Don't they check the chassis and engine numbers when transferring cars ? Switching the licence plates wouldn't be enough to make it believably the 'other' car, not at least here in the eastern europe - you'd be sitting in handcuffs as soon as you'd attempt this.
Yeah, bonus dice aren't multiplied, but any and all modifiers (fixed, not dice) are multiplied - the strength mod to damage, the damage bonus of magic weapons, damage bonus gained from feats (for example, power attack). Let's suppose a lvl 8 half-orc barbarian with str 20 (easily achievable at low levels - good roll, +2 from race, maybe added strength at 4th/8th level) has a +5 strength modifier, and may have feats like improved critical and power attack. If using the DMG suggested starting wealth for 8th level, he may easily have a +2 keen (doubles the chance of critical hit) greataxe.
So he would have 1d12+9 as normal damage. 1d12+17, when maxing out powerattack. And, on criticals (which happen on rolls 18-20 for him) he gets three times that, so 3d12+54 (max 90) for his first attack. And of course, an additional 1d12+17 to that, if he somehow hits with his second attack. So an (unlikely to roll so high, but still) potential of 119 hp damage in one full attack at lvl 8 - here you go.
The manufacturer gets that money, the manufacturer offers the rebate. Why can't the store process the rebates instead of the customers, so that they can offer a proper discount, which is liked more by customers, and so can give them more profit (at the expense of manufacturer) ?
The store doesn't get the names/adresses anyway, they don't save the money if a customer forgets to mail the rebate, so why not ?
Well, that's the point. Military would pay $bignum for a program that does these things. Military wouldn't give a rat's ass about true AI that would be able to learn and reason like a human (say, a 7-year old child) and be self-aware, but can't do anything more that a trained human can do.
In D&D (3 or 3.5), common, non-magical large weapons like greataxe or scythe can do 30+ on a critical. (36 max for the greataxe). Okay, swords have lesser damage and criticals. Let's suppose a non-magical greatsword - 2d6, x2 criticals on 19-20. When wielded two-handed by a str 18 lvl 1 character, it gets the +4 str mod multiplied by 1.5, so we have 2d6+6 (max 18) on a normal roll, and max 36 on a critical.
So, 35+ is easily achievable, and using the DMG-proposed character creation rules, a 10-th level fighter would have a good enough sword and enough feats to hope to get 100+ damage on a critical.
We get depth perception through eye focus - when I focus my eyes at the monitor, the wall get's blurry and gets less attention, when I focus my eyes at the painting behind the monitor, then it gets blurry.
2D can't simulate that. No way, no how. Well, unless they somehow manage actively track how my eye lenses contract, and automatically adjust some focus-blurring instantaneously.
Once you 0wn the computer that a network admin is using for his daily administration tasks, then after a week you will have a nice set of information, including all the adresses of servers that he is managing and any passwords that he entered anywhere during that week.
Also, once you decide to abuse the servers, you'll be able to do it through the admin's computer, bypassing any security restrictions like 'I'll accept root logins only from these computers'.
You also may get a list of any security updates that he installed on these servers (i.e., you know if any given security problem HASN'T been fixed);
You also are able to install a trojan that will do your tasks while the admin is typing, and they'll run under his network account (which will most likely have any neccessary permissions), so any investigation will give pointers to him.
Owning the admin's workstation DOES give you a pretty open doors to anything that administrator could do himself, if he wanted.
If you murder someone in another country, your country should NOT, and DOES NOT prosecute you for this. First, the other country must accuse you, and request extradition. And even then your country will not prosecture you, judge you or punish you - they may detain you and send you to that other country, but nothing else - since that crime didn't happen here, and they have absolutely no jurisdiction, no power over it.
Citing you - "the cost of purchase is still about 8% of TCO" - well, that's simply not true. Assuming american salaries, that might be, but in these countries, if you purchase legally Windows+Office for 10 computers, and have a full-time administrator managing them, then in a simplistic calculation TCO of 10 Windows licences + 10 office licences + 5 year's salary+expenses for that worker, then at Nigerian salaries the licence costs would be about three times larger than the 5 year total salary of all IT people working there.
Heck, legally purchasing the windows upgrades whenever they come out would cost more than paying the employee that is working at the computer!
