Yes, youre very correct. I share your opinion - i have just as much disdain for anarchists as i do for socialists, haha.
The point of the government is to do what we as individuals or neighbourhoods or cities or states cannot - unfortunatley, that is too broad of a definition, and the real problems arise from interpretations of that definition.
"Whenever you may find yourself asking "Maybe the government should be doing this?" the answer is almost ALWAYS "no.""
I never said that the government shouldn't do some things - but isn't there always "I could do it better/cheaper/faster"? The government does many things, and there are things that it must do - but policing the internet is not one of those things. The government is about force - their only weapon is a real life ban-hammer.
What does the government have to do with smallpox? Immunizations are offered by doctors offices and hospitals, which in the States, are not run the government.
And even more importantly, what does the government have to do with my job? At most, a union gives the illusion of security - and complains for better working conditions. The government may set regulations, which ill give you. But still, most of them are either too restrictive or not restrictive enough, and they have too many personal interests to do anything about either.
Police are city or state run. The feds only come around for "big" deals. Unless you live in Somalia.
I'll give you the banks too - but look at how awful banking in the States is, and even in Canada. Two different systems that suck - but Canada's is arguably better.
But, look at our phone services, ISP's, cable TV, and other things: Monopolies or duopolies. High prices, price hikes, old technology (it still costs extra for caller id!), bad roads, and just a generally stupid way of doing many many things. America is worse in some areas - but god, at least it's cheaper to live there.
Whenever you may find yourself asking "Maybe the government should be doing this?" the answer is almost ALWAYS "no."
It would be like giving a nine year old a company to run. He has no understanding of it, and is most likely totally incapable of learning about it, so instead will apply stupid rules when things go wrong.
Maybe the comment you made in response to his first post in the future was so harsh, so biting, so damaging to his very core, that he went back in time to prevent you from crushing his soul beneath your heel, like a child steps on an ant?
For argument's sake, what if every square inch of the city was covered by CCTV?
Would crime stop then?
It seems logical to me that because people have somewhere to hide from the cameras, they do - and hence, do crimes there.
Or, while the cameras dont have 100% coverage, they know that "cameras might be out there" and don't commit drimers for fear of them, but, once they get 100% coverage, they figure "well, theres no stopping it now." and commit crimes anyways.
Think about it - you'll stop for two or three red lights on one abandoned street, but not for one, and not for 1 at every block for 15 blocks.
I totally agree, minus the overbearing "Microsoft Sucks" attitude.
Nothing bothers me more, being a hardcore Opera user, than going to a webpage and getting the message "Sorry, you must use IE, Firefox, or Safari to browse this page".
Theres nothing wrong with Opera - its just as good (of course, in my opinion, far superior) to the other browsers, and i find that almost all webpages work.
And if i get another "Your browser must be java compatible in order to view this webpage" error, ill scream.
Conservatives (the extremists, which is almost all of them unfortunatley) are a scary bunch, but they are absolutely nothing compared to the New Democratic Party - i recall hearing some of their stances, and getting the feeling that it was one of those "Oh, by the way, its all the Jews fault. Yeah... we should start killing them. Then, everything will be better."
They are terrifyingly socialst/communist, to the point where we would be taxed to hell (more than we are now), and would probably lose most of our freedoms.
Or, you could buy a copy of Vista Upgarde Ed (99$) and install a fresh copy using that (install w/o a key, then upgrade the existing copy of Vista already installed).
I dunno, i find that streaming with VLC works pretty well. Using my 100MB network, while downloading torrents (granted at around 100k/s, but with at least 100 connections per torrent).
I used to have a lag issue when i was using a Belkin router - however, now that i switched to (begrudgingly)a Linksys, i've had ZERO streaming-related hiccups.
Now, im not so sure about the feasability of streaming it across more than 10 or 15 laptops - but an upgrade to a gigabit network would almost certainly solve the problem, assuming you could grab some PCMCIA gigabite network cards.
Wow. Have fun with that.
