Demand a second database be built containing digital copies of every professor's textbooks. That way, students can download the entire textbook and verify that the professor hasn't plagiarized any material before they buy the book. If a prof wants to check student's papers on the student paper database, he must provide all his textbooks to the prof textbook database.;-)
That's BS. AOL/RIAA is trying to "teach pirates a lesson" by hurting Al.
There's really no other explanation for it. It was a pretty idiotic move by AOL that's probably gonna cost Weird Al more sales than the leak will generate.
Or, after all these decades of evidence to the opposite, are we still supposed to believe piracy reduces sales?
I was thinking the same thing. It still looks like it could be an artificial structure that has been weather be erosion and possibly suffered a structural collapse (or was exposed to a powerful explosion) on one side. It still has an oddly shaped bilateral symmetry, straight lines, and still does look like a[n] (alien?) face.
I'm not saying that's what I think it is, I'm just saying the case is definately not closed. It won't be closed until we actually land people there and investigate closely.
Still, there it is something of a romantic idea: the possibility of a long dead ancient race on a neightboring planet. It would be pretty cool if it were true.
How exactly do I benefit society when I dowload the latest "Priates of the Caribbean"? (no pun intended)
You're helping to reduce the power of modern copyright laws by disobeying them. The more people who do that, the closer we get to fixing the copyright problem.
That being said, I encourage people to still buy the stuff they pirate (if they can afford it). It's just that copyright terms should be more reasonable, like five years or so.
"I'm a firm believer that most people act in the best intrests of others. I think this is something that geeks hold especially true"
Ahh, so that explains why so many geeks download copyrighted music, movies, and software they haven't paid for.
Well, ignoring modern copyright laws is technically in the best interests of others (i.e. society as a whole, as opposed to the big media companies) since modern copyright law stifles the progress of the sciences and useful arts.
On the flip-side, Penn and Teller's have a CEI 'expert' on, in an episode of their show, "Penn and Teller's Bullshit!" -- one would hope that P&T would avoid using oil industry shills to support the points they make on their show.
Come on. It's freakin' Penn and Teller. Not exactly a bastion of unbiased neutrality there. Penn & Teller: Bullshit is entertainment.
In your world, maybe. In my world, voting for "the lesser of two evils" is still voting for "evil". You can wish to vote independent (or whatever other "party") all you want. It won't matter one bit if they aren't even on the ballot.
Exactly. And it irritates me to no end when someone says that people who don't vote don't get to complain about the government (not saying anyone in this thread hs done that; I'm just saying...). So, non-voters are somehow in the wrong because they didn't vote for either the "build-more-parkland-with-the-blood-of-babies" candidate or the "burn-all-plant-life-to-protect-our-babies" candidate? (I exaggerate my example to illustrate my point)
What's the point in voting when all the candidates act the same way anyway? People aren't voting because there's are rarely ever any people on the ballot worth getting up to vote for. What's the point if Jack Johnson (R) gets into office instead of John Jackson (D)? They'll both make the same stupid decisions being made in the interests of big business or some special interest group anyway. We're left with is this ridiculous Rebulicrat/Demican waltz that goes on forever.
The worst part about all this is the sheer number of people who think voting democrat instead of republican or republican instead of democrat will fix anything.
You want people to vote in this farcical circus we call a democracy? Get the DMV involved and make it a requirement to have voted in the previous election in order to get your driving license renewed, or something equally retarded. The only way to get people to take part in something that's not worth doing is to either change the thing so that it *is* worth doing, or to force them into doing it.
Uhm..... F-Zero GX has 3 difficulty levels (4 with unlocks) on the standard cup race, which is the main focus of the game
That's odd. I was not aware that every track could be played at four difficulty levels. I don't recall seeing any options to change that. In any case, whatever the default setting was, it was not fun (as opposed to the previous F-Zero games, which I was a huge fan of).
Nothing bothers me more than a game that's way too hard and doesn't have any options to change the difficulty level. Great games like F-Zero GX have just been ruined by that. I've never seen a highly anticipated, graphically beautiful, accoustically amazing, what-should-have-been-first-rate game drop to the $19.99 bin than F-Zer GX. It's so sad that all they would've had to do to make that game a success was to add a simple difficulty setting.
I tried playing that game a couple of time before. I keep dying a few levels in.
There are two unlocked characters to play from the start, but they're virtually identical. There are other characters, but I've yet to be able to unlock any of them. And there is no way to switch characters between levels, which would've been nice.
The controls are sluggish; it seems to take forever to get anything done in the game. There appears to be a controller glitch because the characters often do not go in the direction you are pressing. The Jump and Fire buttons work sporadically, and sometimes switch for some reason. It seems the only thing you're really meant to do is turn the game on; the controls are that bad.
The graphics are really flashy, but the story-line is pretty shallow and cliched. It's not much fun at all.
And up to now I thought Jeff Bezos was a smart guy.
The problem is copyright law, not individual idiocy (although that contributes greatly to the current media problem). Modern copyright laws are like a shackles binding slaves in a sinking galley. They keep trying to row their oars harder and harder -- because that's all they know how to do -- but the ship keeps sinking because it's the wrong solution to an existing problem.
It's obvious that intellectual property laws are severely hampering innovation and progress in the arts and sciences. We need to completely rethink intellectual property laws in the digital age, or corporate greed will continue to bring the rest of us down to the bottom of the sea.
