This might seem local to some of you, but I really want to hear the news from the three blocks around my apartment. Too often things happen that I can see from my window but I never see anything in the news regarding them.
I would very much like to empower neighbors to take pictures and write stories regarding truely local events.
You can't put your local disk on a network that S3 has. If you have an application you've just distributed it across the country. That data is going to load very quickly and is probably redundant on Amazon's network. You can't get that same performance from your local drive/network.
Nothing like a bunch of undead zombie griefers to make life hell for the living/paying players. Charge me $4 per live character I play. Make him/her randomly, with skills and equipment randomly assigned so I have a chance to be a soldier or a banker... and let the bodies hit the floor. You wouldn't need any NPCs. People playing zombies would line up to get a crack at killing some paying players... and the paying players would line up to see who could survive and live the longest.
Eventually the free zombies would want to try it on the other side, so it's the perfect demo to get them into the game.
While it might be a good practice for a mature company in a mature industry to pay dividends, a company with good management and solid growth prospects has no business paying dividends. A growing company's need for capital almost always outstrips its cashflow. It's just plain dumb for a growing company to pay out dividends and then have to go out and borrow money or sell more equity to finance its growth.
No company will ever admit that it's not in a solid growth period. Don't be silly, that would lower the stock price.
Another reason why it's not necessarily a good idea to pay dividends is that the US, unlike most other Western democracies, taxes dividends twice.
Yes, I know. I'm a Libertarian, remember? BTW, most of your money is taxed twice as well. Once when you earn it and once when you spend it.
This double taxation is one of the distorting factors that makes it much more logical for investors to seek returns from increased share prices rather than dividends.
I agree. Fix it and you fix a large problem with corporations.
Finally, to pay a dividend is for the company to, in effect, throw up its hands and say, "Here. We can't figure out how to put this money we made for you to work any better than you can so we're just going to give it to you. You figure out where to put it."
Here I disagree. The company is saying to you "We did a great job and we expect to do a great job. Here are the fruits of those labors. If you like the direction we're going, buy more of our stock. After all, this is your company."
Honestly I'd rather have my money when they make it, then have to rely on the market to determine my profits from investing. I'm sure you know enough stories about companies going under and investors losing their shirts because the stock is worthless. Wouldn't it have been nice if they had gotten their initial investment back in dividends?
Karl's still holding on line two. Shall I put him through?
No, but Isaiah Berlin wanted me to let you know... "Liberty for wolves is death to the lambs."
I'll skip your diatribe about most companies being incorporated, as it's both obvious and unfortunate.
Sometimes, firing 30 percent of the staff is exactly what needs to be done. Somtimes the percentage should be higher. Sometimes making a profit does not require any firings. It's absurd to make a blanket statement that firing people to increase profits is stupid.
Only when the owners and managers have made grievous errors. Unfortunately they aren't the ones that get fired. If you have to lay off anything close to 30% of your staff, you've done something horridly wrong. There are no good reasons to fire that many people, and profit is never one of them, IMO.
And exactly how does a company increase its stock price without increasing profits? Both increased profits and increased stock prices represent increases in shareholder value, which is a company's primary fiduciary (i.e., legal and moral) responsibility to its shareholders.
Shareholders used to look forward to profits from the company in the form of dividends. It's a relatively recent idea that stock prices should be the primary goal of benefit to shareholders. "Playing" the stock market isn't really being a Shareholder at all... it's a game of chance played by irresponsible business people who care little for the employee and only care about their own profits. That is not who I want for a boss... but you might.
I prefer working for small companies but working for big companies has distinct advantages. It's foolish to make a one-size-fits-all statement that small companies are always better.
You're right. There are plenty of CEO's and Middle Managers who would love work at a large corporation. I apologize to them.
Great idea. But then you'd be one of those greedy shareholders.
No, you'd be an owner. Shareholders seldom work for the company they have stock in.
Karl Marx called and left a message for you re: the surplus value of wages. "Keep fighting the good fight comrade. Seventy five years of abject failure in the Soviet Union does nothing to disprove my theories."
Tell Karl to stop calling me. I left him behind years ago. I'm a Libertarian now.
Companies that are owned by stock holders are only interested in profits, and then only as a way to boost stock share prices enough for them to sell for a gain. That means companies with stock holders do stupid things like fire 30% of their staff to make a profit or create short term gains at the cost of long term growth, thus threatening everyone's jobs.
