I'm not sure I understand. Are you just pointing out the difference, or are you saying that electromagnetic motors are inherently unreliable? (Other?)
My point was that an engine with thousands of explosions happening inside it per second *seems* like it should be less reliable than one based on electromagnetism, but in practice (with all things considered) they seem to me to be more reliable.
(Sorry, some of this will sound US-centric, cuz I am.....I'm pretty sure these concepts apply to other markets too....lemme know.)
Haven't you noticed that people in general seem afflicted with that "love of cellphone"?
"I love my phone, but..." your carrier, [Verizon|AT&T|Sprint|etc], sucks and you're obligated to them for how long???
All phones are insanely expensive when you consider the contract. (Why the f**k do I even need a contract again???) Even a bottom-end phone on a pay-go plan is stoopid expensive. As companies, pretty much all the carriers blow massive chunk themselves so there's no getting away from this just by bagging on the iPhone. (Those with experience using all the carriers, please chime in to confirm/deny.)
Using an iPhone with a bug in this context isn't going to noticeably bring any more "suck" into the equation. It'd be like having 500 Suck Points while using your old phone+contract just because it's a cellphone with a contract, but then you get 8 bonus Suck Points when you get an iPhone. Shee-it...you get 5 Suck Points just for upgrading your phone at all - no matter the phone! The three extra for an iPhone with a bug are not enough to worry about. Not only that but the issue will almost surely be worked out with a software update later. That's not something that's going to stop cell phones or their service providers from royally sucking though. Further,the iPhone is arguably a better phone than the others even with that bug.
Good luck with that and hang up your damn phone!;)
Maybe this is a "-1 Redundant", but Formula 1 engine designers have been able to make internal combustion engines that run at around 20K for a while now (granted with a lower MTBF, but considering the environment would a HD last longer?;-) ) It seems like with the magnitudinal differences in scale/mass going down to a HD mechanism, they/someone should be able to get relatively higher (than F1) speeds at the spindle.
Just a guess, but it seems fairly logical that some or even all of the resources normally directed against us (or not normally directed) are now in use in the "cyber war" between Georgia and Russia and so now are being directed at each other. At least I'd say the dent that cyber war is causing in the net's available bandwidth is to blame.
Obviously I'm considering (assuming actually) that somewhere between "a lot" and "most" spam comes (or is controlled) from that geographic region.
I guess if we're still paying attention when that war is played out, we can check our spam filters again.
You're absolutely incorrect. Everyone from law enforcement to judicial powers should be human and practice discretion within the full extent of the law. This is how the law is made to work in reality - one law for everyone goes only so far. Circumstances always weigh in. (Not to say they should predominate, but neither should they be ignored.)
First, I don't understand your struggle. If you were the defendant and innocent and up against a prosecution that was obviously taking a no-holds-barred approach to the case, would you stupidly not use every resource at your disposal in your defense? In other words if you thought the jury would feel something for you - where you may otherwise be seen as an anonymous defendant - because you were [ so dumb | so tall | so blonde | whatever ], wouldn't you get on TV if you could and be "so _____" to promote your case?? You would and so would I. This defendant happens to be disabled so why hold that against her?
Second, if you/anyone perpetrates malicious behavior on a "normal person" it's one thing. (We'll imagine "normal" means something for the sake of argument) It's a another thing to take your behavior to kids, the disabled, etc. I think it does speak to the nature of the RIAA that they will "stoop as low as needed" or as low as possible to find people|victims to prosecute (their apparently malicious behavior). This is purely elective prosecution on their part - one would expect them to practice some discretion - just like "normal people" who're just doing elective activities.
To most people, this matters - or should - but perhaps not to you or the RIAA though. Hm?
In short: It speaks to the character of the prosecution. Those who're concerned with such things (prospective judges and jurors) as character will be paying attention to this over time.
I'm not aware of anyone actually having accussed the RIAA of extortion (or the related offenses)
Just to be pendantic in case you're not being legalistic, you really must not be paying attention if this is the first time you've heard RICO laws come up in this conversation.
