The one your site shows looks just like the one I had but I think it had a built in speaker (but I could be confusing it with the umpteen similar pc cards over the years). I think I got it from a show.
I remember the product and it worked well. Oh well, at 20 your doing good just staying sober. But anyone else reading, call there bluff and email me for help with the details (free guidance)!! LOL!
Sorry to hear they ripped you off dude. I thought at the time that the bigger company bought you out and that you would be sitting pretty. Bummer. Hope your next one hits big.
"I had the very first audio every on most computer platforms. From digital audio on the Apple II, Lisa and Mac, C64, IBM PC and XT and even the Tandy Model 2 and 3.
I had the first PC digital audio products on the market the Sound Byte, then someone literally took my name trade marked and and sent me a cease and desists on the name! So I renamed it Audio byte. http://www.dnull.com/zebraresearch [dnull.com]"
Why didn't you just say "This name and concept is mine- give me all your money or else?"
A trademark is automatically invalidated if it was in use prior to the trademarking. And if you marketed the first product by that name you would win- big. But of course you might have to be able to feed a few lawyers to make it work though.
No, the principle is that there are more renters than apartment owners, and therefore politicians pander to the tyranny of the majority (and those who feel sorry for them) while trampling on the property rights of the minority. Votes over principle. Just please don't call it "renters' rights." There are no such rights, only cynical politicians willing to rob from Peter to pay Paul; and the politician who does that will always have the support of Paul.
You claim to be a lawyer but you certainly are not very well versed in the facts of New York City's rental realities. The landlords have money, lots of it. They pay, donate, and bribe the politicians and judges. The majority gets screwed as a result. Really, read something, like try 10 years of news articles on skyrocketing rents.
But then there is the whole concept of "reliance" and IP - Intellectual Property. If a lawyer were to follow those two doctrines there is a considerable possibility of finding that AOL caused the loss of the user's IP which has a value. Moreover, the consideration in this case has an implied value, that the free host stay up under reasonable terms. Is it reasonable to close a website, which costs pennies per year to maintain, without giving the consumer IP owners ACTUAL notice?
Then also there are UCC interpretations if the IP is considered business rather than consumer. Quite frankly counselor, I think the probability of litigation due to the crappy way this was handled far outweighs the pennies the saved by closing down in 4 weeks rather than say 6months. At the very least they should have provided a way for people to get their content after the site went down.
So does the course you teach cover consumer protection statutes and simple tort principles? Because there does seem to be some play in that area given that IP is property and if it has been destroyed there are damages, and through the contract there is a duty....
But hey, I'm sure AOL's lawyers considered those possibilities as deeply as you did.
What dimension are you from? New York City's rent control laws have been gutted and ignored by landlord loving judge's who are on the Real Estate industry's payroll. Entire neighborhoods have been evicted to make way for the (phoney) money train. Rents have skyrocketed out of control. Seniors have been under constant assault by landlords trying to push them out so they can quadruple the rents.
And if you don't believe me just read the New York Times articles about gentrification and displacement. Or just read the articles about Rent Wars while you are at it (old though, 2001- but they have newer articles on how the Landlords simply ignore the tenant protection and repair laws yet still get evictions).
Although now that the financial industry has been exposed as a fraud the RE market has dropped. But the madness continues even now.
Actually the stuff works great when your hair first starts thinning. I bought the stuff years ago and it was in an aerosol can. You spray it on an viola, your hair looks thick and no scalp shows through. This is the stuff actors might use. You can duck and move with no problem. But then it happens, you dance full of confidence and a tiny bit of perspiration hits the shoe polish. Suddenly your sweating black streaks down your face like Tammy Faye mascara, and don't forget the back of your shirt collar which now looks like an inkwell. However, the most embarrassing moment is when the attractive young lady you are dancing with runs her hands through your hair and then screams when she notices her hand is covered with black ink. I fled into the night groaning like Igor...
One time I used it, and that one time humiliated me more than 20 years of thinning hair!
You have missed out on all of the fun of spraying shoe polish on your bald spot and having it make black spots on your collar.
You have have missed the sheer joy of having Rogaine roll without effect across your bald spot raising only the thinnest of peach fuzz to splash with joy upon your ears and neck. You have missed the strange furry pelt it makes down one's back and the warm smile your now furry ears bring to cat loving women.
But seriously, after all of that, I put the sucker to work on my show. When I'm too lazy to animate myself and don't have a Batman mask around I appear via my talking bald spot! (and no, I'm not the one who put the studio camera on the ceiling, I just figure it's there, why not?
The clue to your problem is that the investigation was done from India....