How about a new and improved version of this that tells the device 'I am a mighty protected flash card', but in reality allows unrestricted copying - then it has all the best features from both worlds, and would really be superior technology.
Even more, if this DRM starts to get widely used, then we'll see 'convenience' programs, which will do the loopback recording automatically (scheduled while the computer is idle while you sleep), for all the 'protected' files that it finds on your hard disk, extracting the names and metainformation from the original files and writing it in the new ones, and throwing out the original files when they have been replaced with the superior copies. (Identical in every single way, except having more possibilities and no expiration).
It is simple to do even now - just there has been no real need to automate it.
We can grow so much food only because of the heavily industrialised farming, huge amounts of fertiliser, vastly improved plant species (both through selection and GM) and good quality pesticides and herbicides. The farmland used hasn't grown much in the last century - but the available production has grown several times by this.
The biggest manufacturers and exporters of food are the countries that have the most intensive agriculture, utilising all these means to mass-produce food cheaply - even if the labour is at american prices.
If we all go 'organic', skipping the GM species and herbicides/pesticides, then the estimates of possible food production I have seen don't ever go higher than 2 billion people. Which two thirds of the world population should die ?
How about the continuing population growth? The methods that are ok now to feed 6 billion will need to be spread to the currently less-developed farmlands, so as to feed the next billions of the growing population - even more intensive, even more health-risky agriculture.
I have a strong belief that the earth IS overpopulated as it is now; And I have a strong belief that, all other things living equal, it IS better to have one billion of people for which the resources are plenty, than have twenty billion for whom the planet can provide only bare sustenance.
But there is no way of getting from here to there that I see as ethically acceptable. And looking at the way things naturally occur, we likely WILL multiply until the point of overpopulation, or kill ourselves trying. But I don't really see a (realistically achievable) way out.
GPL has specific language related to copyrights and patents (which code might infringe).
GPL does not deal with trademarks, as distributing any source code has nothing to do with trademarks.
And this issue has nothing to do with Linux (as in, the pile of software called Linux). It does not affect what you can do with the pile of software called Linux.
However, it does deal with naming your company 'Linux Widgets, Inc', or selling candy with 'Linux' written on it.
If you want to see motion blur when looking at pictures changing 25 times per second, then each frame needs to be motion blurred (the movie way). However, if you have pictures changing at several hundred fps, then each frame can be rendered as usual, and your eyes will perceive the motion blur anyway (as they do when looking at fast real objects).
Increasing the FPS might be done simpler and cheaper than creating that blur artificially.
Ebooks have potential, but not at 67% the price. There are nearly no costs of reprocucing them, and if they were offered at 20% the price, they would be an instant hit - given the current textbook prices, students would ignore any inconveniences and jump at such opportunity. But if they don't want to offer that, then it's their problem on how to best do business..
In many countries (probably excluding USA, but likely including the object of this article - UK), such 'marketing practices' are illegal. (If advertising the discount, the 'old' price must have been real and available for at least 15 days or something).
Why not ? If I have published my address (I have not), then there I see no reason why publishing it further should be prohibited.
If some agency (say, the phone company) gave out my address to CNN, then this agency (not CNN) would be breaching my privacy and this would be bad. But if it's already public, as in this Google case, then it's public and that's it.
Well, if a newspaper reports something that you don't like, then I do not consider breaking ties with that newspaper as ethical.
If something false was claimed, then they would have moral grounds for avoiding that newspaper - but I read that article, and it's nothing bad at all! The reaction seems a one man's childish, overblown reaction - and the fact that this man is a CEO of a major company just makes it seem even more ridiculous.
There is private information, and there is public information - and everything that has been ever published is public, no matter how personal it may seem.
You can't unspill water, and you should have no expection of everyone else hiding what already is public - Cnet cannot be faulted at all.
Hey Google - what about your 'do no evil' ? Don't become so hypocritical - it won't benefit you.
I would kill the new government officials - figureheads cooperating with the occupating regime - traitors, basically. The leaders of the new police forces, instituting new oppression on their nation.
As it was done here after Hitler's occupation.
As it was done here after Stalin's occupation.
