Isn't this the offense? Posting lies and threats against another person in written form is illegal, and can be prosecuted.
I'm a bit confused why there hasn't been any mention of legal action against these kids if, in fact, they are posting libelous content. I'm sure that the threat of legal action would do more to deter this type of behavior than any school policies could.
Disclaimer: I am not advocating that you do anything illegal. I would never suggest that anyone break the law, ever, even if it means letting the bad guys get away scott free.
I see that you have already have broken the law and really have no legal recourse available to you...
If this were a Hollywood style movie plot, and there were no laws against such activity
I would suggest investing in some surveillance equipment, some nice black garb, and a little "protection". Find out where the ringleader in London lives. Follow him around for a while, taking a ton of photos. See if you can find any more personal information about him from his computer (you've already hacked, right?). Steal ("borrow") his identity, and run up some credit or bills to recoup your lost investment. Leave him little notes, or make anonymous calls from a payphone to his house or office. Drive him to paranoia, and maybe he will turn himself in to get away from the torment...
Of course this is not my little fantasy world, and such things are likely illegal anywhere in the world (though possibly not Nigeria), I do not advocate doing any of these things.
It really would be cool if it happened though:) Just don't take this post in any regard as a real suggestive action. This is merely a story plot suggestion for any movie producers out there.
This is the best news I've heard in a long time! I really don't understand why people (other than the local cable and telco companies) are against this project. The future is the information infrastructure.
I read a previous post about how many people are going back to dialup from broadband... Of course they are! The broadband that companies currently offer has no added value. Sure, you can download the Paris Hilton video a little faster, but there are fewer and fewer people that see the value in paying 50 bucks a month for faster porn, or faster news feeds. They are realizing that the fatter pipe really means nothing to them unless they can get something of real value out of it.
This is where the Utopia (and other projects around the country) project comes in. It will not only provide the Internet access at half the price and a zillion times faster than anyone else, it will offer all of the services that people need: telephone, television, video-on-demand, etc... and still has room to spare for future innovations/inventions that will make people's lives easier.
to other common ailments also? I wonder if AIDS, Crohn's and other diseases will react to a virus like this...?
This has me excited for future possiblities. These researchers are definitely going in the right direction here. I mean, Mother Nature is a very powerful and resourceful system, she's likely got the cure for a great many other ailments that are affecting society today.
Man, this is absolutely amazing! Who would have thought that a virus as common as the reovirus would be the cure for most cancers that exist?!
Kudos to the chaps over at Oncolytics Biotech! Great work!
I've always been fascinated with the idea of bio-technical interfaces, and I have a pretty healthy knowledge of physics and computer science... and I do have some contacts in the world of biological science.
Someone give me fifty million dollars, and I'll build you some kind of implantable gizmo controller.
Business plan? Wha... this is the nineties, man! We don't need no stinkin' business plan!
The only question now is will Steve Ballmer be capable of covering the sort of distance needed to pull back all these switching governments before collapsing with exhaustion, or is he en route for the Air Miles record?
... get an image in their minds of good ol' Steve bouncing around frantically from one country to another, sweat pouring down his face into his soaked clothing, shouting exhaustedly "Developers! Developers!..."
Did you read the article? Do you understand the implications?
Sure, it would be nice for law enforcement to be able to do anything they wanted to aprehend a criminal, and prove his/her guilt. It would make society a lot less dangerous right? And it would clean up the streets, and lower the burden on the court system, and criminals would tremble in their boots. All of this is great if we lived in a perfect world where power doesn't corrupt, and money isn't the supreme ruler.
Unfortunately we live on planet Earth, where it has been demonstrated a billion times that men (humans for the politically correct) are fallible and are consumed by power and greed. It has been the downfall of civilization after civilization. We today are no different, no matter what some may argue. Give a man the power to do anything he wants, and he will do anything he wants, even at the cost of society or humanity.
The point of Rasch's article is that the FBI is beginning to excercise its imagined "do anything you want" card, and putting several constitutional freedoms at risk.
