Unless you want an armed rebellion, voting is the only way to change things.
In any case, giving up your vote is saying that it's OK to be in a dictatorship where people cannot choose their leaders. It's amazing how hundreds or even thousands of people in other countries give their lives so they can choose who they want to rule their country - and in the US people just give away that right.
Another thing - if voting isn't enough, then PROMOTE YOUR CANDIDATE! This way you can make more people vote along with you, so your combined vote WILL matter.
I know that copying music is illegal... I know it's wrong, that's enough for me.
See, that's the difference between the sheeple and informed people. You really don't know it's wrong. You've just been educated to think it's wrong.
As for me, I know that copying music is illegal in some countries, but I know it's NOT wrong - specially if the RIAA engages in monopolistic behavior.
Reality isn't black and white, my friend. And it doesn't have shades of gray either, that would be thinking in 1-D. Reality comes in COLORS. Some nice, some ugly. And there are many viewpoints.
If she had sensitive data on there, she should have pulled the HD first.
A non-tech person removing a hard drive... from a laptop... and voiding her warranty, sure, she should have done that, no doubt!
In related news, I'm glad that TrueCrypt 5 has been released. Might be useful whenever you send your laptop for repair and you don't want the world to know what data you have stored.
Guy: It just arrived in the mail: I've been accepted in the U.S.A.'s Hackers Elite corp... Other guy: No way! Guy: Geeze, I'm going to learn so much: Data interception, a darn bunch of encryption... can you imagine the level of the guys attending these lectures? Other guy: You'd better review your strong encryption knowledge...
(A week later...)
Teacher: And in the window labelled "create nuclear crisis", simply select the country from the drop-down menu... Student: What's a drop down menu? Guy::'(
no matter how much balanced you want to be, it doesn't stop Scientology from abusing its members. Even IF what Scientology claimed was true, does that give them the right to ask for incredible amounts of money to spread its beliefs, and killing/suing whoever opposes them?
In Heins' machine, he explains that magnetic friction somehow gets turned into a magnetic boost. Working with an electric motor, he attached the drive shaft to a steel rotor with small round magnets lining its outer edges. In this set-up of a simple generator, the rotor would spin so that the magnets passed by a wire coil just in front of them, generating electrical energy.
Then Heins did an experiment: he overloaded the generator to get a current, which typically causes the wire coil to build up a large electromagnetic field. Usually, this kind of electromagnetic field creates an effect called "Back EMF" due to the so-called Lenz's law. The effect should repel the spinning magnets on the rotor, and slow them down until the motor stops completely, in accordance with the law of conservation.
But instead of stopping, the rotor began to accelerate. Heins recounts that the first time it happened, the magnets starting flying off and hitting the walls, as he ducked for cover.
The magnetic friction wasn't repelling the magnets and wire coil. Instead, as Heins explains, the steel rotor and driveshaft had conducted the magnetic resistance away from the coil and back into the electric motor. In effect, the Back EMF was boosting the magnetic fields used by the motor to generate electrical energy and cause acceleration.
He also says it's *NOT* a perpetual motion machine. He's asking experts to explain him why that happened, and if it could turn into a way to make electrical generators more efficient.
Would you like to install your programs in a separate partition, and leave C: for Windows alone? Nope. Always drive C:, since you can't run the partitioner (a non-destructive partitioner would have to be purchased separately at another software company).
Start -> Control Panel -> Administrative Tools -> Computer Management -> Disk Management. Right click on your disk and "shrink volume" to get free space for a new partition. Right click on the free space, and I'm sure you can figure it out from there.
Yes, but that's AFTER you have already installed windows.
Never mind ye that most people don't have two partitions on their hard disk, and those that are smart enough to set up another partition can probably figure out how to move the swap file.
Yes, but then again, that's AFTER installing Windows. My point is that Windows doesn't let you do things beyond their established defaults. This means that If I want to reserve more space for other partitions, I'd have to move a lot of data and do a partition shrinking, which always poses risk, specially when we're dealing with the partition where Windows is installed.
