Incorrect. Google are a US based company and have to play safe as they answer to their shareholders, and they are faced with the DCMA. TPB are a private company, and are hosted in a country with no DCMA. That explains supplication to lobby groups of one and not the other. However technologically they are both just search engines. TPB are quite right to mock those that apply non-applicable US laws to a foreign sovereign nation. Not sure why I'm writing this as cliffski is a RIAA troll spamming with anti-TPB memes that have already been refuted.
I think you are modded off-topic rather than wrong. Plus reiterating that nutty rant from The Register. At the end of the day, how does donating money to an online directory, pretty much the equivalent of Google but with less censorship, like TPB "keep sweden white"? It doesn't make any sense.
Hey, I quite enjoyed Space: Above and Beyond. It was like a serial equivalent to Starship Troopers. And they had the grace to kill the series off at the right point rather than drag it on to cancellation.
You could force the techies to take a shower at least once a day, to drain off the excess hot water, though this scheme may find some staff resistance.
One of my favourite novels, Catch-22, took eight years to write. Some authors like to reach depths in their novels greater than the Barbera Cartland. This is why it is important to find a way of rewarding authors online, if not by scribd as they seem to have wrecked their reputation then by somebody else. You can reward a musician by going to their concerts, even if you pirate their music. A movie has made its money back through the box office even if you download a pirate version instead of buying the dvd. However if everybody downloads the pirate ebook where does the author get his revenue?
In England we have politicians to protect us from the tyranny of the majority, and the civil servants to protect us from the politicians. Try watching Yes Minister, you won't regret it.
I also tend to have around 80 tabs open on average (4 windows, about 20 each). It works fine for me the way it is, and I really don't like sidebars of any sort. Two things I would like to see though: * being able to drag a tab from one browser window to another to move it * drag select a group of tabs, then select "Open tabs in new window" (which then removes them from the original)
If it was in France, Sarkozy gets a big say in what stories run in the media (see TF1 story previously in Slashdot). Berlusconi owns the main media outlets in Italy. Ruperty Murdoch dictates much of the media in the UK, and even the BBC has their own bias these days. In the USA I hear that Fox news has their own agenda of which stories they run. And that is in the most liberal countries. Many other countries only run state-owned media outlets. Don't underestimate the democratising power of the Internet.
That doesn't make sense. Libel (ignoring slander as you can't do that on the Internet) is nothing to do with censorship. One happens after publication and the other prevents publication in the first place. One deals with defamation of character of an individual, and the other with arbitrary moral or ideological values set in place to blanket protect an entire society. There is no contradiction between supporting both lack of censorship and also current libel laws. If your mind is boggling, I suggest it is because it is inadequate. The right to publish does not exclude the responsibility that then follows.
Agreed. I've had a site hacked, and another server rooted. I've never lost any data. The only kind of person I can think of that would do this is a recently ex employee as an act of twisted revenge.
In Europe (except the UK where it is often called a flat) an apartment is anything that is not a detached or semi-detached house. In fact even a semi-detached house can be split into having an apartment on each level.
You can own an apartment or rent one. There are two different types of ownership, freehold and leasehold. Freehold means you own the apartment in perpetuity. Leasehold, which is only in the UK as far as I know, means you buy a license to use the property for a number of years. It's like an extended rental contract but you can sell the rental contract onto others. In London nearly all property is leasehold.
It used to be the case that one tenant was voted 'president' of the block and took care of the shared maintenance charges, asking for contributions when necessary. These days many blocks use professional building management companies, who get paid a small fee each year. This would be the equivalent of US Condo charges. However the property management company cannot take any decisions, the residents take all decisions.
As for the last point about not wanting to buy a half a building attached to someone else's half, it is very common in London even in desirable areas such as Notting Hill and Clapham. On the bright side you have neighbours only on one side, rather than above and below in an apartment (an possibly on two sides in addition).
In the UK it used to be the case you would borrow 3-3.5 times your salary from the bank to purchase a home. The average wage in the UK is £24k, and the average apartment price has now reduced after the crisis to £183k (ignoring houses where the average price is £315k). This still makes it currently 7.5 times your annual wage. The ratio is still too high.
