You know, given the reports that their oil reserves are running low, that would be an ingenious way to use their massive wealth and gain a leg up on the US.
"They'll claim that would be too confusing for most voters."
No, they'll claim that it would be too costly (re-scheduling the polls, re-printing, re-distributing and re-collecting the ballots, paying all the poll staff AGAIN) and time-consuming. If the election was online or all-electronic, this wouldn't be too much of a problem, but then you would have to contend with security threats from not only American partisans, but hackers from China and Russia.
Those who can't, sue. Those who still can't, and lack common sense, decency, and sound judgment, sue anyway.
What's sobering is that Thompson knows enough about criminal law to skirt it and continue to harass the court system with his antics. I hope he has the arrogance and cojones to defy every order placed on him by judges from here on out, so he is put away for a long time on consecutive contempt charges.
What is also sobering is the fact that he didn't get nearly as much visibility as he wanted; this way, the entire nation would have known that a prominent voice in the anti-game violence camp has been thoroughly discredited.
In any case, game developers will continue to push the emotional and technological envelopes, because that is exactly what makes the big bucks.
How many people want to guess that "Copyright reform" turns draconian?
You mean it isn't already, thanks to Bono's Disney Defense Act and the DMCA?
The only thing that is still keeping the RIAA labels and MPAA studios in power is their iron-fisted control over the creation and distribution of "mainstream" music and motion pictures. Once more people take media creation and distribution into their own hands, Berne Convention terms will become an annoyance rather than an advantage to the big media businesses. Their answer will always be to crush the ability for the small indie producer to make or distribute their stuff; we see this in action when an RIAA-sanctioned company collects royalties for everyone, not just RIAA members, and when the web radio community is threatened with financial extermination by fiat.
A few things can slow them down: important legal victories in the RIAA driftnet campaign that establish case law, and cutting lobbying and campaign contribution influence down to size, if not eliminating it. But the best way to break the cartels' backs is to encourage and support indie artists who stay away from the major labels and studios, and avoid buying products from labels and studios known to either participate in the driftnet or other consumer-hostile measures.
It won't be easy, and it will certainly take time, organization, and a lot of dedicated people. But the current Presidential campaigns (in particular, Ron Paul and Barack Obama) demonstrate that a concerted effort can be assembled nationwide through the Internet.
We just have to get out of our basements and brave the day-star. Well, that's what cell phones are for, IMO.
Given how a certain Presidential campaign is applying its own reality distortion field, I wouldn't be surprised if RIAA labels claim this as a win, along with all of the paid extortions/settlements from people without the knowledge, counsel, and/or resources with which to defend themselves. In fact, the odds are still stacked against Thomas, even though Capitol now has to prove actual distribution.
Winning is increasingly becoming not about who wins in actuality, but about who forms consensus about who won or not.
And no, IANAL, unless "armchair QBs" are all actual QBs.
Capitol Records is calling for infringement damages on the order of "messing with our business". The judge prudently calls for a review of copyright law, such that small-scale infringement like this should not be treated like the bootlegger in Russia or Hong Kong. Capitol, and the other RIAA member labels, claim they are one and the same. We and the judge know better, but this ain't in the current statutes, whereas the labels are trying to solidify this in case law through litigation and lobbying.
1. While the DoJ did reject a copyright czar, that's only because it came from Congress. If the media cartels asked for an executive order establishing one, I doubt Cheney/Bush would have a problem with it. Meanwhile, they are pushing everyone for the biggest bailout in history, and this is just the thing to distract us geeks.
2. Capitol Records gets to sue Thomas again, or at the very least, really squeeze her in settlement negotiations. The rejection of the $222K damages payment may seem like good news, until you realize that a retrial may cost just as much or more, combined with the first trial. What's more, the venue is already biased against her ("she shouldn't have downloaded crap from KaZaA", etc.) and the RIAA lawyers will almost definitely call for this judge's head on a stick for wasting their time. Capitol can continue to intimidate, drain, and make an example of Thomas, while whacking a judge for having a conscience and common sense-- it is a serious win for the RIAA.
Others have mentioned this, but well-nested in other comment threads.
The Bush administration (in particular, Dick Cheney) has rejected this primarily because this is an "intrusion of the legislature" into the affairs of the executive. Cheney has resented any Congressional oversight or involvement in the White House ever since Nixon resigned, and after he failed to get Bush 41 to ditch Congress, he got Bush 43 to let him run the White House and thus ditch Congress directly. The (then) Republican majority went along with this, because they had a Republican in the White House to rubber-stamp their bills.
