int main() {
if (ie.detected() == false)
exit(1);
else {
bootLogo.show();
double x,y;
for(x = 0; x 2000000000; x++)//Pause to show logo
for(y = 0; y 2000000000; y++);
int z = rand()%10;
(z>8)?windows.hang():windows.begin(); }
The record industry practically owns the airwaves and store shelves so the musician who wants to make big money signs deals to get exposure and some spare change from record sales
A good point, except for one point of terminology. A musician who wants to make big money is more accurately labeled a musically talented business-person. It is the inability of the listening public to distinguish between these 2 classes of performer on which the music industry is based.
Once somebody transfers the risks in producing and distributing their music to some huge conglomerate money-machine, they've lost any claims they might have to the rewards...
Say I offered to sell you a dollar bill for 50 cents. The dollar bill is inside a sealed envelope, upon which is printed "The breaking of the seal on this envelope, or any other significant topological transformation of this envelope which allows one to remove its contents, binds the breaker of said seal to the license printed on the inside of this envelope. A copy of this license is obtainable by sending $1.00 for shipping and handling to"... blah blah blah. Are you bound by the "contract" printed inside the envelope if you open? I could be asking for the title to your car, or the deed to your house...
So is it Time, Chance and Matter that supposedly account for us right now?
Yes.
Laws of Physics
If we were created by chance, how do we now have a stable system?
If we didn't, we would not be here to perceive it. It may be that the universe we inhabit has cycled through bazillions of iterations which did not result in a stable system, then about 6 billion years ago for some reason the wheels came up triple 7s. Perhaps this is the bazillionth time the big bang resulted in a jackpot, out of a bazillion^bazillion iterations. Or it may be that for each quantum event, the outcome of which is indeterminable a priori, a new universe is spawned "next" to our own. Does the photon zig left or zag right? The interference pattern produced by a single polarizing filter tells us the answer is "Both".
<rant> Quantum cosmology provides just as much illumination to how (not why, that's up to philosophers) we are here as any religious system, with the added bonus that you can repeat your results through experiment. Religion and other forms of non-rational value systems (race superiority and the like) are the single largest problem facing humanity now, imo. Take a look at Northern Ireland and tell me again how Jesus is the foundation for a consistent morality. All the religious high horse platitudes go right out the f'ing window as soon as there's a territorial dispute among the so called "righteous" domesticated primates. Trying asking George W., whose favorite philosopher is Jesus, "WWJD about capital punishment?". I can reach all of the most important points in xian philosophy (Be Nice, Be Fair, Be Just, Don't Steal, Don't Kill, Don't Lie, etc.) through following some rather simple axioms (I am a person, other people are mostly the same as me, I want to survive, I want to enjoy life, etc.) to their conclusions in a logically consistent way. Does God exist? Maybe, maybe not. We don't really need each other, either way, so to me the question is moot. </rant>
Um, I think he wants to use the oxygen tank so he can breathe with it inside his helium filled room. Not too interesting, I agree, but it's fairly obvious what he meant. You might want to work on your reading comprehension before you start labeling other people's posts 'stupid'.
What would happen if you are watching your see-once DVD and you have a powerfailiure? - Your wife/husband/son/doughter/boss/grandparents call and say their car broke down and need help, etc. etc. Would you get a new watch-once movie or is that movie void?
Try selling your sob story to blockbuster, hollywood, {!--INSERT_VIDEO_STORE_HERE--}. Renting is renting. Whether you have to return the thing by a specified time or it just self-destructs, if you didn't have an opportunity to watch it within the alloted period, it's your tough luck. You could always go rent it again, after all...
The point about PPV is a good one though. This idea is bound to fail, imo.
An interesting quote from that site:
"The environmental impact of Flexplay discs will be negligible. 100 million DVDs can fit into a cube just 10 meters (about 30 feet) on each side. Thus, the impact on local landfills will be minimal. "
lesse... 100 million discs is about one per US family. Say every family 'rents' an average of 30 of these things a year, that gives us a rectangle full of discs that's 5 stories high, 90 feet wide and 60 feet deep! What a fabulous idea! We take this medium that can last, if properly cared for, longer than the life expectency of the average person who uses it, and we build some kick-ass obsolesence into it... I hope they do this with music CDs and books, too. Maybe some kind of fading ink that gives you say, two weeks to read a book after you remove its airtight covering, then the words just dissolve away, and in the trash it goes! the_consumer loves our disposable society...
Are there any good reasons government-funded research (excepting SBIR which specifically is intended to help small businesses get going) shouldn't be required to license their code with a nice open license? I mean, we *did* pay for some of that development.
Yeah, I've been dying to rewrite the code for the targeting mechanism on my B-2;-B
Slashdot Mirror
you forgot something...
//Pause to show logo
int main() {
if (ie.detected() == false)
exit(1);
else {
bootLogo.show();
double x,y;
for(x = 0; x 2000000000; x++)
for(y = 0; y 2000000000; y++);
int z = rand()%10;
(z>8)?windows.hang():windows.begin();
}
I wonder what happened to Groening to make his later work so dark?
