The good old USPS runs a really cheap "sneaker net", and despite all the jokes I have found it to be quite reliable and timely.
I often I drop a DVD or two into an envelope and mail my off-site backups for the price of a.63 stamp. I usually use a scrounged envelope. Seems like a good deal to me.
You could argue, that for work related stuff, I could set up an over-the net sync, and sometimes I do. For personal items, there are multiple benefits for using Grandma as an off-site backup for photos and videos, and it is a lot easier for her to deal with physical media - plus she can look at them too!
Just be sure to encrypt anything important, should a disc go missing.
If the fire fighting professionals are on-site dealing with your burning apartment, what difference is it going to make if you know about it "right fucking now", or when you pull up, after work, to whatever has been saved or lost to the firefighters?
Is your right to know that your porn collection is going up in flames "right now" more important than giving away "potentially" useful information of where first-repsonders are, "right now"?
Of course, if I were a terrorist, I would have no problem setting any number of nuisance fires, if needed.
[point zero - re: Chinese sweatshops. Each has to decide whether one man's sweatshop is another's step in incremental societal evolution or a stumbling block to "progress".]
1. Re: original artwork. The point is moot. The originality is already recognized, to wit, it is a popular work. There is a desire to have [even] a reproduction. The whimsical quality of "artistic value" has already been realized, hence the demend, either by true appreciation, or simply by gross peer pressure to be "with it".
2. Re: scarcity, artificial. The whole point of numbered editions is exactly what I am talking about - artificial scarcity. I like art (that I like). I have purchased signed art. I paid less because it was "unnumbered". I liked the work. I could give two shits what number it was. It is the EXACT SAME PIECE. It is pretty arbitrary what number the artist puts on it.
There is no longer any reason for works of "art" to be "lost to the ravages of time", by my definition. If it is "good", there will be many copies, because it has the essence of what makes it "good". Some copies are sure to survive. Is a unique "artistic statement" lessened because it is not the original embodiment of the idea?
I have alway wondered why there is such a premium on "an original". Especially art.
Maybe it is just the bias of a geek, used to mass-produced goods. Take a nice CPU for example, A multi-million transistor technological work of art. First copy - billions, subsequent production run, pennies apiece - all the same.
If you really like a painting, you can get a print. Want more? You can get reproductions, done brushstroke, by brushstroke. 99% of humanity couldn't tell the difference, your freinds might know you don't have the bucks for the original. In 200 years will an antique 20th century reproduction of a 19th century masterpiece be worth much less than the original?
Many gemstones can be reproduced too. Synthetic rubies, emeralds, saphires (and probably others) are chemically identical - and PERFECT. Yet, "natural" objects of the same materials are more costly. Why? Because it takes a lot more work to get the "natural" version out of the ground. Cosmetically, I'd take a fake emerald over a cloudy natural one any day. Oooh shiney!
A collector will pay a premium for a mis-struck coin. You will take your defective DVD back to Wal-Mart. Stamp collectors on the other hand, like nice, well centered examples... unless they are way off, then - tada! It's a rarity.
If I were to make some "fake" gold coins, out of real gold, are they really fake? I suppose the US Mint breaks old molds, but what if they found an old, rare $20 gold piece die, and decided to whack a few out, just for old times sake - official US minted gold coins with the original dies... what happens to the value of the "rarity"? (Some lawyer would probably take the case:-)
I just don't get artifical scarcity - "rare pokemon cards", "rare beenie babies". Crap, forget rare, I have a yard full of unique, one-of-a-kind "pet rocks"!
And now, the million dollar winner - "rare bits", yesiree, here are some copyrighted bits, far more valuable than those pirate bits...
IANALBILTRL (I am not a lawyer but I listen to radio lawyers)
It seems to me the problem is calling someone a "crook," a "con artist" and a "fraud." is the problem.
If it had simply been a reasoned explaination of why the services didn't work out in that particular case, or why she was unhappy, them's facts, and not libel.
I have left "negative" feedback on Amazon and eBay, that is legally definsible; E.g. "Seller delivered DVD set meant for the Chinese market. Trouble with playback on some players and has inferior packaging". I didn't leave feedback saying "Seller is a crook and a fraud!".
I think my feedback is more useful than the later example.
