(I was going to say something simular to your post, but since you covered 90% of what I was going to say, I'll just add a comment.)
There has been so much interest in NES rom hacking, that for certain games, there are programs (usually win32 based) to change the game. For example, the NES Legend of Zelda game has at least one program that I'm aware of to change the overhead map room layout.
*Sigh* You are right, this isn't news. I remember reading docs about hacking Zelda and playing Zelda hacks over 2 years ago. What's the next thing Slashdot is going to post? Sega Master System Emulated?
Disclaimer : I need caffiene or sleep, so if there is a gross error in this, please point it out.
If all B are a part of A, and all C are a part of B, then all C are a part of A. If all B are a part of A, and all D are a part of A, we cannot prove that all D are a part of B.
An example of correct logic would be the following: All Greeks (B) are mortals (A). Socrates (C) is a Greek (B). Socrates (C) is a mortal (A).
An example of faulty logic would be: Hemos (D) is a mortal (A). All Greeks (B) are mortals (A). Hemos (D) is a Greek (B).
Now the original point of the thread was that Microsoft may be breaking the law, but we don't consider all laws to be just (the DCMA). I believe the original poster was criticizing the knee-jerk reaction of "Oooh, Microsoft is a lawbreaker, Microsoft is bad." Most of us consider some laws to be unfair, and most of us break the occasional law we don't feel is right, without any sense of guilt. Therefore, I believe that it is fair to say that most of us believe that all lawbreakers are not bad. I have to agree with the original poster on this point, Microsoft is not bad because it broke the law. However, I do think Microsoft is bad (in the wrong) over the point of the OEM Window install. If I purchase a product (windows) and find that the included EULA is not to my liking, I should have a right to return said product.
One only must look to anime for an answer. All facets of life can be found in anime, and by careful watching, we can find many interesting things, such as the fact that Japan seems to be plagued with monsters, or that all girls from outerspace will look human, pretty, be single, and will have a crush on the first male they'll meet. However, I'm getting sidetracked. GoofyBoy asks "But what do the Japanese think of Americans?"
From a careful study of anime, I must conclude that Americans are seen in a few different ways. Primarily, either we are large, loud, unpolite folks who tend to occupy the lower half of the intelligent curve, or we are sleazy criminals with no morals out to make a quick buck. Sometimes the stereotypes mix, as in the not-too-uncommon corperate CPO who is both fat, slow, and sleazy, and some anime have their own unique roles. In Gunsmith Cats we are portrayed as a bunch of gun-loving nuts with sloveny personal habits.
I'd think I'd complain about that last stereotype, but it seems kinda accurate.:)
No, no, you are getting it all wrong. IRC is for finding fan subs of anime which leads you to hunting down the original script to see *who* is right after finding the english dub version 2 years later on your local video's store hentai^H^H^H^H^H^Hanime shelf.
Gnutella is for finding mp3s, and for randomly downloading files out of boredom.:)
Oh, and Swapoo still has a decent rom community, even if it has "expanded" to any file.
Actually, back in the days when cars came standard with this wonderful thing called a manual transmition, the gear order could have a variety of permutations, most commonly altering where the reverse gear would be. For example, in my mom's Taurus, reverse is the lower right gear, below 5th gear, however, I remember a few cars where reverse would be lower right, below first gear. Also, to confuse the issue, in trucks, there could be another stick with 2H, 4H and 4L, for high and low gear in two and four wheel drive modes. These vehicles would commonly need someone to *gasp* exit the vehicle and manually lock the front hubs to enter 4 wheel drive mode.
As such, I forbid my children to attend LAN parties because I do not their school to become the next Columbine.
I must agree, LAN gaming has corrupted me. Right now, I'm stockpiling hydrolisks in the basement, and I'm planning to unleash them on the neighborhood children as soon as I get 200 control's worth.
Perhaps we can look at a real-world example. Lets try MUDs, which are pretty popular, have been around for the last decade or so, and its rather easy to find the source to 95% of the MUDs out there (although it isn't GPL).
Now in any mature MUD code, all the major security holes have been fixxed, and the only thing that looking at the code does is allow me to figure out the game mechanics, which doesn't matter, because someone has calculated it already and posted it to their webpage.
Now muds are also rather nifty for the bandwidth requirement. It isn't hard to imagine switching a mud from a room-based system to a coordinate based system*, and giving it a graphical front end. Then, all the mud has to do is figure out where every object is and which objects are in range of the player, and sends that data over to the client (tree@x=25,y=57,z=-2) and if anything is interacting with the player (kobold(attacking)@x=10,y=3,z=0). Then the client can send the player's actions back to the server (myplayer(attacking kobold)->moving( speed=3,x=57,y=15)),myplayer(attacking kobold)->casting(fireball). All the client does is makes a pretty picture, adding the actions to the picture (when the server sends a "kobold parrys", it shows it parrying, etc), and allows the player to input his/her actions. The client simply acts like a glorified 3-D renderer + MUD client, nothing more. Since I can't see why the bandwidth requirements for this would be any higher then a mud, I can imagine worlds with 1k-2k people logged in without a problem. And since all the data is stored server-side, its "impossible" to cheat in most of the ways that people describe. Any custom clients would probably add convienences like "paths" and "triggers", as well as an automapping feature, which some gaming purists might decry as a "cheat", but is nothing that the majority of us cannot accept. At the worst, one runs the risk of bots, however, in my mudding experience, most bots don't work beyond repeating a simple activity.
