But that's only because "globalization" isn't finished yet, only half of it.
I kinda like to compare it to the shift from Tribal to Feudal to Democratism.
In the age of family or Tribe groups there was some sort of "social cohesion" between the group and a somewhat-elected leader that got run off when enough people were pissed with them.
Then as the tribes grew and some of the tribal leaders and their henchmen saw that they could ally themselves with other tribe leaders to "keep down" the serfs and the system shifted to feudalism. Until enough of the serfs were pissed and started some revolutions and stuff to get democratically elected leaders in place.
Now these days some leaders and multi-national companies see that they can tell the populations of entire countries to "suck it up, or we will screw you", and are basically establishing a "neo-feudal" class above the democratic system where "the serfs" don't have any possibility of influence yet, thus establishing a new form of society.
I wonder if and when and how the "second step" of globalization happens, where the people take the power back from that neo-feudal class. Of course, since the neo-feudal class works on an international level, the neo-democratization would ALSO have to happen on a global level.
Basically, the bigger and worse the "neo-feudal" phase gets, bigger the bang will be when the "neo-democratization" starts to happen. If that bang is big enough it might even wipe out a lot of stuff.
The idea being the certificate being transmitted through a really trusted channel. Like getting it on a CD or thumb drive or as a QR code or whatever from the person you open the bank account with in the actual bank office.
That would make it more secure than a purely online transaction where a hackable certificate authority is telling you that the hackable banking website is authentic. They would have to physically "hack" a fake branch of the bank into existence in your town. Which is harder. (Although not completely impossible, like we see in the fake Apple Stores that seem to crop up in some countries)
>You are telling me you force your client machines and everything else to do hostname lookups on every connection? Only if some miraculous bug disable the local DNS cache in every OS in your organisation.
Well, most "fields" these days are a lot more flat and "road like" than most of the terrain that was around before they invented the wheel.
While *paved* roads are not necessarily required, driving something with wheels through a forest, over mountains or through swampland is pretty much impossible. (Or at least multiple times harder than to just use pack animals or humans to carry the stuff)
Which pretty much shows, that it is impossible to "stop" any large scale conflict by figuring out who is responsible and blaming them. Because the blame game can be played on and on and on, until we reach the beginning of history.
It took WWII to have most of the participants (at least in Europe) realize that putting an end to a conflict is more important than figuring out who is responsible for the conflict. ( And I fear the middle east will only realize that after an equally big bang. )
So other sentient life? That leaves out the most interesting aspect of Science Fiction.
Just look at one of my favourite "old" Sci-Fi show, Space Precinct, where there is a prospering alien civilisation, where the Humans are basically the poor (and often illegal) immigrants, fleeing the economically failed Earth.
Well, I for one consider "Literature" to be a narrative flow set out by the author, that I enjoy following. So "Hypertext Literature" is not dead or alive, it's an oxymoron.
"Literature" in itself of course *maybe* just evolved in a day and age where it was the only technical means to convey either storytelling or discussion. Which both have a feedback from the audience. And I think "Hypertext Discussion" is pretty alive today, and there might be good ways to create hypertext storytelling experiences.
In "storytelling" for example, the storyteller just telling the "and then the prince arrived on his mighty stallion" might be interrupted by the question "when was the stallion born and where?" by someone in the audience. *THAT* could be implemented quite good in hypertext.
EXACTLY this. I'll probably get stoned for this, but the one Software I *rally* like license-wise is the Oracle Database.
Download everything you like, use everything you like for prototyping and self education, no DRM at all, but God help you legal-wise if you are found to use it in production unlicensed somewhere. Either you will get sued into oblivion, or you will get hung out to dry if there is some problem someday and you can't get support when your business data is in jeopardy.
The *legal* copy protection is the only model out there where the customer has less problems than the pirate. With any *technical* DRM the customer has more problems than the pirate.
Of course, there would also be the option to sell the software with "Online User Community Support" for $100, and with "Work hour e-mail support" for $1000 and with "premium 24/365 phone support" for $10,000.
If the act of copying the software one more time is cheap, but support expensive, then charge for what really is expensive.
In our town it's a somewhat similar situation. Either you drive the speed limit, and get stuck at every second traffic light, or you drive faster than the speed limit and have a wave of green without having to stop.
Not having to stop all the time every day makes it well worth to pay a ticket once or twice a year for me.
It's rude, since in the cultural context it places he server on the level of a beggar instead of a professional who does his job. It's received more as a "I'm sorry for you, you look so poor and wretched" than "you did a good job" when you just give more money than was asked in the bill.
One way around that problem when the service was really excellent is to give a tip separately from the bill payment process in an envelope while personally thanking the person you give the tip to. But never, never, ever just cash money carelessly with a "keep the change"
Actually, the Soviet Union and all others east block countries had elections, too. They were just rigged, that nobody not in the Communist party had any chance of winning anything, so only people that the Communist party supported had any chance of attaining any Office.