This of course means nobody can afford to buy, making rents sky high. People then use this inflated rent as projected income to obtain buy-to-let loans, helping to prop up these inflated prices. Many doing this at a loss assuming house prices will only go up, as discussed in a recent Slashdot thread. I think most people are expecting more correction over the next year or two.
One of the major costs will be putting in a decent public transport system, and is one of the most important things if you want to make an area of cheaper housing a success. The cost of the housing means little if nobody wants to live there.
You are looking on home ownership from a sentimental viewpoint rather than an investment one. Traditionally owning a home has seen good capital gains with relatively low risk. This is good for the owners, but also good for the economy as it's more stable and follows more reliable rules than the fluid stocks and commodities. Even those caught in negative equity during a bust will have recovered and turned it into profit if they were able to hold on to it for a few years. It's not especially difficult to sell a property and buy a new one in a different area, it's an effort but then so is finding a good rental property. The home owner can also rent out his property to cover his fixed costs if he wishes to move. Some even turn this asset into extra cash by using the increasingly popular foreign home swaps to travel.
Of course the above will not work if there is mass migration like in China from the villages into the cities, but this is unlikely to happen in the States or Western Europe. I'm not sure about the correlation you are talking about, as over the past couple of decades in the UK home ownership has increased and unemployment has decreased. With the current recession and repossessions, home ownership is decreasing and unemployment is increasing.
A final point is that if you make your labour force too flexible, there is also the risk of "brain drain" where all the most talented and productive workers leave the country for another one with better prospects.
Also much better than serial numbers on CD or DVD cases, which inevitably get lost. The booklets were usually quite useful, with maps for adventure games or easy key maps for simulators or shooters (even a novella with Elite), and actually added value when you bought the game.
If you have your cousin's telephone number, I'm sure Slashdot would appreciate a submission from you on your cousin's view on: * the bias of the judge and what is likely to happen next * why assisting making available affects TPB and not Google * did he find the sentence and compensation excessive
When you take music away from people, you also take away part of their culture. A few decades ago there was an uproar about this music called rock and roll. It was slammed by the establishment for moral decadence and became the focal point for a rebellious youth movement.
Windows Server licenses for needed servers might cost a grand or three. If this is sufficient to avoid the cost of hiring a developer (at around $100k/year) or an admin, (at ~ $60k/year) it's money very well spent!
Or you could outsource to a programmer in Europe for a fraction of that price? With the drop in sterling, the UK may be good value at the moment.
I don't understand, why do you think Linux = Ubuntu? Ubuntu is Linux for dummies, hence keeps itself updated to the latest version of all the software for you. If you want a version of Linux that has no distribution versions, and you can maintain any item of software at any version number just by adding a single line in a text file, then install Gentoo. It works fine for that.
I don't see why you keep bringing up that primitive OS Windows. Once you install a Windows app, how do you upgrade it at all? Updating software in most Linux distros is a doddle for new users compared to a Microsoft OS where each app is installed from a completely different source, and there is no central notification system telling you when there is a new version available. As for installing any Windows95 app onto a Vista machine without any problems, I simply don't believe you as I've seen plenty evidence otherwise.
Here's an idea... we can do what we've always done which is BOTH. We were putting men on the moon and planning men on mars whilst sending 'telepresence' probes to Saturn and Jupiter. We can put men on mars and plan to orbit further out whilst out 'telepresence' maps out Pluto and beyond. And we continue to push outwards with the probes paving the way with their data and humans following up and doing what we do best.
TPB the website does not host any content, only links to that content. Typing into Google "filetype:torrent movie" is EXACTLY the same as typing the search term into the Pirate Bay. TPB was convicted of "assisting making available", not actually making the content available. I can click on any of those search results to start downloading the movie hence Google are definitely "assisting making available". Hence they are the same thing.
Slashdot Mirror
Incorrect. Google are a US based company and have to play safe as they answer to their shareholders, and they are faced with the DCMA. TPB are a private company, and are hosted in a country with no DCMA. That explains supplication to lobby groups of one and not the other. However technologically they are both just search engines. TPB are quite right to mock those that apply non-applicable US laws to a foreign sovereign nation. Not sure why I'm writing this as cliffski is a RIAA troll spamming with anti-TPB memes that have already been refuted.
