The world of high finance has become just a bunch of racks frantically swapping bits around.
Yet when it screws up, the shocks are felt everywhere, for some reason.
Something is sick on this planet, when automated behaviour of electronic systems decide who eats, who can buy a new mansion, who gets a miserably low pension, whose house is going to be taken away and who's going to pocket a billion dollars in profit.
I'm more and more coming over to the side of those that say the whole finance sector is parasitic in nature and needs to be destroyed.
I'm 32, When I was in college in the mid 90s we were using mp3s. Not distributing over the internet because modems were slow, but yeah. Things move on fast. MP3 hasn't killed the music industry any more than betamax killed Hollywood.
As for reading on devices, reading a book on a screen would be a time-limiting experience for me. Print is just kinder on the eyes, though I'm sure the passive displays on reader devices are more comfortable...
Bah. I don't hate the devices, but I'm not going to be buying into them. I like the physical artifact and I don't like the idea of any sort of DRM, ever, so nobody pushing that crap is getting a penny out of me.
(Really, two weeks? I'm a bit envious of those who have enough free time for reading to reliably finish books in only two weeks...)"
At the moment I'm through three or four in that time.
It's true, I have no kids, wife or currently very much of a social life (I'm just moved countries).
The restriction still seems ridiculous though, what if it's not at the top of my pile. I frequently lend or borrow real books on the understanding that they'll be returned when they're done with. And often they'll go around one or two other folks before coming back. That is when they often go missing, but hey, that's all part of the circle of life or some shit.
If this was really a case of technology enabling rather than restricting, you'd be able to lend indefinitely and as often as you wanted, so long as only one copy existed at a time. And technology could tel lyou where the fricken' license is when you ge thte urge to re-read that awesome book you think you lent out to Jim, but Jim swears he gave it back or maybe gave it to Fred, who thinks he had it six months ago but it may have gone to Janey, who swears blind she never saw the damn thing and you wouldn't care only you had to hunt that one down specially and it cost 50 bucks, but I suppose it's out there somewhere now....
Go, I can't imagine having to keep track of stuff like that.
Important stuff (Bills, rental contracts, documents) get stuffed in one of a collection of loosely categorised folders. Everything else stays in my head if it's important, not if it isn't.
Photos - I'm a sporadic camera carrier and even more sporadic picture taker. I have a random selection of pictures. They are kept in a directory tree on my computer. No there is no naming convention.
I don't keep a calendar. I don't track my hobbies. I just do stuff. Why would I want to be enslaved to record keeping?
Yes, downloading a piece of software packaged and tested by your OS vendor, from a trusted source with a key infrastructure to ensure you get what you're supposed to... That's exactly the same as just grabbing software from the web.
It's not dick measuring, it's practicality and security. Moron.
"Downloading an rpm or a deb package from a repository is - wait for it - "downloading an installer" from a "website""
Nah, it's downloading a package from a central repo, it's not going to the individual site, hunting around for what you want and tehn trying to install it. It's going to work with your system and you use the OS tools to achieve it.
I'm not saying it's superior, I don't give a crap one way or another about how people install flash. I just felt the need to stick my oar in there.
The N900 does actually connect to the tv. Sure, with wires, but still. It also connects just fine to Mac, Windows and Linux machines I have, allowing them all net access and/or file transfer. It also picks up DLNA servers in the house and can use them as media sources.
Nokia do a lot of things right. They've lost direction a bit over the last few years and the number of models they have now is just ridiculous, but if someone tightens the reigns and sorts out the business side, they've proven time and again how capable they are of producing solid, working devices with great user experience.
"as the only one of the platforms with open code access,"
Maemo. N900.
If you are ethically solf on GPL/FOSS then it si about the best option (that actually works) right now. If you're hardcore then you can find a second hand Openmoko, but I'd advise against it.
The N900 is also an awesome phone and open by design, root access is granted with an installable app and not by a hack, the packing system and graphical software installer are apt based... it's a full linux. It rocks.
