Re:Was this really illegel?
on
Book 'Em, Dano
·
· Score: 4, Insightful
As a digression.
I appreicate libraries and don't condone the theft of their resources but... Libraries don't always think through their fines and charges. (or for that matter most rental businesses)
I put it to an elderly University librarian that a $100AU maximum on late fees was stupid when the charge for a lost book was also $100AU. I asked her why she would expect anyone to return a book that hit the maximum fine. Even before the maximum, people might just decide to lump the extra cost and keep the book if the difference between the fine and the replacement charge equals the retail cost.
I pointed out that higher level texts often retailed in the campus bookshop for over $100AU, so the replacement charge seemed even more short sighted. Why didn't their system pull up the real cost of each book to determine it and cap late fees at half the cost individually?
Perhaps there is some obscure humourous or ironic context for the "some guy" approach but nearly everyone will interpret it as dumbing down the information. To me, that is the antithesis of what a geek audience would want.
To demonstrate the ability to have nearly the exact same summary, without the dumbing down I present you an alternative, the extra two words bolded for emphasis.
"This is cool - if mind-bending. A century ago, a self-taught math genius from India, named Ramanujan, noticed some patterns in how numbers can be created by adding other numbers. Now a grad student has finished the job showing that the patterns apply to all prime numbers, not just some. There's more on the Indian math guy here."
I'm not sure that micropayments have ever truly been tested for that claim to be substantiated.
The parent poster was possibly not explicit enough.
The most effective use of the totality of the Internet's resources is obtained by wide and deep but selective examination. Resources which aggregate information, but charge whole fees for access to any part of itself, run against that approach in, at least, that it would cost a great deal to have access any sizeable percentage of the Internet's total resources.
In particular, since news is not intrinsically owned by any one group it is problably unlikely that any turnstile can be effectively placed in front of it as a whole.
There is colloquial style, and then there are cheesy attempts to affect a voice which is entertainment in and of itself. Whether it accomplishes its primary reason to exist -- successfully informing the reader -- becomes less and less important.
Sort of like there was Donahue, and now there is Springer.
In reality, these guys weren't running a miniature production line of pirated software (a la Singapore), or maintaining enormous ftp servers (although the extradition is based on the existence of a US server, it was unlikely a Suprnova.org of the past).
They're real crime is disabling or circumventing the copy protection of applications; and then making those modified versions, key generators, etc available to others, resulting in a spread without need for their direct support. Taken in isolation as purely a program solving hobby, it does resemble recreational mathematics.
I believe the charges are also in reference to acts committed a number of years ago. In the time that has passed, I'd expect that with: the growth and development of the Internet, the increasingly effective methods distribution, the general level of awareness of piracy, and level of adoption by increasingly average people, that acts piracy today quickly outstrip that of 5-10 years ago.
It is the wear on teeth that is meant to be the determining factor when ageing horses, not the gums receding.
Horse teeth grow continually, and wear from chewing. The method rests upon the assumption that the growth and wear rates are approximately constant across different horses. Since horses do not all share exactly the same diet, some have a habit of chewing hard objects, and teeth growth rates vary, the method isn't particularly reliable.
Though I will grant you that "long in the tooth" refers to gum rececession that develops with age, that is more the domain of humans.
Well going on the Bourne Supremacy, I certainly hope there are no extended car chases in a movie based on Watchmen. That was an absolutely terrible scene, where frantic cutting and shaking cameras replaced actual rapidly moving cars.
For clarification, you only lose the effect of your movement buffs if you initiate an encounter lock. A mob cannot initiate a lock itself, it will happen only when you or a group member does something to that mob.
Now I've found tight to be somewhat unstable on my Windows boxes - all XP or 2000.
Read the sentence again; he said he uses it on his Windows machines, that doesn't require that he only has Windows machines. The "all XP or 2000" refers to what version those machines are using.
I think consideration is usually extended to those nuclei which develop from the decay series of Plutonium isotopes and other waste. The focus being the legacy of radioactive waste, and not necessarily just its present threat.
I know many elements are listed as insoluble, but insoluble is usually meant in a practical chemical sense. Generally water as a solvent, especially with the assistance of other agents, can take up small quantities of nearly any material.
Afterall, cumulative exposure from either heavy metal or radiation sources can still, over time, make relatively incidental exposure a non-negligible concern.
The Sony Stores in Canada or more specifically Calgary have been there for decades. I used to make regular trips to oggle the Walkmans as early as 1983. That was the year the yellow Sportsman was released; much adored by my peer group, much copied by competitors. I believe you can attribute all of Sony's later yellow/orange water resistant electronics equipment to the success of the Sportsman.
Oh the heady days of auto-reverse and conserving battery life: rewinding manually by twirling the tape around with a ball point pen through the take-up reel.
I still have a lingering desire for tiny black rectangles with Dolby's DD symbol embossing the side.
Since this is all about public perception and impact, the next time someone is spotted with nightvision goggles the RIAA will up the ante and have Tom Cruise rappel down directly above the perpetator and taser him; all the while the rest of the audience is brought into the moment with a Dolby Digital rendition of the Mission Impossible theme.
