Has anyone thought yet to ask where the images came from? It seems obvious to me that what could have happened was that Starbucks took photographs taken by the government archaeological society, which the society may have used for post-cards, t-shirts, or other tourism items and placed them on Starbucks mugs without paying fees to the Mexican government for those photographs.
Mexico's government archaeological agency says the images of the Aztec calendar stone and the Pyramid of the Moon from the pre-Aztec ruins of Teotihuacan are the intellectual property of the nation. The agency will decide how much Starbucks should pay.
Which seems to imply, to my mind, that this isn't the matter of specific photographs being copied, but rather that the Mexican government considers any photographs of these artefacts/sites to be the intellectual property of Mexico.
That being said I have yet to find any site or news provider, that referees to this case in more detail; so I shall hold my judgement until then.
And, as far as I am given to understand, one reason for this initiative is because of problems such as when The City of Wilson, North Carolina, decided it was tired of the large ISP denying them broadband access and took matters into their own hands; creating Greenlight. As debated in this slashdot thread.
The good people of Wilson, NC pay $99/month for 10/10 Mbps internet service, 81 TV channels and telephone service. How'd they manage that, you ask? Well, the city-owned and operated cable service called Greenlight came into being when the City of Wilson approached TWC and local DSL provider Embarq and requested faster service for the area. 'TWC refused the request. And so Greenlight was born,' says blogger Peter Smith. 'Now Time Warner Cable and Embarq are upset that they've got competition, and rather than try to go head to head with Greenlight on price and service, they've instead been lobbying the state government of NC to pass laws to put Greenlight out of business.
As I have read about this case local businesses and private citizens lobbied and organized and eventually got the project financed by the issuing of bonds. Quote from their FAQ "The funds for constructing the fiber network come from bonds issued by the City of Wilson. Tax revenues are not being used to fund this project in any way."
With large ISP's fighting local democracy I can understand why public pressure for better broadband infrastructure arises.
These places do pay for it. Kinda dumb about how the system works, aren't you?
As the poster you are trying to bash already refereed to, agriculture (most notably corn production) is subsidised, and heavily so, by the federal government. In other words taxes ensures large quantities of cheap corn, which is used for a wide range of products, and that, at least compared to decades before this program was instigated, food is relatively affordable and available.
So while "these places do pay for it" the reason they can, and at the price they do, is because of taxes and government subsidies. Probably there are other goods and services that benefit from state or federal discounts and subsidies.
Valve still supports Half-Life 1 under Steam which is 10 years old. The obvious downside is that you pay for the game server. But I still like this model better than having my games killed after a year.
While I have no direct knowledge of how http://www.catchgamer.no/ finance their servers, it is a Norwegian GamingPortal site that seem to be running a lot of CS, CS:S, Action Quake 2, QuakeWorld, Quake 3 CPMA VQ3, Rocket Arena 3, Quake 4 and TF2 servers. So even if you personally can't, or won't, pay for a server, if your chosen game remains popular enough chances are various sites, and clans, will continue to run their own servers for years.
I'll claim rights on a second story and write the one that has the pilot still sitting in the cockpit with his chest blown out.
How about something original. Like a story about how its not a plane but an alien spacecraft carrying an extraterrestrial shapechanging parasite that begins killing off staff at a Antarctica research base.
...of course this is probably a junk "service," but it's unlikely that the reference PCs were bloated with the sort of crap that they MIGHT be removing in the service.
Sure, they probably update drivers and "set aside" obvious bloatware, but other than that, they can't do anything -- and your reference PCs are probably least likely to get benefit from that, ahem, service.
Running spybot, reg-scan, defragmentation, driver updates; and cleaning out dust (and cat hairs) from the various fans on my parents computer makes it go about 200% faster once a year!
you do realize that the author received just a fraction of that money ? probably 20%
I do, and if Sigler had a "Donate Money Directly" section on his site I would have done that; though I shall admit it is physiologically satisfying to gain a token for your money; even if it is just a note in a database for e-readers.
The first clue of where all those downloaders are really spending their money came in searching for games statistics: year after year ELSPA had hailed "a record year". In fact if you look at the graph above, you'll see that games spend has risen dramatically - from £1.18bn in 1999 to £4.03bn in 2008.
