That's a nice theory. The reality is that the ten million or so vaguely worded and broad patents rubber-stamped by the patent office in return for fees serve to lock down almost all paths to innovative products.
The NSA doesn't have to "blackmail" anybody in the classic sense of showing up with pictures or recordings and demanding some kind of service to keep them hidden. It's far more insidious. Judges and politicians are hard-driven personality types who have spent a lifetime climbing the ladder of power. They have secrets. And they've done things that they don't want public. It's sufficient that they know that the NSA knows everything about everybody. This will have a chilling effect on any decisions they might make. Safer to keep master happy than to rock the boat.
Civil forfeiture is an abomination. But most people don't really care. They just see it as free money for the heroic police which helps keep their taxes low.
What in the living hell does people's voluntary decision to share information on a corporate owned website have to do with the government grabbing people's private conversations and correspondence against their will?
This "judge" goes far beyond just being a hack or a political tool. He could serve as the figurehead for everything wrong with our overwhelming powerful and grasping Federal government. There are no, literally no, constitutional arguments to be made in favor of mass data collection. So he just weaves a big web of irrelevant bullshit and then rules the way his masters want.
I agree with you. I also grew up 50 some-odd years ago and look back fondly on those years when every daylight hour outside of school would be spent climbing trees, exploring creeks, playing pick-up baseball games and roaming the wider neighborhood with a pack of friends.
The radical change that's taking place now is not specific to any generation. It's a case of modern technology overwhelming the ancient human brain. We are a social species and evolved in small tribal groups. Our brains give us positive feedback when we interact with others. We get a small jolt of dopamine when we socialize. We get a feeling of security and connection which are valuable for building tribal cohesion.
The trouble comes when you are able to pull a little electronic slab out of your pocket and get this little burst of pleasure on demand. It reminds me of old movies from the 40s when everybody whips out a cigarette at any available moment. Social media is addictive. I go to a restaurant now and a good 80% of the other customers either have their cellphone in their hands or sitting on the table by the plate where it can be constantly checked. It's middle-aged people just as much as young people doing this.
What's getting lost here is a sense of self and self-reliance. The ability to be content when alone is an important part of adulthood. I've never liked the idea that I walk through my life and anybody in the whole world can reach out and ring a bell in my pocked, demanding my attention. It's like being on a tether. I cherish my independence as well as my social connections.
But this seems to be getting lost in any general sense. People seem to be developing an early form of hive-mind where constant connection with others is demanded.
I can't believe the number of assholes on this thread who are so quick to blame the poor guy who got a permanent ban for no logical cause. One of the primary signs of emotional immaturity is taking joy in the suffering of others and plenty of people here are always smug and gleeful whenever anybody gets in trouble.
Yes, he used a programmable keyboard. But, you know what, WoW contains a built in macro function that lets you build scrips that automate sequences of commands and trigger them with one key.
If, for some reason, the Blizzard Nazis consider a keyboard macro different than a built in game macro they could have warned the guy. A permanent ban out of the blue is really excessive.
"A few years of digital prohibition, where the more skilled among us can make truckloads of money building grey/black-market hardware, workarounds, etc."
Good luck. Considering the trend in recent legislation you'll probably soon be looking at 20 years in the slammer for any attempt to circumvent DRM.
"What are the implications of a society being obsessed with justice but sconful of mercy?"
Look around America. Look around the world at the actions of America. There's the answer to your question.
There's a Buddhist saying "It's better to be kind than to be right". I've never found a single American who understands or agrees.
When I mention this concept, usually in the context of trying to get somebody to let go of a petty grievence, the answer is invariably "that's dumb - how can something be more important than who's right?"
Common sense tells us that somebody has to be harmed by your actions for you to have commited a crime. Possession of an image of an illegal act does not cause harm. It's just too vague to say things like possession "might inspire" other acts. We've all seen photos of people being shot. Does possession of an image of a murder make us guilty of murder?
