I would ask for very strong copyright laws and abolishment of patents.
The long-term influence of patent removal would quite likely be to slow technological growth within the country in question. High-cost, high-risk speculative R&D is only commercially driven through patents. We simply need more practical research input than academia will provide us with.
To play devil's advocate here, his point is that rm -rf / is only marginally worse than rm -rf/home/jdoe, since your data is probably accessible under your normal user account. It prompts the hassle of an OS reinstallation, but it's not an actual "loss".
The asteroid is now expected to miss but come close enough to be below the altitude of TV satellites. It should be visible as a rapidly moving point of light.
Well, I know where I'll be come April 13th, 2029... whereever I need to be to see this rock hurtle past us. I wonder how likely it is that the effects of a collision with a satellite would be visible (with binoculars or a small telescope)?
Considering he's a multi-billionaire, and how few multi-billionaires actually do what he's doing, I'd say proving he's not a total monster is fairly impressive.
I'm interested. Does Canada have some deep dark secrets? Have they done anything on par in fucked-upness to the acts the parent mentioned? (Not being sarcastic, I'm truly curious).
After all, no one expects the Canadian Inquisition!
China treats the rest of the world a lot better than it treats its citizens. And, for what it's worth (not that I'm saying it's much), pre-emptive military action is more or less prohibited by their constitution. Considering our recent track record and international arrogance, this is something of an understandable position, pragmatically speaking.
As many gripes as I have with America (and they are many), it's amazing how much better off we are than China. But I guess it's to be expected the the US (and now the EU) are willing to overlook all levels of repression for economic gain.
Actually, middle-aged women are a huge constituent of online gaming. You just hear less hype about online games that involve dominos and cards rather than the latest Q3 or EQ clone.
If you use Konqueror and you're bothered by servers tracking your gender, it's quick and painless to disable this reporting. Just click on:
Settings -> Configure Konqueror -> Browser Identification ...and in the "Default Identification" panel, uncheck the box labeled "Add gender information".
...and Transparent Society. It's pretty unreasonable to assume with the rapid advances in technology (both communication and surveillance) that we're going to retain the level of privacy these survey respondents seem to feel entitled to.
Then again, a lot of people seem to be their own worst enemy in this regard. A couple weeks ago I received a forwarded email from my shocked mother informing me of this frightening fact: if your address is listed in the phone book, someone can Google your phone number to find out where you live! [gasp]
30 guys can't run a semiconductor plant building enough memory to feed the global market
This is the biggest difference between software patents and "normal" patents. If you've got the software, you've got the software. There is no "fabrication" step beyond stamping CDs and shrink-wrapping a box for mass market consumption (which is only for the tiny sliver of the software market represented by commercial end-user products, and these tend not to contain revolutionary new ideas).
Software is also already protected by copyright laws. If you show off your software and they use your code, that's an IP violation. If you show off your software and they decide that it's cheaper to write their own version themselves... then clearly the market has given you a not-so-subtle hint about the actual value of your software R&D.
Well, specifically they didn't detect the burst itself in advance either. Rather, it was a binary system that suddenly started losing its rotational angular momentum, and the (neutron?) stars in question just sort of... fell together.
So there was warning of the impending burst in the form of observations of the events leading to the actual burst.
"He worked at Plasmonics Institute, just an engineer in a sealed white suit... he did a good job in the computer race, but his bosses didn't like him so they shot him into space!"
Slashdot Mirror
I would ask for very strong copyright laws and abolishment of patents.
The long-term influence of patent removal would quite likely be to slow technological growth within the country in question. High-cost, high-risk speculative R&D is only commercially driven through patents. We simply need more practical research input than academia will provide us with.
I'd also mandidate fair use clauses making illegal to implement any technology
/. technoliberateurs! Descend, descend!
Cows outgunned!
city officials and public safety workers will get free wireless on the job
And public safety in Tempe plummets to new lows...
So, we're not still talking about the ad about because of what was in the ad, we're talking about the ad because of what was in the ad?
