The Invisible Hand 's Techdirt Comments

Latest Comments (61) comment rss

  • On the post: Warner Bros. Finally Realizes That 'Pirates' Are Underserved Customers

    The Invisible Hand ( profile ), 10 Dec, 2010 @ 02:44pm

    I'd like to see what the "You pirates are all #&%+$*! freetards and deserve to die!!!1111onehundredandeighty" crowd has to say about this.

    Glad to see that some (one) of the big names are starting to notice this. It is for their own good after all.

  • On the post: Cypress Hill Backup Singer Sues Take Two For $250 Million; Says GTA Character Based On His Life

    The Invisible Hand ( profile ), 10 Dec, 2010 @ 02:38pm

    Re:

    Not just cop killer, he should also be wanted by pretty much every law enforcement organization and military forces for the following crimes (not a complete list!):

    - Grand theft auto (duh!)
    - Murder (which includes civilians, rival gang members, cops, government agents, soldiers and Big Smoke)
    - Possession of illegal firearms (unless it is legal to possess RPGs in the US?)
    - Bank robbery
    - Stealing a cistern of fuel
    - Helping to evacuate a ton (or was it two?) of "weed"
    - Piracy (not the internet kind...the high seas kind)
    - Stealing aircraft
    - Robbing a casino
    - Stealing secret (and also not so secret) military equipment
    - HORRIBLE DANCE MOVES!

    And the list goes on. He should also be wanted by many research institutions that would be interested in knowing how he can survive falling from a three story building (and just walk it off) or being shotgunned several times at almost point-blank range. Oh and surviving falling from an arbitrarily high altitude into a pool of water without so much of a scratch.

    (BTW, GTA:SA awesome :) )

  • On the post: Senator Lieberman Says NY Times Should Be Investigated For Publishing Wikileaks Documents

    The Invisible Hand ( profile ), 08 Dec, 2010 @ 01:34am

    Re: Re: Re: Re:

    And besides, even if you do have "new" technology, how long do you think someone else skilled in the area would take to copy it, even if you just gave them a general description of what it is meant to do?

    US: "Oh, we've invented this new shiny rifle that shoots missiles. It's pretty high-tech".

    Someone else: "Dang...I've never though on that...gimme 10 minutes".

    10 Minutes later:

    Someone else: "Here, I've made one that shoots bullets, missiles, grenades, kittens and peas. What to look at it?"

    Homer: "Doh"

  • On the post: Senator Lieberman Says NY Times Should Be Investigated For Publishing Wikileaks Documents

    The Invisible Hand ( profile ), 08 Dec, 2010 @ 01:26am

    Re: Re: Re:

    What sleek designs? Those re-hashes/upgrades of old technology? Heck, your best fighter is still the F-15 (the F-22 was a total flop if you ask me). Your standard rifle is still the M4 and the M16. Your standard tank is still the M1.

    Pay attention kid: your "new" technology is just an improvement on the old, with better guiding systems, bigger payloads or better performance.

    Give me one example of something truly new your military have invented in the past decade.

  • On the post: Senator Lieberman Says NY Times Should Be Investigated For Publishing Wikileaks Documents

    The Invisible Hand ( profile ), 07 Dec, 2010 @ 01:22pm

    Re:

    "Would you like it if they posted all the detailed plans on how to make a nuclear bomb all around the world?"

    Dude, the first Atomic bomb was a uranium core surrounded by TNT. Any dope with access to Uranium can make one. The problem is that NO SANE PERSON is going to give you weapons grade Uranium.

    Also: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atomic_bomb

    "For that matter, how about we just give everyone all of our military technology while we are at it"

    What? Your guns, stealth fighters and cruise missiles? Heck, if I can't get them HERE, I'll gt them over there. You think you are so special or that your "military technology" is so advanced or secret? Most of your technology was developed in the 70s and hasn't suffered a major upgrade since. Also, this isn't Civilizations kid. You can't have more "tech" that the guy next door.

    "Freedom of press was created to make sure the gov is feeding us a bunch of bull, but that doesn't mean it extends to the gov not having secrets."

    And why does a government need to have secrets? What is so important that the government must hide from the common man? The only reason I see is if it is something EXCEPTIONALLY critical, not some day-to-day diplomacy crap.

    The only reason I see for a government to hide stuff and lie is if they are doing something terribly wrong, which, apparently, they were.

  • On the post: The More Some Try To Kill Wikileaks, The More It Spreads

    The Invisible Hand ( profile ), 06 Dec, 2010 @ 02:20pm

    Re: Secrets for Assange?

    Don't worry. Those that seek to destroy him will make sure they are available. Although that won't change much.

