With a 65,000 kg payload capacity on the Ares V it is likely that they won't depend on farming to sustain a lunar base. Especially since the Earth-Moon voyage takes less than a week. However, I speculate that the 6 month Earth-Mars trip would be a compelling reason to push for farming capability so that future visitors don't have to rely so heavily on Earth supplied resources to survive.
As far as having a plough... well that is just necessary for clearing the lunar landscape so that any long-term platform doesn't sink and settle into the loose Moon soil. I wouldn't go so far as to speculate whether they intend to pour a foundation, but "Earth-moving" tools like a bulldozer are as helpful on the Moon as they are on Earth for construction projects....
His solution was to create Brijit, a Washington, DC-based startup launched in late 2007 that produces 100-word abstracts of both online and offline content. Every day, Brijit publishes around 125 concise summaries of newspaper and magazine articles, as well as audio and video programs, rating each on a scale of 0 ("actively avoid") to 3 ("a must read") so readers can decide whether it's worth their time to click through.
Tag article "activelyavoid" and move along.
Interestingly enough, this whole thing sounds like an idea Rob Malda thought up about 10 years ago, except Brijit lacks a discussion and moderation system where experts and opinionated thinkers can vie to share their collective wisdom to enhance the content of the original article.
What is so bad about having, for example, a mention in the acknowledgments or preface "this book sponsored by so-and-so"?
I want to answer your question with one of my own. What is so bad about having legislators or judges in the government who are sponsored by so-and-so? I admit that the comparison between entertainment and politics is extreme, but hopefully you agree that ensuring a stream of money to finance future projects is as important for writers as it is for politicians. A writer who takes money from Exxon might be tempted or persuaded to change minor points in his or her plotline to be more oil-friendly.
"Free is good" - free as in cost, free as in the right to make copies and pass them along, free as in the author can choose who and how the sponsor is presented in his or her work.
I agree. In my original post I mentioned giving readers a "read now, pay later" option. This would benefit the economy by ensuring that only authors with good stories will develop readerships. And *those* readers with tell their friends. And a fraction of the satisfied readers will click on the appropriate "Donate now" links on the novel's website and the author will get a very clear idea whether people are "buying" his (or her) work or not. In theory, writers who sell well will get the coveted opportunity to quit their day jobs and write full-time.
I even encourage giving interested parties the freedom to develop derivative works, but only on stories which have produced a certain level of revenue to satisfy the needs of the author (i.e. to prevent Hollywood from producing a film and profit from it without paying a dime for the rights). You can read more about that theory here.
Actually, don't mod parent up because he was an Anonymous Coward, but as an aspiring author I would say that anybody seeking to use their writing to shill for advertisers does not deserve to be read.
I am in support of the business model where readers can experience an author's work from a free digital download... and then vote with their pocketbook by making a "donation" if they think what they "experienced" was worth it.
That is --- "read now, pay later". I think the days of "pay now, read later" are numbered.
Then again, I am continually refining my manuscript so that it will be readable for a mass audience. As is, the compliments I get are that the "story" is awesome but the actually story-telling is lacking (which I am, of course, working on).
While speaking off the record, Mozilla CEO Joe Wilcox was heard to say, "I don't give a shit whether they are taking market share away from Internet Explorer with this move, but Safari will take Firefox's place on some computers."
He went on, "Personally, I think Apple should be ashamed of themselves for exploiting their successful music business to empower their web browsing software."
On the other hand... default installations of Internet Explorer was one of the major reasons that Netscape lost its market share lead in the 90's. The only problem that I have with this is that the "Update" claims to leave the Checkbox for installing Safari clicked by default.
That's right! The value, the thing people are willing to pay for, is not the bits which load the game onto a computer. The magic of increasing sales is in the experience that is offered. More often than not, DRM does not improve that experience.
And following up on the example from the story, the experience can be worth significantly more than can be earned from sales through a traditional RIAA member company (who are notorious for skimming 80-90% off the top anyway). Instead, NIN cashed in on their album by offering a "Deluxe Package" and made $750,000 in the first 4 or 5 days after the release. On top of that, I know people who spent $5 for the full 2-hours of Ghosts who have not purchased music in 5+ years (not me personally, but I still have not taken the time to listen to the Ghost I, which I had gotten for free).
