I just want to say ME TOO, just in case anyone from Lucas Arts is reading this thread (hey, it might happen!), and because I don't have any mod points.
If an MMO could recreate something like the battle of Yavin or Endor - with hundreds (thousands) of starfighters, all with human pilots, I would sell my soul to play.
Unfortunately I don't know if we are there yet technologically. Lets face it, hardly any other MOVIES have been able to approach those levels, let alone a networked simulation with pathing for all those fighters.
In many trades, 7-3 is the standard working hours year round.
I loved it during my stint as a builders laborer. The best bit is most pubs have skimpy barmaids between 3-5 for the tradies, while professional 9-5 white collars workers missed out!.
Whats wrong with simply using Interpol to fight cyber crime? As I understand it Interpol is mostly a co-ordination and information sharing organization used by local police forces to tackle crimes that exceed national boarders. Isn't that exactly what is needed?
Come to think of it, Interpol IS used to target these kinds of crime if all governments involved thinks it is evil. Online child porn for example - and from what we hear on the news, this is kind of successful, with arrests and convictions internationally, so whats the problem?
Perhaps the intention is to target "crimes" in a country where it isn't a crime, and the local government is not very sympathetic. An "international organization empowered to target and root out cybercrime" could well shut down Pirate Bay for example.
I completely agree with your sentiment that there are much more serious problems facing the world today than Scientology. But around the world there are activist movements targeting most if not all of the greater evils you identified. Not to be too pointed, but how many of them are you involved with?
I mean if on a given day there were two protests going on at the same time - say Anonymous or an anti-war rally, then I would understand skipping the Annon protest, but how often does that happen?
I know I would rather spend my free time trying to make a difference to SOMETHING, if only because I hate the feeling that I might be part of a system that I can't change. When a protest for something more evil comes along, I'll attend that one too.
Of course the main reason that most btards are involved is because simply because it is FUN, not out of a real sense of moral outrage, but don't let that stop you joining the party.
I love the idea of electric taxis! Most taxis are only used to ferry one or two passengers, so there is no need for the huge six cylinder sedans currently in use.
I have noticed more Prius taxis getting about, and can't help thinking this is something governments should be encouraging. A lot of taxis run basically 24hrs a day, so a full electric would be impractical until super-capacitors are a reality, but hybrids are a great fit for the purpose.
Hey! You are wrong. I live in suburbia and I would buy one!
I would, totally!
DID YOU pre-order one?
Well no, I can't afford one, this is practically a supercar, and it has a price tag to match. This does not mean there is no market for an AFFORDABLE electric car, I would have bought an EV1, but they were only leased to celebrities and then scrapped at the end of the lease. I WILL pre-order a Aptera as soon as they start taking orders outside of California.
Tesla motors is going belly-up due to a lack of a market for their car.
Yes... perhaps... I'm sure it isn't quite that simple.
JUST like every other major attempt at an all-electric. This will continue to happen until all-electric cars can match or exceed the complete package of a gasoline car.
No, other factors besides the market have been in play, it is only recently that manufacturers have stopped actively fighting electric cars.
This will continue to happen until all-electric cars can match or exceed the complete package of a gasoline car. That includes, top speed, total range, available power and torque, the range of conditions it can reliably function in, SPEED AND EASE of refueling, TCO, and initial investment cost.
These may be the things stopping YOU from buying an EV, but I can assure you that you do not speak for everybody.
When I was just mucking around with linux for fun it was cool to have an environment like you describe, I used fluxbox, and it was hand built to behave exactly the way I liked it.
I grew out of it though, now days I use Gnome (even though I actually prefer KDE) because it is standard in corporate environments, and it's just wasted effort to go through weeks of tweaking to get a config you are happy with, especially since your work flow patterns become incompatible with every machine except your own.
I have studied history, and I know that disarming the population is dictatorship 101. However it does not follow that keeping weapons would have helped anyone.
History is lacking in cases of popular uprisings that have had anything like their intended consequences. Most just end in massive casualties. Typically the best you can hope for is civil war, while some of the most violent and oppressive regimes rose to power after armed revolution.
I know that Americans are taught that they need to have weapons in order to keep the government in check, but how realistic do you really believe that kind of scenario is? George Bush is generally considered one of the worst presidents of all time, but I've never heard any American seriously suggest overthrowing his administration, the cure would be worse than the disease
If anything, the last 300 years of history has shown us that guns in the hands of the general population are most often used used to kill other members of population, if they are used at all.
"they came first for the Communists, And I did not speak up for I was not a Communist,
then they came for the trade unionists, And I did not speak up for I was not a trade unionist,
then they came for the Jews, And I did not speak up for I was not a Jew,
then... then they came for me... And by that time there was no one left to speak for me"
Once this technology is in place, what guarantees are there that it won't be used on other "questionable" material?