*Thinking about it, actually, you want "zones" + coordinates so you can cut down figuring out which objects are range of a player. But just a quibble...
Now I know that the popular attitude here at slashdot is that all the members of the RIAA have a collective IQ of a retarded rock. I want to respectfully disagree. Record companies do not have dumb CEOs, and they do not have dumb lawyers, to survive in the business climate, you have to be smart, and lawyers who make more in an hour then I make in a week probably graduated near the top of their class.
For a thought exercize, lets give the RIAA the same numbers we are looking at. As far as I can tell, Napster isn't hurting the music industry. CD sales are still up. Napster has introduced a lot of people to different bands and singers, its a good source of promotion. If Napster is hurting sales, its by a tiny percent. A mere blip on the revenue chart.
Therefore, why go after Napster? Any move against Napster makes the Opennap and gnutella-like networks much more popular. Instead of having one big localized target, the RIAA will create many small targets, often with no central location. Gnutella, for example, is not killable by the RIAA. Even if they would get all the ISPs in the world to block the default Gnutella port and start scanning for search requests, Gnutella could shift over to ports 21/23, and start encrypting their data. The RIAA must know this. Yet the RIAA moved against Napster. Why?
If Gnutella/OpenNap is a threat, logic dictates taking Napster and corrupting it for the RIAA needs. Napster has the largest chunk of the pie through its popularity, a nice fee-based service with high-quality mp3s would keep Napster popular, and hinder the amount of users flocking to non-Napster alternatives. If RIAA/Napster had 128+ kbps encoded songs on a central server with correct names and no trunciated files for a mere $5/month usage fee, it would be very competetive.
But the RIAA didn't go this route. They decided to kill Napster. This suggests to me that they have some plan to attack OpenNap/Gnutella. I have to admit, I can't see how they can pull off a successful attempt, for the reasons I stated above, but unless the RIAA are idiots, they have a plan. Maybe new laws going into effect (but how would they be inforced), new monitoring devices built into new hard drives, or maybe a new cd encryption scheme...
Of course, maybe I'm wrong and the RIAA is filled with idiots. But I don't think so.
Lets say I have computer A and computer B, both of which I legally own, and a nice mp3 collection I have made as legal backups of my CDs. For the sake of argument, all my mp3s are on computer A, and I want to transfer them over to computer B. Since they are hooked up to the university's network, I just move them over to a folder on the network and then move them to computer B. Now for awhile, the University had a "copy" of my files floating around their network. If possession was illegal, then the university would be in trouble.
Now this may be a contrived example, but information passes through dozens of servers daily, and occasionally that information is copied (as in a cache or for another purpose). Thus I'm going to have to believe that there is a strong argument for being able to possess files that you have no rights too.
But if the printer could do a 3-d chip, and you could adequately cool such a chip, then a pentium class chip is possible.
Anyways, it might be possible to do a mini-cluster of cpus to give the same power. If "printing" hardware becomes cheap, I'm guessing the computer designs will adapt. Maybe, instead of a localized cpu/memory/etc, the components would be integrated. Imagine a "motherboard" with each square inch of it being its own cpu/memory. There would be no seperate vid/sound/modem cards, just the appropriate connects on the edge of the board. Rather spiffy.
I must quibble. Sometimes, laws can simply become ignored. Their are laws on the books in a lot of states that outlaw certain sexual acts, but they are often broken, and nobody will be arrested for breaking them. Society can change more quickly then the laws.
Lets play devil's advocate then. Lets assume that if a vast majority of a group is doing something illegal, then all members of a group should be punished accordingly.
Using this logical, an extra tax on blank media (cassettes, cds) to compensate the record companies are justified. This is already in place. However, an extra tax on larger hard drives (say >10 gigs) would also be justified, as well as for broadband users, any cd player that can play mp3s, any mp3 player, as well as any cd burner. Moving away from computers, we should automatically fine people for speeding (after all, most people do drive over the speed limit), as well as start arresting kids for underage drinking and smoking, and all people for drug use.
Its rather absurd now, isn't it? Maybe its better to assume people are innocent unless proven guilty.
You also admit that you download mp3's illegally. Thanks for you honesty, unfortunately, I'm going to use your admission of guilt to further my own argument. The maximum penalties for copywrite infringement include a large fine and a bit of jail time. The penalties can be cumulative. By downloading mp3s, you either think that that you won't get caught and/or the judge won't take the law seriously, and your punishment will be a slap on the wrists. So, by admitting that you download mp3s, you are putting minor copywrite infringement for personal use into the same catagory as speeding, or breaking some other minor law that most people ignore.