Meaning, life doesn't revolve around career or the job. Yes, they'll spend time and $$$ training and learning, but it's not the end all like my generation. I busted my ass in my career and so did my friends. My career is meaningless now and all of my "friends" have moved on.
(age 25) Life revolves around whatever you make of it. I think the trend in America is to make an entertainment and social experience out of it. YouTube, MySpace, and Facebook are awesome for this. People get to seek out all sorts of like-minded individuals to share experiences with, and that is also what life is about - Experiences.
That being said, busting you rump for a career can most definitely be a significantly rewarding experience. At some point during your career, I will bet that an idea that was YOURS made it out into the world and had a positive impact. And your positive impact plays a part in the overall increase within the global standard of living that we are enjoying in America now and spreading to other countries to reduce poverty and tyranny.
The other thing is that we COULD NOT enjoy our cute little social applications if your generation had not gone out and invented the Internet. Good work on that one - by the way. Furthermore, I think THE NEXT GENERATION (kids born 2010-2030) will get the benefit of a mostly-automated production cycle on Earth because of all the technology that is currently being developed so that less human effort can produce a larger amount of usable resources --- to the point where scarcity (on Earth) is eliminated and (in my optimistic view) the competitive capitalism in our country (and the world) will devolve into a more cooperative environment where people won't be tied to the 40-hour workweek to "earn a living" the way everybody is today.
So - thank you to your generation for paving the way... and please help us young guys so we can hopefully avoid some of the mistakes that have come before us.
This also violates the (good) Model/View/Controller software architectural model by kludging the view and controller together in the same product.
No, not really. Think a simple mailmerge with data from the database. There is no Controller, only a model (the DB) and the View (the document). You fetch the data from the database and mailmerge it.
Yes, I have read that a compelling reason to stick to Microsoft Office is the ability to Mailmerge, which is fine. I have never gone through the hoops to perform a Mailmerge, so bare with me. My belief is that the whole purpose to send the date (in the database) through the document (which is the controller) to a printer (where it can be viewed). This simple/trivial application actually does separate Data/View/Controller.
Saying there is no controller is like saying there is no spoon. Just because it is disguised amongst the cruft of a larger, more complicated application doesn't mean it isn't there.
But in the big boy's world, they're far more important than that.
I acknowledge that hooking documents into databases to subvert them into workflow process template beasties is a common practice, but I think the simple question "Why are there database passwords in the document?" kind of highlights that this is a bad practice.
If security is a concern, "Document Applications" are a mistake.
This also violates the (good) Model/View/Controller software architectural model by kludging the view and controller together in the same product. And - despite claims that it cuts development time in half and saves a business money - it is a disaster to maintain and costs significantly more to re-write when opportunities to upgrade to better Office Productivity Suites arise.
Unless you WANT to periodically rewrite your companies homespun IT applications, you should probably avoid hitching your Office Documents to Databases.
In theory, if uncorrupted legislatures were in Congress, they could actually make rules that are based on what is best for the population and NOT based on how much Industry XYZ's lobbyist gave to their re-election fund.
I find it unconscionable that it is possible to patent or copyright something that is absolutely critical to the fundamental processes of democracy.
Also unconscionable is the notion that the underlaying software algorithm would essencially boil down to a very simple statement that looks something like the following:
vote++;
You could argue that there is some finesse involved in getting that data from the machine it was cast at to the central tallying point where it is counted and tabulated, but NOTHING in that process is any more complicated than the Automated Teller Machines which function in a similar way to take data from client nodes and send it up to the hub... so "prior art" in the realm of basic concepts of networking makes those patents unattainable.
I was joking, though am admittedly an amateur admin (holy cow, alliteration). In the past, I have admin'd a small development box (Fedora) for a small team and when the server was slowed down to a crawl, anybody running Firefox was killed first to free up resources. Sure, I could have had better policies but nobody ever complained and I have doubts that they were ever doing anything really important in their web-browser --- since it was only setup for Remote Desktop anyhow.
