When they started showing car commercials at the beginning of movies, the public certainly wasn't demanding more of that.
I knew there was something missing from DVD rips I've seen. No senseless commercials. Guess I need to figure out how to rip DVD's...so I add back in 2 hours of commercials to make these greedy bastards happy. I always knew there was something missing from my life by not making them happy to my fullest.
The online nontax phenomenon is a big part of the reason many states are floundering in debt.
This has very little to do with why states are floundering in debt. They thought the gravy train was going to continue forever and head up...up...up. When it didn't and they did not prepare for the day when times are bad...that is what caused this debt problem in the states.
You want to create more revenue in state and federal governments...you kill corporate welfare and force businesses to pay their fair share of their tax obligation. Quit giving away any type of tax break. If a business moves there promising a certain amount of jobs...pollutes the area or doesn't live up to their promises...you bust them the same as if a normal person were to renege on a deal.
Those businesses and wealthy individuals who believe they are above needing to pay their fair share are the reason this country is in the shape it's in...not individuals paying a few dollars of taxes on an out-of-state purchase. When the corporations and wealthy individuals pay their share...I will pay the "use" tax on any out-of-state internet purchases I might make without the help of a friend in a state with no sales tax.
Trying to enforce state tax laws at a federal level is a gross overreach of federal jurisdiction.
It will make it harder for me to buy the products which cost me several hundred dollars to save from needing to pay sales tax. In my case...just means either visiting my buddy in Oregon (no sales tax) and buying whatever I want in big ticket items there. Another option...same buddy in Oregon...send him the money for the purchase and to ship it to me. Still be cheaper than the 6% sales tax in Idaho or 9% in Arizona and get to spend time with him in person or over the phone.
Too bad that Idaho and other states with sales tax can't force those with no sales tax to impose this just because I don't believe in paying extortion to states who give away my tax money to businesses who pay reduced or no sales tax.
Been bald since my early 20's (in my late 40's). After discovering that an electric razor doesn't tear my scalp up...I shave at least once a month. Saves me trips to the barber shop...hairbrushes and having to deal with the opposite sex.
I wish I knew where that bald headed lady from the 1st Star Trek movie was now. Be the only way to score some head action!
As long as investors care more about quarterly profits than corporate ethics, this type of shit will never stop
Used to work for a former major US OEM company doing phone support about 12 years ago before the bottom fell out of the IT market. I still have nightmares of shipping parts out to addresses on the State Department's Embargo List. You could've lost your job doing it...but it didn't stop other companies from setting up shell companies in other countries and doing business with companies on the list. If I remember right...GE and many other companies were selling Iran and others on the list anything they wanted by going through these shell companies. Looking throughout the history of this country...you see this happening. No wonder the US has always had the reputation of being the biggest gun runners in the world. Some company wants to make money of death and suffering...the US is the place to come to buy whatever you need.
It's not right and these companies/executive boards should be charged with treason and shot...but when you have the government bought and paid for...this is what you get.
Sales tax can be gamed too. For one thing, the US still has that Internet sales loophole, which seems to have broad support on Slashdot.
This is not a loophole at all...just a Supreme Court decision which should have put the gag on the states for their tax collections of any out-of-state revenue. If the economy hadn't taken a dive...all the states which are deciding to go after every cent in taxes wouldn't even bother.
I have an idea...with the states still bending over backwards still giving away corporate welfare...they stop this behavior and many people would probably start paying the "use tax". I would...because I don't see why a corporation needs to get a bribe from a state.
I think it would be more accurate to say there's a large, often vocal, conservative block in our population that doesn't appreciate satire. [Of course even this refinement is a generalization and isn't strictly true.]
First of all...I wouldn't call this a generalization and untrue at all. The reason is three-fold:
1. They believe a book about one failed nation is the only book you ever need to understand the universe and everything about it in all it is about.
2. They don't understand satire of any type.
3. When you and everyone you will associate with believes they all are "legends in their own minds"...your world is a big/bad place where you have no business dictating anything about it at all. For that matter...you can't even have a coherent thought worth thinking.
"... when you grab the other team's babe, she sometimes 'freaks out.' The solution? Give her a gentle smack."
Reminds me of a quote from Sean Connery from his James Bond days..."Sometimes...you just have to hit a woman."
