It's print on demand, so the costs for Amazon could be quite low. It's not quite clear from the article, but it seems the scanning costs are covered by the university, so that would mean the only upfront cost would be to put the works into Amazon's database.
So their business model might actually work, regardless whether someone puts it online or not. They'd just get the business of the people who'd prefer to have a paper copy.
I don't think that's a good argument. If I die I still want my family to be provided for. I imagine authors want the same. Why should the family of author A receive income from author A's works, just because he wrote it at 20 and lived to be 90 - while author B's family doesn't get shit because he wrote it at 55 and died of cancer at 56? Theoretically author B might want to publish another book - knowing he is likely to die - precisely because he'd like to provide for his 5 underage children.
Someone like Terry Pratchett might want to write a book and leave the rights to some Alzheimer research fund. (Don't know if that applies to him, but it could be a motivation for some writers.)
70 years after the author's death is completely unreasonable, but 28 years after publication is fair - no matter if the author dies or not.
More likely the bombs would fall on Bulgaria, since it's name also starts with "B" and they had nothing to do with the whole thing. It's hard to keep track of all these places when you are under attack. Besides according to unconfirmed intelligence Bulgaria has been known to aid and abet Belgians. Here is a picture of a Bulgarian mobile weapons lab or possibly a truck. What more proof do you need?
Well what do you want to get out of that? Free internet access for a little while? Installing malware on their computers? Getting inside their houses to steal something (maybe WLAN routers)?
It doesn't seem like a very good plan no matter what you do. Plenty of people will be able to identify you. The classical approach to crime is not so much prevention, but catching the perpetrators and punishing them - after they've commited the crime.
A locomotive could be in the range of 3000 Hp, an Arleigh Burke class cruiser has 108,000 hp. It's by no means trivial to scale a system by 2 orders of magnitude.
It's the same thing with flying, really. The Wright brothers already showed that we can fly. Makes me wonder how new this F-117 technology really is.
Seriously, just because the general principle has been in use somewhere else, doesn't mean you can't improve on it - and scaling something up is not necessarily a trivial matter.
Well it seems that it will be financed by the fees charged to the tourists. Assuming that works out, it's free to the residents. A municipality is in some ways similar to a company which is owned by the citizens. You make an investment (installing the infrastructure - paid by taxes) and get a return on that investment (tourists paying for wifi). The dividend in this case is free wireless internet access.
Of course, instead of paying the dividend as internet access, they could have reduced taxes. So in that respect it's not free.
However for a tourism-centered economy like Venice, it's important to remain attractive for visitors. It's in the interest of any cafe, restaurant or street (canal) vendor, that the attractive squares, bridges and public buildings are maintained. They need to invest in public infrastructure so that they can all benefit.
Well as far as I understand it their position is this:
We now have the technical means to give anyone on earth with an Internet connection access to the entire wealth of human culture. It's not an acceptable option to pretend that wasn't the case, and continue as if nothing had happened. To create new content, new ways of getting payment to the content creators have to be found. It is not necessarily the task of the legislature to solve this problem - rather it should be private industry coming up with their own ideas for this.
This seems essentially reasonable to me. Imagine we had done the same thing with the printing press which we are now trying to do with file copying. Scribe's guilds would have lobbied against the usage of the printing press - after all they had done much to make books available to the public, and unlimited use of the printing press would put them out of business. They would demand that politicians find a way to ensure their livelihood in the future. But really - isn't it up to them to find a way to make a living?
Sure, culture in the future will change. Maybe some things we got used to may disappear (like boy bands - I said "used to" not "like"), something else will replace it.
Our political system still gives us opportunities to make things better. The Pirate Party did get 0.9% of the vote in the European elections - that's a pretty respectable result, considering that was the first time the ran. The FDP also doubled their votes (capturing 11% of the vote) - probably partly due their opposition to the censorship proposals. Here you can find instructions how can help getting the Pirate Party registered for the federal elections: http://ich.waehlepiraten.de/
For the most part, the historical record is pretty clear, once you have a dictatorship, you aren't going to "undictatorship".
