Overheard by the ghost of Abraham Lincoln said to haunt the halls of the White House in a thick Texas drawl, between fits of laughter:
"Hey, I know how we can make the eighth largest committee contributor*, the Music, Movies and TV Industry, happy and squash the first amendment at the same time! Wait 'till I tell John and Carl!"
* - $13,269,058 to Republicans in 2000 when Bush was "elected". In 2002, the rank was 5, total sum $6,694,592 (remember, no presidential election so the less cash). See
Open Secrets Site for details.
Also interesting:
2002 giving by the RIAA PAC: here.
2000: here.
2000 Lobbying funds spent by the RIAA: here.
SIGNATURE REMOVED BY ORDER OF JOHN POINDEXTER following review by MSCoIntelPro2.0 filter running on House Unamerican Affairs servers (McCarthyME.gov).
. . . take a step into any of the print shops I've worked in or with. I really really really doubt that anyone, whether they're still mac users or have grundgingly made the MS switch after some marketing chicanery regarding compatability or print serving or some such will ever trust the makers of Powerpoint and publisher to make a tool worth investing in supporting, let alone depending upon.
The rule remains: design in whatever you want, but pdf it or go to Kinko's (and they prefer PDFs, too.)
Recorded music has, since its invention, been a tool for increasing the take at live shows. Live shows are the money makers. The RIAA tries to spin this fact away, but very few bands/artists are making money on the album sales because very few try to (it's be nice but) the show is the money maker.
So do we have a new tool to pack bodies into shows? Increase value in the album purchase, increase albums purchased and excite people in going to the show probably equals more people at the shows. Is a floundering band using morals of the moment to hide a cash machine? May we call a duck a duck? There isn't anything wrong with it - even eighties rockers have to eat (I guess).
This has become perverted in recent years (see also 'commodification'), but I sleep better at night holding out hope that "American Idol" will be the wake up call we need.
I managed an indipendant record label, and a friend of mine worked for Sony in A$R - live concerts HAVE ALWAYS BEEN the real money makers, this is the spin on the piracy debate they've tried to hide.
I dropped out of college with four years of computing and technical writing/development experience and some certification and moved out west to make it big. Two years later, I'm going back to college and I can't wait. You'll probably be able to find work of some kind, especially when the market gets over itself a little (though it won't ever be like it was, duh). But who gets the good jobs? The not-infuriatingly-surrounded-and-managed-by-idiots jobs? Who gets promoted while you keep trying to find ways to ignore the fact that you hate what you do and who you do it for?
In many of my experiences, I knew more than my superiors, in fact they have at times been completely ignorant of whatever it is we're supposed to be doing, but the degree on the resume gets them the corner office - managing you, cubicle slave!
And then there's this: if you can afford college, it's worth it, worth it, worth if for what you do while you're there as much as what you do after. When else are you going to be surrounded by opportunities to just learn, absorb knowledge, argue the facts with experts?
Have the freedom to choose instead of the hope of being chosen. Take advantage of what good there is in our culture. Go to college and don't leave until they make you. Meet girls and have the time to romance them. Get into politics. Schedule all of your classes after ten AM and sleep in while you can. Go to bed at night knowing that everything you did that day was to benefit you.
The Bush-Gore Symbiot:
People who care about this will vote for third parties, so I/we don't need to take a position.
Minority Religions...
The Bush-Gore Symbiot: ...are exactly that, the minority, and therefor don't represent enough of the voting public to take seriously. I/we would like to point out to these people that voting for a third party means nothing under the electoral college . . . so they really don't count at all!
Why give a tax cut?
The Bush-Gore Symbiot:
Because making this promise will make voters vote for me/us.
Electoral reform?
The Bush-Gore Symbiot:
People who care about this will vote for third parties, so I/we don't need to take a position.
How Do You Feel About Intellectual Property?
The Bush-Gore Symbiot:
I/we get lots of money from big companies like Microsoft who have told me/us that these are a big deal. Don't worry, we promise to keep supporting the freedom of American's to squash innovation and grow fat.
Encryption....
The Bush-Gore Symbiot:
People who care about this will vote for third parties, so I/we don't need to take a position.
Rising Political Protests
The Bush-Gore Symbiot:
People who care about this will vote for third parties, so I/we don't need to take a position.
Asteroid Defenses
The Bush-Gore Symbiot:
Just like issues like global warming, I/we are clinging to the idea that this problem still hasn't been proven enough of a threat to worry about. I/we will continue to do so until enough voters are convinced otherwise, though I/we will continue to suppress the ideas that may convince them.
The Future of the Country, and of Humanity
The Bush-Gore Symbiot:
The American people (or the majority, the voters) have an attention span of about three minutes. I/we will continue to spout platitudes to ensure my/our election, but will leave the world of 2005 to whomever the Companies chose next.