Personally...I think you should have to find a roll of duct tape to be able to take with you. That way...when you get her...you can duct tape her hands/feet together and put a strip across her mouth. Takes care of her fighting and keeps her quiet. What more can a man ask for...a submissive woman who can't gripe at you.;)
If you sell more games, you keep people using their Wiis. And if you keep people using their Wiis, they will buy more games for it. Sony managed to achieve that virtuous circle on the PS2, but despite their installed base lead, Nintendo haven't managed it this generation.
Bought a Wii about 6 months before I got my 360 Arcade. Loved the bowling game and some of the used Gamecube games like NCAA Football 2005 and such. The problem was I bought an HDTV and discovered that no matter what I wanted...the Wii would never be HD. On the other hand...my 360 was right out of the box with an HDMI cable I got online.
Up to the current time...traded my Wii for some major car work to a buddy who love his broken Gamecube. Don't miss it...except for the updated Goldeneye. The 360...I still play with it everyday or several times a week. It's HD...can watch TV through the extender...watch DVD/AVI/MP4 movies on it and still get fantastic looking games for it.
The console makers set the licensing fee that publishers pay per disc, AFAIK it's a flat fee, so disc games will never be $1. Do you think Wal-Mart would bother stocking $1 games?
With the amount of people that congregate around the $5 DVD crate and willing to buy several older titles...they would if the suppliers would provide the titles. With the $10 selling of old titles on the shelves next to the $30-60 titles...you throw $5 old console titles in a bin...they wouldn't be able to keep it stocked. Too many times I've been in Wal-Mart and seen that bin over half empty and see it full in the next day or two.
Don't believe me about old games that will sell at bargain prices...I see ads on Craigslist and in the paper of parents looking for old consoles like the 8-bit/16-bit Nintendo for their kids to play on. If there wasn't a market...why have I seen these retro dual-slot Nintendo consoles? I even own a Gameboy color I buy games for at pawn shops...along with an Atari Flashback I bought about 10 years ago.
If Nintendo/Sony/Microsoft had it their way...they would force old units into the trash heap to keep their newer consoles selling for a higher cost. You're the only game in town...you can charge whatever you want. They're actually no better than drug dealers in trying to keep their profits up anyway possible.
I respect the man for his decision but as someone who has watched my father go on and off unemployment, I implore him to adjust his attitude to just consider legality and not ethics. We live in a world today where all politicians and businesses lead by example in this department and playing the game optimally means that capitalism rewards them.
I fully understand I'm going to get reamed for what I'm going to say...but I believe it needs to be said. If you only believe that legalities are the only driving force for your behavior...what about if the law itself is immoral/unethical? To head from the theoretical to the concrete...do you believe what the Nazi's did during the Holocaust to the Jews/Mentally Challenged/Gypsies/Homosexuals and such was correct? It was legal...but was it moral or ethical? If you hold onto the legalistic view...you can make yourself and others believe any course of action is correct.
On the other hand...myself and others hold that morals/ethics are of prime importance in our decision making. To use my own example...I believe that genocide under any guise is immoral and unethical. I don't care if it holds me back from the reward of less immoral/unethical men. Sure...I may be poor...but at least I can sleep without the guilt and tell my children that I did the right thing. Those who believe the "rewards are worth any cost" are the ones facing tribunals/public shaming/jail time for their lack of morals/ethics. No matter what others believe...doing "the right thing" does have it's own rewards. It's these rewards those with lack of morals/ethics will never understand.
There used to be an aerial tramway for moving mining ore in Zeehan in Tasmania.
They were also built at Hoover Dam and are still being used to lift equipment in/out of wherever they need it. Seems like good ideas never go out of style.
However I see a problem with the ebook, and that is that if you break your reader or run out of battery (either will happen eventually) then the books you have will be unreadable. Breaking a paper book doesn't make it unreadable, and at worst you have to re-glue the pages but usually a piece of tape is sufficient.
The same thing can be said for anything which uses an internal batteries...such as an IPod. They do have external power packs available you should be able to engineer to run or recharge whatever device on the go from a set of off-the-shelf batteries or a lithium-ion pack. It's not as convenient or looks as cool. It works...I'm happy.
