While china does hold a lot of USA treasury debt, they are hardly the only buyer. As of late the USA treasury has been issuing more new debt in one year than china's entire holdings of said debt.
I don't believe the claim "china could bankrupt the US" is strictly factual. As we continue to issue more debt, the impact of any hypothetical liquidation of USA treasury debt by china, would become more and more muted.
A little while ago I was reading on wikipedia about new york city's financial problems circa 1975. The wikipedia article claimed "there was a compromise between the city and the public unions", a link to an old new york times article was provided as a citation. I followed the link and encountered some kind of registration/log-in page, I suppose if I were to register, next I would encounter some sort of paywall. I simply did a google search for "new york city 1975 union compromise" and the first result was time magazine online, which provided me the full text of an article on that subject, dating back to that era. Contained on the page I viewed were links to more content from the same media conglomerate, perhaps customized to be more topical and relevant with the aid of an analytics company like google.
If new york times cannot generate a profit on free traffic, they need to look into partnering with someone who can. Putting a paywall in front of non-exclusive content devalues that content.
grant people copyright over their personal information (life of author + x(current copyright extension amount))
require entities that hold personal information on US citizens to register that information in a database
devise a method for individuals to access this database and revoke/allow rights to specific information and entities
prosecute violations using "draconian copyright law"
Laws must be just and applied in a fair and non discriminatory manner. Maintaining this type of character for the law should be of the highest priority.
Well how many users of proprietary software have a chance to participate in the development of the software they use?
Not every user of open source software will have the opportunity/desire/ability to participate in the development of the software they use.
However, for those who do get that chance it is a pretty "big benefit".
In terms of "practical value", for some people it is very high, for others almost nothing.
In terms of the average benefit, its probably pretty hard to quantify... I suppose you could argue many ways. Personally I would think that the average benefit would be mostly a second order effect of the benefit to developers.
As I see it, a comparison of DRM and the GPL that basically equates the two, is pretty flawed.
The purpose of DRM is more or less, to restrict and control what users of software can do with that software.
Users of GPL software, on the other hand, are guaranteed certain rights by the GPL, such as the right to have access to the source code of the software they receive.
The tool mentioned in the article will help users to ensure that their rights under the GPL are being protected.
If a company distributes GPLed software, the users are entitled to the source code. This tool makes it easier for users to enforce their rights.
Really, it seems to me that the GPL is basically incompatible with DRM.
In the usa being above the law costs much more than in india
from what I have observed anecdotally in india... law goes to the highest bidder with very low barrier to entry for bidding
in usa perhaps the same is true, although the barrier to bidding is much higher, lowering the amount of leverage provided by small economic disparity.
of course capital is much more scarce in india, so perhaps in a normalized view the difference between the two would look much more like one of degree than kind
but in america we tend to feel protected by law from our peers, for the most part. We are more apt to think of our legal system as "just"
Given that machines would have the ability to "transfer the very experiences themselves", what would the actual use of this be. Is there any point to replicating data in this manner? How much of the entire codebase of the machine would need to be included in order to "transfer the very experiences themselves".
When a human being filters their experiences into communicable data they are attempting to do all the "thinking" work for their target. I suppose our medium of communication could be considered inefficient for communicating certain things, although multimedia communication could change this.
The iraq war is still in the investment phase. Presumably at some point we will see the "payoff". People are becoming restless because george promised things would move much more quickly and smoothly. When we compare the proposed timetable, to the apparent timetable we cannot help but ask "how can the people in charge be fucking this up so badly"
It is probably more a failure of the administration to properly manage expectations than anything else.
So this term we will have a populist revolution with a free pony for everyone.
And business as usual.
That is what I am reading between the lines in any case.
I seem to recall that Carly Fiorina used that strategy when it came out that PIs she hired to spy on board members of hp got in trouble for social engineering with respect to telecoms and communication records.
surprisingly this does not seem to be noted on her wikipedia page.
I am having difficulty duplicating the results:hello:():():hello:test
: hello : () : () : test:hello:():():hello:test
oh now that is interesting it:something appends a linebreak?:no only at the beginning of a newline:where did my newline go:here:here:here:here:here:here
the next character is a linebreak?:here When my text becomes broken:i unbreak it:and glue on another line:and another:and another:and another:I:wonder:what:else:might:happen:i:wonder:what:else:might:happen
I went to frys yesterday with my dad to shop for a new laptop for him and heading to the components section I noticed that the most expensive part of assembling a new computer was the case.
a person who has been "unemployed" for over 6 months is recategorized as "discouraged worker" and no longer counts towards the "unemployment rate"
so when you see February 2008 net job loss = 63,000 people February 2008 unemployment rate = -0.1% (from previous month) it means although there were 63,000 more people who lost a job than found a job in february, 216,374 people who had previously been looking for jobs became "not in the labor force". Hence the reported "gain" in employment.
Not be alarmist or anything, but it is important to know how statistics are calculated if you want to understand their significance.