All of these foreign based customer centers are very bad mojo. Logic suggests that if labor is cheap over seas, then your personal info is for sale and worth three years salary to some of these guys.
So what's your real story? Did a soapy budget lawyer steal your one and only girlfriend with organic vitamins or something? LOL. Nevermind. You're just being a pathetic Troll. I ignore you. Go find a bridge and hide under it. And go rinse your ignorant mouth out with soap while you are at it.
But for the benefit of anyone else who is reading this thread, MLM is just a marketing method primarily using word of mouth. It is neither good nor bad. It all depends on the product/ service and the people involved. Some are outright scams, just like other business models have scams (think Enron). Period. And it has nothing to do with spam.
As for Prepaid Legal. That I can talk intelligently about. See my website (click on link by my name). Go to the news section and you will see two lawyers. Both of them are ready willing and able to assist me when called upon, and one went to law school with me- sat right beside me in most of the first year courses. Neither is affiliated with PPL.
How is getting a $49 per hour rate a scam? This is the same plan, and often the very same lawyers that provide legal benefits to employees as part of a benefits package. A guaranteed rate of $49 an hour is fantastic in a world where every dingbat with a law license wants to charge $350 per hour and up. Now, even in my case, with legal friends around, am I going to pay $25 for PPL to fight my speeding ticket or waste my buddies time and energy on such drivel? And most lawyers here charge at least $150 to fight these tickets unless you are part of a plan. It's a great plan that I would love to have but they won't accept my application because I'm a cartoon. But unlike the Troll I don't hate on others have it.
And then there are the "expensive" PPL plans were they charge $10 more and cover you for ALL pre-trial and trial legal fees on driving related felonies such as vehicular homicide. $10 extra to cover $100,000 worth of legal fees sounds like insurance, not a scam. PPL is like AAA for legal stuff. It's good when you need it but better for some things than others. In addition, since the state licenses attorneys it can't be a scam because they are bound by the rules of the bar. But I don't like that argument since I consider the bar and the profession to be a pack of bloodsuckers... But at least with PPL they are less expensive. LOL. (Obviously I am excluding from the bloodsucker label the good and talented attorneys out there like my pals and the NYCounty lawyer guy who seems to be on the ball. PPL gets a bad rap because some idiots buy it thinking that for $24 a month a lawyer will come and be their slave for no additional money. LOL.
The definition of spam sure has changed! I thought spam was unwanted ads/ scams from strangers sent to millions of others. I didn't realize it was an appeal, or word of mouth recommendation from friends, family, and coworkers. Under your definition I don't get any email BUT spam. Those pesky personal messages from people I know! Lets just limit email to corporate appeals from monopolies in control.
But the best part of your reply was the millions of "victims" of Amway, Herbalife, and Pre-paid Legal. Geez, those poor victims of soap products, vitamin supplements, and affordable legal services! Better to pay $350 per hour for the trustworthy lawyers you can find in the yellow pages rather than the $49 PPL rate! Better the vitamins from the nearest drug store chain than get a bulk discount! Better the soap from the nearest corporate giant (does Amway even sell soap? Is Amway even called Amway anymore? I don't think so)*! How dare anyone suggest a real person you know make so much as a penny on the transaction. Let it all go to corporate giants!
But seriously, how can you say stuff from friends is spam? That's just lame. Very lame. If you lack the intestinal fortitude to say no thanks to a friend that's your problem, don't bad mouth the friend. (This is not an endorsement of the Network Firms listed above- except for Pre-paid legal because they rock for certain things and beat the pants of regular lawyers for anyone who isn't a billionaire).
*I was ripped off when I joined Amway over 20 years ago. But it wasn't the company that ripped me off, it was the friend! A college professor of mine who wouldn't give the service. Also, while I did not profit, I did not lose much. The rip-off was that he did not provide "up-line" support to take care of my orders. I blame the friend, and was disappointed with the Amway. I think Network Marketing can be abused if the company lacks checks and balances, but if its got good checks, or if you have really good, trustworthy friends, then it works great. Don't knock it for silly reasons.
While true in theory. In reality no one who is not a lawyer is going to be picked for the Supreme Court. And if I remember correctly, no one who is not one has ever been on the Supreme Court.
However, it is pure fact that you can be a total idiot and be a federal judge in New York.
Actually, there are federal regulations that control your situation. I believe that you are able to file a federal action and get some amount, $1000 per violation, for each time they failed to stop billing after your request. They are also required to give you some days notice before billing a different amount. Nice to see our federal regulations enforced!! LOL!
I did not know these regs until I read a small claims case where the landlord lost big time for charging a tenants ACH account double fees without notifying the tenant. Judge was Schlomo Hagler Civil Court, can't remember the case or the cite. Well written, more like the federal opinions used to be until they hired morons as judges in this circuit.
