You do have a very vaid point. One bad transaction may mess up the daily average, but transactions between buyers & sellers are atomic...in other words exactly one seller willingly chose to sell at the erronous price and exactly one buyer willingly chose to buy at that price on a share-by-share basis. People made those choices, not the software. Of course this could be compared to yelling "fire" in a crowded theatre causing people to loose their seats or place in line, but in this case the concequences are not so extreme...or at least the players are expected to properly protect themselves in the "game".
Just imagine the uproar when the whole SCO thing breaks...and people start trying to play THAT market...fun should ensue.
The only other issue is the "second-order" effects... i.e. I saw this "deal" so I sold another stock at an sub-optimal position to get in on the "deal" now that stock has changed positon and I want it back...
Frankly, they should heavily penilize the errant broker...perhaps 1 month inelligibility to trade...and make the "day traders" live with their choices. Day Trading is a questionable, but legal practice anyway...like french fries & soda pop, too much will wreck the market...perhaps a few incidents like this will self-curb the trend or kick out a few sloppy brokers!
Seems to be a problem with old games lately. Really, look what they did to chess....used to have REAL people and all, now just cheap plastic knock-offs...seems to be a trend.. Look at that silly Monopoly game...same flat board and little metal pices after like 50+ years...
Old games are like that...it doesn't have to make sense...that's why they call it CULTure!
Prescription Drugs
you mean the plans the Reps kept shooting down when Clinton proposed them at the start of both terms?
Saddam
Really, GBI did encourage the Kurds to rebel against their rightful, recoginzed govt...notice Turkey refused to deal with them too...even with US occupation of Iraq. The Chemical weapons came from US-USSR cold war policies of selling "surplus" arms to higest-bidder dictators for quick cash. We are directly to blame for their deaths just as much as Saddam is.
desert-style Vietnam situation
This is more-or-less how vietnam started. That conflict [never actually a declared war...hun?] started as a knee-jerk reaction to commies. It was supposed to be a "quick" clean up to keep the French "serfs" down. But, The commies correctly avoided direct confrontation of superior force and dragged the war for years by "camping" for the US troops we kept sending [sotra like right now]...It's only a matter of time before the whole region is openly against us...at that point the UN will simply turn it's back and let us take it!
more support with the war on terror
funny how people "support" you at the business end of a fleet of B-52's! Bush has openly theatened/extorted/bribed many countries into compliance...that's nearly the same as support. They WILL knife us in the back for this when the time is right!
Regan's defense spending also lead to the expectations of the wild profits that created the careless dot com boom/bust cycle, and set the stage for the business practices that Enron enbraced. As far as helping the economy, I don't really see how? We're still loosing GOOD jobs in most of the country at an alarming rate. Remember unemployment only counts those who GET it, not who it's run out for...the numbers are really MUCH higher, and the new jobs aren't as good as the old ones. He's only created larger, and more Orwellian government...the very kind Regan tried to put down in Cold war Russia. I was a kid when Regan was president, in high school when the "wall" fell...Bush has copied every, single thing I was told by the govt was WRONG with the commies in all but name. This is a very, very dark time for the US!
Unfortunately this ISN'T OT at all! As much as we all want to go back to space...and all it's benifits, the MONEY has to come from somewhere. Realize that Apollo was essentially paid for in CASH! [time-adjusted to be 100X NASA's current funding!] AND Without adding to the deficit. When the current govt can't even balance the day-to-day operation of the country, how are we supposed to find 5-10% additional [moonshot cost in real $$] federal money to add to the budget? A real attempt to better Apollo will easily cost at least 5% of the current overall federal budget to pull off correctly! That's a lot of cash!!! But figure we're still reaping the technology rewards of the last shot 30 years later...pretty good value for the money spent.
not quite. Actually the last checks were basicly just an "adjustment" to your current years tax earnings. [i.e. money back you would have paid in] many people are going to get nailed by this. The tax rate may have gone down some, but the "rebate" checks are really comming off NEXT April's return...meaning it will actually be LESS this year for most people!
