I have absolutely no problem with them busting people who are stupid enough to take camcorders into theatres. (I have to wonder how none of the employees noticed it before it was in use...)
Has anyone ever been arrested for sneaking food into a theatre though? Personally, I doubt it... most they'd probably do is chuck you out for not buying their overpriced snacks or the bucket of ice with a drizzle of soda in it.
Oh, come on. According to the RIAA shills, p2p software is cutting heavily into their profits. But I don't recall seeing any music execs out begging for loose change. And I daresay most of the sound technicians could probably find similar work doing radio/tv/movie sound production (in fact, some of them probably do this as well). And hey, if the music industry does go south, it means that Britney, Christina, Beyonce, and all the other pop-tarts can do porno movies.
And independent musicians (by this I mean those that are not distributing through the RIAA, whether then have 'made it' or not) will stay around regardless of whether the big music companies go under or not.
If we're talking about someone making just over minimum wage working in a music store, yeah, that's a real job. If we're talking about the sound technicians who do the grunt work in the production of the music, yeah, that's a real job.
If we're talking about the corpulent assholes who sit at the top of the company, who actually make no music, who add nothing to the value of the CD, and who take the vast majority of the artist's record sale income, and yet whine about p2p (and the apparent loss of funds to such that makes them unable to purchase that ruby-encrusted crack pipe), then no, that's not a real job.
Yes, and that would not necessarily be because our "enlightened elected officials" *spit* actually believe that either the FCC changes or this PIRATE bill are a good thing. The FCC changes are being wrought in the wake of the 'wardrobe malfunction' and the uptight American reaction to same. The PIRATE bill is being bought and paid for by the music industry.
In both cases you're seeing the politicians doing things not necessarily because they believe that these things need to be done, but because they want to stay in office, and continue to get whopping donations from organizations that donate huge whacks of cash.
The RIAA can't vote, but they damn sure can buy politicians once they're in office. And if previous indications are to be used for future elections, most politicians only need to appeal to that increasingly small fraction of people who do actually vote.
It's only bipartisan because both sides can recognize a good cash cow in the form of the RIAA.
Problem is, not everyone tortured, raped, and killed by Saddam's regime was "out to depose him". People who committed the crime of being related to those trying to despose Saddam were also tortured or killed. Women were kidnapped in the streets and raped by gangs working for Saddam's sons.
We may not have been over there for the best reasons, but it's a damn sight better over there now that Saddam's no longer in power and his sons are roasting in Hell.
Bush may be a complete fuck-up as a Commander in Chief, but the U.S. Armed Forces did, and are doing, a hell of a lot of good over there.
Ah, but look how much it's been mentioned in the news lately... the public perception is all that matters. If the perception is that the job market sucks (and it does) and that one of the reasons why is outsourcing, then it does influence whether people stay at crappy jobs or not.
Reality doesn't matter so much as the perception of reality.
Yes, true, it's still above the yearly low, but it's also far below the yearly high. And it's had one day in the last several days where it ended higher. (A whopping 0.04, no less!)
The fact of the matter is, they're getting incredibly little money from licensing, they're having to continually meet payroll of their existing staff AND their lawyers, and the number of lawyers can't be decreasing if they continue to add lawsuits, without having won a judgement on a single suit yet. If they win a suit, which I seriously doubt will happen, their cash-flow problems will dramatically improve, but let's face it, a judgement in favour of SCO is, at a minimum, months away, if ever. It's far more likely to be against SCO.
Then there's the little rumour that the SEC is starting an investigation, which does wonders for their stock price.
I mean, let's face it. Some of the people working there might not be able to afford to quit right now, depending on how much they are earning and the state of the job market. If the job market really starts picking back up (yeah, right, in the face of all the outsourcing to India), then maybe you'll see more people leaving SCO, but right now... they're still getting paid on time. (Or one would assume so...)
Well, let's face it. Look at the news. Enron, Arthur Anderson, Martha Stewart/ImClone, Haliburton, K-mart, Wal-Mart, WorldCom, AOL Time-Warner, the various SCO follies, Xerox, various energy companies, and so on, and so on...
Bad news sells. It also promulgates faster then good news. So, maybe all of capitalism isn't doomed, but not for lack of trying by these companies.
Right, because it's so much easier to have "serious" and non-cartoony logos, like Mickey Mouse, or Bugs Bunny sitting on top of the Warner's Brothers shield... or the dancing MTV symbol, or a peacock for NBC... or anything that Spike TV is using...
Here's the thing... I have Time-Warner Cable, (yeah, yeah, I know... but I get basic cable thrown in as part of my rent) and I've seen these messages.