The machine (friend is using it currently): 486 80 mhz DX/2 AMD processor with 32 megs of memory, 1 ~2 gig hard disk, 1.5 gig hard disk, with a floppy and an old Mitsumi LU005S CD drive that won't mount under linux for some odd reason.
I set this machine up as a triple boot just for the hell of it. SBM (look on freshmeat) is the boot manager, which I am using for its ability to hack around the Y2k bug, as well as its friendlier interface then lilo. On the.5 gig hard drive is a 100 meg partition with Dos 6.22/Win 3.11 (and program bar, which is a spiffy shell to give win3.11 a win9x toolbar). The 400 meg partition runs win98SE, which I've discovered is almost too slow to use for any serious task (IE is usable, but very slow). The 2 gig hard drive is split into 2 ext2 partitions of approximately equal size, a / partition and a/home partition. The linux distro is redhat 6.2 Gnome runs at a decent speed, even when I have 2 MUDs running in the background. I wouldn't try StarOffice (hell, I hated running the win32 binary when my win box was limited to a Pentium 100), but Netscape isn't that laggy, and its fast enough for all the default games that were installed except xpilot. From my experience, Gnome is running as fast as Win95 did, which means a usuable speed on a higher-end 486. Right now the box is working fine as a mud developement server, and I expect to strip it down and rebuild it as a mySQL/Apache/FTP server when I get it back.
So, the point of this post is that a Modern GUI will work fine on a 486 (if you avoid the latest MS OSes), and such a computer can be used for website browsing as well as writing code with gvim and later compiling it (so what if it takes 30 minutes, this isn't a top of the line development machine, I'm patient). Basically, its a decent web computer, and can later be turned into a low-volume or developement web/ftp server.
486's aren't dead yet. Nobody is going to buy a "new" 486 since the cost of older memory will make them more expensive then 5/686's, but an older machine cobbled together from parts laying around can still be useful, and that includes using a GUI on such a machine.
First of all, the difficulty would be the lack of language. 1000 years ago, there was no "English" language as we would recognize it, as well as no French or German.
And I must admit, we would probably start to suck at building a hand held calculator 1000 years ago, nevermind a computer.
However, there are some inventions that we take for granted, that weren't around during part, if not all of the middle ages. Things like chimneys were "invented" somewhere around 1400's in Europe. That's a simple idea, and something I think a lot of people would realize. Anyone being magically transported from 2000 to 1000 would have the advantage of knowing what is possible. If that person was reasonably intelligent, he might be able to be able to innovate some of the "inventions" early. However, I think the best person to survive an hypothetical trip to the middle ages would be someone from the early 1800's or so. Back then, we were in the middle of an industrial revolution, but we didn't need to use the technology we have now. Something as simple as the cotton gin would be reproducable without much technology, as well as improved plows, ironworks, printing presses, etc.
The best age for us 21st century types would be 1950 - 1980 or so. Just think of the fun one could have investing in new technologies around that time.:)
Er, if its like any modern mud, you can use n,s,e,w,u,d for directions. Not that I can try it, since my linux computer is sitting far away now and I'm limited to my windows computer. *Sniff*
yerricde writes:...go back to school for four more years (at a cost of USD $100,000+)...
How the heck can you get a cost of $100k/year for higher education. Lets break this down. Say, $20k/year for living expenses, that still gives you $80k for tuition, books, etc. Hell, I did it for a lot less ($10k/year + $5k grants (covered tuition and books)) when I was going to college, without going into debt, by choosing my school wisely and living like a pauper. Education isn't cheap in the US, but it isn't that expensive.
I haven't seen the movie, so I can't judge the scenes you are talking about, but from your discription, I don't find either unreasonable. After all, Hannibal is a trained killer himself. Compared to an assassin, Hannibal has probably more experience in hand to hand combat, while I'm guessing the assassin has set himself up to shoot unsuspecting people (lowering the risk). And even if she was a trained FBI agent, that does not make her a superwoman. FBI work is a lot of paperwork, a lot of investigation, and very little superhero heroics.
On the other hand, movies today are horrible due to their formulistic style, and the habit of breaking several laws of physics in action movies. Bad guys need only one hit to the head to go down, heroes can be blown up, shot several times, and have the crap kicked out of them before even passing out (usually to awaken alive and well in a hospital, with some rugged wounds to *prove* they are a hero). Just once do I want to see an evil henchmen shot/hit once, go down, then when the hero walks past, pull out a gun and shoot him in the back. Oh, and a car not to explode as if detroit packs them full of TNT. Simple things like that. A bit of realism would be nice.
Just a quibble, but is strip mining the most destructive way to mine? After all, its possible to preserve the topsoil and then restore the area after strip mining. Strip mining is more efficient, which means less energy consumed, and most energy in this country is generated by methods that cause some pollution.