Meanwhile music spending (allowing for that * of adjustment in 2004 onwards) has gone from £1.94bn to £1.31bn.
DVD sales and rentals, meanwhile, have nearly doubled, from a total of £1.286bn in 1999 to £2.56bn in 2008.
If we assume that there's roughly the same amount of discretionary spending available (which, even allowing for the credit bubble, should be roughly true; most of the credit went into houses), then it's clear who the culprit is: the games industry. By 2009, the amount spent in games and music is almost exactly the same as 1999 (though note that the music industry changed its methods from 2004).
Anyway, I don't go in for that silly god-stuff. I'm a devout taoist. Tell me my beliefs are a joke and I'll laugh along.
As an agnostic buddhist I think your beliefs are as much a joke as mine; and writing that made me giggle.
Though being a pedantic bastard I will argue that the definitions of Buddhist, Taoist, Christian, Socialist, Capitalist, Tourist and etc, are so general and all-encompassing as to be next to meaningless. Though being a buddhist and believing that ideas only hold as much meaning as you convince yourself that they do I would say that now wouldn't I.
They are necessary. The fact that Japan is so successful right now is due to us being lazy and let's face it, science was manipulated for political gains through the new millennium.
As you said political and religious machinations has contributed to something of an anti-intellectual vibe. Though it should be considered that some parts of the Japanese educational system is better, at least better at allowing the "best and brightest" of their young generations to purse their chosen path regardless of what economical situation they might have been born into. That being said I know next to nothing about the American educational system, and even less about the Japanese one. But I will argue that the decline of American technological supremacy goes further back than just these last years, and deeper than just a religious resurgence( though no doubt that is part of it).
This is of course simple speculation on my part; but I tend to believe that questions (at least those related to social and economical subjects) rarely have one easy answer or cause.
So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself -- nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance.
does seem to hold a deeper truth about the tendencies of human society in general. Fear makes people go to great and horrible lengths to preserve their own safety and ideals; even so far as to destroy said ideals and safety in the process.
when my favorite writers put out a book i buy it. they just don't as often as i'd like and the new writers that are getting fronted i'm not impressed by.
But when a new independent writer puts out parts of his/her material online for free checking it out becomes a lot easier. Though I shall agree; most of what is actively marketed these days are not to my particular liking.
ebook readers buy more paper books than other readers, and this is a suprise ?
Someone who is willing to spend 200-400 dollars on a e-reader is already a heavy reader, practically by definition.
Not to mention that when you can buy books directly through your reader/computer the barrier for doing so is lessened. Seeing a book that looks interesting, to purchasing a copy of said book is lowered (in my opinion), when all you need to do is press a few buttons and said book is all ready to go for your enjoyment. Kinda how I bought five games off Steam this holiday season simply because it was a good deal (or so I have convinced myself). If I had to go down to a shop to look at what bargains or items they had in stock chances are that I wouldn't have bought as many, or maybe even none at all since I am too occupied (read: bloody lazy) to go down there.
At some future point I will get myself an e-reader and I reckon that, just like when I got Steam, the number of products I purchase will increase dramatically (though it should be added that the arrival of steam happened around the same time that my financial situation improved and allowed for more purchases of that nature). Right now I buy a book now and again, or several if I discover a new author that I enjoy, but for the most part I shall admit that I am far less inclined to just "grabbing a random book off the shelves" as I was a few years back. With the practicality of being seeing a book referenced in a blog/review/article/etc and buying said book within seconds I can imagine by digital library will grow rapidly.
Just look how iTunes completely stopped selling anything when they started offering non-copy-protected books - oh wait, they didn't.
While not exactly the same; I checked out Scott Sigler
s podcasts of his own novels (for free on his site), since I listened through all of it (and enjoyed it) I decided to buy his books in hardcover to support him. While I would probably have bought them in an e-book format if I could (as in if I had an e-reader and there was a good e-book service), ordering and buying them through my local store was fine and made me feel all warm and cuddly inside from supporting local businesses that I enjoy frequenting.