You only think you like Steely Dan, because others have told you likewise.
It is analgous to the popularity of Windows - there is no objective reason to like Steely Dan.
But, deep down, you realize, that Steely Dan represents the worst of the music of the 70's and you are having a visceral repulsion to it, like I finally came to realize, every time I hear Stevie Nix...
So, rather than blame your nice, techie, iPod, blame your fallable human self for choosing that music.
If you remove all Steely Dan from your iPod you will no longer have this problem.
Even the article summary says it - this is not censorship for political means, it is to prevent inciting violence.
I am 100% for "free speech", but even in the US you "can't yell fire in a theater".
In the US you can freely spew "hate speech", and most people ignore it, as they should.
But is there a different standard, based on the local population? Clearly there are some places in the world where the people are culturally less likey to ignore perceived insults. Should the "don't yell fire" rule be adapted for the locale?
In the West you can do something offense like piss christ and not get a village burned down.
Can you say the same where you are? Should you be able to?
Let's see who has the balls to come up with "Piss Mohammed". Ask a certain Danish cartoonist if he would like to try. Ask him if he would like to do it in a village in India.
Everything is not black and white - there are shades of grey and lots of other colors too.
As the reliability of external threat detection improves, it will eventually evolve to the point that people don't actually have to touch the wheel except in the event of a computer failure.
I'm sorry Dave, I can't let you drive down that gravel road. I might get chipped, and not in a good way.
I, for one, welcome our cracked $10,000 LCD windshield overlords...
They REMEMBER previous statements by politicians and they are not afraid to show how the politicians contradict themselves
Just a reminder; All "entertainment" shows have this advantage, of any political bent, from the Daily Show to Rush Limbaugh to... whatever. It is more a sign of what politicians are all about than what any show is about.
Consider these quotes (in no particular order)
"Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely." - Lord Acton
"I wouldn't want to belong to any club that would accept me as a member." - Groucho Marx
"Anyone that wants the presidency so much that he'll spend two years organizing and campaigning for it is not to be trusted with the office." - David Broder
I think can be generalized into "Anyone who WANTS to be in politics, probably doesn't have the public interest at heart, and even if they started out that way, they won't have it for long".
The US concept of democracy has worked out pretty well, but maybe it needs to be updated somehow - more distributed. The "problem" with politics is the natural tendancy for bureaucracies to grow and turning money=power and power=money.
Oddly, maybe more branches of governement would help here. Keep the Executive, Legislative and Judiciary branches, as the USA has now - all elected and appointed officials to create policy, etc. But don't give them any authority to fund anything. Add a new branch of random, drafted citizens who have to approve any funding needed. The "random" and the "drafting" part takes politics out of it. Especially if the funding branch is a large number of citizens, maybe even anonymous - like getting "mod points" on slashdot. The key point is to time limit the voting rights of the drafted - again, like mod points. No time to influence the funders.
Separation of decisions and actions - sounds like a bit more fail-safe in the system.
A lot of BS "political" programs will die on the vine if there is no "popular" support.
No, using "e.g." does not make me feel smart; i.e. typing "e.g." leaves me without emotion, other than the vague feeling that I have saved keystrokes over typing "for example" (from the Latin exempli gratia.)
It just means in my haste to post, post haste (but not first post) my redactions left unaesthetic, but not incorrect multiple instances of "e.g."
Usually I feel quite stupid, but something always comes up to remind me that is not the case. Thank you AC for reminding me how petty and pedantic posters can be, nit-picking the tiniest imperfection. So "pfffft", in your general direction.
Replying to the AC afforded me the alluring opportunity to use alliteration whilst replying with alacrity. (Well, it is a couple of hours later, so maybe "alacrity" is not entirely apropos, but a man's gotta eat... and schlep kids around, etc.)
The expensive items are because you want "commercial" versions - e.g. you want to create a closed product. (e.g. you cite how expensive it is to use Cygwin and Qt - commercially).
You might want to consider your business model - can your product be FOSS too, and then YOU charge the big bucks for support, etc.?
Slashdot Mirror
Fat, Dumb, and Happy. Does it get any better than that? Skinny, smart, and depressed isn't so hot.
I often I drop a DVD or two into an envelope and mail my off-site backups for the price of a .63 stamp. I usually use a scrounged envelope. Seems like a good deal to me.
