If I am strange because I still have Dish Network despite being able to get everything else online, then yes I agree. I still haven't made the mental leap to cut that cord. Even though I almost exclusively watch DVR'ed shows, I still like the idea of having a single place to get on-demand background noise.
If I am strange for not watching sports [shrug] don't know what to tell you. I grew up playing soccer, baseball and lacrosse, and now as an adult I play soccer 4-5 times a week. But I can't be bothered to watch any sports, no not even soccer. The World Cup and the Super Bowl serve mearly as excuses to have / go to a party and I'm the guy chatting up the girls in the room with my back to the TV. I derive no enjoyment from watching other people play for whom I have zero connection (read: I don't have kids to watch).
Also I guess I just don't pay THAT much for Dish and I consider it my "nod" to paying for content that I'm might, in theory, also be torrenting because I don't have enough DVR's or because I hate edited/censored TV (I'm looking at you BBC-America). Oh and aren't there still commericals on the likes of Hulu that I can't skip? Even one is annoying, and with my DVR I can skip them really quickly.
Sincerly... Thank you for pointing out the difference between an excuse and an explanation which can lead to solutions. So often I deal with people who look at any level of critical thought and explanation as just "so much bitching and whining and making excuses". I'll call someone out for making an excuse in a heartbeat, but a good explanation of cause and effect is critical to understanding and solving problems.
Right, but until DRM is gone (I agree it is the larger problem) if you buy a kindle you can then only buy DRM books from Amazon and like it or not, many of the authors i want to read are published by DRM publishers. But with my Nook I can buy a DRM book from any ePub retailer and put it on my Nook without converting or stripping.
Of course until the DOJ court cases there wasn't much competition in pricing regardless, but we are at least just starting to see some movement.
Sooo what you are describing is... um... the... ah... Android Ecosystem. And that has clearly failed. Oh wait it hasn't.
You know why it hasn't... because phone users don't want a multi-step process to install an app. And by "want" I mean aren't even capable for most techno-deficients.
So for the vast majority, they buy in the app store and google gets whatever cut they get. For a smaller percent of users, lets say a lot of/. readers, they will read about an app on XDA or Rootzwiki, or Androidforums etc etc etc where the dev might offer them a free download of the apk and maybe they take donations. In some ways that might be a loss leader, in others it might be a "thank you" for helping with development via participation in the forums.
Then as far as offering to put it on the market for free and then collect payment out-of-band.... I have yet to see it. the only thing I've seen so far, for anything remotly popular, is a dev who offered a paid app market version and a paid non-app market version (paid OOB and slightly cheaper). The non-app market version has a few extra features as a "thank you" iirc but it also had a limitation... it could not easily be xfered to replacement device nor used in multiple devices. A feature you get with the app market version. The reason clearly stated it had to do with preventing piracy because the app market ensures the app is only installed contingent on your google account. The non-app version had no such way to limit installs of the APK without a unque key likely tied to the phone hardware ID.
To top off that entire discussion, don't forget that devs would rather code than deal with, hopefully, tens of thousands of $1-$5 transactions (and some number of refunds). Then there is the money collection system. That costs money FYI. Collecting money isn't free unless paypal has changed its policy recently. There is the key gen system (manual or automated, both take time). Orrrrr they can pay google to take care of all of that for them, for what seems to be a reasonable fee.
But the long and short is... you are wrong. Because the open system you describe is the Android ecosystem, and the dystopian result you envision has not come to pass.
Actually, even with a poorly written article, I'm betting most/.ers understood that the issue is what you just described based on what we know from other articles on this very topic. I know I was able to read between the mistatements. That isn't an excuse for poorly written articles and submissions, it is meant to put in context most/. comments. So with that said...
Fuck apple for having such a policy. Yes it is their right to demand anything they want just like any other business. And yes DB should not have agreed to it. But fuck apple for acting like a selfish dick.
I agree on the lack of need for PC integration, but lets not paint Kindle lock-in and Nook lock-in in the same light. At least with the Nook you are able to buy an ebook from any ePub retailer. There are many besides B&N. With Kindle you have no such luxuary.
We'll ignore the need to plug into your PC to get non-B&N ePub ebooks... the point is you CAN do it and it is fairly easy really and is only a failure of B&N at least wanting to make it one small bit easier to buy from them than their competitors. The fact that plugging your Kindle into your PC gets you nothing, is the failure!!!
