This is your friendly corporate PR guy come to tell you a heavily softened version of "If you push us we'll pay you your overtime, then have you train your indian replcement while we hold your severance pay hostage"
have a nice day : ).
Seriously. If I had a job in this crappy market, i'd be kissing some serious feet right now.
Then they pass a few bills on the down low as "campaign contributions" and keep on violating the laws, or, if the public ire is up, get slapped on the wrist while the laws are quietly changed for them.
The truth is corporations have more rights than the average "insect".. i mean citizen.. because we live in the neo-fascist states of america, otherwise known by Shirow & co. as "the american empire".
to qoute a hackneyed crappy film: "welcome....to the real world"
well, i'm glad you decided it was *way* too much stuff.. after all, it's liberty for just us not all, right?
I agree with GP, the zoning laws are not meant to be abused in this way, and there are way too many broad laws on the books, often covering victimless crimes, put in place by special interests, many of which are long extinct!
There needs to be a national constitutional amendment dictating a 5 year sunset on every single law, NOT renewable by simply passing a "renewal" bill. You have to rewrite the entire law on the same piece of paper, with no riders, and pass it again.
But wait... If a person feels inferior or resented because he can't afford a material thing that his neighbor has and if he bases his self esteem and sensation of worth entirely on that then maybe he has a problem.
Typical republican mentality.
Here's an example for you: the financial sector recently imploded. This means there are massive numbers of new college grads facing a job market flooded with people who have far more experience. They can't get arrested, then, when faced with someone blatantly flaunting their wealth, it's their problem when they're reminded how bitter their employment prospects look.
Seriously, It would be worldwide talk about how they pushed the envelope and broke it if the remote controlled chopper-cam got shot down by the fireworks.
The cams are relatively inexpensive though (about 30-50k a piece), so they could have dozens.. and a moderate attrition rate complete with final feeds would only add to the spectacle.
actually, someone else posted the transcripts, and it was rather greasily "disclosed", in the same way the ID movement "greasily" acknowledges evolution (as "just a theory").
It's not about human rights, it's about journalistic integrity, and the lack thereof.
It's also about the "exclusive deals" and "massive budgets" they get (eventually from us at the end of the food chain) and don't deliver on.
The actual firewoks WERE going off at the same time, and in much the same way... but there was simply no way to be sure they could show it well on TV - since it was impossible to predict the weather or other cirumstances. So, they showed a CGI illustration for the people watching TV. The weren't hiding anything, they came right out and SAID what they were doing.
This is no excuse. They get obscene budgets and monopoly rights. This is like getting a cheap happy meal toy car instead of a real one when you go to the dealership.
They could have choppers waiting on the pad until the last minute, and/or develop new camera and/or firework launching rigs.
Yet another example of how copyrights dont really provide any incentive for high quality production.
I'm not extending it beyond anything related to your point at all.
You're claiming consumers want something for free, and i'm saying that's mirrored on the producer side with the concept of copyright.
They want free wages for no labor after the initial expenditure of labor has been compensated.
If I work for a month, i get paid for a month. I don't get residuals, franchising fees, and licensing fees in perpetuity. We all know what my boss would say if I demanded that.
Guess who's the "boss" in the copyright bargain with the public.. oh wait I just answered that question..
I want to add something here since I didn't make it quite clear:
the custom made car has everything you want, and nothing you dont.
the rolls and the beamer have features you don't want or need. Those features and the resources poured into creating them are wasted.. literally. Nobody, not even you, use them.
Ya cause making a copy of a piece of useless software puts such a strain on our natural environment. If you follow that argument then every industry based on selling status symbols is evil and immoral.
it's not about direct environmental impact, it's about indirect social impact of encouraging a culture centered around boosting your own self esteem at the expense of others. Conspicuous consumption is not about making yourself comfortable, it's about making others feel uncomfortable with their own lives by showing them things they cannot obtain.
and no, not all status symbols are evil and immoral so long as they are that way on merit. You can have a custom made car which meets your every whim built by hand, for instance. The people you drive by might find it unique, but with no brand name they wouldn't be 'feeling' the disparity, while a modern bmw or rolls royce is a messy debugging project on wheels.