In the "grand scheme of things" you mention, we all (in the US) operate under a very elaborate regime of exploitation fondly known as capitalism. (Pick your favorite scheme - they all amount to one form or another of exploitation.) Fact.
People decided that an organized way of dealing with this (i.e courts) was preferable to the alternative - which is pretty much to not deal with it.
The "grand scheme" and the court system are both full of people like you and me, who are in no way perfect. Ergo, you will have corruption.
It is idealistic bordering on crazy to think that it's even possible for people to not attempt to exploit anything and everything they can. Especially those with the resources at their disposal to do so.
The brainy thing (which I've seen lots of folks here and elsewhere allude to, so this isn't just me thinking!!) to do as citizens and as a civil government is to be aware of this reality and to be prepared for it. In terms of the government, that's supposed to mean regular elections (i.e. turnover) for the participants and checks and balances in the power held by them. Our two-party political system has worn down these safeguards to the nubs though, so big abuses (like Enron, Katrina, Microsoft and the RIAA) have a lot better chance of growing than they should.
If you need a good example, use the Founding Fathers. They had this good sense to implement checks and balances. At the same time they were acting with perfect human nature in their combined vision of Manifest Destiny. This is the trend that's basically been on repeat ad infinitum since the dawn of man, I suppose. Very seldom if ever does the fix come before the abuse.
It's also interesting to look at this from the point of view of the concentration of power and the corrupting influence that phenomena can have.
RIAA is obviously the best example here. On the face of it, there's nothing wrong with these record companies' position - that people who are taking their things for free that are only offered for sale should be stopped. If they were to go about that individually, it's unlikely a major abusive effort could result even if they were wrong. However, they strategically pooled thier resources and power in the RIAA.
power+resources+corruption=today's reality for the RIAA
Keeping in mind that the RIAA is still relatively a very very small group, it's not hard to imagine the results of larger concentrations of power and resources such as those which happen all the time in both government and business.
If you look back at why unions starter (1920s, 1930s)[....]
Um, no. You got modded to 4: Insightful and you're just talking out your ear.
Unions peaked in their "power" in the 20's. Get itright.
The main tool (maybe the only real tool) that unions had in their "arsenal" was the strike. That is what hit the owners in the only place they had any feeling - the pocketbook.
Once that was off the table (made illegal), the whole arrangement was bought and sold, IMO.
You (and everyone else too) should look into it. It's actually a pretty interesting history. There's a lot out there to read on the subject, but a good, concisce place to start reading is thisencyclopedia. I recommend the hardcopy - check your local library - but it appears there's a free online version available here. There's a Table of Contents, so start where you want, but this chapter would be as good a place as any.
A final set of notes with regard to the anti-union whining (from someone who's never been a member of one): 1) The company got saddled with a union for a reason - it's not something done on a whim 2) If there's a good reason, they can get unsaddled just about as easily. 3) For new employees, a) it's all voluntary (free to look elsewhere, right?) and b) there's a good chance the job they're applying for was only there (or only worth getting) due to past unionization. 4) A union is in theory supposed to be membership based. If your company is picking up part or all of your tab and you're not seeing all the benefits you'd expect, I'd stop wondering why and make the arrangements as a union to start paying all your own dues - I'm sure your fellow union-ites (or whatever you're called) could see the logic in that if i had to come to a vote. 5) Bad Analogy for the above: You pay $50/month for 50 channels of cable, but you're surprised that 1/3 of what you're paying for is not the content, but the advertisements between the content. Kinda like actually paying $50/month but only getting 20 days of service. On the other hand, pay $15/month for one channel (a la HBO, Showtime) you get the real deal, straight up - $15 for 30 days of service. Sounds to me like you have a "basic cable" union, but the propaganda in your head makes you expect a "real deal HBO" union. 6) One of my favorite sayings (that I think I actually coined): There's something wrong with everything that's popular. Unions and Capitalism are not exceptions.
