I agree with that. That's the common sense type law we need in the USA and the world. Unfortunately, the monopolists control congress, so I wouldn't hold my breath, or any other bodily functions. The downward spiral continues.
That's true. A lot of military work has been outsourced to corporations. I meant in the sense of doing it as a civic duty for very little pay, and on the front lines.
Wow. Well, many people who use computers are amazingly clueless about basic things. At work, just yesterday I had to show someone how to drag a window to the left with the title bar so he could close it with the x icon. It was a child window that was too far right in the parent window.
Casual acquaintances of your boss must be shocked when they ask for computer help.
A corporation is a legal entity... a legal individual... who's sole purpose is to do what is best for that corporation (and in modern America, this is to make a dollar value profit). Its purpose is not to do what is best for any other individual (shareholders are by extension a part of the corporation). It is by nature a sociopathic entity. It cares about others only if they help the corporation to get what it needs.
Why should corporations have more rights then citizens. We're duty bound by certain moral, social, and other obligations - jury duty, child support, go to war if drafted. Maybe we should send the corporations to fight in Iraq. They should have some moral obligations in this county. After all, U.S. foreign policy is primarily to serve the corporations. They should be fighting the damn wars.
What, are you talking about something that happened 10 years ago? I don't believe the owner of a computer store in 2006 would be confused by using a mouse.
Well, this sounds more like an iRiver / Mac problem. In Windows its easy to transfer files and deal with this. I have the same iRiver as you, and I love it because its not chained down by DRM. Its just another disk drive to the operating system. I'd tend to blame this on shortcomings of the Mac operating system rather then the iRiver. This is one of the reasons I used to like Microsoft better the the Mac, the openess of the operating systsm. Of course, that's a thing of the past, and is becoming more a thing of the past with every new iteration of Windows. I'd switch to Linux if I didn't have thousands of dollars of music and other software which isn't available in Linux.
This is IMHO no more onerous than security cameras in retail establishments.
No, this is more like a retail establishment having a camera in your home spying on you as you open your bags, to see if you have anything in it that you haven't paid for. Microsoft is in your computer, in your home, spying on your computer. I don't like it. If you do, well, welcome to 1984.
Of course NASA can barely get a mission of the ground without something exploding on or falling off of the space shuttle and Russia is in the middle of an authoritarian boondoggle and is spending most of its time flying celebrities into space.
That's why I'm glad the Europeans are helping to pick up the slack. I just had a hard time seeing crashing into the moon as a significant acomplishment as some stories,e.g. BBC seemed to make it out to be. Europe is the equal of the U.S. and Russia in overall technology, but is woefully far behind in space accomplishments. This seems to be changing, and I'm looking forward to Europe taking their rightful place in space. But as far being impressed by crashing into the moon, well, if it was Pakistan or Viet Nam, I'm be impressed. But Europe should have done this thirty or forty years ago.
Wow, nearly forty years after the U.S. landed a man on the moon, the Europeans smash a spacecraft into it. The Russians and Americans are impressed...not.
Great, I've got a use for my old DOS books.
on
FreeDOS 1.0 Released
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· Score: 1
I'm been wanting to get rid of them somehow. I need to start getting rid of books I never use.
Yea, but you can still find hardback books for $25-$35 nowadays. Why should a calc book cost more than that? Its a commodity item, and should be priced as such. A hardback novel involves more real work then recycling a calc textbook.
I was shocked when my nephew was taking calculus a couple of years ago and he had to pay over $100 for a book. When I went to college in the early 70s it was around $25, if I remember correctly. What is the excuse for this price? There is no new information in them. Its not like a medical or computer science book where there is new data coming out every year which must be incorporated into the text. There is no reason to rewrite them every year. There is no need for new editions. There are already 1000s of editions available. They could just select the best written, clearest classic texts from 1910-1990 and republish them, and it would probably be a superior text then the run of the mill average text nowadays.
The truth is, the writers just copy from older texts and rephrase them. A Calculus book shouldn't be priced at any more then $30, since it should be priced like a commodity product, which is what it is. Charging a $100 a pop proves it is a crooked scam between book publishers and universities.
Both the telephone company and the cable company normally have monopoly status granted by various goverment entities. That in itself should put limits on what they can do, especially in the case of taking a free medium like the internet and putting their own restrictions on it for profit. To do so is a misuse of their goverment granted monopoly power. It is true, in some locations the two do compete with each other to some extent, mainly internet service; but in that case, it is still a goverment sanctioned duopoly, which isn't much better then a monopoly.
There are no other realistic alternatives to broadband interenet access in most areas other then the phone company and the cable company, and in many cases only one is available. Satelite isn't competive because the technololy isn't cost effective for mass broadband internet. And some municipalities even block people from setting up their own wireless network to compete with the goverment sanctioned monopolies.
