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User: miskatonic+alumnus

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  1. Re:Your only alternative? on NBC Universal Drops iTunes · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I agree, laws like the DMCA are misguided and benefit the wrong people. But they have been voted into law, and the best way to fight them is to try and get them either voted back out of law, or ruled by the court to be invalid

    Yeah, that's worked real well for the proponents of marijuana legalization. AFAIK, I have one life --- one. I'm not going to waste it in vain trying to change laws drawn up by millionaires. I actually don't have a problem with copyright. I do have a problem with it being extended until past the end of time, and with DRM and the DMCA, etc. These sons of bitches go too far. And who benefits? The citizenry? Of course not. Now, the ultimate seat of authority in the U.S. is we the people not we the handful of privileged wealthy with access to the higher levels of lawmaking machinery. It would appear that we the people want some changes.

  2. Re:Your only alternative? on NBC Universal Drops iTunes · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    So, you deny the class warfare thing. Pick up a history book. The tendency has almost always been for a few people to possess all the political power, all the land, all the resources, etc. Fuck them. Fuck their laws. Our leaders declare war without provocation, tap phones without warrants, and yet nothing happens to them. But upload a couple of videos, now we're talking serious stuff. This country's priorities are so upside-down it's ridiculous.

  3. Re:Your only alternative? on NBC Universal Drops iTunes · · Score: 1

    But breaking the US law (no matter how unfair the law is, and assuming you're in the US) shouldn't be the alternative.

    Why not? It's not exactly murder or rape, now is it? There are so, so many laws on the books bought and paid for by the rich, for the benefit of the rich. I just don't feel compelled to obey them.

  4. Re:I'm sick of it as well on NASA Employees Fight Invasive Background Check · · Score: 1

    It's a shame that eventually anyone who doesn't want to allow the FBI to open a dossier on them and start monitoring all their past and present communications will only be allowed to flip burgars or clean toilets for money to live in this society.

    TFA says that the janitors have to undergo the background check; i.e. you won't even be allowed to clean toilets.

  5. Re:Cheaper music? on HMV Canada Cuts Music CD Prices · · Score: 1

    I was speaking more to the piracy vs. buying used argument. The same goes with old videogames, films, etc. The options are spend some time, and perhaps a lot of money to obtain a legitimate copy (if one is to be found at all), or get an illicit copy for free. I'm happy to purchase something if it's made available. But if the copyright holders aren't interested in putting it up for sale, then I'm not interested in obeying the law regarding copyright.

  6. Re:Cheaper music? on HMV Canada Cuts Music CD Prices · · Score: 1

    That's great until you are looking for obscure, out-of-print CDs like Gold Nigga by Prince or Burning World by Swans.

  7. Re:Science doesn't need to be fun. on New UK Initiative - Make Science Easier · · Score: 1

    Most applications require a minimum of algebra or linear algebra. The most interesting problems require calculus or differential equations (or more advanced math). So, you have to be trained in the basics (that have few applications) before you get to the advanced material.

    It's much like learning to read. You don't hand a first-grader Hamlet or Finnegan's Wake. You start with letter identification, word recognition, etc. These activities have no direct application for the child at that stage of the process.

  8. Re:Put down the crack pipe and pick up a book on TorrentSpy Must Preserve Data In RAM For MPAA · · Score: 1

    Your statements are not reasoned. They are not radical. They are the statements of a 12 year old child who feels he is entitled to take what he wants and do as he pleases without regard for the rule of law and the rest of society.

    Much like our political and business leaders, eh? Monkey see, monkey do.

  9. Re:power failure on TorrentSpy Must Preserve Data In RAM For MPAA · · Score: 1

    You don't even have to go that far. Just claim you had a short-term power outage. Happens to me about once or twice a month.

  10. Re:In other news... on Comcast Cuts Off Users Who Exceed Secret Limit · · Score: 1

    I've lied to officers on several occasions (where I was breaking anywhere from 3 to 6 laws) and got away scot free. On the other hand, I've told the truth and received a ticket for my honesty.

  11. Re:But compressing gets rid of most clipping on The "Loudness War" and the Future of Music · · Score: 1

    Clipping occurs when you overdrive your speaker and it cannot have a response that is proportional to the applied signal.

    Ahhh, but the sound engineers have made improvements in the art of clipping --- now we can get clipping through any amp at any volume setting, provided the recorded signal is clipped ... which it is on many CDs.

  12. Re:I think it's good on Free Tuition for Math, Science, and Engineering? · · Score: 1

    Education is going to be the NEW poverty. Assuming everyone is able and willing to get a college degree, we will have a society of overeducated serfs earning $5/hour. In an idealized world where the dollar isn't almighty, it would be beneficial for everyone to be educated. But that isn't our world. In our world, we just want PROPERTY. Hence, we BECOME property.

  13. Re:how on earth? on Playing Music Slows Vista Network Performance? · · Score: 1

    Except that (1) most people would probably buy the content even without the protection, and (2) those that wouldn't can easily get a pirated copy that isn't crippled. DRM is a miserable failure that inconveniences legitimate customers and does nothing to stop piracy. In fact, it encourages piracy.

  14. Re:High-CPU Flash Ads on How Much Are Ad Servers Slowing the Web? · · Score: 1

    That reminds me of the time I had dialup with my home page set to Yahoo!. They ran this Flash Ad for SBC/Yahoo! high speed internet (with the little rocket ship) that took foreeevvvvveeerrr to download. Guess what? It worked.

  15. Mod Parent Up. on Federal Anti-Obscenity Program Comes Up Limp · · Score: 1

    Thanks for the interesting link.