In this case, conflicting priorities have turned this very dangerous bill out for the better. Even if Congress passes and later overrides a veto, Cheney and/or Bush will simply starve it out of significance, if not existence. But be wary of the media industry cartels (RIAA, MPAA, BSA members-- others will likely list them up) lobbying the White House directly to get the President to appoint a copyright czar by executive order!
And even if Congress insisted by overriding a Presidential veto on this, Cheney will simply starve the office the way Nixon starved many of Johnson's now-defunct offices: Assign cronies to them.
Maybe you should add an addendum to whatever license you use, like:
x. The author disclaims that any service or labor requested, other than the software, may be obtained in exchange for fair compensation. "Compensation" includes, but is not limited to: money, beer, pizza, shiny objects. y. The author is not your IT department, vendor, subordinate, mother, or nanny. z. If you re-package the software in any way for profit, you must relicense with the author or face the wrath of the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
I'm guessing that in Europe people like FOSS because it's free-libre and free-gratis, whilst in America the populous doesn't know what "libre" means [oh God I hope I spelt it right!]...
There's a growing number of Spanish speakers in America, so a good deal of us know perfectly well what libre means, just not as it pertains to software [and yes. Yes, you did spell that correctly. No, I'm not God.]
While I do think that IBM leaving ISO in protest would be a good thing overall for both ISO and IBM, I can't help but think that Microsoft will use this, as always, as a marketing ploy. In fact, I suspect they'll step up their rants against IBM and Sun.
"Look at IBM! Now we know they were the ones pushing ODF, and not us pushing Office on ISO!"
The other problem I see with IBM leaving ISO and succeeding in bringing other companies with it, is that now Microsoft has a very recognizable, international standards group under its heel and will probably monkey with software standards with impunity (first possible agenda: eliminate ODF as defunct). This will backfire on them in the long run, but keep in mind that Microsoft has historically favored short-term benefits for itself.
I don't know about you, but telling people to "act suspicious" smacks of teaching FBI recruits how to defend themselves against anyone who attacks them armed with fresh fruit. It would be hilarious if the administration (and at times, the Republican Party leadership) were not acting as if Flying Circus was a documentary.
Notice that there's no discussion of probable cause, let alone 4th Amendment protections. Notice there's little, if any, discussion of how actual terrorists act before the critical steps of their mission. Notice there's never any discussion of the root causes of terrorism among the ones in power, just the extermination of those who practice terrorism-- and even this is largely lip service and security theater.
I wish I were joking, but this administration is trying to lock-in some very dangerous precedents. Paulson introduced a bailout plan to Congress that included a provision that said, in essence, "don't oversee the Treasury Secretary or the Fed chairman". Not long after that, Dick Cheney himself tries to persuade Congressional Republicans to support the administration's plan. Cheney has a history of preferring to cut Congress out of the loop, legally or otherwise, ever since Nixon resigned. How much do you guys want to bet that the author of the proposed bailout plan isn't Paulson alone? How much do you want to bet that Paulson will use the bailout money and unsupervised power to nationalize even more corporations?
Re: The software compatibility, one would hope that they would test the bejeezus out of the thing before forcing the general public to do a paid beta test. (AKA a "release";) Most software actually works fine, as you said, but some software products complain, in my experience.
As for the drivers, I'm pretty sure that was because Microsoft and the hardware manufacturers couldn't get on the same page until very, very late into the game.
I can't understand why managers would pride themselves on firing someone in a way that makes it impossible to get unemployment. But they do.
Scott Adams is way ahead of ya:
He's every employee's worst nightmare. He wasn't born mean and unscrupulous, he worked hard at it. And succeeded. As for stupidity, well, some things are inborn. His top priorities are the bottom line and looking good in front of his subordinates and superiors (not necessarily in that order). Of absolutely no concern to him is the professional or personal well-being of his employees. The Boss is technologically challenged but he stays current on all the latest business trends, even though he rarely understands them.
Yeah, Capcom is taking the "downloadable add-ons" idea to an extreme that is unacceptably wrong.
The sad thing is, I suspect many Japanese will buy the game anyway. Some will refuse the add-ons out of frugality or pride in their skills. What I hope that they will not do is design the game to require some of those add-ons at certain points in the game. That would be even more wrong.
Here's the rub: According to the "churn" business/service model, a sucker is born every minute. What about the hundreds of customers you piss off? Fuck 'em. Don't waste your money trying to keep or convince them.
I'm hoping Sony sticks to its old-school Japanese roots and not pursue the way of the sagi-shi (swindler).
You don't have roving squads of government sponsored thugs taking/torturing/killing people for speaking out.