Occupying forces set up local turncoats to administrate the contry - just as it is being done in Iraq - but these locals are understandable targets of any resistance movements. THAT explains the bombings that are happening in Iraq now.
"The war (and home security measures) has so far prevented another 9/11. By remaking Iraq into a modern free state it can also help the entire middle east and also help to alleviate many of the root causes for terrorism."
Allow me to disagree. I believe that terrorism coming from Iraq could be prevented much better through non-war means (spies, special forces) than this questionable war.
Afganistan was covering known criminals, Syria and Lebanon have done such things - but I haven't heard Iraq ever being seriously accused for it.
Comparing terrorism to car accidents is important - it puts the things into perspective. In reality, in real hard terms, the damage terrorists do is disproportionally small when compared the resources spent on terrorism.
By throwing a billion dollars at health care, you will save lives and increase the well-being of your people. By throwing a billion dollars at police patrols, you will save lives and increase the well-being of your people. By throwing a billion dollars at fighting terrorism, you will (IMHO) achieve much less.
You cannot force a democracy suddenly. I don't see "remaking Iraq into a modern free state" as succeeding, I feel that the current anarchy is worse for everybody (civilians, neighbouring countries, USA, Europe) than it was during Husein's reign post-Gulf war.
There will always be people who want to kill you. But there can be more or less of such people.
War in Iraq was 'sold' to us with the intention that it will help prevent such attacks. I think that now it is clear that it is not preventing anything. The decision that thousands of USA soldiers, thousands of Iraqi soldiers, and thousands of civilians have died for was based on a lie.
"Do you want to see new and more powerful Taliban regime in Iraq?" I don't. That is why I think that the war was a mistake - that this war has facilicated such things, this decision has hurt USA and Europe.
The political choice to find an excuse for a war has put us into deep sh*t, costing our civilians live, and we can't even really pull out now without bad consequences. After we went in Iraq, I see absolutely no good way to pull out.
But we need to learn from our errors. Our governments need to acknowledge these errors - or they will repeat them, hurting us even more.
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Wouldn't this be checked by government officials when re-registering the vehicle to the new name as a part of the sale ?
Don't they check the chassis and engine numbers when transferring cars ?
Switching the licence plates wouldn't be enough to make it believably the 'other' car, not at least here in the eastern europe - you'd be sitting in handcuffs as soon as you'd attempt this.
Yeah, bonus dice aren't multiplied, but any and all modifiers (fixed, not dice) are multiplied - the strength mod to damage, the damage bonus of magic weapons, damage bonus gained from feats (for example, power attack).
Let's suppose a lvl 8 half-orc barbarian with str 20 (easily achievable at low levels - good roll, +2 from race, maybe added strength at 4th/8th level) has a +5 strength modifier, and may have feats like improved critical and power attack. If using the DMG suggested starting wealth for 8th level, he may easily have a +2 keen (doubles the chance of critical hit) greataxe.
So he would have 1d12+9 as normal damage. 1d12+17, when maxing out powerattack. And, on criticals (which happen on rolls 18-20 for him) he gets three times that, so 3d12+54 (max 90) for his first attack. And of course, an additional 1d12+17 to that, if he somehow hits with his second attack.
So an (unlikely to roll so high, but still) potential of 119 hp damage in one full attack at lvl 8 - here you go.
Who cares ?
The manufacturer gets that money, the manufacturer offers the rebate.
Why can't the store process the rebates instead of the customers, so that they can offer a proper discount, which is liked more by customers, and so can give them more profit (at the expense of manufacturer) ?
The store doesn't get the names/adresses anyway, they don't save the money if a customer forgets to mail the rebate, so why not ?
Well, that's the point.
Military would pay $bignum for a program that does these things.
Military wouldn't give a rat's ass about true AI that would be able to learn and reason like a human (say, a 7-year old child) and be self-aware, but can't do anything more that a trained human can do.
In D&D (3 or 3.5), common, non-magical large weapons like greataxe or scythe can do 30+ on a critical. (36 max for the greataxe).
Okay, swords have lesser damage and criticals.
Let's suppose a non-magical greatsword - 2d6, x2 criticals on 19-20.
When wielded two-handed by a str 18 lvl 1 character, it gets the +4 str mod multiplied by 1.5, so we have 2d6+6 (max 18) on a normal roll, and max 36 on a critical.
