"Fritz Hollings, the Democratic Senator from South Carolina, has threatened to veto the funding because he supports ever-larger corporations owning ever-bigger chunks of the spectrum that theoretically belongs to the public."
"Hacker" politics range widely, from left to right, from intensely political to completely uninterested in political issues.
There, under 77 words. And a hell of a lot more accurate.
That depends on what you mean by "accurate." I would say that there's a Forer effect in your definition that isn't present in the JF entry. Your definition doesn't describe tendencies or characteristics whereby "hacker politics" is distinguishable from the politics of a random sampling of the population.
Now, it may be the case that "hacker politics" is indistinguishable from that of the population as a whole, in which case it would be equally accurate, and more concise, to say so. But in my (limited) experience, ESR's description is spot-on.
I dislike this administration as much as you do, but either we stop thinking of this as a representative gov't, or we bear the responsibility of our leaders, and should take the responsibility that more gravely come election time.
We get the leaders we deserve.
"Everybody has the hangover right now from the crazy uncontrolled growth in the '90's, and right now we are slowly recovering from Clinton's recession."
You are right to point out that the current economic "hangover" is the consequence of rapid, uncontrollet growth. However, you seem to think that Bush's hands-off-the-economy-can-take-care-of-itself policies constitute a form of control, since it is implicit in your words that control is what is needed, that will prevent further decline. Curious.
I'm voting Democrat in 2004, and I'm a Libertarian.
I feel you there: I'm an anti-abortion Christian (no debates just now, please?) and thanks to W. I'm saving up for a membership with the ACLU. *shudder*
Get over yourself. The previous poster was in no way insinuating that every single Iraqi is in the condition described. Many Iraqis have, no doubt, survived the past month with their families and persons largely unscathed. Some of them may even be financially well-off. But those aren't the people who need the help.
Two weeks ago I spent a night downloading the and checking the 8.0 isos. Sunday I installed RH 8 on my "other" computer (current baby: 15" PowerBook). Of course they'd release a new version this week.
[OT] Re:I'd say First Post, but it probably isn't.
on
World of Ends
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· Score: 1
This has to be one of the most ironic, yet appropriate First Posts subject lines I've seen on/. in a long time...
Take "reward the honest" in contradistinction to "punish the honest," that is, adding hassle and mistrust to an entertainment experience in the form of copy protection, where none such exists for the warez community.
A group of guys at my old dorm have run (I think) eight seasons of Tecmo Super Bowl since the beginning of sophmore year ('99). The guys who started it have all graduated, and it's still going strong. They had a draft, where one's performance in the previous season dictated how early or late you could pick this season's team, and competition for the few open slots each season were incredibly fierce.
I didn't play it, though, except once or twice.
I happened to be back there last month for the (Actual) super bowl, and six geeky guys in the room admitted that they had learned everything they knew about football to that game.
True, but as is often the case with/. discussions concerning all things musico-political, you are mistaking the RIAA for the companies they represent.
The article discusses the imminent death of the big 5 recording companies, i.e., the people who foot the bill to record, distribute, and promote "music." (For the purposes of discussion, I hold that term in the loosest possible usage.)
The RIAA is a related, but distinct organization that represents the interests of its member companies (including the aforementioned big 5).
Think of it like this: my company (Amalgamated Widget, Inc.) has a lawyer on retainer to represent our interests and advise us on all things legal. She doesn't know anything in particular about the manufacture, production, or distribution of widgets: it isn't her job.
Now, should AW go bankrupt, that lawyer is unable to represent it, but she can certainly still practice law: she simply goes on to represent North American Doodads instead.
The lawyer is the RIAA, my company is one or more of the big 5.
I certainly hope you're right, but instead of comparing the characters' screen time on a per-minute basis try talking about screen time relative to page treatment in the book(s).
Eowyn's character in the film TTT is -- more or less -- as it is in the book (been several years since I've read it), that is, the amount of screen time she gets is approximately what I'd expect, given how often she appears in the book.