I went to a University for a year. I want to go back soon, though it's going to take me a little more time to get over my first experience. After failing a class based on a quota on class requirements and then failing another for a 106 degree temperature, I don't really want to go sprinting back, but I do want to go back (to a different one) soon.
Until then, I'm broke. Those two snow jobs killed my chances for a scholorship, and a 35 ACT only carries you so far with my current GPA. So I'm working in the same stuff I have been for the last couple of years, ASP/SQL, only I'm leaving the family business and moving to one of the hot markets and putting my faith in Monster.
I'm not sure this is the best course of action, but I need to raise a few G's on the quick to get back to school, and I don't deal drugs.
So throughout this debate, we should keep in mind that this job market might make advanced education possible for some it might not have been, even if they don't go right after High School.
Oh yeah, and another thing. I took a year off to tour with my punk band. I love computer science, and I enjoyed most of college, but what's the rush with most people? All my friends gave me flack about everything I'd miss by putting it off - like the chance to tour with a band? See the country and meet punker chicks? Get real.
Here, here. I've had one for going on a year now, and let me tell you - it's like they don't want anyone writing software for the bloody thing. I've email until my fingers got sore looking for some excuse as to why the SDK was no where to be found. I finally got two lines a month and a half later - boiling down to: "It isn't available but it will be soon." I found it archived somewhere else. When I first started reading about Linux PDA's from Royal I got excited - until I got a DaVinci of my own and tried to develop for the darned thing.
One other note from the user community - the lid falls off. I've seen it happen twice. Two tiny pieces of plastic hold it on - for a while.
My day job is internet application development, and my full time hobby is a little independant punk/industrial label (http://www.absolutezerorecords.com). You could say I speak PERL and powerchords. The point is this - I'm kind of on both sides, so here's my two cent insight: MP3 is a double edged sword, and you just have to find ways to make it work for you as an artist, instead of fighting it. Points to ponder: - Bands, especially big ones, make thier money at the concerts. The CD sales keep them fed between tours, the tours buy them houses and cars. For small time bands like the ones I work with, CD sales usually come out red - it's just a way to get people to the shows. - EXPOSURE is enemy #1. If you are the greatest band in the world, you're still working at wendys if no one has ever heard you. CDs have to cost about four bucks for the band to even consider pressing them - too much for 'fans' to buy on spec. Compilations are cool, but again, no following, no comp invites. Opening shows up for other bands is good, too, but, whoops, the band doesn't know who you are! Distribute MP3's for free - a pretty good price for the demand scale - and you get instant exposure. - Piracy isn't new it's just easier. You wouldn't think fans in your own home town would be too cheap to buy your cd for four bucks, but MY OWN FRIENDS dub my stuff. Not that I sympathize with Metallica a whole lot, but imagine putting your heart into your music, and then finding it dubbed on some twenty year old tape deck (MP3s don't sound as good as CDs - see ARS TECHNICA's comparisons) in your best friends car! My limited experience in the music industry has taught me what metallica fails to grasp - you better learn how to make it work. 'it' is what the fans are doing. getting high and mighty about your copyrights looks good to the lawyers, but piss off your fans and see how much money you really save. The world is adjusting to new opportunities through technology, and the old garde is going to make it ugly. I wonder if Guttenheim cought much flack back in the day?
. . . or he could just have a point. I'll open myself up for ridicule and admit that my foo just isn't as great as many of the other readers of slashdot, and I'm usually to shy to post anything for fear of misspeaking and never hearing the end of it - sometimes, even when I could contribute something useful. And I can assure the readers that the 'anonymity effect' hits the business world as well. As a developer, I've been abused through e-mail by more than one client who was all smiles when they were in my office - before and after ripping me. And then there is a new trend that goes beyond even messaging and e-mail: hate sites. While it is often hard to discuss intelligently the behavior of the obvious immature and unintelligent, I feel these are worth mentioning. I know of three examples here at the high school in little old South Haven, Mich, where one kid got irked at another and went to angelfire and started cursing for the world to see. I despise policing in all its forms, and would rather live in a world where no one had to make sure everyone else was being decent, but the need exists - on the roads, and on the Internet, apparently. If the net has any hopes of remaining as free as is possible, we must ensure that the policing is done by the community that uses it, but that will require us stop using it as a forum for venting, and start using it as a forum for (hark!) communication. I was mocked and harassed in High School, too. I'm a lanky little geek, better at inter-object data parsing than interpersonal communication. But it taught me to hold my tongue and consider someone else's feelings before I type, even if they just got their computers and are asking inane questions, even if their opinions are obviously stupid, and even if I don't like them.
Robert A. Heinlein wrote in the section of "The Past Through Tomorrow" called "The Man Who Sold the Moon" about the race to be the first company to paint thier logo across the surface of luna and that sort of thing. Far-fetched? Exaggeration? Now I'm not so sure . . .