While e-book piracy might be an issue, my personal opinion on piracy (of all types of content) is that the only way to effectively lessen it is to have good online stores where those with the inclination and economical capacity to do so can legally purchase such articles. Draconian DRM systems does not work, or only works to a very limited extent while making life harder and less enjoyable for those that actually do want to buy their products legally.
As for "artistic ownership" I can not imagine that the "open source culture" imagined by Alexie will ever be able to change laws and general opinion to such an extend that authors/artists lose control of the commercial aspects of their own products (maybe a reduction in copyright length from its current standard at most). It is a great leap, in my mind, from the concept of distributing content created by others to being able to use that material for financial gain without the artists approval. Which is how I interpreted his fears.
The image quality in a cinema, or at home on a Blue-Ray, is at this point at such a level that it hardly matters IF film can be of a higher quality under optimal conditions. And with the digital standards sure to improve further over the next couple of decades, I feel a return to a renewed version of film is unlikely.
As mentioned above digital also has significant advantage when it comes to long term storage, not to mention organizing/sorting. One could argue that digital only last as long as it is maintained on one server or another; but the same could be said for film. At least with digital the quality should remain consistent for the duration of our civilization.
You'd actually need to attack from 3 very different directions for a saucer shape to be a liability.
Not to mention that our alien overlords have proven that when they drop by for a quick visit their crafts tend to be reported as "saucer shaped". Thus we can conclude that saucer shaped crafts works for space flight!
Google desktop stopping Demigod from launching. I say "for example" since that's the example given in the article that you didn't bother to read.
Of course, as the article mentioned, Stardock is one of those companies that actual DO offer a refund; at least for customers that have trouble running their software.
We require that you utilize our technical support services prior to issuing a refund. Tech support can be contacted at support@stardock.com. If it is determined that your problems cannot be rectified, technical support will instruct you on how to receive a full refund. Do not contact sales about a full refund without first contacting technical support. Sales will not fully refund your sale without an RMA from technical support. We do not charge for technical support.
We do not give refunds on beta or pre-release versions of software or subscription renewals. Refunds are only available for fully-released programs.
In fact, almost everyone on the net is a spammer. It's kind of a secret club, where you have to pass a secret trial, to gain your secret right of entry. It's so secret, I shouldn't even be divulging this secret information.
Order your copy of the Secret Guide to Membership NOW. Only 19.99$, for 29.99$ you get the extra DvD and you own genuine signet ring!
Unless of course you go to a public library and use a public terminal. Though that is almost like having sex with a random stranger while wearing a ruptured condom.
Who said it has to be free? In Finland, for example, you have the right to have access to an Internet connection in your home. No one said it needed to be free.
More or less the same for Norway. The Government mandated that coverage should be as close to universal as possible. However just because coverage is universal don't mean that it's is free, only that the possibility of decent access should be present. If you want internet, you have to pay for it.
If cities and districts shall have equal broadband access then everyone should be able to get high-speed broadband with a minimum capacity if 50/10 Mbit/s and mobil broadband with minimum 8/1 Mbit/s.
-A well-developed broadband nett is a precondition for the development of welfare services, economical development in the districts, and to ensure all citizens equal access to information. Broadband is a fundamental infrastructure of society, equal with roads, water and electricity.
These statements followed the release of a report "Mål og virkemidler for bredere bredbånd" (only in Norwegian so far). "Goals and means for broader broadband."
A rapport from 07.07.2009 (also only in Norwegian); estimated that the coverage of broadband in Norway (defined as minimum 640 kbit/s capacity) was now at 99,9%. A few years back it was decided that full internet coverage, or as close as it was possible to get (Norway have some mountainous areas that are devilishly hard to cover), should be official policy of the Norwegian Government.
10 Point at suspect and say "hi you!"
20 Physical restrain a suspect for attempting to resist arrest.
30 Charge a suspect with attempting to resist arrest.
40 Go to 20
Slashdot Mirror
Has anyone thought yet to ask where the images came from? It seems obvious to me that what could have happened was that Starbucks took photographs taken by the government archaeological society, which the society may have used for post-cards, t-shirts, or other tourism items and placed them on Starbucks mugs without paying fees to the Mexican government for those photographs.
