I agree. People apply themselves to a game in a certain way because it is a game. It is entertainment. I don't think the average person buried in "work" will approach it with the same gusto.
The work "game" is actually different too. Often the best strategy at getting ahead at work is about image over true performance and sucking up to the boss. Do videogames train this?
The endowments pay for buildings and pay TA salaries, but the research is done thru government grants most of the time I believe.
What private company is going to be investing in string theory research?
Fundamental science research is important, whereas it is stupid for a company to invest in this research unless they think there will be profitable applications. Science is much more than just finding useful or profitable applications.
>>The only thing that could save a new Star Wars project is if you could get someone with a big brassy set of balls in charge...
I don't know if they need to be big and brassy; I think just someone other than Lucas would go a long way. The Clone Wars time period would have a lot of potential for a series, but it would need to be a real drama, not kid-friendly, merchandising machine crap that you know Lucas will do.
It would even be interesting to give different directors a few episodes each to do their own story arc.
They hacked the caller ID and called in saying there were a bunch of guys there on drugs shooting up the place. What does this have to do with Windows?
I think some people in the press referred to the Intel 286 processor as a supercomputer on the desktop, but I don't know if such terminology was ever used for marketing purposes.
I think the issue was that many of the BBC programs have international partners and investors, not just total BBC ownership, and these partners distribute the programming in their own countries. Apparently the partners were concerned about the profitability of the programs in their own country if they were too freely available in the UK, and thus are insisting the BBC use DRM.
Yeah, but Hawking decided to *host* that "Masters of Science Fiction" series recently, and I thought it kind of sucked.
Not too long ago, you had Stargate SG1, Stargate Atlantis, and Battlestar Galactica all on (the same night even). That was mini-golden age then I guess, particularly if you include Lost. I think in the same time frame you had Eureka, which is a decent little show, and Dr. Who, which has a following I think.
I'm not sure exactly what you mean by mainstream, but my wife who is not really a sci-fi person, likes Stargate SG-1 the best.
I frowned at several things, but the one thing that stands out for me is the battle at Minas Tirith where Aragorn arrives because I think the book depiction could have been filmed very well. Instead of a dramatic widescreen of the king returning at the helm of a fleet of ships, he just pops up and basically says "surprise" at the docks. Then the oathbreakers annihilate everything in two seconds. I think it would have been better to save some of battle scenery to show the king leading an army that smashes through the enemy and finally meets up with Eomer. Aragorn would be a better hero that way, not the ghosts.
I think you have to look at the other Tolkien movies (all animated - The Hobbit, The Return of the King, and The Lord of the Rings.) Jackson did not do any worse, and in some cases much, much better.
The main problem I had with Jackson's version is that he left out or didn't do justice to what I thought were some of the most memorable "scenes" from the book. In particular, he made the battle for Minas Tirith pretty spectacular, but things like Gandalf's standoff with the witchking, Aragon's banner coming up the river, etc... could have been done much better.
I think overall he did a pretty good job though, and I could easily see it being much worse. As another example, I haven't seen the Dark is Rising movie, but it sounds like they completely changed it up.
They have no specific stake in the particular instances in that they are not the copyright holders of the movies in question and therefore cannot invoke DMCA as the original poster suggested.
They apparently do believe they have a stake in copyright *policy* though, and they are lobbying Congress by holding Google up as example of what they feel needs to be fixed. I would guess calling them a "public watchdog group" is probably a matter of interpretation, and maybe that is what makes you think they should act differently than any other lobby group or political action committee.
Congress has an impact policy, whether or not they do the actual enforcement. Just a few examples - they can give extra funding for enforcement, and they can write amendments or extra laws that direct enforcement activity.
The type of offenses detailed against Google would probably be a civil matter anyways (not really enforceable by the executive branch), so from a policy perspective, getting Congress to write stricter, more favorable laws for copyright-holders might be the easier approach at "enforcing" what they perceive to be the rights of copyright-holders.
Basically, the group wants to affect policy whether it be by getting Congress to write new laws or whatever. And back to the original question - why lobby Congress - because Congress is important to policy. They probably lobby the executive branch as well, but I imagine Bush is probably already on their side.
I really don't know much about this group so I wouldn't know about their "victims", but they seem to be trying to get Congress to adopt a stricter policy and not to actually file individual lawsuits against Google themselves.
Congress is responsible for writing and funding laws though, and by going to congress the group in effect is saying that current laws are insufficient or not properly enforced. It's about policy, not about the specific cases of infringement. This group does not own the copyrights; they are just promoting a particular policy like any political group does.
I'm not sure, but someone said you have to be a stakeholder to invoke the DMCA process. The watchdog group doesn't own any of the copyrights in question, so they cannot invoke the DMCA process.
eBay just doesn't want to police itself for some reason. Maybe they are so pro-seller that they don't want to get involved. I reported pretty obvious fraud a few times and they did nothing.
