Reporters Without Borders might disagree with you. Though there has been a sharp improvement in ranking for the US this year, the US score eroded pretty badly during the Bush era. In 2006, the US ranked #53 in press freedom.
I played around with Google's auto-complete feature for a while one day and what I discovered was that the most common topic that I kept running into was pregnancy. How does one know they are, how does it happen, how do you know when you are not, what do you do if it happens. These questions seem to be a major concern.
You'd think that for something that has occurred more than 6 billion time in just modern times, the phenomenon would be far better understood. Apparently sex education is woefully lacking.
Strangely, I never had auto-completion suggest something like "how to be abstinent".
The hardware doesn't matter. The profit margin on the actual consoles is slim. The big name game retailers make most of their profit off of games, and especially used games. They have to adapt or die, really.
Sadly, most consumers don't seem to value First Sale Doctrine... yet.
The hardware doesn't matter. The profit margin on the actual consoles is slim. Games (and sometimes accessories) is where the actual profit is. The big name game retailers now make most of their profit off used sales (which does include hardware as well, but is mostly software). They have to adapt or die, really.
Most consumers don't seem to value First Sale Doctrine... yet.
"Overweight" might be euphemistic, but it's also vague. It could mean slightly overweight, obese, or morbidly obese.
Obese is pretty much to the point, but I wouldn't say euphemistic. Maybe more clinical sounding.
You might hear some critical ass-hat movie-watcher calling some actress "fat" (who is a perfectly healthy weight) because she doesn't conform to a rigid standard that they've become accustomed to through popular media, but you wouldn't likely hear them call her "obese".
Do you honestly think that harassment and bullying is the way to create "positive peer pressure"? And are you going to ask them for their medical records before deciding whether or not they are "legitimately fat" and open game for your bullying?
Have you ever considered that quite a large number of the overweight aren't that way *just* because of medical conditions, but also because of mental health issues or can often coincide with feelings of isolation and social withdrawal that just fuel many behaviors that increase the likelihood of unhealthy behaviors that can lead to weight gain.
Did you also know that there have been studies show that it can be healthier to be a little overweight than a little underweight?
And where does your bullying start, when they are 40 lbs too heavy? 20? 10? Don't we have enough people with screwed up body image problems because we are bombarded with images from popular media that give us skewed and unrealistic ideas of what is normal, healthy, or attractive?
An average pop song could be 2:00 long as well, but I'm hoping that the average person's attention span hasn't diminished so greatly that 25% or 50% of a song is enough to satisfy them. Back to the point though, I think it would be rare for listening to a sample to be considered a reasonable substitute for actually having the song to keep, being able to put it on your playlist, or putting it on your IPod.
Is this not an obvious attempt to erode Fair Use?
The Purpose of these samples is to both promote the sales of these tracks and to help the consumer make an informed decision regarding the purchase.
The "amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole" is small enough that it is in not a reasonable substitution for the whole product.
The "effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work" is generally going to be positive, allowing countless people a chance to sample the music to find out if it's something they'd be interested in, when there would have been little chance of them making a blind purchase.
This country is in such need of copyright reform... Actually, I take that back. We need to regress from our previous "reforms".
Though it may be true that people might try to exploit the system in order to snag an iPhone, it does make me wonder whether the money saved by buying iPhones over expensive medical devices for those with real disabilities is greater than the money spent giving iPhones to people with dubious claims that succeed in exploiting the system.
Right, because Tanking and roles didn't exist before MMO's, right? The Fighting Man, Magic User, and Cleric could perform whatever role they want. Roles didn't exist until the terms like "Tank" and "healer" were coined, and those terms never existed in the tabletop until popularized by video games Roles certainly were never implicit.
Furthermore, Vancian spell mechanics, Lay on Hands daily use, and time-refreshed exceptional and spell-like abilities did not bear any resemblance, whatsoever, to the cooldown mechanics that were invented completely by MMOs.
Finally, I find your implication that the newest edition of D&D (4th Ed) is just like WoW to be as observant, insightful, and original as the countless other times I've seen the same type of statement made on forums, using highly suspect arguments (if they bother to use an argument at all).
As a lurker for many years, a poster has finally managed to push me over the edge and actually register and make my first post.
Are you seriously using the Bible in an argument to support that UFOs are scientific fact? The same Bible fraught with so many possible interpretations on spiritual matters alone that it has caused countless fragmentation of belief systems among even it's strongest supporters? Using the Bible to prove the reality of UFOs is really no different than trying to use it prove the existence of dragons, angels, demons, creationism, human flight (either without machines, or with the aid of a chariot), spontaneous combustion of shrubbery, and alchemy.
Humans have also seen armies marching in the sky, floating islands, and Flying Dutchmen. Maybe the first aliens visited us flying sailboats?
There are countless explanations that are infinitely more likely than assuming all of these random sightings are extraterrestrial: Sundogs, Mirages (such as Fata Morganas and superior images), satellites, meteors, weather balloons, planetary bodies, and even the power of suggestion. These are among the many much more plausible explanations.
I believe that there is a chance that life could be out there, and it's even possible that there's intelligent life. However, I don't believe that alien visitors are taking joy rides and buzzing trailer parks in vehicles that they model after our current science fiction movies.
Slashdot Mirror
Reporters Without Borders might disagree with you. Though there has been a sharp improvement in ranking for the US this year, the US score eroded pretty badly during the Bush era. In 2006, the US ranked #53 in press freedom.
http://www.rsf.org/en-classement70-2006.html
On the contrary, I find this to be quite funny, as do many of my friends. I think it's remotely possible that people have different tastes in humor.
