ProtonMotiveForce writes: Umm, what? Why would you think Microsoft would be interested in this technology? They've got their own effort going.
Agreed, but Microsoft has a very big interest in shifting public opinion against fair use, regardless of whose implementation is being presented. By this you're suggesting that Microsoft would feel threatened by opposition, but they're quite capable of embracing and extending whatever market/technology they'd like to dominate.
Is it some primitive minded linking of what you consider an evil entitity and an evil idea (the right of artists to make money from their work).
Clearly, not a lot of thought or depth was put into it -- it wasn't intended to draw a conclusion, my apologies if it was presented that way. My motive was more to have people consider what may or may not be behind the conclusion the academics came to. For all I know it's sincere and didn't have an ounce of coersion behind it. That's why we look.
I'm a programmer myself, and while I used to take the hardline, "information wants to be free," stance, reality has sorta stepped in and slapped me around a bit. My opinion now is a bit closer to the idea of immenent domain -- if the idea you have is of significant public good, the government should have the ability to offer you a fair market value for that idea. But this has all sorts of problems and I'm quite aware of it. Thorny situation. I'd just hate to have someone come up with a super new formula for rubber that could cleanse 3rd world water supplies effortlessly, negate gravity and yes, you could beowulf it, but some schmed is charging $2B/oz.
I would have done a far more exhaustive search on the entertainment industry, probably Seagram in particular since they tend to be politically active, but I have to get this code out tha door, the girlfriend is coming over and I have my own project to deal with (if I'm lucky).
So I guess what I'm saying is you're right, I just figured they would be the most obvious marker of monetary influence that I could track down in 10 minutes.
First, let me say that what I'm about to show might be entirely common among colleges, not just the Georgia Institute of Technology. But whenever I see some academic group pushing something that is inexorably linked to commercial interests, I start looking for a money trail.
EPICS, Georgia Tech Receives Software Grant to Improve Retention For Minority Students (2000) This year, they'll have even more to celebrate, as Microsoft Research's University Relations Group announces a grant that will put "bundles" of its latest software and publications in the hands of 1,000 underrepresented students over the next two years.
EPICS, Microsoft Partnership Donates Software to Hands On Atlanta (date unknown) "Thanks to the partnership of the nationally based Engineering Projects In Community Service (EPICS) and Microsoft Corporation, a generous software gift was recently donated to HOA. This software, Microsoft Project 2000, will allow the organization to implement a system to improve its special events planning. "
Microsoft Exec to Address Georgia Tech Grads (1999) Deborah Willingham, vice president of Microsoft Corporation's Business and Enterprise Division Marketing, will address Georgia Institute of Technology's 205th Commencement ceremony on Saturday, December 18.
Microsoft grant gives OMED another reason to celebrate at Tower Awards(date unknown) This year, adding to the excitement, Microsoft Research's University Relations Group announced a grant that will put "bundles" of its latest software and publications in the hands of 1,000 underrepresented [Georgia Tech] students over the next two years.
This was just a quick check on Google.
Again, there might not be a cookie jar that Microsoft doesn't have their fist in, but it might be nice to know.
That actually raises an interesting question. What percentage of blogs *are* with livejournal, deadjournal, freeopendiary, opendiary, blogger, etc. Are you aware of any stats that show "market share" for each? I'm making my own tool, so that'd be interesting to know.
If any Slashdotters are interested in Go and reside in the Boston area, there is a 24-hour Go club (only two exist in the US) in Somerville (Davis Sq. stop off the Red Line T, about 5km or so away from Harvard) is the Massachuetts Go Association. While I'm not a member any more (moved to Rhode Island), they're a great club and very much interested in helping new players become familiar with the game. Their book selection in the library is quite impressive as well, covering all the obvious topics (fuseki, joseki) as well as strategy, tactics, theory, etc.
Generally, a newcomer would start off on board with a 9x9 grid and progress from there to a 13x13 and then a 19x19. The great thing about go is that since each piece (stone) is precisely the same as any other stone, it is quite straightforward to handicap a strong player so that an equitable game can be found vs. almost anbody simply by giving the weaker player position on the board before the game begins.
It's a fantastic game, and without being too bombastic (I hope), it can teach the player quite a number of things entirely outside the scope of the game itself.