I suppose that everyone has their opinion, and I do not mean to belittle your views, but I feel very strongly that we should have a society that has freedoms allotted to everyone without discrimination, and is governed by laws that cannot be broken even by law enforcement.
To demonstrate, imagine that you are sleeping in your home with your wife and kids, and at 3:00am a team of FBI agents storm into your house, rifle through all of your documents, terrorize your family at gunpoint calling you a traitor or something, take half of your financial records, and your firstborn son... for evidence.
This example is extreme, but by letting them get away with little illegalities, we are paving the way for them to commit more egregious acts.
I for one welcome our new communist government overlo... oh, wait, we're still a democracy. Hmmm.
You must have missed the cold war. Anyway, communistic may not have been the best word, actually socialistic is more appropriate. And yes, I do equate it with anti-Americanism.
Orrin Hatch seems to be doing everything he can to ensure that the US government and its controlling corporations have absolute control over its citizens at the expense of civil liberties. I do not agree with his actions, and think that many other also do not agree with them. I hope that those that realize his intentions can muster enough votes to get him out of office.
Orrin Hatch is the dumbest ass I've ever known to hold office. He's the one that is leading taxation on the internet, he is a leading proponent of Patriot Act II, and he wants to give the RIAA/MPAA complete power to do anything they want!
UTAHNS TAKE NOTICE! Vote this communist satan incarnate asshole out of office! Please, for the sake of everything decent, get rid of this guy!
I know that Utah is a very republican state, and some may be reluctant to let a democrat win, but think of the damage that Hatch will cause if left in office! A HELL OF A LOT MORE THAN ANY DEMOCRAT WOULD DO! Especially in Utah.
I appeal to my fellow Utahns: Please help me get this anti-American fucktard terrorist Orrin Hatch out of office!
Man, I've already read so many whiney your-a-prick-chrisd posts it's making me sick. Do you know the reasoning behind the decision? No, fuck you, you don't. Do you understand the implications of hiring a former SCO employer? From reading your piss-and-whine posts you obviously don't.
AAAAWWWWW! It's so TEEERRRIBLE! The POOOOOR little SCO employees, who know EXAAACTLY what's going on, can't get a job with Damage Studios... All you whiney assholes shut the fuck up and go hire a SCO employee yourself. It's not chrisd's responsibility to care for the fuckholes that work at SCO, nor to pander to the whiney freaks that complain about him not hiring potentially corrupted and evil people.
Man! I feel like I'm at church, and all of the pious fucks are looking down their noses and whispering about something while looking over at some kid not wearing a tie...
In all of the raving and ranting that most of us frustrated/.ers are doing against the heavy handed tactics of the RIAA, I see that it really doesn't add up to anything. Really. Tomorrow morning the RIAA will send out another thousand lawsuits against another thousand teenagers and granparents, and/. will again rant and rave against it... but what will happen?
Sure, a lot of people will be pissed, and a lot of people will boycott the labels, but how long will that last? After all the smoke clears from the lawsuits the public perception will have been changed from one of believing that it's OK to copy music from the Internet to one of believing that the ONLY way to enjoy music is to pay for it. There will be a lot of hard feelings, but give it six months - a year - and most of those boycotting will go back to buying CDs, or otherwise paying for music.
WHY? Because there is nothing to stop it from happening. The RIAA has millions of dollars to spend on this social engineering campaign, and there is nothing but a small bump in the road (EFF) to get in its way. I submit that the ONLY way to ultimately stop the RIAA from persecuting everyone is to change the law.
Laugh you may, but as another poster pointed out, approximately 57 million people use P2P services. It took 50 million people to elect the president. I'm sure it will take far fewer votes to elect a congressman or senator that won't sell out to the labels or movie industries. I even think that if your current congressman or senator were to receive, say, 5 to 10 thousand letters from their constituents it would not go ignored.
Our (US) government is supposed to be set up to make laws based on the voice of the people NOT the corporations! It is imperative of the people to make its voice known, or suffer the consequences! The people must speak, so please, please, just write a little letter to your congressman or senator. It doesn't have to be long, just a few words to express your position. Make sure you sign it, put it into an envelope, stamp it, and put it in your mailbox.