Arwen, IIRC, doesn't appear in the TTT book. Don't think she's even mentioned in passing. But she gets about a half-hour long sequence in the film where she rescues the hero and stands up against her father's wishes.
If (just say) a page of the book is thirty seconds of screen time (it isn't, but bear with me), and we estimate Eowyn's share of the book as (really rough guess) sixty pages, we should expect +/- 30 minutes of screen time for Eowyn.
We should expect not to see Arwen at all.
In fairness, we should expect her to make an appearance (a la Galadriel), but even taking this into account, Arwen's part is about 25 minutes longer than the story calls for.
So Eowyn gets about 100% of the screen time that she deserves (based on the book), while Arwen gets about 600% of the screen time that she deserves (even taking into account that the filmmakers would have wanted her to put in some kind of appearance).
In comparison, it isn't at all clear that they're "building [Eowyn] up."
RE:Saw it. Wondered what version...
on
LOTR: The Two Towers
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· Score: 2, Interesting
Agreed.
Saw it at 12:05 this morning and am totally torn -- more so than with the last movie -- between my appreciation for the good qualities of the film, which are not insubstantial, such as the cinematography & camera work, the sets, the costumes, colors, designs, props, and (most of the) editing, and my loyalty for the story that is (supposedly) behind the thing.
Tempted to rant. Not gonna.
Ah, screw it.
The problem wasn't the omission of material but the addition of entire subplots that have nothing to do with the plot. You know which parts I'm talking about.
And if Arwen kills the King Nazgul in the third movie, which I think they're trying to build up to, I'm gonna kick somebody.
Actually, Alan Turing specifically mentions this possibility in his essay Computing Machinery and Intelligence, in which he outlines the proceedure that has come to bear his name:
"Finally, we wish to exclude from the machines men born in the usual manner. It is difficult to frame the definitions so as to satisfy these three conditions. One might for instance insist that the team of {p.436} engineers should be all of one sex, but this would not really be satisfactory, for it is probably possible to rear a complete individual from a single cell of the skin (say) of a man. To do so would be a feat of biological technique deserving of the very highest praise, but we would not be inclined to regard it as a case of 'constructing a thinking machine'. This prompts us to abandon the requirement that every kind of technique should be permitted. We are the more ready to do so in view of the fact that the present interest in 'thinking machines' has been aroused by a particular kind of machine, usually called an 'electronic computer' or 'digital computer'. Following this suggestion we only permit digital computers to take part in our game."
Now if I could just get enough people to follow suit... Unfortunatly, it seems to be too much of a hassle for most people. Come on, people, its a minute or two of your life, and if there are enough of us doing it, it might actually make a dent.
Um... There are starving people in much of the world. There are people who have never seen clean water. There are people who are dying of treatable diseases.
I dislike junk mail just as much as the next person, and the environmental impact of things like mass-mailed CDs or four-color glossy adverts is ridiculous, but if you're trying to start a grassroots movement to make a dent in something, you could at least make it in the name of something other than convenience.
There was a story on Salon.com a while back by a writer who tried it. According to the story the spammers are so terribly fly-by-night that even if you wanted to do business with them, you couldn't.
Presumably, then, the problem is that ISPs don't (or can't) take stronger action than taking down someone's website/account once they're notified of a TOS violation.
It doesn't sound like a great business model to me. <TONGUE="IN CHEEK">Personally I suspect that the USPS is behind the majority of spam.</TONGUE>
I disagree. I'm unable to find the text of Judge Patel's ruling but consider this:
Napster's Copyright Policy, which is incorporated by reference into their TOS states that "Napster does not, and cannot, control what content is available to you using the Napster browser."
Patel's injunction has to mean that a TOS or EULA, no matter how carefully crafted, doesn't absolve a company of responsibility for the abuse of their product.
Now, this may well be the kind of thinking that enables families of, say, murder victims to sue gunmakers, but it's also the kind of thinking that put seatbelts into automobiles.
