The fact of the matter is, people are going to download, because it's cheap and convenient.
Yup. It's a better product at a better price. Free, unencumbered by DRM, no rootkit, etc.
I'd like to add to your list of record label options:
5) Offer a better product at a better price.
Some ideas off the top of my head that could make it worthwhile to buy a copy; include coupons and/or chances to win concert tix, free artist merchandise, a chance to meet the artist, discounts on back-catalog items, discounted cross selling in the same genre, many ways to make people WANT to buy instead. All of this can be done both online and for B&M jewel case purchases.
But, then again, I guess the whole point of the bought and paid for laws you refer to is to eliminate the need to complete on price or quality.
Extend the space elevators to slow things down a little bit and retract them to speed the rotation up again in response to the irregular pattern... like a figure skater extending her arms and pulling them in again.
You see? Simple. Now, all we need are the space elevators.
by discovering the previously-unpredicted particles that his paper predicts, especially of the properties of the new particles match the predictions, then there is no doubt whatsoever that he'll win the Nobel Prize in Physics.
Now re-read that with the voice of "Sylvester the Cat".
With everything being manufactured in China, out of our hands and control
This is only true because we don't demand higher quality. Our current Wal-Mart culture of lowest-bidder-always-wins is the reason things are beyond our control and "out of our hands".
IF I have the option of paying more for something made of higher quality and made by a company that doesn't take advantage of lax "labor laws" or "environmental laws", I will gladly pay more for that "something".
Similar to national elections, it only appears we don't have a real choice and it is out of our hands and beyond our control. We just need to collectively make it known that we demand choice/quality/accountability/leadership/whatever. But, I'm afraid you and I are outnembered.
You're absolutely right. We (USA) don't manufacture anything anymore and have become an increasingly "service-based" workforce/economy and are reliant upon intellectual property laws to sustain that.
BTW - there is no such thing as intellectual "property". We are screwed.
Well, if it was fabricated, then the entire world and UN must have been fooled by(sic) that hoax.
Wilson was "in" on the hoax and for his honest and decent service to his country, his wife, Valerie Plame was "outed" by the Bush administration as a warning to others that they'd had better toe the line and go along with the cherry picked "intelligence".
Please provide evidence of this
Hours after the UN endorsed Resolution 1483 (creation of the Development Fund for Iraq), Bush signed Executive Order 13303: in part. "..any attachment, judgment, decree, lien, execution, garnishment, or other judicial process is prohibited, and shall be deemed null and void", with respect to the Development Fund for Iraq and "all Iraqi petroleum and petroleum products, and interests therein."
This executive order means if ExxonMobil or ChevronTexaco, for example, touch Iraqi oil, anything they do with it is immune from prosecution in the US.
The fund is used by the by U.S. Export-Import Bank to back the financing of projects typically awarded to Bechtel and Halliburton
subcontractors.
In other words, it is a slush fund for well-connected US corporations.
This adminstration has bankrupted the country while enriching favored insiders.
That's what happened in Gaza. The radicals won, and instituted their own pirate state, complete with oppressive laws and gangs of looting thugs. Same thing happened in Somalia and some African Islamic nations, too
So, why aren't we occupying those regions too? All of these are breeding grounds for OBL camps, right? Drain the swamp? No, nothing to pillage there. No enough ROI in monetary terms, security of the nation be damned.
Iraq is considered a quagmire by many, but perpetual warfare is exactly what this crooked administration wanted. We can't leave, ever, and this is exactly what the Bush administration intended. Pure evil.
I hope your post is sarcastic, but I don't see a tag. I can only assume your rebuttal is genuine.
we would not have invaded
The intelligence was fabricated. Google "Hans Blix" for more info about Saddam's weapons program and degree of compliance with UN inspectors.
He was given ample opportunity to prove to us he didn't have them
You can't prove a negative.
Who do you think is causing all this shit in Iraq?
