Note that, unlike popular current trends, judges are not there to decide what the law _should_ be and rule on that but only to enforce the applicability of current laws to the specifics of the case at hand. Might think about that before you decry the ruling. Bottom line: if you don't like this, stop whining and playing the martyr and go vote for someone that will do what you want.
Otherwise, see Catharsis(4)(a).
IMO, the internet has less of an impact on us in terms of being lazy or "small-soundbite-oriented" as much as we are affected by the "global consciousness" of being able to communicate worldwide in a matter of minutes. This has benefits and drawbacks, as others have stated. Some benefits are that we have much better visibility into alternative options for technology and other mechanics of life. Some drawbacks are that groupthink tends to spread much more quickly and people tend to be a bit more arrogant in thinking they're right on something because they can now find that niche of people who agree with them instead of having nobody in their local community that does.
It's definitely interesting and has far-reaching implications, though I'm firmly in the "oh, poo" camp on thinking that the internet is suddenly making us more stupid. If we ARE becoming more stupid, it isn't because the internet is making us lazy via its mechanics -- rather, it's much more likely that it is making us more stupid because of mob mentality and that there are so many new people online who are so freakin bad at communicating a coherent sentence.:P
Reading the original complaint about Perry giving the keynote, they have these "odd" feelings about the choice because the only thing they can see tying him to the video games industry is Perry's signing of some entertainment-related legislation. Forget about the ESA's mission statement of "serving the business and public affairs needs of companies that publish video and computer games," or that governors have much to do with legislation and other areas that directly affect their state's business and industry. In the end, the complaint seems to focus on some nefarious right-wing sub-plot linked via the ESA chairman having "deep Republican roots, as does Perry."
Then, in another article, they link the "E3 speaker" to "divisive" comments regarding his belief in non-Christians' path to hell in questions asked of him _on that topic_ way back in 2006, as if those have a particular bearing on anything he might say at E3 2008.
First mistake: claiming agreement with someone who shared basic beliefs as proof that he'd get up on stage and proselytize. Hate western religion much?
Second mistake: not researching someone's "quote" because, since it agrees with your bias, it must be true.
One wonders whether a professed atheist, an Islamic mullah or Wiccan priest, instead of one of those dastardly Republicans, would get the same scrutiny or presumption of bias or other "odd" or "bizarre" feelings.
Incorrect. Vista32 CAN access all 4GB of address space but must ALSO use that space for graphics RAM addressing and kernel mode stuff, which means you typically end up with 3.1-3.3GB of user-mode memory available to programs (which is what shows up in system properties).
Would one of you kind folks please put this into non-kernel-programmer terms that explain what this does for software/hardware in terms of the user experience and how the proposed outcomes will affect said experience?
While I agree that the synopsis leaves something to be desired, inserting political diatribe equally lacking in factual detail does not improve the situation. I'm not sure who you're trying to score points on that cares but can we stick to the topic at hand or is that just too much to ask?
Could the submission be any more biased? Perhaps they could have said a "heated debate occurred" and provide the factual details and let the discussion here point out the subjective, political points?
Oh, wait. Sorry. Forgot where I was posting. Carry on...
Sophistry, but I'll give you an "A" for subtlety. Most of us do care about those things but most of us are experienced enough to know that GOVERNMENT is the absolute worst entity to charge with making positive changes therein. I'll grant you that the current US gov't is botching things pretty badly but the white house can't do it without the help of the other two branches, no matter how much people like to vilify GW as the root of all evil. Fortunately, the founding fathers saw how self-serving human nature is and planned accordingly. I'd rather have a gov't stagnated and unable to do much than one that felt it had the mandate of heaven, even when literally killing their own citizens en masse.
High-level easy-to-code languages like VB are the most likely culprit. Used to be that only a few people with math and PC architecture knowledge could code up games like this. Nowadays, you could probably whip out a VB.NET version of tetris in about a day.
On another note, "OH NOEZ SOMEONE ELSE NOW MAKES WHEELS! WHAT EVER WILL THE ORIGINAL WHEEL MAKERS DO?!?" If something is dirt simple (like tetris) the only thing making your business model profitable is novelty, platform support or super-efficient process. Adapt or be eaten. Pretty simple, really.
It occurs to me that most of this junk is already "obvious RIAA troll" type information. I.e.: Let's sue them and throw pseudoscientific data at them en masse so the defendant(s), who are probably largely computer-illiterate, have to prove they're innocent or refute our "me first" "expert" conclusions. Which makes these RIAA cases simply a matter of getting the correct data in the books to use as grounds to speed up future litigation. Assuming that premise (yeah, gross oversimplification), at the rate we're going the RIAA (and the defendants) will be at this for the next decade. Gotta make someone happy somewhere but I can't think who, aside from the lawyers on both sides.