Not to say it condones anything, but Apple was the last of the last to close its US manufacturing plants. The original iMacs were at least assembled here in the US and I think that was it. I could be wrong, but I doubt anything is actually made here anymore - even just considering assembly.
Think about it too: At the time they were still making their own (70s-90's) Apple was being absolutely crucified in the daily press for A) their prices being "so high" as compared with all the 100% Chinese PC's/components the competition was using and B) how the company was (still) failing. Neither was really true in any real sense, especially true for the former if you factor out China.
Fast forward to 2008 and it's a vastly different landscape all the way around, no? We're "all" living large off cheap Chinese manufacturing. Yay.
Yes, much of this is security theatre, but allowing me to carry my laptop on and attempting to stream-line the current cluster fuck is an improvement none the less.
I think I understand....don't flush the turd, just polish it. I get it!
Which is good but you can't deny your inconveniencing yourself.
That's the f*****g point, man. If you aren't giving up something you want or (even better) need, then you aren't staging much of a boycott now are you? "Can't deny" it.....pshaw.
Boycott's are one of the few legitimate (and occasionally successful) tools of protest available to the individual. "Vote with your wallet" as I've been told. Although the dollar is getting lighter every year, it still carries more weight than any other paper ballet I'm aware of.
It went beyond the scale of just an individual obviously, but to demonstrate how effective they can be boycotts were one of the primary tools used in our ourRevolution.
I'm sure there are disks that are even beyond Disk Doctor, but I've had good luck rescuing 4 different disks that wouldn't even play on a computer (a Mac with iTunes in my case).
Having said that, importing to iTunes using the error correcting features of your CDROM would be my first recommendation. (Turn on error correction in the iTunes options (Advanced > Importing)....fyi, I think iTunes works in WINE/CrossOver, so use it that way if you don't have another good option for error correction and you're on Linux.) If it works and the errors are fixed, I'd still make sure you rip to a lossless format and burn a fresh hardcopy.
The Disk Doctor would be my second choice since it actually alters the disk. Having said that, I've had 100% success on the 4 attempts where I've used it to recover a CD. FYI, DD actually abrades the play-surface of the disk, so it will look aweful when it's done doing its thing. I guess to a laser it looks "good" though - at least better than a scratch. Again, I would rip to a lossless format and burn a new hardcopy if this works.
Well said. I have to point out indentured servants at this point though. 1) Because nobody has that I've seen so far and they're both well documented and significant (>50% of all the white folk in the colonies!) and 2) it so happens I learned about them in grade school. WTF?:)
You make it sound like not just anyone can be (of those who haven't already been) declared a terrah-ist. It doesn't take much - and as with so many things these days, they don't even need a warrant to get you into "the club". All they need is for you to have a laptop and you're fair game. If you have a laptop and they haven't picked you at the airport, don't get high and mighty - remember there's literally nothing to stop them from doing it when you're 100% legal or not. Habeus Corpus and all that jazz we learned in High School is more or less out the window at this stage.
Have you seen the watch list or heard of some rules surrounding this or something?
Slashdot Mirror
your answer is no. the more you spout off the crazier you sound. have you personally read every line of code for every app on your system?
BillG (sorry to out you): You make it sound like there's no point to open sourcecode just because every user can't read every line.
Aren't you rich enough?! Now go away!
-Matt
I'm not sure I understand. Are you just pointing out the difference, or are you saying that electromagnetic motors are inherently unreliable? (Other?)
My point was that an engine with thousands of explosions happening inside it per second *seems* like it should be less reliable than one based on electromagnetism, but in practice (with all things considered) they seem to me to be more reliable.
Thanks!
-Matt
Re-read please. (Though you already got the 5 mod points for "Funny" which I guess implies because you didn't read the post you responded to.)
To reiterate, show me a HD that'll last any longer than an F1 engine when mounted in an F1 car during a race. :-)
The F1 engine has to last two whole race weekends (including all testing/qualifying, etc) and the gearbox has to last five race weekends.