It's just logical: Teach poor people that family planning is a sin (ie. using condoms, birth control, etc), they will end up having more children. The more children they have, the lower the chances they will have of getting out of poverty.
I lived in Sao Paulo about ten years ago, and it was quite heartbreaking to see some of the families that have dug themselves into such extreme poverty that there is no conceivable way out. I'd see families of 8 to 10 children living inside nothing more than a few pieces of plywood. It sucks.
The truth is that the Catholic Church (and increasingly the protestant churches) have such control over these people that they have a responsibility to help them, not push them further into despair.
It's kind of sickening to walk into a dirty stinky little shed that is a house for 8 people and see a 5-foot statue of the virgin Mary standing at the foot of their bed. I don't say this to be sacreligeous - the statues of Mary and the other saints I'm sure are very precious to these people, and help them make the best of their situation - but what the people of the favelas need is a little direction and education.
Imagine if these people were taught by their church (which they'd listen to, most are religiously fanatical) to be wise about creating a family, that planning is a good thing. Poverty birth rates would drop, people in poverty would be better able to feed their kids, and the family has a greater chance of leaving poverty.
A family in poverty with 8 kids is more likely to stay in poverty than a family with 2 kids.
But that is just the beginning... there are a lot of other things the churches should be teaching, IMO.
Hah! Damn that's funny. From the link provided, the steer roast looks like some library gathering where MIT guys sit around a table and masturbate to porn then watch a bunch of guys mud wrestling each other.
What the hell does this have to do with hot-ass babe filled orgies?
BTW: Orgy is a term to describe lots of people (girls mostly:)) getting together to fuck, suck, and fuck some more.
If you're planning to hit both the east and west coasts, you'll probably end up going through the state of Utah... I know that the SCO building probably isn't much to look at, but you could piss on their front lawn, or on McBride's car. Now that would be something to talk about back in Aussieland!
1: "Yeah mate, I pissed on McBride's car!"
2: "Cool!"
Holy shit! That would be another great idea in the series of Mr. Bean movies. I can't wait to go see the new secret agent movie (whatever it's called) - I loved the first movie he was in, and think that he would be perfect in this type of movie.
Whereas programming is a means to an end. The people at the top want something does XYZ, and whether it is an American, and Indian, or a smart robot on the moon, the end result is going to be something that does XYZ.
Logic, Math, manpower, etc - all basic skills can be outsourced - but the executives at the top do more than that and are much harder to outsource.
This is true, but the question is not about how top executives are in danger of losing their jobs, it is the programmers who work for the executives that are getting the boot.
While many unemployed computer programmers in the States and Europe could go out and start up their own westernized culture business, the reality is that most won't - successfully.
It is nice to think that the US and the rest of the modern western world will become the executives to the new global marketplace, but that is not very realistic. A small percentage I am quite sure will rise to that demand, but most current programmers will simply have to find other careers. I just don't see the demand for millions of top executive positions becoming available in the next couple of years for all of the unemployed American workers to fill.
I personally think that the move to globalization, and open markets is going to hurt the US quite a bit in the short to mid term while the world economy equalizes, but it will help most other countries a lot. When you see the common people in China and India living the same kind of lifestyle as the common people in New Jersey, then I think that things will start to level out.
To be honest, I wasn't very familiar with Scott or his comics, but after having read the article I decided to take a look and try out this micro-payment thing. So I clicked through to the BitPass site, and dropped my Visa number to get a $3.00 credit. Pretty quick and painless. I also noted that Paypal is an option also.
Now, having gone through the payment process, I clicked the button again and was taken right to Scott's comic. The Flash transition of the pages is pretty cool. It's easy to read, and turning the page with the click of a key is not a bad way to read a comic. I even liked the story. It was a good way to start my day, reading a nice little mini novella with a main character that I can relate to - being all into the mathematical probabilities and stuff.
And it was only 25 fucking cents!
I think I'm going to become a regular reader of his comics now, and any other author who can make this kind of cool content available in a cool and affordable way.