From the amount of security letters the FBI is sending, all of which have to be handled by the legal department in a way similar to subpoenas and account liens, without the benefit of a payment (civil subpoenas usually come with a check to cover some costs), this is probably bringing the legal department to its knees with work. Hundreds of thousands of these letters whenever a fed gets in the mood for violating privacy is costing the ISP's a mint to comply with.
I suggest that this move is the company's way of saying "Enough Already!" and to start forcing the Govt to either pay for the searches or cut back drastically on the number of them. If searches are a service of Comcast, then hundreds of thousands of them for free are an unconstitutional taking of their service.
Sorry to spoil your thought that corporate concern over your rights was the cause of this action. Just good ole money! They'd be happy to violate your rights at anytime if it wasn't costing them profit!
Your conclusion seems to vary drastically from reality. By definition the MLM is the opposite of spam. Each member actually buys and sells only to/from people who want their product or service. In fact, MLM groups can get snippy when people don't choose to participate in the social aspect of distribution (meetings, etc.). Spam by definition is stuff forced down your craw whether you buy or not. MLM is just a distribution method that uses word of mouth and relationships to sell stuff. "Buy from me, your friend/ son/ daughter, instead of a faceless chainstore. MLM just stands for Multi-Level Marketing and it gets a bad rap because it eats into the corporate propaganda machine of Madison Avenue (of course some MLMs are scams, but many are not). Attacking all MLMs is much like closing all of Usenet to get rid of some illegal crap. MLM is just people, period.
Spam piles advertising on millions of people whom the spammer does not know.
Dude. These are some excellent links you've added here. Linked NE report of a NY case (better to link the NYS report though) and a photogs guide to rights. Well done!
What is happening to the tech jobs is exactly what happened to the blue collar jobs. Basically, using the amorphous excuse of emergency, they are doing an end run around a whole host of laws to protect workers.
The problem is that there is a downward spiral. There is no political party to champion the rights of the people dispossessed by these abuses. The Republicans give lip service to immigration reform but then on a daily basis blatantly abuse the immigration system and refuse to enforce its rules, or, as is the case here, clearly thwart the letter and spirit of the law by declaring an emergency to allow outsiders whilst many an unemployed American tech is left dangling without a safety net (ie. workable unemployment insurance system or public assistance).
But what of the Democrats? They bemoan any concern about immigration abuse as racism. Strangely, while the democratic backbone including the stalwarts of union workers have been eroded by these policies, the leadership doesn't give a damn and hides behind a false shield of racism. But note that these Democratic leaders are flush in money from the corporate interests that benefit from undercutting workers rights. As are Republican leaders.
Basically, they have screwed over much larger and more politically powerful constituencies with the same lame Good Cop/ Bad Cop routine since the Reagan era. I think you're all screwed.
Good luck finding a judge willing to tackle this immigration double whammy. I've tried to use the Immigration RICO provisions and had them thrown in my face by the judiciary. It does not matter what the law says, judges on both sides of the political spectrum will work to maintain the illusion that immigration has no effect on American job opportunities.
What cops are these you know? Maybe you're the mayor.
Here in New York City you'll be hard pressed to get the lazy cops to investigate a murder unless it's a celebrity. (See Village Voice article three weeks ago.)
Hmmm. Wasn't there an article on here about the guy who did all that stuff you mentioned and was sentenced to over 15 years in jail???
With advice like that... The prosecutor's will be offering the thief/ thieves deals (two days community service) to help prosecute you (evil, twisted hacker menace). LOL.
Shame on you! Early release of the next major studies is dishonest and deceitful. Clearly you are someone with access to our nation's highest security laboratories. For you to betray that trust is an outrage!
For you to have blurted out the next wave of pre-ordained successful patent applications is deserving of 38 years in prison.... You do remember the Wheel is Round scandal don't you?
Actually this is a very important point you make. After all, maybe the bad boys are screwing more women because they are out drinking more, and thus around more drunk horny women who don't notice the bad boy is pug ugly, or the bad boy doesn't notice the woman is pug ugly. This doesn't prove attractiveness.
Also, maybe it's just that the bad boy spends all his time scheming to get laid, and by sifting through hundreds of women he gets laid by 1 out of every 10 and screws 40 per year. Whereas, the nice guy, dating one at a time and not totally focused on screwing dates 10 women per year and gets laid by 1. Maybe the nice guy has a 1 out of every 6 ratio and is considered more attractive- but by raw numbers it looks otherwise.
Another point is that it is self-reporting based on personality traits. It could just be that these dark triad guys just are lying about more sex! They are dark personalities after all, why are we trusting their self-reporting? (Also, that means the report liars are mixing their lame traits in with the really cool dudes who actually get laid all the time).