BINGO!!!! Sadly they cannot get passed their childhood brainwashing which is very effective. Even smart people can be lazy and not want to challenge deeply held views that make them uncomfortable. For them it is just easier to and comforting to insert a supernatural being into the blank space for "the big questions" of life. I know it has taken me quite a while to reconcile some of those thoughts in my own head and I never really ever believed in a god. But I never really considered what it might mean when I die, what came before the Big Bang, etc Obviously I don't have answers to those questions, but it is only recently that I truly contemplated the implications of those questions and accepted that I'm OK with "We Don't Know" and felt no desire to insert a supernatural force into the gaping blank space.
Except then they stopped thinking because they kept a strangle hold on their belief in the face of all evidence to the contrary. In fact they did NO real thinking at all. They had a gap in knowledge, filled in the blank with "god did it" and moved on with no effort to actually understand the world around them. People like that make no actual progress in anything because they are satisfied with giving responsibility to someone/thing else and see no benefit to asking difficult questions and then seeking answers based on evidence.
Sadly you are wrong Einstein was actually strongly non-theist (his god / dice comment taken in full context is the exact opposite of what theists hold it up to be) and Newton... yeah lets think about this... what are the chances Newton wanted to risk stating that reason, not religion, is what he believed in. Like it or not, when considering historical figures you have to consider the times they lived in and the risk of being openly non-theist
But even without considering that... yes... even a smart scientist who see a gap in knowledge and fills it with "god did it" is in fact being an idiot. Does that make me "smarter"? Maybe, maybe not, but it does make me consistent and not intellectually lazy.
http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=2817.0... the main feature of the script is 1. gets a SMART report 2. pre-reads the entire disk 3. writes zeros to the entire disk 4. sets the special signature recognized by unRAID 5. verifies the signature 6. post-reads the entire disk 7. optionally repeats the process for additional cycles (if you specified the "-c NN" option, where NN = a number from 1 to 20, default is to run 1 cycle) 8. gets a final SMART report 9. compares the SMART reports alerting you of differences.
Check it out. Its "original" purpose was to set the drive to all "0's" for easy insertion into a parity array (read: parity drive does not need to be updated if the new drive is all zeros) but it has also shown great utility as a stress test / burn-in tool to detect infant mortality and "force the issue" as far as satisfying the criteria needed for an RMA (read: sufficient reallocated block count)
If your skill level is enough to adapt the script to your own environ then great, otherwise UnRaid Basic is free and allows 3 drives in the array which should allow you to simultaneously pre-clear three drives. You might even be able to pre-clear more than that (up to available hardware slots) since you aren't technically dealing with the array at that point, but with enumerated hardware that the script has access to which should be eveything on the disc. Hardware requirements are minimal and it runs from flash.
How is this modded "interesting" when it is "wrong". In the US, seatbelts are madatory (if there is a state where it isn't, that is the exception), airbags are NOT designed/meant to protect an unrestrained driver (we even have annoying yellow warning labels saying exactly that), and airbags have been "weaked" recently to protect smaller/lighter drivers (read: the risk of one-size fits all engineering rears its ugly head).
Babies in front seats... are you telling me that a baby in a european front seat will not be harmed when the airbag goes off? Regardless, the safest place for a baby seat is in the back seat, airbag or not.
Now as for people CHOOSING to not wear a seat belt (regardless of the law) I can't speak to that; if people want to be stupid let them (I don't like a nanny state). Of course I agree with you that others should not have to suffer to protect the stupid. But as I said above, our airbags are not designed assuming an unrestrained driver. You'll also have to try hard to prove to me that no one in europe is dumb enough to drive without a seatbelt because dumb is dumb no matter where you live and by definition half the population is below average. No, your average is not higher than ours, nor lower either.
Even at 12%... that means I should see e-books for 12% less (yes not counting your rational actor comment which I will mention later). The problem is, they aren't 12% cheaper, they aren't even cheaper, they are MORE and that is the galling part.
As far as setting the actual price, you are right... they can and should charge what the market will bear.
I can tell you the market of me, my buddy (as we discuss this topic today on chat), and a goOd friend of mine who reads more in a month than I can fathom, are NOT willing to pay more, or even the same, for a product that we KNOW costs less to produce and has less value (can't be resold, bought used, or loaned out).
The "convenience" of it being electronic is not enough value for me to be willing to pay more. Period End Dot.
So, they are welcome to set the price to what they want, but I will not buy an e-book that costs more than a paper version. I will buy a paper version (retail or used), and then if I want it format-shifted I will find a way to format shift it to my Nook. In the rare case there actually is a price difference between two ebook retailers I feel no qualms about format-shifting to a format my Nook can read (if required).
Which is also part of the problem, there is no price competition allowed and that is just as galling and offensive.