Slashdot Mirror
Demand a second database be built containing digital copies of every professor's textbooks. That way, students can download the entire textbook and verify that the professor hasn't plagiarized any material before they buy the book. If a prof wants to check student's papers on the student paper database, he must provide all his textbooks to the prof textbook database. ;-)
There's really no other explanation for it. It was a pretty idiotic move by AOL that's probably gonna cost Weird Al more sales than the leak will generate.
Or, after all these decades of evidence to the opposite, are we still supposed to believe piracy reduces sales?
I was thinking the same thing. It still looks like it could be an artificial structure that has been weather be erosion and possibly suffered a structural collapse (or was exposed to a powerful explosion) on one side. It still has an oddly shaped bilateral symmetry, straight lines, and still does look like a[n] (alien?) face.
I'm not saying that's what I think it is, I'm just saying the case is definately not closed. It won't be closed until we actually land people there and investigate closely.
Still, there it is something of a romantic idea: the possibility of a long dead ancient race on a neightboring planet. It would be pretty cool if it were true.
Game reviews don't affect sales, so there's really no point in writing them.
Sincerely,
Sucky Game Producers, Inc.
theft
You're helping to reduce the power of modern copyright laws by disobeying them. The more people who do that, the closer we get to fixing the copyright problem.
That being said, I encourage people to still buy the stuff they pirate (if they can afford it). It's just that copyright terms should be more reasonable, like five years or so.
Well, ignoring modern copyright laws is technically in the best interests of others (i.e. society as a whole, as opposed to the big media companies) since modern copyright law stifles the progress of the sciences and useful arts.
Come on. It's freakin' Penn and Teller. Not exactly a bastion of unbiased neutrality there. Penn & Teller: Bullshit is entertainment.
Rod Serling must be rolling over in his grave.
I want to think of an intelligent reply, but I've got to concentrate...concentrate...concentrate...
I've got to concentrate...concentrate...concentrate...
Echo...echo...echo...
Pinch hitting for Pedro Borbon... Manny Mota... Mota... Mota...
The same could be said of something that can be infinitely reproduced at no cost.
Exactly. And it irritates me to no end when someone says that people who don't vote don't get to complain about the government (not saying anyone in this thread hs done that; I'm just saying...). So, non-voters are somehow in the wrong because they didn't vote for either the "build-more-parkland-with-the-blood-of-babies" candidate or the "burn-all-plant-life-to-protect-our-babies" candidate? (I exaggerate my example to illustrate my point)
What's the point in voting when all the candidates act the same way anyway? People aren't voting because there's are rarely ever any people on the ballot worth getting up to vote for. What's the point if Jack Johnson (R) gets into office instead of John Jackson (D)? They'll both make the same stupid decisions being made in the interests of big business or some special interest group anyway. We're left with is this ridiculous Rebulicrat/Demican waltz that goes on forever.
The worst part about all this is the sheer number of people who think voting democrat instead of republican or republican instead of democrat will fix anything.
You want people to vote in this farcical circus we call a democracy? Get the DMV involved and make it a requirement to have voted in the previous election in order to get your driving license renewed, or something equally retarded. The only way to get people to take part in something that's not worth doing is to either change the thing so that it *is* worth doing, or to force them into doing it.
That's odd. I was not aware that every track could be played at four difficulty levels. I don't recall seeing any options to change that. In any case, whatever the default setting was, it was not fun (as opposed to the previous F-Zero games, which I was a huge fan of).
Nothing bothers me more than a game that's way too hard and doesn't have any options to change the difficulty level. Great games like F-Zero GX have just been ruined by that. I've never seen a highly anticipated, graphically beautiful, accoustically amazing, what-should-have-been-first-rate game drop to the $19.99 bin than F-Zer GX. It's so sad that all they would've had to do to make that game a success was to add a simple difficulty setting.
I miss the A/B switch on my old Atari.
I tried playing that game a couple of time before. I keep dying a few levels in.
There are two unlocked characters to play from the start, but they're virtually identical. There are other characters, but I've yet to be able to unlock any of them. And there is no way to switch characters between levels, which would've been nice.
The controls are sluggish; it seems to take forever to get anything done in the game. There appears to be a controller glitch because the characters often do not go in the direction you are pressing. The Jump and Fire buttons work sporadically, and sometimes switch for some reason. It seems the only thing you're really meant to do is turn the game on; the controls are that bad.
The graphics are really flashy, but the story-line is pretty shallow and cliched. It's not much fun at all.
My rating: 2/10
I've got a bridge to sell you...
How do we go about changing copyright laws to prevent this kind of nonsense from continuing?
I've seen a lot of amateur porn. If mating is what humans do best, we're doomed.
What the hell are you talking about?!
Boycott Vista? I believe I speak for pretty much everyone at Slashdot when I say:
"With gusto!"
The problem is copyright law, not individual idiocy (although that contributes greatly to the current media problem). Modern copyright laws are like a shackles binding slaves in a sinking galley. They keep trying to row their oars harder and harder -- because that's all they know how to do -- but the ship keeps sinking because it's the wrong solution to an existing problem.
It's obvious that intellectual property laws are severely hampering innovation and progress in the arts and sciences. We need to completely rethink intellectual property laws in the digital age, or corporate greed will continue to bring the rest of us down to the bottom of the sea.
Try getting a few CPU pins under the fingernail. Not pleasant.
One question: will this new technique also work on other forms of cancer, like lawyers and politicians?