I'm curious as to what you would call preemptive arrest and detainment of RNC protesters this year by Minnesota police? There was no probable cause except maybe conspiracy, and they cast a very wide net, even ensnaring journalists on legitimate business and shoving aside bystanders.
The only plausible explanation for the arrests is to "maintain order" by suppressing these protesters' First Amendment right to assemble to redress grievances against the Republican-dominated government.
And in case you still think the Democrats "control" Congress, the President is still issuing vetoes at a steady clip, and the Democrats are powerless to stop him-- not enough votes to override (except in one case where some Republicans actually agreed with them), and not enough Democrats in the Senate to force cloture to stop the now-frequent Republican filibuster threat (60 needed, they have 50, and projected to have 55 after November-- this is a blessing in disguise only if the next President is a Democrat).
I'm a right wing Republican whose endorsing John McCain but I am appalled at the way you liberals are once destroying yourselves and your candidate with your withering self doubt.
(Warning: Napalm, water, and alkali metals ahead.)
I would love to hear or read a self-described "right wing Republican", for once in his life, not assume everything wrong as being caused by liberals.
How the hell do you know the original poster isn't a fucking Republican troll!? I wouldn't be surprised if you guys were baiting the libertarians and technologists on Slashdot this entire year. I wish I could be so confident of this as you are of this whole brouhaha being started by a "liberal", as NEITHER GODDAMN POSITION HAS EVIDENCE TO PROVE IT!!
I also find it very ironic that some prominent conservatives and Republicans have given Obama their support. Ever hear of Susan Eisenhower? How about Wick Allison? Richard Riordan? Lincoln Chafee? Linwood Holton? Give me these minds any day, rather than men who care more about their message and ideology than basic ethics and integrity.
Don't be too sure of that. The reports of inaccuracies, even reports of outright lies from the McCain campaign are increasing. In 2000, they were caught completely off guard by the Bush campaign's Hitler-esque tactics of lying blatantly and loudly. In 2004, they assumed that the same campaign wouldn't do the same bullshit again, and then there was the Swiftboat Veterans* for America.
In 2008, The Daily Show, The Colbert Report, heck, even Saturday Night Live are laughing at the media's collective incompetence. I do think they've heard of the old Irish saying, "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me."
No, don't use the Bush version. I don't want my IQ reduced by half.
* I have another name for those guys, but I'll restrain myself. If we get a Democrat in the Oval Office, I'll gladly call them what they are, since I won't be charged with sedition or disloyalty.
Slashdot Mirror
You know, given the reports that their oil reserves are running low, that would be an ingenious way to use their massive wealth and gain a leg up on the US.
"They'll claim that would be too confusing for most voters."
No, they'll claim that it would be too costly (re-scheduling the polls, re-printing, re-distributing and re-collecting the ballots, paying all the poll staff AGAIN) and time-consuming. If the election was online or all-electronic, this wouldn't be too much of a problem, but then you would have to contend with security threats from not only American partisans, but hackers from China and Russia.
Those who can't, sue.
Those who still can't, and lack common sense, decency, and sound judgment, sue anyway.
What's sobering is that Thompson knows enough about criminal law to skirt it and continue to harass the court system with his antics. I hope he has the arrogance and cojones to defy every order placed on him by judges from here on out, so he is put away for a long time on consecutive contempt charges.
What is also sobering is the fact that he didn't get nearly as much visibility as he wanted; this way, the entire nation would have known that a prominent voice in the anti-game violence camp has been thoroughly discredited.
In any case, game developers will continue to push the emotional and technological envelopes, because that is exactly what makes the big bucks.
Ms. Thomas isn't in as good a position as Tanya Andersen, so she'll have a very hard time getting a countersuit to stick.
You mean it isn't already, thanks to Bono's Disney Defense Act and the DMCA?
The only thing that is still keeping the RIAA labels and MPAA studios in power is their iron-fisted control over the creation and distribution of "mainstream" music and motion pictures. Once more people take media creation and distribution into their own hands, Berne Convention terms will become an annoyance rather than an advantage to the big media businesses. Their answer will always be to crush the ability for the small indie producer to make or distribute their stuff; we see this in action when an RIAA-sanctioned company collects royalties for everyone, not just RIAA members, and when the web radio community is threatened with financial extermination by fiat.
A few things can slow them down: important legal victories in the RIAA driftnet campaign that establish case law, and cutting lobbying and campaign contribution influence down to size, if not eliminating it. But the best way to break the cartels' backs is to encourage and support indie artists who stay away from the major labels and studios, and avoid buying products from labels and studios known to either participate in the driftnet or other consumer-hostile measures.
