Especially, for the Ladder Play. I, for one will start a new character every level, just to challenge it in a new-style economic system. The smallness of it will make things interesting.
I always thought the "Razor model" analogy was a bad one. Why? The real engineering and difficulty in the production of razors is in the blade. The handle? Just some cheap plastic and rubber really. With most other things, that this analogy comes in, the more expensive part of it is the originial product, not the refills.
Slight nit-pick I guess, but it has always bothered me.
Even though I havn't used it in quite a while, (self-enforced absence really), maybe technically it is dying, however, I've always liked it over the last few years. It had a few groups that I have really enjoyed.
Alt.atheism, is by far my favorite. A combiniation of a warm enviroment, with wonderful trolls, and a horribly sick sense of humor. That's the main reason I don't read USENET anymore, it takes up too much of my time. Then add on talk.origins for great scientific discussion, the sf2 newsgroups before they died for the best in anal-retentive useless information. The various what-if newsgroups for historical analysis. It's just too much.
I do think that USENET is being phased out, but it will never die. There will always be those dedicated to it to keep it alive.
It depends..personally, I think that this could be a major pain in the butt..to be honest. It depends on how the program divides up the documents automatically, it could be rather hard finding one document in a large grouping.
To be honest, I've been happy with folder shortcuts in all OSs...you really shouldn't need one more menu to organize your files...
You are right however, that is one use for it, sorting files outside of the folder directory..however, isn't that not much more than a glorified search? In this way, I'd be worried about either the loading time for the piles, or the processor consumption in the background watching for file updates.
And in order to arm the Contras to fight against the Sandistas, money was funneled through Iran, to repay the Iranians for helping with that little election thing in '80. As well, arms were funneled to the freedom fighters in Afghanastan, arms that which funneled down to the Taliban. As well, in order to be a foil for Iran, military support was given to Iraq.
Some of the parties involved in this whole affair are in the current administration, (Poindexter especially). Finally, back on topic, It will remain to be seen if Iraq is going to be Chile pt. 2, the second great libertarian experiement.
Unless you believe that we can "starve" multi-nationals, no, a strict boycott will not work.
It's simple. They assume that there is a market. If nobody is buying, people must be stealing. It's that simple. Nothing you or I can do can change that assumption. 100% of people could stop buying, and that will just make them more rabid to change the laws to try and eliminate a problem which may not be there.
The best thing we can do would be to identify bands, both RIAA based and non-RIAA based, that we consider to be fan-friendly, and support them. That will change the dynamics of it on the artist end, which is where we CAN make a difference.
The point is..we can change the world, but expecting to start at the top is silly and pointless.
Our problems are not one of the political arena, they are the nature of our society and how we look at the world.
Our politicians, for better or for worse, are a reflection of what we are as a society. Pretty ugly, huh? When we truely deserve an intelligent, competent government, we'll get one.
Replace the second live with used. Used CDs are the same, in the eyes of the record company, of bootleg sales. It is our right to sell them, but we should avoid purchasing them, again, to support the artists.
1). A boycott will not work. We are presumed guilty on this, so lowering sales will increase the RIAAs mind-share among neutrals, that we are doing actual damage.
What can we do? Support the artists we can enjoy and respect us regarding this issue. They do not even need to be P2P friendly..bands and artists that are neutral towards live music at least will do the trick. We will see more respect coming from the industry.
2)For the "anti-pirates" out there, realize that suggesting the purchase of a live album, in the eyes of the labels is the equivilent of piracy. If it is not available, do not reinforce their meme-share by encouraging used sales over P2P sharing. Both are one and the same.
3. Forget about changing the political system. In fact, thinking that we can change things through matching their lobbying efforts is silly. The only way we can win is to bring it to the public. Do not support parties, support their supporters. Throw your hat in the cacophony of support for a common cause. Even if the politicians are corrupt, our trust must be in each other. In this way, we can avoid being ignored by the politicians, and in essence, make our goal reality.
Legally, this guy is in the clear, I think, as I do not believe he advocated violence in any way aginst the person.