If I wanted to move the swap space to another partition, I have to deal with the filesystem fragmentation that results of that - and have a lot of reboots.
Besides, you can't install programs on the "F" partition and then wipe and reinstall Windows on the "C" partition, expecting your progs will be there. Your registry is probably still on C.
I can backup the registry (an approach which has its own problems and consequences), but at least I won't have to download everything - five years ago, I didn't have broadband access, and this meant huge overnight downloads. My experience has taught me to keep separate partitions for downloaded programs so I can reinstall them without having to download them again.
DirectX updates system libraries - if you still have those in C:\WINDOWS (guess you shouldn't have taken the default when you installed Windows, eh?), DirectX will have to update those files.
But why can't they be installed in another partition and have them symlinked? Oh, right. Windows doesn't support symlinks. Have you noticed how huge the DirectX installs are? DirectX9 is 216MB, *JUST* for the download. Whenever a game needs a newer version of DirectX, wham, everything goes to drive C:. Right now it may not be such a problem with the newer ever-increasing HD capacity, but a few years ago this wasn't the case.
Also remember that this isn't "Microsoft Nanny" making decisions for you, or whatever you called them. You only get a "registration limit" if you bought OEM copies of Windows
. Which was my case. Do you want the user to purchase an ADDITIONAL copy of Microsoft Windows? What am I, rich? But all of this discussion is because you're somehow trying to defend Windows by bashing my bad user practices.
Well, that's my whole point. Windows limits the ways I can do things because Microsoft has designed things without giving me CHOICES. It's their way, or the high way. A good user practice may work on one version of the OS, but if the OS limits you and gives you hardwired choices, then what was before a good practice becomes a bad practice. You end up having to edit the registry BY HAND.
And that's another mistake of Microsoft Nanny. Who asked Microsoft to put the configuration in a frigging BINARY FILE? And one which keeps growing and growing and ends up screwing your whole configuration because a virus messed up your install? And to maintain the registry (and Windows), you need to download or purchase additional programs. Antiviruses, registry cleaners, etc. If I was any more paranoid I'd say it's a freaking corporate conspiracy. But I disgress.
My point is that NOBODY asked Microsoft to keep the configuration in a
Sure, Vista sucks because Facebook misconfigured their IPv6 stuff.
Nope - Vista sucks because they set IPv6 to be the default DNS lookup instead of IPv4, which is the default for Windows XP.
Microsoft has had a VERY LONG history of taking arbitrary decisions without consulting their users about what they think is the best.
- Is C:\Program{insert nasty space here}Files where you want to install your programs? How about C:\PROGRAMS (which complies with the 8.3 convention used in DOS programs, and the lack of space does not confuse GNU utils) ? No. It must be a new name, incompatible with previous versions of the OS. - Would you like to install your programs in a separate partition, and leave C: for Windows alone? Nope. Always drive C:, since you can't run the partitioner (a non-destructive partitioner would have to be purchased separately at another software company). - How about if you want to install on a separate partition that you made beforehand? Fine, but it screws up your MBR anyway. Beware Linux users. Oh, also make sure it's a primary partition where you boot up. - How about the Common Files? They're in C: by default, and there's no other way than editing the registry where users can change that. - And the swap file, would you like it on C: or another partition? By default it's at C:.
Once upon a time, I had tried to manage my HD by making multiple partitions so I wouldn't have to reinstall everything if my windows screwed up, and Windows kept installing DirectX and all the bloatware on C: even after I had hacked registry stuff etc. to make sure everything worked on F:. Eventually my Drive C: partition ran out of space. Finally I had to give up and concede Microsoft to install all the program files on C: . Guess what happened when my C: partition got screwed up last year.
Anyway... this is just an example of Microsoft taking the decisions FOR YOU. It is not you, but they who decide what's best for you. And that's just the beginning...
Hey, Steve! Should we make IPv6 as default for host name lookup? Yeah, we know what's better for the users. Wham, Facebook can't load and we don't even know why. How about unnecessary services that could be used for taking over machines in case of buffer overflows? No problem! Your computer has the Storm bot installed now. My friend wanted to send me an MP3 via MSN Messenger. Click... oh, no, it was deleted because it could be an evil virus! Speaking of viruses, many of them are using old formats. Instead of changing the access code, Microsoft decides to remove their support.