Stopping piracy short of denying consumers recordable devices; Mission Impossible!
I am all for scientists attracting public interest to their research but, does it strike anyone that some attempts appear to do more to trivialise the pursuit of knowledge than it does to promote its' worth?
The degree of conjecture necessary to claim an odor represents the breath scent of a Tyrannosaurus Rex is enormous. To the point that, when all the approximations and educated guesses are accounted for, it is likely you're wrong.
At least demonstrate the scientific process with subject matter that will stand up to modest scrutiny.
I accept your point that computer games are a moving target, but that has a lot to do with it being a money making industry increasingly styled after the music and film industries. The original motivation of seeking the best design, or forging a new genre has fallen a distant second to generating income and growing the market.
This industry model works mainly because the market continues to grow, and as the years pass there will always a new set of youngsters that haven't experienced the games of the past. However apart from increasing graphic detail, the basic mechanics of most games in each genre share a high degree of similarity.
Were we instead to say 'lets make the Go or Chess of the FPS genre', allow for continued graphic improvements, and set its' mechanics in stone, then you'd have a fixed basis.
Whether we could ever agree on the ideal mechanics is obviously one issue. It is something which may develop naturally given sufficient time, and would in that way probably be a more complete solution.
Damn html setting stripped all my paragraph breaks.
Well as someone that was a diehard Amiga user that crafted many a reply to the Amiga haters back in the heyday of news groups, I think you may be overstating it a little.
When it came to bitmap graphics, video editing, and 3D rendering Amigas really did have some topnotch software. However usually the winning angle wasn't that it was leaps and bounds better than any other platform's offerings, it was the value for money.
Even these flagship applications didn't really start commanding the price of PC equivalents until the advent of Newtek's Video Toaster suite which of course came with a rather enormous peice of hardware which later became regarded as the era's most sophisticated dongle by the many that wanted Lightwave and not the rest.
Amiga software was always weakest in business applications such as word processors, spreadsheets and the like. Sure there were some decent offerings in the end but they didn't quite make the grade until quite late in the Amiga lifespan.
Btw you left off Scala, Vista Pro, and of course Directory Opus the incredible file manager/do all In my opinion on the PC we've only recently recovered the level of functionality found in Directory Opus and that is by means of multiple interoperating apps. Although no where near the easily accessible customising potential.
Well as someone that was a diehard Amiga user that crafted many a reply to the Amiga haters back in the heyday of news groups, I think you may be overstating it a little.
When it came to bitmap graphics, video editing, and 3D rendering Amigas really did have some topnotch software. However usually the winning angle wasn't that it was leaps and bounds better than any other platform's offerings, it was the value for money.
Even these flagship applications didn't really start commanding the price of PC equivalents until the advent of Newtek's Video Toaster suite which of course came with a rather enormous peice of hardware which later became regarded as the era's most sophisticated dongle by the many that wanted Lightwave and not the rest.
Amiga software was always weakest in business applications such as word processors, spreadsheets and the like. Sure there were some decent offerings in the end but they didn't quite make the grade until quite late in the Amiga lifespan.
Btw you left off Scala, Vista Pro, and of course Directory Opus the incredible file manager/do all In my opinion on the PC we've only recently recovered the level of functionality found in Directory Opus and that is by means of multiple interoperating apps. Although no where near the easily accessible customising potential.
Slashdot Mirror
I appreicate libraries and don't condone the theft of their resources but... Libraries don't always think through their fines and charges. (or for that matter most rental businesses)
I put it to an elderly University librarian that a $100AU maximum on late fees was stupid when the charge for a lost book was also $100AU. I asked her why she would expect anyone to return a book that hit the maximum fine. Even before the maximum, people might just decide to lump the extra cost and keep the book if the difference between the fine and the replacement charge equals the retail cost.
I pointed out that higher level texts often retailed in the campus bookshop for over $100AU, so the replacement charge seemed even more short sighted. Why didn't their system pull up the real cost of each book to determine it and cap late fees at half the cost individually?
She looked at me like I was evil incarnate.
On second thought, the summary is irretrievably goofy sounding. Hehe.
To demonstrate the ability to have nearly the exact same summary, without the dumbing down I present you an alternative, the extra two words bolded for emphasis.
Expect a Slashdot article on a shopping trolley mod soon.
The parent poster was possibly not explicit enough.
The most effective use of the totality of the Internet's resources is obtained by wide and deep but selective examination. Resources which aggregate information, but charge whole fees for access to any part of itself, run against that approach in, at least, that it would cost a great deal to have access any sizeable percentage of the Internet's total resources.
In particular, since news is not intrinsically owned by any one group it is problably unlikely that any turnstile can be effectively placed in front of it as a whole.
Micropayments fit.
The denial of deep links is a related issue
Sort of like there was Donahue, and now there is Springer.
They're real crime is disabling or circumventing the copy protection of applications; and then making those modified versions, key generators, etc available to others, resulting in a spread without need for their direct support. Taken in isolation as purely a program solving hobby, it does resemble recreational mathematics.
