Either: $400/year for EMS contacting, vehicle location, vehicle unlocking, directions, mapping, list of local services. This is far more than what the crippled Onstar would be able to do and in my opinion well worth the investment
This is capable of: Mapping, GPS Location, local service look-up (gas stations, hotels, businesses, eateries, etc.) play DVD's, play MP3's, let your driving companion play Q3A. Again well worth the investment.
However since many of us geeks out there already have laptops and since it would seem that you need on to do the OnStar hacks, the $130 for a Delorme GPS rig seems to be the cheaper and FAR simpler solution.
Well let me ask you a question. If half of all the crashes in the Windows environment are caused by third-party software...
Then who is left for the remaining 50% of the crashes?
And as for the integrity (or lack thereof) of slashdot, if it bothers you so much then why don't to excercise the rights given to you in the Bill of Rights and stop reading/.?
The person(s) at Microsoft who code software with holes big enough to fly an L-1011 through?
Or, the people at Microsoft who are supposed test the software and make sure that thier products (that they advertise as secure) are as secure as they can make it
Perhaps the people at Microsoft who push out the software onto the shelves before it's secure.
Then there's the people who are supposed to document the security holes and make sure that the patch is available to the world in an easy to find format.
Also on my "Fire the bastard nomination list" is the person(s) who are supposed to maintain the Windows Update Page and make sure that all the patches (and I think that it qualifies as a critical update) are available for everyone home and small business user that doesn't have a subscription to Microsoft's Monthly Technical Update CD's.
Lets face it. The critical update for this patch hit late friday afternoon. The computer in question was released to the customer on Friday morning. It came too late.
And yes I saw articles on/. saying that there's another security hole, but then scarcely a day goes by that there isn't one. Frankly I'd be surprised if there weren't more people like me who roll thier eyes at the article headline and make a mental note to run the windows update when we get done reading/.
You want to place the blame? Place it on where it really belongs please...Microsoft for opening the holes and the hacker wannabees that exploit them for thier own sick pleasure.
"So you put their machine on a direct connection to the internet with no firewall? Thanks to assholes like you any kid on IRC can gather together thousands of machines and DDOS my web site. Thanks"
Fuck off! If there's anything nearly as bad as the virus writers it's cocksmokers like you that make assumptions you can neither prove nor disprove, then attack posters i nthe/. forums based on them.
Not that it's any of your goddamn concern but when that machine was plugged into *our* network it was behind (as is the rest of our network) a Symantec Firewall/VPN appliance that has has it;s firmware updated every damn time a new one comes out. I do what I can to make sure that when the computer leaves my shop it is clean, patched and as secure as I can irregardless of the security holes.
You want to blame someone? Blame the *customer* who hooked it up to Comcast *after* he got it from me. Blame Comcast for selling modems but no fucking security methods of any type.
Why do people like you exist? Are your lives so devoid of happiness that you have to spread misery to everyone else? Have you nothing better to do in your lives that you have to hang around on a public forum and heckle anyone who comes along for no better reason other than someone posted something that you can use as a hook for an attack?
Unplug from the computer, go outside (you know, the "big blue room with the really high ceiling"), and get a life...please dear GOD get a life.
And I know this for a fact. I had a machine that I re-loaded XP on for a customer since he was upgrading his mootherboard. Friday I finish the windows load and I install all the patched available on the update page. Ran it once to get the first 80Mb of patches, ran it to get Media Player 9, ran it again to get the security patch for Media Player 9.
That's everything on the update page.
Installed Norton AV 2003 and got all the updates available as of last Friday. After doing that one would have a reasonable expectation of being safe against a problem, especially since the problem was discovered a full month ago.
Monday the customer called with the machine giving a 60 second countdown and rebooting.
Now even if the people at the MVA and other places *did* the updates from the updates page, they'd still be screwed.
All I want is these virus programmers, their fingers, a ball-peen hammer and 5 minutes...it's all the time I'd need
Actually I have to agree with SuiteSisterMary on this one. One of the many problems in tracking down Child Pornography in this country is the simple fact that the pedophiles in the USA are more than willing to share resources so that they can all have thier little perversions...often for free. Usenet, Pirate webservers (20 gb on a customer's unsecured proxy/fileserver), and now through file sharing protocals are just some of the many ways that child porn is spreading.
To keep thier little perversion alive they are more than willing to take snapshots of thier ilegal activites and post them for all pedopervs to share.
For me, I read something in a book and then get to see it on film. By your thoughts on the matter, this has now robbed me of my mental image of the character. I say not.
Take for example the Dragonriders of Pern series, The Harper Hall Trilogy in particular. Robin Wood (www.robinwood.com) did an official book of artwork based off the DRoP series. However Robin's version of the character of Menoly just is a little too...tomboyish to fit my concept based off the description in the book. I've seen this concept and my mind rejects it when I read the series. My imagination still takes the dominant role and assigns her as feminine, perhaps a bit on the tallish side.