For what its worth, i think VLC or something similar is your best bet. Most of the other ideas, while cool, would probably not be as effective or seamless(ish). You could also do the really badass Wallpaper setting on some of them, which is always pretty good for a "Oh, thats cool" effect.
Course, good luck getting it set up to stream properly - I had a hell of a time getting it set up to stream, and I can't get it to work with my new laptop.
Generally speaking, as long as everyone else follows the laws THEY are given when an ambulance has its siren on (which, as you probably are unaware, is to pull over to the side of the road) then there is absolutely no chaos. The ambulance passes by, and no one cares.
You, sir, are either a vehement and die-hard devils advocate, an idiot, or a hardcore anarchist.
But, are you really surprised that politicians have no goddamn clue what to do, and despite their apparant best efforts, have absolutely no clue what is best for the masses?
Its times like these i wish people didnt think "Republican" meant "George Bush".
According to real republican values, the government has no business taxing the people to give their kids an iPod.
If they are offering that much bandwidth/month, then they must be able to support that much bandwidth. If not, im sure some slick-and-slimy lawyer could nail them with a lawsuit of some sort.
And even then, thats only at 100k/sec, which would be totally impossible to have any sort of affect on any reasonably well constructed or modern network. If their stuff is old, thats their problem. We're paying them, they should upgrade it. If they give you a hard time, just tell them to start putting your monthly fee towards new equipment. "What am i paying for, exactly?" would also probably be a good thing to say.
I understand that, but there is very little they can do against a DSL company - almost all locations have one cable provider and one DSL provider. While im certainly in the fan club, it would be better than a tryanical cable company getting my money.
But im totally on board with what youre saying. I always hated that i could only choose from Timewarner or Sprint, and here in Canada i can choose from Telus or DCCnet.
Unless they are still using copper in your area (very unlikely), or youre REALLY far away from the... whatever its called. The closet? Whatever.
Anyways, unless youre really far away from the ISP's main equipment, or you live in an incredibly densely populated area, its very unlikely that you be able to noticably impact anyones connection speed, becuase the pipes the ISP uses are, by necessity, fucking massive. Even T3 has a pretty considerable amount of bandwidth, a few gigabits, i think.
And i dunno about you, but my torrents usually dont go pass 100k. Granted, Telus is probably the worst ISP ever, as i routinely have slow download speeds and web pages tend to take about 2 minutes to load (usually it pauses for two minutes, then loads all at once. Opera usually reports around 500bits/sec.) But, assuming you download at 500k/sec, it would take many other people to be downloading in order to "fill up" the pipe. And like i said, most cities are using single mode/multi mode Fibre Optic, which the newer techs have an absurd amount of bandwidth. If, perhaps, EVERYONE was downloading at 500k/sec, it would cause slowdowns - but how many people in your area download torrents? And i know for a fact that Bearshare and their ilk very rarely go over 50k/sec, and when they do, its usually for music or small videos, so its brief at its worst.
And, in the grand scheme of things, 250gigs a month is nothing. Absolutely nothing. Most aficicandos have large hard drives - i have over 500 gigs of storage on my computer. Most of it is music, tv shows, movies, and games. Stuff i could easily host and people would download. I wish i could do math, and if i could, i would lay out the minimum upload speed (or download speed) it would take to reach 250gb/s of bandwidth consumed in one month, assuming 24 hours of download time at a constant rate. Someone want to help out?
Finally, bandwidth is not a finite resource. Yes, there may only be so much at one particular time, however, once used its not like they have to go "make more" by harvesting some bizaree green crystal. All they have to do to make more is put in new equipment - the beauty of fibre is once you have the glass in the ground, to upgrade speeds all you have to do is upgrade the equipment. Fibre is fibre (well, the only distinction is between multi mode and single mode, but even that definition isnt exactly true anymore).
Well, technically, your modem goes as fast the slowest hop while your packets are on their way to/from their destination.
Comcast is an awful ISP. They even have irritating commercials (Comwatsi? wtf). I had just moved from SW Florida, where they had just taken over TimeWarner RoadRunner.
