs, I don't care about their condition.
Between CD Baby and half.com, I really don't see myself buying many new discs from RIAA artists.
I'm glad that they appear to be giving the information out freely. I applaud that.
Now imagine that they went and {patented | copyrighted | appropriate IP protection} the information first so they could commercially leverage it. Wouldn't there be a worldwide public outcry?
Then why isn't there one when other genetic information, that could possibly save even more lives, is locked down? Just my thoughts...
If I remember correctly, he pointed the gun-shaped chicken wing at a teacher and said "Bang."
His suspension was still stupid and unwarranted, but at least it's stupid and unwarranted by an itty bitty bit less.
refitting them with nuclear engines
Now there's an interesting idea. If the B-52 runs out of bombs, just drop the plane on the enemy.
This won't open my Excel spreadsheets! Clearly inferior software...
I agree. Excel is inferior. That's why I switched to OpenOffice.org.
Bombs. Lots and lots of bombs.
To quote someone from the discussion of the national do-not-call list administered by the FCC, "I'm looking forward to the national do-not-spam list, administered by the U.S. Army."
(Note for the humor-impaired: I'm not serious about the above)
I just got my copy of the same email, and I happened to notice the reply-to address.
dev-null@rhn.redhat.com
It made my day...
Surely I'm not the only one who misread your last item as "Britney Spears Hentai..."
It was actually developed on a Dell notebook. I'm not espescially proud of the way the site turned out, as I taught myself HTML as I put it together. I intend to redo it sometime, banishing the frames and making it truly cross-browser compliant (I made the site in September '02 and switched entirely to Linux in November '02.)
:).
I think the colors appeared brighter on the notebook that was my sole computer until a few months ago. I have noticed the difficulty in making out the text. However, with starting my own business I've found myself pressed for time
For those in this thread complaining about Iraqi deaths, remember that almost all of the Iraqis who are being killed are soldiers.
For months (years?) the US and UK have been dropping leaflets over Iraq instructing Iraqi soliders how to surrender. If Iraqis try to surrender and are then summarily shot, there should be strong uproar and coalition forces on trial for war crimes.
The coalition forces are there enforcing international laws (specifically UN Resolutions 678 and 687) that are still in effect that required Iraq to declare and surrender all WMD as a condition of the Persian Gulf War ceasefire. Since Saddam did not cooperate, the ceasefire is no longer in effect, and the invasion resumes after a 12-year hiatus.
We've given Iraqi soldiers months of advance warning, and are practically televising our movements so they know when the tanks will be arriving. If they choose to fire on our soldiers, our soldiers will fire back, and probably with bigger weapons.
To summarize: I feel little pity for a soldier who has been given every opportunity to surrender with dignity and honor and be peacefully returned to his family, but instead chooses to be wiped out by the largest military on the planet.
I recently started an IT/Support business, and with my limited budget, I've found scrounging up old 14" and 15" monitors useful. Specifically, I keep them over on my workbench, as it beats unplugging and moving my personal 19" monitors when I work on a client's computer that I have temporarily. The smaller screen takes up considerably less space, and it's easier to move out of the way if the need arises.
You might want to consider donating them to your local school with a suggestion that they be used in a similar arrangement for kids wanting to poke around with cases of older hardware.
In fact, it sounds as good as it did the first time it appeared and was discussed...
5 4&mode=thread&tid=106&tid=98
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=03/03/17/12302
Oh well, that was two days ago. If you hurry, you can probably regurgitate all of the +5 comments and boost your karma.
From your post...
"The XP GUI is the most garish set of colors. It looks like the artwork of the mentally ill."
As someone who is mentally ill, I find your statement insulting. Even without my medication I could do a much better job than the color scheme of XP.
Note: Before I'm attacked for joking about mental illness, check the site below my name. I've personally been through the hell of mental treason. Therefore, I'm allowed to use my condition to insult Microsoft. Thank you.
Agreed: There is no obligation, ethical or otherwise, to "share any modifications with the company" (in this case MySQL AB) if you are not directly distributing those modifications to them. However, what I quoted was from the writer of the article, not MySQL AB's CEO.
Beginning to wander OT...
:).
Your post reminded me of what a friend of mine did back in primary school. Being scientifically inclinded, he wanted to build a space shuttle. Since he had heard that the space shuttle used solid fuel, he decided that his first step would be to put some gasoline in the freezer.
He is now about to graduate from a prestigious private university with a degree in Nuclear Physics. He's come quite a ways
The GPL does not merely give you an ethical obligation to share your modifications with anyone you distribute them to. It gives you a legal obligation. Until shown otherwise by a court, the GPL is legally binding. As such, stating that the (presumably only) obligation that someone modifying the code has in an ethical one furthers the outdated notion that all pieces of Open Source Software are amateur projects that are only held together by people who choose to donate their time for whatever higher reason. Not that there is anything wrong with volunteering your skills, but there are major businesses investing time and money in OSS.
From a business standpoint, OSS is legitimate. It would be nice if CNN reported it that way.
Note: I contacted CNN.com regarding this when they first posted the article. Predictably, I have not yet received a response.
/usr/bin/bsod
or
K Menu -> System -> Emulator -> BSOD for the graphically-minded running KDE.
I gotta tell you, having the security blanket of that app made switching a heck of a lot easier for me.
*regarding mojo overheating*
Well maybe Taco finally figured out that what works for Perl works for the bedroom as well...
"There's more than one way to do it"
The reason to move more towards *nix platforms in public schools (pre-school through university) is the difference in what you take away from working with it. Under Windows, you are trained to click here, then click there, and if it doesn't work, you restart. With *nix, you have the opportunity to be educated in what is going on beneath the pretty graphics (assuming here that suitably pretty graphics exist for your application, YMMV).
Case in point: I switched over to Linux in November, and have a four box LAN at home. I'm trying to set up the ability to access different printers over the network. Is it taking me a lot longer than it would under Windows? Yes. Is it frustrating? Extremely. But that's the point! As a physics prof of mine put it, "the learning is in the struggle." I already understand many points of networking/printing better than when I started, and when I finally (with the help of others) get this blasted setup working, I'll be educated further. And that will make it easier the next time I see this problem or a variant thereof, because I will understand what's going on beneath the pretty interface.
By the way, another way of paraphrasing my physics prof is: "No pain, no gain."
Not to be confused with The Smell of Fear.
They just don't make movies like that anymore (and some would say with good reason).
From the submission:
"If you're a fan like i am..."
Nice to see you've been so impressed with the iMac, iBook, iTunes, et al. that you've adopted similar punctuation in your everyday grammar.
That would be quite ironic that a god would choose an atheist as his representative...
(Yes, I realize you are joking)
First you talk about how "in Slashdot-land, there are no girlfriends."
;).
Then you mention one of your "heated solitaire session[s]."
I think you might want to preview your entire post before submitting in the future
You don't always get that by buying a notebook off the shelf and installing Linux yourself. For some people and/or businesses, it might be worth the markup to receive the hardware and know that it's already set up, everything works, and help is just a phone call away.