"Make an investment in your future" they tell you. "You'll be worth so much more money" they tell you. I drive a 15 year old car with 200k miles on it, live in a dumpy three bedroom house in the ghetto with two other technical "professionals," and have a very hard time making ends meet on what's left of my biweekly pittance.
I feel for you. I personally would have been better off getting a MSCE and then a job right out of high school. And I'm one of the fortunate ones who managed to make it through school without any debt. I feel sorry for my friends who have racked up tens of thousands of dollars.
Re:I worked in Japan in the past and...
on
Working Hard?
·
· Score: 1
No, Japan is extreme. Even with their 14 hour workdays, no vacations, etc. their economy has been in the shitter for even longer than ours.
Re:Why the XBox is bad for Microsoft
on
Hacking the XBox
·
· Score: 1, Insightful
Except that Microsoft's goal (IMO) is not to move games to XBoxes. Sure, they want the XBox to sell well as a game console, but that isn't their true purpose behind the thing.
The XBox is, in reality, a "testing ground" for creating a computer that a user has no control over whatsoever.
Big ISPs can use the current backlash against spam to further their goals to push small providers out of the market. How? They simply blacklist small ISPs.
When small a ISP's customers get their mail bounced, they immediately complain. Since the ISP can't do anything about it, they will lose customers who can't email their friends who use AOL.
Unfortunately, manga is way behind of anime in terms of US Lisences. I'm fortunate enough that I can drive down to a Japanese bookstore and buy manga if I wanted, but not many people are. Scanlations are often the only way to go, especially if you want it in English.
I personally wouldn't mind reading comics on a monitor. I would certainly be willing to pay a micropayment for a good comic. Certainly, I'm not going to pay as much for a print comic, because I don't get to keep the online version. But at the same time bandwidth is probably still cheaper than paying for a printing run.
I don't mind, but I think as Scott McCloud said (I think he said it once), you'd probably need to altar the presentation for a book style to make it look good on the web. Of course, you've pointed out the problems with that. I suppose that I'll leave that up to pro artists.
The lack of a standard for micropayments makes it difficult for artists to get going, though. There are a few problems with the "implementations" of it I've seen. The true problem, however, is most artists probably don't know where to start with setting up a way to be paid for delivering online content. Even those that might have the technical skills to roll their own solution would still probably rather focus on their comics.
I think one of the things to note is that many online comic artists have been forced to sell merchandise related to their comics rather than the comics themselves.
Honestly, you are lucky as hell that they thanked you. Half of the time people who expose security problems and show the sysadmin out of the kindness of their hearts are accused of being hackers and are (in your case) expelled and often prosecuted.
There is hardly anyone in the government that still believes in the Constitution. I'm sure that in their private discussions, politicians refer to the Constitution as an "annoyance" that gets in their way.
Even the supreme court, which people used to count on to overturn unconstitutional laws, is now in the pockets of special interests.
The problem is that people nowadays have no sense of personal responsibility, and they want the government to protect them from everything, and do their jobs as parents for them. The government violates the constitution left and right nowadays, but nobody cares because they want to be "safe from bad guys" and want to "protect the children."
Exactly, Harold Lloyd had the opportunity (and likely did) to profit off of his works when he was alive. Now that he's dead, his works BELONG in public domain, so that they can properly be used and studied as a part of our culture.
Thanks to these megacorps, the original purpose of copyright is dead, and copyright has been turned into a means for people to profit off of works from generations ago.
I haven't personally even touched Warcraft 3 because of the bnetd thing. Now Blizzard has given me even more of a reason to completely ignore their products. Blizzard is being a bully now, that's all there is to it.
There is nothing interesting about "struggling computer repairman plays Anarchy Online for entertainment instead of watching TV." But the NY Time fixes that by twisting the actual facts around and making this guy look like as much of a loser/psychopath as much as possible.
