It could be a troll. But executives actually do have terrible grammar and spelling skills. Doubly so when using one of those gadgets that businesspeople love; Palms, Blackberrys, and the like. Those tiny keyboards / graffiti systems produce terrible spellings, too...
It could go either way at this point. The best attitude to take is 'wait and see'.
What about the people who originally created these games? Suppose the guy who wrote the music still needs to be paid a couple bucks because of his contract? There's legal hoops to jump through, and it's often just not worth it.
You are absolutely correct. If the game does not get emulated, then the original creator gets 0 ($zero) bucks and no one gets to re-play a favorite game: 0 sum. The game gets emulated, the original creator gets nothing, people get a brief moment of happiness in their grey little lives: +1 sum.
Frankly, I don't give a damn about contractual obligations. If it makes the world a better place without money being involved, then I say go for it. Fun-hating rule-lovers can go elsewhere.
Domestic workers who are out of work will be willing to work for less, thus driving down the cost of locally made goods.
This is an oversimplification. Does this take into account non-wage costs, like workplace safety, environmental concerns, liability insurance, health care, and the like? Will US society be expected to give up its mores & values to compete against the global workforce? You (or the Cato Institute) seems to suggest that this is a good thing. I would be fascinated to hear how we can compete on that level...perhaps the rest of the world will automagically rise to our standards? Do tell.
I'm confused, how does making someone pay me for the time it took to write software "restricting the freedom" or "violating the rights" of your "fellow human beings".
I think you totally missed the point of the parent post. Entirely. Essentially he is saying that "The only way to get extremely rich is to take someone else's share of the economic pie. I do not want to do this."
Sounds about right to me. And now your analogy: If your 'farmer' could only make a big profit by becoming an agri-business that employed illegal migrant worker, then it would be equivalent to the discussion at hand.
Actually, there have been some amazing fan remakes of Kings Quest I&II, and best of all, Quest for Glory II. I've heard rumors of Space Quest remakes as well.
All are well-crafted and will bring back a memory or two. In addition, I've played a few new 'point and click' adventures made with the AGI/SCI engines; check the web, there should be a graphic adventure equivalent to the IF-Archive.
my dad is an attorney, he wants to work on cases, and do legal research and the like, thats what he's interested in, he doesn't want to spend an hour a day figuring out how to share printers/files and send emails, and he doesn't want to have to pay someone $150/hr (emphasis mine) every time he needs to add a printer to his network
But this sentiment comes from a professional that charges well above $150/hr for his services. Excuse me while I bend over backwards to make a free easy-to-use operating system for him. I would suggest that he consider hiring a freelancer/son's friend to help out once a week; give a Linux tech a paycheck in exchange for a shell script to make things easy. The lawyer (and the psychologist, and the office manager) should be willing to give something back to the community at large, and not just expect the community to fix their computer for free.
Is Slashdot shifting its focus from computer gadgets and networks and Linux to nothing more than a political commentary board? How is this story 'News for Nerds'?
Why do librarians zealously fight against the Patriot Act? It is not like books are being taken off the shelf or anything. Just because the cause is not immediately apparent, it is foolish to assume that none exists.
Good advice, if your only purpose in life is to prove your usefulness to someone else. Hence the negative connotations of being called 'a tool.'
Don't scrabble for work like an animal starving for food. Commodotize yourself with respect, and employers will respect you in turn. Desperation only pleases the people-users.
I openly advocate not voting in the hopes that the current political climate will "go away" (not exist because the people no longer recognize it) and we can start with a fresh system.
The last major attempt to ignore the Federal government resulted in just under one million casualties. Something tells me that the modern Federal government is even less likely to allow power to slip out of its collective grasp.
Here's the ringing endorsement from Laura Didio (the anti-RMS, perhaps):
"With the open source community, there are a large percentage of tinkers and 'ankle biters' who are trying their hand at hacking. Some are even communicating with each other. So it only takes one or two of these groups sharing information to be able to pull something off. When you have this type of passion, it's hard to fight because these people are like virtual suicide car bombers."
Very recently I've been offered random DCC-sends a few gigabytes in size. One 3 gigs, the other 4 or so, and I am quite far from anything resembling a trading channel. Now I do not download the casually-offered megafile, but I cannot help but wonder -- is there a connection here?
Any chance that the juicy bits of Windows Media Player are sitting in that code? Breaking that system would make more than a few distributors cry...
Re:Previously Read Books?
on
King Rat
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
You know, I don't think the movie entirely twisted Sagan's point. After all, in more than a few of his books, he relates joy of, and hope in, science as the religion of the future. Sagan's optimism is nothing more than a very strong belief in the 'rightness' of science, is it not?
Also, at the end, it was not science itself that was flawed, but the people in charge of it. That kind of reminds me of why religions suck in the real world...and perhaps that was the point.
But yes, the book was many times better.
==-----==
Re:Previously Read Books?
on
King Rat
·
· Score: 3, Insightful
I just read (and liked, despite myself) American Gods and was hoping to find something new with the same epic feel and mythological flavor, only with a denoument that wasn't as glib...