I'd suggest anyone working for such a company to quit.
The company has no long term investment in you and would fire you in a minute if it meant their bottom line would increase their stock values. Half the time they aren't even looking to be more profitable... they just want to increase stock prices. The trend of not paying dividends has left public held companies in bad standing.
What you should be looking for is a small company that will value you and where replacing you would be painful and where making you a better and empowered worker wont threaten the employer with ideas that you'll run away with your new found skills.
Or better yet, start your own company. If you are working for a company (if a company pays you) you're obviously worth twice that. They can't make a profit on you if you aren't.
Wow. A million articles. That's a tenth of the songs that the iTunes Music Store has sold. Hey, wait a minute... now we're on to something. These guys need to start selling this content!!
Cosmonaught to Play With Ball in Orbit for 4 Years
on
Golf in Space
·
· Score: 1
Seriously, if you're going to post this stuff at least get your titles to look like the Weekly World News.
If you know what that means, I would like to offer you a cookie, because I sure as heck don't.
Thanks for the cookies.
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Re:I thought we settled this with hyperlinking?
on
Razorback2 Servers Seized
·
· Score: 2, Informative
From the article:
Since November of 2004, authorities have closed down all of the major eDonkey servers in the United States, and now, Europe.
You can link to illegal content. You're pointing to it, you aren't hosting it. It's perfectly legal. What's wrong with these people ^h^h^h^h^h^h lawyers? Is this how the new administration uses it's "terrorist" powers to do what they like when they like to do it?
Perhaps.
But until we the people stand up for our rights, we wont have any.
What you need to do is create bootable CD images (or USB if you're feeling frisky) for classrooms. These images would allow you to control licensing. You check out a CD and then check it back in after class is over... if you need it. Most students will get their own copies of stuff, but this allows everyone equal footing.
The other issue is malware. The bootable image should certainly contain some form of anti-virus/anti-malware that scans the user's HD while they work. Think Free, not Norton.
Other options include network booting of OS with applications.
I would *highly* recommend that you stick to one vendor/OS because when you have to deal with problems it will be much easier if you've specialized in the enviroment.
What you want is as much control over the students in class, while giving them as much freedom away from class as possible.
It's been show that you can generate great interest in online content with a yearly subscription, but not with montly subs. When people think about a montly subscription they start to add the numbers in their head and quickly figure out that the thing isn't worth the money... but yearly subscriptions feel less painful. You feel like you're going to get this forever for this one price. Like you're buying the show rather than renting it.
Plus you get way more subscriptions this way from people who eventually drop out. Going for a low cost yearly is much smarter than a higher cost montly rate.
Now you have Adult Comics. In Japan this was never a problem because comics were marketed to all demograhics. Games have only gotten their adult content as the Pac-Man generation grew up.
So:
Adult Games Interactive Movies (with movie ratings) Mature Games Virtual Fiction Animated Fiction Virtual Movie Adult Themed Content (label)
but really, as long as you have hit points, it's still just a game.;-)
If you can do java you can do ajax. Honest... it's not really that hard. In fact it's boring and stupid, but it's the hype of the moment so you might as well jump on board.
If you really think this is the coolest idea ever, send it to google. They'll make it for free.
It'd be nice if I could have an effect on the cut scene. We're almost at the point where cut scenes animation is only a little better than the in game graphics... so why not render part of it and then let me have my choice of reactions and follow up with ending cut scenes based on my reactions.
But all in all, I hate cut scenes. I go to the movies for that.
{sarcasm} I know the American Indians have been waiting a long time for this, but finally the United States is taking a stand against the foriegn invaders from Europe who usurped their lands. The Department of Homeland Security will provide the protection we need from attacks on American Indian's homelands and while it will probably take a long time, rid this country of it's invading anglo-saxon hoards. {/sarcasm}
Look... as much grief as Google is getting for this, they know hackers are going to get past the wall. The Great Fire Wall of China will work about as well as the original did. It's there to make a point and it's not going to stop anyone.
Slashdot Mirror
This might seem local to some of you, but I really want to hear the news from the three blocks around my apartment. Too often things happen that I can see from my window but I never see anything in the news regarding them.
I would very much like to empower neighbors to take pictures and write stories regarding truely local events.
Give us the power to be local journalists!!
You can't put your local disk on a network that S3 has. If you have an application you've just distributed it across the country. That data is going to load very quickly and is probably redundant on Amazon's network. You can't get that same performance from your local drive/network.