What? Australia wouldn't have this problem if there was easier access to firearms? If we all had guns we could just assassinate members of the government whenever we did not like policy? Yeah, that would work!
Windows boots nice and quick on a fresh install, but once malware starts to take hold booting can take longer and longer.
I have reinstalled Windows for people who's computer took 30 minutes to boot. One guy's machine would never boot at all- just sat there at the loading screen for an infinite amount of time.
Its debatable if this is Microsoft's fault or the fault of the user, but it certainly happens.
I never know if people are talking about "Ring" the original Japanese version (freaking scary) or the American remake "The Ring" (redundant and stupid). Check out the Japanese version for insane chill factor.
Unless you work for a game company whose revenues are down, copies pirated on the main torrent sites are way up, and is a publicly traded company so may legally be required to lay off employees to shore up their balance sheet...
There will always be a baseline level of copyright infringers (I hate to use the term "pirate"). but if the number of people sharing a particular title is "way up" above the average (Spore) you have to ask what is so special about that title - could it be the cruel and unusual limitations placed upon it?
If the publishers were being honest, they would admit that this kind of DRM has nothing to do with stopping sharing, and everything to do with controlling customers.
Customers are just getting wise to the scam... in the case of Spore-type DRM I really believe that the publishers create "pirates" out of totally honest customers that just want a fair deal.
After using Blackboard for 3 years, I can say that you, Sir, are either making a joke in very poor taste, or you forgot to disclose your personal stake in the fortunes of this "proprietary system"
One-off customs (kit-cars, hot-rods, powerplant conversions etc) are exempt from this rule in Australia. It only applys to production cars to be sold through dealerships.
The reason you hear this again and again is because comercial importers of exotic cars hate it - you don't want to be the first person in the country to try to import a Bugatti Veron for example, that would be _really_ expensive.
Well, yes - it would be nice if this were the case. Unfortunately I don't believe that the terms "Open Source" or "Free Software" can be protected in any legal sense - for the same reason MS can't stop the word "Windows" (or "Word" for that matter) from being used by other entities.
These are common terms, and could mean any number of different things in different contexts. MS could argue that IE is "free software" for example - its not like they charge anyone for it.
My kids are seven and nine, try to read all that I write if you wanna bitch at me please.
Bitching? I said I was only picking a nit!
I really didn't mean to suggest your parenting style is invalid or anything, you obviously take the job very seriously.
What confuses me is why you think this about you and your children (7 & 9) in the first place. The original post was a flippant quip about the relationship between the young driver in the article and his parents, which you followed up with a personally defensive, off-topic, and hard-line attitude.
I felt your post had over-emphasized the rights of a parent to monitor and control, and attempted to offset the discussion somewhat by bringing up the counter point. Of course I realize (and I am sure you know) that real parenting lies somewhere in the middle, it's all a question of balance.
You seem to have been offended by this as well, though I have no idea why - I never implied that you personally have no idea what you are doing. Whatever. If I DO give you one piece of parenting advice, it would be simply this - Relax
I hate to nitpick - you seem to come from a well meaning place - but where do you draw the line?
Sure, you say that when your offspring turn 18 you'd remove the lojock, but whats to say that they will be ready by then? Conversely, maybe they are ready for autonomy before then?
In much the same way as a judge should refuse to try a case in which he knows the defendant - love is the REASON that you should avow yourself of so much control over your children, not an EXCUSE to micro-manage their lives.
Your pots on the stove allusion is a bit of a straw-man argument at best - after all the kid is old enough to drive.
The fact is, any human trying to protect any other human from all harm "fails".
The responsibility of a parent is simply to try to help them develop into happy adults, this is not done by preventing them from making mistakes.
What's the expiration date of Microsoft's parole? How about the day they cease to be a monopoly.
They have no right to freedom from interference until they stop interfering with the market.
I think that the free/open software communities opened the door for MS on this one a little.
We tried to frame the debate by using the words "free" or "open" as labels (just as you say) instead of discussing what the software actually lets you do, and hoped that OUR meaning of these admittedly vague words caught on. This is a common tactic in debate.
Unfortunately, it made it too easy for MS to use these words in their products and dilute the message. I'm surprised it took them so long.
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Dude!
I just want to say ME TOO, just in case anyone from Lucas Arts is reading this thread (hey, it might happen!), and because I don't have any mod points.
If an MMO could recreate something like the battle of Yavin or Endor - with hundreds (thousands) of starfighters, all with human pilots, I would sell my soul to play.
