This is the argument I wish would be made more often.
Let's say a guy uploads a song to 100 people. He gets fined for 150k for each upload. That's 15 million dollars. THEN these 100 guys each get sued for their download and fined 150k each. That's another 15 million dollars. But they ALSO uploaded to another 100, so let's add another 15 million to each of these 100 people, that's 1,5 billion.
Total at this point:
Max of 10001 downloads. Total profit for the RIAA: 1,530,000,000 dollars.
I tried finding some numbers for how many people pirate music on average, but the best I could get was a 2007 report about ~25 million Americans pirating movies. So extrapolating the above math to 25 million offenders nets us a profit for the RIAA of...
If you can prove it's infallible and hasn't been tampered with, of course. Wouldn't it just be marvelous if it translated any variation of fear into, "I admit, I planted that bomb."?
So why not offer them the English version and shrug if they don't understand English? Is there THAT much text in Doom and Wolfenstein that they are unplayable if you don't speak the language?
So in a country where anyone can own a firearm you want to stop the police from checking that someone they've just arrested isn't carrying one?
I think you'll find that removing this step of the arrest is going to lead to a lot of dead cops.
I'm not defending unreasonable searches in general, but a search for firearms, knives etc. during an arrest is only common sense and a necessity for the police to protect themselves.
I recall this comic of an agency (maybe FBI) monitoring guild chat when a raid was being set up and freaking out about the need for 'priests' etc. Tried searching for it but can't find it now, unfortunately.
I can't help but think that asking the appropriate government agency is, by its very definition, doing research the easy way - exactly what you're saying he should have done.
What, research has to be done with Google and Wikipedia now?
As someone who was diagnosed with Asperger several years before it became a catch-all for anyone 'not normal but not sure what to call it' it is very, very frustrating to see what has happened.
I have made the conscious decision that unless I'm asked directly WHAT my problem is, I'm not going to say anything. People don't hear the five years in and out of the psychiatric ward trying to get diagnosed, they just hear something it seems a large portion of the population is 'infected' with.
(the real internet has no central highway by which we reach various sites
I think Google might like to disagree with you there.
I admit, I haven't read Snowcrash though I've meant to many times, so I'm not sure exactly how this central highway worked in the book, but considering how bad it is for a company to get their site de-listed from Google for gaming the rankings I have to say that if the internet has anything you can call a central highway, Google would be it.
You're not seriously serious with this statement, are you?
Because if the American Democratic party are all communists, where the hell does that leave Europe? We must be the scum of the earth, what with all our taking care of the weak members of society and letting people go to the hospital without being ruined for life.
Where I used to live the mailman was afraid of one of my dogs because she has blue eyes.
No, seriously, that was his explanation!
So whenever he was supposed to deliver a package he'd just drop off a "You weren't home" slip and drive off, leaving me to pick up my package at the post office. Considering how ridiculously expensive packages are to send in Denmark that really pissed me off on numerous occasions, especially when I'd ordered something from a company and paid the postage myself.
Slashdot Mirror
This is the argument I wish would be made more often.
Let's say a guy uploads a song to 100 people. He gets fined for 150k for each upload. That's 15 million dollars.
THEN these 100 guys each get sued for their download and fined 150k each. That's another 15 million dollars.
But they ALSO uploaded to another 100, so let's add another 15 million to each of these 100 people, that's 1,5 billion.
Total at this point:
Max of 10001 downloads. Total profit for the RIAA: 1,530,000,000 dollars.
I tried finding some numbers for how many people pirate music on average, but the best I could get was a 2007 report about ~25 million Americans pirating movies. So extrapolating the above math to 25 million offenders nets us a profit for the RIAA of ...
...
Wait for it ...
...
3,825,000,000,000 dollars. And change.
The total US deficit was what, again?
You know with infallible certainty that the activities being mimicked are not being performed with the exact intention of having them mimicked?
That attitude is sure to get you hired somewhere respectable.
