Excellent post, I'm keeping that in my personal documents collection as
an example of well a thought out attempted rebuttle of the pillars of my
worldview.
some thoughts:
I'll take
(2)(information needs to be freed)
(3)(that's not the reason why
I would potentially pirate, but I
realize that many people do. acknowledgement
of other peoples reasons and a reason why they
are wrong does not make you a hypocrite, etc)
mabye's:
(12) sounds shady, but I don't really see that much wrong with it.
(11) THE PEOPLE do not 'demand' free entertainment. THE
PEOPLE merely take it, as it is available to them.
I demand free entertainment, that is freely available to all.
this is not to say that I demand free entertainment,
which should be freely available to all,
but rather it is freely available to all
allready, and this fact needs to merely be
acknowledged.
(10) (if you ignore the 'it's my right' bit)
(6) mabye
(13) if you substitute Analogous
to the word "like". This makes things a great deal more clear.
Brainless Copying vs Creative Works Sure one can tell the difference. Consider it this way:
People who brainlessly copy are similar to the average jo who, when they
find a broken beer bottle or a macdonalds wrapper on their block, clean
it up/throw it in a local garbage can. Whereas, when seen from this
metephor, the creative artist is like the environmentalist, who actively
runs a recycling co-op, or grows his own hemp, or the like. one makes
the world a better place in small ways, the other, in larger. without
each other, the whole gig is pointless.
Without millions of people who are part of the great collective known as
the internet, when an independant musician worthy of anyones attention
comes around, they can now be heard by practically anyone within a week.
This hasn't always been the case (see the 80s).
Most of my freinds would buy the CD anyway:
if I had, say, 50 freinds.
and they all bought the dark side of the moon album
at 40$ per head that's 2000$
I wouldn't condemn the group of the 50 people I care most about to a
2000$ loss of funds. 2000$ can buy a lot of bread, eggs and milk.
I am aware that this might be replied to with "but the artist spends say, 2000$ of his own to create the work...don't you want the artist to be able to afford eggs, bread and milk?" and this does not necessarily compete with this point. both could be the case, I'll leave that specific issue with this statement to be answered later on.
Filesharing is Illegal:
Sure. in some countries, sharing might be illegal. In some countries, freely voicing your opinion is illegal, too. does this mean that we should support the brutal repression of people freely expressing their opinion, because they are breaking the laws of their local despotic, non-elected government?
Semantic Blurring concerning "Information"/"Sharing":
the term "Information Sharing" rightly blurs the line between existing, conservative, information and information that has yet to be legally shared. Just like the right to free press is really just a blurred misconception of the right to free speech. You can't have the later without the former, but you can have the former without the later.
GPL Filesharing has the ability to become something bigger, and more important than even the GPL. The GPL is an important thing in a world filled with copyright and intellectual property law. Without copyright, and intellectual property law, the GPL is quickly overshone by, a
contract that has yet to be named(to my knowledge), but could only be
partially described by True Freedom. Perhaps "Information
Anarchy"?(there is a book by this name on my to read list: I have not
read it yet, so I am not able to comment on it yet beyond the fact that
it exists)
"so that others don't have to pay for it" completely misses the point. we don't share music to
Suing people who allowed other people to enfringe copyright was insane, and it's no wonder some people at that time came to the conclusion that the people who were actually breaking the law should be brought to account for their actions.
Suing people who enfringe copyright is a sane, LEGAL thing to do, and it is also a good business plan. If I were a greey heartless bastard who owned stock in an RIAA member, I would be applauding them for it. However, I try not to be greedy, and I try to be considerate of the people who are elsewhere in the big picture, and when you look at the big picture the answer is obvious:
either
a) persue independant artists alone, and take part in existing artist comunities, "Voting with your money" your time, your effort, your mindshare, make your own art and "be the media" or alternatively
b) go the route that is slightly easier, if less creative, and create more value for the whole by sharing with others things that do not cost you anything to share.
because the world is going through some rough time and if we can get every employee at the RIAA who's normally just trying to screw other people over, and get them actively productively doing something for the betterment of the whole species, then the world would be a better place for it.
And aren't they persuing criminal charges these days? my statement still applies. Even if it is the most legal and best business plan to persue, we should still be angry with them them for it.
First of all, firesharing is not wrong, filesharing is the Right thing to do. People should not be punished for filesharing, they should be rewarded.
Taking something requires the original "something" be missing afterwards: and this is the point. See past the greed and sheer self preservation that has fueled some musicians to take up their art.
There exists people who want to make the world a better place by freely(as in beer) increasing the amount of a valuable, why try to stop them?
No one loses money to filesharing, just as the people who put statues up at delphi didn't lose money either, their work was what made them virtuous people. Be virtuous.
There are a FINITE amount of cars in the world, and not everyone can have one. That's partially why they cost so much. This is not the case with mp3s. This is why you shouldn't steal cars: because after you do, some other poor bastard is without a car afterwards. Not because it's illegal. Not because you can't afford to get one.
being in a backwards hicktown that is probably 40 or 50 years behind the rest of the world, I still get asked why on earth I need a computer for, and what possible use anyone could have for a computer in their home. The internet, and by extention computers, to most of the world, is just a place with a bunch of bad people, pornography(what is pornography? information that they don't agree with?), pedophiles(ie anyone in any chat rooms) and really nothing more interesting than television on it(if porn isn't your thing).
On a related note, there are still people here that honestly beleive the earth revolves around the sun, and not the other way around...and not whacko's either, just average, run-of-the mill people who are trying to make it through this life. Before space exploration becomes something the common person can get involved in, we need to get the common person able to read, write, and understand that they live on a planet that can be left in persuit of other planets. Before that happens I don't see very impressive progress.
"1. Microsoft doesn't understand that people LOVE Google. Nobody particularly LOVES Microsoft anymore. Product activation, high prices, and security flaws are causing too many headaches."
