There's no set of rules one could come up with that SOME clever \ devious person couldn't find a way to exploit. I think the schools could challenege this, personally. I'm sure the RIAA was basing how much the shipments were worth based solely on their sticker price - and the fact that they have thousands of unsold copies of these CDs would make a strong argument that their actual value is far less than what the RIAA claims. That, and sending CDs with explicit lyrics, which ANY reasonable person would consider an unacceptable gift to schools or public libraries.
It's kind of sweet, how the people in charge are attempting to put some kind of positive face on this. Yes, they DID get a lot of CDs, and they might potentially be able to sell them (at pennies on the dollar) in fundraising. But in the meantime, what's it going to COST the schools \ libraries dealing with the mess? Cataloging and storage isn't cheap. I wouldn't be surprised if, in the end, this ended up costing the schools (and therefore, the taxpaying public the RIAA was originally convicted of ripping off) more money than it brings in.
You can almost imagine some high mucky-muck at the RIAA laughing maniacally and twirling his moustache as he pronounced this.
Either\or. I just hate hearing about the government flushing our money down the tubes with projects that never go anywhere. I'm not JUST talking software. WHATEVER the government produces with our money should be released back to us when the government is done with it. Software just makes such a great example since it costs nothing to release the source code.
or is it inexpressibly sad that this ISN'T a no-brainer? That so many people apparently have no problem with the government taking our tax money and using it to fund projects that never see the light of day? Whatever the government uses my money for, unless releasing it endangers national security, it SHOULD be released for the public to use. We paid for it, after all. And the private sector can undoubtedly come up with applications for it the government didn't think of. Everybody wins.
It's a 486DX4/75 laptop w\ full docking station. (back in the days when a docking station was huge and literally converted the laptop into a desktop) I have it up and running as a fully functional backup desktop computer. It's got Windows 95 and can surf the web (Netscape 4) and even play music through Winamp. And it's on the network. So if I've got my main box offline for maintenence or reinstalls or something, I'm over on the 486. Or, I pop the laptop section out if I want to write, so I can get comfy on the couch.
So, I really don't have anything to add, just to point out that you don't even have to convert old 486s into routers or something - they can do basic computer tasks just fine on their own. I can't play Quake on mine, but I can do everything else.
So in other words, instead of at least attempting to keep a level playing field, we should go on admit that it's impossible for a small label to get any air time and go ahead and let the Big Five buy up all the radio waves that matter?
Maybe you only listen to RIAA music, but I'd rather see my favorite smaller labels at least have a tiny chance to still compete.
If I ran a bank, and my method of storing my money was in a big pile in the middle of the floor, I would go out of business. I could whine and cry about the theives all day, but in the end, it's my own damn fault for leaving the money out where anyone can take it. And I sure as hell shouldn't be able to lobby the government to remove people's hands, to protect my right to leave my money lying out in the open.
Re:Ken Brown is an Intellectual Property Pirate!
on
Stallman vs Ken Brown
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· Score: 1
Sorry, I think it's a law of Slashdot that your Funny posts will be modded Insightful, and vice-versa.
Agreed, Solaris is (eventually) a good movie. However, to be honest, when watching it I skip the first act entirely. It doesn't really get watchable 'til he reaches the station. (and what was the point of 10 minutes of driving?)
Agreed. I have a pretty good grasp on 20th-Cen composition, and the frightning thing is that some of those pieces are better than some avante garde stuff I've listened to.
Granted, that probably says more about the composers (*cough*cage*cough*) than cellular automata.
The site is already Slashdotted (with 1 comment!) but it's very simple to describe. He turned a 1988 Macintosh into one of the computers from Gilliam's movie "Brazil." Truly impressive piece of work.
Bull$hit. "Essential Interests" is a term which is so broad as to be completely meaningless. It's a catch-all which basically means all the governments can selectively turn down whatever requests happen to catch their fancy, but lays down no requirement or codified standards which are used to make that assessment.
And beyond that, I REALLY have to ask, are you actually so naive as to believe anything a government spokesperson says on the subject of a law which will increase the government's power?
The spider isn't going to mention how sticky her web is either...
...So it's OK to let people in to spew slanted propaganda at our children, just as long as we're reasonably sure that not TOO MANY will get sucked into believing what they're told?
That it's OK to lie to kids in school since they won't believe it anyway?
That is a flawed argument. Examine the various implications of the word "deserves."