Sex crimes against children are evil. But we can't fight them by throwing out such a broad net that we destroy the concept of criminality and justice. If a person buys or sells then, yes, they are guilty of distribution because they are providing fiscal incentive for a crime. By owning a picture or looking at a picture,, in and of itself, is simply not criminal. It may be sick and twisted but it's not a crime.
The laws are so broad now that you could randomly download a ton of pornograhic images and then delete them. But if somebody finds them in your recycle bin and a few include minors of any sort you could go to jail for a long time.
The wife and I both quit WoW about 2 weeks ago. I'd say that we are much happier without it. We are more relaxed and get a lot more accomplished in our lives.
MMORPGs in general, and WoW in particular, have a way of slowly sucking you into their world and chewing up ever increasing amounts of your time. It's human nature to want your virtual character to grow stronger and do well. But WoW is a game of timesinks. You invest massive amounts of time or you don't progress. In the end you may find it feels more like a vaguely exciting 2nd job.
My advice: if you are playing WoW more than 10 hours a week, give it up for a month and see if you don't feel a lot better.
Yes, but a ringtone is a kind of personal identifier. People will stick with the same ringtone for ages and when it is heard in an office everybody knows who's phone is ringing. In other words one ringtone can have a very special meaning to someone.
Songs, on the other hand, are listened to in private and have no special association with the listener. I really doubt that there is any real connection between what people will pay for a ringtone and what they will pay for a song.
"A real human is wearing a shroud of anonymity and handing out the bitchslap to a total stranger."
I read an account written by somebody concerning major issues with his credit card and billing. Everybody he talked to at Blizzard, even in the billing dept, went by some kind of game name like "CoolElf" or "Doomslayer". I thought it was very very strange.
When you, as a human being, call a business over an issue you deserve to talk to a human being with a real name. But with Blizzard even their customer service reps hide behind fantasy names.
Polite, industrious and hygenic are not the most meaningful of qualities when it comes to describing essential humanity. Most Nazi party members in Hitler's Germany were certainly polite, industrious and hygenic.
Had a lot of Mormon friends as a kid. I moved a lot and they always went out of their way to be very welcoming to new people. They made great friends. But when I got older and would talk to them about their beliefs I was totally freaked. "You REALLY believe all that stuff?", I'd ask. They'd just look at me with big eyes, pitying me because I could not see the light.
This liberal has a problem with the guy because he is an incompetent buffoon who has little knowledge of or interest in other people's point of view. He also seems to be a small minded petty tyrant who surrounds himself with yes men and cronies. He is completely unsuited for the job of president.
But, yes, I see your point. Bush is neither conservative nor liberal in the current sense. He is simply a crony capitalist. The only consistent agenda he has is to advance the interest of big corporations and the rich corporatists who are his friends and supporters.
"Campaign Donations are the ultimate form of free speech" This is possibly the single most idiotic statement I've seen this week.
Spending money does not equal speech. Buying influence DOES NOT equal freedom.
Your ridiculous premise leads to nothing except government by and for the rich.
The root of the corruption of our political system is corporate influence. Eliminate that and you will take a huge step towards restoring political power to the people. But it won't happen because corporations and politicians are entwined in an unholy dance of power and wealth.
The emerging Fascist State of America will feel compelled to put limits on anything that might threaten it's power. When the voice of the little man can reach out to the multitude this is very threatening.
America will accept this without a whimper. We've already lost our right to assemble. Protesters are shipped off to designated fenced-in "free speech zones". US Citizens are held indefinately without charges or a trial.
Meanwhile 80% of Americans are oblivious to the massive increase in Federal power. They care more about the newest episode of The Lost than they do about their Lost Civil Rights. The 20% who do care are increasingly powerless.
Do any of these bills propose equal penalties for people who show violent movies or tv shows to kids? How about violent comic books or novels?
No? Didn't think so. Harsh penalties are reserved for computer games because anything with the word "computer" in it scares and confuses the authorities.
Wars, Depressions and Natural Disasters always bring out the Fascists. They gravitate to any venue where they can make the case that control triumphs freedom.