Discounting Russia and almost every Eastern-European country, a few decades back? Tiananmen was interesting because it failed - the rare exception at the time. I can't think of a stable Asian monarchy right now - Which one? Thailand's king is not exactly running the government, and the country is not exactly stable, either. North Korea maybe? The country which can't afford to turn on the light in the capital's airport? Doesn't sound so stable to me. Burma has a dictatorship, but I wouldn't bet on another 50 years. South Korea, Japan and Taiwan are democracies. Cambodia got rid of the Khmer. So which one is it?
How could that not be said about a democratic election? Have you never made a mistake in your life, and later regretted that? How would you phrase that but in terms of right or wrong choices?
In a democracy you elect your leaders, you bear responsibility for that choice. If you keep electing unqualified or criminal people, then that's your fault. As you interact with other countries through your elected representatives, the countries you interact with have every right to criticize your choice. Particularly so if your interaction with them involved torture, aerial bombings and tens of thousands of war dead.
Now you don't have to accept that criticism and you are free to defend your view, but please don't pretend electing a moron is some kind of sacred act.
Yeah global warming zealots like McCain, Bush, oil executives like the chairman of Shell... damn hippies.
Obviously any currently accepted scientific theory could be wrong, inaccurate or incomplete. There is always a chance for a scientist to spot a flaw, publish about it and make a name for himself. However the theories behind climate change have very broad and scientifically sound support, they are very much in the mainstream. That doesn't mean they must be correct, but it's intelectually dishonest to pretend these views were only held by a fringe group.
Yeah, Jon Katz was... special. I just looked him up on wikipedia - seems like he went on to write about dogs. I especially liked how it says that his books "[...] have been met with a hostile reaction in segments of the border collie community. [...] Critics have faulted Katz for a fundamental lack of understanding of the dogs [...] criticism of the author intensified after he gave away his second border collie and had the first put down for behavioral problems."
The more things change, the more they stay the same...
I see little difference between Clinton, Bush, Obama, Carter, etc.
Maybe a visit to the optician might be in order then? There is a long history of idiotic, corrupt government in the US, accompanied by a long history of people not bothering to vote and not bothering to inform themselves about the issues. The situation is not good, but you still have ready access to all the tools needed to make things better.
Interesting idea - there should be more porn for women, taking their desires into account. However I'm not sure how you could make the gameplay work - essentially it's about being passive - enjoying to have something done to you. You might enjoy being tied-up, but that means you can't really do anything, that's what bondage is all about after all... In real life you could interact with the person binding you (verbally or through facial expressions), but I don't think that would work too well in a game. If you desire to give up control, then having to use a controller is not the right thing, somehow...
I think a movie or a story might be a more suitable format for these interests.
Slashdot Mirror
According to TFA: 400,000 rare, out-of-print and out-of-copyright books.
So their business model might actually work, regardless whether someone puts it online or not. They'd just get the business of the people who'd prefer to have a paper copy.
Maybe so, but "Ipod - usave at any volume" hasn't been published yet.
Maybe I would too, but a fair exchange between the creator and his audience does not mean that the creator gets whatever he wants.
The iLiad is available on Amazon, btw.
Someone like Terry Pratchett might want to write a book and leave the rights to some Alzheimer research fund. (Don't know if that applies to him, but it could be a motivation for some writers.)
70 years after the author's death is completely unreasonable, but 28 years after publication is fair - no matter if the author dies or not.
More likely the bombs would fall on Bulgaria, since it's name also starts with "B" and they had nothing to do with the whole thing. It's hard to keep track of all these places when you are under attack. Besides according to unconfirmed intelligence Bulgaria has been known to aid and abet Belgians. Here is a picture of a Bulgarian mobile weapons lab or possibly a truck. What more proof do you need?
It doesn't seem like a very good plan no matter what you do. Plenty of people will be able to identify you. The classical approach to crime is not so much prevention, but catching the perpetrators and punishing them - after they've commited the crime.
A locomotive could be in the range of 3000 Hp, an Arleigh Burke class cruiser has 108,000 hp. It's by no means trivial to scale a system by 2 orders of magnitude.
