Perhaps a case can be made if the current copyright system could be shown to produce a larger variety of higher quality material than its predecessor but I've yet to see that argument made, or at least made convincingly.
Quite the opposite. The current system encourage the mass production of a large quantity of low quality material in an effort to a) reap the rewards of scale (Even if only 1 in 1,000 like this, in an audience of millions I can make some money) or b) to try and flood the market with concepts and ideas so that any following work of quality will be exposed to lawsuits. (I'm suing Rowling for her 'Harry Potter' novels because I wrote a book about a wizard with a pet owl.)
because it always was 50% likely that a child is a boy.
Actually, the human sex ratio is generally rounded off to be 105 boys to 100 girls. That's if you're talking about true birth ratio. If you add sex-selective abortion and infanticide, common in some countries, the current world wide sex ratio is estimated at 107 boys to 100 girls.
Shatner for GG? He's not even the best option from the Star Trek cast!
James Montgomery "Jimmy" Doohan (Scotty!) would've been a far better GG. At least he was a member of the Royal Canadian Artillery. He was one of the soldiers storming the beach at the invasion of Normandy at Juno Beach on D-Day. (Have you seen 'Saving Private Ryan'? Well, Scotty was one of those soldiers. And he survived, despite being shot six times.) Now, that's a man I could respect as Governor General. And if Canada ran into trouble, we could always count on him "giving all he's got".
Because of long-ignored internal contradictions, however, the American research enterprise has become so severely dysfunctional that it actively prevents the great majority of the young Americans aspiring to do research from realizing their dreams.
You missed the worst part of this case. Because the student was worried about missing out on classes and losing a years worth of university work, he pled guilty to 'non-criminal charges' and paid a $3,000 so he wouldn't lose any more time. In other words, he plead guilty to "not breaking the law" and accepted a fine.
You may ask, what would he plead guilty to? Well, when the Police first came in and asked him where the meth was, where the explosives were, he "refused" to show them, instead claiming he had no such thing. But since the Police found materials that could be used to "potentially" make explosives, obviously he was "withholding information". Never mind that the average garage has materials that could be used to make explosives.
This was just so stupid on so many levels, but as the OP mentioned, it's pretty much another huge disincentive to science.
I've met people 20 years ago who moved away from Vancouver in 1980 because they were scared of the big earthquake that will come ANY DAY NOW!
And I assume you'll be first in line to congratulate their wisdom when it does come? Assuming you survive, of course? Remember, this isn't like getting hit by a drunk driver where there is a % chance it *might* happen. The earthquake is going to happen, 100%. The only variable is when.
Well, if you're trying to hire an assassin, they come as cheap as $500, but if you want a professional, expect to shell out more in the realm of $10,000. But quite honestly, humans will kill each other for a lot less. Even the most ardent "pro-lifer" will kill for free in the right circumstances...
I'm the IT manager for a fashion company and as far as I can tell there is not much point in copy protection in our market. A range lasts only 3 months (ie a 'season') so by the time something new is out and proven popular it's too late to copy it because we're already moving onto the next season.
You're confusing the disease with the cure by saying "Well, IP protection wouldn't affect this industry." It's the opposite, the industry is the way it is because it doesn't have IP protection. In an industry without IP protection, you have to survive by continuing to innovate, by continuing to add value, thus the 3 month cycle. If fashion did have the same IP protection of software, we'd all still be wearing the dominant fashions from a decade ago.
But if you're not a good husband and father to the people you promised to be a good husband and father to, then you have lost a significant amount of respect from me.
A chimpanzee can be a good father. A horse can be a good father. A mouse can be a good father. And yet that's one of your major factors in determining if someone can be a good man?
Taking good care of your spawn is a positive trait, sure, but when I judge a man, I judge how he stands out among men, and by any standard, Mark Twain is a good man.
P.S. I have a dog that's probably a better father than you are. Does that make him a better man than you?
Now more to what the article is about Mohammed and his images. Problem here from a muslim perspective is not freedom of speech. According to Muslim faith images of his and other revered muslim figures are forbidden, lest they spiral into idol worship. God and god alone is to be worshiped.
Do you, or any Muslim, actually think the images of Mohammed are going to be worshiped? Because that's the part that makes no sense in all this.
If the Qur'an said "Don't make images of Mohammed" then I can kinda understand. But it says "Don't make images of Mohammed because you shouldn't worship images." Guess what! Not one of the drawings of Mohammed is going to be worshiped. I guarantee you this. So any Muslim with half a brain should be able to look at a drawing of Mohammed with a bomb in his turban and say "No one's going to worship that, so no problem."
