Certainly a live and let live attitude could be somewhat more effective than current practices, but I'd argue that we need to go to great lengths to restrain American and international corporations from exploiting developing nations if we aim to stem further terrorism. "Terrorism" will always be the means of revolution - few are peaceful. The Boston Tea Party today, if, say, workers in Bangladesh torched a textile factory, would be viewed as economic terror. It is this shift in our view of dramatic revolutionary action that is so dangerous and will be the most far reaching impact of September 11th. I predict that 100 years from now, the Bush doctrine will be looked at with disdain in its role in acting as the catalyst for a century of oppression. I can only hope that it won't take a century for people to realize this and rebel. Alas, folks are too happy tuning in the telly and turning off their minds to see the marginalization of their lives.
Sorry, by soles I meant souls and there were probably a bunch of other errors in that hastily typed response. I suppose soles is a steller unintentional pun though given the prevelence of shoe-building-sweatshops in a few of these nations. Have a nice day.
Re:Black Hawk Down was fiction
on
Collateral Damage
·
· Score: 3, Interesting
"...to cite the excuse of 4 year old children the world over 'they started it.'"
Excuse me sir, who is this ambiguous 'they'? From what I can see, we've already killed at least 3700 people (see UNH report) who had nothing at all to do with the attacks on September 11th. Furthermore, we have pledged to continue our holy quest until terrorism is erradicated. Now, I might be in the minority in all of this, but I don't see any possible way that terrorism can be wiped from the face of the earth. Whether you like it or not, it's the single most effective way for marginal groups to get the world's attention. Who knew how to pronounce Tajikistan before September 11th? Would anyone care about the catholic/protestant struggle in Ireland if they weren't blowing up busses and harassing schoolgirls and whatnot? I'm not condoning terrorism; I'm simply acknowledging its inevitability in our current global climate. The only way to end terrorism, to wipe it from the face of the earth, is to stop it at its roots. Any effort to try for greater equality and efficacy in the world will be beneficial to this end. Let us examine whether the United States is truely trying to stop terrorism. First, we recommend that developing nations sell their soles to the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. The policies of these organizations may seem somewhat noble, but it doesn't take much to recognize the rapidly accelerating gap in economic equality in the world over the period that they've reigned over the finances of developing nations. There are a few instances of success with their plans, especially in southeast asia, but I would argue that this success could've come without their intervention. Furthermore, one only needs to look towards Argentina to see disasterous failure of their plans. And what more, the policies of these organizations promote sweatshop labor and corporate control in these nations. It will certainly be interesting to see the state of Afghanistan in 15 years after it fully succumbs to the IMF. Also, despite championing the struggle for democracy as our reason for upsetting the Taliban, Bush continues (and to be fair, Clinton before him) to support dictatorships (pakistan et al) and monarchies (Saudi Arabia et al). Our goals in this war on terrorism are not noble. The war, thusfar, has led to a loss of rights at home, and genocide abroad (see the Time report on the Afghan school slaughter for proof of this). I can guarantee you that in 5 years, US interests will profit greatly off of Afghan labor and property in Afghan soil (eg: gas/oil pipeline through the country) just as they did after the noble affair in Yugoslavia. The real tragedy in all of this, however, is the use of the "Bush Doctrine" by other countries to stamp out rebel groups in the name of anti-terrorism. Clearly, Israel is the best example of this, but there are others. Our country was founded on the idea that those suffering the burden of an oppressive government have an obligation to humanity to overthrow it and create a more just government. In this new bush order, revolution is impossible unless sanctioned by The United States, the World Bank, and the International Monetary Fund. This makes a perfectly stable, bland, and corrupt world. Wonderful for profit, horrible for humanity.
Not to mention that the open source world relies heavily on groundless flames to provide its inspiration. Did it ever occur to you that the original poster may not have the expertise to research and create the map as effectively as others, but came up with a novel idea that he wished to share with the community? It seems to me that actual creation comes second to the freedom of ideas that truly defines the open source movement.