This study seems to claim more insight than it really offers.
Don't be silly. Peak Oil clearly means oil that we "Peek" at. The DOE, under Bush, is simply one of the most alarmist, green-hippie agencies ever to walk the Earth.
Or
You could check out "The End of Suburbia" and really ruin your din din. I'm actually shocked the DOE is confirming the crisis openly. This movie predicted the Peak in 6 years- it was released in 2004, and the DOE is giving us 3 years in 2008. Damned brilliant documentary. Scary stuff though. The sharp timeline makes the space-launchs-are-the-future crowd seem really delusional. As for space, with oil gone, it may be our only hope is some Vulcans warping in about now. (I'm so bummed that there are no anti-grav Mr. Fusion Delorians zipping about- all the important future stuff didn't come true yet. At least we have cellphones!)
That is a very good point! My point is that the ones who really have millions stashed away don't get disbarred. The ones who are struggling to get by honestly are the ones targeted as scapegoats.
However, the Romer case was a strange one where the money disappeared. Who knows?
Actually, here in New York we do see a string of lawyers getting disbarred. Usually these are very young, or very NOT-powerful lawyers, getting sacked for some very minor crap- missing a deadline, good faith mediation between two friends/ clients.
On the other hand, one of the most powerful Landlord attorneys (I think named partner from Borah, Goldstein) used his subpoena powers to improperly and secretly invade tenant's financial privacy, perjured his affidavits of service that stated he mailed copies of the subpoenas to both sides, violated undiscoverable tenant financial/ ID theft level information, and benefited financially from his unethical and criminal conduct. Penalty after being found guilty for over a decade of outrageous conduct? Two months suspension and a pat on the back. Currently back in action. This is a major named partner mind you. If he's not the example then who is?
Note- two month suspension is rumored to have come with free airplane tickets for worldwide junket and room and board covered all courtesy of the Bar(s) here. A two month paid vacation for criminal conduct? New York Bar in action.
Contrast. Young lawyer panics, misses deadline for litigation that could be nunc pro tunc extended retroactively any damn way. Penalty- permanent disbarment and vicious public tongue lashing in the Law Journal.
Representing adversaries- lawyer, my lawyer. Gets disbarred for representing both sides (decent guy, bad choices). His firm, my firm, then represents the other side against me in a related action to the one he represented me in. USCA Second Circuit 3-judge panel- it's AOK despite having my litigation file- even after a state judge ruled they were indeed my attorneys defending against the slumlords. And even after they bailed from another case when Judge Reena Raggi ordered the matter investigated. So in New York, state and federal, serving up an associate as sacrifice is all it takes.
Last but not least. Stephen Romer, most famous NY client funds case circa 1992- his case inspired the set up of NY's IOLTA scheme after his case depleted the fund. He was the landlord of my office, and while he did not try to evict me personally, he evicted my staff (the Dúnedai) who then built me my own office in the years before the Black Tower (a/k/a White & Case) took up arms to defend me from the demon Nemisis (not Nemesis) at the Pale High Priest's bidding. (Lord of the Rings makes law sooooo much more interesting.) This successful and rich lawyer who owned swaths of property claimed to have been kidnapped, robbed, and otherwise mishandled, but without so much as a peep became a non-entity. He claimed that powerful car companies had crushed his efforts to create a new car line of efficient cars. His claim was deemed ludicrous and absurd. He was railroaded into jail without so much as a lawyer friend helping him. Total pariah- gone. Romer, a man of wealth, a philanthropist, adopted father of Sudanese children, suddenly was toxic.
But I, for whom his eviction of my crew certainly did not endear me, sat scratching my head in my new office. Why was his claim so easily dismissed? It is no secret that the mighty Darth Nader, before turning to the dark side, defeated the Greedy Monster in the Supreme Court for doing all of the things that Stephen Romer claimed. Nader v. General Motors. It's a classic case- we know that the auto industry has a history of that sort of conduct. Romer did actually have mobilized plans to start up a real eco-friendly car company. Surely someone should pursue the possibility? Well, not I, my own problems with an evil High Priest and a demon that makes Balrogs look lapdogs in comparison.
My point here is that any attorney who aspires to be clean, or philanthropic, or ethical in any way, shape, or form, can find himself or herself the sacrificial lamb for other attorney's crimes. And when you actually do something wrong, as a clean attorney you get hit with the max every time, while blatant crooks prance around unscathed bragging about the Bar's "self-policing".
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The one your site shows looks just like the one I had but I think it had a built in speaker (but I could be confusing it with the umpteen similar pc cards over the years). I think I got it from a show.