I want to be cool...I'll drive a 77 Trans-AM around wearing a wig...pretending to be Burt Reynolds.
Bread and circusses. The only risk the super-rich face is if the American Dream dies, and that dream is not about actually being able to afford a car, a house and a huge tv, but about being able to work very very hard to get a loan that always puts you one pay check away from loosing it all. Keeps the folks on their toes, unwilling to do anything to risk upsetting the status quo lest they miss a credit card payment and loose it all.
Why do you think ALL the elite were HORRIFIED over the housing crisis? Because poor people lost their home? Yeah right. No, because poor people found out that they aren't all that tied down to their debt. Default and walk away and start over new, maybe somewhere different with a different kind of politician. Don't let the poor money to get themselves in debt and they just might not be in debt anymore and then how do you control them?
I would propose for too many people who lost it all...this "Dream" has become their nightmare. By many accounts I have read lately...it will be at least one...maybe two generations before the poor/middle class who got shafted may come back to some sort of "normal". If I were the "elite"...I would be terrified at what they've allowed to happen. When you have people who don't care and can point a finger at...the "elite" will pray they never let this "recession" happen.
At this time...the "Mad Max" movies will seem like a paradise.
The MPAA ratings board is a group of old "married" white women (supposedly parents with children living under roof, though most of them have no children in the house, and why is that the standard anyway?), so of of course tits are going to rate far higher than blood. I'm not being hyperbolic there either. It really is a bunch of old white women.
You want to see how stupid and unimportant the MPAA really is...watch "This Film is not Yet Rated".
Came out in 2006 and attempted to show how your movies are rated and by who. I used "attempted" because the MPAA fought tooth and nail to keep the censors and their criteria from even being shown or discussed. If that wasn't enough...I seem to remember they tried to sue the director/producer and pressured cinemas to not show it.
There are no really good kids movies or really good adult movies made anymore. I don't see anything like Fellini movies made these days. Or movies like Bedknobs and Broomsticks.
The truth of the matter is that Fellini-type movies are still being made. Worst part about them is that unless you live in LA/NY or attend Sundance...you never get to see them until years later on IFC or TCM. For instance...Hulu was (probably still is) running "Last Tango in Paris". Saw it uncut many years ago on Cinemax and never understood how Brando could win anything...except for him being in it and mumbling for 2 hours. For myself...never understood how you can compare Midnight Cowboy/The Godfather to Tango.
As for kids movies...the biggest problem you have is the parents. Either they are brain-dead fundamentalists who see Satan in every shadow or they are too busy to care what their kids watch. Myself...I have many of the Disney classics on DVD...especially the Pixar stuff. Pull them out once in a while and head back to a more stupid time in my life.
Even with all the talk about how Hulu doesn't have this...doesn't have that...I am seeing many of these movies which made it at Sundance/NY/LA being put up there. That is the best thing you can hope for...a place where these movies get a public airing for people to see that the garbage isn't the only thing you can watch. They watch them and get interested in watching others...so you have Netflix or other outlets to enjoy more of them.
Thank God I bought a 360. Nothing like this I need to worry about there. Plus...got it hooked up to the Media Center Extender in the living room with a TV Tuner...so it plays games and I can watch TV...without inputting a code before doing anything.
I think the dangers here are non-existent. Elephants already have a very hard time in the wild; these things aren't going to get out and take over. Even if a couple of mammoths did manage to escape somehow (that'd be a massive security oversight wouldn't it?), it would be easy to find and recapture them within the 2 years or whatever it takes them to make a single baby mammoth. It'd be pretty hard to not notice a woolly mammoth running loose anywhere near humans. These animals are just going to be a curiosity, probably confined to zoos, and I think it's great that it might really happen.
They said the same exact thing in "Escape from the Planet of the Apes". Instead of killing the proper chimp baby...the talking one grew up and caused nuclear war. I ask you...do we really need to have this happen again? Do we?
Having email on your phone, or your computer, gives the company authorization to scan the whole thing including your personal data. That was already ruled in court.
I have to agree this is never a good idea...no matter in a perfect world or the one we live in. As you've pointed out...once on the network the company owns...the company has every right to check your equipment. What if you're someone who likes watching girls screwing donkeys in your spare time at home and have all your favorite links in your favorites/bookmarks and haven't cleared your cache. By hooking it to the company network...you've just let the company see what you enjoy outside of work hours. You have child porn on the system because a few stray photos came across the wire...you just got found out. Be ready to become someone's biatch for you are going to jail. If you ever get out...the first stop you make is to get on the sexual registry for your state.