    The "damage" is already done and destroying wikileaks won't prevent any further "damage". As long as there is an Internet, those that hold "The Power" will have to answer for their actions.

  • On the post: Russian Press And Pakistani Courts Apparently Have More Respect For Free Speech Than Joe Lieberman

    The Invisible Hand ( profile ), 03 Dec, 2010 @ 01:33pm

    Re: It will be Russia's turn soon enough

    Yes, it'll be fun to see the US and Russia becoming best of buddies now, just to crush a common enemy: democracy.

    Or better yet, the US going ballistic like "Look world, there go those pinko commie Russians attacking freedom of speech again!!!", and blowing up the scale in the hypocrisy meter.

    Either way, this is going to be fun. I'm getting the popcorn.

  • On the post: Google Won't Recommend Most Popular Searches If It Thinks It Might Sorta Have Something To Do With Piracy

    The Invisible Hand ( profile ), 02 Dec, 2010 @ 05:50pm

    Re: Re: Re: Re: Who decides what Consitutes good or bad?

    Then you are doing it wrong.

    I was skeptical about jamendo when I first heard of it, but once I started listening, I can't stop.

    Here's my personal list of favorite artists I found till now (I hope I don't get the names wrong):

    - Talco (Combat rock...or so they call it)
    - Mortad Hell (metal...not great, but they have some songs I enjoyed)
    - Diablo Swing Orchestra (this one is just great. Not sure how to classify it, but I'd call it metal)
    - Melqurt (rock/metal)
    - Prana Yama (Techno)

    Try them if you dare. But I bet you won't. Your type is afraid of trying something new. I'll keep expanding my musical horizons, and I'll keep refusing to eat the mainstream crap your kind keeps trying to shove down my throat.

  • On the post: Google Won't Recommend Most Popular Searches If It Thinks It Might Sorta Have Something To Do With Piracy

    The Invisible Hand ( profile ), 02 Dec, 2010 @ 05:27pm

    Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:

    "Whatever sinks the ship faster."

    Shiver me timbers! Sinking ships is our job!

    Arrr! Stop spoiling the fun!

  • On the post: There's An Entire Conference About Trying To 'Protect' Content?

    The Invisible Hand ( profile ), 30 Nov, 2010 @ 04:27pm

    Re: Re:

    There are already some that do this. The game is free to download and has absolutely no restriction. However, you can pay real money to buy special items, stats increases, etc... (usually those special items don't have a big impact on gameplay, it's mostly cosmetic).

    Don't know how successful the model is, but I played one (FLYFF or something), and it sure had plenty of players...and many of them had those "special items", so I believe they were doing well.

  • On the post: There's An Entire Conference About Trying To 'Protect' Content?

    The Invisible Hand ( profile ), 30 Nov, 2010 @ 04:22pm

    Re: Love it

    The saddest part:

    ...and even our own customers.

    So, anyone that doesn't play by their arbitrary set of rules (even those that actually gave them money), is labeled a criminal. Great.

  • On the post: Irony: Ebook About Clueless Media Moguls Costs Many Times Brand New Hardcover Version

    The Invisible Hand ( profile ), 30 Nov, 2010 @ 01:34pm

    You gotta see that it is hard work making these ebooks.

    Here's a little guide to help all you laypeople to understand why ebooks are more expensive than the tree-killing alternative:

    **Step-by-step Ebook production guide, version 0.3**

    Step 1: Monkey, uh, I mean, author delivers final version of book.

    Step 2: Have your best and most skilled monk (yes, one of those 5th century, robed beardy ones) copy the original text (by hand...with ink and a feather!) into paper. This will be your "original". Oh right, don't forget to have him adorn the pages with cute drawings and make the first letter of every paragraph HUGE.

    Step 3: Proof-read "original".

    Step 4: Have your "lesser" monks (just as robed as the one form step 2, but not as beardy) make as many copies of the "original" as necessary to fill your orders.

    Step 5: Proof-read every copy.

    Step 6: Pass copy through a scanner and use OCR (optical character recognition) to extract the text into pdf format (you realize you don't need the pictures after all and those huge letters waste too much ink anyway).

    Step 7: Proof-read the digital copies. In case they aren't "good", go back to step 3 (yes, the typo might be in the original, in which case, you have to restart form 2).

    Step 8: Now you realize you need some pictures...just paste the original ones the mon...artist provided into the pdf.

    Step 9: Convert to non-standard format, slap in some DRM and ship it to client. Ka-ching!

  • On the post: Justice Department Trying To Figure Out How To Twist US Laws To Charge Julian Assange

    The Invisible Hand ( profile ), 30 Nov, 2010 @ 12:56pm

    Floor 13 analogy

    These Wikileaks messes remind me of an old dos game, Floor 13.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Floor_13_%28video_game%29

    You play as the head of a secret branch of government whose job was to keep the prime minister in office, by any means necessary. That meant smear campaigns, stalkings, assassinations, kidnappings and infiltrating hostile organizations (and disrupting them from the inside).

