Katamari Damacy seemed pretty violent to me, with all the screaming and running and whatnot. The cheerful music made it seem like some sort of twisted black comedy.
Terror is an excuse to use the military worldwide without checks and then to come after the citizens of your own country when they question the government's efforts to fight the terror.
It doesn't matter whether the war is against a country, an inanimate object, or a tactic. It doesn't matter whether it's real or imagined. All that matters is that the citizens of the state are kept fearful of and distracted by the target of the war. It also gives the state a pretext to deal with "troublesome" citizens. That was the point Orwell was making. It doesn't matter whether the war can be won or not, because it's merely a tool of distraction.
I'm re-reading that one now. Parts of it were assigned by my American history professor a few years ago. It's a fantastic book, and makes even more sense in the context of Gatto's book.
...the more likely it is that someone will come up with something really cool. If you're not a programmer, you still benefit from other people having the ability to modify the code (or create their own clients, in this case).
We need to push for public access to government-operated surveillance devices. The cameras aren't going to go away.
Publically accessable cameras could be used to watch for police misbehavior at the same time that the police are watching through the same cameras for criminal activity and protestor misbehavior.
Misidentified individuals would be better able to defend themselves in court if the complete footage from all cameras is available. The police won't be able to omit the footage that hurts their case.
An alternative (non-legistlative) solution would be for private organizations and individuals to set up their own cameras in windows of houses, apartment buildings, and offices, and carried by people. The problem is that privately-operated public cameras won't have the resolution or storage capacity of government-operated cameras. Stationary cameras would need to record in a long-duration (at least several hours) loop, and their operators would need to know that something interesting has been recorded in order for the proper footage to be saved.
I find it interesting that in both polls, the highest result was "Maybe, it depends on the price" - around 30% for both polls. I would guess that this would be even more of a factor for the general population. These polls are only sampling the opinions of those who frequent gaming websites.
There seems to be a lot more consumer excitement about the Nintendo DS. It might be some sort of geek bias, since I'm going off what I've seen on internet forums, but I can see how the DS would be much more successful.
Obviously the big issue will be what games are available for each system. This remains to be seen, but the backwards compatibility seems like a very big advantage for the DS. The DS will have a massive previous-generation game library, just as the PS2 does. This is less of an issue as a system reaches maturity, but it's important for a newly-launched system.
The other major issue is the price of each system. The DS will cost (so we've been told) $150. That's only $50 more than a GBA SP. The PSP will be priced around $250, resulting in significantly slower consumer uptake. Combined with the earlier launch date of the DS, the PSP will have a difficult time breaking into the market.
I think Sony would have done better to create a PSone-sized machine capable of playing PS1 and PS2 games, as well as audio CDs and DVDs. Sure, it couldn't really be considered a handheld system any more, and you'd need a carrying case for it, but they're trying to market the PSP as an all-in-one media player/game system. Why not make something that actually plays your media? Creating a new disc format specific to the PSP and only allowing it to play Sony's DRM-encumbered music files seems like a mistake to me.
On a not entirely related note, how many of you have thought about the possibility of running Linux on the DS? The features seem perfect for it. We just need a port.
IANAL, but I don't think trademark law would apply any differently in this case. It would be the same as if you had paid money to Sun for a liscense to use Java's source code in your product. It doesn't give you the right to call your product "Java". The only difference with OSS is that you're using your copyrighted material to pay for the liscense of Sun's copyrighted material.
It may very well be the case that Linus' trademark on "Linux" has been dilluted to the point where it would not stand up in court. The same could not be said of the Mozilla Foundation's trademarks, which are kept very well protected.
Slashdot Mirror
How can the Chinese government become any more totalitarian than it already is?
By immitating the US government!
When I saw this headline, I thought that we could now download RMS, who will then lecture us about software freedom.
Given the PR fiasco that they've created, I'd say they're not doing what they need to keep maximum profitability.
And yet MARRIAGES are in-character? C'mon, let's think this one through...
Well, then they'd all be 0's. Not much use for the 1's these days anyway.
Who would you rather see dragged out into the street and shot, Gates or Jobs?
Anything worth watching is on BitTorrent or eDonkey. A whole lot of things not worth watching are available too (Jackass comes to mind).
We are the unwashed masses. Well, okay, some of us are the washed masses.
Dear Slashbots: You do not control anything. Have a nice day.