There is an upside: what are viruses if not an abuse of software (specifically, of the security holes in software)?
If the EULA doesn't protect companies from liability for abuse of their software, well, places like M$ will have to take security & privacy concerns a lot more seriously lest they face class-action suits.
Slashdot Mirror
"Fritz Hollings, the Democratic Senator from South Carolina, has threatened to veto the funding because he supports ever-larger corporations owning ever-bigger chunks of the spectrum that theoretically belongs to the public."
Happy now?
I expect a proliferation of "-Raft" games to take FreeCraft's place: Freak Raft, Stark Raft, Work Raft...
"Hacker" politics range widely, from left to right, from intensely political to completely uninterested in political issues.
There, under 77 words. And a hell of a lot more accurate.
That depends on what you mean by "accurate." I would say that there's a Forer effect in your definition that isn't present in the JF entry. Your definition doesn't describe tendencies or characteristics whereby "hacker politics" is distinguishable from the politics of a random sampling of the population.
Now, it may be the case that "hacker politics" is indistinguishable from that of the population as a whole, in which case it would be equally accurate, and more concise, to say so. But in my (limited) experience, ESR's description is spot-on.
Howard Stern?
H.L. Mencken, though, has the better version: "Nobody ever went broke underestimating the taste of the American public."
When you want to know why an ETHernet Network Interface Card would even have a military...
I dislike this administration as much as you do, but either we stop thinking of this as a representative gov't, or we bear the responsibility of our leaders, and should take the responsibility that more gravely come election time. We get the leaders we deserve.
You are right to point out that the current economic "hangover" is the consequence of rapid, uncontrollet growth. However, you seem to think that Bush's hands-off-the-economy-can-take-care-of-itself policies constitute a form of control, since it is implicit in your words that control is what is needed, that will prevent further decline. Curious.
But buying a computer from Dell doesn't cost Microsoft $100. Buying and modding the X-Box does. Sounds worth it to me.
I'm voting Democrat in 2004, and I'm a Libertarian.
I feel you there: I'm an anti-abortion Christian (no debates just now, please?) and thanks to W. I'm saving up for a membership with the ACLU. *shudder*
Get over yourself. The previous poster was in no way insinuating that every single Iraqi is in the condition described. Many Iraqis have, no doubt, survived the past month with their families and persons largely unscathed. Some of them may even be financially well-off.
But those aren't the people who need the help.
Two weeks ago I spent a night downloading the and checking the 8.0 isos. Sunday I installed RH 8 on my "other" computer (current baby: 15" PowerBook). Of course they'd release a new version this week.
This has to be one of the most ironic, yet appropriate First Posts subject lines I've seen on /. in a long time...
Take "reward the honest" in contradistinction to "punish the honest," that is, adding hassle and mistrust to an entertainment experience in the form of copy protection, where none such exists for the warez community.
Accounts that did that would go straight to karma hell, modded down by other subscribers trying to protect their investment.
You haven't been to The Gap lately, have you?
One of the most well-reasoned things to appear on /. in a long time. Thank you, zogger, for saying it better than most do.
They had a draft, where one's performance in the previous season dictated how early or late you could pick this season's team, and competition for the few open slots each season were incredibly fierce.
I didn't play it, though, except once or twice.
I happened to be back there last month for the (Actual) super bowl, and six geeky guys in the room admitted that they had learned everything they knew about football to that game.
The article discusses the imminent death of the big 5 recording companies, i.e., the people who foot the bill to record, distribute, and promote "music." (For the purposes of discussion, I hold that term in the loosest possible usage.)
The RIAA is a related, but distinct organization that represents the interests of its member companies (including the aforementioned big 5).
Think of it like this: my company (Amalgamated Widget, Inc.) has a lawyer on retainer to represent our interests and advise us on all things legal. She doesn't know anything in particular about the manufacture, production, or distribution of widgets: it isn't her job.
Now, should AW go bankrupt, that lawyer is unable to represent it, but she can certainly still practice law: she simply goes on to represent North American Doodads instead.
