Yeah, I think a lot of voters felt that way. I tend to side with republicans, but based on the way bush spends, he's really not a republican at all. He's just less of a democrat than Kerry.
I would not have voted for Kerry or Dean, and definitely not Edwards. If Gephardt had gotten the Democratic nomination, though, I believe he would've gotten my vote and many others. He'd be president right now.
Democrats can only blame themselves for nominating the wrong person. A lot of us Republicans cede that Bush isn't that great, and would've voted Democrat if someone better than him had been nominated. In the end, we were right all along, you can't run a campaign and count on votes from people who simply don't like the other guy. As a candidate, YOU have to bring something to the table.
I might as well get modded down too, then. And we probably will because yesterday's slashdot poll pretty much quantified the fact that most of the readership here is liberal. That's fine, you're entitled to your views.
I voted for who I felt would work best against terror and best for the economy, and feel that Bush is better than Kerry. I don't think he's perfect, I just said I think he's better.
The partisanship is pretty ridiculous. My ballot was split pretty well between democrats and republicans. Democrats moreso on my local level. It's not about party, so before someone flames with that.. well, just dont.
I'm fairly tired of the argument that it's not good for the rest of the world. The rest of the world can't seem to manage its own economy (see europe, and basically anywhere else that isn't the US, China, or South Korea). The rest of the world takes a calculated blind eye on terrorism, knowing that America will probably be the target and/or come to the defense of anyone hit hard. The rest of the world doesn't set much of an example for everyone else to follow.
"What businesses can pay to each other" IS the government's business. It prevents things such as price fixing and other forms of collusion. Regulating these transactions curbs corruption. In this case, it's meant to prevent the tight oligopoly made up by the large recording companies from monopolizing the airwaves and effectively barring the competitive fringe from getting some airplay. Now, I'm not an idiot, I realize the smaller labels get little time on the air, but it might have something to do with the circumvention of this law. I say they're right to finally enforce it.
I'm curious, you mentioned your native country. What country is that? I'm not going to use it to slam you or say something derogatory. I've just dome a few corruption studies on the national level, and we've found that cultural acceptance (basically saying "its a part of doing business here") is generally present in countries with high levels. I'm just trying to get an educated handle on your point of view, I dont mean to be insulting in any way.
Yep, that's what happens when you have a society structured in such a barbaric way that human rights go largely ignored. Money and development can go towards other programs. Think China cares if their experiments go wrong and wipe out a neighborhood? Doubtful.
To answer the OP's question about why the government allows these monopolies to exist:
Economically, the incumbent firm would not sink the cash required to build the initial infrastructure unless it was guaranteed years and years of profit to recoup the cost. It's not the efficient solution, but it was common decades ago to do this. Regulation prohibited competition so that the incumbent could recoup its costs and profit from its venture. It's unfortunate that legislators still believe the telecommunications giants still need this sort of protection, though. The efficient solution is to allow competition, because lets face it, the incumbents have made their money back and then a lot more.
I just wanted to shed some light on why this happens in the first place. Why it's still happening is that old habits die hard, especially with the lobbying dollars that the telecom firms have!
What about it? There's nothing wrong with being an informed consumer. If the store's willing to give me a pricematch and let me mail in the rebate, good for me. I'm not ripping them off if its within their rules.
Yeah, I'd say Amtrak is pretty good here (Philly/NJ) and the other lines make up for where it lacks. NJ Transit goes into Philadelphia and into Manhattan (PATH train). DC and Boston are well connected, basically a train per hour going to either of those cities from Philadelphia. The only drawback is the price: $45 each way from Phila. to DC or Boston. It's about an hour and 45 minute ride, but you could never use it to commute on a daily basis.
So basically you didn't give this band the benefit of the doubt? You know, they're an indie band, likely trying to get heard. It's very unlikely that they're going to screw you on the purchase of their CD. Second, DRM costs money. You either have to develop it or license it, and from the band and smaller label's standpoint, it's not worth the added cost. See, they WANT you to share it with friends. Yeah, it'd be better if your friends bought copies, rather than burnt yours, but for an indie band its generally not about the money. It's too early in the game for them to worry about that. I dunno, I'm a strong supporter of the whole indie scene, but I really don't think I'm off base here at all. But man, how bad has the music industry gotten when we're reluctant to trust independant bands and labels? Oh well, while I'm posting this, here's a cheap plug for R5 Productions. I have no affiliation with them, other than attending shows that they produce. If you're in the Philly area, you know what I'm talking about. These guys put on some great shows, bring in some great bands, provide a good atmosphere, etc etc.