So instead of Microsoft "Windows", you actually have Microsoft Nanny, which also decides that you could be a pirate and therefore impose a limit on the number of registrations you can make (I've upgraded my PC's hardware more than 6 times).
This is not a sudden change in behavior. It's part of the Microsoft philosophy. It's their software, not yours, so it is they who decide how you may use it.
I miss the MS-DOS times, where you could install DOS in C:\DOS, or C:\MYDOS, or C:\DOS50 and nothing would break up. Well, I really don't care anymore, because since last year I have Linux installed in my PC and all these problems have gone away.
A smart guy will just upload his data in an encrypted form to a webpage or something.
Then, he gets to the US, downloads the data via TOR (or a similar approach), and still be safe.
One characteristic of terrorists is that they're smart (until they commit suicide, that is:P ). They're not going to be encumbered by those stupid police state tactics.
I'm sure all this data confiscation is done just to fool citizens into believing they're safer than before.
... so they think they can make one of the most evil corporations on the planet do a good deed with just a bunch of signatures? (cue evil maniacal laughter)
Evil corporations cannot change. Well, they could change, but they WON'T. Terefore, they must be defeated. I wonder what would happen if all of the 75,000 people signing for XP would have donated 20 dollars to the ReactOS project. $1,500,000 bucks doesn't sound any bad at all.
On the other hand, this democratic exercise can help to open the eyes of the ignorant masses so they can realize that Microsoft won't change.
Let's not fool ourselves. I pirate things all the time, but I've never told myself what I was doing was "good" piracy.
Speak for yourself. In my opinion, pirating is better than purchasing the originals, but only when: a) the piracy is done against illegal monopolies like Microsoft or the Mafiaa, and b) You try NOT to increase their market share, by using Free Open Source applications whenever you can. Piracing a shareware (or should I say crippleware?) program is bad, because you do harm the little guy in this case - specially if you're only doing it because you're a cheapskate.
So, yes, there IS good and bad piracy. Pirates without a conscience are only doing it because they don't want to pay, but they don't care about the others. They don't care about supporting the same company that fixes prices indiscriminately.
Pirates with a conscience are fighting against the Status Quo. It's part of the revolution. Yes, it's illegal. But it's a case of Civil Disobedience. Think of it as "the resistance" (I love that word:) ). For example, I wouldn't have many problems with purchasing Flash MX / Premiere / Photoshop for Linux... just give us decent prices, ok? Adobe is really a monopoly on multimedia applications (and they're supporting another monopoly since they're Microsoft-only), and this gives them the privilege of setting a stratospheric price tag on their software. In the end, they're the same scurvy dogs than Microsoft >:( and I don't plan to give them any money anytime.
Oh, wait, did you mean the pirates' rights? Do please elaborate; I don't recall seeing a "right to download other people's IP for free" in any laws recently.
What about fair use? Imagine you're going to download a Scientology secret document exposing the cult's evil activity. You can't do it LEGALLY. This is just an example of legality != morality.
Another example. Let's suppose you're going to analyze the written works of a meditation guru that you suspect is a scammer. If you bought them from him, you'd be contributing to HIS cause. However, if you just download them you can get your work done.
Third example. Try before you buy. There's a new Anime that your friends recommended, and you wonder whether to buy it or not. But unless you watch a significant portion of it, you won't know if it's worth buying it... so you get a fansubbed version from the internet. Or what about a piece of music?
Reality isn't always black and white like media companies want us to believe. First of all, virtual works fall outside the bound of supply and demand, because it's extremely cheap to copy, since you can create additional copies out of thin air (or thin CD's for that matter). With the internet, you don't even need CD's. Therefore, infringing copyright cannot be assured to be stealing - specially if the downloader couldn't buy the item anyway.
And if the content that someone wants to LEGALLY PURCHASE isn't available on his third-world country and he'd have to spend twice the money on overseas shipping and handling, it's much easier to download from the pirate bay. And it wouldn't be stealing. Pirate works also help authors increase the exposure of their works.
