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RIAA Wants Student Deposed On School Day
NewYorkCountryLawyer writes "In a Houston, Texas, case, UMG v. Hightower, the RIAA has served a subpoena on the defendant's son, a high school student, on one day's notice, telling him to be at a lawyer's office at 9:00 a.m. the next day, a school day, for a deposition. The defendant's lawyer objected (PDF)."
I don't think it was so much a school day, as a business day. Although the hours could have been better chosen, as could have the amount of notice.
The judge is God.
Uhh, I hate to even sound like I'm agreeing with the MAFIAA on anything, but when exactly are they supposed to depose him if not on a school day? The school week and the work week are pretty well aligned, and forcing them to either work on a weekend or wait until he's on vacation is stretching things. Their actions are certainly deplorable, especially giving a one-day notice, but doing it on a school day isn't one of those deplorable actions.
An RIAA lawyer today tipped poorly at the diner where he eats breakfast.
June Dawson, 43, waited on him this morning. She is a single mother of two, battling cancer. She was not enthusiastic about the tip: "He left a stinking dime. Next time I'm going to spit in his eggs."
The RIAA did not respond to enquiries at press time.
I'm sure the kid would much rather miss class than miss hanging out with his buddies after school.
"Hey Jimmy, you coming to practice?
Nah, I've got to give some stupid deposition."
What I want to know: Will it be an excused absence?
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
RIAA is basically becoming an automated bot nowadays, anyway. I'd be surprised if they don't show up in court as robots with brief cases as well.
Someone needs to start doing something about RIAA's boundaries and arrogance, considering they're getting so careless with who they're attacking nowadays. How long will it be, before Judges and courtrooms are sick of these petty charges, and start only allowing the larger criminals who actually sell and distribute?
Right now, you're paying less when distributing marijuana or posessing cocaine, than you are to host MP3's.. EVEN if you're a child!
There HAS to be a line drawn somewhere.
"Please, shut up. Just when I think you can't say anything more stupid, you speak again." -Archie Bunker.
RIAA is realy getting out of hand with their bullying. It's good to hear news about their losses, but their abviosly winning enough to keep harassing.
I would like to propose a new tin hat, and this one a good one.
Could it be, that the RIAA lawyers actually think that what the RIAA is doing is a really bad idea so they are purposely doing really inflammatory things to get the American populous and judicial system fed up with their antics? Could it be that the RIAA is actually on our side, and doing their part to end frivolous law suits? Can we hope for a brighter future where file sharing for personal use is ok? Is the RIAA working towards that goal?
With their own lawyer and without giving enough time to prepare anything. There is only one possible explanation: what they really want is an intimidation session.
Since he would not be facing a policeman but the opposition lawyer, can he simply walk away anytime he wants or refuse to sign anything?
The Police Academy would of been out its best officer.
Also, I just realized '9:00 am the next day' was two days ago, so...what happened?
http://rootprompt.org/
The fact that it's scheduled on a school day is no big deal. I've never seen a depo scheduled on a weekend.
One day notice is pretty weird, though. Traditionally you clear dates with opposing counsel as professional courtesy, or you at least set it far enough in advance to work things out.
I pretty much just picture them much like Naz'Gul, although they are sleightly more motivated and they drive black sedans these days. Still dripping blood!
Physics is nothing like religion. If it was, we'd have an easier time trying to raise money!
DIGG!!
Lawyers work weekends as a matter of course. Asking them to put off the deposition till a mutually useful time is no injustice - giving 24hrs notice is.
-GiH
The real kicker here is not that it is a school day, but it is during Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) test week as well and the one day notice.
What would happen if you responded with "No, that will not be happening tommorow, you can reschedule for later in the week"
The phrase "more better" is acceptable English. suck it grammar Nazis
there are laws against exploitation of legal system in order to suppress, intimidate, extort people.
arent there any in united states ?
Read radical news here
The good news is maybe this will make call in bomb threats obsolete.
The subpeona is not to the defendant, it is to a "related" party. So you're looking at fines / bench warrants.
-GiH
but in a glimmer of hope that there may be a soul in at least one employee, the RIAA has agreed, in the wake of recent events, to stop sending referrals to Virginia Tech "for the foreseeable future."
The defendent's attorney said:
The subpoena is being used for patently improper purpose, namely as a fishing expedition by plaintiffs'
That sums up the RIAA's entire strategy.