Which, it has been repeatedly shown, can be and are "faked" by competent video card manufacturers. Having a preset benchmark means you can tweak the solution to perform in the static environment. You can't fake what you see when actually playing the game.
I'll give you a great example. In Crysis, my 8800GT system at home can be set up to 1280x1024 HIGH settings and still get 25FPS+ through the whole timedemo. Take those same graphics settings and try to play the last series on the aircraft carrier and it is completely unplayable. This is what gets lost in the "graphs and charts" presentations by the "canned" benchmark folks; primarily because it takes so much time to do it the hard way.;)
As someone who has no use for Vista (and won't see it at work for at least a year due to the fact that his primary desktop there runs Fedora Core 8), I honestly couldn't care less what MSFT does with the thing. Then why even reply to this thread if it doesn't affect you? Do you harbor a latent Vista-envy or desire to see Vista be most of what you want it to be so you can switch back to it? Are you just replying to foster your "+1 Vista Sucks" score?
If we all already know Vista's flaws, how is this interesting and not redundant?
I'd like to see this, too, but you have a better chance of seeing Hillary Clinton swear off dissembling than you do of getting a straight answer anywhere around the global warming debate. Not to mention that even if you did get a fact-filled answer from someone here, it's almost guaranteed to be half the story (with the half not mentioned usually having to do with projected costs to taxpayers and industry).
Unelected FCC commissioners making decisions that will have a huge impact on the future of communications in this country... I'm sure this is exactly what the founding fathers had in mind when they drafted the Constitution.
Considering that the newspaper as we know it is circling the drain, I don't think that any government decision related to newspapers will have "a huge impact on the future of communications in this country."
^^^^^ This. Does anyone really "rely" on newspapers for anything but the funnies anymore?
...that numbers are like PoWs: beat them up enough and they'll tell you anything you want to hear. Kinda like the research on "global warming." Or how they're changing the basis by which they name tropical storms and then trying to insert extrapolations based on the new data into charts combined with old data./sigh
Having worked for Compaq for the last 3 years before HP bought 'em and then HP for another 4, this just about sums up exactly how things went. The general water-cooler consensus in the first few months was, "Whew, at least HP has that culture of not laying people off first like Hurd et al was wont to do." Well, we learned real quick-like that this was pure myth and it was pretty much SoSDD. The first round, followed by another 6 months later and another 9 months after that had everyone pretty much hunkered down in labs waiting for the half of the building they occupied to spontaneously implode. This is speaking from observation at the Houston campus...can't say what it was like out in Kalipr0nia.
While it is true that "software engineer" spots are going overseas at high rates, two things should be taken into account:
1) "Software engineer" isn't the shiny, highly-technical bastion of the well-edumacated like it used to be. As computers have become more standardized these jobs, like many other "old high-tech" jobs, have become more or less commodity positions. Look at clerical (read: typing/wordprocessor, etc.) work, for example. Everyone and their dog thinks that if they can use Windows, they're automagically a PC expert.
2) The "jobs are going overseas" mechanic implies a zero-sum game, when there isn't one. There is a growing need for generic PC software weenies in all sorts of QA and other fields at companies that didn't need them a few years back. This is A Good Thing(tm).
So, basically, having been in the industry pre and post-dot-com-boom, I'm more or less of the "Nothing to see here, move along," mindset./shrug
Did you RTFA? They are NOT subjecting DailyKos to campaign regulations, expressly stating that simply favoring a political viewpoint is not sufficient grounds to revoke their media exemption. So, no, FoxNews wouldn't be regulated either, even IF confirming the existence of a conservative viewpoint made you a de facto right-wing supporter./sigh Allow me to paste in the relevant portions from the FEC article for the TLDR crowd:
The Commission determined that the website falls squarely within the media exemption and is therefore not subject to federal regulation under the Act.
Since 1974, media activity has been explicitly exempted from federal campaign finance regulation. In March 2006, the Commission made clear that this exemption extends to online media publications and that "costs incurred in covering or carrying a news story, commentary, or editorial by any broadcasting station. . . , Web site, newspaper, magazine, or other periodical publication, including any Internet or electronic publication," are not a contribution or expenditure unless the facility is owned by a political party, committee, or candidate.
From the FEC statement: 'While the complaint asserts that DailyKos advocates for the election of Democrats for federal office, the commission has repeatedly stated that an entity that would otherwise qualify for the media exemption does not lose its eligibility because it features news or commentary lacking objectivity or expressly advocates in its editorial the election or defeat of a federal candidate.'"
