I've enjoyed reading your thoughts in this thread, however...
Note that the invented word "Tivoization" is an abuse of trademark.
Why do you say this? It's not really related to the point of the paragraph (i.e. people like Tivos, don't make them sound evil).
Also, is this really "abuse" of a trademark? IANAL, but this kind of trademark-mangling happens all the time. People say they "googled" or "xeroxed" something. My grandma doesn't use tissues, she uses "kleenexes".
I'm not feeling the freedom to drive my car down an empty highway at 90.
Why do you have the right to do this? Roads were not built to be driven on at that speed. Neither were the cars that are legal to drive on them. And unless you live in an ecological wasteland, there are things like deer that one must watch out for.
Further, driving at twice the standard highway speed decreases reaction time. Do you have training and experience in racing? Even if you do, the issues above make it idiotic to drive at such a speed on public roads. Also, highways don't exist in a vacuum, meaning they don't stay empty.
In conclusion, stay the hell off public roads. I don't want to get into an accident because some idiot like yourself has such a warped, childish definition of "freedom".
Magnetic platter-based drives are still the storage medium of choice in PCs, but these days I think you need to include flash memory in the discussion. This means the list of companies making "hard drives" is not as small as you state.
What about all the other national security issues that are caused by trade with... any other socialist/communist country for that matter?
Oh shit! Linus Torvalds must be an undercover spook from the Finnish government!
Seriously though, I'm guessing that you're an American, which means your idea of "socialism" is probably something like Soviet Russia. Which is absurd. Socialism encompasses a very broad area of political thought, and should not be treated like some extreme ideology.
Seems like they are trying to create a couple of generations in our country that have no idea how to design or manufacture anything, by undercutting us and removing any incentive to learn.
If by 'they', you mean 'China' or 'the Chinese government', I'm pretty sure this is incorrect. The Chinese and their government certainly have more (economic) power now than before, however this power has come at the cost of giving even more power to those who are already the winners of Global Capitalism.
Also, regarding education in the US, I suggest reading John Taylor Gatto's essay "Against School". In it, he documents how the US education system was designed to mold children into people who do what they're told and won't fuss when the ruling class pulls tricks like outsourcing, "free" trade agreements, wage/benefit reduction, labor suppression, etc.
To steal a term used by free-market apologists, basically what we have here is the invisible hand of the ruling class doing whatever they can/want to increase their power and riches. It has nothing to do with some evil Chinese plot to destroy America.
is the typical IE user... sophisticated enough to use Ad Muncher, or rather to even know it exists?
I think the more important question is this:
is the typical Firefox user... sophisticated enough to use Adblock, or rather to even know it exists?
I use Firefox, know how to use ad-blocking software (yay regular expressions!), and believe there are legitimate reasons for blocking ads. However I don't use (specifically) ad-blocking software, for two reasons. One is that I think automatically blocking all ads is unethical. The other is that I'm too lazy to do it by hand.
One piece of blocking software I do use, however, is Flashblock. I installed this after realizing the cause of all unwanted popups and browser slowdown I was experiencing was due to embedded Flash all over the place. There's also the problem of Flash "cookies", which are really undocumented and not easy to remove. So I use Flashblock, and whitelist Homestar Runner, and that's that.
presentation formats should always be the same, always be readable by an older version of software, etc. Editing formats have different needs, like adding new features
Presentation formats also have the "need" for new features: PDF (for example) has not remained static. While using my brother's computer the other day, I downloaded some music scores (PDFs). His (older) version of Acrobat actually couldn't read the file. I found this odd, as usually a "may not be rendered properly" message will appear.
1) Halo allowed LAN-style gaming, without the headaches. A $300 console replaces the need of four gaming-level PCs. Keep in mind, not only is the cost reduced, a LOT less gear needs to be lugged around.
2) Halo is to FPS what Final Fantasy 7 is to RPGs.