However, to take a longer-ish tangent, I think what this comes down to is the respect, or at least the lack of respect that is becoming all too aparent to actual freedoms.
In a society that is obsessed with freedom from the government, freedom from their neighbours seems to non-existant, or at least hated. Both the poster of the address, and the spammer show a distinct lack of respect for the freedom for the other individual(s). Now coming to a head, look through the message boards and public occurances of people who encouraging the silencing of anybody who is against the current war. It is sad to look at, and is a dangerous portent.
Freedom from the government means nothing in a government where the people do not respect what freedom really means.
That is assuming that they are not charging the ideal price to begin with. A worry about black market activity seems valid, but it would seem to me that should only move that ideal price down, not up. (More people wanting the good but not willing to pay full price for it).
That is the point I think. Most companies ARE charging the right price for them already. Just because they SAY that shrinkage increases prices, that is no reason to believe them! It is an excuse for high prices, nothing more.
I'm hearing a lot of talk about shifting the p/r ratio upward, but I don't think this does that at all.
Things are priced, for the most part, to maximize profit, not to make a certain amount of profit using some magical formula. (Expected Profiit/ Units Produced*% of Goods stolen = Price?) Somehow, I don't think so. Goods are priced, (and I'm not even talking IP goods) according to what the most customers are willing to pay.
Does it fly in the face of common economical thought? Sure does. However, I find that economics falls short because it cannot take human emotions such as greed into account.
Does it throw that estimate off? Sure. Of course it does. Does it affect the price you pay? In most cases, of course not!
If thefts decrease, they just keep the price the same, and pocket the additional profits. Theoretically, it could affect the price you are paying, if the pricing and profit margin are slim enough, but in most cases, this is hardly the case.
The other side is that there is added room for competition with more profit. This is true, but I seriously doubt that most companies will be that cutthroat to lower their margains to a point where it matters for the consumer, price wise.
Such "theft" as this thread is talking about is actually a crucial part of bringing the v/m ratio back down to where it is better for the consumer. The black/grey market is a rarely-acknowledged but very important part of this cycle.
It is about making profit. Lots and lots of profit. That theory stands if companies are looking to reach a break-even point. If they are selling at cost, they need to add on the part that is lost to break even.
I am not saying that stealing is somehow moral. However, the idea that it has any effect on prices is simply hogwash. Businesses charge what the public is willing to pay, not what they have to.
Isn't a blog technically a frequently updated page mostly consisting of links and a bit of personal spin? How could you do that on video?
That said...
There might be something for giving some of these commentators a more vocal voice. The NOW thing in blogging is politics and social commentary. The blog format is great for it, and in fact, it pretty much changes everything. Little obsucure stories that might otherwise be glossed over, if they are important and engaging enough, are suddenly thrust into the mainstream eye. They change everything. Joshua Micah Marshell, Atrios, Brad DeLong, even Glenn Reynolds, it is rather amazing the amount of data and stories that are analyzed and released in a nicely cooked format. Not to mention that the skills of the average blogger are far and away far above those talking heads on TV, who forget what it is like being in the trenches.
Again, that said, do not expect to see video blogs for the longest time. The father of political blogging, as far as I am concerned, Bartcop is just getting into a radio format, let alone video. As well, the closest thing currently to this is the Joey Joe Joe Show. Actually, I remember this old show, "Does Humor Belong In Technology", that may have been a perfect example of an audio blog. A live shoutcast done with IRC live feed back. dhbit.ca it seems. No longer a radio show, more like a small Slash style site. That may have been the first. It was damn good too. Too bad they stopped doing shows.
Actually come to thank about it, the same thing happened to me..but for a different reason.
The Smashing Pumpkins "Bullet With Butterfly Wings", I liked it..then heard it 2000 times then hated it. Then I slowly heard the song again and now it is one of my favorites. (not to mention being on-topic for this discussion!).
I agree with you, a lot of it is just knee-jerk reaction to all-things mainstream. Not all of it is crap however.