Phillip.
I think you are modded off-topic rather than wrong. Plus reiterating that nutty rant from The Register. At the end of the day, how does donating money to an online directory, pretty much the equivalent of Google but with less censorship, like TPB "keep sweden white"? It doesn't make any sense.
Phillip.
Hey, I quite enjoyed Space: Above and Beyond. It was like a serial equivalent to Starship Troopers. And they had the grace to kill the series off at the right point rather than drag it on to cancellation.
Phillip.
You could force the techies to take a shower at least once a day, to drain off the excess hot water, though this scheme may find some staff resistance.
Phillip.
One of my favourite novels, Catch-22, took eight years to write. Some authors like to reach depths in their novels greater than the Barbera Cartland. This is why it is important to find a way of rewarding authors online, if not by scribd as they seem to have wrecked their reputation then by somebody else. You can reward a musician by going to their concerts, even if you pirate their music. A movie has made its money back through the box office even if you download a pirate version instead of buying the dvd. However if everybody downloads the pirate ebook where does the author get his revenue?
Phillip.
You mean like Googeefree? Just ask the author to add Scribd to Expert Exchange, the other cloaking SEO.
Phillip.
I must have missed the memo, I just tried and it worked perfectly. Thanks.
Phillip.
In England we have politicians to protect us from the tyranny of the majority, and the civil servants to protect us from the politicians. Try watching Yes Minister, you won't regret it.
Phillip.
I also tend to have around 80 tabs open on average (4 windows, about 20 each). It works fine for me the way it is, and I really don't like sidebars of any sort. Two things I would like to see though:
* being able to drag a tab from one browser window to another to move it
* drag select a group of tabs, then select "Open tabs in new window" (which then removes them from the original)
Phillip.
If it was in France, Sarkozy gets a big say in what stories run in the media (see TF1 story previously in Slashdot). Berlusconi owns the main media outlets in Italy. Ruperty Murdoch dictates much of the media in the UK, and even the BBC has their own bias these days. In the USA I hear that Fox news has their own agenda of which stories they run. And that is in the most liberal countries. Many other countries only run state-owned media outlets. Don't underestimate the democratising power of the Internet.
Phillip.
That doesn't make sense. Libel (ignoring slander as you can't do that on the Internet) is nothing to do with censorship. One happens after publication and the other prevents publication in the first place. One deals with defamation of character of an individual, and the other with arbitrary moral or ideological values set in place to blanket protect an entire society. There is no contradiction between supporting both lack of censorship and also current libel laws. If your mind is boggling, I suggest it is because it is inadequate. The right to publish does not exclude the responsibility that then follows.
Phillip.
Agreed. I've had a site hacked, and another server rooted. I've never lost any data. The only kind of person I can think of that would do this is a recently ex employee as an act of twisted revenge.
Phillip.
Or, like Chirac and Berlusconi, you just pass a law granting yourself immunity from prosecution.
Phillip.
In Europe (except the UK where it is often called a flat) an apartment is anything that is not a detached or semi-detached house. In fact even a semi-detached house can be split into having an apartment on each level.
You can own an apartment or rent one. There are two different types of ownership, freehold and leasehold. Freehold means you own the apartment in perpetuity. Leasehold, which is only in the UK as far as I know, means you buy a license to use the property for a number of years. It's like an extended rental contract but you can sell the rental contract onto others. In London nearly all property is leasehold.
It used to be the case that one tenant was voted 'president' of the block and took care of the shared maintenance charges, asking for contributions when necessary. These days many blocks use professional building management companies, who get paid a small fee each year. This would be the equivalent of US Condo charges. However the property management company cannot take any decisions, the residents take all decisions.
As for the last point about not wanting to buy a half a building attached to someone else's half, it is very common in London even in desirable areas such as Notting Hill and Clapham. On the bright side you have neighbours only on one side, rather than above and below in an apartment (an possibly on two sides in addition).
Phillip.
In the UK it used to be the case you would borrow 3-3.5 times your salary from the bank to purchase a home. The average wage in the UK is £24k, and the average apartment price has now reduced after the crisis to £183k (ignoring houses where the average price is £315k). This still makes it currently 7.5 times your annual wage. The ratio is still too high.