Put the shoe on the other foot. If a foreign army was rolling up and down your block in their urban assault vehicles, going door to door shaking down you and your neighbors, what would you do? Sit there and take it? I'd cause as much trouble for that occupying force as humanly posible. So would you. So would any of us. We are creating "nutjobs" with our presence, not "dealing" with them.
it was an exercise in pre-emptive defense to invade Iraq
No, it wasn't. It was the greatest robbery in history. Stealing public money and giving it to well-connected corporate insiders. It was securing cheap oil to be sold to the American public at premium prices.
its to the benefit and safety of the people of the US to remain there
I'll say it again. We are creating "nutjobs" with our presence in Iraq. How can you not understand this? We won't stay there forever (I hope). And when we leave, there WILL be a revolt, or a civil war to tear down the puppet government we've tried to establish.
In my opinion, the only way to "win" in Iraq is to be overthrown by insurgent "nutjobs". Only then will they have the national pride to install a govenment of their own making. In other words, we are going to lose. We just need to decide how many lives will be lost before it's over.
And I would be very surprised if you were somehow immune to it. Everyone thinks they are, but it is rarely the case.
You couldn't be more right. Case in point:
It doesn't matter what I'm watching, sports, news, sitcom, or something on the "science channel".
If/when my children are in the room (6 y/o and 2 y/o) and the commercials come on, the kids stop whatever they were doing and fall into a trance watching the TV screen. They couldn't have cared less about the program that was on seconds ago. They turn into little zombies for the duration of the commercial break. When the ads are over the kids go back to whatever they were doing. It is spooky (they almost NEVER sit still), and a genuine concern of mine.
Now, this doesn't mean adults are as vulnerable as young children, but at some level it has got to affect us to some degree. I've become much more aware of my television viewing habits around the kids and avoid advertisements in particular. I'm doing more DVR watching to skip ads, or switching to non-stop music channel when watching live to avoid the brainwashing commercials.
It is brainwashing and they're after our children. Won't somebody THINK OF THE CHILDREN!?!?!?!
I felt the same way when a hamburger stand near Boston sold root beer made with sugar. I couldn't believe the difference in taste. I didn't know what I was missing! The hambuger stand has gone out of business, but I've since found "Jones Soda" at the local Stop and Shop. Much more expensive than Coke or Pepsi, but it's made with pure cane sugar and is worth every penny IMO. They don't offer a "cola" flavor yet (soon, but not yet). You can order yourself a 12-pack with custom labels here . They have limited edition halloween flavors in cans at Boston-area CVS. Wal-Mart will soon be distributing "regular" flavor 12 oz. cans.
Any soda drinkers out there, do yourself a favor and try something made with sugar instead of HFCS. The parent is right, you'll never switch back.
Ren: "Hey! What is this thing? Get it off of me!"
Stimpy: "It's the happy helmet, Ren. Now you'll always be happy! And this is the remote control. And I use this dial to control how happy you are!"
Ren: "You sick little monkey! Why I oughta-"
FZZOWWWNNTT!
Stimpy: "Hey, it works!"
FZZOWWWNNTT!
Ren: "No! Got to fight it! Can't lose control! Will strong.... body weak....."
FZZOWWWNNTT!
Ren: "HA HA HA HA HA HA HA, ha ha ha ha! Stimpy, I'm so - happy! I must - go - do nice - things! Hee hee he hee hee, ha ha ha hahaaaa!"
Ren: "So - happy - ironing... for STIMPY! Ha ha ha ha ha haaa!"
Ren: "I - must do - wonderful things - for my best - friend - Stimpy!!!"
Ren: "OH - JOY!!! HA HA HA HA HAHAAAAAA!!!" "See how I love to clean - filthy catboxes!"
Hello, boys and girls! This is your old pal Stinky Wizzleteats! This is a song about a whale!
FZZOWWWNNTT!
NO! This is a song about being happy! That's right! It's the happy happy joy joy song!
Happy Happy Joy Joy
repeat...
I don't think you're happy enough! That's right! I'll teach you to be happy! I'll teach your grandmother to suck eggs! Now, boys and girls, let's try it again!
Happy Happy Joy Joy
repeat...
If'n you ain't the granddaddy of all liars! And the little critters of nature, they don't know that they're ugly. That's very funny. A fly marrying a bumblebee... I'd told you I'd shoot, but you didn't believe me, why didn't you believe me???
