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"If you actually know your stuff, you will know that a good quality harmonica is gonna cost way more than a few dollars... especially a chromatic, which is $100 or more. Even though most harmonicas have good manufacturing, proper maintenance and preventative measures are still needed. Aside from the cost of repairs, you might have difficulty finding someone skilled enough to repair your harmonica, especially if you are not good at repairing!"

"We all know how it's preferable to walk around with our guards up rather than be hurt or taken advantage of, but what is the long term cost of trusting nobody?"

"from the time-for-a-change dept Here on Techdirt we've written many times about the problematic nature of drug patents. They are harmful both directly, in terms of the price distortions they cause and seek to spread to new markets, and indirectly, through the lobbying that the pharma industry deploys to strengthen and extend them, notably in trade agreements such as TPP and TAFTA/TTIP. "

"from the time-for-a-change dept Here on Techdirt we've written many times about the problematic nature of drug patents. They are harmful both directly, in terms of the price distortions they cause and seek to spread to new markets, and indirectly, through the lobbying that the pharma industry deploys to strengthen and extend them, notably in trade agreements such as TPP and TAFTA/TTIP. "

"Report by the World Literacy Foundation says almost 800m people worldwide who can't read or write are 'trapped in a cycle of poverty'"

"Report by the World Literacy Foundation says almost 800m people worldwide who can't read or write are 'trapped in a cycle of poverty'"

[... At LibrePlanet 2015, we're taking software freedom around the world, to outer space, and through all kinds of industries, governments, organizations, fields of study, and communities. We hope to see you at LibrePlanet 2015, March 21-22 in Cambridge, MA. FSF members and students attend LibrePlanet at no cost! Become a member now. ...]

[... At LibrePlanet 2015, we're taking software freedom around the world, to outer space, and through all kinds of industries, governments, organizations, fields of study, and communities. We hope to see you at LibrePlanet 2015, March 21-22 in Cambridge, MA. FSF members and students attend LibrePlanet at no cost! Become a member now. ...]

"By THE EDITORIAL BOARD December 21, 2015 The European Union could soon adopt a law that would strengthen online privacy protections for consumers, but it would come at a cost to free expression and leave a redacted history for Internet users."

"By THE EDITORIAL BOARD December 21, 2015 The European Union could soon adopt a law that would strengthen online privacy protections for consumers, but it would come at a cost to free expression and leave a redacted history for Internet users."

" Migrating to Linux® can help an organization dramatically reduce costs and increase and improve stability, security, uptime, and availability. Red Hat® Satellite can make the migration from a Microsoft Windows environment to Linux significantly easier and more process-driven. Download the whitepaper to learn more. "

" ...For some, the freedom enjoyed by using Linux is the freedom from vendor lock-in or high software costs. Most would call this a practical consideration. Others users would tell you the freedom they enjoy is software freedom. This means embracing Linux distributions that support the Free Software Movement, avoiding proprietary software completely and all things related. In this article, I'll walk you through some of the differences between these two freedoms and how they affect Linux usage. ...."

"Sustainable open source projects are those that are capable of supporting themselves. Simply put, they are able to meet their ongoing costs. However, from the viewpoint of selection and procurement, sustainability also means that the project is capable of delivering improvements and fixing problems with its products in a timely manner, and that the project itself has a reasonable prospect of continuing into the future. Elsewhere on our site you can find articles describing some of the many formal approaches to evaluating open source software as part of the Software Sustainability Maturity Model."

"The Project Gutenberg EBook of History of the Conflict Between Religion and Science, by John William Draper This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org Title: History of the Conflict Between Religion and Science Author: John William Draper Release Date: February, 1998 [EBook #1185] Last Updated: January 25, 2013 Language: English Character set encoding: ASCII *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HISTORY OF THE CONFLICT *** Produced by Charles Keller, and David Widger HISTORY OF THE CONFLICT BETWEEN RELIGION AND SCIENCE By John William Draper, M. D., LL. D. PROFESSOR IN THE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK, AUTHOR OF A TREATISE ON HUMAN PHYSIOLOGY, HISTORY OF THE INTELLECTUAL DEVELOPMENT OF EUROPE, HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR, AND OF MANY EXPERIMENTAL MEMOIRS ON CHEMICAL AND OTHER SCIENTIFIC SUBJECTS CONTENTS PREFACE. HISTORY OF THE CONFLICT BETWEEN RELIGION AND SCIENCE. CHAPTER I. CHAPTER II. CHAPTER III. CHAPTER IV. CHAPTER V. CHAPTER VI. CHAPTER VII. CHAPTER VIII. CHAPTER IX. CHAPTER X. CHAPTER XI. CHAPTER XII. PREFACE. WHOEVER has had an opportunity of becoming acquainted with the mental condition of the intelligent classes in Europe and America, must have perceived that there is a great and rapidly-increasing departure from the public religious faith, and that, while among the more frank this divergence is not concealed, there is a far more extensive and far more dangerous secession, private and unacknowledged. "