Sure, but your spouse got laid off...and stayed laid off for the last 2 years. Offsetting your 3% tax savings with a 30% household income cut...I'd venture very many americans would fall into that catagory right about now...but we still manage to make ends meet.
Boys are typically content with fast-paced shoot-um-ups, but girls just don't like um. Girls like politics, drama, romance, and socializing....things that are very hard to get "right" in a game. Definately not quick and easy like so much of the game market is right now.
I'm surprised they haven't given something like The Sims more RPG-like, or episode-like elements, and a bit more control. The only downside of that game is the time requirement...most moms [i.e. like my wife] don't have enough time to play to make it rewarding and hence give up quickly and revert to quick "puzzle" games like a poster below said. Doesn't mean they don't want more!
If your up for specs, I'd venture cross The Sims with Marrowind & tetris [!?] and make it have meaningful play & storyline in 15 minute sessions without resorting to monster killing! I'm surprised nobody's tried to do a "Charmed" [WB tv show] type game--but it's hard to get that stuff exactly right.
If they could certify [OK lie!] that Cthulhu himself once surfaced to roll this particular die. He had to come up for a stretch sometime in the last few milleniums!
yeah I saw that today but couldn't find it last nite. Yes, it's very funny they use Caldera/SCO's own GPL'd code in their distro...they ought to be free and clear. They even offer subscriptions to WineX so you can play Windows games. But I still can't find if the standard software packages [apt-get, rpm, etc] will work properly or not...with many systems you loose the "special" features if you use "standard" downloads.
That'd be a waste..."real girls" just don't live up to anime standards. There just isn't a good actress to play Rei or Asuka. They'd have to make all the characters "older" and cut key scenes just to make it "legal" to screen at less than NC17 [the nudity IS neccessary to the story, you can't cut it without loosing something]...It's too loaded to make any money here in the US. Also, they'd have to give the movie a real ending...the director "trashed" it due to PHBs cutting him off just like Farscape...trying to finish it just ends up lame...sad but true.
It's slick...kinda like Lindows without relying on CnR for money. It's polished simple and cute, looks a lot like Win XP. I want to say it's Debian & KDE based, but I can't find it to verify it. It's the usual pay-distro. Most is normal distro linux [OSS], with the polished parts [installer, control panel, layout...] being non-free. It's about the same price-wise as mandrake...but with 100% focus on desktop, rather than workstation or server like RH or SuSe. I downloaded a version last year and it's pretty slick...but without the typical distro features like say Knoppix. I never tried to install anything else [apache, mysql...] on it at the time. I'd say it's on par with the Sharp Zarus distro...mostly pretty, but still Linux under the hood if you choose to go for it. Not a bad distro for a comercial venture.
Sure it's "voluntary" the same way you "voluntarily" stay at your employer after buying a new house, or "voluntarily" give that nice guy in a ski mask your money at the ATM machine.
What's funnier about the whole BeOS thing is that IF a company like Dell WAS to go to court [even supeona'd] MS would still revoke the contract for the terms...the OEMs aren't even allowed to TALK ABOUT MS illegal activities...that's how "voluntary" it is!
Last I checked Console games don't have EULA's! There's no "click thru" that says "I agree". It's always been considered [even in court] that what's on the disk is "on the disc" as the game. Look at the current market for "cheat codes" in the form of memory modules, add-in carts, etc...even mod-chipping the console itself is legal by itself [if you don't violate DMCA'd code]
That's current practice. "cheat codes" are added by the manufacture to just about every console game published nowdays...it's a standard practice...nothing right now stops people from publishing them either. Such business models seek to change all that...or change what the customer is buying under the table.