Here is the top(1) entry of her firefox-session (running linux-firefox-2 on FreeBSD/amd64):
84676 i 1 96 0 1078M 613M select 1 524:47 4.98% firefox-bin
What's the timeline on something like this? When it says you have to release your source code, does it say how much time you have to do it? Or is there x days after the first request that you have, or what? Could verizon have just kept saying "just give us a few more weeks to tidy up our source code and comb for offensive comments etc" and stall indefinitely?
b) Accompany it with a written offer, valid for at least three years, to give any third party, for a charge no more than your cost of physically performing source distribution, a complete machine-readable copy of the corresponding source code, to be distributed under the terms of Sections 1 and 2 above on a medium customarily used for software interchange; or,
Basically, the "timeline" starts ticking when Verizon distributes software derived from GPLv2 source code and that distribution needs to contain the written offer to provide source. Thereafter, the recipient has the right to request the source code for up until 3 years after he initially receives the executable binaries. In theory, this allows for creative monetization schemes for earning money via F/OSS.
The latest Ivy League graduates are turning their diplomas into napkins as fast as the schools can issue them. Established professional companies don't like job hoppers, but Millenials don't want to work somewhere, they want to live a nomad lifestyle where they work as necessary, then quit their job to blog in a coffee bar, then try to find another job and wonder why no one will hire them even though they don't stay more than 6 months.
I can't vouch for the misguided souls who ferret their way through liberal arts educations at even the prestigious schools in America, but as a graduate from one of the leading science and engineering schools in the country I believe your view of the "nomad lifestyle" is inaccurate. I actually job-hopped after 3 years for personal reasons, but secured a position at a destination company before giving my 2 weeks. I have no idea how somebody could financially get by while serving as a career-blogger. As a writer who doesn't need to make money from my words (i.e. no advertisements), I publish to a site that you might find interesting enough to spend 5-10 minutes reading.
I am not sure that I can change your perceptions about my generation as a whole though, but I would like to at least hope that you'll spew your venom towards a more narrowly defined group then "kids age 20-30". Pragmatically I feel like your argument is that young folk have their priorities backwards, when realistically you are just angry to see so many who have priorities that are so different than your own. I generally agree that loud, obnoxious, and drunk are not desirable qualities. Financial security and smart economic decisions play a big part in having the "latest toys". I can't explain how people can afford such luxuries. I certainly can't.
I mean, I did buy a new car in 2004 - but I only spent $13k. I bought new laptops in 2001 and 2006. They have served me well, and I will be very happy if I can make the one from 2006 last until 2011 (replacement hard-drives notwithstanding). And I tend to get the "near free" cell phones when signing up for a new plan every two years. Giving the rapid changes in tech, I won't wish an old, outdated "used" 2003 cell phone on my worst enemies.
I don't know... but to seriously continue this discourse you need to talk about what things were like when you were 24-27 - and let the world in on what decade that occurred during. I think, largely, most of Gen Y gets along just fine in a manner completely different than you are describing.
From 1999 to 2002 there were a ton of reputable businesses who used "Millenium" in official company publications. From an academic standpoint, it was laughable. I am guessing that the jerk-off who is trying to coin the phrase "Millenial" either was never a part of a PR organization from a company who used "Millennium" 6-8 years ago, or (s)he is trying to create an intentionally misspelled meme for his or her own enjoyment.
Either way, I would disagree with the proliferation of the meme even if it was spelled correctly.
Funny thing is that each generation does have certain characteristics.
Also, people from Asian countries like rice and individuals from Indian enjoy cooking with Curry. Yes - stereotypes tend to have some truth behind them.
But, my point wasn't to refute the stereotype that the risky unauthorized software installing done by people my age is wrong. The term "Generation Y" is already commonly understood and the people who produced this research don't need to go inventing a new term that sounds like it should be the name of something in a garden.
As far as defending the "feeling of entitlement" of Gen Y, I cite my previous discussion about how we are in a non-advantageous position economically in the world. Of course we have somewhat of a cavelier attitude towards certain things because your older generation has put us in a precarious position where the costs of living are higher than ever. And maybe there is a divide that isn't acknowledged between members of Gen Y who had mommy and daddy support/spoil them through their first 20 years of life and members of Gen Y who didn't. I would submit that the half of the generation who didn't get things handed to them on a silver platter does not fit the mold you are describing.
Also, I can't bring myself to agree with your claims on drunken driving or the egocentric internet. And honestly, I thought *random* chat rooms on the internet were something that died when people realized there were better options than AOL, so I don't understand your gripe about nonsense in chatrooms.