I don't know why I keep falling for your trolling.
You weren't modded up 5, but +4. With your starting 1 that made 5.
I was modded +3 and made it to five based on Good-Karma and a +1 Interesting Mod I use. (you got this too,BTW).
I don't mind that we don't agree. I don't mind that you resort to insults when you're wrong, but at least get your facts straight.
LOL. "catastrophically"
Ok, kid. You obviously have me outmatched. That's why I'm getting "insightful" and you're still moderated a 2.
Seriously.
Nothing like a bunch of undead zombie griefers to make life hell for the living/paying players. Charge me $4 per live character I play. Make him/her randomly, with skills and equipment randomly assigned so I have a chance to be a soldier or a banker... and let the bodies hit the floor. You wouldn't need any NPCs. People playing zombies would line up to get a crack at killing some paying players... and the paying players would line up to see who could survive and live the longest.
Eventually the free zombies would want to try it on the other side, so it's the perfect demo to get them into the game.
While it might be a good practice for a mature company in a mature industry to pay dividends, a company with good management and solid growth prospects has no business paying dividends. A growing company's need for capital almost always outstrips its cashflow. It's just plain dumb for a growing company to pay out dividends and then have to go out and borrow money or sell more equity to finance its growth.
No company will ever admit that it's not in a solid growth period. Don't be silly, that would lower the stock price.
Another reason why it's not necessarily a good idea to pay dividends is that the US, unlike most other Western democracies, taxes dividends twice.
Yes, I know. I'm a Libertarian, remember? BTW, most of your money is taxed twice as well. Once when you earn it and once when you spend it.
This double taxation is one of the distorting factors that makes it much more logical for investors to seek returns from increased share prices rather than dividends.
I agree. Fix it and you fix a large problem with corporations.
Finally, to pay a dividend is for the company to, in effect, throw up its hands and say, "Here. We can't figure out how to put this money we made for you to work any better than you can so we're just going to give it to you. You figure out where to put it."
Here I disagree. The company is saying to you "We did a great job and we expect to do a great job. Here are the fruits of those labors. If you like the direction we're going, buy more of our stock. After all, this is your company."
Honestly I'd rather have my money when they make it, then have to rely on the market to determine my profits from investing. I'm sure you know enough stories about companies going under and investors losing their shirts because the stock is worthless. Wouldn't it have been nice if they had gotten their initial investment back in dividends?
Karl's still holding on line two. Shall I put him through?
No, but Isaiah Berlin wanted me to let you know... "Liberty for wolves is death to the lambs."
I'll skip your diatribe about most companies being incorporated, as it's both obvious and unfortunate.
Sometimes, firing 30 percent of the staff is exactly what needs to be done. Somtimes the percentage should be higher. Sometimes making a profit does not require any firings. It's absurd to make a blanket statement that firing people to increase profits is stupid.
Only when the owners and managers have made grievous errors. Unfortunately they aren't the ones that get fired. If you have to lay off anything close to 30% of your staff, you've done something horridly wrong. There are no good reasons to fire that many people, and profit is never one of them, IMO.
And exactly how does a company increase its stock price without increasing profits? Both increased profits and increased stock prices represent increases in shareholder value, which is a company's primary fiduciary (i.e., legal and moral) responsibility to its shareholders.
Shareholders used to look forward to profits from the company in the form of dividends. It's a relatively recent idea that stock prices should be the primary goal of benefit to shareholders. "Playing" the stock market isn't really being a Shareholder at all... it's a game of chance played by irresponsible business people who care little for the employee and only care about their own profits. That is not who I want for a boss... but you might.
I prefer working for small companies but working for big companies has distinct advantages. It's foolish to make a one-size-fits-all statement that small companies are always better.
You're right. There are plenty of CEO's and Middle Managers who would love work at a large corporation. I apologize to them.
Great idea. But then you'd be one of those greedy shareholders.
No, you'd be an owner. Shareholders seldom work for the company they have stock in.
Karl Marx called and left a message for you re: the surplus value of wages. "Keep fighting the good fight comrade. Seventy five years of abject failure in the Soviet Union does nothing to disprove my theories."
Tell Karl to stop calling me. I left him behind years ago. I'm a Libertarian now.
Companies that are owned by stock holders are only interested in profits, and then only as a way to boost stock share prices enough for them to sell for a gain. That means companies with stock holders do stupid things like fire 30% of their staff to make a profit or create short term gains at the cost of long term growth, thus threatening everyone's jobs.
