I can see that the record companies are worried because this is Yet Another Way to copy the recordings they distribute.
Of course we can copy tapes and CD's but the record companies basically have a lock on the distribution channels.
But with MP3, anyone on the net can have a site. Even if the site is removed, another one can spring up in a matter of hours. They can no longer prevent 'illicit distribution'.
I used to make a decent living as an Information Broker - basically, a trained database searcher for hire. Along came the net, and suddenly everyone with a modem could search for themselves. So I wrapped my shingle up, and stored it away.
These days, there is so much junk and bad indexing, that I may as well put the shingle back out. Almost any search will find mostly commercial sites, unrelated to the search, or completely useless garbage.
You almost have to be in a bizarre frame of mind to create a good search term these days.
When Conde Nast bought WIRED, it was obvious that the end was probably imminent. WIRED used to be a pretty decent magazine despite the neon colors and drug-induced layout (grin). When the 'net started to take off, it was really the only thing remotely close to what was really going on.
I stopped buying them six months ago. I looked at the latest issue, just out of curiosoty - BYTE didn't have that many pages when it died!
A good magazine? That would be a build-it-yourself magazine, constructed from articles at different sources. Since the print mags can't do this, and search engines are (finally!) entering a heyday, only online mags can do it.
One of the nice things I have found about online relationships of any sort is that you get to choose who your relationships are with, by virtue of the commonality you share in the 'spaces' that you meet. Your neighbors and friends are often the result of main chance - wh o moved in next to you, or who happened to apply for a job at your company.
Online, we tend to form our communities by looking for special interests. X-Files people tend to hang out on alt.tv.x-files or #X-Files on Usenet and IRC. Cat people go to their own spaces. So we define the types of people with whom we associate, by virtue of the communities to which we devote our time.
We are no longer limited to local geography. We can meet neat and interesting people all over the country - any country with Internet access!
And therein lies the rub.
I have had several great online relationships - business relationships, friendships, and romances. The romances are the hardest because it is difficult, if not impossible, to consummate the relationship, when typing with one hand (grin). I am still on very good terms with my cyber-girlfriends, but we couldn't overcome the steep barrier to entry (if you'll pardon the pun) of plane fare and such.
I'm in Texas. One girlfriend is in Toronto, one in Washington State, another is in Oz. I've been fortunate that I have one online buddy who lives down the street from me, but he is the rare exception.
In the long run, it all depends on random chance that you will meet someone you can get to. At least there are more females online than when I started 20 years ago (BIG grin).
> Remember young Jedi Knight Windows leads > to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads > to Linux.:)
Not to mention:
It is by Linux alone I set my PC in motion. It is by the open source that patches acquire speed, the kernel acquires modules. The modules become a new release. It is by Linux alone I set my PC in motion.
Not being entirely flip, but Weird Al Yankovic has apparently had the surgery. if you went to his site and emailed him, he might answer. He seems enough like a regular guy...
Every time I see news about NCs, I can't help but be reminded of why the computer revolution came about in the first place - to fight the centralization of computer resources that was so prevalent in the 60s.
Now, here we are, the industry is fomenting a counter-revolution to take power back out of the hands of the users. What happens if NCs are successful? Will we have to submit batch jobs to use a Word for Windows server? Important documants delayed a week because our priorty is too low?
I interned at $Very_Big_Multinational, and they were very into monitoring. According to the admin, they used it primarily to screen "undesirable" sites for the filters, which they also applied.
If a site was on the filtered list, the filtering software popped up an "unauthorized" page and a reason for its being unauthorized.
Sites such as Salon were banned for being "alternative news sources", while the Dallas Morning News was fine. Suck was not banned, but The San Jose Mercury News was.
I was told from time to time that I "should be careful" what sites I went to. I never felt the need to be careful, because all I ever went to were for news (/. and Wired), or I might take a break to play solitaire. But the engineers were scared shitless that anything they did could and would be misconstrued.
The place I work now doesn't do any of the fancy monitoring stuff, and my cow-orkers and I are happy, productive people who wouldn't abuse the network anyway. we like what we do. We like that we aren't violated.
I'm currently a [non-brittle - grin] Tech Writer, and I often have to back away from what I'm doing so I can consider how I'm doing it. A little free play helps. It clears the mind (Keptin, we have vacuum in the IS Department!).
