You dread your random moderation status? You could just, ya know, uncheck that "Willing to Moderate" box if you don't like doing it. Maybe you keep hoping that one day, you will get mod points on a day that a particular article intersects with your expertise or interest.
That may not be the only way moderators are judged. I used to be able to moderate, and I didn't post any more or less than I do now, and I have excellent Karma. I somehow lost moderation privileges at some point, and I have no idea why. I meta-moderate every so often, and I've got "Willing to Moderate" checked., and I usually post once or twice every day. Unless the metric for measuring the level required changed, I lost them through another way. Maybe too many of my moderations got meta-modded "Unfair"? And so I got the boot?
In any case, I have no idea how it happened, I just know that I haven't gotten Mod points in years. I'm not too broken up about it, though I suppose my voicing of the situation implies that I care at least a little. Maybe my subconscious is pissed about it. Is there any way to know what this median posting rate is so it could be "targeted"? I'm guessing no, since that's going to be something that's always changing depending on what the users do.
but on the whole I don't really know what to do with most of the money I'm paid anyway.
I've got it. You could use it on fellow Slashdotters that, through no fault of their own, do not yet know the intimate wonders and secret joys of an HDTV. I could point you in the direction of a few.
In all seriousness, though, if one has some extra money, there are some pretty financially safe things to do with it. Maybe a few CD accounts at a bank? Invest in some utilities? Treasury bonds? Even money in a vanilla Savings account at a bank is better than it sitting in a Checking account, just as long as it grows just a bit faster than inflation. I imagine most people must be well conditioned by our Consumer Goods producing masters to always think, "Yay! I've got extra money this paycheck! What am I gonna get?"
With rising medical costs, the coming collapse of (US) Social Security, and the retirement age being pushed out further, the need for that Rainy Day chunk of cash has never been more needed. Alas, it seems that these days, the savings account is sadly overlooked.
Capt. Archer: What the hell? Q: I'm really sorry, Scott, but the Network has decreed that your timeline should never have existed. Capt. Archer: But...but this timeline can be an offshoot! And who's Scott? Q: No time for chit-chat; Paramount is listening to the fans this time. Capt. Archer: What? Those motherfu- Q: I know. *snaps fingers*
Apparently you can't detect sarcasm. It was a joke; don't take everything so damn serious. I knew that the position you've taken was going to come up, so as the first to voice it, you got responded too. (Sorry if I hit a nerve?)
FWIW, I think that production cars at the six figure level are more about status and power, rather than greed or having a "serious driving machine". When a person drives one, or hell, even sits in one, many people change. Even if they aren't aware of it, a person may see themselves in a different light, and even the passengers too may feel "cool" by just riding along. And all those people on the street may go, "Cool car. That person must be Cool/Successful/A Passionate Lover by extension." It's all subconscious, and people may not be able to help it. The vast majority of people will turn their heads upon seeing a rare, aesthetically pleasing automobile.
On the other hand, they are no doubt fun to drive, too. As it happens, I have one of those impractical, midrange sports cars like the RX7. It Goes Fast and Handles Corners very well. And I don't have a small penis. Or do I?! Where's the sarcasm now? We may never know...
Whether Microsoft needs to beat Final Fantasy and Metal Gear Solid is a better question...
I know that "liking" a game is fairly subjective, depending on the tastes of the individual, but Morrowind (and now Oblivion) ruined the Final Fantasy games for me.
"Why the hell can't I go in that door?" "Why can't I sneak around this guy instead of fighting him?" "I can't kill this annoying NPC? I'm done with this."
I can't speak to MGS, though...I've never played it.
I care. Computers can be used for different things. I don't want to have a dedicated computer for gaming, a dedicated computer for coding, and a dedicated computer for graphics/video. If one computer can adequately perform to my satisfaction in all these facets, what's the problem? As long as unacceptable sacrifices are not being made to accomodate multiple uses, I'm fine with it.
At a previous job, I had a nice dual Xeon machine. It took whatever I could throw at it. It had a "professional" graphics card in it. It was great. It also played UT2004 great. What's the issue?
