"...probably the most insightfull thing I've ever read in a government publication."
When did the Center for Economic and Policy Research become a branch of the government?
Answer: It's not. It looks like a blue-sky, privately funded, 6-year old non-profit. In fact, from their site, "It is an independent nonpartisan think tank based in Washington, DC. CEPR functions as an economic "truth squad," conducting professional research and getting it out to the media, policy-makers, and advocates."
A "truth squad". Yeah, that sounds like a totally unbiased organization with no agenda whatsoever...
Better, perhaps, if they don't find the files at all. How about burying a headless Mac mini/file server with wireless access somewhere in the backyard or putting it in the attic? The police come and take all the computers they can find... which have nothing on them.
Add a $50 wireless power switch so you can turn it on, or shut it down, and you're good to go. If nothing else, it would be good for backups and in case something happened (theft) to your main system.
"These strings can easily contain social security numbers or credit card numbers."
Of course, even the newest PHP developer knows better than to pass SSNs and CCNs around as URL variables. And if you're dumb enough to name a file with your social security number [window titles], you're probably beyond help anyway.
I'm sick and tired of all the idiots here who can do little more than bash someone else just to reinforce their own delusions of superiority. "Master of Transhuman", indeed.
Okay, "master." Show me a 1970's era "module" that has ALL of the characteristics of the SIPs listed above...
You mean the way the FOSS community has managed to reinvent Unix from 30 to 40 years earlier? Yay for progress!
Seriously, ALL operating systems borrow concepts from earlier versions and the existing state of the art. Trying to determine the degree (or not) of "innovation" is akin to arguing about the number of angels that can dance on the head of a pin, with no prior agreement as to the size of an angel...
Thanks for the rather extensive comments. I can only repeat that if I can hide my money in trusts and tax shelters and other legal loopholes then I'm probably not paying my "fair" share. And the lower 10% food/drug works towards the "progressive" side of the equation. Otherwise, the "rich" buy multi-million dollar homes and Jags. Less well to do buy less expensive homes and Escorts. 30% of the former is still a great deal more than 30% of the later.
As to the "top 2% would be based on maybe 5-10% of their income", money isn't much good if not spent, and they don't tend to leave it sitting around in matresses either. So more of those unspent dollars are either in banks (which make loans) or stocks/bonds (which create jobs). That's okay with me.
Personally, I'm fed up with progressive/regressive doubletalk. I'd have everyone pay a flat 30% sales tax on ALL goods purchasd except food and medicine (10%). And that's it. No income tax. No deductions, no exceptions, no tax havens, no shelters, and no credits. No massive tax collection bureaucracy or 60,000 page unintelligable tax code (actual number). No tax lawyers.
Yes, in theory the current system is more "progressive", but in actuality people in the top brackets rarely pay anything close to that amount. Why? They can afford to game the system, and the people on the bottom can't.
The only way to make it fair is to make it simple.
At that point, if we think we need additional assistance programs we can write 'em a check out of the billions we'd save over administering the current impossibly bloated system.
Sorry, but I think the newer design is an improvement over the earlier models. The click wheel gives positive feedback, and makes it much more difficult to accidentally skip a song or to the end of a book.
The touch wheel was just too... touchy. (rim shot)
I was waiting for that one. Yes, only one person has to rip and distribute it. You may have noticed, however, that governments and law enforcement organizations have gotten MUCH better at tracking the origins and authors of viruses and worms. Fewer "distributors" simply means that more of those resources can be focused on finding the sources.
And all of which ignores the real problem. If a bunch of instant-gratification idiots didn't think they were entitled to anything and everything they could get their hands on, we wouldn't be in this mess. All it does is give the **AA's all the justification they need to have these ridiculous laws passed.
A bunch of freeloaders are screwing up MY fair use rights and MY consumer products. And because, like you, they think they're smart enough to game the system, they're going to screw up P2P, torrents, Freenet, and probably the internet itself.
"As long as integrated circuits can be purchased and people can build circuits, any attempt to close the analog hole is doomed to failure."
No it's not, and you're missing the point. Back in the '80s the "analog hole" was closed when commercial VHS movies started using MacroVision to prevent casual copying of tapes. Yes, you could go to the back of PopSci and find an ad for a stabilizer, but by and large the vast majority of people didn't bother the extra bucks. They stopped copying and either bought or rented.
The same applies here. In "raising the bar" you don't need to stop everyone. You just have to make ripping you off hard enough that the majority doesn't bother.
On the flip side, a major disadvantage of the web is mutability. How do I know that link to the story on the 18th is actually the same text that ran on the 18th? Heck, how do I know that you and I are reading the same article today?
For an interesting, behind the scenes look at things, one company I worked for had a news site, and part of the content came from Reuters. Part of the tagging in the news stream indicated "updated" versions of the same articles, that you were REQUIRED to replace.