To play devil's advocate here, his point is that rm -rf / is only marginally worse than rm -rf /home/jdoe, since your data is probably accessible under your normal user account. It prompts the hassle of an OS reinstallation, but it's not an actual "loss".
The asteroid is now expected to miss but come close enough to be below the altitude of TV satellites. It should be visible as a rapidly moving point of light.
Well, I know where I'll be come April 13th, 2029... whereever I need to be to see this rock hurtle past us. I wonder how likely it is that the effects of a collision with a satellite would be visible (with binoculars or a small telescope)?
And /. said, "Let there be +1, Underrated"
All that proves is he isn't a total monster
Considering he's a multi-billionaire, and how few multi-billionaires actually do what he's doing, I'd say proving he's not a total monster is fairly impressive.
Indeed, I'd never heard about that either. Dehumanization 2, Decency 0, I guess.
If those are the representative examples of outsourced sci-fi, then God I hope not.
I'm interested. Does Canada have some deep dark secrets? Have they done anything on par in fucked-upness to the acts the parent mentioned? (Not being sarcastic, I'm truly curious).
After all, no one expects the Canadian Inquisition!
China treats the rest of the world a lot better than it treats its citizens. And, for what it's worth (not that I'm saying it's much), pre-emptive military action is more or less prohibited by their constitution. Considering our recent track record and international arrogance, this is something of an understandable position, pragmatically speaking.
As many gripes as I have with America (and they are many), it's amazing how much better off we are than China. But I guess it's to be expected the the US (and now the EU) are willing to overlook all levels of repression for economic gain.
I don't think anyone wants ALL information floating around free.
I think you'd be surprised.
So the question arises, should countries, with their own values, be able to determine what content their people are exposed to?
No.
For example, can China declare communism is best, and ban all websites promoting capitalism?
Yes.
Can Iran declare western film evil, and ban all websites with western film content?
Yes.
Actually, middle-aged women are a huge constituent of online gaming. You just hear less hype about online games that involve dominos and cards rather than the latest Q3 or EQ clone.
If you use Konqueror and you're bothered by servers tracking your gender, it's quick and painless to disable this reporting. Just click on:
...and in the "Default Identification" panel, uncheck the box labeled "Add gender information".
Settings -> Configure Konqueror -> Browser Identification
...and Transparent Society. It's pretty unreasonable to assume with the rapid advances in technology (both communication and surveillance) that we're going to retain the level of privacy these survey respondents seem to feel entitled to.
Then again, a lot of people seem to be their own worst enemy in this regard. A couple weeks ago I received a forwarded email from my shocked mother informing me of this frightening fact: if your address is listed in the phone book, someone can Google your phone number to find out where you live! [gasp]
30 guys can't run a semiconductor plant building enough memory to feed the global market
This is the biggest difference between software patents and "normal" patents. If you've got the software, you've got the software. There is no "fabrication" step beyond stamping CDs and shrink-wrapping a box for mass market consumption (which is only for the tiny sliver of the software market represented by commercial end-user products, and these tend not to contain revolutionary new ideas).
Software is also already protected by copyright laws. If you show off your software and they use your code, that's an IP violation. If you show off your software and they decide that it's cheaper to write their own version themselves... then clearly the market has given you a not-so-subtle hint about the actual value of your software R&D.
Well, specifically they didn't detect the burst itself in advance either. Rather, it was a binary system that suddenly started losing its rotational angular momentum, and the (neutron?) stars in question just sort of... fell together.
So there was warning of the impending burst in the form of observations of the events leading to the actual burst.
I was genuinely amazed, when, two years later, it still ran like $^&% on my up-to-date video hardware.
I think you were off by a factor of ten, though...
Google's real truth
I give it two years until the sight of a rainbow fills me with abject terror and confusion.
Represent! Man, being a flagrant virgin and watching the insults flow was so much fun, it makes me wish I'd never bothered to pretend to make babies.
Sex is incredibly overrated. Props if you've figured that out sans hindsight.
"He worked at Plasmonics Institute, just an engineer in a sealed white suit... he did a good job in the computer race, but his bosses didn't like him so they shot him into space!"