Yeah but there may be compelling reasons why they want it done the official way that your common foot soldier doesn't know about. The trick is to make the more-efficient unofficial policy official wherever possible, not to encourage everyone to do their own thing and get it done faster.
If grunts serendipitously discover that moist towelettes are great for cleaning guns, then the right people should be informed. They should not just use tons of moist towelettes at the cost of hygiene and the unit's general health.
Again, Ubuntu didn't do anything wrong. They just changed the default "new tab" page from about:blank to the Ubuntu-themed Google search page that's already the default home page. They log usage of their web search service, like everyone else.
Also paying for software doesn't protect you from crapware. Just because they have less incentive to include that stuff doesn't mean they don't.
That huge document probably cost more to draft than the entire project is worth. If you're telling the contractor how to "process XML data flows" then you're doing it wrong.
It should be pointed out that some of the WoW terms of use aren't enforceable: "transcripts of the chat rooms" "character names" "applets incorporated into the Game Client" "recordings of games played"
Transcripts of the chat rooms seems the easiest to strike down. The argument I'd use is that it's not material to the service, it disproportionately disadvantages the client party for no good technical or business reason, and Blizzard offers no compensation for what may be something of considerable value. It seems especially promising that, unlike the character/game aspect that could fairly be covered by similar terms, chat -basic text communication- is extensively protected by various communication acts.
Character names is ludicrous. You can't own a word, unless you register it as a trademark, which is restricted to actually trading under it.
"applets incorporated into the Game Client" is none of their business. If someone writes a Lua addon and drops that text file into a WoW directory, it doesn't automatically become blizzard's property. This is one of those fine-print contract clauses like "any paint cans you bring into the garage we're building you automatically become ours", which is just ridiculous.
Recording of games played.. hm well they might have a claim to the game's art (maybe even the interface if they really stretch it) but that's a copyright claim (i.e. you can't distribute), it doesn't mean they literally own the video file on your hard drive.
I like this sentence from wikipedia:
Typically, such a contract is held to be unenforceable because the consideration offered is lacking or is so obviously inadequate that to enforce the contract would be unfair to the party seeking to escape the contract
Novacem estimates that for every ton of Portland cement replaced by its product, around three-quarters of a ton of CO2 is saved, turning the cement industry from a big emitter to a big absorber of carbon
You mean turning the cement industry from a big emitter to a small emitter...
What's the point if it still uses the same energy? Anyway a single small relativistic impactor would probably inflict massive damage. You don't need to strip the crust off a world to render it uninhabitable.
Giant impacts are thought to have stripped Mercury of its outer crust, tipped Uranus on its side and spun Venus backward, to name a few examples
Is it just me or is that coolest thing ever? Forget massive trains.. the male mind cannot help but drool at the idea of planets colliding.
Venus is awesome; I can't even imagine what that would look like. The impactor rapidly accelerating the rock around it while the rock on the other side of the planet crumples and deforms under titanic pressure. Maybe the crust would be rigid enough to accelerate rapidly in big chunks while the big oceans of rock in the mantle churn and slowly come up to speed.. or maybe it would just blast most of the mass spaceward, leaving the planet to be pelted by continent-sized rocks for the next thousand years..
But undoubtedly Uranus is the coolest collision. Gas giants are already terrifying (imagine falling straight down into the north pole of Jupiter, falling straight into the bullseye of roaring winds and bottomless stormclouds).. but a mass large enough to alter its inclination exploding through the upper atmosphere as a fireball, and slowly ablating as it buries itself deeper into progressively denser gases, and plunging deeper and deeper into the unplumbed depths of unimaginably violent, raging, endless storms, and finally sinking to the crushing depths of the great core furnace.. come on Hollywood, put your obscene special effects budget to use doing something like this.
Obviously the issue is that the original contract had a clause like "AT&T can change this contract at any time. Sign below if you agree to be bound by any changes we make." It's not symmetrical because the contract isn't symmetrical.
Eh I wouldn't say sociopathic. When/i/nsurgents raid something they do it because they're anonymous and they're invincible and they can do whatever they want without consequences- so they do. At least from what I hear it seems like a "wouldn't it be hilarious" kind of thing, not a "yessss.. more bloooddddd..." kind of thing.
Slashdot Mirror
But the bandwidth you should never underestimate.
...Not at all a good idea if you're vastly outnumbered and opening fire just draws attention to your retreating team.
Yeah but there may be compelling reasons why they want it done the official way that your common foot soldier doesn't know about. The trick is to make the more-efficient unofficial policy official wherever possible, not to encourage everyone to do their own thing and get it done faster.
If grunts serendipitously discover that moist towelettes are great for cleaning guns, then the right people should be informed. They should not just use tons of moist towelettes at the cost of hygiene and the unit's general health.