There was no tone of demand in the statement, only a call for any help that the rest of the community may be able to provide. Though, I suppose you may be right - it would be far better for him to strike fourth and research the entirety of the world's internet infrastructure, implement a mapping system, and then present us with such a glorious gift without first asking if something even exists.
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security."
The actions of the US government post-9/11 will not end terrorism. That's simply an impossibility. Has global violence waned at all since our actions began? A simple look at Israel shows that such a claim would be ludicrous. To me, the actions of the US government almost unilateraly lead to the following conclusion: our government is attempting to forestall any attempt at revolution by any people unless those people are blessed with the "right" to revolution by the United States. Right now we're funding the Phillipines in its war against rebellion, we're aiding Israel (if only by providing the doctrine to justify their action) in its enslavement of Palestine, and we're continuing to aid numerous, horrible governments in the names of the drug war and the world economy.
I don't agree with raisethefist.com's means in any way. I really don't enjoy the prospect of an anarchist world either. Still though, if the Declaration of Independence has any bearing in this matter, the owner of that site has full right, in tandem with the first amendment, to seek revolution. After all, revolution without near popular consent will fail. If the US government is indeed right and just, they have nothing to fear.
This is only the first step in labeling anti-globalization protesters, anarchists, activists, et al as terrorists. The moment I saw the towers fall, I knew this would be one of the worst consequences of the terrorists' actions. As horrible as the events of September 11th were, the United States is not too cowardly to rise above exploiting the deaths of 1000s of its citizens to further the aims of the IMF, World Bank, and international conglomerates worldwide. Furthermore, George Bush feels free to stick to his twisted idea that the United States, with its "moral truths" is free to murder thousands around the world (at least 3700 civillian deaths in Afghanistan alone since September 11th) under the sick misconception that an American life is worth more than another.
Ask yourself:
Why don't Americans know how much global corporations will profit from the war on terror?
Why doesn't the American media report on civillian casualties?
Why does the government continue to instill fear in the American people with warning after warning about terrorist attacks without providing a single shred of information that could help expose these apparently inevitable strikes?
Why, indeed, does the media ignore this very story?
Only when you start asking yourself honest questions and look up the truth will you come up with any sensible conclusion. Yours may not be the same as mine. I admit that. I don't expect anyone to take my word as gospel, but I think I've gone through far more research and soul searching than the average American and I fail to see how anyone, given the evidence at hand, could justify all of the actions since September 11th.
Actually, with that much bandwidth it'd certainly be feasible to have multiple commentary tracks and low-quality alternate angle tracks all on the same 28mbps stream. As long as they figure out how to parse all the possible data into a coherent display, they've got the room for it. Still though, the lack of chapter skips and quick scanning really kills it for me. Not to mention that with the massive DVD installed base and consumer mentality that DVD >> VHS, it doesn't have a chance. The only chance it's got is to be included on new generation VCRs with far too low a price point to justify the type of extra-feature capability I talked about or to make it very high in price and aim it at the theater buff crowd. Since the studios all have hi-def copies of their movies anyway, there wouldn't be much production cost that I could see as far as data goes, and there really isn't that much investment in the technology. It's certainly possible to profit off this technology (plus everyone's happy they get 'copy-protection' - of course they got that with DVD too). That doesn't mean it'll ever replace DVD - a hi-def optical format, preferably more resistent to wear-and-tear (say a DVD type disc in some sort of caddy) would be the ultimate format as far as I'm concerned.
Do you really think that socializing air travel is a bad idea? A completely deregulated air travel industry would be a tremedous national liability as shown on September 11th. If you're ready to tell me that airlines would sacrifice greater profitability for the proper amount of security, I'd like to see any kind of source.
The present problems in the airline industry come from a lack of federal oversight and funding; to say it's the otherway around is foolhardy at best. Notice the almost unbelievably low amount of new runways and airports built during a period when air travel rose by leaps and bounds - all following the deregulation of the air travel industry.