Okay, I see where you're going with this. The problem is not the medium, then, it's the form in which you're used to seeing it. A blog is only as limiting as the software that makes it happen. For example, livejournal is pretty constrained. You can change some items, but you can't really do as you please. As far as I know, anyway. Something like Blogger offers you a lot more room with the ability to make the design precisely as you wish and the option of using a template.
So...if someone isn't really HTML-knowledgeable, there is a spot for them. For those that do, there is a bit more latitude for creativity. At the extreme end, you can just DIY. My blog is 100% hand-rolled (and kinda crappy, I'm working on that). You're only as constrained as you constrain yourself.
Telastyn writes: "Why are people facinated with blogs? They simply offer a more limited subset of the creativity allowed by vanilla html, in exchange for added ease of use and "structure". Why not just use web pages, or better yet flash, or another multimedia form to create unique arts?"
If I understand this correctly, you're asking why substance can't take a backseat to style?
It's not a flame, but as best as I can see, that's your gripe -- that more interesting delivery methods exist and should, ipso facto, be used. Suppose all you want to convey is the written word? If so, then is the written word good enough?
I think it's sort of ironic that the public regularly ignores significant news that affects tens of thousands of people (if not more) -- AIDS, war in Africa, human rights violations en masse in China, rampant ethic lapses in our capitalism -- in favor of the latest weight fluctuations of J.Lo or even minimally influential events such as the mining accident in Virginia (which affected 9 men and their families but made great for great edge-of-seat drama), but then whine when we give them a false positive.
What the shit do they care?
They'll support the slashing of funding to scan the skies and the second we find a real threat they'll drag somebody in front of congress to explain what "went wrong."
People aren't mad that we gave them a false tip, they're mad becaues it is a false tip.
thales writes: "NOT performing a action that could cause damage to an inocent third party that has aided him says a lot about his convictions. Your snide insinuation also says a lot about your convictions "
While I agree with the first statement fully, I think the second might be a little harsh. It appears, to me, to be just a case of not thinking very deeply on what was actually going on rather than malice.
Or maybe he was just blinded by the possibility of racking up karma with a pseudo-witty, biting, and obvious attack on Perens so early in the history of the thread. =)
Not flaming you, it's just my experience that often what appears as malace is really just ignorance so I tend to assume the latter.
eyepeepackets writes: 1. mine it for data; 2. use it as a platform for whatever; 3. sell pieces of it to whomever; 4. mine it for whatever minerals it may carry; 5....and, well, you get the point. If it's coming close enough, let's turn it in to something useful.
How do you suggest we slow down a 2km-wide rock moving at 28km/s to achieve this?
Ya know, it's funny -- I haven't been modded down once since I created this tagline (saw it on someone else's). Frankly, I could give a rat's ass about karma, but I'd much rather have something to talk about than seeing -1 (whatever). What good is that?
It works on the throw-mud-at-wall principle, which is precisely why you get so much of it. Sure, the percentage might go down as you throw more mud, but strictly from a sales perspective, I'd rather have 1% of 2,000,000 than 2% of 500,000.
There is a great amount of irony in the fact that we're all reading an article about obtaining accurate information by clicking on a link that will generate false information.
That's just way too wonderful to put into mere words.
I kicked the habit in 1994ish. I also don't listen to radio and since I'm a programmer who works from home, I don't even see billboards.
Perhaps you've noticed it as well, but about a year ago I began to have ideas and thoughts that I couldn't link to any advertising campaign. By this, I mean that the idea wasn't a spinoff of one, or motivated by one, it was just an idea.
I know that sounds a little bit odd, but when you've been out of that influence for that long (and please excuse me if this comes off as elitist, for all I know you've experienced the same thing), commercials (I still catch one or two when I'm visiting friends) are incredibly funny (ok, mostly not, but some are hilarious and boy do I get weird looks), the shows are even more insipid than I remembered them and...dear sweet Jesus, I don't have enough time in the day now! How the hell do these people get ANYTHING done with one around?!?
Oh, right. They don't.
Ok, that last part was wicked elitist. Sue me. =)
But seriously, living my own life and doing real things is much better, imo, than watching someone else's commercially tainted view of the same.
To anyone other than the author of the parent reading this, I strongly recommend that if you own one and spend more than three hours in front of it a week, go, pick the thing up, bring it into your cellar, get some lighter fluid, douse the box with it and light. That's how I did it.
This is not an attempt to pat myself on the back, merely a suggestion that I, myself, a web developer (both for graphics and coding), have been able to follow without too much strife.
