But an additional point is that modern music companies are little more than fiscal lending insitutions for musicians. Every cost that is incurred in the recording of an album is simply billed back to the artist against future sales. Often, the artists don't have it explained that clearly to them, so they are under the impression that the record company is footing the bill.
The record company then manages how the money is spent, bringing in producers, engineers, and suits to oversee everything. I can't fault them there, I wouldn't give 250k to a bunch of un-supervised 19 year olds, either. Once the album is done, they bill the cost back until the album is payed off. Since the promotional costs are also billed back, this can take quite a bit of money.
Incidentally, this is where the 'payola' comes from to insure that you have to listen to the same top 40 crap constantly on the radio. Promotional fees are payed to broadcasters to get airtime. This practice was outlawed in the 70s, I think, but I just got re-organized to avoid the law.
That a record company gets all the money for an album isn't really a travesty. After all, they did 'loan' the money to the band in the first place. They deserve a chance to make a profit. However, no bank in the world owns your house in perpetuity AFTER you have paid it off. Also, I don't believe that most bands get much say in how the money they are being 'loaned' is spent. On the whole their managements practices are pretty sickening.
That is a leading question that seems typical of a smug linux zealot. A better question would be, 'What is the ratio of zombied linux boxes in proportion to it's total installed user base.' Since most people use Windows, it follows that most of the zombie boxes should be windows boxes.
Even that isn't totally informing, as how many of those people who run Windows would be less vunerable if they ran linux? Most of the problem isn't the OS, but the lack of understanding on how a computer works. If you aren't a skilled admin, you are going to get haxxored regardless of the OS.
I think Linux is a superior idea and platform, but win the argument with sound logic, not snyde comments.
GREEDO: Is it not a melancholy today, Captain Solo? I morn the fleeting tentrils of night.
HAN: Well met, Monsuir Greedo. I was just going to eat a fine Brie and drink a bottle of wine with you employer. He wanted to confide his angsts to me.
GREEDO: Give me your purse of Francs, for lo! I have consumption and the cold hands of the reaper chill me even now. Life is but a cheap wench!
HAN: Does a man's life ammount to but a purse of gold? Are we ever fated to wander the maze that is life blindly seeking nothing more but piles of shiny metal? I think not!
GREEDO: Love is capricious and stern. She has taught me to be stoic. I will slay you without remorse, but with a light heart, as in doing so, I will save you all future woe.
(Han throws his drink on Greedo.)
HAN: Alas, the laughing mime has failed! I will go now, for, life is but a river traveling forever to the fate we are all blind to. A pox on your taylor!
(Han exits)
They must be using a similar technology to the Bush administration, who detected 'Weapons of Mass Destruction' in Iraq.
Of course the 'Mass Destruction' device turned out to be an empty aluminum weigh watchers food tray, but hey, this is hard stuff.
It's all fun and games until someone loses an eye
on
Port-A-Nuke
·
· Score: 1
Yeah, but when you do this and start exporting them, how long before some punk from/. starts selling DIY conversion kits that lets you re-chip it into a bomb?
(JOKE. I could go off into a detailed description of nuclear weapon, so spare me the nitpicky replys why this won't work.)
They block 'unixbox'? Why in the world would they want to block that?
You dirty Bastard! There could be ladies present, what the hell do you think you are doing, posting a word like 'Unibox' on a site like this? Someone, report this guy and get his account pulled.
What the article is talking about is, indirectly, that the paper money you use every day has no inherent value, so why on earth would anyone accept it as money?
Other than food and water, what has inherent value? I accept it as money because I can trade it for other things. You seem to think that a gold standard is essential to using paper as a trade meidum. I can trade money for gold, but it no longer has a fixed rate of trade. Isn't allowing the market to find it's own equalibrium a good thing? If money is being overprinted, it will just fall in value to gold.
We print more money, because the commodity we back it up with is the goods and services that we produce. The economy is always growing, thus we are always printing more money.
I placed a service request with them over two months ago, because I can't access their NNTP servers. I get a message telling me that only comcast customers can access their newsgroups services. Over two months to fix a simple password or permissions issue. Wow.