Using the correct units also gives more information about a statistic. April 2008 unemployment: 4.68M people
The losses in ARMs would not be nearly as significant if it were not for the fact that the companies involved in financing these loans were leveraged to the hilt.
I borrow 20 dollars from you with 10 dollars of collateral.
My investment can drop 50% in the short term before my creditor demands more collateral.
Now imagine instead I borrowed with 1 dollar of collateral. How much value does my investment need to loose before I need to "somehow" raise capital.
Now Imagine that the person who lent me 20 dollars is lending money that they borrowed, while furnishing their creditor 1 dollar in collateral.
Now Imagine a giant sucking sound followed by a number of massive implosions.
Many corporations have enough liquidity that tightening credit markets wont hurt much.
The real contraction we are seeing is the destruction of the value of debt assets used to finance increased consumption.
A particularly interesting data point is the cost of leasing a hybrid vehicle. I was recently in the market for a vehicle and found that leasing a Toyota Prius would be $650 dollars a month. This is more than I see BMWs and Mercedes being advertised for. (I ended up going with the honda civic for $230 a month)
It will be interesting to see how hybrid vehicles depreciate with respect to traditional vehicles. (SUVs seem to be depreciating quickly these days)
"home prices in Florida and California which were (WERE???) massively overvalued, and are now massively down"
I suspect we will see the prices continue to fall further in these areas. The potential for price drops make buying now unattractive. We haven't even got to the interest rate increases on the Alt-A loans yet. A lot of property speculators have yet to loose their shirts.
Why don't small farmers form farming collectives to share the capital costs of this sort of equipment?
Of course you would need to ensure the collective served the farmers and not vice versa. (who would have known running a condominium homeowners association could be so profitable?)
Slashdot Mirror
thanks for he informative post
Currently china's holdings of usa treasury debt ($1.16 trillion ---> http://www.treas.gov/tic/mfh.txt).
USA cash deficits (issuance of new debt) [approximate to 1/10 $trillion)
fy 2008 $0.5 trillion
fy 2009 $1.4 trillion
fy 2010 $1.2 trillion
fy 2011 $1.6 trillion (projected)
While china does hold a lot of USA treasury debt, they are hardly the only buyer. As of late the USA treasury has been issuing more new debt in one year than china's entire holdings of said debt.
I don't believe the claim "china could bankrupt the US" is strictly factual. As we continue to issue more debt, the impact of any hypothetical liquidation of USA treasury debt by china, would become more and more muted.
A little while ago I was reading on wikipedia about new york city's financial problems circa 1975. The wikipedia article claimed "there was a compromise between the city and the public unions", a link to an old new york times article was provided as a citation. I followed the link and encountered some kind of registration/log-in page, I suppose if I were to register, next I would encounter some sort of paywall. I simply did a google search for "new york city 1975 union compromise" and the first result was time magazine online, which provided me the full text of an article on that subject, dating back to that era. Contained on the page I viewed were links to more content from the same media conglomerate, perhaps customized to be more topical and relevant with the aid of an analytics company like google.
If new york times cannot generate a profit on free traffic, they need to look into partnering with someone who can. Putting a paywall in front of non-exclusive content devalues that content.
grant people copyright over their personal information (life of author + x(current copyright extension amount))
require entities that hold personal information on US citizens to register that information in a database
devise a method for individuals to access this database and revoke/allow rights to specific information and entities
prosecute violations using "draconian copyright law"
Laws must be just and applied in a fair and non discriminatory manner. Maintaining this type of character for the law should be of the highest priority.
Well how many users of proprietary software have a chance to participate in the development of the software they use?
Not every user of open source software will have the opportunity/desire/ability to participate in the development of the software they use.
However, for those who do get that chance it is a pretty "big benefit".
In terms of "practical value", for some people it is very high, for others almost nothing.
In terms of the average benefit, its probably pretty hard to quantify... I suppose you could argue many ways. Personally I would think that the average benefit would be mostly a second order effect of the benefit to developers.
As I see it, a comparison of DRM and the GPL that basically equates the two, is pretty flawed.
The purpose of DRM is more or less, to restrict and control what users of software can do with that software.
Users of GPL software, on the other hand, are guaranteed certain rights by the GPL, such as the right to have access to the source code of the software they receive.
The tool mentioned in the article will help users to ensure that their rights under the GPL are being protected.
If a company distributes GPLed software, the users are entitled to the source code. This tool makes it easier for users to enforce their rights.
Really, it seems to me that the GPL is basically incompatible with DRM.
In the usa being above the law costs much more than in india
from what I have observed anecdotally in india... law goes to the highest bidder with very low barrier to entry for bidding
in usa perhaps the same is true, although the barrier to bidding is much higher, lowering the amount of leverage provided by small economic disparity.
of course capital is much more scarce in india, so perhaps in a normalized view the difference between the two would look much more like one of degree than kind
but in america we tend to feel protected by law from our peers, for the most part. We are more apt to think of our legal system as "just"
just my 2 cents
Is that not the same price that an "S3" card commands?