Also consider that, by that same basic logic, we all deserve to die of viruses if they are more capable than our immune systems. Would you argue that medicine is just immorally saving the lives of people who are getting in the way of evolution?
Any system, no matter how robust, can be susceptible to outside factors. That does not mean these outside factors "deserve" survival more; they are simply the newest thing and must be evaluated in and of themselves.
"Saudi Arabia says explicitly that they censor the internet to preserve their Islamic culture and heritage, which is a pretty valid claim to make," explained the lab's Graeme Bunton.
No it's not. If Islam was a dying thing, like say the aboriginal cultures in Australia, then perhaps there would be an argument there. But religions are always passing converts back and forth. At the moment, IIRC, Islam has some of the highest conversion rates TO it. Which means "Islamic culture" is really in very little danger of going away, and there's no need to "preserve" it.
Plus, cultures are evolving things. American, Chinese, Islamic, whoever. Compare the governments in the Middle East around 1500 to what we have today. You could easily make the arguement that getting rid of the Princes and opening the country up is REALLY preserving Islamic Culture. (preserving it from the corrupt clerics, of course)
It's all just a front for cynical politicians to control their populations in the name of God. As far as I'm concerned, the Chinese have more moral justification, since they're just operating under the "It's my party..." defense.
(disclaimer: respects all religions, disrespects all hypocrits)
Right. The problem, if I recall, is one of volume. It isn't good as a deep-sea breathing solution because you'd need to haul around a tank the size of a swimming pool to be able to breathe for any reasonable period of time.
Well, according to all the making-of stuff on the Abyss DVD, they really submerged a rat in the stuff and filmed it breathing. So unless they were flat-out lying, it's real.
And besides that, if you watch the scene in question, there's just no way they could've built such a lifelike robo-rat. At least, not cheaply enough to make it worth the cost, compared to just faking the effect.
Yeah... We are almost certain Microsoft loses money for every X-Box sold (probably more with the new price cut), but are supposed to immediately believe them when they say "pirates" are the problem.
The "razor blade" model ONLY works if the razor is useless without the blades. THEY produced a product which could be put to legitimate uses without ever paying them another dime, therefore it's THEIR problem if they're losing money. They had a bad business model for the X-Box, and that's the end of it. They're just hiding behind laws to try to cover up for that.
And this is coming from a guy who uses his Dreamcast in creative ways, yet has never pirated a DC game in his life. I just use it to play homebrew games, and using ScummVM to convert my LucasArts games to console versions. (yes, playing Sam & Max on a TV screen is way cool...)
And I have no doubt that it's not in any way coincidental. Online music in *any* form threatens the RIAA and the nice, comfortable distribution system they've gotten set up. Especially now that they're starting to make inroads on shutting down independent music stores as well.
If only more people in the government would wake up and realize that there is simply no logical sense to anything the RIAA has done in the last few years, EXCEPT if the end goal is to prevent competition from any other distribution outlets from arising. (and, accordingly, continue further tightning the distributions methods that currently exist) But instead, half of them are bought off, and the other half blindly buy these Boy-Who-Cried-Pirate stories without doing much research.
Is that this will likely be used as ammunition to "prove" that no one wants to buy downloadable music. "Oh alack and alas," I can hear them sigh, "We, the lowly and humble record industry did so TRY to sell music on the Internet, surely we did, but those evil pirates just refuse to buy songs they can download for free!"
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There's no set of rules one could come up with that SOME clever \ devious person couldn't find a way to exploit. I think the schools could challenege this, personally. I'm sure the RIAA was basing how much the shipments were worth based solely on their sticker price - and the fact that they have thousands of unsold copies of these CDs would make a strong argument that their actual value is far less than what the RIAA claims. That, and sending CDs with explicit lyrics, which ANY reasonable person would consider an unacceptable gift to schools or public libraries.
You can almost imagine some high mucky-muck at the RIAA laughing maniacally and twirling his moustache as he pronounced this.
Either\or. I just hate hearing about the government flushing our money down the tubes with projects that never go anywhere. I'm not JUST talking software. WHATEVER the government produces with our money should be released back to us when the government is done with it. Software just makes such a great example since it costs nothing to release the source code.
or is it inexpressibly sad that this ISN'T a no-brainer? That so many people apparently have no problem with the government taking our tax money and using it to fund projects that never see the light of day? Whatever the government uses my money for, unless releasing it endangers national security, it SHOULD be released for the public to use. We paid for it, after all. And the private sector can undoubtedly come up with applications for it the government didn't think of. Everybody wins.