It's almost cultlike...but much like linux, there are hotbeds of microsoft support here and there...who absolutely love microsoft and anyone who might do things any different than their way is a heretic. And I'm talking about educated people here...most people just don't care, and think that microsoft/AOL is about the easiest means to whatever limited action they are persuing.
2. Microsoft, has, in my opinion, innovated one thing: stealing other people's innovations, and doing a good job at it. If there's one thing that Microsoft could use to beat google with, it would be other people's innovations.
There is no such thing is an unsolvable problem, in so far as you know something about it. If you know nothing about your problem, then you probably are in trouble, but we know a great deal about spam, who spams, why spam happens, where it comes from and so on.
For a start, how about, getting your government, in an attempt to slow the tide of spam, to help out the eastern european, or asian nations? To help them clean up corruption, and get a working socialist infractructure(ie, public schools, roads, healthcare ) so that people don't have to use spam as a means to get money, and furthermore encourage people not to be greedy scum(as opposed to the american culture of buy more! you need this this and that! you have to keep up with the Akkbars!). God only knows that the countries in eastern europe where this stuff is coming from need all the help they can get. Hell...help out the eastern european nations xor the asian nations and then use spam as a stick to hit the other with to offer them help.
Sure, this whole thing isn't soley about money and poor nations, but there's a strong correlation between poor nations without working government, and...spam. America counts. National ecconomics is at one root of this problem.
NOOoo let's...sue them! that's it... bastards can't afford to pay their bills so they sucker in some stupid white american scum into giving them their money. arrg
not even looking for porn either(although I have tended to do that occasionally).
I think I found porn on the first page when i googled for "j.s.bach" and that one had a pop-up to a child-porn site and that one had a pop-up to , well you get the picture.
I may be speaking for myself here, but I heard about the whole matter on WBAI New York and I think KPFX berkeley, on internet radio(a few days before the story broke elsewhere). Had I seen these pictures in,say the National Post, or the like I would have just chalked it off as meaningless events in one of many wars being waged as we speak....but verbal accounts by people who were connected in some way with the event...blew me away. However internet radio allowed me to hear what some guys in new york and texas whereas if this were even 10 years ago I would still be in the dark. So the same issue applies: as technology increases, the hive-mind of humanity sees more, remembers more, and understands more than before.
But a well spoken for radio program beats pictures, any day.
Firstly, religious fundementalists in the united states do exhibit violence, although it may only be through state violence...collective, organized and state-sanctioned voilence as opposed to violence from lone zealots and induviduals.
Whether or not the arming of radical islamists to take the soviet union down was successful, they were obviously compatible with the interests of western democracy as we know it. Being successful means a succcessful compatibility, if the matter had failed miserably then you *might* have a case, but as you pointed out, it was not a miserable failure...rather quite the opposite.
What I think is, that you and I both are Fucked, due to the actions of many combined interests, including but not limited to the american government, and by extention, the american people. And I refuse to lie to let anyone get away with trying to let themselves feel better for the atrocities that they had their hand in helping. Until the united states of america declares itself a dictatorship, the american people are guilty of supporting crimes against the rest of humanity. Nevermind metephorical genies. (I realise that this may be fairly close to hand, if there is two elections in a row without the elected leader taking office, it may as well be a de facto dictatorship.)
By the way, the british had saddam beat by 'starting that trend' by at least 20 years, occuppying iraq. When I mentioned third world countries (and there's been a few) I was actually thinking more about afghanistan, however. But if you're going to bring up iraq I'm sure you know that the reason why saddam was able to give the finger for 12 years was soley based on american support, funds and arms given to him in the preceeding 12. It's america's fault, in that case, that any of the sanctions had to be put on in the first place, that saddam was able to do anything to his people.
That the outcome might be better for the iraqi people, is possible, although I'm not really sure how likely. That entire region is kind of unstable right now, by the looks of it, a lot could happen.
"Why don't you want to give Microsoft money? If Windows is useful enough that you can say you want to use it,"
I don't want to use windows, I have to use windows. Like many others, I use windows as part of my attempt in order to keep myself alive at this point. My second job demands me to both use and be profficient with it, and my third job is going to as well, and probably if Jobsearching goes well, my fourth job should I find time to get one.
The people who had any part in writing any of the code in supporting the spew of corporate greed that is microsoft need to be lined up against a wall, and shot, not paid.
As for any liscencing agreement, I would like to agree to it. This is what I am asking about... What is the status of the liscencing agreement (is it GPL-ish or not?) for this "SOFTWARE PRODUCT" ?
I suppose I could just install it and find out...which probably means buying a newer computer first. I'll get on that.
In the meanwhile, I wonder how "Free" this distro is. Is it merely a hack-together-proof-of-concept or hack-together-lets-do-some-cool-stuff or is it more of a serious-linux-distro-that-we-can-distribute-under- the-terms-of-the-GPL-or-LGPL?
I've been wanting to use windows for awhile, but despite shitty software the main reasons are all legal -- I don't want to give microsoft any money, or agree to anything that I havn't read and agree with(namelessly any shrinkwrap EULA). the GPL I have read many times and agree not only with it as a 'oh...kay...fine whatever.' but as honestly agreeing with it in spirit.
If it's not Free that's fine with me, I still like to see progress in the direction of windows...but...I'll be particularily interested if it is, in fact I'll likely devote a computer or two to it in the future;)
If 'radical fundamentalism' was not compatible with western democracy why was the major current threat(mujahadeen/alqaeda) Completely funded by the United States prior to the collapse of the Soviet Union? If radical fundamentalism is so incompatible with western democracy why does the united states harbor so damn many religious christian cults and fanatics which are most definiately radical fundementalists?
By the way, there's a middle ground between isolationism and invading third world countries for oil. Just a little.
Granted, there's a lot of crazy, or ignorant zealots out there who hate the united states, and their allies.
But there are a lot more out there who are sick of being served puppet dictatorships, having their children, husbands, wives and friends killed, hooked on heroin, sexually abused(?!!), bombed to oblivion, and tortured.