I remember the product and it worked well. Oh well, at 20 your doing good just staying sober. But anyone else reading, call there bluff and email me for help with the details (free guidance)!! LOL!
Sorry to hear they ripped you off dude. I thought at the time that the bigger company bought you out and that you would be sitting pretty. Bummer. Hope your next one hits big.
"I had the very first audio every on most computer platforms. From digital audio on the Apple II, Lisa and Mac, C64, IBM PC and XT and even the Tandy Model 2 and 3. I had the first PC digital audio products on the market the Sound Byte, then someone literally took my name trade marked and and sent me a cease and desists on the name! So I renamed it Audio byte. http://www.dnull.com/zebraresearch [dnull.com]"
Why didn't you just say "This name and concept is mine- give me all your money or else?" A trademark is automatically invalidated if it was in use prior to the trademarking. And if you marketed the first product by that name you would win- big. But of course you might have to be able to feed a few lawyers to make it work though.
No, the principle is that there are more renters than apartment owners, and therefore politicians pander to the tyranny of the majority (and those who feel sorry for them) while trampling on the property rights of the minority. Votes over principle. Just please don't call it "renters' rights." There are no such rights, only cynical politicians willing to rob from Peter to pay Paul; and the politician who does that will always have the support of Paul.
You claim to be a lawyer but you certainly are not very well versed in the facts of New York City's rental realities. The landlords have money, lots of it. They pay, donate, and bribe the politicians and judges. The majority gets screwed as a result. Really, read something, like try 10 years of news articles on skyrocketing rents.
But then there is the whole concept of "reliance" and IP - Intellectual Property. If a lawyer were to follow those two doctrines there is a considerable possibility of finding that AOL caused the loss of the user's IP which has a value. Moreover, the consideration in this case has an implied value, that the free host stay up under reasonable terms. Is it reasonable to close a website, which costs pennies per year to maintain, without giving the consumer IP owners ACTUAL notice?
Then also there are UCC interpretations if the IP is considered business rather than consumer. Quite frankly counselor, I think the probability of litigation due to the crappy way this was handled far outweighs the pennies the saved by closing down in 4 weeks rather than say 6months. At the very least they should have provided a way for people to get their content after the site went down.
So does the course you teach cover consumer protection statutes and simple tort principles? Because there does seem to be some play in that area given that IP is property and if it has been destroyed there are damages, and through the contract there is a duty....
But hey, I'm sure AOL's lawyers considered those possibilities as deeply as you did.
What dimension are you from? New York City's rent control laws have been gutted and ignored by landlord loving judge's who are on the Real Estate industry's payroll. Entire neighborhoods have been evicted to make way for the (phoney) money train. Rents have skyrocketed out of control. Seniors have been under constant assault by landlords trying to push them out so they can quadruple the rents.
I know, I do a website about the New York housing crisis: http://rentwars.com/
And if you don't believe me just read the New York Times articles about gentrification and displacement. Or just read the articles about Rent Wars while you are at it (old though, 2001- but they have newer articles on how the Landlords simply ignore the tenant protection and repair laws yet still get evictions).
Although now that the financial industry has been exposed as a fraud the RE market has dropped. But the madness continues even now.
Actually the stuff works great when your hair first starts thinning. I bought the stuff years ago and it was in an aerosol can. You spray it on an viola, your hair looks thick and no scalp shows through. This is the stuff actors might use. You can duck and move with no problem. But then it happens, you dance full of confidence and a tiny bit of perspiration hits the shoe polish. Suddenly your sweating black streaks down your face like Tammy Faye mascara, and don't forget the back of your shirt collar which now looks like an inkwell. However, the most embarrassing moment is when the attractive young lady you are dancing with runs her hands through your hair and then screams when she notices her hand is covered with black ink. I fled into the night groaning like Igor...
One time I used it, and that one time humiliated me more than 20 years of thinning hair!
You sir, are deprived.
You have missed out on all of the fun of spraying shoe polish on your bald spot and having it make black spots on your collar.
You have have missed the sheer joy of having Rogaine roll without effect across your bald spot raising only the thinnest of peach fuzz to splash with joy upon your ears and neck. You have missed the strange furry pelt it makes down one's back and the warm smile your now furry ears bring to cat loving women.
But seriously, after all of that, I put the sucker to work on my show. When I'm too lazy to animate myself and don't have a Batman mask around I appear via my talking bald spot! (and no, I'm not the one who put the studio camera on the ceiling, I just figure it's there, why not?
The clue to your problem is that the investigation was done from India....
All of these foreign based customer centers are very bad mojo. Logic suggests that if labor is cheap over seas, then your personal info is for sale and worth three years salary to some of these guys.