Uh, did you ever stop and think it was an enhanced CD? You know, music tracks at the beginning and usually some video files at the end that you can access in a computer? A lot of bands release those, in fact a whole lot more release those than a CD with DRM. It's one thing to make a conscious decision to not buy copy protected things, but come on, take off your tinfoil hat, the damn thing was likely not copy protected. For one, name me an indie label that has implemented DRM. Mod me down to hell for this, but the ignorance in some cases (this one) is amazing.
At the minimum, keep this guy funded so he can research the necessary materials. The article gives a timeframe of 2 yrs for the nanotube technology. If something like this could actually be built in the coming generation, getting things into space will probably become a whole lot cheaper.
Plus, a space elevator.. it even SOUNDS cool. Almost as cool as moonbase.
In my opinion, vote for whoever is going to spend the money properly. Personal rights come about naturally in a democracy, but spending generally doesn't follow suit. Remember, people will go about doing what they want, and the government eventually accepts it because they're in office to legislate for the people. I dunno, maybe I'm too idealistic, but I still think the government works for what people want. They just have trouble spending money appropriately.
I don't know why these posts are getting modded to troll. Oh well. To answer your question, I don't think it'll reduce the usability. I just really dont like yast. With SUSE it seems like if i dont install it from one of their packages, it's a lot of work to get something to run properly. Slackware doesn't seem to suffer that problem.
I wanted to hold onto KDE and some installed apps. Slackware is still as bare as it was back in the day, while SUSE had a ton of software I installed (firefox, thunderbird, etc). I was looking at both, though, and I don't think I want to go through the trouble of preserving all the apps. In the end, I might save some time if I archive the config files and just reinstall everything.
Any recommendations out there on how to move from SUSE 9.1 to Slack 10.0? I recently started using Linux again. The previous was Slack 4.0 or something like that. Really old, 5 years ago. I always liked Slackware back then and would like to go back to it, really just for the sake of doing it. Rather than blowing out my linux partition and restarting, is there a way I could migrate?
NASA's bloated and inefficient these days, just like most of our agencies. Private companies exist to turn a profit. If they're willing to undertake these projects, you'd bet they're going to try to come out ahead on the ledger. Because of that, I would bet that private companies will generally develop space tech cheaper than NASA would. Otherwise, they'll likely pass on the opportunity at the cash prize. Or, some takers will sink a load of cash just to say they did it. In that case, the economy comes out ahead.
I agree with you completely. If you look at state run enterprises in general, their industry is usually one where a private company would not take on the risk. I think space is past that. If private contractors are building satellites, pieces of the space station, etc for NASA, the next logical step is for these private companies to build the means to move such objects into space. While it's not exactly profitable yet, the pride factor alone will compel many. Soon enough, private space travel WILL be profitable. Wouldn't it be sweet to take a trip above the Earth before we're dead?
Mod me down for this if you must, but how on Earth (no pun intended) was the above comment modded insightful? Sarcasm != insight.
But in the spirit (pun intended) of the good ol' USA, we might've missed a couple conversions, but both of our mars rovers are looking pretty good right now, aren't they?
Obviously the $10M X-Prize got a few groups together to be the first. Most if not all of them have put in more money than the prize would bring in for winning, but there's something about our competitive nature as people... NASA should strongly consider this. If you want innovation, make it a contest. There's a ton of people out there who are that damn competitive that they'll sink their own money to win. I personally think it's great.
Well, you could put it on the car if you remove the CD changer. The problem is, this thing is just a hack to use the head unit's rear input. The one that was designed for the changer, nav system, or other audio accessory.
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Yeah, I think a lot of voters felt that way. I tend to side with republicans, but based on the way bush spends, he's really not a republican at all. He's just less of a democrat than Kerry.