Goverment sanctioned monopolies should have restrictions on them that work for the good of people whom goverments supposedly serve. Of course, the goverments really serves the corporations, and the people only get a fair shake if they rise up in protest.
Why is it I seldom get mod points on days when I find an interesting comment such as yours. I'm surprised you weren't modded higher, but then again, Slashdot seems like its full of people who think its fine and dandy to pay workers next to nothing so billionaires can be even richer.
As for as projector bulbs go, I have a front projector with a DLP chip, and the bulbs are about $350. Some models are over $400 and up. And the bulbs really only last a couple of years with moderate usage; and lose half their brightness in the process. I can't believe the bulbs cost that much to make. IMHO they're basically fleecing you on the bulbs, similar to ink with ink jet printers.
They modded you flamebait? Slashdot is full if rightwing facists. Sure, you can rationalize war, but you still are, in most cases, incuding the U.S. presidents, fucking murders. So murders, keep on preach your wisdom of war.
Well, in true Slashdot fashion, I didn't really RTFA, so I didn't know how much time was involved. I assumed it would be more of a burden.
It still seems overly controling though. On the other hand, I remember now (after I posted my first comment) when I was in high school back in the day, I sat at a lunch table with a guy who ate Suzy Qs, Twinkies, and chocolate milk every day. I mean every single day for the whole school year, and never ever anything else. I couldn't believe anyone would eat like that. Meanwhile I'd get a hot meal of whatever the cafeteria was serving that day, meat, green beans, potatoes, whatever. Maybe someone should have told his mommy.
Well, I don't agree with this, the two Resident Evil movies are two of my favorite movies. I've never played the game(s), though. If I had, I might have been disappointed. I also liked the two Tomb Raider movies, although I thought they were just ok, but not great. Again, never played any Tomb Raider Games.
They labled you a troll? Seems like a reasonable comment to me. I've had the same thing happen to me on a thread about ebooks, where I said no one would buy them because they'll be DRMed to death. I can see labeling trolls as trolls, but when they mod a totally reasonable, but negative, opinion about something as a troll...well, my best guess its someone connected with the industry your criticizing. Either that or some total asshole flake. I mean, isn't America about freedom of expression? Not according to many slashdot moderators. Its like being in China or the Soviet Union. Of course, I'll probably be labeled a troll for this. Bring it on!
My brother had a bunch of old home movies transfered to video tape about ten years ago. The pq wasn't near as good as the orininal film though. Maybe they have higher resolution DVD transfers available now.
Slashdot Mirror
I agree with that. That's the common sense type law we need in the USA and the world. Unfortunately, the monopolists control congress, so I wouldn't hold my breath, or any other bodily functions. The downward spiral continues.
That's true. A lot of military work has been outsourced to corporations. I meant in the sense of doing it as a civic duty for very little pay, and on the front lines.
Wow. Well, many people who use computers are amazingly clueless about basic things. At work, just yesterday I had to show someone how to drag a window to the left with the title bar so he could close it with the x icon. It was a child window that was too far right in the parent window. Casual acquaintances of your boss must be shocked when they ask for computer help.
A corporation is a legal entity... a legal individual... who's sole purpose is to do what is best for that corporation (and in modern America, this is to make a dollar value profit). Its purpose is not to do what is best for any other individual (shareholders are by extension a part of the corporation). It is by nature a sociopathic entity. It cares about others only if they help the corporation to get what it needs.
Why should corporations have more rights then citizens. We're duty bound by certain moral, social, and other obligations - jury duty, child support, go to war if drafted. Maybe we should send the corporations to fight in Iraq. They should have some moral obligations in this county. After all, U.S. foreign policy is primarily to serve the corporations. They should be fighting the damn wars.
What, are you talking about something that happened 10 years ago? I don't believe the owner of a computer store in 2006 would be confused by using a mouse.
Funny. I guess none of the moderators get it (so far).
Well, this sounds more like an iRiver / Mac problem. In Windows its easy to transfer files and deal with this. I have the same iRiver as you, and I love it because its not chained down by DRM. Its just another disk drive to the operating system. I'd tend to blame this on shortcomings of the Mac operating system rather then the iRiver. This is one of the reasons I used to like Microsoft better the the Mac, the openess of the operating systsm. Of course, that's a thing of the past, and is becoming more a thing of the past with every new iteration of Windows. I'd switch to Linux if I didn't have thousands of dollars of music and other software which isn't available in Linux.
This is IMHO no more onerous than security cameras in retail establishments.
No, this is more like a retail establishment having a camera in your home spying on you as you open your bags, to see if you have anything in it that you haven't paid for. Microsoft is in your computer, in your home, spying on your computer. I don't like it. If you do, well, welcome to 1984.