I bet a HD on one of these cars - even running as low as 3600rpm (let alone a 20k model) would be toast before the end of practice of race weekend #1.
-Matt
P.S. now *you* get the "-1 Redundant", and I move up to "-1 Off-Topic".
(Sorry, some of this will sound US-centric, cuz I am.....I'm pretty sure these concepts apply to other markets too....lemme know.)
Haven't you noticed that people in general seem afflicted with that "love of cellphone"?
"I love my phone, but..." your carrier, [Verizon|AT&T|Sprint|etc], sucks and you're obligated to them for how long???
All phones are insanely expensive when you consider the contract. (Why the f**k do I even need a contract again???) Even a bottom-end phone on a pay-go plan is stoopid expensive. As companies, pretty much all the carriers blow massive chunk themselves so there's no getting away from this just by bagging on the iPhone. (Those with experience using all the carriers, please chime in to confirm/deny.)
Using an iPhone with a bug in this context isn't going to noticeably bring any more "suck" into the equation. It'd be like having 500 Suck Points while using your old phone+contract just because it's a cellphone with a contract, but then you get 8 bonus Suck Points when you get an iPhone. Shee-it...you get 5 Suck Points just for upgrading your phone at all - no matter the phone! The three extra for an iPhone with a bug are not enough to worry about. Not only that but the issue will almost surely be worked out with a software update later. That's not something that's going to stop cell phones or their service providers from royally sucking though. Further,the iPhone is arguably a better phone than the others even with that bug.
Good luck with that and hang up your damn phone! ;)
-Matt
Maybe this is a "-1 Redundant", but Formula 1 engine designers have been able to make internal combustion engines that run at around 20K for a while now (granted with a lower MTBF, but considering the environment would a HD last longer? ;-) ) It seems like with the magnitudinal differences in scale/mass going down to a HD mechanism, they/someone should be able to get relatively higher (than F1) speeds at the spindle.
I guess not tho, eh?
-Matt
Just a guess, but it seems fairly logical that some or even all of the resources normally directed against us (or not normally directed) are now in use in the "cyber war" between Georgia and Russia and so now are being directed at each other. At least I'd say the dent that cyber war is causing in the net's available bandwidth is to blame.
Obviously I'm considering (assuming actually) that somewhere between "a lot" and "most" spam comes (or is controlled) from that geographic region.
I guess if we're still paying attention when that war is played out, we can check our spam filters again.
-Matt
RIAA does not represent musicians or artists
"Sounds a lot different" because it is a lot different. No deal.
-Matt
...the Senator from Disney...
Maybe I haven't been paying attention, but reading this put me on the floor with laughter.
Thank you!
-Matt
You're absolutely incorrect. Everyone from law enforcement to judicial powers should be human and practice discretion within the full extent of the law. This is how the law is made to work in reality - one law for everyone goes only so far. Circumstances always weigh in. (Not to say they should predominate, but neither should they be ignored.)
-Matt
The facts do not determine the whole outcome of a court case. Judges and juries - people - do.
-Matt
First, I don't understand your struggle. If you were the defendant and innocent and up against a prosecution that was obviously taking a no-holds-barred approach to the case, would you stupidly not use every resource at your disposal in your defense? In other words if you thought the jury would feel something for you - where you may otherwise be seen as an anonymous defendant - because you were [ so dumb | so tall | so blonde | whatever ], wouldn't you get on TV if you could and be "so _____" to promote your case?? You would and so would I. This defendant happens to be disabled so why hold that against her?
Second, if you/anyone perpetrates malicious behavior on a "normal person" it's one thing. (We'll imagine "normal" means something for the sake of argument) It's a another thing to take your behavior to kids, the disabled, etc. I think it does speak to the nature of the RIAA that they will "stoop as low as needed" or as low as possible to find people|victims to prosecute (their apparently malicious behavior). This is purely elective prosecution on their part - one would expect them to practice some discretion - just like "normal people" who're just doing elective activities.
To most people, this matters - or should - but perhaps not to you or the RIAA though. Hm?
