First of all, I should apologize for my comment re "too much regulation." That was a sarcastic remark. I'm trying to point out that regulation is necessary. The entities that want us to believe there is too much regulation typically are the ones being regulated and their supporters. The sad fact of the matter is we do need regulation (eg, Wells Fargo, BP, Exxon, the recent recession/depression thanks to reckless behavior in the banking industry, Savings and Loan debacle, big pharma).
However, I don't get the impression from the article that the legislation is striking out large chunks of previous legislation. It may be exchanging one method of regulation for another, but in the linked article it's described as "a new bill" and how it's creating new rules for online political ads. It goes on to describe how companies will be expected to now keep records of who is buying the ads and how much they pay for them. Further, the "companies would be required to keep and release data on anyone spending more than $500 on political ads in a year."
It sounds to me like there will be a lot more research and record keeping required in the area of social media; at least more than they're doing now.
If this legislation is a modification of Citizens Divided (or United, if you prefer), then it might be swapping one set of rules for another and not adding more regulation. But if that is its purpose, I suspect this bill doesn't have a chance of getting passed.
I use LibreOffice. Never had a problem with PowerPoint compatibility in either direction.
I used to say that.
Last April I was given a MS PPT to convert to LibreOffice. The bullets changed (and not in a good way), the font changed, all the indents changed, all the animations stopped working, and there were problems with some of the images. Essentially I had to recreate the entire presentation.
Then when I tried moving it back, everything fell apart again regardless in which file format I "saved as."
There was a time when I could create PPT presentations and move them between OSes. It doesn't appear to be that way anymore.
BTW, I had all the MS fonts installed on my Linux machine, the most recent kernel, and most recent LibreOffice. My distro uses rolling updates. Didn't matter.
LibreOffice still has work to do. I'll still promote it to people I know. But it still needs work.
Minimum wage when I was a kid went from 3.15 to 3.35 an hour. Just to think it has barely doubled in 35 years. It has not even kept up with inflation. What people are arguing is that it should have kept up with inflation.
Automation will happen regardless of what happens with the minimum wage.
Manufacturers see an opportunity to reduce labor cost AND introduce what is thought to be a more reliable, consistent, predictable labor resource. It does not matter what the minimum wage is.
Machines are there every day, all day. Their output typically is predictable. They don't organize into unions. Their performance isn't affected by personal problems. They don't need rest breaks, bathroom breaks, lunch breaks, healthcare plans, pensions or 401k's. Typically you can turn the overhead lights off while the machines do their work. All the OSHA issues go away. And the equipment is a capital asset and can be depreciated over some period of time whereas an employee has increases in the burden rate.
There probably are more reasons, but I think the list I've given already add up to a tidy profit margin.
Watch big publishing interests lean on their people in congress to make it illegal to start an open-access publishing company. It's anti-competitive. It's "socialism."
Hey, I guess big government works for somebody, doesn't it?
So tell me how getting rid of regulations will make businesses more honest and ethical so they don't try to deceive the scientific community or the public.
I sincerely do want an explanation of the sequence, the cause and effect, that will occur to prompt businesses to behave better.
They better be streaming that when it goes into orbit or else stoners everywhere will be really disappointed. Well, actually, they would be if they weren't so stoned.
You nailed it, Moof123. And they'll probably get some legislation passed to "protect" their market as well.
I use OTA. Yeah, the ads suck enormously, I know only too well. But I had cable once almost 30 years ago. I just don't want to give them more money.
Anyhow, I'm expecting the cable companies to get legislation passed that will make using OTA illegal or incredibly expensive by getting a tax imposed on those who use OTA.
Free market. Yeah, right. The corporations make the laws now and monopolies are considered to be a good thing.
I haven't seen the "over-dubbed" version. Not even sure what that is. I saw and still watch the original. Rutger Hauer knocks it out of the park. Harrison Ford is okay, too.
I think I'd be interested in an updated version of "Forbidden Planet."
