Don't be so sure they were losing money under the original price. People think this is a really fun and interesting fact to know, but I haven't seen it confirmed and it just seems like a big myth to me. I can't imagine the Xbox costing more than 300 dollars to make.
We're not talking about legality here. I know Cingular *can* do whatever it wants. But censorship is still a bad thing, and like any other bad thing and I don't have to be OK about it. It seems you're taking a very market oriented approach, and even though that's not always a suitable approach, I'll use it anyway and still make you look like a fool.
One requirement to have perfect competition and a perfectly efficient market (something you seem to be *assuming* exists) is that the consumers have perfect knowledge. According to theory in aperfectly efficient market, everyone must know everything there is to know about the product to ensure they are making an informed decision. That, coupled with the fact that theory assumes that everyone who takes place in the market is rational (not true, but lets assume it anyway), then we are simply complaining and creating a ruckus so that people know what cingular is doing.
Just as a side point, this is from the company whose ad campaign exclaims that we all have a right to free expression.
It rotates at a rate of about once a month. That's why the same side is always facing us. The word "rotate" here is a little misleading. The moon acts just like a ball attached to a string acts when it is swung around. The side that the string is attached to is always facing the center, or your hand which is rotating the string. So technically the moon is rotating because it faces the opposite direction every ~30 days but it's not just a coincidence that the rotation of the moon is exactly equal in time to it's revolution around the earth. Like a ball on a string.
This is only a good reason why TV series will probably be designed around how easy it will be to advertise. Your point is true, you cannot advertise on certain shows like Star Trek: Voyager. I'm suggesting that because of that, we will not see shows like that anymore.
There's one thing I don't understand about Tivo. How does it tell the cable box which channel it wants to record, in other words how does tivo change the channel? I have digital TWC too and this question has been bothering me, help me out?
Well, I no doubt agree with you, but first of all, the government is designed to protect our rights. No one else is responsible for that. So, sure, I do blame the companies, but I don't think I can realistically expect them to do whatever they can to make money.
You say there is no beauty in capitalism. I agree, there is no beauty in what passes for "capitalism" these days in America, but the fact of the matter is, everything that corporations do that you and I hate, they can only do it when markets are inefficient. Either because of intellectual property or other reasons, corporations become abusive when they are a monopoly. As much as I detest what's going on in the world and in the United States today, I don't think there's anything wrong with saying that capitalism is a good system, when monopolies (like intellectual property) allow corporations to be abusive. Government is supposed to protect us from that, and in my eyes, they are the ones who should be held accountable.
Historically, one of the easiest and most powerful ways of really changing things is to find new land and just start from scratch. I hereby proclaim that we must start a new republic on mars, with a new set of values.
I agree, that's the beauty of capitalism. I don't really blame companies for trying to maximize profits. I do, however, blame the government for helping them by taking away our rights.
Plus, you don't have to own a home or anything the government might want to use, so we really are free, aren't we. What a great free country we live in. No one forces us to own homes in which we must house soldiers. Hurrah for humanity!
According to actuarial math, if people were immortal, and could only die from accidents (like, for example, decapitation would kill you), the average lifespan would be 650 years.
Do you really believe that if technology progresses at it's current rate of growth, we will look anything like we do now (and I'm using 'we' in the loosest possible way). Technology offers other ways to change ourselves than just plain biological evolution.
The only thing that's keeping the pop-culture industry so powerful is that the government is allowing them to be since they're getting money for it. I'm still hoping we can fix that.
The rating system was just different back then. Pretty much nothing gets a 'G' now. Just one example: Planet of the Apes (1968), got a 'G' rating, even though you can see Charlton Hestons bare ass.
Why do people call that a ripoff? Was taxi driver a ripoff because it was inspired by John Ford's 1956 film "The Searchers"? Was O Brother Where Art Thou a ripoff because it was (supposed to be) based on the oddysey? Was Romeo and Juliet a ripoff because it was based on some earlier work? The fact that all these works are based on and make references to other works only enhances it, it doesn't diminish it, and it doesn't make it any less original.
There's a big difference between bestseller lists and reviews. I don't think anyone here has a problem with book reviews, but they still couldn't give a shit that "chicken soup for the soul" or some crap like that is up there on the list.
'I'm a parent and grandparent, and I've had enough of the violence we're experiencing among our youth,' Baca says in a statement announcing bill. 'We saw it at Columbine High School, and we saw it last week in Germany.'
Germany has laws very similar, but more severe, than the one they're trying to pass now in the US. In Unreal Tournament in Germany the player models are robots which helps them get around the violence thing (until the pass AI-game style legislation that forbids violence against anthropomorphic AI). One time some guy was downloading Medal of Honor: Allied Assault from me on KaZaa (copyright enforcement agency, come and get me), and he was all like "is it gory, is it violent, is it bloody!?" It kind of reminded me how excited me and my friends would get because Mortal Kombat had some red pixels added to the animations. Man, that is so old. The point is, restricting this kind of stuff only makes people want it more.
People blame the Columbine massacres on videogames and American culture. Maybe that's true, but even if there were a direct causal relationship here, then Germany is a clear example of why such regulation doesn't work.
First let me include the obligatory "don't these people believe in the first amendment...". There it is.
Not that I'm making fun of that or anything, after all, check my sig, but I guess I'm just tired of this civil rights circle jerk that I get myself involved in three or four times a day on slashdot.
In unrelated news, and the point of the post, here's my favorite quote from the CNN article:
...a 19-year-old failed student shot dead 16 people at his former school and then killed himself. The April 26 shooting in the eastern town of Erfurt was Germany's worst mass murder since World War II.
