Having also been a student at UMR, and having the pleasure to serve as RA with one of the members of the Solar Car team, I must say congratulations! A job well done. =)
If it is unacceptable to allow minors to play any character that may harm a figure of authority, start creating games where they play figures of authority killing innocent bystanders. I think the law-enforcement in Washington would love to see themselves likened to such games.
After all, the LA Riots and Kent State massacre would make great games.
(If you didn't detect bitter sarcasm in this post, you need to read it again.)
I am not a business major, but from where I am standing, our actions have awakened many sleeping giants. It's only a matter of time -- not to say next week, but approaching quickly -- where many countries that have sought us out will no longer need us. The reason countries came to us originally was because of our ability to manufacture. Yes, we at one time were a manufacturing power-house. But times have changed. And as American businesses continue to look elsewhere for cheap labor and materials, the tide will turn in their favor. It has already started turning as far as I am concerned.
For instance, China and the SEA counties. From an industry stand-point only, what do we have that they don't? They produce our goods, our materials, our finished products. I believe someone had said on here previously that all we have left is our culture to export. The rest is imported. This is so true. How long will it take for these countries to fully develop an independence financially and leverage that against us? China has all the time and people it needs to put us in their spot during the 80s. It has even started the first steps in that direction focusing on internal research and development into such things as CPUs and 3G standards. Can you imagine America bidding for Most Favored Nation status with them? Maybe I'm getting old and cynical, but I can.
Now, I'm sure I'm not 100% correct on any of this, but I am slowly turning into a pessimist with recent business and government actions on our part, so I take a cynical look at our future. Who knows, this might all change in 2004. I hope it will. But rest assured, what we know about business in America, what we have known about America's relationship with the world through business, has changed dramatically, for better or for worse. The future is not as clear as it was and I don't think we can look at the past any longer for many pointers either.
I am having trouble gathering my thoughts on this, so bare with me...
First off, let me state I have not come to praise Bill, and that I concur with those who are pushing for this in their decision to press this forward. But I must say this action worries me as an American. With our current economic climate, the stance of those in charge, and how America currently looks on the global scale to our friends and neighbors, this could be the final straw in a tension build-up of global scale between America and the World.
What do I mean? Well, if this action accomplishes what should have happened when it was handled internally (severe punishment, break-up even), what will Microsoft do? Comply? Or use their new-found leverage with congress and their friendly Pro-Business government to complain? I think we both know the answer. So let's say they complain to the American government. After all, Microsoft is the crowning achievement in Free Market Capitalism, it makes money hand-over-fist, at any cost, and is a shining example of American industry (HA! I'm so funny). The government for those reasons will back them up. So then the American government widens the rift between our allies (former allies?) in the EU as much, if not more so, than our current actions regarding Iraq are concerned. The EU want Microsoft to play ball by the rules, which is to say they are in the right on this matter. America will say it's their field and they can make the rules up and if the EU doesn't like it, tough beans.
What will this do for our international relations? What will happen to the American business sector? How much will it harm our country and economy when the world (rightly) turns their back on us for our double-standards in the matters of state and business? I worry that it would be something nigh-repairable. Hopefully someone here will listen to what the world is saying and decide to make things a bit better. Maybe I just worry too much...
I read your book on the Internet long ago and found it at the same time humorous and poignant. The thing that I still remember is the story at the end illustrating the beginnings of an online relationship. Those relationships seemed to have been all the rage during the public's adoption of the Internet, do you think the Internet still has the capacity to allow people to interact in the same fashion? Or do you think that something in the nature of people or the Internet has changed to make those relationships unfeasible?
Lovecraft wasn't concerned with science proving our observations as you state here:
honestly don't know where you got the idea that Lovecraft thought that science would bring us rational explanations for things occurring around us that we don't understand.
He wanted to see the old notions we had tied to a Ptolemiec-like belief/science system that WE stood unchallenged in this universe. WE were the masters of this domain. All his stories directly challenged those ideas.
He was interested in true science, a science he felt the people of his time wouldn't be ready for. Even now, we aren't ready. Say we do find alien life. What do you think we'll do? Who will really believe and who will just dismiss it as a hoax? His thoughts on science are STILL ahead of their time. We as humans AREN'T ready for the truth as to what is out there. Sure, we are growing more and more advanced, but as a whole, we still cling to several irrational beliefs we try to justify with science. That's not real science and that's the exact opposite of what Lovecraft understood and wrote about.