Many, many, many people watch TV for six or seven hours a day, and many people right now are struggling (be it by their own fault or the crappy economy). Millions of Americans are in the exact situation this guy is in. The only thing that makes him different is that instead of parking his rear-end on a sofa in front of the tube, he plays Anarchy Online.
Not saying that he doesn't play too much, he probably does. However, the article does seem extremely negative about his personal life, and I find it hard to believe that the reporter didn't take liberties to make the story more "interesting."
Just thought I would clarify. The SM and EverAnime CDs look really close to the original, and can be hard to spot. But once you know what you're looking for, you can simply look for their logos, which they happily display on their CDs. The logo will be the one difference, and is easily spotted if you know what to look for. Many newbies do _not_ know.
Since Taiwan did not sign to the Berne Convention, their "bootleg" CDs are completely legal under Taiwanese law, in Taiwan. However they "become illegal" the moment they enter a country that has signed to the Berne Convention. Many dealers will tell you that SM CDs are "legal" because they were made in Taiwan. They will say that the legality is due to a legal loophole created by the fact that Taiwanese products are not bound to copyright laws of other countries. This is incorrect, however, and Taiwanese bootlegs are still considered to be illegal in the USA.
US fans get a better deal than Japanese fans, ultimately. Yes, it is still expensive, but the Japanese fans get completely ripped off.
For example, Fruits Basket was released in NINE volumes in Japan at (IIRC) around $32 (3800 yen) each, and that seems to be considered a GOOD price. Fruits Basket was released in the US in FOUR volumes at around $40 each. Japanese fans end up paying around $288, while American fans pay $160.
From what I understand, many Japanese viewers actually wait until a US lisencee picks up a series and then they order the US version.
Well, my little post was more US-fan-centric. Most people want their product subtitled in English. The HK-based bootleggers put English subtitles (albiet they are usually worthless, because they are poor) in their products, likely for the sole purpose of selling the bootlegs to US fans.
People mentioning BitTorrent and fansubs don't get the picture. Nobody sane downloading One Piece off of BT believes they are getting an official product, and furthermore they are paying $0.00 for it.
The problem with "pirated" anime is that bootleggers attempt to pass their bootlegged goods as the "real thing." Many anime fans, especially novice anime fans, believe that they are getting a real collector's item when they buy these products.
Of course, there are ways to spot bootlegs. If you are looking for official merchandise as a collectable, you should always be wary of deals that seem too good to be true, and always look out for the warning signs.
The anime itself:
Obviously, a series being sold on eBay as a VCD or CD-R is a bootleg. That goes without saying.
However, most bootleggers use DVDs nowadays, and have done an extremely good job making their product appear to be official. You can prevent yourself from being duped if you are keen on things.
Anything with subtitles in both English and Chinese is a bootleg.
Almost anything that is "region free" is a bootleg.
If the price is too good to be true, it is probably a bootleg. Region 1 (US) anime DVDs range between $20 and $40. Region 2 (Japan) anime DVDs are even more expensive. Someone offering all of Lain (which is released on 4 DVDs in the US) for $20 is either crazy or selling a bootleg.
You can also look to make sure that the DVD packaging displays the name of a known distributor (ADV, AnimeWorks, etc.) or conforms to the packaging displayed on the original web site.
Anime Sound Tracks:
This can be a little trickier. Taiwanese bootleggers like SM and EverAnime often do a great job of making their bootlegs look EXACTLY like the real deal. The CDs are stamped, the sound quality is equal to that of the real thing, and even the packaging and appearance of the disc look exactly like the real thing from Japan. The only real way to tell is by looking at the name of the distributor, and the price. You will almost certainly pay a premium for the "real" thing, which could cost you $30-$50+ depending. SM CDs, on the other hand, are typically $5-$15.
The strange thing about bootleg Taiwanese CDs is that sometimes even reputable, legit. businesses who otherwise wouldn't have anything to do with bootlegs sell them.