Unless your advocating the elimination of any airline industry in the United States, I fail to see how your point is at all valid. The airline industry is entirely unique in its suceptibility to attack and role in our nation and the world and needs to be treated differently. Globally, nations with socialized air travel systems provide a far more convenient and secure solution. Perhaps this comes at the cost of higher ticket prices and an increased tax burden, but that's the price of living in a modern world.
This isn't a case where US law is in any way involved. The parties here are all members of the MPAA and agree to follow its guidelines and rulings. Obviously, if this came to court, New Line would win under parody protection (at least I'd hope so). For New Line to sue, however, they'd have to breach an agreement with all the others in the BIG HOLLYWOOD MOVIE CARTEL we know as the MPAA and would lose all of the benefits of that ogliopoly (please don't bring up the independent scene as evidence against their ogliopoly - three companies control at least 90% of domestic production, distribution, and display - that there's an ogliopoly). Therefore, New Line (actually AOL/Time Warner) is more than happy to reedit the intro the AP if it's already been created and bow to the will of the MPAA if it means retaining the benefits of that illicit organization.
Since Star Ballz creators are not members of the MPAA, they could really care less and sue under US law.
... they aren't in this case. Yahoo isn't out to charge for access to your web page via their portal, but rather it would seem that they're creating a cheap alternative to something like Lexis Nexis, which, in in my opinion, could be a horribly valuable asset for, say, high school debate teams that can't afford $600/year and up that Lexis-Nexis charges. There are very few players in the online document provision market - and none with the ability to provide affordable content that Yahoo! has. They see this and are taking advantage of it in another attempt to reach profitability.
We have a sensible system at my Big 10 university (UIUC). 750 MB per day limit, with rate limiting kicking in as you approach the limit - 1.5 mbps at 80% of the limit, 128kbps after hitting the limit, 32kbps if you go to, I believe, 150% of the limit. Works much better than the system they had at the beginning of the year: contacting students if they exceed the limit and shutting down their connection for two weeks in combination with disciplinary action should they repeat the offense. I'd wager that the amount of time they save with the automatic system saves enough money to afford any extra bandwidth used by students with the new system.
This is all entirely intriguing, but isn't Korea in monsoon country? I've heard rumors of Linux making an excellent protective wall against fire, but I don't believe it's yet robust enough to provide the same protection while retaining a high level of transparency.
Quantum theory has everything to do with compression. Inside sources have revealed that this compression scheme works on the uncertainty principles key to quantum physics. You see, any strinng of 100 bits has a distinct probability of being compressable to a single bit. Of course, this means that this compression scheme will produce bogus results 99.999999% of the time, but think of the wonder of compression realized the other.000001% of the time! Furthermore, the system requirements for their technology are as follows: x86 PC running WindowsXP (to take advantage of DirectX in wickedly rendering the fractals neccessary for the compression), a particle accelerator, and a heavy dose of optimism combined with a complete lack of skepticism.
I always thought that your sig ment "To the stars through difficulty" - at least that's what they taught us in Kansas middle school (that being the motto that graces our state seal and all). The phrases are equivilent in meaning I suppose, but with my meager latin knowledge via minimal knowledge of other latin-based languages, I'd say that the middle school translation wins.
Good call on the apple-market-study there by the way. I'd say that one problem with these little buggers is educational use. My school was buying up quite a few of the cheaper iMacs when I last checked, but I imagine they'd be afraid of these things tipping over or simply being lifted and absconded with their small size and all.
You say an NES isn't 'flaky'? I seriously doubt that I could run across the hall, pop Bubble Bobble into the machine and hit power successfully without resorting to the Magic Nintendo Voodoo neccessary to get that thing to work. This includes popping the game up and down, blowing out any nonexistent dust, holding the game down and pushing the reset button repeatedly, and jamming another game on top of the already inserted game. To be perfectly honest though, getting nintendo games to work is usually more fun than playing the game itself. Except with Dragon Warrior I guess.
Windux - then they'd be dealing with two lawsuits. It's difficult to quantify the legal wrath that can occur from causing confusion in the squeaky-clean-blue-cleaner market.