It won't be easy, and it will certainly take time, organization, and a lot of dedicated people. But the current Presidential campaigns (in particular, Ron Paul and Barack Obama) demonstrate that a concerted effort can be assembled nationwide through the Internet.
We just have to get out of our basements and brave the day-star. Well, that's what cell phones are for, IMO.
Given how a certain Presidential campaign is applying its own reality distortion field, I wouldn't be surprised if RIAA labels claim this as a win, along with all of the paid extortions/settlements from people without the knowledge, counsel, and/or resources with which to defend themselves. In fact, the odds are still stacked against Thomas, even though Capitol now has to prove actual distribution.
Winning is increasingly becoming not about who wins in actuality, but about who forms consensus about who won or not.
And no, IANAL, unless "armchair QBs" are all actual QBs.
Capitol Records is calling for infringement damages on the order of "messing with our business". The judge prudently calls for a review of copyright law, such that small-scale infringement like this should not be treated like the bootlegger in Russia or Hong Kong. Capitol, and the other RIAA member labels, claim they are one and the same. We and the judge know better, but this ain't in the current statutes, whereas the labels are trying to solidify this in case law through litigation and lobbying.
Ah, hate to rain on your sunshine, friend, but:
1. While the DoJ did reject a copyright czar, that's only because it came from Congress. If the media cartels asked for an executive order establishing one, I doubt Cheney/Bush would have a problem with it. Meanwhile, they are pushing everyone for the biggest bailout in history, and this is just the thing to distract us geeks.
2. Capitol Records gets to sue Thomas again, or at the very least, really squeeze her in settlement negotiations. The rejection of the $222K damages payment may seem like good news, until you realize that a retrial may cost just as much or more, combined with the first trial. What's more, the venue is already biased against her ("she shouldn't have downloaded crap from KaZaA", etc.) and the RIAA lawyers will almost definitely call for this judge's head on a stick for wasting their time. Capitol can continue to intimidate, drain, and make an example of Thomas, while whacking a judge for having a conscience and common sense-- it is a serious win for the RIAA.
You mean, typical Windows installations, circa 1995? That was just fine for many offices.
Others have mentioned this, but well-nested in other comment threads.
The Bush administration (in particular, Dick Cheney) has rejected this primarily because this is an "intrusion of the legislature" into the affairs of the executive. Cheney has resented any Congressional oversight or involvement in the White House ever since Nixon resigned, and after he failed to get Bush 41 to ditch Congress, he got Bush 43 to let him run the White House and thus ditch Congress directly. The (then) Republican majority went along with this, because they had a Republican in the White House to rubber-stamp their bills.
In this case, conflicting priorities have turned this very dangerous bill out for the better. Even if Congress passes and later overrides a veto, Cheney and/or Bush will simply starve it out of significance, if not existence. But be wary of the media industry cartels (RIAA, MPAA, BSA members-- others will likely list them up) lobbying the White House directly to get the President to appoint a copyright czar by executive order!
And even if Congress insisted by overriding a Presidential veto on this, Cheney will simply starve the office the way Nixon starved many of Johnson's now-defunct offices: Assign cronies to them.
Maybe you should add an addendum to whatever license you use, like:
x. The author disclaims that any service or labor requested, other than the software, may be obtained in exchange for fair compensation. "Compensation" includes, but is not limited to: money, beer, pizza, shiny objects.
y. The author is not your IT department, vendor, subordinate, mother, or nanny.
z. If you re-package the software in any way for profit, you must relicense with the author or face the wrath of the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
There's a growing number of Spanish speakers in America, so a good deal of us know perfectly well what libre means, just not as it pertains to software [and yes. Yes, you did spell that correctly. No, I'm not God.]
While I do think that IBM leaving ISO in protest would be a good thing overall for both ISO and IBM, I can't help but think that Microsoft will use this, as always, as a marketing ploy. In fact, I suspect they'll step up their rants against IBM and Sun.
"Look at IBM! Now we know they were the ones pushing ODF, and not us pushing Office on ISO!"
The other problem I see with IBM leaving ISO and succeeding in bringing other companies with it, is that now Microsoft has a very recognizable, international standards group under its heel and will probably monkey with software standards with impunity (first possible agenda: eliminate ODF as defunct). This will backfire on them in the long run, but keep in mind that Microsoft has historically favored short-term benefits for itself.
What, no overlords?
I don't know about you, but telling people to "act suspicious" smacks of teaching FBI recruits how to defend themselves against anyone who attacks them armed with fresh fruit. It would be hilarious if the administration (and at times, the Republican Party leadership) were not acting as if Flying Circus was a documentary.