I think any legal proceedings trump private life regardless of whether you agree with the instigators of said proceedings. That's just the way it works. The only exception I can see is jury duty, where they allow you to miss out if you're in college. Usually.
-"...bad old ideas look confusingly fresh when they are packaged as technology" - Jaron Lanier (Digital Maoism on Edge.o
The 2 points given in the summary, that of normal court hours and reasonable notice > 24 hours, are both weak arguments. I suppose we shouldn't assume that just because we know the MAFIAA lawyers are bad guys, that lawyers on the other side aren't also bad guys.
It's not like the universe owes us a 50/50 equal distrubution of good and bad lawyers.
Quickly! Get Jones in there to make some funny noises with his voice until Zed scream incoherently and Mahoney makes one of his moving speeches!
Slashdot Burying Stories About Slashdot Media Owned
They're doing him a favor. Really.
If brevity is the soul of wit, then how does one explain Twitter?
...if the kid just ignored the order? Would the RIAA have the cops come and drag him out of his house in cuffs? What if news cameras were there? There needs to be a revelation of this crap to the wider public. Just ponderin'...
I'm convinced the school-day deposition request is very intentional. They want the other kids to know the boy missed an important school day because he was in hot water over file sharing. It's all part of their perverse scare tactics.
Say your lawyer is busy. You are entitled to your choice of legal representative.
Serving a notice for a sworn deposition on one day's notice is contrary to the rules of professional conduct, and can (and should) result in penalties against the lawyers' clients in court, as well as with with the lawyer regulatory disciplinary authority.
1. Plantifs are UMG Recordings Inc.
... a fishing expedition by plantiffs' [sic]
11. Nicholas Hightower's only relation to the case is is that the defendant s [sic] his mother
!!!!!!! WTF??? How do you spell "evil?"
The subpeona is
I'd repeat a bunch of old, stale lawyer jokes but this just isn't funny. If I were this kid's mother I'd be... I'd be... I'd... Oh hell I don't know what I'd do, but it would probably be stupid.
Which is probably what the MAFIAA lawyers want. That's an old boxing trick, if you can piss off your opponent you've most likely won the boxing match, even if you get your ass kicked.
This is nothing short of pure evil. And you're going to buy one of their CDs or download one of their files? WTF is wrong with you people????
-mcgrew
1. Quit downloading RIAA music
2. Do not share RIAA music (help prevent the spread of mindshare) (ugh, I hate buzzwords)
3. Do not buy RIAA music (or if you do, stick to back catalogues from USED CD/record stores)
4. Do not tune to new RIAA music on the radio so you can avoid being tempted to buy new product from RIAA
By doing so, RIAA members will eventually either go broke or go independent, and the independent labels will rise in popularity as their buying power increases beyond that of the dying RIAA cartel.
The Christian Right is Neither (Christian nor right). See: Matthew 23, Matthew 25, Ezekiel 16:48-50
they are using lawsuits and legal procedures for INTIMIDATING and SUPPRESSING people they sue.
Read radical news here
RIAA has been successful for one reason, they are doing volume over value yet again. Every time they can find someone downloading any music that looks like they own they go with plan 15B. Cease and desist, sue, profit.
It's worked so far so why are we surprised that they are continuing with it? Expect them to continue this way. The subject of the lawsuit is faceless and nameless to them. Doesn't matter if it's a grandma, a 8 year old, or a athlete, they all are guilty to the RIAA. You know those adds that show people saying "I got it" "I got it" and it's every race, religion, age, and sex. Well to the RIAA it's the same way except they are saying "I stole." Why have a different strategy for each person.
It's good to see people fighting against the tyrants pushing this down the courts throat but at the same time I have to realize that some of these people like did steal large quantities of music before it came to this step. Still that's no reason to act like this kid isn't in school. What's next? Demanding he goes to jail for 10 years?
Dispositions are required attendance, which is why a subpoena is generally issued to enforce them. If he blows off showing up, the consequences (if any) are entirely up to the judge who issued the subpoena.... who, if particularly pissed off that day, could find him in contempt of court and sentence him to jail time. Under the circumstances, though, I can't see any (reasonable) judge doing this.
If the kid's under 18, he should just tell them to f-off.
Normally the lawyers involved schedule a deposition. You can cancel with sufficient notice, all sorts of games get played. While lawyers work weekends, depositions really need to be during the week. You need: 1) Both attorneys, 2) the one being deposed, 3) anyone from either side that wants to be present, 4) any counsel from related lawsuits if you end up with something hairy, and 5) someone to transcribe the session.