I had infered that from the GP post but perhaps I Just assumed so incorrectly?
Just curious
With OSS software running on open hardware, what is to stop a competitor from easily cloning your product, and competing with you?
Do you offer some kind of additional service that is not easily replicateable?
wow people on slashdot have such a great sense of humor.
it really tickles my funny bone
Given that machines would have the ability to "transfer the very experiences themselves", what would the actual use of this be. Is there any point to replicating data in this manner? How much of the entire codebase of the machine would need to be included in order to "transfer the very experiences themselves".
When a human being filters their experiences into communicable data they are attempting to do all the "thinking" work for their target. I suppose our medium of communication could be considered inefficient for communicating certain things, although multimedia communication could change this.
I would like to see an ontology that could reduce the body of laws in the US to a format which is understandable by 1 human being in 1 lifetime.
Wow think of how many lawyers you could keep busy with a task like that.
Is a mob of humans dumb?
How could we determine whether this is true or not?
Is an ant qualified to evaluate the intelligence of its colony?
The iraq war is still in the investment phase.
Presumably at some point we will see the "payoff".
People are becoming restless because george promised things would move much more quickly and smoothly.
When we compare the proposed timetable, to the apparent timetable we cannot help but ask "how can the people in charge be fucking this up so badly"
It is probably more a failure of the administration to properly manage expectations than anything else.
So this term we will have a populist revolution with a free pony for everyone.
And business as usual.
That is what I am reading between the lines in any case.
I seem to recall that Carly Fiorina used that strategy when it came out that PIs she hired to spy on board members of hp got in trouble for social engineering with respect to telecoms and communication records.
surprisingly this does not seem to be noted on her wikipedia page.
I am having difficulty duplicating the results :hello :() :() :hello :test
:hello :() :() :hello :test
:something appends a linebreak? :no only at the beginning of a newline :where did my newline go :here :here :here :here :here :here
:here :i unbreak it :and glue on another line :and another :and another :and another :I :wonder :what :else :might :happen :i :wonder :what :else :might :happen
: hello
: ()
: ()
: test
oh now that is interesting it
the next character is a linebreak?
When my text becomes broken
isn't that how bittorrent works?
Actually I find a lot of this guy's posts informative and insightful. I am more interested in the content of the posts than who is posting them.
I went to frys yesterday with my dad to shop for a new laptop for him and heading to the components section I noticed that the most expensive part of assembling a new computer was the case.
Well actually I guess it would be the monitor.
So then given
Low wages for IT workers
BIGNUM existing man hours in OSS projects
Decreasing hardware costs
???
profit?
I suppose you need enough capital outlay to pay for living expenses until your product hits the market.
I guess marketing and legal costs could be a barrier to entry.
well the funny thing about employment is
a person who has been "unemployed" for over 6 months
is recategorized as "discouraged worker"
and no longer counts towards the "unemployment rate"
so when you see
February 2008 net job loss = 63,000 people
February 2008 unemployment rate = -0.1% (from previous month)
it means although there were 63,000 more people who lost a job than found a job in february, 216,374 people who had previously been looking for jobs became "not in the labor force". Hence the reported "gain" in employment.
Not be alarmist or anything, but it is important to know how statistics are calculated if you want to understand their significance.
Using the correct units also gives more information about a statistic.
April 2008 unemployment: 4.68M people
etc
The losses in ARMs would not be nearly as significant if it were not for the fact that the companies involved in financing these loans were leveraged to the hilt.
I borrow 20 dollars from you with 10 dollars of collateral.
My investment can drop 50% in the short term before my creditor demands more collateral.
Now imagine instead I borrowed with 1 dollar of collateral. How much value does my investment need to loose before I need to "somehow" raise capital.
Now Imagine that the person who lent me 20 dollars is lending money that they borrowed, while furnishing their creditor 1 dollar in collateral.
Now Imagine a giant sucking sound followed by a number of massive implosions.
Many corporations have enough liquidity that tightening credit markets wont hurt much.
The real contraction we are seeing is the destruction of the value of debt assets used to finance increased consumption.
And I guess some transitional costs as well.
A particularly interesting data point is the cost of leasing a hybrid vehicle. I was recently in the market for a vehicle and found that leasing a Toyota Prius would be $650 dollars a month. This is more than I see BMWs and Mercedes being advertised for. (I ended up going with the honda civic for $230 a month)
It will be interesting to see how hybrid vehicles depreciate with respect to traditional vehicles. (SUVs seem to be depreciating quickly these days)
"home prices in Florida and California which were (WERE???) massively overvalued, and are now massively down"
I suspect we will see the prices continue to fall further in these areas. The potential for price drops make buying now unattractive. We haven't even got to the interest rate increases on the Alt-A loans yet. A lot of property speculators have yet to loose their shirts.
Why don't small farmers form farming collectives to share the capital costs of this sort of equipment?
Of course you would need to ensure the collective served the farmers and not vice versa. (who would have known running a condominium homeowners association could be so profitable?)