Ahh, but the reality is that Muslims do not want a picture of Mohammed being mocked. Nothing about that in the Qur'an, but that doesn't stop many from twisting the words of Mohammed around and using it to incite religious fervor.
And it's for this reason I support the Facebook page. Freedom of religion is important. But it's also important that Freedom of religion not be allowed to override freedom of speech and thought.
Wish I had mod points for you. That's exactly what I was thinking... It's the classic one where the guy leaps off the top of a building. And as he falls, passing each floor, the people on that floor can hear him saying "So far, so good...".
"It would be a huge disaster if it entered the Loop Current. But it's still 10 miles away, so relax." "It's still 5 miles away. Relax" "It's still 2 miles away. Relax".
And we're still how far from a viable solution to plug the leak? Weeks?
That's a common misconception. While there isn't much direct money involved in a cure, the drug companies still come out way ahead. If people don't die (and aren't even sick really) from cancer, they are more likely to buy other products, such as Viagra, that the drug companies are pushing.
Well, when I submitted this story, I included a quote from the main researcher...
The most interesting part of the story is that the breakthrough was originally discovered in 2007, but tests have taken so long to advance because no one would profit. From the article "Michelakis notes that all of the studies they've undertaken thus far on DCA has come with the support of the University of Alberta and public donations. That's in part because DCA is a commonly available compound that is not patented or owned by any drug firm. Pharmaceutical companies have not been interested in funding further research on DCA since the treatment won't make them a profit."
That would seem to indicate that the pharms really don't care if you're alive to purchase viagra or not.
He refers to chemicals added to the well head the speed up the fracturing process... to bad BP isn't pumping those chemicals into the head anymore so thats just complete bullshit.
He compares the oil slick to his back yard pond... except it doesn't work that way. The oil spreads out rapidly to cover as much surface area as it can, thats what happens when you have a lighter liquid on top of a heavier liquid, it spreads out to get as close to the top as it possibly can. It doesn't stay in one little column. Thats why buoys can be left on the surface to contain it, cause its ON THE SURFACE ONLY.
Hmm, while I also am less than impressed with the credentials of the article writer, you do understand that right now (at the time I'm writing this) BP is pumping dispersant chemicals into the oil at the oil head? That might be what he's referring to. And while the point of the dispersant chemical is to break up the oil, in doing so, it's causing the (breaking down) oil to sink below the surface, and that the EPA has already expressed concerns about the chemicals and the effect on the gulf in large quantities? So while you're right that much of the article can be disregarded, in this case the writer seems to be accurate and it's you that seems to be ill informed.
Anyway, why leave a crackdown on money mules so late? The FBI aren't stupid either -- what advantage is there to not busting mules?
As the article says, there are two camps. And while the latter camp is dirty and know it, the former camp are retirees who answer "Make money in your spare time" ads or unemployed people desperate for work who think it's legitimate. And any crackdown will wind up dragging these people in, many who are going to be very sympathetic.
As a programmer, I found the story of how the 'bug' was discovered quite amusing.
"The bug was inadvertently exposed by a Turkish fan of the German heavy metal band ACCEPT. When this young man tweeted "Accept pwnz," he found that the user @pwnz was suddenly following him." (Details (in Turkish) at http://inci.sozlukspot.com/e/4266098/)
This should forever be used as an example of why security through obscurity is no security at all.
When your budget is greater than your earning power, things must be cut. That's just the way it is and anyone with a brain can understand that. As such, I expect that the US Military will accept the cuts logically and maturely... Much like the Greek people.
Why did they start designing copy machines to have long term storage, and to keep a copy of everything ever copied?
In the old days, if you wanted 5 copies of a sheet of paper, the scanner would scan 5 times. Then someone thought "Hey, what if we could save the scanned image?" So you could scan once, and print out 5 copies. The easiest method is just to toss in a hard drive, and store the copies on there. Now, copying a variable number of pages, then erasing them immediately is extra wear and tear on the HD. You can get a longer drive life by distribute the data all over the HD so it's easily written, then only overwrite when the entire HD was full.
Pretty simple, really. The only downside is that the HD inside contains the last items scanned, up to the memory of the device. (So while it doesn't keep a copy of "everything ever copied", it could easily be the last several thousand items copied.)
Look, the reality is that the U.S. economy currently depends almost exclusively on culturally created content/entertainment. Nothing gets made in the U.S. and exported anymore BUT movies, music, etc. So it's not a surprise that it's becoming more and more draconian in trying to defend those assets.
