If you cheat at poker, even on-line poker, you are a thief and should be arrested.
If the game is unregulated, is it still stealing and should you still be arrested. If I play poker of Friday nights with my friends (technically illeagal where I live) and I cheat them am I breaking any laws other than the gambling statutes?
If Lineage II is a private game owned by a private company and only available to subscribers is cheating illegal? Immoral perhaps, subject to terms of the licensing agreement - definitely, I would even agree liable to a civil suit by the game owners, but criminal? I don't think so.
For some reason, there's a subconsious threshold between $6.50 and $9 that makes me actually want to get my money's worth. It's probably just that i'm uncommon, but it's possible that a $2 reduction in ticket prices would reverse this glut instantly.
Appearantly you aren't uncommon because the movie industry is suffering. There must be millions of people like you and I.
The difference between the.xxx TLD and a.NAZI TLD is popularity. There is a HUGE number of people out there that want access to pr0n sites. The number of anti-semetic facsists is slightly smaller.
I'm not for 'We as aasociety' filtering anything, I just don't think that a.xxx domain is inherently evil, purely an organizational tool. This is ICANN's chance to show that it's an independent organization and not just a puppet of some goverment officials.
One last thing that may differentiate.xxx from your previous.net example. I can't imagine most companies or individuals will setup a site on a.xxx domain unless it's for adult entertainment. Most businesses aren't going to want to be associated with.xxx..net is much more innocuous so has many more sites that should not be on it.
In a winner take all system like we've got, with a country this big, we're effectivley limited to a 2 party system. And neither party will ever change that.
That's not exactly true. There have been other dominant parties besides the Democrats and Republicans in our history, like the Whig party that had several presidents elected. There may only be two dominant parties at any given time, but there is no reason those dominant parties can't, or won't change.
But does it make sense to try and force all content of a certain type into a certain domain extension? Why don't you stick to the issue?
I think it's more about keeping a particular domain targeted at a certain type of content. It's unlikely that anyone will ever force established porn sites off of.com domains, but if.xxx is only porn sites it will be much easier to find them.
Yes, I could show up for a movie 20 minutes after the start. Last movie I went to I did just that an caught the matinee on a Saturday afternoon while it was 105 degrees outside, so it only cost me $4.25. Also, I rarely buy food in a theatre. Sometimes popcorn, but that's harder to smuggle in.
Thing is all of these workarounds are a hassle. Now not only do I have to go to the movie, I have to go to the store, figure out when to get to the movie 20 minutes late, pay $9.00, sit in the front row because all of the seats are taken and still have to deal with noisy people. Way easier to put it on my Netflix list.
Maybe they could go back to being creative...that seemed to work well.
That and
Get rid of the half hour of commercials
Get some ushers to keep other people from being noisy and rude at the theatre
Reduce the price of tickets
In that order. I like going to the movies, and I can afford the $9 once in a while, although I'd go more often if the price was lower. What I will not tolerate is watching actual advertising before the movie. Previews are one thing, but commercials are, for me, unacceptable. The other thing I will not tolerate is noise in the theatre. Why would I go and pay for a movie when I miss a significant part of it due to people talking or babies crying.
These three factors have changed movie going from something I will do on the spur of the moment to something that I really consider before doing. Used to be you could go see a mediocre movie and not feel guilty about it. Now, if the movie is not something I really want to see on a big screen, like Star Wars, I'll just wait two months for the DVD.
You are correct, but it definitely seems screwed up to me. Personally, I think if you can't get around to filing for the patent before someone else can make a product and successfully market it you don't deserve a patent.
What Microsoft did is clearly just an opportunistic exploitation of the patent system. They didn't think their idea was worth patenting until someone else made money off a similar idea. The patent system was, in theory, designed to protect inventors from having their ideas stolen. I come up with ideas all of the time that I don't think I have the time or money to capitalize on. Does that make it wrong when someone else comes up with the same idea independently and makes millions of dollars on it?
I never said MS would try and block iPods - just push the price up far enough to make a competing MS product more attractive.
Problem with that is, where is that price point? A 60GB iPod is currently $399. You can buy mp3 players that are MUCH cheaper. Even a 1GB Shuffle is $129, again, more expensive than many competitive products. iPod sales haven't gone through the roof because of their pricing. They have succeeded because it's a quality product. I can't see adding $10 to the price of an iPod giving Microsoft much of a competitive advantage - unless their product is superior, which it probably won't be.
How about a magnetic field? Give everyone a steel suit and generate a magentic field under the floor. Wouldn't that have the same effect? Probably would still be impractical cost wise, but something like that might be simpler.