Then again, my view point may be colored. I come from an area known as the Mesabi Range in Minnesota, which is known for its iron production. The mesabi range is about 90 miles west of Duluth and runs northeasterly for a good 50 miles or so. On a map, it would stretch from Grand Rapids, MN to around Virginia, MN. All along its distance are old abandoned mines. Now iron ore is mined by digging a nice large pit into the earth and dumping the earth and waste materials into another large pile. Both of this is on a decent scale, a small pit can easily be the size of a few city blocks, and the piles of waste earth are about the same size, and have a few stories stories worth of height (and red. Very red from the iron It will stain pants if you try to climb them.) These are old mines, and a lot of them shut down in the 70's. One would imagine that the abandoned mines would be big scars on the landscape of the mesabi range. Its not that simple. The pits fill with water, making nice clear deep lakes, unfortunately, they don't tend to be well stocked with fish unless connected to another body of water, I think it might be a problem with the lack of decayed vegetation in the water, the lakes aren't that resource rich for fish atm, but wait 100 years or so. The tailing hills are covered with trees growing on them. Its amazing to think that a tree can grow on waste rock dug up from 50 feet below ground, but obviously, they can. Right now, the old mines don't seem to be causing any great environmental harm, and in a few hundred years, I guess they will be hard to distinguish from the surrounding environment.
Of course, any bad mining practices will be bad for the environment. If there is contamination from hazardous byproducts or leaking of harmful chemicals/minerals into the water, there will be a problem. But that can happen with any type of mining.
No offense intended, but slashdot, k5, and everything2 will all work fine under netscape 3.0 (and probably 2.0), as well as lynx. I mention these sites because each is successful at what they do, and all of them look good on my horrible 640x480 resolution (my monitor is special). Each of these sites get across a large amount of data yet each site doesn't force WYSIWYG webdesign that seems to be popular nowadays.
The worst offenders in the "upgrade or break" seem to be commercial stores. I can name a major company that sells small fashionable yuppie trinkets whose webpage won't render on a default IE on win98SE default setup or on the latest version of netscape. This is insane. There is nothing wrong with using the latest browsers to make a stylish page, but it is possible to do so in a way that doesn't break every previous browser. It is also possible to make a commercial website that can take online orders in such a manner that you can use lynx to buy a product. Making compatable code is NOT difficult for a web developer, and it does have some benefits. If a web page is developed to work in everything from netscape 2.0 to netscape 6.0, there is a great chance that it will render in IE, Opera, or any other major browser. When web pages want to force users to upgrade their browsers or install some plugin, its because, in 99% of the time, the designers are lazy, and can not understand how to make a page that is not exactly WYSIWYG, but can be used on a variety of platforms.
Argh! Obviously, too many people spread the word abount Abandonkeep, and some organization heard about it, so for the good of our society, they went after Abandonkeep and the damage it does by distributing 5+ year old programs.
Thank god! I mean that site only stocked abandonware, and gave a link for any title that could still be purchased. Yet another abandonware site shut down, while the more damaging "warez" scene is still going strong.
This is why I don't mention my best abandonware sites. Its a selfish reason, but the less people who know about them, the longer they survive.
Well, there was kind of a response, if you visited #slashdot on irc.slashdot.org. I forgot the exact wording of the channel topic, but it was something along the lines of "Yes, slashdot is broken, why don't you read k5 for a change.":) I believe it was by CowboyNeal.
Under version 5.00.xx (and presumably any later versions)
Tools->Internet Options
Click on the advanced tab.
Under the "multimedia" section, there should be a "play animations" option. Remove the check in the checkbox in front of it.
Viola! No more animations. Although, in retrospect, some slashdot ads don't make a lot of sense now.:) Oh, btw, shame on whoever gave information about it being impossible to turn of animations in IE without clearly exploring the "internet options" section for five minutes.
Actually, I run an apache+php/mysql server for developement on my windows box currently. (Ignore the warning in the win32 binary of apache, it has yet to crash on me for simple php development work yet). FTP isn't a big deal for me atm, I have a nice windows program (warFTP, yes, patched to remove the security hole) when I do want to share files with friends (which is occasionally), however, I don't have the FTP program up most of the time since I am limited to a dialup connected. Ironically, if I had a full time connection to the internet, I would want to have a small ftp daemon up, since I know the usefulness of being able to send stuff remotely to my computer, even though a perminate connection does put me at more of a risk. I also would like to move a small MUD over to the linux machine which would open up another port. I suppose mysql could be limited to be accessed by the current machine (since there is no reason that I would have to use it remotely), and apache could be limited to my home network (since I want to be able to test web pages with both window and linux binaries of browsers). But for the rest of it, I agree, if I am not using it, then I should get rid of it, since it only sucks up resources and presents a security risk.
Thanks for the advice though, I will grab the docs you mention. Atm, the linux machine isn't connected to the internet, but I am planning to add it later.
Slashdot Mirror
(I was going to say something simular to your post, but since you covered 90% of what I was going to say, I'll just add a comment.)
There has been so much interest in NES rom hacking, that for certain games, there are programs (usually win32 based) to change the game. For example, the NES Legend of Zelda game has at least one program that I'm aware of to change the overhead map room layout.