You are an idiot, and I'm going to use my mod points to mod you down....er...
DAMMIT!
Playing the lottery is not stupid at all.
on
Odds-on Science
·
· Score: 4, Insightful
Your analysis on the numbers alone are correct. However, you are overlooking a signifigant aspect. Most lotteries are run by some sort of state agency, and the crooked winnings are often added to the state funds. The more people that play the lottery, the more money the state takes in.
The government has to get money somewhere for it's programs. If it isn't through lotterys it WILL be through some other form of taxation. And when was the last time that you got a tax return back from the state telling you that you had won $1 million dollars, hm?
My odds of winning are low and the payoff is 'poor', but they are better than your odds of getting money from the IRS...
Well, it obviously is the same thing. I mean, look at the Native American, they were primative savages, right?
On that thought, perhaps we could get some christians to go out and try to save them. Everybody knows it's a good cristian's duty to convert the savages...
I write a lot of.asp, and I use both Mozilla and IE to check the code I write. Unless the person coding the ASP pages is an idiot, it doesn't make a diffrence, as everything is processed server side.
You run into problems because either a) the ASP coder uses vbscript for client side validation, and nothing but IE supports vbscript, or b) they don't bother to write cross-platform client side javascript code. I can't come down too hard when people don't do this, as the DOM differs from browser to browser.
The people responsable for this forking of the DOM need to be dragged nekkid across a cactus patch.
Bigger files will prevent copywrite infringment for a short while, until computers advance a year or two, and can them easily handle more data.
When I bought a P90 in the 1990s, the idea that you could put an entire album of music on a drive was silly. Hard drives were 500mb to 800mb at the time, and 16 bit 44100 for two channels filled hundreds of megs in uncompressed format. Then MP3 compression appeared, along with Multi-gigabyte drives.
Go ahead, use larger file formats. The pirates of tomorrow will appreciate the extra quailty.
I would go further and give the cockpit an outside door, so it is inaccessible from the passenger cabin.
What happens if there is a problem in flight? Not being able to get into the cockpit can be good and bad.
Give the pilots (or, for that matter, properly qualified passengers) guns so they can fight back.
What happens when a pilot decides to hyjack a plane? Or a 'Certified' passenger? Who watches the watchmen? What happens when terrorists decide to forge a homeland security gun permit?
Put remote control lockouts on the aircraft.
Good idea, then terrorist wont even have to board a plane to take control of it and crash it. They will all become hackers. And the best part of this idea, is that when such a system is exploited, you will be able to crash EVERY SINGLE PLANE IN THE AIR AT ONCE.
Fit supertall buildings with anti-aircraft weapons (specially designed for short range so they don't get hijacked)
Do you have any idea how silly this is? If you want to down a 747, you can't do it when it is about to hit a building. And, btw, most major cities have big airports nearby. If you put AA under flightpaths, terrorists can just take an AA installation, and pop away at incomming flights.
Moreover, what is 'short range' AA? A phalanx system? Do you really want to put something like that on top of a building?
How about this, we just make sure that people getting on planes don't have guns, explosives, and knives. Without a weapon, a terrorist has to wrestle down 200 hysterical passengers who no longer believe that they might live through a hyjacking.
Slashdot Mirror
But an additional point is that modern music companies are little more than fiscal lending insitutions for musicians. Every cost that is incurred in the recording of an album is simply billed back to the artist against future sales. Often, the artists don't have it explained that clearly to them, so they are under the impression that the record company is footing the bill.
The record company then manages how the money is spent, bringing in producers, engineers, and suits to oversee everything. I can't fault them there, I wouldn't give 250k to a bunch of un-supervised 19 year olds, either. Once the album is done, they bill the cost back until the album is payed off. Since the promotional costs are also billed back, this can take quite a bit of money.
Incidentally, this is where the 'payola' comes from to insure that you have to listen to the same top 40 crap constantly on the radio. Promotional fees are payed to broadcasters to get airtime. This practice was outlawed in the 70s, I think, but I just got re-organized to avoid the law.