Although, i dont understand why you cant change your ISP - what kind of communist neighbourhood do you live in where you can pick your own? Do they regulate your long distance plan too? Your water usage? How Gallons Per Flush your toilet is, and how many FPD (flushes per day) you use?
What happens if you go over? Do they come over and smash your toilet?
"Sir, we have recorded that you've gone over your FPD limit by 15. I suggest you severly alter your diet, or we will be forced to take action."
I havent used VLC too much for a music player (WMP works fine for me), but i have dabbled with creating playlists and the like, and its seems to be a pretty quick little program.
Im pretty sure theres a Mac version, so why dont you go check it out?
The reason they are freeze when they get a problem, is probably because thats what they where trained to do.
I know that in most of my jobs, if i where to use my intuition and try and solve the problem on my own, i would probably have ended up doing something wrong in the bosses eyes, and i would either get yelled at or fired.
In fact, i can think of numerous examples where i DID take the initiative, and solved a problem on my own, and i was told off for it. It was immensely frustrating - here i was doing what i thought was a good deed, and now im in trouble for it becuase i didnt consult my boss, whose only purpose should be to ensure we dont break things - NOT to tell us what to do.
And as for the GP, i agree that students who are entering college should be able to manage their own time effectively. And honestly, i think that if they dont, then they fail and go home with their tail between their legs and several thousand dollars in the hole.
It is THEIR responsibility to take care of THEIR shit. All of this hand-holding is rediculous and solves nothing.
The concept that they would limit someones internet usage AT ALL irritates me to no end. The only way to truly learn something is to make a mistake and have to deal with it.
And who cares if they "bad material" on their hard drives - as long as they are still passing their classes, it shouldnt matter at all.
A certain amount of caution is certainly warranted - but you make it sound like we should all stay inside, for fear of catching something. "Obsessive Compulsive" is probably a roughly accurate word.
If the world shuts down because of a pandemic, there will be problems because of upkeep negligence. Obviously, non-essential business and basic cleanliness applies (which, really, is how 90% of sicknesses are prevented. And i theorize that the reason so much crap keeps coming from the east is their general lack of cleanliness - spitting in streets, etc. But, im sure ill catch heat for that.).
As always, this falls under "Don't Be An Idiot, And You'll Be Fine."
Slashdot Mirror
The point of the government is to do what we as individuals or neighbourhoods or cities or states cannot - unfortunatley, that is too broad of a definition, and the real problems arise from interpretations of that definition.
-Red
I never said that the government shouldn't do some things - but isn't there always "I could do it better/cheaper/faster"? The government does many things, and there are things that it must do - but policing the internet is not one of those things. The government is about force - their only weapon is a real life ban-hammer.
What does the government have to do with smallpox? Immunizations are offered by doctors offices and hospitals, which in the States, are not run the government.
And even more importantly, what does the government have to do with my job? At most, a union gives the illusion of security - and complains for better working conditions. The government may set regulations, which ill give you. But still, most of them are either too restrictive or not restrictive enough, and they have too many personal interests to do anything about either.
Police are city or state run. The feds only come around for "big" deals. Unless you live in Somalia.
I'll give you the banks too - but look at how awful banking in the States is, and even in Canada. Two different systems that suck - but Canada's is arguably better.
But, look at our phone services, ISP's, cable TV, and other things: Monopolies or duopolies. High prices, price hikes, old technology (it still costs extra for caller id!), bad roads, and just a generally stupid way of doing many many things. America is worse in some areas - but god, at least it's cheaper to live there.
-Red
Mod parent up.
-Red
Whenever you may find yourself asking "Maybe the government should be doing this?" the answer is almost ALWAYS "no."
It would be like giving a nine year old a company to run. He has no understanding of it, and is most likely totally incapable of learning about it, so instead will apply stupid rules when things go wrong.
The government is evil. Always.
-Red
Or...
Maybe the comment you made in response to his first post in the future was so harsh, so biting, so damaging to his very core, that he went back in time to prevent you from crushing his soul beneath your heel, like a child steps on an ant?