I tried to search around the web a bit, but the only thing I found was this quote from the Washington Examiner
Mexico's government archaeological agency says the images of the Aztec calendar stone and the Pyramid of the Moon from the pre-Aztec ruins of Teotihuacan are the intellectual property of the nation. The agency will decide how much Starbucks should pay.
Which seems to imply, to my mind, that this isn't the matter of specific photographs being copied, but rather that the Mexican government considers any photographs of these artefacts/sites to be the intellectual property of Mexico.
That being said I have yet to find any site or news provider, that referees to this case in more detail; so I shall hold my judgement until then.
As debated in this slashdot thread.
The good people of Wilson, NC pay $99/month for 10/10 Mbps internet service, 81 TV channels and telephone service. How'd they manage that, you ask? Well, the city-owned and operated cable service called Greenlight came into being when the City of Wilson approached TWC and local DSL provider Embarq and requested faster service for the area. 'TWC refused the request. And so Greenlight was born,' says blogger Peter Smith. 'Now Time Warner Cable and Embarq are upset that they've got competition, and rather than try to go head to head with Greenlight on price and service, they've instead been lobbying the state government of NC to pass laws to put Greenlight out of business.
As I have read about this case local businesses and private citizens lobbied and organized and eventually got the project financed by the issuing of bonds. Quote from their FAQ "The funds for constructing the fiber network come from bonds issued by the City of Wilson. Tax revenues are not being used to fund this project in any way."
With large ISP's fighting local democracy I can understand why public pressure for better broadband infrastructure arises.
These places do pay for it. Kinda dumb about how the system works, aren't you?
As the poster you are trying to bash already refereed to, agriculture (most notably corn production) is subsidised, and heavily so, by the federal government. In other words taxes ensures large quantities of cheap corn, which is used for a wide range of products, and that, at least compared to decades before this program was instigated, food is relatively affordable and available.
So while "these places do pay for it" the reason they can, and at the price they do, is because of taxes and government subsidies. Probably there are other goods and services that benefit from state or federal discounts and subsidies.
Valve still supports Half-Life 1 under Steam which is 10 years old. The obvious downside is that you pay for the game server. But I still like this model better than having my games killed after a year.
While I have no direct knowledge of how http://www.catchgamer.no/ finance their servers, it is a Norwegian GamingPortal site that seem to be running a lot of CS, CS:S, Action Quake 2, QuakeWorld, Quake 3 CPMA VQ3, Rocket Arena 3, Quake 4 and TF2 servers. So even if you personally can't, or won't, pay for a server, if your chosen game remains popular enough chances are various sites, and clans, will continue to run their own servers for years.
I'll claim rights on a second story and write the one that has the pilot still sitting in the cockpit with his chest blown out.
How about something original. Like a story about how its not a plane but an alien spacecraft carrying an extraterrestrial shapechanging parasite that begins killing off staff at a Antarctica research base.
...of course this is probably a junk "service," but it's unlikely that the reference PCs were bloated with the sort of crap that they MIGHT be removing in the service.
Sure, they probably update drivers and "set aside" obvious bloatware, but other than that, they can't do anything -- and your reference PCs are probably least likely to get benefit from that, ahem, service.
Running spybot, reg-scan, defragmentation, driver updates; and cleaning out dust (and cat hairs) from the various fans on my parents computer makes it go about 200% faster once a year!
Why not just come out and say it? "I'm afraid of things I don't understand! Let's kill it!"
And eat it! Fried in batter! Yum yum
you do realize that the author received just a fraction of that money ? probably 20%
I do, and if Sigler had a "Donate Money Directly" section on his site I would have done that; though I shall admit it is physiologically satisfying to gain a token for your money; even if it is just a note in a database for e-readers.
How often do you see the net total adjusted for the current economic situation? Are the book markets actually loosing money?
On a related topic Charles Arthur tried to go through various numbers and statistic as related to music piracy in this article on The Guardian's site.
The first clue of where all those downloaders are really spending their money came in searching for games statistics: year after year ELSPA had hailed "a record year". In fact if you look at the graph above, you'll see that games spend has risen dramatically - from £1.18bn in 1999 to £4.03bn in 2008.