Seriously, just because the general principle has been in use somewhere else, doesn't mean you can't improve on it - and scaling something up is not necessarily a trivial matter.
Yeah, who ever heard of warships with explosives on board? I'm sure that scenario never occurred to anyone in the Navy.
Of course, instead of paying the dividend as internet access, they could have reduced taxes. So in that respect it's not free.
However for a tourism-centered economy like Venice, it's important to remain attractive for visitors. It's in the interest of any cafe, restaurant or street (canal) vendor, that the attractive squares, bridges and public buildings are maintained. They need to invest in public infrastructure so that they can all benefit.
We now have the technical means to give anyone on earth with an Internet connection access to the entire wealth of human culture. It's not an acceptable option to pretend that wasn't the case, and continue as if nothing had happened. To create new content, new ways of getting payment to the content creators have to be found. It is not necessarily the task of the legislature to solve this problem - rather it should be private industry coming up with their own ideas for this.
This seems essentially reasonable to me. Imagine we had done the same thing with the printing press which we are now trying to do with file copying. Scribe's guilds would have lobbied against the usage of the printing press - after all they had done much to make books available to the public, and unlimited use of the printing press would put them out of business. They would demand that politicians find a way to ensure their livelihood in the future. But really - isn't it up to them to find a way to make a living?
Sure, culture in the future will change. Maybe some things we got used to may disappear (like boy bands - I said "used to" not "like"), something else will replace it.
From my experience going out with Indian colleagues, I suspect they'd just bring some rice and chicken and purposely taunt the police...
This here presents the story a little differently: http://newteevee.com/2008/02/02/who-is-the-fourth-man-in-the-pirate-bay-case/ I don't know which version is correct, though.
Our political system still gives us opportunities to make things better. The Pirate Party did get 0.9% of the vote in the European elections - that's a pretty respectable result, considering that was the first time the ran. The FDP also doubled their votes (capturing 11% of the vote) - probably partly due their opposition to the censorship proposals. Here you can find instructions how can help getting the Pirate Party registered for the federal elections: http://ich.waehlepiraten.de/
It's planned for tomorrow - details here: http://piratenpartei.de/node/773
Discounting Russia and almost every Eastern-European country, a few decades back? Tiananmen was interesting because it failed - the rare exception at the time. I can't think of a stable Asian monarchy right now - Which one? Thailand's king is not exactly running the government, and the country is not exactly stable, either. North Korea maybe? The country which can't afford to turn on the light in the capital's airport? Doesn't sound so stable to me. Burma has a dictatorship, but I wouldn't bet on another 50 years. South Korea, Japan and Taiwan are democracies. Cambodia got rid of the Khmer. So which one is it?
In a democracy you elect your leaders, you bear responsibility for that choice. If you keep electing unqualified or criminal people, then that's your fault. As you interact with other countries through your elected representatives, the countries you interact with have every right to criticize your choice. Particularly so if your interaction with them involved torture, aerial bombings and tens of thousands of war dead.
Now you don't have to accept that criticism and you are free to defend your view, but please don't pretend electing a moron is some kind of sacred act.
Not everything worthwhile is risk-free. Unfortunately I don't have the skills, but I'd pinch in for the defense found, should one be required.
Obviously any currently accepted scientific theory could be wrong, inaccurate or incomplete. There is always a chance for a scientist to spot a flaw, publish about it and make a name for himself. However the theories behind climate change have very broad and scientifically sound support, they are very much in the mainstream. That doesn't mean they must be correct, but it's intelectually dishonest to pretend these views were only held by a fringe group.
The more things change, the more they stay the same ...
Maybe a visit to the optician might be in order then? There is a long history of idiotic, corrupt government in the US, accompanied by a long history of people not bothering to vote and not bothering to inform themselves about the issues. The situation is not good, but you still have ready access to all the tools needed to make things better.
I think a movie or a story might be a more suitable format for these interests.
On the other hand Japan has computer games where cartoon characters are raped. Maybe we should re-evaluate our priorities just a tiny little bit?