It's like if one country controlled all the oil. They'd jack up prices, but they'd also do everything they could to stifle the creation of oil alternatives. They'd start to insist changes in engine designs that used their oil, or else they wouldn't sell you the oil. They'd limit anyone trying to purchase the oil then refine it on their own, because they'd want to do all the refining themselves.
Every indicator I see says that this is going to get much worse in the future.
We're still doubling the world population every 40 years. I tend to think we'll lose a lot of people to war, disease or simple lack of resources LONG before we die out due to apathy and our enjoyment of fast food and porn.
I think it's far more likely alien civilizations all do what we're doing... Expand uncontrollably until we consume every resource on our home planet, and then destroy everything in the following wars and conflicts.
Am I missing something, or wouldn't this be a huge benefit to the existing process of extracting drinkable water from sea water? One of the major problems with the current process is the energy costs. If this is a low energy way to separate the hydrogen and oxygen, it would be easy to filter and much less energy intensive to recombine.
Most cities have these buildings full of books and even media, which they seem perfectly happy to loan out for free. I'm not entirely sure what their business model is, but they've been doing this for as long as I can remember, so it appears viable, strange though that may seem. It might be time to rediscover them.
Until the Dewey Decimal System is identified as "An indexer providing links to materials under copyright" and gets shut down by the courts. Oh sure, Melvil Dewey might try to claim he was only trying to provide a way for people to find material, but the links in the Dewey Decimal System clearly link to material he doesn't own, and that he has no right to make available.
The Educational Testing Service found these scores to be suspicious, because all of the students made the exact same math error on problem #6, and also used the same unusual variable names."
Given that most agreed to be retested and all passed, seems likely that Escalante had demonstrated a problem identical to #6 in class... And made a mistake which all his students duplicated.
And as far as using the same variable names, you use what you're familiar with. It's not uncommon for students all under one teacher to use similar variable names.
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My friend Hela is slightly overweight and she admits it, but all this is just cruel. Please stop equating 'Hela' with 'extreme largeness'. Thank you.
Perhaps a case can be made if the current copyright system could be shown to produce a larger variety of higher quality material than its predecessor but I've yet to see that argument made, or at least made convincingly.
Quite the opposite. The current system encourage the mass production of a large quantity of low quality material in an effort to a) reap the rewards of scale (Even if only 1 in 1,000 like this, in an audience of millions I can make some money) or b) to try and flood the market with concepts and ideas so that any following work of quality will be exposed to lawsuits. (I'm suing Rowling for her 'Harry Potter' novels because I wrote a book about a wizard with a pet owl.)
because it always was 50% likely that a child is a boy.
Actually, the human sex ratio is generally rounded off to be 105 boys to 100 girls. That's if you're talking about true birth ratio. If you add sex-selective abortion and infanticide, common in some countries, the current world wide sex ratio is estimated at 107 boys to 100 girls.
But it's never been 50%.
If your on a ocean going vessel and your hit by a 30m rouge wave that's a minor incident.
I disagree. If you are hit by a 30 meter high wave made of cosmetics, I think that would make world headlines.
Shatner for GG? He's not even the best option from the Star Trek cast!
James Montgomery "Jimmy" Doohan (Scotty!) would've been a far better GG. At least he was a member of the Royal Canadian Artillery. He was one of the soldiers storming the beach at the invasion of Normandy at Juno Beach on D-Day. (Have you seen 'Saving Private Ryan'? Well, Scotty was one of those soldiers. And he survived, despite being shot six times.) Now, that's a man I could respect as Governor General. And if Canada ran into trouble, we could always count on him "giving all he's got".
We'll never forget you, Jimmy.
Because of long-ignored internal contradictions, however, the American research enterprise has become so severely dysfunctional that it actively prevents the great majority of the young Americans aspiring to do research from realizing their dreams.
You mean like arresting young chemists because their equipment serves a dual purpose and could be used to create something illegal like meth?
You missed the worst part of this case. Because the student was worried about missing out on classes and losing a years worth of university work, he pled guilty to 'non-criminal charges' and paid a $3,000 so he wouldn't lose any more time. In other words, he plead guilty to "not breaking the law" and accepted a fine.
You may ask, what would he plead guilty to? Well, when the Police first came in and asked him where the meth was, where the explosives were, he "refused" to show them, instead claiming he had no such thing. But since the Police found materials that could be used to "potentially" make explosives, obviously he was "withholding information". Never mind that the average garage has materials that could be used to make explosives.
This was just so stupid on so many levels, but as the OP mentioned, it's pretty much another huge disincentive to science.