Now in the US, it is pretty much impossible on a nation or state wide level to get elected, unless the rich and powerful (who also own the media, which is the one pushing all those new laws) to support you. What the US *does* masterfully, is to put up stage fights between candidates, so that elections are more entertaining. But in the end nobody outside the "ruling class" has any chance of winning. Heck, even Obama and Bush are cousins.
Ah, different customs. Living in Europe and having been to America and Japan, it's interesting to see how different cultures work.
For example, tipping in Japan IS terribly rude. On the other hand, NOT tipping in the US also is terribly rude also. At least visitors to Europe have no "terribly rude" trap in regards to tipping to fall into, the just can be considered "mildly rude" not to tip at all, or "exceedingly generous" when tipping on the US level.
"astonishingly poor service" might also be a cultural thing. For example, in none but the most-exclusive restaurants here in my neck of the woods will you be seated. You just go in, look for a table you like, and sit down. And there will be no waiter asking you every 10minutes if everything is all right or you need anything, unless your glass or plate is empty, or you look at him or wave him over.
The waiter / customer relationship is a little less servant / master, it's more of equals, where one is doing his job of bringing you food to the table. On the other hand, we have a LOT of Mom and Pop restaurants where you can get home made food and get served at the table for "Fast food joint" prices.
"I realize how strange it is to visitors, but this is just the way our society is.";-P
The other thing is, that I haven't seen any *broad* advertising like TV ads, billboards, etc... with *prices* for specific products here in Europe (Germany) for ages. I vaguely remember some from the TV in the 70s or so, but not in the last few decades. (Special offers for special car editions being one exception that just came to mind.)
The only regular advertisement with prices is the weekly flyers from specific stores that clog up the mail box, and then of course the signs in the actual store or shop.
Quite right. And once they have prosecuted and locked away or alienated anybody stupid enough to PAY for something, they will finally have saved their business model. Or something.;-P
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But that's only because "globalization" isn't finished yet, only half of it.
I kinda like to compare it to the shift from Tribal to Feudal to Democratism.
In the age of family or Tribe groups there was some sort of "social cohesion" between the group and a somewhat-elected leader that got run off when enough people were pissed with them.
Then as the tribes grew and some of the tribal leaders and their henchmen saw that they could ally themselves with other tribe leaders to "keep down" the serfs and the system shifted to feudalism. Until enough of the serfs were pissed and started some revolutions and stuff to get democratically elected leaders in place.
Now these days some leaders and multi-national companies see that they can tell the populations of entire countries to "suck it up, or we will screw you", and are basically establishing a "neo-feudal" class above the democratic system where "the serfs" don't have any possibility of influence yet, thus establishing a new form of society.
I wonder if and when and how the "second step" of globalization happens, where the people take the power back from that neo-feudal class. Of course, since the neo-feudal class works on an international level, the neo-democratization would ALSO have to happen on a global level.
Basically, the bigger and worse the "neo-feudal" phase gets, bigger the bang will be when the "neo-democratization" starts to happen. If that bang is big enough it might even wipe out a lot of stuff.
... get GPS signals in most real server rooms.
Ummmm.... But it already WAS Adobe Flash Light 3.1.7. So what could possibly have gone wrong???
And if that woman is his mother, that is a rally good thing.
The idea being the certificate being transmitted through a really trusted channel. Like getting it on a CD or thumb drive or as a QR code or whatever from the person you open the bank account with in the actual bank office.
That would make it more secure than a purely online transaction where a hackable certificate authority is telling you that the hackable banking website is authentic.
They would have to physically "hack" a fake branch of the bank into existence in your town. Which is harder. (Although not completely impossible, like we see in the fake Apple Stores that seem to crop up in some countries)
>You are telling me you force your client machines and everything else to do hostname lookups on every connection?
Only if some miraculous bug disable the local DNS cache in every OS in your organisation.
Don't worry, Etymology-Man will rescue us. Probably by pointing out that we are not really getting "fried", more like getting "microwaved".
Well, most "fields" these days are a lot more flat and "road like" than most of the terrain that was around before they invented the wheel.
While *paved* roads are not necessarily required, driving something with wheels through a forest, over mountains or through swampland is pretty much impossible. (Or at least multiple times harder than to just use pack animals or humans to carry the stuff)
The "Police" will just join the RIAA and then sue people on the angle that they recorded their performance.
... hoping that the RIAA and similar institutions all over the world (The German GEMA especially) are a "One-Time Thing"
Which pretty much shows, that it is impossible to "stop" any large scale conflict by figuring out who is responsible and blaming them. Because the blame game can be played on and on and on, until we reach the beginning of history.