The odds of being able to schedule EVERYONE involved except for Monday-Thursday (even Friday's get hairy, as it's harder to run over time on Fridays, etc., lawyers want Fridays for catch-up, etc.) is nearly impossible.
That said, 24 hours notice with a subpoena? Something isn't right, because generally counsel tries to mutually schedule the depositions, and subpeonas only take place after a motion to compel if one side is no-showing. IANAL, and not a Texan, but this seems extremely shady. In an intimidation case, this makes sense, because the more shady things the more you run up the other side's legal bill, but sanctions and other things prevent total abuse.
5. Rip 5 copies of your favorite RIAA-produced CD (or song collection from various CDs)
6. Add a track with the following (more or less): "If you enjoy the music on this CD, please make it a point to compensate the artists, but not by buying the CD from which this track came." And add a small explanation for the boycott. Then: "Please make five copies of this CD and distribute randomly, including this track."
7. Place your 5 copies in random yet conspicuous places, with only the phrase "Take me to your CD player" on the front of the disc. Leave them on park benches, in restrooms, on buses, wherever.
--- The American Way of Life is not a birthright. Hell, it's not even sustainable.
As we get more and more cases where the RIAA has abused process and brought meritless cases, we are seeing a pattern of behavior. That can be used by defense lawyers to get cases thrown out that the RIAA would have previously have won. As it becomes apparent that the RIAA is abusing the system, we will see more and more cases where the defendants go after and win damages.
The following logic will develop:
Lawyer: "The RIAA has a record of bringing cases against people who are obviously innocent. Therefore, the evidence the RIAA uses to identify defendants is faulty. The RIAA's case should be thrown out unless they can produce better evidence. They should also pay my client's legal bills."
You weren't being serious, were you?
Speaking as someone who grew annoyed with Slashdot's flaws and stopped using it for quite a while, Digg made me appreciate it a whole lot more. The amount of "noise" in the stories (i.e. what GP is complaining about here) is orders of magnitudes higher than on Slashdot, the groupthink is an order of magnitude worse, the comments an order of magnitude more vapid, and... oh, sod it, just read this.
"Slashdot - News and Chat Sites Deviant". (Click "homepage" link above for details).
Perhaps they're praying the court will read the motion.
http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/04/18/ 1247229
That's our life, the big wheel of shit. - The Fat Man, Blue Tango Salvage
OK, we can either have a safe, happy Internet where people have rules of conduct, or we can have the Wild Wild West. Today, we have the Wild Wild West.
I have an account with an ISP. This account is provably used to send fraudulent requests to people, death threats to public figures, and is used with a phishing scam. I can easily claim that someone else was using my account and this apparently absolves me of any responsibility whatsoever according to the system today.
Yeah, the account probably gets cancelled and I have to sign up again with the same ISP. They are in it for the customer base and the money, so they probably don't care.
Is this reasonable? I certainly don't think so. But that appears to be the climate today.
After the (R|M)IAA get their money, do they give some to Wal-Mart, BMG, K-Mart, iTunes, etc...??
:o)
They sue to "get the money they are rightly owed", but any retailer will make a profit off each
sale that "should have happened" too. So the MAFIAA get their money and the retailers are screwed.
I have a solution, a class action lawsuit on behalf of all the retailers that the MAFIAA is
ripping off. Let the courts pound on them for a while. And while they're at it, give 'em a one
day warning.
"Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." -- Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
my source is here.
Thats not a problem, everyone knows that THE supreme being is the Flying Spaghetti Monster.
-RAmen
Support TBI Research: http://www.raisinhope.org
1) The kid is not the defendant. His mother is.
2) You missed the whole standardized test being done on the day of deposition.
3) You also missed the subpoena being served with less than 24 hours notice.
4) You also missed the subpoena being emailed to the wrong attorney at first.
5) Did I mention that the subpoena was EMAILED? EMAILED! WTF?
6) If you want to talk about FUCKING OVER artists and their rights, try looking at the contracts artists sign with labels.
:(){
Forcing the student to miss school could break relevant local truancy laws, if there are any in the school district....
Who is general failure, and why is he reading my hard drive?
"Why does the music industry feel it should tamper with the education of our minors just to placate some facile legal action?"
Dude, get a clue: these are *pirates, they don't care about education. All they care about is stealing, stealing, stealing other people's intellectual property.