Look, it's easy, are you putting your soul into the music?
That's all I give a crap about.
You can hold your opinion on what's worthwhile and base it on what's popular if you feel that need. Me, I'll be listening to something made with feeling and musical skill behind it rather than something a tune designed to have an irritating hook and be sung by pretty airheads.
If you truly believe that popularity and quality are related then....
"Yes, some of you may hate the fakeness and prefer "real", but as said, what is real? Most music gets polished before release and is written to be sold. So the artists writes what he thinks will sell. Only a tiny handful produce music absolutely only because they want to with not a single thought for the audience. And even if that audience is a non-paying one, pandering for regonizition makes the product just as "fake". That is why so many people complain about the Tate. Why does every piece of non-commerical art have to to be so bloody big? Status? If you produce art for the status, you are no different then when you make something for the mass market. "
So you see no difference between a company getting together, designing a pop star from the ground up to remove money from wallets, and... say... Hendrix or Lennon? Neil young? Pink Floyd? Clapton?
If that's your opinion, well great. I'll go for talented musicians putting their hearts and souls into the music
Slashdot Mirror
Errr....
Sure you can charge money for aftermarket addons for cars!
Or were you thinking of things like reflashing car firmware to remove speed limiters and the like?
Grass root movement?
You mean the Palin/Beck party?
Lol.
Wasn't seamonkey descended from the old mozilla suite?
The one they ditched and rewrote because of bloat?
Irony.
Thanks for that!
I've had to rebuild my kernel and test it 15 times this evening and that has helped the time pass marvellously!
Interesting and thoughtful writing. Could use more Bill & Ted ;)
What I came here to say.
George would be convinced that she'd tracked down this Calvin Klein and had some out-of-wedlock with him.
I'm not a leftie. Neither am I anti-capitalist. I just think the level of abstraction from doing anything in the least bit worthwhile here is... nuts.
the part where it's running on a mainframe?
(Yeah, I have no idea whether the stock exchange has anything to do with mainframes, but I know you can put linux on 'em)
The world of high finance has become just a bunch of racks frantically swapping bits around.
Yet when it screws up, the shocks are felt everywhere, for some reason.
Something is sick on this planet, when automated behaviour of electronic systems decide who eats, who can buy a new mansion, who gets a miserably low pension, whose house is going to be taken away and who's going to pocket a billion dollars in profit.
I'm more and more coming over to the side of those that say the whole finance sector is parasitic in nature and needs to be destroyed.
*applause*
"I'm 35. When I was in college in the mid-90s"
I'm 32, When I was in college in the mid 90s we were using mp3s. Not distributing over the internet because modems were slow, but yeah. Things move on fast. MP3 hasn't killed the music industry any more than betamax killed Hollywood.
As for reading on devices, reading a book on a screen would be a time-limiting experience for me. Print is just kinder on the eyes, though I'm sure the passive displays on reader devices are more comfortable...
Bah. I don't hate the devices, but I'm not going to be buying into them. I like the physical artifact and I don't like the idea of any sort of DRM, ever, so nobody pushing that crap is getting a penny out of me.
(Really, two weeks? I'm a bit envious of those who have enough free time for reading to reliably finish books in only two weeks...)"
At the moment I'm through three or four in that time.
It's true, I have no kids, wife or currently very much of a social life (I'm just moved countries).
The restriction still seems ridiculous though, what if it's not at the top of my pile. I frequently lend or borrow real books on the understanding that they'll be returned when they're done with. And often they'll go around one or two other folks before coming back. That is when they often go missing, but hey, that's all part of the circle of life or some shit.
If this was really a case of technology enabling rather than restricting, you'd be able to lend indefinitely and as often as you wanted, so long as only one copy existed at a time. And technology could tel lyou where the fricken' license is when you ge thte urge to re-read that awesome book you think you lent out to Jim, but Jim swears he gave it back or maybe gave it to Fred, who thinks he had it six months ago but it may have gone to Janey, who swears blind she never saw the damn thing and you wouldn't care only you had to hunt that one down specially and it cost 50 bucks, but I suppose it's out there somewhere now....