The stats re Edge's uptake are telling. Nobody likes it. MS knows this so they start a PR effort to make people think Edge is remarkable. This is a marketing piece, nothing more. And face it, MS's credibility is weak. They have repeatedly lied to and deceived their customers. I'm astonished that more people haven't abandoned MS's crappy, over-priced products.
Since I can't add any mod points to support this comment, I need to add an emphatic "HELL YES" to it.
ANY time there is a policy that might affect an individual's privacy due to a corporation potentially dispensing that individual's personal data, the default should be to OPT IN to allow the corp to sell the data. Not opting in means "don't sell my freakin' data."
I had family who were farmers and I still have friends who are farming. I had to laugh when I asked my uncle about DST. He said it didn't matter. The cows needed attention the same time every day of the year. He never reset his watch. He always knew when to be to an appointment regardless. I was always impressed by how in tune with nature's rhythms he was.
He was a dairy farmer, but I can't imagine it would be much different for a farmer who does other types of livestock or only does cash crops. If it does, then that farmer has a different approach to farming than what I'm familiar with. I know more and more farmers are getting into different areas which connect them more closely with the rhythms of the city (so to speak), but I guess you need to consider that before you get into it.
There is a benefit to DST (IMHO) for people living around the 40 to 50 latitudes. (That might be an even broader range than I estimated.) It's a matter of visibility of school children. I know from personal experience since I'm out driving around during that time in the morning. I drive past spots where kids are gathering to get picked up by a school bus. Almost all the kids are wearing dark clothing and it can be hard to see them sometimes. So the earlier the sun appears, the more visible they are. So maybe DST is more useful as a regional thing. Although that would create other problems I'm sure.
One thing I do know. Nobody complains in the fall when they get an extra hour of sleep. The only time I hear complaints is in the spring.
I live and have lived in a neighborhood that people use as a shortcut around a busy, traffic-light controlled intersection. They are driving through a residential area with a posted speed limit of 25mph. The people trying to bypass the intersection will drive as fast as 50mph (more typically at 40mph). Again, the posted speed limit is 25mph and it's a RESIDENTIAL AREA.
The neighborhoods have no sidewalks so people walk in the street near the edge. There are children riding bicycles in the street and people walking their dogs or just out walking.
The point is, if you're going to bypass a slowdown or a backup and you choose to exit and go through a residential area, please respect the speed limit. Recognize you're in a residential area and be respectful and courteous and mindful for the safety of the people who live there.
I suspect the hazard of people driving at highway speeds through residential areas is one of the concerns of city planners.
I think you missed what the AC's point. The fact of the matter is there is NO competition in most markets. Consequently, competitive market forces do not work. IOW, if someone doesn't like "their conditions," they probably don't have any options which would enable them to say "thanks, but no thanks" to their provider.
And the idea that another will appear to "fill in the gap" is much easier said than done. With the current investment environment, startups are having a tougher time getting cash. And that doesn't consider the issue of how many people are interested in or willing to startup an ISP business. I suspect that's a pretty small segment of the population. So the chance of that occurring seems quite remote.
The "free market" is not as "free" as some people think.
I'm not sure one can even use the word "quality" with re to advertising. I guess what I'm trying to say is "the efficacy of advertising has deteriorated."
My impression of what has happened in the advertising industry is that it's reminiscent of the early WWW days when the "blink" tag was still available. Can anyone recall opening a web page and seeing 20 or 30 words blinking on the page? This is what today's advertising has become.
I think most ads today are very guilty of the "blink tag" mentality. I've been seeing more and more ads on TV where they show a different image every half second or every second. Most of the images probably have NO meaningful content with re to the intended product/service message. The ad is simply meant to pummel your visual cortex. It's like getting beat up by the school bully. You'll remember that moment for quite a while.
As far as I'm concerned, as soon as I see a lot of image changes, I change channels until the ad is over. I already mute the TV whenever an ad comes on so changing up or down one channel is no big deal. And I've gotten fairly good at timing it to return when the ad is over.
