It made my day when I found out Metropolis and Dancing Ferret Discs were not RIAA members. Now I can boycott them without actually missing out on the music I actually buy... I just hope Tool doesn't release a new album before this all gets sorted out...
Sorry, but I can't quite agree with your conclusions on either 'unreasonable random searches' nor 'interfering with free travel'.
If you want to hop in your car and drive anywhere in the country, no one is trying to stop you. You still have the right of free travel.
I've been hassled at airports. I've had to empty my backpack, remove my shoes, etc. Do I think the confiscation of nail clippers is silly? Of course! Do I want airline security to make damn sure no one is bringing a bomb or gun on board? Hell Yes!
As for your presents, I'm sure many Slashdotters can think of many hazardous materials that wouldn't show up in an X-ray machine.
I remember hearing the 'odds are so long it must have been design' argument from my 7th Day Adventist uncle and being pretty convinced. Then the lottery came to my state. The odds of winning were insane... you had to pick 6 numbers between 1-50. The published odds were like 1 in 14 million or something like that. No should ever bet on those odds.
But then I started to notice something fascinating... people were winning. In fact, it became big news when more than two weeks went by that no one won. Turns out, a whole bunch of people play the lottery. Enough to make the odds of the lottery being won *by someone* pretty close to 1 to 1.
Now the odds of life developing at random are probably greater than 1 in 14 million. But I invite you to look at the sky on a clear night. Start counting the stars. Then try to comprehend how much time 4 billion years is (I can't). Try to figure out the odds that makes an event *unlikely* to happen given that many players and that much time.
As far as I'm concerned, it doesn't matter how much you 'control the process'. All you have to do is show that the process occurs. The universe is really really big and 4 billion years is a long long time. If something *can* happen, given that much time and space you'd have a hard time convincing me that it *won't* happen.
Not sure about Michigan, but here in Massachusetts you can take a credit for taxes paid in other states, up to the MA use-tax rate of 5%. So essentially it's a wash... You'd pay California the 8% (or whatever their rate is), and owe Massachusetts 5%, but since you paid over 5% to California, you get a full credit on what you owe Massachusetts (ie, you don't owe them any more money).
I'm not agreeing or disagreeing with you on your original point, but "$10 jars of spaghetti sauce at Whole Foods" has no bearing on your argument. Someone who is cooking at home to save money will not be buying $10 jars of spaghetti at Whole Foods, he/she will be buying $2 jars of spaghetti at Price Chopper.
You'd never find it in the instruction manual. IIRC, the general consensus is that this feature was hidden to stay on the good side of the TV networks.
They've also defended the KKK and neo-Nazis. And I very strongly disagree with and dislike all three of these groups. But that's not the point. The reason we have the First Amendment, which the ACLU defends above all else, is to protect all speech, even unpopular speech that offends a lot of people. Censoring the KKK or NAMBLA is just as unconstitutional and wrong as censoring the NAACP or the Christian Coalition. Saying you believe in Free Speech yet don't agree that NAMBLA has a right to say what they want to say is hypocritical.
When no one has unpopular ideas, then we won't need a First Amendment. Until then, I think we need to make sure we've got groups like the ACLU around to help defend it.
You obviously missed the 'Wesley Crusher applies to Starfleet Academy' ST:TNG episode, where we learn that the only useful matter/antimatter ratio is 1:1. Don't feel bad, none of the other applicants got it right either.
In fact, please give me Ico 2 and Ico n+1. The
last time I played such a simple, fun, interesting
game of that type was 'Out of this World' in '93,
though Ico has much better visuals (of course).
I highly recommend both.
Not only did it have an incredible editor,
it came with one of the best (IMHO) actual adventure games
of it's day, Rivers of Light. The great thing was,
if you couldn't figure out RoL, you could load it up
in the Construction Set, change a few things, and voila,
problem solved.
Whoa, hold on. Just because you have a right to say "Make Money Fast" doesn't mean you have a right to spraypaint it on my house, does it? Nowhere in the law does it say you can't loudly proclaim the virtues of your penis enlargement product, you just can't keep telling me about it after I've told you to go away.
optical connection on MP3 device?
on
Review: SliMP3
·
· Score: 1, Insightful
...or demand optical connections to your reciever...
Can someone please explain what the point of an optical connection on an MP3 player would be? Do you really want to be able to perfectly reproduce the imperfections introduced by the compression algorithm?
It reminds me of the time when radio stations were advertising the extra quality they were giving you by switching to CDs, conveniently ignoring the fact that no matter the media, we still had to contend with the static-prone transmission medium. This is the same issue, only reversed.