You had 1s?
Luxury! When I was a lad we had to program everything using only zeros!
Neither do I.
Go, I can't imagine having to keep track of stuff like that.
Important stuff (Bills, rental contracts, documents) get stuffed in one of a collection of loosely categorised folders. Everything else stays in my head if it's important, not if it isn't.
Photos - I'm a sporadic camera carrier and even more sporadic picture taker. I have a random selection of pictures. They are kept in a directory tree on my computer. No there is no naming convention.
I don't keep a calendar. I don't track my hobbies. I just do stuff. Why would I want to be enslaved to record keeping?
Yes, downloading a piece of software packaged and tested by your OS vendor, from a trusted source with a key infrastructure to ensure you get what you're supposed to... That's exactly the same as just grabbing software from the web.
It's not dick measuring, it's practicality and security. Moron.
"Downloading an rpm or a deb package from a repository is - wait for it - "downloading an installer" from a "website""
Nah, it's downloading a package from a central repo, it's not going to the individual site, hunting around for what you want and tehn trying to install it. It's going to work with your system and you use the OS tools to achieve it.
I'm not saying it's superior, I don't give a crap one way or another about how people install flash. I just felt the need to stick my oar in there.
Eh?
The N900 does actually connect to the tv. Sure, with wires, but still. It also connects just fine to Mac, Windows and Linux machines I have, allowing them all net access and/or file transfer. It also picks up DLNA servers in the house and can use them as media sources.
Nokia do a lot of things right. They've lost direction a bit over the last few years and the number of models they have now is just ridiculous, but if someone tightens the reigns and sorts out the business side, they've proven time and again how capable they are of producing solid, working devices with great user experience.
Why do people insist on ignoring Maemo on the N900?
And yet openmoko is mentioned... Yes it is an open device but it's also a pile of (&*$.
(I owned one, it's how I know)
"as the only one of the platforms with open code access,"
Maemo. N900.
If you are ethically solf on GPL/FOSS then it si about the best option (that actually works) right now. If you're hardcore then you can find a second hand Openmoko, but I'd advise against it.
The N900 is also an awesome phone and open by design, root access is granted with an installable app and not by a hack, the packing system and graphical software installer are apt based... it's a full linux. It rocks.
I have no doubt at all that you are correct.
You just forget how damned many of us there are in the cities. You'll run out of ammo eventually!
Look, it's easy, are you putting your soul into the music?
That's all I give a crap about.
You can hold your opinion on what's worthwhile and base it on what's popular if you feel that need. Me, I'll be listening to something made with feeling and musical skill behind it rather than something a tune designed to have an irritating hook and be sung by pretty airheads.
If you truly believe that popularity and quality are related then....
ROFLMAO!!!
Yes, because your right of center president is clearly exactly the type to set up a propaganda wing to gho with his massive, overbearing police state.
Get out of the pigpen once in a while Cletus.
If you're making squeaky, saccharine, money-grabbing crap music, yes.
"Yes, some of you may hate the fakeness and prefer "real", but as said, what is real? Most music gets polished before release and is written to be sold. So the artists writes what he thinks will sell. Only a tiny handful produce music absolutely only because they want to with not a single thought for the audience. And even if that audience is a non-paying one, pandering for regonizition makes the product just as "fake". That is why so many people complain about the Tate. Why does every piece of non-commerical art have to to be so bloody big? Status? If you produce art for the status, you are no different then when you make something for the mass market. "
So you see no difference between a company getting together, designing a pop star from the ground up to remove money from wallets, and ... say ... Hendrix or Lennon? Neil young? Pink Floyd? Clapton?
If that's your opinion, well great. I'll go for talented musicians putting their hearts and souls into the music
William Gibson's Idoru too, back in '96. I don't think the idea of having entirely synthetic pop-idols is that new...
Street Gangs vs. Angry Farmers.
I'd pay to see that movie!