This is why as a general rule I don't approve, seek, or enjoy working on DRM related tasks. Fortunately, my job [sw developer at a crypto firm] rarely involves me working on DRM at all.
In 10 years we won't even have DRM anymore as more and more of the public wakes up and turns against DRM [especially DRM that makes their lives harder than they need to be].
I'm not change resistant, I'm "incrementally slow improvement" resistant. I'm tired of paying over and over for very small increments in technology. You gave good examples of how bluetooth is used to make payments and speed up otherwise slow and boring processes. Smart cards in Europe also help reduce fraud risk by not relying on magstrips, etc...
Here in North America they give us a small incremental improvement and it's a "revolutionary innovative breakthrough the likes of which we'll never witness again in our lifetimes."
Which is why I just say fuck it and go with the lowest common denominator.
I dunno about you but when I'm flying checking my email is the last thing on my mind. I just wanna sit back and relax. I can check my email when I get to the hotel/office.
I think if people stop wrapping themselves up in this imaginary sense of self importance, they'd be able to relax and enjoy life better.
um I've never been prescribed anything that was that sensitive to measurements that wasn't in pill form. When I had pneumonia they'd give me the banana flavoured antibiotic, but a few mL eitherway won't kill you. and table spoons don't generally vary that much in volume. But when I was given stronger meds for sinus pressure it was in pill form and well measured. Because a few mg either way could cause problems.
At a hospital with an IV they would measure out a syringe and add it to your drip, so there are no spoons involved...
I didn't get that from the film, maybe I missed the introduction bit. Either way, I think most doctors in the USA are more worried about malpractice insurance fees or settling their debt than being rich. Maybe if our [canada/usa] governments helped doctors pay down their debt, and remove malpractice suits from law they wouldn't need to get paid so much and health coverage would be affordable.
My point though was that while the UK and France have what looks like good medical coverage that is state provided, it isn't free. You pay for it through your taxes, which last I checked were higher than what I pay here in Ontario. That they're willing to put up with paying for it shows a combination of two things. That many people are likely for it and wish to pay the taxes, and that those who aren't are too lazy to fight it.
But eitherway, I'm sure if you told a doctor that they would be out of school debt instantly [or say cut it in half], and free from meritless lawsuits they would gladly work for a lower pay.
I question the need for the other whizbangs and doo-dahs though. Other than an ipod, what else do you really need when you travel? And is it really that hard to pack? When I was flying around regularly I would have my GBA/DS, ipod and cell phone in my carryon. oh noes, three adapters, three items... I wouldn't carry them with me everywhere though. Why the fuck would I bring a gameboy to a meeting? etc...
When I used to take the bus/subway to work [which took 2.5 hours] I used to have either my ipod/cell on me or my ds/cell. Again, threw it in my backpack. Oooh weee.
The thing that gets me more than the outrageous cost, or single telco supplier is that it's something you are likely to lose. It's not uncommon for folk to lose their cell phone. Losing a $70 one sucks, losing a $600 one really sucks.
Why people must have the most doo-dahs and whiz-bang features on a phone is beyond me. It makes and receives calls, super. Honestly, when I shop for a new cell it's always the cheapest quad-band I can find. Spent $70 on my last phone...
I think that health care should be universal. But you have to present both sides of the issue. Yes, you benefit with increased health coverage, less red tape [everything is covered, no hassling about which treatment is available], etc. But you DO pay more in taxes for it. It's not free, it's universal. And it works because most people don't need it on a regular basis but pay for it anyways. For example, for every 1 person in a hospital [or currently going through a treatment] there is probably a 100 who aren't, if not more. The problem is when you're only goal in life is to maximize profit. You just can't reason why a business should be non-profit (e.g. break even on the costs). Then those same people spread the fud about "evil socialized services."
Similarly, I think the net should be universal as well. I pay my ISP $X dollars/mo for my connection and I should be able to hit any other IP that is routable through the net. It just makes sense. People have to realize there is more to life than being richer than your neighbour [who ironically most people ignore anyways].
And that's as simple as it gets. Most people in France, the UK and Cuba [three spots that Asshat Moore went to] do with a lot less than their American counterparts. Despite what they showed in the film, not everyone in france lives in a 4 bedroom apartment with two cars, no debt, a plasma tv, etc... I know a bunch of peeps from the UK, Ireland, France, etc and while they're not bad off, they're not living the same type of life [e.g. material wise].
Middle class Americans for the most part couldn't fathom living in a semi-detached house, with no car, taking public transit, etc. That's what poor people do afterall!