Merchandise
Merchandise can be tricky, because there is often so much of it that it is hard to keep track. Obviously, you want to look for the copyright somewhere on the merchandise. If it isn't there, it may be a bootleg. Many "wall scrolls," character cards, etc. are bootleg merchandise. Ultimately, the only way to probably make sure that you are getting legit goods is to know that it came from a store in Japan (though I'm not sure if that is 100%, since there are doujin-type goods out there that are fan-made).
Comic Books:
I know that bootleg manga are out there as well, but since manga isn't all that popular in the US yet, there are very few manga distributors. Viz an Tokyo Pop are two of the biggest ones. I guess just check to see if the manga is published by an authorized distributor.
And while doujinshi is not "bootleg" material, techinically, many newbie fans buy doujin not realizing what it is. It complicates things if they've bought an ecchi doujin, which is likely since a lot of doujin is pornographic. They don't find out that what they've bought is a "fan comic" until they open it up and see their favorite anime character getting gang raped.
Doujin is usually easily spotted because the art style will be different. However, many doujin artists are actually very good (a lot of pros got their start as doujin artists, and some still make doujin under "pen names") and can copy the original style. Sometimes the artist will be nice enough to write a warning on an ecchi doujin. It also will typically be larger / differently shaped than the manga volumes.
Of course, doujin in itself can be collectable. But I know many people who accidentally bought H doujin from dealers or when they went to Japan for the first time. Many I know who still lived with their parents high got in serious trouble. ^_^;
Well,(this is meant to be FUNNY, mods) they could save a bundle by just not including the English language dialogue. No self respecting person who considers themselves an anime fan would even consider watching the English language crap at all. Hell, they might as well not waste time on subtitles either, since all TRUE anime fans turn the subtitles off and watch the Japanese dialogue RAW.
It is completely laughable and sad that Microsoft was found to be an illegal monopoly for this very reason, and now they are integrating IE and Windows even further. The government really showed Microsoft!
No matter what your opinion is about the anti-trust trial or anti-trust laws in general, this is a clear display of how the Bush administration favors big business and selectively enforces laws in the favor of big business. The DOJ forced a "slap in the wrist" settlement against MS, and now MS and co. don't fear doing again what they were found guilty of doing before.
Why can't people simply say "oops, we screwed up, and somebody took advantage of us. It's fixed now, and we're making sure it won't happen again."
Because they don't want to admit they released an insecure/shoddy product. The most likely case is that a player took advantage of a fault in the software (rather than rooting the servers). The servers probably do not verify all the data sent to them by clients, leaving a huge possibility for exploits. This is a problem that seems to occur in many MMORPGs (remember Phantasy Star Online?), and it seems that developers never care about the problem until after someone takes advantage of it.
Very interesting information. It is hard to say how much of it is fact, and how much of it is "revisionist nonsense," but nonetheless it would seem to call all "pirates" nothing more than bloodthirsty thieves would be incorrect. While no doubt they were violent, it seems as if some of them viewed themselves as Robin Hood style figures.
As far as the "modern" software/music/movie "pirate" term, I believe it is a bit of a misnomer. "Bootlegger" or "Copyright Violater" would be more appropriate.
There are lots of FPS games nowadays, but there is a world of difference between your bargain basement FPS and Quake 3. Namely quality. Games like Half Life added strong story elements (though some would argue that Marathon did it first) to the genre.
Golden Sun and Golden Sun: The Lost Age for GBA are 2D RPGs, and seemingly a throwback from the 16-Bit Era. However, they have a good story, are very fun, and have innovative battle features that I've never seen before.
And of course there is Neverwinter Nights. The "Official Campaign" wasn't comparable in story to Baldur's Gate, but the real action is in the toolset and multiplayer. While it isn't the first game to offer a toolset, it is one of the first with an easy toolset and has truckloads of support from both Bioware and the community. Bioware has released extra creatures since release, and people have used the HAK pack support to add the things Bioware didn't have time to put in. The community has made some great mods that remind you of REAL D&D.