So what's your real story? Did a soapy budget lawyer steal your one and only girlfriend with organic vitamins or something? LOL. Nevermind. You're just being a pathetic Troll. I ignore you. Go find a bridge and hide under it. And go rinse your ignorant mouth out with soap while you are at it.
But for the benefit of anyone else who is reading this thread, MLM is just a marketing method primarily using word of mouth. It is neither good nor bad. It all depends on the product/ service and the people involved. Some are outright scams, just like other business models have scams (think Enron). Period. And it has nothing to do with spam.
As for Prepaid Legal. That I can talk intelligently about. See my website (click on link by my name). Go to the news section and you will see two lawyers. Both of them are ready willing and able to assist me when called upon, and one went to law school with me- sat right beside me in most of the first year courses. Neither is affiliated with PPL.
How is getting a $49 per hour rate a scam? This is the same plan, and often the very same lawyers that provide legal benefits to employees as part of a benefits package. A guaranteed rate of $49 an hour is fantastic in a world where every dingbat with a law license wants to charge $350 per hour and up. Now, even in my case, with legal friends around, am I going to pay $25 for PPL to fight my speeding ticket or waste my buddies time and energy on such drivel? And most lawyers here charge at least $150 to fight these tickets unless you are part of a plan. It's a great plan that I would love to have but they won't accept my application because I'm a cartoon. But unlike the Troll I don't hate on others have it.
And then there are the "expensive" PPL plans were they charge $10 more and cover you for ALL pre-trial and trial legal fees on driving related felonies such as vehicular homicide. $10 extra to cover $100,000 worth of legal fees sounds like insurance, not a scam. PPL is like AAA for legal stuff. It's good when you need it but better for some things than others. In addition, since the state licenses attorneys it can't be a scam because they are bound by the rules of the bar. But I don't like that argument since I consider the bar and the profession to be a pack of bloodsuckers... But at least with PPL they are less expensive. LOL. (Obviously I am excluding from the bloodsucker label the good and talented attorneys out there like my pals and the NYCounty lawyer guy who seems to be on the ball. PPL gets a bad rap because some idiots buy it thinking that for $24 a month a lawyer will come and be their slave for no additional money. LOL.
The definition of spam sure has changed! I thought spam was unwanted ads/ scams from strangers sent to millions of others. I didn't realize it was an appeal, or word of mouth recommendation from friends, family, and coworkers. Under your definition I don't get any email BUT spam. Those pesky personal messages from people I know! Lets just limit email to corporate appeals from monopolies in control.
But the best part of your reply was the millions of "victims" of Amway, Herbalife, and Pre-paid Legal. Geez, those poor victims of soap products, vitamin supplements, and affordable legal services! Better to pay $350 per hour for the trustworthy lawyers you can find in the yellow pages rather than the $49 PPL rate! Better the vitamins from the nearest drug store chain than get a bulk discount! Better the soap from the nearest corporate giant (does Amway even sell soap? Is Amway even called Amway anymore? I don't think so)*! How dare anyone suggest a real person you know make so much as a penny on the transaction. Let it all go to corporate giants!
But seriously, how can you say stuff from friends is spam? That's just lame. Very lame. If you lack the intestinal fortitude to say no thanks to a friend that's your problem, don't bad mouth the friend. (This is not an endorsement of the Network Firms listed above- except for Pre-paid legal because they rock for certain things and beat the pants of regular lawyers for anyone who isn't a billionaire).
*I was ripped off when I joined Amway over 20 years ago. But it wasn't the company that ripped me off, it was the friend! A college professor of mine who wouldn't give the service. Also, while I did not profit, I did not lose much. The rip-off was that he did not provide "up-line" support to take care of my orders. I blame the friend, and was disappointed with the Amway. I think Network Marketing can be abused if the company lacks checks and balances, but if its got good checks, or if you have really good, trustworthy friends, then it works great. Don't knock it for silly reasons.
Kafka's influence is definitely recognizable in our legal system. "You have the sight now Neo..."
While true in theory. In reality no one who is not a lawyer is going to be picked for the Supreme Court. And if I remember correctly, no one who is not one has ever been on the Supreme Court.
However, it is pure fact that you can be a total idiot and be a federal judge in New York.
Actually, there are federal regulations that control your situation. I believe that you are able to file a federal action and get some amount, $1000 per violation, for each time they failed to stop billing after your request. They are also required to give you some days notice before billing a different amount. Nice to see our federal regulations enforced!! LOL!