Here in the San Francisco Bay Area I can assure you that we do not exaggerate the problem.
All of my friends here in the IT dept where I work have completely stopped going to movies because of the poor behavior of the audience.
I go once in awhile with the wife because we enjoy seeing big special effects laden SciFi movies on a big screen.
But I'm about ready to give it up. Teenagers with cellphones roam the multi-plex. They cruise from movie to movie and don't really care about what they are watching. It's just a hang out zone to them. They talk to each other and they talk on their phone.
Dozens of cellphones flip open repeatedly in the rows in front of you as the kids check for text messages. They jump up and down and roam from row to row and theater to theater.
Theaters have been made into kid friendly hang out zones where parents can drop the anti-social little shits for an afternoon. Most movies are made and marketed for a teen mentality now. Because of this adults feel less and less comfortable at the theater.
You completely fail to understand what "monopoly" means. It does not mean 100% market share. It means a totally dominant controlling marketshare that can be leveraged to gain further advantage.
Linux or Mac existing on the desktop fringe with 2% or 3% marketshare does nothing to change the fact of Microsoft's monopoly. Microsoft can control the behavior of manufacturers and retailers. This is the meaning of monopoly.
Unfortunately, modern Supreme Court rulings have found that the Constitution enumerates what the government CAN do but the Commerce clause of the Constitution allows them to do anything else that they WANT to do.
Case in point: the recent marijuana ruling. The Supremes cited the Commerce clause when ruling it illegal for a person to grow marijuana on their own property and use it for personal use under a doctor's perscription.
Oh yes, it takes a special kind of Court to rule that something grown on private property and used on that same private property solely by the owner is governed by the interstate Commerce clause of our Constitution.
Slashdot Mirror
That's a nice theory. The reality is that the ten million or so vaguely worded and broad patents rubber-stamped by the patent office in return for fees serve to lock down almost all paths to innovative products.
The NSA doesn't have to "blackmail" anybody in the classic sense of showing up with pictures or recordings and demanding some kind of service to keep them hidden. It's far more insidious. Judges and politicians are hard-driven personality types who have spent a lifetime climbing the ladder of power. They have secrets. And they've done things that they don't want public. It's sufficient that they know that the NSA knows everything about everybody. This will have a chilling effect on any decisions they might make. Safer to keep master happy than to rock the boat.
Civil forfeiture is an abomination. But most people don't really care. They just see it as free money for the heroic police which helps keep their taxes low.
What in the living hell does people's voluntary decision to share information on a corporate owned website have to do with the government grabbing people's private conversations and correspondence against their will?
This "judge" goes far beyond just being a hack or a political tool. He could serve as the figurehead for everything wrong with our overwhelming powerful and grasping Federal government. There are no, literally no, constitutional arguments to be made in favor of mass data collection. So he just weaves a big web of irrelevant bullshit and then rules the way his masters want.
I agree with you. I also grew up 50 some-odd years ago and look back fondly on those years when every daylight hour outside of school would be spent climbing trees, exploring creeks, playing pick-up baseball games and roaming the wider neighborhood with a pack of friends.
The radical change that's taking place now is not specific to any generation. It's a case of modern technology overwhelming the ancient human brain. We are a social species and evolved in small tribal groups. Our brains give us positive feedback when we interact with others. We get a small jolt of dopamine when we socialize. We get a feeling of security and connection which are valuable for building tribal cohesion.
The trouble comes when you are able to pull a little electronic slab out of your pocket and get this little burst of pleasure on demand. It reminds me of old movies from the 40s when everybody whips out a cigarette at any available moment. Social media is addictive. I go to a restaurant now and a good 80% of the other customers either have their cellphone in their hands or sitting on the table by the plate where it can be constantly checked. It's middle-aged people just as much as young people doing this.
What's getting lost here is a sense of self and self-reliance. The ability to be content when alone is an important part of adulthood. I've never liked the idea that I walk through my life and anybody in the whole world can reach out and ring a bell in my pocked, demanding my attention. It's like being on a tether. I cherish my independence as well as my social connections.