If you pay attention to breaking stories on Yahoo, you can see the articles morph and change during the day...
I think it's going to snowball. Other networks will offer content (Galactica). Apple will do the Cringely video mini, video AirPort, and allow you to "rip" to your pod. Independents will produce movies and documentaries. The next Parks Wallace & Gromit short will appear on iTMS. Movies will begin to appear.
In fact, Tivo has already announced software you can use to move Tivo2Go content to your pod.
All of this is just the smallest toe dipped into the water...
The first season of Lost is available as a set on iTMS for $34.99, not $47.76. Second season episodes are available the next day after the air date. How long will you have to wait for the second season DVD?
Ah well, at least now you're nitpicking over the "masses" comment, and folded over the "introduced" one.
Besides, I think you need to go back in time, to that particular time, and see just how much comparable PCs cost. $2300 was very much in the ballpark for a complete IBM PC system, or a Compaq "portable" computer.
While they were relatively expensive in comparison to today's prices, people did buy them. By your "logic", todays computers are not for the "masses" either, as most of the world (china, india) don't have them either.
As far as the public is concerned, Apple and the Mac "introduced" them to the first inexpensive window/mouse personal computer. The first such system designed for the masses.
Lisa came a couple of years earlier, but at $10K was aimed at the corporate market. At $16K (about a $100K for a complete network) the Xerox Star (1981) was aimed even higher, and only a relative handful were ever produced and sold.
It's also fair to say that Apple also "introduced" the public to WYSIWYG, the laser printer (LaserWriter), desktop publishing (through Adobe's Pagemaker), and the home network (AppleTalk/LocalTalk).
BTW, Pagemaker and the LaserWriter never get nearly enough credit for the Mac's success. Together, the three created a "VisiCalc" killer application synergy that none could ever achieved on their own.
"Bollywood movies won't cross over here for two reasons. Americans on a whole tend to be very culturally arrogant."
Precisely. Another indication is that you can probably count the number of French or Spanish films that became "hits" in the US on the fingers of your left foot. For some reason, it's probably easier to get the average American into the dentist's office for a double root canal than it is to get them to see a foreign film. Especially (shudder) an "art" film with a n actual plot and dialog.
Yeah, The Godfather, Star Wars, Jaws, Citizen Kane, Casablanca, Psycho, Seven Samari, Gone With The Wind, Wizard of OZ, 12 Angry Men, Taxi Driver, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Death of a Salesman, Ben Hur, Forbidden Planet, Planet of the Apes, Halloween, Raiders of the Lost Ark, On the Waterfront, Little Big Man, Dirty Harry, Casablanca, An Officer and a Gentleman, Blazing Saddles, Raging Bull, Metropolis, ET, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Rocky, Norma Rae, The Goodbye Girl, Blade Runner, Brazil, The Sound of Music, Patton, In the Heat of the Night, It's a Wonderful Life, Lawrence of Arabia, The French Connection, The Deer Hunter, The Sting, Casablanca (I love Casablanca), The African Queen, A Streetcar Named Desire....
...you're right. Hardly a watchable movie in the bunch.
From TFA, "But transporting celluloid prints to remote towns costs more and gives video pirates enough time to mint cheap copies, cutting into profits."
Given the "cheap copies" line, this sounds like commercial-grade piracy, knocking off and producing, ah... cheap copies. In which case "free" doesn't come into play. Pirates need to eat too.
It's not now, and you may not consider it as such, but there's no reason it couldn't be. People pay Apple roughly $100 year to get upgrades and updates to OS X, additional features, new programs and services, and so on. There's no reason the "price" could not be spread out over 12 months so it's easier to digest, and the new pieces made available as soon as they become ready for release.
Perhaps you're right. Then again, in agrarian or sustenance-level societies the pressure to have as many "farm hands" as possible (boys preferred) to help with the chores is well documented.
But once you move to a city, as more and more people are doing, that particular pressure is eased, and other factors begin to apply. As you indicated, they now have a choice in the matter.
Slashdot Mirror
When did the Center for Economic and Policy Research become a branch of the government?
Answer: It's not. It looks like a blue-sky, privately funded, 6-year old non-profit. In fact, from their site, "It is an independent nonpartisan think tank based in Washington, DC. CEPR functions as an economic "truth squad," conducting professional research and getting it out to the media, policy-makers, and advocates."
A "truth squad". Yeah, that sounds like a totally unbiased organization with no agenda whatsoever...
Add a $50 wireless power switch so you can turn it on, or shut it down, and you're good to go. If nothing else, it would be good for backups and in case something happened (theft) to your main system.
Of course, even the newest PHP developer knows better than to pass SSNs and CCNs around as URL variables. And if you're dumb enough to name a file with your social security number [window titles], you're probably beyond help anyway.
Cool. I'm going to CompUSA this afternoon. I'll have to pick up a couple of copies and see what they're like........
