I always wish that one of the Founding Fathers had ever conceived of the idea that one day we would be able to make a copy of something without altering the original in anyway. And then had tried to figure out how property rights would account for it.
I loved King's Quest 6. The original poster (and most of the commenters) have missed the point.
The real issue is that the game industry is entirely driven by franchises and blockbusters. The range of gameplay over the years has basically weeded out adventure / puzzle gaming as a viable market, and us fans of said market have suffered as a result.
So, yes, OP, modern gamers have no need or patience for puzzle games. But there are still tons of people who do - they create them all the time, on the Web with SCUMM engines and Flash, on the DS and Wii (Zak and Wiki, Phoenix Wright, etc.) - they just require a bit more looking around, and a realization that they aren't the purview of the big time game industry anymore.
This may be somewhat true, but the FDIC is an *insurance* company, and if a lot of banks had to start hitting it up due to identity theft, its premiums (in the form of government deficit) would go up. And that tanks the economy, which tanks banks, etc...
So, no, banks do not get off scot-free for this kind of thing because of some magical safety net. TINSTAAFL.
First off, yes, American children as American citizens do have the exact same First Amendment rights as adults.
Period.
Truly offensive shirts (ie hate speech) are not protected by the First Amendment. "Content-free" offensive shirts ("EAT SHIT", "MOTHERFUCKER", etc.) are also not protected.
Not going to class is not a First Amendment right.
Your straw man and your incorrect interpretation of the First Amendment are damaging and should be called out as such.
By the way: not through censoring, but through accountability.
First off, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind was never considered or called "independent" by anybody.
Secondly, think more like Little Miss Sunshine, which was financed by Big Beach and then *bought* by Fox Searchlight for distribution. Or James Strouse's Grace is Gone with John Cusack, which was bought by Miramax for distribution after it was produced.
The bottom line of course is that individual data points do not a proof make. But there are a lot of actors who are working more and more outside of the standard studio world, usually on a "one on, one off" basis (see Philip Seymour Hoffman, Sean Penn, and Brad pitt for examples.)
I realize you assume he could and would want to carry all his groceries home on a 15 minute walk, but unless he's just making daily trips for 2 or 3 things, that's gonne be a real pain.
No, she really did get fired for violating some very generic state agency policies here in Texas.
I'm a Texas state employee, I'm not allowed to do things like this, either (advocate or promote political policy while on company time) - you would get in just as much trouble for asking people to support some bill to make Christianity the state religion.
Also, we have never had 200,000,000 people vote in this country. The most we've ever had was 112,000,000 in '04.
Simple math of the worst case scenario:
120,000,000 votes (more than we've ever had, ever) 50,000 poll counters (very low, most counties have around 50 poll workers and there are well over 1,000 counties in the US)
2,400 votes to count per counter. Assuming they count one vote every 3 seconds (way high - try it yourself, write down the numbers 1 through 10 on a piece of paper, have a friend circle one, and then read back his vote to him - it takes a lot less time than 3 seconds), that's 7,200 seconds per counter.
120 minutes.
2 hours.
Even with a double count (each person counts their stack, writes down the totals, then counts someone else's stack, then verifies the other person's total), that's 4 hours.
It just doesn't take that long to figure out a vote total. PLUS THERE'S A VOTE TRAIL. Got a question? There's the paper. Count them again.
Honestly, who makes minimum wage in this country any more? Who can attract workers at minimum wage? We're at one of the historically lowest levels of unemployment in history.
Even Taco Bell pays $7.50 an hour + benefits. Minimum wage is not what the government says it is, it's what the market says it is.
Alternatively, the big picture approach is that, in theory, whether or not Congress ACTUALLY cares about the journalist getting jailed is irrelevant. If they POSTURE that they care, being public officials, that is essentially the same thing - at least in regards to possibly getting the journalist freed, or drumming up sympathy and public support for them.
It's just like when Oprah says she's getting to the bottom of the sex abuse at her South Africa school. It doesn't matter if she's actually putting on a deerstalker and hitting the streets of Johannesburg; when Oprah says something or someone is wrong, then that thing or person is wrong. End of story.
And, given that take, why should we ultimately say, "Well, Congress, you're not allowed to speak out against journalists being jailed, because only people who REALLY care should be allowed to say anything"? That seems not only counterintuitive to our sense of publicity and justice (and justice is mostly just a function of information), but also counterproductive.