Wow, nearly forty years after the U.S. landed a man on the moon, the Europeans smash a spacecraft into it. The Russians and Americans are impressed...not.
I'm been wanting to get rid of them somehow. I need to start getting rid of books I never use.
glad your boss doesn't read slashdot, he sounds too tecno challenged for that. If he did, he might not like what you wrote.
Yea, but you can still find hardback books for $25-$35 nowadays. Why should a calc book cost more than that? Its a commodity item, and should be priced as such. A hardback novel involves more real work then recycling a calc textbook.
I was shocked when my nephew was taking calculus a couple of years ago and he had to pay over $100 for a book. When I went to college in the early 70s it was around $25, if I remember correctly. What is the excuse for this price? There is no new information in them. Its not like a medical or computer science book where there is new data coming out every year which must be incorporated into the text. There is no reason to rewrite them every year. There is no need for new editions. There are already 1000s of editions available. They could just select the best written, clearest classic texts from 1910-1990 and republish them, and it would probably be a superior text then the run of the mill average text nowadays.
The truth is, the writers just copy from older texts and rephrase them. A Calculus book shouldn't be priced at any more then $30, since it should be priced like a commodity product, which is what it is. Charging a $100 a pop proves it is a crooked scam between book publishers and universities.
Uh, sorry, didn't mean to mod you offtopic, was an accident
Both the telephone company and the cable company normally have monopoly status granted by various goverment entities. That in itself should put limits on what they can do, especially in the case of taking a free medium like the internet and putting their own restrictions on it for profit. To do so is a misuse of their goverment granted monopoly power. It is true, in some locations the two do compete with each other to some extent, mainly internet service; but in that case, it is still a goverment sanctioned duopoly, which isn't much better then a monopoly.
There are no other realistic alternatives to broadband interenet access in most areas other then the phone company and the cable company, and in many cases only one is available. Satelite isn't competive because the technololy isn't cost effective for mass broadband internet. And some municipalities even block people from setting up their own wireless network to compete with the goverment sanctioned monopolies.
Goverment sanctioned monopolies should have restrictions on them that work for the good of people whom goverments supposedly serve. Of course, the goverments really serves the corporations, and the people only get a fair shake if they rise up in protest.
Why is it I seldom get mod points on days when I find an interesting comment such as yours. I'm surprised you weren't modded higher, but then again, Slashdot seems like its full of people who think its fine and dandy to pay workers next to nothing so billionaires can be even richer.
As for as projector bulbs go, I have a front projector with a DLP chip, and the bulbs are about $350. Some models are over $400 and up. And the bulbs really only last a couple of years with moderate usage; and lose half their brightness in the process. I can't believe the bulbs cost that much to make. IMHO they're basically fleecing you on the bulbs, similar to ink with ink jet printers.
They modded you flamebait? Slashdot is full if rightwing facists. Sure, you can rationalize war, but you still are, in most cases, incuding the U.S. presidents, fucking murders. So murders, keep on preach your wisdom of war.
Well, in true Slashdot fashion, I didn't really RTFA, so I didn't know how much time was involved. I assumed it would be more of a burden.
It still seems overly controling though. On the other hand, I remember now (after I posted my first comment) when I was in high school back in the day, I sat at a lunch table with a guy who ate Suzy Qs, Twinkies, and chocolate milk every day. I mean every single day for the whole school year, and never ever anything else. I couldn't believe anyone would eat like that. Meanwhile I'd get a hot meal of whatever the cafeteria was serving that day, meat, green beans, potatoes, whatever. Maybe someone should have told his mommy.
What normal parent would have the time to mess with something like this? This brings up images of an overcontroling mother.
Well, I don't agree with this, the two Resident Evil movies are two of my favorite movies. I've never played the game(s), though. If I had, I might have been disappointed. I also liked the two Tomb Raider movies, although I thought they were just ok, but not great. Again, never played any Tomb Raider Games.
They labled you a troll? Seems like a reasonable comment to me. I've had the same thing happen to me on a thread about ebooks, where I said no one would buy them because they'll be DRMed to death. I can see labeling trolls as trolls, but when they mod a totally reasonable, but negative, opinion about something as a troll...well, my best guess its someone connected with the industry your criticizing. Either that or some total asshole flake. I mean, isn't America about freedom of expression? Not according to many slashdot moderators. Its like being in China or the Soviet Union. Of course, I'll probably be labeled a troll for this. Bring it on!
This was labeled 3 insightful? It should have been labeled 3 fanboy.
My brother had a bunch of old home movies transfered to video tape about ten years ago. The pq wasn't near as good as the orininal film though. Maybe they have higher resolution DVD transfers available now.