Other cases (same series and same art book) the character of Master Robinton as drawn by Robin fit my mental image of the character so well that there isn't any adjustment of my already established image.
It also depends on how well the artist describes the characters. A well defined character (Master Robinton and Piemur from the DRoP universe and the characters in the Harry Potter universe) tends to make it easier for the casting people to fill the rolls with people who fit the descriptions well.
Look at the drawings in the Harry Potter books and then compare them to Daniel Radcliffe and Rupert Grint. Even JK Rowling herself in working with the movie staff agreed that they were what she envisioned when she wrote the books.
Anne McCaffrey did the same with Robin Wood and saw a few that Robin did that weren't quite her concept and others that were spot on.
People who 'lose' thier mental images of the characters/worlds from what I have seen and talked with my friends, tend to be people who don't read that much in the first place or don't get the same levels on immersion and enjoyment as those of us who hold on to our mental pictures.
Granted that the current state of copyright and patent in the world is rapidly going to hell in a handbasket and something needs to be done. And your comparasion to with the worker unrest in the turn of the century is a good analogy.
However I'm having a problem seeing how an author can make money at thier talent without copyright. GNU works because companies like RedHat aren't really selling thier product, but they're selling thier support on the product. Indie Musicians are getting paid for performing at clubs and other performances as well as via T-Shirts and CD's......But how would the Author make money off thier product if someone could (without copyright) take thier ideas and make it into a movie without thier permission. Or without copyright, how could an author like JK Rowling, Mercedes Lackey, or Anne McCaffrey keep some one from turning one of thier characters into something that they aren't supposed to be, *and* then selling it?
I agree that something needs to be done, but I'd love to hear how to do it without copyright and keep it fair and honest for everyone...author included.
My point isn't whether or not one agrees with the Author/RIAA/MPAA/Whatever. The point I'm trying to make is what happened to society that it now believes that the proper solution to every little injustice (real or percieved) is to steal content from them. To punish the criminals, we're commiting a crime is the way it seems to be going.
Why should we stoop to thier level and steal and gouge others. It only really effects us with higher prices and companies that feel that they need to fight back to protect thier interests...which makes us fught back harder...it's a cycle and it's a right nasty bugger of one at that.
Ah. I need to clear this one up...I was a little ambigious here.
I'm not condoning the actions. My way of dealing with the rather draconian practices of the RIAA is to take most of my money elsewhere and not sponser them.
My point that I was trying to make is that the acts of theft against the RIAA and other forms of piracy are ilegal and I don't approve of any of them.
-but-
I can at least see *why* they're doing it. There is a rationalization, it's not a good one but it is there. The cost of a 45 minute CD is now as much as and in some cases more than a 4 hour DVD(movie plus bonus content). We're talking about an inflation rate of $10 in the past 10 years (used to pay $11 per cd back then).
The piracy of books is hard to understand (at least as far as novels go...was unaware that textbooks were so bloody expensive) since the costs of paperbacks have gone up between $1.50-$2.00 in the same period of time.
I don't condone any piracy regardless of the rational, but I can at least see the "robin hood" syndrome there.
In response to all of the AC's and the few people brave enough to post under thier account names...
Yes I know that JK Rowling wasn't really starving. It was an exageration.
By her words she was single mother living at the poverty level struggling to raise her children.
But there is one point where I am correct. Someone pointed out that JK Rowling wasn't poor when she was writing the books. Not entirely true. She wrote Harry Potter #1 while she was poor. It was the sale of that book that started her out of the situation she was in and onto the road to the sucess that she has now. She WAS poor when she was a writer...at the very begining and this is from her own words in the interviews I've seen on Tv, read in the newspapers and online.
Personally I can't stand reading anything on a palmpilot that has a limited amount of screen space and causes me to have to scroll constantly, but if that's what you don't mind doing then more power to you.
And in fact I don't have a problem with people who use the E-Books...as long as people pay for them. My beef is with the fact that the popular solution against *anything* that annoys the populace is to steal it.
Example: "The RIAA is a bunch of fuckers and thus we should steal from them."
Instead, try sponsering the independant artists (who have as good if not better music than the reconstituted pablum that the RIAA is churning out). Dening the RIAA Revenue by spending money elsewhere is a far better cry than stealing.
Or "The Movie industry is horrible so lets camcorder the movies and post them on the internet and make VCD copies of the DVD's when they come out." Theft again.