Actually, it's kind of a clever handle. If you've ever read "The Natural," you've probably noticed that Robert Redford's (sorry, I forgot the character name, so I'll reference the film) bat is the most undeniably phallic item in most any novel you've read. My sophomore english teacher (in high school) refused to acknowledge this and suffered greatly in class. Oh yes, the bat's named Wonderboy for what it's worth. I really don't think I could've gotten through that terror of a book without all the phallic references, so I'm happy for it. A nonstop chuckle fest for me.
Well, there's always the option of releasing the source code, but not the game media. Kind of like how you can always download the doom executable for free, but without the WAD files, no luck playing the whole game. This would work with many companies, but unforunately not id - a huge percentage of their income comes via engine liscensing. Of course, by formulating a decent liscense (I doubt the GPL would work for this), they could release the source code and prevent people from profiting off of it. This could conceivably make id a good deal more money as companies and individuals could experiment with using/modifying the code on their own before deciding to create a full product with it and paying id. A problem still pops up with this model though, as mod authors could instead make standalone games, claim them as non-profit, and id would then lose out on the money they get from mods' requirement of having the original game. It's definitely a tricky issue, but it's not impossible to release up-to-date code and still profit greatly from your efforts.
Yeah, I should've put in there that I really forgot exactly how the professor worded it and that his telling of the story was a bit more convincing than mine. I haven't taken a philosophy class yet though. I should be taking Philosophy in Film at some point to get closer to finishing my cinema minor, but we shall see. Anyhow, there was a bigger jump between the relativist's theories and Socrates final jab had a bit more tact than I can give it in a bastardized second telling. You also can't underestimate the power of a scrawny philosophy professor building up relativist theory for five minutes and then tearing it all down in five seconds with such a quick story. It was definitely better than the chemistry tutorial that I had the option of attending.
I once heard a philosophy professor say a great thing about idiotic moral relativism like this:
So this relativist (sorry, forgot which) goes up to Socrates and claims, "Whatever I think right is so." Socrates spits back, "But what if I don't think so?" The relativist modifies his statement - "Whatever I think right is so for me." Socrates thinks for a moment and retorts, "I think you're wrong."
No, now youth is viewed as a consumer at an increasingly younger age. They have funds provided via mommy and daddy, but are free to independently dispense them. As such, the usual paradigm is altered to:
Obey / Consume / Work / Consume / Breed / Consume (see parasitic infomercials, snake oil sales, etc for late-life consumption).
Althusser was incredibly prescient in his marxist economic criticism. The ideological state apparati fail to even attempt to mask their goals today. Not only that, but all ISAs are molding together under the guise of the corporation - school, religion, and especially media all fall under corporate control. With one authority guiding almost all ideological sources, the effect of a government-backed corporate empire is even more frightening.
OK, so I go to UIUC and haven't heard of this. I'm only a freshman and not even in CS, so that seems probable. But get this - a road right next to my grandmother's house in good old, technologically backwards Inverness, Florida carries the exact same amazingly-lacking-in-common-vowels name on one of its roads. This is not even a normal road either. It's a road that goes for about five feet and then vanishes into a banal brown path. Now, I've got a fairly extensive vocabulary, but this word is utterly foreign to me. How could it possibly link the meager stretch of road in Inverness to an immersive virtual reality visualization system? Clearly a Google search was the first step in my investigation. I found that these are not the only products to carry this eclectic word as their name. We've got Syzygy.net, a european firm specializing in the creation of e-businesses, a page documenting religious cults, a hardcore eclectic videogame magazine, and, my first solid lead, a company selling astronomical simulators. The last seemed to be the only lead worth following, and a dictionary.com search ended my confusion. Apparently, Syzygy is the key point in an ecclipse when the sun, moon, and earth lie in a straight line. For what it's worth, you can also have multiple Syzygies, but that word is not nearly as fun what with its normal vowels. My quest is now complete. Alas, now I'm at a loss as to what I can do to forstall finding employ over winter break. Ideas are welcome.
