First, I live in MD. That out of the way here is how my call to the Speaker's office went;
1) Real nice. And any question I asked was answered.
2) I expressed; please do not allow this bill to pass because as a consumer the bill is not protecting me, I needed a lawyer when I go to Best Buy or CompUSA for software and that is not realistic.
3)I should follow any e-mail with a regular mail (USPS-snail) as that is important.
4) That sending the e-mail/regular mail letter to all sponsors and the chair is a good thing to do.
I have been working on two kinds of letters, one is a consumer style and one is more tech. The consumer level letter I think is the best for e-mail/mail and the tech points letter (long) should be hand delivered. Tricky for me but I will try.
I have some MD info at; RTF and TXT HB19 & SB142 and others. I am also indexing HB19 so the paragraphs are somewhat easier to find.
Just checked the link before calling it quits for the day (0438 EST Oh No). Works fine, I experenced a couple of glitches but all is ok at this time. Look for html soon after I nap.
Maryland House and Senate Bills - UCITA & Cable Access
For anyone who wishes to read the Maryland version of the Bills they can go here and grab the Rich Text Format (.RTF) version. I haven't HTML'd them 'cause WordPerfect does such... oops no rant -- maybe I'll html them.
So, here is the index;
hb0018f.rtf --> Commercial Law - The Maryland Uniform Electronic Transactions Act
sb0003f.rtf --> senate version of the House Bill
hb0019f.rtf --> Maryland Uniform Computer Information Transactions Act
sb0142f.rtf --> senate version of the house bill
sb0505f.rtf --> Internet Consumers' Bill of Rights (cable access bill)
In the 'bad' old days the US Postal Service was a Digital Equipment shop; VMS, RSX-11, RT-11. Could not have those pc computers doing *real* tasks. Well I heard the pc/microsoft idea is dead in the 'real-time Process Control' area. Might be true. And the rumor that Linux (Debian) is saving the day. Might be true.
This much is true, Linux is has been up and busy for the USPS for a while. Try reading this.
The first part of the article;
Linux is reading your mail
John Taves, November 11, 1998
The United States Postal Service deployed over 900 Linux based systems throughout the United States in 1997 to automatically recognize the destination addresses on mail pieces. Each system consists of 5 dual Pentium Pro 200MHz (PP200) computers and one single PP200 all running Linux.
The USPS already had the mail piece scanners and some old custom computers that recognized the addresses. This project added the Linux computers to each scanner to run more modern OCR algorithms.
Same old stuff. You forgot the latest catch phrase, "It is for the protection of the children.".
The only difference the FBI/CIA/NSA/IRS have over the Russian 'guys' is; people run in circles and scream & shout while the federal government police intrude into their lives.
We in the USofA have no secrets if the police want to know -- and the warrant is optional, "The No Knock Rule". Life in the new age...
What everyone can do is work with the news media. OpenDVD has some good information on what, and what not to do when dealing with the media. Try the journalist page and the advocacy page for their fact sheets.
The best way to help with legal funding at this time is to purchase a t-shirt from copyleft , 4 dollars US go to EFF for every shirt sold. You also get a copy of DeCSS on their letterhead. You could frame it and call it art.
Joining EFF is not that much money, about the price of lunch in the Baltimore/Washington area, $20 {student) or $35 {basic [regular folks]}. Well, lunch for two (2) maybe, and not at junk-food-R-us.
-d "not working for anyone -- my opinion is mind [sic] alone"
Darn, I could have patented my perfect serial file transfer program for CP/M with BIOS support; then sued everyone who transfers a file using an IRQ based handler. That would be 197x or 198x, it is just so long ago, cough, wheeze. -d
The connection you have not made is "work ethic", some have it some don't. I have seen how people work and "work at" work. Match the person to the job and that person will work and do a good job.
The problem here in the USofA is simple - people are not taught how to think but what to think. The socialist education system has won; everyone looses. Note the problems inner city kids have with some of the voucher programs. Too many want to go to the better private schools because they know they will will be taught skills not propaganda from the NEA. To be fair the private schools are not burdened with the babysitting task.
Teach "how to think" and employers will not max out the INS worker rules for people. Ever see how much lawyers get from those workers for the paperwork. It's a crime. If you paid to work would you not make sure you did a good job.-d
Good for XFree86 for getting the award. However, burning configure at the stake is to good for it. If it was drawn and quartered that's fine by me. Just one problem, who has "the great" replacement? I don't. -d
In a controlled environment motor speed control works. Autos on a highway system cannot be considered a controlled environment. Case: car A running red light and car B needs to get out of the way. Car B has only the option of speeding up in order to get out of the way of car A. Ooops, my engine was stalled by the 'No Speeding' feature. Crash. But, teen with a bunch of friends will be stopped before they kill themselves at 100 mph? Oh, the crash was at 40 mph in a 50 mph zone. Head on with a dump truck. See you cannot protect people from themselves no matter how hard you try. And the new 'nannie' government really tries hard to do that.