Part of the problem is that the term "preprocessed crap" is overused, to mean pratically everything. When it comes to Rock, there is a lot of good stuff out there...but it is not for everybody. The best rock by its very nature seems to get this ugly visceral reaction from some people on the other side of the genre. I'm guilty of it. I will not listen to punk. It is just not going to happen. And my friends who are into punk just can't stand bands such as Zwan, Coldplay and Audioslave. Such is the nature of rock these days.
U2 is a hard band to pin down when it comes to things like that. They seem to float in and out of different styles as time goes on, not a straight progression as one would expect.
Boy-October-War: Punk Unforgettable Fire:Experimental Joshua Tree/Rattle and Hum:Classic/Country rock Achtung Baby/Zooropa/Passangers/Pop Alternative/Modern Rock All That You Can't Leave Behind:Classic rock
That is how I would classify that. More than likely your friend did not like the style switch. Same thing happened to me. I can't stand their last album, and I used to be a huge fan. The arrangements were just too plain and boring for me.
Just so you non-canucks know what we are talking about, the National Post is nothing more than a right-wing propaganda rag. Of course it is not going to make money, they charge what..55 cents for it? And that is a national distribution?
Mind you..I don't think this article is TOO much of a troll. I think the underlying message is that Apple is writing checks that they can't cash. "It just works"..well..we all know computers. What about when it doesn't? And sometimes things are going to happen when you talk about the junction of an OS and 3rd party software in a propriatary enviroment. It isn't really Apple's fault to be honest, but they put an impossible to meet expectation on their machinery and software. (Which may be good but has certain problems)
It is the same thing as with the X-Box. The hardware might be great, but the system as a whole is lacking. New gamers see the MS name, think it is great (I know..I know..) and jump on board. What have you had? Halo? What else? A bunch of ports, and a lot of disappointment. MS is writing checks that they can't cash....and unfortunatly the whole video game industry is to suffer.
#1. Recognize that the reason there are two parties, is that in most cases, people vote negativly, not positivly. People vote against a candidate far more than people vote for a candadate. That is the reason negative campaigining works.
#2. Stating this, what you need to do is convince a majority of the population that your memes/ideas are the correct ones. Here is the kicker..
THIS IS COMPLETELY NON-POLITICAL
Combine #1 and #2, and you can see you have much more power working in a coalition to try and slowly effect policy and social change than trying to convince people to throw out the baby with the bathwater. Convincing people that you are right has nothing to do with your vote. If the population changes, the government will go with it.
The ONLY reason why government is corporate controlled is that you have a large section of the populace who supports this on the foolish idea that maybe one day they can have the power and put the knuckle to those under them. This is a cultural problem, and one that must be addressed before any change happens.
Section 101:Would extend the idea of a "foreign power" to include all persons. Regardless of if they are affiliated with terrorists or not. mmm...ok
102: v 1.0 limits "agents of a foreign power" to people to are activly violating or have the goals to violate federal law. v2.0 wants to eliminiate this.
This alone, combined with the known abuses of v1.0, would give any administratiion absolute and ultimate control. There is another 15 odd pages of further detail..but no more is needed.
I believe that somebody overreached. Between this and the doubling of the tax cut, things might be about to change...
-----
The problem with the two clauses listed above is that it opens ANYBODY up to a full investiation..which includes revoking citizenship and deportation.
It really depends on what the band wants. Live recordings are the final frontier of this stuff. Personally, I would reject any band that were strictly against live recordings. It would tell me that they did not stand behind their live music...and I have no use for that.
Mind you, most tapers and fans of live recordings including myself have no problem when artists request that specific shows remain under wraps. (For upcoming release). It really is a nice community.
Slashdot Mirror
Especially, for the Ladder Play. I, for one will start a new character every level, just to challenge it in a new-style economic system. The smallness of it will make things interesting.
I always thought the "Razor model" analogy was a bad one. Why? The real engineering and difficulty in the production of razors is in the blade. The handle? Just some cheap plastic and rubber really. With most other things, that this analogy comes in, the more expensive part of it is the originial product, not the refills.
Slight nit-pick I guess, but it has always bothered me.