But that's the whole point. The USA/NATO wouldn't need to use nukes against a smaller, lesser equipped force. A large, well equipped country using nukes on a small, ill-equipped military? They wouldn't dare. That country instantly takes a major, critical, near suicidal hit to foreign relations. But, if there was a single country or group, with roughly the equivalent military might of the USA/NATO, that said one day, "Gee, we'd really like to destroy them. To War!" I'd bet that nukes would be involved at some point. The USA (or NATO) will likely never again use nukes on a country, unless that country:
1) Has fired ICBM nukes at the USA/NATO already (and even then...) or
2) Has the conventional military might to completely destroy the USA/NATO and has actively declared war
Both situations are pretty unlikely anyway. Nukes would still be a "last option" sort of thing. Your original post talked about how USA/NATO forces have never really "gone up against an equally strong, technologically advanced, worthy enemy", which I agree with. But being "in trouble" if they ever had to really fight such an enemy? I don't think so. Most of the problems we've had come from smaller militaries finding ways to nullify those technological advantages. In a decades long, protracted, battle we'd deal with those adaptations much quicker, I think. Thankfully, we've never had to fight like that, because I think nukes would be used on both sides to "even things out" when it started to "go enough one way". If the forces are at that point, we're way beyond caring about civilian casualties.
ENEMY: You're mean! We hate you! To War!
USA/NATO: Umm, can we talk?
ENEMY: *bomb* *attack*
USA/NATO: No? Ok, bring it.
USA/NATO: *bomb* *attack*
several years later...
ENEMY and USA/NATO:...hmm, getting my ass kicked...
ENEMY or USA/NATO:...fuck it...*nuke*
USA/NATO or ENEMY:...SHIT...well, can't let them get the advantage...*nuke*
several years later...
ENEMY and USA/NATO: Can we talk? Good. 'cause we can't properly reproduce anymore.:(
Curious. Somehow, I came to the wrong conclusion that Morrowind was on the PS2, despite knowing for a fact that it isn't, and also personally having the XBox and PC version. Throws my whole morning into a new perspective. Disregard what I said earlier.
If it really came down to it, with all out war between the USA and a closely matched opponent, the USA has a ton more sticks to use than anyone else. Big flying ones that make the ground glow.
But I doubt that true large scale war will happen between the USA and a country with a real military any time soon. The USA wouldn't dare do it out of fear of the economic consequences.
Uh, I did. The omission of the statement that he did something doesn't mean he did anything one way or another. I suppose you could construe that when he said "the only tool I have against stupid record companies, DRM pushers, and stupid advertising is my wallet". But even then, it just means that the motivation for the non-use of his wallet is open to speculation by the music label, artist, etc. Oh, sure, here on slashdot we know why, but that information will never reach the interested parties that create the music.
If some guy beats another guy with a pipe, nobody really knows why, other than that the owner of said pipe had a beef with the victim. It's then up to the police, prosecutor, jury, etc to find out why. If the guy is pipe beating while yelling, "I'm beating you with a pipe because you're ugly!" then it leaves little to the imagination or debate. The resolution will be found much more quickly.
The minute Stand Up came out with DRM on the disc, I stopped buying. Sucks that they don't get my money, but that's life.
I hope that you let them know why you weren't buying anymore. Or at least made the attempt. The act of "not buying" a product because you dislike something about it not related to the emotional content is valid. But if the sales of it were down because of people doing this, the marketing folks, label, or even artist may just chalk it up to "the music must not be as good". Self delusion is a powerful thing.
It has the same net result, yes, in that there could be a possible shift toward non-DRM music when everyone "gets it" (if they ever do). But if that isn't for years (again, if at all), then there could be some unfortunate musical casualties along the way if an artist doesn't have a clue and doesn't take steps to correct the real problem.
Plus, they are really selective in enforcing copyright. Which is fine. It's their copyright. There's a video (among others) on YouTube that is a clip of the new Studio 60 show. Judd Hirsch's "rant" that he has on live TV. It's not put up by NBC, but I'm sure they could care less right now. All it does is build buzz for the show.
I agree in that I don't think YouTube can possibly make their money back on ad revenue alone. I mean, they serve up, what, 100 million videos a day now? I think I saw that on a BusinessWeek article linked from Slashdot. Yes. Even assuming a benign 2 MB per video (and that's really low), they are going through 190 terabytes of data per day, and 5.6 petabytes per month? It's like trying to imagine stellar distances. The human mind has difficulty trying to fathom it.
I can't understand how ad revenue alone could pay for that bill from their ISP, but I don't know what pricing is like at that level of traffic. Anyone out there know any ballpark figures for that much in a month?
Some of the replies here are amazing...it's almost like people are trying to just shove this aside and pretend they could have done this if they felt like it.