Yes, paying for additional content online would be OK...but the question was about "unlocking" things on the disk for more money...different beastie. Like posters below said, If it's on the disk already, then I already paid for it...It would be easy to argue in court that "secret" & in-game codes are part of common practice and fair-use...It'd be hard to DMCA you for sharing "cheats"...right now it's common and encouraged...part of the "game"
Leading to the second part...that unlocking "cheats" is part of the console experience. It's generally assumed that you paid for all the data on the disk already...it's all part of the game. Hiding behind "online" unlocking is a very thinly veiled money grab. It will also destroy the industry...people now pay to unlock cheats.. they expect that as a game experience...so yes, it is just as much "stealing" from the players. Again, the only way to enforce such a scheme is thru RIAA/MPAA type tactics...turning your customers into criminals...and you see what that gets you!
Online add-ons like with MechAssult are a different beastie. The only problem there is the dilution of the market space...when none of the games "work" out-of-the-box without paying a fee and/or net access again, that will kill the market of all the teens/kids pretty quick...as well as kill off the resale market/ value of the game too. If they get too greedy.....again, RIAA/MPAA-type problems..
You've already paid once up to $50 for the game! I'd expect the disc to be jam packed full. I don't want to pay to use something I already bought...I'm not a revenue stream AFTER I buy the game! Otherwise, the $50 games will just become "demos" for all the cool stuff you can "unlock" later...see the problem here.
Ideas like personal RFID tags get pushed because they make sense! Look at most of the financial headlines lately...9/11, Enron, worldcom, martha, RIAA, MPAA...They all involve individuals making poor choices...to the concequence of many other people who are just trying to earn a living.
The joke is that RIGHT NOW it's the hyper-conservatives that are doing all the damage!...the very same people fearing the "666" of the beast. It's all about lack of personal responsibility...typically a Democrat thing, that nobody should be able to take advantage of anybody else [loan fraud, abusive work contracts...]...so we need more technology [i.e. govt] to "protect" people. Coupled with the recent attacks and financial screw ups even the other side [Reps] wants more govt control...more acountability, paperwork, sigs...get the idea...protect those corps... now they want ID so they can sneak around and find out what you were doing when nobody was looking.
Asia has these issues even more than the US...and accept it even more redily. Both America and Southeast asia have very busy, highly complex societies...and even "playful disruption" is becomming a "terrorist" act. The problem is that govt has gotten too big...and make too many stupid laws nobody can follow. meaning that the General Pouplation tolerates a certian amount of "lawlessness" because they've lost control of the govt [not enough people vote to matter]...it doesn't represent the people's interests anymore! Now the govt is interested in enforcing the law as "cheaply and effecently" as possible...it's not about right or wrong anymore, just "acceptable losses" [sounds like war, hun?] to look like they're doing their job. The govt is a company now...justice meeted out like fries a McD's. [with less personal accountability]
In all these cases, it makes more and more sense to normal people [most/.er are not normal people] to simply "make it so you can't" break the laws...or be wrongly accused... So we have to build a bigger, better "mouse trap". Look at all the hacks to the current round of technology...many normal people just want stuff to be easy and simple. even innocent hacking is "terrorist" to most people...you'd be suprised how many "normal" people think "internet programming" == "bank cracking"...it's way more than you would think!
so in the end, for security and liberty, people will throw all their trust, and personal responsiblity, into the next big electronic system that the govt pushes. The govt has the ability to use guns to enforce it, so it will be MADE to work...get the idea. Who controls the govt...well, it's an irresponsible "beast" already isn't it? And there you have it. The only glimmer of sunshine right now is that the events are described after rapture...all those pesky "christian zelots" won't be here to bother you anymore...and it will be great...for about 3.5 years. People forget THAT fact when they read those prophesies...everything that happens in Revelation is the apogee of human ingunity and "wisdom"...Without silly "religous" pressures. Until the whole thing goes to....
Just about every US city has a minor's curfew nowdays.[this isn't that extreme] This one in the article is only pertaining to internet cafes [of course these kids probably can't afford computers at home..that's a different issue]
....the rule for electronic gaming hours & kids in my town goes back to at least the 50's!!!... when it was pinball and juke boxes...
