if real musicians (ala NiN and Radiohead) I found the NiN release to be a piece of crap. Mildly interesting at times, but mostly boring. It only sold because of their brand name and the novelty of the music model.
Offer electronic texts, sell paper based Q/A sections. [...] Charge for the account through the school system so that students have an EASY way to pay if they wish. It's telling that your suggestions end up mimicking the old system you decry. Why are the Q/A sections any different than useful information in a book? Why is there a need to charge for an account when the software can be given away and run for free on the user's local machine?
It's hard to charge for stuff unless you control the distribution, yet you don't like the controls on distribution. Catch 22.
The practice of putting out a new edition every 2-3 years strikes me as the most blatantly illegal and immoral practice used by the publishing industry. Illegal? What's illegal about putting out a new edition of a book?
Generally you should be able to get my intended formatting (without auto-wraps) by making your browser wider or reducing the font-size a bit. Consider that your post is read on thousands of different monitors sizes, resolutions, browser widths, and font sizes. What looks good to you doesn't necessarily look good to somebody else. Let the browser do what it was meant to do -- flow text.
As for your own browser, I think you should shrink the window to something comfortable when composing your message, and reset it afterwards. This also has the benefit that you can make edits without worrying about your line breaks.
One thing I can't understand: How is it that you are comfortable reading other people's comments at full width, if you can't read your own when composting them?
I started out reading your post and was really intrigued by it. Then the bad formatting made me stop reading it. My guess is that you're putting in explicit line breaks instead of just letting the paragraphs flow.
A lot of/. folks are extremely good programmers, and I think don't realize that what's easy for them is not easy for most people. You shouldn't propagate the myth that "extremely good programmers" can handle threading easily. There are fundamental problems that make it not easy. Anybody who thinks it's easy hasn't written a significant program where threads were pervasive or are downplaying the problems.
No programmer writes bug-free code, and the penalty for failure with threads bugs that are hard to find in testing and hard to reproduce.
What you are missing is the source of the CO2. Basically you're dumping a bunch of carbon into the air that you dug from the ground. It's being released at a tremendous rate from sources that took millions of years to develop. You can't just dump this amount into the atmosphere and expect it all to be magically utilized by an explosion in plant life. CO2 is only one of many essential ingredients.
I have a simple question for you. Do you think it would be constitutionally legal for the federal government to require that a camera be present in your living room? Understand this camera and the data it has recorded can only be accessed with a warrant.
The answer may even legally be "yes", and if so, then the we really need a new amendment. It's one thing for the government to conduct searches with a warrant. It's quite another for them to mandate that all your activity be logged so that they may conveniently search it when they obtain a warrant.
Whether the thief contributes or not is irrelevant to whether thievery is a zero-sum game or not. How is the thief "earning" money to buy drugs? By damaging others. This is not a zero sum game.
The only way anybody gets truly wealthy in this country is by bringing other people there with him. Good grief, where do you think all the wealth came from to be concentrated into one individual? They did it by crushing others and charging monopoly prices. Gates. Carnegie. Rockefeller. So they get soft in their old age and start giving their money, to protect their reputation (and if they're religious, maybe because they're worried about judgment).
The thief is producing nothing of value and only taking from society. He's a drain. If half the population didn't work but only stole, do you think that there would be the same amount of wealth if only 5% did?
Much of me wishes MS the very best of the best in these endeavors.
Because I really don't feel like we (the US) have a final trump card (nukes don't count) we could use if we absolutely needed to, should it no longer be in China's best interests to keep the USA in their back pocket. Say, when their economy no longer needs ours to keep theirs employed. If it comes down to nationalism, and China no longer needs the US economy, Microsoft will have no power in China. Their source code will be appropriated.
But, Microsoft is generally very permissive with software made with their SDKs - "Developers developers developers!" You think I send Microsoft a check every time I #include <windows.h>? Remember that everything Microsoft does it to maintain and strengthen their operating systems monopoly. The "developers developers developers!" is for Windows developers. If you want to understand what is meant by open standards, look at how the Internet evolved, and why everybody from Microsoft, to Linux, to an iPhone can all communicate on it. Compare that with this Windows-only SDK.
And if that corruption is useful for the larger good, then i say do it. That's what everybody thinks when they are being corrupt. They rationalize it. Eventually you get to a point where you are as evil as the "evil" you are fighting against, and you have lost the high ground. It's hard to cry "injustice!" when you are just as unjust.
There are times when you "the end justifies the means". You should just be very, very careful when crossing that line, and not cavalier.
After all they are soulless corporates led by CEOs who have 8 houses and a mistress while our only homes are being foreclosed. Many workers make a lot more money than people scrounging around at minimum wage. People losing their jobs to foreigners don't care about the foreigners who may be dirt poor -- they only care that they lost their job. Many of the people who are being foreclosed bought houses they never should have, which just raised the prices for those who were responsible.
The truth is that people, in general, worry about their own success first, and other people second. However, if everybody resorted to lawless and unethical means for their personal issues the world would be a hellhole. As it is now, yes there are problems, but for the most part the system functions.
The site is still perfectly functional [...] *if* you use NoScript. Funny, same thing with Slashdot. Though I haven't gotten around to fixing the craptacular bold borders everywhere that came with the latest style sheet update.
Your approach would not work in today's times, where corporates rule the roost without even having a vote or responsibility. Laws can be circumvented easily through stooges, loopholes, sympathetic judges, presidents-pardoning-criminals, etc. There has always been corruption and injustice. Always. These times are not special, though lots of people in their own particular time seem to think they are going through issues that others haven't.
The fact that the world is largely connected through a free internet is special, and worth fighting for, but not at the point of corrupting the very principles we are fighting for. That's just lazy and dishonest, and frankly weakens the cause and demeans yourself.