Anyway, Monitoring? Don't care for it. I can work with it in place, but it bugs the hell out of me, even though I'm not doing anything wrong.
There are those who are addicted, and there are those who just know the value of a good communications medium. I have a friend who *is* addicted, and she's almost always in some chat room or another. in fact, that's how she and I met. That was seven years ago.
Then there are folks like me, for whom life online is simply part of life. I communicate via the net, do research on problems and items of interest, keep up with the news, and so on.
It would irritate me to lose my connection, but I'm not going to become depressed or suicidal or homicidal because of it. I do have a life, and lots of other stuff to do.
Besides, I went through the no logon shakes fifteen years ago (grin).
Shoot, I never heard the religious or political stuff about geek either.
Personally, I'm Wiccan, but my religion doesn't interfere with or drivethe way I interact with my interest(s) in computers and technolog(y|ies).
Personally, I'm a Republican, and the only way this relates to my 'geekiness' is in how the candidates stand in relation to my pet (peeves|projects).
Mark Edwards You might be a redneck pagan if your sacramental chalice says 'Budweiser', your sacramental dagger says 'Buck', and your High Priest's name is Billy Joe Bob
A friend once told me I was the only person she knew who saw a moral in the diehard movies (well, in the first two, anyway). That is, just because you have impossible odds, don't stop trying - you might just win out of sheer endurance borne of desperation.
Anyway, I liked it.
Mark Edwards
----------------------------------- Proof of sanity forged upon request
We've got RC5, the Mersenne Primes and SETI@Home. How much longer do you think it will be before "mainstream" charities and projects get into the distributed client thing?
I can just see it now - 50% of all clock cycles wordwide will be running a distributed client for the computer owners' favorite charities.
Mark Edwards
----------------------------------- Proof of sanity forged upon request
Let's face it, we have such a long-standing legacy of violence in this country.
When my dad was a kid, violence was sparked by 'adventure radio shows' like The Shadow.
When I was growing up, it was television in general. Later, it was Rock and Roll, then Heavy Metal, followed by Dungeons and Dragons (or maybe it was D&D followed by metal).
Now, we obviously can't handle our internet (gasp!).
It's a sad, sad world when the media just do a quick 'latest big thing' story, blaming all the ills of society on whatever seems to have taken the fancy of our youth. I say that media sensationalism is the root cause of all of the violence (grin).
Mark
----------------------------------- Proof of sanity forged upon request
Weighing in my shutup software
on
ShutUp Software
·
· Score: 1
I seem to have a lot of personal blockers at home and at work. Right there on the television remote is the best instance of a filter - the keypad.
I block stations I don't like by not selecting them. I filter out information (like adverts) by clicking on the ignore (mute) button. I censor the television networks' right to communicate with me by leaving the television off while I read a good book.
I block out Harlequin romance novels in favor of the latest by Stephenson or Bujold. I gratuitously choose not to engage in macarame tutorials, and I refuse to let those National Enquirers cross my threshold.
Am I censoring others by choosing to involve myself in 'only what I like'? No, I am exercising my freedom to choose. I am exercising my freedom to get away from what I don't like - to keep from being force fed a diet rich in obnoxiousness.
Yes, the Internet is indeed a community. Some of us are assholes. Some of us are just not popular. most of the time it isn't because of the message, but the tone of the message that makes me tune out the message.
Do I care if I'm ignored? Not particularly. My life is not so defined by what other people think of me that I question my existence if my email drops off. In fact, i wish some of it would drop off. So take what I say with or without a grain of salt. Or don't take it at all. And if you don't like it, I'll just ignore you (grin).
Mark Edwards
----------------------------------- Proof of sanity forged upon request
Slashdot Mirror
I can see that the record companies are worried because this is Yet Another Way to copy the recordings they distribute.
Of course we can copy tapes and CD's but the record companies basically have a lock on the distribution channels.
But with MP3, anyone on the net can have a site. Even if the site is removed, another one can spring up in a matter of hours. They can no longer prevent 'illicit distribution'.
Mark Edwards
Proof of Sanity Forged Upon Request
I used to make a decent living as an Information Broker - basically, a trained database searcher for hire. Along came the net, and suddenly everyone with a modem could search for themselves. So I wrapped my shingle up, and stored it away.
