So the BBC is happy to take public money, but doesn't think there should be ANY strings or responsibilities attached? Must be nice. I wonder if they would accept other public agencies refusing THEIR Freedom of Information requests. I suspect not. And yet that is the precedent they could set.
Personally, I think it's a bad precedent to be set by a institution that has a journalistic wing itself. But, then again, I'm a little creeped out by the whole idea of a state-run media in the first place, even one that stringently attempts to remain objective. It's bound to produce conflicts of interest, no matter how much you try to avoid them.
And, even putting the precedent aside, it just looks bad. If you're going to ask others to be open, it's really embarrassing when it looks like you're trying to hide something yourself, especially when openness is one of your statedgoals, oft-repeated.
If all of those red counties unite and choose to secede, they'll control a good chunk of the oil, coal and farmland.
Yeah, that was a large part of the Confederate States of America's reasoning too. "We've got the cotton and farmlands! The yankees will surely fall before us!"
Had a stoner friend back in school who thought weed made him do everything better. In reality it made him do everything WORSE, but he was too stoned to realize it. Creative people think weed helps them, but it doesn't. That's just some horseshit they've convinced themselves of, as an excuse to smoke more weed.
It's like the old idea among Wall St. types that cocaine allowed them to work harder and longer. Yeah, it does...and also work a lot dumber. Read a quote once from an old-school SNL writer from the late-70's-early 80's who said "Cocaine gives you diarrhea of the mouth and constipation of the brain." Pretty much sums it up for most drugs.
There is probably a very good reason the Pros are overlooking his town/community. When he starts trying to string cable, I suspect he'll find that out.
like for example what happens when you switch majors?
Good point. I bet everyone will be a science major for their first few semesters of gen ed stuff. Not a freshman to be seen in other majors. Of course, there will also be a lot of people suddenly switching majors after their first 2-3 semesters of cheap tuition...
Most people who win the lottery and take a lump sum are not prudent with it
That's because people stupid enough to waste their money on lottery tickets are generally the same types of people who blow their money on stupid shit the second they get it. I'm pretty sure a CEO of a company worth getting bought out by Facebook would probably be a little more prudent with his money than some trailer trash who blows a quarter of his $200 weekly paycheck on lotto tickets.
Actually, if he really wants to stand out, maybe he should do a console version. In the PC realm, he would be competing against a number of established titles. But if he could make Elite into a console MMO (or even single player), he would basically have the playing field all to himself. AFAIK, there isn't a single space trading game on a console. The only challenge would be the interface. And with built-in voice chat and 16 buttons on a modern controller (with any number combos possible in addition to that), I think it could be done.
Look, I know the guy did the original and kudos to him for it (I was a huge fan myself of the C64 version, back in the day). But with modern games like X3 and even EVE Online, the genre has come a LONG way since the early 80's. It's not going to be enough just to re-skin the original. A modern project like that is a HUGE undertaking. I just hope this guy understands that going in. I would hate to see a remake that couldn't even live up to the many successors it inspired.
With the exception of healthcare coops (which would probably never work), everything you listed here is *already* well-protected by law--in the U.S. anyway. So I'm not sure exactly what you're advocating here.
A big problem that I see with white collar office workers is that, traditionally, unions have had to be willing to bust the heads of scabs and besiege workplaces with picket lines to survive (among other things). That's fine if you're Teamsters or other blue-collar workers not afraid to break out bricks and baseball bats when needed in a strike. It's not so easy when you're dealing with office drones who hesitate to say an unkind word.
If your union is going to succeed, you have to be willing to go all the way. And I seriously doubt that you'll ever get than from any professional field. If your employers know that they can just replace you or outsource you with no repercussions (or, more accurately, with no concussions), then you will never have any real bargaining power.
In my lifetime, I don't recall a single industry that that has started a successful union in the U.S. (not in ANY field). All the unions that still have any real power are the ones still around from the Roosevelt New Deal and postwar days (the Teamsters, UAW, etc.).
So it's hardly fair to single out developers. There are very few fields that are significantly unionized anymore, and most of the ones that are are represented by older unions that go way back. When you look around and see that there are no unions with any real power that have been founded in your lifetime, it's pretty easy to be skeptical and pretty hard to volunteer to be the sacrificial lamb (by being the first voice in your field supporting a union) and endanger your career in the process.
It probably also doesn't help that political support for unions, even among many Democrats, pretty much dried up a long time ago.
One way or another, you have to have a way to bring in revenue. Even non-profits need, at least, some donations.
So, yes, "free" is possible. But "free without any other adequate source of revenue" is not. And it sounds like their plans to sell hardcopies for revenue simply wasn't producing adequate revenue.
I'm curious as to how the neural interface works. The CNN article was pretty vague (saying something like "He thinks it and it moves"). I imagine there is a lot more to it than that. Most interfaces I've seen in the past that called themselves a "neural interface" were actually just glorified physical interfaces (controlled by twitching muscles in the upper limb or something like that). Is this thing actually connected to his brain, or at least to his nervous system?
At least this will allow someone to go with their family around (and without the mess).
Of course, doctors have been doing this sort of thing "off the books" forever. When I was a kid and a certain person I knew was dying, his doctor gave him a orders not to let his nurse inject him with this particular syringe of morphine (wink, wink).
Just create a "League of Extraordinary Geeks" costume and cool HQ, then tell them that they can be real life superheroes. You probably won't even have to pay them.
Slashdot Mirror
So the BBC is happy to take public money, but doesn't think there should be ANY strings or responsibilities attached? Must be nice. I wonder if they would accept other public agencies refusing THEIR Freedom of Information requests. I suspect not. And yet that is the precedent they could set.