Another reason to add to the other more "righteous" and "lamenting" ones: humanity is not "one size fits all".
people in the west have become too used to fixed price systems. This is not the case everywhere. Markets can be found world-wide where people haggle over prices.
In the absence of this, there will always be some people in economic straits dire enough to consider themselves worse off than the program vendor. I would think if they are capable of convincing you to that effect, you would lower your price, lend, or donate a copy.
Back before the new world order, people used to operate on such flexible arrangements, making local society much more friendly and flexible, and while it still occasonally happens today, the departure from such policies has led to much strife and resentment.
Easy statement to make. An easier one that's far more accurate is "All extremes of economic theories are morally wrong."
Capitalism is far, far, far from perfect, but it's what we've got to work with today. It fits what most people want as well - if a person works more, they can earn more. If they work less, they will generally earn less.
Scratch the surface and you'll find issues, but don't justify piracy through economic theory. Pirates just want other people to work for nothing. They never want to apply that to their own lives.
Yes, I'm generalising, but when someone demands others produce stuff for free I want to hear their justification as to why they should be allowed an income.
Don't justify copyrights under this description through economic theory either.
They want to work hard once, and be paid for it forever.
Under the justifications they offer, everyone who invests in student loans and is not offered a job by company x is entitled to damages.
Itunes DRM does not affect me, as i don't use the store. I have that choice with itunes, as the store functionality is separate from the main app, and disabled through parental controls.
This is not the case with the iphone, which, if you had read up about it, Duke Jobs has, himeself, acknowledged contains such a "kill switch" for random applications or the entire phone itself.
It reeks of palladium in the worst incarnations microsoft was trying to plan.
"ethical standpoint"? How is there anything wrong with offering a useless piece of overpriced tat? You don't have to be amoral to do this. Hell I wish I'd come up with something this easy and effective. It wasn't misrepresented, it wasn't claimed to do anything it didn't. Where is the problem?
you are taking advantage of other's stupidity, and benefitting at their expense (very different from benefitting while benefitting others).
you encourage a culture of overconsumption, which, in the long term, is not sustainable for the projected populations we are looking at, and is not necessary.
Actually, denial of something pretty much out of nowhere is very much evidence something is up.
My family has numerous occupational connections, but when they stop doing something in their spare time I don't automatically jump at their employers, nor is it the first thing that comes to mind. (in this case, the first thing that comes to mind is MAFIAA shenanigans)
If "mother" comes to her teenager's door to say dinner is ready, and hears "there's no weed in this room now go away!", it's a pretty well foregone conclusion what's hidden somewhere in that room.
To start with, broaden loot tables to offer more useful loot for all classes
For instance, true hunter mail doesn't really show up until mara, a full 10 levels after they're capable of it, and the hypnotic blade from sm library is the only really useful caster main hand before outland. (and compared to the blade and any of several decent offhands, the available staves look like MS warrior equipment)
Second, i'd make damn sure every piece of loot on those tables was compelling enough in comparison to available world drops for that level to drive traffic to those instances.
I won't lie, in some cases that will mean nerfed world drops. Heck, it may even mean the hypnotic blade or the offhands get nerfed, etc..etc.. but the point is to compel actual experience of the content.
FINALLY, AND THIS IS THE BIG ONE, impose level caps on every instance.
If the instance has 44 to 49 mobs, nobody over 55 enters that instance. Anything more than 5 levels over the last boss in the instance gets stopped at the portal.. no more "WTB run through xx or yy, PST".. if you want something you'll have to form a party and play your class well enough in a group.
Ooh! How dare you take the reasoned intelligent approach! Don't you know where you are?