I've been reading some posts where people still complain about the stuff not being free, or how the micropayment stuff won't work because sniff, it won't work for teenagers who don't have a credit card, or whine, what about my european currency transfer rate? While it is their right to complain, the fact is that this kind of technology is GOOD. The RIAA and MPAA should take note.
I'm willing to bet that if the RIAA suit is successful (and I think it will be) there will be a lot of press both good and bad that follows, the result of which will be a slightly increased sense of paranoia among file traders who may in the back of their minds be thinking "Will I be next?"
The RIAA no doubt is hoping that this will happen, but I think that this will probably have a negative effect on their organization. After all, hundreds of people having to declare bankruptcy because the RIAA took their lifetime earnings doesn't make a favorable human interest story from the Recording Industry standpoint. Furthermore, most people who currently trade files online (who I believe do buy more CD's because of the "preview" service) I predict will become increasingly resentful of the RIAA and will stop buying their CD's.
I am not by any means a rabid anti-RIAA dog, but I do agree with many on/. that their business practices have become increasingly self-detrimental in the past few years.
I don't think I would enjoy getting smacked upside the spacecraft by a cable going 25,000 MPH faster than me.
Actually, if you look at the designs on the website it seems that the tether would not be moving very fast at all. It would be spinning in the opposite direction while traveling in the same direction at a much higher speed. I would imagine that the astronauts inside the spacecraft would probably just see a big ass cable slowly coming down out of space towards them which would give them time to attach the tether somehow.
I suspect that the real "whiplash" would come when the rotation of the tether is on its way back up, and the tension between the spacecraft and whatever it is attached to becomes taught -- that's going to generate some serious G forces!
As for independent content developers, they could submit material to the network and get paid a royalty based on its popularity. This could spur on many more small projects like the "Blair Witch Projects" and "Clerks". Maybe music would become much more varied because just a few suits aren't deciding what gets played.
Content Developer: Hey Bill, I've got a really cool album I'd like you to distribute...
Bill: Bwaaahhaaha! Give me that damn album and go to hell!
Content Developer:: Uh, but aren't you going to pay me royalties?
Bill: Hah! That's funny. Go fuck yourself.
Yeah, the MSHome would be pretty cool, until you decided that you didn't want to spend half of your yearly salary to upgrade to the new MSHome Family License...
"Daddy, daddy! I can't get out of my room! The door is locked and my cd player keeps calling me a pirate!"
I agree with the fact that albums just cost too damn much, and most aren't even good. It's frustrating to hear a good song on the radio, then go to my local music store and buy the album only to find out that the only good song is the one I heard on the radio.
I am part of the group of people who has been disenchanted with the recording industry for a long time before the DMCA, the P2P 'crisis', and even the CD. For most of my life I have listened to music only on the radio, from cassettes recorded from my friends, and the last cassette album I've ever purchased - OMD's Sugar Tax.
I must say though that with the recent explosion of available music via the Internet, my interest in good music has started to renew. I have sampled several works from many different artists, and I must say that there is some good stuff out there that I was just not privy to before (read Clear Channel), and I am even considering buying a few CDs. I am hesitant to do so at the moment though because of the absolutely demonic way the RIAA is trying to punish their customers. Do I buy the CD's and support this organization and its behavior, or do I continue to hold out and just keep the mediocre.mp3s I've already downloaded?
It's a hassle to have to download the.mp3s, get them organized, and burn them onto a CD when I'm not even sure that it will play reliably in my car... I'd much rather just own the original, and burn a backup to my computer. I do wish that the CDs were a bit less expensive though. This whole damn DMCA-RIAA thing sucks.
I used to be in a very similar situation at this company in Utah. Management had totally fucked themselves and the company, and tried to make all of their development staff (upwards of 100 or so) work extreme hours to compensate. At the same time they had lapsed on payments to 401K, benefits, and had bounced a few paychecks.
I could see what was happening and left, but most of the poor schmucks there stayed, despite not getting paychecks week after week. This is why management can get away with treating programmers like shit. Many of them believe the "Oh, yeah, the money will be in next friday, so you'll get paid then" FUD that they spew.
