Isn't "google" one of the top searches on MSN's search engine? I've been told that many people type google into MSN's search box, and then do their searching from Google.
I don't use Windows so I don't know the background very well, but is XP the first operating system that they could shut down worldwide (except for pirated copies) just by refusing to authorize its installation? Perhaps they didn't shut down the earlier versions as fast because getting illicit copies was so much easier?
Also, don't forget that Vista has all that wonderful DRM which Microsoft is banking on; they want everyone to be using that as soon as possible.
He should have just gone with it, and had fun with it.
That would work if they said "He's fat and bald" or made him look like a monkey or something like that, but it sounds like the page labelled him as a pedophile among other things. In this day and age, that's not a laughing matter: he can't start playing along with that: "Oh yeah, I really like to have sex with students, don't tell anyone." The suspicion of pedophilia could be enough to ruin his career and his life.
Yeah, he overreacted big time (and his overreaction probably did more for his earning potential than some little MySpace page), but this prank did cross the line from prank into libel. A serious (though not vengeful or petty) response was required.
It occurs to me: the danger of this site is not so much that the students see it (though the principal's daughter being there complicates matters) but that there be a permanent, public record. Maybe schools could set up a local intranet site, accessible ONLY at school, where students can make fun of their teachers and principal all they want.
Re:Note, I didn't say that I was a conservative
on
ICANN Wants Immunity
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· Score: 1
Sorry for the mischaracterization; I went off on a rant. That said, why did you identify yourself as a Christian in your original post? The rest of that post was exclusively political with no religious content, so I might perhaps be forgiven for reading "Christian" as a political label rather than a religious one. (Even the adjective "Christian", I would argue, means different things in political and religious contexts, at least in the current U.S. climate.)
Unless you just like to demonstrate the existence of Christian libertarians as often as possible.:)
Signed, a Christian liberal (or is that liberal Christian? not sure)
why does it have to be EMI? Let's not forget that they were the foremost, largest, and longest implementers of the copy-control non-cd's.
I wasn't aware of their history, but your comment makes me wonder: maybe if they have had the longest history with DRM, they have therefore had the most time to realize that it is a mistake? Interesting.
what's with all the Christians not liking the UN? It's not a Christian thing, it's a conservative thing (the OP confesses to both leanings, as well as "libertarian" which is an even better explanation for the UN-aversion). I'm Christian and I support the UN (though realizing its flaws). Unfortunately, the loudest Christians these days are conservatives, so you end up with a shouting match between conservative Christians and secular liberals, and little sign that there can be anything else.
Wait a second... "The Canadian broadcasting community, including broadcasters, copyright collectives, and actor labor unions, are all calling on Canada's broadcast regulator to increase its regulation of the Internet."
Well, of course they are. The American broadcasting community wants increased regulation of the Internet, too. Heck, the Tongan broadcasting community probably wants it too. We should keep an eye on them, but don't blame Canada for having greedy broadcasters.
Exactly. Once the EMI changes are in place, we should expect to see some independent labels selling DRM-free on iTMS as well; if we don't, then we can suspect there are underlying machinations preventing it. (The odds you place on that happening depends on your level of cynicism.:)
A movie 'starring' George Clooney is going to make (at least) $50m more than a movie 'starring' Steve Buscemi.
The unstated part here is that the movie makes an additional $50m only because movie tickets cost $9 or whatever these days. These prices were set so high because actors cost more (among other things). And actors demand more because profits are higher, etc: it's a positive feedback loop.
That said, the problem is a system-wide one which cannot be fixed by any individual actor; it would take the intervention of the government OR the industry OR perhaps the development of a new, parallel theater industry. Thus it isn't fair to blame George Clooney for demanding his cut, although I would like to hear some actors speak out for lower ticket prices. (Has anyone done this?)
I find this position overly cynical; why can't both motivations be present at the same time? Some politicians support alcohol/tobacco taxes to help curb the consumption of potentially dangerous substances. They could not get away with regulating it as much as they do prescription drugs (as you suggest they would do if they were really serious) because the public would not stand for it, nor is alcohol anywhere near as dangerous in moderate quantities.
And yes, alcohol and tobacco taxes raise a lot of revenue for the government, and some politicians only care about that. But no reason to believe that that is the only motivation.
You can walk into any liquor store and buy all the booze you want - enough to kill yourself many times over. Only if you have the money to do so. Raising the price reduces the amount of booze you can buy if you aren't rich. (The regressive nature of these taxes is troubling, mind you.) Taxes CAN modify behavior.
I'm not totally sure that these taxes are a great idea personally, but I can respect their proponents.
1. Critics have maintained that Apple should allow independent artists to offer their music iTMS without DRM, but the standard response is that this would be technically infeasible. Now that this is not the case, I hope to see Apple offer DRM-free music from independent producers soon.