Meanwhile music spending (allowing for that * of adjustment in 2004 onwards) has gone from £1.94bn to £1.31bn.
DVD sales and rentals, meanwhile, have nearly doubled, from a total of £1.286bn in 1999 to £2.56bn in 2008.
If we assume that there's roughly the same amount of discretionary spending available (which, even allowing for the credit bubble, should be roughly true; most of the credit went into houses), then it's clear who the culprit is: the games industry. By 2009, the amount spent in games and music is almost exactly the same as 1999 (though note that the music industry changed its methods from 2004).
Link to graph refered to.
Anyway, I don't go in for that silly god-stuff. I'm a devout taoist. Tell me my beliefs are a joke and I'll laugh along.
As an agnostic buddhist I think your beliefs are as much a joke as mine; and writing that made me giggle.
Though being a pedantic bastard I will argue that the definitions of Buddhist, Taoist, Christian, Socialist, Capitalist, Tourist and etc, are so general and all-encompassing as to be next to meaningless. Though being a buddhist and believing that ideas only hold as much meaning as you convince yourself that they do I would say that now wouldn't I.
They are necessary. The fact that Japan is so successful right now is due to us being lazy and let's face it, science was manipulated for political gains through the new millennium.
As you said political and religious machinations has contributed to something of an anti-intellectual vibe. Though it should be considered that some parts of the Japanese educational system is better, at least better at allowing the "best and brightest" of their young generations to purse their chosen path regardless of what economical situation they might have been born into. That being said I know next to nothing about the American educational system, and even less about the Japanese one. But I will argue that the decline of American technological supremacy goes further back than just these last years, and deeper than just a religious resurgence( though no doubt that is part of it).
This is of course simple speculation on my part; but I tend to believe that questions (at least those related to social and economical subjects) rarely have one easy answer or cause.
So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself -- nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance.
does seem to hold a deeper truth about the tendencies of human society in general. Fear makes people go to great and horrible lengths to preserve their own safety and ideals; even so far as to destroy said ideals and safety in the process.
when my favorite writers put out a book i buy it. they just don't as often as i'd like and the new writers that are getting fronted i'm not impressed by.
But when a new independent writer puts out parts of his/her material online for free checking it out becomes a lot easier. Though I shall agree; most of what is actively marketed these days are not to my particular liking.
ebook readers buy more paper books than other readers, and this is a suprise ?
Someone who is willing to spend 200-400 dollars on a e-reader is already a heavy reader, practically by definition.
Not to mention that when you can buy books directly through your reader/computer the barrier for doing so is lessened. Seeing a book that looks interesting, to purchasing a copy of said book is lowered (in my opinion), when all you need to do is press a few buttons and said book is all ready to go for your enjoyment. Kinda how I bought five games off Steam this holiday season simply because it was a good deal (or so I have convinced myself). If I had to go down to a shop to look at what bargains or items they had in stock chances are that I wouldn't have bought as many, or maybe even none at all since I am too occupied (read: bloody lazy) to go down there.
At some future point I will get myself an e-reader and I reckon that, just like when I got Steam, the number of products I purchase will increase dramatically (though it should be added that the arrival of steam happened around the same time that my financial situation improved and allowed for more purchases of that nature). Right now I buy a book now and again, or several if I discover a new author that I enjoy, but for the most part I shall admit that I am far less inclined to just "grabbing a random book off the shelves" as I was a few years back. With the practicality of being seeing a book referenced in a blog/review/article/etc and buying said book within seconds I can imagine by digital library will grow rapidly.
Just look how iTunes completely stopped selling anything when they started offering non-copy-protected books - oh wait, they didn't.
While not exactly the same; I checked out Scott Sigler s podcasts of his own novels (for free on his site), since I listened through all of it (and enjoyed it) I decided to buy his books in hardcover to support him. While I would probably have bought them in an e-book format if I could (as in if I had an e-reader and there was a good e-book service), ordering and buying them through my local store was fine and made me feel all warm and cuddly inside from supporting local businesses that I enjoy frequenting.