You can keep telling yourself it can never happen...but it can and does everyday. Prime example is when I used to do phone support for a former US OEM. Wives would call up all the time to find out why the computer was running so slow. Because her hubby forgot to wipe the cache/history file on the browser...the wife finds out he's gay or into things she never heard of or imagined.
To clarify: The UK does not extradite people to countries where they will face execution or torture. If the defence can show that it's likely that extraditing him to Sweden would result in his execution or torture in the USA, then extradition to Sweden will be denied.
Something which bugs me about all of this. If he were that afraid of being extradited to the US...why choose a country where it can happen? Polanski ended up in France...knowing he might get a few months or a couple of years if they could've brought him back...but with Assange...the US government would love to throw him away to never be heard again or arrange an accident for embarrassing the US government.
If the attacker turns out to be a tea party paranoid type, then I honestly believe people like Beck hold indirect responsibility for the attack. Incitement to rioting is a crime; so, in a (non-legal) way, is the winking threats and paranoia that's been on the airwaves for too long.
The problem is that Beck and the tea baggers are going to be shoving their way in front of the mic/camera to make sure people believe they would never ever incite anyone to do something like this. Not having access to Fox News (thank God)...but been exposed to it in the past...they're all ready running their spin doctors into overtime to distance themselves/their hosts/groupies from anything to do with this.
After all...the United States is a nation of laws...even though Beck and the tea baggers don't believe in them.
That's right! If murderers knew that bullets can kill people they wouldn't fire them. As well all know, people only get shot because people firing the guns haven't been taught that it isn't a magic tickling stick.
Having lived in Arizona for several years...I'm not surprised this has happened. Because they believe their god came down in a burning bush and told them guns are good...better where others can see them...best that they hopefully shoot their balls off...they openly carry...except for court houses/government buildings.
While I believe the second amendment may allow you to have a firearm...some of these rejects from "The Hills Have Eyes" openly carry. Being unsure many of these could spell the word "fry"...must less get you one at the counter at a fast food restaurant...I was scared many times seeing/thinking that they are allowed in the same universe with having anything which could go boom and hurt someone else...if not themselves.
I'm not claiming this wiki article is complete, but the amateur HF bands are far far away from 900Mhz.
As a Ham with a general license...my upper use of 1500 W (with an amp...most HF radios run at 100 W) can be anywhere from above the AM broadcast band at 160m SSB/AM (1800 Khz) to 6m SSB/AM/FM (50 Mhz). Above the FM broadcast band...I do some work in the vehicle at 2M SSB/FM (144-148 Mhz-US/144-146 Mhz-Europe) and on up into the Ghz range...if I had the equipment. NOTE: There are different ranges of frequencies being used throughout the several radio regions setup by the international community through the UN.
Before the FCC discontinued the use of around 900 Mhz years ago...the commission kicked us up about 20-30 Mhz...so they could have more public use at the 900 Mhz range for phones/baby monitors/short-range radios.
When there is technology to eliminate wasteful use of human and other resources
Why not? If a company is going to profit from operating within a society, why shouldn't it be expected to support that society? If a company registers a patent in the US, then places it in a subsidiary in Holland, then a subsidiary in Ireland, and then back to Holland, finally licensing it back to itself to the US subsidiary in order to avoid paying taxes in the country that it sells the product, why shouldn't it be "forced" to contribute to the well-being of the people who comprise that market? I think we underestimate the danger of believing that profit without responsibility is OK. More than thirty percent of the wealth of the bottom 75% of Americans just evaporated from 2000 to 2008 during a time when the largest corporations profits grew. Can you figure out where that trend heads?
The largest part of the problem is that people are naturally selfish. That's why there's not Universal Health Care in the United States. It comes directly from being selfish and not willing to help others worse off than themselves. They don't spend profits helping those in need...they have more profits to squander away how they want.
Never figured out how anyone can let people starve and die when they refuse to help those around them in need.
Slashdot Mirror
When they started showing car commercials at the beginning of movies, the public certainly wasn't demanding more of that.
