There is a small but significant difference between money and "real" things.
"Real" things have uses that are independent of perceived value (often they correlate but not necessarily, as you say, things are worth what we agree they are). eg. I want gold to make connectors for my stereo, if the whole world decides gold is worthless I don't care, it still conducts signal.
Money doesn't have any use beyond it's perceived value. It's usefulness *is* its value, if the whole world decides it's worthless, it also becomes useless.
1. Electronics Industry Analyst Group Dismisses Greenpeace Claims on iPhone?
This is inaccurate. BSEF is the international organisation of the bromine chemical industry. The title of the article would more accurately be: "Chemical Industry Group Dismisses Greenpeace Claims on iPhone."
and Gizmodo's response below that
Editor's note: actually, the "analyst" was corrected and replaced to "group" when this was pointed out this morning...
They go on to state how wonderful they are for disclosing errors. Except they only changed part of the text - 'analyst' to 'group'. They appear to have overlooked that Greenpeace's correction was 'Electronics Industry analyst' to 'Chemical Industry group' - a much, much larger difference.
Ghengis Khan's moral code is hard to judge accurately given this all happened a long time ago. But it might have been (or maybe even probably was) pretty good, especially as far as empire-building warlords go. Freedom of religion, expanded trade, meritocracy... Google him to find out.
Also... even from my view as an agnostic, I imagine Jesus Christ has (had) a pretty good perspective.;)
Yeah, I figured your view wasn't as polarized as all that and I agree that the ratio is likely lopsided. I just wanted to put forth an opinion rarely heard on Slashdot, and counter some of the simplification that goes on regarding how the music industry is completely redundant except for musicians and audiences.
Edmonton. Sweet. I live in Vancouver. My sincerest condolences on your recent loss of Ryan Smith and consequently any hope of making the playoffs...
I have a friend living there who is a truly extraordinary Hammond player by the name of Sean Grieves. He's on tour right now, but if you see his name about (and like that kind of thing) definitely check him out. He usually plays in a blues kind of vein.
That's a mighty wide brush you're painting with there...
There are good people in music/artist promotion as well, although I don't dispute that there's no shortage of sleazeballs in the RIAA ranks
Knowing how to squeeze a buck out of art is a very valuable skill. Good promotion skills, networks, industry knowledge, contact knowledge, etc. There seems to be a prevailing attitude that since we can distribute electronically now, all a band needs to do is post some MP3s and viola! Instant success via massive online sales to grateful slashdotters...
I don't mean to defend the racketeering that goes on right now - those practices are immoral and their demise is inevitable (although apparently not without a bunch of kicking and screaming). Courtney Love wrote a good outline of how fucked this situation is which raised my respect for her considerably (if from none to some qualifies as considerable). search for it on google
I'm in several bands and writing, recording and performing art in addition to your day job is lots and lots of work. Work that is immensely enjoyable and rewarding, I'm not complaining about it, but my bands would be absolutely thrilled to connect with someone who could help us promote ourselves, book tours and get heard. We'll happily cut that skillset into the meagre existing revenues. Not everyone in the business side of music is out to get you. Some of them genuinely care about the artists and the art and they're damn good at what they do.
And come to think of it, there's no shortage of prima-donna, money-grubbing, asshole musicians either...;)
I don't necessarily (dis)agree that downloading is ok either but...
A big part of funding TV shows and films, documentaries, et al. is selling broadcast rights. These are generally divided into "windows" - first window, second window, and so on.
If first window means everyone now has unfettered access to the media, producers trying to get funding lose a significant amount of leverage with the broadcasters. I'm not just talking TV shows (which I could hardly care less about), all kinds of independent media that I do care about is subject to this same funding model.
So equating a singular broadcast with an ad-free bittorrent available 100% of the time is not entirely fair because having the media so freely available reduces the value of the windows subsequent to the first and hurts producers trying to find funding from broadcasters.
Should these producers investigate business models that leverage the advantages of bittorrent? Sure, absolutely, but it's risky and these are small players working with tiny budgets who are often at the whim of broadcasters who are paying the lion's share of the bills.