Not sure what the point of your site is but it sure as hell won't validate and is littered with cruddy table markeup, extraneous/missing elements and invalid attributes!
Perhaps, but it renders correctly in IE, Opera, Firefox and lynx, which is what I meant by 'proper' way to create a site. Most of my sites aren't perfect, few people have the time or inclination to create sites that are, and I don't have a problem with that. The issues I have
You can easily crank enough power to start your car, if the mechanism allows you to store up charge over time instead of cranking the engine directly.
Easily is a relative term. It would take a long time to charge a car battery by hand like that.
It isn't really that much power, either. I can start my car if my battery is low by pushing it backwards up a very gradual hill for about 5 to 10 meters, then coasting and popping the clutch.
Two things, one you have a small car, not all of us can push their cars around. Of course, I can kick start my bike which is another matter alltogether. Also, 'isn't really that much power' is also a relative term. Depending on the grade of the hill and the mass of the car it could actually be a significant amount of power. If I remember my high school physics right it should be something like this:
F=mA
F=777Kg (weight of car) * 9.81 m/s2
F=7622N
J=Nm
If that car drops 2 vertical meters after you pushed it up the slope:
J=7622 * 2 = 15244J
W=J/s
If the car covers this distance in 3 seconds
W=15244J/2s=7622W
If we then convert this into electrical energy
W=VA and solve for amperage where our voltage is 12v like a car
A=W/V
A=7622W/12V
A=635amps - close to the charge a small car battery holds.
Now these calculations make several assumptions including friction, air resistance, the gearing in the rear differential and transmission, etc... but the bottom line is a car rolling down a hill has a significant amount of power.
to just say flat out "I *only* make browser-independent websites" shows that
1)You are a boastful liar,
Umm.. no. Wasn't even really boasting, just a fact. I work in a Linux environment and have to build browser-independent sites or they won't work in IE when I'm done.
2)an idiot who will not succeed in a service business
Possibly. Currently one of my jobs where I work is to maintain our websites. I also do some independent contracting and I'm running about 10 small sites outside work. I don't have the skills to create anything using ActiveX or any other IE specific websites. I've been running under Linux for about 5 years now and I'm not willing to make the investment to learn how to operate in Microsoft's proprietary world. So far I have not run across a situation where it's been worth my while to learn these skills or develop a site using IE specific technology. Every customer I have could care less about the technology behind the site as long as it works. This may change, I may be an idiot and I may fail, so you may be correct.
3)not really a web developer and the only thing you create is your family website - which in all honesty, probably 80% of your family doesnt't care about let alone the 99.99999999% of the world that doesn't care about it.
I'm not sure the size of the engine has as much to do with it as the compression ratio
Absolutely, but there's no reason why a 1.3L Civic couldn't be built with an automatic compression release. I think it's more a matter of demand - nobody actually wants a hand crank to start their car.
My dad had an old Model T with an actual engine starting crank. Do it wrong and it could backfire and break your arm. I wouldn't call it convenient either, unless you're some sort of armwrestling champion.
Actually I always thought hand cranks were very convenient. Never had a Model T, mostly tractors or stationary engines. You are correct that they can be dangerous, but that has very little to do with convenience. There are many things that are convenient, but not safe.
Regardless, seems to me it wouldn't be hard to engineer a hand crank that is a little safer than the one on the old Model Ts. Something with a one-way clutch that can't pop back and hurt you. Maybe with a gear reduction so it's easier to turn. Many of the engines in modern cars are smaller than the old Model T engines and probably turn easier, so a crank could be a viable option.
This is probably what the RIAA is looking to do, shut down people who *sell* illegal CDs, not people who simply make a backup copy for their friend and such.
Seems like that's what they should have been doing all along. Go after they vendors in flea markets or on the street corners that SELL pirated copies. These people are directly profiting off of illegitemate copies, plus by targeting sellers or illegal copies you don't alienate your customer base.
I think it's more likely that the RIAA is thinking it can get recordable media outlawed, but I can't see that happening.
Slashdot Mirror
Actually the government is going to GIVE NASA to Google, the 4 billion is just to keep it running for 6 months.
tolerate alot less than US would.
Of course Slashdot has absolutely no tolerance for 'alot'.
The kid lacks apathy, and that is a serious personality flaw.
Um.... sympathy?
Who cares?
If you cheat at poker, even on-line poker, you are a thief and should be arrested.
If the game is unregulated, is it still stealing and should you still be arrested. If I play poker of Friday nights with my friends (technically illeagal where I live) and I cheat them am I breaking any laws other than the gambling statutes?