There's no need to pull ancient ethics philosophy debate into this discussion. We all know very well what we consider bad practices in a tech context.
Again, Ubuntu didn't do anything wrong. They just changed the default "new tab" page from about:blank to the Ubuntu-themed Google search page that's already the default home page. They log usage of their web search service, like everyone else.
Also paying for software doesn't protect you from crapware. Just because they have less incentive to include that stuff doesn't mean they don't.
That huge document probably cost more to draft than the entire project is worth. If you're telling the contractor how to "process XML data flows" then you're doing it wrong.
It should be pointed out that some of the WoW terms of use aren't enforceable: "transcripts of the chat rooms" "character names" "applets incorporated into the Game Client" "recordings of games played"
Transcripts of the chat rooms seems the easiest to strike down. The argument I'd use is that it's not material to the service, it disproportionately disadvantages the client party for no good technical or business reason, and Blizzard offers no compensation for what may be something of considerable value. It seems especially promising that, unlike the character/game aspect that could fairly be covered by similar terms, chat -basic text communication- is extensively protected by various communication acts.
Character names is ludicrous. You can't own a word, unless you register it as a trademark, which is restricted to actually trading under it.
"applets incorporated into the Game Client" is none of their business. If someone writes a Lua addon and drops that text file into a WoW directory, it doesn't automatically become blizzard's property. This is one of those fine-print contract clauses like "any paint cans you bring into the garage we're building you automatically become ours", which is just ridiculous.
Recording of games played.. hm well they might have a claim to the game's art (maybe even the interface if they really stretch it) but that's a copyright claim (i.e. you can't distribute), it doesn't mean they literally own the video file on your hard drive.
I like this sentence from wikipedia:
No, they haven't. So why does the editor think we care? "Google Six Months Into Resurfacing Parking Lot"
If there's demand, someone will supply it. If the demand is for unrealistically cheap service, then that's not real demand.
You mean turning the cement industry from a big emitter to a small emitter...
It is impossible to finish this sentence logically.
XP and ME are separate products, with separate support lifecycles.
What's the point if it still uses the same energy? Anyway a single small relativistic impactor would probably inflict massive damage. You don't need to strip the crust off a world to render it uninhabitable.
that was supposed to be: "Relativistic speed (< 1.0c) makes them think the trip was shorter, not go back in time."
I used an actual less-than, so it thought it was an html tab
Relativistic speed (
FTL speed (> 1.0c) makes them go back in time.
Is it just me or is that coolest thing ever? Forget massive trains.. the male mind cannot help but drool at the idea of planets colliding.
Venus is awesome; I can't even imagine what that would look like. The impactor rapidly accelerating the rock around it while the rock on the other side of the planet crumples and deforms under titanic pressure. Maybe the crust would be rigid enough to accelerate rapidly in big chunks while the big oceans of rock in the mantle churn and slowly come up to speed.. or maybe it would just blast most of the mass spaceward, leaving the planet to be pelted by continent-sized rocks for the next thousand years..
But undoubtedly Uranus is the coolest collision. Gas giants are already terrifying (imagine falling straight down into the north pole of Jupiter, falling straight into the bullseye of roaring winds and bottomless stormclouds).. but a mass large enough to alter its inclination exploding through the upper atmosphere as a fireball, and slowly ablating as it buries itself deeper into progressively denser gases, and plunging deeper and deeper into the unplumbed depths of unimaginably violent, raging, endless storms, and finally sinking to the crushing depths of the great core furnace.. come on Hollywood, put your obscene special effects budget to use doing something like this.
There are probably more efficient ways of wiping out life than pouring on the order of 10^30 joules into accelerating a gigantic impactor.
Uh oh, "don't be evil" leaves just before the Google Wave launch?
And all of slashdot quivered in fear.
How are ants going to swim out to a pirate ship? I'd say their peg legs are safe.
It doesn't have a receiver anyway. It's just a radio transmitter.
Obviously the issue is that the original contract had a clause like "AT&T can change this contract at any time. Sign below if you agree to be bound by any changes we make." It's not symmetrical because the contract isn't symmetrical.
As opposed to the common man? How do you expect him to afford sitting around all day studying law and filing motions?
Racial discrimiation is wrong? Yeah cause things turned out well for Martin Luther King Jr.
That's easy. You call them and say "I never agreed to these terms. Tear up my contract." After you're discharged from the contract you pay your bill.
Eh I wouldn't say sociopathic. When /i/nsurgents raid something they do it because they're anonymous and they're invincible and they can do whatever they want without consequences- so they do. At least from what I hear it seems like a "wouldn't it be hilarious" kind of thing, not a "yessss.. more bloooddddd..." kind of thing.