  16. Re:Why is this a bad thing? on Discouraging Students from Taking Math · · Score: 1

    The Incompleteness Theorum only means you cannot prove that the system is complete, provided it is.

    No, it flat out states that systems capable of supporting arithmetic are incomplete. That is, there is a statement which can be framed within the system that cannot be proven true nor false within the system.

    If I can teach kids who were classed as "troublemakers" not only mathematics but the rudiments of astrophysics and architecture in the process, I think I have a better claim to understanding what kids can and cannot do.

    I doubt it. Troublemaking is an attitude, not a limitation on one's ability to learn.

  17. Re:Why is this a bad thing? on Discouraging Students from Taking Math · · Score: 1

    Compose music with the skill of Mozart? Yeah - any kid can do that.

    Really? Then why aren't they doing it?

    But ANY mind can be supplemented with its own Chinese Room, set up to perform whatever task that the mind is not inherently tuned to. This is inevitably going to be extremely slow, in comparison to using either the conscious, subconscious or unconscious layers of the brain. However, it will work. It will always work. There is no mental process - including creative thought - that cannot be entirely replicated using simple rule lists alone.

    Absurd. I believe Kurt Godel's work refutes that position. Check out his Incompleteness Theorem.

    So a student doesn't do well at maths, normally. This is a problem how? My scheme allows for up to three shifts from normal, so if a shift slows down by a half, the third shift is working at one-eighth normal pace and is working with a rulebook that provides the other seven-eighths of the ability they need. They'll be slow, they'll never win on a mathematics-themed TV game show, but the tasks they can complete will be no different from those of anyone else.

    I don't know what line of work you're in, and you are certainly entitled to your opinion. I have taught mathematics for over a decade, and there is no doubt in my mind, none, zilch, that some people are incapable of mastering basic arithmetic. A larger group is incapable of learning the abstract symbolism used in algebra. An even larger group is incapable of understanding basic calculus. And so on. I can produce thousands of individuals that would be unable to grasp the first chapter of a book on functional analysis or stochastic processes if they were given 30 years and an army of teachers to instruct them.

  18. Re:Why is this a bad thing? on Discouraging Students from Taking Math · · Score: 1

    (Also note that 99.9% of the time, if someone is "bad" at maths, it's because the instructor is incapable of teaching them, it has almost nothing to do with actual ability at all. A different instructor, working at a different pace, can turn a person with consistent scores of zero into a mega-star grade-A+ student - or turn a grade-A+ student into one with a score of zero.)

    False. I've heard this rhetoric so many, many times before, and it's patently absurd. Can every human (or even 99.9% of them) be taught/trained to (1) run the 100 meter dash in 10 seconds, (2) bench press 700 lbs, (3) compose music with the skill of Mozart, or (4) write plays with the skill of Shakespeare? Why not? Bad teachers? Bad parenting perhaps? No. The fact is that for nearly every discipline there is a normal distribution of ability among the human population. Some people are just bad at math(s).

  19. Re:Good Lord. on Canadian Theatre Chain Sued for Abusive Search · · Score: 1

    Yeah, but I'm not dealing with legal systems, nor am I concerned with the degrees of legal retribution.

    And apparently, you're not concerned with using the correct word/phrase in a discussion. Why not replace "copyright infringement" with jaywalking or murder?

    Also, to simply drop in with this quip (unless the first argument consists of nothing more than "It's THEFT, dammit!") appears to strive to construct a false link of "Theft=Wrong, Not theft=Not wrong, Infringement=Not theft, so Infringement=Not wrong".

    To call "copyright infringement" theft is to make it seem that the victim has lost property (or the use of it) as in "They stole my car" or "They stole my diamond ring". Talk about obfuscation.

  20. Re:What should be legislated... on Senators Call for Universal Internet Filtering · · Score: 1

    Ever hear of Albert Fish? The world has always been dangerous.

  21. Re:Yeah, it's titled, Thou Shall Not STEAL !! on University of Kansas Adopts 'One Strike' Copyright Infringement Policy · · Score: 1

    Actually, theft is not defined that way at all. There is no mention of intent or permanance (at least in dictionary.com). Stealing is merely defined as "the taking the property of others without permission". Downloading certainly meets this definition.

    Wrong. It's not their property. They gave away their property in return for copyright.

  22. Re:The evil CDT on Senate Committee Passes FCC Indecency Bill · · Score: 1

    I'm trying to teach my children to use this one on their teachers:

    Dir hat man wohl ins Gehirn geschissen und vergessen umzuruhren!

    Translation: Someone must have shit into your brain and forgot to stir it!

    Taken from Scheisse! The REAL German You Were Never Taught in School

  23. Re:The evil CDT on Senate Committee Passes FCC Indecency Bill · · Score: 1

    First Christmas spent with the new wife (who came to the marriage with a 2-year old boy, and a 4-month old girl), Dad, Stepmom, Grandmother:

    2-year old says: something something those fucking cars.

    Everyone turns to look at me ... and rightly so.

  24. Re:The third option on Do "Illegal" Codecs Actually Scare Linux Users? · · Score: 1

    And it's one step away from copyright infringement. I mean, if you are breaking the law already...

    That's the problem with stupid laws --- It erodes respect for the law in general.

  25. Re:Blatant slashdotted post... karma me up scotty on eBay Bargains Soon To Be A Thing Of The Past? · · Score: 1

    You think that every town that sells a product can support a repair center to fix it???? I purchased my Hitachi monitor online, and it crapped out 1 year after I bought it. It was under a 5-year warranty from the manufacturer. I also had to pay shipping (one-way) to the single repair center in the U.S. authorized to fix it. If they could support local repair in every town, you'd have to pay to have it repaired.