Ok, we'll get them back after all this is over. Most of these provisions (the one the Senate passed in particular) has a SUNSET clause. Nobody seems to mention that. These are temporary restrictions to aid in the keeping the people safe.
Actually, the Senate version explicitly does not include a sunset provision. The House version of the bill includes the Sunset provision, and the Senate would like for it to be removed (or extended from two to five years)
ReplayTV does have a subscription fee, it's just built into the cost of the device. I just checked on ThinkGeek today... a 30 hour ReplayTV device runs $529. A 30 hour TiVo runs $299. Add in the lifetime subscription fee of $199 and you're still paying $30 less than the ReplayTV device.
No, I don't own a TiVo or a ReplayTV device, I work for either company, and I don't know the features of either product. I've just seen to many posts talking about how ReplayTV is cooler because it doesn't have a subscription fee. At least TiVo offers a choice.
He's not talking about Open Source or Free Software. He's referring to the business model around companies 'selling' Linux, eg RedHat and Caldera. RedHat is a publicly traded, for profit company. RedHat needs to make money to exist. While GNU/Linux may be about all those great things that come with Free and/or OpenSource Software, RedHat is not, despite the fact that they are basing a company around it. That is what he means by "bizarre."
I happen to agree with him. It is bizarre. That doesn't mean it's not going to work, however.
Once the threat of lawsuits is removed, ISPs can take steps to police themselves, Carome (Patrick Carome, AOL lawyer) argued.
It seems to me that companies only become self-policing (or censoring or regulating, etc) when there is a possibility of law suits, government regulations and such. How can a business justify spending $$$ on something that they don't have to do? They may do it out of "social responsibilities", but will that be enough? And how far can (should) they go?
NOTE: IANAL
I think you miss the point of Carome's statement. AOL (or any other ISP) really has two options: a) "we don't police anything, we're not responsible for anything our members do" or b) "we monitor our users' content to insure nothing illegal goes up"
Currently, they're taking option 'a' because it offers the least chance of being successfully sued. Once they start going down the path of 'b', then they start becoming responsible for any illegal content that does get on their servers. Until they can do 'b' and not get sued for missing things, they're going to stick with 'a', and let users police themselves.
I also disagree that companies only police themselves out of threats of lawsuits. If you're going to join an "online community" (ala AOL, Tripod, Geocities, etc), are you (where 'you' is the average law-abiding mainstream Internet user) going to join the one that's clean, or the one that's dirty. Most companies think (and are probably right) that more people will choose the clean over the dirty. Therefore, they do have a monetary incentive (the only incentive that ever matters to a publicly traded company) to keep illegal things off of their servers.
Slashdot Mirror
It made my day when I found out Metropolis and Dancing Ferret Discs were not RIAA members. Now I can boycott them without actually missing out on the music I actually buy... I just hope Tool doesn't release a new album before this all gets sorted out...
Sorry, but I can't quite agree with your conclusions on either 'unreasonable random searches' nor 'interfering with free travel'.
If you want to hop in your car and drive anywhere in the country, no one is trying to stop you. You still have the right of free travel.
I've been hassled at airports. I've had to empty my backpack, remove my shoes, etc. Do I think the confiscation of nail clippers is silly? Of course! Do I want airline security to make damn sure no one is bringing a bomb or gun on board? Hell Yes!
As for your presents, I'm sure many Slashdotters can think of many hazardous materials that wouldn't show up in an X-ray machine.
Sure they did... remember the scenes of everyone leaving Sunnydale? that's how real people react. Buffy wasn't about real people.
I remember hearing the 'odds are so long it must have been design' argument from my 7th Day Adventist uncle and being pretty convinced. Then the lottery came to my state. The odds of winning were insane... you had to pick 6 numbers between 1-50. The published odds were like 1 in 14 million or something like that. No should ever bet on those odds.
But then I started to notice something fascinating... people were winning. In fact, it became big news when more than two weeks went by that no one won. Turns out, a whole bunch of people play the lottery. Enough to make the odds of the lottery being won *by someone* pretty close to 1 to 1.
Now the odds of life developing at random are probably greater than 1 in 14 million. But I invite you to look at the sky on a clear night. Start counting the stars. Then try to comprehend how much time 4 billion years is (I can't). Try to figure out the odds that makes an event *unlikely* to happen given that many players and that much time.
As far as I'm concerned, it doesn't matter how much you 'control the process'. All you have to do is show that the process occurs. The universe is really really big and 4 billion years is a long long time. If something *can* happen, given that much time and space you'd have a hard time convincing me that it *won't* happen.