So, 35+ is easily achievable, and using the DMG-proposed character creation rules, a 10-th level fighter would have a good enough sword and enough feats to hope to get 100+ damage on a critical.
We get depth perception through eye focus - when I focus my eyes at the monitor, the wall get's blurry and gets less attention, when I focus my eyes at the painting behind the monitor, then it gets blurry.
2D can't simulate that. No way, no how.
Well, unless they somehow manage actively track how my eye lenses contract, and automatically adjust some focus-blurring instantaneously.
Once you 0wn the computer that a network admin is using for his daily administration tasks, then after a week you will have a nice set of information, including all the adresses of servers that he is managing and any passwords that he entered anywhere during that week.
Also, once you decide to abuse the servers, you'll be able to do it through the admin's computer, bypassing any security restrictions like 'I'll accept root logins only from these computers'.
You also may get a list of any security updates that he installed on these servers (i.e., you know if any given security problem HASN'T been fixed);
You also are able to install a trojan that will do your tasks while the admin is typing, and they'll run under his network account (which will most likely have any neccessary permissions), so any investigation will give pointers to him.
Owning the admin's workstation DOES give you a pretty open doors to anything that administrator could do himself, if he wanted.
Well, that's the point!
If you murder someone in another country, your country should NOT, and DOES NOT prosecute you for this. First, the other country must accuse you, and request extradition. And even then your country will not prosecture you, judge you or punish you - they may detain you and send you to that other country, but nothing else - since that crime didn't happen here, and they have absolutely no jurisdiction, no power over it.
Citing you - "the cost of purchase is still about 8% of TCO" - well, that's simply not true. Assuming american salaries, that might be, but in these countries, if you purchase legally Windows+Office for 10 computers, and have a full-time administrator managing them, then in a simplistic calculation TCO of 10 Windows licences + 10 office licences + 5 year's salary+expenses for that worker, then at Nigerian salaries the licence costs would be about three times larger than the 5 year total salary of all IT people working there.
Heck, legally purchasing the windows upgrades whenever they come out would cost more than paying the employee that is working at the computer!
How about a new and improved version of this that tells the device 'I am a mighty protected flash card', but in reality allows unrestricted copying - then it has all the best features from both worlds, and would really be superior technology.
So, the only difference between this new flash and ordinary flash is that this one can do LESS ?
Even more, if this DRM starts to get widely used, then we'll see 'convenience' programs, which will do the loopback recording automatically (scheduled while the computer is idle while you sleep), for all the 'protected' files that it finds on your hard disk, extracting the names and metainformation from the original files and writing it in the new ones, and throwing out the original files when they have been replaced with the superior copies. (Identical in every single way, except having more possibilities and no expiration).
It is simple to do even now - just there has been no real need to automate it.
We can grow so much food only because of the heavily industrialised farming, huge amounts of fertiliser, vastly improved plant species (both through selection and GM) and good quality pesticides and herbicides. The farmland used hasn't grown much in the last century - but the available production has grown several times by this.
The biggest manufacturers and exporters of food are the countries that have the most intensive agriculture, utilising all these means to mass-produce food cheaply - even if the labour is at american prices.
If we all go 'organic', skipping the GM species and herbicides/pesticides, then the estimates of possible food production I have seen don't ever go higher than 2 billion people. Which two thirds of the world population should die ?
How about the continuing population growth? The methods that are ok now to feed 6 billion will need to be spread to the currently less-developed farmlands, so as to feed the next billions of the growing population - even more intensive, even more health-risky agriculture.
I have a strong belief that the earth IS overpopulated as it is now; And I have a strong belief that, all other things living equal, it IS better to have one billion of people for which the resources are plenty, than have twenty billion for whom the planet can provide only bare sustenance.
But there is no way of getting from here to there that I see as ethically acceptable. And looking at the way things naturally occur, we likely WILL multiply until the point of overpopulation, or kill ourselves trying. But I don't really see a (realistically achievable) way out.
GPL has specific language related to copyrights and patents (which code might infringe).
GPL does not deal with trademarks, as distributing any source code has nothing to do with trademarks.