You could argue, that for work related stuff, I could set up an over-the net sync, and sometimes I do. For personal items, there are multiple benefits for using Grandma as an off-site backup for photos and videos, and it is a lot easier for her to deal with physical media - plus she can look at them too!
Just be sure to encrypt anything important, should a disc go missing.
Is your right to know that your porn collection is going up in flames "right now" more important than giving away "potentially" useful information of where first-repsonders are, "right now"?
Of course, if I were a terrorist, I would have no problem setting any number of nuisance fires, if needed.
1. Re: original artwork. The point is moot. The originality is already recognized, to wit, it is a popular work. There is a desire to have [even] a reproduction. The whimsical quality of "artistic value" has already been realized, hence the demend, either by true appreciation, or simply by gross peer pressure to be "with it".
2. Re: scarcity, artificial. The whole point of numbered editions is exactly what I am talking about - artificial scarcity. I like art (that I like). I have purchased signed art. I paid less because it was "unnumbered". I liked the work. I could give two shits what number it was. It is the EXACT SAME PIECE. It is pretty arbitrary what number the artist puts on it.
There is no longer any reason for works of "art" to be "lost to the ravages of time", by my definition. If it is "good", there will be many copies, because it has the essence of what makes it "good". Some copies are sure to survive. Is a unique "artistic statement" lessened because it is not the original embodiment of the idea?
Maybe it is just the bias of a geek, used to mass-produced goods. Take a nice CPU for example, A multi-million transistor technological work of art. First copy - billions, subsequent production run, pennies apiece - all the same.
If you really like a painting, you can get a print. Want more? You can get reproductions, done brushstroke, by brushstroke. 99% of humanity couldn't tell the difference, your freinds might know you don't have the bucks for the original. In 200 years will an antique 20th century reproduction of a 19th century masterpiece be worth much less than the original?
Many gemstones can be reproduced too. Synthetic rubies, emeralds, saphires (and probably others) are chemically identical - and PERFECT. Yet, "natural" objects of the same materials are more costly. Why? Because it takes a lot more work to get the "natural" version out of the ground. Cosmetically, I'd take a fake emerald over a cloudy natural one any day. Oooh shiney!
A collector will pay a premium for a mis-struck coin. You will take your defective DVD back to Wal-Mart. Stamp collectors on the other hand, like nice, well centered examples... unless they are way off, then - tada! It's a rarity.
If I were to make some "fake" gold coins, out of real gold, are they really fake? I suppose the US Mint breaks old molds, but what if they found an old, rare $20 gold piece die, and decided to whack a few out, just for old times sake - official US minted gold coins with the original dies... what happens to the value of the "rarity"? (Some lawyer would probably take the case :-)
I just don't get artifical scarcity - "rare pokemon cards", "rare beenie babies". Crap, forget rare, I have a yard full of unique, one-of-a-kind "pet rocks"!
And now, the million dollar winner - "rare bits", yesiree, here are some copyrighted bits, far more valuable than those pirate bits...
I think I am rambling.
Too many of my Window-Monkies call in sick. (rooted by competetors - damn users clicking "ok").
Once I have a Linux Mail-Bot, I can lock it down and know it is mine!
Don't worry, we run our all processes "nice"!
I hope you are right in the long run, but for immediate, practical purposes, the STICK has more WHACKING heft.
After a quick demo of the cool early release (and posting a torrent copy), sonny boy says "Yeah, it's really cool! Everyone will want a copy!"
The judge will buy some Take Two stock.
Case Closed.
It seems to me the problem is calling someone a "crook," a "con artist" and a "fraud." is the problem.
If it had simply been a reasoned explaination of why the services didn't work out in that particular case, or why she was unhappy, them's facts, and not libel.
I have left "negative" feedback on Amazon and eBay, that is legally definsible; E.g. "Seller delivered DVD set meant for the Chinese market. Trouble with playback on some players and has inferior packaging". I didn't leave feedback saying "Seller is a crook and a fraud!".
I think my feedback is more useful than the later example.
Reference to Benevolent dictator for life.; first sentence.
Heh, benevolent? Ask Nina...
Would this be better?
