"If you see an apartment in a rough part of L.A., and the door has six locks on it, you're not breaking into that apartment," Doherty said. "Having those extra locks, even if you are not sure [they all work], is part of the magic of BD+..."
In rough parts of L.A., having six locks means nothing. They either break the door down, or go through the window...
Actually, breaking into a house in L.A. would be HARDER, since it requires a concentrated physical effort to do either of those. Cracking AACS or BD+ just requires time and someone with a desire to stick it to the content providers.
Wasn't referring to popularity, just an example of how it's only sorted by artist. Been looking for Ensiferum recently though, however. Haven't had time to head back home to check with said store, but I'm pretty sure he could find a copy for me. I've picked up some pretty obscure (at least to most people around here) stuff there before, including Tak Matsumoto's solo album (which is incredible).
Actually, my local store is the ONLY place I will buy music anymore. This place is literally not much more than a hole in the wall, but the guy who runs it has damn near everything. There are no useless display racks or genre divisions, just large bins where everything is sorted by artist. Nightwish is just a small amount of disc flipping back from Nelly Furtado, for example. And if you can't find something, all you have to do is ask, and he will tell you EXACTLY where it is (most of the time without even having to leave the counter). And if he DOESN'T have something, all you have to do is tell him you want it, and he will have it for you in about 3 days time.
Then theres the fact that the prices in this store are a good deal less than the major outlets because he doesn't waste money on useless displays and advertising. If you want a CD there, all you have to do is go in and purchase it (although there's also a quite impressive collection of vinyl, both new and old). Hell, he can usually recommend similar stuff to what you're currently looking for, and I have yet to be disappointed with any said recommendations. Great service, too. Bought a NIN cd a while back and it appeared to be scratched. He told me to give it a listen and if there were problems, just bring it back. Sure enough there was some nasty skipping in the middle of a track. Brought it back and swapped it for a new one, no questions asked.
You won't get anything like that online or at any of the chains like FYE. Not to mention, this guy remembers almost all of his customers by name, even if they haven't been in the store in years. THIS is how buying music should be. A small, cramped store with tons of selection and friendly staff where you can actually stand around and talk about the music, not some impersonal website or giant box erected over a concrete slab.
On the other hand, it's some no-name newspaper that probably takes very little attention away, and kicking him out is only going to generate bad press.
The Courier-Journal is hardly a "no-name newspaper." In fact, it's #41 of the top 100 daily newspapers in the country. With a circulation of 218,796 daily and 266,594 on Sundays, it beats out others such as The Boston Herald and the Salt Lake Tribune.
That being said, he did violate the policy, and that's why he was asked to leave. As a reporter, it was his responsibility to know of this beforehand (meaning he read the memo). Is the policy right? In my opinion, no. However, the NCAA stated this as their policy and he violated it. Had he not had a press pass and paid for the ticket himself, there would probably be nothing they could do about it. However, since he was there as a member of the press, and therefore got into the game for free, he should have played by the rules. Nothing said he couldn't do a complete writeup on the game to be posted when he got back to the office.
However, the NCAA is fairly ignorant of the times in this issue. There is no possible way they can keep EVERYONE from doing a live update about [Insert Game Here] with all of the technology available these days. They are well within their rights to have such a policy, and to enforce it by asking violators to leave. At the same time, they need to get with the program and realize that you can't confiscate everyone's communication devices at the door so they can be the only ones allowing the game to be broadcast live.
I don't know why these idiots bother. When are they going to get a clue and abandon this pipe dream of the Hydrogen society? It'd pathetic.
So what would you have us do instead? Continue to use more oil and have gas prices skyrocket until we're all paying more money to keep our vehicles fueled than we make at the job we need the vehicle for? Or perhaps your ideal vehicle would run on fluffy clouds, rainbows, and moonbeams?
If you don't think that Hydrogen is a viable alternative to oil, then by all means come up with something that is. People sick of paying high gas prices would love to hear it. However, if you DON'T have anything, then shut your mouth. No, Hydrogen isn't perfect. However, once we get the technology to extract it in large quantities figured out, it will still be a hell of a lot better than gasoline.