He disagreed with how man prided himself on being the center of the universe, much like Ptolemy. He was a very scientific and passionate individual, realizing that we are just a small speck in the universe. THAT is what his stories are about. When someone encounters something that breaks all the rules we have set up to protect ourselves from the truth of the universe and the tiny roles we play, they go window-licking bonkers.
Take a look at the Elder Gods themselves. Of course humans revered them as Gods because they were so large and powerful, what else could they be? But Lovecraft wrote them as aliens. Why? Because even then he and others realized it could be possible that there is life other than ours out in space. It's a fairly advanced notion in any period time, including now.
He also provided scientific theming in the creation of several of races, cloning and evolution, some I think I remember off-hand (No books to cite from with me. Sorry =P)
But it wasn't really magic, mostly. It never was. It was like Frankenstein, so horrible and fantastic, and yet with a macabre scientific explanation behind it.
The kick in the pants is, much like Poe before him, he didn't want to be recognized for his short fiction over his poetry -- Poetry which deals with a more fantastic tone and setting. I would surmise that is why he added the Dreamlands to his fictional stories, but that's just my personal theory. He was a very polar fellow (no pun intended).
This Just Goes to Show...
on
Real DRM
·
· Score: 4, Insightful
It's not about what's good for the customer -- It's about what is good for the competitor. Something like: "Who cares if the little guy wants this or not, Microsoft will make their DRM work and we need to have something even more DRM-ish to compete!"
Ah! But you miss the most important difference between the two: One was devoutly religious, the other a devout atheist.
Where Ronnie borrowed from the bible, Phil mocked people's reliance on religion to explain things larger than them in the Cosmos. Compared to all the things similar (I would whole-heartedily diagree on the "Golden Age" and Luddistic tendencies point for Phil though, from his writings he embraced new technology and science to give us rational explanations for things occuring around us we didn't understand), their one theological difference seperates the two in form and function, leaving only style.
Being a fan of both, I would love to do an essay on the subject, but that's as close as I can come to it on Company Time. =)
How many people would believe in aliens if we never made it up there in the first place? How many people would think they were abducted when we ourselves couldn't get off the ground? Crackpots owe their dreams and fancies to the same people they are claiming are lying to them. Sure, one can dream of aliens and spaceships, but the dream because so much more solid once we see it work by our own hands and ingenuity. (Besides, the moon's an F&AM resort. Only for us members, neener =P)
...When Connectivity Providers fought tooth and nail for cities. Recently it has been regions. Now it looks like they are banding together and drawing the lines at nations. I mean, it seems that ubiquitious networks would be wonderful, but I worry when one becomes the national monopoly. Will technology like this allow competition with other protocols? Or do we get one protocol and a bunch of implementations from different companies?
In a brilliant PR move, Apple has trademarked the word "Like" and is sending cease and desist letters on behalf of their new IP acquisition. The question of prior art has arisen, though the only clear contenders, Moonunit Zappa and "My So Called Life" have yet to respond at the time of this posting. Film at 11.
...security related? I mean, I don't want to sound like I'm pro-DMCA, I'm not. But couldn't companies use the DMCA to control their information so there won't be dangerously large crowds that will show up on the busiest shopping day of the year? If the masses get too hyped about what is coming out, then riots may be a result. They might not want to release any information until the last minute and cause uncontrollable masses to drive up profit. If this was their intent, it would be better, if instead of using the DMCA, they were to cooperate with each other and public forums to release information, strategically plot and coordinate sales over a longer period of time, and discourage mass/riotous consumer behavior. Then again, sometimes I think that human decency cuts into their bottom-line.
I know it sounds a bit unbelievable, but considering I worked at McDonald's (I seem to work for all the unpopular zaibatsus, heh) during the huge Beanie Baby frenzy and saw little old ladies get knocked over, nothing surprises me when it comes to consumer greed.
...They become the object of zealotry and/or niche markets. Not that this is a bad thing! A distro in a niche market allows that distro to fully grow into what it was best designed for, without having to add in feature-kruft in order to "keep up with the Jones" as they say.
