There's nothing rational about buying a video game for $50 and then wasting tons of time playing it - it's a purely emotional experience. If running around smashing ogres is what gets your endorphins going, great.
Wait wait, don't tell me--I think I can figure out on which side of the "Can Video Games Be Art?" debate you fall.
Except that A.) not all ebooks cost the same; and B.) no two publishers sell the same ebooks.
On the surface, at least, it sounds like all they "conspired" to do is reject Amazon's pricing model for the one Apple suggested, which was more favorable to them.
They conspired to charge more for their competing products. I do not understand the distinction you are trying to make--that the books are different is irrelevant. If Toyota and Honda meet secretly and agree to charge more for their cars, it's still illegal, even if a Camry is different than an Accord and there may be a difference between the two in price. They are agreeing to raise their prices so they can make more money while mitigating undercutting by their competitors.
I agree. Who would ever program something useful and not charge for it? I bet they hope the participants are so stupid, they even let everyone look at their source code, so that other programmers can learn from it or modify it. Suckers!
The Shuttles made the Hubble Space Telescope possible. That was, far and away, the most difference they could have made, and they did it in the 90s. We need something cheaper and more reliable now.
That's all awesome and really adds a lot of value to tablets. For prolonged reading, I'd still rather pay ~$100 for a dedicated device with an e-ink display. Smaller, lighter, more ergonomic, longer lasting battery, usable in the full spectrum of lighting situations (with a cheap clip-on light), and the main reason: my eyes are happier.
Then you're not easily distracted. For those who are, and who simply want to read more, a dedicated e-ink reader is probably a much wiser purchase than an iPad or Android tablet.
Well that's one way to kill the first sale doctrine or second hand market. Its a service and in the TOS "No reselling allowed" Luckily for me between my NES/SNES/N64/GameCube/Sega Master/TG16/Jaguar/Dreamcast/Saturn there's enough games out there that I never have to bother with buying/supporting anything as a service for the rest of my life.
I love retro games. I just don't see how any games on those systems can be substituted for modern online multiplayer games.
or dx. there's going to be a clone there in a month anyways.
and those who already donated and paid.. well of course you'll wait for longer! you're already a guaranteed customer. same goes for people who signed up to be emailed when it's available, you'll be emailed when they got surplus stock they'll need to get rid of..
Don't expect clones. There's no magical board design to save costs or increase the power/utility here. What makes this unique is the RP foundation got Broadcom to sell them a cell phone chip at cost. I don't think you'll see anyone else getting those chips for those prices.
There are much better ways to improve the educational system than this... Such as for example paying teachers a decent salary. The day an average teacher earns as much an average engineer you will start to huge improvements in your educational system.
I am assuming it is easier to be a teacher than an engineer, based on the supply and demand for both.
The average Slashdotter wants global governance of meatspace
Huh? Care to elaborate? In my experience, if you pick a random Slashdotter, he is most likely to be an economic socialist/social libertarian. I really don't get a "global government" vibe here.
Given the difficulty in providing evidence in this field, do you really find it that difficult that someone would find any particular theory (or all of them, for that matter) complete rubbish?
Quite frankly, you should do some research before you speculate
I can't remember the last time I saw an iPhone 2G in the wild. How was he to research this? Also, congrats on being frugal. It's refreshing in an age when people would rather rush into the next contract for a slightly shinier toy.
Whoa, I don't know much about Canadian politics so I'll give you the benefit of the doubt on your observations. Except for
Our judges aren't elected, which means they don't pander and our Supreme Court judges don't go through the wringer like they do in the USA.
1) Federal judges are not elected in the US and most do not encounter serious opposition in the Senate. Even when they do, it is not *always* political theater. State and local judges many times are elected, however.
2) Elected judges may result in pandering, but appointed judges are prone to "bench rot" (basically getting out of touch with reality because your job is guaranteed--similar to problems with faculty tenure). Both lead to stupid decisions.
I've volunteered with homeschool groups and had many classmates who were home schooled for their earlier education... and I've never met one that I'd say was well-adjusted.
My experience is 100% the opposite. I suppose it depends on your definition of "well-adjusted." My nephew went from homeschool to public elementary, and so far has been disappointed how much time is wasted, and that he can't just finish all his homework in class. (And presumably go home at lunch time).
but who seem like they will get eaten alive when they go off to college and have to deal with people who aren't inherently nice, logical, and having their best interests at heart.
Homeschool is far more similar to college than traditional schools are. You teach yourself at your own pace. There are also obvious social benefits: good kids get to be good and bad kids don't spoil things for the rest.
Slashdot Mirror
The first four weren't point and click, they were parser based.
There's nothing rational about buying a video game for $50 and then wasting tons of time playing it - it's a purely emotional experience. If running around smashing ogres is what gets your endorphins going, great.
Wait wait, don't tell me--I think I can figure out on which side of the "Can Video Games Be Art?" debate you fall.
Except that A.) not all ebooks cost the same; and B.) no two publishers sell the same ebooks.
On the surface, at least, it sounds like all they "conspired" to do is reject Amazon's pricing model for the one Apple suggested, which was more favorable to them.