I did not know these regs until I read a small claims case where the landlord lost big time for charging a tenants ACH account double fees without notifying the tenant. Judge was Schlomo Hagler Civil Court, can't remember the case or the cite. Well written, more like the federal opinions used to be until they hired morons as judges in this circuit.
From the amount of security letters the FBI is sending, all of which have to be handled by the legal department in a way similar to subpoenas and account liens, without the benefit of a payment (civil subpoenas usually come with a check to cover some costs), this is probably bringing the legal department to its knees with work. Hundreds of thousands of these letters whenever a fed gets in the mood for violating privacy is costing the ISP's a mint to comply with.
I suggest that this move is the company's way of saying "Enough Already!" and to start forcing the Govt to either pay for the searches or cut back drastically on the number of them. If searches are a service of Comcast, then hundreds of thousands of them for free are an unconstitutional taking of their service.
Sorry to spoil your thought that corporate concern over your rights was the cause of this action. Just good ole money! They'd be happy to violate your rights at anytime if it wasn't costing them profit!
Your conclusion seems to vary drastically from reality. By definition the MLM is the opposite of spam. Each member actually buys and sells only to/from people who want their product or service. In fact, MLM groups can get snippy when people don't choose to participate in the social aspect of distribution (meetings, etc.). Spam by definition is stuff forced down your craw whether you buy or not. MLM is just a distribution method that uses word of mouth and relationships to sell stuff. "Buy from me, your friend/ son/ daughter, instead of a faceless chainstore. MLM just stands for Multi-Level Marketing and it gets a bad rap because it eats into the corporate propaganda machine of Madison Avenue (of course some MLMs are scams, but many are not). Attacking all MLMs is much like closing all of Usenet to get rid of some illegal crap. MLM is just people, period.
Spam piles advertising on millions of people whom the spammer does not know.
They are opposites. Not similar.
Dude. These are some excellent links you've added here. Linked NE report of a NY case (better to link the NYS report though) and a photogs guide to rights. Well done!
What is happening to the tech jobs is exactly what happened to the blue collar jobs. Basically, using the amorphous excuse of emergency, they are doing an end run around a whole host of laws to protect workers.
The problem is that there is a downward spiral. There is no political party to champion the rights of the people dispossessed by these abuses. The Republicans give lip service to immigration reform but then on a daily basis blatantly abuse the immigration system and refuse to enforce its rules, or, as is the case here, clearly thwart the letter and spirit of the law by declaring an emergency to allow outsiders whilst many an unemployed American tech is left dangling without a safety net (ie. workable unemployment insurance system or public assistance).
But what of the Democrats? They bemoan any concern about immigration abuse as racism. Strangely, while the democratic backbone including the stalwarts of union workers have been eroded by these policies, the leadership doesn't give a damn and hides behind a false shield of racism. But note that these Democratic leaders are flush in money from the corporate interests that benefit from undercutting workers rights. As are Republican leaders.
Basically, they have screwed over much larger and more politically powerful constituencies with the same lame Good Cop/ Bad Cop routine since the Reagan era. I think you're all screwed.
Good luck finding a judge willing to tackle this immigration double whammy. I've tried to use the Immigration RICO provisions and had them thrown in my face by the judiciary. It does not matter what the law says, judges on both sides of the political spectrum will work to maintain the illusion that immigration has no effect on American job opportunities.
What cops are these you know? Maybe you're the mayor.
Here in New York City you'll be hard pressed to get the lazy cops to investigate a murder unless it's a celebrity. (See Village Voice article three weeks ago.)
Hmmm. Wasn't there an article on here about the guy who did all that stuff you mentioned and was sentenced to over 15 years in jail???
With advice like that... The prosecutor's will be offering the thief/ thieves deals (two days community service) to help prosecute you (evil, twisted hacker menace). LOL.
Shame on you! Early release of the next major studies is dishonest and deceitful. Clearly you are someone with access to our nation's highest security laboratories. For you to betray that trust is an outrage!
For you to have blurted out the next wave of pre-ordained successful patent applications is deserving of 38 years in prison.... You do remember the Wheel is Round scandal don't you?
Actually this is a very important point you make. After all, maybe the bad boys are screwing more women because they are out drinking more, and thus around more drunk horny women who don't notice the bad boy is pug ugly, or the bad boy doesn't notice the woman is pug ugly. This doesn't prove attractiveness.
Also, maybe it's just that the bad boy spends all his time scheming to get laid, and by sifting through hundreds of women he gets laid by 1 out of every 10 and screws 40 per year. Whereas, the nice guy, dating one at a time and not totally focused on screwing dates 10 women per year and gets laid by 1. Maybe the nice guy has a 1 out of every 6 ratio and is considered more attractive- but by raw numbers it looks otherwise.