These days, there is so much junk and bad indexing, that I may as well put the shingle back out. Almost any search will find mostly commercial sites, unrelated to the search, or completely useless garbage.
You almost have to be in a bizarre frame of mind to create a good search term these days.
Mark Edwards
Proof of Sanity Forged Upon Request
When Conde Nast bought WIRED, it was obvious that the end was probably imminent. WIRED used to be a pretty decent magazine despite the neon colors and drug-induced layout (grin). When the 'net started to take off, it was really the only thing remotely close to what was really going on.
I stopped buying them six months ago. I looked at the latest issue, just out of curiosoty - BYTE didn't have that many pages when it died!
A good magazine? That would be a build-it-yourself magazine, constructed from articles at different sources. Since the print mags can't do this, and search engines are (finally!) entering a heyday, only online mags can do it.
Mark Edwards
Proof of Sanity Forged Upon Request
One of the nice things I have found about online relationships of any sort is that you get to choose who your relationships are with, by virtue of the commonality you share in the 'spaces' that you meet. Your neighbors and friends are often the result of main chance - wh o moved in next to you, or who happened to apply for a job at your company.
Online, we tend to form our communities by looking for special interests. X-Files people tend to hang out on alt.tv.x-files or #X-Files on Usenet and IRC. Cat people go to their own spaces. So we define the types of people with whom we associate, by virtue of the communities to which we devote our time.
We are no longer limited to local geography. We can meet neat and interesting people all over the country - any country with Internet access!
And therein lies the rub.
I have had several great online relationships - business relationships, friendships, and romances. The romances are the hardest because it is difficult, if not impossible, to consummate the relationship, when typing with one hand (grin). I am still on very good terms with my cyber-girlfriends, but we couldn't overcome the steep barrier to entry (if you'll pardon the pun) of plane fare and such.
I'm in Texas. One girlfriend is in Toronto, one in Washington State, another is in Oz. I've been fortunate that I have one online buddy who lives down the street from me, but he is the rare exception.
In the long run, it all depends on random chance that you will meet someone you can get to. At least there are more females online than when I started 20 years ago (BIG grin).
Mark Edwards
Proof of Sanity Forged Upon Request
> Remember young Jedi Knight Windows leads :)
> to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads
> to Linux.
Not to mention:
It is by Linux alone I set my PC in motion.
It is by the open source that patches acquire speed,
the kernel acquires modules.
The modules become a new release.
It is by Linux alone I set my PC in motion.
Mark Edwards
Proof of Sanity Forged Upon Request
Not being entirely flip, but Weird Al Yankovic has apparently had the surgery. if you went to his site and emailed him, he might answer. He seems enough like a regular guy...
Mark Edwards
Proof of Sanity Forged Upon Request
Every time I see news about NCs, I can't help but be reminded of why the computer revolution came about in the first place - to fight the centralization of computer resources that was so prevalent in the 60s.
Now, here we are, the industry is fomenting a counter-revolution to take power back out of the hands of the users. What happens if NCs are successful? Will we have to submit batch jobs to use a Word for Windows server? Important documants delayed a week because our priorty is too low?
Mark Edwards
Proof of Sanity Forged Upon Request
Invent time travel
Travel into the future to see who you end up with.
Go back to your time, destroy the machine, and pursue your ideal woman.
I mean, how hard can that be? It worked for me - now using Marriage 4.0 (grin)
I interned at $Very_Big_Multinational, and they were very into monitoring. According to the admin, they used it primarily to screen "undesirable" sites for the filters, which they also applied.
If a site was on the filtered list, the filtering software popped up an "unauthorized" page and a reason for its being unauthorized.
Sites such as Salon were banned for being "alternative news sources", while the Dallas Morning News was fine. Suck was not banned, but The San Jose Mercury News was.
I was told from time to time that I "should be careful" what sites I went to. I never felt the need to be careful, because all I ever went to were for news (/. and Wired), or I might take a break to play solitaire. But the engineers were scared shitless that anything they did could and would be misconstrued.
The place I work now doesn't do any of the fancy monitoring stuff, and my cow-orkers and I are happy, productive people who wouldn't abuse the network anyway. we like what we do. We like that we aren't violated.