BTW, I believe the phrase you were looking for is "It's pathetic." </Grammar Nazi>
You should try mine, then. The instant I plug it in, the damned thing goes from whatever setting it was on, to "Loud". Now, as I usually charge my phone at night, this is a BAD thing. Really, Motorola, why can't the damned thing just keep whatever volume setting it was currently at? My old Nokia never had this problem. Plug in the power cable, and the only change was the battery meter would animate to show me it was charging...
You know, Mr. Ballmer, I really want to disagree with you. However, I'll keep my mouth shut because I don't feel like having a chair thrown at me just this minute.
I have 2 machines, a vista one and an XP one (plus an XP laptop). The Vista PC is newer, so i can't do an apples and apples comparison, but still, my impression is that Vista feels nicer, slicker, more responsive and faster than XP.
So allow me to illustrate an apples to apples comparison. Friend of mine orders a new PC. It's "Vista Capable" so it comes with the damned system pre-installed. 3.4GHz CPU and 512MB RAM. The complaints of the sluggishness are near endless. I go over there to see what all I can do to speed it up. First thing I do is revert to the "Classic" interface. Now this seemingly benign task causes the system to chug for 20 seconds, pull up the UAC to ask "Do you want to allow this?", then after clicking yes, another 20 seconds to actually carry out the change. Still takes up to 2 seconds to open a context menu on the desktop.
So I wipe the Vista install and throw XP on there. From format to working system in under 45 minutes. The XP system runs flawlessly, and is every bit as responsive as a new PC should be. Oh yes, that's also WITH all of the "Fischer-Price" crap visual styles running.
So are Black Panther protected by the First Amendment when they threaten to "kill whitey"? Communists who advocate violent revolution and the purging of Capitalists, should they go to jail?
There's a very fine line between "we should kill whitey" and "we ARE going to kill whitey." The former being protected, as it is a statement of opinion. The latter is NOT protected, because it is a direct threat, or a call to cause actual physical harm. Hate speech is not protected, which is why you see groups on either side (Black Panther AND Klu Klux Klan) stepping right up to the line, but seldom crossing into actual hate speech in an official capacity. Individual members may say things that aren't protected, but the party line from both groups is one that walks that edge between First Amendment rights, and hate speech.
Should the Koran be banned, because it says that Muslims should kill people who convert from Islam to other religions?
The Koran, Bible, Torah, and other religious texts are a completely seperate, and much stickier issue. Unfortunately, it is also one I'm not informed enough to discuss. I would think, however, that most people agree such texts were written long ago, and subject to broad interpretation. Having not read the Koran personally, I cannot speak on the exact wording used, but I'm fairly sure that there are quite a few instances where it may seem to say one thing, yet be intended to say another (akin to the Bible saying the world was created in 6 days, yet going on to say that our ways are completely different from God's ways. Thus, 6 days to God could very well be several billion years on our time scale, but that's another discussion entirely).
What about Ann Coulter, when she said about Muslims "We should invade their countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity."? Should we put her in jail? That certainly sounds like a pretty vicious threat to me!
Again, the razor's edge is in the wording. As much as I believe Ann Coulter to be a racist, bigoted, attention-whore, the majority of what she says still falls under the First Amendment (including the John Edwars = faggot comment, which I thought was completely uncalled for). Note the example you gave (emphasis mine) said "We should invade their countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity." That is a statement of opinion, and thus protected by the First Amendment. Had she said something that was a direct call to assasinate the leaders of Muslim nations, there would be (and rightly so) reprecussions from that, regardless of the fact that she is powerless to actually have anyone do such a thing.
Should we throw Pat Roberson in jail for threatening Hugo Chavez?
As far as I know, he never directly threatened Chavez. He merely suggested that someone kill him. Had he said he was going to fly down to Venezuela and personally put one in the man's skull, then yes, he should be put in jail.
Should we throw gangster rappers in jail? They are often threatening rival rappers!
Here, we get into the issue of artistic license. This is the very reason there was such a huge controversy over titles such as Ice T's Cop Killer. The debate was over wether or not it was a call to commit violence against law enforcement, or merely an artistic expression. As with any First Amendment case, there is a very fine line to walk, and context must often be taken into account. This is why an exasperated "I'm gonna kill you!" is rarely acted upon. If what is said is clearly intended as an expression, than not much will be done. However, if there is a reasonable expectation that the threat will be carried out, then it can and should be brought to the attention of the authorities.
