The one thing that is perhaps a flaw with your plan is that you don't always have two copies of the movie/album/game/whatever... However, your point is very much taken.
Also, as you encode these things into DivX or mp3, thus reducing quality, doesn't many of these watermarks simply "disappear" in the encoding process. Especially if they are undetectable to humans (most of what is being cut in a lossy media-encryption is after all undetectable to humans). Any watermark specialists who can answer this (and by watermark specialists, I don't mean people who only have read Pattern Recognition)?
You have to realise that the white population completely ruled South Africa. They were the backbone of the economy, and they dictated almost completely government policy. International pressure was nothing in comparison. Numbers indicate that 80-85% of the white ruling class was completly in support of apartheid. The fact that de Klerk was able to end apartheid without ANY bloodshed (in a country with an extremely bloody past) truly makes him an Abraham Lincoln of our time (remember: Lincoln did pretty much the same thing and he had to start a civil war. The situations are very different, but the comparisons of the men and their visions is apt)
Usually, I try to take the modern view of history, that nothing happends because of "one man", but that almost all big changes are part of a long process, but in this case one has to reconize that two men saved the lives of tens of thousands, and ended one of the most opressive regimes in modern history.
While I agree with pretty much all of your post, I'd like to point out that the reason why South Africa has done away with apartheid is not trade sanctions. It happened because a few great men did was what needed. Few people have more earned their Nobel Peace Prize than Fredrik Willem de Klerk and Nelson Mandela.
While you do have a point, you get the experiment backwards. They don't inflict pain, and see what happens, they dehydrate the subject and sees what happens (more pain, as it turns out). Therefore your cat and mouse thing doesn't apply
On a related note, I don't need an experiment to tell me that I get agitated, stressed, angered, emotional or a combination when I feel pain! Yes I do! Really! Not something that needs to be put to an experiment, in my humble opinion.
You totally miss the point here. You take a far to idealism way, way to far, and in the process, you are abandoning realism.
You say that Google is essentially the monopoly carrier for information. That is simply not true, especially not in China. There are tons of search engines which produce results that, while perhaps not as brilliant as Google, are certainly good enough for 99% of all searches. In China, this is even more true. Do you know what the 4th most visited site on the internet is? A hint: It's not in english. Just because google is biggest, does not mean it has the monopoly on information.
Now, there is the matter of wheter google should have censored it's results. People are saying that it is in blatant disregard for the "Do No Evil" policy, and it is, as you say, hypocritical. It's not, it really isn't. The googleblog explains this quite well. The only other argument that i've heard is that google should not be laying down to insane Chinese censorship laws, that they should Fight The Evil Chinese Government, and Stand Up For Freedom, Democracy, and Puppies Everywhere. But you know what, that is not for Google to do. Do you think a damn thing would change if Google refused to censor, and would be itself censored in China? No, not a damn thing (as there are Chinese replacements who don't even tell you that stuff is being censored). It shouldn't be the companies who force humanitarian change. It's not the role of Google to make the world better, because they can't! They say that they will collect and organize all the worlds information, and they will do so without resorting to evil practices.
Are you saying that, in addition to that, they should also rid the world of evil?
Get of your ideological high horse, and come live in the real world
You mean special relativity, not geberal. Special relativity was discovered in 1905, general 1915. However your point it still valid, there was no way to prove SR in 1907.
Ahh, god that game was good! I never got why everyone loved Starcraft, i'll take 50 Terror Drones followed by a regiment of Apocalypse Tanks over slimy aliens anyday
The declaration of human rights is an entirely symbolical thing. It carries with it no obligation that you create laws by it, and it carries no penalty if it is broken. It would have been hard to get that many to sign it otherwise (hell, the Soviet Union helped write it!!)
What really annoys me to tears is that NO ONE KNOWS WHAT DEUS EX MACHINA MEAN!!!! People think it means a divine machine, but it does not! LIterally, it means "God out of/from the machine", and it is really a term for a heap plot point in a movie or play.