I simply tell my clients thatI strongly recommend against forcing the user into a certain browser because while many use IE, many do not, and I'll be happy to code it in a way that will break non-IE browsers once they understand they're losing 10% of their sales before they even get out of the gate.
I've yet to have a single client then insist on going with IE-specific code.
It might behoove this guy to do nothing more than record IRC chats and use them as responses and "modding up" the ones that seem to keep the person on the other end chatting the longest.
Sayeth Mullen: "I just don't see how the FTC can not bring the hammer down on these companies. It is just plain obvious that they price fix."
I hesitate to write this, because it almost, even to me, appears to be a troll (my reply, that is, not your post). But the answer is money. It's always money. And money, when it comes to the entertainment industry, doesn't just sing (ironically enough), it fscking yodels. The FTC is the Federal Trade Comission. They're governed and directed by laws. Politicians make the laws. The politicians get a significant amount of support from Political Interest Groups.
Seeing the conflict of interest here? =)
So I'm not trying to flame you, believe me, but it's not very hard to see how this happens.
"Beware of he who would deny you access to information, for in his heart he dreams himself your master"-Unknowen
It's actually a quote from a game, Alpha Centauri.
"As the Americans learned so painfully in Earth's final century, free flow of information is the only safeguard against tyranny. The once-chained people whose leaders at last loose their grip on information flow will soon burst with freedom and vitality, but the free nation gradually constricting its grip on public discourse has begun its rapid slide into despotism. Beware of he who would deny you access to information, for in his heart he dreams himself your master."
Actually, I just signed up for Salon premium this week. I think their writing is well worth the $2.50/mo that a years subscription goes for. And this is coming from a person who, at the age of 30, has never subscribed to a magazine in their life.
Re:Spielberg annoys to the end
on
Minority Report
·
· Score: 1
I liked it quite a bit but I agree that it really should have ended with Tom Cruise's character being left in deep-freeze. Roll the credits.
Slashdot Mirror
Rather than repeat myself (most of your points I agree with), check out this reply.
ProtonMotiveForce writes:
Umm, what? Why would you think Microsoft would be interested in this technology? They've got their own effort going.
Agreed, but Microsoft has a very big interest in shifting public opinion against fair use, regardless of whose implementation is being presented. By this you're suggesting that Microsoft would feel threatened by opposition, but they're quite capable of embracing and extending whatever market/technology they'd like to dominate.
Is it some primitive minded linking of what you consider an evil entitity and an evil idea (the right of artists to make money from their work).
Clearly, not a lot of thought or depth was put into it -- it wasn't intended to draw a conclusion, my apologies if it was presented that way. My motive was more to have people consider what may or may not be behind the conclusion the academics came to. For all I know it's sincere and didn't have an ounce of coersion behind it. That's why we look.
I'm a programmer myself, and while I used to take the hardline, "information wants to be free," stance, reality has sorta stepped in and slapped me around a bit. My opinion now is a bit closer to the idea of immenent domain -- if the idea you have is of significant public good, the government should have the ability to offer you a fair market value for that idea. But this has all sorts of problems and I'm quite aware of it. Thorny situation. I'd just hate to have someone come up with a super new formula for rubber that could cleanse 3rd world water supplies effortlessly, negate gravity and yes, you could beowulf it, but some schmed is charging $2B/oz.
Commie.
Why, thank you. =)
My question, and it's not one I've come to a conclusion on (for lack of facts all-around) is "does this buy them influence with the academics."
That's all.
I would have done a far more exhaustive search on the entertainment industry, probably Seagram in particular since they tend to be politically active, but I have to get this code out tha door, the girlfriend is coming over and I have my own project to deal with (if I'm lucky).
So I guess what I'm saying is you're right, I just figured they would be the most obvious marker of monetary influence that I could track down in 10 minutes.
First, let me say that what I'm about to show might be entirely common among colleges, not just the Georgia Institute of Technology. But whenever I see some academic group pushing something that is inexorably linked to commercial interests, I start looking for a money trail.
EPICS, Georgia Tech Receives Software Grant to Improve Retention For Minority Students (2000)
This year, they'll have even more to celebrate, as Microsoft Research's University Relations Group announces a grant that will put "bundles" of its latest software and publications in the hands of 1,000 underrepresented students over the next two years.