Slashdot Mirror
Overheard by the ghost of Abraham Lincoln said to haunt the halls of the White House in a thick Texas drawl, between fits of laughter:
"Hey, I know how we can make the eighth largest committee contributor*, the Music, Movies and TV Industry, happy and squash the first amendment at the same time! Wait 'till I tell John and Carl!"
Also interesting:
2002 giving by the RIAA PAC: here.
2000: here.
2000 Lobbying funds spent by the RIAA: here.
SIGNATURE REMOVED BY ORDER OF JOHN POINDEXTER following review by MSCoIntelPro2.0 filter running on House Unamerican Affairs servers (McCarthyME.gov).
. . . take a step into any of the print shops I've worked in or with. I really really really doubt that anyone, whether they're still mac users or have grundgingly made the MS switch after some marketing chicanery regarding compatability or print serving or some such will ever trust the makers of Powerpoint and publisher to make a tool worth investing in supporting, let alone depending upon.
The rule remains: design in whatever you want, but pdf it or go to Kinko's (and they prefer PDFs, too.)
Recorded music has, since its invention, been a tool for increasing the take at live shows. Live shows are the money makers. The RIAA tries to spin this fact away, but very few bands/artists are making money on the album sales because very few try to (it's be nice but) the show is the money maker.
So do we have a new tool to pack bodies into shows? Increase value in the album purchase, increase albums purchased and excite people in going to the show probably equals more people at the shows. Is a floundering band using morals of the moment to hide a cash machine? May we call a duck a duck? There isn't anything wrong with it - even eighties rockers have to eat (I guess).
This has become perverted in recent years (see also 'commodification'), but I sleep better at night holding out hope that "American Idol" will be the wake up call we need.
I managed an indipendant record label, and a friend of mine worked for Sony in A$R - live concerts HAVE ALWAYS BEEN the real money makers, this is the spin on the piracy debate they've tried to hide.
I dropped out of college with four years of computing and technical writing/development experience and some certification and moved out west to make it big. Two years later, I'm going back to college and I can't wait. You'll probably be able to find work of some kind, especially when the market gets over itself a little (though it won't ever be like it was, duh). But who gets the good jobs? The not-infuriatingly-surrounded-and-managed-by-idiots jobs? Who gets promoted while you keep trying to find ways to ignore the fact that you hate what you do and who you do it for?
In many of my experiences, I knew more than my superiors, in fact they have at times been completely ignorant of whatever it is we're supposed to be doing, but the degree on the resume gets them the corner office - managing you, cubicle slave!
And then there's this: if you can afford college, it's worth it, worth it, worth if for what you do while you're there as much as what you do after. When else are you going to be surrounded by opportunities to just learn, absorb knowledge, argue the facts with experts?
Have the freedom to choose instead of the hope of being chosen. Take advantage of what good there is in our culture. Go to college and don't leave until they make you. Meet girls and have the time to romance them. Get into politics. Schedule all of your classes after ten AM and sleep in while you can. Go to bed at night knowing that everything you did that day was to benefit you.
That's just my advice.
Answers by Inference
War on Drugs
The Bush-Gore Symbiot:
People who care about this will vote for third parties, so I/we don't need to take a position.
Minority Religions...
The Bush-Gore Symbiot:
...are exactly that, the minority, and therefor don't represent enough of the voting public to take seriously. I/we would like to point out to these people that voting for a third party means nothing under the electoral college . . . so they really don't count at all!
Why give a tax cut?
The Bush-Gore Symbiot:
Because making this promise will make voters vote for me/us.
Electoral reform?
The Bush-Gore Symbiot:
People who care about this will vote for third parties, so I/we don't need to take a position.
How Do You Feel About Intellectual Property?
The Bush-Gore Symbiot:
I/we get lots of money from big companies like Microsoft who have told me/us that these are a big deal. Don't worry, we promise to keep supporting the freedom of American's to squash innovation and grow fat.
Encryption....
The Bush-Gore Symbiot:
People who care about this will vote for third parties, so I/we don't need to take a position.
Rising Political Protests
The Bush-Gore Symbiot:
People who care about this will vote for third parties, so I/we don't need to take a position.
Asteroid Defenses
The Bush-Gore Symbiot:
Just like issues like global warming, I/we are clinging to the idea that this problem still hasn't been proven enough of a threat to worry about. I/we will continue to do so until enough voters are convinced otherwise, though I/we will continue to suppress the ideas that may convince them.
The Future of the Country, and of Humanity
The Bush-Gore Symbiot:
The American people (or the majority, the voters) have an attention span of about three minutes. I/we will continue to spout platitudes to ensure my/our election, but will leave the world of 2005 to whomever the Companies chose next.
We should at least enslave the people with no senses of humor.