The irony of course is the more they cling to the HMO bullying the less coverage they'll actually receive.
When in doubt, spread fud. Just like the myth of "the evils of socialized medicine." Tell the same lie enough and people start spouting it themselves. Now, for example, you have uneducated ignorant folk yelling as loud as can be that "commie-loving socialized medicine is no good," despite the fact that in many countries it works sufficient enough to increase the average lifespan of their citizens. [and for the record, I think Michael Moore is full of shit, so don't lump me in with that sensationalizing lying sack of shit].
Same thing here. The telcos will tell us over and over that "this it the way things must be in a god fearing red blooded free america" and people will eat it up. In 10 years you'll hear the same ignorant uneducated folk spouting on about the evils of a "neutral network" as being commie and evil.
People really need to learn to research context. Then they'll see through the BS of modern lobbyists/advertisers and be straight.
Um, no? There is aliasing errors even below the nyquist limit. I hope you understand that. At 44KHz a 22KHz tone would have two samples per cycle. Assuming you're in some sort of phase lock it'd be basically "on and off." Can't get a smooth waveform out of that. Similarly, a 11KHz tone would be made up of 4 samples, etc...So sampling at a higher limit would help remove aliasing errors. How much of it is audible is questionable, but the SNR would definitely improve.
Cymbals sound different because they're a highly noisy instrument in the upper frequency ranges. You're getting a lot of aliasing errors on it, but since they're essentially noise anyways most people don't complain [it's also why MP3 codecs have a hard time with it].
It's not always the extremes that matter though. A higher sampling rate would represent signals in the 10-15khz range better as well. One thing that often doesn't sound right on CDs [and especially mp3s regardless the bitrate] are cymbal crashes. Admittedly they sound ok on a CD, but compared to what they sound like for real it's not the same.
That being said, as a mass produced medium CDs are just fine. The real benefit of DVD-Audio is surround sound and longer performances.
Yup basically. That and MPAA != law enforcement. They're not entitled to sting people like a narc officer might. If the MPAA gave out the files, than you're not violating their copyrights.
The only loophole I think would be if you reasonably thought you were violating the copyrights, then it could be attempted piracy [or equiv if that even exists]. Or course you could just claim you thought the site owner was generous:-)
Um ok. Believe what you want. I seem to recall owning several VCRs, my friends too. Very few of my friends had beta at all, and even if they did, they used their VCRs more. And no, we weren't porn fiends.
Beta lost because it was expensive and wasn't competing. That there wasn't porn for it is moot, suffice it to say most people who bought vcrs for their families weren't sitting down to watch porn with the kids.
No I didn't pay $120K for my tuition, and frankly neither should you unless you plan on being a medical doctor or something. In total I spent around $20K on my college. Granted I lived at home during the time, but still even with the cost of living on my own it wouldn't even come close to that. And the best is how much that $120K degree will get you in the "real world" as oppose to the rest of us who get lower degrees.
And just because you don't have money doesn't mean you shouldn't pay money for the movies you watch. What if your boss decided he didn't want to pay for the work you were doing?
You know what honest people do when they can't afford something? (hint: "do without")
Two words for you: Gainful Employment. I can afford $9 for a DVD. I'd rather just buy that then deal with downloading movies, because I'm not a little girl and work for a living.
When I invite peeps over to watch a movie, I want to make sure the movie is going to remain a consistent picture/sound quality, actually be the complete movie, without additions, etc, etc, etc. Sometimes it's just easier to pull a DVD off the shelf then try and find a suitable rip.
Because standards are nice? Does your BT rip have sub-titles? Are they actually correct/present all the time? Is the video/audio quality consistent? etc...
I'd rather spend $9 on a movie [I buy them when they're in the bargain bins] than a day downloading a rip that MIGHT actually be done properly, only to find out I have to burn it to a disk to keep it [storing movies on a HD is annoying over the long run].
VHS beat Betamax because you could find a VCR much cheaper from one of the many COMPETING suppliers. Sony held Betamax closely and didn't want others to compete on the technology. Result: It died.
What I wear is the least of my [and my employers] worries. I show up, work a mostly honest full day, and get results. All that matters. How I'm dressed, how many free sodas are in the fridge, etc, shouldn't matter.
And honestly, there is nothing wrong with perks at the office. You spend 1/3rd of your day there, might as well be a place you feel comfortable and can relax when need to.