I'd suggest anyone working for such a company to quit.
The company has no long term investment in you and would fire you in a minute if it meant their bottom line would increase their stock values. Half the time they aren't even looking to be more profitable... they just want to increase stock prices. The trend of not paying dividends has left public held companies in bad standing.
What you should be looking for is a small company that will value you and where replacing you would be painful and where making you a better and empowered worker wont threaten the employer with ideas that you'll run away with your new found skills.
Or better yet, start your own company. If you are working for a company (if a company pays you) you're obviously worth twice that. They can't make a profit on you if you aren't.
I'm sorry that my sarcasm wasn't easily understood. So for the record (and to quote Homer Simpson)... "By the way I was being sarcastic...""
Wow. A million articles. That's a tenth of the songs that the iTunes Music Store has sold. Hey, wait a minute... now we're on to something. These guys need to start selling this content!!
Seriously, if you're going to post this stuff at least get your titles to look like the Weekly World News.
If you know what that means, I would like to offer you a cookie, because I sure as heck don't.
7 3.179
= books.slashdot.org|utmcct=/article.pl|utmcmd=refer ral
Thanks for the cookies.
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From the article:
Since November of 2004, authorities have closed down all of the major eDonkey servers in the United States, and now, Europe.
Mea Culpa.
You can link to illegal content. You're pointing to it, you aren't hosting it. It's perfectly legal. What's wrong with these people ^h^h^h^h^h^h lawyers? Is this how the new administration uses it's "terrorist" powers to do what they like when they like to do it?
Perhaps.
But until we the people stand up for our rights, we wont have any.
What you need to do is create bootable CD images (or USB if you're feeling frisky) for classrooms. These images would allow you to control licensing. You check out a CD and then check it back in after class is over... if you need it. Most students will get their own copies of stuff, but this allows everyone equal footing.
The other issue is malware. The bootable image should certainly contain some form of anti-virus/anti-malware that scans the user's HD while they work. Think Free, not Norton.
Other options include network booting of OS with applications.
I would *highly* recommend that you stick to one vendor/OS because when you have to deal with problems it will be much easier if you've specialized in the enviroment.
What you want is as much control over the students in class, while giving them as much freedom away from class as possible.
It's been show that you can generate great interest in online content with a yearly subscription, but not with montly subs. When people think about a montly subscription they start to add the numbers in their head and quickly figure out that the thing isn't worth the money... but yearly subscriptions feel less painful. You feel like you're going to get this forever for this one price. Like you're buying the show rather than renting it.
Plus you get way more subscriptions this way from people who eventually drop out. Going for a low cost yearly is much smarter than a higher cost montly rate.
Now you have Adult Comics. In Japan this was never a problem because comics were marketed to all demograhics. Games have only gotten their adult content as the Pac-Man generation grew up.
;-)
So:
Adult Games
Interactive Movies (with movie ratings)
Mature Games
Virtual Fiction
Animated Fiction
Virtual Movie
Adult Themed Content (label)
but really, as long as you have hit points, it's still just a game.
I'd agree if you'd suggested a high level language like haskell first
Haskel? If he wanted to write his own language he wouldn't be using C++.
1. Write the whole thing in Python.
2. Once it's bullet-proof, replace each function and object with C++ code.
3. Profit.
If you can do java you can do ajax. Honest... it's not really that hard. In fact it's boring and stupid, but it's the hype of the moment so you might as well jump on board.
If you really think this is the coolest idea ever, send it to google. They'll make it for free.
Well, there was that one time with a Sinclair ZX80, but does that really count?
It'd be nice if I could have an effect on the cut scene. We're almost at the point where cut scenes animation is only a little better than the in game graphics... so why not render part of it and then let me have my choice of reactions and follow up with ending cut scenes based on my reactions.
But all in all, I hate cut scenes. I go to the movies for that.
{sarcasm}
I know the American Indians have been waiting a long time for this, but finally the United States is taking a stand against the foriegn invaders from Europe who usurped their lands. The Department of Homeland Security will provide the protection we need from attacks on American Indian's homelands and while it will probably take a long time, rid this country of it's invading anglo-saxon hoards.
{/sarcasm}
Look... as much grief as Google is getting for this, they know hackers are going to get past the wall. The Great Fire Wall of China will work about as well as the original did. It's there to make a point and it's not going to stop anyone.