You're kidding, right? You want dark, try reading Life in Hell circa 1983. You'll have never laughed so hard about how shitty life can be.
The record industry practically owns the airwaves and store shelves so the musician who wants to make big money signs deals to get exposure and some spare change from record sales
A good point, except for one point of terminology. A musician who wants to make big money is more accurately labeled a musically talented business-person. It is the inability of the listening public to distinguish between these 2 classes of performer on which the music industry is based.
Once somebody transfers the risks in producing and distributing their music to some huge conglomerate money-machine, they've lost any claims they might have to the rewards...
EULA thought experiment:
Say I offered to sell you a dollar bill for 50 cents. The dollar bill is inside a sealed envelope, upon which is printed "The breaking of the seal on this envelope, or any other significant topological transformation of this envelope which allows one to remove its contents, binds the breaker of said seal to the license printed on the inside of this envelope. A copy of this license is obtainable by sending $1.00 for shipping and handling to"... blah blah blah. Are you bound by the "contract" printed inside the envelope if you open? I could be asking for the title to your car, or the deed to your house...
Anyone with the strength of will to read all of the Dune novels learns of this.
/.!
Don't forget those who have the strength of will to read
Here's a guy with even grander ideas along these lines. Crackpot or genius? Take a look and decide for yourself....
So is it Time, Chance and Matter that supposedly account for us right now?
Yes.
Laws of Physics If we were created by chance, how do we now have a stable system?
If we didn't, we would not be here to perceive it. It may be that the universe we inhabit has cycled through bazillions of iterations which did not result in a stable system, then about 6 billion years ago for some reason the wheels came up triple 7s. Perhaps this is the bazillionth time the big bang resulted in a jackpot, out of a bazillion^bazillion iterations. Or it may be that for each quantum event, the outcome of which is indeterminable a priori, a new universe is spawned "next" to our own. Does the photon zig left or zag right? The interference pattern produced by a single polarizing filter tells us the answer is "Both".
<rant>
Quantum cosmology provides just as much illumination to how (not why, that's up to philosophers) we are here as any religious system, with the added bonus that you can repeat your results through experiment. Religion and other forms of non-rational value systems (race superiority and the like) are the single largest problem facing humanity now, imo. Take a look at Northern Ireland and tell me again how Jesus is the foundation for a consistent morality. All the religious high horse platitudes go right out the f'ing window as soon as there's a territorial dispute among the so called "righteous" domesticated primates. Trying asking George W., whose favorite philosopher is Jesus, "WWJD about capital punishment?". I can reach all of the most important points in xian philosophy (Be Nice, Be Fair, Be Just, Don't Steal, Don't Kill, Don't Lie, etc.) through following some rather simple axioms (I am a person, other people are mostly the same as me, I want to survive, I want to enjoy life, etc.) to their conclusions in a logically consistent way. Does God exist? Maybe, maybe not. We don't really need each other, either way, so to me the question is moot.
</rant>
Arise as one, militant agnostics!
Um, I think he wants to use the oxygen tank so he can breathe with it inside his helium filled room. Not too interesting, I agree, but it's fairly obvious what he meant. You might want to work on your reading comprehension before you start labeling other people's posts 'stupid'.
You made a good point, and a bad one.
What would happen if you are watching your see-once DVD and you have a powerfailiure? - Your wife/husband/son/doughter/boss/grandparents call and say their car broke down and need help, etc. etc. Would you get a new watch-once movie or is that movie void?
Try selling your sob story to blockbuster, hollywood, {!--INSERT_VIDEO_STORE_HERE--}. Renting is renting. Whether you have to return the thing by a specified time or it just self-destructs, if you didn't have an opportunity to watch it within the alloted period, it's your tough luck. You could always go rent it again, after all...
The point about PPV is a good one though. This idea is bound to fail, imo.
Luckily, google has this cache.
An interesting quote from that site:
"The environmental impact of Flexplay discs will be negligible. 100 million DVDs can fit into a cube just 10 meters (about 30 feet) on each side. Thus, the impact on local landfills will be minimal. "
lesse... 100 million discs is about one per US family. Say every family 'rents' an average of 30 of these things a year, that gives us a rectangle full of discs that's 5 stories high, 90 feet wide and 60 feet deep! What a fabulous idea! We take this medium that can last, if properly cared for, longer than the life expectency of the average person who uses it, and we build some kick-ass obsolesence into it... I hope they do this with music CDs and books, too. Maybe some kind of fading ink that gives you say, two weeks to read a book after you remove its airtight covering, then the words just dissolve away, and in the trash it goes! the_consumer loves our disposable society...
Are there any good reasons government-funded research (excepting SBIR which specifically is intended to help small businesses get going) shouldn't be required to license their code with a nice open license? I mean, we *did* pay for some of that development.
;-B
Yeah, I've been dying to rewrite the code for the targeting mechanism on my B-2