Slashdot Mirror
Certainly a live and let live attitude could be somewhat more effective than current practices, but I'd argue that we need to go to great lengths to restrain American and international corporations from exploiting developing nations if we aim to stem further terrorism. "Terrorism" will always be the means of revolution - few are peaceful. The Boston Tea Party today, if, say, workers in Bangladesh torched a textile factory, would be viewed as economic terror. It is this shift in our view of dramatic revolutionary action that is so dangerous and will be the most far reaching impact of September 11th. I predict that 100 years from now, the Bush doctrine will be looked at with disdain in its role in acting as the catalyst for a century of oppression. I can only hope that it won't take a century for people to realize this and rebel. Alas, folks are too happy tuning in the telly and turning off their minds to see the marginalization of their lives.
Sorry, by soles I meant souls and there were probably a bunch of other errors in that hastily typed response. I suppose soles is a steller unintentional pun though given the prevelence of shoe-building-sweatshops in a few of these nations. Have a nice day.
"...to cite the excuse of 4 year old children the world over 'they started it.'"
Excuse me sir, who is this ambiguous 'they'? From what I can see, we've already killed at least 3700 people (see UNH report) who had nothing at all to do with the attacks on September 11th. Furthermore, we have pledged to continue our holy quest until terrorism is erradicated. Now, I might be in the minority in all of this, but I don't see any possible way that terrorism can be wiped from the face of the earth. Whether you like it or not, it's the single most effective way for marginal groups to get the world's attention. Who knew how to pronounce Tajikistan before September 11th? Would anyone care about the catholic/protestant struggle in Ireland if they weren't blowing up busses and harassing schoolgirls and whatnot? I'm not condoning terrorism; I'm simply acknowledging its inevitability in our current global climate. The only way to end terrorism, to wipe it from the face of the earth, is to stop it at its roots. Any effort to try for greater equality and efficacy in the world will be beneficial to this end. Let us examine whether the United States is truely trying to stop terrorism. First, we recommend that developing nations sell their soles to the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. The policies of these organizations may seem somewhat noble, but it doesn't take much to recognize the rapidly accelerating gap in economic equality in the world over the period that they've reigned over the finances of developing nations. There are a few instances of success with their plans, especially in southeast asia, but I would argue that this success could've come without their intervention. Furthermore, one only needs to look towards Argentina to see disasterous failure of their plans. And what more, the policies of these organizations promote sweatshop labor and corporate control in these nations. It will certainly be interesting to see the state of Afghanistan in 15 years after it fully succumbs to the IMF. Also, despite championing the struggle for democracy as our reason for upsetting the Taliban, Bush continues (and to be fair, Clinton before him) to support dictatorships (pakistan et al) and monarchies (Saudi Arabia et al). Our goals in this war on terrorism are not noble. The war, thusfar, has led to a loss of rights at home, and genocide abroad (see the Time report on the Afghan school slaughter for proof of this). I can guarantee you that in 5 years, US interests will profit greatly off of Afghan labor and property in Afghan soil (eg: gas/oil pipeline through the country) just as they did after the noble affair in Yugoslavia. The real tragedy in all of this, however, is the use of the "Bush Doctrine" by other countries to stamp out rebel groups in the name of anti-terrorism. Clearly, Israel is the best example of this, but there are others. Our country was founded on the idea that those suffering the burden of an oppressive government have an obligation to humanity to overthrow it and create a more just government. In this new bush order, revolution is impossible unless sanctioned by The United States, the World Bank, and the International Monetary Fund. This makes a perfectly stable, bland, and corrupt world. Wonderful for profit, horrible for humanity.
Not to mention that the open source world relies heavily on groundless flames to provide its inspiration. Did it ever occur to you that the original poster may not have the expertise to research and create the map as effectively as others, but came up with a novel idea that he wished to share with the community? It seems to me that actual creation comes second to the freedom of ideas that truly defines the open source movement.
There was no tone of demand in the statement, only a call for any help that the rest of the community may be able to provide. Though, I suppose you may be right - it would be far better for him to strike fourth and research the entirety of the world's internet infrastructure, implement a mapping system, and then present us with such a glorious gift without first asking if something even exists.
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security."