They think every luxury in life is a right not a privilege.
What luxuries would those be? Car? Gas? Electricity? Housing? Student Loan Payments? Phone? Food? Clothing? Retirement Savings Contributions? Health Care? After paying for these "luxuries", I am left with about $200 a month for frivolous things like video games, internet/cable, beer, entertainment, and going out-to-eat.
Believe me... things are tough to be a young man or woman who just graduated from school in the last 3 or 4 years. I would argue that things are a lot tougher than when you were my age. What kinds of "luxuries" are you sore that you couldn't afford when you were my age?
Can we please kill this seemingly out-of-the-blue generational term now? It is attempting to describe me, and as a steward of people "born after 1980", I would like to kindly request not to be associated with such a nonsensically named group.
I would actually prefer the Fucked Generation, on account of (a) the out-of-control real estate market which came about as many of us were graduating from our four year universities, and (b) the fact that, as implemented, the Social Security program is going to dry up by the time we are ready to retire in the 2040s.
Combine the inability to buy a house with the inability to rely on public help during retirement and you don't get Generation Millenial -- you get Generation Fucked.
*** Other suggestions for what to call the children of the 80s, though I thought the unofficial term was already Gen Y.
IANAL, but it sounds like the RIAA is going to want to settle and prevent discovery from happening since they don't want all the sordid details of their dealings brought to light.
I would be fine with a settlement if the price they had to pay would be enough to fund EFF for a few years, and if they agreed to stop sueing willy-nilly. I have no issue if they keep going after true-infringers (because I am not one of them).
Ultimately, any funds to the EFF would serve a legal arms race against issues that are much more important than being forced to obtain music legally without infringing on somebody's copyright.
Or we could flip the coin and make the music industry pay for the rehabilitation of all drug users who snorted coke while listening to Kurt Cobain, or small girls who cannot handle the pressure of looking like Christina Aguilera.
Or anybody who was ever given a hard time by the police for saying "Fuck the Police"? Or anybody who was incorrectly led to assume that the world is a pure-and-noble place after listening to the songs on Sesame Street and Mr. Rogers Neighborhood - and later got taken advantage of?
I read your comments and the GP comment... it seems like you both have good points. The conclusion I draw is that Sony benefited from being a horizontally integrated entertainment company with a Movie/Game platform. And Toshiba should have signed a deal with the Microsoft Devil for them to produce a natively HD-DVD compatible XBox 360 (albeit, in 2006 - a year after the original XBox 360 was produced).
Toshiba/Microsoft could have leveraged their entertainment empire by sending consumers with broken XBox 360's the HD-DVD/XBox after most of the original ones burnt out. Free upgrades do wonders to build consumer good-will.
Hindsight is 20/20, though. In any case, I still would argue that Nintendo has "won" the current Video Game generation war, not Sony. And I think most people would give the silver medal to Microsoft...
Slashdot Mirror
But you could get one!
Don't you mean 'have sex *with* us'?
With a 65,000 kg payload capacity on the Ares V it is likely that they won't depend on farming to sustain a lunar base. Especially since the Earth-Moon voyage takes less than a week. However, I speculate that the 6 month Earth-Mars trip would be a compelling reason to push for farming capability so that future visitors don't have to rely so heavily on Earth supplied resources to survive.
As far as having a plough... well that is just necessary for clearing the lunar landscape so that any long-term platform doesn't sink and settle into the loose Moon soil. I wouldn't go so far as to speculate whether they intend to pour a foundation, but "Earth-moving" tools like a bulldozer are as helpful on the Moon as they are on Earth for construction projects....
Tag article "activelyavoid" and move along.
Interestingly enough, this whole thing sounds like an idea Rob Malda thought up about 10 years ago, except Brijit lacks a discussion and moderation system where experts and opinionated thinkers can vie to share their collective wisdom to enhance the content of the original article.
Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa
-- -- 01 02 14 15 16
17 18 19 20 21 22 23
24 25 26 27 28 29 30
And thats why there is a preview button!
Hmm... interesting bug.