Huh? Why didn't you think of THAT!?
-Red
I totally agree with you.
-Red
How eerily republican of you!
Please note, i mean REAL republican - not hey-lets-raise-taxes-and-increase-government republicans.
-Red
Im thinking its probably AlexRelated, everyones favourite piece of spyware.
-Red
Would crime stop then?
It seems logical to me that because people have somewhere to hide from the cameras, they do - and hence, do crimes there.
Or, while the cameras dont have 100% coverage, they know that "cameras might be out there" and don't commit drimers for fear of them, but, once they get 100% coverage, they figure "well, theres no stopping it now." and commit crimes anyways.
Think about it - you'll stop for two or three red lights on one abandoned street, but not for one, and not for 1 at every block for 15 blocks.
-Red
Nothing bothers me more, being a hardcore Opera user, than going to a webpage and getting the message "Sorry, you must use IE, Firefox, or Safari to browse this page".
Theres nothing wrong with Opera - its just as good (of course, in my opinion, far superior) to the other browsers, and i find that almost all webpages work.
And if i get another "Your browser must be java compatible in order to view this webpage" error, ill scream.
That doesnt even makes sense.
-Red
Conservatives (the extremists, which is almost all of them unfortunatley) are a scary bunch, but they are absolutely nothing compared to the New Democratic Party - i recall hearing some of their stances, and getting the feeling that it was one of those "Oh, by the way, its all the Jews fault. Yeah... we should start killing them. Then, everything will be better."
They are terrifyingly socialst/communist, to the point where we would be taxed to hell (more than we are now), and would probably lose most of our freedoms.
-Red
Im gonna get it for that Jew comment, arent it?
Or, you could, you know.
Download it.
-Red
I used to have a lag issue when i was using a Belkin router - however, now that i switched to (begrudgingly)a Linksys, i've had ZERO streaming-related hiccups.
Now, im not so sure about the feasability of streaming it across more than 10 or 15 laptops - but an upgrade to a gigabit network would almost certainly solve the problem, assuming you could grab some PCMCIA gigabite network cards.
Wow. Have fun with that.
For what its worth, i think VLC or something similar is your best bet. Most of the other ideas, while cool, would probably not be as effective or seamless(ish). You could also do the really badass Wallpaper setting on some of them, which is always pretty good for a "Oh, thats cool" effect.
Course, good luck getting it set up to stream properly - I had a hell of a time getting it set up to stream, and I can't get it to work with my new laptop.
A few tips would be nice.........
-Red
You, sir, are either a vehement and die-hard devils advocate, an idiot, or a hardcore anarchist.
I'm gonna go with the second one.
-Red
Its times like these i wish people didnt think "Republican" meant "George Bush".
According to real republican values, the government has no business taxing the people to give their kids an iPod.
But, im tired and angsty.
-Red
I usually check Slashdot, Ars Technica, Nintendo Wii Fanboy, Penny Arcade, Ctrl+Alt+Del, and VG Cats.
-Red
But anyways. I think i remember my point.
If they are offering that much bandwidth/month, then they must be able to support that much bandwidth. If not, im sure some slick-and-slimy lawyer could nail them with a lawsuit of some sort.
And even then, thats only at 100k/sec, which would be totally impossible to have any sort of affect on any reasonably well constructed or modern network. If their stuff is old, thats their problem. We're paying them, they should upgrade it. If they give you a hard time, just tell them to start putting your monthly fee towards new equipment. "What am i paying for, exactly?" would also probably be a good thing to say.
-Red
But im totally on board with what youre saying. I always hated that i could only choose from Timewarner or Sprint, and here in Canada i can choose from Telus or DCCnet.
-Red
If you dont have to register your MAC, you can hook up as many computers (without NAT) as you want to the modem.
Why you wouldnt have NAT, i dont know - but, the more you know.
-Red
Doesn't change that i hate them though. Just that i could hate them so much more.
-Red
Unless they are still using copper in your area (very unlikely), or youre REALLY far away from the... whatever its called. The closet? Whatever.