The actions of the US government post-9/11 will not end terrorism. That's simply an impossibility. Has global violence waned at all since our actions began? A simple look at Israel shows that such a claim would be ludicrous. To me, the actions of the US government almost unilateraly lead to the following conclusion: our government is attempting to forestall any attempt at revolution by any people unless those people are blessed with the "right" to revolution by the United States. Right now we're funding the Phillipines in its war against rebellion, we're aiding Israel (if only by providing the doctrine to justify their action) in its enslavement of Palestine, and we're continuing to aid numerous, horrible governments in the names of the drug war and the world economy.
I don't agree with raisethefist.com's means in any way. I really don't enjoy the prospect of an anarchist world either. Still though, if the Declaration of Independence has any bearing in this matter, the owner of that site has full right, in tandem with the first amendment, to seek revolution. After all, revolution without near popular consent will fail. If the US government is indeed right and just, they have nothing to fear.
This is only the first step in labeling anti-globalization protesters, anarchists, activists, et al as terrorists. The moment I saw the towers fall, I knew this would be one of the worst consequences of the terrorists' actions. As horrible as the events of September 11th were, the United States is not too cowardly to rise above exploiting the deaths of 1000s of its citizens to further the aims of the IMF, World Bank, and international conglomerates worldwide. Furthermore, George Bush feels free to stick to his twisted idea that the United States, with its "moral truths" is free to murder thousands around the world (at least 3700 civillian deaths in Afghanistan alone since September 11th) under the sick misconception that an American life is worth more than another.
Ask yourself:
Why don't Americans know how much global corporations will profit from the war on terror?
Why doesn't the American media report on civillian casualties?
Why does the government continue to instill fear in the American people with warning after warning about terrorist attacks without providing a single shred of information that could help expose these apparently inevitable strikes?
Why, indeed, does the media ignore this very story?
Only when you start asking yourself honest questions and look up the truth will you come up with any sensible conclusion. Yours may not be the same as mine. I admit that. I don't expect anyone to take my word as gospel, but I think I've gone through far more research and soul searching than the average American and I fail to see how anyone, given the evidence at hand, could justify all of the actions since September 11th.
Actually, with that much bandwidth it'd certainly be feasible to have multiple commentary tracks and low-quality alternate angle tracks all on the same 28mbps stream. As long as they figure out how to parse all the possible data into a coherent display, they've got the room for it. Still though, the lack of chapter skips and quick scanning really kills it for me. Not to mention that with the massive DVD installed base and consumer mentality that DVD >> VHS, it doesn't have a chance. The only chance it's got is to be included on new generation VCRs with far too low a price point to justify the type of extra-feature capability I talked about or to make it very high in price and aim it at the theater buff crowd. Since the studios all have hi-def copies of their movies anyway, there wouldn't be much production cost that I could see as far as data goes, and there really isn't that much investment in the technology. It's certainly possible to profit off this technology (plus everyone's happy they get 'copy-protection' - of course they got that with DVD too). That doesn't mean it'll ever replace DVD - a hi-def optical format, preferably more resistent to wear-and-tear (say a DVD type disc in some sort of caddy) would be the ultimate format as far as I'm concerned.
Do you really think that socializing air travel is a bad idea? A completely deregulated air travel industry would be a tremedous national liability as shown on September 11th. If you're ready to tell me that airlines would sacrifice greater profitability for the proper amount of security, I'd like to see any kind of source.
The present problems in the airline industry come from a lack of federal oversight and funding; to say it's the otherway around is foolhardy at best. Notice the almost unbelievably low amount of new runways and airports built during a period when air travel rose by leaps and bounds - all following the deregulation of the air travel industry.
Unless your advocating the elimination of any airline industry in the United States, I fail to see how your point is at all valid. The airline industry is entirely unique in its suceptibility to attack and role in our nation and the world and needs to be treated differently. Globally, nations with socialized air travel systems provide a far more convenient and secure solution. Perhaps this comes at the cost of higher ticket prices and an increased tax burden, but that's the price of living in a modern world.