If anything is tampering with their education, it's the alien viruses in their brains, which impel them to download our songs for *nothing, thereby descrating our intellectual property. The same intellectual property provided for in the Constitution, section IV, which says
"Intellectual property rocks. We should have lots of it."
My turnips listen for the soft cry of your love
Reddit?
I like Reddit and somewhat Digg better than Slashdot because there are a lot more programming articles posted.
OK - I am posting anonymously because I am a lawyer. First - When you subpoena someone to appear for deposition, Rule 30(b)(1) says you must give them reasonable notice. The Court is very, very likely to say that 24 hours notice is not reasonable notice. Second - It is extremely bad form, though not actually improper, to just notice someone for deposition without talking to them first about the date. Just leads to exactly this kind of problem. Third - RIAA is represented by lawyers who know better. Gardere Wynn is a Really Big Firm. They know better than to behave this way in front of Judge Atlas. Shame on them. Federal Court practices demands a higher standard of behavior on the part of the lawyers. Fourth - You have to properly serve the witness. Emailing the mom's lawyer in an attempt to serve the kids is not proper service. However, it does make sense to email mom's lawyer and ASK whether he would accept service so that you don't have to send a process server out to serve the kids. All in all, I would not expect Judge Atlas to be pleased with Gardere, Wynn's behavior here. Judge Atlas is a good judge. I'd expect her to make RIAA play according to the rules here. One of the great things about federal court is that the judges are generally of very high caliber, are extremely/proudly independent, and don't take no shit off of nobody. As long as you play by the rules, are prepared and don't waste the judge's time the solo lawyer with a brand new law license will be treated the same as hordes of grey haired lawyers from a mega-firm.
How long will it be, before Judges and courtrooms are sick of these petty charges, and start only allowing the larger criminals who actually sell and distribute?
= 70805 that said something to the effect of (paraphrasing from memory here) "if the politicians who passed the Harris act had any idea what the world looks like today, it would never have been passed." The history of Cocaine is fascinating, and how it came to be illegal. I recommend the History Channel videos if you haven't seen them.
It doesn't matter how sick the judges and courtrooms get. As long as the law says what it says, they can do what they do.
In my opinion, which doesn't count except on ballot day, the whole criminal justice system is screwed up - largely due to fatuous and incongruous drug laws. There are a number of states that don't agree with the federal government on Marijuana laws or penalties to the point of contention over federal funds.
Take for example the case in Cleveland a few weeks ago: A girl accused her ex-boyfriend of rape. He's arrested, but the juvenile detention center was full, so he was placed under house arrest with a monitor. Instead of being in the detention center where he should have been, he was at home. He took a shotgun, left home, found his accuser, and shot her in the face.
http://www.newsnet5.com/news/11183624/detail.html
Full story line here: http://www.newsnet5.com/news/12188918/detail.html
Undoubtedly, there were kids in that detention center on drug related, and non-violent offences. But, the violent criminal gets sent home to attempt murder.
I'm not an actuary but I'd bet that this type of thing happens all across the country on a regular basis. The system is broken when this type of thing can happen.
Interestingly, two nights ago on the History channel there was a show about the history of recreational pharmaceuticals. (In fact, there are two volumes in the series: http://store.aetv.com/html/product/index.jhtml?id
In any case, Newton once contended that a change in the gravitional field in one region of the Universe would be felt instantaneously in every other part of the Universe. It's similar to how the "war on drugs" has that type of effect on every other part of society.
So, how does this relate to the *AA? It doesn't directly. It's more of an analogy to how absurd laws and differing opinions, even by high-level government officials, still results in the same apathy and ineffectual legislation, and inaction on the part of our elected representatives.
If you do what you always did, you get what you always got.
"If they can remove the artist from the equation and make themselves feel like they're fighting a bad guy, they feel less guilty and ashamed for FUCKING OVER artists and their rights."
I agree... you'd think the RIAA would feel a little ashamed about screwing the artists, but as you say, they don't feel very guilty at all.
You were mistaken. Which is odd, since memory shouldn't be a problem for you
NO it's on. RIAA will eventually reap what they sow with this bullshit and someone is getting shot from a rooftop somewhere.
Good post... much agreed.
For example... My wife was caught with a basic speeding citation a week ago. She called in to see if she could pay it over the phone. She was denied to pay before the court date unless she came in, in person.
Fine and dandy... right?
Among the charges that you COULD pay for without going to court, or prepay, nonetheless... WERE:
Wreckless Driving
DUI or DWI
Possession of Marijuana and/or intent to distribute.