For every afghan, iraqi and former soviet who starves to death or doesn't make it through the winter because of the collapse of their local ecconomy, further enforced by american influence, nevermind things like land mines, undetonated bombs, etc, another few are going to remain everlastingly resentful of america.
For every iraqi, afghan, guatemalan, haitian, phillipino, soviet, Chilean, Nicaraguan, columbian, spaniard, korean, palestinian, vietnamese or cuban killed, one or two people at least are going to live their entire lives with hatred for the united states. We are talking in tens of millions of dead, here, and therefor tens of tens of millions with everlasting, generational hatred for the united states and all those who support them.
'The easiest way to reduce the number of atrocities in the world, is to stop committing them.' Even if the united states stopped pissing the rest of the world off, the hatred against them may never go away. This is the great success of your military industrial congressional complex...due to it's former actions, it's now constantly going to be at war, continually increasing the intensity of 'the cycle of violence'.
There's good reasons for the world to be pissed off at the united states. I'm pissed off because of treaty orginisations influencing laws into my own country(Canada) which make me a terrorist, and tear all the rights away from anyone accused of terrorism. They, alongside with my democratically american supported candidates are responsible for this. Others may be pissed off about (American supported, if not outright run) Genocides effecting them, or further worsening ecconomic conditions due to the resource heavy american style capitalism, Which Australia is at least somewhat of a supporter of. Many many things are going wrong in the world, and not all of them are caused by americans, but many are, and these are the things that if stopped, may reduce the amount of people out there with a valid reason to hate the united states, and therefor you will eventually stop the massive support that those *without* reason to hate the united states are getting from the aforementioned class.
Decrease the amount of oil consumed in your country, and put emphasis on long term goals including efficiency instead of short term production.
Stop sending arms to isreal, turkey, columbia, or anywhere else, for that matter.
Stop your war on drugs, and at least try win the war on terrorism by not supporting terrorist states.
Acknowledge and Abide by International Law.
Tear down guantanamo bay, and give the land back to cuba.
Stop all trade embargo's on cuba.
or if you cannot do any of the above, try at least to not make me add another item to the above list in the future, specifically related to me or my family.
You see, generic hatred is not even a significant part of the story, when you consider the hatred that is not generic.
[/rant]
As for being a hippocrite, I'm getting some skills which will be applied later on in life. I, for one, feel it better to give yourself tools to help others, and thereby have at least some efficiency in doing so than to help others with no efficiency at all.
If you need to put effort into knowing the difference between "than and then" or "its and it's", then you have no hope.
A mind is a terrible thing to t...waste. Don't learn crap, if you don't have to. Fill your head, but not with crap. Semantics expressed in a part of an insane language that isn't even universal...I mean If this were spanish, then you might have a case(I mean, sooner or later humans have to interact with each-other) but we are speaking a hobby-language here that has millions of words, rules, mannerisms, and freak-incidences. It would be much better to understand the world in symbols of a different kind, then to understand english and know nothing becuase you spent 10 odd years getting good at english. You have a finite time to learn all that you can, and a finite amount that can be learned. Beware!
Boy are you about to suffer worldview shock
on
Perfect Digital Skin
·
· Score: 1
If you can't tell the difference between a picture on a screen vs. someone in real life, then there's something wrong with you.
Granted, I agree that it's mostly BS. but I have a chilling feeling that some day, somewhere, the difference between computer-game and reality is going to get really blurry. Compare pac man and pong with UT2004 for some sort of an example.
"Maybe we should try and just live within our means, even if it does mean not wearing the latest fashions, etc?"
I'm not sure if you really mean that having enough food to eat and a place to stay is some sort of fashion, although I do realize that many, many out there MUST supply the obscene fashion industry, among other things with money(because it is huge and outrageously *everywhere*). But a lot of the people I know who have massive debts, didn't ever make enough to survive on in the first place.
(And they are usually the hardest workers, too) I'm lucky to live where cost of living is fairly low, but even then...if you only make 2$/hr...you can't exactly afford 500$/month rent for a small single room apartment easily. Especially if you have children.
But I'm sure every generation for the past 200 years has said that, "Kids today aren't willing to work as hard". It can't have been true every time, or otherwise we would have died out by now.
Or perhaps....there's more bullshit and red-tape that needs doing, ie more stuff to do per person, combined with a few people doing practically nothing means higher workloads for the average person?
Now given, my grandpa had to work even harder than both me and my dad put together, but was this always the way? 200 years ago would great-grandpa-bach and his contemporaries have to put in 60+ hour work week just for the minnimum functionality of industrial age society? perhaps.
marketing alone makes me think that 200 years ago there was less jobs that needed to be done, and therefor on average, kids could have more stuff just handed to them.
Alternatively, America, alongside with many other a nation, was built on Slavery. Could it be, that it still survives on it? and that without slave condition labour camps to put the hours in so that everyone's kids can get handed silver platters...that things would collapse?(in light of the above, and technology perhaps?)
Perhaps. There's more to it than that, though.
Personally, I receive compliments on my work ethic, constantly. In fact, it annoys the hell out of me--I am not some sort of worker drone to be exploited damnit!!! this is what a good deal of the people I have been exposed to take as the definition as for who I am. "oh that's jeff...he's the hardest working guy in showbusiness" "that guy has good work ethic" etc etc. just constantly!
Yet, I'm fairly certian that I have
nothing but hardships, misery and failure ahead, and mostly because of my work ethic.
Before I moved to this city, I used to work for around 2$ an hour, working upwards of 20 hours a shift, almost every day. Sure, I quit that job, but I could hack it, and I thrived under those conditions and it seems every time I get put in work that requires that sort of long-hours-in-hot-environments sometimes even doing moderate physical excertion I pull it off. I don't like it(who could?), and I'd love to be a slacker, but in my heart of hearts I'm not, and I feel uncomfortable when I am given jobs like my second job I have right now (i work at an arcade with no customers. I get paid 7$/hr to...not do anything. It's a perfect slacker job but I just don't know...I'd rather be doing something.)
