Main Entry: retrogression
Pronunciation: -'gre-sh&n
Function: noun
1 : REGRESSION 3
2 : return to a former and less complex level of development or organization
It seems to me like kind of a retrogression to try and implement a TV format on the internet; TV evolved the format it has (i.e. half hour shows with commercial breaks) for reasons that make sense in terms of the medium; And the TV medium is changing as it is, what with TV on demand, Tivo, and so forth. But the internet works on a completely different paradigm. Not to say that it might not be successful; Just kind of sounds like a round peg in a square hole.
First the Russians, and now a bunch of European college students? Clearly, there is something about communism that makes people want to launch tiny satellites.;)
The project headquarters in Raccoon City reported spectacular progress in the manufacture of artificial virii that may have substantial medical and humaniatarian uses, as well as minor military applications.
With THAT kind of attitude...
on
Flash, Meet Sparkle
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· Score: 0, Redundant
Sometimes I doubt your commitment to Sparkle Motion!
This is basically non-news at this point. If anyone was scared away from file sharing by the first lawsuits it's clear that dozens more have replaced them. It's painfully obvious that this tactic will never work.
Every time there's a post like this it's the same old back and forth about: "Those fascist bastards!" "What's wrong? It IS stealing." "It's not really stealing, it's copyright infringement, there's a difference..." We could sit here all day and debate the ethics of filesharing until we're blue in the face, and it will have exactly the same effect as these lawsuits. None. Filesharing has become a massive global phenomenon practiced by millions of people, and it just won't be quashed. By anything. I'm just waiting to see how music and entertainment adapt...
"The head of the research team developing the drug had this to say about the breakthrough: 'MWUHAHAHAHA! Soon I will be... IMMORTAL! HAHAHAHA!' The team expects the drug to be available to the general public 'At the whim of your new overlords.'"
While I agree that movies nowadays suck, what many people fail to realize is that the majority of movies coming out have always been formulaic crap, almost as long as they've been making movies. Look back at the golden age of going to the theaters in the '50s: of course there were some phenomenal movies back then, but these were the exception, not the rule. Most of what the studios churned we remember now only because of MST3K.
They nailed the real problem when they talked about the "backstop" they used to be able to depend on because they were, literally, the only game in town.
The most fascinating thing to me in the history of WWII encryption is not Enigma (which was pretty cool) but what the Americans used in the Pacific war: the Navajo language. By sending messages in Navajo they utterly confounded the Japanese, who have never been slack in the figuring-things-out department. Goes to show how much stranger of a code our own laguage is, when we think about it
How am I supposed to enjoy a roller coaster if I know that sophisticated computers are monitoring the experience and ensuring my safety? That's just being fed stimulus.
Now, the Cyclone in Coney Island... that's a roller coaster! You experience a genuine fear of death, not because the ride is particularly scary, but because the roller coaster is about a hundred years old and feels like it is going to collapse at any moment! Woo!
Really depends on the pricing. As iTunes showed, there is a market for legal downloads as long as the price matches the convenience and quality. Would I pay ten bucks for a download I could get for free later? No. Would I pay two? Maybe, especially considering it would be a nice production copy rather than a crappy cam version which I find out is in Polish after I download it. As long as they keep in mind that in this case the fee is not for the movie, which will usually be available free in short order, but for the service, i.e., the fast, good quality, and of course legal download.
It's a good thing they figured out a way to make glass in space. Maybe now they come overcome the titanic production hurdles involved with producing glass here on Earth, and bring down its astronomic cost.
I agree. People these days seem to barely remember a time before the invention of the Walkman made public spaces a collection of completely isolated individuals. In decades past it was not in the least unusual to start a conversation with the person sitting next to you on public transportation. To do that these days would immediately label you as some sad, desperate friendless slob; Clearly anyone cool enough to be worth talking to has *much* better things to do.
I think there is something to be said for a policy of using domestic products when it comes to national security; But that isn't what this ruling is about, it is simply a PR foil to show that they are "supporting American industry".
Even if that were true, it would be just another useless stopgap to a larger problem; The laws of economics dictate that labor will move to the places it is cheapest, i.e. the Third World. But why not attack this problem at its source? The reason thirld world labor is so cheap compared to American is that they don't enjoy the protections and decent standard of living that Americans do. Paradoxically the fruit of the labor movement's long struggle for fair treatment in this country is that jobs have simply moved elsewhere. But in, for example, China, workers don't even have the basic freedoms (like freedom of speech) that would allow them to better their lot like American workers did.
We would find this problem easily solved if we simply refused to trade with countries that did not enforce fair labor standards. So why don't we do that? First because most of the power in the U.S. lies with the megacorporations who couldn't care less where things are manufactured as long as its cheap. Second because the American public doesn't really want this either. Fair treatment for sweatshop workers means that all the consumer garbage we love so much will suddenly become so expensive that we might have to, God forbid, do without some of it. Suddenly the plight of the Third world workforce doesn't seem so bad. Our current standard of living is sustainable only because we live off the the labor of what are basically slaves in the Third World. If we really want things to change we will have to start learning to live with a lot less stuff. If we don't we will find ourselves doing it anyways when we don't have a choice anymore.