WAKE UP! If you know that you're on a sinking ship, get the hell outta dodge!
Slashdot Mirror
Isn't this the offense? Posting lies and threats against another person in written form is illegal, and can be prosecuted.
I'm a bit confused why there hasn't been any mention of legal action against these kids if, in fact, they are posting libelous content. I'm sure that the threat of legal action would do more to deter this type of behavior than any school policies could.
Any lawyers care to comment? Non-lawyers?
Disclaimer: I am not advocating that you do anything illegal. I would never suggest that anyone break the law, ever, even if it means letting the bad guys get away scott free.
I see that you have already have broken the law and really have no legal recourse available to you...
If this were a Hollywood style movie plot, and there were no laws against such activity I would suggest investing in some surveillance equipment, some nice black garb, and a little "protection". Find out where the ringleader in London lives. Follow him around for a while, taking a ton of photos. See if you can find any more personal information about him from his computer (you've already hacked, right?). Steal ("borrow") his identity, and run up some credit or bills to recoup your lost investment. Leave him little notes, or make anonymous calls from a payphone to his house or office. Drive him to paranoia, and maybe he will turn himself in to get away from the torment...
Of course this is not my little fantasy world, and such things are likely illegal anywhere in the world (though possibly not Nigeria), I do not advocate doing any of these things.
It really would be cool if it happened though :) Just don't take this post in any regard as a real suggestive action. This is merely a story plot suggestion for any movie producers out there.
This is the best news I've heard in a long time! I really don't understand why people (other than the local cable and telco companies) are against this project. The future is the information infrastructure.
I read a previous post about how many people are going back to dialup from broadband... Of course they are! The broadband that companies currently offer has no added value. Sure, you can download the Paris Hilton video a little faster, but there are fewer and fewer people that see the value in paying 50 bucks a month for faster porn, or faster news feeds. They are realizing that the fatter pipe really means nothing to them unless they can get something of real value out of it.
This is where the Utopia (and other projects around the country) project comes in. It will not only provide the Internet access at half the price and a zillion times faster than anyone else, it will offer all of the services that people need: telephone, television, video-on-demand, etc... and still has room to spare for future innovations/inventions that will make people's lives easier.
I, for one, cannot wait to sign up!
Beating the shit out of people and machines is cool and all, but does Persephone show us her tits?
Now that would make it worth watching, no matter how bad it sucks!
to other common ailments also? I wonder if AIDS, Crohn's and other diseases will react to a virus like this...?
This has me excited for future possiblities. These researchers are definitely going in the right direction here. I mean, Mother Nature is a very powerful and resourceful system, she's likely got the cure for a great many other ailments that are affecting society today.
Man, this is absolutely amazing! Who would have thought that a virus as common as the reovirus would be the cure for most cancers that exist?!
Kudos to the chaps over at Oncolytics Biotech! Great work!
I've always been fascinated with the idea of bio-technical interfaces, and I have a pretty healthy knowledge of physics and computer science... and I do have some contacts in the world of biological science.
Someone give me fifty million dollars, and I'll build you some kind of implantable gizmo controller.
Business plan? Wha... this is the nineties, man! We don't need no stinkin' business plan!
The only question now is will Steve Ballmer be capable of covering the sort of distance needed to pull back all these switching governments before collapsing with exhaustion, or is he en route for the Air Miles record?
Hah! Now that's priceless!
Did you read the article? Do you understand the implications?
Sure, it would be nice for law enforcement to be able to do anything they wanted to aprehend a criminal, and prove his/her guilt. It would make society a lot less dangerous right? And it would clean up the streets, and lower the burden on the court system, and criminals would tremble in their boots. All of this is great if we lived in a perfect world where power doesn't corrupt, and money isn't the supreme ruler.
Unfortunately we live on planet Earth, where it has been demonstrated a billion times that men (humans for the politically correct) are fallible and are consumed by power and greed. It has been the downfall of civilization after civilization. We today are no different, no matter what some may argue. Give a man the power to do anything he wants, and he will do anything he wants, even at the cost of society or humanity.