Plus, a little zealotry never hurt anybody, right Amigaos? Zealotry over a distro low on the radar could end up with some interesting experimental programming and ingenius solutions to common problems (who knows how many home-brew and esoteric languages have found practical applications).
Remember, distros only die when people stop support. Hug your favorite distro today.
Thank you for the correction! I've not the system yet to run that game, so I've not been exposed to its coolness yet. Hopefully I'll get to see people die up close and personal after the Holidays.;)
Is there anything that could cause this naturally? I mean, judging from the pictures it looked fairly large and out of control...I hope no one caused this purposefully. I've never had to deal with a catastrophe like this, luckily...I send my best wishes of luck and hope to those involved and pray no one got hurt. =(
You know, since Carmack shares a love of the same hobby as these gentlemen, I wonder if this would interest him? I would say it might. And being that it might, I wonder if he would code a mini-cam for the Rocket Launcher in Doom III? Bullet-time eat your heart out!
Will they be having a Wolverine model with retractable WiFi antenna? Or perhaps The Beast, completely Blue....tooth. Or the Cyclops model with a long-range IR port.;)
This technology seems to be a bit limiting from the story, would someone be able to provide more detail? I'm a bit concerned that it would significantly reduce the ability of a normal node to request files indenpendently of everyone else. It seems right now alot of P2P services suffer from "Me too" style networks, where if it is new and popular, everyone has it. But if it is even remotely indie, it seems you're the only one looking.
(as a slightly off-topic aside) Maybe that's just my bad luck, but I've been noticing that trend for awhile now. I wonder if that was the work of the *AAs...plague diverse and robust information exchange systems with a monomeme. Hmmmm....
Slashdot Mirror
Having also been a student at UMR, and having the pleasure to serve as RA with one of the members of the Solar Car team, I must say congratulations! A job well done. =)
If it is unacceptable to allow minors to play any character that may harm a figure of authority, start creating games where they play figures of authority killing innocent bystanders. I think the law-enforcement in Washington would love to see themselves likened to such games.
After all, the LA Riots and Kent State massacre would make great games.
(If you didn't detect bitter sarcasm in this post, you need to read it again.)
Do Not Deal With This Person!!!! Transaction Felt WRONG! Never Told Whole Story! Very Shady! Buyer Beware!!!! F - - - - - -
What the hell, I got the karma....
I am not a business major, but from where I am standing, our actions have awakened many sleeping giants. It's only a matter of time -- not to say next week, but approaching quickly -- where many countries that have sought us out will no longer need us. The reason countries came to us originally was because of our ability to manufacture. Yes, we at one time were a manufacturing power-house. But times have changed. And as American businesses continue to look elsewhere for cheap labor and materials, the tide will turn in their favor. It has already started turning as far as I am concerned.
For instance, China and the SEA counties. From an industry stand-point only, what do we have that they don't? They produce our goods, our materials, our finished products. I believe someone had said on here previously that all we have left is our culture to export. The rest is imported. This is so true. How long will it take for these countries to fully develop an independence financially and leverage that against us? China has all the time and people it needs to put us in their spot during the 80s. It has even started the first steps in that direction focusing on internal research and development into such things as CPUs and 3G standards. Can you imagine America bidding for Most Favored Nation status with them? Maybe I'm getting old and cynical, but I can.
Now, I'm sure I'm not 100% correct on any of this, but I am slowly turning into a pessimist with recent business and government actions on our part, so I take a cynical look at our future. Who knows, this might all change in 2004. I hope it will. But rest assured, what we know about business in America, what we have known about America's relationship with the world through business, has changed dramatically, for better or for worse. The future is not as clear as it was and I don't think we can look at the past any longer for many pointers either.
I am having trouble gathering my thoughts on this, so bare with me...
First off, let me state I have not come to praise Bill, and that I concur with those who are pushing for this in their decision to press this forward. But I must say this action worries me as an American. With our current economic climate, the stance of those in charge, and how America currently looks on the global scale to our friends and neighbors, this could be the final straw in a tension build-up of global scale between America and the World.