I would not have voted for Kerry or Dean, and definitely not Edwards. If Gephardt had gotten the Democratic nomination, though, I believe he would've gotten my vote and many others. He'd be president right now.
Democrats can only blame themselves for nominating the wrong person. A lot of us Republicans cede that Bush isn't that great, and would've voted Democrat if someone better than him had been nominated. In the end, we were right all along, you can't run a campaign and count on votes from people who simply don't like the other guy. As a candidate, YOU have to bring something to the table.
I might as well get modded down too, then. And we probably will because yesterday's slashdot poll pretty much quantified the fact that most of the readership here is liberal. That's fine, you're entitled to your views.
I voted for who I felt would work best against terror and best for the economy, and feel that Bush is better than Kerry. I don't think he's perfect, I just said I think he's better.
The partisanship is pretty ridiculous. My ballot was split pretty well between democrats and republicans. Democrats moreso on my local level. It's not about party, so before someone flames with that.. well, just dont.
I'm fairly tired of the argument that it's not good for the rest of the world. The rest of the world can't seem to manage its own economy (see europe, and basically anywhere else that isn't the US, China, or South Korea). The rest of the world takes a calculated blind eye on terrorism, knowing that America will probably be the target and/or come to the defense of anyone hit hard. The rest of the world doesn't set much of an example for everyone else to follow.
"What businesses can pay to each other" IS the government's business. It prevents things such as price fixing and other forms of collusion. Regulating these transactions curbs corruption. In this case, it's meant to prevent the tight oligopoly made up by the large recording companies from monopolizing the airwaves and effectively barring the competitive fringe from getting some airplay. Now, I'm not an idiot, I realize the smaller labels get little time on the air, but it might have something to do with the circumvention of this law. I say they're right to finally enforce it.
I'm curious, you mentioned your native country. What country is that? I'm not going to use it to slam you or say something derogatory. I've just dome a few corruption studies on the national level, and we've found that cultural acceptance (basically saying "its a part of doing business here") is generally present in countries with high levels. I'm just trying to get an educated handle on your point of view, I dont mean to be insulting in any way.
Yep, that's what happens when you have a society structured in such a barbaric way that human rights go largely ignored. Money and development can go towards other programs. Think China cares if their experiments go wrong and wipe out a neighborhood? Doubtful.
To answer the OP's question about why the government allows these monopolies to exist:
Economically, the incumbent firm would not sink the cash required to build the initial infrastructure unless it was guaranteed years and years of profit to recoup the cost. It's not the efficient solution, but it was common decades ago to do this. Regulation prohibited competition so that the incumbent could recoup its costs and profit from its venture. It's unfortunate that legislators still believe the telecommunications giants still need this sort of protection, though. The efficient solution is to allow competition, because lets face it, the incumbents have made their money back and then a lot more.
I just wanted to shed some light on why this happens in the first place. Why it's still happening is that old habits die hard, especially with the lobbying dollars that the telecom firms have!
I think you're looking for something called a Tesla coil. Oh, don't get hurt making/using it :)
What about it? There's nothing wrong with being an informed consumer. If the store's willing to give me a pricematch and let me mail in the rebate, good for me. I'm not ripping them off if its within their rules.
Yeah, I'd say Amtrak is pretty good here (Philly/NJ) and the other lines make up for where it lacks. NJ Transit goes into Philadelphia and into Manhattan (PATH train). DC and Boston are well connected, basically a train per hour going to either of those cities from Philadelphia. The only drawback is the price: $45 each way from Phila. to DC or Boston. It's about an hour and 45 minute ride, but you could never use it to commute on a daily basis.
No, you missed it, it was likely an enhanced CD and NOT DRM.
So basically you didn't give this band the benefit of the doubt? You know, they're an indie band, likely trying to get heard. It's very unlikely that they're going to screw you on the purchase of their CD. Second, DRM costs money. You either have to develop it or license it, and from the band and smaller label's standpoint, it's not worth the added cost. See, they WANT you to share it with friends. Yeah, it'd be better if your friends bought copies, rather than burnt yours, but for an indie band its generally not about the money. It's too early in the game for them to worry about that. I dunno, I'm a strong supporter of the whole indie scene, but I really don't think I'm off base here at all. But man, how bad has the music industry gotten when we're reluctant to trust independant bands and labels? Oh well, while I'm posting this, here's a cheap plug for R5 Productions. I have no affiliation with them, other than attending shows that they produce. If you're in the Philly area, you know what I'm talking about. These guys put on some great shows, bring in some great bands, provide a good atmosphere, etc etc.