I want to answer your question with one of my own. What is so bad about having legislators or judges in the government who are sponsored by so-and-so? I admit that the comparison between entertainment and politics is extreme, but hopefully you agree that ensuring a stream of money to finance future projects is as important for writers as it is for politicians. A writer who takes money from Exxon might be tempted or persuaded to change minor points in his or her plotline to be more oil-friendly.
"Free is good" - free as in cost, free as in the right to make copies and pass them along, free as in the author can choose who and how the sponsor is presented in his or her work.I agree. In my original post I mentioned giving readers a "read now, pay later" option. This would benefit the economy by ensuring that only authors with good stories will develop readerships. And *those* readers with tell their friends. And a fraction of the satisfied readers will click on the appropriate "Donate now" links on the novel's website and the author will get a very clear idea whether people are "buying" his (or her) work or not. In theory, writers who sell well will get the coveted opportunity to quit their day jobs and write full-time.
I even encourage giving interested parties the freedom to develop derivative works, but only on stories which have produced a certain level of revenue to satisfy the needs of the author (i.e. to prevent Hollywood from producing a film and profit from it without paying a dime for the rights). You can read more about that theory here.
Actually, don't mod parent up because he was an Anonymous Coward, but as an aspiring author I would say that anybody seeking to use their writing to shill for advertisers does not deserve to be read.
I am in support of the business model where readers can experience an author's work from a free digital download... and then vote with their pocketbook by making a "donation" if they think what they "experienced" was worth it.
That is --- "read now, pay later". I think the days of "pay now, read later" are numbered.
Then again, I am continually refining my manuscript so that it will be readable for a mass audience. As is, the compliments I get are that the "story" is awesome but the actually story-telling is lacking (which I am, of course, working on).
While speaking off the record, Mozilla CEO Joe Wilcox was heard to say, "I don't give a shit whether they are taking market share away from Internet Explorer with this move, but Safari will take Firefox's place on some computers."
He went on, "Personally, I think Apple should be ashamed of themselves for exploiting their successful music business to empower their web browsing software."
On the other hand... default installations of Internet Explorer was one of the major reasons that Netscape lost its market share lead in the 90's. The only problem that I have with this is that the "Update" claims to leave the Checkbox for installing Safari clicked by default.
That's right! The value, the thing people are willing to pay for, is not the bits which load the game onto a computer. The magic of increasing sales is in the experience that is offered. More often than not, DRM does not improve that experience.
And following up on the example from the story, the experience can be worth significantly more than can be earned from sales through a traditional RIAA member company (who are notorious for skimming 80-90% off the top anyway). Instead, NIN cashed in on their album by offering a "Deluxe Package" and made $750,000 in the first 4 or 5 days after the release. On top of that, I know people who spent $5 for the full 2-hours of Ghosts who have not purchased music in 5+ years (not me personally, but I still have not taken the time to listen to the Ghost I, which I had gotten for free).
(age 25) Life revolves around whatever you make of it. I think the trend in America is to make an entertainment and social experience out of it. YouTube, MySpace, and Facebook are awesome for this. People get to seek out all sorts of like-minded individuals to share experiences with, and that is also what life is about - Experiences.
That being said, busting you rump for a career can most definitely be a significantly rewarding experience. At some point during your career, I will bet that an idea that was YOURS made it out into the world and had a positive impact. And your positive impact plays a part in the overall increase within the global standard of living that we are enjoying in America now and spreading to other countries to reduce poverty and tyranny.
The other thing is that we COULD NOT enjoy our cute little social applications if your generation had not gone out and invented the Internet. Good work on that one - by the way. Furthermore, I think THE NEXT GENERATION (kids born 2010-2030) will get the benefit of a mostly-automated production cycle on Earth because of all the technology that is currently being developed so that less human effort can produce a larger amount of usable resources --- to the point where scarcity (on Earth) is eliminated and (in my optimistic view) the competitive capitalism in our country (and the world) will devolve into a more cooperative environment where people won't be tied to the 40-hour workweek to "earn a living" the way everybody is today.
So - thank you to your generation for paving the way... and please help us young guys so we can hopefully avoid some of the mistakes that have come before us.
Yes, I have read that a compelling reason to stick to Microsoft Office is the ability to Mailmerge, which is fine. I have never gone through the hoops to perform a Mailmerge, so bare with me. My belief is that the whole purpose to send the date (in the database) through the document (which is the controller) to a printer (where it can be viewed). This simple/trivial application actually does separate Data/View/Controller.