"Microsoft makes crappy software that is vastly overpriced." The solution is *never* "Let's use Linux that can now play many of the newest games out there with the newest WiNE." No! It's to pirate a copy of XP and pass it on to our of our friends. Have you any idea *how fucking often* I see that same exact Licence key come over my tech bench in a month? I now have a big sign on my counter saying that if you don't have a MS Sticker with the reg key or proof of a Site License I'm not going to touch it unless you do or purchase a copy from me. I even have a bigger note saying that the reg key "FCKGW-(etc...etc)" is pirated and will not be permitted.
If they make a service that allows the user to pay for the content in an electronic format I'd not use it because I like carrying books, but I'd have no problems with other users who prefer to read electronicaly since the author gets compensated for thier work.
But that's just me and my opinions, a freak among geeks since I didn't inherit the Larceny Gene unlike so many others around me.
Phoenix
BTW: Why don't you lose the AC tag and debate out in the open. It's more fun that way
"It gives people the ability to read books/comics that they would never be able to find, or own."
That I blame on the publishers. If they were to put them online and charge a *reasonable* fee (say monthly/unlimited use) then they can make money off of the out of print comics with a minimal amount of investment (Minimal opposed to the costs of re-release). People could still collect the comics and a mint condition Spiderman #1 would still command a huge price, but the rest of us who could care less about having it sitting in thier closet could read the story and enjoy it.
"At the end of the day when I read some pirated book I simply equate it to borrowing it much like I would from a library (but without the effort of actually going there of course)."
Ahem? If you borrow a book from the library you paid for it...out of the taxes that maintains the library hance you have a reasonable expectation to be able to read the book.
Borrowing the book from someone you know who has bought it is another thing, you're borrowing the book from someone who paid for it and you'll give it back to them and either never read the book again or consider buying a copy for yourself (as what happened to me when I got into the Harry Potter Series)
Downloading a copy from a group of pirates means that there is an extremly good chance that the person you downloaded it from isn't the one who paid money for it. Plus there's the fact that you're not likely to get rid of your copy when you're done...if you like it you're going to put it onto a CD-R or other long-term storage media...all without paying for it.
Piracy against the RIAA is still ilegal, but considering the way that the RIAA screws everyone (the artists included), it's understandable.
Piract against the Movie Industry is again ilegal but it can be rationalized when you consider some of the dodgy things they want to try and pull against the consumers.
Piracy against the book publishing firms makes no damn sense. They don't screw the customers, price increases for books have been very slight and can be explained by the normal rate of inflation (my personal average is $1.50 over the past 10 years) and if you really want to read the book for free there is a *legal* way to do it. Just go to the local library and check it out
There is no "robin hood" rationalization for this, there is no way to justify it, this is just a bunch of cheap fuckers who can't be bothered to fork over $18 on Amazon.com for a pre-order.
In my opinion it's *now* a case of the consumers (the ones sharing the books on the web) screwing the authors. Remember, JK Rowling was a starving single mother when she wrote HP:ATSS...Think about *that* when HP #6 comes out
"Why is porn a "News for nerds?" If this happend online, maybe I could see the point. However, this happened in the meat. This story has no technology component and is just a standard porn issue."
Because Slashdot is a forum dedicated to the things that facinates us members of the 'geek' or 'nerd' community. As comics are getting more involved with plot, character development and much better stories,(certainly the opposite trend of today's Television), something like is 'news for nerds' as many of us will have an interest. There are several things that get reported that have bugger all to do with the internet, but we read, comment and debate them to our hearts content.
"I am a geek that happens to not care about porn."
More power to you for that. Everyone has his/her own likes and dislikes and that is a good thing.
"I wouldn't mind obscenity laws being even stricter. There is no need to for hardcore pornography in a modern society."
I remember a line in "Dogma", specificly that scene where Bartelby is dropping people from great heights and Loki trying to explain the repressed anger that he's trying to get out "If only they'd allow jerk off"
Porn is a sexual outlet for people of all genders (some more so than others). Many people enjoy it as an aid to a relationship. I know that after watching some adult movies, there are couples that have an ever more enjoyable sexual experience. For others, it's a release of sexual tension when a partner is unavailable (either due to absence or stereotypical geek inability to acquire such.
Banning hardcore porn isn't an answer or even a viable option. Look at what happened during prohibition or the current 'war on drugs'. The more you ban something, the more it comes back...usually stronger.
Now on the one hand I deem that there should and must be limits as to what is considered legal. Sexual contact with minors is the current biggy out there today. I for one am against it. However on the other hand it's a grey area when you're talking about drawing a fictional scene of under age contact.
It is still abhorrent to me to consider such, but there are people who derive pleasure from it and would it really be so bad if they get it out of thier systems with a few colored pencils and a sheet of paper instead of doing it for real?
Granted there are the arguements of the people who can't just leave it in the fictional world and will step over in to the 'real' world and do it...this is why I consider it a grey area.
In a way it's like reading Stephen King. That man thinks like a serial killer but channels it in the safe and legal area of writing, but I doubt *he'll* become one in real life...others might not be so safe and cross over.