I'd rather have Congressmen lying through their teeth about the injustices of Darfur, Chinese human rights, and NSA spying than simply not saying anything at all.
a) A particular skill becomes a dominant part of mankind's livelihood (hunting, agriculture, tradework, computers.) b) We teach all of our children the basic aspects of these skills in order to increase efficiency. c) The children grow up and begin working on the major problems and issues within these skills. d) Through technology and ingenuity, we slowly automate, simplify, and streamline those skills. e) A new skill arises to replace the now-streamlined and unskilled skill. f) Repeat.
And since all the kids coming out of high school and college now have a pretty thorough end-user understanding of computers (including the big 3: office suites, the Internet, and cell phones), a lot of IT tasks have just been rolled into the non-IT positions of a company. Remember when the CEO had to have his own IT guy just to work a spreadsheet or open a database? We've come a long way.
And ultimately part of mankind's ambition has to be to reach a point in our technology and civilization where machines and automata do most of our work - even complex things. And that's the way we like it, natch.
As email asymptotically reachs 100% spam, we will have essentially created a mechanism whose sole goal is to deliver us undesired ads and scams.
Talking about spam detectors and blockers and blacklists is irrelevant. Why devote all of this energy to ensure that maybe 5, 10, or 20 people can contact you or your business a day? Or even 20,000, which only highlights the issue that separating spam from valid emails is just bad juju.
Simply put, there is no solution to asynchronous communication that is not too tedious or too restrictive. We'd be a lot better off if we blew up all the email servers, and put all of the energy and cost savings into developing encrypted telepathy.
You think I'm kidding.
Slashdot Mirror
I always wish that one of the Founding Fathers had ever conceived of the idea that one day we would be able to make a copy of something without altering the original in anyway. And then had tried to figure out how property rights would account for it.
I loved King's Quest 6. The original poster (and most of the commenters) have missed the point.
The real issue is that the game industry is entirely driven by franchises and blockbusters. The range of gameplay over the years has basically weeded out adventure / puzzle gaming as a viable market, and us fans of said market have suffered as a result.
So, yes, OP, modern gamers have no need or patience for puzzle games. But there are still tons of people who do - they create them all the time, on the Web with SCUMM engines and Flash, on the DS and Wii (Zak and Wiki, Phoenix Wright, etc.) - they just require a bit more looking around, and a realization that they aren't the purview of the big time game industry anymore.
It's not a big deal, really.
That's kind of the point of ethics, though, isn't it? You get to decide for yourself what's right and what's wrong.
This may be somewhat true, but the FDIC is an *insurance* company, and if a lot of banks had to start hitting it up due to identity theft, its premiums (in the form of government deficit) would go up. And that tanks the economy, which tanks banks, etc ...
So, no, banks do not get off scot-free for this kind of thing because of some magical safety net. TINSTAAFL.
"Linked" = "Correlated."
Road Rage "Correlated" To Automobile Bumper Stickers.
Bumper stick for you, no charge:
Reading Comprehension. Get Some.
First off, yes, American children as American citizens do have the exact same First Amendment rights as adults. Period. Truly offensive shirts (ie hate speech) are not protected by the First Amendment. "Content-free" offensive shirts ("EAT SHIT", "MOTHERFUCKER", etc.) are also not protected. Not going to class is not a First Amendment right. Your straw man and your incorrect interpretation of the First Amendment are damaging and should be called out as such. By the way: not through censoring, but through accountability.
If prison only lasted 8 hours a day 5 days a week with a 3 month vacation every year, your point might be valid.
I thought it was rather clear most of us are more upset by the moral transgression than the legal one.
First off, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind was never considered or called "independent" by anybody.
Secondly, think more like Little Miss Sunshine, which was financed by Big Beach and then *bought* by Fox Searchlight for distribution. Or James Strouse's Grace is Gone with John Cusack, which was bought by Miramax for distribution after it was produced.
The bottom line of course is that individual data points do not a proof make. But there are a lot of actors who are working more and more outside of the standard studio world, usually on a "one on, one off" basis (see Philip Seymour Hoffman, Sean Penn, and Brad pitt for examples.)
L. Ron? Is that you?
You could just start using your dad's connection. Push it all to a USB drive and ship it back and forth.
This actually happened to Mike Figgis.
What's wrong with wired power, exactly?
I realize you assume he could and would want to carry all his groceries home on a 15 minute walk, but unless he's just making daily trips for 2 or 3 things, that's gonne be a real pain.