The other thing they're doing is "flashing" or "strobing" the screen. They're inserting a bright white flash when switching between the segments that make up the ad. And I mean these flashes are incredibly bright.
I was drawn into our sun room one night because I saw flashing in there. When I entered the sun room, I became aware of our neighbors to the north and slightly west. They live on the other side of our block. They're backyard is against the backyard of a neighbor who lives two houses north from us. Their TV screen is positioned so that it is visible through one of their windows. Now this is easily more than 200 feet away. The flashing I was seeing was from their TV while a commercial was on. It literally lit up the entire inside of our sun room with each burst of light.
I think the current generation of people who do all the special effects used in ads are suffering from the not unusual behavior of "gee, this effect is cool... I'm going to use it every chance I get."
This is one of the reasons I've been watching more PBS lately. I abhor commercial TV. It's like sticking one's head into a sewer hoping to retrieve a lost item.
If the advertising business is REALLY sincere about making quality ads, then go back to your lessons from advertising and marketing 101. The single most important feature in ANY advertising is "message" (aka, content). If you have a product/service you're trying to promote, then develop a message that speaks _clearly_ to the target audience. (eg, Our product is better because...) Oh yeah, and one more very important feature; ie, truth. If you have to manipulate or deceive people into becoming your customers, you don't have a product/service to sell. You belong in a midway at a county fair.
Slashdot Mirror
First of all, I should apologize for my comment re "too much regulation." That was a sarcastic remark. I'm trying to point out that regulation is necessary. The entities that want us to believe there is too much regulation typically are the ones being regulated and their supporters. The sad fact of the matter is we do need regulation (eg, Wells Fargo, BP, Exxon, the recent recession/depression thanks to reckless behavior in the banking industry, Savings and Loan debacle, big pharma).
However, I don't get the impression from the article that the legislation is striking out large chunks of previous legislation. It may be exchanging one method of regulation for another, but in the linked article it's described as "a new bill" and how it's creating new rules for online political ads. It goes on to describe how companies will be expected to now keep records of who is buying the ads and how much they pay for them. Further, the "companies would be required to keep and release data on anyone spending more than $500 on political ads in a year."
It sounds to me like there will be a lot more research and record keeping required in the area of social media; at least more than they're doing now.
If this legislation is a modification of Citizens Divided (or United, if you prefer), then it might be swapping one set of rules for another and not adding more regulation. But if that is its purpose, I suspect this bill doesn't have a chance of getting passed.
Any legislation called the "Honest Ads Act" is questionable. Just like "Citizens United" really should have been named "Citizens Divided."
And why is this happening? I thought we had too much regulation.
Yes
You gotta ask, why is the government using a commercial third party to "do identity" for them?
Because EVERYTHING works better when in it's in the public sector. You know, it's 'cuz of the "Free Market." /clearly sarcastic
Can it remove the noise from a Harley-Davidson running straight pipes?
AFAIK "bete" means "beast".
Yup. That's what I was taught in my high school advanced English class. It means "black beast."
I use LibreOffice. Never had a problem with PowerPoint compatibility in either direction.
I used to say that.
Last April I was given a MS PPT to convert to LibreOffice. The bullets changed (and not in a good way), the font changed, all the indents changed, all the animations stopped working, and there were problems with some of the images. Essentially I had to recreate the entire presentation.
Then when I tried moving it back, everything fell apart again regardless in which file format I "saved as."
There was a time when I could create PPT presentations and move them between OSes. It doesn't appear to be that way anymore.
BTW, I had all the MS fonts installed on my Linux machine, the most recent kernel, and most recent LibreOffice. My distro uses rolling updates. Didn't matter.
LibreOffice still has work to do. I'll still promote it to people I know. But it still needs work.
Exactly.
Someone please mod this up.