Disclaimer: The usual "I Am Not A Lawyer" applies here.
While I'm not a lawyer, I have studied media and mass communication law. One of the things we had drilled into us from day one was the full text and meaning of the First Amendment. What we started getting drilled into us from day two, was that your rights under the First Amendment end where someone else's rights begin. That is to say, freedom of speech gives you a wide berth to say what you want, but as soon as you cross the line into threatening someone or directly impacting their safety or well being, you are no longer protected.
I haven't read the comments, but it sounds like they may be walking a very fine line. Saying things like "you should die" or "you should be beaten with a riot baton" are, while vile and nasty things to say, protected speech. However, if they were to say "I am going to kill you", or "I am going to fuck you until you see things my way", then that is NOT protected speech. Bottom line is that threats carry with them the reasonable expectation that they will be carried out, even if they are made anonymously via the internet.
If the comments were made to walk the fine line between protected and unprotected speech, yet with the intent to cause emotional or psychological distress, then the law would most likely point to the comments being unprotected, as they are harrassing in nature. If Ms. Sierra has reason to believe that those comments could lead to actual physical harm, then she is taking a (sadly) prudent and necessary course of action.
While I have not read any of her work, and have formed no opinion of her, there is no excuse for the comments that have been aimed her way. While I don't believe the internet is a war zone, I do believe that anonymity tends to override people's better judgement, and can result in cases like this. For a summation of this last paragraph, I ask you to refer to John Gabriel's Greater Internet Fuckwad Theory.
Deep Impact was mindless drivel (didn't bother seeing the other one).
If you thought Deep Impact was mindless drivel, you would HATE The Day After Tomorrow. There's enough BS in that movie to fertilize a rainforest. The characters and dialog were decent enough, I'll give it that (of course I admit, I do have a soft spot for Emmy Rossum). However, the science was so laughably bad it almost killed the rest of the movie. And don't even get me started on how out of place the CGI wolves looked...
Give us a youtube link, and we'll decide. Or is that covered by an RIAA copyright as well?
That would come under the MPAA's jurisdiction. For it to come under the RIAA, both entities would have to complete their merger and transformation into the Music And Film Industry Association of America (MAFIAA).
"You are moving your mouse cursor. Cancel or allow?"
While still incredibly annoying, at least it's a SLIGHT step up from what we used to have. "Your mouse cursor has moved. Windows must be restarted for the change to take effect."
Lots of windows boxes will sleep but when you bring them back up sound won't work or usb ports won't work. It's a pain.
No hardware issues with mine in that regard, but it does have it's own nasty quirk. Sometimes, when I bring it out of sleep mode and try to find a wireless network, the scanner will load into memory, but no interface, and it basically just sits there. GG Lenovo =\
That said, I can put the system to sleep within a second or two, and to wake it up takes 5 at most. Hibernate, on the other hand, takes a good 20 seconds either way...
If it works as badly as Lenovo's scanner, fuggedaboutit. I didn't really ask for one, but it came with my Lenovo and I thought it would be interesting to try. Sure enough I could not log in without a successful scan, but it usually took 5 or 6 tries. I disabled it after a couple days.
Are you sure you set it up correctly? I'm writing this on a Thinkpad T60, and have absolutely no issues whatsoever with the fingerprint scanner. If it takes me more than one or two tries (which happens VERY rarely), then I resort to using a password to login.
And what's with everyone screaming "they'll chop off your finger/hand/whatever to get your data" when talking about biometrics? Honestly, what is the probability of that happening over, say lifting your prints off of the device itself, making grave threats, or simply hacking into the device (if someone has physical access, time, and motivation, a password/fingerprint/iris isn't going to stop them...especially if you don't use encryption). Chopping limbs is a messy business, and most thieves really don't want to go to all of that trouble. Fingerprint readers are great for keeping co-workers, siblings, classmates, etc. from snooping around your data, but if someone actually steals your device for the data on it, they're more than likely going to get it eventually. However, most thieves don't care a whit about what's on the device. They care about how much they can get for it. If they're slightly tech-savvy, they're more likely to wipe the device clean and do what they want with it after that.