Uh, did you ever stop and think it was an enhanced CD? You know, music tracks at the beginning and usually some video files at the end that you can access in a computer? A lot of bands release those, in fact a whole lot more release those than a CD with DRM. It's one thing to make a conscious decision to not buy copy protected things, but come on, take off your tinfoil hat, the damn thing was likely not copy protected. For one, name me an indie label that has implemented DRM. Mod me down to hell for this, but the ignorance in some cases (this one) is amazing.
Yep, the article says the earth's rotation will keep the cable taut. Makes sense.
At the minimum, keep this guy funded so he can research the necessary materials. The article gives a timeframe of 2 yrs for the nanotube technology. If something like this could actually be built in the coming generation, getting things into space will probably become a whole lot cheaper.
Plus, a space elevator.. it even SOUNDS cool. Almost as cool as moonbase.
In my opinion, vote for whoever is going to spend the money properly. Personal rights come about naturally in a democracy, but spending generally doesn't follow suit. Remember, people will go about doing what they want, and the government eventually accepts it because they're in office to legislate for the people. I dunno, maybe I'm too idealistic, but I still think the government works for what people want. They just have trouble spending money appropriately.
I don't know why these posts are getting modded to troll. Oh well. To answer your question, I don't think it'll reduce the usability. I just really dont like yast. With SUSE it seems like if i dont install it from one of their packages, it's a lot of work to get something to run properly. Slackware doesn't seem to suffer that problem.
I wanted to hold onto KDE and some installed apps. Slackware is still as bare as it was back in the day, while SUSE had a ton of software I installed (firefox, thunderbird, etc). I was looking at both, though, and I don't think I want to go through the trouble of preserving all the apps. In the end, I might save some time if I archive the config files and just reinstall everything.
No kidding. Slack has been around for a WHILE. I'm moving back to it just for the nostalgia value :) Seriously.
Any recommendations out there on how to move from SUSE 9.1 to Slack 10.0? I recently started using Linux again. The previous was Slack 4.0 or something like that. Really old, 5 years ago. I always liked Slackware back then and would like to go back to it, really just for the sake of doing it. Rather than blowing out my linux partition and restarting, is there a way I could migrate?
NASA's bloated and inefficient these days, just like most of our agencies. Private companies exist to turn a profit. If they're willing to undertake these projects, you'd bet they're going to try to come out ahead on the ledger. Because of that, I would bet that private companies will generally develop space tech cheaper than NASA would. Otherwise, they'll likely pass on the opportunity at the cash prize. Or, some takers will sink a load of cash just to say they did it. In that case, the economy comes out ahead.
I agree with you completely. If you look at state run enterprises in general, their industry is usually one where a private company would not take on the risk. I think space is past that. If private contractors are building satellites, pieces of the space station, etc for NASA, the next logical step is for these private companies to build the means to move such objects into space. While it's not exactly profitable yet, the pride factor alone will compel many. Soon enough, private space travel WILL be profitable. Wouldn't it be sweet to take a trip above the Earth before we're dead?
Well, its been modded down from insightful to troll. Slashdot mod point holder, I salute you.
Mod me down for this if you must, but how on Earth (no pun intended) was the above comment modded insightful? Sarcasm != insight.
But in the spirit (pun intended) of the good ol' USA, we might've missed a couple conversions, but both of our mars rovers are looking pretty good right now, aren't they?
Obviously the $10M X-Prize got a few groups together to be the first. Most if not all of them have put in more money than the prize would bring in for winning, but there's something about our competitive nature as people... NASA should strongly consider this. If you want innovation, make it a contest. There's a ton of people out there who are that damn competitive that they'll sink their own money to win. I personally think it's great.
Well, you could put it on the car if you remove the CD changer. The problem is, this thing is just a hack to use the head unit's rear input. The one that was designed for the changer, nav system, or other audio accessory.