This isn't about preferences. The problem I see is your making up really contrived excuses for dissing Google. Like what if I forget where I live, why won't google tell me that THEY SUX!!! Millions of people are getting where they're going by using google maps. So they must be doing something right.
If you have a legitimate complaint or comment let's hear it. But if you're only complaint is that google isn't psychic, you're fucked up.
And btw you can save your maps if you have an account with google. You can bookmark maps and routes, etc, etc. I don't know what else you really need.
You're a tool. Pull up the map of your work location [which you really ought to remember anyways], then type in the address of the pizza place. Google will interpolate for addresses that aren't in the database yet anyways so it'll still give you a rough idea of where things are. I'm sorry that your magically ill-conceived derived case study may show that google doesn't work, but that's because you're stupid and don't even remember where you work.
Shut up. The basic tenants of science don't change [much at all] with time. Sure, things get more detailed, or explained more thoroughly as our ability to dissect phenomena improves, that doesn't change the underlying approach or observations.
By your logic, the principia mathematica is nothing more than an interesting bedtime story. While some of the hypothesis and claims may be dated, a lot of the theories, laws, and other observations Newton made are still valid today.
It's thinking like yours that gives validity to the creationism nonsense which is absolutely the absence of science, and solely predicated upon fear and misguided priorities. Preach our fairy tales, or we'll make consequences for you! And while I'm at it, it's not about a spiritual line of thinking, because if that's the case, why is creationism always christian?
Any sufficiently advanced technology looks like magic to others. Imagine showing someone of the 12th century an MP3 player, car, or simpler things like a microwave, alarm clock, heck electricity, etc...
That said, a lot of the things listed in other posts [e.g. kevlar, transistors, etc] have well founded histories in the public. It's not impossible we got them from aliens, it's just highly improbable and not really important either. We know [as a race] how those technologies work, so even if we were handed the idea from aliens [or stole it from them] it wouldn't matter since we're not dependent on foreign sources of intelligence in those areas.
Slashdot Mirror
This is why as a general rule I don't approve, seek, or enjoy working on DRM related tasks. Fortunately, my job [sw developer at a crypto firm] rarely involves me working on DRM at all.
In 10 years we won't even have DRM anymore as more and more of the public wakes up and turns against DRM [especially DRM that makes their lives harder than they need to be].
Tom
I'm not change resistant, I'm "incrementally slow improvement" resistant. I'm tired of paying over and over for very small increments in technology. You gave good examples of how bluetooth is used to make payments and speed up otherwise slow and boring processes. Smart cards in Europe also help reduce fraud risk by not relying on magstrips, etc...
Here in North America they give us a small incremental improvement and it's a "revolutionary innovative breakthrough the likes of which we'll never witness again in our lifetimes."
Which is why I just say fuck it and go with the lowest common denominator.
Tom
I dunno about you but when I'm flying checking my email is the last thing on my mind. I just wanna sit back and relax. I can check my email when I get to the hotel/office.
I think if people stop wrapping themselves up in this imaginary sense of self importance, they'd be able to relax and enjoy life better.
Tom
um I've never been prescribed anything that was that sensitive to measurements that wasn't in pill form. When I had pneumonia they'd give me the banana flavoured antibiotic, but a few mL eitherway won't kill you. and table spoons don't generally vary that much in volume. But when I was given stronger meds for sinus pressure it was in pill form and well measured. Because a few mg either way could cause problems.
At a hospital with an IV they would measure out a syringe and add it to your drip, so there are no spoons involved...
Tom
w.r.t. "convert," this is why doctors don't say "take a cup of $BLAH" they use measurements like mL/cc, mG, etc.
Take 1/72nd of a cup of morphine!!!! STAT!!!
I didn't get that from the film, maybe I missed the introduction bit. Either way, I think most doctors in the USA are more worried about malpractice insurance fees or settling their debt than being rich. Maybe if our [canada/usa] governments helped doctors pay down their debt, and remove malpractice suits from law they wouldn't need to get paid so much and health coverage would be affordable.
My point though was that while the UK and France have what looks like good medical coverage that is state provided, it isn't free. You pay for it through your taxes, which last I checked were higher than what I pay here in Ontario. That they're willing to put up with paying for it shows a combination of two things. That many people are likely for it and wish to pay the taxes, and that those who aren't are too lazy to fight it.
But eitherway, I'm sure if you told a doctor that they would be out of school debt instantly [or say cut it in half], and free from meritless lawsuits they would gladly work for a lower pay.