And take into account the corporations' monopolic practices like price fixing, exclusivity contracts, selling by bundles to raise the prise, etc. All these things stiffle creativity and tend to produce extremely bad quality "artworks".
Imagine if there were no pirate copies of movies. We'd be forced to purchase tickets for Battlefield Earth or some other blockbuster failures, but guess what, there's no refund for non-enjoyment. Even if the movie sucked, you couldn't get your money back.
In your innocence you seem to think that all money paid goes to the artists. In your dreams. Most money really goes to a bunch of middlemen who exploit the artists. (Hint: Why do you think the writers' guild is on strike?). And let's not forget about Trent Reznor of NIN, who is very vocal about his support for people pirating ("stealing") his works. ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-mm6rc7hcFE ). This makes you ask yourself, who is REALLY trampling on people's rights? Is it really the pirates, or the corporate giants? And for every LEGAL purchase of RIAA-produced music, you give money to the same bastards who sue random people JUST BECAUSE THEY CAN.
Blocking BitTorrent per se would be trampling on people's rights, because BitTorrent is a neutral technology that is used for many legitimate purposes. But The Pirate Bay is not like that. There's a hint in the name, see? The Pirate Bay is openly and unashamedly dedicated to supporting and promoting illegal activity.
Just because the MAJORITY of the works there are copyrighted doesn't mean that all are. The Pirate Bay - and all bittorrent trackers, for that matter - is also used to distribute authorized works like Linux distributions, free (and legal) copies of Paulo Coelho's works, open documentation (like Open Source Software manuals), homemade videos, hacker guides (whether using them is legal or not, is outside this scope), fair use works like AMV Hell, doujinshi, webcomics (which are available online for free, anyway).
Here are just some examples of AUTHORIZED content found in the Pirate Bay:
Well, we'd need two types of nanobots, or give them a double function: One type can bend and expand like a muscle cell to provide mobility. The other type needs to function as a skeleton (exo or endo, you choose). How will you supply the energy to nanobots? And how is that energy going to be transmitted to different parts of the body? How will it be stored? And if it's in the form of liquid, you'll need blood vessels too. Also, if the design of the form that you're going to emulate isn't well thought, you could end up wasting LOTS of energy in moving the robot (and guess where that energy will go? Then we come to the subject of overheat prevention. You're gonna need a very good ventilation system. And the list could go on and on...
The Pope has no problem lecturing people on biotech, capital punishment, abortion, but where is the meaningful punishment of these priests?
That corresponds to the civil authorities. Just because pedophilia is a sin doesn't make it less criminal. It is the right and obligation of the faithful to denounce abusive priests to their local authorities.
Slashdot Mirror
The fact is: vote, but still no difference.
Unless you want an armed rebellion, voting is the only way to change things.
In any case, giving up your vote is saying that it's OK to be in a dictatorship where people cannot choose their leaders. It's amazing how hundreds or even thousands of people in other countries give their lives so they can choose who they want to rule their country - and in the US people just give away that right.
Another thing - if voting isn't enough, then PROMOTE YOUR CANDIDATE! This way you can make more people vote along with you, so your combined vote WILL matter.
I know that copying music is illegal... I know it's wrong, that's enough for me.
See, that's the difference between the sheeple and informed people. You really don't know it's wrong. You've just been educated to think it's wrong.
As for me, I know that copying music is illegal in some countries, but I know it's NOT wrong - specially if the RIAA engages in monopolistic behavior.
Reality isn't black and white, my friend. And it doesn't have shades of gray either, that would be thinking in 1-D. Reality comes in COLORS. Some nice, some ugly. And there are many viewpoints.
If she had sensitive data on there, she should have pulled the HD first.
A non-tech person removing a hard drive... from a laptop... and voiding her warranty, sure, she should have done that, no doubt!
In related news, I'm glad that TrueCrypt 5 has been released. Might be useful whenever you send your laptop for repair and you don't want the world to know what data you have stored.
