Zacqary Adam Green (profile), Apr 22nd, 2013 @ 8:05am
Re: We lost more than we gained
As many Bostonians are quick to point out, the order to stay inside was voluntary.
Then again, when there are 9000 cops and military roaming the streets perpetuating irrational fear, the fact that people were technically allowed to leave their homes becomes a moot point.
Zacqary Adam Green (profile), Mar 11th, 2013 @ 6:00am
You know, what if it were more than an anti-piracy measure? What if they actually did design a game that was so stupidly complex, that it couldn't be contained in our mere mortal quad-core rigs with some general-purpose calculations offloaded to the GPU?
You know what then?
Then it would still be a completely unsustainable product design.
Zacqary Adam Green (profile), Aug 7th, 2012 @ 7:41pm
Re: Re:
Uh, speak for yourself, Andrew. A lot of us are abolitionists. I mean, I wouldn't mind copyright reform if it happened tomorrow, but in the long-term my work's not done until the whole thing's either gone or so radically altered that it's not even recognizably "copyright" anymore. So maybe your Pirate Party doesn't have a problem with copyright, but New York's certainly does.
Also, I've never quite found the opportunity to ask this, but what the hell is the NC clause doing in the NSH's license? Really? Do we seriously expect we'd be losing out on licensing fees without that? Or that somebody's going to release knock-off copies? Or that we'd actually have the resources to take somebody to court for doing anything we disapproved of? Nina, if you're reading this, back me up here.
Zacqary Adam Green (profile), Jun 22nd, 2012 @ 4:30pm
In Danger Mouse's defense, Pizza Hut is already guilty of fraud by calling themselves "Pizza" Hut. If it were Cardboard Hut, they might have more of a moral high ground.
Zacqary Adam Green (profile), Mar 16th, 2012 @ 3:25pm
Re: Re: Butt Jobs Admited To Some Problems
So what? The progress of technology will go on if one is unable to hire 3000 engineers instantaneously. The world will not end if we slow shit down just a tiny, tiny bit to make sure people aren't killing themselves.
Zacqary Adam Green (profile), Mar 5th, 2012 @ 12:40pm
Re: Re:
They're not even saying you can torrent it. They're implying it, but not saying it. It's like getting around a gag order by saying, for example, "I'm not allowed to talk about my settlement with Acme Inc., so on a completely unrelated note, once upon a time there was a big corporation called Shmacme Shmincorporated, and (etc.)"
Zacqary Adam Green (profile), Feb 9th, 2012 @ 10:31am
You're buying the experience of going to the movies. Or the ability to have the convenience of a DVD. Or the convenience of being able to listen to a song on your iPod. And, in many cases, it's not just one thing, but a bundle of things: the convenience of being able to hear a song in any CD player, combined with a nice set of liner notes and the opportunity to hear a set of songs the way a band wants you to hear.
The problem is, piracy can handily compete with three out of four of these. Convenience of access is a losing battle, because pirates will always be able to make their services more convenient. They don't even need to be more convenient than the creator's option, they just have to be as convenient and free. (Also, theoretically you could have a movie theater which torrents everything that they screen and doesn't share revenue with the creators, but that's a bit of a stretch.)
So, convenience is a problematic way to look at it. But the experience of going to the movies is where you hit the nail on the head. Maybe not the experience in its current form, which is — hypothetically — just another fragile convenience service. A truly resilient model is one which only the original artist can possibly provide, which is an experience.
This is easy for performing artists; they don't have to change what they're doing. The challenge is for traditionally absentee entertainers — filmmakers, authors, visual artists, etc. — to come up with ways to turn their works into performances, which they and only they can execute.
Zacqary Adam Green (profile), Jan 14th, 2012 @ 12:58pm
So, rather than just look at how legislation can be stopped, ask yourself: Where do we go from here? Don’t limit your opinion to what’s the wrong thing to do, ask yourself what’s right.
Zacqary Adam Green (profile), Aug 16th, 2011 @ 6:11pm
Regarding the Salon article about class size:
What about the students' mental health? The rate at which students learn, as measured by test scores, grades, etc. is hardly the whole picture. If a student gets through school with straight A's and anxiety issues, that's hardly prepared them for the real world.
I struggled in large class sizes throughout middle and high school, until finally transferring to a smaller school for my junior and senior years. Instantly, the more intimate environment helped me succeed, because the teachers and staff actually had the time and resources to give a crap about me.
It's just a shame that such things are only considered when they start affecting a student's grades. Just because somebody's testing well doesn't mean they're doing okay.
Zacqary Adam Green (profile), Jun 6th, 2011 @ 3:04pm
My beef isn't with Apple copying Android; it's with the press ejaculating all over the place about it (in both senses of the word) as if it were the most magical and revolutionary and magical and paradigm-shifting and magical new development in the world.
Every inconsequential thing Apple ever announces is an earth-shattering, cancer-curing event to an enormous swath of the tech press. It's getting really, really tiring.
Zacqary Adam Green (profile), Jun 3rd, 2011 @ 10:18am
Oh for chrissakes.
Mobile phones output non-ionizing radiation. This is the type of radiation which has been found, time and time again, to not cause DNA damage, and therefore not cancer.
So, why is it that we're hearing that cell phones may have been found to be carcinogenic, but not about the fundamental new development in particle physics that non-ionizing radiation behaves differently than we thought? That's kind of a big deal.