Why would freedom of speech and free access to information be "downsides"?
Katamari Damacy seemed pretty violent to me, with all the screaming and running and whatnot. The cheerful music made it seem like some sort of twisted black comedy.
It doesn't matter whether the war is against a country, an inanimate object, or a tactic. It doesn't matter whether it's real or imagined. All that matters is that the citizens of the state are kept fearful of and distracted by the target of the war. It also gives the state a pretext to deal with "troublesome" citizens. That was the point Orwell was making. It doesn't matter whether the war can be won or not, because it's merely a tool of distraction.
That's where I found out about it. Why was the parent post modded down?
I'm re-reading that one now. Parts of it were assigned by my American history professor a few years ago. It's a fantastic book, and makes even more sense in the context of Gatto's book.
I set up a mirror here, from my "offline reading" copy. Please use the main site when it comes back up.
...the more likely it is that someone will come up with something really cool. If you're not a programmer, you still benefit from other people having the ability to modify the code (or create their own clients, in this case).
We need to push for public access to government-operated surveillance devices. The cameras aren't going to go away.
Publically accessable cameras could be used to watch for police misbehavior at the same time that the police are watching through the same cameras for criminal activity and protestor misbehavior.
Misidentified individuals would be better able to defend themselves in court if the complete footage from all cameras is available. The police won't be able to omit the footage that hurts their case.
An alternative (non-legistlative) solution would be for private organizations and individuals to set up their own cameras in windows of houses, apartment buildings, and offices, and carried by people. The problem is that privately-operated public cameras won't have the resolution or storage capacity of government-operated cameras. Stationary cameras would need to record in a long-duration (at least several hours) loop, and their operators would need to know that something interesting has been recorded in order for the proper footage to be saved.
We already do. It doesn't stop the spam, though.
You could port Linux to it, but input would be a problem. The DS' touchscreen allows it to function like a PDA. Think of it as a poor man's Zodiac.
Linux on the PSP might be good for... well, playing games. LxDoom, anyone?
I kinda like that name. It would sound better if it weren't for the whole scuffle with France over the Iraq war.
Free as in fries?
Check out these two recent polls that GameFAQs did:
DS Poll
PSP Poll
I find it interesting that in both polls, the highest result was "Maybe, it depends on the price" - around 30% for both polls. I would guess that this would be even more of a factor for the general population. These polls are only sampling the opinions of those who frequent gaming websites.
There seems to be a lot more consumer excitement about the Nintendo DS. It might be some sort of geek bias, since I'm going off what I've seen on internet forums, but I can see how the DS would be much more successful.
Obviously the big issue will be what games are available for each system. This remains to be seen, but the backwards compatibility seems like a very big advantage for the DS. The DS will have a massive previous-generation game library, just as the PS2 does. This is less of an issue as a system reaches maturity, but it's important for a newly-launched system.
The other major issue is the price of each system. The DS will cost (so we've been told) $150. That's only $50 more than a GBA SP. The PSP will be priced around $250, resulting in significantly slower consumer uptake. Combined with the earlier launch date of the DS, the PSP will have a difficult time breaking into the market.
I think Sony would have done better to create a PSone-sized machine capable of playing PS1 and PS2 games, as well as audio CDs and DVDs. Sure, it couldn't really be considered a handheld system any more, and you'd need a carrying case for it, but they're trying to market the PSP as an all-in-one media player/game system. Why not make something that actually plays your media? Creating a new disc format specific to the PSP and only allowing it to play Sony's DRM-encumbered music files seems like a mistake to me.
On a not entirely related note, how many of you have thought about the possibility of running Linux on the DS? The features seem perfect for it. We just need a port.
The new longer, ribbed X-Box controller.
You can do it yourself with a glass jar, two wires, a battery, and something to collect the gasses with.
Of course, when I tried it, my electrodes kept corroding off. Not sure what to do about that.
IANAL, but I don't think trademark law would apply any differently in this case. It would be the same as if you had paid money to Sun for a liscense to use Java's source code in your product. It doesn't give you the right to call your product "Java". The only difference with OSS is that you're using your copyrighted material to pay for the liscense of Sun's copyrighted material.
It may very well be the case that Linus' trademark on "Linux" has been dilluted to the point where it would not stand up in court. The same could not be said of the Mozilla Foundation's trademarks, which are kept very well protected.