Also, I agree. My friends bitch about my buying iPod, because its 'eeeevil Apple'. But they work well, I like the build quality, and I have never seen any compelling reason to buy any competing products.
ipods don't "phone home" and have "revocation lists".
they're dumb devices for playing music.
this thing is an abomination, and a spit in the face to people who bought the mac (computing) platform because of it's excellent balance between oss and proprietary.
I'll stick to the computing side, and you can keep your handcuffed iphone, and If I see them attempt to migrate any of the wondrous marvels of digital lockdown to my OS, i'll drop them like a bad habit for linux.
Whoa whoa whoa... By that logic, anyone should be able to assassinate the President, since they are impeding your free will by stopping you.
No, you need to add some more qualifications to that, such as: As long as it doesn't step on anyone else's rights.
But then, if you did that, this case wouldn't apply, would it? Since the IP owners have rights and you'd be stepping on them.
IP owners don't have any right.
there is no amendment in the US bill of rights, nor is there an article in the universal charter of human rights, which reads "and IP owners hereby have more rights than others, including the right to veto all other rights detailed herein, because it threatens their almighty pocket books"
They have no right to strip away your capacity to consciously choose to break a law you feel is unjust.
They have a right to prosecute or litigate against you for it, but they don't have a right to impede your free will!
When you start doing this, it's called fascism. Information gets censored because it's "dangerous" and will "incite criminal actions". Butcher knives should be banned too! they are clearly designed with the express purpose of slicing flesh, and humans are made of flesh.
Slashdot Mirror
This is your friendly corporate PR guy come to tell you a heavily softened version of "If you push us we'll pay you your overtime, then have you train your indian replcement while we hold your severance pay hostage"
have a nice day : ).
Seriously. If I had a job in this crappy market, i'd be kissing some serious feet right now.
and you should have no recourse if they egg your jag.
Being crass gets you hit, and if you call the cops they tell you tough luck..
Then they pass a few bills on the down low as "campaign contributions" and keep on violating the laws, or, if the public ire is up, get slapped on the wrist while the laws are quietly changed for them.
The truth is corporations have more rights than the average "insect".. i mean citizen.. because we live in the neo-fascist states of america, otherwise known by Shirow & co. as "the american empire".
to qoute a hackneyed crappy film: "welcome....to the real world"
well, i'm glad you decided it was *way* too much stuff.. after all, it's liberty for just us not all, right?
I agree with GP, the zoning laws are not meant to be abused in this way, and there are way too many broad laws on the books, often covering victimless crimes, put in place by special interests, many of which are long extinct!
There needs to be a national constitutional amendment dictating a 5 year sunset on every single law, NOT renewable by simply passing a "renewal" bill. You have to rewrite the entire law on the same piece of paper, with no riders, and pass it again.
But wait... If a person feels inferior or resented because he can't afford a material thing that his neighbor has and if he bases his self esteem and sensation of worth entirely on that then maybe he has a problem.
Typical republican mentality.
Here's an example for you:
the financial sector recently imploded.
This means there are massive numbers of new college grads facing a job market flooded with people who have far more experience.
They can't get arrested, then, when faced with someone blatantly flaunting their wealth, it's their problem when they're reminded how bitter their employment prospects look.
Seriously, It would be worldwide talk about how they pushed the envelope and broke it if the remote controlled chopper-cam got shot down by the fireworks.
The cams are relatively inexpensive though (about 30-50k a piece), so they could have dozens.. and a moderate attrition rate complete with final feeds would only add to the spectacle.
actually, someone else posted the transcripts, and it was rather greasily "disclosed", in the same way the ID movement "greasily" acknowledges evolution (as "just a theory").
It's not about human rights, it's about journalistic integrity, and the lack thereof.
It's also about the "exclusive deals" and "massive budgets" they get (eventually from us at the end of the food chain) and don't deliver on.
All those Bushisms must be glitches in the speech rendering software! I knew it!
or "translate server error"s
Beijing Olympic Broadcasting
I'm glad to know "BOB" is on the job...