If cell phones cause cancer, that would imply that perhaps a particularly intense shade of blue might also cause cancer. However, no such theories are being discussed in light of this news.
On the post: Why The DOJ's Decision To Not Read Dzhokhar Tsarnaev His Miranda Rights Is A Terrible Idea
Re: We lost more than we gained
Then again, when there are 9000 cops and military roaming the streets perpetuating irrational fear, the fact that people were technically allowed to leave their homes becomes a moot point.
On the post: Avid Gamer (And Minnesota Vikings Punter) Chris Kluwe Does The Math On How Much EA's SimCity Debacle Cost EA
You know what then?
Then it would still be a completely unsustainable product design.
On the post: Rather Than Punishing Moviegoing Texters, Why Not Provide Incentives For Them To Put Down Their Phones?
"Economics is the study of incentives." -Dr. Steven D. Levitt
"One of the areas of economics I'm most interested in is focused on economics." -Mike Masnick
On the post: Join Us Thursday For A Conversation With Rob Reid, Author Of Year Zero; Plus August's Book Of The Month
Re: Re:
Also, I've never quite found the opportunity to ask this, but what the hell is the NC clause doing in the NSH's license? Really? Do we seriously expect we'd be losing out on licensing fees without that? Or that somebody's going to release knock-off copies? Or that we'd actually have the resources to take somebody to court for doing anything we disapproved of? Nina, if you're reading this, back me up here.
On the post: Disappointing: Famed Copyright Rogue Danger Mouse Sues Home Depot And Pizza Hut... Over Copyright
On the post: This American Life Retracts Entire Episode About Apple Factories After Mike Daisey Admits To Fabricating Parts Of The Story
Re: Re: Butt Jobs Admited To Some Problems
On the post: Drone Attack: How We Might Willingly Embrace The Surveillance Society
Although with their potential to be operated anonymously, and the size of the micro-drones, I wonder if that's even doable.
On the post: Band Tells Fans To Boycott Its Albums, Saying Its Label Doesn't Pay
Re: Re:
They can lawyer their way out of that easily.
On the post: SOPA Strikedown Aftermath: Old Media Cannot Tell The Narrative Of One Million People
Re:
On the post: Perhaps It's Not The Entertainment Industry's Business Model That's Outdated
The problem is, piracy can handily compete with three out of four of these. Convenience of access is a losing battle, because pirates will always be able to make their services more convenient. They don't even need to be more convenient than the creator's option, they just have to be as convenient and free. (Also, theoretically you could have a movie theater which torrents everything that they screen and doesn't share revenue with the creators, but that's a bit of a stretch.)
So, convenience is a problematic way to look at it. But the experience of going to the movies is where you hit the nail on the head. Maybe not the experience in its current form, which is — hypothetically — just another fragile convenience service. A truly resilient model is one which only the original artist can possibly provide, which is an experience.
This is easy for performing artists; they don't have to change what they're doing. The challenge is for traditionally absentee entertainers — filmmakers, authors, visual artists, etc. — to come up with ways to turn their works into performances, which they and only they can execute.
On the post: White House Says It Can't Comment On Possible Chris Dodd Investigation
Maybe that's better.
On the post: It's Official: Wikipedia To Go Dark On Wednesday
Re: Re:
On the post: It's Official: Wikipedia To Go Dark On Wednesday
Re: Re:
On the post: White House Comes Out Against The Approach In SOPA/PIPA In Response To Online Petition
Clearly, they're looking for another petition.
I did my best to be as comprehensive as possible within the 800 character limit. Let's see if we can't get this to do something.
On the post: Kopimism Approved As Official Religion In Sweden: File Sharing Now Protected Under Freedom Of Religion Laws?
On the post: Breaking: GoDaddy Drops SOPA Support
Re: Re: Re:
On the post: DailyDirt: Can Education Ever Be One-Size-Fits-All?
What about the students' mental health? The rate at which students learn, as measured by test scores, grades, etc. is hardly the whole picture. If a student gets through school with straight A's and anxiety issues, that's hardly prepared them for the real world.
I struggled in large class sizes throughout middle and high school, until finally transferring to a smaller school for my junior and senior years. Instantly, the more intimate environment helped me succeed, because the teachers and staff actually had the time and resources to give a crap about me.
It's just a shame that such things are only considered when they start affecting a student's grades. Just because somebody's testing well doesn't mean they're doing okay.
On the post: There Really Are Privacy Issues Out There; Facebook Using Facial Recognition Is Not One Of Them
That's why I'm uploading and tagging myself in only photos in which I'm wearing a full-body animal costume. Just to fuck with the algorithm.
On the post: Oh Look, Apple Copies Android, And That's Not A Bad Thing
Every inconsequential thing Apple ever announces is an earth-shattering, cancer-curing event to an enormous swath of the tech press. It's getting really, really tiring.
On the post: Would People Stop Using Mobile Phones If More Evidence Shows Them To Be Carcinogenic?
Mobile phones output non-ionizing radiation. This is the type of radiation which has been found, time and time again, to not cause DNA damage, and therefore not cancer.
So, why is it that we're hearing that cell phones may have been found to be carcinogenic, but not about the fundamental new development in particle physics that non-ionizing radiation behaves differently than we thought? That's kind of a big deal.
If cell phones cause cancer, that would imply that perhaps a particularly intense shade of blue might also cause cancer. However, no such theories are being discussed in light of this news.