Notice that there's no discussion of probable cause, let alone 4th Amendment protections. Notice there's little, if any, discussion of how actual terrorists act before the critical steps of their mission. Notice there's never any discussion of the root causes of terrorism among the ones in power, just the extermination of those who practice terrorism-- and even this is largely lip service and security theater.
I wish I were joking, but this administration is trying to lock-in some very dangerous precedents. Paulson introduced a bailout plan to Congress that included a provision that said, in essence, "don't oversee the Treasury Secretary or the Fed chairman". Not long after that, Dick Cheney himself tries to persuade Congressional Republicans to support the administration's plan. Cheney has a history of preferring to cut Congress out of the loop, legally or otherwise, ever since Nixon resigned. How much do you guys want to bet that the author of the proposed bailout plan isn't Paulson alone? How much do you want to bet that Paulson will use the bailout money and unsupervised power to nationalize even more corporations?
Re: The software compatibility, one would hope that they would test the bejeezus out of the thing before forcing the general public to do a paid beta test. (AKA a "release" ;)
Most software actually works fine, as you said, but some software products complain, in my experience.
As for the drivers, I'm pretty sure that was because Microsoft and the hardware manufacturers couldn't get on the same page until very, very late into the game.
Scott Adams is way ahead of ya:
To twist Hanlon's Razor a bit, why assume incompetence when you can sue for malice and win millions in damages?
Yeah, Capcom is taking the "downloadable add-ons" idea to an extreme that is unacceptably wrong.
The sad thing is, I suspect many Japanese will buy the game anyway. Some will refuse the add-ons out of frugality or pride in their skills. What I hope that they will not do is design the game to require some of those add-ons at certain points in the game. That would be even more wrong.
Here's the rub: According to the "churn" business/service model, a sucker is born every minute. What about the hundreds of customers you piss off? Fuck 'em. Don't waste your money trying to keep or convince them.
I'm hoping Sony sticks to its old-school Japanese roots and not pursue the way of the sagi-shi (swindler).
I'm curious as to what you would call preemptive arrest and detainment of RNC protesters this year by Minnesota police? There was no probable cause except maybe conspiracy, and they cast a very wide net, even ensnaring journalists on legitimate business and shoving aside bystanders.
The only plausible explanation for the arrests is to "maintain order" by suppressing these protesters' First Amendment right to assemble to redress grievances against the Republican-dominated government.
And in case you still think the Democrats "control" Congress, the President is still issuing vetoes at a steady clip, and the Democrats are powerless to stop him-- not enough votes to override (except in one case where some Republicans actually agreed with them), and not enough Democrats in the Senate to force cloture to stop the now-frequent Republican filibuster threat (60 needed, they have 50, and projected to have 55 after November-- this is a blessing in disguise only if the next President is a Democrat).
Fool! If you wanted the Bush administration neutralized, you should've gone for the veep.
So much for trolling for negative mods.
I'm a right wing Republican whose endorsing John McCain but I am appalled at the way you liberals are once destroying yourselves and your candidate with your withering self doubt.
(Warning: Napalm, water, and alkali metals ahead.)
I would love to hear or read a self-described "right wing Republican", for once in his life, not assume everything wrong as being caused by liberals.
How the hell do you know the original poster isn't a fucking Republican troll!? I wouldn't be surprised if you guys were baiting the libertarians and technologists on Slashdot this entire year. I wish I could be so confident of this as you are of this whole brouhaha being started by a "liberal", as NEITHER GODDAMN POSITION HAS EVIDENCE TO PROVE IT!!
I also find it very ironic that some prominent conservatives and Republicans have given Obama their support. Ever hear of Susan Eisenhower? How about Wick Allison? Richard Riordan? Lincoln Chafee? Linwood Holton? Give me these minds any day, rather than men who care more about their message and ideology than basic ethics and integrity.
Don't be too sure of that. The reports of inaccuracies, even reports of outright lies from the McCain campaign are increasing. In 2000, they were caught completely off guard by the Bush campaign's Hitler-esque tactics of lying blatantly and loudly. In 2004, they assumed that the same campaign wouldn't do the same bullshit again, and then there was the Swiftboat Veterans* for America.
In 2008, The Daily Show, The Colbert Report, heck, even Saturday Night Live are laughing at the media's collective incompetence. I do think they've heard of the old Irish saying, "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me."
No, don't use the Bush version. I don't want my IQ reduced by half.
* I have another name for those guys, but I'll restrain myself. If we get a Democrat in the Oval Office, I'll gladly call them what they are, since I won't be charged with sedition or disloyalty.