The point of Rasch's article is that the FBI is beginning to excercise its imagined "do anything you want" card, and putting several constitutional freedoms at risk.
I suppose that everyone has their opinion, and I do not mean to belittle your views, but I feel very strongly that we should have a society that has freedoms allotted to everyone without discrimination, and is governed by laws that cannot be broken even by law enforcement.
To demonstrate, imagine that you are sleeping in your home with your wife and kids, and at 3:00am a team of FBI agents storm into your house, rifle through all of your documents, terrorize your family at gunpoint calling you a traitor or something, take half of your financial records, and your firstborn son... for evidence.
This example is extreme, but by letting them get away with little illegalities, we are paving the way for them to commit more egregious acts.
Are you equating communism with anti-american?
I for one welcome our new communist government overlo... oh, wait, we're still a democracy. Hmmm.
You must have missed the cold war. Anyway, communistic may not have been the best word, actually socialistic is more appropriate. And yes, I do equate it with anti-Americanism.
Orrin Hatch seems to be doing everything he can to ensure that the US government and its controlling corporations have absolute control over its citizens at the expense of civil liberties. I do not agree with his actions, and think that many other also do not agree with them. I hope that those that realize his intentions can muster enough votes to get him out of office.
you sound like some gibbering idiot.
You sound like a Hatch supporter...
Orrin Hatch is the dumbest ass I've ever known to hold office. He's the one that is leading taxation on the internet, he is a leading proponent of Patriot Act II, and he wants to give the RIAA/MPAA complete power to do anything they want!
UTAHNS TAKE NOTICE! Vote this communist satan incarnate asshole out of office! Please, for the sake of everything decent, get rid of this guy!
I know that Utah is a very republican state, and some may be reluctant to let a democrat win, but think of the damage that Hatch will cause if left in office! A HELL OF A LOT MORE THAN ANY DEMOCRAT WOULD DO! Especially in Utah.
I appeal to my fellow Utahns: Please help me get this anti-American fucktard terrorist Orrin Hatch out of office!
Thank you.
Slashdot: A lot of smart people saying a lot of stupid things. And one ugly chick.
Hah! Reminds me of a strip club in Seattle.. can't remember the name, but their slogan is "Hundreds of beautiful women, and one ugly one."
Ah nostalgia! It always brought a smile to my face when I'd drive by it to and from work.
You obviously haven't read a lot of my other posts.
Yep, probably none.. I meant it for everyone, your post just happened to be the convenient one to reply to...
Man, I've already read so many whiney your-a-prick-chrisd posts it's making me sick. Do you know the reasoning behind the decision? No, fuck you, you don't. Do you understand the implications of hiring a former SCO employer? From reading your piss-and-whine posts you obviously don't.
AAAAWWWWW! It's so TEEERRRIBLE! The POOOOOR little SCO employees, who know EXAAACTLY what's going on, can't get a job with Damage Studios... All you whiney assholes shut the fuck up and go hire a SCO employee yourself. It's not chrisd's responsibility to care for the fuckholes that work at SCO, nor to pander to the whiney freaks that complain about him not hiring potentially corrupted and evil people.
Man! I feel like I'm at church, and all of the pious fucks are looking down their noses and whispering about something while looking over at some kid not wearing a tie...
In all of the raving and ranting that most of us frustrated /.ers are doing against the heavy handed tactics of the RIAA, I see that it really doesn't add up to anything. Really. Tomorrow morning the RIAA will send out another thousand lawsuits against another thousand teenagers and granparents, and /. will again rant and rave against it... but what will happen?
Sure, a lot of people will be pissed, and a lot of people will boycott the labels, but how long will that last? After all the smoke clears from the lawsuits the public perception will have been changed from one of believing that it's OK to copy music from the Internet to one of believing that the ONLY way to enjoy music is to pay for it. There will be a lot of hard feelings, but give it six months - a year - and most of those boycotting will go back to buying CDs, or otherwise paying for music.
