Back. What did I miss?

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by magikot, Oct 26, 2009.

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  1. Xz

    Xz Monkey Admin Staff Member

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    Even though you have been gone longer than magikot, I can't really say I've missed you mathboy.
     
  2. Muro

    Muro Well-Known Member

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    Who wouldn't!
     
  3. mathboy

    mathboy New Member

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    The feeling's mutual, I'm only here to check out the Drog drama. I prefered this place before Wolfsbane joined, or maybe I'm just growing old. Who needs to be part of a small internet community when there are lots of maths to be done?
     
  4. TheDavisChanger

    TheDavisChanger Well-Known Member

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    Depending on the math, I might find it preferable as well.
     
  5. Grakelin

    Grakelin New Member

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    What math, I thought you were homeless?

    Incidentally, how do Swedes even become homeless? Don't you guys have all kinds of crazy social programs? Doesn't the 'free education' thing imply that being homeless means you would have had to be stupid to begin with?
     
  6. Xz

    Xz Monkey Admin Staff Member

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    While the education is free, you still have to eat and pay rent while you're studying. Also books can be expensive.
     
  7. Muro

    Muro Well-Known Member

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    I'm not sure about Norway, but xero copies, e-books and libraries work just fine here.
     
  8. Xz

    Xz Monkey Admin Staff Member

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    Copying is a violation of copyright law, e-books aren't offered, and the libraries just don't have enough text books for everyone.
     
  9. mathboy

    mathboy New Member

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    I wouldn't say I was homeless, but I did go through a couple of days where I knew I didn't have a place to stay the day after tomorrow. But now I have a pretty nice room to live in, and soon I'll move into an apartment with a kitchen!

    Being homeless for a long while is impossible here, unless you want it, but doing stupid things like going to a new town without a place to stay ready could easily result in a couple of days in the streets/hotels.
     
  10. Xz

    Xz Monkey Admin Staff Member

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    Worked flawlessly for me. Slept on a friends couch the first night, and found an overpriced "apartment"* the next day.

    *and by "apartment" I mean a 12 m² room.
     
  11. Grakelin

    Grakelin New Member

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    Yeah, but we do that everywhere else, too.
     
  12. Muro

    Muro Well-Known Member

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    The lawful me wishes to interject that if he's not mistaken, copying only fragments of books isn't against copyright laws.

    The chaotic me says that while not noble in terms of law, scanning whole books, compiling them into pdf files and providing them in places such as forums of students from the same specialisation is often the only way to make the "free" education accessible to everyone, including the less wealthy ones, so that they will be given a chance to earn any money in their lives in the first place. It could be of course called piracy since that's exactly what it is, but if it gives people a chance in life depending on their skills, not their funds, he says it's for the better.
     
  13. Grakelin

    Grakelin New Member

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    90% of all the text books you are assigned for a course were either written or invested in by the professor anyways. Seriously, my $200 business text book is just 600 pages of "Why Socialism is Bad" with boxes explaining to me how badly I've been pwned for purchasing.
     
  14. Xz

    Xz Monkey Admin Staff Member

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    Depends on your purpose for doing so.

    In my experience 10% is more accurate.
     
  15. Grakelin

    Grakelin New Member

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    Yeah, all those Socialist Scandinavian values really messed up your system. It's funny, because Scandinavians on my continent are the largest demographic leaning towards Republicanism and other Right-Wing ideals.
     
  16. Xz

    Xz Monkey Admin Staff Member

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    I guess there was a reason they left.
     
  17. Grakelin

    Grakelin New Member

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    Yeah. Everyday, I think my Great-Grandpa left Norway because the Nazis lost. We always knew it was for political reasons, but we were never sure if he was Communist or Fascist. My Great-Grandmother has dementia/doesn't have as much education, and continuously claims it was both.

    If he was alive, we could just ask him.

    There's a division in the family, too. My part very much hopes that he was a Communist. My cousin, a member of the Hells Angels (though he does not own a bike, so I think he's just a poser) and patron of "Aryan Race" Facebook groups, hopes that he was volunteer mass gravedigger.
     
  18. Muro

    Muro Well-Known Member

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    In this case for a average student it could be called personal use, without the intentions of distributing and/or gaining any profits from it.
     
  19. Xz

    Xz Monkey Admin Staff Member

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    Well yes, but even that would be illegal if you eventually wind up having copied the most of the book.
     
  20. Muro

    Muro Well-Known Member

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    I'm guessing that the line between legal fragments and illegal most would appear to be quite a grey one.
     
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