The government didn't decide that *it* owned the airwaves, it decided that the people do and that the government should be the steward of the airwaves. Hence the Communications Act of '34 (I'm pretty sure it was '34). The Federal Communications Commission exists (at least in theory) to control access to those airwaves pretty much the same way the Parks Service exists to control access to Public Parks, so that a finite resource can be fairly shared. Electromagnetic spectrum is like land, they ain't makin' any more. Broadcasters and others (like cell phone companies) are given licenses to "operate in the public interest" at particular frequencies, within certain power levels, using a particular type of signal (Amplitude Modulation, Frequency Modulation, and some variations of those) for a particular purpose (radio, television, microwave links, amateur radio, and the list goes on and on). Until recently access to a particular slice of spectrum depended upon holding one or more of these licenses. Now, of course, the idiots currently in charge have been auctioning off some of this irreplacable spectrum, leading to the possibility of a company that can't qualify for a license still making money by leasing that bit of spectrum to someone who can get a license. In my strongly held opinion the government should have done the leasing themselves, but that's a rant for another time. Letting the government be the public's steward helps prevent one type of service from being disrupted by another. Would you want to be trying to reach the Coast Guard in an emergency only to have some record company owned radio station flooding any and all frequencies with whatever it was trying to sell this week? The FCC is there to prevent that. Before it was established the prevailing sentiment in many corners of government was to have it all under control of the military, so things aren't nearly as bad as they could be.
"DJ talking over you favorite songs, who the hell wants a "perfect" copy of that? The DJ, so she/he can put together an "aircheck" to send to bigger, better paying radio stations.
Next chip would have had to be either Hexium or Sexium. Filtering software would have blocked hex or sex. No one would have even been able to get to their web site to read about it. PR nightmare waiting to happen.
While I have little doubt that people are fundamentally the same as they were 200 years ago, society isn't and small arms certainly aren't. Imagine Columbine if they'd only had single shot flintlocks.
The best protest for the WAVE program would be to show up well-dressed and say "I'm a well paid, tax-paying computer professional who would no doubt have been victimized by this program when I was younger, possibly preventing me from getting to my current position as valuable member of society.".
Yes this is very frightening and almost a certainty to be abused, misused, and run the risk of doing more harm than good, and Katz has done a good thing by bringing to our attention. I'm sure I would have landed on such a list in my younger days. Rumor has it that the powers that be at a local military installation had me on a list of suspected drug users/dealers, apparently as the result of being seen at the base "teen club" on a night when I was yawning a bit from lack of sleep. Yeah, that's all it took.
Yes, North Carolina Governor Jim Hunt, who is in his final term, is being talked about as Secretary of Education in an Al Gore administration.
Yes, Pinkerton's is in this for the money.
However, The Nazi's were out to eliminate those who were a threat to them, not to the population in general as they tried to make them appear to be.
I'm in North Carolina, in an area where a couple of teenagers were arrested just the other day on charges that they were planning to kill the employees of a local gun shop and then use the weapons they would steal to kill the usual assortment of teachers, classmates, etc.
Just because these sorts of things are rare doesn't mean that they aren't becoming more common rather than less so. People are scared and they seem to have increasing reason to be.
Anybody who knows a better way to deal with thye problem feel free to share it.
I didn't call it a troll and if I really thought that it was I would probably have just ignored it. Didn't call you an MS lackey, either, just pointed out the (I assume unintentional) similarity of viewpoint. There are a lot who post here whose ethics get very situational with regard to big companies (esp. software, music, movies, etc.)
"Sotheby's couldn't auction a stolen 1957 Jaguar, or a counterfeit Picasso as a real Picasso" As long as they get away with it, that is as long as nobody detects the Jag as stolen or the Picasso as a fake, why can't they? Illegal doesn't mean impossible and unethical doesn't mean un-do-able. Especially if there's money to be made.
Can/does a photon even exist if it isn't moving? Aren't they basically just radio waves fairly high in frequency/short in wavelength? Isn't a non-moving wave a non-event with non-properties?
How can you be the enemy of what you don't believe in? How many of you are enemies of Earth's other moon? (the delusional among you are excused from this discussion)
Actually Davies wrote a book in the 80's about Quantum Mechanics called "Other Worlds". I certainly don't claim to have understood all of it but it seems like a pretty good introduction to the topic for the lay person.
"I'd like to see the moderator to whom this piece of data was "informative"." I gave a moment's thought to what kind of person that might be and concluded that, no, you really *don't* want to see them.
Perhaps whoever moderated down the above as overrated could post here and tell me what is on the Greenglow website as at the time it was unavailable and even now returns only this
Not Found
The requested URL / was not found on this server.
Apache/1.3.9 Server at www.greenglow.co.uk Port 80
Perhaps a joke about "them" blocking access to information about esoteric technology was a bit obvious, but with the site unavailable, I don't think it was totally uncalled for.
Like perhaps the Sony PS2 DVD to VHS story that I submitted several days ago that's just now showing up on Slashdot? And I assume that others who submit stuff a lot more than I do provide plenty of up to date material from The Register and a lot of other sources, but lately it seems not to be showing up on Slashdot until near the end of it's shelf life. It's not like this place is still a part-time hobby site being run out of someone's dorm room.
I was confusing the Slashdot story with the one that just aged off of The Register. The convert RGB to NTSC part is still accurate and not that difficult.