This isn't a case where US law is in any way involved. The parties here are all members of the MPAA and agree to follow its guidelines and rulings. Obviously, if this came to court, New Line would win under parody protection (at least I'd hope so). For New Line to sue, however, they'd have to breach an agreement with all the others in the BIG HOLLYWOOD MOVIE CARTEL we know as the MPAA and would lose all of the benefits of that ogliopoly (please don't bring up the independent scene as evidence against their ogliopoly - three companies control at least 90% of domestic production, distribution, and display - that there's an ogliopoly). Therefore, New Line (actually AOL/Time Warner) is more than happy to reedit the intro the AP if it's already been created and bow to the will of the MPAA if it means retaining the benefits of that illicit organization.
Since Star Ballz creators are not members of the MPAA, they could really care less and sue under US law.
Internet cafes - the bowling alleys of the new millenium!
I suppose this means that in 20 years, Internet cafes will be full of birthday parties and arcade games and ban coffee.
... they aren't in this case. Yahoo isn't out to charge for access to your web page via their portal, but rather it would seem that they're creating a cheap alternative to something like Lexis Nexis, which, in in my opinion, could be a horribly valuable asset for, say, high school debate teams that can't afford $600/year and up that Lexis-Nexis charges. There are very few players in the online document provision market - and none with the ability to provide affordable content that Yahoo! has. They see this and are taking advantage of it in another attempt to reach profitability.
We have a sensible system at my Big 10 university (UIUC). 750 MB per day limit, with rate limiting kicking in as you approach the limit - 1.5 mbps at 80% of the limit, 128kbps after hitting the limit, 32kbps if you go to, I believe, 150% of the limit. Works much better than the system they had at the beginning of the year: contacting students if they exceed the limit and shutting down their connection for two weeks in combination with disciplinary action should they repeat the offense. I'd wager that the amount of time they save with the automatic system saves enough money to afford any extra bandwidth used by students with the new system.
This is all entirely intriguing, but isn't Korea in monsoon country? I've heard rumors of Linux making an excellent protective wall against fire, but I don't believe it's yet robust enough to provide the same protection while retaining a high level of transparency.
Quantum theory has everything to do with compression. Inside sources have revealed that this compression scheme works on the uncertainty principles key to quantum physics. You see, any strinng of 100 bits has a distinct probability of being compressable to a single bit. Of course, this means that this compression scheme will produce bogus results 99.999999% of the time, but think of the wonder of compression realized the other .000001% of the time! Furthermore, the system requirements for their technology are as follows: x86 PC running WindowsXP (to take advantage of DirectX in wickedly rendering the fractals neccessary for the compression), a particle accelerator, and a heavy dose of optimism combined with a complete lack of skepticism.
I always thought that your sig ment "To the stars through difficulty" - at least that's what they taught us in Kansas middle school (that being the motto that graces our state seal and all). The phrases are equivilent in meaning I suppose, but with my meager latin knowledge via minimal knowledge of other latin-based languages, I'd say that the middle school translation wins.
Good call on the apple-market-study there by the way. I'd say that one problem with these little buggers is educational use. My school was buying up quite a few of the cheaper iMacs when I last checked, but I imagine they'd be afraid of these things tipping over or simply being lifted and absconded with their small size and all.
For 10 dollars more than the price of project gotham alone you could pick up a Dreamcast and Metropolis Street Racing (same racing system as Gotham).
You say an NES isn't 'flaky'? I seriously doubt that I could run across the hall, pop Bubble Bobble into the machine and hit power successfully without resorting to the Magic Nintendo Voodoo neccessary to get that thing to work. This includes popping the game up and down, blowing out any nonexistent dust, holding the game down and pushing the reset button repeatedly, and jamming another game on top of the already inserted game. To be perfectly honest though, getting nintendo games to work is usually more fun than playing the game itself. Except with Dragon Warrior I guess.
Windux - then they'd be dealing with two lawsuits. It's difficult to quantify the legal wrath that can occur from causing confusion in the squeaky-clean-blue-cleaner market.