But it's because of this that I'm going to wind up
making something near my current first job's wage(3$ an hour) Because I'll always be tired and exhausted from work, exploited and used, until death. While others are off networking(I hate using people for networking purposes, too.), and spending their leisure time doing stuff like, oh, looking for a better job, I'll be lucky to be asleep If I'm not at work. Luckily right now I'm on haitus from work to go to school(and off school for a half-week between semesters), and am persuing an education so at least when i'm 40 and flipping pizza, I'll know a thing or two about computation and the nature of mathematical systems and the universe.
Don't let this happen to you. Don't let yourself become like me, or any of the other people who work even remotely hard. The world is coming down, and you are but the 'fantastic all dancing crap of the earth'. You will die, and you will regret it if you do not make the most of your time. Or mabye you won't regret it, and you''ll live in some drug-induced blistful ignorance. Take your choice.
and yes, I definitely got my work ethic from my parents.
Seriously, the whole concept is but lies, deciept
and my-penis-is-bigger-than-yours applied to everything to make it bigger-faster-and more slick. We should NOT be encouraging professionalism. We should be encouraging pragmatism! We should be encouraging zenlike intuitive and resourceful intelligence not 'this guy is white^wlooks good in a suit so let's promote him instead of the other guy just like him without the suit.
I recognize #4 as something straight out of Aristotle's Poletics, but notice that not once in that tomb did Aristotle ever use the word 'professional'.
I do however realize that most of the rest of the world agrees less with me and more with you. However, it pisses me off, at least, to no end hearing anyone refer to professionalism in any sort of positive light. It's at best a distraction, and let's leave it at that.
perhaps I'm underinformed when it comes to this level of computing...but...is there any other */Linux Distro that is designed for use by the 'enterprise level' ? People around me are quoting a 95-98% of business usage of Windows (doubtless mostly non-xp windows). If the rest of the world has to deal with using Fedora instead of RedHat, while the elite gets to continue to use RedHat, I can see their move being a success for everyone : No one lost - Fedora continues where RedHat left off(which they should) and RedHat continues in new directions, specifically in directions dominated by Microsoft. Isn't that a good situation? Or am I missing something?
In Cathedral land, you are not part of photoshop even if you want to be, and are willing to enskill yourself (hell good luck trying to enskill yourself without the source or money to get the source). Furthermore, if photoshop closes shop, you are left 5 years or so behind, with no one to pick up where they left off without what they would have gone through anyway.
In bazaar land you can be part of the GIMP project if you have anything to offer, and any lack of usability or UI practicality or options or stability that you know of(or otherwise) is partially your fault, for not implimenting it. Yes, it's a completely different way to look at things but it has to be said. Who cares what this photoshop user thinks of GIMP? He's obviously purposefully not part of the bazaar, and ergo he doesn't matter. It woudln't matter if photoshop was 100 times what it is now, or in ten years: If it's not built by the bazaar, then it means nothing to us who are in the bazaar. Don't let it distract you, the only use in photoshop is in breaking ground in directions the OSS alternative had not thought of. nothing more.
So in summary, quit-cher-complaining, file a bug report or ten, or start coding.
If there is no tool other than photoshop in your price range...then make one! if you can't make one, make what you need to make one! if you can't make that, then make what you need to make that! and so on! you have no excuse to use photoshop any more.
Secondly, giving ANY money to Adobe means that the Business Software Alliance gets more resources to throw around, and for this you should be feeling guilty.
here, dialup is insanely expensive(~80$ a month if you consider cost of a phone line). alternatively, you can get 8.95$/month(wich works out to about 6$/month US)
cable-lite-lite which is basically a 112k/s(?) cable box with dhcp/dynamic ip allocation. you do NOT have to subscribe to even basic cable to get it, either.
Isn't "Endless repeat the exact same thing over and over." Exactly what mathematics and deductive reasoning is? only, shorthand and with suitable notation? (ie if you have a proof that uses lines 1-50 which proves P->Q, you can say P->Q instead of reiteration of all these lines...but...this just stands for the insertion of these lines into this other place).
Absolutely: there's a good chance that if the internet causes doubts in beliefs that the beliefs may have holes.
1) since no one yet knows everything, every set of beliefs has holes. science does not know if anything happened before the big bang, or what the universe is like on the smallest scale, how the strings in string theory work, or even if they've figured out these things and I'm just not yet aware of them there are plenty of other things out there that are uknown, some of which, due to the uncertianty principle and the incompleteness theorem will always remain unknown.
2) since i'm not actually disagreeing here, once again: there are some cases where the right thing isn't learned, the wrong thing is taught, outright lies, etc. and in some of those cases it is the 'other/incorrect religion/culture' that is teaching these things. my little sister had a friend who thought that AIDS was not a STD but that it only happened to bad people, and that they got what they deserve, from GOD. My sister, as smart as she was, hanging around with this person long enough could easily have picked up some religious bullshit form her. not because her existing background of beleifs was wrong, or even had holes, but because she as a person has not had a chance to fully take part in the background of beliefs that had awaited her.
and even if you don't accept that example, believe me, brainwashing does happen. there are plenty of religious programming schools out there at least in canada that seek to undermine young peoples conceptions of reality and re-fill it with their own ideals. The military, last time i checked to some extent tries to brainwash their inputted young men into killing machines. When you've been awake for >100 hours in a row it's amazing things what kind of beliefs will have holes in them, and when drugs are involved, there is pretty much nothing that can stand up.
"After 16 years of service / and a family to support / he actually is starting to believe /
the weaponry and chemicals are for national defense / 'cause danny has a morgage and a boss
to awnser to / the guilty don't feel guilty they learn not to"-nofx, the irrationality of rationality.