It has a place here, it's something to debate and gives us something to do while we're waiting foe something to download (in my case Linux Distro's)
Or the yoga...would that be better? The annoying co-worker who whistles through his nose every time he breaths...I can imagine the stressed out "A" Type grabbing the guy and 'helping' him into several yoga positions that while are impossible, are amusing to contemplate
Which is one of the reasons that I've stopped sharing music all together.
First of all, frankly the music sharing programs are just about worthless since I'm not interested in genres of music that the majority of people out there are interested in. Most of the time I can find 30-100 hits of the song that I want but only 20 of them work and they're hosted on someone who has a dial-up connection that's 80% utilized by the person downloading other songs. It simply is just not worth it with all the agrevation.
Secondly there *is* the issue of copyright to contend with. I have an extensive MP3 collection on my laptop. However you'll find that I either own the CD and have ripped it for portability -or- it was freely available off of an independent artist's site (or section on MP3.com).
*I* am against the RIAA not for them wanting to curb piracy (that's their right as the copyright holders of the music) but for the fact that stifle music instead of promoting it. They pay artists to *not* release an album. They promote music that appeals to what they consider they big market (teenage girls 13-15) and for the most part ignore the rest of us. They take a great big whopping chunk of the album's profits and leave a small nibblet for the artist (not a problem for a big name, but is a bitch for the newcommers).
The list goes on and on.
My solution is to simply buy my CD's from the artist directly off of CD Street or thier website. Also as I'm into Celtic Music I can usually catch the CD right at the fair at a very fair price ($12-$15 which is a damn sight better than $18-$20)
Microsoft has it's way of preventing piracy of Windows and Office XP and I can accept that. The RIAA has it's methods of preventing piracy and I can accept that. However I dislike both companies and thier business practices. Solution?
Do not buy thier products and find a substitute that meets your needs. Linux and Indies. That is more of an acceptable approach to protest than simply stealing the stuff.
Phoenix (although I have to confess...in a moment of weakness I *did* break down and buy Weird Al's latest CD)
It's these articles on Slashdot and on other sites in the media.
(Please hold off your flames till you read the rest of the article...I'm *not* blaming/.)
The reason I say that these articles are killing the music industry is that they show us the truth about the RIAA. People read articles like this and they think to themselves "There is no way in hell I'm going to give them any of my hard earned money if they're going to treat me like a criminal."
They stop recording good artists and replace them with bands that appeal to the 13-15 year old schoolgirls who will buy the CD because it's the latest fad.
They attack anyone who designs some means of sharing (or hell even *finding* files) even if MP3 isn't the frimary function of the file sharing. Honestly I'm amazed they haven't gone after the people who invented networking protocals in the first damn place.
They are more concerned about making money than they are about the art form itself, not paying attention to the fact that if they put out quality product then they *will* make money because we want to buy it.
We know what the articles read, we see them each and every day that goes by about how draconian the RIAA has become. It's these articles that are killing the RIAA's profits for they are pissing off the American Music Listener. If the RIAA wants to start making money again they need to simply do one thing...Stop pissing off your customer base and we will come back.
Otherwise I'm just going to stand there and watch the RIAA slowly die and I'm not going to give them a single penny to save them...even if that means that I never get a copy of "Weird Al" Yankovic's latest album
No remotely modern aircraft is capable to land on it?
Wanna bet?
There is one aircraft that not only can take off and land on it, -but- is also the only aircraft that is permitted to take off and land while *any* aircraft carrier is docked in port.
Harrier Jump Jets are reasonably modern as I recall.
With the angled ramp as it is (or even perhaps angled a little bit more) the AV8-B would be able to take off with a minimal amount of fuel and without using the Catapults. If I'm not too terribly mistaken the British are doing that for thier light carrier fleet - harriers included.
Landings would be no problem - at least no more problem than a normal Carrier Landing (controled crash anyone?)
Slashdot Mirror
Two ways of looking at it.
Either:
$400/year for EMS contacting, vehicle location, vehicle unlocking, directions, mapping, list of local services. This is far more than what the crippled Onstar would be able to do and in my opinion well worth the investment
Or:
Delorme Mapping software - $40
Delorme Earthmate GPS - $90
Laptop Computer - $1100
This is capable of:
Mapping, GPS Location, local service look-up (gas stations, hotels, businesses, eateries, etc.) play DVD's, play MP3's, let your driving companion play Q3A. Again well worth the investment.
However since many of us geeks out there already have laptops and since it would seem that you need on to do the OnStar hacks, the $130 for a Delorme GPS rig seems to be the cheaper and FAR simpler solution.
But that's just my humble opinion
But what happens if a bubble and an Anti-bubble collide? Does the resulting reaction result in the total annihilation of your beer?