That a record company gets all the money for an album isn't really a travesty. After all, they did 'loan' the money to the band in the first place. They deserve a chance to make a profit. However, no bank in the world owns your house in perpetuity AFTER you have paid it off. Also, I don't believe that most bands get much say in how the money they are being 'loaned' is spent. On the whole their managements practices are pretty sickening.
That is a leading question that seems typical of a smug linux zealot. A better question would be, 'What is the ratio of zombied linux boxes in proportion to it's total installed user base.' Since most people use Windows, it follows that most of the zombie boxes should be windows boxes.
Even that isn't totally informing, as how many of those people who run Windows would be less vunerable if they ran linux? Most of the problem isn't the OS, but the lack of understanding on how a computer works. If you aren't a skilled admin, you are going to get haxxored regardless of the OS.
I think Linux is a superior idea and platform, but win the argument with sound logic, not snyde comments.
GREEDO: Is it not a melancholy today, Captain Solo? I morn the fleeting tentrils of night.
HAN: Well met, Monsuir Greedo. I was just going to eat a fine Brie and drink a bottle of wine with you employer. He wanted to confide his angsts to me.
GREEDO: Give me your purse of Francs, for lo! I have consumption and the cold hands of the reaper chill me even now. Life is but a cheap wench!
HAN: Does a man's life ammount to but a purse of gold? Are we ever fated to wander the maze that is life blindly seeking nothing more but piles of shiny metal? I think not!
GREEDO: Love is capricious and stern. She has taught me to be stoic. I will slay you without remorse, but with a light heart, as in doing so, I will save you all future woe.
(Han throws his drink on Greedo.)
HAN: Alas, the laughing mime has failed! I will go now, for, life is but a river traveling forever to the fate we are all blind to. A pox on your taylor!
(Han exits)
"This is not the cut of Star Wars you are looking for."
Yub Yub!
Teddy bears with spears, George! TEDDY BEARS WITH SPEARS! Where the $##$% is the planet of the Wookies you promised us?
They must be using a similar technology to the Bush administration, who detected 'Weapons of Mass Destruction' in Iraq.
Of course the 'Mass Destruction' device turned out to be an empty aluminum weigh watchers food tray, but hey, this is hard stuff.
Yeah, but when you do this and start exporting them, how long before some punk from /. starts selling DIY conversion kits that lets you re-chip it into a bomb?
(JOKE. I could go off into a detailed description of nuclear weapon, so spare me the nitpicky replys why this won't work.)
They block 'unixbox'? Why in the world would they want to block that?
You dirty Bastard! There could be ladies present, what the hell do you think you are doing, posting a word like 'Unibox' on a site like this? Someone, report this guy and get his account pulled.
Do you french-kiss your mother with that mouth?
What the article is talking about is, indirectly, that the paper money you use every day has no inherent value, so why on earth would anyone accept it as money?
Other than food and water, what has inherent value? I accept it as money because I can trade it for other things. You seem to think that a gold standard is essential to using paper as a trade meidum. I can trade money for gold, but it no longer has a fixed rate of trade. Isn't allowing the market to find it's own equalibrium a good thing? If money is being overprinted, it will just fall in value to gold.
We print more money, because the commodity we back it up with is the goods and services that we produce. The economy is always growing, thus we are always printing more money.
and most find themselves working helpdesk at a telemarketing firm, or as a webmaster/designer for a porn site.
Wait, you mean someone will pay me to post pr0n on the web?
AMERICA, DE LAND OF OPPURTUNITY!
I placed a service request with them over two months ago, because I can't access their NNTP servers. I get a message telling me that only comcast customers can access their newsgroups services. Over two months to fix a simple password or permissions issue. Wow.
You are an idiot, and I'm going to use my mod points to mod you down....er... DAMMIT!
Your analysis on the numbers alone are correct. However, you are overlooking a signifigant aspect. Most lotteries are run by some sort of state agency, and the crooked winnings are often added to the state funds. The more people that play the lottery, the more money the state takes in.