Saying there is no controller is like saying there is no spoon. Just because it is disguised amongst the cruft of a larger, more complicated application doesn't mean it isn't there.
I acknowledge that hooking documents into databases to subvert them into workflow process template beasties is a common practice, but I think the simple question "Why are there database passwords in the document?" kind of highlights that this is a bad practice.
If security is a concern, "Document Applications" are a mistake.
This also violates the (good) Model/View/Controller software architectural model by kludging the view and controller together in the same product. And - despite claims that it cuts development time in half and saves a business money - it is a disaster to maintain and costs significantly more to re-write when opportunities to upgrade to better Office Productivity Suites arise.
Unless you WANT to periodically rewrite your companies homespun IT applications, you should probably avoid hitching your Office Documents to Databases.
Well, Lessig's current crusade is trying to fix a different algorithm:
corruptCampaignContribs == TRUE ? vote += 2 : vote++;In theory, if uncorrupted legislatures were in Congress, they could actually make rules that are based on what is best for the population and NOT based on how much Industry XYZ's lobbyist gave to their re-election fund.
Also unconscionable is the notion that the underlaying software algorithm would essencially boil down to a very simple statement that looks something like the following:
vote++;You could argue that there is some finesse involved in getting that data from the machine it was cast at to the central tallying point where it is counted and tabulated, but NOTHING in that process is any more complicated than the Automated Teller Machines which function in a similar way to take data from client nodes and send it up to the hub... so "prior art" in the realm of basic concepts of networking makes those patents unattainable.
I was joking, though am admittedly an amateur admin (holy cow, alliteration). In the past, I have admin'd a small development box (Fedora) for a small team and when the server was slowed down to a crawl, anybody running Firefox was killed first to free up resources. Sure, I could have had better policies but nobody ever complained and I have doubts that they were ever doing anything really important in their web-browser --- since it was only setup for Remote Desktop anyhow.
sudo kill -9 84676
There, fixed that for you!
Allow me to answer with a quote straight from the horse's mouth. http://www.gnu.org/licenses/old-licenses/gpl-2.0.html
b) Accompany it with a written offer, valid for at least three years, to give any third party, for a charge no more than your cost of physically performing source distribution, a complete machine-readable copy of the corresponding source code, to be distributed under the terms of Sections 1 and 2 above on a medium customarily used for software interchange; or,Basically, the "timeline" starts ticking when Verizon distributes software derived from GPLv2 source code and that distribution needs to contain the written offer to provide source. Thereafter, the recipient has the right to request the source code for up until 3 years after he initially receives the executable binaries. In theory, this allows for creative monetization schemes for earning money via F/OSS.
I hope that answers your question.
I can't vouch for the misguided souls who ferret their way through liberal arts educations at even the prestigious schools in America, but as a graduate from one of the leading science and engineering schools in the country I believe your view of the "nomad lifestyle" is inaccurate. I actually job-hopped after 3 years for personal reasons, but secured a position at a destination company before giving my 2 weeks. I have no idea how somebody could financially get by while serving as a career-blogger. As a writer who doesn't need to make money from my words (i.e. no advertisements), I publish to a site that you might find interesting enough to spend 5-10 minutes reading.
I am not sure that I can change your perceptions about my generation as a whole though, but I would like to at least hope that you'll spew your venom towards a more narrowly defined group then "kids age 20-30". Pragmatically I feel like your argument is that young folk have their priorities backwards, when realistically you are just angry to see so many who have priorities that are so different than your own. I generally agree that loud, obnoxious, and drunk are not desirable qualities. Financial security and smart economic decisions play a big part in having the "latest toys". I can't explain how people can afford such luxuries. I certainly can't.
I mean, I did buy a new car in 2004 - but I only spent $13k. I bought new laptops in 2001 and 2006. They have served me well, and I will be very happy if I can make the one from 2006 last until 2011 (replacement hard-drives notwithstanding). And I tend to get the "near free" cell phones when signing up for a new plan every two years. Giving the rapid changes in tech, I won't wish an old, outdated "used" 2003 cell phone on my worst enemies.