Could the chain reaction cascade into other beers?
The results would be just too horrific to contemplate.
Phoenix
Oh great! Now I'm going to catch hell from all my customers who run in-house P2P LAN's to share the internet or just to share a printer/fax/copier.
Thanks RIAA, I'm sending you my Excedrin bill for next month
Well let me ask you a question. If half of all the crashes in the Windows environment are caused by third-party software...
/.?
Then who is left for the remaining 50% of the crashes?
And as for the integrity (or lack thereof) of slashdot, if it bothers you so much then why don't to excercise the rights given to you in the Bill of Rights and stop reading
*I* should be fired?
/. saying that there's another security hole, but then scarcely a day goes by that there isn't one. Frankly I'd be surprised if there weren't more people like me who roll thier eyes at the article headline and make a mental note to run the windows update when we get done reading /.
That's rich
Why me? Why not:
The person(s) at Microsoft who code software with holes big enough to fly an L-1011 through?
Or, the people at Microsoft who are supposed test the software and make sure that thier products (that they advertise as secure) are as secure as they can make it
Perhaps the people at Microsoft who push out the software onto the shelves before it's secure.
Then there's the people who are supposed to document the security holes and make sure that the patch is available to the world in an easy to find format.
Also on my "Fire the bastard nomination list" is the person(s) who are supposed to maintain the Windows Update Page and make sure that all the patches (and I think that it qualifies as a critical update) are available for everyone home and small business user that doesn't have a subscription to Microsoft's Monthly Technical Update CD's.
Lets face it. The critical update for this patch hit late friday afternoon. The computer in question was released to the customer on Friday morning. It came too late.
And yes I saw articles on
You want to place the blame? Place it on where it really belongs please...Microsoft for opening the holes and the hacker wannabees that exploit them for thier own sick pleasure.
"So you put their machine on a direct connection to the internet with no firewall? Thanks to assholes like you any kid on IRC can gather together thousands of machines and DDOS my web site. Thanks"
/. forums based on them.
Fuck off! If there's anything nearly as bad as the virus writers it's cocksmokers like you that make assumptions you can neither prove nor disprove, then attack posters i nthe
Not that it's any of your goddamn concern but when that machine was plugged into *our* network it was behind (as is the rest of our network) a Symantec Firewall/VPN appliance that has has it;s firmware updated every damn time a new one comes out. I do what I can to make sure that when the computer leaves my shop it is clean, patched and as secure as I can irregardless of the security holes.
You want to blame someone? Blame the *customer* who hooked it up to Comcast *after* he got it from me. Blame Comcast for selling modems but no fucking security methods of any type.
Why do people like you exist? Are your lives so devoid of happiness that you have to spread misery to everyone else? Have you nothing better to do in your lives that you have to hang around on a public forum and heckle anyone who comes along for no better reason other than someone posted something that you can use as a hook for an attack?
Unplug from the computer, go outside (you know, the "big blue room with the really high ceiling"), and get a life...please dear GOD get a life.
And I know this for a fact. I had a machine that I re-loaded XP on for a customer since he was upgrading his mootherboard. Friday I finish the windows load and I install all the patched available on the update page. Ran it once to get the first 80Mb of patches, ran it to get Media Player 9, ran it again to get the security patch for Media Player 9.
That's everything on the update page.
Installed Norton AV 2003 and got all the updates available as of last Friday. After doing that one would have a reasonable expectation of being safe against a problem, especially since the problem was discovered a full month ago.
Monday the customer called with the machine giving a 60 second countdown and rebooting.
Now even if the people at the MVA and other places *did* the updates from the updates page, they'd still be screwed.
All I want is these virus programmers, their fingers, a ball-peen hammer and 5 minutes...it's all the time I'd need
Actually I have to agree with SuiteSisterMary on this one. One of the many problems in tracking down Child Pornography in this country is the simple fact that the pedophiles in the USA are more than willing to share resources so that they can all have thier little perversions...often for free. Usenet, Pirate webservers (20 gb on a customer's unsecured proxy/fileserver), and now through file sharing protocals are just some of the many ways that child porn is spreading.
To keep thier little perversion alive they are more than willing to take snapshots of thier ilegal activites and post them for all pedopervs to share.
Phoenix
Is it? Does it really limit the imagination?
I tend to disagree.
For me, I read something in a book and then get to see it on film. By your thoughts on the matter, this has now robbed me of my mental image of the character. I say not.
Take for example the Dragonriders of Pern series, The Harper Hall Trilogy in particular. Robin Wood (www.robinwood.com) did an official book of artwork based off the DRoP series. However Robin's version of the character of Menoly just is a little too...tomboyish to fit my concept based off the description in the book. I've seen this concept and my mind rejects it when I read the series. My imagination still takes the dominant role and assigns her as feminine, perhaps a bit on the tallish side.