I've met people 20 years ago who moved away from Vancouver in 1980 because they were scared of the big earthquake that will come ANY DAY NOW!
And I assume you'll be first in line to congratulate their wisdom when it does come? Assuming you survive, of course? Remember, this isn't like getting hit by a drunk driver where there is a % chance it *might* happen. The earthquake is going to happen, 100%. The only variable is when.
Really? How much is one human life worth?
Well, if you're trying to hire an assassin, they come as cheap as $500, but if you want a professional, expect to shell out more in the realm of $10,000. But quite honestly, humans will kill each other for a lot less. Even the most ardent "pro-lifer" will kill for free in the right circumstances...
I'm the IT manager for a fashion company and as far as I can tell there is not much point in copy protection in our market.
A range lasts only 3 months (ie a 'season') so by the time something new is out and proven popular it's too late to copy it because we're already moving onto the next season.
You're confusing the disease with the cure by saying "Well, IP protection wouldn't affect this industry." It's the opposite, the industry is the way it is because it doesn't have IP protection. In an industry without IP protection, you have to survive by continuing to innovate, by continuing to add value, thus the 3 month cycle. If fashion did have the same IP protection of software, we'd all still be wearing the dominant fashions from a decade ago.
Fact.
Interception by Google will be the same as before.
My mom called me last night, and I 'intercepted' everything she said.
I do not think interception means what you think it means...
But if you're not a good husband and father to the people you promised to be a good husband and father to, then you have lost a significant amount of respect from me.
A chimpanzee can be a good father. A horse can be a good father. A mouse can be a good father. And yet that's one of your major factors in determining if someone can be a good man?
Taking good care of your spawn is a positive trait, sure, but when I judge a man, I judge how he stands out among men, and by any standard, Mark Twain is a good man.
P.S. I have a dog that's probably a better father than you are. Does that make him a better man than you?
Now more to what the article is about Mohammed and his images. Problem here from a muslim perspective is not freedom of speech. According to Muslim faith images of his and other revered muslim figures are forbidden, lest they spiral into idol worship. God and god alone is to be worshiped.
Do you, or any Muslim, actually think the images of Mohammed are going to be worshiped? Because that's the part that makes no sense in all this.
If the Qur'an said "Don't make images of Mohammed" then I can kinda understand. But it says "Don't make images of Mohammed because you shouldn't worship images." Guess what! Not one of the drawings of Mohammed is going to be worshiped. I guarantee you this. So any Muslim with half a brain should be able to look at a drawing of Mohammed with a bomb in his turban and say "No one's going to worship that, so no problem."
Ahh, but the reality is that Muslims do not want a picture of Mohammed being mocked. Nothing about that in the Qur'an, but that doesn't stop many from twisting the words of Mohammed around and using it to incite religious fervor.
And it's for this reason I support the Facebook page. Freedom of religion is important. But it's also important that Freedom of religion not be allowed to override freedom of speech and thought.
Wish I had mod points for you. That's exactly what I was thinking... It's the classic one where the guy leaps off the top of a building. And as he falls, passing each floor, the people on that floor can hear him saying "So far, so good...".
"It would be a huge disaster if it entered the Loop Current. But it's still 10 miles away, so relax."
"It's still 5 miles away. Relax"
"It's still 2 miles away. Relax".
And we're still how far from a viable solution to plug the leak? Weeks?
There is no money in a cure....
That's a common misconception. While there isn't much direct money involved in a cure, the drug companies still come out way ahead. If people don't die (and aren't even sick really) from cancer, they are more likely to buy other products, such as Viagra, that the drug companies are pushing.
Well, when I submitted this story, I included a quote from the main researcher...
The most interesting part of the story is that the breakthrough was originally discovered in 2007, but tests have taken so long to advance because no one would profit. From the article "Michelakis notes that all of the studies they've undertaken thus far on DCA has come with the support of the University of Alberta and public donations. That's in part because DCA is a commonly available compound that is not patented or owned by any drug firm. Pharmaceutical companies have not been interested in funding further research on DCA since the treatment won't make them a profit."
That would seem to indicate that the pharms really don't care if you're alive to purchase viagra or not.
He refers to chemicals added to the well head the speed up the fracturing process ... to bad BP isn't pumping those chemicals into the head anymore so thats just complete bullshit.
He compares the oil slick to his back yard pond ... except it doesn't work that way. The oil spreads out rapidly to cover as much surface area as it can, thats what happens when you have a lighter liquid on top of a heavier liquid, it spreads out to get as close to the top as it possibly can. It doesn't stay in one little column. Thats why buoys can be left on the surface to contain it, cause its ON THE SURFACE ONLY.