I knew there was something missing from DVD rips I've seen. No senseless commercials. Guess I need to figure out how to rip DVD's...so I add back in 2 hours of commercials to make these greedy bastards happy. I always knew there was something missing from my life by not making them happy to my fullest.
The online nontax phenomenon is a big part of the reason many states are floundering in debt.
This has very little to do with why states are floundering in debt. They thought the gravy train was going to continue forever and head up...up...up. When it didn't and they did not prepare for the day when times are bad...that is what caused this debt problem in the states.
You want to create more revenue in state and federal governments...you kill corporate welfare and force businesses to pay their fair share of their tax obligation. Quit giving away any type of tax break. If a business moves there promising a certain amount of jobs...pollutes the area or doesn't live up to their promises...you bust them the same as if a normal person were to renege on a deal.
Those businesses and wealthy individuals who believe they are above needing to pay their fair share are the reason this country is in the shape it's in...not individuals paying a few dollars of taxes on an out-of-state purchase. When the corporations and wealthy individuals pay their share...I will pay the "use" tax on any out-of-state internet purchases I might make without the help of a friend in a state with no sales tax.
Trying to enforce state tax laws at a federal level is a gross overreach of federal jurisdiction.
It will make it harder for me to buy the products which cost me several hundred dollars to save from needing to pay sales tax. In my case...just means either visiting my buddy in Oregon (no sales tax) and buying whatever I want in big ticket items there. Another option...same buddy in Oregon...send him the money for the purchase and to ship it to me. Still be cheaper than the 6% sales tax in Idaho or 9% in Arizona and get to spend time with him in person or over the phone.
Too bad that Idaho and other states with sales tax can't force those with no sales tax to impose this just because I don't believe in paying extortion to states who give away my tax money to businesses who pay reduced or no sales tax.
Been bald since my early 20's (in my late 40's). After discovering that an electric razor doesn't tear my scalp up...I shave at least once a month. Saves me trips to the barber shop...hairbrushes and having to deal with the opposite sex.
I wish I knew where that bald headed lady from the 1st Star Trek movie was now. Be the only way to score some head action!
As long as investors care more about quarterly profits than corporate ethics, this type of shit will never stop
Used to work for a former major US OEM company doing phone support about 12 years ago before the bottom fell out of the IT market. I still have nightmares of shipping parts out to addresses on the State Department's Embargo List. You could've lost your job doing it...but it didn't stop other companies from setting up shell companies in other countries and doing business with companies on the list. If I remember right...GE and many other companies were selling Iran and others on the list anything they wanted by going through these shell companies. Looking throughout the history of this country...you see this happening. No wonder the US has always had the reputation of being the biggest gun runners in the world. Some company wants to make money of death and suffering...the US is the place to come to buy whatever you need.
It's not right and these companies/executive boards should be charged with treason and shot...but when you have the government bought and paid for...this is what you get.
Sales tax can be gamed too. For one thing, the US still has that Internet sales loophole, which seems to have broad support on Slashdot.
This is not a loophole at all...just a Supreme Court decision which should have put the gag on the states for their tax collections of any out-of-state revenue. If the economy hadn't taken a dive...all the states which are deciding to go after every cent in taxes wouldn't even bother.
I have an idea...with the states still bending over backwards still giving away corporate welfare...they stop this behavior and many people would probably start paying the "use tax". I would...because I don't see why a corporation needs to get a bribe from a state.
I think it would be more accurate to say there's a large, often vocal, conservative block in our population that doesn't appreciate satire. [Of course even this refinement is a generalization and isn't strictly true.]
First of all...I wouldn't call this a generalization and untrue at all. The reason is three-fold:
1. They believe a book about one failed nation is the only book you ever need to understand the universe and everything about it in all it is about.
2. They don't understand satire of any type.
3. When you and everyone you will associate with believes they all are "legends in their own minds"...your world is a big/bad place where you have no business dictating anything about it at all. For that matter...you can't even have a coherent thought worth thinking.
"... when you grab the other team's babe, she sometimes 'freaks out.' The solution? Give her a gentle smack."
Reminds me of a quote from Sean Connery from his James Bond days..."Sometimes...you just have to hit a woman."