Am I going to lose the channels too? I'm not subscribed to DishNetwork... I mean, heck, because it's part of my rent, I don't even pay a cable bill, but I do have to call the local Time-Warner Cable office when something goes haywire.
Mind, I wouldn't really see a giant loss in not having BET or UPN (as I don't watch them anyway), and I rarely watch MTV or VH1 any more... but I'm curious to know if I'll still have the option...
We have an HP Designjet 5500 large format printer at work, and we've found that only when it says the ink cartridge is out of ink is it correct. When it says that the printer head needs to be replaced, it's not the case.
Of course, I don't have to pay for the ink or the printer heads, so I have no idea how much it costs, but considering we're making a hefty profit on the prints we sell from it, it's not a problem.
Kierthos
Re:Did you read the parent post?
on
The Universal Card
·
· Score: 2, Insightful
Er, no. I mean, fingerprints are routinely used as evidence in court cases. Just because one is needed to decode these silly things does not mean that it would, all of a sudden, become inadmissable. And, you know, they do take your fingerprints when they arrest you.
Furthermore, even assuming you had some wierd judge who bought that claim, do you honestly think the company that makes these gadgets wouldn't have some back-door into their own system that would allow them to retrieve information if necessary?
And, odds are, they'd want to help the cops because any continued risk on stolen cards makes their little gizmo look bad.
Maybe. All depends on the judge. If it's a moron behind the bench, who somehow equates downloading Linux with downloading mp3s, then it's bad. If the judge has a lick of common sense, then it's good.
Actually, the better response would be "Your honour, the actual ownership of the IP in question has not been resolved yet, therefore we believe that this suit is premature, and ask for it to be held in abeyance until such time as SCO actually proves it owns what it is suing us for."
SCO Lawyer: Peremptory challenge, this juror is too smart. Judge: That's your 167th peremptory challenge, counsel. SCO Lawyer: Yes, your honour. We're looking for slack-jawed yokels.
Unfortunately, if it gets to trial any time within the current millenium, it's likely that SCO will use such challenges to try and get a jury as dumb as possible. (Not that I blame them, really. It's not like IBM's lawyers won't be trying to get a biased jury either. They both want to win.)
What I want to know is how is this so different from doing the same thing with Lego Mindstorms? I mean, for the price of the tablet PC and the Roomba, I can buy a lot of Mindstorms kits, and make a Lego-bot that can traverse a house... heck, Lego even had a cheap web cam with one of the kits...
Okay, I was wondering... although it looks like it could easily be something on the lens. Heck, it almost looks like what we call a 'density dot' at work. (Explanation: I work at a copy shop, and when doing colour copies, sometimes the toner will not be applied evenly, leaving small blank or lighter shaded dots in the middle of coloured areas.)
But it couldn't be a density dot because the imaging would have been sent back from the probe using radio signals, right? It's not like a radio signal gets a bad spot on a belt.... and interference would have produced a much more distorted image....
Any game, given a sufficient player base, will attract people who probably should not be playing it. Like any other activity, it can become addicting, with all the attendent negative social interactions that any addiction brings.
That being said, there are also positive social interactions that arise from these games. Hardly a month goes by without some gaming community organizing a get-together (usually at a sci-fi/fantasy/gaming/comic-book convention), and it wouldn't take long to Google for a number of stories of players who are memorialized in some form after their real-life deaths. (In fact, I recall one of the MUDs I played years ago had an entire area dedicated to a player who was killed in a car accident.)
When it comes down to it, it is like any other social activity. Major sports have their fans that take it a step too far, and others who donate time and money to charities under the auspice of their favorite team.
Computer games, especially MMORPGs just seem to get more negative press then soccer hooligans.
Actually, I doubt, at this point, that Sony is going to find EQ unprofitable at any point in the near future. Of course, if (big if) they ever launch EQ2, that may change.
I'm assuming that the game was Lineage, as it's the (IIRC) most popular one over there. It isn't the only game that you see things like that in, but given the relatively high percentage (4%) of South Koreans who play it, it's probably the best example. (And before someone says that 4% isn't that high, if 4% of U.S. citizens played EQ, that would be a player base of 11.6 million, as opposed to the roughly 500,000 they actually have.)
On a smaller scale, you see things like that in Dark Age of Camelot pretty much every weekend. May only be a 100 or so on each of the three sides (there are three competing Realms in DAOC), but there are some tactics involved.
Slashdot Mirror
I have absolutely no problem with them busting people who are stupid enough to take camcorders into theatres. (I have to wonder how none of the employees noticed it before it was in use...)
Has anyone ever been arrested for sneaking food into a theatre though? Personally, I doubt it... most they'd probably do is chuck you out for not buying their overpriced snacks or the bucket of ice with a drizzle of soda in it.
Frankly, the idiot is getting what he deserved.