Actually, it's kind of a clever handle. If you've ever read "The Natural," you've probably noticed that Robert Redford's (sorry, I forgot the character name, so I'll reference the film) bat is the most undeniably phallic item in most any novel you've read. My sophomore english teacher (in high school) refused to acknowledge this and suffered greatly in class. Oh yes, the bat's named Wonderboy for what it's worth. I really don't think I could've gotten through that terror of a book without all the phallic references, so I'm happy for it. A nonstop chuckle fest for me.
Well, there's always the option of releasing the source code, but not the game media. Kind of like how you can always download the doom executable for free, but without the WAD files, no luck playing the whole game. This would work with many companies, but unforunately not id - a huge percentage of their income comes via engine liscensing. Of course, by formulating a decent liscense (I doubt the GPL would work for this), they could release the source code and prevent people from profiting off of it. This could conceivably make id a good deal more money as companies and individuals could experiment with using/modifying the code on their own before deciding to create a full product with it and paying id. A problem still pops up with this model though, as mod authors could instead make standalone games, claim them as non-profit, and id would then lose out on the money they get from mods' requirement of having the original game. It's definitely a tricky issue, but it's not impossible to release up-to-date code and still profit greatly from your efforts.
Yeah, I should've put in there that I really forgot exactly how the professor worded it and that his telling of the story was a bit more convincing than mine. I haven't taken a philosophy class yet though. I should be taking Philosophy in Film at some point to get closer to finishing my cinema minor, but we shall see. Anyhow, there was a bigger jump between the relativist's theories and Socrates final jab had a bit more tact than I can give it in a bastardized second telling. You also can't underestimate the power of a scrawny philosophy professor building up relativist theory for five minutes and then tearing it all down in five seconds with such a quick story. It was definitely better than the chemistry tutorial that I had the option of attending.
I once heard a philosophy professor say a great thing about idiotic moral relativism like this:
So this relativist (sorry, forgot which) goes up to Socrates and claims, "Whatever I think right is so." Socrates spits back, "But what if I don't think so?" The relativist modifies his statement - "Whatever I think right is so for me." Socrates thinks for a moment and retorts, "I think you're wrong."
Are you suggesting that I dabble in male prostitution? I'm perplexed.
No, now youth is viewed as a consumer at an increasingly younger age. They have funds provided via mommy and daddy, but are free to independently dispense them. As such, the usual paradigm is altered to:
Obey / Consume / Work / Consume / Breed / Consume (see parasitic infomercials, snake oil sales, etc for late-life consumption).
Althusser was incredibly prescient in his marxist economic criticism. The ideological state apparati fail to even attempt to mask their goals today. Not only that, but all ISAs are molding together under the guise of the corporation - school, religion, and especially media all fall under corporate control. With one authority guiding almost all ideological sources, the effect of a government-backed corporate empire is even more frightening.
OK, so I go to UIUC and haven't heard of this. I'm only a freshman and not even in CS, so that seems probable. But get this - a road right next to my grandmother's house in good old, technologically backwards Inverness, Florida carries the exact same amazingly-lacking-in-common-vowels name on one of its roads. This is not even a normal road either. It's a road that goes for about five feet and then vanishes into a banal brown path. Now, I've got a fairly extensive vocabulary, but this word is utterly foreign to me. How could it possibly link the meager stretch of road in Inverness to an immersive virtual reality visualization system? Clearly a Google search was the first step in my investigation. I found that these are not the only products to carry this eclectic word as their name. We've got Syzygy.net, a european firm specializing in the creation of e-businesses, a page documenting religious cults, a hardcore eclectic videogame magazine, and, my first solid lead, a company selling astronomical simulators. The last seemed to be the only lead worth following, and a dictionary.com search ended my confusion. Apparently, Syzygy is the key point in an ecclipse when the sun, moon, and earth lie in a straight line. For what it's worth, you can also have multiple Syzygies, but that word is not nearly as fun what with its normal vowels. My quest is now complete. Alas, now I'm at a loss as to what I can do to forstall finding employ over winter break. Ideas are welcome.
My god, you're right. Ted it is then.