Ah, yes. The old sentiment of "I would have been a brilliant piano player, had I ever learned." Shades of Lady Catherine de Bourgh.
Why no love for this Dickens book? The style? I mean, it was originally a serialized novel.
Responding with a polite version of "David Copperfield Sucks!" doesn't shed any light on why you think so. What was it when you read it that made you think it shouldn't be a classic?
Like maybe storing every dialog box as a separate JPEG...
I was going to say separate bitmaps...
I know, maybe each character in the font was a TIF! But then you'd think that with that kind of resolution, it would make the issue moot; just scale the font size up. Maybe not. Maybe they should have used SVG images.
Why, in my day, we lived in a cardboard box and had to eat lumps
of coal!
You jest, but many times, the next generation has more "new stuff" and access to said "stuff" than the last, but that doesn't mean youngsters will necessarily focus attention on the "new". Two examples. Both are anecdotal, but rather apropos.
When I was a youth, I had Legos. According to my parents (I only vaguely remember this), I would play with them and use my imagination to act out "He-Man" (TV show). Naturally, they figured that they would get me He-Man action figures to play with as well. I still preferred the Legos.
A month ago, I went to a birthday party for a relative...he was turning two years old. Among the presents he got, he was more interested in the boxes and bags than any of the toys. Two years of age might be a bit young to draw any conclusion, but the flashy, loud toys didn't hold his attention.
Do it device level on a separate hard drive. Won't even show up on a windows machine. Of course, you shouldn't write the key down, lest someone find it.
Slashdot Mirror
Sorry, I must be tired from being up late working on a project.
Although, I started a different type of Adderall today, and the slightly euphoric side effects from it just might be making me overly helpful.
Maybe that's it.
You dread your random moderation status? You could just, ya know, uncheck that "Willing to Moderate" box if you don't like doing it. Maybe you keep hoping that one day, you will get mod points on a day that a particular article intersects with your expertise or interest.
That may not be the only way moderators are judged. I used to be able to moderate, and I didn't post any more or less than I do now, and I have excellent Karma. I somehow lost moderation privileges at some point, and I have no idea why. I meta-moderate every so often, and I've got "Willing to Moderate" checked., and I usually post once or twice every day. Unless the metric for measuring the level required changed, I lost them through another way. Maybe too many of my moderations got meta-modded "Unfair"? And so I got the boot?
In any case, I have no idea how it happened, I just know that I haven't gotten Mod points in years. I'm not too broken up about it, though I suppose my voicing of the situation implies that I care at least a little. Maybe my subconscious is pissed about it. Is there any way to know what this median posting rate is so it could be "targeted"? I'm guessing no, since that's going to be something that's always changing depending on what the users do.
Bad form to reply to myself, but on second thought, utilities may not be a sure thing to invest money into in the wake of Enron. :-/
but on the whole I don't really know what to do with most of the money I'm paid anyway.
I've got it. You could use it on fellow Slashdotters that, through no fault of their own, do not yet know the intimate wonders and secret joys of an HDTV. I could point you in the direction of a few.
In all seriousness, though, if one has some extra money, there are some pretty financially safe things to do with it. Maybe a few CD accounts at a bank? Invest in some utilities? Treasury bonds? Even money in a vanilla Savings account at a bank is better than it sitting in a Checking account, just as long as it grows just a bit faster than inflation. I imagine most people must be well conditioned by our Consumer Goods producing masters to always think, "Yay! I've got extra money this paycheck! What am I gonna get?"
With rising medical costs, the coming collapse of (US) Social Security, and the retirement age being pushed out further, the need for that Rainy Day chunk of cash has never been more needed. Alas, it seems that these days, the savings account is sadly overlooked.
Insightful and funny! I have warm fuzzies.
*Q flashes in*
Capt. Archer: What the hell?
Q: I'm really sorry, Scott, but the Network has decreed that your timeline should never have existed.
Capt. Archer: But...but this timeline can be an offshoot! And who's Scott?
Q: No time for chit-chat; Paramount is listening to the fans this time.
Capt. Archer: What? Those motherfu-
Q: I know. *snaps fingers*
*flash*
"Four out of Five Greenskins Agree! Diet Coke really does taste Better than Diet Pepsi!"
"Ask your local Apothecary about the new Diet Dr. Pepper restorative potion. Restores more mana with less wait time!"