It's a fair question. Does anyone know of a simple player
that just plays the music and gets the heck out of the way.
It just keeps a list of your MP3s and will play and then minimise?
For Windows: Winamp
For Linux: XMMS
Sure, there's stuff out there like Amarok, SnackAmp, and whatnot. But the two I mentioned are by far the best at just playing music, storing playlists, and staying the hell out of the way.
I agree with your comment for the most part. However, I firmly believe you will be able to play Doom 3 with no issues whatsoever once the Steam servers go offline. In fact, I can play Doom 3 legally without being connected to the internet, or even having Steam installed. =P
Slashdot Mirror
In rough parts of L.A., having six locks means nothing. They either break the door down, or go through the window...
Actually, breaking into a house in L.A. would be HARDER, since it requires a concentrated physical effort to do either of those. Cracking AACS or BD+ just requires time and someone with a desire to stick it to the content providers.
Wasn't referring to popularity, just an example of how it's only sorted by artist. Been looking for Ensiferum recently though, however. Haven't had time to head back home to check with said store, but I'm pretty sure he could find a copy for me. I've picked up some pretty obscure (at least to most people around here) stuff there before, including Tak Matsumoto's solo album (which is incredible).
Actually, my local store is the ONLY place I will buy music anymore. This place is literally not much more than a hole in the wall, but the guy who runs it has damn near everything. There are no useless display racks or genre divisions, just large bins where everything is sorted by artist. Nightwish is just a small amount of disc flipping back from Nelly Furtado, for example. And if you can't find something, all you have to do is ask, and he will tell you EXACTLY where it is (most of the time without even having to leave the counter). And if he DOESN'T have something, all you have to do is tell him you want it, and he will have it for you in about 3 days time.
Then theres the fact that the prices in this store are a good deal less than the major outlets because he doesn't waste money on useless displays and advertising. If you want a CD there, all you have to do is go in and purchase it (although there's also a quite impressive collection of vinyl, both new and old). Hell, he can usually recommend similar stuff to what you're currently looking for, and I have yet to be disappointed with any said recommendations. Great service, too. Bought a NIN cd a while back and it appeared to be scratched. He told me to give it a listen and if there were problems, just bring it back. Sure enough there was some nasty skipping in the middle of a track. Brought it back and swapped it for a new one, no questions asked.
You won't get anything like that online or at any of the chains like FYE. Not to mention, this guy remembers almost all of his customers by name, even if they haven't been in the store in years. THIS is how buying music should be. A small, cramped store with tons of selection and friendly staff where you can actually stand around and talk about the music, not some impersonal website or giant box erected over a concrete slab.
"No wai!"
Ja. Das würde gut sein. =P
For people like that, I wish we had mod options for "Sarcasm" and (more likely in the OP's case) "-1: Dumbass"
"The hot chick with the Uzi... can I get her phone number?"
The Courier-Journal is hardly a "no-name newspaper." In fact, it's #41 of the top 100 daily newspapers in the country. With a circulation of 218,796 daily and 266,594 on Sundays, it beats out others such as The Boston Herald and the Salt Lake Tribune.
That being said, he did violate the policy, and that's why he was asked to leave. As a reporter, it was his responsibility to know of this beforehand (meaning he read the memo). Is the policy right? In my opinion, no. However, the NCAA stated this as their policy and he violated it. Had he not had a press pass and paid for the ticket himself, there would probably be nothing they could do about it. However, since he was there as a member of the press, and therefore got into the game for free, he should have played by the rules. Nothing said he couldn't do a complete writeup on the game to be posted when he got back to the office.
However, the NCAA is fairly ignorant of the times in this issue. There is no possible way they can keep EVERYONE from doing a live update about [Insert Game Here] with all of the technology available these days. They are well within their rights to have such a policy, and to enforce it by asking violators to leave. At the same time, they need to get with the program and realize that you can't confiscate everyone's communication devices at the door so they can be the only ones allowing the game to be broadcast live.
So what would you have us do instead? Continue to use more oil and have gas prices skyrocket until we're all paying more money to keep our vehicles fueled than we make at the job we need the vehicle for? Or perhaps your ideal vehicle would run on fluffy clouds, rainbows, and moonbeams?