Tom
I question the need for the other whizbangs and doo-dahs though. Other than an ipod, what else do you really need when you travel? And is it really that hard to pack? When I was flying around regularly I would have my GBA/DS, ipod and cell phone in my carryon. oh noes, three adapters, three items... I wouldn't carry them with me everywhere though. Why the fuck would I bring a gameboy to a meeting? etc...
When I used to take the bus/subway to work [which took 2.5 hours] I used to have either my ipod/cell on me or my ds/cell. Again, threw it in my backpack. Oooh weee.
The thing that gets me more than the outrageous cost, or single telco supplier is that it's something you are likely to lose. It's not uncommon for folk to lose their cell phone. Losing a $70 one sucks, losing a $600 one really sucks.
Tom
Why people must have the most doo-dahs and whiz-bang features on a phone is beyond me. It makes and receives calls, super. Honestly, when I shop for a new cell it's always the cheapest quad-band I can find. Spent $70 on my last phone ...
Tom
I think that health care should be universal. But you have to present both sides of the issue. Yes, you benefit with increased health coverage, less red tape [everything is covered, no hassling about which treatment is available], etc. But you DO pay more in taxes for it. It's not free, it's universal. And it works because most people don't need it on a regular basis but pay for it anyways. For example, for every 1 person in a hospital [or currently going through a treatment] there is probably a 100 who aren't, if not more. The problem is when you're only goal in life is to maximize profit. You just can't reason why a business should be non-profit (e.g. break even on the costs). Then those same people spread the fud about "evil socialized services."
Similarly, I think the net should be universal as well. I pay my ISP $X dollars/mo for my connection and I should be able to hit any other IP that is routable through the net. It just makes sense. People have to realize there is more to life than being richer than your neighbour [who ironically most people ignore anyways].
And that's as simple as it gets. Most people in France, the UK and Cuba [three spots that Asshat Moore went to] do with a lot less than their American counterparts. Despite what they showed in the film, not everyone in france lives in a 4 bedroom apartment with two cars, no debt, a plasma tv, etc... I know a bunch of peeps from the UK, Ireland, France, etc and while they're not bad off, they're not living the same type of life [e.g. material wise].
Middle class Americans for the most part couldn't fathom living in a semi-detached house, with no car, taking public transit, etc. That's what poor people do afterall!
The irony of course is the more they cling to the HMO bullying the less coverage they'll actually receive.
Tom
fud fud fud ...
When in doubt, spread fud. Just like the myth of "the evils of socialized medicine." Tell the same lie enough and people start spouting it themselves. Now, for example, you have uneducated ignorant folk yelling as loud as can be that "commie-loving socialized medicine is no good," despite the fact that in many countries it works sufficient enough to increase the average lifespan of their citizens. [and for the record, I think Michael Moore is full of shit, so don't lump me in with that sensationalizing lying sack of shit].
Same thing here. The telcos will tell us over and over that "this it the way things must be in a god fearing red blooded free america" and people will eat it up. In 10 years you'll hear the same ignorant uneducated folk spouting on about the evils of a "neutral network" as being commie and evil.
People really need to learn to research context. Then they'll see through the BS of modern lobbyists/advertisers and be straight.
Tom
it doesn't give people around you lung cancer. Now shut the f$#! up ya lame troll.
Um, no? There is aliasing errors even below the nyquist limit. I hope you understand that. At 44KHz a 22KHz tone would have two samples per cycle. Assuming you're in some sort of phase lock it'd be basically "on and off." Can't get a smooth waveform out of that. Similarly, a 11KHz tone would be made up of 4 samples, etc...So sampling at a higher limit would help remove aliasing errors. How much of it is audible is questionable, but the SNR would definitely improve.
Cymbals sound different because they're a highly noisy instrument in the upper frequency ranges. You're getting a lot of aliasing errors on it, but since they're essentially noise anyways most people don't complain [it's also why MP3 codecs have a hard time with it].
Tom
It's not always the extremes that matter though. A higher sampling rate would represent signals in the 10-15khz range better as well. One thing that often doesn't sound right on CDs [and especially mp3s regardless the bitrate] are cymbal crashes. Admittedly they sound ok on a CD, but compared to what they sound like for real it's not the same.
That being said, as a mass produced medium CDs are just fine. The real benefit of DVD-Audio is surround sound and longer performances.
Tom
Yup basically. That and MPAA != law enforcement. They're not entitled to sting people like a narc officer might. If the MPAA gave out the files, than you're not violating their copyrights.