I'm currently a [non-brittle - grin] Tech Writer, and I often have to back away from what I'm doing so I can consider how I'm doing it. A little free play helps. It clears the mind (Keptin, we have vacuum in the IS Department!).
Anyway, Monitoring? Don't care for it. I can work with it in place, but it bugs the hell out of me, even though I'm not doing anything wrong.
Mark Edwards
Proof of Sanity Forged Upon Request
Gee, all you really have to do is scan for 25 megabyte files... Oh, waitaminute - that's a two word attachment in Word for windows. Uh... never mind.
Mark Edwards
Proof of Sanity Forged Upon Request
There are those who are addicted, and there are those who just know the value of a good communications medium. I have a friend who *is* addicted, and she's almost always in some chat room or another. in fact, that's how she and I met. That was seven years ago.
Then there are folks like me, for whom life online is simply part of life. I communicate via the net, do research on problems and items of interest, keep up with the news, and so on.
It would irritate me to lose my connection, but I'm not going to become depressed or suicidal or homicidal because of it. I do have a life, and lots of other stuff to do.
Besides, I went through the no logon shakes fifteen years ago (grin).
Mark Edwards
Proof of Sanity Forged Upon Request
Shoot, I never heard the religious or political stuff about geek either.
Personally, I'm Wiccan, but my religion doesn't interfere with or drivethe way I interact with my interest(s) in computers and technolog(y|ies).
Personally, I'm a Republican, and the only way this relates to my 'geekiness' is in how the candidates stand in relation to my pet (peeves|projects).
Mark Edwards
You might be a redneck pagan if your sacramental chalice says 'Budweiser', your sacramental dagger says 'Buck', and your High Priest's name is Billy Joe Bob
A friend once told me I was the only person she knew who saw a moral in the diehard movies (well, in the first two, anyway). That is, just because you have impossible odds, don't stop trying - you might just win out of sheer endurance borne of desperation.
Anyway, I liked it.
Mark Edwards
-----------------------------------
Proof of sanity forged upon request
Oh no! Does this mean that spealing ang garmmer will improve? That would ruin everything! (grin). Mark Edwards
-----------------------------------
Proof of sanity forged upon request
We've got RC5, the Mersenne Primes and SETI@Home. How much longer do you think it will be before "mainstream" charities and projects get into the distributed client thing?
I can just see it now - 50% of all clock cycles wordwide will be running a distributed client for the computer owners' favorite charities.
Mark Edwards
-----------------------------------
Proof of sanity forged upon request
Let's face it, we have such a long-standing
legacy of violence in this country.
When my dad was a kid, violence was sparked
by 'adventure radio shows' like The Shadow.
When I was growing up, it was television in
general. Later, it was Rock and Roll, then
Heavy Metal, followed by Dungeons and Dragons
(or maybe it was D&D followed by metal).
Now, we obviously can't handle our internet
(gasp!).
It's a sad, sad world when the media just do a
quick 'latest big thing' story, blaming all
the ills of society on whatever seems to have
taken the fancy of our youth. I say that media
sensationalism is the root cause of all of the
violence (grin).
Mark
-----------------------------------
Proof of sanity forged upon request
I seem to have a lot of personal blockers at home and at work. Right there on the television remote is the best instance of a filter - the keypad.
I block stations I don't like by not selecting them. I filter out information (like adverts) by clicking on the ignore (mute) button. I censor the television networks' right to communicate with me by leaving the television off while I read a good book.
I block out Harlequin romance novels in favor of the latest by Stephenson or Bujold. I gratuitously choose not to engage in macarame tutorials, and I refuse to let those National Enquirers cross my threshold.
Am I censoring others by choosing to involve myself in 'only what I like'? No, I am exercising my freedom to choose. I am exercising my freedom to get away from what I don't like - to keep from being force fed a diet rich in obnoxiousness.
Yes, the Internet is indeed a community. Some of us are assholes. Some of us are just not popular. most of the time it isn't because of the message, but the tone of the message that makes me tune out the message.
Do I care if I'm ignored? Not particularly. My life is not so defined by what other people think of me that I question my existence if my email drops off. In fact, i wish some of it would drop off. So take what I say with or without a grain of salt. Or don't take it at all. And if you don't like it, I'll just ignore you (grin).
Mark Edwards
-----------------------------------
Proof of sanity forged upon request