I don't know... but to seriously continue this discourse you need to talk about what things were like when you were 24-27 - and let the world in on what decade that occurred during. I think, largely, most of Gen Y gets along just fine in a manner completely different than you are describing.
From 1999 to 2002 there were a ton of reputable businesses who used "Millenium" in official company publications. From an academic standpoint, it was laughable. I am guessing that the jerk-off who is trying to coin the phrase "Millenial" either was never a part of a PR organization from a company who used "Millennium" 6-8 years ago, or (s)he is trying to create an intentionally misspelled meme for his or her own enjoyment.
Either way, I would disagree with the proliferation of the meme even if it was spelled correctly.
Also, people from Asian countries like rice and individuals from Indian enjoy cooking with Curry. Yes - stereotypes tend to have some truth behind them.
But, my point wasn't to refute the stereotype that the risky unauthorized software installing done by people my age is wrong. The term "Generation Y" is already commonly understood and the people who produced this research don't need to go inventing a new term that sounds like it should be the name of something in a garden.
As far as defending the "feeling of entitlement" of Gen Y, I cite my previous discussion about how we are in a non-advantageous position economically in the world. Of course we have somewhat of a cavelier attitude towards certain things because your older generation has put us in a precarious position where the costs of living are higher than ever. And maybe there is a divide that isn't acknowledged between members of Gen Y who had mommy and daddy support/spoil them through their first 20 years of life and members of Gen Y who didn't. I would submit that the half of the generation who didn't get things handed to them on a silver platter does not fit the mold you are describing.
Also, I can't bring myself to agree with your claims on drunken driving or the egocentric internet. And honestly, I thought *random* chat rooms on the internet were something that died when people realized there were better options than AOL, so I don't understand your gripe about nonsense in chatrooms.
They think every luxury in life is a right not a privilege.What luxuries would those be? Car? Gas? Electricity? Housing? Student Loan Payments? Phone? Food? Clothing? Retirement Savings Contributions? Health Care? After paying for these "luxuries", I am left with about $200 a month for frivolous things like video games, internet/cable, beer, entertainment, and going out-to-eat.
Believe me... things are tough to be a young man or woman who just graduated from school in the last 3 or 4 years. I would argue that things are a lot tougher than when you were my age. What kinds of "luxuries" are you sore that you couldn't afford when you were my age?
Can we please kill this seemingly out-of-the-blue generational term now? It is attempting to describe me, and as a steward of people "born after 1980", I would like to kindly request not to be associated with such a nonsensically named group.
I would actually prefer the Fucked Generation, on account of (a) the out-of-control real estate market which came about as many of us were graduating from our four year universities, and (b) the fact that, as implemented, the Social Security program is going to dry up by the time we are ready to retire in the 2040s.
Combine the inability to buy a house with the inability to rely on public help during retirement and you don't get Generation Millenial -- you get Generation Fucked.
*** Other suggestions for what to call the children of the 80s, though I thought the unofficial term was already Gen Y.
I would be fine with a settlement if the price they had to pay would be enough to fund EFF for a few years, and if they agreed to stop sueing willy-nilly. I have no issue if they keep going after true-infringers (because I am not one of them).
Ultimately, any funds to the EFF would serve a legal arms race against issues that are much more important than being forced to obtain music legally without infringing on somebody's copyright.
Or anybody who was ever given a hard time by the police for saying "Fuck the Police"? Or anybody who was incorrectly led to assume that the world is a pure-and-noble place after listening to the songs on Sesame Street and Mr. Rogers Neighborhood - and later got taken advantage of?
I read your comments and the GP comment... it seems like you both have good points. The conclusion I draw is that Sony benefited from being a horizontally integrated entertainment company with a Movie/Game platform. And Toshiba should have signed a deal with the Microsoft Devil for them to produce a natively HD-DVD compatible XBox 360 (albeit, in 2006 - a year after the original XBox 360 was produced).
Toshiba/Microsoft could have leveraged their entertainment empire by sending consumers with broken XBox 360's the HD-DVD/XBox after most of the original ones burnt out. Free upgrades do wonders to build consumer good-will.
Hindsight is 20/20, though. In any case, I still would argue that Nintendo has "won" the current Video Game generation war, not Sony. And I think most people would give the silver medal to Microsoft...