Slashdot Mirror
Excellent post, I'm keeping that in my personal documents collection as an example of well a thought out attempted rebuttle of the pillars of my worldview. some thoughts:
I'll take
(2)(information needs to be freed)
(3)(that's not the reason why I would potentially pirate, but I realize that many people do. acknowledgement of other peoples reasons and a reason why they are wrong does not make you a hypocrite, etc)
mabye's:
(12) sounds shady, but I don't really see that much wrong with it.
(11) THE PEOPLE do not 'demand' free entertainment. THE PEOPLE merely take it, as it is available to them. I demand free entertainment, that is freely available to all. this is not to say that I demand free entertainment, which should be freely available to all, but rather it is freely available to all allready, and this fact needs to merely be acknowledged.
(10) (if you ignore the 'it's my right' bit)
(6) mabye
(13) if you substitute Analogous to the word "like". This makes things a great deal more clear.
Brainless Copying vs Creative Works
Sure one can tell the difference. Consider it this way: People who brainlessly copy are similar to the average jo who, when they find a broken beer bottle or a macdonalds wrapper on their block, clean it up/throw it in a local garbage can. Whereas, when seen from this metephor, the creative artist is like the environmentalist, who actively runs a recycling co-op, or grows his own hemp, or the like. one makes the world a better place in small ways, the other, in larger. without each other, the whole gig is pointless. Without millions of people who are part of the great collective known as the internet, when an independant musician worthy of anyones attention comes around, they can now be heard by practically anyone within a week. This hasn't always been the case (see the 80s).
Most of my freinds would buy the CD anyway:
if I had, say, 50 freinds. and they all bought the dark side of the moon album
at 40$ per head that's 2000$
I wouldn't condemn the group of the 50 people I care most about to a
2000$ loss of funds. 2000$ can buy a lot of
bread, eggs and milk.
I am aware that this might be replied to with "but the artist spends say, 2000$ of his own to create the work...don't you want the artist to be able to afford eggs, bread and milk?" and this does not necessarily compete with this point. both could be the case, I'll leave that specific issue with this statement to be answered later on.
Filesharing is Illegal:
Sure. in some countries, sharing might be illegal. In some countries, freely voicing your opinion is illegal, too. does this mean that we should support the brutal repression of people freely expressing their opinion, because they are breaking the laws of their local despotic, non-elected government?
Semantic Blurring concerning "Information"/"Sharing": the term "Information Sharing" rightly blurs the line between existing, conservative, information and information that has yet to be legally shared. Just like the right to free press is really just a blurred misconception of the right to free speech. You can't have the later without the former, but you can have the former without the later.
GPL
Filesharing has the ability to become something bigger, and more important than even the GPL. The GPL is an important thing in a world filled with copyright and intellectual property law. Without copyright, and intellectual property law, the GPL is quickly overshone by, a contract that has yet to be named(to my knowledge), but could only be partially described by True Freedom. Perhaps "Information Anarchy"?(there is a book by this name on my to read list: I have not read it yet, so I am not able to comment on it yet beyond the fact that it exists)
"so that others don't have to pay for it"
completely misses the point. we don't share music to
anything...
Suing people who allowed other people to enfringe copyright was insane, and it's no wonder some people at that time came to the conclusion that the people who were actually breaking the law should be brought to account for their actions.
Suing people who enfringe copyright is a sane, LEGAL thing to do, and it is also a good business plan. If I were a greey heartless bastard who owned stock in an RIAA member, I would be applauding them for it. However, I try not to be greedy, and I try to be considerate of the people who are elsewhere in the big picture, and when you look at the big picture the answer is obvious:
either
a) persue independant artists alone, and take part in existing artist comunities, "Voting with your money" your time, your effort, your mindshare, make your own art and "be the media" or alternatively
b) go the route that is slightly easier, if less creative, and create more value for the whole by sharing with others things that do not cost you anything to share.
because the world is going through some rough time and if we can get every employee at the RIAA who's normally just trying to screw other people over, and get them actively productively doing something for the betterment of the whole species, then the world would be a better place for it.
And aren't they persuing criminal charges these days? my statement still applies. Even if it is the most legal and best business plan to persue, we should still be angry with them them for it.
First of all, firesharing is not wrong, filesharing is the Right thing to do. People should not be punished for filesharing, they should be rewarded.
Taking something requires the original "something" be missing afterwards: and this is the point. See past the greed and sheer self preservation that has fueled some musicians to take up their art. There exists people who want to make the world a better place by freely(as in beer) increasing the amount of a valuable, why try to stop them?
No one loses money to filesharing, just as the people who put statues up at delphi didn't lose money either, their work was what made them virtuous people. Be virtuous.
There are a FINITE amount of cars in the world, and not everyone can have one. That's partially why they cost so much. This is not the case with mp3s. This is why you shouldn't steal cars: because after you do, some other poor bastard is without a car afterwards. Not because it's illegal. Not because you can't afford to get one.
honestly believe the sun goes around the earth, and not the other way around.
/me needs to proofreed
being in a backwards hicktown that is probably 40 or 50 years behind the rest of the world, I still get asked why on earth I need a computer for, and what possible use anyone could have for a computer in their home. The internet, and by extention computers, to most of the world, is just a place with a bunch of bad people, pornography(what is pornography? information that they don't agree with?), pedophiles(ie anyone in any chat rooms) and really nothing more interesting than television on it(if porn isn't your thing).
On a related note, there are still people here that honestly beleive the earth revolves around the sun, and not the other way around...and not whacko's either, just average, run-of-the mill people who are trying to make it through this life. Before space exploration becomes something the common person can get involved in, we need to get the common person able to read, write, and understand that they live on a planet that can be left in persuit of other planets. Before that happens I don't see very impressive progress.
"1. Microsoft doesn't understand that people LOVE Google. Nobody particularly LOVES Microsoft anymore. Product activation, high prices, and security flaws are causing too many headaches."