I went to a University for a year. I want to go back soon, though it's going to take me a little more time to get over my first experience. After failing a class based on a quota on class requirements and then failing another for a 106 degree temperature, I don't really want to go sprinting back, but I do want to go back (to a different one) soon. Until then, I'm broke. Those two snow jobs killed my chances for a scholorship, and a 35 ACT only carries you so far with my current GPA. So I'm working in the same stuff I have been for the last couple of years, ASP/SQL, only I'm leaving the family business and moving to one of the hot markets and putting my faith in Monster. I'm not sure this is the best course of action, but I need to raise a few G's on the quick to get back to school, and I don't deal drugs. So throughout this debate, we should keep in mind that this job market might make advanced education possible for some it might not have been, even if they don't go right after High School. Oh yeah, and another thing. I took a year off to tour with my punk band. I love computer science, and I enjoyed most of college, but what's the rush with most people? All my friends gave me flack about everything I'd miss by putting it off - like the chance to tour with a band? See the country and meet punker chicks? Get real.
Here, here. I've had one for going on a year now, and let me tell you - it's like they don't want anyone writing software for the bloody thing. I've email until my fingers got sore looking for some excuse as to why the SDK was no where to be found. I finally got two lines a month and a half later - boiling down to: "It isn't available but it will be soon." I found it archived somewhere else. When I first started reading about Linux PDA's from Royal I got excited - until I got a DaVinci of my own and tried to develop for the darned thing.
One other note from the user community - the lid falls off. I've seen it happen twice. Two tiny pieces of plastic hold it on - for a while.
My day job is internet application development, and my full time hobby is a little independant punk/industrial label (http://www.absolutezerorecords.com). You could say I speak PERL and powerchords. The point is this - I'm kind of on both sides, so here's my two cent insight: MP3 is a double edged sword, and you just have to find ways to make it work for you as an artist, instead of fighting it. Points to ponder: - Bands, especially big ones, make thier money at the concerts. The CD sales keep them fed between tours, the tours buy them houses and cars. For small time bands like the ones I work with, CD sales usually come out red - it's just a way to get people to the shows. - EXPOSURE is enemy #1. If you are the greatest band in the world, you're still working at wendys if no one has ever heard you. CDs have to cost about four bucks for the band to even consider pressing them - too much for 'fans' to buy on spec. Compilations are cool, but again, no following, no comp invites. Opening shows up for other bands is good, too, but, whoops, the band doesn't know who you are! Distribute MP3's for free - a pretty good price for the demand scale - and you get instant exposure. - Piracy isn't new it's just easier. You wouldn't think fans in your own home town would be too cheap to buy your cd for four bucks, but MY OWN FRIENDS dub my stuff. Not that I sympathize with Metallica a whole lot, but imagine putting your heart into your music, and then finding it dubbed on some twenty year old tape deck (MP3s don't sound as good as CDs - see ARS TECHNICA's comparisons) in your best friends car! My limited experience in the music industry has taught me what metallica fails to grasp - you better learn how to make it work. 'it' is what the fans are doing. getting high and mighty about your copyrights looks good to the lawyers, but piss off your fans and see how much money you really save. The world is adjusting to new opportunities through technology, and the old garde is going to make it ugly. I wonder if Guttenheim cought much flack back in the day?
. . . or he could just have a point. I'll open myself up for ridicule and admit that my foo just isn't as great as many of the other readers of slashdot, and I'm usually to shy to post anything for fear of misspeaking and never hearing the end of it - sometimes, even when I could contribute something useful. And I can assure the readers that the 'anonymity effect' hits the business world as well. As a developer, I've been abused through e-mail by more than one client who was all smiles when they were in my office - before and after ripping me. And then there is a new trend that goes beyond even messaging and e-mail: hate sites. While it is often hard to discuss intelligently the behavior of the obvious immature and unintelligent, I feel these are worth mentioning. I know of three examples here at the high school in little old South Haven, Mich, where one kid got irked at another and went to angelfire and started cursing for the world to see. I despise policing in all its forms, and would rather live in a world where no one had to make sure everyone else was being decent, but the need exists - on the roads, and on the Internet, apparently. If the net has any hopes of remaining as free as is possible, we must ensure that the policing is done by the community that uses it, but that will require us stop using it as a forum for venting, and start using it as a forum for (hark!) communication. I was mocked and harassed in High School, too. I'm a lanky little geek, better at inter-object data parsing than interpersonal communication. But it taught me to hold my tongue and consider someone else's feelings before I type, even if they just got their computers and are asking inane questions, even if their opinions are obviously stupid, and even if I don't like them.
Robert A. Heinlein wrote in the section of "The Past Through Tomorrow" called "The Man Who Sold the Moon" about the race to be the first company to paint thier logo across the surface of luna and that sort of thing. Far-fetched? Exaggeration? Now I'm not so sure . . .