Hmm...let's see if they'll apply this to talk radio as well.
Slashdot Mirror
Note that, unlike popular current trends, judges are not there to decide what the law _should_ be and rule on that but only to enforce the applicability of current laws to the specifics of the case at hand. Might think about that before you decry the ruling. Bottom line: if you don't like this, stop whining and playing the martyr and go vote for someone that will do what you want. Otherwise, see Catharsis(4)(a).
IMO, the internet has less of an impact on us in terms of being lazy or "small-soundbite-oriented" as much as we are affected by the "global consciousness" of being able to communicate worldwide in a matter of minutes. This has benefits and drawbacks, as others have stated. Some benefits are that we have much better visibility into alternative options for technology and other mechanics of life. Some drawbacks are that groupthink tends to spread much more quickly and people tend to be a bit more arrogant in thinking they're right on something because they can now find that niche of people who agree with them instead of having nobody in their local community that does.
:P
It's definitely interesting and has far-reaching implications, though I'm firmly in the "oh, poo" camp on thinking that the internet is suddenly making us more stupid. If we ARE becoming more stupid, it isn't because the internet is making us lazy via its mechanics -- rather, it's much more likely that it is making us more stupid because of mob mentality and that there are so many new people online who are so freakin bad at communicating a coherent sentence.
Reading the original complaint about Perry giving the keynote, they have these "odd" feelings about the choice because the only thing they can see tying him to the video games industry is Perry's signing of some entertainment-related legislation. Forget about the ESA's mission statement of "serving the business and public affairs needs of companies that publish video and computer games," or that governors have much to do with legislation and other areas that directly affect their state's business and industry. In the end, the complaint seems to focus on some nefarious right-wing sub-plot linked via the ESA chairman having "deep Republican roots, as does Perry."
Then, in another article, they link the "E3 speaker" to "divisive" comments regarding his belief in non-Christians' path to hell in questions asked of him _on that topic_ way back in 2006, as if those have a particular bearing on anything he might say at E3 2008.
First mistake: claiming agreement with someone who shared basic beliefs as proof that he'd get up on stage and proselytize. Hate western religion much?
Second mistake: not researching someone's "quote" because, since it agrees with your bias, it must be true.
One wonders whether a professed atheist, an Islamic mullah or Wiccan priest, instead of one of those dastardly Republicans, would get the same scrutiny or presumption of bias or other "odd" or "bizarre" feelings.
Incorrect. Vista32 CAN access all 4GB of address space but must ALSO use that space for graphics RAM addressing and kernel mode stuff, which means you typically end up with 3.1-3.3GB of user-mode memory available to programs (which is what shows up in system properties).
Would one of you kind folks please put this into non-kernel-programmer terms that explain what this does for software/hardware in terms of the user experience and how the proposed outcomes will affect said experience?
While I agree that the synopsis leaves something to be desired, inserting political diatribe equally lacking in factual detail does not improve the situation. I'm not sure who you're trying to score points on that cares but can we stick to the topic at hand or is that just too much to ask?
Could the submission be any more biased? Perhaps they could have said a "heated debate occurred" and provide the factual details and let the discussion here point out the subjective, political points?
Oh, wait. Sorry. Forgot where I was posting. Carry on...
Sophistry, but I'll give you an "A" for subtlety. Most of us do care about those things but most of us are experienced enough to know that GOVERNMENT is the absolute worst entity to charge with making positive changes therein. I'll grant you that the current US gov't is botching things pretty badly but the white house can't do it without the help of the other two branches, no matter how much people like to vilify GW as the root of all evil. Fortunately, the founding fathers saw how self-serving human nature is and planned accordingly. I'd rather have a gov't stagnated and unable to do much than one that felt it had the mandate of heaven, even when literally killing their own citizens en masse.
High-level easy-to-code languages like VB are the most likely culprit. Used to be that only a few people with math and PC architecture knowledge could code up games like this. Nowadays, you could probably whip out a VB.NET version of tetris in about a day.
On another note, "OH NOEZ SOMEONE ELSE NOW MAKES WHEELS! WHAT EVER WILL THE ORIGINAL WHEEL MAKERS DO?!?" If something is dirt simple (like tetris) the only thing making your business model profitable is novelty, platform support or super-efficient process. Adapt or be eaten. Pretty simple, really.
It occurs to me that most of this junk is already "obvious RIAA troll" type information. I.e.: Let's sue them and throw pseudoscientific data at them en masse so the defendant(s), who are probably largely computer-illiterate, have to prove they're innocent or refute our "me first" "expert" conclusions. Which makes these RIAA cases simply a matter of getting the correct data in the books to use as grounds to speed up future litigation. Assuming that premise (yeah, gross oversimplification), at the rate we're going the RIAA (and the defendants) will be at this for the next decade. Gotta make someone happy somewhere but I can't think who, aside from the lawyers on both sides.