Personally...I think you should have to find a roll of duct tape to be able to take with you. That way...when you get her...you can duct tape her hands/feet together and put a strip across her mouth. Takes care of her fighting and keeps her quiet. What more can a man ask for...a submissive woman who can't gripe at you.;)
If you sell more games, you keep people using their Wiis. And if you keep people using their Wiis, they will buy more games for it. Sony managed to achieve that virtuous circle on the PS2, but despite their installed base lead, Nintendo haven't managed it this generation.
Bought a Wii about 6 months before I got my 360 Arcade. Loved the bowling game and some of the used Gamecube games like NCAA Football 2005 and such. The problem was I bought an HDTV and discovered that no matter what I wanted...the Wii would never be HD. On the other hand...my 360 was right out of the box with an HDMI cable I got online.
Up to the current time...traded my Wii for some major car work to a buddy who love his broken Gamecube. Don't miss it...except for the updated Goldeneye. The 360...I still play with it everyday or several times a week. It's HD...can watch TV through the extender...watch DVD/AVI/MP4 movies on it and still get fantastic looking games for it.
The console makers set the licensing fee that publishers pay per disc, AFAIK it's a flat fee, so disc games will never be $1. Do you think Wal-Mart would bother stocking $1 games?
With the amount of people that congregate around the $5 DVD crate and willing to buy several older titles...they would if the suppliers would provide the titles. With the $10 selling of old titles on the shelves next to the $30-60 titles...you throw $5 old console titles in a bin...they wouldn't be able to keep it stocked. Too many times I've been in Wal-Mart and seen that bin over half empty and see it full in the next day or two.
Don't believe me about old games that will sell at bargain prices...I see ads on Craigslist and in the paper of parents looking for old consoles like the 8-bit/16-bit Nintendo for their kids to play on. If there wasn't a market...why have I seen these retro dual-slot Nintendo consoles? I even own a Gameboy color I buy games for at pawn shops...along with an Atari Flashback I bought about 10 years ago.
If Nintendo/Sony/Microsoft had it their way...they would force old units into the trash heap to keep their newer consoles selling for a higher cost. You're the only game in town...you can charge whatever you want. They're actually no better than drug dealers in trying to keep their profits up anyway possible.
I respect the man for his decision but as someone who has watched my father go on and off unemployment, I implore him to adjust his attitude to just consider legality and not ethics. We live in a world today where all politicians and businesses lead by example in this department and playing the game optimally means that capitalism rewards them.
I fully understand I'm going to get reamed for what I'm going to say...but I believe it needs to be said. If you only believe that legalities are the only driving force for your behavior...what about if the law itself is immoral/unethical? To head from the theoretical to the concrete...do you believe what the Nazi's did during the Holocaust to the Jews/Mentally Challenged/Gypsies/Homosexuals and such was correct? It was legal...but was it moral or ethical? If you hold onto the legalistic view...you can make yourself and others believe any course of action is correct.
On the other hand...myself and others hold that morals/ethics are of prime importance in our decision making. To use my own example...I believe that genocide under any guise is immoral and unethical. I don't care if it holds me back from the reward of less immoral/unethical men. Sure...I may be poor...but at least I can sleep without the guilt and tell my children that I did the right thing. Those who believe the "rewards are worth any cost" are the ones facing tribunals/public shaming/jail time for their lack of morals/ethics. No matter what others believe...doing "the right thing" does have it's own rewards. It's these rewards those with lack of morals/ethics will never understand.
There used to be an aerial tramway for moving mining ore in Zeehan in Tasmania.
They were also built at Hoover Dam and are still being used to lift equipment in/out of wherever they need it. Seems like good ideas never go out of style.
However I see a problem with the ebook, and that is that if you break your reader or run out of battery (either will happen eventually) then the books you have will be unreadable. Breaking a paper book doesn't make it unreadable, and at worst you have to re-glue the pages but usually a piece of tape is sufficient.
The same thing can be said for anything which uses an internal batteries...such as an IPod. They do have external power packs available you should be able to engineer to run or recharge whatever device on the go from a set of off-the-shelf batteries or a lithium-ion pack. It's not as convenient or looks as cool. It works...I'm happy.
I want to be cool...I'll drive a 77 Trans-AM around wearing a wig...pretending to be Burt Reynolds.