I'm using PCLinuxOS and it comes with nVidia drivers. No, wait, you have to download them via synaptic. But the thing is that it's working.
Anonymous, eh? Cowards.
Funny that you mention that. Slashdot allows Anonymous Cowards to post precisely for the same reason: To protect them from retaliation.
no matter how much balanced you want to be, it doesn't stop Scientology from abusing its members. Even IF what Scientology claimed was true, does that give them the right to ask for incredible amounts of money to spread its beliefs, and killing/suing whoever opposes them?
He also says it's *NOT* a perpetual motion machine. He's asking experts to explain him why that happened, and if it could turn into a way to make electrical generators more efficient.
I'm assuming that this was a visit to MySpace, right?
Yes, but that's AFTER you have already installed windows.
Yes, but then again, that's AFTER installing Windows. My point is that Windows doesn't let you do things beyond their established defaults. This means that If I want to reserve more space for other partitions, I'd have to move a lot of data and do a partition shrinking, which always poses risk, specially when we're dealing with the partition where Windows is installed.
If I wanted to move the swap space to another partition, I have to deal with the filesystem fragmentation that results of that - and have a lot of reboots.
I can backup the registry (an approach which has its own problems and consequences), but at least I won't have to download everything - five years ago, I didn't have broadband access, and this meant huge overnight downloads. My experience has taught me to keep separate partitions for downloaded programs so I can reinstall them without having to download them again.
But why can't they be installed in another partition and have them symlinked? Oh, right. Windows doesn't support symlinks. Have you noticed how huge the DirectX installs are? DirectX9 is 216MB, *JUST* for the download. Whenever a game needs a newer version of DirectX, wham, everything goes to drive C:. Right now it may not be such a problem with the newer ever-increasing HD capacity, but a few years ago this wasn't the case.
.
Which was my case. Do you want the user to purchase an ADDITIONAL copy of Microsoft Windows? What am I, rich?
But all of this discussion is because you're somehow trying to defend Windows by bashing my bad user practices.
Well, that's my whole point. Windows limits the ways I can do things because Microsoft has designed things without giving me CHOICES. It's their way, or the high way. A good user practice may work on one version of the OS, but if the OS limits you and gives you hardwired choices, then what was before a good practice becomes a bad practice. You end up having to edit the registry BY HAND.
And that's another mistake of Microsoft Nanny. Who asked Microsoft to put the configuration in a frigging BINARY FILE? And one which keeps growing and growing and ends up screwing your whole configuration because a virus messed up your install? And to maintain the registry (and Windows), you need to download or purchase additional programs. Antiviruses, registry cleaners, etc. If I was any more paranoid I'd say it's a freaking corporate conspiracy. But I disgress.
My point is that NOBODY asked Microsoft to keep the configuration in a
Vista is the Edsel of the computer world.
;-)
Dude, don't insult the Edsel.
Sure, Vista sucks because Facebook misconfigured their IPv6 stuff.
Nope - Vista sucks because they set IPv6 to be the default DNS lookup instead of IPv4, which is the default for Windows XP.
Microsoft has had a VERY LONG history of taking arbitrary decisions without consulting their users about what they think is the best.
- Is C:\Program{insert nasty space here}Files where you want to install your programs? How about C:\PROGRAMS (which complies with the 8.3 convention used in DOS programs, and the lack of space does not confuse GNU utils) ? No. It must be a new name, incompatible with previous versions of the OS.
- Would you like to install your programs in a separate partition, and leave C: for Windows alone? Nope. Always drive C:, since you can't run the partitioner (a non-destructive partitioner would have to be purchased separately at another software company).
- How about if you want to install on a separate partition that you made beforehand? Fine, but it screws up your MBR anyway. Beware Linux users. Oh, also make sure it's a primary partition where you boot up.
- How about the Common Files? They're in C: by default, and there's no other way than editing the registry where users can change that.
- And the swap file, would you like it on C: or another partition? By default it's at C:.