You're correct, one of the real problems with the unemployment numbers is that they don't reflect the number of people actually unemployed, only those who are currently drawing. I'd venture many, many families are back to one job and struggling while the other works OT. Often the remaining worker has run out of unemployment...so they don't count toward the numbers anymore!
Like you asked...is there a number for how many people are STILL out of work, but used up all their unemployment and gave up?
But What is actually useful here?
on
Does IT Matter?
·
· Score: 1
The focus has been on MORE, MORE, FASTER, FASTER for so long that many companies don't use what they got...let alone need more. Unfortunately, CXOs will read this as "CUT IT SPENDING NOW" and lay off all the programmers...while buying another round of shiny new laptops for the office. The thing I see in many places [my own included] is that CxO's have absolutely no experience MANAGING IT! They think of IT as the "cost of computers" rather than R&D for a better factory. Companies like MS have focused "IT" on simply per seat licenses and numbers of machines for so long that it's all management thinks about.
For the/. crowd this should be a GOOD THING! Just like with pushing Linux, the new push is going to be how well do we USE our systems to get business done. In my shop the management still doesn't get it. Part of IT [the most forgotten part] is knowlage management...allowing workers to handle more tasks, and go home on time...Therein lies the real problem right now. The easy problems have been solved. Now we're at the stage in the game where it's the nitty-gritty business that needs looked at. The successful programmers are going to be working IN businesses rather than at a software company. Your also going to need to be good at business, engineering, accounting, etc. to be able to spin time-saving apps quickly...and set up systems that improve the REAL business..reduce defects, improve ordering time...rather than just making the computers "prettier". It's a world where OSS should do quite nicely...as programmers move to being "freelance" rather than working for "megacorp".
Slashdot Mirror
Just imagine the uproar when the whole SCO thing breaks...and people start trying to play THAT market...fun should ensue.
Frankly, they should heavily penilize the errant broker...perhaps 1 month inelligibility to trade...and make the "day traders" live with their choices. Day Trading is a questionable, but legal practice anyway...like french fries & soda pop, too much will wreck the market...perhaps a few incidents like this will self-curb the trend or kick out a few sloppy brokers!
Really, look what they did to chess....used to have REAL people and all, now just cheap plastic knock-offs...seems to be a trend.. Look at that silly Monopoly game...same flat board and little metal pices after like 50+ years...
Old games are like that...it doesn't have to make sense...that's why they call it CULTure!
you mean the plans the Reps kept shooting down when Clinton proposed them at the start of both terms?
Saddam
Really, GBI did encourage the Kurds to rebel against their rightful, recoginzed govt...notice Turkey refused to deal with them too...even with US occupation of Iraq. The Chemical weapons came from US-USSR cold war policies of selling "surplus" arms to higest-bidder dictators for quick cash. We are directly to blame for their deaths just as much as Saddam is.
desert-style Vietnam situation
This is more-or-less how vietnam started. That conflict [never actually a declared war...hun?] started as a knee-jerk reaction to commies. It was supposed to be a "quick" clean up to keep the French "serfs" down. But, The commies correctly avoided direct confrontation of superior force and dragged the war for years by "camping" for the US troops we kept sending [sotra like right now]...It's only a matter of time before the whole region is openly against us...at that point the UN will simply turn it's back and let us take it!
more support with the war on terror
funny how people "support" you at the business end of a fleet of B-52's! Bush has openly theatened/extorted/bribed many countries into compliance...that's nearly the same as support. They WILL knife us in the back for this when the time is right!
Regan's defense spending also lead to the expectations of the wild profits that created the careless dot com boom/bust cycle, and set the stage for the business practices that Enron enbraced. As far as helping the economy, I don't really see how? We're still loosing GOOD jobs in most of the country at an alarming rate. Remember unemployment only counts those who GET it, not who it's run out for...the numbers are really MUCH higher, and the new jobs aren't as good as the old ones. He's only created larger, and more Orwellian government...the very kind Regan tried to put down in Cold war Russia. I was a kid when Regan was president, in high school when the "wall" fell...Bush has copied every, single thing I was told by the govt was WRONG with the commies in all but name. This is a very, very dark time for the US!