Anyways, unless youre really far away from the ISP's main equipment, or you live in an incredibly densely populated area, its very unlikely that you be able to noticably impact anyones connection speed, becuase the pipes the ISP uses are, by necessity, fucking massive. Even T3 has a pretty considerable amount of bandwidth, a few gigabits, i think.
And i dunno about you, but my torrents usually dont go pass 100k. Granted, Telus is probably the worst ISP ever, as i routinely have slow download speeds and web pages tend to take about 2 minutes to load (usually it pauses for two minutes, then loads all at once. Opera usually reports around 500bits/sec.) But, assuming you download at 500k/sec, it would take many other people to be downloading in order to "fill up" the pipe. And like i said, most cities are using single mode/multi mode Fibre Optic, which the newer techs have an absurd amount of bandwidth. If, perhaps, EVERYONE was downloading at 500k/sec, it would cause slowdowns - but how many people in your area download torrents? And i know for a fact that Bearshare and their ilk very rarely go over 50k/sec, and when they do, its usually for music or small videos, so its brief at its worst.
And, in the grand scheme of things, 250gigs a month is nothing. Absolutely nothing. Most aficicandos have large hard drives - i have over 500 gigs of storage on my computer. Most of it is music, tv shows, movies, and games. Stuff i could easily host and people would download. I wish i could do math, and if i could, i would lay out the minimum upload speed (or download speed) it would take to reach 250gb/s of bandwidth consumed in one month, assuming 24 hours of download time at a constant rate. Someone want to help out?
Finally, bandwidth is not a finite resource. Yes, there may only be so much at one particular time, however, once used its not like they have to go "make more" by harvesting some bizaree green crystal. All they have to do to make more is put in new equipment - the beauty of fibre is once you have the glass in the ground, to upgrade speeds all you have to do is upgrade the equipment. Fibre is fibre (well, the only distinction is between multi mode and single mode, but even that definition isnt exactly true anymore).
-Red
Comcast is an awful ISP. They even have irritating commercials (Comwatsi? wtf). I had just moved from SW Florida, where they had just taken over TimeWarner RoadRunner.
Although, i dont understand why you cant change your ISP - what kind of communist neighbourhood do you live in where you can pick your own? Do they regulate your long distance plan too? Your water usage? How Gallons Per Flush your toilet is, and how many FPD (flushes per day) you use?
What happens if you go over? Do they come over and smash your toilet?
"Sir, we have recorded that you've gone over your FPD limit by 15. I suggest you severly alter your diet, or we will be forced to take action."
-Red
Im pretty sure theres a Mac version, so why dont you go check it out?
-Red
I know that in most of my jobs, if i where to use my intuition and try and solve the problem on my own, i would probably have ended up doing something wrong in the bosses eyes, and i would either get yelled at or fired.
In fact, i can think of numerous examples where i DID take the initiative, and solved a problem on my own, and i was told off for it. It was immensely frustrating - here i was doing what i thought was a good deed, and now im in trouble for it becuase i didnt consult my boss, whose only purpose should be to ensure we dont break things - NOT to tell us what to do.
And as for the GP, i agree that students who are entering college should be able to manage their own time effectively. And honestly, i think that if they dont, then they fail and go home with their tail between their legs and several thousand dollars in the hole.
It is THEIR responsibility to take care of THEIR shit. All of this hand-holding is rediculous and solves nothing.
The concept that they would limit someones internet usage AT ALL irritates me to no end. The only way to truly learn something is to make a mistake and have to deal with it.
And who cares if they "bad material" on their hard drives - as long as they are still passing their classes, it shouldnt matter at all.
-Red
If the world shuts down because of a pandemic, there will be problems because of upkeep negligence. Obviously, non-essential business and basic cleanliness applies (which, really, is how 90% of sicknesses are prevented. And i theorize that the reason so much crap keeps coming from the east is their general lack of cleanliness - spitting in streets, etc. But, im sure ill catch heat for that.).
As always, this falls under "Don't Be An Idiot, And You'll Be Fine."
-Red