But this seems to be getting lost in any general sense. People seem to be developing an early form of hive-mind where constant connection with others is demanded.
I can't believe the number of assholes on this thread who are so quick to blame the poor guy who got a permanent ban for no logical cause. One of the primary signs of emotional immaturity is taking joy in the suffering of others and plenty of people here are always smug and gleeful whenever anybody gets in trouble.
Yes, he used a programmable keyboard. But, you know what, WoW contains a built in macro function that lets you build scrips that automate sequences of commands and trigger them with one key.
If, for some reason, the Blizzard Nazis consider a keyboard macro different than a built in game macro they could have warned the guy. A permanent ban out of the blue is really excessive.
"A few years of digital prohibition, where the more skilled among us can make truckloads of money building grey/black-market hardware, workarounds, etc."
Good luck. Considering the trend in recent legislation you'll probably soon be looking at 20 years in the slammer for any attempt to circumvent DRM.
"What are the implications of a society being obsessed with justice but sconful of mercy?"
Look around America. Look around the world at the actions of America. There's the answer to your question.
There's a Buddhist saying "It's better to be kind than to be right". I've never found a single American who understands or agrees.
When I mention this concept, usually in the context of trying to get somebody to let go of a petty grievence, the answer is invariably "that's dumb - how can something be more important than who's right?"
Common sense tells us that somebody has to be harmed by your actions for you to have commited a crime. Possession of an image of an illegal act does not cause harm. It's just too vague to say things like possession "might inspire" other acts. We've all seen photos of people being shot. Does possession of an image of a murder make us guilty of murder?
Sex crimes against children are evil. But we can't fight them by throwing out such a broad net that we destroy the concept of criminality and justice. If a person buys or sells then, yes, they are guilty of distribution because they are providing fiscal incentive for a crime. By owning a picture or looking at a picture,, in and of itself, is simply not criminal. It may be sick and twisted but it's not a crime.
The laws are so broad now that you could randomly download a ton of pornograhic images and then delete them. But if somebody finds them in your recycle bin and a few include minors of any sort you could go to jail for a long time.
The wife and I both quit WoW about 2 weeks ago. I'd say that we are much happier without it. We are more relaxed and get a lot more accomplished in our lives.
MMORPGs in general, and WoW in particular, have a way of slowly sucking you into their world and chewing up ever increasing amounts of your time. It's human nature to want your virtual character to grow stronger and do well. But WoW is a game of timesinks. You invest massive amounts of time or you don't progress. In the end you may find it feels more like a vaguely exciting 2nd job.
My advice: if you are playing WoW more than 10 hours a week, give it up for a month and see if you don't feel a lot better.
Yes, but a ringtone is a kind of personal identifier. People will stick with the same ringtone for ages and when it is heard in an office everybody knows who's phone is ringing. In other words one ringtone can have a very special meaning to someone.
Songs, on the other hand, are listened to in private and have no special association with the listener. I really doubt that there is any real connection between what people will pay for a ringtone and what they will pay for a song.
"A real human is wearing a shroud of anonymity and handing out the bitchslap to a total stranger."
I read an account written by somebody concerning major issues with his credit card and billing. Everybody he talked to at Blizzard, even in the billing dept, went by some kind of game name like "CoolElf" or "Doomslayer". I thought it was very very strange.
When you, as a human being, call a business over an issue you deserve to talk to a human being with a real name. But with Blizzard even their customer service reps hide behind fantasy names.
Polite, industrious and hygenic are not the most meaningful of qualities when it comes to describing essential humanity. Most Nazi party members in Hitler's Germany were certainly polite, industrious and hygenic.
Had a lot of Mormon friends as a kid. I moved a lot and they always went out of their way to be very welcoming to new people. They made great friends. But when I got older and would talk to them about their beliefs I was totally freaked. "You REALLY believe all that stuff?", I'd ask. They'd just look at me with big eyes, pitying me because I could not see the light.