Kierthos
Oh, come on. According to the RIAA shills, p2p software is cutting heavily into their profits. But I don't recall seeing any music execs out begging for loose change. And I daresay most of the sound technicians could probably find similar work doing radio/tv/movie sound production (in fact, some of them probably do this as well). And hey, if the music industry does go south, it means that Britney, Christina, Beyonce, and all the other pop-tarts can do porno movies.
And independent musicians (by this I mean those that are not distributing through the RIAA, whether then have 'made it' or not) will stay around regardless of whether the big music companies go under or not.
Kierthos
If we're talking about someone making just over minimum wage working in a music store, yeah, that's a real job. If we're talking about the sound technicians who do the grunt work in the production of the music, yeah, that's a real job.
If we're talking about the corpulent assholes who sit at the top of the company, who actually make no music, who add nothing to the value of the CD, and who take the vast majority of the artist's record sale income, and yet whine about p2p (and the apparent loss of funds to such that makes them unable to purchase that ruby-encrusted crack pipe), then no, that's not a real job.
Kierthos
Yes, and that would not necessarily be because our "enlightened elected officials" *spit* actually believe that either the FCC changes or this PIRATE bill are a good thing. The FCC changes are being wrought in the wake of the 'wardrobe malfunction' and the uptight American reaction to same. The PIRATE bill is being bought and paid for by the music industry.
In both cases you're seeing the politicians doing things not necessarily because they believe that these things need to be done, but because they want to stay in office, and continue to get whopping donations from organizations that donate huge whacks of cash.
The RIAA can't vote, but they damn sure can buy politicians once they're in office. And if previous indications are to be used for future elections, most politicians only need to appeal to that increasingly small fraction of people who do actually vote.
It's only bipartisan because both sides can recognize a good cash cow in the form of the RIAA.
Kierthos
Problem is, not everyone tortured, raped, and killed by Saddam's regime was "out to depose him". People who committed the crime of being related to those trying to despose Saddam were also tortured or killed. Women were kidnapped in the streets and raped by gangs working for Saddam's sons.
We may not have been over there for the best reasons, but it's a damn sight better over there now that Saddam's no longer in power and his sons are roasting in Hell.
Bush may be a complete fuck-up as a Commander in Chief, but the U.S. Armed Forces did, and are doing, a hell of a lot of good over there.
Kierthos
Ah, but look how much it's been mentioned in the news lately... the public perception is all that matters. If the perception is that the job market sucks (and it does) and that one of the reasons why is outsourcing, then it does influence whether people stay at crappy jobs or not.
Reality doesn't matter so much as the perception of reality.
Kierthos
Yes, true, it's still above the yearly low, but it's also far below the yearly high. And it's had one day in the last several days where it ended higher. (A whopping 0.04, no less!)
The fact of the matter is, they're getting incredibly little money from licensing, they're having to continually meet payroll of their existing staff AND their lawyers, and the number of lawyers can't be decreasing if they continue to add lawsuits, without having won a judgement on a single suit yet. If they win a suit, which I seriously doubt will happen, their cash-flow problems will dramatically improve, but let's face it, a judgement in favour of SCO is, at a minimum, months away, if ever. It's far more likely to be against SCO.
Then there's the little rumour that the SEC is starting an investigation, which does wonders for their stock price.
Kierthos
Paychecks?
I mean, let's face it. Some of the people working there might not be able to afford to quit right now, depending on how much they are earning and the state of the job market. If the job market really starts picking back up (yeah, right, in the face of all the outsourcing to India), then maybe you'll see more people leaving SCO, but right now... they're still getting paid on time. (Or one would assume so...)
Kierthos
Don't worry... there's always Duke Nukem Forever.
Kierthos
Well, let's face it. Look at the news. Enron, Arthur Anderson, Martha Stewart/ImClone, Haliburton, K-mart, Wal-Mart, WorldCom, AOL Time-Warner, the various SCO follies, Xerox, various energy companies, and so on, and so on...
Bad news sells. It also promulgates faster then good news. So, maybe all of capitalism isn't doomed, but not for lack of trying by these companies.
Kierthos
Right, because it's so much easier to have "serious" and non-cartoony logos, like Mickey Mouse, or Bugs Bunny sitting on top of the Warner's Brothers shield... or the dancing MTV symbol, or a peacock for NBC... or anything that Spike TV is using...
Kierthos
Here's the thing... I have Time-Warner Cable, (yeah, yeah, I know... but I get basic cable thrown in as part of my rent) and I've seen these messages.
Am I going to lose the channels too? I'm not subscribed to DishNetwork... I mean, heck, because it's part of my rent, I don't even pay a cable bill, but I do have to call the local Time-Warner Cable office when something goes haywire.