I believe the charges are also in reference to acts committed a number of years ago. In the time that has passed, I'd expect that with: the growth and development of the Internet, the increasingly effective methods distribution, the general level of awareness of piracy, and level of adoption by increasingly average people, that acts piracy today quickly outstrip that of 5-10 years ago.
Horse teeth grow continually, and wear from chewing. The method rests upon the assumption that the growth and wear rates are approximately constant across different horses. Since horses do not all share exactly the same diet, some have a habit of chewing hard objects, and teeth growth rates vary, the method isn't particularly reliable.
Though I will grant you that "long in the tooth" refers to gum rececession that develops with age, that is more the domain of humans.
Bah, there are too many bloggers with too little to say anyhow. Considered /. an evolutionary mechanism. :)
Well going on the Bourne Supremacy, I certainly hope there are no extended car chases in a movie based on Watchmen. That was an absolutely terrible scene, where frantic cutting and shaking cameras replaced actual rapidly moving cars.
As encountered by the Starship Enterpoop?
Yep, not a new story. :)
For clarification, you only lose the effect of your movement buffs if you initiate an encounter lock. A mob cannot initiate a lock itself, it will happen only when you or a group member does something to that mob.
As a wise alien once said merchandising, merchandising, merchandising!
I know many elements are listed as insoluble, but insoluble is usually meant in a practical chemical sense. Generally water as a solvent, especially with the assistance of other agents, can take up small quantities of nearly any material.
Afterall, cumulative exposure from either heavy metal or radiation sources can still, over time, make relatively incidental exposure a non-negligible concern.
Oh the heady days of auto-reverse and conserving battery life: rewinding manually by twirling the tape around with a ball point pen through the take-up reel.
I still have a lingering desire for tiny black rectangles with Dolby's DD symbol embossing the side.
A Partial Walkman History
Stopping piracy short of denying consumers recordable devices; Mission Impossible!
The degree of conjecture necessary to claim an odor represents the breath scent of a Tyrannosaurus Rex is enormous. To the point that, when all the approximations and educated guesses are accounted for, it is likely you're wrong.
At least demonstrate the scientific process with subject matter that will stand up to modest scrutiny.
I accept your point that computer games are a moving target, but that has a lot to do with it being a money making industry increasingly styled after the music and film industries. The original motivation of seeking the best design, or forging a new genre has fallen a distant second to generating income and growing the market.
This industry model works mainly because the market continues to grow, and as the years pass there will always a new set of youngsters that haven't experienced the games of the past. However apart from increasing graphic detail, the basic mechanics of most games in each genre share a high degree of similarity.
Were we instead to say 'lets make the Go or Chess of the FPS genre', allow for continued graphic improvements, and set its' mechanics in stone, then you'd have a fixed basis.
Whether we could ever agree on the ideal mechanics is obviously one issue. It is something which may develop naturally given sufficient time, and would in that way probably be a more complete solution.
You could always just take a book with you.
Damn html setting stripped all my paragraph breaks.
Well as someone that was a diehard Amiga user that crafted many a reply to the Amiga haters back in the heyday of news groups, I think you may be overstating it a little.
When it came to bitmap graphics, video editing, and 3D rendering Amigas really did have some topnotch software. However usually the winning angle wasn't that it was leaps and bounds better than any other platform's offerings, it was the value for money.
Even these flagship applications didn't really start commanding the price of PC equivalents until the advent of Newtek's Video Toaster suite which of course came with a rather enormous peice of hardware which later became regarded as the era's most sophisticated dongle by the many that wanted Lightwave and not the rest.
Amiga software was always weakest in business applications such as word processors, spreadsheets and the like. Sure there were some decent offerings in the end but they didn't quite make the grade until quite late in the Amiga lifespan.
Btw you left off Scala, Vista Pro, and of course Directory Opus the incredible file manager/do all In my opinion on the PC we've only recently recovered the level of functionality found in Directory Opus and that is by means of multiple interoperating apps. Although no where near the easily accessible customising potential.
Well as someone that was a diehard Amiga user that crafted many a reply to the Amiga haters back in the heyday of news groups, I think you may be overstating it a little. When it came to bitmap graphics, video editing, and 3D rendering Amigas really did have some topnotch software. However usually the winning angle wasn't that it was leaps and bounds better than any other platform's offerings, it was the value for money. Even these flagship applications didn't really start commanding the price of PC equivalents until the advent of Newtek's Video Toaster suite which of course came with a rather enormous peice of hardware which later became regarded as the era's most sophisticated dongle by the many that wanted Lightwave and not the rest. Amiga software was always weakest in business applications such as word processors, spreadsheets and the like. Sure there were some decent offerings in the end but they didn't quite make the grade until quite late in the Amiga lifespan. Btw you left off Scala, Vista Pro, and of course Directory Opus the incredible file manager/do all In my opinion on the PC we've only recently recovered the level of functionality found in Directory Opus and that is by means of multiple interoperating apps. Although no where near the easily accessible customising potential.