He bit off more than he could chew. It's very hard to fit such an exestential concept into a story, without the climax (and denoument) being embarassing. Think of the movie Contact, and then consider how much better it would have been with the 'alien encounter' climax written out.
Gaiman is an excellent writer; he just needs a little mental distance from graphic novel plotting, IMHO.
I suggest Gene Wolfe. He creates a tone and atmosphere similar to Gaiman's, with more distance from the present world. Wolfe is very skillful with the written word. The vocabulary and descriptions are amazing.
The frequent Prada shopper does not just shop in one city. They will expect the same level of 'courteous' service in New York, Paris, Los Angeles, and perhaps Milan; these RFID tags will give it to them.
It's not all that bad of an idea. I suspect that these shoppers will not be plagued with advertisements or other spam; they are rich, after all, and not the average dime-a-dozen consumer. The advertisers will be desperate not to offend them.
The ratio to good-looking women to men was 2 to 1.
Welcome to New York City! I am one of six straight men in an office of 400 (Facilities staff not taken into account). It truly is refreshing working with so many women.
However, two points worth taking into account:
*Half are neurotic. Terribly, terribly neurotic.
*Most of the rest are killers looking for someone far above your earning potential.
So come on over! You'll have a great time dating around here.
If they buy land, then they buy it from somebody. The person that has sold the land now has the money in his (or her) pocket.
Who do you think owns the land, a poor farming family?! Most likely it is a wealthy real-estate mogul, or a faceless "holding & mangement" corporation. So technically, yes, the money does change hands; however it changes hands at a level of society out of reach to most people, and thus the money is removed from the economy de facto.
Please, do explain how trickle-down economics will benefit us all....
[SNIP] This is how a company "should" function. [/SNIP]
Yes, and democracy "should" be about the People's Will. Are you here to explain how this view differs from reality, or were you just sharing a worldview that, coincidentally, emphasizes the value of your current job in Management?
[SNIP] A fair amount of suggestions are horribly short sighted, or uninformed. [/SNIP]
And you as a manager do not feel the need to give your employees the correct information? What are the purpose of your meetings, then? Share the benefits of your elevated view of the terrain (to use your own terms) with your coworkers, instead of using it to assert your intellectual superiority over them. I'm sorry if I'm coming across sharply, but I've heard these justifications from so many piss-poor managers that it makes my head spin.
P.S. The workplace is not the military: lives are not lost when the company profits dip. People who think otherwise just make it more unpleasant for the rest of us.
Time to get used to 10+% unemployment, like the rest of us.
No no, that will never happen. As many here on Slashdot here will tell you, America's free market capitalism and dislike of hand-outs will prevent this from happening. Don't ask how -- its simply self-regulating!
Besides, around 9 of your 10% will be in jail on drug charges, anyway........
That only matters if there is revenue flowing, and even then only when above a specified amount. Running a company that makes no money is allowable while collecting unemployment.
There is so much emphasis on teahcers' accountability for how well the students perform, yet they get zero support.
My father resigned from the local school board over this kind of thing. Teachers were getting salary cuts, the art 'classroom' was moved into a janitor's closet, anything to save money.....except when it came to the sports program. New equipment, like wireless headsets for the coaching staff, was generously budgeted.
Out of irritation,,my father offered a motion to permanently suspend the sports programs and put all the money back into education, but the other board members and the local parents thought it was a joke.
Most parents apparently don't give a damn about the quality of education. As long as their boys (and, belatedly, girls) have the opportunity to excel at sports , they will turn out to be outstanding members of society. What can we expect when such people have equal voting power to those that intelligently care? School budgets are the most direct form of democracy that can be found in the US, and the public just Doesn't Give a Damn.
The 'Push' issue was the definitive end of Wired's relevance. I wish I could go back in time and show the author how the world has changed now that porn ads are 'pushed' onto the desktop and spyware 'pushed' into the registry....
Then I would give the aforementioned author the thrashing of a lifetime.
Slashdot Mirror
It could go either way at this point. The best attitude to take is 'wait and see'.
====---=====
You are absolutely correct. If the game does not get emulated, then the original creator gets 0 ($zero) bucks and no one gets to re-play a favorite game: 0 sum. The game gets emulated, the original creator gets nothing, people get a brief moment of happiness in their grey little lives: +1 sum.
Frankly, I don't give a damn about contractual obligations. If it makes the world a better place without money being involved, then I say go for it. Fun-hating rule-lovers can go elsewhere.
========
This is an oversimplification. Does this take into account non-wage costs, like workplace safety, environmental concerns, liability insurance, health care, and the like? Will US society be expected to give up its mores & values to compete against the global workforce? You (or the Cato Institute) seems to suggest that this is a good thing. I would be fascinated to hear how we can compete on that level...perhaps the rest of the world will automagically rise to our standards? Do tell.
===========
I think you totally missed the point of the parent post. Entirely. Essentially he is saying that "The only way to get extremely rich is to take someone else's share of the economic pie. I do not want to do this."
Sounds about right to me. And now your analogy: If your 'farmer' could only make a big profit by becoming an agri-business that employed illegal migrant worker, then it would be equivalent to the discussion at hand.