In one case someone hijacked a seller's account with positive feedback. The fraud ads were for expensive lab equipment in Georgia, but the account previously only sold hundreds of home accessories from Ohio. eBay did not even respond when I pointed this out.
In another case, someone just duplicated an ad for $20,000 piece of equipment including the description of all the custom add-ons and even the photos of it in place in a facility in California, but they were trying to sell it from Europe in the fraud ad. I notified eBay of these two almost identical ads, one from California and one from Europe, and eBay's response was that they did believe any copyright infringement was taking place and did not even address the whole fraud issue at all. (As far as copyright, the photos were identical, clearly images of some guy photographing his custom rig, and they did not even contact the parties to see if one might be infringing the other.)
Not sure about the UK, but in the US most people with a Physics degree work in IT unless they have an advanced degree, and even then many still do. The other more common options are working in finance (because of the math involved) or working as a 2nd or 3rd rate engineer. An engineering degree might be a better option if that is what interests you so at least you can get paid like a true engineer.
If you go Physics, try and take some engineering electives and some finance electives. (Physics majors should know how to program too, but you already have that covered.)
If you are paid per the hour, you are almost always entitled to overtime pay.
Being salary, however, does not mean you are not entitled to overtime pay. Many companies work in this manner (that salary means no overtime), but legally they are often in the wrong.
I have known several people whose hours were well documented who waited until they quit, then went to the labor board (or whatever it is called), and very easily got paid for all those hours. The problem is that in the cases I know about, the companies will pay off those that complain, but they won't really change the way they practice. The people who don't go to the labor board get screwed.
Actually, many great scientists at one point or another in their career have supported the view, so calling them wackos is kind of extreme. I think even Feynman supported this view at one point.
>>The absurd number of parallel universes that would have to be created is mind boggling
I agree that is mind boggling, but much of modern physics has been mind boggling at the time it was discovered. Einstein could wrap his mind around Relativity, but even he had problems with quantum physics.
Slashdot Mirror
I agree. People apply themselves to a game in a certain way because it is a game. It is entertainment. I don't think the average person buried in "work" will approach it with the same gusto.
The work "game" is actually different too. Often the best strategy at getting ahead at work is about image over true performance and sucking up to the boss. Do videogames train this?
The endowments pay for buildings and pay TA salaries, but the research is done thru government grants most of the time I believe.
What private company is going to be investing in string theory research?
Fundamental science research is important, whereas it is stupid for a company to invest in this research unless they think there will be profitable applications. Science is much more than just finding useful or profitable applications.
>>The only thing that could save a new Star Wars project is if you could get someone with a big brassy set of balls in charge...
I don't know if they need to be big and brassy; I think just someone other than Lucas would go a long way. The Clone Wars time period would have a lot of potential for a series, but it would need to be a real drama, not kid-friendly, merchandising machine crap that you know Lucas will do.
It would even be interesting to give different directors a few episodes each to do their own story arc.
At least it is not going to be the Adventures of Young Luke Skywalker.
>>it's douche bags like this one who thinks it funny to hack for this reason
At the moment "haha" is the fourth most popular tag for the story...
They hacked the caller ID and called in saying there were a bunch of guys there on drugs shooting up the place. What does this have to do with Windows?
I think some people in the press referred to the Intel 286 processor as a supercomputer on the desktop, but I don't know if such terminology was ever used for marketing purposes.
I think the issue was that many of the BBC programs have international partners and investors, not just total BBC ownership, and these partners distribute the programming in their own countries. Apparently the partners were concerned about the profitability of the programs in their own country if they were too freely available in the UK, and thus are insisting the BBC use DRM.
It actually reminded me somewhat of Yahoo's page, but without all the advertising.
Yeah, but Hawking decided to *host* that "Masters of Science Fiction" series recently, and I thought it kind of sucked.
Not too long ago, you had Stargate SG1, Stargate Atlantis, and Battlestar Galactica all on (the same night even). That was mini-golden age then I guess, particularly if you include Lost. I think in the same time frame you had Eureka, which is a decent little show, and Dr. Who, which has a following I think.
I'm not sure exactly what you mean by mainstream, but my wife who is not really a sci-fi person, likes Stargate SG-1 the best.
I frowned at several things, but the one thing that stands out for me is the battle at Minas Tirith where Aragorn arrives because I think the book depiction could have been filmed very well. Instead of a dramatic widescreen of the king returning at the helm of a fleet of ships, he just pops up and basically says "surprise" at the docks. Then the oathbreakers annihilate everything in two seconds. I think it would have been better to save some of battle scenery to show the king leading an army that smashes through the enemy and finally meets up with Eomer. Aragorn would be a better hero that way, not the ghosts.
>>Clint Eastwood: Man.. I like his work but can't imagine what his version would be like. He might be aragorn tho.