Unfortunately I don't know if we are there yet technologically. Lets face it, hardly any other MOVIES have been able to approach those levels, let alone a networked simulation with pathing for all those fighters.
In many trades, 7-3 is the standard working hours year round.
I loved it during my stint as a builders laborer. The best bit is most pubs have skimpy barmaids between 3-5 for the tradies, while professional 9-5 white collars workers missed out!.
Whats wrong with simply using Interpol to fight cyber crime? As I understand it Interpol is mostly a co-ordination and information sharing organization used by local police forces to tackle crimes that exceed national boarders. Isn't that exactly what is needed?
Come to think of it, Interpol IS used to target these kinds of crime if all governments involved thinks it is evil. Online child porn for example - and from what we hear on the news, this is kind of successful, with arrests and convictions internationally, so whats the problem?
Perhaps the intention is to target "crimes" in a country where it isn't a crime, and the local government is not very sympathetic. An "international organization empowered to target and root out cybercrime" could well shut down Pirate Bay for example.
Here
I completely agree with your sentiment that there are much more serious problems facing the world today than Scientology. But around the world there are activist movements targeting most if not all of the greater evils you identified. Not to be too pointed, but how many of them are you involved with?
I mean if on a given day there were two protests going on at the same time - say Anonymous or an anti-war rally, then I would understand skipping the Annon protest, but how often does that happen?
I know I would rather spend my free time trying to make a difference to SOMETHING, if only because I hate the feeling that I might be part of a system that I can't change. When a protest for something more evil comes along, I'll attend that one too.
Of course the main reason that most btards are involved is because simply because it is FUN, not out of a real sense of moral outrage, but don't let that stop you joining the party.
I love the idea of electric taxis! Most taxis are only used to ferry one or two passengers, so there is no need for the huge six cylinder sedans currently in use.
I have noticed more Prius taxis getting about, and can't help thinking this is something governments should be encouraging. A lot of taxis run basically 24hrs a day, so a full electric would be impractical until super-capacitors are a reality, but hybrids are a great fit for the purpose.
Hey! You are wrong. I live in suburbia and I would buy one!
I would, totally!
DID YOU pre-order one?
Well no, I can't afford one, this is practically a supercar, and it has a price tag to match. This does not mean there is no market for an AFFORDABLE electric car, I would have bought an EV1, but they were only leased to celebrities and then scrapped at the end of the lease. I WILL pre-order a Aptera as soon as they start taking orders outside of California.
Tesla motors is going belly-up due to a lack of a market for their car.
Yes... perhaps... I'm sure it isn't quite that simple.
JUST like every other major attempt at an all-electric. This will continue to happen until all-electric cars can match or exceed the complete package of a gasoline car.
No, other factors besides the market have been in play, it is only recently that manufacturers have stopped actively fighting electric cars.
This will continue to happen until all-electric cars can match or exceed the complete package of a gasoline car. That includes, top speed, total range, available power and torque, the range of conditions it can reliably function in, SPEED AND EASE of refueling, TCO, and initial investment cost.
These may be the things stopping YOU from buying an EV, but I can assure you that you do not speak for everybody.
Was that the same as the Phantom expression "For those who came in late"?
When I was just mucking around with linux for fun it was cool to have an environment like you describe, I used fluxbox, and it was hand built to behave exactly the way I liked it.
I grew out of it though, now days I use Gnome (even though I actually prefer KDE) because it is standard in corporate environments, and it's just wasted effort to go through weeks of tweaking to get a config you are happy with, especially since your work flow patterns become incompatible with every machine except your own.
I have studied history, and I know that disarming the population is dictatorship 101. However it does not follow that keeping weapons would have helped anyone.
History is lacking in cases of popular uprisings that have had anything like their intended consequences. Most just end in massive casualties. Typically the best you can hope for is civil war, while some of the most violent and oppressive regimes rose to power after armed revolution.
I know that Americans are taught that they need to have weapons in order to keep the government in check, but how realistic do you really believe that kind of scenario is? George Bush is generally considered one of the worst presidents of all time, but I've never heard any American seriously suggest overthrowing his administration, the cure would be worse than the disease
If anything, the last 300 years of history has shown us that guns in the hands of the general population are most often used used to kill other members of population, if they are used at all.
"Those who don't understand UNIX are doomed to reinvent it... poorly"
Henry Spencer, 1987
You can call it groupthink or what ever, but sometimes there is a consensus simply because it is reality. Deal with it.
At the risk of invoking Godwin...
"they came first for the Communists, And I did not speak up for I was not a Communist,
then they came for the trade unionists, And I did not speak up for I was not a trade unionist,
then they came for the Jews, And I did not speak up for I was not a Jew,
then... then they came for me... And by that time there was no one left to speak for me"
Once this technology is in place, what guarantees are there that it won't be used on other "questionable" material?