Minimum wage when I was a kid went from 3.15 to 3.35 an hour. Just to think it has barely doubled in 35 years. It has not even kept up with inflation. What people are arguing is that it should have kept up with inflation.
Spot on!!!
Automation will happen regardless of what happens with the minimum wage.
Manufacturers see an opportunity to reduce labor cost AND introduce what is thought to be a more reliable, consistent, predictable labor resource. It does not matter what the minimum wage is.
Machines are there every day, all day. Their output typically is predictable. They don't organize into unions. Their performance isn't affected by personal problems. They don't need rest breaks, bathroom breaks, lunch breaks, healthcare plans, pensions or 401k's. Typically you can turn the overhead lights off while the machines do their work. All the OSHA issues go away. And the equipment is a capital asset and can be depreciated over some period of time whereas an employee has increases in the burden rate.
There probably are more reasons, but I think the list I've given already add up to a tidy profit margin.
Watch big publishing interests lean on their people in congress to make it illegal to start an open-access publishing company. It's anti-competitive. It's "socialism."
Hey, I guess big government works for somebody, doesn't it?
So tell me how getting rid of regulations will make businesses more honest and ethical so they don't try to deceive the scientific community or the public.
I sincerely do want an explanation of the sequence, the cause and effect, that will occur to prompt businesses to behave better.
Clearly overreach by the FCC. Let the invisible hand of the free market manage this. Ajit Pai should know better.
I suppose I should enclose that statement with a sarcasm tag.
They're "consumables."
Set the controls for the heart of the sun.
They better be streaming that when it goes into orbit or else stoners everywhere will be really disappointed. Well, actually, they would be if they weren't so stoned.
Hey, careful with that axe Eugene!
I'd like to mod that up as "BRILLIANT".
You nailed it, Moof123. And they'll probably get some legislation passed to "protect" their market as well.
I use OTA. Yeah, the ads suck enormously, I know only too well. But I had cable once almost 30 years ago. I just don't want to give them more money.
Anyhow, I'm expecting the cable companies to get legislation passed that will make using OTA illegal or incredibly expensive by getting a tax imposed on those who use OTA.
Free market. Yeah, right. The corporations make the laws now and monopolies are considered to be a good thing.
Emphatically agree! Blade Runner.
I haven't seen the "over-dubbed" version. Not even sure what that is. I saw and still watch the original. Rutger Hauer knocks it out of the park. Harrison Ford is okay, too.
I think I'd be interested in an updated version of "Forbidden Planet."
The stats re Edge's uptake are telling. Nobody likes it. MS knows this so they start a PR effort to make people think Edge is remarkable. This is a marketing piece, nothing more. And face it, MS's credibility is weak. They have repeatedly lied to and deceived their customers. I'm astonished that more people haven't abandoned MS's crappy, over-priced products.
Since I can't add any mod points to support this comment, I need to add an emphatic "HELL YES" to it.
ANY time there is a policy that might affect an individual's privacy due to a corporation potentially dispensing that individual's personal data, the default should be to OPT IN to allow the corp to sell the data. Not opting in means "don't sell my freakin' data."
I had family who were farmers and I still have friends who are farming. I had to laugh when I asked my uncle about DST. He said it didn't matter. The cows needed attention the same time every day of the year. He never reset his watch. He always knew when to be to an appointment regardless. I was always impressed by how in tune with nature's rhythms he was.
He was a dairy farmer, but I can't imagine it would be much different for a farmer who does other types of livestock or only does cash crops. If it does, then that farmer has a different approach to farming than what I'm familiar with. I know more and more farmers are getting into different areas which connect them more closely with the rhythms of the city (so to speak), but I guess you need to consider that before you get into it.
There is a benefit to DST (IMHO) for people living around the 40 to 50 latitudes. (That might be an even broader range than I estimated.) It's a matter of visibility of school children. I know from personal experience since I'm out driving around during that time in the morning. I drive past spots where kids are gathering to get picked up by a school bus. Almost all the kids are wearing dark clothing and it can be hard to see them sometimes. So the earlier the sun appears, the more visible they are. So maybe DST is more useful as a regional thing. Although that would create other problems I'm sure.