Hmm, while I also am less than impressed with the credentials of the article writer, you do understand that right now (at the time I'm writing this) BP is pumping dispersant chemicals into the oil at the oil head? That might be what he's referring to. And while the point of the dispersant chemical is to break up the oil, in doing so, it's causing the (breaking down) oil to sink below the surface, and that the EPA has already expressed concerns about the chemicals and the effect on the gulf in large quantities? So while you're right that much of the article can be disregarded, in this case the writer seems to be accurate and it's you that seems to be ill informed.
Anyway, why leave a crackdown on money mules so late? The FBI aren't stupid either -- what advantage is there to not busting mules?
As the article says, there are two camps. And while the latter camp is dirty and know it, the former camp are retirees who answer "Make money in your spare time" ads or unemployed people desperate for work who think it's legitimate. And any crackdown will wind up dragging these people in, many who are going to be very sympathetic.
As a programmer, I found the story of how the 'bug' was discovered quite amusing.
"The bug was inadvertently exposed by a Turkish fan of the German heavy metal band ACCEPT. When this young man tweeted "Accept pwnz," he found that the user @pwnz was suddenly following him." (Details (in Turkish) at http://inci.sozlukspot.com/e/4266098/)
This should forever be used as an example of why security through obscurity is no security at all.
When your budget is greater than your earning power, things must be cut. That's just the way it is and anyone with a brain can understand that. As such, I expect that the US Military will accept the cuts logically and maturely... Much like the Greek people.
Why did they start designing copy machines to have long term storage, and to keep a copy of everything ever copied?
In the old days, if you wanted 5 copies of a sheet of paper, the scanner would scan 5 times. Then someone thought "Hey, what if we could save the scanned image?" So you could scan once, and print out 5 copies. The easiest method is just to toss in a hard drive, and store the copies on there. Now, copying a variable number of pages, then erasing them immediately is extra wear and tear on the HD. You can get a longer drive life by distribute the data all over the HD so it's easily written, then only overwrite when the entire HD was full.
Pretty simple, really. The only downside is that the HD inside contains the last items scanned, up to the memory of the device. (So while it doesn't keep a copy of "everything ever copied", it could easily be the last several thousand items copied.)
What if you're trying to call 911 but your phone has been rooted? I'd call that dangerous and could very easily cost lives or property...
Look, the reality is that the U.S. economy currently depends almost exclusively on culturally created content/entertainment. Nothing gets made in the U.S. and exported anymore BUT movies, music, etc. So it's not a surprise that it's becoming more and more draconian in trying to defend those assets.
It's like if one country controlled all the oil. They'd jack up prices, but they'd also do everything they could to stifle the creation of oil alternatives. They'd start to insist changes in engine designs that used their oil, or else they wouldn't sell you the oil. They'd limit anyone trying to purchase the oil then refine it on their own, because they'd want to do all the refining themselves.
Every indicator I see says that this is going to get much worse in the future.
We're still doubling the world population every 40 years. I tend to think we'll lose a lot of people to war, disease or simple lack of resources LONG before we die out due to apathy and our enjoyment of fast food and porn.
I think it's far more likely alien civilizations all do what we're doing... Expand uncontrollably until we consume every resource on our home planet, and then destroy everything in the following wars and conflicts.
Am I missing something, or wouldn't this be a huge benefit to the existing process of extracting drinkable water from sea water? One of the major problems with the current process is the energy costs. If this is a low energy way to separate the hydrogen and oxygen, it would be easy to filter and much less energy intensive to recombine.
Most cities have these buildings full of books and even media, which they seem perfectly happy to loan out for free. I'm not entirely sure what their business model is, but they've been doing this for as long as I can remember, so it appears viable, strange though that may seem. It might be time to rediscover them.
Until the Dewey Decimal System is identified as "An indexer providing links to materials under copyright" and gets shut down by the courts. Oh sure, Melvil Dewey might try to claim he was only trying to provide a way for people to find material, but the links in the Dewey Decimal System clearly link to material he doesn't own, and that he has no right to make available.
The Educational Testing Service found these scores to be suspicious, because all of the students made the exact same math error on problem #6, and also used the same unusual variable names."
Given that most agreed to be retested and all passed, seems likely that Escalante had demonstrated a problem identical to #6 in class... And made a mistake which all his students duplicated.
And as far as using the same variable names, you use what you're familiar with. It's not uncommon for students all under one teacher to use similar variable names.