Imagine you took your car in for a service check and mechanic says "part fnord is damaged, needs to be replaced, $100". Now maybe he damaged it when you took the car in -- subtly so that it doesn't produce symptoms that weren't there before, but such that if you leave it alone it will break in the future.
You may know in general how a car works, how to change your own oil, etc, but it's complex enough that you can't inspect the car 100% to prevent a dishonest mechanic screwing you over.
As a techie, it's easy for you to look down on those who don't understand the principles. Now I believe that there should be more emphasis on educating, but what it takes to be secure should be made as easy as possible. Only focusing on user ignorance is not the solution either.
Enjoy your fantasy. One day it'll come to an end, either violently or peacefully, sooner or later. The reality is that there are bad people in this world. If every good-willed person thought like you, they would have free reign and your world wouldn't be so peaceful.
Lots of people have gone for years without getting into violent situations (me included). Your anecdotal evidence does nothing to disprove the obvious facts that violence is often used against people.
If you were a shop owner, and the local mafia demanded money, what would you do? This is just one example of many from the real world.
I've lived and had friends in dangerous neighborhoods before. I didn't believe I was safe -- I was consciously aware that I was less safe. However, I walked with confidence and was never accosted. It's a matter of probability, though acting confident certainly helps.
Now if you were in Iraq and some asshole threatened you with death if you didn't leave your home, you might feel differently. Thinking positive thoughts is not some miracle worker.
Slashdot Mirror
It's hard to charge for stuff unless you control the distribution, yet you don't like the controls on distribution. Catch 22.
As for your own browser, I think you should shrink the window to something comfortable when composing your message, and reset it afterwards. This also has the benefit that you can make edits without worrying about your line breaks.
One thing I can't understand: How is it that you are comfortable reading other people's comments at full width, if you can't read your own when composting them?
I started out reading your post and was really intrigued by it. Then the bad formatting made me stop reading it. My guess is that you're putting in explicit line breaks instead of just letting the paragraphs flow.
Which brings us to the Story of Mel.
No programmer writes bug-free code, and the penalty for failure with threads bugs that are hard to find in testing and hard to reproduce.
What you are missing is the source of the CO2. Basically you're dumping a bunch of carbon into the air that you dug from the ground. It's being released at a tremendous rate from sources that took millions of years to develop. You can't just dump this amount into the atmosphere and expect it all to be magically utilized by an explosion in plant life. CO2 is only one of many essential ingredients.
I have a simple question for you. Do you think it would be constitutionally legal for the federal government to require that a camera be present in your living room? Understand this camera and the data it has recorded can only be accessed with a warrant.
The answer may even legally be "yes", and if so, then the we really need a new amendment. It's one thing for the government to conduct searches with a warrant. It's quite another for them to mandate that all your activity be logged so that they may conveniently search it when they obtain a warrant.
The thief is producing nothing of value and only taking from society. He's a drain. If half the population didn't work but only stole, do you think that there would be the same amount of wealth if only 5% did?
Because I really don't feel like we (the US) have a final trump card (nukes don't count) we could use if we absolutely needed to, should it no longer be in China's best interests to keep the USA in their back pocket. Say, when their economy no longer needs ours to keep theirs employed. If it comes down to nationalism, and China no longer needs the US economy, Microsoft will have no power in China. Their source code will be appropriated.
There are times when you "the end justifies the means". You should just be very, very careful when crossing that line, and not cavalier. After all they are soulless corporates led by CEOs who have 8 houses and a mistress while our only homes are being foreclosed. Many workers make a lot more money than people scrounging around at minimum wage. People losing their jobs to foreigners don't care about the foreigners who may be dirt poor -- they only care that they lost their job. Many of the people who are being foreclosed bought houses they never should have, which just raised the prices for those who were responsible.
The truth is that people, in general, worry about their own success first, and other people second. However, if everybody resorted to lawless and unethical means for their personal issues the world would be a hellhole. As it is now, yes there are problems, but for the most part the system functions.
Don't forget the Apple believers.
The fact that the world is largely connected through a free internet is special, and worth fighting for, but not at the point of corrupting the very principles we are fighting for. That's just lazy and dishonest, and frankly weakens the cause and demeans yourself.
Imagine you took your car in for a service check and mechanic says "part fnord is damaged, needs to be replaced, $100". Now maybe he damaged it when you took the car in -- subtly so that it doesn't produce symptoms that weren't there before, but such that if you leave it alone it will break in the future.
You may know in general how a car works, how to change your own oil, etc, but it's complex enough that you can't inspect the car 100% to prevent a dishonest mechanic screwing you over.
As a techie, it's easy for you to look down on those who don't understand the principles. Now I believe that there should be more emphasis on educating, but what it takes to be secure should be made as easy as possible. Only focusing on user ignorance is not the solution either.
Enjoy your fantasy. One day it'll come to an end, either violently or peacefully, sooner or later. The reality is that there are bad people in this world. If every good-willed person thought like you, they would have free reign and your world wouldn't be so peaceful.
Lots of people have gone for years without getting into violent situations (me included). Your anecdotal evidence does nothing to disprove the obvious facts that violence is often used against people.
If you were a shop owner, and the local mafia demanded money, what would you do? This is just one example of many from the real world.
I've lived and had friends in dangerous neighborhoods before. I didn't believe I was safe -- I was consciously aware that I was less safe. However, I walked with confidence and was never accosted. It's a matter of probability, though acting confident certainly helps.
Now if you were in Iraq and some asshole threatened you with death if you didn't leave your home, you might feel differently. Thinking positive thoughts is not some miracle worker.
http://www.research.att.com/~bs/bs_faq.html#C-is-subset
Osama is just an invention of the CIA. Oops, have to run, the giant balloon is after me again.