And this issue has nothing to do with Linux (as in, the pile of software called Linux). It does not affect what you can do with the pile of software called Linux.
However, it does deal with naming your company 'Linux Widgets, Inc', or selling candy with 'Linux' written on it.
If you want to see motion blur when looking at pictures changing 25 times per second, then each frame needs to be motion blurred (the movie way).
However, if you have pictures changing at several hundred fps, then each frame can be rendered as usual, and your eyes will perceive the motion blur anyway (as they do when looking at fast real objects).
Increasing the FPS might be done simpler and cheaper than creating that blur artificially.
Ebooks have potential, but not at 67% the price. There are nearly no costs of reprocucing them, and if they were offered at 20% the price, they would be an instant hit - given the current textbook prices, students would ignore any inconveniences and jump at such opportunity. But if they don't want to offer that, then it's their problem on how to best do business..
In many countries (probably excluding USA, but likely including the object of this article - UK), such 'marketing practices' are illegal. (If advertising the discount, the 'old' price must have been real and available for at least 15 days or something).
Why not ? If I have published my address (I have not), then there I see no reason why publishing it further should be prohibited.
If some agency (say, the phone company) gave out my address to CNN, then this agency (not CNN) would be breaching my privacy and this would be bad. But if it's already public, as in this Google case, then it's public and that's it.
Well, if a newspaper reports something that you don't like, then I do not consider breaking ties with that newspaper as ethical.
If something false was claimed, then they would have moral grounds for avoiding that newspaper - but I read that article, and it's nothing bad at all!
The reaction seems a one man's childish, overblown reaction - and the fact that this man is a CEO of a major company just makes it seem even more ridiculous.
I can only agree.
There is private information, and there is public information - and everything that has been ever published is public, no matter how personal it may seem.
You can't unspill water, and you should have no expection of everyone else hiding what already is public - Cnet cannot be faulted at all.
Hey Google - what about your 'do no evil' ? Don't become so hypocritical - it won't benefit you.
I would kill the new government officials - figureheads cooperating with the occupating regime - traitors, basically. The leaders of the new police forces, instituting new oppression on their nation.
As it was done here after Hitler's occupation.
As it was done here after Stalin's occupation.
Occupying forces set up local turncoats to administrate the contry - just as it is being done in Iraq - but these locals are understandable targets of any resistance movements. THAT explains the bombings that are happening in Iraq now.
"The war (and home security measures) has so far prevented another 9/11. By remaking Iraq into a modern free state it can also help the entire middle east and also help to alleviate many of the root causes for terrorism."
Allow me to disagree.
I believe that terrorism coming from Iraq could be prevented much better through non-war means (spies, special forces) than this questionable war.
Afganistan was covering known criminals, Syria and Lebanon have done such things - but I haven't heard Iraq ever being seriously accused for it.
Comparing terrorism to car accidents is important - it puts the things into perspective. In reality, in real hard terms, the damage terrorists do is disproportionally small when compared the resources spent on terrorism.
By throwing a billion dollars at health care, you will save lives and increase the well-being of your people.
By throwing a billion dollars at police patrols, you will save lives and increase the well-being of your people.
By throwing a billion dollars at fighting terrorism, you will (IMHO) achieve much less.
You cannot force a democracy suddenly. I don't see "remaking Iraq into a modern free state" as succeeding, I feel that the current anarchy is worse for everybody (civilians, neighbouring countries, USA, Europe) than it was during Husein's reign post-Gulf war.
There will always be people who want to kill you. But there can be more or less of such people.
War in Iraq was 'sold' to us with the intention that it will help prevent such attacks. I think that now it is clear that it is not preventing anything. The decision that thousands of USA soldiers, thousands of Iraqi soldiers, and thousands of civilians have died for was based on a lie.
"Do you want to see new and more powerful Taliban regime in Iraq?"
I don't.
That is why I think that the war was a mistake - that this war has facilicated such things, this decision has hurt USA and Europe.
The political choice to find an excuse for a war has put us into deep sh*t, costing our civilians live, and we can't even really pull out now without bad consequences. After we went in Iraq, I see absolutely no good way to pull out.
But we need to learn from our errors. Our governments need to acknowledge these errors - or they will repeat them, hurting us even more.