Mod this up. I would but I have posted already on another conversation. All the people saying " you pay for the uni to provide tools for your education" are right when it comes to tuition and school computers. When it comes to the students computer, in their dorm, and they are unable to source a competetive option, then the uni should provide an unrestricted connection just like a student can get when off-campus.
If you CAN get a non-school network connection well then... frankly... I'd rather do that since it might even be superior in speed / reliability / reduced monitoring.
Don't you mean, "unless the author is paying for their tuition, room and board themselves..." a scholarship means someone else is paying and thus gets a say in the matter. But if the student is paying the bill the student gets a say in the service.
Or am I missing something in your implication. It has been a while since I was at school and when I did I actually did have a "full ride" in the form of a full government funded education... and it was in 1990 when there was nothing to filter;-)
Speaking only as someone who had to do research for my thesis (optimization and search theory) I guess it comes down to this... what is your answer to this question:
Would it have been helpful for me to find, during my literature search, that someone else had tried [insert brilliant idea here] and found that it didn't work as well as hoped... and maybe even learn where they thought further research might have been worth the time had they had it?
That is why even publishing negative results is good. As someone else mentioned above, if not a full journal article then an abstract presented at a conference etc.
[woosh] his point is AFTER 40 yeards it has no real effect. By the time it travells more than say 400 yards it is the same as someone throwing the shot at you.
Of course from TFA "The shot sounded to him that it was of small caliber" and not a shotgun with buckshot that was used.
No you don't get the point. The point had to do with the Highway they were firing over, not the damage to the drone. If that proves to be untrue then the argument is off-topic, but still logically valid. Even on your own property, you can't fire a weapon in a way that causes a hazard to others (yes of course self-defense from harm is valid but privacy doesn't rise to that level).
For the record: I 100% agree there is nothing wrong with destroying (even shooting at) a drone flying over your property (over looking into from public land). My caveat is that you can't do it such that you risk your bullets travelling into a populated area.
Slashdot Mirror
If I am strange because I still have Dish Network despite being able to get everything else online, then yes I agree. I still haven't made the mental leap to cut that cord. Even though I almost exclusively watch DVR'ed shows, I still like the idea of having a single place to get on-demand background noise.
If I am strange for not watching sports [shrug] don't know what to tell you. I grew up playing soccer, baseball and lacrosse, and now as an adult I play soccer 4-5 times a week. But I can't be bothered to watch any sports, no not even soccer. The World Cup and the Super Bowl serve mearly as excuses to have / go to a party and I'm the guy chatting up the girls in the room with my back to the TV. I derive no enjoyment from watching other people play for whom I have zero connection (read: I don't have kids to watch).
Also I guess I just don't pay THAT much for Dish and I consider it my "nod" to paying for content that I'm might, in theory, also be torrenting because I don't have enough DVR's or because I hate edited/censored TV (I'm looking at you BBC-America). Oh and aren't there still commericals on the likes of Hulu that I can't skip? Even one is annoying, and with my DVR I can skip them really quickly.
My left nut if I could stop paying for sports channels. All of them, gone from my line-up and from my bill!!!
Sincerly ... Thank you for pointing out the difference between an excuse and an explanation which can lead to solutions. So often I deal with people who look at any level of critical thought and explanation as just "so much bitching and whining and making excuses". I'll call someone out for making an excuse in a heartbeat, but a good explanation of cause and effect is critical to understanding and solving problems.
Right, but until DRM is gone (I agree it is the larger problem) if you buy a kindle you can then only buy DRM books from Amazon and like it or not, many of the authors i want to read are published by DRM publishers. But with my Nook I can buy a DRM book from any ePub retailer and put it on my Nook without converting or stripping.
Of course until the DOJ court cases there wasn't much competition in pricing regardless, but we are at least just starting to see some movement.
Sooo what you are describing is ... um ... the ... ah ... Android Ecosystem. And that has clearly failed. Oh wait it hasn't.
You know why it hasn't ... because phone users don't want a multi-step process to install an app. And by "want" I mean aren't even capable for most techno-deficients.
So for the vast majority, they buy in the app store and google gets whatever cut they get. For a smaller percent of users, lets say a lot of /. readers, they will read about an app on XDA or Rootzwiki, or Androidforums etc etc etc where the dev might offer them a free download of the apk and maybe they take donations. In some ways that might be a loss leader, in others it might be a "thank you" for helping with development via participation in the forums.
Then as far as offering to put it on the market for free and then collect payment out-of-band .... I have yet to see it. the only thing I've seen so far, for anything remotly popular, is a dev who offered a paid app market version and a paid non-app market version (paid OOB and slightly cheaper). The non-app market version has a few extra features as a "thank you" iirc but it also had a limitation ... it could not easily be xfered to replacement device nor used in multiple devices. A feature you get with the app market version. The reason clearly stated it had to do with preventing piracy because the app market ensures the app is only installed contingent on your google account. The non-app version had no such way to limit installs of the APK without a unque key likely tied to the phone hardware ID.