Other cases (same series and same art book) the character of Master Robinton as drawn by Robin fit my mental image of the character so well that there isn't any adjustment of my already established image.
It also depends on how well the artist describes the characters. A well defined character (Master Robinton and Piemur from the DRoP universe and the characters in the Harry Potter universe) tends to make it easier for the casting people to fill the rolls with people who fit the descriptions well.
Look at the drawings in the Harry Potter books and then compare them to Daniel Radcliffe and Rupert Grint. Even JK Rowling herself in working with the movie staff agreed that they were what she envisioned when she wrote the books.
Anne McCaffrey did the same with Robin Wood and saw a few that Robin did that weren't quite her concept and others that were spot on.
People who 'lose' thier mental images of the characters/worlds from what I have seen and talked with my friends, tend to be people who don't read that much in the first place or don't get the same levels on immersion and enjoyment as those of us who hold on to our mental pictures.
Phoenix
Granted that the current state of copyright and patent in the world is rapidly going to hell in a handbasket and something needs to be done. And your comparasion to with the worker unrest in the turn of the century is a good analogy.
...But how would the Author make money off thier product if someone could (without copyright) take thier ideas and make it into a movie without thier permission. Or without copyright, how could an author like JK Rowling, Mercedes Lackey, or Anne McCaffrey keep some one from turning one of thier characters into something that they aren't supposed to be, *and* then selling it?
However I'm having a problem seeing how an author can make money at thier talent without copyright. GNU works because companies like RedHat aren't really selling thier product, but they're selling thier support on the product. Indie Musicians are getting paid for performing at clubs and other performances as well as via T-Shirts and CD's...
I agree that something needs to be done, but I'd love to hear how to do it without copyright and keep it fair and honest for everyone...author included.
Phoenix
My point isn't whether or not one agrees with the Author/RIAA/MPAA/Whatever. The point I'm trying to make is what happened to society that it now believes that the proper solution to every little injustice (real or percieved) is to steal content from them. To punish the criminals, we're commiting a crime is the way it seems to be going.
Why should we stoop to thier level and steal and gouge others. It only really effects us with higher prices and companies that feel that they need to fight back to protect thier interests...which makes us fught back harder...it's a cycle and it's a right nasty bugger of one at that.
Phoenix
Yeah and they say the same thing about CD's, VHS tapes, DVD's >
If they had thier way you wouldn't even be allowed to invite friends over and throw in LoTR:FoTR and let them see it.
Is it me or is this handbasket moving faster?
Ah. I need to clear this one up...I was a little ambigious here.
I'm not condoning the actions. My way of dealing with the rather draconian practices of the RIAA is to take most of my money elsewhere and not sponser them.
My point that I was trying to make is that the acts of theft against the RIAA and other forms of piracy are ilegal and I don't approve of any of them.
-but-
I can at least see *why* they're doing it. There is a rationalization, it's not a good one but it is there. The cost of a 45 minute CD is now as much as and in some cases more than a 4 hour DVD(movie plus bonus content). We're talking about an inflation rate of $10 in the past 10 years (used to pay $11 per cd back then).
The piracy of books is hard to understand (at least as far as novels go...was unaware that textbooks were so bloody expensive) since the costs of paperbacks have gone up between $1.50-$2.00 in the same period of time.
I don't condone any piracy regardless of the rational, but I can at least see the "robin hood" syndrome there.
Phoenix
In response to all of the AC's and the few people brave enough to post under thier account names...
Yes I know that JK Rowling wasn't really starving. It was an exageration.
By her words she was single mother living at the poverty level struggling to raise her children.
But there is one point where I am correct. Someone pointed out that JK Rowling wasn't poor when she was writing the books. Not entirely true. She wrote Harry Potter #1 while she was poor. It was the sale of that book that started her out of the situation she was in and onto the road to the sucess that she has now. She WAS poor when she was a writer...at the very begining and this is from her own words in the interviews I've seen on Tv, read in the newspapers and online.
Hi Anonymous Coward
Personally I can't stand reading anything on a palmpilot that has a limited amount of screen space and causes me to have to scroll constantly, but if that's what you don't mind doing then more power to you.
And in fact I don't have a problem with people who use the E-Books...as long as people pay for them. My beef is with the fact that the popular solution against *anything* that annoys the populace is to steal it.
Example: "The RIAA is a bunch of fuckers and thus we should steal from them."
Instead, try sponsering the independant artists (who have as good if not better music than the reconstituted pablum that the RIAA is churning out). Dening the RIAA Revenue by spending money elsewhere is a far better cry than stealing.
Or "The Movie industry is horrible so lets camcorder the movies and post them on the internet and make VCD copies of the DVD's when they come out." Theft again.