Marklar, my eyes started to bleed Marklar Marklar Marklar Marklar WEB2.0 Marklar Marklar
On second thought, maybe you are right.
It is analgous to the popularity of Windows - there is no objective reason to like Steely Dan.
But, deep down, you realize, that Steely Dan represents the worst of the music of the 70's and you are having a visceral repulsion to it, like I finally came to realize, every time I hear Stevie Nix...
So, rather than blame your nice, techie, iPod, blame your fallable human self for choosing that music.
If you remove all Steely Dan from your iPod you will no longer have this problem.
I looked at the picture and my first thought was that the user simply didn't have a big enough screen.
Oh, you are looking for "corn turds" - maybe you would like to visit our sponser, the "organic corn growers association."
(lol - I was trying to get a real ad link... aparently Google tactfully refrains from referer ads with certain words in the search ;-)
Even the article summary says it - this is not censorship for political means, it is to prevent inciting violence.
I am 100% for "free speech", but even in the US you "can't yell fire in a theater".
In the US you can freely spew "hate speech", and most people ignore it, as they should.
But is there a different standard, based on the local population? Clearly there are some places in the world where the people are culturally less likey to ignore perceived insults. Should the "don't yell fire" rule be adapted for the locale?
In the West you can do something offense like piss christ and not get a village burned down.
Can you say the same where you are? Should you be able to?
Let's see who has the balls to come up with "Piss Mohammed". Ask a certain Danish cartoonist if he would like to try. Ask him if he would like to do it in a village in India.
Everything is not black and white - there are shades of grey and lots of other colors too.
I'm sorry Dave, I can't let you drive down that gravel road. I might get chipped, and not in a good way.
I, for one, welcome our cracked $10,000 LCD windshield overlords...
furlongs per fortnight in inches per minute (A little less than a couple of feet per hour).
i can recite the value for SQRT(-1)!
Just a reminder; All "entertainment" shows have this advantage, of any political bent, from the Daily Show to Rush Limbaugh to... whatever. It is more a sign of what politicians are all about than what any show is about.
Consider these quotes (in no particular order)
"Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely." - Lord Acton
"I wouldn't want to belong to any club that would accept me as a member." - Groucho Marx
"Anyone that wants the presidency so much that he'll spend two years organizing and campaigning for it is not to be trusted with the office." - David Broder
I think can be generalized into "Anyone who WANTS to be in politics, probably doesn't have the public interest at heart, and even if they started out that way, they won't have it for long".
The US concept of democracy has worked out pretty well, but maybe it needs to be updated somehow - more distributed. The "problem" with politics is the natural tendancy for bureaucracies to grow and turning money=power and power=money.
Oddly, maybe more branches of governement would help here. Keep the Executive, Legislative and Judiciary branches, as the USA has now - all elected and appointed officials to create policy, etc. But don't give them any authority to fund anything. Add a new branch of random, drafted citizens who have to approve any funding needed. The "random" and the "drafting" part takes politics out of it. Especially if the funding branch is a large number of citizens, maybe even anonymous - like getting "mod points" on slashdot. The key point is to time limit the voting rights of the drafted - again, like mod points. No time to influence the funders.
Separation of decisions and actions - sounds like a bit more fail-safe in the system.
A lot of BS "political" programs will die on the vine if there is no "popular" support.
It just means in my haste to post, post haste (but not first post) my redactions left unaesthetic, but not incorrect multiple instances of "e.g."
Usually I feel quite stupid, but something always comes up to remind me that is not the case. Thank you AC for reminding me how petty and pedantic posters can be, nit-picking the tiniest imperfection. So "pfffft", in your general direction.
Replying to the AC afforded me the alluring opportunity to use alliteration whilst replying with alacrity. (Well, it is a couple of hours later, so maybe "alacrity" is not entirely apropos, but a man's gotta eat... and schlep kids around, etc.)
e.g. I have a life.
You might want to consider your business model - can your product be FOSS too, and then YOU charge the big bucks for support, etc.?
Nobody is making you buy Vista.
I am always confusing robotized with fossilized.
Sorry.
Still, someday every band will be robotic...
Attributed to the Seabees - the Navy construction guys - usually civil engineers.
Wait, I know - maybe it works on the sub-atomic level, yeah, that's it, all kinds of non-intuitive stuff happens there...