Take the play Medea by Euripides. Most people know the story, Medea's husband Jason goes and screws the kings daughter, Medea gets pissed, Medea hers and Jasons children. When the play ends she has just killed her children and has to flee the town. The problem is that there is no way to do it. She is trapped, she is buggered, oh, how will Medea ever get out of this awful pickle?
Then, suddenly, a chariot rushes down from the heaven carrying a god (I believe it was Zeus but it was long ago I read the play, I could be wrong) that swoops her up and takes her to safety. That's a Deus Ex Machina!
That is, when old greeks had gotten themselves into a nasty plot problem they couldn't really resolve, the just said "Fuck it, Zeus can save her". The theatre had a special machine that they used to lower the Gods down in (that is, the chariot). Ergo: "God from the machine".
Another good example is at the end of Return of the king, Sam and Frodo has delivered the ring, but now they are both dying. Frodo is irrevocably corrupted, neither has eaten in days, lava is coming down the sides of Mt. Doom. However will they get out alive. Then all of a sudden, Gandalf swoops down from the skies, riding and a big bird and saves them. A fucking bird!!! Jesus H Christ, give me a break.
Deus ex machina is noting else but a way for bad writers to resolve a tricky plot point by basically invoking something that is so fantastically unlikely that it might as well be divine intervention.
Yiu're forgetting the all important category C) is able to do it. This is not something everyone can do, you have to be tested first to see if you can be part of the project.
I see that most of the comments on this story are variations on "How the hell can people even consider using Wikipedia for reasearch?" I mostly agree with that sentiment, but we have to remember one thing, this is CHINA we're talking about. This is a ruthless dictatorship in which any information not considered to be kosher to the communist government is banned. What if you were doing a thesis on Chinese foreign policy in China and all books you get hold of start with "When the glorious Chairman Mau....."? For simple, accurate, verifiable and neutral facts, Wikipedia can be extrordinary. I am sure that the english wikipedia page on the cultural revolution is much better than any chinese textbook on the subject.
In europe and america, using Wikipedia for a thesis is questionable at best. In China, they may not have any other choice.
Actually this is a completly accetable use of the word literally. Please read http://www.slate.com/id/2129105/
Language evolves and words change meaning depending on usage. That word has literally been turned inside out.
Dude, believe me, Sweden is jam-packed with hotties. We have the most beutiful women in the entire world, just walk down the streets of Stockholm, and you'll see
Slashdot Mirror
Also, as you encode these things into DivX or mp3, thus reducing quality, doesn't many of these watermarks simply "disappear" in the encoding process. Especially if they are undetectable to humans (most of what is being cut in a lossy media-encryption is after all undetectable to humans). Any watermark specialists who can answer this (and by watermark specialists, I don't mean people who only have read Pattern Recognition)?
Usually, I try to take the modern view of history, that nothing happends because of "one man", but that almost all big changes are part of a long process, but in this case one has to reconize that two men saved the lives of tens of thousands, and ended one of the most opressive regimes in modern history.
While I agree with pretty much all of your post, I'd like to point out that the reason why South Africa has done away with apartheid is not trade sanctions. It happened because a few great men did was what needed. Few people have more earned their Nobel Peace Prize than Fredrik Willem de Klerk and Nelson Mandela.
You don't have to disable adblock completely , you could just whitelist the page. Don't be such a fuddy-duddy :P
Hotmale? As in Jude Law? Dude, i'd pay anything to recieve his white man-mail, if you know what i'm saying!
telcos are stupid, but not that stupid.
On a related note, I don't need an experiment to tell me that I get agitated, stressed, angered, emotional or a combination when I feel pain! Yes I do! Really! Not something that needs to be put to an experiment, in my humble opinion.
Hey, maybe the "bathroom breaks" caused the carpal tunnel syndrome in the first place! Anyone check his breifcase for "grown-up" magazines?
You say that Google is essentially the monopoly carrier for information. That is simply not true, especially not in China. There are tons of search engines which produce results that, while perhaps not as brilliant as Google, are certainly good enough for 99% of all searches. In China, this is even more true. Do you know what the 4th most visited site on the internet is? A hint: It's not in english. Just because google is biggest, does not mean it has the monopoly on information.