"from the because-fuck-you,-that's-why dept When pharmaceutical companies defend outrageously-priced medicines, they often claim these massive profit margins are there to help them recoup the money dumped into research and development. But that has nothing to do with the high prices. R&D costs are consistently lower than companies portray them."

""This is a deeply thought-provoking book about the dramatic changes we must make to save the planet from financial madness" - Naomi Klein. Opening with Oscar Wilde's observation that "nowadays people know the price of everything and the value of nothing," Patel shows how our faith in prices as a way of valuing the world is misplaced. He reveals the hidden ecological and social costs of a hamburger (as much as $200), and asks how we came to have markets in the first place. Both the corporate capture of government and our current financial crisis, Patel argues, are a result of our democratically bankrupt political system. If part one asks how we can rebalance society and limit markets, part two answers by showing how social organizations, in America and around the globe, are finding new ways to describe the world's worth. If we don't want the market to price every aspect of our lives, we need to learn how such organizations have discovered democratic ways in which people, and not simply governments, can play a crucial role in deciding how we might share our world and its resources in common. This short, timely and inspiring book reveals that our current crisis is not simply the result of too much of the wrong kind of economics. While we need to rethink our economic model, Patel argues that the larger failure beneath the food, climate and economic crises is a political one. If economics is about choices, Patel writes, it isn't often said who gets to make them. The Value of Nothing offers a fresh and accessible way to think about economics and the choices we will all need to make in order to create a sustainable economy and society."

"But costing upwards of £4,000, it may take a while for a Powerwall to pay for itself. by Sebastian Anthony - Feb 8, 2016 12:17pm CET"

"The impact of technological change on culture, learning, and morality has long been the subject of intense debate, and every technological revolution brings out a fresh crop of both pessimists and pollyannas. Indeed, a familiar cycle has repeat itself throughout history whenever new modes of production (from mechanized agriculture to assembly-line production), means of transportation (water, rail, road, or air), energy production processes (steam, electric, nuclear), medical breakthroughs (vaccination, surgery, cloning), or communications techniques (telegraph, telephone, radio, television) have appeared on the scene. The cycle goes something like this. A new technology appears. Those who fear the sweeping changes brought about by this technology see a sky that is about to fall. These "techno-pessimists" predict the death of the old order (which, ironically, is often a previous generation's hotly-debated technology that others wanted slowed or stopped). Embracing this new technology, they fear, will result in the overthrow of traditions, beliefs, values, institutions, business models, and much else they hold sacred. The pollyannas, by contrast, look out at the unfolding landscape and see mostly rainbows in the air. Theirs is a rose-colored world in which the technological revolution du jour is seen as improving the general lot of mankind and bringing about a better order. If something has to give, then the old ways be damned! For such "techno-optimists," progress means some norms and institutions must adapt-perhaps even disappear-for society to continue its march forward. Our current Information Revolution is no different. It too has its share of techno-pessimists and techno-optimists. Indeed, before most of us had even heard of the Internet, people were already fighting about it-or at least debating what the rise of the Information Age meant for our culture, society, and economy."

does Kurtopia need someone to mow the lawn?

no, but we do need someone to take our throm-dib-u-lator apart though

"For over a decade, Uniloc pursued royalties for various anti-piracy schemes. by Joe Mullin (US) - Mar 26, 2016 9:22am CET"

"For over a decade, Uniloc pursued royalties for various anti-piracy schemes. by Joe Mullin (US) - Mar 26, 2016 9:22am CET"