*Sigh* You are right, this isn't news. I remember reading docs about hacking Zelda and playing Zelda hacks over 2 years ago. What's the next thing Slashdot is going to post? Sega Master System Emulated?
Disclaimer : I need caffiene or sleep, so if there is a gross error in this, please point it out.
If all B are a part of A, and all C are a part of B, then all C are a part of A. If all B are a part of A, and all D are a part of A, we cannot prove that all D are a part of B.
An example of correct logic would be the following: All Greeks (B) are mortals (A). Socrates (C) is a Greek (B). Socrates (C) is a mortal (A).
An example of faulty logic would be: Hemos (D) is a mortal (A). All Greeks (B) are mortals (A). Hemos (D) is a Greek (B).
Now the original point of the thread was that Microsoft may be breaking the law, but we don't consider all laws to be just (the DCMA). I believe the original poster was criticizing the knee-jerk reaction of "Oooh, Microsoft is a lawbreaker, Microsoft is bad." Most of us consider some laws to be unfair, and most of us break the occasional law we don't feel is right, without any sense of guilt. Therefore, I believe that it is fair to say that most of us believe that all lawbreakers are not bad. I have to agree with the original poster on this point, Microsoft is not bad because it broke the law. However, I do think Microsoft is bad (in the wrong) over the point of the OEM Window install. If I purchase a product (windows) and find that the included EULA is not to my liking, I should have a right to return said product.
Just my $.02
One only must look to anime for an answer. All facets of life can be found in anime, and by careful watching, we can find many interesting things, such as the fact that Japan seems to be plagued with monsters, or that all girls from outerspace will look human, pretty, be single, and will have a crush on the first male they'll meet. However, I'm getting sidetracked. GoofyBoy asks "But what do the Japanese think of Americans?"
From a careful study of anime, I must conclude that Americans are seen in a few different ways. Primarily, either we are large, loud, unpolite folks who tend to occupy the lower half of the intelligent curve, or we are sleazy criminals with no morals out to make a quick buck. Sometimes the stereotypes mix, as in the not-too-uncommon corperate CPO who is both fat, slow, and sleazy, and some anime have their own unique roles. In Gunsmith Cats we are portrayed as a bunch of gun-loving nuts with sloveny personal habits.
I'd think I'd complain about that last stereotype, but it seems kinda accurate. :)
No, no, you are getting it all wrong. IRC is for finding fan subs of anime which leads you to hunting down the original script to see *who* is right after finding the english dub version 2 years later on your local video's store hentai^H^H^H^H^H^Hanime shelf.
Gnutella is for finding mp3s, and for randomly downloading files out of boredom. :)
Oh, and Swapoo still has a decent rom community, even if it has "expanded" to any file.
Actually, back in the days when cars came standard with this wonderful thing called a manual transmition, the gear order could have a variety of permutations, most commonly altering where the reverse gear would be. For example, in my mom's Taurus, reverse is the lower right gear, below 5th gear, however, I remember a few cars where reverse would be lower right, below first gear. Also, to confuse the issue, in trucks, there could be another stick with 2H, 4H and 4L, for high and low gear in two and four wheel drive modes. These vehicles would commonly need someone to *gasp* exit the vehicle and manually lock the front hubs to enter 4 wheel drive mode.
As such, I forbid my children to attend LAN parties because I do not their school to become the next Columbine.
I must agree, LAN gaming has corrupted me. Right now, I'm stockpiling hydrolisks in the basement, and I'm planning to unleash them on the neighborhood children as soon as I get 200 control's worth.
Perhaps we can look at a real-world example. Lets try MUDs, which are pretty popular, have been around for the last decade or so, and its rather easy to find the source to 95% of the MUDs out there (although it isn't GPL).
Now in any mature MUD code, all the major security holes have been fixxed, and the only thing that looking at the code does is allow me to figure out the game mechanics, which doesn't matter, because someone has calculated it already and posted it to their webpage.
Now muds are also rather nifty for the bandwidth requirement. It isn't hard to imagine switching a mud from a room-based system to a coordinate based system*, and giving it a graphical front end. Then, all the mud has to do is figure out where every object is and which objects are in range of the player, and sends that data over to the client (tree@x=25,y=57,z=-2) and if anything is interacting with the player (kobold(attacking)@x=10,y=3,z=0). Then the client can send the player's actions back to the server (myplayer(attacking kobold)->moving( speed=3,x=57,y=15)),myplayer(attacking kobold)->casting(fireball). All the client does is makes a pretty picture, adding the actions to the picture (when the server sends a "kobold parrys", it shows it parrying, etc), and allows the player to input his/her actions. The client simply acts like a glorified 3-D renderer + MUD client, nothing more. Since I can't see why the bandwidth requirements for this would be any higher then a mud, I can imagine worlds with 1k-2k people logged in without a problem. And since all the data is stored server-side, its "impossible" to cheat in most of the ways that people describe. Any custom clients would probably add convienences like "paths" and "triggers", as well as an automapping feature, which some gaming purists might decry as a "cheat", but is nothing that the majority of us cannot accept. At the worst, one runs the risk of bots, however, in my mudding experience, most bots don't work beyond repeating a simple activity.