What do I mean? Well, if this action accomplishes what should have happened when it was handled internally (severe punishment, break-up even), what will Microsoft do? Comply? Or use their new-found leverage with congress and their friendly Pro-Business government to complain? I think we both know the answer. So let's say they complain to the American government. After all, Microsoft is the crowning achievement in Free Market Capitalism, it makes money hand-over-fist, at any cost, and is a shining example of American industry (HA! I'm so funny). The government for those reasons will back them up. So then the American government widens the rift between our allies (former allies?) in the EU as much, if not more so, than our current actions regarding Iraq are concerned. The EU want Microsoft to play ball by the rules, which is to say they are in the right on this matter. America will say it's their field and they can make the rules up and if the EU doesn't like it, tough beans.
What will this do for our international relations? What will happen to the American business sector? How much will it harm our country and economy when the world (rightly) turns their back on us for our double-standards in the matters of state and business? I worry that it would be something nigh-repairable. Hopefully someone here will listen to what the world is saying and decide to make things a bit better. Maybe I just worry too much...
I read your book on the Internet long ago and found it at the same time humorous and poignant. The thing that I still remember is the story at the end illustrating the beginnings of an online relationship. Those relationships seemed to have been all the rage during the public's adoption of the Internet, do you think the Internet still has the capacity to allow people to interact in the same fashion? Or do you think that something in the nature of people or the Internet has changed to make those relationships unfeasible?
Lovecraft wasn't concerned with science proving our observations as you state here:
honestly don't know where you got the idea that Lovecraft thought that science would bring us rational explanations for things occurring around us that we don't understand.
He wanted to see the old notions we had tied to a Ptolemiec-like belief/science system that WE stood unchallenged in this universe. WE were the masters of this domain. All his stories directly challenged those ideas.
He was interested in true science, a science he felt the people of his time wouldn't be ready for. Even now, we aren't ready. Say we do find alien life. What do you think we'll do? Who will really believe and who will just dismiss it as a hoax? His thoughts on science are STILL ahead of their time. We as humans AREN'T ready for the truth as to what is out there. Sure, we are growing more and more advanced, but as a whole, we still cling to several irrational beliefs we try to justify with science. That's not real science and that's the exact opposite of what Lovecraft understood and wrote about.
He disagreed with how man prided himself on being the center of the universe, much like Ptolemy. He was a very scientific and passionate individual, realizing that we are just a small speck in the universe. THAT is what his stories are about. When someone encounters something that breaks all the rules we have set up to protect ourselves from the truth of the universe and the tiny roles we play, they go window-licking bonkers.
Take a look at the Elder Gods themselves. Of course humans revered them as Gods because they were so large and powerful, what else could they be? But Lovecraft wrote them as aliens. Why? Because even then he and others realized it could be possible that there is life other than ours out in space. It's a fairly advanced notion in any period time, including now.
He also provided scientific theming in the creation of several of races, cloning and evolution, some I think I remember off-hand (No books to cite from with me. Sorry =P)
But it wasn't really magic, mostly. It never was. It was like Frankenstein, so horrible and fantastic, and yet with a macabre scientific explanation behind it.
The kick in the pants is, much like Poe before him, he didn't want to be recognized for his short fiction over his poetry -- Poetry which deals with a more fantastic tone and setting. I would surmise that is why he added the Dreamlands to his fictional stories, but that's just my personal theory. He was a very polar fellow (no pun intended).
It's not about what's good for the customer -- It's about what is good for the competitor. Something like: "Who cares if the little guy wants this or not, Microsoft will make their DRM work and we need to have something even more DRM-ish to compete!"
Ah! But you miss the most important difference between the two: One was devoutly religious, the other a devout atheist.
Where Ronnie borrowed from the bible, Phil mocked people's reliance on religion to explain things larger than them in the Cosmos. Compared to all the things similar (I would whole-heartedily diagree on the "Golden Age" and Luddistic tendencies point for Phil though, from his writings he embraced new technology and science to give us rational explanations for things occuring around us we didn't understand), their one theological difference seperates the two in form and function, leaving only style.
Being a fan of both, I would love to do an essay on the subject, but that's as close as I can come to it on Company Time. =)
How many people would believe in aliens if we never made it up there in the first place? How many people would think they were abducted when we ourselves couldn't get off the ground? Crackpots owe their dreams and fancies to the same people they are claiming are lying to them. Sure, one can dream of aliens and spaceships, but the dream because so much more solid once we see it work by our own hands and ingenuity.