Or perhaps you don't think it's funny because you are a Beck sympathizer... or....
Just where were *you* in 1990?
I played around with Google's auto-complete feature for a while one day and what I discovered was that the most common topic that I kept running into was pregnancy. How does one know they are, how does it happen, how do you know when you are not, what do you do if it happens. These questions seem to be a major concern.
You'd think that for something that has occurred more than 6 billion time in just modern times, the phenomenon would be far better understood. Apparently sex education is woefully lacking.
Strangely, I never had auto-completion suggest something like "how to be abstinent".
Oh the R&D for it might be late and underfunded, but I'll bet they'll make up for it in promotion and advertising!
I agree, what a ridiculous comparison.
The post office takes your mail and other packages and routes them through the postal network for delivery.
Your ISP facilitates sending your e-mail and other packets and assists in routing them through a large network for delivery.
These 2 services are so conceptually different I can't even begin to think of a single way they are analogous.
Bah... I mean to edit and fix my post and accidentally doublepost...
I'm a noob.
The hardware doesn't matter. The profit margin on the actual consoles is slim. The big name game retailers make most of their profit off of games, and especially used games. They have to adapt or die, really.
Sadly, most consumers don't seem to value First Sale Doctrine... yet.
The hardware doesn't matter. The profit margin on the actual consoles is slim. Games (and sometimes accessories) is where the actual profit is. The big name game retailers now make most of their profit off used sales (which does include hardware as well, but is mostly software). They have to adapt or die, really.
Most consumers don't seem to value First Sale Doctrine... yet.
"Overweight" might be euphemistic, but it's also vague. It could mean slightly overweight, obese, or morbidly obese.
Obese is pretty much to the point, but I wouldn't say euphemistic. Maybe more clinical sounding.
You might hear some critical ass-hat movie-watcher calling some actress "fat" (who is a perfectly healthy weight) because she doesn't conform to a rigid standard that they've become accustomed to through popular media, but you wouldn't likely hear them call her "obese".
Do you honestly think that harassment and bullying is the way to create "positive peer pressure"? And are you going to ask them for their medical records before deciding whether or not they are "legitimately fat" and open game for your bullying?
Have you ever considered that quite a large number of the overweight aren't that way *just* because of medical conditions, but also because of mental health issues or can often coincide with feelings of isolation and social withdrawal that just fuel many behaviors that increase the likelihood of unhealthy behaviors that can lead to weight gain.
Did you also know that there have been studies show that it can be healthier to be a little overweight than a little underweight?
And where does your bullying start, when they are 40 lbs too heavy? 20? 10? Don't we have enough people with screwed up body image problems because we are bombarded with images from popular media that give us skewed and unrealistic ideas of what is normal, healthy, or attractive?
An average pop song could be 2:00 long as well, but I'm hoping that the average person's attention span hasn't diminished so greatly that 25% or 50% of a song is enough to satisfy them. Back to the point though, I think it would be rare for listening to a sample to be considered a reasonable substitute for actually having the song to keep, being able to put it on your playlist, or putting it on your IPod.
Is this not an obvious attempt to erode Fair Use?
The Purpose of these samples is to both promote the sales of these tracks and to help the consumer make an informed decision regarding the purchase.
The "amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole" is small enough that it is in not a reasonable substitution for the whole product.
The "effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work" is generally going to be positive, allowing countless people a chance to sample the music to find out if it's something they'd be interested in, when there would have been little chance of them making a blind purchase.
This country is in such need of copyright reform... Actually, I take that back. We need to regress from our previous "reforms".
Though it may be true that people might try to exploit the system in order to snag an iPhone, it does make me wonder whether the money saved by buying iPhones over expensive medical devices for those with real disabilities is greater than the money spent giving iPhones to people with dubious claims that succeed in exploiting the system.
Right, because Tanking and roles didn't exist before MMO's, right? The Fighting Man, Magic User, and Cleric could perform whatever role they want. Roles didn't exist until the terms like "Tank" and "healer" were coined, and those terms never existed in the tabletop until popularized by video games Roles certainly were never implicit.
Furthermore, Vancian spell mechanics, Lay on Hands daily use, and time-refreshed exceptional and spell-like abilities did not bear any resemblance, whatsoever, to the cooldown mechanics that were invented completely by MMOs.
Finally, I find your implication that the newest edition of D&D (4th Ed) is just like WoW to be as observant, insightful, and original as the countless other times I've seen the same type of statement made on forums, using highly suspect arguments (if they bother to use an argument at all).
As a lurker for many years, a poster has finally managed to push me over the edge and actually register and make my first post. Are you seriously using the Bible in an argument to support that UFOs are scientific fact? The same Bible fraught with so many possible interpretations on spiritual matters alone that it has caused countless fragmentation of belief systems among even it's strongest supporters? Using the Bible to prove the reality of UFOs is really no different than trying to use it prove the existence of dragons, angels, demons, creationism, human flight (either without machines, or with the aid of a chariot), spontaneous combustion of shrubbery, and alchemy. Humans have also seen armies marching in the sky, floating islands, and Flying Dutchmen. Maybe the first aliens visited us flying sailboats? There are countless explanations that are infinitely more likely than assuming all of these random sightings are extraterrestrial: Sundogs, Mirages (such as Fata Morganas and superior images), satellites, meteors, weather balloons, planetary bodies, and even the power of suggestion. These are among the many much more plausible explanations. I believe that there is a chance that life could be out there, and it's even possible that there's intelligent life. However, I don't believe that alien visitors are taking joy rides and buzzing trailer parks in vehicles that they model after our current science fiction movies.