It's hard to call this cut-and-dried. There's a lot of gray area here.
Just to note that both the artists you mentioned are managed by Nettwerk Records... who have an excellent record (no pun intended) in regards to DRM and the whole anti-piracy debacle.
Supporting labels that behave appropriately is the most powerful way to create change. Money talks.
Perhaps I'm missing exactly what you're referring to, but those articles appear to be talking about the Northwest Passage, which is *not* a direct path to the North Pole, it just skirts around the north coast of mainland Canada.
Having an ice-free path the extends as north as north can be, ie. the North Pole, is a very different issue which may well have something to do with this '"global warming" stuff'.
I think you're missing a distinction that "Yahweh Doesn't Exist" (? can a username be modded flamebait?) may have implied. The Brits in his example could well be teaching their kids creationism, intelligent design, flying spaghetti monsterism, whatever. The key issue is that they're not attempting to teach anyone else's kids (say, yours for example) these theories.
Religios beliefs even of the most whacky variety don't seem to be problematic most of the time. It's the evangelizing that's creating most of the mess.
I don't think the right that's in question is the right to connectivity. Rather, it's the right to do exactly what you're proposing; to "Let the electorate of that community make the decision".
The freedom to organise is being restricted in the name of providing a corporate monopoly. This is insane! Although, sadly, not surprising...
I realise that the monopoly is not explicit, but I would posit that it's implied given the history and nature of telecommunications companies?
i agree re: Flash. although it sports the downside of needing the Flash application (ok, not strictly speaking but realistically), it has a a very gentle learning curve, immediate graphical feedback of your scripts, a huge community willing (eager!) to help with the most basic of functions, and is moving towards a bonafide language (ECMA... uhh, something something something spec...)
although i also agree with another post: she most likely just wants to spend more time with you...
Slashdot Mirror
Sumatra appears to not support this "feature". Windows only sadly.
There is a small but significant difference between money and "real" things.
"Real" things have uses that are independent of perceived value (often they correlate but not necessarily, as you say, things are worth what we agree they are). eg. I want gold to make connectors for my stereo, if the whole world decides gold is worthless I don't care, it still conducts signal.
Money doesn't have any use beyond it's perceived value. It's usefulness *is* its value, if the whole world decides it's worthless, it also becomes useless.
Another odd note... From Greenpeace's rebuttal:
The other inaccuracies:
1. Electronics Industry Analyst Group Dismisses Greenpeace Claims on iPhone?
This is inaccurate. BSEF is the international organisation of the bromine chemical industry. The title of the article would more accurately be: "Chemical Industry Group Dismisses Greenpeace Claims on iPhone."
and Gizmodo's response below that
Editor's note: actually, the "analyst" was corrected and replaced to "group" when this was pointed out this morning...
They go on to state how wonderful they are for disclosing errors. Except they only changed part of the text - 'analyst' to 'group'. They appear to have overlooked that Greenpeace's correction was 'Electronics Industry analyst' to 'Chemical Industry group' - a much, much larger difference.
I'm with you; Gizmodo looks bad on this one.
Ghengis Khan's moral code is hard to judge accurately given this all happened a long time ago. But it might have been (or maybe even probably was) pretty good, especially as far as empire-building warlords go. Freedom of religion, expanded trade, meritocracy... Google him to find out.
;)
Also... even from my view as an agnostic, I imagine Jesus Christ has (had) a pretty good perspective.
Yeah, I figured your view wasn't as polarized as all that and I agree that the ratio is likely lopsided. I just wanted to put forth an opinion rarely heard on Slashdot, and counter some of the simplification that goes on regarding how the music industry is completely redundant except for musicians and audiences.
Edmonton. Sweet. I live in Vancouver. My sincerest condolences on your recent loss of Ryan Smith and consequently any hope of making the playoffs...
I have a friend living there who is a truly extraordinary Hammond player by the name of Sean Grieves. He's on tour right now, but if you see his name about (and like that kind of thing) definitely check him out. He usually plays in a blues kind of vein.