Yeah 16 people shot dead, yeah that's Germany's worst mass murder since World War II, when 10 million people were killed by the Nazis. A distant second, I suppose.
Slashdot Mirror
Don't be so sure they were losing money under the original price. People think this is a really fun and interesting fact to know, but I haven't seen it confirmed and it just seems like a big myth to me. I can't imagine the Xbox costing more than 300 dollars to make.
I admire your integrity, but the fact is, just buying a politician would be a lot more effective.
Actually, I consider that a good price, I just didn't want to have to pay 600 for one from pvrjoe.
We're not talking about legality here. I know Cingular *can* do whatever it wants. But censorship is still a bad thing, and like any other bad thing and I don't have to be OK about it. It seems you're taking a very market oriented approach, and even though that's not always a suitable approach, I'll use it anyway and still make you look like a fool.
One requirement to have perfect competition and a perfectly efficient market (something you seem to be *assuming* exists) is that the consumers have perfect knowledge. According to theory in aperfectly efficient market, everyone must know everything there is to know about the product to ensure they are making an informed decision. That, coupled with the fact that theory assumes that everyone who takes place in the market is rational (not true, but lets assume it anyway), then we are simply complaining and creating a ruckus so that people know what cingular is doing.
Just as a side point, this is from the company whose ad campaign exclaims that we all have a right to free expression.
Oh interesting. Anyone know where I can get a new Tivo for relatively cheap? I can't seem to find them anywhere.
It rotates at a rate of about once a month. That's why the same side is always facing us. The word "rotate" here is a little misleading. The moon acts just like a ball attached to a string acts when it is swung around. The side that the string is attached to is always facing the center, or your hand which is rotating the string. So technically the moon is rotating because it faces the opposite direction every ~30 days but it's not just a coincidence that the rotation of the moon is exactly equal in time to it's revolution around the earth. Like a ball on a string.
This is only a good reason why TV series will probably be designed around how easy it will be to advertise. Your point is true, you cannot advertise on certain shows like Star Trek: Voyager. I'm suggesting that because of that, we will not see shows like that anymore.
"Of this could be blocked quite easily, but it would take some effort."
I'm not quite sure I understand....
There's one thing I don't understand about Tivo. How does it tell the cable box which channel it wants to record, in other words how does tivo change the channel? I have digital TWC too and this question has been bothering me, help me out?
Well, I no doubt agree with you, but first of all, the government is designed to protect our rights. No one else is responsible for that. So, sure, I do blame the companies, but I don't think I can realistically expect them to do whatever they can to make money.
You say there is no beauty in capitalism. I agree, there is no beauty in what passes for "capitalism" these days in America, but the fact of the matter is, everything that corporations do that you and I hate, they can only do it when markets are inefficient. Either because of intellectual property or other reasons, corporations become abusive when they are a monopoly. As much as I detest what's going on in the world and in the United States today, I don't think there's anything wrong with saying that capitalism is a good system, when monopolies (like intellectual property) allow corporations to be abusive. Government is supposed to protect us from that, and in my eyes, they are the ones who should be held accountable.
Historically, one of the easiest and most powerful ways of really changing things is to find new land and just start from scratch. I hereby proclaim that we must start a new republic on mars, with a new set of values.
I agree, that's the beauty of capitalism. I don't really blame companies for trying to maximize profits. I do, however, blame the government for helping them by taking away our rights.
Plus, you don't have to own a home or anything the government might want to use, so we really are free, aren't we. What a great free country we live in. No one forces us to own homes in which we must house soldiers. Hurrah for humanity!
He was making a joke, geddit? laugh.
According to actuarial math, if people were immortal, and could only die from accidents (like, for example, decapitation would kill you), the average lifespan would be 650 years.
Do you really believe that if technology progresses at it's current rate of growth, we will look anything like we do now (and I'm using 'we' in the loosest possible way). Technology offers other ways to change ourselves than just plain biological evolution.
The only thing that's keeping the pop-culture industry so powerful is that the government is allowing them to be since they're getting money for it. I'm still hoping we can fix that.
The rating system was just different back then. Pretty much nothing gets a 'G' now. Just one example: Planet of the Apes (1968), got a 'G' rating, even though you can see Charlton Hestons bare ass.
Why do people call that a ripoff? Was taxi driver a ripoff because it was inspired by John Ford's 1956 film "The Searchers"? Was O Brother Where Art Thou a ripoff because it was (supposed to be) based on the oddysey? Was Romeo and Juliet a ripoff because it was based on some earlier work? The fact that all these works are based on and make references to other works only enhances it, it doesn't diminish it, and it doesn't make it any less original.
There's a big difference between bestseller lists and reviews. I don't think anyone here has a problem with book reviews, but they still couldn't give a shit that "chicken soup for the soul" or some crap like that is up there on the list.
What would you have us do, boycott popular culture?
People blame the Columbine massacres on videogames and American culture. Maybe that's true, but even if there were a direct causal relationship here, then Germany is a clear example of why such regulation doesn't work.
Not that I'm making fun of that or anything, after all, check my sig, but I guess I'm just tired of this civil rights circle jerk that I get myself involved in three or four times a day on slashdot.
In unrelated news, and the point of the post, here's my favorite quote from the CNN article:
Yeah 16 people shot dead, yeah that's Germany's worst mass murder since World War II, when 10 million people were killed by the Nazis. A distant second, I suppose.Plus Jennifer Connelly was in requiem for a dream and also in dark city. The associations just keep going and going.
Maybe. Give me a link.