If you don't think that Hydrogen is a viable alternative to oil, then by all means come up with something that is. People sick of paying high gas prices would love to hear it. However, if you DON'T have anything, then shut your mouth. No, Hydrogen isn't perfect. However, once we get the technology to extract it in large quantities figured out, it will still be a hell of a lot better than gasoline.
BTW, I believe the phrase you were looking for is "It's pathetic." </Grammar Nazi>
You should try mine, then. The instant I plug it in, the damned thing goes from whatever setting it was on, to "Loud". Now, as I usually charge my phone at night, this is a BAD thing. Really, Motorola, why can't the damned thing just keep whatever volume setting it was currently at? My old Nokia never had this problem. Plug in the power cable, and the only change was the battery meter would animate to show me it was charging...
You know, Mr. Ballmer, I really want to disagree with you. However, I'll keep my mouth shut because I don't feel like having a chair thrown at me just this minute.
So allow me to illustrate an apples to apples comparison. Friend of mine orders a new PC. It's "Vista Capable" so it comes with the damned system pre-installed. 3.4GHz CPU and 512MB RAM. The complaints of the sluggishness are near endless. I go over there to see what all I can do to speed it up. First thing I do is revert to the "Classic" interface. Now this seemingly benign task causes the system to chug for 20 seconds, pull up the UAC to ask "Do you want to allow this?", then after clicking yes, another 20 seconds to actually carry out the change. Still takes up to 2 seconds to open a context menu on the desktop.
So I wipe the Vista install and throw XP on there. From format to working system in under 45 minutes. The XP system runs flawlessly, and is every bit as responsive as a new PC should be. Oh yes, that's also WITH all of the "Fischer-Price" crap visual styles running.
Which (sadly enough) makes NASA exactly the same as every other workplace with >50 people...
There's a very fine line between "we should kill whitey" and "we ARE going to kill whitey." The former being protected, as it is a statement of opinion. The latter is NOT protected, because it is a direct threat, or a call to cause actual physical harm. Hate speech is not protected, which is why you see groups on either side (Black Panther AND Klu Klux Klan) stepping right up to the line, but seldom crossing into actual hate speech in an official capacity. Individual members may say things that aren't protected, but the party line from both groups is one that walks that edge between First Amendment rights, and hate speech.
The Koran, Bible, Torah, and other religious texts are a completely seperate, and much stickier issue. Unfortunately, it is also one I'm not informed enough to discuss. I would think, however, that most people agree such texts were written long ago, and subject to broad interpretation. Having not read the Koran personally, I cannot speak on the exact wording used, but I'm fairly sure that there are quite a few instances where it may seem to say one thing, yet be intended to say another (akin to the Bible saying the world was created in 6 days, yet going on to say that our ways are completely different from God's ways. Thus, 6 days to God could very well be several billion years on our time scale, but that's another discussion entirely).
Again, the razor's edge is in the wording. As much as I believe Ann Coulter to be a racist, bigoted, attention-whore, the majority of what she says still falls under the First Amendment (including the John Edwars = faggot comment, which I thought was completely uncalled for). Note the example you gave (emphasis mine) said "We should invade their countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity." That is a statement of opinion, and thus protected by the First Amendment. Had she said something that was a direct call to assasinate the leaders of Muslim nations, there would be (and rightly so) reprecussions from that, regardless of the fact that she is powerless to actually have anyone do such a thing.
As far as I know, he never directly threatened Chavez. He merely suggested that someone kill him. Had he said he was going to fly down to Venezuela and personally put one in the man's skull, then yes, he should be put in jail.
Here, we get into the issue of artistic license. This is the very reason there was such a huge controversy over titles such as Ice T's Cop Killer. The debate was over wether or not it was a call to commit violence against law enforcement, or merely an artistic expression. As with any First Amendment case, there is a very fine line to walk, and context must often be taken into account. This is why an exasperated "I'm gonna kill you!" is rarely acted upon. If what is said is clearly intended as an expression, than not much will be done. However, if there is a reasonable expectation that the threat will be carried out, then it can and should be brought to the attention of the authorities.