EVERYONE has something they've searched for that they don't want anyone finding out about
I assert that search terms are basically "things searchers think about". It follows that a list of my search terms are a list of things I think about. This is kind of scary when you look at some of the implications. For example, governments who conduct secret surveillance of their citizens can, in a sense, read their citizens' minds. Hey look, that guy just thought about "how to make a nuclear bomb". I could go on, but I think the average Slashdotter can see the problem.
So if I buy a gun and keep it in my house, a magical force field will keep all criminals out?
This logic seems horrribly flawed. But then again, I'm not a rabid pro-gun idiot, so I'm obviously unenlightened and unworthy of commenting in this discussion.
the USA has a ton of farmland or just empty space.
This is correct. For some more fun with numbers, we could add up the various public/protected lands throughout the country (for reference, the total area of the US is 9.6 M sq. km.): -The Bureau of Land Management administers over 1 million sq. km. of land (public lands). -The National Park System totals 338,000 sq. km. -The National Wildlife Refuge system totals over 388,000 sq. km.
Individual states also have their own systems of parks and reserved lands (and there's probably some national lands other than those listed above). If one were to calculate all such areas, and subtract that from the total area, the population density of the US would be much higher.
If nature has made any one thing less susceptible than all others of exclusive property, it is the action of the thinking power called an idea, which an individual may exclusively possess as long as he keeps it to himself; but the moment it is divulged, it forces itself into the possession of every one, and the receiver cannot dispossess himself of it. Its peculiar character, too, is that no one possesses the less, because every other possesses the whole of it. He who receives an idea from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening me.Source
Slashdot Mirror
You are the same guy who, about 100 years ago, scoffed at the idea of a university program in "film studies".
I've enjoyed reading your thoughts in this thread, however...
Note that the invented word "Tivoization" is an abuse of trademark.
Why do you say this? It's not really related to the point of the paragraph (i.e. people like Tivos, don't make them sound evil).
Also, is this really "abuse" of a trademark? IANAL, but this kind of trademark-mangling happens all the time. People say they "googled" or "xeroxed" something. My grandma doesn't use tissues, she uses "kleenexes".
I haven't laughed so hard at a /. comment in a long time. Good work :)
I'm not feeling the freedom to drive my car down an empty highway at 90.
Why do you have the right to do this? Roads were not built to be driven on at that speed. Neither were the cars that are legal to drive on them. And unless you live in an ecological wasteland, there are things like deer that one must watch out for.
Further, driving at twice the standard highway speed decreases reaction time. Do you have training and experience in racing? Even if you do, the issues above make it idiotic to drive at such a speed on public roads. Also, highways don't exist in a vacuum, meaning they don't stay empty.
In conclusion, stay the hell off public roads. I don't want to get into an accident because some idiot like yourself has such a warped, childish definition of "freedom".
Fixed that for ya.
Mark Shuttleworth doesn't have money? That's news to me...
Magnetic platter-based drives are still the storage medium of choice in PCs, but these days I think you need to include flash memory in the discussion. This means the list of companies making "hard drives" is not as small as you state.
What about all the other national security issues that are caused by trade with ... any other socialist/communist country for that matter?
Oh shit! Linus Torvalds must be an undercover spook from the Finnish government!
Seriously though, I'm guessing that you're an American, which means your idea of "socialism" is probably something like Soviet Russia. Which is absurd. Socialism encompasses a very broad area of political thought, and should not be treated like some extreme ideology.
Seems like they are trying to create a couple of generations in our country that have no idea how to design or manufacture anything, by undercutting us and removing any incentive to learn.
If by 'they', you mean 'China' or 'the Chinese government', I'm pretty sure this is incorrect. The Chinese and their government certainly have more (economic) power now than before, however this power has come at the cost of giving even more power to those who are already the winners of Global Capitalism.
Also, regarding education in the US, I suggest reading John Taylor Gatto's essay "Against School". In it, he documents how the US education system was designed to mold children into people who do what they're told and won't fuss when the ruling class pulls tricks like outsourcing, "free" trade agreements, wage/benefit reduction, labor suppression, etc.