What? Australia wouldn't have this problem if there was easier access to firearms? If we all had guns we could just assassinate members of the government whenever we did not like policy? Yeah, that would work!
I've met lots of these people.
Windows boots nice and quick on a fresh install, but once malware starts to take hold booting can take longer and longer.
I have reinstalled Windows for people who's computer took 30 minutes to boot. One guy's machine would never boot at all- just sat there at the loading screen for an infinite amount of time.
Its debatable if this is Microsoft's fault or the fault of the user, but it certainly happens.
I never know if people are talking about "Ring" the original Japanese version (freaking scary) or the American remake "The Ring" (redundant and stupid). Check out the Japanese version for insane chill factor.
Unless you work for a game company whose revenues are down, copies pirated on the main torrent sites are way up, and is a publicly traded company so may legally be required to lay off employees to shore up their balance sheet...
There will always be a baseline level of copyright infringers (I hate to use the term "pirate"). but if the number of people sharing a particular title is "way up" above the average (Spore) you have to ask what is so special about that title - could it be the cruel and unusual limitations placed upon it?
If the publishers were being honest, they would admit that this kind of DRM has nothing to do with stopping sharing, and everything to do with controlling customers.
Customers are just getting wise to the scam... in the case of Spore-type DRM I really believe that the publishers create "pirates" out of totally honest customers that just want a fair deal.
I know exactly what you mean, I bought a copy of Bioshock, and have regretted it ever since.
I guess I learnt my lesson though, EA didn't get any money from me for Spore, and won't get anything from me for Red Alert 3 either.
Certainly, Microsoft isn't doing them selves any favors, not until windows 7 is released with actual improvements.
"The next Windows will actually be quite good - we promise" Ha! Microsoft has been saying this since 1985.
Do you REALLY believe the next version will be Windows Done Right?
After using Blackboard for 3 years, I can say that you, Sir, are either making a joke in very poor taste, or you forgot to disclose your personal stake in the fortunes of this "proprietary system"
One-off customs (kit-cars, hot-rods, powerplant conversions etc) are exempt from this rule in Australia. It only applys to production cars to be sold through dealerships.
The reason you hear this again and again is because comercial importers of exotic cars hate it - you don't want to be the first person in the country to try to import a Bugatti Veron for example, that would be _really_ expensive.
Well, yes - it would be nice if this were the case. Unfortunately I don't believe that the terms "Open Source" or "Free Software" can be protected in any legal sense - for the same reason MS can't stop the word "Windows" (or "Word" for that matter) from being used by other entities.
These are common terms, and could mean any number of different things in different contexts. MS could argue that IE is "free software" for example - its not like they charge anyone for it.
My kids are seven and nine, try to read all that I write if you wanna bitch at me please.
Bitching? I said I was only picking a nit!
I really didn't mean to suggest your parenting style is invalid or anything, you obviously take the job very seriously.
What confuses me is why you think this about you and your children (7 & 9) in the first place. The original post was a flippant quip about the relationship between the young driver in the article and his parents, which you followed up with a personally defensive, off-topic, and hard-line attitude.
I felt your post had over-emphasized the rights of a parent to monitor and control, and attempted to offset the discussion somewhat by bringing up the counter point. Of course I realize (and I am sure you know) that real parenting lies somewhere in the middle, it's all a question of balance.
You seem to have been offended by this as well, though I have no idea why - I never implied that you personally have no idea what you are doing. Whatever. If I DO give you one piece of parenting advice, it would be simply this - Relax
I hate to nitpick - you seem to come from a well meaning place - but where do you draw the line?
Sure, you say that when your offspring turn 18 you'd remove the lojock, but whats to say that they will be ready by then? Conversely, maybe they are ready for autonomy before then?
In much the same way as a judge should refuse to try a case in which he knows the defendant - love is the REASON that you should avow yourself of so much control over your children, not an EXCUSE to micro-manage their lives.
Your pots on the stove allusion is a bit of a straw-man argument at best - after all the kid is old enough to drive.
The fact is, any human trying to protect any other human from all harm "fails".
The responsibility of a parent is simply to try to help them develop into happy adults, this is not done by preventing them from making mistakes.
They have no right to freedom from interference until they stop interfering with the market.
I think that the free/open software communities opened the door for MS on this one a little.
We tried to frame the debate by using the words "free" or "open" as labels (just as you say) instead of discussing what the software actually lets you do, and hoped that OUR meaning of these admittedly vague words caught on. This is a common tactic in debate.
Unfortunately, it made it too easy for MS to use these words in their products and dilute the message. I'm surprised it took them so long.