This of course means nobody can afford to buy, making rents sky high. People then use this inflated rent as projected income to obtain buy-to-let loans, helping to prop up these inflated prices. Many doing this at a loss assuming house prices will only go up, as discussed in a recent Slashdot thread. I think most people are expecting more correction over the next year or two.
One of the major costs will be putting in a decent public transport system, and is one of the most important things if you want to make an area of cheaper housing a success. The cost of the housing means little if nobody wants to live there.
Phillip.
They made mod chips illegal in the UK back in 2004, though they are legal in Spain and Italy.
Phillip.
You are looking on home ownership from a sentimental viewpoint rather than an investment one. Traditionally owning a home has seen good capital gains with relatively low risk. This is good for the owners, but also good for the economy as it's more stable and follows more reliable rules than the fluid stocks and commodities. Even those caught in negative equity during a bust will have recovered and turned it into profit if they were able to hold on to it for a few years. It's not especially difficult to sell a property and buy a new one in a different area, it's an effort but then so is finding a good rental property. The home owner can also rent out his property to cover his fixed costs if he wishes to move. Some even turn this asset into extra cash by using the increasingly popular foreign home swaps to travel.
Of course the above will not work if there is mass migration like in China from the villages into the cities, but this is unlikely to happen in the States or Western Europe. I'm not sure about the correlation you are talking about, as over the past couple of decades in the UK home ownership has increased and unemployment has decreased. With the current recession and repossessions, home ownership is decreasing and unemployment is increasing.
A final point is that if you make your labour force too flexible, there is also the risk of "brain drain" where all the most talented and productive workers leave the country for another one with better prospects.
Phillip.
According to the professor, it should soon make Linux obsolete.
Phillip.
Also much better than serial numbers on CD or DVD cases, which inevitably get lost. The booklets were usually quite useful, with maps for adventure games or easy key maps for simulators or shooters (even a novella with Elite), and actually added value when you bought the game.
Phillip.
If you have your cousin's telephone number, I'm sure Slashdot would appreciate a submission from you on your cousin's view on:
* the bias of the judge and what is likely to happen next
* why assisting making available affects TPB and not Google
* did he find the sentence and compensation excessive
Get dialling!
Phillip.
When you take music away from people, you also take away part of their culture. A few decades ago there was an uproar about this music called rock and roll. It was slammed by the establishment for moral decadence and became the focal point for a rebellious youth movement.
Phillip.
Windows Server licenses for needed servers might cost a grand or three. If this is sufficient to avoid the cost of hiring a developer (at around $100k/year) or an admin, (at ~ $60k/year) it's money very well spent!
Or you could outsource to a programmer in Europe for a fraction of that price? With the drop in sterling, the UK may be good value at the moment.
Phillip.
I don't understand, why do you think Linux = Ubuntu? Ubuntu is Linux for dummies, hence keeps itself updated to the latest version of all the software for you. If you want a version of Linux that has no distribution versions, and you can maintain any item of software at any version number just by adding a single line in a text file, then install Gentoo. It works fine for that.
I don't see why you keep bringing up that primitive OS Windows. Once you install a Windows app, how do you upgrade it at all? Updating software in most Linux distros is a doddle for new users compared to a Microsoft OS where each app is installed from a completely different source, and there is no central notification system telling you when there is a new version available. As for installing any Windows95 app onto a Vista machine without any problems, I simply don't believe you as I've seen plenty evidence otherwise.
Phillip.
Here's an idea... we can do what we've always done which is BOTH. We were putting men on the moon and planning men on mars whilst sending 'telepresence' probes to Saturn and Jupiter. We can put men on mars and plan to orbit further out whilst out 'telepresence' maps out Pluto and beyond. And we continue to push outwards with the probes paving the way with their data and humans following up and doing what we do best.
Phillip.
TPB the website does not host any content, only links to that content. Typing into Google "filetype:torrent movie" is EXACTLY the same as typing the search term into the Pirate Bay. TPB was convicted of "assisting making available", not actually making the content available. I can click on any of those search results to start downloading the movie hence Google are definitely "assisting making available". Hence they are the same thing.
Phillip.