To steal a term used by free-market apologists, basically what we have here is the invisible hand of the ruling class doing whatever they can/want to increase their power and riches. It has nothing to do with some evil Chinese plot to destroy America.
I think the more important question is this:
I use Firefox, know how to use ad-blocking software (yay regular expressions!), and believe there are legitimate reasons for blocking ads. However I don't use (specifically) ad-blocking software, for two reasons. One is that I think automatically blocking all ads is unethical. The other is that I'm too lazy to do it by hand.
One piece of blocking software I do use, however, is Flashblock. I installed this after realizing the cause of all unwanted popups and browser slowdown I was experiencing was due to embedded Flash all over the place. There's also the problem of Flash "cookies", which are really undocumented and not easy to remove. So I use Flashblock, and whitelist Homestar Runner, and that's that.
presentation formats should always be the same, always be readable by an older version of software, etc. Editing formats have different needs, like adding new features
Presentation formats also have the "need" for new features: PDF (for example) has not remained static. While using my brother's computer the other day, I downloaded some music scores (PDFs). His (older) version of Acrobat actually couldn't read the file. I found this odd, as usually a "may not be rendered properly" message will appear.
I have a couple of theories on this.
1) Halo allowed LAN-style gaming, without the headaches. A $300 console replaces the need of four gaming-level PCs. Keep in mind, not only is the cost reduced, a LOT less gear needs to be lugged around.
2) Halo is to FPS what Final Fantasy 7 is to RPGs.
EVERYONE has something they've searched for that they don't want anyone finding out about
I assert that search terms are basically "things searchers think about". It follows that a list of my search terms are a list of things I think about. This is kind of scary when you look at some of the implications. For example, governments who conduct secret surveillance of their citizens can, in a sense, read their citizens' minds. Hey look, that guy just thought about "how to make a nuclear bomb". I could go on, but I think the average Slashdotter can see the problem.
To clarify, my comment wasn't intended to promote/explain my views, but rather to criticize the OP's ridiculous rhetoric.
Also, the idea of a gun-toting HOA member seems really amusing to me.
Weapons keep out ANYBODY
So if I buy a gun and keep it in my house, a magical force field will keep all criminals out?
This logic seems horrribly flawed. But then again, I'm not a rabid pro-gun idiot, so I'm obviously unenlightened and unworthy of commenting in this discussion.
quietly ignoring the fact that he'd managed to sell said house 14 million times in the interim
It's pretty sad when the ignorant ones are those who have sold over 250 million albums worldwide.
Forget it now, I can see AT&T and Apply's lawyers scrambling for ways to avoid the maelstorm of hacks and scripts that could threaten their good game.
Fixed that for ya.
the USA has a ton of farmland or just empty space.
This is correct. For some more fun with numbers, we could add up the various public/protected lands throughout the country (for reference, the total area of the US is 9.6 M sq. km.):
-The Bureau of Land Management administers over 1 million sq. km. of land (public lands).
-The National Park System totals 338,000 sq. km.
-The National Wildlife Refuge system totals over 388,000 sq. km.
Individual states also have their own systems of parks and reserved lands (and there's probably some national lands other than those listed above). If one were to calculate all such areas, and subtract that from the total area, the population density of the US would be much higher.
opening [their idea] to the entire world to steal
Thomas Jefferson trumps you:
If nature has made any one thing less susceptible than all others of exclusive property, it is the action of the thinking power called an idea, which an individual may exclusively possess as long as he keeps it to himself; but the moment it is divulged, it forces itself into the possession of every one, and the receiver cannot dispossess himself of it. Its peculiar character, too, is that no one possesses the less, because every other possesses the whole of it. He who receives an idea from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening me. Source
Rule 34 is now in play...
The link does not pop
This isn't Fark.
Well, I don't "know Plan 9", however I do know about Plan 9. Does this get me to purgatory, at least? :)
My post doesn't mention Capitol? I find this hard to believe.
Tories in Kansas? Inconceivable!