Bread and circusses. The only risk the super-rich face is if the American Dream dies, and that dream is not about actually being able to afford a car, a house and a huge tv, but about being able to work very very hard to get a loan that always puts you one pay check away from loosing it all. Keeps the folks on their toes, unwilling to do anything to risk upsetting the status quo lest they miss a credit card payment and loose it all.
Why do you think ALL the elite were HORRIFIED over the housing crisis? Because poor people lost their home? Yeah right. No, because poor people found out that they aren't all that tied down to their debt. Default and walk away and start over new, maybe somewhere different with a different kind of politician. Don't let the poor money to get themselves in debt and they just might not be in debt anymore and then how do you control them?
I would propose for too many people who lost it all...this "Dream" has become their nightmare. By many accounts I have read lately...it will be at least one...maybe two generations before the poor/middle class who got shafted may come back to some sort of "normal". If I were the "elite"...I would be terrified at what they've allowed to happen. When you have people who don't care and can point a finger at...the "elite" will pray they never let this "recession" happen.
At this time...the "Mad Max" movies will seem like a paradise.
The MPAA ratings board is a group of old "married" white women (supposedly parents with children living under roof, though most of them have no children in the house, and why is that the standard anyway?), so of of course tits are going to rate far higher than blood. I'm not being hyperbolic there either. It really is a bunch of old white women.
You want to see how stupid and unimportant the MPAA really is...watch "This Film is not Yet Rated".
Came out in 2006 and attempted to show how your movies are rated and by who. I used "attempted" because the MPAA fought tooth and nail to keep the censors and their criteria from even being shown or discussed. If that wasn't enough...I seem to remember they tried to sue the director/producer and pressured cinemas to not show it.
There are no really good kids movies or really good adult movies made anymore. I don't see anything like Fellini movies made these days. Or movies like Bedknobs and Broomsticks.
The truth of the matter is that Fellini-type movies are still being made. Worst part about them is that unless you live in LA/NY or attend Sundance...you never get to see them until years later on IFC or TCM. For instance...Hulu was (probably still is) running "Last Tango in Paris". Saw it uncut many years ago on Cinemax and never understood how Brando could win anything...except for him being in it and mumbling for 2 hours. For myself...never understood how you can compare Midnight Cowboy/The Godfather to Tango.
As for kids movies...the biggest problem you have is the parents. Either they are brain-dead fundamentalists who see Satan in every shadow or they are too busy to care what their kids watch. Myself...I have many of the Disney classics on DVD...especially the Pixar stuff. Pull them out once in a while and head back to a more stupid time in my life.
Even with all the talk about how Hulu doesn't have this...doesn't have that...I am seeing many of these movies which made it at Sundance/NY/LA being put up there. That is the best thing you can hope for...a place where these movies get a public airing for people to see that the garbage isn't the only thing you can watch. They watch them and get interested in watching others...so you have Netflix or other outlets to enjoy more of them.
Thank God I bought a 360. Nothing like this I need to worry about there. Plus...got it hooked up to the Media Center Extender in the living room with a TV Tuner...so it plays games and I can watch TV...without inputting a code before doing anything.
NASA is the first line of defense, people. Their job isn't to hire good engineers, it's to hire good AMERICANS!
Just like the ones who understand don't the difference between a yard and a metre.
I think the dangers here are non-existent. Elephants already have a very hard time in the wild; these things aren't going to get out and take over. Even if a couple of mammoths did manage to escape somehow (that'd be a massive security oversight wouldn't it?), it would be easy to find and recapture them within the 2 years or whatever it takes them to make a single baby mammoth. It'd be pretty hard to not notice a woolly mammoth running loose anywhere near humans. These animals are just going to be a curiosity, probably confined to zoos, and I think it's great that it might really happen.
They said the same exact thing in "Escape from the Planet of the Apes". Instead of killing the proper chimp baby...the talking one grew up and caused nuclear war. I ask you...do we really need to have this happen again? Do we?
Having email on your phone, or your computer, gives the company authorization to scan the whole thing including your personal data. That was already ruled in court.