Slashdot Mirror
"Make an investment in your future" they tell you. "You'll be worth so much more money" they tell you. I drive a 15 year old car with 200k miles on it, live in a dumpy three bedroom house in the ghetto with two other technical "professionals," and have a very hard time making ends meet on what's left of my biweekly pittance.
I feel for you. I personally would have been better off getting a MSCE and then a job right out of high school. And I'm one of the fortunate ones who managed to make it through school without any debt. I feel sorry for my friends who have racked up tens of thousands of dollars.
No, Japan is extreme. Even with their 14 hour workdays, no vacations, etc. their economy has been in the shitter for even longer than ours.
Except that Microsoft's goal (IMO) is not to move games to XBoxes. Sure, they want the XBox to sell well as a game console, but that isn't their true purpose behind the thing.
The XBox is, in reality, a "testing ground" for creating a computer that a user has no control over whatsoever.
Big ISPs can use the current backlash against spam to further their goals to push small providers out of the market. How? They simply blacklist small ISPs.
When small a ISP's customers get their mail bounced, they immediately complain. Since the ISP can't do anything about it, they will lose customers who can't email their friends who use AOL.
Unfortunately, manga is way behind of anime in terms of US Lisences. I'm fortunate enough that I can drive down to a Japanese bookstore and buy manga if I wanted, but not many people are. Scanlations are often the only way to go, especially if you want it in English.
I personally wouldn't mind reading comics on a monitor. I would certainly be willing to pay a micropayment for a good comic. Certainly, I'm not going to pay as much for a print comic, because I don't get to keep the online version. But at the same time bandwidth is probably still cheaper than paying for a printing run.
I don't mind, but I think as Scott McCloud said (I think he said it once), you'd probably need to altar the presentation for a book style to make it look good on the web. Of course, you've pointed out the problems with that. I suppose that I'll leave that up to pro artists.
The lack of a standard for micropayments makes it difficult for artists to get going, though. There are a few problems with the "implementations" of it I've seen. The true problem, however, is most artists probably don't know where to start with setting up a way to be paid for delivering online content. Even those that might have the technical skills to roll their own solution would still probably rather focus on their comics.
I think one of the things to note is that many online comic artists have been forced to sell merchandise related to their comics rather than the comics themselves.
Either way, I do wish you luck with your comic.
Honestly, you are lucky as hell that they thanked you. Half of the time people who expose security problems and show the sysadmin out of the kindness of their hearts are accused of being hackers and are (in your case) expelled and often prosecuted.
I believe you. If this guy was really from Nintendo, I doubt he'd really be talking about his research on an open forum.
There is hardly anyone in the government that still believes in the Constitution. I'm sure that in their private discussions, politicians refer to the Constitution as an "annoyance" that gets in their way.
Even the supreme court, which people used to count on to overturn unconstitutional laws, is now in the pockets of special interests.
The problem is that people nowadays have no sense of personal responsibility, and they want the government to protect them from everything, and do their jobs as parents for them. The government violates the constitution left and right nowadays, but nobody cares because they want to be "safe from bad guys" and want to "protect the children."
Exactly, Harold Lloyd had the opportunity (and likely did) to profit off of his works when he was alive. Now that he's dead, his works BELONG in public domain, so that they can properly be used and studied as a part of our culture.
Thanks to these megacorps, the original purpose of copyright is dead, and copyright has been turned into a means for people to profit off of works from generations ago.
I haven't personally even touched Warcraft 3 because of the bnetd thing. Now Blizzard has given me even more of a reason to completely ignore their products. Blizzard is being a bully now, that's all there is to it.
Hmn, wonder why Tower Records is having a hard time selling.
There is nothing interesting about "struggling computer repairman plays Anarchy Online for entertainment instead of watching TV." But the NY Time fixes that by twisting the actual facts around and making this guy look like as much of a loser/psychopath as much as possible.
Many, many, many people watch TV for six or seven hours a day, and many people right now are struggling (be it by their own fault or the crappy economy). Millions of Americans are in the exact situation this guy is in. The only thing that makes him different is that instead of parking his rear-end on a sofa in front of the tube, he plays Anarchy Online.