    Well, part of the job was to keep an eye on potential troublemakers (like Assange) and limit the damage they could cause. You could go the "easy" route and kill them outright, but that can hurt your "reputation" (or cause political backlash), and you might take a forced trip down from the 13th floor...very fast...with no parachute.

    The key was to be as subtle as possible when attacking opponents and to head off potential trouble before it turns on you and destroys the PM's reputation.

    Subtlety and being able to head off trouble before it hits is something the US needs to work on A LOT! Or else they'll just keep embarrassing themselves in front of the world. Therefore, I suggest they start training the secret police with this "ancient" game :).

  • On the post: TSA's Failure Based On The Myth Of Perfect Security

    The Invisible Hand ( profile ), 25 Nov, 2010 @ 02:24pm

    Re: Not a Myth

    "Whats the big deal with being scanned or patted down at an airport before you fly?"

    What's the big deal with spitting on the graves of the people that fought and died so that you can post this garbage on the internet?

    If you answer is "nothing", congratulations, you are a fascist.

  • On the post: Man Strips Down For TSA, Told He Still Needed To Be Groped; Arrested For Failing To Complete Security Process

    The Invisible Hand ( profile ), 22 Nov, 2010 @ 03:36pm

    Re: Re: Re:

    Your explanation does not pass the BS test either.

    Take the visible spectrum. Light emitted from a lamp is harmless. Now, concentrate all that light in a tight beam, and you get a "laser" capable of melting steel (or paper at least).

    What we did is focus the dispersed photons emitted by the lamp and cram a hell lot of them into a tiny space. This ensures that many many photons will hit a small surface, instead of having a few dispersed photons hitting a large area. More photons equal more energy, which equal more damage.

    Not convinced? Try it yourself: Grab a magnifying glass and focus the light on a piece of paper. Just be sure to do that in a safe place, because that paper is going to catch fire right quick.

    Now note that, since x-rays are (basically) the same thing as visible light, I can do the same thing with X-rays, and melt you away with an x-ray laser if I wanted. So Green Snowflake anony's scenario is theoretically possible.

  • On the post: Man Strips Down For TSA, Told He Still Needed To Be Groped; Arrested For Failing To Complete Security Process

    The Invisible Hand ( profile ), 22 Nov, 2010 @ 02:19pm

    Re: Re:

    You forgot Duke Nukem's "Explodo-Molar". They should also have dentists on standby.

  • On the post: Man Strips Down For TSA, Told He Still Needed To Be Groped; Arrested For Failing To Complete Security Process

    The Invisible Hand ( profile ), 22 Nov, 2010 @ 02:04pm

    Re:

    "Its the price we all have to pay to be safe."

    Yes. Keep rationalizing it. Soon you'll be one of the first in line for the brain implants.

  • On the post: Whether Or Not The TSA Has Ever Caught A Terrorist Is Apparently A State Secret

    The Invisible Hand ( profile ), 22 Nov, 2010 @ 12:13pm

    I'm late for the TSA party, but I'd like to say this:

    The country that lets random people into the white house (uninvited) without so much as a "who the hell are you?" has more stuff to worry about than checking everyone's crotch, I think.

  • On the post: 30,000 Musical Acts Are Making A Living… But Is That Good Or Bad?

    The Invisible Hand ( profile ), 09 Nov, 2010 @ 01:42pm

    Re: Statistical warfare

    As part of the my evil statistical manipulation plot, I seem to have misplaced a 0:

    "30000/300e6 = 1e-4 = 0,001 %"

    should be

    "30000/300e6 = 1e-4 = 0,01 %"

    and

    "1 in each 1000 US citizens"

    should be

    "1 in each 10000 US citizens"

  • On the post: 30,000 Musical Acts Are Making A Living… But Is That Good Or Bad?

    The Invisible Hand ( profile ), 09 Nov, 2010 @ 01:26pm

    Statistical warfare

    Numbers are fun. We can mess around with them until they tell us whatever we want. And it works both ways. Fun:

    The population of the US is around 300e6 (according to wikipedia).

    So, 30000/300e6 = 1e-4 = 0,001 % of the population of the US. Looks like a dismal failure huh?

    But what about if I tweaked the numbers and told you that 1 in each 1000 US citizens is making a living through art? Sounds a lot nicer.

    All these numbers are good for is for manipulating public opinion. The big recording industries DO NOT want to be seen as the loser on this war that they cannot win, even though it is obvious, even to the casual observer, that they are just delaying their inevitable death.

Next >>