Slashdot Mirror
And of course we all know that Ticketmasters of the Universe need all that ad revenue 'cause they don't really make any money off of ticket sales. : )
The government didn't decide that *it* owned the airwaves, it decided that the people do and that the government should be the steward of the airwaves. Hence the Communications Act of '34 (I'm pretty sure it was '34).
The Federal Communications Commission exists (at least in theory) to control access to those airwaves pretty much the same way the Parks Service exists to control access to Public Parks, so that a finite resource can be fairly shared. Electromagnetic spectrum is like land, they ain't makin' any more.
Broadcasters and others (like cell phone companies) are given licenses to "operate in the public interest" at particular frequencies, within certain power levels, using a particular type of signal (Amplitude Modulation, Frequency Modulation, and some variations of those) for a particular purpose (radio, television, microwave links, amateur radio, and the list goes on and on).
Until recently access to a particular slice of spectrum depended upon holding one or more of these licenses.
Now, of course, the idiots currently in charge have been auctioning off some of this irreplacable spectrum, leading to the possibility of a company that can't qualify for a license still making money by leasing that bit of spectrum to someone who can get a license.
In my strongly held opinion the government should have done the leasing themselves, but that's a rant for another time.
Letting the government be the public's steward helps prevent one type of service from being disrupted by another. Would you want to be trying to reach the Coast Guard in an emergency only to have some record company owned radio station flooding any and all frequencies with whatever it was trying to sell this week? The FCC is there to prevent that. Before it was established the prevailing sentiment in many corners of government was to have it all under control of the military, so things aren't nearly as bad as they could be.
"DJ talking over you favorite songs, who the hell wants a "perfect" copy of that?
The DJ, so she/he can put together an "aircheck" to send to bigger, better paying radio stations.
see subject
I know FC-PGA is flip chip-pin grid array, but what's a flip chip?
Next chip would have had to be either Hexium or Sexium. Filtering software would have blocked hex or sex. No one would have even been able to get to their web site to read about it. PR nightmare waiting to happen.
While I have little doubt that people are fundamentally the same as they were 200 years ago, society isn't and small arms certainly aren't. Imagine Columbine if they'd only had single shot flintlocks.
The best protest for the WAVE program would be to show up well-dressed and say "I'm a well paid, tax-paying computer professional who would no doubt have been victimized by this program when I was younger, possibly preventing me from getting to my current position as valuable member of society.".
Yes, North Carolina Governor Jim Hunt, who is in his final term, is being talked about as Secretary of Education in an Al Gore administration.
Yes, Pinkerton's is in this for the money.
However, The Nazi's were out to eliminate those who were a threat to them, not to the population in general as they tried to make them appear to be.
I'm in North Carolina, in an area where a couple of teenagers were arrested just the other day on charges that they were planning to kill the employees of a local gun shop and then use the weapons they would steal to kill the usual assortment of teachers, classmates, etc.
Just because these sorts of things are rare doesn't mean that they aren't becoming more common rather than less so. People are scared and they seem to have increasing reason to be.
Anybody who knows a better way to deal with thye problem feel free to share it.
I didn't call it a troll and if I really thought that it was I would probably have just ignored it. Didn't call you an MS lackey, either, just pointed out the (I assume unintentional) similarity of viewpoint. There are a lot who post here whose ethics get very situational with regard to big companies (esp. software, music, movies, etc.)
"Sotheby's couldn't auction a stolen 1957 Jaguar, or a counterfeit Picasso as a real Picasso"
As long as they get away with it, that is as long as nobody detects the Jag as stolen or the Picasso as a fake, why can't they? Illegal doesn't mean impossible and unethical doesn't mean un-do-able. Especially if there's money to be made.
"You should always side with the company that is allegedly doing the ripping off,..."
Looks like there's always somebody on duty in Redmond : )
Can/does a photon even exist if it isn't moving? Aren't they basically just radio waves fairly high in frequency/short in wavelength? Isn't a non-moving wave a non-event with non-properties?
I note from your formula that the gentleman's science reduces to BS. : )
How can you be the enemy of what you don't believe in? How many of you are enemies of Earth's other moon? (the delusional among you are excused from this discussion)
One should choose a landlord as carefully as one wishes one had chosen a spouse.
Actually Davies wrote a book in the 80's about Quantum Mechanics called "Other Worlds". I certainly don't claim to have understood all of it but it seems like a pretty good introduction to the topic for the lay person.
"I'd like to see the moderator to whom this piece of data was "informative"."
I gave a moment's thought to what kind of person that might be and concluded that, no, you really *don't* want to see them.
Not Found
The requested URL / was not found on this server.
Apache/1.3.9 Server at www.greenglow.co.uk Port 80
Perhaps a joke about "them" blocking access to information about esoteric technology was a bit obvious, but with the site unavailable, I don't think it was totally uncalled for.
Now I remember why browsing at +2 seemed like such a good idea.
Like perhaps the Sony PS2 DVD to VHS story that I submitted several days ago that's just now showing up on Slashdot? And I assume that others who submit stuff a lot more than I do provide plenty of up to date material from The Register and a lot of other sources, but lately it seems not to be showing up on Slashdot until near the end of it's shelf life. It's not like this place is still a part-time hobby site being run out of someone's dorm room.
Mattel is just steamed at geeks 'cause that other toy company is selling so much Lego stuff these days.
If Slashdot is going to keep running stories that were already on The Register, wouldn't it be better to do it before they're about to age off of it?
"Lots of people submitted the news" way back when it was still news.
I was confusing the Slashdot story with the one that just aged off of The Register. The convert RGB to NTSC part is still accurate and not that difficult.