Not saying that he doesn't play too much, he probably does. However, the article does seem extremely negative about his personal life, and I find it hard to believe that the reporter didn't take liberties to make the story more "interesting."
...what Lucas has been smoking. Jar Jar was obviously inspired by some sort of mind-altering substance.
Just thought I would clarify. The SM and EverAnime CDs look really close to the original, and can be hard to spot. But once you know what you're looking for, you can simply look for their logos, which they happily display on their CDs. The logo will be the one difference, and is easily spotted if you know what to look for. Many newbies do _not_ know.
Since Taiwan did not sign to the Berne Convention, their "bootleg" CDs are completely legal under Taiwanese law, in Taiwan. However they "become illegal" the moment they enter a country that has signed to the Berne Convention. Many dealers will tell you that SM CDs are "legal" because they were made in Taiwan. They will say that the legality is due to a legal loophole created by the fact that Taiwanese products are not bound to copyright laws of other countries. This is incorrect, however, and Taiwanese bootlegs are still considered to be illegal in the USA.
US fans get a better deal than Japanese fans, ultimately. Yes, it is still expensive, but the Japanese fans get completely ripped off.
For example, Fruits Basket was released in NINE volumes in Japan at (IIRC) around $32 (3800 yen) each, and that seems to be considered a GOOD price. Fruits Basket was released in the US in FOUR volumes at around $40 each. Japanese fans end up paying around $288, while American fans pay $160.
From what I understand, many Japanese viewers actually wait until a US lisencee picks up a series and then they order the US version.
Well, my little post was more US-fan-centric. Most people want their product subtitled in English. The HK-based bootleggers put English subtitles (albiet they are usually worthless, because they are poor) in their products, likely for the sole purpose of selling the bootlegs to US fans.
People mentioning BitTorrent and fansubs don't get the picture. Nobody sane downloading One Piece off of BT believes they are getting an official product, and furthermore they are paying $0.00 for it.
The problem with "pirated" anime is that bootleggers attempt to pass their bootlegged goods as the "real thing." Many anime fans, especially novice anime fans, believe that they are getting a real collector's item when they buy these products.
Of course, there are ways to spot bootlegs. If you are looking for official merchandise as a collectable, you should always be wary of deals that seem too good to be true, and always look out for the warning signs.
The anime itself:
Obviously, a series being sold on eBay as a VCD or CD-R is a bootleg. That goes without saying.
However, most bootleggers use DVDs nowadays, and have done an extremely good job making their product appear to be official. You can prevent yourself from being duped if you are keen on things.
Anything with subtitles in both English and Chinese is a bootleg.
Almost anything that is "region free" is a bootleg.
If the price is too good to be true, it is probably a bootleg. Region 1 (US) anime DVDs range between $20 and $40. Region 2 (Japan) anime DVDs are even more expensive. Someone offering all of Lain (which is released on 4 DVDs in the US) for $20 is either crazy or selling a bootleg.
You can also look to make sure that the DVD packaging displays the name of a known distributor (ADV, AnimeWorks, etc.) or conforms to the packaging displayed on the original web site.
Anime Sound Tracks:
This can be a little trickier. Taiwanese bootleggers like SM and EverAnime often do a great job of making their bootlegs look EXACTLY like the real deal. The CDs are stamped, the sound quality is equal to that of the real thing, and even the packaging and appearance of the disc look exactly like the real thing from Japan. The only real way to tell is by looking at the name of the distributor, and the price. You will almost certainly pay a premium for the "real" thing, which could cost you $30-$50+ depending. SM CDs, on the other hand, are typically $5-$15.
The strange thing about bootleg Taiwanese CDs is that sometimes even reputable, legit. businesses who otherwise wouldn't have anything to do with bootlegs sell them.
Merchandise
Merchandise can be tricky, because there is often so much of it that it is hard to keep track. Obviously, you want to look for the copyright somewhere on the merchandise. If it isn't there, it may be a bootleg. Many "wall scrolls," character cards, etc. are bootleg merchandise.