To top off that entire discussion, don't forget that devs would rather code than deal with, hopefully, tens of thousands of $1-$5 transactions (and some number of refunds). Then there is the money collection system. That costs money FYI. Collecting money isn't free unless paypal has changed its policy recently. There is the key gen system (manual or automated, both take time). Orrrrr they can pay google to take care of all of that for them, for what seems to be a reasonable fee.
But the long and short is ... you are wrong. Because the open system you describe is the Android ecosystem, and the dystopian result you envision has not come to pass.
Actually, even with a poorly written article, I'm betting most /.ers understood that the issue is what you just described based on what we know from other articles on this very topic. I know I was able to read between the mistatements. That isn't an excuse for poorly written articles and submissions, it is meant to put in context most /. comments. So with that said ...
Fuck apple for having such a policy. Yes it is their right to demand anything they want just like any other business. And yes DB should not have agreed to it. But fuck apple for acting like a selfish dick.
I have voted with my wallet.
Try to imagine all life as you know it stopping instantaneously and every molecule in your body exploding at the speed of light!!!
I agree on the lack of need for PC integration, but lets not paint Kindle lock-in and Nook lock-in in the same light. At least with the Nook you are able to buy an ebook from any ePub retailer. There are many besides B&N. With Kindle you have no such luxuary.
We'll ignore the need to plug into your PC to get non-B&N ePub ebooks ... the point is you CAN do it and it is fairly easy really and is only a failure of B&N at least wanting to make it one small bit easier to buy from them than their competitors. The fact that plugging your Kindle into your PC gets you nothing, is the failure!!!
BINGO!!!! Sadly they cannot get passed their childhood brainwashing which is very effective. Even smart people can be lazy and not want to challenge deeply held views that make them uncomfortable. For them it is just easier to and comforting to insert a supernatural being into the blank space for "the big questions" of life. I know it has taken me quite a while to reconcile some of those thoughts in my own head and I never really ever believed in a god. But I never really considered what it might mean when I die, what came before the Big Bang, etc Obviously I don't have answers to those questions, but it is only recently that I truly contemplated the implications of those questions and accepted that I'm OK with "We Don't Know" and felt no desire to insert a supernatural force into the gaping blank space.
Except then they stopped thinking because they kept a strangle hold on their belief in the face of all evidence to the contrary. In fact they did NO real thinking at all. They had a gap in knowledge, filled in the blank with "god did it" and moved on with no effort to actually understand the world around them. People like that make no actual progress in anything because they are satisfied with giving responsibility to someone/thing else and see no benefit to asking difficult questions and then seeking answers based on evidence.
Sadly you are wrong Einstein was actually strongly non-theist (his god / dice comment taken in full context is the exact opposite of what theists hold it up to be) and Newton ... yeah lets think about this ... what are the chances Newton wanted to risk stating that reason, not religion, is what he believed in. Like it or not, when considering historical figures you have to consider the times they lived in and the risk of being openly non-theist
But even without considering that ... yes ... even a smart scientist who see a gap in knowledge and fills it with "god did it" is in fact being an idiot. Does that make me "smarter"? Maybe, maybe not, but it does make me consistent and not intellectually lazy.
Or to say it another way ... similar to how current gas hoses perform vapor capture to prevent venting of hydrocarbon fumes.
PROOF!!!!!
" your Crayola sketched plans for world domination"
I thought you said you didn't look at my data mr. AC
http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=2817.0 ... the main feature of the script is
1. gets a SMART report
2. pre-reads the entire disk
3. writes zeros to the entire disk
4. sets the special signature recognized by unRAID
5. verifies the signature
6. post-reads the entire disk
7. optionally repeats the process for additional cycles (if you specified the "-c NN" option, where NN = a number from 1 to 20, default is to run 1 cycle)
8. gets a final SMART report
9. compares the SMART reports alerting you of differences.
Check it out. Its "original" purpose was to set the drive to all "0's" for easy insertion into a parity array (read: parity drive does not need to be updated if the new drive is all zeros) but it has also shown great utility as a stress test / burn-in tool to detect infant mortality and "force the issue" as far as satisfying the criteria needed for an RMA (read: sufficient reallocated block count)
If your skill level is enough to adapt the script to your own environ then great, otherwise UnRaid Basic is free and allows 3 drives in the array which should allow you to simultaneously pre-clear three drives. You might even be able to pre-clear more than that (up to available hardware slots) since you aren't technically dealing with the array at that point, but with enumerated hardware that the script has access to which should be eveything on the disc. Hardware requirements are minimal and it runs from flash.