EPICS, Microsoft Partnership Donates Software to Hands On Atlanta (date unknown)
"Thanks to the partnership of the nationally based Engineering Projects In Community Service (EPICS) and Microsoft Corporation, a generous software gift was recently donated to HOA. This software, Microsoft Project 2000, will allow the organization to implement a system to improve its special events planning. "
Microsoft Exec to Address Georgia Tech Grads (1999)
Deborah Willingham, vice president of Microsoft Corporation's Business and Enterprise Division Marketing, will address Georgia Institute of Technology's 205th Commencement ceremony on Saturday, December 18.
Microsoft grant gives OMED another reason to celebrate at Tower Awards(date unknown)
This year, adding to the excitement, Microsoft Research's University Relations Group announced a grant that will put "bundles" of its latest software and publications in the hands of 1,000 underrepresented [Georgia Tech] students over the next two years.
This was just a quick check on Google.
Again, there might not be a cookie jar that Microsoft doesn't have their fist in, but it might be nice to know.
DreamCast: $10 - $30
Laptop: $500 - $1,400
That actually raises an interesting question. What percentage of blogs *are* with livejournal, deadjournal, freeopendiary, opendiary, blogger, etc. Are you aware of any stats that show "market share" for each? I'm making my own tool, so that'd be interesting to know.
Thanks for the info in advance!
If any Slashdotters are interested in Go and reside in the Boston area, there is a 24-hour Go club (only two exist in the US) in Somerville (Davis Sq. stop off the Red Line T, about 5km or so away from Harvard) is the Massachuetts Go Association. While I'm not a member any more (moved to Rhode Island), they're a great club and very much interested in helping new players become familiar with the game. Their book selection in the library is quite impressive as well, covering all the obvious topics (fuseki, joseki) as well as strategy, tactics, theory, etc.
Generally, a newcomer would start off on board with a 9x9 grid and progress from there to a 13x13 and then a 19x19. The great thing about go is that since each piece (stone) is precisely the same as any other stone, it is quite straightforward to handicap a strong player so that an equitable game can be found vs. almost anbody simply by giving the weaker player position on the board before the game begins.
It's a fantastic game, and without being too bombastic (I hope), it can teach the player quite a number of things entirely outside the scope of the game itself.
Okay, I see where you're going with this. The problem is not the medium, then, it's the form in which you're used to seeing it. A blog is only as limiting as the software that makes it happen. For example, livejournal is pretty constrained. You can change some items, but you can't really do as you please. As far as I know, anyway. Something like Blogger offers you a lot more room with the ability to make the design precisely as you wish and the option of using a template.
...if someone isn't really HTML-knowledgeable, there is a spot for them. For those that do, there is a bit more latitude for creativity. At the extreme end, you can just DIY. My blog is 100% hand-rolled (and kinda crappy, I'm working on that). You're only as constrained as you constrain yourself.
So
Telastyn writes:
"Why are people facinated with blogs? They simply offer a more limited subset of the creativity allowed by vanilla html, in exchange for added ease of use and "structure". Why not just use web pages, or better yet flash, or another multimedia form to create unique arts?"
If I understand this correctly, you're asking why substance can't take a backseat to style?
It's not a flame, but as best as I can see, that's your gripe -- that more interesting delivery methods exist and should, ipso facto, be used. Suppose all you want to convey is the written word? If so, then is the written word good enough?
I think it's sort of ironic that the public regularly ignores significant news that affects tens of thousands of people (if not more) -- AIDS, war in Africa, human rights violations en masse in China, rampant ethic lapses in our capitalism -- in favor of the latest weight fluctuations of J.Lo or even minimally influential events such as the mining accident in Virginia (which affected 9 men and their families but made great for great edge-of-seat drama), but then whine when we give them a false positive.
What the shit do they care?
They'll support the slashing of funding to scan the skies and the second we find a real threat they'll drag somebody in front of congress to explain what "went wrong."
People aren't mad that we gave them a false tip, they're mad becaues it is a false tip.
Ooookay. Dismissing the MKULTRA nuts just got a whole lot harder. Thanks, michael. =)
thales writes:
" NOT performing a action that could cause damage to an inocent third party that has aided him says a lot about his convictions. Your snide insinuation also says a lot about your convictions "
While I agree with the first statement fully, I think the second might be a little harsh. It appears, to me, to be just a case of not thinking very deeply on what was actually going on rather than malice.