Disclaimer: The usual "I Am Not A Lawyer" applies here.
While I'm not a lawyer, I have studied media and mass communication law. One of the things we had drilled into us from day one was the full text and meaning of the First Amendment. What we started getting drilled into us from day two, was that your rights under the First Amendment end where someone else's rights begin. That is to say, freedom of speech gives you a wide berth to say what you want, but as soon as you cross the line into threatening someone or directly impacting their safety or well being, you are no longer protected.
I haven't read the comments, but it sounds like they may be walking a very fine line. Saying things like "you should die" or "you should be beaten with a riot baton" are, while vile and nasty things to say, protected speech. However, if they were to say "I am going to kill you", or "I am going to fuck you until you see things my way", then that is NOT protected speech. Bottom line is that threats carry with them the reasonable expectation that they will be carried out, even if they are made anonymously via the internet.
If the comments were made to walk the fine line between protected and unprotected speech, yet with the intent to cause emotional or psychological distress, then the law would most likely point to the comments being unprotected, as they are harrassing in nature. If Ms. Sierra has reason to believe that those comments could lead to actual physical harm, then she is taking a (sadly) prudent and necessary course of action.
While I have not read any of her work, and have formed no opinion of her, there is no excuse for the comments that have been aimed her way. While I don't believe the internet is a war zone, I do believe that anonymity tends to override people's better judgement, and can result in cases like this. For a summation of this last paragraph, I ask you to refer to John Gabriel's Greater Internet Fuckwad Theory.
If you thought Deep Impact was mindless drivel, you would HATE The Day After Tomorrow. There's enough BS in that movie to fertilize a rainforest. The characters and dialog were decent enough, I'll give it that (of course I admit, I do have a soft spot for Emmy Rossum). However, the science was so laughably bad it almost killed the rest of the movie. And don't even get me started on how out of place the CGI wolves looked...
That would come under the MPAA's jurisdiction. For it to come under the RIAA, both entities would have to complete their merger and transformation into the Music And Film Industry Association of America (MAFIAA).
"You are moving your mouse cursor. Cancel or allow?"
While still incredibly annoying, at least it's a SLIGHT step up from what we used to have. "Your mouse cursor has moved. Windows must be restarted for the change to take effect."
I think that term is reserved for the ones already using Sony batteries.
No hardware issues with mine in that regard, but it does have it's own nasty quirk. Sometimes, when I bring it out of sleep mode and try to find a wireless network, the scanner will load into memory, but no interface, and it basically just sits there. GG Lenovo =\
That said, I can put the system to sleep within a second or two, and to wake it up takes 5 at most. Hibernate, on the other hand, takes a good 20 seconds either way...
Are you sure you set it up correctly? I'm writing this on a Thinkpad T60, and have absolutely no issues whatsoever with the fingerprint scanner. If it takes me more than one or two tries (which happens VERY rarely), then I resort to using a password to login.
And what's with everyone screaming "they'll chop off your finger/hand/whatever to get your data" when talking about biometrics? Honestly, what is the probability of that happening over, say lifting your prints off of the device itself, making grave threats, or simply hacking into the device (if someone has physical access, time, and motivation, a password/fingerprint/iris isn't going to stop them...especially if you don't use encryption). Chopping limbs is a messy business, and most thieves really don't want to go to all of that trouble. Fingerprint readers are great for keeping co-workers, siblings, classmates, etc. from snooping around your data, but if someone actually steals your device for the data on it, they're more than likely going to get it eventually. However, most thieves don't care a whit about what's on the device. They care about how much they can get for it. If they're slightly tech-savvy, they're more likely to wipe the device clean and do what they want with it after that.
...until they reach the 5 digit numbers. My guess is BFG is already drooling over what's just over the horizon.
BFG 10K, anyone?
For Linux: XMMS
Sure, there's stuff out there like Amarok, SnackAmp, and whatnot. But the two I mentioned are by far the best at just playing music, storing playlists, and staying the hell out of the way.
I agree with your comment for the most part. However, I firmly believe you will be able to play Doom 3 with no issues whatsoever once the Steam servers go offline. In fact, I can play Doom 3 legally without being connected to the internet, or even having Steam installed. =P