Happy Happy Joy Joy
repeat...
repeat...
I understand what you're saying and I agree that, unfortunatly, this smear campaign tactic often works.
However, here in Massachusetts, Gov. Deval Patrick survived vicous attack ads by former Lt. Gov. Healey. She was running against Patrick and used Patrick's past history as a defense attourney to accuse him of defending rapists and murderers. Of cousre he did, it was his job. The way it was presented in her attack ads though, was disgusting and over the top (scary music, mug shots, etc). All the while candidate Patrick stood firm and didn't stoop to her level. Of course he was way ahead in the polls, so who knows what he would've done if he was behind.
Regardless, I think Healey's campaign backfired and I hope this is a trend. I hope more poeple become suspicous of those candidates that resort to mudslinging smear campaigns. I want a candidate to tell me what he/she stands for. Not what the other guys stands for.
Not holding my breath though.
That is a nice way of putting it, but from what I understand (IANAP), the expansion we see is an expansion of space itself, not matter "moving" along your orange peel. Instead, the observed effect is more like water drops at rest on the skin of your orange while your orange expands (inflates like a balloon). This gives us the impression that every drop of water is moving away from each other regradless of your frame of reference.
I've been thinking about playing a MMORPG and Eve-Online sounds very interesting, much more interresting to me than WoW. I've been to the site and have read the backstory and traits of the different "sub-species" of humans.
Two-part question for a MMORPG noob. Part 1. While I have extensive FPS and RTS gaming experience, MMORPGs are new to me. Will I get flamed to oblivion for not understanding the jargon from the get-go? Will I enjoy the MM aspect if I don't personally know anyone in RL that plays the game?
Part 2. I am very competitive. I love to complete and I don't mind losing a fair fight. I am a good sport, but I have no patience for cheaters. Some like to argue that whatever can be done is fair game. I disagree and firmly believe that games, all games and sports, are meant to be played by the rules. This is the essence of competition. Anything less undermines the integrity of the game and reduces it to a waste of time artificially stroking the ego of the cheater. What is being done to (A.) ensure developers don't take advantage of their position to cheat and (B.) ensure others are not able to load their own client-side hacks?
Counterpoint
Germs have potentially much greater reach than chemical or even nuclear weapons. If one is indiscriminate about their target and just wishes to create as much death and suffering as possible, send infected people to major airports around the world and have them sneeze and cough all over everything. The thing about bio-weapons is that germs can self-replicate and spread unlike the other, more localized types of WMDs.
I can relate.
I was tasked to upgrade a standalone NT4 system to clustered Windows 2000 boxes with shared SAN storage. They called it their "database server" and declared it mission critical.
Upon inspection, I found thousands of *.mdb files and reported back to the boss that this wasn't actually a database server, just a file share.
"Oh no, you're wrong" said the boss. "This is our most critical database server and we need to test everything before we trust this new-fangled electrified W2K cluster."
*_Sigh_* They spent hundreds and hundreds of man-hours testing every single front end logic path through every single *.mdb file. I couldn't get them to understand this was a simple file server upgrade.
I once knew a PHB at a large financial services company that brought in Microsoft consultants to re-write the GINA.
This was so a user could press a single key after system startup to present Windows logon credentials instead of the default CTRL+ALT+DEL.
In his yearly "state of the company" bulletin he proudly proclaimed that he tripled worker productivity. I know this sounds like Homer realizing he could press "Y" instead of "YES", but this really happened. Sad but true.
do we need to keep pointing fingers and accomplishing nothing?
We need to call out those responsible and punish them as a deterrent to others that might attempt something similar in the future when in a position of power. Those responsible for this mess should be charged with high crimes, arrested, tried before a jury and scentenced by a judge. We should at least be dignified enough to honor habeus corpus, but I digress...
Removing criminals from society should be concurrent with fixing the problems they create to whatever exent is possible/reasonable. By all means, lets point the finger.
Slashdot Mirror
The fact of the matter is, people are going to download, because it's cheap and convenient.
Yup. It's a better product at a better price. Free, unencumbered by DRM, no rootkit, etc.
I'd like to add to your list of record label options:
5) Offer a better product at a better price.