2. The Big Studios have been pushing to get Apple to charge a higher rate per song for years now. This outcome has Apple saying, "Hey, get rid of DRM and we'll do it." I wonder how tempting that will be to the other studios.
3. Anti-DRM advocates need EMI to be very successful; a rise in sales will allow the initiative to grow, while a drop in sales will herald calls of piracy. This is one case where giving money to a large company may actually do some good. (I know many purists would scoff, but big corporations are like big, very cunning animals: they are dangerous, but perhaps can be trained.)
The iTMS has a couple of advantages over buying physical CDs: convenience and the ability to buy songs piecemeal. Convenience is a standard reason to charge premiums, so why is this such a punch in the nuts to you? Are you equally pissed that 7-11 charges $4 for a box of cereal that costs $3 somewhere else? (Then again, maybe you are.:) Just go shop at the supermarket instead.
I wouldn't count TOO much on nature; human's natural lifespan seems to be "long enough to reproduce and raise children", with a high infant mortality rate (and a correspondingly high pregnancy rate too). Civilization is good for some things....
As mentioned earlier in the thread, the only thing I'd change is to call it something other than "rm", so that you don't go looking for purgatory the next time you use someone else's machine.
(If you want to be especially clever, you might want to deal with the scenario where you "delete" a file whose name matches a file already in purgatory. Of course, the standard mv behavior, silently replacing the old version with the new one, is a not-so-bad solution.)
Indeed, but if we are working someone else's account, we should think twice before deleting files;)
Or on the other hand, one might be more inclined to tidy up after oneself on a foreign account, deleting those temporary files which one might normally leave lying around in one's own account. "rm * ~" anyone?:)
Geez, that's the easiest 5 points I've ever gotten!:) Here's the bash script for lrm in case anyone's interested. It's hardly sophisticated and it isn't perfect; it doesn't handle directories well for instance. Improvements are welcome.
ls $* if [ `ls $* | wc -l` -gt 0 ] ; then
echo "Are you sure you want to delete these files?"
read yesno
if [ $yesno = 'y' ] ; then \rm -f $*; fi fi
I do that as well, but there is a danger if you start working in someone else's account, where rm is not aliased as expected. It may be better to alias del='rm -i' (for example) and train yourself to type del.
Also, "rm -i" is a pain when you're deleting a large number of files at once.
One way to lessen the chance of mistakes when using "rm" is to always use "ls" in place of "rm" first, then when the list of files looks right, replace the "ls" with "rm". I have a script "lrm" which does this: ls the files, ask for confirmation, and then delete (if confirmed).
This reminds me of Isaac Asimov's story Profession. In the story, people are educated for their careers via direct mind transfer, but someone has to write the tapes to educate everyone else, when paradigms and techniques change. The parallels are clear.
When talking about current events, one typically leaves off the year, and "March 12th" may be preferred because it starts with the general and becomes more specific. I'm guessing, then, that MM-DD-YY comes from MM-DD, with the year tacked onto the end as a modifier.
But that's a wild guess. Maybe Americans just want to have a Pi day? (Americans, mark your calendars for March 14, '15, at 9:26 (and make it 9:26 *PM* to really tick off the Europeans.):P:)
How about that stupid double click they stole from Apple? And yes, it's stupid in Apples, too. Teaching a new computer user to double click is the hardest part of showing them how to use a computer (and yes, there are still folks out there who have yet to use a PC). Look, guys, it's simple: one click to select, another click to execute. There is no rational reason the two clicks have to be less than 1/5th of a second apart.
I know I'm probably missing the point, that you're ranting for the sake of ranting, and default settings are what most people only ever use, but... on the Mac at least, you can change the maximum timespan between double clicks from 1/5th of a second to at least 2 seconds apart, maybe more. Perhaps Windows has a similar setting?
If I asked you "What's a gallon of water measured in cubic feet"...
I'd fire up/usr/bin/units: 1 gal=0.133 ft^3 (so 15 gallons = 2ft^3):) Or I'd estimate.
And even knowing that 1 liter = 1 dm^3 would not help most people, because a) no one works with decimeters, and b) the average person is likely to think that 1 m^3 = 10 dm^3, not 1000 dm^3.
I think that, while the metric system may be slightly easier to use, it is not so superior that it is worth the expense and disruption of metrication. The exception is in science and maybe engineering, where strange unit conversions are much more common than in everyday life: but most scientists in the U.S. already use the metric system anyway.
Working at a video store and telling a customer that no one ever rents these movies implies that the customer is an oddity and has very crappy tastes.
Yeah, hadn't thought of that. I don't mind being an oddity, and I would probably take such a comment as tribute to my obviously eclectic taste (as long as it was said with astonishment, and not with a sneer). But that wouldn't be true for most people I suppose.