It took WWII to have most of the participants (at least in Europe) realize that putting an end to a conflict is more important than figuring out who is responsible for the conflict. ( And I fear the middle east will only realize that after an equally big bang. )
The roots of the Franco-Prussian war of 1870 of course then go way back to the The Napoleonic Wars of 1803 to 1815.
Seems to be a gap in education of Anonymous there. If they had gone through a Catholic school they would have known:
Don't mess with the Sister in charge. She knows what you are up to.
So other sentient life? That leaves out the most interesting aspect of Science Fiction.
Just look at one of my favourite "old" Sci-Fi show, Space Precinct, where there is a prospering alien civilisation, where the Humans are basically the poor (and often illegal) immigrants, fleeing the economically failed Earth.
Well, I for one consider "Literature" to be a narrative flow set out by the author, that I enjoy following. So "Hypertext Literature" is not dead or alive, it's an oxymoron.
"Literature" in itself of course *maybe* just evolved in a day and age where it was the only technical means to convey either storytelling or discussion. Which both have a feedback from the audience. And I think "Hypertext Discussion" is pretty alive today, and there might be good ways to create hypertext storytelling experiences.
In "storytelling" for example, the storyteller just telling the "and then the prince arrived on his mighty stallion" might be interrupted by the question "when was the stallion born and where?" by someone in the audience. *THAT* could be implemented quite good in hypertext.
Unless you're Greek. Then it's the Germans fault again.
EXACTLY this. I'll probably get stoned for this, but the one Software I *rally* like license-wise is the Oracle Database.
Download everything you like, use everything you like for prototyping and self education, no DRM at all, but God help you legal-wise if you are found to use it in production unlicensed somewhere. Either you will get sued into oblivion, or you will get hung out to dry if there is some problem someday and you can't get support when your business data is in jeopardy.
The *legal* copy protection is the only model out there where the customer has less problems than the pirate. With any *technical* DRM the customer has more problems than the pirate.
Of course, there would also be the option to sell the software with "Online User Community Support" for $100, and with "Work hour e-mail support" for $1000 and with "premium 24/365 phone support" for $10,000.
If the act of copying the software one more time is cheap, but support expensive, then charge for what really is expensive.
In our town it's a somewhat similar situation. Either you drive the speed limit, and get stuck at every second traffic light, or you drive faster than the speed limit and have a wave of green without having to stop.
Not having to stop all the time every day makes it well worth to pay a ticket once or twice a year for me.
It's rude, since in the cultural context it places he server on the level of a beggar instead of a professional who does his job. It's received more as a "I'm sorry for you, you look so poor and wretched" than "you did a good job" when you just give more money than was asked in the bill.
One way around that problem when the service was really excellent is to give a tip separately from the bill payment process in an envelope while personally thanking the person you give the tip to. But never, never, ever just cash money carelessly with a "keep the change"
Actually, the Soviet Union and all others east block countries had elections, too. They were just rigged, that nobody not in the Communist party had any chance of winning anything, so only people that the Communist party supported had any chance of attaining any Office.
Now in the US, it is pretty much impossible on a nation or state wide level to get elected, unless the rich and powerful (who also own the media, which is the one pushing all those new laws) to support you. What the US *does* masterfully, is to put up stage fights between candidates, so that elections are more entertaining. But in the end nobody outside the "ruling class" has any chance of winning. Heck, even Obama and Bush are cousins.
Ah, different customs. Living in Europe and having been to America and Japan, it's interesting to see how different cultures work.
For example, tipping in Japan IS terribly rude. On the other hand, NOT tipping in the US also is terribly rude also. At least visitors to Europe have no "terribly rude" trap in regards to tipping to fall into, the just can be considered "mildly rude" not to tip at all, or "exceedingly generous" when tipping on the US level.
"astonishingly poor service" might also be a cultural thing. For example, in none but the most-exclusive restaurants here in my neck of the woods will you be seated. You just go in, look for a table you like, and sit down. And there will be no waiter asking you every 10minutes if everything is all right or you need anything, unless your glass or plate is empty, or you look at him or wave him over.
The waiter / customer relationship is a little less servant / master, it's more of equals, where one is doing his job of bringing you food to the table. On the other hand, we have a LOT of Mom and Pop restaurants where you can get home made food and get served at the table for "Fast food joint" prices.
"I realize how strange it is to visitors, but this is just the way our society is." ;-P
The other thing is, that I haven't seen any *broad* advertising like TV ads, billboards, etc... with *prices* for specific products here in Europe (Germany) for ages. I vaguely remember some from the TV in the 70s or so, but not in the last few decades. (Special offers for special car editions being one exception that just came to mind.)
The only regular advertisement with prices is the weekly flyers from specific stores that clog up the mail box, and then of course the signs in the actual store or shop.
... well, let's hope that doesn't make it into the requirements to run the thing.
Quite right. And once they have prosecuted and locked away or alienated anybody stupid enough to PAY for something, they will finally have saved their business model. Or something. ;-P