Some ideas off the top of my head that could make it worthwhile to buy a copy; include coupons and/or chances to win concert tix, free artist merchandise, a chance to meet the artist, discounts on back-catalog items, discounted cross selling in the same genre, many ways to make people WANT to buy instead. All of this can be done both online and for B&M jewel case purchases.
But, then again, I guess the whole point of the bought and paid for laws you refer to is to eliminate the need to complete on price or quality.
Extend the space elevators to slow things down a little bit and retract them to speed the rotation up again in response to the irregular pattern... like a figure skater extending her arms and pulling them in again. You see? Simple. Now, all we need are the space elevators.
by discovering the previously-unpredicted particles that his paper predicts, especially of the properties of the new particles match the predictions, then there is no doubt whatsoever that he'll win the Nobel Prize in Physics.
Now re-read that with the voice of "Sylvester the Cat".
With everything being manufactured in China, out of our hands and control
This is only true because we don't demand higher quality. Our current Wal-Mart culture of lowest-bidder-always-wins is the reason things are beyond our control and "out of our hands".
IF I have the option of paying more for something made of higher quality and made by a company that doesn't take advantage of lax "labor laws" or "environmental laws", I will gladly pay more for that "something".
Similar to national elections, it only appears we don't have a real choice and it is out of our hands and beyond our control. We just need to collectively make it known that we demand choice/quality/accountability/leadership/whatever. But, I'm afraid you and I are outnembered.
You're absolutely right. We (USA) don't manufacture anything anymore and have become an increasingly "service-based" workforce/economy and are reliant upon intellectual property laws to sustain that.
BTW - there is no such thing as intellectual "property". We are screwed.
Well, if it was fabricated, then the entire world and UN must have been fooled by(sic) that hoax.
Wilson was "in" on the hoax and for his honest and decent service to his country, his wife, Valerie Plame was "outed" by the Bush administration as a warning to others that they'd had better toe the line and go along with the cherry picked "intelligence".
Please provide evidence of this
Hours after the UN endorsed Resolution 1483 (creation of the Development Fund for Iraq), Bush signed Executive Order 13303: in part. "..any attachment, judgment, decree, lien, execution, garnishment, or other judicial process is prohibited, and shall be deemed null and void", with respect to the Development Fund for Iraq and "all Iraqi petroleum and petroleum products, and interests therein."
This executive order means if ExxonMobil or ChevronTexaco, for example, touch Iraqi oil, anything they do with it is immune from prosecution in the US.
The fund is used by the by U.S. Export-Import Bank to back the financing of projects typically awarded to Bechtel and Halliburton subcontractors.
In other words, it is a slush fund for well-connected US corporations.
This adminstration has bankrupted the country while enriching favored insiders.
That's what happened in Gaza. The radicals won, and instituted their own pirate state, complete with oppressive laws and gangs of looting thugs. Same thing happened in Somalia and some African Islamic nations, too
So, why aren't we occupying those regions too? All of these are breeding grounds for OBL camps, right? Drain the swamp? No, nothing to pillage there. No enough ROI in monetary terms, security of the nation be damned.
Iraq is considered a quagmire by many, but perpetual warfare is exactly what this crooked administration wanted. We can't leave, ever, and this is exactly what the Bush administration intended. Pure evil.
I hope your post is sarcastic, but I don't see a tag. I can only assume your rebuttal is genuine.
we would not have invaded
The intelligence was fabricated. Google "Hans Blix" for more info about Saddam's weapons program and degree of compliance with UN inspectors.
He was given ample opportunity to prove to us he didn't have them
You can't prove a negative.
Who do you think is causing all this shit in Iraq?
Put the shoe on the other foot. If a foreign army was rolling up and down your block in their urban assault vehicles, going door to door shaking down you and your neighbors, what would you do? Sit there and take it? I'd cause as much trouble for that occupying force as humanly posible. So would you. So would any of us. We are creating "nutjobs" with our presence, not "dealing" with them.
it was an exercise in pre-emptive defense to invade Iraq
No, it wasn't. It was the greatest robbery in history. Stealing public money and giving it to well-connected corporate insiders. It was securing cheap oil to be sold to the American public at premium prices.
its to the benefit and safety of the people of the US to remain there
I'll say it again. We are creating "nutjobs" with our presence in Iraq. How can you not understand this? We won't stay there forever (I hope). And when we leave, there WILL be a revolt, or a civil war to tear down the puppet government we've tried to establish.