Not sure about Michigan, but here in Massachusetts you can take a credit for taxes paid in other states, up to the MA use-tax rate of 5%. So essentially it's a wash... You'd pay California the 8% (or whatever their rate is), and owe Massachusetts 5%, but since you paid over 5% to California, you get a full credit on what you owe Massachusetts (ie, you don't owe them any more money).
Disclaimer: IANACPA
I'm not agreeing or disagreeing with you on your original point, but "$10 jars of spaghetti sauce at Whole Foods" has no bearing on your argument. Someone who is cooking at home to save money will not be buying $10 jars of spaghetti at Whole Foods, he/she will be buying $2 jars of spaghetti at Price Chopper.
You'd never find it in the instruction manual. IIRC, the general consensus is that this feature was hidden to stay on the good side of the TV networks.
Go Ephs!
When no one has unpopular ideas, then we won't need a First Amendment. Until then, I think we need to make sure we've got groups like the ACLU around to help defend it.
I too was disappointed at first. Grab a friend or two and play multiplayer. It gets much better.
You obviously missed the 'Wesley Crusher applies to Starfleet Academy' ST:TNG episode, where we learn that the only useful matter/antimatter ratio is 1:1. Don't feel bad, none of the other applicants got it right either.
I hope I'm not the only one reminded of Metroid and the bomb-climbing trick.
People have been saying this same thing for years; that doesn't make it true.
<blockquote>
According to Outpost.com:
MacOS X 10.1.3 - $129
</blockquote>
That's for the full version of OSX. I couldn't find an upgrade version.
Also according to Outpost.com:
Windows XP Home Upgrade - $99.
Windows XP Pro Upgrade - $199.
Windows XP Home Full Version - $199.
Windows XP Pro Full Version - $299.
Now obviously the big OEMs don't pay that much, but if you're going to compare retail price, at least compare the prices of equivalent products.
In fact, please give me Ico 2 and Ico n+1. The last time I played such a simple, fun, interesting game of that type was 'Out of this World' in '93, though Ico has much better visuals (of course). I highly recommend both.
Here's the link: orc and pie
That's Chadguay to you, pal.
Not only did it have an incredible editor, it came with one of the best (IMHO) actual adventure games of it's day, Rivers of Light. The great thing was, if you couldn't figure out RoL, you could load it up in the Construction Set, change a few things, and voila, problem solved.
And it even had multiplayer support!
Whoa, hold on. Just because you have a right to say "Make Money Fast" doesn't mean you have a right to spraypaint it on my house, does it? Nowhere in the law does it say you can't loudly proclaim the virtues of your penis enlargement product, you just can't keep telling me about it after I've told you to go away.
Can someone please explain what the point of an optical connection on an MP3 player would be? Do you really want to be able to perfectly reproduce the imperfections introduced by the compression algorithm?
It reminds me of the time when radio stations were advertising the extra quality they were giving you by switching to CDs, conveniently ignoring the fact that no matter the media, we still had to contend with the static-prone transmission medium. This is the same issue, only reversed.
No, I don't own a TiVo or a ReplayTV device, I work for either company, and I don't know the features of either product. I've just seen to many posts talking about how ReplayTV is cooler because it doesn't have a subscription fee. At least TiVo offers a choice.
He's not talking about Open Source or Free Software. He's referring to the business model around companies 'selling' Linux, eg RedHat and Caldera. RedHat is a publicly traded, for profit company. RedHat needs to make money to exist. While GNU/Linux may be about all those great things that come with Free and/or OpenSource Software, RedHat is not, despite the fact that they are basing a company around it. That is what he means by "bizarre."
I happen to agree with him. It is bizarre. That doesn't mean it's not going to work, however.
NOTE: IANAL
I think you miss the point of Carome's statement. AOL (or any other ISP) really has two options: a) "we don't police anything, we're not responsible for anything our members do" or b) "we monitor our users' content to insure nothing illegal goes up"
Currently, they're taking option 'a' because it offers the least chance of being successfully sued. Once they start going down the path of 'b', then they start becoming responsible for any illegal content that does get on their servers. Until they can do 'b' and not get sued for missing things, they're going to stick with 'a', and let users police themselves.
I also disagree that companies only police themselves out of threats of lawsuits. If you're going to join an "online community" (ala AOL, Tripod, Geocities, etc), are you (where 'you' is the average law-abiding mainstream Internet user) going to join the one that's clean, or the one that's dirty. Most companies think (and are probably right) that more people will choose the clean over the dirty. Therefore, they do have a monetary incentive (the only incentive that ever matters to a publicly traded company) to keep illegal things off of their servers.