Aragorn and Gandalf reunite to go gun down Sauron...
They get there and things go south when they realize he is just a disembodied eye. They feel really old when an innocent, little hobbit saves the day.
I think you have to look at the other Tolkien movies (all animated - The Hobbit, The Return of the King, and The Lord of the Rings.) Jackson did not do any worse, and in some cases much, much better.
The main problem I had with Jackson's version is that he left out or didn't do justice to what I thought were some of the most memorable "scenes" from the book. In particular, he made the battle for Minas Tirith pretty spectacular, but things like Gandalf's standoff with the witchking, Aragon's banner coming up the river, etc... could have been done much better.
I think overall he did a pretty good job though, and I could easily see it being much worse. As another example, I haven't seen the Dark is Rising movie, but it sounds like they completely changed it up.
They have no specific stake in the particular instances in that they are not the copyright holders of the movies in question and therefore cannot invoke DMCA as the original poster suggested.
They apparently do believe they have a stake in copyright *policy* though, and they are lobbying Congress by holding Google up as example of what they feel needs to be fixed. I would guess calling them a "public watchdog group" is probably a matter of interpretation, and maybe that is what makes you think they should act differently than any other lobby group or political action committee.
Congress has an impact policy, whether or not they do the actual enforcement. Just a few examples - they can give extra funding for enforcement, and they can write amendments or extra laws that direct enforcement activity.
The type of offenses detailed against Google would probably be a civil matter anyways (not really enforceable by the executive branch), so from a policy perspective, getting Congress to write stricter, more favorable laws for copyright-holders might be the easier approach at "enforcing" what they perceive to be the rights of copyright-holders.
Basically, the group wants to affect policy whether it be by getting Congress to write new laws or whatever. And back to the original question - why lobby Congress - because Congress is important to policy. They probably lobby the executive branch as well, but I imagine Bush is probably already on their side.
At 17,000 km/hr you would have to worry about friction in the atmosphere, let alone the ground. It would be a fireball a long way from the ground.
>>Google is not like most of their victims.
I really don't know much about this group so I wouldn't know about their "victims", but they seem to be trying to get Congress to adopt a stricter policy and not to actually file individual lawsuits against Google themselves.
Congress is responsible for writing and funding laws though, and by going to congress the group in effect is saying that current laws are insufficient or not properly enforced. It's about policy, not about the specific cases of infringement. This group does not own the copyrights; they are just promoting a particular policy like any political group does.
I'm not sure, but someone said you have to be a stakeholder to invoke the DMCA process. The watchdog group doesn't own any of the copyrights in question, so they cannot invoke the DMCA process.
eBay just doesn't want to police itself for some reason. Maybe they are so pro-seller that they don't want to get involved. I reported pretty obvious fraud a few times and they did nothing.
In one case someone hijacked a seller's account with positive feedback. The fraud ads were for expensive lab equipment in Georgia, but the account previously only sold hundreds of home accessories from Ohio. eBay did not even respond when I pointed this out.
In another case, someone just duplicated an ad for $20,000 piece of equipment including the description of all the custom add-ons and even the photos of it in place in a facility in California, but they were trying to sell it from Europe in the fraud ad. I notified eBay of these two almost identical ads, one from California and one from Europe, and eBay's response was that they did believe any copyright infringement was taking place and did not even address the whole fraud issue at all. (As far as copyright, the photos were identical, clearly images of some guy photographing his custom rig, and they did not even contact the parties to see if one might be infringing the other.)
Not sure about the UK, but in the US most people with a Physics degree work in IT unless they have an advanced degree, and even then many still do. The other more common options are working in finance (because of the math involved) or working as a 2nd or 3rd rate engineer. An engineering degree might be a better option if that is what interests you so at least you can get paid like a true engineer.
If you go Physics, try and take some engineering electives and some finance electives. (Physics majors should know how to program too, but you already have that covered.)
If you are paid per the hour, you are almost always entitled to overtime pay.
Being salary, however, does not mean you are not entitled to overtime pay. Many companies work in this manner (that salary means no overtime), but legally they are often in the wrong.
I have known several people whose hours were well documented who waited until they quit, then went to the labor board (or whatever it is called), and very easily got paid for all those hours. The problem is that in the cases I know about, the companies will pay off those that complain, but they won't really change the way they practice. The people who don't go to the labor board get screwed.
Thanks for the links and explanation.
Actually, many great scientists at one point or another in their career have supported the view, so calling them wackos is kind of extreme. I think even Feynman supported this view at one point.
>>The absurd number of parallel universes that would have to be created is mind boggling
I agree that is mind boggling, but much of modern physics has been mind boggling at the time it was discovered. Einstein could wrap his mind around Relativity, but even he had problems with quantum physics.
Actually, I believe it would be something more like
(1) "Observation" somehow collapses the wave function and creates reality. Shit happens.
(2) Shit happens. Parallel universes are created.