"Microsoft makes crappy software that is vastly overpriced." The solution is *never* "Let's use Linux that can now play many of the newest games out there with the newest WiNE." No! It's to pirate a copy of XP and pass it on to our of our friends. Have you any idea *how fucking often* I see that same exact Licence key come over my tech bench in a month? I now have a big sign on my counter saying that if you don't have a MS Sticker with the reg key or proof of a Site License I'm not going to touch it unless you do or purchase a copy from me. I even have a bigger note saying that the reg key "FCKGW-(etc...etc)" is pirated and will not be permitted.
If they make a service that allows the user to pay for the content in an electronic format I'd not use it because I like carrying books, but I'd have no problems with other users who prefer to read electronicaly since the author gets compensated for thier work.
But that's just me and my opinions, a freak among geeks since I didn't inherit the Larceny Gene unlike so many others around me.
Phoenix
BTW: Why don't you lose the AC tag and debate out in the open. It's more fun that way
"It gives people the ability to read books/comics that they would never be able to find, or own."
That I blame on the publishers. If they were to put them online and charge a *reasonable* fee (say monthly/unlimited use) then they can make money off of the out of print comics with a minimal amount of investment (Minimal opposed to the costs of re-release). People could still collect the comics and a mint condition Spiderman #1 would still command a huge price, but the rest of us who could care less about having it sitting in thier closet could read the story and enjoy it.
"At the end of the day when I read some pirated book I simply equate it to borrowing it much like I would from a library (but without the effort of actually going there of course)."
Ahem? If you borrow a book from the library you paid for it...out of the taxes that maintains the library hance you have a reasonable expectation to be able to read the book.
Borrowing the book from someone you know who has bought it is another thing, you're borrowing the book from someone who paid for it and you'll give it back to them and either never read the book again or consider buying a copy for yourself (as what happened to me when I got into the Harry Potter Series)
Downloading a copy from a group of pirates means that there is an extremly good chance that the person you downloaded it from isn't the one who paid money for it. Plus there's the fact that you're not likely to get rid of your copy when you're done...if you like it you're going to put it onto a CD-R or other long-term storage media...all without paying for it.
There *is* a difference
Piracy against the RIAA is still ilegal, but considering the way that the RIAA screws everyone (the artists included), it's understandable.
Piract against the Movie Industry is again ilegal but it can be rationalized when you consider some of the dodgy things they want to try and pull against the consumers.
Piracy against the book publishing firms makes no damn sense. They don't screw the customers, price increases for books have been very slight and can be explained by the normal rate of inflation (my personal average is $1.50 over the past 10 years) and if you really want to read the book for free there is a *legal* way to do it. Just go to the local library and check it out
There is no "robin hood" rationalization for this, there is no way to justify it, this is just a bunch of cheap fuckers who can't be bothered to fork over $18 on Amazon.com for a pre-order.
In my opinion it's *now* a case of the consumers (the ones sharing the books on the web) screwing the authors. Remember, JK Rowling was a starving single mother when she wrote HP:ATSS...Think about *that* when HP #6 comes out
"Why is porn a "News for nerds?" If this happend online, maybe I could see the point. However, this happened in the meat. This story has no technology component and is just a standard porn issue."
Because Slashdot is a forum dedicated to the things that facinates us members of the 'geek' or 'nerd' community. As comics are getting more involved with plot, character development and much better stories,(certainly the opposite trend of today's Television), something like is 'news for nerds' as many of us will have an interest. There are several things that get reported that have bugger all to do with the internet, but we read, comment and debate them to our hearts content.
"I am a geek that happens to not care about porn."
More power to you for that. Everyone has his/her own likes and dislikes and that is a good thing.
"I wouldn't mind obscenity laws being even stricter. There is no need to for hardcore pornography in a modern society."
I remember a line in "Dogma", specificly that scene where Bartelby is dropping people from great heights and Loki trying to explain the repressed anger that he's trying to get out "If only they'd allow jerk off"
Porn is a sexual outlet for people of all genders (some more so than others). Many people enjoy it as an aid to a relationship. I know that after watching some adult movies, there are couples that have an ever more enjoyable sexual experience. For others, it's a release of sexual tension when a partner is unavailable (either due to absence or stereotypical geek inability to acquire such.
Banning hardcore porn isn't an answer or even a viable option. Look at what happened during prohibition or the current 'war on drugs'. The more you ban something, the more it comes back...usually stronger.
Now on the one hand I deem that there should and must be limits as to what is considered legal. Sexual contact with minors is the current biggy out there today. I for one am against it. However on the other hand it's a grey area when you're talking about drawing a fictional scene of under age contact.
It is still abhorrent to me to consider such, but there are people who derive pleasure from it and would it really be so bad if they get it out of thier systems with a few colored pencils and a sheet of paper instead of doing it for real?