:-)
The only loophole I think would be if you reasonably thought you were violating the copyrights, then it could be attempted piracy [or equiv if that even exists]. Or course you could just claim you thought the site owner was generous
Tom
Um ok. Believe what you want. I seem to recall owning several VCRs, my friends too. Very few of my friends had beta at all, and even if they did, they used their VCRs more. And no, we weren't porn fiends.
Beta lost because it was expensive and wasn't competing. That there wasn't porn for it is moot, suffice it to say most people who bought vcrs for their families weren't sitting down to watch porn with the kids.
Tom
No I didn't pay $120K for my tuition, and frankly neither should you unless you plan on being a medical doctor or something. In total I spent around $20K on my college. Granted I lived at home during the time, but still even with the cost of living on my own it wouldn't even come close to that. And the best is how much that $120K degree will get you in the "real world" as oppose to the rest of us who get lower degrees.
And just because you don't have money doesn't mean you shouldn't pay money for the movies you watch. What if your boss decided he didn't want to pay for the work you were doing?
You know what honest people do when they can't afford something? (hint: "do without")
Two words for you: Gainful Employment. I can afford $9 for a DVD. I'd rather just buy that then deal with downloading movies, because I'm not a little girl and work for a living.
Tom
When I invite peeps over to watch a movie, I want to make sure the movie is going to remain a consistent picture/sound quality, actually be the complete movie, without additions, etc, etc, etc. Sometimes it's just easier to pull a DVD off the shelf then try and find a suitable rip.
Tom
Because standards are nice? Does your BT rip have sub-titles? Are they actually correct/present all the time? Is the video/audio quality consistent? etc...
I'd rather spend $9 on a movie [I buy them when they're in the bargain bins] than a day downloading a rip that MIGHT actually be done properly, only to find out I have to burn it to a disk to keep it [storing movies on a HD is annoying over the long run].
Tom
VHS beat Betamax because you could find a VCR much cheaper from one of the many COMPETING suppliers. Sony held Betamax closely and didn't want others to compete on the technology. Result: It died.
Tom
What I wear is the least of my [and my employers] worries. I show up, work a mostly honest full day, and get results. All that matters. How I'm dressed, how many free sodas are in the fridge, etc, shouldn't matter.
:-)
And honestly, there is nothing wrong with perks at the office. You spend 1/3rd of your day there, might as well be a place you feel comfortable and can relax when need to.
Wish my office had an air hockey table
tom
This isn't about preferences. The problem I see is your making up really contrived excuses for dissing Google. Like what if I forget where I live, why won't google tell me that THEY SUX!!! Millions of people are getting where they're going by using google maps. So they must be doing something right.
If you have a legitimate complaint or comment let's hear it. But if you're only complaint is that google isn't psychic, you're fucked up.
And btw you can save your maps if you have an account with google. You can bookmark maps and routes, etc, etc. I don't know what else you really need.
Tom
You're a tool. Pull up the map of your work location [which you really ought to remember anyways], then type in the address of the pizza place. Google will interpolate for addresses that aren't in the database yet anyways so it'll still give you a rough idea of where things are. I'm sorry that your magically ill-conceived derived case study may show that google doesn't work, but that's because you're stupid and don't even remember where you work.
There ain't no cure for Stupid son.
Tom
Shut up. The basic tenants of science don't change [much at all] with time. Sure, things get more detailed, or explained more thoroughly as our ability to dissect phenomena improves, that doesn't change the underlying approach or observations.
By your logic, the principia mathematica is nothing more than an interesting bedtime story. While some of the hypothesis and claims may be dated, a lot of the theories, laws, and other observations Newton made are still valid today.
It's thinking like yours that gives validity to the creationism nonsense which is absolutely the absence of science, and solely predicated upon fear and misguided priorities. Preach our fairy tales, or we'll make consequences for you! And while I'm at it, it's not about a spiritual line of thinking, because if that's the case, why is creationism always christian?
Tom
Any sufficiently advanced technology looks like magic to others. Imagine showing someone of the 12th century an MP3 player, car, or simpler things like a microwave, alarm clock, heck electricity, etc...
That said, a lot of the things listed in other posts [e.g. kevlar, transistors, etc] have well founded histories in the public. It's not impossible we got them from aliens, it's just highly improbable and not really important either. We know [as a race] how those technologies work, so even if we were handed the idea from aliens [or stole it from them] it wouldn't matter since we're not dependent on foreign sources of intelligence in those areas.
Tom