Slashdot Mirror
Isn't "google" one of the top searches on MSN's search engine? I've been told that many people type google into MSN's search box, and then do their searching from Google.
I don't use Windows so I don't know the background very well, but is XP the first operating system that they could shut down worldwide (except for pirated copies) just by refusing to authorize its installation? Perhaps they didn't shut down the earlier versions as fast because getting illicit copies was so much easier?
Also, don't forget that Vista has all that wonderful DRM which Microsoft is banking on; they want everyone to be using that as soon as possible.
He should have just gone with it, and had fun with it.
That would work if they said "He's fat and bald" or made him look like a monkey or something like that, but it sounds like the page labelled him as a pedophile among other things. In this day and age, that's not a laughing matter: he can't start playing along with that: "Oh yeah, I really like to have sex with students, don't tell anyone." The suspicion of pedophilia could be enough to ruin his career and his life.
Yeah, he overreacted big time (and his overreaction probably did more for his earning potential than some little MySpace page), but this prank did cross the line from prank into libel. A serious (though not vengeful or petty) response was required.
It occurs to me: the danger of this site is not so much that the students see it (though the principal's daughter being there complicates matters) but that there be a permanent, public record. Maybe schools could set up a local intranet site, accessible ONLY at school, where students can make fun of their teachers and principal all they want.
Sorry for the mischaracterization; I went off on a rant. That said, why did you identify yourself as a Christian in your original post? The rest of that post was exclusively political with no religious content, so I might perhaps be forgiven for reading "Christian" as a political label rather than a religious one. (Even the adjective "Christian", I would argue, means different things in political and religious contexts, at least in the current U.S. climate.)
:)
Unless you just like to demonstrate the existence of Christian libertarians as often as possible.
Signed, a Christian liberal (or is that liberal Christian? not sure)
why does it have to be EMI? Let's not forget that they were the foremost, largest, and longest implementers of the copy-control non-cd's.
I wasn't aware of their history, but your comment makes me wonder: maybe if they have had the longest history with DRM, they have therefore had the most time to realize that it is a mistake? Interesting.
what's with all the Christians not liking the UN?
It's not a Christian thing, it's a conservative thing (the OP confesses to both leanings, as well as "libertarian" which is an even better explanation for the UN-aversion). I'm Christian and I support the UN (though realizing its flaws). Unfortunately, the loudest Christians these days are conservatives, so you end up with a shouting match between conservative Christians and secular liberals, and little sign that there can be anything else.
Wait a second...
"The Canadian broadcasting community, including broadcasters, copyright collectives, and actor labor unions, are all calling on Canada's broadcast regulator to increase its regulation of the Internet."
Well, of course they are. The American broadcasting community wants increased regulation of the Internet, too. Heck, the Tongan broadcasting community probably wants it too. We should keep an eye on them, but don't blame Canada for having greedy broadcasters.
Exactly. Once the EMI changes are in place, we should expect to see some independent labels selling DRM-free on iTMS as well; if we don't, then we can suspect there are underlying machinations preventing it. (The odds you place on that happening depends on your level of cynicism. :)
A movie 'starring' George Clooney is going to make (at least) $50m more than a movie 'starring' Steve Buscemi.
The unstated part here is that the movie makes an additional $50m only because movie tickets cost $9 or whatever these days. These prices were set so high because actors cost more (among other things). And actors demand more because profits are higher, etc: it's a positive feedback loop.
That said, the problem is a system-wide one which cannot be fixed by any individual actor; it would take the intervention of the government OR the industry OR perhaps the development of a new, parallel theater industry. Thus it isn't fair to blame George Clooney for demanding his cut, although I would like to hear some actors speak out for lower ticket prices. (Has anyone done this?)
I find this position overly cynical; why can't both motivations be present at the same time? Some politicians support alcohol/tobacco taxes to help curb the consumption of potentially dangerous substances. They could not get away with regulating it as much as they do prescription drugs (as you suggest they would do if they were really serious) because the public would not stand for it, nor is alcohol anywhere near as dangerous in moderate quantities.
And yes, alcohol and tobacco taxes raise a lot of revenue for the government, and some politicians only care about that. But no reason to believe that that is the only motivation.
You can walk into any liquor store and buy all the booze you want - enough to kill yourself many times over.
Only if you have the money to do so. Raising the price reduces the amount of booze you can buy if you aren't rich. (The regressive nature of these taxes is troubling, mind you.) Taxes CAN modify behavior.
I'm not totally sure that these taxes are a great idea personally, but I can respect their proponents.
Three things occur to me here.