It's almost cultlike...but much like linux, there are hotbeds of microsoft support here and there...who absolutely love microsoft and anyone who might do things any different than their way is a heretic. And I'm talking about educated people here...most people just don't care, and think that microsoft/AOL is about the easiest means to whatever limited action they are persuing.
2. Microsoft, has, in my opinion, innovated one thing: stealing other people's innovations, and doing a good job at it. If there's one thing that Microsoft could use to beat google with, it would be other people's innovations.
4. are you sure?
There is no such thing is an unsolvable problem, in so far as you know something about it. If you know nothing about your problem, then you probably are in trouble, but we know a great deal about spam, who spams, why spam happens, where it comes from and so on.
For a start, how about, getting your government, in an attempt to slow the tide of spam, to help out the eastern european, or asian nations? To help them clean up corruption, and get a working socialist infractructure(ie, public schools, roads, healthcare ) so that people don't have to use spam as a means to get money, and furthermore encourage people not to be greedy scum(as opposed to the american culture of buy more! you need this this and that! you have to keep up with the Akkbars!). God only knows that the countries in eastern europe where this stuff is coming from need all the help they can get. Hell...help out the eastern european nations xor the asian nations and then use spam as a stick to hit the other with to offer them help.
Sure, this whole thing isn't soley about money and poor nations, but there's a strong correlation between poor nations without working government, and...spam. America counts. National ecconomics is at one root of this problem.
NOOoo let's...sue them! that's it... bastards can't afford to pay their bills so they sucker in some stupid white american scum into giving them their money. arrg
Seriously though:" Problems have solutions, you know?"
not even looking for porn either(although I have tended to do that occasionally).
I think I found porn on the first page when i googled for "j.s.bach" and that one had a pop-up to a child-porn site and that one had a pop-up to , well you get the picture.
pop-ups are vicious.
I may be speaking for myself here, but I heard about the whole matter on WBAI New York and I think KPFX berkeley, on internet radio(a few days before the story broke elsewhere). Had I seen these pictures in,say the National Post, or the like I would have just chalked it off as meaningless events in one of many wars being waged as we speak....but verbal accounts by people who were connected in some way with the event...blew me away. However internet radio allowed me to hear what some guys in new york and texas whereas if this were even 10 years ago I would still be in the dark. So the same issue applies: as technology increases, the hive-mind of humanity sees more, remembers more, and understands more than before. But a well spoken for radio program beats pictures, any day.
Firstly, religious fundementalists in the united states do exhibit violence, although it may only be through state violence...collective, organized and state-sanctioned voilence as opposed to violence from lone zealots and induviduals.
Whether or not the arming of radical islamists to take the soviet union down was successful, they were obviously compatible with the interests of western democracy as we know it. Being successful means a succcessful compatibility, if the matter had failed miserably then you *might* have a case, but as you pointed out, it was not a miserable failure...rather quite the opposite.
What I think is, that you and I both are Fucked, due to the actions of many combined interests, including but not limited to the american government, and by extention, the american people. And I refuse to lie to let anyone get away with trying to let themselves feel better for the atrocities that they had their hand in helping. Until the united states of america declares itself a dictatorship, the american people are guilty of supporting crimes against the rest of humanity. Nevermind metephorical genies. (I realise that this may be fairly close to hand, if there is two elections in a row without the elected leader taking office, it may as well be a de facto dictatorship.)
By the way, the british had saddam beat by 'starting that trend' by at least 20 years, occuppying iraq. When I mentioned third world countries (and there's been a few) I was actually thinking more about afghanistan, however. But if you're going to bring up iraq I'm sure you know that the reason why saddam was able to give the finger for 12 years was soley based on american support, funds and arms given to him in the preceeding 12. It's america's fault, in that case, that any of the sanctions had to be put on in the first place, that saddam was able to do anything to his people.
That the outcome might be better for the iraqi people, is possible, although I'm not really sure how likely. That entire region is kind of unstable right now, by the looks of it, a lot could happen.
"Why don't you want to give Microsoft money? If Windows is useful enough that you can say you want to use it,"
I don't want to use windows, I have to use windows. Like many others, I use windows as part of my attempt in order to keep myself alive at this point. My second job demands me to both use and be profficient with it, and my third job is going to as well, and probably if Jobsearching goes well, my fourth job should I find time to get one.
The people who had any part in writing any of the code in supporting the spew of corporate greed that is microsoft need to be lined up against a wall, and shot, not paid.
As for any liscencing agreement, I would like to agree to it. This is what I am asking about... What is the status of the liscencing agreement (is it GPL-ish or not?) for this "SOFTWARE PRODUCT" ? I suppose I could just install it and find out...which probably means buying a newer computer first. I'll get on that.
In the meanwhile, I wonder how "Free" this distro is. Is it merely a hack-together-proof-of-concept or hack-together-lets-do-some-cool-stuff or is it more of a serious-linux-distro-that-we-can-distribute-under- the-terms-of-the-GPL-or-LGPL?
;)
I've been wanting to use windows for awhile, but despite shitty software the main reasons are all legal -- I don't want to give microsoft any money, or agree to anything that I havn't read and agree with(namelessly any shrinkwrap EULA). the GPL I have read many times and agree not only with it as a 'oh...kay...fine whatever.' but as honestly agreeing with it in spirit.
If it's not Free that's fine with me, I still like to see progress in the direction of windows...but...I'll be particularily interested if it is, in fact I'll likely devote a computer or two to it in the future
If 'radical fundamentalism' was not compatible with western democracy why was the major current threat(mujahadeen/alqaeda) Completely funded by the United States prior to the collapse of the Soviet Union? If radical fundamentalism is so incompatible with western democracy why does the united states harbor so damn many religious christian cults and fanatics which are most definiately radical fundementalists?
By the way, there's a middle ground between isolationism and invading third world countries for oil. Just a little.
Granted, there's a lot of crazy, or ignorant zealots out there who hate the united states, and their allies.