While e-book piracy might be an issue, my personal opinion on piracy (of all types of content) is that the only way to effectively lessen it is to have good online stores where those with the inclination and economical capacity to do so can legally purchase such articles. Draconian DRM systems does not work, or only works to a very limited extent while making life harder and less enjoyable for those that actually do want to buy their products legally.
As for "artistic ownership" I can not imagine that the "open source culture" imagined by Alexie will ever be able to change laws and general opinion to such an extend that authors/artists lose control of the commercial aspects of their own products (maybe a reduction in copyright length from its current standard at most). It is a great leap, in my mind, from the concept of distributing content created by others to being able to use that material for financial gain without the artists approval. Which is how I interpreted his fears.
The image quality in a cinema, or at home on a Blue-Ray, is at this point at such a level that it hardly matters IF film can be of a higher quality under optimal conditions. And with the digital standards sure to improve further over the next couple of decades, I feel a return to a renewed version of film is unlikely.
As mentioned above digital also has significant advantage when it comes to long term storage, not to mention organizing/sorting. One could argue that digital only last as long as it is maintained on one server or another; but the same could be said for film. At least with digital the quality should remain consistent for the duration of our civilization.
You'd actually need to attack from 3 very different directions for a saucer shape to be a liability.
Not to mention that our alien overlords have proven that when they drop by for a quick visit their crafts tend to be reported as "saucer shaped". Thus we can conclude that saucer shaped crafts works for space flight!
Google desktop stopping Demigod from launching. I say "for example" since that's the example given in the article that you didn't bother to read.
Of course, as the article mentioned, Stardock is one of those companies that actual DO offer a refund; at least for customers that have trouble running their software.
Quote from their FAQ page
RETURN POLICY - Software published by Stardock
We require that you utilize our technical support services prior to issuing a refund. Tech support can be contacted at support@stardock.com. If it is determined that your problems cannot be rectified, technical support will instruct you on how to receive a full refund. Do not contact sales about a full refund without first contacting technical support. Sales will not fully refund your sale without an RMA from technical support. We do not charge for technical support.
We do not give refunds on beta or pre-release versions of software or subscription renewals. Refunds are only available for fully-released programs.
In fact, almost everyone on the net is a spammer. It's kind of a secret club, where you have to pass a secret trial, to gain your secret right of entry. It's so secret, I shouldn't even be divulging this secret information.
Order your copy of the Secret Guide to Membership NOW. Only 19.99$, for 29.99$ you get the extra DvD and you own genuine signet ring!
I for one welcome images of our Great Old Overlords bathed in infra-red light!
If you want internet, you have to pay for it.
Unless of course you go to a public library and use a public terminal. Though that is almost like having sex with a random stranger while wearing a ruptured condom.
Who said it has to be free? In Finland, for example, you have the right to have access to an Internet connection in your home. No one said it needed to be free.
More or less the same for Norway. The Government mandated that coverage should be as close to universal as possible. However just because coverage is universal don't mean that it's is free, only that the possibility of decent access should be present. If you want internet, you have to pay for it.
(Poorly) Translated by me from the following Press release, 04.09.2009:
If cities and districts shall have equal broadband access then everyone should be able to get high-speed broadband with a minimum capacity if 50/10 Mbit/s and mobil broadband with minimum 8/1 Mbit/s.
-A well-developed broadband nett is a precondition for the development of welfare services, economical development in the districts, and to ensure all citizens equal access to information. Broadband is a fundamental infrastructure of society, equal with roads, water and electricity.
These statements followed the release of a report "Mål og virkemidler for bredere bredbånd" (only in Norwegian so far). "Goals and means for broader broadband."
A rapport from 07.07.2009 (also only in Norwegian); estimated that the coverage of broadband in Norway (defined as minimum 640 kbit/s capacity) was now at 99,9%. A few years back it was decided that full internet coverage, or as close as it was possible to get (Norway have some mountainous areas that are devilishly hard to cover), should be official policy of the Norwegian Government.
..and remain on the alert for any possible abuses.
Being alert for possible abuses is a crime! Unreasonable bias towards police!
10 Point at suspect and say "hi you!"
20 Physical restrain a suspect for attempting to resist arrest.
30 Charge a suspect with attempting to resist arrest.
40 Go to 20