*Thinking about it, actually, you want "zones" + coordinates so you can cut down figuring out which objects are range of a player. But just a quibble...
Now I know that the popular attitude here at slashdot is that all the members of the RIAA have a collective IQ of a retarded rock. I want to respectfully disagree. Record companies do not have dumb CEOs, and they do not have dumb lawyers, to survive in the business climate, you have to be smart, and lawyers who make more in an hour then I make in a week probably graduated near the top of their class.
For a thought exercize, lets give the RIAA the same numbers we are looking at. As far as I can tell, Napster isn't hurting the music industry. CD sales are still up. Napster has introduced a lot of people to different bands and singers, its a good source of promotion. If Napster is hurting sales, its by a tiny percent. A mere blip on the revenue chart.
Therefore, why go after Napster? Any move against Napster makes the Opennap and gnutella-like networks much more popular. Instead of having one big localized target, the RIAA will create many small targets, often with no central location. Gnutella, for example, is not killable by the RIAA. Even if they would get all the ISPs in the world to block the default Gnutella port and start scanning for search requests, Gnutella could shift over to ports 21/23, and start encrypting their data. The RIAA must know this. Yet the RIAA moved against Napster. Why?
If Gnutella/OpenNap is a threat, logic dictates taking Napster and corrupting it for the RIAA needs. Napster has the largest chunk of the pie through its popularity, a nice fee-based service with high-quality mp3s would keep Napster popular, and hinder the amount of users flocking to non-Napster alternatives. If RIAA/Napster had 128+ kbps encoded songs on a central server with correct names and no trunciated files for a mere $5/month usage fee, it would be very competetive.
But the RIAA didn't go this route. They decided to kill Napster. This suggests to me that they have some plan to attack OpenNap/Gnutella. I have to admit, I can't see how they can pull off a successful attempt, for the reasons I stated above, but unless the RIAA are idiots, they have a plan. Maybe new laws going into effect (but how would they be inforced), new monitoring devices built into new hard drives, or maybe a new cd encryption scheme...
Of course, maybe I'm wrong and the RIAA is filled with idiots. But I don't think so.
A counterargument:
Lets say I have computer A and computer B, both of which I legally own, and a nice mp3 collection I have made as legal backups of my CDs. For the sake of argument, all my mp3s are on computer A, and I want to transfer them over to computer B. Since they are hooked up to the university's network, I just move them over to a folder on the network and then move them to computer B. Now for awhile, the University had a "copy" of my files floating around their network. If possession was illegal, then the university would be in trouble.
Now this may be a contrived example, but information passes through dozens of servers daily, and occasionally that information is copied (as in a cache or for another purpose). Thus I'm going to have to believe that there is a strong argument for being able to possess files that you have no rights too.
But if the printer could do a 3-d chip, and you could adequately cool such a chip, then a pentium class chip is possible.
Anyways, it might be possible to do a mini-cluster of cpus to give the same power. If "printing" hardware becomes cheap, I'm guessing the computer designs will adapt. Maybe, instead of a localized cpu/memory/etc, the components would be integrated. Imagine a "motherboard" with each square inch of it being its own cpu/memory. There would be no seperate vid/sound/modem cards, just the appropriate connects on the edge of the board. Rather spiffy.
I must quibble. Sometimes, laws can simply become ignored. Their are laws on the books in a lot of states that outlaw certain sexual acts, but they are often broken, and nobody will be arrested for breaking them. Society can change more quickly then the laws.
Lets play devil's advocate then. Lets assume that if a vast majority of a group is doing something illegal, then all members of a group should be punished accordingly.
Using this logical, an extra tax on blank media (cassettes, cds) to compensate the record companies are justified. This is already in place. However, an extra tax on larger hard drives (say >10 gigs) would also be justified, as well as for broadband users, any cd player that can play mp3s, any mp3 player, as well as any cd burner. Moving away from computers, we should automatically fine people for speeding (after all, most people do drive over the speed limit), as well as start arresting kids for underage drinking and smoking, and all people for drug use.
Its rather absurd now, isn't it? Maybe its better to assume people are innocent unless proven guilty.
You also admit that you download mp3's illegally. Thanks for you honesty, unfortunately, I'm going to use your admission of guilt to further my own argument. The maximum penalties for copywrite infringement include a large fine and a bit of jail time. The penalties can be cumulative. By downloading mp3s, you either think that that you won't get caught and/or the judge won't take the law seriously, and your punishment will be a slap on the wrists. So, by admitting that you download mp3s, you are putting minor copywrite infringement for personal use into the same catagory as speeding, or breaking some other minor law that most people ignore.
Just for the hell of it (yes, I'm bored), tried the win32 binary of gcc-2.95.2 with that snippet under win98SE and a K6-2 300mhz processor.
Result: 10 = 9.