Mind, I wouldn't really see a giant loss in not having BET or UPN (as I don't watch them anyway), and I rarely watch MTV or VH1 any more... but I'm curious to know if I'll still have the option...
Kierthos
Hell, if it removes the chance of them breeding, I'll chip in five bucks...
Kierthos
We have an HP Designjet 5500 large format printer at work, and we've found that only when it says the ink cartridge is out of ink is it correct. When it says that the printer head needs to be replaced, it's not the case.
Of course, I don't have to pay for the ink or the printer heads, so I have no idea how much it costs, but considering we're making a hefty profit on the prints we sell from it, it's not a problem.
Kierthos
Er, no. I mean, fingerprints are routinely used as evidence in court cases. Just because one is needed to decode these silly things does not mean that it would, all of a sudden, become inadmissable. And, you know, they do take your fingerprints when they arrest you.
Furthermore, even assuming you had some wierd judge who bought that claim, do you honestly think the company that makes these gadgets wouldn't have some back-door into their own system that would allow them to retrieve information if necessary?
And, odds are, they'd want to help the cops because any continued risk on stolen cards makes their little gizmo look bad.
Kierthos
End the abuse. Stop shaving, and never print anything ever again.
Kierthos
Yes, but then he wouldn't be using a computer, now would he? A-Ha! The flaw in your logic!
Kierthos
Maybe. All depends on the judge. If it's a moron behind the bench, who somehow equates downloading Linux with downloading mp3s, then it's bad. If the judge has a lick of common sense, then it's good.
Actually, the better response would be "Your honour, the actual ownership of the IP in question has not been resolved yet, therefore we believe that this suit is premature, and ask for it to be held in abeyance until such time as SCO actually proves it owns what it is suing us for."
Kierthos
Yuuuuup.
SCO Lawyer: Peremptory challenge, this juror is too smart.
Judge: That's your 167th peremptory challenge, counsel.
SCO Lawyer: Yes, your honour. We're looking for slack-jawed yokels.
Unfortunately, if it gets to trial any time within the current millenium, it's likely that SCO will use such challenges to try and get a jury as dumb as possible. (Not that I blame them, really. It's not like IBM's lawyers won't be trying to get a biased jury either. They both want to win.)
Kierthos
What I want to know is how is this so different from doing the same thing with Lego Mindstorms? I mean, for the price of the tablet PC and the Roomba, I can buy a lot of Mindstorms kits, and make a Lego-bot that can traverse a house... heck, Lego even had a cheap web cam with one of the kits...
Oh wait, it can't vacuum. That must be it.
Kierthos
Don't forget the likely to crash into things and viciously vacuum minions...
Kierthos
Okay, I was wondering... although it looks like it could easily be something on the lens. Heck, it almost looks like what we call a 'density dot' at work. (Explanation: I work at a copy shop, and when doing colour copies, sometimes the toner will not be applied evenly, leaving small blank or lighter shaded dots in the middle of coloured areas.)
But it couldn't be a density dot because the imaging would have been sent back from the probe using radio signals, right? It's not like a radio signal gets a bad spot on a belt.... and interference would have produced a much more distorted image....
Hrm...
Kierthos
Any game, given a sufficient player base, will attract people who probably should not be playing it. Like any other activity, it can become addicting, with all the attendent negative social interactions that any addiction brings.
That being said, there are also positive social interactions that arise from these games. Hardly a month goes by without some gaming community organizing a get-together (usually at a sci-fi/fantasy/gaming/comic-book convention), and it wouldn't take long to Google for a number of stories of players who are memorialized in some form after their real-life deaths. (In fact, I recall one of the MUDs I played years ago had an entire area dedicated to a player who was killed in a car accident.)
When it comes down to it, it is like any other social activity. Major sports have their fans that take it a step too far, and others who donate time and money to charities under the auspice of their favorite team.
Computer games, especially MMORPGs just seem to get more negative press then soccer hooligans.
Kierthos
Actually, I doubt, at this point, that Sony is going to find EQ unprofitable at any point in the near future. Of course, if (big if) they ever launch EQ2, that may change.
Kierthos
I'm assuming that the game was Lineage, as it's the (IIRC) most popular one over there. It isn't the only game that you see things like that in, but given the relatively high percentage (4%) of South Koreans who play it, it's probably the best example. (And before someone says that 4% isn't that high, if 4% of U.S. citizens played EQ, that would be a player base of 11.6 million, as opposed to the roughly 500,000 they actually have.)
On a smaller scale, you see things like that in Dark Age of Camelot pretty much every weekend. May only be a 100 or so on each of the three sides (there are three competing Realms in DAOC), but there are some tactics involved.
Kierthos