Aren't there some kind of Japanese pillow filled with Barley husks or somethig like that. Wonder if that would be any more resistent to fungus.
In theory the president is not a retarded asshole. In which case the system works fairly well.
This liberal has a problem with the guy because he is an incompetent buffoon who has little knowledge of or interest in other people's point of view. He also seems to be a small minded petty tyrant who surrounds himself with yes men and cronies. He is completely unsuited for the job of president.
But, yes, I see your point. Bush is neither conservative nor liberal in the current sense. He is simply a crony capitalist. The only consistent agenda he has is to advance the interest of big corporations and the rich corporatists who are his friends and supporters.
The RIAA/MPAA bought the laws and pay for Congress so, of course they are the ones to go. Isn't unrestrained capitalism wonderful?
"Campaign Donations are the ultimate form of free speech" This is possibly the single most idiotic statement I've seen this week.
Spending money does not equal speech. Buying influence DOES NOT equal freedom.
Your ridiculous premise leads to nothing except government by and for the rich.
The root of the corruption of our political system is corporate influence. Eliminate that and you will take a huge step towards restoring political power to the people. But it won't happen because corporations and politicians are entwined in an unholy dance of power and wealth.
The emerging Fascist State of America will feel compelled to put limits on anything that might threaten it's power. When the voice of the little man can reach out to the multitude this is very threatening.
America will accept this without a whimper. We've already lost our right to assemble. Protesters are shipped off to designated fenced-in "free speech zones". US Citizens are held indefinately without charges or a trial.
Meanwhile 80% of Americans are oblivious to the massive increase in Federal power. They care more about the newest episode of The Lost than they do about their Lost Civil Rights. The 20% who do care are increasingly powerless.
Do any of these bills propose equal penalties for people who show violent movies or tv shows to kids? How about violent comic books or novels?
No? Didn't think so. Harsh penalties are reserved for computer games because anything with the word "computer" in it scares and confuses the authorities.
Wars, Depressions and Natural Disasters always bring out the Fascists. They gravitate to any venue where they can make the case that control triumphs freedom.
Curious to know where you live.
Here in the San Francisco Bay Area I can assure you that we do not exaggerate the problem.
All of my friends here in the IT dept where I work have completely stopped going to movies because of the poor behavior of the audience.
I go once in awhile with the wife because we enjoy seeing big special effects laden SciFi movies on a big screen.
But I'm about ready to give it up. Teenagers with cellphones roam the multi-plex. They cruise from movie to movie and don't really care about what they are watching. It's just a hang out zone to them. They talk to each other and they talk on their phone.
Dozens of cellphones flip open repeatedly in the rows in front of you as the kids check for text messages. They jump up and down and roam from row to row and theater to theater.
Theaters have been made into kid friendly hang out zones where parents can drop the anti-social little shits for an afternoon. Most movies are made and marketed for a teen mentality now. Because of this adults feel less and less comfortable at the theater.
You completely fail to understand what "monopoly" means. It does not mean 100% market share. It means a totally dominant controlling marketshare that can be leveraged to gain further advantage.
Linux or Mac existing on the desktop fringe with 2% or 3% marketshare does nothing to change the fact of Microsoft's monopoly. Microsoft can control the behavior of manufacturers and retailers. This is the meaning of monopoly.
They are the laws that the corporate sponsors of our legislators demand.
Our "Representatives" pass the laws that generate the cash to get them re-elected. It's sort of a warped survival mechanism.
Unfortunately, modern Supreme Court rulings have found that the Constitution enumerates what the government CAN do but the Commerce clause of the Constitution allows them to do anything else that they WANT to do.
Case in point: the recent marijuana ruling. The Supremes cited the Commerce clause when ruling it illegal for a person to grow marijuana on their own property and use it for personal use under a doctor's perscription.
Oh yes, it takes a special kind of Court to rule that something grown on private property and used on that same private property solely by the owner is governed by the interstate Commerce clause of our Constitution.