In short: It speaks to the character of the prosecution. Those who're concerned with such things (prospective judges and jurors) as character will be paying attention to this over time.
-Matt
The ones responsible for this would be outed rather quickly.
Yeah, "the ones" who implemented the "freeze" policy. Please refer to history. ;-)
-Matt
P.S. It is a nice idea on the surface.
I'm not aware of anyone actually having accussed the RIAA of extortion (or the related offenses)
Just to be pendantic in case you're not being legalistic, you really must not be paying attention if this is the first time you've heard RICO laws come up in this conversation.
RIAA+RICO
Also, here's my hand selected choice from that search. ;-)
Happy Slashdotting!
-Matt
In the "grand scheme of things" you mention, we all (in the US) operate under a very elaborate regime of exploitation fondly known as capitalism. (Pick your favorite scheme - they all amount to one form or another of exploitation.) Fact.
People decided that an organized way of dealing with this (i.e courts) was preferable to the alternative - which is pretty much to not deal with it.
The "grand scheme" and the court system are both full of people like you and me, who are in no way perfect. Ergo, you will have corruption.
It is idealistic bordering on crazy to think that it's even possible for people to not attempt to exploit anything and everything they can. Especially those with the resources at their disposal to do so.
The brainy thing (which I've seen lots of folks here and elsewhere allude to, so this isn't just me thinking!!) to do as citizens and as a civil government is to be aware of this reality and to be prepared for it. In terms of the government, that's supposed to mean regular elections (i.e. turnover) for the participants and checks and balances in the power held by them. Our two-party political system has worn down these safeguards to the nubs though, so big abuses (like Enron, Katrina, Microsoft and the RIAA) have a lot better chance of growing than they should.
If you need a good example, use the Founding Fathers. They had this good sense to implement checks and balances. At the same time they were acting with perfect human nature in their combined vision of Manifest Destiny. This is the trend that's basically been on repeat ad infinitum since the dawn of man, I suppose. Very seldom if ever does the fix come before the abuse.
It's also interesting to look at this from the point of view of the concentration of power and the corrupting influence that phenomena can have.
RIAA is obviously the best example here. On the face of it, there's nothing wrong with these record companies' position - that people who are taking their things for free that are only offered for sale should be stopped. If they were to go about that individually, it's unlikely a major abusive effort could result even if they were wrong. However, they strategically pooled thier resources and power in the RIAA.
power+resources+corruption=today's reality for the RIAA
Keeping in mind that the RIAA is still relatively a very very small group, it's not hard to imagine the results of larger concentrations of power and resources such as those which happen all the time in both government and business.
That's all for now.
-Matt
They have the new nano-snout mods. Hi-fi!!
If you look back at why unions starter (1920s, 1930s)[....]
Um, no. You got modded to 4: Insightful and you're just talking out your ear.
Unions peaked in their "power" in the 20's. Get it right.
The main tool (maybe the only real tool) that unions had in their "arsenal" was the strike. That is what hit the owners in the only place they had any feeling - the pocketbook.
Once that was off the table (made illegal), the whole arrangement was bought and sold, IMO.
You (and everyone else too) should look into it. It's actually a pretty interesting history. There's a lot out there to read on the subject, but a good, concisce place to start reading is this encyclopedia. I recommend the hardcopy - check your local library - but it appears there's a free online version available here. There's a Table of Contents, so start where you want, but this chapter would be as good a place as any.
A final set of notes with regard to the anti-union whining (from someone who's never been a member of one):
1) The company got saddled with a union for a reason - it's not something done on a whim
2) If there's a good reason, they can get unsaddled just about as easily.
3) For new employees, a) it's all voluntary (free to look elsewhere, right?) and b) there's a good chance the job they're applying for was only there (or only worth getting) due to past unionization.
4) A union is in theory supposed to be membership based. If your company is picking up part or all of your tab and you're not seeing all the benefits you'd expect, I'd stop wondering why and make the arrangements as a union to start paying all your own dues - I'm sure your fellow union-ites (or whatever you're called) could see the logic in that if i had to come to a vote.