The government has to get money somewhere for it's programs. If it isn't through lotterys it WILL be through some other form of taxation. And when was the last time that you got a tax return back from the state telling you that you had won $1 million dollars, hm?
My odds of winning are low and the payoff is 'poor', but they are better than your odds of getting money from the IRS...
A pentabyte is a byte of data that is in the pentagon. It is a special, super high security byte.
"Bill Gates"
Oooh, they have to name the planet 'Rupert'. We really need a planet, somewhere, to be named 'Rupert'. Douglas would be so proud...
Well, it obviously is the same thing. I mean, look at the Native American, they were primative savages, right?
On that thought, perhaps we could get some christians to go out and try to save them. Everybody knows it's a good cristian's duty to convert the savages...
I write a lot of .asp, and I use both Mozilla and IE to check the code I write. Unless the person coding the ASP pages is an idiot, it doesn't make a diffrence, as everything is processed server side.
You run into problems because either a) the ASP coder uses vbscript for client side validation, and nothing but IE supports vbscript, or b) they don't bother to write cross-platform client side javascript code. I can't come down too hard when people don't do this, as the DOM differs from browser to browser.
The people responsable for this forking of the DOM need to be dragged nekkid across a cactus patch.
Bigger files will prevent copywrite infringment for a short while, until computers advance a year or two, and can them easily handle more data.
When I bought a P90 in the 1990s, the idea that you could put an entire album of music on a drive was silly. Hard drives were 500mb to 800mb at the time, and 16 bit 44100 for two channels filled hundreds of megs in uncompressed format. Then MP3 compression appeared, along with Multi-gigabyte drives.
Go ahead, use larger file formats. The pirates of tomorrow will appreciate the extra quailty.
I'm really roundabout in the way I write things. I mean, nobody would ever figure out I work for Microsoft.
Damn.
Umm... the pilot already has control of the plane, I don't think he needs to use force to take it over.
Really? The Co-pilot might have an objection to the idea of crashing the plane into a large building, so yes, he does have to take it over.
I worked for ChimpUSA in College, and EVERYTHING that hopJohn said about Best Buy is absolutely true about ChimpUSA too.
Having worked there for about two and a hald years, I would never trust a chimpUSA employee farther than I could throw them. Mangagers even less.
I would go further and give the cockpit an outside door, so it is inaccessible from the passenger cabin.
What happens if there is a problem in flight? Not being able to get into the cockpit can be good and bad.
Give the pilots (or, for that matter, properly qualified passengers) guns so they can fight back.
What happens when a pilot decides to hyjack a plane? Or a 'Certified' passenger? Who watches the watchmen? What happens when terrorists decide to forge a homeland security gun permit?
Put remote control lockouts on the aircraft.
Good idea, then terrorist wont even have to board a plane to take control of it and crash it. They will all become hackers. And the best part of this idea, is that when such a system is exploited, you will be able to crash EVERY SINGLE PLANE IN THE AIR AT ONCE.
Fit supertall buildings with anti-aircraft weapons (specially designed for short range so they don't get hijacked)
Do you have any idea how silly this is? If you want to down a 747, you can't do it when it is about to hit a building. And, btw, most major cities have big airports nearby. If you put AA under flightpaths, terrorists can just take an AA installation, and pop away at incomming flights. Moreover, what is 'short range' AA? A phalanx system? Do you really want to put something like that on top of a building?
How about this, we just make sure that people getting on planes don't have guns, explosives, and knives. Without a weapon, a terrorist has to wrestle down 200 hysterical passengers who no longer believe that they might live through a hyjacking.
I mean, what will we call it? It' isn't wardriving, and is sounds stupid to say 'warrickshawing'. Nope, nope. It will have to go.
(Alternate challenge to Slashdotters: What is the correct verb for 'pulling a rickshaw'? I bet that Jepoardy punk would know...)
I took extra care to lock down my WiFi network, just to be sure that none of the skr1p7 k1dd13s out ther could hacATZ#4#R%F^AA@!@5[CARRIER LOST]