The lawyer is the RIAA, my company is one or more of the big 5.
Not your fault; common mistake, especially here.
Just for fun, my favorite anagram: "electrical engineering" to "rectilinear negligence".
How about: "Mother-in-law" > "Woman Hitler"?
Eowyn's character in the film TTT is -- more or less -- as it is in the book (been several years since I've read it), that is, the amount of screen time she gets is approximately what I'd expect, given how often she appears in the book.
Arwen, IIRC, doesn't appear in the TTT book. Don't think she's even mentioned in passing. But she gets about a half-hour long sequence in the film where she rescues the hero and stands up against her father's wishes.
If (just say) a page of the book is thirty seconds of screen time (it isn't, but bear with me), and we estimate Eowyn's share of the book as (really rough guess) sixty pages, we should expect +/- 30 minutes of screen time for Eowyn.
We should expect not to see Arwen at all.
In fairness, we should expect her to make an appearance (a la Galadriel), but even taking this into account, Arwen's part is about 25 minutes longer than the story calls for.
So Eowyn gets about 100% of the screen time that she deserves (based on the book), while Arwen gets about 600% of the screen time that she deserves (even taking into account that the filmmakers would have wanted her to put in some kind of appearance).
In comparison, it isn't at all clear that they're "building [Eowyn] up."
Saw it at 12:05 this morning and am totally torn -- more so than with the last movie -- between my appreciation for the good qualities of the film, which are not insubstantial, such as the cinematography & camera work, the sets, the costumes, colors, designs, props, and (most of the) editing, and my loyalty for the story that is (supposedly) behind the thing.
Tempted to rant. Not gonna.
Ah, screw it.
The problem wasn't the omission of material but the addition of entire subplots that have nothing to do with the plot. You know which parts I'm talking about.
And if Arwen kills the King Nazgul in the third movie, which I think they're trying to build up to, I'm gonna kick somebody.
Probably myself.
"Finally, we wish to exclude from the machines men born in the usual manner. It is difficult to frame the definitions so as to satisfy these three conditions. One might for instance insist that the team of {p.436} engineers should be all of one sex, but this would not really be satisfactory, for it is probably possible to rear a complete individual from a single cell of the skin (say) of a man. To do so would be a feat of biological technique deserving of the very highest praise, but we would not be inclined to regard it as a case of 'constructing a thinking machine'. This prompts us to abandon the requirement that every kind of technique should be permitted. We are the more ready to do so in view of the fact that the present interest in 'thinking machines' has been aroused by a particular kind of machine, usually called an 'electronic computer' or 'digital computer'. Following this suggestion we only permit digital computers to take part in our game."
Read the entire essay here
Um... There are starving people in much of the world. There are people who have never seen clean water. There are people who are dying of treatable diseases.
I dislike junk mail just as much as the next person, and the environmental impact of things like mass-mailed CDs or four-color glossy adverts is ridiculous, but if you're trying to start a grassroots movement to make a dent in something, you could at least make it in the name of something other than convenience.
There are greater evils than junk mail.
Presumably, then, the problem is that ISPs don't (or can't) take stronger action than taking down someone's website/account once they're notified of a TOS violation.
It doesn't sound like a great business model to me. <TONGUE="IN CHEEK">Personally I suspect that the USPS is behind the majority of spam.</TONGUE>
You can read the story here.
Patel's injunction has to mean that a TOS or EULA, no matter how carefully crafted, doesn't absolve a company of responsibility for the abuse of their product.
Now, this may well be the kind of thinking that enables families of, say, murder victims to sue gunmakers, but it's also the kind of thinking that put seatbelts into automobiles.
There is an upside: what are viruses if not an abuse of software (specifically, of the security holes in software)?
If the EULA doesn't protect companies from liability for abuse of their software, well, places like M$ will have to take security & privacy concerns a lot more seriously lest they face class-action suits.
The law cuts both ways.