WHY? Because there is nothing to stop it from happening. The RIAA has millions of dollars to spend on this social engineering campaign, and there is nothing but a small bump in the road (EFF) to get in its way. I submit that the ONLY way to ultimately stop the RIAA from persecuting everyone is to change the law.
Laugh you may, but as another poster pointed out, approximately 57 million people use P2P services. It took 50 million people to elect the president. I'm sure it will take far fewer votes to elect a congressman or senator that won't sell out to the labels or movie industries. I even think that if your current congressman or senator were to receive, say, 5 to 10 thousand letters from their constituents it would not go ignored.
Our (US) government is supposed to be set up to make laws based on the voice of the people NOT the corporations! It is imperative of the people to make its voice known, or suffer the consequences! The people must speak, so please, please, just write a little letter to your congressman or senator. It doesn't have to be long, just a few words to express your position. Make sure you sign it, put it into an envelope, stamp it, and put it in your mailbox.
God bless America!
Indeed.
It's just logical: Teach poor people that family planning is a sin (ie. using condoms, birth control, etc), they will end up having more children. The more children they have, the lower the chances they will have of getting out of poverty.
I lived in Sao Paulo about ten years ago, and it was quite heartbreaking to see some of the families that have dug themselves into such extreme poverty that there is no conceivable way out. I'd see families of 8 to 10 children living inside nothing more than a few pieces of plywood. It sucks.
The truth is that the Catholic Church (and increasingly the protestant churches) have such control over these people that they have a responsibility to help them, not push them further into despair.
It's kind of sickening to walk into a dirty stinky little shed that is a house for 8 people and see a 5-foot statue of the virgin Mary standing at the foot of their bed. I don't say this to be sacreligeous - the statues of Mary and the other saints I'm sure are very precious to these people, and help them make the best of their situation - but what the people of the favelas need is a little direction and education.
Imagine if these people were taught by their church (which they'd listen to, most are religiously fanatical) to be wise about creating a family, that planning is a good thing. Poverty birth rates would drop, people in poverty would be better able to feed their kids, and the family has a greater chance of leaving poverty.
A family in poverty with 8 kids is more likely to stay in poverty than a family with 2 kids.
But that is just the beginning... there are a lot of other things the churches should be teaching, IMO.
What the hell does this have to do with hot-ass babe filled orgies?
BTW: Orgy is a term to describe lots of people (girls mostly :)) getting together to fuck, suck, and fuck some more.
1: "Yeah mate, I pissed on McBride's car!"
2: "Cool!"
Holy shit! That would be another great idea in the series of Mr. Bean movies. I can't wait to go see the new secret agent movie (whatever it's called) - I loved the first movie he was in, and think that he would be perfect in this type of movie.
This is true, but the question is not about how top executives are in danger of losing their jobs, it is the programmers who work for the executives that are getting the boot.
While many unemployed computer programmers in the States and Europe could go out and start up their own westernized culture business, the reality is that most won't - successfully.
It is nice to think that the US and the rest of the modern western world will become the executives to the new global marketplace, but that is not very realistic. A small percentage I am quite sure will rise to that demand, but most current programmers will simply have to find other careers. I just don't see the demand for millions of top executive positions becoming available in the next couple of years for all of the unemployed American workers to fill.
I personally think that the move to globalization, and open markets is going to hurt the US quite a bit in the short to mid term while the world economy equalizes, but it will help most other countries a lot. When you see the common people in China and India living the same kind of lifestyle as the common people in New Jersey, then I think that things will start to level out.
To be honest, I wasn't very familiar with Scott or his comics, but after having read the article I decided to take a look and try out this micro-payment thing. So I clicked through to the BitPass site, and dropped my Visa number to get a $3.00 credit. Pretty quick and painless. I also noted that Paypal is an option also.
Now, having gone through the payment process, I clicked the button again and was taken right to Scott's comic. The Flash transition of the pages is pretty cool. It's easy to read, and turning the page with the click of a key is not a bad way to read a comic. I even liked the story. It was a good way to start my day, reading a nice little mini novella with a main character that I can relate to - being all into the mathematical probabilities and stuff.