Now, there is the matter of wheter google should have censored it's results. People are saying that it is in blatant disregard for the "Do No Evil" policy, and it is, as you say, hypocritical. It's not, it really isn't. The googleblog explains this quite well. The only other argument that i've heard is that google should not be laying down to insane Chinese censorship laws, that they should Fight The Evil Chinese Government, and Stand Up For Freedom, Democracy, and Puppies Everywhere. But you know what, that is not for Google to do. Do you think a damn thing would change if Google refused to censor, and would be itself censored in China? No, not a damn thing (as there are Chinese replacements who don't even tell you that stuff is being censored). It shouldn't be the companies who force humanitarian change. It's not the role of Google to make the world better, because they can't! They say that they will collect and organize all the worlds information, and they will do so without resorting to evil practices.
Are you saying that, in addition to that, they should also rid the world of evil?
Get of your ideological high horse, and come live in the real world
You mean special relativity, not geberal. Special relativity was discovered in 1905, general 1915. However your point it still valid, there was no way to prove SR in 1907.
Ahh, god that game was good! I never got why everyone loved Starcraft, i'll take 50 Terror Drones followed by a regiment of Apocalypse Tanks over slimy aliens anyday
I have no idea whether you should be modded funny or informative :S See that thing outside? That's my sense of irony, fleeing me.
The declaration of human rights is an entirely symbolical thing. It carries with it no obligation that you create laws by it, and it carries no penalty if it is broken. It would have been hard to get that many to sign it otherwise (hell, the Soviet Union helped write it!!)
No, the little circle indicates Friend/Foe status. The star is what indicates subscription. So, that's how I can see that you are a subscriber :D
Mirrordot provides a neat mirror to slashdot stories.
3 b7902c92e93/index.html
http://mirrordot.org/stories/9c3bd659da6c792dabde
I am medicated. Can't you tell :D
What really annoys me to tears is that NO ONE KNOWS WHAT DEUS EX MACHINA MEAN!!!! People think it means a divine machine, but it does not! LIterally, it means "God out of/from the machine", and it is really a term for a heap plot point in a movie or play. Take the play Medea by Euripides. Most people know the story, Medea's husband Jason goes and screws the kings daughter, Medea gets pissed, Medea hers and Jasons children. When the play ends she has just killed her children and has to flee the town. The problem is that there is no way to do it. She is trapped, she is buggered, oh, how will Medea ever get out of this awful pickle? Then, suddenly, a chariot rushes down from the heaven carrying a god (I believe it was Zeus but it was long ago I read the play, I could be wrong) that swoops her up and takes her to safety. That's a Deus Ex Machina! That is, when old greeks had gotten themselves into a nasty plot problem they couldn't really resolve, the just said "Fuck it, Zeus can save her". The theatre had a special machine that they used to lower the Gods down in (that is, the chariot). Ergo: "God from the machine". Another good example is at the end of Return of the king, Sam and Frodo has delivered the ring, but now they are both dying. Frodo is irrevocably corrupted, neither has eaten in days, lava is coming down the sides of Mt. Doom. However will they get out alive. Then all of a sudden, Gandalf swoops down from the skies, riding and a big bird and saves them. A fucking bird!!! Jesus H Christ, give me a break. Deus ex machina is noting else but a way for bad writers to resolve a tricky plot point by basically invoking something that is so fantastically unlikely that it might as well be divine intervention.
Yiu're forgetting the all important category C) is able to do it. This is not something everyone can do, you have to be tested first to see if you can be part of the project.
for those of you to lazy to read the entire thing, here is a link to the website http://stardustathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/
A little offtopic, but are you a pastor that reads the belgariad? Neat!
In europe and america, using Wikipedia for a thesis is questionable at best. In China, they may not have any other choice.
Actually this is a completly accetable use of the word literally. Please read http://www.slate.com/id/2129105/ Language evolves and words change meaning depending on usage. That word has literally been turned inside out.
You should see my girld friend :D
Dude, believe me, Sweden is jam-packed with hotties. We have the most beutiful women in the entire world, just walk down the streets of Stockholm, and you'll see
Maybe he was scared of the dreaded "-1 Offtopic". And he got it!