If Lineage II is a private game owned by a private company and only available to subscribers is cheating illegal? Immoral perhaps, subject to terms of the licensing agreement - definitely, I would even agree liable to a civil suit by the game owners, but criminal? I don't think so.
For some reason, there's a subconsious threshold between $6.50 and $9 that makes me actually want to get my money's worth. It's probably just that i'm uncommon, but it's possible that a $2 reduction in ticket prices would reverse this glut instantly.
Appearantly you aren't uncommon because the movie industry is suffering. There must be millions of people like you and I.
The difference between the .xxx TLD and a .NAZI TLD is popularity. There is a HUGE number of people out there that want access to pr0n sites. The number of anti-semetic facsists is slightly smaller.
.xxx domain is inherently evil, purely an organizational tool. This is ICANN's chance to show that it's an independent organization and not just a puppet of some goverment officials.
.xxx from your previous .net example. I can't imagine most companies or individuals will setup a site on a .xxx domain unless it's for adult entertainment. Most businesses aren't going to want to be associated with .xxx. .net is much more innocuous so has many more sites that should not be on it.
I'm not for 'We as aasociety' filtering anything, I just don't think that a
One last thing that may differentiate
In a winner take all system like we've got, with a country this big, we're effectivley limited to a 2 party system. And neither party will ever change that.
That's not exactly true. There have been other dominant parties besides the Democrats and Republicans in our history, like the Whig party that had several presidents elected. There may only be two dominant parties at any given time, but there is no reason those dominant parties can't, or won't change.
No, but it should be.
There is much dissent within the GOP as well, as the small government faction is dismayed with Bush-the-spender.
Absolutely. The third largest party, the Libertarian party is garnering significant support from the Republicans.
http://www.walken2008.com/
(Yeah, I know it's a hoax)
But does it make sense to try and force all content of a certain type into a certain domain extension? Why don't you stick to the issue?
.com domains, but if .xxx is only porn sites it will be much easier to find them.
I think it's more about keeping a particular domain targeted at a certain type of content. It's unlikely that anyone will ever force established porn sites off of
Yes, I could show up for a movie 20 minutes after the start. Last movie I went to I did just that an caught the matinee on a Saturday afternoon while it was 105 degrees outside, so it only cost me $4.25. Also, I rarely buy food in a theatre. Sometimes popcorn, but that's harder to smuggle in.
Thing is all of these workarounds are a hassle. Now not only do I have to go to the movie, I have to go to the store, figure out when to get to the movie 20 minutes late, pay $9.00, sit in the front row because all of the seats are taken and still have to deal with noisy people. Way easier to put it on my Netflix list.
Make sure you buy cars with manual transmissions
Or a car with an old automatic transmission. The 50's cars had rear pumps in the transmission so they could be push started.
That and
- Get rid of the half hour of commercials
- Get some ushers to keep other people from being noisy and rude at the theatre
- Reduce the price of tickets
In that order. I like going to the movies, and I can afford the $9 once in a while, although I'd go more often if the price was lower. What I will not tolerate is watching actual advertising before the movie. Previews are one thing, but commercials are, for me, unacceptable. The other thing I will not tolerate is noise in the theatre. Why would I go and pay for a movie when I miss a significant part of it due to people talking or babies crying.These three factors have changed movie going from something I will do on the spur of the moment to something that I really consider before doing. Used to be you could go see a mediocre movie and not feel guilty about it. Now, if the movie is not something I really want to see on a big screen, like Star Wars, I'll just wait two months for the DVD.
That and wouldn't steel shoulder pads, anklets, and bracelets work better to "pull" down a walking person than a whole suit?
I was thinking a whole suit would put load on the arms and hands as well as just the legs when walking.
You are correct, but it definitely seems screwed up to me. Personally, I think if you can't get around to filing for the patent before someone else can make a product and successfully market it you don't deserve a patent.
What Microsoft did is clearly just an opportunistic exploitation of the patent system. They didn't think their idea was worth patenting until someone else made money off a similar idea. The patent system was, in theory, designed to protect inventors from having their ideas stolen. I come up with ideas all of the time that I don't think I have the time or money to capitalize on. Does that make it wrong when someone else comes up with the same idea independently and makes millions of dollars on it?
I never said MS would try and block iPods - just push the price up far enough to make a competing MS product more attractive.