The actual firewoks WERE going off at the same time, and in much the same way... but there was simply no way to be sure they could show it well on TV - since it was impossible to predict the weather or other cirumstances. So, they showed a CGI illustration for the people watching TV. The weren't hiding anything, they came right out and SAID what they were doing.
This is no excuse. They get obscene budgets and monopoly rights. This is like getting a cheap happy meal toy car instead of a real one when you go to the dealership.
They could have choppers waiting on the pad until the last minute, and/or develop new camera and/or firework launching rigs.
Yet another example of how copyrights dont really provide any incentive for high quality production.
I'm not extending it beyond anything related to your point at all.
You're claiming consumers want something for free, and i'm saying that's mirrored on the producer side with the concept of copyright.
They want free wages for no labor after the initial expenditure of labor has been compensated.
If I work for a month, i get paid for a month. I don't get residuals, franchising fees, and licensing fees in perpetuity. We all know what my boss would say if I demanded that.
Guess who's the "boss" in the copyright bargain with the public.. oh wait I just answered that question..
Since Australians are upside-down, they had to change the title to "Climbout 3".
i'd think "Blackout" is a more accurate title given the nature of the story.
I want to add something here since I didn't make it quite clear:
the custom made car has everything you want, and nothing you dont.
the rolls and the beamer have features you don't want or need. Those features and the resources poured into creating them are wasted.. literally. Nobody, not even you, use them.
Ya cause making a copy of a piece of useless software puts such a strain on our natural environment.
If you follow that argument then every industry based on selling status symbols is evil and immoral.
it's not about direct environmental impact, it's about indirect social impact of encouraging a culture centered around boosting your own self esteem at the expense of others. Conspicuous consumption is not about making yourself comfortable, it's about making others feel uncomfortable with their own lives by showing them things they cannot obtain.
and no, not all status symbols are evil and immoral so long as they are that way on merit. You can have a custom made car which meets your every whim built by hand, for instance. The people you drive by might find it unique, but with no brand name they wouldn't be 'feeling' the disparity, while a modern bmw or rolls royce is a messy debugging project on wheels.
Another reason to add to the other more "righteous" and "lamenting" ones: humanity is not "one size fits all".
people in the west have become too used to fixed price systems. This is not the case everywhere. Markets can be found world-wide where people haggle over prices.
In the absence of this, there will always be some people in economic straits dire enough to consider themselves worse off than the program vendor. I would think if they are capable of convincing you to that effect, you would lower your price, lend, or donate a copy.
Back before the new world order, people used to operate on such flexible arrangements, making local society much more friendly and flexible, and while it still occasonally happens today, the departure from such policies has led to much strife and resentment.
Capitalism is morally wrong.
Easy statement to make. An easier one that's far more accurate is "All extremes of economic theories are morally wrong."
Capitalism is far, far, far from perfect, but it's what we've got to work with today. It fits what most people want as well - if a person works more, they can earn more. If they work less, they will generally earn less.
Scratch the surface and you'll find issues, but don't justify piracy through economic theory. Pirates just want other people to work for nothing. They never want to apply that to their own lives.
Yes, I'm generalising, but when someone demands others produce stuff for free I want to hear their justification as to why they should be allowed an income.
Don't justify copyrights under this description through economic theory either.
They want to work hard once, and be paid for it forever.
Under the justifications they offer, everyone who invests in student loans and is not offered a job by company x is entitled to damages.
Itunes DRM does not affect me, as i don't use the store. I have that choice with itunes, as the store functionality is separate from the main app, and disabled through parental controls.
This is not the case with the iphone, which, if you had read up about it, Duke Jobs has, himeself, acknowledged contains such a "kill switch" for random applications or the entire phone itself.
It reeks of palladium in the worst incarnations microsoft was trying to plan.
"ethical standpoint"?
How is there anything wrong with offering a useless piece of overpriced tat?
You don't have to be amoral to do this.