But there are a lot more out there who are sick of being served puppet dictatorships, having their children, husbands, wives and friends killed, hooked on heroin, sexually abused(?!!), bombed to oblivion, and tortured.
For every afghan, iraqi and former soviet who starves to death or doesn't make it through the winter because of the collapse of their local ecconomy, further enforced by american influence, nevermind things like land mines, undetonated bombs, etc, another few are going to remain everlastingly resentful of america.
For every iraqi, afghan, guatemalan, haitian, phillipino, soviet, Chilean, Nicaraguan, columbian, spaniard, korean, palestinian, vietnamese or cuban killed, one or two people at least are going to live their entire lives with hatred for the united states. We are talking in tens of millions of dead, here, and therefor tens of tens of millions with everlasting, generational hatred for the united states and all those who support them.
'The easiest way to reduce the number of atrocities in the world, is to stop committing them.' Even if the united states stopped pissing the rest of the world off, the hatred against them may never go away. This is the great success of your military industrial congressional complex...due to it's former actions, it's now constantly going to be at war, continually increasing the intensity of 'the cycle of violence'.
There's good reasons for the world to be pissed off at the united states. I'm pissed off because of treaty orginisations influencing laws into my own country(Canada) which make me a terrorist, and tear all the rights away from anyone accused of terrorism. They, alongside with my democratically american supported candidates are responsible for this. Others may be pissed off about (American supported, if not outright run) Genocides effecting them, or further worsening ecconomic conditions due to the resource heavy american style capitalism, Which Australia is at least somewhat of a supporter of. Many many things are going wrong in the world, and not all of them are caused by americans, but many are, and these are the things that if stopped, may reduce the amount of people out there with a valid reason to hate the united states, and therefor you will eventually stop the massive support that those *without* reason to hate the united states are getting from the aforementioned class.
Decrease the amount of oil consumed in your country, and put emphasis on long term goals including efficiency instead of short term production.
Stop sending arms to isreal, turkey, columbia, or anywhere else, for that matter.
Stop your war on drugs, and at least try win the war on terrorism by not supporting terrorist states.
Acknowledge and Abide by International Law.
Tear down guantanamo bay, and give the land back to cuba.
Stop all trade embargo's on cuba.
or if you cannot do any of the above, try at least to not make me add another item to the above list in the future, specifically related to me or my family.
You see, generic hatred is not even a significant part of the story, when you consider the hatred that is not generic. [/rant] As for being a hippocrite, I'm getting some skills which will be applied later on in life. I, for one, feel it better to give yourself tools to help others, and thereby have at least some efficiency in doing so than to help others with no efficiency at all.
If you need to put effort into knowing the difference between "than and then" or "its and it's", then you have no hope.
A mind is a terrible thing to t...waste. Don't learn crap, if you don't have to. Fill your head, but not with crap. Semantics expressed in a part of an insane language that isn't even universal...I mean If this were spanish, then you might have a case(I mean, sooner or later humans have to interact with each-other) but we are speaking a hobby-language here that has millions of words, rules, mannerisms, and freak-incidences. It would be much better to understand the world in symbols of a different kind, then to understand english and know nothing becuase you spent 10 odd years getting good at english. You have a finite time to learn all that you can, and a finite amount that can be learned. Beware!
If you can't tell the difference between a picture on a screen vs. someone in real life, then there's something wrong with you.
Behold! the future!
Granted, I agree that it's mostly BS. but I have a chilling feeling that some day, somewhere, the difference between computer-game and reality is going to get really blurry. Compare pac man and pong with UT2004 for some sort of an example.
I've been living on my own for two years now.
Course, most of that was spent starving and broke...
"Maybe we should try and just live within our means, even if it does mean not wearing the latest fashions, etc?"
I'm not sure if you really mean that having enough food to eat and a place to stay is some sort of fashion, although I do realize that many, many out there MUST supply the obscene fashion industry, among other things with money(because it is huge and outrageously *everywhere*). But a lot of the people I know who have massive debts, didn't ever make enough to survive on in the first place. (And they are usually the hardest workers, too) I'm lucky to live where cost of living is fairly low, but even then...if you only make 2$/hr...you can't exactly afford 500$/month rent for a small single room apartment easily. Especially if you have children.
But I'm sure every generation for the past 200 years has said that, "Kids today aren't willing to work as hard". It can't have been true every time, or otherwise we would have died out by now. Or perhaps....there's more bullshit and red-tape that needs doing, ie more stuff to do per person, combined with a few people doing practically nothing means higher workloads for the average person?
Now given, my grandpa had to work even harder than both me and my dad put together, but was this always the way? 200 years ago would great-grandpa-bach and his contemporaries have to put in 60+ hour work week just for the minnimum functionality of industrial age society? perhaps. marketing alone makes me think that 200 years ago there was less jobs that needed to be done, and therefor on average, kids could have more stuff just handed to them.
Alternatively, America, alongside with many other a nation, was built on Slavery. Could it be, that it still survives on it? and that without slave condition labour camps to put the hours in so that everyone's kids can get handed silver platters...that things would collapse?(in light of the above, and technology perhaps?)
Perhaps. There's more to it than that, though. Personally, I receive compliments on my work ethic, constantly. In fact, it annoys the hell out of me--I am not some sort of worker drone to be exploited damnit!!! this is what a good deal of the people I have been exposed to take as the definition as for who I am. "oh that's jeff...he's the hardest working guy in showbusiness" "that guy has good work ethic" etc etc. just constantly!
Yet, I'm fairly certian that I have nothing but hardships, misery and failure ahead, and mostly because of my work ethic. Before I moved to this city, I used to work for around 2$ an hour, working upwards of 20 hours a shift, almost every day. Sure, I quit that job, but I could hack it, and I thrived under those conditions and it seems every time I get put in work that requires that sort of long-hours-in-hot-environments sometimes even doing moderate physical excertion I pull it off. I don't like it(who could?), and I'd love to be a slacker, but in my heart of hearts I'm not, and I feel uncomfortable when I am given jobs like my second job I have right now (i work at an arcade with no customers. I get paid 7$/hr to...not do anything. It's a perfect slacker job but I just don't know...I'd rather be doing something.)