Personally, I think it's a bad precedent to be set by a institution that has a journalistic wing itself. But, then again, I'm a little creeped out by the whole idea of a state-run media in the first place, even one that stringently attempts to remain objective. It's bound to produce conflicts of interest, no matter how much you try to avoid them.
And, even putting the precedent aside, it just looks bad. If you're going to ask others to be open, it's really embarrassing when it looks like you're trying to hide something yourself, especially when openness is one of your stated goals, oft-repeated.
Dear Leader wish to remind all BBS user that upload ratios be strictly enforced for glory of True Korea and Worker Party!
If all of those red counties unite and choose to secede, they'll control a good chunk of the oil, coal and farmland.
Yeah, that was a large part of the Confederate States of America's reasoning too. "We've got the cotton and farmlands! The yankees will surely fall before us!"
Guess how that turned out.
But without Utah, where will we get our....our....huh....National Parks?
Had a stoner friend back in school who thought weed made him do everything better. In reality it made him do everything WORSE, but he was too stoned to realize it. Creative people think weed helps them, but it doesn't. That's just some horseshit they've convinced themselves of, as an excuse to smoke more weed.
It's like the old idea among Wall St. types that cocaine allowed them to work harder and longer. Yeah, it does...and also work a lot dumber. Read a quote once from an old-school SNL writer from the late-70's-early 80's who said "Cocaine gives you diarrhea of the mouth and constipation of the brain." Pretty much sums it up for most drugs.
I've seen a lot worse get modded up around here.
There is probably a very good reason the Pros are overlooking his town/community. When he starts trying to string cable, I suspect he'll find that out.
Wish I had a million mod points for you, sir.
like for example what happens when you switch majors?
Good point. I bet everyone will be a science major for their first few semesters of gen ed stuff. Not a freshman to be seen in other majors. Of course, there will also be a lot of people suddenly switching majors after their first 2-3 semesters of cheap tuition...
[looking around nervously] Hush! No one tell him that the college biology departments are still teaching evolution.
Most people who win the lottery and take a lump sum are not prudent with it
That's because people stupid enough to waste their money on lottery tickets are generally the same types of people who blow their money on stupid shit the second they get it. I'm pretty sure a CEO of a company worth getting bought out by Facebook would probably be a little more prudent with his money than some trailer trash who blows a quarter of his $200 weekly paycheck on lotto tickets.
Actually, if he really wants to stand out, maybe he should do a console version. In the PC realm, he would be competing against a number of established titles. But if he could make Elite into a console MMO (or even single player), he would basically have the playing field all to himself. AFAIK, there isn't a single space trading game on a console. The only challenge would be the interface. And with built-in voice chat and 16 buttons on a modern controller (with any number combos possible in addition to that), I think it could be done.
Look, I know the guy did the original and kudos to him for it (I was a huge fan myself of the C64 version, back in the day). But with modern games like X3 and even EVE Online, the genre has come a LONG way since the early 80's. It's not going to be enough just to re-skin the original. A modern project like that is a HUGE undertaking. I just hope this guy understands that going in. I would hate to see a remake that couldn't even live up to the many successors it inspired.
With the exception of healthcare coops (which would probably never work), everything you listed here is *already* well-protected by law--in the U.S. anyway. So I'm not sure exactly what you're advocating here.
Well, Anonymous Coward is on board. Great.
A big problem that I see with white collar office workers is that, traditionally, unions have had to be willing to bust the heads of scabs and besiege workplaces with picket lines to survive (among other things). That's fine if you're Teamsters or other blue-collar workers not afraid to break out bricks and baseball bats when needed in a strike. It's not so easy when you're dealing with office drones who hesitate to say an unkind word.
If your union is going to succeed, you have to be willing to go all the way. And I seriously doubt that you'll ever get than from any professional field. If your employers know that they can just replace you or outsource you with no repercussions (or, more accurately, with no concussions), then you will never have any real bargaining power.
He's a very SKILLED assassin.
In my lifetime, I don't recall a single industry that that has started a successful union in the U.S. (not in ANY field). All the unions that still have any real power are the ones still around from the Roosevelt New Deal and postwar days (the Teamsters, UAW, etc.).
So it's hardly fair to single out developers. There are very few fields that are significantly unionized anymore, and most of the ones that are are represented by older unions that go way back. When you look around and see that there are no unions with any real power that have been founded in your lifetime, it's pretty easy to be skeptical and pretty hard to volunteer to be the sacrificial lamb (by being the first voice in your field supporting a union) and endanger your career in the process.
It probably also doesn't help that political support for unions, even among many Democrats, pretty much dried up a long time ago.
One way or another, you have to have a way to bring in revenue. Even non-profits need, at least, some donations.
So, yes, "free" is possible. But "free without any other adequate source of revenue" is not. And it sounds like their plans to sell hardcopies for revenue simply wasn't producing adequate revenue.
I'm curious as to how the neural interface works. The CNN article was pretty vague (saying something like "He thinks it and it moves"). I imagine there is a lot more to it than that. Most interfaces I've seen in the past that called themselves a "neural interface" were actually just glorified physical interfaces (controlled by twitching muscles in the upper limb or something like that). Is this thing actually connected to his brain, or at least to his nervous system?
I'm just surprised Sony didn't come up with it first.
At least this will allow someone to go with their family around (and without the mess).
Of course, doctors have been doing this sort of thing "off the books" forever. When I was a kid and a certain person I knew was dying, his doctor gave him a orders not to let his nurse inject him with this particular syringe of morphine (wink, wink).
i wonder how the bird got in the chimney in the first place
It walked there.
It says, "Dresden agrees to surrender, no need to firebomb, Feb. 12, 1945"
Just create a "League of Extraordinary Geeks" costume and cool HQ, then tell them that they can be real life superheroes. You probably won't even have to pay them.