"Movie studios make money by controlling access to the multiplexes"
Actually they make most of their money on VHS and DVD releases. They recoup their costs, pretty much, with the theatrical releases, and the video releases is all profit.
Ironic that Jack Valenti was convinced that VHS would be the death of the movie industry, which now, apparently, is the primary vehicle sustaining it.
"So are you afraid that your child will learn that sex is an enjoyable activity?"
In the context that it may encourage them to experience it for themselves without understanding the associated risks and responsibilies, YES.
People who cannot understand that there is more to sex than just "an enjoyable activity between 2 (or frequently more)" people need not be encouraged to try it out for themselves.
Well if I had a kid, and he/she inadvertantly got ahold of some objectionable material, I'd want to be damn sure I was able to explain what he/she just saw, rather than let his/her friends.
I think the problem is the perception that is passed on by these films that is harmful, not necessarily the literal content. It teaches impressionable children that women (and I guess men, in some cases) are little more than recepticals for pleasure, whose feelings and emotions are non-existent. Without a responsible parent to tell them otherwise (and believe me, there are plenty of irresponsible parents out there who won't engage their children in this kind of discussion) they may learn everything they know about sex from raw, emotionless videos.
That's not the perception of sex I would want my child to have.
Somewhat in tune with the.kids.us domain, I think the US should consider endorsing a.adult,.pr0n,.sex or at some kind of domain that would at least force domestic porn sites to be centered in a more appropriate, easily-filtered forum.
I know this won't do anything against international sites, but something like this would be a step in the right direction. It wouldn't limit free speech; it would just give it an appropriate forum. It would also be easier for individuals (parents) to filter the content (note I'm not even getting into filtering by public entities).
I'd like to hear some decent, rational arguments against this idea.
You're absolutely right, more distributions does equal more competition. The problem though, is that these individual distributions are not competing with Microsoft. They are competing against each other.
Perhaps I'm oversimplifying here, but I believe this is a "together we stand, divided we fall" situation. No single distribution will be competetive with Microsoft as long as it has other linux variants to contend with as well.
This consolidation is a step in the right direction. I hope it doesn't turn into Just Another Distribution.
"I just don't get it I guess, it just seems like there are already so many standards."
I've posted this before, and was modded down as a troll, but I'm glad someone else has noticed this too. Doesn't the fact that "there are already so many standards" imply that there is actually very little about Linux that is, in fact, standard?
Don't get me wrong, variety is good. I would be interested in seeing some good consumer flavors coming out of this kind of effort. Not only that, but this kind of organized, coordinated effort might even be enough to give Microsoft some fits in the desktop market.
How many people besides myself have noticed that there are hardly any backward-compatible hardware technology breakthroughs?
I understand that there are physical limitations well beyond my comprehension that are factors in all of this, but it seems that any time one of these improvements comes out, be it RAM or CPUs or any number of other upgrades, a new chipset has to be developed to support it?
I'll tell you why: because marketers understand that some people (many of which frequent this site) will pay plenty extra to have the latest technology, no matter what.
I, for one, am sick of it. For once I'd like to be able to upgrade my CPU or RAM without having to buy a new motherboard and re-install my entire OS.
Sorry for the rant, but I think the fact that every incremental hardware update requires a new chipset is noteworthy.
But the post (unintentionally?) brings up a good point. If RedHat were to gain a relatively large desktop environment market share, and consequently earn more profits, will Microsoft be alone atop the Evil Empire pedestal?
I hope that these vendors will compete by trying to create a superior product that can take some share away from Windows, not just from RedHat.
Infighting among the open-source community is one of those things, I believe, that is keeping Windows atop the OS market. Until the distributions stop fighting each other, MS isn't going to lose an inch to Linux.
Ok let me start that Cingular doesn't have any business telling its customers where they should and should not go on the internet.
That said, how many people are out there looking at porn on a cell phone? Besides the obvious limitations of an image on a black-and-white LCD screen, do some people really need their fix of pr0n so spontaneously that they can't get to their computer or local magazine stand?