Once upon a time, I had tried to manage my HD by making multiple partitions so I wouldn't have to reinstall everything if my windows screwed up, and Windows kept installing DirectX and all the bloatware on C: even after I had hacked registry stuff etc. to make sure everything worked on F:. Eventually my Drive C: partition ran out of space. Finally I had to give up and concede Microsoft to install all the program files on C: . Guess what happened when my C: partition got screwed up last year.
Anyway... this is just an example of Microsoft taking the decisions FOR YOU. It is not you, but they who decide what's best for you. And that's just the beginning...
Hey, Steve! Should we make IPv6 as default for host name lookup? Yeah, we know what's better for the users. Wham, Facebook can't load and we don't even know why.
How about unnecessary services that could be used for taking over machines in case of buffer overflows? No problem! Your computer has the Storm bot installed now.
My friend wanted to send me an MP3 via MSN Messenger. Click... oh, no, it was deleted because it could be an evil virus!
Speaking of viruses, many of them are using old formats. Instead of changing the access code, Microsoft decides to remove their support.
So instead of Microsoft "Windows", you actually have Microsoft Nanny, which also decides that you could be a pirate and therefore impose a limit on the number of registrations you can make (I've upgraded my PC's hardware more than 6 times).
This is not a sudden change in behavior. It's part of the Microsoft philosophy. It's their software, not yours, so it is they who decide how you may use it.
I miss the MS-DOS times, where you could install DOS in C:\DOS, or C:\MYDOS, or C:\DOS50 and nothing would break up. Well, I really don't care anymore, because since last year I have Linux installed in my PC and all these problems have gone away.
Why, Just yesterday I built my own internet using a bunch of spare twisties in a kitchen drawer.
Thank goodness I found you, MacGyver! Pete needs your help!
A smart guy will just upload his data in an encrypted form to a webpage or something.
:P ). They're not going to be encumbered by those stupid police state tactics.
Then, he gets to the US, downloads the data via TOR (or a similar approach), and still be safe.
One characteristic of terrorists is that they're smart (until they commit suicide, that is
I'm sure all this data confiscation is done just to fool citizens into believing they're safer than before.
Looks nice to me!
;-)
Dude, where the heck is she driving, Neo Tokyo?
The publishers of those photos should put the driver in LA at peak hour, instead
... so they think they can make one of the most evil corporations on the planet do a good deed with just a bunch of signatures? (cue evil maniacal laughter)
Evil corporations cannot change. Well, they could change, but they WON'T. Terefore, they must be defeated. I wonder what would happen if all of the 75,000 people signing for XP would have donated 20 dollars to the ReactOS project. $1,500,000 bucks doesn't sound any bad at all.
On the other hand, this democratic exercise can help to open the eyes of the ignorant masses so they can realize that Microsoft won't change.
In other words, recode it, change its structure, improve it and make it incompatible with the old code's API. That's what I do.
Let's not fool ourselves. I pirate things all the time, but I've never told myself what I was doing was "good" piracy.
:) ). For example, I wouldn't have many problems with purchasing Flash MX / Premiere / Photoshop for Linux... just give us decent prices, ok? Adobe is really a monopoly on multimedia applications (and they're supporting another monopoly since they're Microsoft-only), and this gives them the privilege of setting a stratospheric price tag on their software. In the end, they're the same scurvy dogs than Microsoft >:( and I don't plan to give them any money anytime.
Speak for yourself. In my opinion, pirating is better than purchasing the originals, but only when: a) the piracy is done against illegal monopolies like Microsoft or the Mafiaa, and b) You try NOT to increase their market share, by using Free Open Source applications whenever you can.
Piracing a shareware (or should I say crippleware?) program is bad, because you do harm the little guy in this case - specially if you're only doing it because you're a cheapskate.
So, yes, there IS good and bad piracy. Pirates without a conscience are only doing it because they don't want to pay, but they don't care about the others. They don't care about supporting the same company that fixes prices indiscriminately.
Pirates with a conscience are fighting against the Status Quo. It's part of the revolution. Yes, it's illegal. But it's a case of Civil Disobedience. Think of it as "the resistance" (I love that word
I didn't think there was such a thing as high-quality Microsoft software, pirated or otherwise...
Of course there is. It's called "paint".