Granted there are the arguements of the people who can't just leave it in the fictional world and will step over in to the 'real' world and do it...this is why I consider it a grey area.
In a way it's like reading Stephen King. That man thinks like a serial killer but channels it in the safe and legal area of writing, but I doubt *he'll* become one in real life...others might not be so safe and cross over.
It has a place here, it's something to debate and gives us something to do while we're waiting foe something to download (in my case Linux Distro's)
Simple to do as you describe...yes
Simple to do under the rules governing weight of the craft? Now there's the challenge.
...is that really a good idea?
M DAMNIT OOOOHHHHMMMMMM!
I can imagine someone working on a deadline, the boss pipes up and says that it's meditation time.
oooohhhmmmmmm....Ooooohhhmmmmmm....OOOOHHHHMMMM
Or the yoga...would that be better? The annoying co-worker who whistles through his nose every time he breaths...I can imagine the stressed out "A" Type grabbing the guy and 'helping' him into several yoga positions that while are impossible, are amusing to contemplate
Which is one of the reasons that I've stopped sharing music all together.
First of all, frankly the music sharing programs are just about worthless since I'm not interested in genres of music that the majority of people out there are interested in. Most of the time I can find 30-100 hits of the song that I want but only 20 of them work and they're hosted on someone who has a dial-up connection that's 80% utilized by the person downloading other songs. It simply is just not worth it with all the agrevation.
Secondly there *is* the issue of copyright to contend with. I have an extensive MP3 collection on my laptop. However you'll find that I either own the CD and have ripped it for portability -or- it was freely available off of an independent artist's site (or section on MP3.com).
*I* am against the RIAA not for them wanting to curb piracy (that's their right as the copyright holders of the music) but for the fact that stifle music instead of promoting it. They pay artists to *not* release an album. They promote music that appeals to what they consider they big market (teenage girls 13-15) and for the most part ignore the rest of us. They take a great big whopping chunk of the album's profits and leave a small nibblet for the artist (not a problem for a big name, but is a bitch for the newcommers).
The list goes on and on.
My solution is to simply buy my CD's from the artist directly off of CD Street or thier website. Also as I'm into Celtic Music I can usually catch the CD right at the fair at a very fair price ($12-$15 which is a damn sight better than $18-$20)
Microsoft has it's way of preventing piracy of Windows and Office XP and I can accept that. The RIAA has it's methods of preventing piracy and I can accept that. However I dislike both companies and thier business practices. Solution?
Do not buy thier products and find a substitute that meets your needs. Linux and Indies. That is more of an acceptable approach to protest than simply stealing the stuff.
Phoenix
(although I have to confess...in a moment of weakness I *did* break down and buy Weird Al's latest CD)
if I'm not too much mistaken they did something like that in the Bubblegum Crisis: Tokyo 2040 series.
Even if it never pans out, it's nice to see them trying to make fiction into fact...if only in well grounded theories
It's these articles on Slashdot and on other sites in the media.
/.)
(Please hold off your flames till you read the rest of the article...I'm *not* blaming
The reason I say that these articles are killing the music industry is that they show us the truth about the RIAA. People read articles like this and they think to themselves "There is no way in hell I'm going to give them any of my hard earned money if they're going to treat me like a criminal."
They stop recording good artists and replace them with bands that appeal to the 13-15 year old schoolgirls who will buy the CD because it's the latest fad.
They attack anyone who designs some means of sharing (or hell even *finding* files) even if MP3 isn't the frimary function of the file sharing. Honestly I'm amazed they haven't gone after the people who invented networking protocals in the first damn place.
They are more concerned about making money than they are about the art form itself, not paying attention to the fact that if they put out quality product then they *will* make money because we want to buy it.
We know what the articles read, we see them each and every day that goes by about how draconian the RIAA has become. It's these articles that are killing the RIAA's profits for they are pissing off the American Music Listener. If the RIAA wants to start making money again they need to simply do one thing...Stop pissing off your customer base and we will come back.
Otherwise I'm just going to stand there and watch the RIAA slowly die and I'm not going to give them a single penny to save them...even if that means that I never get a copy of "Weird Al" Yankovic's latest album
No remotely modern aircraft is capable to land on it?
Wanna bet?
There is one aircraft that not only can take off and land on it, -but- is also the only aircraft that is permitted to take off and land while *any* aircraft carrier is docked in port.
Harrier Jump Jets are reasonably modern as I recall.
With the angled ramp as it is (or even perhaps angled a little bit more) the AV8-B would be able to take off with a minimal amount of fuel and without using the Catapults. If I'm not too terribly mistaken the British are doing that for thier light carrier fleet - harriers included.
Landings would be no problem - at least no more problem than a normal Carrier Landing (controled crash anyone?)
Phoenix