And it was only 25 fucking cents!
I think I'm going to become a regular reader of his comics now, and any other author who can make this kind of cool content available in a cool and affordable way.
I've been reading some posts where people still complain about the stuff not being free, or how the micropayment stuff won't work because sniff, it won't work for teenagers who don't have a credit card, or whine, what about my european currency transfer rate? While it is their right to complain, the fact is that this kind of technology is GOOD. The RIAA and MPAA should take note.
The RIAA no doubt is hoping that this will happen, but I think that this will probably have a negative effect on their organization. After all, hundreds of people having to declare bankruptcy because the RIAA took their lifetime earnings doesn't make a favorable human interest story from the Recording Industry standpoint. Furthermore, most people who currently trade files online (who I believe do buy more CD's because of the "preview" service) I predict will become increasingly resentful of the RIAA and will stop buying their CD's.
I am not by any means a rabid anti-RIAA dog, but I do agree with many on /. that their business practices have become increasingly self-detrimental in the past few years.
Actually, if you look at the designs on the website it seems that the tether would not be moving very fast at all. It would be spinning in the opposite direction while traveling in the same direction at a much higher speed. I would imagine that the astronauts inside the spacecraft would probably just see a big ass cable slowly coming down out of space towards them which would give them time to attach the tether somehow.
I suspect that the real "whiplash" would come when the rotation of the tether is on its way back up, and the tension between the spacecraft and whatever it is attached to becomes taught -- that's going to generate some serious G forces!
As for independent content developers, they could submit material to the network and get paid a royalty based on its popularity. This could spur on many more small projects like the "Blair Witch Projects" and "Clerks". Maybe music would become much more varied because just a few suits aren't deciding what gets played.
Content Developer: Hey Bill, I've got a really cool album I'd like you to distribute...
Bill: Bwaaahhaaha! Give me that damn album and go to hell!
Content Developer:: Uh, but aren't you going to pay me royalties?
Bill: Hah! That's funny. Go fuck yourself.
Yeah, the MSHome would be pretty cool, until you decided that you didn't want to spend half of your yearly salary to upgrade to the new MSHome Family License...
"Daddy, daddy! I can't get out of my room! The door is locked and my cd player keeps calling me a pirate!"
I agree with the fact that albums just cost too damn much, and most aren't even good. It's frustrating to hear a good song on the radio, then go to my local music store and buy the album only to find out that the only good song is the one I heard on the radio.
I am part of the group of people who has been disenchanted with the recording industry for a long time before the DMCA, the P2P 'crisis', and even the CD. For most of my life I have listened to music only on the radio, from cassettes recorded from my friends, and the last cassette album I've ever purchased - OMD's Sugar Tax.
I must say though that with the recent explosion of available music via the Internet, my interest in good music has started to renew. I have sampled several works from many different artists, and I must say that there is some good stuff out there that I was just not privy to before (read Clear Channel), and I am even considering buying a few CDs. I am hesitant to do so at the moment though because of the absolutely demonic way the RIAA is trying to punish their customers. Do I buy the CD's and support this organization and its behavior, or do I continue to hold out and just keep the mediocre .mp3s I've already downloaded?
It's a hassle to have to download the .mp3s, get them organized, and burn them onto a CD when I'm not even sure that it will play reliably in my car... I'd much rather just own the original, and burn a backup to my computer. I do wish that the CDs were a bit less expensive though. This whole damn DMCA-RIAA thing sucks.
I used to be in a very similar situation at this company in Utah. Management had totally fucked themselves and the company, and tried to make all of their development staff (upwards of 100 or so) work extreme hours to compensate. At the same time they had lapsed on payments to 401K, benefits, and had bounced a few paychecks.
I could see what was happening and left, but most of the poor schmucks there stayed, despite not getting paychecks week after week. This is why management can get away with treating programmers like shit. Many of them believe the "Oh, yeah, the money will be in next friday, so you'll get paid then" FUD that they spew.
WAKE UP! If you know that you're on a sinking ship, get the hell outta dodge!