What about fair use? Imagine you're going to download a Scientology secret document exposing the cult's evil activity. You can't do it LEGALLY. This is just an example of legality != morality.
Another example. Let's suppose you're going to analyze the written works of a meditation guru that you suspect is a scammer. If you bought them from him, you'd be contributing to HIS cause. However, if you just download them you can get your work done.
Third example. Try before you buy. There's a new Anime that your friends recommended, and you wonder whether to buy it or not. But unless you watch a significant portion of it, you won't know if it's worth buying it... so you get a fansubbed version from the internet. Or what about a piece of music?
Reality isn't always black and white like media companies want us to believe. First of all, virtual works fall outside the bound of supply and demand, because it's extremely cheap to copy, since you can create additional copies out of thin air (or thin CD's for that matter). With the internet, you don't even need CD's. Therefore, infringing copyright cannot be assured to be stealing - specially if the downloader couldn't buy the item anyway.
And if the content that someone wants to LEGALLY PURCHASE isn't available on his third-world country and he'd have to spend twice the money on overseas shipping and handling, it's much easier to download from the pirate bay. And it wouldn't be stealing. Pirate works also help authors increase the exposure of their works.
And take into account the corporations' monopolic practices like price fixing, exclusivity contracts, selling by bundles to raise the prise, etc. All these things stiffle creativity and tend to produce extremely bad quality "artworks".
Imagine if there were no pirate copies of movies. We'd be forced to purchase tickets for Battlefield Earth or some other blockbuster failures, but guess what, there's no refund for non-enjoyment. Even if the movie sucked, you couldn't get your money back.
In your innocence you seem to think that all money paid goes to the artists. In your dreams. Most money really goes to a bunch of middlemen who exploit the artists. (Hint: Why do you think the writers' guild is on strike?). And let's not forget about Trent Reznor of NIN, who is very vocal about his support for people pirating ("stealing") his works. ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-mm6rc7hcFE ). This makes you ask yourself, who is REALLY trampling on people's rights? Is it really the pirates, or the corporate giants? And for every LEGAL purchase of RIAA-produced music, you give money to the same bastards who sue random people JUST BECAUSE THEY CAN.
Just because the MAJORITY of the works there are copyrighted doesn't mean that all are. The Pirate Bay - and all bittorrent trackers, for that matter - is also used to distribute authorized works like Linux distributions, free (and legal) copies of Paulo Coelho's works, open documentation (like Open Source Software manuals), homemade videos, hacker guides (whether using them is legal or not, is outside this scope), fair use works like AMV Hell, doujinshi, webcomics (which are available online for free, anyway).
Here are just some examples of AUTHORIZED content found in the Pirate Bay:
h
Religion and football... I hope they obliterate each other in a spectacular orgy of litigation.
:(
Bad news: The church in question is NOT Scientology
I suggest you talk to the director and cameramen and ask them if there's no creative work going on.
:(
The latest wii soccer game gives very good screenshots of the games. I'd say the way of handling the camera isn't actually creative, but algorithmic.
Unfortunately, that takes it from copyrightable to patentable
Terminator II here we come!
Well, we'd need two types of nanobots, or give them a double function: One type can bend and expand like a muscle cell to provide mobility. The other type needs to function as a skeleton (exo or endo, you choose).
How will you supply the energy to nanobots? And how is that energy going to be transmitted to different parts of the body? How will it be stored? And if it's in the form of liquid, you'll need blood vessels too. Also, if the design of the form that you're going to emulate isn't well thought, you could end up wasting LOTS of energy in moving the robot (and guess where that energy will go? Then we come to the subject of overheat prevention. You're gonna need a very good ventilation system. And the list could go on and on...
I'd rather have some penguins fight an evil monopolist...
:)
"The New Adventures of Tux and the Freedom Brigade"
That'd be cool
The Pope has no problem lecturing people on biotech, capital punishment, abortion, but where is the meaningful punishment of these priests?
That corresponds to the civil authorities. Just because pedophilia is a sin doesn't make it less criminal. It is the right and obligation of the faithful to denounce abusive priests to their local authorities.