Or maybe he was just blinded by the possibility of racking up karma with a pseudo-witty, biting, and obvious attack on Perens so early in the history of the thread. =)
Not flaming you, it's just my experience that often what appears as malace is really just ignorance so I tend to assume the latter.
eyepeepackets writes:
...and, well, you get the point. If it's coming close enough, let's turn it in to something useful.
1. mine it for data; 2. use it as a platform for whatever; 3. sell pieces of it to whomever;
4. mine it for whatever minerals it may carry; 5.
How do you suggest we slow down a 2km-wide rock moving at 28km/s to achieve this?
Ya know, it's funny -- I haven't been modded down once since I created this tagline (saw it on someone else's). Frankly, I could give a rat's ass about karma, but I'd much rather have something to talk about than seeing -1 (whatever). What good is that?
Dr. Wallace,
Do you think that we will see an AI scheme -- expert system or otherwise -- that will be "smarter" than Grommit within the next 20 years?
It works on the throw-mud-at-wall principle, which is precisely why you get so much of it. Sure, the percentage might go down as you throw more mud, but strictly from a sales perspective, I'd rather have 1% of 2,000,000 than 2% of 500,000.
There is a great amount of irony in the fact that we're all reading an article about obtaining accurate information by clicking on a link that will generate false information.
That's just way too wonderful to put into mere words.
I kicked the habit in 1994ish. I also don't listen to radio and since I'm a programmer who works from home, I don't even see billboards.
...dear sweet Jesus, I don't have enough time in the day now! How the hell do these people get ANYTHING done with one around?!?
Perhaps you've noticed it as well, but about a year ago I began to have ideas and thoughts that I couldn't link to any advertising campaign. By this, I mean that the idea wasn't a spinoff of one, or motivated by one, it was just an idea.
I know that sounds a little bit odd, but when you've been out of that influence for that long (and please excuse me if this comes off as elitist, for all I know you've experienced the same thing), commercials (I still catch one or two when I'm visiting friends) are incredibly funny (ok, mostly not, but some are hilarious and boy do I get weird looks), the shows are even more insipid than I remembered them and
Oh, right. They don't.
Ok, that last part was wicked elitist. Sue me. =)
But seriously, living my own life and doing real things is much better, imo, than watching someone else's commercially tainted view of the same.
To anyone other than the author of the parent reading this, I strongly recommend that if you own one and spend more than three hours in front of it a week, go, pick the thing up, bring it into your cellar, get some lighter fluid, douse the box with it and light. That's how I did it.
I simply tell my clients thatI strongly recommend against forcing the user into a certain browser because while many use IE, many do not, and I'll be happy to code it in a way that will break non-IE browsers once they understand they're losing 10% of their sales before they even get out of the gate.
I've yet to have a single client then insist on going with IE-specific code.
It might behoove this guy to do nothing more than record IRC chats and use them as responses and "modding up" the ones that seem to keep the person on the other end chatting the longest.
Just an idea.
Sayeth Mullen:
"I just don't see how the FTC can not bring the hammer down on these companies. It is just plain obvious that they price fix."
I hesitate to write this, because it almost, even to me, appears to be a troll (my reply, that is, not your post). But the answer is money. It's always money. And money, when it comes to the entertainment industry, doesn't just sing (ironically enough), it fscking yodels. The FTC is the Federal Trade Comission. They're governed and directed by laws. Politicians make the laws. The politicians get a significant amount of support from Political Interest Groups.
Seeing the conflict of interest here? =)
So I'm not trying to flame you, believe me, but it's not very hard to see how this happens.
Quoth Myselfthethoom:
"Beware of he who would deny you access to information, for in his heart he dreams himself your master"-Unknowen
It's actually a quote from a game, Alpha Centauri.
"As the Americans learned so painfully in Earth's final century, free flow of information is the only safeguard against tyranny. The once-chained people whose leaders at last loose their grip on information flow will soon burst with freedom and vitality, but the free nation gradually constricting its grip on public discourse has begun its rapid slide into despotism. Beware of he who would deny you access to information, for in his heart he dreams himself your master."
-- Commissioner Pravin Lal, "Librarian's Preface"
Actually, I just signed up for Salon premium this week. I think their writing is well worth the $2.50/mo that a years subscription goes for. And this is coming from a person who, at the age of 30, has never subscribed to a magazine in their life.
I liked it quite a bit but I agree that it really should have ended with Tom Cruise's character being left in deep-freeze. Roll the credits.