At best beating any motor control system will be easy. You can bet the software and hardware will be posted worldwide in seconds of the 'GPS Speed Control Crack'. -d
Ok, the soapbox has been put away. Yes, I have heard of 147.435, but I don't recall when. There are repeaters real close to where I live and I do live on high ground (dam microwave tower 1/2 mile away - eye sore). I will try this, maybe I am off base too. 1)repair the small problem my old scanner has, 2)listen with an open mind, 3)make a decision.
Maybe visit a hamfest, need to check on the outside world anyway. -d
Check my reply to 'I gave it up'. I don't think you are wrong and I think the FCC should have kept the standard where it was. Did the community (licenced operators) have any say in the change? Did the lobby, for and against, act on their own? It really sounds like the big-shots are making the rules, as usual.
Maybe, based on my lack of involment I missed the communication point. However, if I had a better experience when I tuned back in with a CB (KCB1476) I would not have checked out forever. The poor communication skills I heard on that day was just to much. Time I have, skills I may have, the will to put up with stupid people or bad manners, I don't have. -d
Ham Radio "operators" like to laugh at "CB radio types" as clueless, redneck yahoos. Well y'all ought to take a look in the mirror some time. Here's how: turn the radios off for a couple of months and then turn them on again and just listen. Be prepared for a shock. Prior to Ham Radio I had been involved with organized volunteer public service CB radio groups. Their professionalism far and away exceeded what Ham Radio has devolved into today.
I got a CB radio from my parents after I said it would be 'neat' to try radio. Ok, this was a while ago and the FCC required a CB license. I thought that was real cool and did the paperwork, got a call sign(KCB1476 IIRC) and had a lot of fun. The next step was to get a Ham license. Never happened for a few reasons, but I did store that CB in a closet. One day a few years later I setup the CB and said, "Break - KCB1476", well to my suprise everyone on the net (airwaves), on that channel, flamed (useful term) me for the call sign. So, I listened for a while, thought about what I was hearing, and threw the CB in the trash (after stripping it) and filed the call sign in a folder of death and forgot about radio.
What happens when something technical becomes mainstream? The least common denominator effect surfaces. This is not a pretty sight as most people who have been around when it occurs will testify.
Will these new rules cause me to "get into" Ham radio now? No. Did the old rules stop me? No. I just have less will to put up with stupid Sh*t. That is enought to keep me from Ham radio, even though I have plenty of time to tinker.
Yes, a BSD/win98 machine is here for those who *require* win$ for some reason. I do not care, the user is happy and that is always the point. Is it not. -d
You forgot single computer home users need to reboot into win98 now and then due to (place a reason here) kind of thing. Remember the foxDOTcom problem, well, there are more sites that *assume* every home user is winIE|'scape.
However, a business computer needs downtime only when it is reqiured. I just told a business *not* to power down their computers for the weekend. Duh! they did'nt know the difference between shutdown and powerdown, thanks to M$ training. -d
Yeah, it works for FreeBSD with netscape 4.7 with javascript == on. Told mrs.quasi to ctl-alt-kp+ until she gets 640x4xx. I can't yell to loud, they are working on it. At least the box no longer gets rebooted to win98 just to check 'Ali Mcbeal' [sp?] by the *other user*. -d
Thanks. Would have been helpful in the first comment. No biggie, the 106th has S.1948 november 17, 1999. After the TV stuff there is a bunch of hairy stuff(tm).
TITLE III - Trademark Cyberpiracy Prevention
TITLE IV - Inventor Protection,
subtitle A - Inventors Rights,
subtitle B - Patent and Trademark Fee Fairness,
subtitle C - First Inventor Defense,
subtitle D - Patent Term Guarantee,
subtitle E - Domestic Publication of Patent Applications Published Abroad,
subtitle F - Optional Inter Parties Reexamination Procedure,
The *real* scary stuff is in TITLE III & IV. Since thomas search is sometimes slow the bill is being posted at my site with the full name,
S.1948 - Intellectual Property and Communications Omnibus Reform Act of 1999 (introduced in the Senate). It will be there as soon as I get done here. -d (done)
When I went to http://thomas.loc.gov and then did a search using the string 'h.r.2281' (quotes mine) I got a firearm bill. So I did a phrase search. Here is the method. U.S. Bills - search page then use 'Digital Millenium Copyright Act' (do not use the quotes) in the word/phrase search, the result is a bit different. -d
Merry|Happy|whatever. I watch the christmas people do their thing, but I like the winter gift giving. Browser bloat - Netscape 4.7 approx. 14 Mb. and it renders some pages funny. I did download Opera. Nice to know it really is Alpha-1. Maybe one of the secret gifts mrs.quasi has stashed is a 'scsi with a bunch of gigs'. All you'all take care, -d
If anyone is *not* in a hurry, goto FreeBSD Mall and fork out some $ and buy the disks. A little support is A Good Thing(tm). Maybe I'll get the 3.4-R before Corel sends out the disk I ordered from them. -d
Makes sense. Also, I said in another post that this system would|could be used like Lojack. Well, I also stated that Lojack was "a gps system", I think that statement is not really correct. The correct, and I am not sure I am right, answer is; Lojack is microwave station based. Now this new device could use the existing system the Lojack people designed. If I am correct. -d
Ever since the first politician, the entry scene of 2001 comes to mind, fear has been used to control the masses. The politician knows that if the masses hve no fear, then the system the politician is using to control them is open to control by the people he is controlling.