"This year, vote for change. This year, vote for Edward Johnson (AKA: Endwyl the Just)"
See? It's not that hard!
Apparently you can't detect sarcasm. It was a joke; don't take everything so damn serious. I knew that the position you've taken was going to come up, so as the first to voice it, you got responded too. (Sorry if I hit a nerve?)
FWIW, I think that production cars at the six figure level are more about status and power, rather than greed or having a "serious driving machine". When a person drives one, or hell, even sits in one, many people change. Even if they aren't aware of it, a person may see themselves in a different light, and even the passengers too may feel "cool" by just riding along. And all those people on the street may go, "Cool car. That person must be Cool/Successful/A Passionate Lover by extension." It's all subconscious, and people may not be able to help it. The vast majority of people will turn their heads upon seeing a rare, aesthetically pleasing automobile.
On the other hand, they are no doubt fun to drive, too. As it happens, I have one of those impractical, midrange sports cars like the RX7. It Goes Fast and Handles Corners very well. And I don't have a small penis. Or do I?! Where's the sarcasm now? We may never know...
He would also be agreeing to suicide.
So no Catholics. Check.
Why do people automatically say that if someone drives a fast, expensive car that they have a small penis?
You must drive one of these "fast, expensive cars", don't you?
Whether Microsoft needs to beat Final Fantasy and Metal Gear Solid is a better question...
I know that "liking" a game is fairly subjective, depending on the tastes of the individual, but Morrowind (and now Oblivion) ruined the Final Fantasy games for me.
"Why the hell can't I go in that door?" "Why can't I sneak around this guy instead of fighting him?" "I can't kill this annoying NPC? I'm done with this."
I can't speak to MGS, though...I've never played it.
I care. Computers can be used for different things. I don't want to have a dedicated computer for gaming, a dedicated computer for coding, and a dedicated computer for graphics/video. If one computer can adequately perform to my satisfaction in all these facets, what's the problem? As long as unacceptable sacrifices are not being made to accomodate multiple uses, I'm fine with it.
At a previous job, I had a nice dual Xeon machine. It took whatever I could throw at it. It had a "professional" graphics card in it. It was great. It also played UT2004 great. What's the issue?
But that's the whole point. The USA/NATO wouldn't need to use nukes against a smaller, lesser equipped force. A large, well equipped country using nukes on a small, ill-equipped military? They wouldn't dare. That country instantly takes a major, critical, near suicidal hit to foreign relations. But, if there was a single country or group, with roughly the equivalent military might of the USA/NATO, that said one day, "Gee, we'd really like to destroy them. To War!" I'd bet that nukes would be involved at some point. The USA (or NATO) will likely never again use nukes on a country, unless that country:
1) Has fired ICBM nukes at the USA/NATO already (and even then...) or
2) Has the conventional military might to completely destroy the USA/NATO and has actively declared war
Both situations are pretty unlikely anyway. Nukes would still be a "last option" sort of thing. Your original post talked about how USA/NATO forces have never really "gone up against an equally strong, technologically advanced, worthy enemy", which I agree with. But being "in trouble" if they ever had to really fight such an enemy? I don't think so. Most of the problems we've had come from smaller militaries finding ways to nullify those technological advantages. In a decades long, protracted, battle we'd deal with those adaptations much quicker, I think. Thankfully, we've never had to fight like that, because I think nukes would be used on both sides to "even things out" when it started to "go enough one way". If the forces are at that point, we're way beyond caring about civilian casualties.
ENEMY: You're mean! We hate you! To War!
USA/NATO: Umm, can we talk?
ENEMY: *bomb* *attack*
USA/NATO: No? Ok, bring it.
USA/NATO: *bomb* *attack*
several years later...
ENEMY and USA/NATO: ...hmm, getting my ass kicked... ...fuck it...*nuke* ...SHIT...well, can't let them get the advantage...*nuke*
ENEMY or USA/NATO:
USA/NATO or ENEMY:
several years later...
ENEMY and USA/NATO: Can we talk? Good. 'cause we can't properly reproduce anymore. :(
Curious. Somehow, I came to the wrong conclusion that Morrowind was on the PS2, despite knowing for a fact that it isn't, and also personally having the XBox and PC version. Throws my whole morning into a new perspective. Disregard what I said earlier.
If it really came down to it, with all out war between the USA and a closely matched opponent, the USA has a ton more sticks to use than anyone else. Big flying ones that make the ground glow.