(Besides, the moon's an F&AM resort. Only for us members, neener =P)
...When Connectivity Providers fought tooth and nail for cities. Recently it has been regions. Now it looks like they are banding together and drawing the lines at nations. I mean, it seems that ubiquitious networks would be wonderful, but I worry when one becomes the national monopoly. Will technology like this allow competition with other protocols? Or do we get one protocol and a bunch of implementations from different companies?
In a brilliant PR move, Apple has trademarked the word "Like" and is sending cease and desist letters on behalf of their new IP acquisition. The question of prior art has arisen, though the only clear contenders, Moonunit Zappa and "My So Called Life" have yet to respond at the time of this posting. Film at 11.
...security related? I mean, I don't want to sound like I'm pro-DMCA, I'm not. But couldn't companies use the DMCA to control their information so there won't be dangerously large crowds that will show up on the busiest shopping day of the year? If the masses get too hyped about what is coming out, then riots may be a result. They might not want to release any information until the last minute and cause uncontrollable masses to drive up profit. If this was their intent, it would be better, if instead of using the DMCA, they were to cooperate with each other and public forums to release information, strategically plot and coordinate sales over a longer period of time, and discourage mass/riotous consumer behavior. Then again, sometimes I think that human decency cuts into their bottom-line.
I know it sounds a bit unbelievable, but considering I worked at McDonald's (I seem to work for all the unpopular zaibatsus, heh) during the huge Beanie Baby frenzy and saw little old ladies get knocked over, nothing surprises me when it comes to consumer greed.
...but it looks like an old-fashioned lawnmower. Reminds me of an old 3rd Grade tune:
I'm looking over
My dead dog Rover
That I hit with a flying mower....
No animals were harmed in the making of this post
...They become the object of zealotry and/or niche markets. Not that this is a bad thing! A distro in a niche market allows that distro to fully grow into what it was best designed for, without having to add in feature-kruft in order to "keep up with the Jones" as they say.
Plus, a little zealotry never hurt anybody, right Amigaos? Zealotry over a distro low on the radar could end up with some interesting experimental programming and ingenius solutions to common problems (who knows how many home-brew and esoteric languages have found practical applications).
Remember, distros only die when people stop support. Hug your favorite distro today.
Thank you for the correction! I've not the system yet to run that game, so I've not been exposed to its coolness yet. Hopefully I'll get to see people die up close and personal after the Holidays.
Is there anything that could cause this naturally? I mean, judging from the pictures it looked fairly large and out of control...I hope no one caused this purposefully. I've never had to deal with a catastrophe like this, luckily...I send my best wishes of luck and hope to those involved and pray no one got hurt. =(
You're right! Silly me, thank you for reminding me. I had forgotten about that! I rarely played UT, but when I did, I prefered the Strangelove mod. =)
You know, since Carmack shares a love of the same hobby as these gentlemen, I wonder if this would interest him? I would say it might. And being that it might, I wonder if he would code a mini-cam for the Rocket Launcher in Doom III? Bullet-time eat your heart out!
Will they be having a Wolverine model with retractable WiFi antenna? Or perhaps The Beast, completely Blue....tooth. Or the Cyclops model with a long-range IR port.
(not to be pendantic, but it's Axim.)
This technology seems to be a bit limiting from the story, would someone be able to provide more detail? I'm a bit concerned that it would significantly reduce the ability of a normal node to request files indenpendently of everyone else. It seems right now alot of P2P services suffer from "Me too" style networks, where if it is new and popular, everyone has it. But if it is even remotely indie, it seems you're the only one looking.
(as a slightly off-topic aside) Maybe that's just my bad luck, but I've been noticing that trend for awhile now. I wonder if that was the work of the *AAs...plague diverse and robust information exchange systems with a monomeme. Hmmmm....
The Anime Network(tm) model is structured around four categorized content areas: Action Zone, Sci-Fi, Comedy Incorrect, and Horror/Martial Arts.
Comedy Incorrect? Like, they'll be showing Warriors of the Wind or badly-dubbed DBZ?
He has gone down the stairs.
Pak Chooie uNF.
No way! The public knows about the issues now! That's automatic disqualification from Microsoft's Security Game!
Game Over, Man! Game Over!