==============
All are well-crafted and will bring back a memory or two. In addition, I've played a few new 'point and click' adventures made with the AGI/SCI engines; check the web, there should be a graphic adventure equivalent to the IF-Archive.
===========
But this sentiment comes from a professional that charges well above $150/hr for his services. Excuse me while I bend over backwards to make a free easy-to-use operating system for him. I would suggest that he consider hiring a freelancer/son's friend to help out once a week; give a Linux tech a paycheck in exchange for a shell script to make things easy. The lawyer (and the psychologist, and the office manager) should be willing to give something back to the community at large, and not just expect the community to fix their computer for free.
==========
Why do librarians zealously fight against the Patriot Act? It is not like books are being taken off the shelf or anything. Just because the cause is not immediately apparent, it is foolish to assume that none exists.
====--=====
Don't scrabble for work like an animal starving for food. Commodotize yourself with respect, and employers will respect you in turn. Desperation only pleases the people-users.
==-------=====
The last major attempt to ignore the Federal government resulted in just under one million casualties. Something tells me that the modern Federal government is even less likely to allow power to slip out of its collective grasp.
==---==
Here's the ringing endorsement from Laura Didio (the anti-RMS, perhaps):
"With the open source community, there are a large percentage of tinkers and 'ankle biters' who are trying their hand at hacking. Some are even communicating with each other. So it only takes one or two of these groups sharing information to be able to pull something off. When you have this type of passion, it's hard to fight because these people are like virtual suicide car bombers."
=====
==========
Also, at the end, it was not science itself that was flawed, but the people in charge of it. That kind of reminds me of why religions suck in the real world...and perhaps that was the point.
But yes, the book was many times better.
==-----==
He bit off more than he could chew. It's very hard to fit such an exestential concept into a story, without the climax (and denoument) being embarassing. Think of the movie Contact, and then consider how much better it would have been with the 'alien encounter' climax written out.
Gaiman is an excellent writer; he just needs a little mental distance from graphic novel plotting, IMHO.
I suggest Gene Wolfe. He creates a tone and atmosphere similar to Gaiman's, with more distance from the present world. Wolfe is very skillful with the written word. The vocabulary and descriptions are amazing.
===========
The frequent Prada shopper does not just shop in one city. They will expect the same level of 'courteous' service in New York, Paris, Los Angeles, and perhaps Milan; these RFID tags will give it to them.
It's not all that bad of an idea. I suspect that these shoppers will not be plagued with advertisements or other spam; they are rich, after all, and not the average dime-a-dozen consumer. The advertisers will be desperate not to offend them.
==============
Welcome to New York City! I am one of six straight men in an office of 400 (Facilities staff not taken into account). It truly is refreshing working with so many women.
However, two points worth taking into account:
*Most of the rest are killers looking for someone far above your earning potential.
So come on over! You'll have a great time dating around here.
==---------==
I guess you don't use your PC for anything other than internet browsing....
======
Who do you think owns the land, a poor farming family?! Most likely it is a wealthy real-estate mogul, or a faceless "holding & mangement" corporation. So technically, yes, the money does change hands; however it changes hands at a level of society out of reach to most people, and thus the money is removed from the economy de facto.
Please, do explain how trickle-down economics will benefit us all....
==--------==
Yes, and democracy "should" be about the People's Will. Are you here to explain how this view differs from reality, or were you just sharing a worldview that, coincidentally, emphasizes the value of your current job in Management?
[SNIP] A fair amount of suggestions are horribly short sighted, or uninformed. [/SNIP]
And you as a manager do not feel the need to give your employees the correct information? What are the purpose of your meetings, then? Share the benefits of your elevated view of the terrain (to use your own terms) with your coworkers, instead of using it to assert your intellectual superiority over them. I'm sorry if I'm coming across sharply, but I've heard these justifications from so many piss-poor managers that it makes my head spin.
P.S. The workplace is not the military: lives are not lost when the company profits dip. People who think otherwise just make it more unpleasant for the rest of us.
==---------------==
No no, that will never happen. As many here on Slashdot here will tell you, America's free market capitalism and dislike of hand-outs will prevent this from happening. Don't ask how -- its simply self-regulating!
Besides, around 9 of your 10% will be in jail on drug charges, anyway........
==-----------==
==--------==
=-------=
My father resigned from the local school board over this kind of thing. Teachers were getting salary cuts, the art 'classroom' was moved into a janitor's closet, anything to save money.....except when it came to the sports program. New equipment, like wireless headsets for the coaching staff, was generously budgeted.
Out of irritation, ,my father offered a motion to permanently suspend the sports programs and put all the money back into education, but the other board members and the local parents thought it was a joke.
Most parents apparently don't give a damn about the quality of education. As long as their boys (and, belatedly, girls) have the opportunity to excel at sports , they will turn out to be outstanding members of society. What can we expect when such people have equal voting power to those that intelligently care? School budgets are the most direct form of democracy that can be found in the US, and the public just Doesn't Give a Damn.
============
It takes one to know one.
=-----------=
Then I would give the aforementioned author the thrashing of a lifetime.
=------=