1. Critics have maintained that Apple should allow independent artists to offer their music iTMS without DRM, but the standard response is that this would be technically infeasible. Now that this is not the case, I hope to see Apple offer DRM-free music from independent producers soon.
2. The Big Studios have been pushing to get Apple to charge a higher rate per song for years now. This outcome has Apple saying, "Hey, get rid of DRM and we'll do it." I wonder how tempting that will be to the other studios.
3. Anti-DRM advocates need EMI to be very successful; a rise in sales will allow the initiative to grow, while a drop in sales will herald calls of piracy. This is one case where giving money to a large company may actually do some good. (I know many purists would scoff, but big corporations are like big, very cunning animals: they are dangerous, but perhaps can be trained.)
The iTMS has a couple of advantages over buying physical CDs: convenience and the ability to buy songs piecemeal. Convenience is a standard reason to charge premiums, so why is this such a punch in the nuts to you? Are you equally pissed that 7-11 charges $4 for a box of cereal that costs $3 somewhere else? (Then again, maybe you are. :) Just go shop at the supermarket instead.
I wouldn't count TOO much on nature; human's natural lifespan seems to be "long enough to reproduce and raise children", with a high infant mortality rate (and a correspondingly high pregnancy rate too). Civilization is good for some things....
As mentioned earlier in the thread, the only thing I'd change is to call it something other than "rm", so that you don't go looking for purgatory the next time you use someone else's machine.
(If you want to be especially clever, you might want to deal with the scenario where you "delete" a file whose name matches a file already in purgatory. Of course, the standard mv behavior, silently replacing the old version with the new one, is a not-so-bad solution.)
Indeed, but if we are working someone else's account, we should think twice before deleting files ;)
:)
Or on the other hand, one might be more inclined to tidy up after oneself on a foreign account, deleting those temporary files which one might normally leave lying around in one's own account. "rm * ~" anyone?
alias rm to rm -i, it asks for confirmation.
I do that as well, but there is a danger if you start working in someone else's account, where rm is not aliased as expected. It may be better to alias del='rm -i' (for example) and train yourself to type del.
Also, "rm -i" is a pain when you're deleting a large number of files at once.
One way to lessen the chance of mistakes when using "rm" is to always use "ls" in place of "rm" first, then when the list of files looks right, replace the "ls" with "rm".
I have a script "lrm" which does this: ls the files, ask for confirmation, and then delete (if confirmed).
Sounds like something out of Idiocracy....
So we need to keep the rocks to defeat the scissors.
But wait, we need scissors to beat paper!
But wait, we need paper to beat rock!
Uh-oh.
This reminds me of Isaac Asimov's story Profession. In the story, people are educated for their careers via direct mind transfer, but someone has to write the tapes to educate everyone else, when paradigms and techniques change. The parallels are clear.
When talking about current events, one typically leaves off the year, and "March 12th" may be preferred because it starts with the general and becomes more specific. I'm guessing, then, that MM-DD-YY comes from MM-DD, with the year tacked onto the end as a modifier.
:P :)
But that's a wild guess. Maybe Americans just want to have a Pi day? (Americans, mark your calendars for March 14, '15, at 9:26 (and make it 9:26 *PM* to really tick off the Europeans.)
How about that stupid double click they stole from Apple? And yes, it's stupid in Apples, too. Teaching a new computer user to double click is the hardest part of showing them how to use a computer (and yes, there are still folks out there who have yet to use a PC). Look, guys, it's simple: one click to select, another click to execute. There is no rational reason the two clicks have to be less than 1/5th of a second apart.
I know I'm probably missing the point, that you're ranting for the sake of ranting, and default settings are what most people only ever use, but... on the Mac at least, you can change the maximum timespan between double clicks from 1/5th of a second to at least 2 seconds apart, maybe more. Perhaps Windows has a similar setting?
If I asked you "What's a gallon of water measured in cubic feet"...
/usr/bin/units: 1 gal=0.133 ft^3 (so 15 gallons = 2ft^3) :) Or I'd estimate.
I'd fire up
And even knowing that 1 liter = 1 dm^3 would not help most people, because a) no one works with decimeters, and b) the average person is likely to think that 1 m^3 = 10 dm^3, not 1000 dm^3.
I think that, while the metric system may be slightly easier to use, it is not so superior that it is worth the expense and disruption of metrication. The exception is in science and maybe engineering, where strange unit conversions are much more common than in everyday life: but most scientists in the U.S. already use the metric system anyway.
Working at a video store and telling a customer that no one ever rents these movies implies that the customer is an oddity and has very crappy tastes.
Yeah, hadn't thought of that. I don't mind being an oddity, and I would probably take such a comment as tribute to my obviously eclectic taste (as long as it was said with astonishment, and not with a sneer). But that wouldn't be true for most people I suppose.