350.00 per month is more than most consumers are willing to plunk down. I don't see myself spending that kind of money. It is more practical for a business that needs that kind of bandwidth.
Well, we know the CEOs, CIOs, and CFOs have admitted to it. Yes, it is a misuse of taxpayer funded systems but I don't think it is really that bad. It would be worse if said politican were railing against pornography all the while engaging in it. Nothing pisses me off more than a hypocritical politican so I guess I hate most, if not all politicans.
Looks like the MPEG LA bastards are caving in somewhat to the pressure. I'll bet they are afraid the behemouth Google and their new codec making MPEG irrelevant. I hope this does not stop Google. I believe that video should be both open source and royalty unencumbered.
For some reason, statistical "proof" (note that I am using proof fast and loose) seems to convince most people. Why do you think statistics are thrown about like candy? They are easily made up and easily sold to a gullable public. Many people shrug their shoulders and accept the bullshit as fact. On an aside, in Hooter's restaurants, they have little signs on their packaging like, "99.9% of statistics are made up."
Security through obscurity is no security at all.
I strongly doubt that the existence of this system is a mystery to the government of Iran, at least not if it is beyond a certain level of popularity.
Uh, I don't really think this is obscurity. A more appropriate term would be obfuscation for this is exactly what Austin Heap's innovation is doing. This is a rather clever and ingenious way of getting around censorship. I also would not overestimate the Iranian government. If a URL can successfully be obfuscated, it would be difficult for censorship to uncover this.
Clearly they need to strike a balance, but let's be honest here. A few years ago, the 'pure' Discovery Channel you liked could take literally any topic, no matter how interesting, and make it a cure for insomnia. While I agree they've swung the pendulum entirely too far in the other direction, that doesn't mean that their 'HD filming of something interesting with a narrator putting you to sleep with a monotone commentary' style was somehow stellar tv either.
A balance does need to be struck but the pendulum has swung too far in the opposite direction. Now it is nothing more than theatrics.
I highly doubt their programming decisions have been based on a "this or we close" decision. Their decision is the same as every other major tv entertainment company's decision. Make the cheapest shows possible. Reality TV is incredibly cheap to produce in comparison to shows that actually need more than a VO writer and a small run-around camera crew. I'm sure Discovery must pay higher insurance premiums for their shows (they're dangerous!) but it's still a drop in the bucket. If discovery had created fewer channels and spent more on each show they'd have a higher quality product...but they'd also have less time in which to book advertisers. I do wish Discovery would take more note of Radiolab because a week's worth of discovery shows doesn't carry nearly the level of information or intrigue as a single Radiolab episode. Radiolab is also not about profit but about quality (it's NPR/WNYC.) So, in short, more Radiolab and less Deadliest Catch.
No, I don't quite agree. I think, sadly, that this is what the new American audience demands. They find educational material slow and boring so they have to jazz it up with all kinds of superfluous drama.
Have you ever considered maybe such programming would be necessary to its survival or existence? The alternative may be having no Discovery Channel whatsoever.
I'm not saying it's right or in the spirit of the channel. Just food for thought. Nothing is so cut and dry. "High-quality educational programming or bust!"
I have and it is a shame that our society has dumbed down so much that we've gone to this!
The Discovery Channel has really disappointed me. It used to be that they put out good, educational television shows. Now, they've added all kinds of extra drama to shows to supposedly make them more interesting but in reality they have a dumbed down appearance. Now, they also have gone the reality tv route. I fail to see how Deadliest Catch really teaches us anything - it is really only drama. I remember when TLC and DSC really had good educational shows that could captivate thinking audiences without all the bleeped out cursing and melodramatic garbage. It would seem that the last of the truly informative and educational shows are on PBS.
This might be flamebait my personal opinion is that this idea is abject stupidity. I don't see any benefits as the ship still must be moored for ground power. I could see this being really good economically if you could anchor the ship in a place where you could harness waves for power. Perhaps, the only benefit is mobility - you could move the data center to where it is needed. However, with the urban blight resulting from the latest economic meltdown, why not grab up some of the abandoned buildings, rehabilitate them, and turn them into working datacenters thereby creating jobs for other industries and making America look better.
Given the recent legal victory that makes jailbreaking iPhones neither a criminal nor tort act, I'd say TI is being awfully brazen. I think this needs to be brought up in front of the same commission that reached said ruling. Unfortunately, TI has a monopoly in the graphing/programmable calculator area and I fear that they might throw patent-litigation threats in the face of anyone trying build a competitive, open-source equivalent.
I've heard of using old shipping containers as building material now that the economy has tanked and there are an abundance of them. It turns out that re-purposing these rugged containers into homes and offices work very well - arguably, it is stronger than the current construction methods. A design that would incorporate this material would certainly get my backing. This is much more eco-friendly and removes some of the urban blight.