So, I really don't have anything to add, just to point out that you don't even have to convert old 486s into routers or something - they can do basic computer tasks just fine on their own. I can't play Quake on mine, but I can do everything else.
Maybe you only listen to RIAA music, but I'd rather see my favorite smaller labels at least have a tiny chance to still compete.
If I ran a bank, and my method of storing my money was in a big pile in the middle of the floor, I would go out of business. I could whine and cry about the theives all day, but in the end, it's my own damn fault for leaving the money out where anyone can take it. And I sure as hell shouldn't be able to lobby the government to remove people's hands, to protect my right to leave my money lying out in the open.
Sorry, I think it's a law of Slashdot that your Funny posts will be modded Insightful, and vice-versa.
And Natalya Bondarchuk as Hari is just superb.
Granted, that probably says more about the composers (*cough*cage*cough*) than cellular automata.
They say people can't take a joke, but sheesh...
The site is already Slashdotted (with 1 comment!) but it's very simple to describe. He turned a 1988 Macintosh into one of the computers from Gilliam's movie "Brazil." Truly impressive piece of work.
And beyond that, I REALLY have to ask, are you actually so naive as to believe anything a government spokesperson says on the subject of a law which will increase the government's power?
The spider isn't going to mention how sticky her web is either...
That it's OK to lie to kids in school since they won't believe it anyway?
Are we really THAT far gone?
Also consider that, by that same basic logic, we all deserve to die of viruses if they are more capable than our immune systems. Would you argue that medicine is just immorally saving the lives of people who are getting in the way of evolution?
Any system, no matter how robust, can be susceptible to outside factors. That does not mean these outside factors "deserve" survival more; they are simply the newest thing and must be evaluated in and of themselves.
Thank you.
No it's not. If Islam was a dying thing, like say the aboriginal cultures in Australia, then perhaps there would be an argument there. But religions are always passing converts back and forth. At the moment, IIRC, Islam has some of the highest conversion rates TO it. Which means "Islamic culture" is really in very little danger of going away, and there's no need to "preserve" it.
Plus, cultures are evolving things. American, Chinese, Islamic, whoever. Compare the governments in the Middle East around 1500 to what we have today. You could easily make the arguement that getting rid of the Princes and opening the country up is REALLY preserving Islamic Culture. (preserving it from the corrupt clerics, of course) It's all just a front for cynical politicians to control their populations in the name of God. As far as I'm concerned, the Chinese have more moral justification, since they're just operating under the "It's my party..." defense.
(disclaimer: respects all religions, disrespects all hypocrits)
Right. The problem, if I recall, is one of volume. It isn't good as a deep-sea breathing solution because you'd need to haul around a tank the size of a swimming pool to be able to breathe for any reasonable period of time.
And besides that, if you watch the scene in question, there's just no way they could've built such a lifelike robo-rat. At least, not cheaply enough to make it worth the cost, compared to just faking the effect.
I'm too tired of the AF pranks at this point to bother. Could someone let us know if this is legit?
The "razor blade" model ONLY works if the razor is useless without the blades. THEY produced a product which could be put to legitimate uses without ever paying them another dime, therefore it's THEIR problem if they're losing money. They had a bad business model for the X-Box, and that's the end of it. They're just hiding behind laws to try to cover up for that.
And this is coming from a guy who uses his Dreamcast in creative ways, yet has never pirated a DC game in his life. I just use it to play homebrew games, and using ScummVM to convert my LucasArts games to console versions. (yes, playing Sam & Max on a TV screen is way cool...)
If only more people in the government would wake up and realize that there is simply no logical sense to anything the RIAA has done in the last few years, EXCEPT if the end goal is to prevent competition from any other distribution outlets from arising. (and, accordingly, continue further tightning the distributions methods that currently exist) But instead, half of them are bought off, and the other half blindly buy these Boy-Who-Cried-Pirate stories without doing much research.
Is that this will likely be used as ammunition to "prove" that no one wants to buy downloadable music. "Oh alack and alas," I can hear them sigh, "We, the lowly and humble record industry did so TRY to sell music on the Internet, surely we did, but those evil pirates just refuse to buy songs they can download for free!"
I know it's bad form to reply to sigs, but I just have to say, that one is SUPER lucky!