Okay, "master." Show me a 1970's era "module" that has ALL of the characteristics of the SIPs listed above...
Seriously, ALL operating systems borrow concepts from earlier versions and the existing state of the art. Trying to determine the degree (or not) of "innovation" is akin to arguing about the number of angels that can dance on the head of a pin, with no prior agreement as to the size of an angel...
As to the "top 2% would be based on maybe 5-10% of their income", money isn't much good if not spent, and they don't tend to leave it sitting around in matresses either. So more of those unspent dollars are either in banks (which make loans) or stocks/bonds (which create jobs). That's okay with me.
Yes, in theory the current system is more "progressive", but in actuality people in the top brackets rarely pay anything close to that amount. Why? They can afford to game the system, and the people on the bottom can't.
The only way to make it fair is to make it simple.
At that point, if we think we need additional assistance programs we can write 'em a check out of the billions we'd save over administering the current impossibly bloated system.
The touch wheel was just too... touchy. (rim shot)
I don't know. A little extra anxiety and paranoia might be a good thing for people writing antivirus software and firewalls....
Moisture in the air makes it a better conductor. Thus moist air feels colder than dry air at the same temperature.
And all of which ignores the real problem. If a bunch of instant-gratification idiots didn't think they were entitled to anything and everything they could get their hands on, we wouldn't be in this mess. All it does is give the **AA's all the justification they need to have these ridiculous laws passed.
A bunch of freeloaders are screwing up MY fair use rights and MY consumer products. And because, like you, they think they're smart enough to game the system, they're going to screw up P2P, torrents, Freenet, and probably the internet itself.
You're right in one thing. It is futile.
No it's not, and you're missing the point. Back in the '80s the "analog hole" was closed when commercial VHS movies started using MacroVision to prevent casual copying of tapes. Yes, you could go to the back of PopSci and find an ad for a stabilizer, but by and large the vast majority of people didn't bother the extra bucks. They stopped copying and either bought or rented.
The same applies here. In "raising the bar" you don't need to stop everyone. You just have to make ripping you off hard enough that the majority doesn't bother.
On the flip side, a major disadvantage of the web is mutability. How do I know that link to the story on the 18th is actually the same text that ran on the 18th? Heck, how do I know that you and I are reading the same article today?
For an interesting, behind the scenes look at things, one company I worked for had a news site, and part of the content came from Reuters. Part of the tagging in the news stream indicated "updated" versions of the same articles, that you were REQUIRED to replace.
If you pay attention to breaking stories on Yahoo, you can see the articles morph and change during the day...
My bad. TV Harmony announced the video iPod/Tivo2Go software.
In fact, Tivo has already announced software you can use to move Tivo2Go content to your pod.
All of this is just the smallest toe dipped into the water...
The first season of Lost is available as a set on iTMS for $34.99, not $47.76. Second season episodes are available the next day after the air date. How long will you have to wait for the second season DVD?
Besides, I think you need to go back in time, to that particular time, and see just how much comparable PCs cost. $2300 was very much in the ballpark for a complete IBM PC system, or a Compaq "portable" computer.
While they were relatively expensive in comparison to today's prices, people did buy them. By your "logic", todays computers are not for the "masses" either, as most of the world (china, india) don't have them either.
Lisa came a couple of years earlier, but at $10K was aimed at the corporate market. At $16K (about a $100K for a complete network) the Xerox Star (1981) was aimed even higher, and only a relative handful were ever produced and sold.
It's also fair to say that Apple also "introduced" the public to WYSIWYG, the laser printer (LaserWriter), desktop publishing (through Adobe's Pagemaker), and the home network (AppleTalk/LocalTalk).
BTW, Pagemaker and the LaserWriter never get nearly enough credit for the Mac's success. Together, the three created a "VisiCalc" killer application synergy that none could ever achieved on their own.
So you're saying that no one should ever make an outstanding product, because if they do, it's possible that too many people might want one?
Precisely. Another indication is that you can probably count the number of French or Spanish films that became "hits" in the US on the fingers of your left foot. For some reason, it's probably easier to get the average American into the dentist's office for a double root canal than it is to get them to see a foreign film. Especially (shudder) an "art" film with a n actual plot and dialog.
Given the "cheap copies" line, this sounds like commercial-grade piracy, knocking off and producing, ah... cheap copies. In which case "free" doesn't come into play. Pirates need to eat too.
It's not now, and you may not consider it as such, but there's no reason it couldn't be. People pay Apple roughly $100 year to get upgrades and updates to OS X, additional features, new programs and services, and so on. There's no reason the "price" could not be spread out over 12 months so it's easier to digest, and the new pieces made available as soon as they become ready for release.
But once you move to a city, as more and more people are doing, that particular pressure is eased, and other factors begin to apply. As you indicated, they now have a choice in the matter.