Space would be an excellent power source but the difficulty lies in harnessing and transmitting it back to earth. I've seen wilder theories of transmitting power wirelessly and I just don't think this is safe. I think we should be looking at fusion reaction as a long term source.
Trouble is, Obama's strategy WRT the economy reminds me of an old children's story that goes like this:
Mom accidentally poured salt into her coffee instead of sugar. Naturally this didn't taste right and was undrinkable. The whole family packed up and consulted scientists the world over, trying to find a solution to the problem -- but nothing worked. The coffee still tasted like it had salt in it.
Finally one of the kids spoke up: "Mom, why don't you just dump it out and pour a new cup of coffee??"
I think the above should not have been modded as a troll. It was a rather astute analogy. Why should you keep doing what you are doing if you still get the same negative result? The definition of stupidity is repeating your actions full knowing that the outcome will not be any different. It seems like this is what the government is doing in its half-baked attempts at economic recovery.
So what you're saying is that the unemployed have obsolete skillsets, and probably should be spending their time out of work learning new ones so that they can find jobs?
No, I am not saying that at all. I am simply pointing out that the key to economic recovery does not lie in green jobs.
So, what you're saying is, unless Obama can come up with one single, perfect jobs solution that will blanket "the socio-economic stratem" with high-paying, permanent positions, there's absolutely no point in doing anything at all.
Actually no, you jumped to a conclusion. What I was saying is that more needs to be done than simply going green. We need to become a country that manufactures again. By only plugging money into a service, we aren't securing a future.
The unfortunate reality of this is that the "thousands of jobs created" is, at best, an overestimation and would really only open the opportunity to a small number of people. Jobs like these are very highly skilled and specialized which might re-employ about 2%-5% of the approximately 25 million unemployed. In the grand scheme of things, only a politican could celebrate this. Jobs need to be created across the socio-economic stratem in order for there to be meaningful economic recovery. Even if we looked at the rosiest side of this claim, the only people getting full time, permanent employment would be the solar engineers. The installers and the IT professionals would most likely be outsourced or hired as temporary, project labor. Thus, once the project is completed, we are only marginally better off economically. This is certainly not to say that we will being do our ailing planet a very large favor! But let's call a spade, a spade. We are not really helping our economy but helping the planet!
Anyone remember this cartoon show? There was an episode where Buster Bunny was working for Acme Rent-a-Friend. While it was funny, it also made for good social commentary. It seemed to hint that people will go at great lengths to make money, so much so that they will prey on people's basic need for companionship.
I am a little disappointed in VP8 and it looks like it may not be the game changer that it was touted to be. It basically comes down to the fallacy of the software patent. It scares off innovation because people are afraid of being sued. It is my belief that patents were designed to protect tangible, mechanical or electrical engineering innovations not pieces of code which drive a machine. I fully believe in the philosophy behind patenting a mechanical engineering innovation. It seems like weekly we hear about the US PTO granting a software patent for something that really isn't an innovation. The patent laws of the United States are in desperate need of reform but, then again, so are the tax and financial laws. Software patents created a group of oligarchs called the MPEG-LA.
I am a major proponent of free speech and I am Jewish. If someone wants to write speeches against me or my group, fine, it is their right to do so so long as speech is all that it is. One of the most important and cherished freedoms in the United States is free speech, even if it's racist or what people deem vile and disgusting. The best way to counter racism and hatred is not through laws that regulate its associated speech and expression, but through education. Combatting racism begins with education! I hate racism as much as any educated person but I realize that regulating speech leads down a slippery slope where there is no return. I can cite Governor Lester Maddox as a result. Lester Maddox was probably a last symbol of the bastion of Jim Crowism in America. As he got older and became more educated, he realized he was wrong and publicly admitted being so.
Finally, pornography does not need regulation beyond child pornography. Child pornography does exploit children and minors and needs to be rigorously enforced, but beyond that, the government need not further regulate/criminalize the industry. I see absolutely no harm in adult pornography. We as Americans are puritanical and hypocritical about sex and pornography - look at the Europeans and Japanese as they take a much more liberal stance. Overall, they have a healthier and less conflicted society.
That's just plain unpatriotic of Verizon! Pretty evil too! I guess companies these days have no conscience and their only creed is money, money, money.
Considering Chase was one of the few that played recklessly with our money, I guess I wouldn't have to worry about their insecure system anyway because I wouldn't give them my money if they were the last bank in America. Instead it will be the First National Bank of My Mattress.
Slashdot Mirror
350.00 per month is more than most consumers are willing to plunk down. I don't see myself spending that kind of money. It is more practical for a business that needs that kind of bandwidth.