No, she really did get fired for violating some very generic state agency policies here in Texas.
I'm a Texas state employee, I'm not allowed to do things like this, either (advocate or promote political policy while on company time) - you would get in just as much trouble for asking people to support some bill to make Christianity the state religion.
And the world goes on bowling alone ...
The social aspect of humanity dies with this comment.
Also, we have never had 200,000,000 people vote in this country. The most we've ever had was 112,000,000 in '04.
Simple math of the worst case scenario:
120,000,000 votes (more than we've ever had, ever)
50,000 poll counters (very low, most counties have around 50 poll workers and there are well over 1,000 counties in the US)
2,400 votes to count per counter. Assuming they count one vote every 3 seconds (way high - try it yourself, write down the numbers 1 through 10 on a piece of paper, have a friend circle one, and then read back his vote to him - it takes a lot less time than 3 seconds), that's 7,200 seconds per counter.
120 minutes.
2 hours.
Even with a double count (each person counts their stack, writes down the totals, then counts someone else's stack, then verifies the other person's total), that's 4 hours.
It just doesn't take that long to figure out a vote total. PLUS THERE'S A VOTE TRAIL. Got a question? There's the paper. Count them again.
Honestly, who makes minimum wage in this country any more? Who can attract workers at minimum wage? We're at one of the historically lowest levels of unemployment in history.
Even Taco Bell pays $7.50 an hour + benefits. Minimum wage is not what the government says it is, it's what the market says it is.
I agree with this completely, but I would really like a robot chauffeur.
To me, driving is one of the least productive things I do.
Alternatively, the big picture approach is that, in theory, whether or not Congress ACTUALLY cares about the journalist getting jailed is irrelevant. If they POSTURE that they care, being public officials, that is essentially the same thing - at least in regards to possibly getting the journalist freed, or drumming up sympathy and public support for them.
It's just like when Oprah says she's getting to the bottom of the sex abuse at her South Africa school. It doesn't matter if she's actually putting on a deerstalker and hitting the streets of Johannesburg; when Oprah says something or someone is wrong, then that thing or person is wrong. End of story.
And, given that take, why should we ultimately say, "Well, Congress, you're not allowed to speak out against journalists being jailed, because only people who REALLY care should be allowed to say anything"? That seems not only counterintuitive to our sense of publicity and justice (and justice is mostly just a function of information), but also counterproductive.
I'd rather have Congressmen lying through their teeth about the injustices of Darfur, Chinese human rights, and NSA spying than simply not saying anything at all.
It's a pretty basic cycle:
a) A particular skill becomes a dominant part of mankind's livelihood (hunting, agriculture, tradework, computers.)
b) We teach all of our children the basic aspects of these skills in order to increase efficiency.
c) The children grow up and begin working on the major problems and issues within these skills.
d) Through technology and ingenuity, we slowly automate, simplify, and streamline those skills.
e) A new skill arises to replace the now-streamlined and unskilled skill.
f) Repeat.
And since all the kids coming out of high school and college now have a pretty thorough end-user understanding of computers (including the big 3: office suites, the Internet, and cell phones), a lot of IT tasks have just been rolled into the non-IT positions of a company. Remember when the CEO had to have his own IT guy just to work a spreadsheet or open a database? We've come a long way.
And ultimately part of mankind's ambition has to be to reach a point in our technology and civilization where machines and automata do most of our work - even complex things. And that's the way we like it, natch.
As email asymptotically reachs 100% spam, we will have essentially created a mechanism whose sole goal is to deliver us undesired ads and scams. Talking about spam detectors and blockers and blacklists is irrelevant. Why devote all of this energy to ensure that maybe 5, 10, or 20 people can contact you or your business a day? Or even 20,000, which only highlights the issue that separating spam from valid emails is just bad juju. Simply put, there is no solution to asynchronous communication that is not too tedious or too restrictive. We'd be a lot better off if we blew up all the email servers, and put all of the energy and cost savings into developing encrypted telepathy. You think I'm kidding.
You can check out the Federal Sentencing Guidelines (effective as of November 1, 2006) if you'd like.
Long story short? Possessing less than 5 grams of crack is 8 years, cocaine is 6 years. Any more and you also get intent to distribute.
"News for nerds." Not "technology-only news."
Yeah, I know: it really is that simple.
To highlight how ridiculously out of sync the punishment is with the crime.