They conspired to charge more for their competing products. I do not understand the distinction you are trying to make--that the books are different is irrelevant. If Toyota and Honda meet secretly and agree to charge more for their cars, it's still illegal, even if a Camry is different than an Accord and there may be a difference between the two in price. They are agreeing to raise their prices so they can make more money while mitigating undercutting by their competitors.
That really doesn't make sense. He's referring to copy editors. They check for spelling, grammar, consistency, etc.
This was my point. It would have been prohibitively difficult to repair and then routinely service the HST using any other launch system.
I agree. Who would ever program something useful and not charge for it? I bet they hope the participants are so stupid, they even let everyone look at their source code, so that other programmers can learn from it or modify it. Suckers!
at least the shuttles are going to museums.
The Shuttles made the Hubble Space Telescope possible. That was, far and away, the most difference they could have made, and they did it in the 90s. We need something cheaper and more reliable now.
That's all awesome and really adds a lot of value to tablets. For prolonged reading, I'd still rather pay ~$100 for a dedicated device with an e-ink display. Smaller, lighter, more ergonomic, longer lasting battery, usable in the full spectrum of lighting situations (with a cheap clip-on light), and the main reason: my eyes are happier.
Then you're not easily distracted. For those who are, and who simply want to read more, a dedicated e-ink reader is probably a much wiser purchase than an iPad or Android tablet.
I wonder in what shape your iPad will be in, say, 10 years time :) Spill some spaghetti sauce on it as well, in the name of science.
If pricing were fair, the hardware replacement would pale in comparison to the added extra cost of producing and distributing paper books.
Again, that's if pricing were fair.
The shuttle program was impressive... but exciting? I'm not so sure about that.
Game developers are far more concerned about evil consumers who resell their games
Don't you mean Game publishers are far more concerned?
Well that's one way to kill the first sale doctrine or second hand market. Its a service and in the TOS "No reselling allowed" Luckily for me between my NES/SNES/N64/GameCube/Sega Master/TG16/Jaguar/Dreamcast/Saturn there's enough games out there that I never have to bother with buying/supporting anything as a service for the rest of my life.
I love retro games. I just don't see how any games on those systems can be substituted for modern online multiplayer games.
I foresee I'll get modded down like the guy above me... but Vista SP1 isn't that bad. It's not much different than Win7, actually.
or dx. there's going to be a clone there in a month anyways.
and those who already donated and paid.. well of course you'll wait for longer! you're already a guaranteed customer. same goes for people who signed up to be emailed when it's available, you'll be emailed when they got surplus stock they'll need to get rid of..
Don't expect clones. There's no magical board design to save costs or increase the power/utility here. What makes this unique is the RP foundation got Broadcom to sell them a cell phone chip at cost. I don't think you'll see anyone else getting those chips for those prices.
You never actually saw one in person, did you? Not all electronics products need to look like they were made by Sony or Apple.
The brown Zune 30 was a really good looking in person. People snickered and sneered, but when you actually saw it, it was pretty nice looking.
There are much better ways to improve the educational system than this... Such as for example paying teachers a decent salary. The day an average teacher earns as much an average engineer you will start to huge improvements in your educational system.
I am assuming it is easier to be a teacher than an engineer, based on the supply and demand for both.
Perhaps this goes without saying, but... no kids?
The average Slashdotter wants global governance of meatspace
Huh? Care to elaborate? In my experience, if you pick a random Slashdotter, he is most likely to be an economic socialist/social libertarian. I really don't get a "global government" vibe here.
Given the difficulty in providing evidence in this field, do you really find it that difficult that someone would find any particular theory (or all of them, for that matter) complete rubbish?
Quite frankly, you should do some research before you speculate
I can't remember the last time I saw an iPhone 2G in the wild. How was he to research this? Also, congrats on being frugal. It's refreshing in an age when people would rather rush into the next contract for a slightly shinier toy.
What if we look at tablets not as downgraded computers but as the next evolutionary step for consoles and handheld entertainment units?
Console - Too small. We have large panel TVs now. You can't control most games on a TV with a tablet.
Handheld entertainment unit - Too Big. You can't fit an iPad in your pocket and pull it out when you're in line at the store. Phones fill this role.
Our judges aren't elected, which means they don't pander and our Supreme Court judges don't go through the wringer like they do in the USA.
1) Federal judges are not elected in the US and most do not encounter serious opposition in the Senate. Even when they do, it is not *always* political theater. State and local judges many times are elected, however.
2) Elected judges may result in pandering, but appointed judges are prone to "bench rot" (basically getting out of touch with reality because your job is guaranteed--similar to problems with faculty tenure). Both lead to stupid decisions.
I've volunteered with homeschool groups and had many classmates who were home schooled for their earlier education... and I've never met one that I'd say was well-adjusted.
My experience is 100% the opposite. I suppose it depends on your definition of "well-adjusted." My nephew went from homeschool to public elementary, and so far has been disappointed how much time is wasted, and that he can't just finish all his homework in class. (And presumably go home at lunch time).
but who seem like they will get eaten alive when they go off to college and have to deal with people who aren't inherently nice, logical, and having their best interests at heart.
Homeschool is far more similar to college than traditional schools are. You teach yourself at your own pace. There are also obvious social benefits: good kids get to be good and bad kids don't spoil things for the rest.