Posts by 81stcolumn
Last ←Newer Page 1 2 3 4 5 Older→ First
-
But if the policy is so badly designed that there would be no proper auditing or oversight, then we do have a problem
No we have a bigger problem. Educational auditing is poor at the 'mo the strengthening of TEC has yet to precipitate much of positive benefit in the wrong hands we will have the same standards and tables mockery a la schools and the UK.
In defence of Graheme and others - these schemes only cater for a modest proportion of those at risk.
-
And we're off...
Oh aren’t we indeed……sigh
I want to take the effective elements of army-type training and combine them with the most advanced expertise in youth offending and rehabilitation that New Zealand has to offer.
This presumes that there is something about “army-type training” that is of value in rehabilitation. Either Key doesn’t know what he is talking about or he is deliberately playing to the crowd. It ain’t about training it’s about achievement stupid……hence they could just as easily do outdoor training or whatever.
But its the vouchers things that gets up my nose:
“I’m only on this course because I want to get the money…..” Lets fill HE and FE with more people who are only there for the money. Local Polytechs will end up running mickey mouse/dump courses that can’t be failed and don’t really do much educating either. Oh wait a minute whats this at AUT….
Compulsory sport - don't even go there its worse than boot camp.
-
Chuckle.....
-
I am aware that the current practise is to manage traffic that travels via a given port range. As I understand it most ISP's have a heavy use clause that allows them to manage traffic in this way. This is not the same as disconnecting someone suspected of piracy. I suspect that in order to break a service contract in the ways suggested by the major media content providers actual proof of persistent piracy would be a minimum requirement. That means demonstrating that packets sent or received contain pirated material; which leads back to packet inspection.
Say for example I use bittorrent (6881-6889 TCP/UDP) for downloading a new Linux distro (the most common cause for busting my data cap at the 'mo). Without packet inspection this is indistinguishable from downloading a movie or 1,000 mp3's. I don't know this for sure but I would like to bet that this is why all significant prosecutions in this area have always required the seizure of hard drives at some point. I just don't think it is tenable or sensible business to disconnect/suspend users on suspicion of downloading or distributing pirated material and then say prove that you aren't.
Ugghhh the ucking e on my keyboard has stopped ucking working.
-
This P2P filtering has more than a whiff of FUD about it.
When my download speed decreases I suspect it is related to volume not the nature of the packets transmitted.
The filtering that appears to be suggested by media content providers needs packet level inspection, this is problematic.
i) Privacy - packet inspection requires the equivalent of someone opening every single piece of mail that you receive.
ii) Cost - I suspect ISP's will want something in return for filtering packets and disconnecting users. They are effectively protecting the music business (probably a slice of the media distribution pie). To use your metaphor, ISP's would act as the security guards in the shop from which downloaders choose to steal stuff. Someone will want to be paid for this service.
iii) History - Closing down Pirate Bay and other highlevel piracy actions have invariably involved a physical raiding of premises. I suspect this has a great deal to do with the standard of evidence necessary to criminalise individuals in an electronic frontier. If someone accuses me of illegal downloading I say "prove it" and then use an encrypted P2P protocol. Proof could take quite some time under these conditions.
Clearly switching people on and off is not that easy or it would have been done before. The final point here is to look at the continued success of Skype if ISP's could have killed this they most assuredly would have by now. Filtering/disconnecting sounds easier than it looks.
As it happens I am setting up a packet inspection/filtering system for my home network, it isn't as easy or resource light as it appears.
-
what are you inferring, I've got nothing better to do than hang out here picking fights?
Well Rob as you know, I don't agree with you but I do admire your persistence in defending the indefensible.
Oh and in case you had forgotten gravity always wins in the end.
-
The really interesting part about the growth in these sales is that this occurred despite all the so called robbery and despite a complete failure by the majors to invest in it's promotion.
-
Hi Rob missed ya mate I've bin on me hols in case you were wondering..take it you're not away or the weekend...
-
Sigh – Sad to have missed BDO but a baby shaped partner, heat and serious crowds suggested that our best move was to stay down south. The fact that BB wasn’t on good form really isn’t much consolation.
T-shirts – In keeping with my strange youth, my mum came back from Spain with two t-shirts; One had fuck in all its conjunctions written all over it, the other did the same with shit. She may have been drunk when she bought them but she was definitely sober when she gave them to me. I gave up on the fuck one after a while; it just wasn’t much fun being that offensive all the time (nb. this was twenty years ago now). Can’t help feeling that when the words are just used as words the gulf between legitimate expression and tokenism gets wider and wider. I worry about a generation caught in the vacuum of a fashionistas search for fulfilment. I guess I’m the only one who would find a tee shirt with Old C**t on the front and Old Coot on the back fun.
Cloverfield – beginning to feel really old now, went to see a preview showing, walked out with the usual handycam headache and the feeling that the whole thing was contrived/missed the point of the medium. Has anyone really done anything useful with sex and violence since Clockwork Orange ?
Asus eeepc vs. Mac Air anyone ?
-
No you don't get this at all do you:
i) These guys weren't all dealers, some were anarchists, some were disaffected musicians (where do you think the PA came from). Most times this just paid for their stuff. You're right I wouldn't have shared a house with any of them.
ii) DJ's and sparky's like me worked for nothing, for fun when it all started.
iii) These activities promoted dance which in turn sold records. I have never made a cent out of doing this, the scene would not have existed without others like me, and consequently records would not have been sold.
I suspect many of the artists being played would gladly have waived a fraction of the 2% (minus administration costs) that they would have earned from the event. My educated guess was that these early events never settled a net greater than $4-600 equiv if anything at all. I'm pretty sure that many of the artists getting played made more off the sales. Which is why by coincidence, they used to give white labels away in the first place and turn up to sell t-shirts.