5) Bad Analogy for the above: You pay $50/month for 50 channels of cable, but you're surprised that 1/3 of what you're paying for is not the content, but the advertisements between the content. Kinda like actually paying $50/month but only getting 20 days of service. On the other hand, pay $15/month for one channel (a la HBO, Showtime) you get the real deal, straight up - $15 for 30 days of service. Sounds to me like you have a "basic cable" union, but the propaganda in your head makes you expect a "real deal HBO" union.
6) One of my favorite sayings (that I think I actually coined): There's something wrong with everything that's popular. Unions and Capitalism are not exceptions.
Good luck!
-Matt
Not to say it condones anything, but Apple was the last of the last to close its US manufacturing plants. The original iMacs were at least assembled here in the US and I think that was it. I could be wrong, but I doubt anything is actually made here anymore - even just considering assembly.
Think about it too: At the time they were still making their own (70s-90's) Apple was being absolutely crucified in the daily press for A) their prices being "so high" as compared with all the 100% Chinese PC's/components the competition was using and B) how the company was (still) failing. Neither was really true in any real sense, especially true for the former if you factor out China.
Fast forward to 2008 and it's a vastly different landscape all the way around, no? We're "all" living large off cheap Chinese manufacturing. Yay.
-Matt
He lives in true north and spends summers at magnetic north.
Yes, much of this is security theatre, but allowing me to carry my laptop on and attempting to stream-line the current cluster fuck is an improvement none the less.
I think I understand....don't flush the turd, just polish it. I get it!
Which is good but you can't deny your inconveniencing yourself.
That's the f*****g point, man. If you aren't giving up something you want or (even better) need, then you aren't staging much of a boycott now are you? "Can't deny" it.....pshaw.
Boycott's are one of the few legitimate (and occasionally successful) tools of protest available to the individual. "Vote with your wallet" as I've been told. Although the dollar is getting lighter every year, it still carries more weight than any other paper ballet I'm aware of.
It went beyond the scale of just an individual obviously, but to demonstrate how effective they can be boycotts were one of the primary tools used in our our Revolution.
So little of what the TSA is doing is any more than illusion.
How else do you propose they fit in with the DHS?
I'm sure there are disks that are even beyond Disk Doctor, but I've had good luck rescuing 4 different disks that wouldn't even play on a computer (a Mac with iTunes in my case).
Having said that, importing to iTunes using the error correcting features of your CDROM would be my first recommendation. (Turn on error correction in the iTunes options (Advanced > Importing)....fyi, I think iTunes works in WINE/CrossOver, so use it that way if you don't have another good option for error correction and you're on Linux.) If it works and the errors are fixed, I'd still make sure you rip to a lossless format and burn a fresh hardcopy.
The Disk Doctor would be my second choice since it actually alters the disk. Having said that, I've had 100% success on the 4 attempts where I've used it to recover a CD. FYI, DD actually abrades the play-surface of the disk, so it will look aweful when it's done doing its thing. I guess to a laser it looks "good" though - at least better than a scratch. Again, I would rip to a lossless format and burn a new hardcopy if this works.
Hope you have good luck with it!
-Matt
Well said. I have to point out indentured servants at this point though. 1) Because nobody has that I've seen so far and they're both well documented and significant (>50% of all the white folk in the colonies!) and 2) it so happens I learned about them in grade school. WTF? :)
-Matt
You make it sound like not just anyone can be (of those who haven't already been) declared a terrah-ist. It doesn't take much - and as with so many things these days, they don't even need a warrant to get you into "the club". All they need is for you to have a laptop and you're fair game. If you have a laptop and they haven't picked you at the airport, don't get high and mighty - remember there's literally nothing to stop them from doing it when you're 100% legal or not. Habeus Corpus and all that jazz we learned in High School is more or less out the window at this stage.
Have you seen the watch list or heard of some rules surrounding this or something?
-Matt