Unfortunately this ISN'T OT at all! As much as we all want to go back to space...and all it's benifits, the MONEY has to come from somewhere. Realize that Apollo was essentially paid for in CASH! [time-adjusted to be 100X NASA's current funding!] AND Without adding to the deficit. When the current govt can't even balance the day-to-day operation of the country, how are we supposed to find 5-10% additional [moonshot cost in real $$] federal money to add to the budget? A real attempt to better Apollo will easily cost at least 5% of the current overall federal budget to pull off correctly! That's a lot of cash!!! But figure we're still reaping the technology rewards of the last shot 30 years later...pretty good value for the money spent.
It's never "free" money with politicans!
Sure, but your spouse got laid off...and stayed laid off for the last 2 years. Offsetting your 3% tax savings with a 30% household income cut...I'd venture very many americans would fall into that catagory right about now...but we still manage to make ends meet.
I'm surprised they haven't given something like The Sims more RPG-like, or episode-like elements, and a bit more control. The only downside of that game is the time requirement...most moms [i.e. like my wife] don't have enough time to play to make it rewarding and hence give up quickly and revert to quick "puzzle" games like a poster below said. Doesn't mean they don't want more!
If your up for specs, I'd venture cross The Sims with Marrowind & tetris [!?] and make it have meaningful play & storyline in 15 minute sessions without resorting to monster killing! I'm surprised nobody's tried to do a "Charmed" [WB tv show] type game--but it's hard to get that stuff exactly right.
If they could certify [OK lie!] that Cthulhu himself once surfaced to roll this particular die. He had to come up for a stretch sometime in the last few milleniums!
now lets talk about those OSS tablet PC apps!
That'd be a waste..."real girls" just don't live up to anime standards. There just isn't a good actress to play Rei or Asuka. They'd have to make all the characters "older" and cut key scenes just to make it "legal" to screen at less than NC17 [the nudity IS neccessary to the story, you can't cut it without loosing something]...It's too loaded to make any money here in the US. Also, they'd have to give the movie a real ending...the director "trashed" it due to PHBs cutting him off just like Farscape...trying to finish it just ends up lame...sad but true.
It's slick...kinda like Lindows without relying on CnR for money. It's polished simple and cute, looks a lot like Win XP. I want to say it's Debian & KDE based, but I can't find it to verify it. It's the usual pay-distro. Most is normal distro linux [OSS], with the polished parts [installer, control panel, layout...] being non-free. It's about the same price-wise as mandrake...but with 100% focus on desktop, rather than workstation or server like RH or SuSe. I downloaded a version last year and it's pretty slick...but without the typical distro features like say Knoppix. I never tried to install anything else [apache, mysql...] on it at the time. I'd say it's on par with the Sharp Zarus distro...mostly pretty, but still Linux under the hood if you choose to go for it. Not a bad distro for a comercial venture.
What's funnier about the whole BeOS thing is that IF a company like Dell WAS to go to court [even supeona'd] MS would still revoke the contract for the terms...the OEMs aren't even allowed to TALK ABOUT MS illegal activities...that's how "voluntary" it is!
That's current practice. "cheat codes" are added by the manufacture to just about every console game published nowdays...it's a standard practice...nothing right now stops people from publishing them either. Such business models seek to change all that...or change what the customer is buying under the table.
Leading to the second part...that unlocking "cheats" is part of the console experience. It's generally assumed that you paid for all the data on the disk already...it's all part of the game. Hiding behind "online" unlocking is a very thinly veiled money grab. It will also destroy the industry...people now pay to unlock cheats.. they expect that as a game experience...so yes, it is just as much "stealing" from the players. Again, the only way to enforce such a scheme is thru RIAA/MPAA type tactics...turning your customers into criminals...and you see what that gets you!