"While the Courts have never given a robust definition of what constitutes "speech" (to my knowledge), all of the case law regards spoken/recorded, written, or representational works. Firing a rifle does not fit into the rubric."
Well pardon me for being graphic, but a fully grown man sticking his cock into an 11 year old girl, does not fit into the rubric either.
How bout I go down the street and express myself with a rifle and a full clip? I don't like people, so I'm going to express that by shooting some at random. Are you going to defend my free speech? If you are consistent, you will, regardless of whether or not murder, like child porn, is ILLEGAL.
That is of course correct. But then it is also correct that back then people weren't expected to live very far into their 30's. 13 was considered middle-aged.
And decidedly a 13 year old today is far less mentally and emotionally mature than they were back then... simply because back then they had to grow up fast.
The simple fact is that today children are far less capable of dealing with the physical and emotional burdens of a sexual relationship and child-rearing, and kids shouldn't have to be. Let them be kids for crying out loud!
If this was supposed to fix a security hole in Mozilla RC1, why isn't everybody jumping down their throats as they certainly would if this were the latest release of IE?
I hate to sound like a troll, but there's an obvious double standard here.
A good point, but the public perception ignores those behind-the-scenes functionality. Instead the public sees the absurd "emacs vs. vi" and "KDE vs. GNOME" arguments perpetuated because there is no accepted standards in desktop environments.
If the OSS community can get behind something and stop arguing which one is better, they may be able to actually send up something that can really compete with Microsoft.
They say divide and conquer. The OSS community is doing half of Microsoft's work for it.
I'll probably be modded down as a troll, but I think the parent touched on the real problem here. Standards.
The one crippling characteristic of OSS is that there are few (if any) standards. When there are few standards, and everybody is using something different.
That in itself isn't a bad thing, but if the OSS community wants to overthrow M$, or at the very least claim market (user) share, standards have to be established so that there is one clear and very public alternative to the latest M$ offering.
All I see is the "open source and GPL is for communists" corner and the "commercial software is for evil capitalist corporate pigs" corner yelling at each other from opposite sides of the issue.
Is there anyone out there with an idea on how the two can actually work well together?
Slashdot Mirror
Actually they make most of their money on VHS and DVD releases. They recoup their costs, pretty much, with the theatrical releases, and the video releases is all profit.
Ironic that Jack Valenti was convinced that VHS would be the death of the movie industry, which now, apparently, is the primary vehicle sustaining it.
I wouldn't think that would be the case, being that Slashdot.com is probably permanently banned by their firewalls :)
I tried to find that old poll, but I remember that IE at the very least had the majority.
In the context that it may encourage them to experience it for themselves without understanding the associated risks and responsibilies, YES.
People who cannot understand that there is more to sex than just "an enjoyable activity between 2 (or frequently more)" people need not be encouraged to try it out for themselves.
I think it's pretty easy to distinguish a medical or artistic site that contains nudity from "Hard-Core Ass-Pumping Barely-Legal Teens".
I think the problem is the perception that is passed on by these films that is harmful, not necessarily the literal content. It teaches impressionable children that women (and I guess men, in some cases) are little more than recepticals for pleasure, whose feelings and emotions are non-existent. Without a responsible parent to tell them otherwise (and believe me, there are plenty of irresponsible parents out there who won't engage their children in this kind of discussion) they may learn everything they know about sex from raw, emotionless videos.
That's not the perception of sex I would want my child to have.
I know this won't do anything against international sites, but something like this would be a step in the right direction. It wouldn't limit free speech; it would just give it an appropriate forum. It would also be easier for individuals (parents) to filter the content (note I'm not even getting into filtering by public entities).
I'd like to hear some decent, rational arguments against this idea.
You're absolutely right, more distributions does equal more competition. The problem though, is that these individual distributions are not competing with Microsoft. They are competing against each other.