Another point is that it is self-reporting based on personality traits. It could just be that these dark triad guys just are lying about more sex! They are dark personalities after all, why are we trusting their self-reporting? (Also, that means the report liars are mixing their lame traits in with the really cool dudes who actually get laid all the time).
This study seems to claim more insight than it really offers.
Don't be silly. Peak Oil clearly means oil that we "Peek" at. The DOE, under Bush, is simply one of the most alarmist, green-hippie agencies ever to walk the Earth.
Or
You could check out "The End of Suburbia" and really ruin your din din. I'm actually shocked the DOE is confirming the crisis openly. This movie predicted the Peak in 6 years- it was released in 2004, and the DOE is giving us 3 years in 2008. Damned brilliant documentary. Scary stuff though. The sharp timeline makes the space-launchs-are-the-future crowd seem really delusional. As for space, with oil gone, it may be our only hope is some Vulcans warping in about now. (I'm so bummed that there are no anti-grav Mr. Fusion Delorians zipping about- all the important future stuff didn't come true yet. At least we have cellphones!)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0446320/
That is a very good point! My point is that the ones who really have millions stashed away don't get disbarred. The ones who are struggling to get by honestly are the ones targeted as scapegoats. However, the Romer case was a strange one where the money disappeared. Who knows?
Actually, here in New York we do see a string of lawyers getting disbarred. Usually these are very young, or very NOT-powerful lawyers, getting sacked for some very minor crap- missing a deadline, good faith mediation between two friends/ clients.
On the other hand, one of the most powerful Landlord attorneys (I think named partner from Borah, Goldstein) used his subpoena powers to improperly and secretly invade tenant's financial privacy, perjured his affidavits of service that stated he mailed copies of the subpoenas to both sides, violated undiscoverable tenant financial/ ID theft level information, and benefited financially from his unethical and criminal conduct. Penalty after being found guilty for over a decade of outrageous conduct? Two months suspension and a pat on the back. Currently back in action. This is a major named partner mind you. If he's not the example then who is? Note- two month suspension is rumored to have come with free airplane tickets for worldwide junket and room and board covered all courtesy of the Bar(s) here. A two month paid vacation for criminal conduct? New York Bar in action.
Contrast. Young lawyer panics, misses deadline for litigation that could be nunc pro tunc extended retroactively any damn way. Penalty- permanent disbarment and vicious public tongue lashing in the Law Journal.
Representing adversaries- lawyer, my lawyer. Gets disbarred for representing both sides (decent guy, bad choices). His firm, my firm, then represents the other side against me in a related action to the one he represented me in. USCA Second Circuit 3-judge panel- it's AOK despite having my litigation file- even after a state judge ruled they were indeed my attorneys defending against the slumlords. And even after they bailed from another case when Judge Reena Raggi ordered the matter investigated. So in New York, state and federal, serving up an associate as sacrifice is all it takes.
Last but not least. Stephen Romer, most famous NY client funds case circa 1992- his case inspired the set up of NY's IOLTA scheme after his case depleted the fund. He was the landlord of my office, and while he did not try to evict me personally, he evicted my staff (the Dúnedai) who then built me my own office in the years before the Black Tower (a/k/a White & Case) took up arms to defend me from the demon Nemisis (not Nemesis) at the Pale High Priest's bidding. (Lord of the Rings makes law sooooo much more interesting.) This successful and rich lawyer who owned swaths of property claimed to have been kidnapped, robbed, and otherwise mishandled, but without so much as a peep became a non-entity. He claimed that powerful car companies had crushed his efforts to create a new car line of efficient cars. His claim was deemed ludicrous and absurd. He was railroaded into jail without so much as a lawyer friend helping him. Total pariah- gone. Romer, a man of wealth, a philanthropist, adopted father of Sudanese children, suddenly was toxic.
But I, for whom his eviction of my crew certainly did not endear me, sat scratching my head in my new office. Why was his claim so easily dismissed? It is no secret that the mighty Darth Nader, before turning to the dark side, defeated the Greedy Monster in the Supreme Court for doing all of the things that Stephen Romer claimed. Nader v. General Motors. It's a classic case- we know that the auto industry has a history of that sort of conduct. Romer did actually have mobilized plans to start up a real eco-friendly car company. Surely someone should pursue the possibility? Well, not I, my own problems with an evil High Priest and a demon that makes Balrogs look lapdogs in comparison.
My point here is that any attorney who aspires to be clean, or philanthropic, or ethical in any way, shape, or form, can find himself or herself the sacrificial lamb for other attorney's crimes. And when you actually do something wrong, as a clean attorney you get hit with the max every time, while blatant crooks prance around unscathed bragging about the Bar's "self-policing".