Interesting. I wonder, what makes it "9 = 10" on Linux and "10 = 9" on Windows.
The machine (friend is using it currently): 486 80 mhz DX/2 AMD processor with 32 megs of memory, 1 ~2 gig hard disk, 1 .5 gig hard disk, with a floppy and an old Mitsumi LU005S CD drive that won't mount under linux for some odd reason.
I set this machine up as a triple boot just for the hell of it. SBM (look on freshmeat) is the boot manager, which I am using for its ability to hack around the Y2k bug, as well as its friendlier interface then lilo. On the .5 gig hard drive is a 100 meg partition with Dos 6.22/Win 3.11 (and program bar, which is a spiffy shell to give win3.11 a win9x toolbar). The 400 meg partition runs win98SE, which I've discovered is almost too slow to use for any serious task (IE is usable, but very slow). The 2 gig hard drive is split into 2 ext2 partitions of approximately equal size, a / partition and a /home partition. The linux distro is redhat 6.2 Gnome runs at a decent speed, even when I have 2 MUDs running in the background. I wouldn't try StarOffice (hell, I hated running the win32 binary when my win box was limited to a Pentium 100), but Netscape isn't that laggy, and its fast enough for all the default games that were installed except xpilot. From my experience, Gnome is running as fast as Win95 did, which means a usuable speed on a higher-end 486. Right now the box is working fine as a mud developement server, and I expect to strip it down and rebuild it as a mySQL/Apache/FTP server when I get it back.
So, the point of this post is that a Modern GUI will work fine on a 486 (if you avoid the latest MS OSes), and such a computer can be used for website browsing as well as writing code with gvim and later compiling it (so what if it takes 30 minutes, this isn't a top of the line development machine, I'm patient). Basically, its a decent web computer, and can later be turned into a low-volume or developement web/ftp server.
486's aren't dead yet. Nobody is going to buy a "new" 486 since the cost of older memory will make them more expensive then 5/686's, but an older machine cobbled together from parts laying around can still be useful, and that includes using a GUI on such a machine.
Wrong... kinda.
First of all, the difficulty would be the lack of language. 1000 years ago, there was no "English" language as we would recognize it, as well as no French or German.
And I must admit, we would probably start to suck at building a hand held calculator 1000 years ago, nevermind a computer.
However, there are some inventions that we take for granted, that weren't around during part, if not all of the middle ages. Things like chimneys were "invented" somewhere around 1400's in Europe. That's a simple idea, and something I think a lot of people would realize. Anyone being magically transported from 2000 to 1000 would have the advantage of knowing what is possible. If that person was reasonably intelligent, he might be able to be able to innovate some of the "inventions" early. However, I think the best person to survive an hypothetical trip to the middle ages would be someone from the early 1800's or so. Back then, we were in the middle of an industrial revolution, but we didn't need to use the technology we have now. Something as simple as the cotton gin would be reproducable without much technology, as well as improved plows, ironworks, printing presses, etc.
The best age for us 21st century types would be 1950 - 1980 or so. Just think of the fun one could have investing in new technologies around that time. :)
Er, if its like any modern mud, you can use n,s,e,w,u,d for directions. Not that I can try it, since my linux computer is sitting far away now and I'm limited to my windows computer. *Sniff*
Dammit! And it looked interesting too!
yerricde writes: ...go back to school for four more years (at a cost of USD $100,000+)...
How the heck can you get a cost of $100k/year for higher education. Lets break this down. Say, $20k/year for living expenses, that still gives you $80k for tuition, books, etc. Hell, I did it for a lot less ($10k/year + $5k grants (covered tuition and books)) when I was going to college, without going into debt, by choosing my school wisely and living like a pauper. Education isn't cheap in the US, but it isn't that expensive.
So, according to your theory, Boba Fett, Darth Vader, and Darth Maul should all be unpoplur characters, right?
I haven't seen the movie, so I can't judge the scenes you are talking about, but from your discription, I don't find either unreasonable. After all, Hannibal is a trained killer himself. Compared to an assassin, Hannibal has probably more experience in hand to hand combat, while I'm guessing the assassin has set himself up to shoot unsuspecting people (lowering the risk). And even if she was a trained FBI agent, that does not make her a superwoman. FBI work is a lot of paperwork, a lot of investigation, and very little superhero heroics.
On the other hand, movies today are horrible due to their formulistic style, and the habit of breaking several laws of physics in action movies. Bad guys need only one hit to the head to go down, heroes can be blown up, shot several times, and have the crap kicked out of them before even passing out (usually to awaken alive and well in a hospital, with some rugged wounds to *prove* they are a hero). Just once do I want to see an evil henchmen shot/hit once, go down, then when the hero walks past, pull out a gun and shoot him in the back. Oh, and a car not to explode as if detroit packs them full of TNT. Simple things like that. A bit of realism would be nice.
Just a quibble, but is strip mining the most destructive way to mine? After all, its possible to preserve the topsoil and then restore the area after strip mining. Strip mining is more efficient, which means less energy consumed, and most energy in this country is generated by methods that cause some pollution.