Hell I wish I'd come up with something this easy and effective.
It wasn't misrepresented, it wasn't claimed to do anything it didn't.
Where is the problem?
you are taking advantage of other's stupidity, and benefitting at their expense (very different from benefitting while benefitting others).
you encourage a culture of overconsumption, which, in the long term, is not sustainable for the projected populations we are looking at, and is not necessary.
Actually, denial of something pretty much out of nowhere is very much evidence something is up.
My family has numerous occupational connections, but when they stop doing something in their spare time I don't automatically jump at their employers, nor is it the first thing that comes to mind. (in this case, the first thing that comes to mind is MAFIAA shenanigans)
If "mother" comes to her teenager's door to say dinner is ready, and hears "there's no weed in this room now go away!", it's a pretty well foregone conclusion what's hidden somewhere in that room.
I always enjoy old adages being proved right. In this case "A fool and his money are soon parted."
I just wish I'd been the one to think of marketing an app to the terminally stupid.
Of course, being intelligent, i'm sure it would be a struggle on an ethical standpoint to do this.
This is, of course, why so many rich people are either idiots, or amoral people preying on them.
To start with, broaden loot tables to offer more useful loot for all classes
For instance, true hunter mail doesn't really show up until mara, a full 10 levels after they're capable of it, and the hypnotic blade from sm library is the only really useful caster main hand before outland. (and compared to the blade and any of several decent offhands, the available staves look like MS warrior equipment)
Second, i'd make damn sure every piece of loot on those tables was compelling enough in comparison to available world drops for that level to drive traffic to those instances.
I won't lie, in some cases that will mean nerfed world drops. Heck, it may even mean the hypnotic blade or the offhands get nerfed, etc..etc.. but the point is to compel actual experience of the content.
FINALLY, AND THIS IS THE BIG ONE, impose level caps on every instance.
If the instance has 44 to 49 mobs, nobody over 55 enters that instance. Anything more than 5 levels over the last boss in the instance gets stopped at the portal.. no more "WTB run through xx or yy, PST".. if you want something you'll have to form a party and play your class well enough in a group.
Actually, when you stop to think about it, every cell phone in existence does just that, as all of 'em continually poll local cell towers
you know it's doing that though.. if not "technically" what it's doing.
Still, you signed up for the cell service, and had it "activated" for the express purpose of authorizing it to poll those cell towers.
Ooh! How dare you take the reasoned intelligent approach! Don't you know where you are?
Also, I agree. My friends bitch about my buying iPod, because its 'eeeevil Apple'. But they work well, I like the build quality, and I have never seen any compelling reason to buy any competing products.
ipods don't "phone home" and have "revocation lists".
they're dumb devices for playing music.
this thing is an abomination, and a spit in the face to people who bought the mac (computing) platform because of it's excellent balance between oss and proprietary.
I'll stick to the computing side, and you can keep your handcuffed iphone, and If I see them attempt to migrate any of the wondrous marvels of digital lockdown to my OS, i'll drop them like a bad habit for linux.
Whoa whoa whoa... By that logic, anyone should be able to assassinate the President, since they are impeding your free will by stopping you.
No, you need to add some more qualifications to that, such as: As long as it doesn't step on anyone else's rights.
But then, if you did that, this case wouldn't apply, would it? Since the IP owners have rights and you'd be stepping on them.
IP owners don't have any right.
there is no amendment in the US bill of rights, nor is there an article in the universal charter of human rights, which reads "and IP owners hereby have more rights than others, including the right to veto all other rights detailed herein, because it threatens their almighty pocket books"
They have no right to strip away your capacity to consciously choose to break a law you feel is unjust.
They have a right to prosecute or litigate against you for it, but they don't have a right to impede your free will!
When you start doing this, it's called fascism. Information gets censored because it's "dangerous" and will "incite criminal actions". Butcher knives should be banned too! they are clearly designed with the express purpose of slicing flesh, and humans are made of flesh.