Slashdot Mirror
From Merriam-Webster:
Main Entry: retrogression
Pronunciation: -'gre-sh&n
Function: noun
1 : REGRESSION 3
2 : return to a former and less complex level of development or organization
It seems to me like kind of a retrogression to try and implement a TV format on the internet; TV evolved the format it has (i.e. half hour shows with commercial breaks) for reasons that make sense in terms of the medium; And the TV medium is changing as it is, what with TV on demand, Tivo, and so forth. But the internet works on a completely different paradigm. Not to say that it might not be successful; Just kind of sounds like a round peg in a square hole.
First the Russians, and now a bunch of European college students? Clearly, there is something about communism that makes people want to launch tiny satellites. ;)
The project headquarters in Raccoon City reported spectacular progress in the manufacture of artificial virii that may have substantial medical and humaniatarian uses, as well as minor military applications.
Sometimes I doubt your commitment to Sparkle Motion!
This is basically non-news at this point. If anyone was scared away from file sharing by the first lawsuits it's clear that dozens more have replaced them. It's painfully obvious that this tactic will never work.
Every time there's a post like this it's the same old back and forth about: "Those fascist bastards!" "What's wrong? It IS stealing." "It's not really stealing, it's copyright infringement, there's a difference..." We could sit here all day and debate the ethics of filesharing until we're blue in the face, and it will have exactly the same effect as these lawsuits. None. Filesharing has become a massive global phenomenon practiced by millions of people, and it just won't be quashed. By anything. I'm just waiting to see how music and entertainment adapt...
"The head of the research team developing the drug had this to say about the breakthrough: 'MWUHAHAHAHA! Soon I will be... IMMORTAL! HAHAHAHA!' The team expects the drug to be available to the general public 'At the whim of your new overlords.'"
While I agree that movies nowadays suck, what many people fail to realize is that the majority of movies coming out have always been formulaic crap, almost as long as they've been making movies. Look back at the golden age of going to the theaters in the '50s: of course there were some phenomenal movies back then, but these were the exception, not the rule. Most of what the studios churned we remember now only because of MST3K. They nailed the real problem when they talked about the "backstop" they used to be able to depend on because they were, literally, the only game in town.
The most fascinating thing to me in the history of WWII encryption is not Enigma (which was pretty cool) but what the Americans used in the Pacific war: the Navajo language. By sending messages in Navajo they utterly confounded the Japanese, who have never been slack in the figuring-things-out department. Goes to show how much stranger of a code our own laguage is, when we think about it
Hope that doesn't include *copyrighted* music files! Better watch your step there, Yahoo!
Ah, yes, but that just means the chances of castastrophic collapse are that much higher every time!
How am I supposed to enjoy a roller coaster if I know that sophisticated computers are monitoring the experience and ensuring my safety? That's just being fed stimulus. Now, the Cyclone in Coney Island... that's a roller coaster! You experience a genuine fear of death, not because the ride is particularly scary, but because the roller coaster is about a hundred years old and feels like it is going to collapse at any moment! Woo!
Really depends on the pricing. As iTunes showed, there is a market for legal downloads as long as the price matches the convenience and quality. Would I pay ten bucks for a download I could get for free later? No. Would I pay two? Maybe, especially considering it would be a nice production copy rather than a crappy cam version which I find out is in Polish after I download it. As long as they keep in mind that in this case the fee is not for the movie, which will usually be available free in short order, but for the service, i.e., the fast, good quality, and of course legal download.
"You do not want to incur the wrath of our robotically enhanced, geriatric overlords." Damn! He beat us to it!
It's a good thing they figured out a way to make glass in space. Maybe now they come overcome the titanic production hurdles involved with producing glass here on Earth, and bring down its astronomic cost.
I agree. People these days seem to barely remember a time before the invention of the Walkman made public spaces a collection of completely isolated individuals. In decades past it was not in the least unusual to start a conversation with the person sitting next to you on public transportation. To do that these days would immediately label you as some sad, desperate friendless slob; Clearly anyone cool enough to be worth talking to has *much* better things to do.
Man, you know you're truly hopeless when you are being mocked as a pathetic geek... *on Slashdot*
I think there is something to be said for a policy of using domestic products when it comes to national security; But that isn't what this ruling is about, it is simply a PR foil to show that they are "supporting American industry". Even if that were true, it would be just another useless stopgap to a larger problem; The laws of economics dictate that labor will move to the places it is cheapest, i.e. the Third World. But why not attack this problem at its source? The reason thirld world labor is so cheap compared to American is that they don't enjoy the protections and decent standard of living that Americans do. Paradoxically the fruit of the labor movement's long struggle for fair treatment in this country is that jobs have simply moved elsewhere. But in, for example, China, workers don't even have the basic freedoms (like freedom of speech) that would allow them to better their lot like American workers did. We would find this problem easily solved if we simply refused to trade with countries that did not enforce fair labor standards. So why don't we do that? First because most of the power in the U.S. lies with the megacorporations who couldn't care less where things are manufactured as long as its cheap. Second because the American public doesn't really want this either. Fair treatment for sweatshop workers means that all the consumer garbage we love so much will suddenly become so expensive that we might have to, God forbid, do without some of it. Suddenly the plight of the Third world workforce doesn't seem so bad. Our current standard of living is sustainable only because we live off the the labor of what are basically slaves in the Third World. If we really want things to change we will have to start learning to live with a lot less stuff. If we don't we will find ourselves doing it anyways when we don't have a choice anymore.