Then again, my view point may be colored. I come from an area known as the Mesabi Range in Minnesota, which is known for its iron production. The mesabi range is about 90 miles west of Duluth and runs northeasterly for a good 50 miles or so. On a map, it would stretch from Grand Rapids, MN to around Virginia, MN. All along its distance are old abandoned mines. Now iron ore is mined by digging a nice large pit into the earth and dumping the earth and waste materials into another large pile. Both of this is on a decent scale, a small pit can easily be the size of a few city blocks, and the piles of waste earth are about the same size, and have a few stories stories worth of height (and red. Very red from the iron It will stain pants if you try to climb them.) These are old mines, and a lot of them shut down in the 70's. One would imagine that the abandoned mines would be big scars on the landscape of the mesabi range. Its not that simple. The pits fill with water, making nice clear deep lakes, unfortunately, they don't tend to be well stocked with fish unless connected to another body of water, I think it might be a problem with the lack of decayed vegetation in the water, the lakes aren't that resource rich for fish atm, but wait 100 years or so. The tailing hills are covered with trees growing on them. Its amazing to think that a tree can grow on waste rock dug up from 50 feet below ground, but obviously, they can. Right now, the old mines don't seem to be causing any great environmental harm, and in a few hundred years, I guess they will be hard to distinguish from the surrounding environment.
Of course, any bad mining practices will be bad for the environment. If there is contamination from hazardous byproducts or leaking of harmful chemicals/minerals into the water, there will be a problem. But that can happen with any type of mining.
No offense intended, but slashdot, k5, and everything2 will all work fine under netscape 3.0 (and probably 2.0), as well as lynx. I mention these sites because each is successful at what they do, and all of them look good on my horrible 640x480 resolution (my monitor is special). Each of these sites get across a large amount of data yet each site doesn't force WYSIWYG webdesign that seems to be popular nowadays.
The worst offenders in the "upgrade or break" seem to be commercial stores. I can name a major company that sells small fashionable yuppie trinkets whose webpage won't render on a default IE on win98SE default setup or on the latest version of netscape. This is insane. There is nothing wrong with using the latest browsers to make a stylish page, but it is possible to do so in a way that doesn't break every previous browser. It is also possible to make a commercial website that can take online orders in such a manner that you can use lynx to buy a product. Making compatable code is NOT difficult for a web developer, and it does have some benefits. If a web page is developed to work in everything from netscape 2.0 to netscape 6.0, there is a great chance that it will render in IE, Opera, or any other major browser. When web pages want to force users to upgrade their browsers or install some plugin, its because, in 99% of the time, the designers are lazy, and can not understand how to make a page that is not exactly WYSIWYG, but can be used on a variety of platforms.
Argh! Obviously, too many people spread the word abount Abandonkeep, and some organization heard about it, so for the good of our society, they went after Abandonkeep and the damage it does by distributing 5+ year old programs.
Thank god! I mean that site only stocked abandonware, and gave a link for any title that could still be purchased. Yet another abandonware site shut down, while the more damaging "warez" scene is still going strong.
This is why I don't mention my best abandonware sites. Its a selfish reason, but the less people who know about them, the longer they survive.
Here's to Abandonkeep. May you rest in peace.
Well, there was kind of a response, if you visited #slashdot on irc.slashdot.org. I forgot the exact wording of the channel topic, but it was something along the lines of "Yes, slashdot is broken, why don't you read k5 for a change." :) I believe it was by CowboyNeal.
Under version 5.00.xx (and presumably any later versions)
:) Oh, btw, shame on whoever gave information about it being impossible to turn of animations in IE without clearly exploring the "internet options" section for five minutes.
Tools->Internet Options
Click on the advanced tab.
Under the "multimedia" section, there should be a "play animations" option. Remove the check in the checkbox in front of it.
Viola! No more animations. Although, in retrospect, some slashdot ads don't make a lot of sense now.
Actually, I run an apache+php/mysql server for developement on my windows box currently. (Ignore the warning in the win32 binary of apache, it has yet to crash on me for simple php development work yet). FTP isn't a big deal for me atm, I have a nice windows program (warFTP, yes, patched to remove the security hole) when I do want to share files with friends (which is occasionally), however, I don't have the FTP program up most of the time since I am limited to a dialup connected. Ironically, if I had a full time connection to the internet, I would want to have a small ftp daemon up, since I know the usefulness of being able to send stuff remotely to my computer, even though a perminate connection does put me at more of a risk. I also would like to move a small MUD over to the linux machine which would open up another port. I suppose mysql could be limited to be accessed by the current machine (since there is no reason that I would have to use it remotely), and apache could be limited to my home network (since I want to be able to test web pages with both window and linux binaries of browsers). But for the rest of it, I agree, if I am not using it, then I should get rid of it, since it only sucks up resources and presents a security risk.
Thanks for the advice though, I will grab the docs you mention. Atm, the linux machine isn't connected to the internet, but I am planning to add it later.