I don't actually think that you should even be arrested for marijuana possession, considering the law was based on lies... But, it's still fucked up.
So...These kids have to go to court for sharing music and spend money on court costs, lawyers, fines or fees to the plantiff.. but a guy who almost kills them by driving drunk, or gets caught with a federally proclaimed "controlled substance", can pay a $500 fine FROM HIS LIVINGROOM!
In all reality, my son could go to RIAA headquarters with a bag of weed while drunk, go inside and beat the piss out of a few of them... GET CAUGHT, then pay LESS fines than he would if he hosted X amount of songs on his computer.
Hmm. Maybe I'm on to something. How many people are at RIAA and where is it located?
"Please, shut up. Just when I think you can't say anything more stupid, you speak again." -Archie Bunker.
Oh, for land's sakes! If I had $450 for every time some lawyer served a subpoena with a ridiculous deadline, . . . oh wait. I do.
This is just tactics. Like a sky hook or a fade-away jumper. It hardly deserves a mention in the litany of the RIAA's many, many outrageous sins. A judge will quash a subpoena like that just for the asking.
YIIALBIANYL. GYOGDL. YMNO.
1. In the first place, you're way off topic, as you yourself seem to recognize.
2. In the second place, there's nothing in the law that says they can to what they did. In fact, the law says quite the opposite.
Ray Beckerman +5 Insightful
A high percentage of rape accusations are unfounded, made by women who want revenge and/or have psychological problems. An accusation of rape can be devastating, even if it's pure bullshit. For all we know, the "violent criminal" may have flipped out after being falsely accused of rape and put under house arrest.
Mea navis aericumbens anguillis abundat
Objecting to this motion to get it defered should be a slam dunk. It's not really a big deal people. They object, it gets moved to next week, end of story.
but I can't help think that missing definitions 1->3 may indicate a slightly more godly directed and commonly used usage.
Well, if that's how they want to play, I say the school should send detention notices to every one of those buggers. If they don't show up, call their parents!
I use irony whenever I can, but my shirts are still wrinkled...
Based on the comments seen on the VT message boards the last week, they're likely to get beaten to a pulp if they happened to stroll by. Katie and Paula, afaict, are lucky not to have "gone missing" by now. Then again, it's only been three days, so the waiting period for new firearms purchases are just about up. Now that I think about it, I think I saw Geraldo leaving town... must have just realized that we can call "hunting season" whenever we want 'round these parts!
If I subpoena you to come to my place of business, you do not have to do it. But is a Judge subpoena's you to show up, nasty things can happen if you don't. So if this minor does not show up at some lawyers office, then those lawyers can issue a Bench Warrant?
Texas gets a lot of it, as it was an independant republic prior to the ummm merger with the larger United States. Many federal laws have specific exemptions for Texas.
Not surprising, especially since the RIAA RECCOMMENDS that college students DROP OUT of school to pay their fines. At least the US government seems to be getting sick of the RIAA finally; hopefully we'll see the end to this type of crap from the RIAA soon when judges keep throwing their cases out of court.
Good morning, class. Today, we will be deposing little Johnny here because he broke the law and got caught. Now, Johnny, are you ready to be questioned by the mean old lawyer from the MAF...er, RIAA?
Bearded Dragon
In the State of Illinois you can't vote until you are 21. It says so, right in the constitution.
Lots of people have been voting in Illinois since they were 18.
To have something illegal in a law somewhere is just easier to leave, and not enforce.
Its a subpoena. Why should this crime be treated any different!? Your RIAA-hate is blinding you to sensibility. Attending school is not above enforcing the law.
But Digg certainly was hyped as some sort of "Slashdot: The Next Generation", fixing its flaws and demonstrating the power of the hive mind/community efforts/blah blah....
And it's all bollocks. The article basically explains the reality of the situation which you can contrast with the shining vision above; hence when we compare it against the hype, of what Digg was supposed to be, it's failed.
I don't know if Digg was *ever* as good as it was hyped up to be; it wasn't that great when I started using it around a year ago, and it seemed to have gone further down the tubes when I stopped towards the end of 2006.
The ugly reality of Digg today is a groupthinking, self-centered and navel-gazing, novelty-seeking, hype-promoting, popularity contest, dissent-attacking, random-noisish mishmash. The moderation is totally useless for its intended purpose (you think that Slashdotters are bad for modding down things they disagree with, you haven't seen Digg). The majority of the comments are not remotely insightful.