Which, it has been repeatedly shown, can be and are "faked" by competent video card manufacturers. Having a preset benchmark means you can tweak the solution to perform in the static environment. You can't fake what you see when actually playing the game.
;)
I'll give you a great example. In Crysis, my 8800GT system at home can be set up to 1280x1024 HIGH settings and still get 25FPS+ through the whole timedemo. Take those same graphics settings and try to play the last series on the aircraft carrier and it is completely unplayable. This is what gets lost in the "graphs and charts" presentations by the "canned" benchmark folks; primarily because it takes so much time to do it the hard way.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8j5rvOldp_A Read more than the blurb that suits your particular grudge.
I'd like to see this, too, but you have a better chance of seeing Hillary Clinton swear off dissembling than you do of getting a straight answer anywhere around the global warming debate. Not to mention that even if you did get a fact-filled answer from someone here, it's almost guaranteed to be half the story (with the half not mentioned usually having to do with projected costs to taxpayers and industry).
Considering that the newspaper as we know it is circling the drain, I don't think that any government decision related to newspapers will have "a huge impact on the future of communications in this country."
^^^^^ This. Does anyone really "rely" on newspapers for anything but the funnies anymore?
...that numbers are like PoWs: beat them up enough and they'll tell you anything you want to hear. Kinda like the research on "global warming." Or how they're changing the basis by which they name tropical storms and then trying to insert extrapolations based on the new data into charts combined with old data. /sigh
Whatever happened to Ye Olde Scientific Method?
Other reviews by world leaders who have reportedly played this game:
;)
Vladimir Putin --> http://youtube.com/watch?v=Ddg7reIOjL0
Kim Jong Ill --> http://youtube.com/watch?v=Nu8fG0aASTM
Qaddafi --> http://youtube.com/watch?v=O7mYJRSilvU
Castro --> http://youtube.com/watch?v=7aFqZ3AenQ0
Some of these were quite good.
Or news? Hmm...
Next up, research shows Stalin really just a misunderstood hermit who was abused by his father. Film at 11!
Having worked for Compaq for the last 3 years before HP bought 'em and then HP for another 4, this just about sums up exactly how things went. The general water-cooler consensus in the first few months was, "Whew, at least HP has that culture of not laying people off first like Hurd et al was wont to do." Well, we learned real quick-like that this was pure myth and it was pretty much SoSDD. The first round, followed by another 6 months later and another 9 months after that had everyone pretty much hunkered down in labs waiting for the half of the building they occupied to spontaneously implode. This is speaking from observation at the Houston campus...can't say what it was like out in Kalipr0nia.
This kind of pollution cannot be tolerated. Think of the health of our grandchildren. Damned SUV-drivin' polluters!
/removes tongue from cheek
Actually, yes. But A) it only earns its keep in niche situations and B) squeamish only applies when hitting back, apparently.
While it is true that "software engineer" spots are going overseas at high rates, two things should be taken into account:
/shrug
1) "Software engineer" isn't the shiny, highly-technical bastion of the well-edumacated like it used to be. As computers have become more standardized these jobs, like many other "old high-tech" jobs, have become more or less commodity positions. Look at clerical (read: typing/wordprocessor, etc.) work, for example. Everyone and their dog thinks that if they can use Windows, they're automagically a PC expert.
2) The "jobs are going overseas" mechanic implies a zero-sum game, when there isn't one. There is a growing need for generic PC software weenies in all sorts of QA and other fields at companies that didn't need them a few years back. This is A Good Thing(tm).
So, basically, having been in the industry pre and post-dot-com-boom, I'm more or less of the "Nothing to see here, move along," mindset.
Since 1974, media activity has been explicitly exempted from federal campaign finance regulation. In March 2006, the Commission made clear that this exemption extends to online media publications and that "costs incurred in covering or carrying a news story, commentary, or editorial by any broadcasting station. . . , Web site , newspaper, magazine, or other periodical publication, including any Internet or electronic publication," are not a contribution or expenditure unless the facility is owned by a political party, committee, or candidate.
From the FEC statement: 'While the complaint asserts that DailyKos advocates for the election of Democrats for federal office, the commission has repeatedly stated that an entity that would otherwise qualify for the media exemption does not lose its eligibility because it features news or commentary lacking objectivity or expressly advocates in its editorial the election or defeat of a federal candidate.'"
Hmm...let's see if they'll apply this to talk radio as well.
Sarcasm 1, Lord Ender 0.