Ultimately, the only way to probably make sure that you are getting legit goods is to know that it came from a store in Japan (though I'm not sure if that is 100%, since there are doujin-type goods out there that are fan-made).
Comic Books:
I know that bootleg manga are out there as well, but since manga isn't all that popular in the US yet, there are very few manga distributors. Viz an Tokyo Pop are two of the biggest ones. I guess just check to see if the manga is published by an authorized distributor.
And while doujinshi is not "bootleg" material, techinically, many newbie fans buy doujin not realizing what it is. It complicates things if they've bought an ecchi doujin, which is likely since a lot of doujin is pornographic. They don't find out that what they've bought is a "fan comic" until they open it up and see their favorite anime character getting gang raped.
Doujin is usually easily spotted because the art style will be different. However, many doujin artists are actually very good (a lot of pros got their start as doujin artists, and some still make doujin under "pen names") and can copy the original style. Sometimes the artist will be nice enough to write a warning on an ecchi doujin. It also will typically be larger / differently shaped than the manga volumes.
Of course, doujin in itself can be collectable. But I know many people who accidentally bought H doujin from dealers or when they went to Japan for the first time. Many I know who still lived with their parents high got in serious trouble. ^_^;
Well,(this is meant to be FUNNY, mods) they could save a bundle by just not including the English language dialogue. No self respecting person who considers themselves an anime fan would even consider watching the English language crap at all. Hell, they might as well not waste time on subtitles either, since all TRUE anime fans turn the subtitles off and watch the Japanese dialogue RAW.
It is completely laughable and sad that Microsoft was found to be an illegal monopoly for this very reason, and now they are integrating IE and Windows even further. The government really showed Microsoft!
No matter what your opinion is about the anti-trust trial or anti-trust laws in general, this is a clear display of how the Bush administration favors big business and selectively enforces laws in the favor of big business. The DOJ forced a "slap in the wrist" settlement against MS, and now MS and co. don't fear doing again what they were found guilty of doing before.
Why can't people simply say "oops, we screwed up, and somebody took advantage of us. It's fixed now, and we're making sure it won't happen again."
Because they don't want to admit they released an insecure/shoddy product. The most likely case is that a player took advantage of a fault in the software (rather than rooting the servers). The servers probably do not verify all the data sent to them by clients, leaving a huge possibility for exploits. This is a problem that seems to occur in many MMORPGs (remember Phantasy Star Online?), and it seems that developers never care about the problem until after someone takes advantage of it.
Very interesting information. It is hard to say how much of it is fact, and how much of it is "revisionist nonsense," but nonetheless it would seem to call all "pirates" nothing more than bloodthirsty thieves would be incorrect. While no doubt they were violent, it seems as if some of them viewed themselves as Robin Hood style figures.
As far as the "modern" software/music/movie "pirate" term, I believe it is a bit of a misnomer. "Bootlegger" or "Copyright Violater" would be more appropriate.
There are lots of FPS games nowadays, but there is a world of difference between your bargain basement FPS and Quake 3. Namely quality. Games like Half Life added strong story elements (though some would argue that Marathon did it first) to the genre.
Golden Sun and Golden Sun: The Lost Age for GBA are 2D RPGs, and seemingly a throwback from the 16-Bit Era. However, they have a good story, are very fun, and have innovative battle features that I've never seen before.
And of course there is Neverwinter Nights. The "Official Campaign" wasn't comparable in story to Baldur's Gate, but the real action is in the toolset and multiplayer. While it isn't the first game to offer a toolset, it is one of the first with an easy toolset and has truckloads of support from both Bioware and the community. Bioware has released extra creatures since release, and people have used the HAK pack support to add the things Bioware didn't have time to put in. The community has made some great mods that remind you of REAL D&D.
That's my understanding as well. Non-competes are pretty much unenforceable in California.
...and crank up the A/C.