Problem with that is, where is that price point? A 60GB iPod is currently $399. You can buy mp3 players that are MUCH cheaper. Even a 1GB Shuffle is $129, again, more expensive than many competitive products. iPod sales haven't gone through the roof because of their pricing. They have succeeded because it's a quality product. I can't see adding $10 to the price of an iPod giving Microsoft much of a competitive advantage - unless their product is superior, which it probably won't be.
There is no simple artificial gravity solution.
How about a magnetic field? Give everyone a steel suit and generate a magentic field under the floor. Wouldn't that have the same effect? Probably would still be impractical cost wise, but something like that might be simpler.
Not sure what the point of your site is but it sure as hell won't validate and is littered with cruddy table markeup, extraneous/missing elements and invalid attributes!
Perhaps, but it renders correctly in IE, Opera, Firefox and lynx, which is what I meant by 'proper' way to create a site. Most of my sites aren't perfect, few people have the time or inclination to create sites that are, and I don't have a problem with that. The issues I have
You can easily crank enough power to start your car, if the mechanism allows you to store up charge over time instead of cranking the engine directly.
Easily is a relative term. It would take a long time to charge a car battery by hand like that.
It isn't really that much power, either. I can start my car if my battery is low by pushing it backwards up a very gradual hill for about 5 to 10 meters, then coasting and popping the clutch.
Two things, one you have a small car, not all of us can push their cars around. Of course, I can kick start my bike which is another matter alltogether. Also, 'isn't really that much power' is also a relative term. Depending on the grade of the hill and the mass of the car it could actually be a significant amount of power. If I remember my high school physics right it should be something like this:
F=mA
F=777Kg (weight of car) * 9.81 m/s2
F=7622N
J=Nm
If that car drops 2 vertical meters after you pushed it up the slope:
J=7622 * 2 = 15244J
W=J/s
If the car covers this distance in 3 seconds
W=15244J/2s=7622W
If we then convert this into electrical energy
W=VA and solve for amperage where our voltage is 12v like a car
A=W/V
A=7622W/12V
A=635amps - close to the charge a small car battery holds.
Now these calculations make several assumptions including friction, air resistance, the gearing in the rear differential and transmission, etc... but the bottom line is a car rolling down a hill has a significant amount of power.
to just say flat out "I *only* make browser-independent websites" shows that
1)You are a boastful liar,
Umm.. no. Wasn't even really boasting, just a fact. I work in a Linux environment and have to build browser-independent sites or they won't work in IE when I'm done.
2)an idiot who will not succeed in a service business
Possibly. Currently one of my jobs where I work is to maintain our websites. I also do some independent contracting and I'm running about 10 small sites outside work. I don't have the skills to create anything using ActiveX or any other IE specific websites. I've been running under Linux for about 5 years now and I'm not willing to make the investment to learn how to operate in Microsoft's proprietary world. So far I have not run across a situation where it's been worth my while to learn these skills or develop a site using IE specific technology. Every customer I have could care less about the technology behind the site as long as it works. This may change, I may be an idiot and I may fail, so you may be correct. 3)not really a web developer and the only thing you create is your family website - which in all honesty, probably 80% of your family doesnt't care about let alone the 99.99999999% of the world that doesn't care about it.
See above.
I'm not sure the size of the engine has as much to do with it as the compression ratio
Absolutely, but there's no reason why a 1.3L Civic couldn't be built with an automatic compression release. I think it's more a matter of demand - nobody actually wants a hand crank to start their car.
My dad had an old Model T with an actual engine starting crank. Do it wrong and it could backfire and break your arm. I wouldn't call it convenient either, unless you're some sort of armwrestling champion.
Actually I always thought hand cranks were very convenient. Never had a Model T, mostly tractors or stationary engines. You are correct that they can be dangerous, but that has very little to do with convenience. There are many things that are convenient, but not safe.
Regardless, seems to me it wouldn't be hard to engineer a hand crank that is a little safer than the one on the old Model Ts. Something with a one-way clutch that can't pop back and hurt you. Maybe with a gear reduction so it's easier to turn. Many of the engines in modern cars are smaller than the old Model T engines and probably turn easier, so a crank could be a viable option.
This is probably what the RIAA is looking to do, shut down people who *sell* illegal CDs, not people who simply make a backup copy for their friend and such.
Seems like that's what they should have been doing all along. Go after they vendors in flea markets or on the street corners that SELL pirated copies. These people are directly profiting off of illegitemate copies, plus by targeting sellers or illegal copies you don't alienate your customer base.
I think it's more likely that the RIAA is thinking it can get recordable media outlawed, but I can't see that happening.
Targeting IE is a way of saying you don't want non-IE browsers on your site.
Or are just too lazy to learn the proper way to create a site.