How is this modded "interesting" when it is "wrong". In the US, seatbelts are madatory (if there is a state where it isn't, that is the exception), airbags are NOT designed/meant to protect an unrestrained driver (we even have annoying yellow warning labels saying exactly that), and airbags have been "weaked" recently to protect smaller/lighter drivers (read: the risk of one-size fits all engineering rears its ugly head).
Babies in front seats ... are you telling me that a baby in a european front seat will not be harmed when the airbag goes off? Regardless, the safest place for a baby seat is in the back seat, airbag or not.
Now as for people CHOOSING to not wear a seat belt (regardless of the law) I can't speak to that; if people want to be stupid let them (I don't like a nanny state). Of course I agree with you that others should not have to suffer to protect the stupid. But as I said above, our airbags are not designed assuming an unrestrained driver. You'll also have to try hard to prove to me that no one in europe is dumb enough to drive without a seatbelt because dumb is dumb no matter where you live and by definition half the population is below average. No, your average is not higher than ours, nor lower either.
Even at 12% ... that means I should see e-books for 12% less (yes not counting your rational actor comment which I will mention later). The problem is, they aren't 12% cheaper, they aren't even cheaper, they are MORE and that is the galling part.
As far as setting the actual price, you are right ... they can and should charge what the market will bear.
I can tell you the market of me, my buddy (as we discuss this topic today on chat), and a goOd friend of mine who reads more in a month than I can fathom, are NOT willing to pay more, or even the same, for a product that we KNOW costs less to produce and has less value (can't be resold, bought used, or loaned out).
The "convenience" of it being electronic is not enough value for me to be willing to pay more. Period End Dot.
So, they are welcome to set the price to what they want, but I will not buy an e-book that costs more than a paper version. I will buy a paper version (retail or used), and then if I want it format-shifted I will find a way to format shift it to my Nook. In the rare case there actually is a price difference between two ebook retailers I feel no qualms about format-shifting to a format my Nook can read (if required).
Which is also part of the problem, there is no price competition allowed and that is just as galling and offensive.
Dude, that is literally the best parenting advice I have ever heard. Talk about a life skill worth teaching!!!
Mod this up. I would but I have posted already on another conversation. All the people saying " you pay for the uni to provide tools for your education" are right when it comes to tuition and school computers. When it comes to the students computer, in their dorm, and they are unable to source a competetive option, then the uni should provide an unrestricted connection just like a student can get when off-campus.
If you CAN get a non-school network connection well then ... frankly ... I'd rather do that since it might even be superior in speed / reliability / reduced monitoring.
Don't you mean, "unless the author is paying for their tuition, room and board themselves ..." a scholarship means someone else is paying and thus gets a say in the matter. But if the student is paying the bill the student gets a say in the service.
Or am I missing something in your implication. It has been a while since I was at school and when I did I actually did have a "full ride" in the form of a full government funded education ... and it was in 1990 when there was nothing to filter ;-)
Speaking only as someone who had to do research for my thesis (optimization and search theory) I guess it comes down to this ... what is your answer to this question:
Would it have been helpful for me to find, during my literature search, that someone else had tried [insert brilliant idea here] and found that it didn't work as well as hoped ... and maybe even learn where they thought further research might have been worth the time had they had it?
That is why even publishing negative results is good. As someone else mentioned above, if not a full journal article then an abstract presented at a conference etc.
No joke, read the MSDS for Sodium-Chloride. Forget high blood pressure, that shit is WICKED DEADLY!
Agreed ... on all counts :) I know I'm a good shot with my Ruger 22/45 with a red dot site, but not that good ;-)
[woosh] his point is AFTER 40 yeards it has no real effect. By the time it travells more than say 400 yards it is the same as someone throwing the shot at you.
Of course from TFA "The shot sounded to him that it was of small caliber" and not a shotgun with buckshot that was used.
No you don't get the point. The point had to do with the Highway they were firing over, not the damage to the drone. If that proves to be untrue then the argument is off-topic, but still logically valid. Even on your own property, you can't fire a weapon in a way that causes a hazard to others (yes of course self-defense from harm is valid but privacy doesn't rise to that level).
For the record: I 100% agree there is nothing wrong with destroying (even shooting at) a drone flying over your property (over looking into from public land). My caveat is that you can't do it such that you risk your bullets travelling into a populated area.
The sad part is that it took this many posts for anyone to get it. and sadly I have no mod points for you.