Even though I havn't used it in quite a while, (self-enforced absence really), maybe technically it is dying, however, I've always liked it over the last few years. It had a few groups that I have really enjoyed.
Alt.atheism, is by far my favorite. A combiniation of a warm enviroment, with wonderful trolls, and a horribly sick sense of humor. That's the main reason I don't read USENET anymore, it takes up too much of my time. Then add on talk.origins for great scientific discussion, the sf2 newsgroups before they died for the best in anal-retentive useless information. The various what-if newsgroups for historical analysis. It's just too much.
I do think that USENET is being phased out, but it will never die. There will always be those dedicated to it to keep it alive.
It depends..personally, I think that this could be a major pain in the butt..to be honest. It depends on how the program divides up the documents automatically, it could be rather hard finding one document in a large grouping.
To be honest, I've been happy with folder shortcuts in all OSs...you really shouldn't need one more menu to organize your files...
You are right however, that is one use for it, sorting files outside of the folder directory..however, isn't that not much more than a glorified search? In this way, I'd be worried about either the loading time for the piles, or the processor consumption in the background watching for file updates.
And in order to arm the Contras to fight against the Sandistas, money was funneled through Iran, to repay the Iranians for helping with that little election thing in '80. As well, arms were funneled to the freedom fighters in Afghanastan, arms that which funneled down to the Taliban. As well, in order to be a foil for Iran, military support was given to Iraq.
Some of the parties involved in this whole affair are in the current administration, (Poindexter especially). Finally, back on topic, It will remain to be seen if Iraq is going to be Chile pt. 2, the second great libertarian experiement.
Unless you believe that we can "starve" multi-nationals, no, a strict boycott will not work.
It's simple. They assume that there is a market. If nobody is buying, people must be stealing. It's that simple. Nothing you or I can do can change that assumption. 100% of people could stop buying, and that will just make them more rabid to change the laws to try and eliminate a problem which may not be there.
The best thing we can do would be to identify bands, both RIAA based and non-RIAA based, that we consider to be fan-friendly, and support them. That will change the dynamics of it on the artist end, which is where we CAN make a difference.
The point is..we can change the world, but expecting to start at the top is silly and pointless.
Our problems are not one of the political arena, they are the nature of our society and how we look at the world.
Our politicians, for better or for worse, are a reflection of what we are as a society. Pretty ugly, huh? When we truely deserve an intelligent, competent government, we'll get one.
Ugh...
Replace the second live with used. Used CDs are the same, in the eyes of the record company, of bootleg sales. It is our right to sell them, but we should avoid purchasing them, again, to support the artists.
1). A boycott will not work. We are presumed guilty on this, so lowering sales will increase the RIAAs mind-share among neutrals, that we are doing actual damage.
What can we do? Support the artists we can enjoy and respect us regarding this issue. They do not even need to be P2P friendly..bands and artists that are neutral towards live music at least will do the trick. We will see more respect coming from the industry.
2)For the "anti-pirates" out there, realize that suggesting the purchase of a live album, in the eyes of the labels is the equivilent of piracy. If it is not available, do not reinforce their meme-share by encouraging used sales over P2P sharing. Both are one and the same.
3. Forget about changing the political system. In fact, thinking that we can change things through matching their lobbying efforts is silly. The only way we can win is to bring it to the public. Do not support parties, support their supporters. Throw your hat in the cacophony of support for a common cause. Even if the politicians are corrupt, our trust must be in each other. In this way, we can avoid being ignored by the politicians, and in essence, make our goal reality.
Legally, this guy is in the clear, I think, as I do not believe he advocated violence in any way aginst the person.
However, to take a longer-ish tangent, I think what this comes down to is the respect, or at least the lack of respect that is becoming all too aparent to actual freedoms.
In a society that is obsessed with freedom from the government, freedom from their neighbours seems to non-existant, or at least hated. Both the poster of the address, and the spammer show a distinct lack of respect for the freedom for the other individual(s). Now coming to a head, look through the message boards and public occurances of people who encouraging the silencing of anybody who is against the current war. It is sad to look at, and is a dangerous portent.