But it's because of this that I'm going to wind up making something near my current first job's wage(3$ an hour) Because I'll always be tired and exhausted from work, exploited and used, until death. While others are off networking(I hate using people for networking purposes, too.), and spending their leisure time doing stuff like, oh, looking for a better job, I'll be lucky to be asleep If I'm not at work. Luckily right now I'm on haitus from work to go to school(and off school for a half-week between semesters), and am persuing an education so at least when i'm 40 and flipping pizza, I'll know a thing or two about computation and the nature of mathematical systems and the universe.
Don't let this happen to you. Don't let yourself become like me, or any of the other people who work even remotely hard. The world is coming down, and you are but the 'fantastic all dancing crap of the earth'. You will die, and you will regret it if you do not make the most of your time. Or mabye you won't regret it, and you''ll live in some drug-induced blistful ignorance. Take your choice.
and yes, I definitely got my work ethic from my parents.
Seriously, the whole concept is but lies, deciept and my-penis-is-bigger-than-yours applied to everything to make it bigger-faster-and more slick. We should NOT be encouraging professionalism. We should be encouraging pragmatism! We should be encouraging zenlike intuitive and resourceful intelligence not 'this guy is white^wlooks good in a suit so let's promote him instead of the other guy just like him without the suit.
I recognize #4 as something straight out of Aristotle's Poletics, but notice that not once in that tomb did Aristotle ever use the word 'professional'.
I do however realize that most of the rest of the world agrees less with me and more with you. However, it pisses me off, at least, to no end hearing anyone refer to professionalism in any sort of positive light. It's at best a distraction, and let's leave it at that.
perhaps I'm underinformed when it comes to this level of computing...but...is there any other */Linux Distro that is designed for use by the 'enterprise level' ? People around me are quoting a 95-98% of business usage of Windows (doubtless mostly non-xp windows). If the rest of the world has to deal with using Fedora instead of RedHat, while the elite gets to continue to use RedHat, I can see their move being a success for everyone : No one lost - Fedora continues where RedHat left off(which they should) and RedHat continues in new directions, specifically in directions dominated by Microsoft. Isn't that a good situation? Or am I missing something?
In Cathedral land, you are not part of photoshop even if you want to be, and are willing to enskill yourself (hell good luck trying to enskill yourself without the source or money to get the source). Furthermore, if photoshop closes shop, you are left 5 years or so behind, with no one to pick up where they left off without what they would have gone through anyway.
In bazaar land you can be part of the GIMP project if you have anything to offer, and any lack of usability or UI practicality or options or stability that you know of(or otherwise) is partially your fault, for not implimenting it. Yes, it's a completely different way to look at things but it has to be said. Who cares what this photoshop user thinks of GIMP? He's obviously purposefully not part of the bazaar, and ergo he doesn't matter. It woudln't matter if photoshop was 100 times what it is now, or in ten years: If it's not built by the bazaar, then it means nothing to us who are in the bazaar. Don't let it distract you, the only use in photoshop is in breaking ground in directions the OSS alternative had not thought of. nothing more.
So in summary, quit-cher-complaining, file a bug report or ten, or start coding.
If there is no tool other than photoshop in your price range...then make one! if you can't make one, make what you need to make one! if you can't make that, then make what you need to make that! and so on! you have no excuse to use photoshop any more.
Secondly, giving ANY money to Adobe means that the Business Software Alliance gets more resources to throw around, and for this you should be feeling guilty.
here, dialup is insanely expensive(~80$ a month if you consider cost of a phone line). alternatively, you can get 8.95$/month(wich works out to about 6$/month US) cable-lite-lite which is basically a 112k/s(?) cable box with dhcp/dynamic ip allocation. you do NOT have to subscribe to even basic cable to get it, either.
Isn't "Endless repeat the exact same thing over and over." Exactly what mathematics and deductive reasoning is? only, shorthand and with suitable notation? (ie if you have a proof that uses lines 1-50 which proves P->Q, you can say P->Q instead of reiteration of all these lines...but...this just stands for the insertion of these lines into this other place).
Absolutely: there's a good chance that if the internet causes doubts in beliefs that the beliefs may have holes.
1) since no one yet knows everything, every set of beliefs has holes. science does not know if anything happened before the big bang, or what the universe is like on the smallest scale, how the strings in string theory work, or even if they've figured out these things and I'm just not yet aware of them there are plenty of other things out there that are uknown, some of which, due to the uncertianty principle and the incompleteness theorem will always remain unknown.
2) since i'm not actually disagreeing here, once again: there are some cases where the right thing isn't learned, the wrong thing is taught, outright lies, etc. and in some of those cases it is the 'other/incorrect religion/culture' that is teaching these things. my little sister had a friend who thought that AIDS was not a STD but that it only happened to bad people, and that they got what they deserve, from GOD. My sister, as smart as she was, hanging around with this person long enough could easily have picked up some religious bullshit form her. not because her existing background of beleifs was wrong, or even had holes, but because she as a person has not had a chance to fully take part in the background of beliefs that had awaited her.
and even if you don't accept that example, believe me, brainwashing does happen. there are plenty of religious programming schools out there at least in canada that seek to undermine young peoples conceptions of reality and re-fill it with their own ideals. The military, last time i checked to some extent tries to brainwash their inputted young men into killing machines. When you've been awake for >100 hours in a row it's amazing things what kind of beliefs will have holes in them, and when drugs are involved, there is pretty much nothing that can stand up.
"After 16 years of service / and a family to support / he actually is starting to believe / the weaponry and chemicals are for national defense / 'cause danny has a morgage and a boss to awnser to / the guilty don't feel guilty they learn not to"-nofx, the irrationality of rationality.