In the case of you or me we [maybe not] may fear an auto could or will be stolen; the local US police can use Lojack, a gps system, to get it back. For parents a lost or kidnapped child is the end of the world as they know it. That is why "Lojack for Kids" will become A Good Thing(tm) for politicians. The police will thing its cool too, as they are paid by those same politicians. This model is good in the USofA but may work anywhere. -d
Slashdot Mirror
1) Real nice. And any question I asked was answered.
2) I expressed; please do not allow this bill to pass because as a consumer the bill is not protecting me, I needed a lawyer when I go to Best Buy or CompUSA for software and that is not realistic.
3)I should follow any e-mail with a regular mail (USPS-snail) as that is important.
4) That sending the e-mail/regular mail letter to all sponsors and the chair is a good thing to do.
I have been working on two kinds of letters, one is a consumer style and one is more tech. The consumer level letter I think is the best for e-mail/mail and the tech points letter (long) should be hand delivered. Tricky for me but I will try.
I have some MD info at; RTF and TXT HB19 & SB142 and others. I am also indexing HB19 so the paragraphs are somewhat easier to find.
-d
All 4 of the MD-UCITA bills can be read or downloaded there, and, there are links to the General Assembly.
-d
-d
For anyone who wishes to read the Maryland version of the Bills they can go here and grab the Rich Text Format (.RTF) version. I haven't HTML'd them 'cause WordPerfect does such ... oops no rant -- maybe I'll html them.
So, here is the index;
hb0018f.rtf --> Commercial Law - The Maryland Uniform Electronic Transactions Act
sb0003f.rtf --> senate version of the House Bill
hb0019f.rtf --> Maryland Uniform Computer Information Transactions Act
sb0142f.rtf --> senate version of the house bill
sb0505f.rtf --> Internet Consumers' Bill of Rights (cable access bill)
-d
This much is true, Linux is has been up and busy for the USPS for a while. Try reading this.
The first part of the article;
Linux is reading your mail
John Taves, November 11, 1998
The United States Postal Service deployed over 900 Linux based systems throughout the United States in 1997 to automatically recognize the destination addresses on mail pieces. Each system consists of 5 dual Pentium Pro 200MHz (PP200) computers and one single PP200 all running Linux.
The USPS already had the mail piece scanners and some old custom computers that recognized the addresses. This project added the Linux computers to each scanner to run more modern OCR algorithms.
-d [usps retired]
The only difference the FBI/CIA/NSA/IRS have over the Russian 'guys' is; people run in circles and scream & shout while the federal government police intrude into their lives.
We in the USofA have no secrets if the police want to know -- and the warrant is optional, "The No Knock Rule". Life in the new age ...
-d
The best way to help with legal funding at this time is to purchase a t-shirt from copyleft , 4 dollars US go to EFF for every shirt sold. You also get a copy of DeCSS on their letterhead. You could frame it and call it art.
Joining EFF is not that much money, about the price of lunch in the Baltimore/Washington area, $20 {student) or $35 {basic [regular folks]}. Well, lunch for two (2) maybe, and not at junk-food-R-us.
-d "not working for anyone -- my opinion is mind [sic] alone"
Darn, I could have patented my perfect serial file transfer program for CP/M with BIOS support; then sued everyone who transfers a file using an IRQ based handler. That would be 197x or 198x, it is just so long ago, cough, wheeze. -d
The problem here in the USofA is simple - people are not taught how to think but what to think. The socialist education system has won; everyone looses. Note the problems inner city kids have with some of the voucher programs. Too many want to go to the better private schools because they know they will will be taught skills not propaganda from the NEA. To be fair the private schools are not burdened with the babysitting task.