Freedom from the government means nothing in a government where the people do not respect what freedom really means.
Was there ever a Battle School mod made? (In any engine?) How the game they played in Battle School would be interesting to play, IMO.
eMusic is a nice idea...but it is still a pain for us who like live music.
For me..any music service I pay for MUST be open P2P to some degree..with emphasis on the open part.
1.3 seems to be noticibly faster than 1.21...actually after testing it out on some sites, it is running quite a bit faster than 1.21. Good job I say!
That is assuming that they are not charging the ideal price to begin with. A worry about black market activity seems valid, but it would seem to me that should only move that ideal price down, not up. (More people wanting the good but not willing to pay full price for it).
That is the point I think. Most companies ARE charging the right price for them already. Just because they SAY that shrinkage increases prices, that is no reason to believe them! It is an excuse for high prices, nothing more.
WHY does this effect prices?
I'm hearing a lot of talk about shifting the p/r ratio upward, but I don't think this does that at all.
Things are priced, for the most part, to maximize profit, not to make a certain amount of profit using some magical formula. (Expected Profiit/ Units Produced*% of Goods stolen = Price?) Somehow, I don't think so. Goods are priced, (and I'm not even talking IP goods) according to what the most customers are willing to pay.
Does it fly in the face of common economical thought? Sure does. However, I find that economics falls short because it cannot take human emotions such as greed into account.
It doesn't, most times...and I'm no fool.
Does it throw that estimate off? Sure. Of course it does. Does it affect the price you pay? In most cases, of course not!
If thefts decrease, they just keep the price the same, and pocket the additional profits. Theoretically, it could affect the price you are paying, if the pricing and profit margin are slim enough, but in most cases, this is hardly the case.
The other side is that there is added room for competition with more profit. This is true, but I seriously doubt that most companies will be that cutthroat to lower their margains to a point where it matters for the consumer, price wise.
Such "theft" as this thread is talking about is actually a crucial part of bringing the v/m ratio back down to where it is better for the consumer. The black/grey market is a rarely-acknowledged but very important part of this cycle.
That is a common load of bullshit.
Why?
Because business is not about a break-even point.
It is about making profit. Lots and lots of profit. That theory stands if companies are looking to reach a break-even point. If they are selling at cost, they need to add on the part that is lost to break even.
I am not saying that stealing is somehow moral. However, the idea that it has any effect on prices is simply hogwash. Businesses charge what the public is willing to pay, not what they have to.
Isn't a blog technically a frequently updated page mostly consisting of links and a bit of personal spin? How could you do that on video?
That said...
There might be something for giving some of these commentators a more vocal voice. The NOW thing in blogging is politics and social commentary. The blog format is great for it, and in fact, it pretty much changes everything. Little obsucure stories that might otherwise be glossed over, if they are important and engaging enough, are suddenly thrust into the mainstream eye. They change everything. Joshua Micah Marshell, Atrios, Brad DeLong, even Glenn Reynolds, it is rather amazing the amount of data and stories that are analyzed and released in a nicely cooked format. Not to mention that the skills of the average blogger are far and away far above those talking heads on TV, who forget what it is like being in the trenches.
Again, that said, do not expect to see video blogs for the longest time. The father of political blogging, as far as I am concerned, Bartcop is just getting into a radio format, let alone video. As well, the closest thing currently to this is the Joey Joe Joe Show. Actually, I remember this old show, "Does Humor Belong In Technology", that may have been a perfect example of an audio blog. A live shoutcast done with IRC live feed back. dhbit.ca it seems. No longer a radio show, more like a small Slash style site. That may have been the first. It was damn good too. Too bad they stopped doing shows.
Actually come to thank about it, the same thing happened to me..but for a different reason.
The Smashing Pumpkins "Bullet With Butterfly Wings", I liked it..then heard it 2000 times then hated it. Then I slowly heard the song again and now it is one of my favorites. (not to mention being on-topic for this discussion!).
I agree with you, a lot of it is just knee-jerk reaction to all-things mainstream. Not all of it is crap however.