I have to agree this is never a good idea...no matter in a perfect world or the one we live in. As you've pointed out...once on the network the company owns...the company has every right to check your equipment. What if you're someone who likes watching girls screwing donkeys in your spare time at home and have all your favorite links in your favorites/bookmarks and haven't cleared your cache. By hooking it to the company network...you've just let the company see what you enjoy outside of work hours. You have child porn on the system because a few stray photos came across the wire...you just got found out. Be ready to become someone's biatch for you are going to jail. If you ever get out...the first stop you make is to get on the sexual registry for your state.
You can keep telling yourself it can never happen...but it can and does everyday. Prime example is when I used to do phone support for a former US OEM. Wives would call up all the time to find out why the computer was running so slow. Because her hubby forgot to wipe the cache/history file on the browser...the wife finds out he's gay or into things she never heard of or imagined.
To clarify: The UK does not extradite people to countries where they will face execution or torture. If the defence can show that it's likely that extraditing him to Sweden would result in his execution or torture in the USA, then extradition to Sweden will be denied.
Something which bugs me about all of this. If he were that afraid of being extradited to the US...why choose a country where it can happen? Polanski ended up in France...knowing he might get a few months or a couple of years if they could've brought him back...but with Assange...the US government would love to throw him away to never be heard again or arrange an accident for embarrassing the US government.
If the attacker turns out to be a tea party paranoid type, then I honestly believe people like Beck hold indirect responsibility for the attack. Incitement to rioting is a crime; so, in a (non-legal) way, is the winking threats and paranoia that's been on the airwaves for too long.
The problem is that Beck and the tea baggers are going to be shoving their way in front of the mic/camera to make sure people believe they would never ever incite anyone to do something like this. Not having access to Fox News (thank God)...but been exposed to it in the past...they're all ready running their spin doctors into overtime to distance themselves/their hosts/groupies from anything to do with this.
After all...the United States is a nation of laws...even though Beck and the tea baggers don't believe in them.
That's right! If murderers knew that bullets can kill people they wouldn't fire them. As well all know, people only get shot because people firing the guns haven't been taught that it isn't a magic tickling stick.
Having lived in Arizona for several years...I'm not surprised this has happened. Because they believe their god came down in a burning bush and told them guns are good...better where others can see them...best that they hopefully shoot their balls off...they openly carry...except for court houses/government buildings.
While I believe the second amendment may allow you to have a firearm...some of these rejects from "The Hills Have Eyes" openly carry. Being unsure many of these could spell the word "fry"...must less get you one at the counter at a fast food restaurant...I was scared many times seeing/thinking that they are allowed in the same universe with having anything which could go boom and hurt someone else...if not themselves.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smart_meter
I'm not claiming this wiki article is complete, but the amateur HF bands are far far away from 900Mhz.
As a Ham with a general license...my upper use of 1500 W (with an amp...most HF radios run at 100 W) can be anywhere from above the AM broadcast band at 160m SSB/AM (1800 Khz) to 6m SSB/AM/FM (50 Mhz). Above the FM broadcast band...I do some work in the vehicle at 2M SSB/FM (144-148 Mhz-US/144-146 Mhz-Europe) and on up into the Ghz range...if I had the equipment.
NOTE: There are different ranges of frequencies being used throughout the several radio regions setup by the international community through the UN.
Before the FCC discontinued the use of around 900 Mhz years ago...the commission kicked us up about 20-30 Mhz...so they could have more public use at the 900 Mhz range for phones/baby monitors/short-range radios.
Why not? If a company is going to profit from operating within a society, why shouldn't it be expected to support that society? If a company registers a patent in the US, then places it in a subsidiary in Holland, then a subsidiary in Ireland, and then back to Holland, finally licensing it back to itself to the US subsidiary in order to avoid paying taxes in the country that it sells the product, why shouldn't it be "forced" to contribute to the well-being of the people who comprise that market? I think we underestimate the danger of believing that profit without responsibility is OK. More than thirty percent of the wealth of the bottom 75% of Americans just evaporated from 2000 to 2008 during a time when the largest corporations profits grew. Can you figure out where that trend heads?
The largest part of the problem is that people are naturally selfish. That's why there's not Universal Health Care in the United States. It comes directly from being selfish and not willing to help others worse off than themselves. They don't spend profits helping those in need...they have more profits to squander away how they want.
Never figured out how anyone can let people starve and die when they refuse to help those around them in need.