Teach "how to think" and employers will not max out the INS worker rules for people. Ever see how much lawyers get from those workers for the paperwork. It's a crime. If you paid to work would you not make sure you did a good job.-d
Good for XFree86 for getting the award. However, burning configure at the stake is to good for it. If it was drawn and quartered that's fine by me. Just one problem, who has "the great" replacement? I don't. -d
At best beating any motor control system will be easy. You can bet the software and hardware will be posted worldwide in seconds of the 'GPS Speed Control Crack'. -d
Thanks. I pray the producer|director|moneychanger does not do harm to another good story. Troopes is an embarrassment.
In it's class; I am not sure I know why The Matrix did as well as it did with the storyline. But it was visual from the start. -d
My FreeBSD still says 2345, no doubt it will say 0000 010100. Happy Happy -d
Maybe visit a hamfest, need to check on the outside world anyway. -d
Maybe, based on my lack of involment I missed the communication point. However, if I had a better experience when I tuned back in with a CB (KCB1476) I would not have checked out forever. The poor communication skills I heard on that day was just to much. Time I have, skills I may have, the will to put up with stupid people or bad manners, I don't have. -d
I got a CB radio from my parents after I said it would be 'neat' to try radio. Ok, this was a while ago and the FCC required a CB license. I thought that was real cool and did the paperwork, got a call sign(KCB1476 IIRC) and had a lot of fun. The next step was to get a Ham license. Never happened for a few reasons, but I did store that CB in a closet. One day a few years later I setup the CB and said, "Break - KCB1476", well to my suprise everyone on the net (airwaves), on that channel, flamed (useful term) me for the call sign. So, I listened for a while, thought about what I was hearing, and threw the CB in the trash (after stripping it) and filed the call sign in a folder of death and forgot about radio.
What happens when something technical becomes mainstream? The least common denominator effect surfaces. This is not a pretty sight as most people who have been around when it occurs will testify.
Will these new rules cause me to "get into" Ham radio now? No. Did the old rules stop me? No. I just have less will to put up with stupid Sh*t. That is enought to keep me from Ham radio, even though I have plenty of time to tinker.
By the way I think antenna design is kewl. -d
Yes, a BSD/win98 machine is here for those who *require* win$ for some reason. I do not care, the user is happy and that is always the point. Is it not. -d
However, a business computer needs downtime only when it is reqiured. I just told a business *not* to power down their computers for the weekend. Duh! they did'nt know the difference between shutdown and powerdown, thanks to M$ training. -d
Yeah, it works for FreeBSD with netscape 4.7 with javascript == on. Told mrs.quasi to ctl-alt-kp+ until she gets 640x4xx. I can't yell to loud, they are working on it. At least the box no longer gets rebooted to win98 just to check 'Ali Mcbeal' [sp?] by the *other user*. -d
TITLE III - Trademark Cyberpiracy Prevention
TITLE IV - Inventor Protection,
subtitle A - Inventors Rights,
subtitle B - Patent and Trademark Fee Fairness,
subtitle C - First Inventor Defense,
subtitle D - Patent Term Guarantee,
subtitle E - Domestic Publication of Patent Applications Published Abroad,
subtitle F - Optional Inter Parties Reexamination Procedure,
The *real* scary stuff is in TITLE III & IV. Since thomas search is sometimes slow the bill is being posted at my site with the full name,
S.1948 - Intellectual Property and Communications Omnibus Reform Act of 1999 (introduced in the Senate). It will be there as soon as I get done here. -d (done)
When I went to http://thomas.loc.gov and then did a search using the string 'h.r.2281' (quotes mine) I got a firearm bill. So I did a phrase search. Here is the method. U.S. Bills - search page then use 'Digital Millenium Copyright Act' (do not use the quotes) in the word/phrase search, the result is a bit different. -d
Merry|Happy|whatever. I watch the christmas people do their thing, but I like the winter gift giving. Browser bloat - Netscape 4.7 approx. 14 Mb. and it renders some pages funny. I did download Opera. Nice to know it really is Alpha-1. Maybe one of the secret gifts mrs.quasi has stashed is a 'scsi with a bunch of gigs'. All you'all take care, -d
If anyone is *not* in a hurry, goto FreeBSD Mall and fork out some $ and buy the disks. A little support is A Good Thing(tm). Maybe I'll get the 3.4-R before Corel sends out the disk I ordered from them. -d
Makes sense. Also, I said in another post that this system would|could be used like Lojack. Well, I also stated that Lojack was "a gps system", I think that statement is not really correct. The correct, and I am not sure I am right, answer is; Lojack is microwave station based. Now this new device could use the existing system the Lojack people designed. If I am correct. -d
In the case of you or me we [maybe not] may fear an auto could or will be stolen; the local US police can use Lojack, a gps system, to get it back. For parents a lost or kidnapped child is the end of the world as they know it. That is why "Lojack for Kids" will become A Good Thing(tm) for politicians. The police will thing its cool too, as they are paid by those same politicians. This model is good in the USofA but may work anywhere. -d