Here are some more fixes for the first post:
McDonalds
Johnny Stoner
What
beating
Gears of War
Not to mention that your last sentence is just an incoherent mess.
And the second one:
because
2 AM
Ending a sentence with a full stop is proper grammar.
If you can prove it's infallible and hasn't been tampered with, of course. Wouldn't it just be marvelous if it translated any variation of fear into, "I admit, I planted that bomb."?
So why not offer them the English version and shrug if they don't understand English? Is there THAT much text in Doom and Wolfenstein that they are unplayable if you don't speak the language?
*ahem*
COCKney. Filter tripped.
I kinda enjoy seeing how they ban 'beastiality' (wrong spelling) but not 'bestiality' (correct spelling).
And 'jackass'? What, they can't make a reference to the show or the male Equus asinus?
This gives a whole new meaning to 'shooting the breeze'.
I just love that GOOGLE wrote a browser that HIDES the ability to search.
They're citing different time frames.
There was a mass exodus of 600k in one quarter, then another 300k dropped during the next quarter.
So in a country where anyone can own a firearm you want to stop the police from checking that someone they've just arrested isn't carrying one?
I think you'll find that removing this step of the arrest is going to lead to a lot of dead cops.
I'm not defending unreasonable searches in general, but a search for firearms, knives etc. during an arrest is only common sense and a necessity for the police to protect themselves.
Especially if it's a Horde guild.
I recall this comic of an agency (maybe FBI) monitoring guild chat when a raid was being set up and freaking out about the need for 'priests' etc. Tried searching for it but can't find it now, unfortunately.
Midnight premiere of Latest Over-Hyped Movie?
I can't help but think that asking the appropriate government agency is, by its very definition, doing research the easy way - exactly what you're saying he should have done.
What, research has to be done with Google and Wikipedia now?
Considering my really old and craptastic laptop runs Firefox more smoothly than it does IE, his point really starts to fall apart.
As someone who was diagnosed with Asperger several years before it became a catch-all for anyone 'not normal but not sure what to call it' it is very, very frustrating to see what has happened.
I have made the conscious decision that unless I'm asked directly WHAT my problem is, I'm not going to say anything. People don't hear the five years in and out of the psychiatric ward trying to get diagnosed, they just hear something it seems a large portion of the population is 'infected' with.
It sucks. It really does.
(the real internet has no central highway by which we reach various sites
I think Google might like to disagree with you there.
I admit, I haven't read Snowcrash though I've meant to many times, so I'm not sure exactly how this central highway worked in the book, but considering how bad it is for a company to get their site de-listed from Google for gaming the rankings I have to say that if the internet has anything you can call a central highway, Google would be it.
I think it's more like tossing a huge oak tree into a shredder to see if among the remains you might find a brand new shape of wood chip.
Whoosh.
The GP was trying to make the point that social/mobile games have not resulted in people being unable to enjoy a long and -good- game.
You're not seriously serious with this statement, are you?
Because if the American Democratic party are all communists, where the hell does that leave Europe? We must be the scum of the earth, what with all our taking care of the weak members of society and letting people go to the hospital without being ruined for life.
Unfortunately, this video is not available in Germany because it may contain music for which GEMA has not granted the respective music rights.
I really hate living in Germany.
Death by acute lead poisoning is not 'spontaneously dropping dead'. In this case, 'spontaneously' means 'with no discernible reason'.
I'm so gonna patent that business idea.
And I still say we need a minister there who's in the middle of a gender change operation. No one else can call themselves fully qualified!
Where I used to live the mailman was afraid of one of my dogs because she has blue eyes.
No, seriously, that was his explanation!
So whenever he was supposed to deliver a package he'd just drop off a "You weren't home" slip and drive off, leaving me to pick up my package at the post office. Considering how ridiculously expensive packages are to send in Denmark that really pissed me off on numerous occasions, especially when I'd ordered something from a company and paid the postage myself.