Part of the problem is that the term "preprocessed crap" is overused, to mean pratically everything. When it comes to Rock, there is a lot of good stuff out there...but it is not for everybody. The best rock by its very nature seems to get this ugly visceral reaction from some people on the other side of the genre. I'm guilty of it. I will not listen to punk. It is just not going to happen. And my friends who are into punk just can't stand bands such as Zwan, Coldplay and Audioslave. Such is the nature of rock these days.
U2 is a hard band to pin down when it comes to things like that. They seem to float in and out of different styles as time goes on, not a straight progression as one would expect.
Boy-October-War: Punk
Unforgettable Fire:Experimental
Joshua Tree/Rattle and Hum:Classic/Country rock
Achtung Baby/Zooropa/Passangers/Pop Alternative/Modern Rock
All That You Can't Leave Behind:Classic rock
That is how I would classify that. More than likely your friend did not like the style switch. Same thing happened to me. I can't stand their last album, and I used to be a huge fan. The arrangements were just too plain and boring for me.
Just so you non-canucks know what we are talking about, the National Post is nothing more than a right-wing propaganda rag. Of course it is not going to make money, they charge what..55 cents for it? And that is a national distribution?
Mind you..I don't think this article is TOO much of a troll. I think the underlying message is that Apple is writing checks that they can't cash. "It just works"..well..we all know computers. What about when it doesn't? And sometimes things are going to happen when you talk about the junction of an OS and 3rd party software in a propriatary enviroment. It isn't really Apple's fault to be honest, but they put an impossible to meet expectation on their machinery and software. (Which may be good but has certain problems)
It is the same thing as with the X-Box. The hardware might be great, but the system as a whole is lacking. New gamers see the MS name, think it is great (I know..I know..) and jump on board. What have you had? Halo? What else? A bunch of ports, and a lot of disappointment. MS is writing checks that they can't cash....and unfortunatly the whole video game industry is to suffer.
Some advice on causing actual change:
#1. Recognize that the reason there are two parties, is that in most cases, people vote negativly, not positivly. People vote against a candidate far more than people vote for a candadate. That is the reason negative campaigining works.
#2. Stating this, what you need to do is convince a majority of the population that your memes/ideas are the correct ones. Here is the kicker..
THIS IS COMPLETELY NON-POLITICAL
Combine #1 and #2, and you can see you have much more power working in a coalition to try and slowly effect policy and social change than trying to convince people to throw out the baby with the bathwater. Convincing people that you are right has nothing to do with your vote. If the population changes, the government will go with it.
The ONLY reason why government is corporate controlled is that you have a large section of the populace who supports this on the foolish idea that maybe one day they can have the power and put the knuckle to those under them. This is a cultural problem, and one that must be addressed before any change happens.
Do they? I havn't noticed. (seriously)
Numbering things like software just seems natural to me. Especially things that are obviously bugged and likely to be upgraded.
Holy damn...
Got your tinfoil hats ready? Ok...here we go.
Patriot Act. v2.0
Section 101:Would extend the idea of a "foreign power" to include all persons. Regardless of if they are affiliated with terrorists or not. mmm...ok
102: v 1.0 limits "agents of a foreign power" to people to are activly violating or have the goals to violate federal law. v2.0 wants to eliminiate this.
This alone, combined with the known abuses of v1.0, would give any administratiion absolute and ultimate control. There is another 15 odd pages of further detail..but no more is needed.
I believe that somebody overreached. Between this and the doubling of the tax cut, things might be about to change...
-----
The problem with the two clauses listed above is that it opens ANYBODY up to a full investiation..which includes revoking citizenship and deportation.
Mmmm...facism...*drool*
I don't think so.
It really depends on what the band wants. Live recordings are the final frontier of this stuff. Personally, I would reject any band that were strictly against live recordings. It would tell me that they did not stand behind their live music...and I have no use for that.
Mind you, most tapers and fans of live recordings including myself have no problem when artists request that specific shows remain under wraps. (For upcoming release). It really is a nice community.