One thing I do know. Nobody complains in the fall when they get an extra hour of sleep. The only time I hear complaints is in the spring.
I live and have lived in a neighborhood that people use as a shortcut around a busy, traffic-light controlled intersection. They are driving through a residential area with a posted speed limit of 25mph. The people trying to bypass the intersection will drive as fast as 50mph (more typically at 40mph). Again, the posted speed limit is 25mph and it's a RESIDENTIAL AREA.
The neighborhoods have no sidewalks so people walk in the street near the edge. There are children riding bicycles in the street and people walking their dogs or just out walking.
The point is, if you're going to bypass a slowdown or a backup and you choose to exit and go through a residential area, please respect the speed limit. Recognize you're in a residential area and be respectful and courteous and mindful for the safety of the people who live there.
I suspect the hazard of people driving at highway speeds through residential areas is one of the concerns of city planners.
I think you missed what the AC's point. The fact of the matter is there is NO competition in most markets. Consequently, competitive market forces do not work. IOW, if someone doesn't like "their conditions," they probably don't have any options which would enable them to say "thanks, but no thanks" to their provider.
And the idea that another will appear to "fill in the gap" is much easier said than done. With the current investment environment, startups are having a tougher time getting cash. And that doesn't consider the issue of how many people are interested in or willing to startup an ISP business. I suspect that's a pretty small segment of the population. So the chance of that occurring seems quite remote.
The "free market" is not as "free" as some people think.
I'm not sure one can even use the word "quality" with re to advertising. I guess what I'm trying to say is "the efficacy of advertising has deteriorated."
My impression of what has happened in the advertising industry is that it's reminiscent of the early WWW days when the "blink" tag was still available. Can anyone recall opening a web page and seeing 20 or 30 words blinking on the page? This is what today's advertising has become.
I think most ads today are very guilty of the "blink tag" mentality. I've been seeing more and more ads on TV where they show a different image every half second or every second. Most of the images probably have NO meaningful content with re to the intended product/service message. The ad is simply meant to pummel your visual cortex. It's like getting beat up by the school bully. You'll remember that moment for quite a while.
As far as I'm concerned, as soon as I see a lot of image changes, I change channels until the ad is over. I already mute the TV whenever an ad comes on so changing up or down one channel is no big deal. And I've gotten fairly good at timing it to return when the ad is over.
The other thing they're doing is "flashing" or "strobing" the screen. They're inserting a bright white flash when switching between the segments that make up the ad. And I mean these flashes are incredibly bright.
I was drawn into our sun room one night because I saw flashing in there. When I entered the sun room, I became aware of our neighbors to the north and slightly west. They live on the other side of our block. They're backyard is against the backyard of a neighbor who lives two houses north from us. Their TV screen is positioned so that it is visible through one of their windows. Now this is easily more than 200 feet away. The flashing I was seeing was from their TV while a commercial was on. It literally lit up the entire inside of our sun room with each burst of light.
I think the current generation of people who do all the special effects used in ads are suffering from the not unusual behavior of "gee, this effect is cool... I'm going to use it every chance I get."
This is one of the reasons I've been watching more PBS lately. I abhor commercial TV. It's like sticking one's head into a sewer hoping to retrieve a lost item.
If the advertising business is REALLY sincere about making quality ads, then go back to your lessons from advertising and marketing 101. The single most important feature in ANY advertising is "message" (aka, content). If you have a product/service you're trying to promote, then develop a message that speaks _clearly_ to the target audience. (eg, Our product is better because...) Oh yeah, and one more very important feature; ie, truth. If you have to manipulate or deceive people into becoming your customers, you don't have a product/service to sell. You belong in a midway at a county fair.
Maybe Henry Louis Gates, Jr will get Trump to be on an episode of "Finding Your Roots." That would be interesting.