In my opinion, the only way to "win" in Iraq is to be overthrown by insurgent "nutjobs". Only then will they have the national pride to install a govenment of their own making. In other words, we are going to lose. We just need to decide how many lives will be lost before it's over.
There, fixed that for you.
You couldn't be more right. Case in point:
It doesn't matter what I'm watching, sports, news, sitcom, or something on the "science channel". If/when my children are in the room (6 y/o and 2 y/o) and the commercials come on, the kids stop whatever they were doing and fall into a trance watching the TV screen. They couldn't have cared less about the program that was on seconds ago. They turn into little zombies for the duration of the commercial break. When the ads are over the kids go back to whatever they were doing. It is spooky (they almost NEVER sit still), and a genuine concern of mine.
Now, this doesn't mean adults are as vulnerable as young children, but at some level it has got to affect us to some degree. I've become much more aware of my television viewing habits around the kids and avoid advertisements in particular. I'm doing more DVR watching to skip ads, or switching to non-stop music channel when watching live to avoid the brainwashing commercials.
It is brainwashing and they're after our children. Won't somebody THINK OF THE CHILDREN!?!?!?!
Hold the Button is the best game EVER.
I felt the same way when a hamburger stand near Boston sold root beer made with sugar. I couldn't believe the difference in taste. I didn't know what I was missing! The hambuger stand has gone out of business, but I've since found "Jones Soda" at the local Stop and Shop. Much more expensive than Coke or Pepsi, but it's made with pure cane sugar and is worth every penny IMO. They don't offer a "cola" flavor yet (soon, but not yet). You can order yourself a 12-pack with custom labels here . They have limited edition halloween flavors in cans at Boston-area CVS. Wal-Mart will soon be distributing "regular" flavor 12 oz. cans.
Any soda drinkers out there, do yourself a favor and try something made with sugar instead of HFCS. The parent is right, you'll never switch back.
beamed right at us...
OMG! They're trying to COOK us!!!!!
That's OK. It takes eons for the signal to reach us.
Stimpy: "It's the happy helmet, Ren. Now you'll always be happy! And this is the remote control. And I use this dial to control how happy you are!"
Ren: "You sick little monkey! Why I oughta-"
FZZOWWWNNTT!
Stimpy: "Hey, it works!"
FZZOWWWNNTT!
Ren: "No! Got to fight it! Can't lose control! Will strong.... body weak....."
FZZOWWWNNTT!
Ren: "HA HA HA HA HA HA HA, ha ha ha ha! Stimpy, I'm so - happy! I must - go - do nice - things! Hee hee he hee hee, ha ha ha hahaaaa!"
Ren: "So - happy - ironing... for STIMPY! Ha ha ha ha ha haaa!"
Ren: "I - must do - wonderful things - for my best - friend - Stimpy!!!"
Ren: "OH - JOY!!! HA HA HA HA HAHAAAAAA!!!" "See how I love to clean - filthy catboxes!"
Hello, boys and girls! This is your old pal Stinky Wizzleteats! This is a song about a whale!
FZZOWWWNNTT!
NO! This is a song about being happy! That's right! It's the happy happy joy joy song!
Happy Happy Joy Joy
repeat...
I don't think you're happy enough! That's right! I'll teach you to be happy! I'll teach your grandmother to suck eggs! Now, boys and girls, let's try it again!
Happy Happy Joy Joy
repeat...
If'n you ain't the granddaddy of all liars! And the little critters of nature, they don't know that they're ugly. That's very funny. A fly marrying a bumblebee... I'd told you I'd shoot, but you didn't believe me, why didn't you believe me???
Happy Happy Joy Joy
repeat...
repeat...
I want one. *_grin_*
Pull out Wedge! You can't do anymore good back there.
This site already does that and for movies too. Just for play money of course. There is no bid/ask, so not precisely an exchange....