Well, we know the CEOs, CIOs, and CFOs have admitted to it. Yes, it is a misuse of taxpayer funded systems but I don't think it is really that bad. It would be worse if said politican were railing against pornography all the while engaging in it. Nothing pisses me off more than a hypocritical politican so I guess I hate most, if not all politicans.
Or from Intercourse, PA
Looks like the MPEG LA bastards are caving in somewhat to the pressure. I'll bet they are afraid the behemouth Google and their new codec making MPEG irrelevant. I hope this does not stop Google. I believe that video should be both open source and royalty unencumbered.
For some reason, statistical "proof" (note that I am using proof fast and loose) seems to convince most people. Why do you think statistics are thrown about like candy? They are easily made up and easily sold to a gullable public. Many people shrug their shoulders and accept the bullshit as fact. On an aside, in Hooter's restaurants, they have little signs on their packaging like, "99.9% of statistics are made up."
Security through obscurity is no security at all. I strongly doubt that the existence of this system is a mystery to the government of Iran, at least not if it is beyond a certain level of popularity.
Uh, I don't really think this is obscurity. A more appropriate term would be obfuscation for this is exactly what Austin Heap's innovation is doing. This is a rather clever and ingenious way of getting around censorship. I also would not overestimate the Iranian government. If a URL can successfully be obfuscated, it would be difficult for censorship to uncover this.
Clearly they need to strike a balance, but let's be honest here. A few years ago, the 'pure' Discovery Channel you liked could take literally any topic, no matter how interesting, and make it a cure for insomnia. While I agree they've swung the pendulum entirely too far in the other direction, that doesn't mean that their 'HD filming of something interesting with a narrator putting you to sleep with a monotone commentary' style was somehow stellar tv either.
A balance does need to be struck but the pendulum has swung too far in the opposite direction. Now it is nothing more than theatrics.
I highly doubt their programming decisions have been based on a "this or we close" decision. Their decision is the same as every other major tv entertainment company's decision. Make the cheapest shows possible. Reality TV is incredibly cheap to produce in comparison to shows that actually need more than a VO writer and a small run-around camera crew. I'm sure Discovery must pay higher insurance premiums for their shows (they're dangerous!) but it's still a drop in the bucket. If discovery had created fewer channels and spent more on each show they'd have a higher quality product...but they'd also have less time in which to book advertisers. I do wish Discovery would take more note of Radiolab because a week's worth of discovery shows doesn't carry nearly the level of information or intrigue as a single Radiolab episode. Radiolab is also not about profit but about quality (it's NPR/WNYC.) So, in short, more Radiolab and less Deadliest Catch.
No, I don't quite agree. I think, sadly, that this is what the new American audience demands. They find educational material slow and boring so they have to jazz it up with all kinds of superfluous drama.
Have you ever considered maybe such programming would be necessary to its survival or existence? The alternative may be having no Discovery Channel whatsoever.
I'm not saying it's right or in the spirit of the channel. Just food for thought. Nothing is so cut and dry. "High-quality educational programming or bust!"
I have and it is a shame that our society has dumbed down so much that we've gone to this!
The Discovery Channel has really disappointed me. It used to be that they put out good, educational television shows. Now, they've added all kinds of extra drama to shows to supposedly make them more interesting but in reality they have a dumbed down appearance. Now, they also have gone the reality tv route. I fail to see how Deadliest Catch really teaches us anything - it is really only drama. I remember when TLC and DSC really had good educational shows that could captivate thinking audiences without all the bleeped out cursing and melodramatic garbage. It would seem that the last of the truly informative and educational shows are on PBS.
Good point - not to mention that ships maintenance is very, very expensive.
This might be flamebait my personal opinion is that this idea is abject stupidity. I don't see any benefits as the ship still must be moored for ground power. I could see this being really good economically if you could anchor the ship in a place where you could harness waves for power. Perhaps, the only benefit is mobility - you could move the data center to where it is needed. However, with the urban blight resulting from the latest economic meltdown, why not grab up some of the abandoned buildings, rehabilitate them, and turn them into working datacenters thereby creating jobs for other industries and making America look better.
Given the recent legal victory that makes jailbreaking iPhones neither a criminal nor tort act, I'd say TI is being awfully brazen. I think this needs to be brought up in front of the same commission that reached said ruling. Unfortunately, TI has a monopoly in the graphing/programmable calculator area and I fear that they might throw patent-litigation threats in the face of anyone trying build a competitive, open-source equivalent.
I've heard of using old shipping containers as building material now that the economy has tanked and there are an abundance of them. It turns out that re-purposing these rugged containers into homes and offices work very well - arguably, it is stronger than the current construction methods. A design that would incorporate this material would certainly get my backing. This is much more eco-friendly and removes some of the urban blight.