That's a mighty wide brush you're painting with there...
There are good people in music/artist promotion as well, although I don't dispute that there's no shortage of sleazeballs in the RIAA ranks
Knowing how to squeeze a buck out of art is a very valuable skill. Good promotion skills, networks, industry knowledge, contact knowledge, etc. There seems to be a prevailing attitude that since we can distribute electronically now, all a band needs to do is post some MP3s and viola! Instant success via massive online sales to grateful slashdotters...
I don't mean to defend the racketeering that goes on right now - those practices are immoral and their demise is inevitable (although apparently not without a bunch of kicking and screaming). Courtney Love wrote a good outline of how fucked this situation is which raised my respect for her considerably (if from none to some qualifies as considerable). search for it on google
I'm in several bands and writing, recording and performing art in addition to your day job is lots and lots of work. Work that is immensely enjoyable and rewarding, I'm not complaining about it, but my bands would be absolutely thrilled to connect with someone who could help us promote ourselves, book tours and get heard. We'll happily cut that skillset into the meagre existing revenues. Not everyone in the business side of music is out to get you. Some of them genuinely care about the artists and the art and they're damn good at what they do.
And come to think of it, there's no shortage of prima-donna, money-grubbing, asshole musicians either... ;)
I don't necessarily (dis)agree that downloading is ok either but...
A big part of funding TV shows and films, documentaries, et al. is selling broadcast rights. These are generally divided into "windows" - first window, second window, and so on.
If first window means everyone now has unfettered access to the media, producers trying to get funding lose a significant amount of leverage with the broadcasters. I'm not just talking TV shows (which I could hardly care less about), all kinds of independent media that I do care about is subject to this same funding model.
So equating a singular broadcast with an ad-free bittorrent available 100% of the time is not entirely fair because having the media so freely available reduces the value of the windows subsequent to the first and hurts producers trying to find funding from broadcasters.
Should these producers investigate business models that leverage the advantages of bittorrent? Sure, absolutely, but it's risky and these are small players working with tiny budgets who are often at the whim of broadcasters who are paying the lion's share of the bills.
It's hard to call this cut-and-dried. There's a lot of gray area here.
Just to note that both the artists you mentioned are managed by Nettwerk Records... who have an excellent record (no pun intended) in regards to DRM and the whole anti-piracy debacle.
Supporting labels that behave appropriately is the most powerful way to create change. Money talks.
Perhaps I'm missing exactly what you're referring to, but those articles appear to be talking about the Northwest Passage, which is *not* a direct path to the North Pole, it just skirts around the north coast of mainland Canada.
Having an ice-free path the extends as north as north can be, ie. the North Pole, is a very different issue which may well have something to do with this '"global warming" stuff'.
I think you're missing a distinction that "Yahweh Doesn't Exist" (? can a username be modded flamebait?) may have implied. The Brits in his example could well be teaching their kids creationism, intelligent design, flying spaghetti monsterism, whatever. The key issue is that they're not attempting to teach anyone else's kids (say, yours for example) these theories.
Religios beliefs even of the most whacky variety don't seem to be problematic most of the time. It's the evangelizing that's creating most of the mess.
I don't think the right that's in question is the right to connectivity. Rather, it's the right to do exactly what you're proposing; to "Let the electorate of that community make the decision".
The freedom to organise is being restricted in the name of providing a corporate monopoly. This is insane! Although, sadly, not surprising...
I realise that the monopoly is not explicit, but I would posit that it's implied given the history and nature of telecommunications companies?
not to mention the definitive award-winning documentary made by the author, mark achbar and jennifer abbott
http://www.thecorporation.com/
i agree re: Flash. although it sports the downside of needing the Flash application (ok, not strictly speaking but realistically), it has a a very gentle learning curve, immediate graphical feedback of your scripts, a huge community willing (eager!) to help with the most basic of functions, and is moving towards a bonafide language (ECMA... uhh, something something something spec...)
although i also agree with another post: she most likely just wants to spend more time with you...