But I doubt that true large scale war will happen between the USA and a country with a real military any time soon. The USA wouldn't dare do it out of fear of the economic consequences.
Oblivion is not available for PS2.
But Morrowind is available.
Uh, I did. The omission of the statement that he did something doesn't mean he did anything one way or another. I suppose you could construe that when he said "the only tool I have against stupid record companies, DRM pushers, and stupid advertising is my wallet". But even then, it just means that the motivation for the non-use of his wallet is open to speculation by the music label, artist, etc. Oh, sure, here on slashdot we know why, but that information will never reach the interested parties that create the music.
If some guy beats another guy with a pipe, nobody really knows why, other than that the owner of said pipe had a beef with the victim. It's then up to the police, prosecutor, jury, etc to find out why. If the guy is pipe beating while yelling, "I'm beating you with a pipe because you're ugly!" then it leaves little to the imagination or debate. The resolution will be found much more quickly.
The minute Stand Up came out with DRM on the disc, I stopped buying. Sucks that they don't get my money, but that's life.
I hope that you let them know why you weren't buying anymore. Or at least made the attempt. The act of "not buying" a product because you dislike something about it not related to the emotional content is valid. But if the sales of it were down because of people doing this, the marketing folks, label, or even artist may just chalk it up to "the music must not be as good". Self delusion is a powerful thing.
It has the same net result, yes, in that there could be a possible shift toward non-DRM music when everyone "gets it" (if they ever do). But if that isn't for years (again, if at all), then there could be some unfortunate musical casualties along the way if an artist doesn't have a clue and doesn't take steps to correct the real problem.
Plus, they are really selective in enforcing copyright. Which is fine. It's their copyright. There's a video (among others) on YouTube that is a clip of the new Studio 60 show. Judd Hirsch's "rant" that he has on live TV. It's not put up by NBC, but I'm sure they could care less right now. All it does is build buzz for the show.
I agree in that I don't think YouTube can possibly make their money back on ad revenue alone. I mean, they serve up, what, 100 million videos a day now? I think I saw that on a BusinessWeek article linked from Slashdot. Yes. Even assuming a benign 2 MB per video (and that's really low), they are going through 190 terabytes of data per day, and 5.6 petabytes per month? It's like trying to imagine stellar distances. The human mind has difficulty trying to fathom it.
I can't understand how ad revenue alone could pay for that bill from their ISP, but I don't know what pricing is like at that level of traffic. Anyone out there know any ballpark figures for that much in a month?
Some of the replies here are amazing...it's almost like people are trying to just shove this aside and pretend they could have done this if they felt like it.
Ah, yes. The old sentiment of "I would have been a brilliant piano player, had I ever learned." Shades of Lady Catherine de Bourgh.
Why no love for this Dickens book? The style? I mean, it was originally a serialized novel.
Responding with a polite version of "David Copperfield Sucks!" doesn't shed any light on why you think so. What was it when you read it that made you think it shouldn't be a classic?
There are books that people say "should' be classics (I'll refrain from mentioning names to protect the pretentious)
I'm not going to refrain.
The Three Musketeers, Alexandre Dumas
Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen
David Copperfield, Charles Dickens
Look at me, I'm being pretentious!
Like maybe storing every dialog box as a separate JPEG...
I was going to say separate bitmaps...
I know, maybe each character in the font was a TIF! But then you'd think that with that kind of resolution, it would make the issue moot; just scale the font size up. Maybe not. Maybe they should have used SVG images.
Or maybe, as you figured, they're full of BS.
Why, in my day, we lived in a cardboard box and had to eat lumps of coal!
You jest, but many times, the next generation has more "new stuff" and access to said "stuff" than the last, but that doesn't mean youngsters will necessarily focus attention on the "new". Two examples. Both are anecdotal, but rather apropos.
When I was a youth, I had Legos. According to my parents (I only vaguely remember this), I would play with them and use my imagination to act out "He-Man" (TV show). Naturally, they figured that they would get me He-Man action figures to play with as well. I still preferred the Legos.
A month ago, I went to a birthday party for a relative...he was turning two years old. Among the presents he got, he was more interested in the boxes and bags than any of the toys. Two years of age might be a bit young to draw any conclusion, but the flashy, loud toys didn't hold his attention.
Truecrypt
Do it device level on a separate hard drive. Won't even show up on a windows machine. Of course, you shouldn't write the key down, lest someone find it.
Just don't...forget...
...shit