Troll != "I disagree"
Space would be an excellent power source but the difficulty lies in harnessing and transmitting it back to earth. I've seen wilder theories of transmitting power wirelessly and I just don't think this is safe. I think we should be looking at fusion reaction as a long term source.
Trouble is, Obama's strategy WRT the economy reminds me of an old children's story that goes like this:
Mom accidentally poured salt into her coffee instead of sugar. Naturally this didn't taste right and was undrinkable. The whole family packed up and consulted scientists the world over, trying to find a solution to the problem -- but nothing worked. The coffee still tasted like it had salt in it.
Finally one of the kids spoke up: "Mom, why don't you just dump it out and pour a new cup of coffee??"
I think the above should not have been modded as a troll. It was a rather astute analogy. Why should you keep doing what you are doing if you still get the same negative result? The definition of stupidity is repeating your actions full knowing that the outcome will not be any different. It seems like this is what the government is doing in its half-baked attempts at economic recovery.
So what you're saying is that the unemployed have obsolete skillsets, and probably should be spending their time out of work learning new ones so that they can find jobs?
No, I am not saying that at all. I am simply pointing out that the key to economic recovery does not lie in green jobs.
So, what you're saying is, unless Obama can come up with one single, perfect jobs solution that will blanket "the socio-economic stratem" with high-paying, permanent positions, there's absolutely no point in doing anything at all.
Uhuh.
May I introduce you to the Nirvana fallacy.
Actually no, you jumped to a conclusion. What I was saying is that more needs to be done than simply going green. We need to become a country that manufactures again. By only plugging money into a service, we aren't securing a future.
The unfortunate reality of this is that the "thousands of jobs created" is, at best, an overestimation and would really only open the opportunity to a small number of people. Jobs like these are very highly skilled and specialized which might re-employ about 2%-5% of the approximately 25 million unemployed. In the grand scheme of things, only a politican could celebrate this. Jobs need to be created across the socio-economic stratem in order for there to be meaningful economic recovery. Even if we looked at the rosiest side of this claim, the only people getting full time, permanent employment would be the solar engineers. The installers and the IT professionals would most likely be outsourced or hired as temporary, project labor. Thus, once the project is completed, we are only marginally better off economically. This is certainly not to say that we will being do our ailing planet a very large favor! But let's call a spade, a spade. We are not really helping our economy but helping the planet!
Anyone remember this cartoon show? There was an episode where Buster Bunny was working for Acme Rent-a-Friend. While it was funny, it also made for good social commentary. It seemed to hint that people will go at great lengths to make money, so much so that they will prey on people's basic need for companionship.
I am a little disappointed in VP8 and it looks like it may not be the game changer that it was touted to be. It basically comes down to the fallacy of the software patent. It scares off innovation because people are afraid of being sued. It is my belief that patents were designed to protect tangible, mechanical or electrical engineering innovations not pieces of code which drive a machine. I fully believe in the philosophy behind patenting a mechanical engineering innovation. It seems like weekly we hear about the US PTO granting a software patent for something that really isn't an innovation. The patent laws of the United States are in desperate need of reform but, then again, so are the tax and financial laws. Software patents created a group of oligarchs called the MPEG-LA.
I am a major proponent of free speech and I am Jewish. If someone wants to write speeches against me or my group, fine, it is their right to do so so long as speech is all that it is. One of the most important and cherished freedoms in the United States is free speech, even if it's racist or what people deem vile and disgusting. The best way to counter racism and hatred is not through laws that regulate its associated speech and expression, but through education. Combatting racism begins with education! I hate racism as much as any educated person but I realize that regulating speech leads down a slippery slope where there is no return. I can cite Governor Lester Maddox as a result. Lester Maddox was probably a last symbol of the bastion of Jim Crowism in America. As he got older and became more educated, he realized he was wrong and publicly admitted being so.
Finally, pornography does not need regulation beyond child pornography. Child pornography does exploit children and minors and needs to be rigorously enforced, but beyond that, the government need not further regulate/criminalize the industry. I see absolutely no harm in adult pornography. We as Americans are puritanical and hypocritical about sex and pornography - look at the Europeans and Japanese as they take a much more liberal stance. Overall, they have a healthier and less conflicted society.
That's just plain unpatriotic of Verizon! Pretty evil too! I guess companies these days have no conscience and their only creed is money, money, money.
Considering Chase was one of the few that played recklessly with our money, I guess I wouldn't have to worry about their insecure system anyway because I wouldn't give them my money if they were the last bank in America. Instead it will be the First National Bank of My Mattress.