I could go on about it (and I did anyway!), but the article does a better job of explaining the problems than I would, and there's no point in my paraphrasing it.
"Slashdot - News and Chat Sites Deviant". (Click "homepage" link above for details).
My post said currency, it did not include coins.
According to the Department of the Treasury, "The motto IN GOD WE TRUST was placed on United States coins largely because of the increased religious sentiment existing during the Civil War."
"In God We Trust" was added to US currency in 1957 as an act of religious and political propaganda, McCarthyism was at its peak at that time.
You're absolutely right. He was accused - innocent until proven guilty.
On the other hand, "violent criminal" fits since he *shot her in the face with the intent to kill her*, which isn't altogether a "sane" or "rational" reaction for an innocent person.
On the other hand, rhetorically speaking of course, of all the innocent people, who should be held in an over-crowded detention center vs. sent home - innocent "accused rapist" or innocent "accused pot head"?
I agree with your assertion that accusations of rape are sometimes unfounded and unfair - Duke comes to mind - but when it comes down to brass tacks, I'd rather see the non-violent, and/or non-personal crime perpetrators go free when a decision like that has to be made. Of course, if petty crimes like marijuana possession weren't pursued as vigorously as rape and attempted murder one could argue that the detention center wouldn't have been full in the first place.
I'm not now, nor have I ever been a drug user... well, alcohol.... lots of alcohol.... caffeine too...., but I think the war on drugs, among other things, is a terrible tragic disaster for our country and economy.
If you do what you always did, you get what you always got.
As everyone knows, copyright infringement != theft. So, you statement corrected would read:
"Dude, get a clue: these are *pirates, they don't care about education. All they care about is infringing, infringing, infringing on other people's copyrights."
I respectfully disagree with both points.
1. My point was well on topic with the comment to which I replied.
2. In the second place, I find it impossible to believe that, on the scale this is being prosecuted across the country, in all of the courts, with all of the "victims", and all of the judges, and all of the suits, and all of the press, that the "law says quite the opposite". If it's so clear that the law says the opposite, I find it utterly impossible to believe that the *AA could pursue these cases as they have been - SOMEone SOMEwhere would have shut this down by now. It's not like we're talking about a few isolated incidents in a rural area of Nowhere, Montana last week - this has been going on all across the nation in small towns and big cities, with defendents both rich and poor, for several years. No sir, I don't believe what you say about the law being opposite - generally speaking. Perhaps you're correct about some of the tacticts, but the general premise can't be illegal. If it is, we're worse off than I ever gave us credit for.
Don't get me wrong - I despise the RIAA and their tactics as much as anyone. I can't wait until they wither and fold. But, it seems the law doesn't say they can't do what they're doing. There is a lot of legislation, or lack thereof, in our great country that have this same ill effect.
If you do what you always did, you get what you always got.
Your post had nothing to do with this subject at all. It had to do with a criminal case in Cleveland Ohio, a History Channel show on pharmaceuticals, and Sir Isaac Newton's theories on gravity in different parts of the universe. You were way, way, way off topic, and even you yourself admitted it:
So, how does this relate to the *AA? It doesn't directly. It's more of an analogy...Frankly, I didn't see the analogy, and I don't think anyone else did either.
If you can't admit that you were off topic, and you can't admit you were wrong about the law allowing service of a deposition subpoena on 24 hours notice, then you show yourself to be unworthy of being taken seriously.
Ray Beckerman +5 Insightful
Off topic again.
Ray Beckerman +5 Insightful
It must be so very hard for you not having mod points to call your own. You sir have my most sober sadness. /Ducks
Wrong! Atheism is an active belief that god does *NOT* exist.
What you probably mean as analog to "not collecting stamps" is Agnosticism, which means acknowleging, that you don't actually have enough proof to know if any Supreme Being (God or FSM) exists.
And the comic irony here is that you have posted not one, not two, but three off-topic posts yourself to tell the rest of us that we're off-topic.
Amusing.
If you do what you always did, you get what you always got.
... not since "a long time ago", but since 1956 when Congress added the line as a second national motto (not replacing "E pluribus unum"). Seems like appeasement to the McCarthy-era to me.
Screw the FSM - Real geeks believe in the Invisible Pink Unicorn
Yes it is frustrating.
Ray Beckerman +5 Insightful
I think maybe you're thinking about agnosticism - which is basically "Heck, I don't know - how could I?" or maybe just being a-religious.