Perhaps I'm oversimplifying here, but I believe this is a "together we stand, divided we fall" situation. No single distribution will be competetive with Microsoft as long as it has other linux variants to contend with as well.
This consolidation is a step in the right direction. I hope it doesn't turn into Just Another Distribution.
I've posted this before, and was modded down as a troll, but I'm glad someone else has noticed this too. Doesn't the fact that "there are already so many standards" imply that there is actually very little about Linux that is, in fact, standard?
Don't get me wrong, variety is good. I would be interested in seeing some good consumer flavors coming out of this kind of effort. Not only that, but this kind of organized, coordinated effort might even be enough to give Microsoft some fits in the desktop market.
At the very least, the new trilogy would have to include "The Return of the Return of the Jedi".
...Padime (Natalie Portman) will still look exactly the same. Thank god (an Lucas, I guess) for artistic lisence!
"
That may be true, but I'd venture a guess that most people interested in this site don't upgrade in whole-computer increments.
Perhaps, though, doing so is the best way to keep upgrade costs down.
My point was that every time I've upgraded my CPU or RAM, I've had to buy a new motherboard as well. Hence the OS re-install.
I understand that there are physical limitations well beyond my comprehension that are factors in all of this, but it seems that any time one of these improvements comes out, be it RAM or CPUs or any number of other upgrades, a new chipset has to be developed to support it?
I'll tell you why: because marketers understand that some people (many of which frequent this site) will pay plenty extra to have the latest technology, no matter what.
I, for one, am sick of it. For once I'd like to be able to upgrade my CPU or RAM without having to buy a new motherboard and re-install my entire OS.
Sorry for the rant, but I think the fact that every incremental hardware update requires a new chipset is noteworthy.
But the post (unintentionally?) brings up a good point. If RedHat were to gain a relatively large desktop environment market share, and consequently earn more profits, will Microsoft be alone atop the Evil Empire pedestal?
I hope that these vendors will compete by trying to create a superior product that can take some share away from Windows, not just from RedHat.
Infighting among the open-source community is one of those things, I believe, that is keeping Windows atop the OS market. Until the distributions stop fighting each other, MS isn't going to lose an inch to Linux.
...businesses are now making pitches to their potential clients, and are trying to discourage them from using their competitors' products.
However, name recognition is one thing... having money, lawyers, thugs is something else entirely...
I think it will take a little more than name recognition to get Linux mainstream, but it's certainly a good start.
PS: Imagine all the "FreeBSD Is Dying" posts there would be if Linux distributions started this :)
That said, how many people are out there looking at porn on a cell phone? Besides the obvious limitations of an image on a black-and-white LCD screen, do some people really need their fix of pr0n so spontaneously that they can't get to their computer or local magazine stand?
Well pardon me for being graphic, but a fully grown man sticking his cock into an 11 year old girl, does not fit into the rubric either.
How bout I go down the street and express myself with a rifle and a full clip? I don't like people, so I'm going to express that by shooting some at random. Are you going to defend my free speech? If you are consistent, you will, regardless of whether or not murder, like child porn, is ILLEGAL.
And decidedly a 13 year old today is far less mentally and emotionally mature than they were back then... simply because back then they had to grow up fast.
The simple fact is that today children are far less capable of dealing with the physical and emotional burdens of a sexual relationship and child-rearing, and kids shouldn't have to be. Let them be kids for crying out loud!
I hate to sound like a troll, but there's an obvious double standard here.
If the OSS community can get behind something and stop arguing which one is better, they may be able to actually send up something that can really compete with Microsoft.
They say divide and conquer. The OSS community is doing half of Microsoft's work for it.
The one crippling characteristic of OSS is that there are few (if any) standards. When there are few standards, and everybody is using something different.
That in itself isn't a bad thing, but if the OSS community wants to overthrow M$, or at the very least claim market (user) share, standards have to be established so that there is one clear and very public alternative to the latest M$ offering.
Is there anyone out there with an idea on how the two can actually work well together?