I understand what you're saying and I agree that, unfortunatly, this smear campaign tactic often works.
However, here in Massachusetts, Gov. Deval Patrick survived vicous attack ads by former Lt. Gov. Healey. She was running against Patrick and used Patrick's past history as a defense attourney to accuse him of defending rapists and murderers. Of cousre he did, it was his job. The way it was presented in her attack ads though, was disgusting and over the top (scary music, mug shots, etc). All the while candidate Patrick stood firm and didn't stoop to her level. Of course he was way ahead in the polls, so who knows what he would've done if he was behind.
Regardless, I think Healey's campaign backfired and I hope this is a trend. I hope more poeple become suspicous of those candidates that resort to mudslinging smear campaigns. I want a candidate to tell me what he/she stands for. Not what the other guys stands for.
Not holding my breath though.
That is a nice way of putting it, but from what I understand (IANAP), the expansion we see is an expansion of space itself, not matter "moving" along your orange peel. Instead, the observed effect is more like water drops at rest on the skin of your orange while your orange expands (inflates like a balloon). This gives us the impression that every drop of water is moving away from each other regradless of your frame of reference.
Not nearly as many MPG as I can get on my own sense of self-satisfaction.
I've been thinking about playing a MMORPG and Eve-Online sounds very interesting, much more interresting to me than WoW. I've been to the site and have read the backstory and traits of the different "sub-species" of humans.
Two-part question for a MMORPG noob.
Part 1. While I have extensive FPS and RTS gaming experience, MMORPGs are new to me. Will I get flamed to oblivion for not understanding the jargon from the get-go? Will I enjoy the MM aspect if I don't personally know anyone in RL that plays the game?
Part 2. I am very competitive. I love to complete and I don't mind losing a fair fight. I am a good sport, but I have no patience for cheaters. Some like to argue that whatever can be done is fair game. I disagree and firmly believe that games, all games and sports, are meant to be played by the rules. This is the essence of competition. Anything less undermines the integrity of the game and reduces it to a waste of time artificially stroking the ego of the cheater. What is being done to (A.) ensure developers don't take advantage of their position to cheat and (B.) ensure others are not able to load their own client-side hacks?
Counterpoint
Germs have potentially much greater reach than chemical or even nuclear weapons. If one is indiscriminate about their target and just wishes to create as much death and suffering as possible, send infected people to major airports around the world and have them sneeze and cough all over everything. The thing about bio-weapons is that germs can self-replicate and spread unlike the other, more localized types of WMDs.
I can relate.
I was tasked to upgrade a standalone NT4 system to clustered Windows 2000 boxes with shared SAN storage. They called it their "database server" and declared it mission critical. Upon inspection, I found thousands of *.mdb files and reported back to the boss that this wasn't actually a database server, just a file share.
"Oh no, you're wrong" said the boss. "This is our most critical database server and we need to test everything before we trust this new-fangled electrified W2K cluster."
*_Sigh_* They spent hundreds and hundreds of man-hours testing every single front end logic path through every single *.mdb file. I couldn't get them to understand this was a simple file server upgrade.
I once knew a PHB at a large financial services company that brought in Microsoft consultants to re-write the GINA.
This was so a user could press a single key after system startup to present Windows logon credentials instead of the default CTRL+ALT+DEL.
In his yearly "state of the company" bulletin he proudly proclaimed that he tripled worker productivity. I know this sounds like Homer realizing he could press "Y" instead of "YES", but this really happened. Sad but true.
That was listed as a "concept" movie on HSX for years. It never went to development and was eventually delisted at H$0.00 about a year ago.
i imagine it'd be all sorts of variations of "what's that?", "it might be a tribble", and "it's like a wookie, but smaller" It's a trap!
do we need to keep pointing fingers and accomplishing nothing?
We need to call out those responsible and punish them as a deterrent to others that might attempt something similar in the future when in a position of power. Those responsible for this mess should be charged with high crimes, arrested, tried before a jury and scentenced by a judge. We should at least be dignified enough to honor habeus corpus, but I digress...
Removing criminals from society should be concurrent with fixing the problems they create to whatever exent is possible/reasonable. By all means, lets point the finger.