Online add-ons like with MechAssult are a different beastie. The only problem there is the dilution of the market space...when none of the games "work" out-of-the-box without paying a fee and/or net access again, that will kill the market of all the teens/kids pretty quick...as well as kill off the resale market/ value of the game too. If they get too greedy.....again, RIAA/MPAA-type problems..
There oughta be a TM violation or something...they've got a lot of the same letters...
You've already paid once up to $50 for the game! I'd expect the disc to be jam packed full. I don't want to pay to use something I already bought...I'm not a revenue stream AFTER I buy the game! Otherwise, the $50 games will just become "demos" for all the cool stuff you can "unlock" later...see the problem here.
Why not post a mirror on SourceForge!
or did we slashdotters just slashdot slashdot's parent by posting the link on slashdot's front page?
gotta see how many times I can say it in one sentence!
hint: OSDL owns slashdot! So they get all the banner ad revenue....we're suckers aren't we.
The joke is that RIGHT NOW it's the hyper-conservatives that are doing all the damage! ...the very same people fearing the "666" of the beast. It's all about lack of personal responsibility...typically a Democrat thing, that nobody should be able to take advantage of anybody else [loan fraud, abusive work contracts...]...so we need more technology [i.e. govt] to "protect" people. Coupled with the recent attacks and financial screw ups even the other side [Reps] wants more govt control...more acountability, paperwork, sigs...get the idea...protect those corps... now they want ID so they can sneak around and find out what you were doing when nobody was looking.
Asia has these issues even more than the US...and accept it even more redily. Both America and Southeast asia have very busy, highly complex societies...and even "playful disruption" is becomming a "terrorist" act. The problem is that govt has gotten too big...and make too many stupid laws nobody can follow. meaning that the General Pouplation tolerates a certian amount of "lawlessness" because they've lost control of the govt [not enough people vote to matter]...it doesn't represent the people's interests anymore! Now the govt is interested in enforcing the law as "cheaply and effecently" as possible...it's not about right or wrong anymore, just "acceptable losses" [sounds like war, hun?] to look like they're doing their job. The govt is a company now...justice meeted out like fries a McD's. [with less personal accountability]
In all these cases, it makes more and more sense to normal people [most /.er are not normal people] to simply "make it so you can't" break the laws...or be wrongly accused... So we have to build a bigger, better "mouse trap". Look at all the hacks to the current round of technology...many normal people just want stuff to be easy and simple. even innocent hacking is "terrorist" to most people...you'd be suprised how many "normal" people think "internet programming" == "bank cracking" ...it's way more than you would think!
so in the end, for security and liberty, people will throw all their trust, and personal responsiblity, into the next big electronic system that the govt pushes. The govt has the ability to use guns to enforce it, so it will be MADE to work...get the idea. Who controls the govt...well, it's an irresponsible "beast" already isn't it? And there you have it. The only glimmer of sunshine right now is that the events are described after rapture...all those pesky "christian zelots" won't be here to bother you anymore...and it will be great...for about 3.5 years. People forget THAT fact when they read those prophesies...everything that happens in Revelation is the apogee of human ingunity and "wisdom" ...Without silly "religous" pressures. Until the whole thing goes to ....
nothing to see here...move along
Surely they were "electronicly" transfering funds long before 1994?
Like you asked...is there a number for how many people are STILL out of work, but used up all their unemployment and gave up?
For the /. crowd this should be a GOOD THING! Just like with pushing Linux, the new push is going to be how well do we USE our systems to get business done. In my shop the management still doesn't get it. Part of IT [the most forgotten part] is knowlage management...allowing workers to handle more tasks, and go home on time...Therein lies the real problem right now. The easy problems have been solved. Now we're at the stage in the game where it's the nitty-gritty business that needs looked at. The successful programmers are going to be working IN businesses rather than at a software company. Your also going to need to be good at business, engineering, accounting, etc. to be able to spin time-saving apps quickly...and set up systems that improve the REAL business..reduce defects, improve ordering time...rather than just making the computers "prettier". It's a world where OSS should do quite nicely...as programmers move to being "freelance" rather than working for "megacorp".