Okay, I've got to confess that I've been playing devil's advocate here. I honestly don't want GPSs in my car. It's just that your arguments suck so badly and sound so histrionic, I can't help myself. You can't seem to argue rationally, you appear honestly terrified that the current administration is going to destroy America and take away our freedoms, and you use the most over the top examples and outcomes, undermining any real point you had against using GPSs in cars. There are tons of reasons not to, but 'omigawd! The fascist-socialists are taking over America!' is not one of them.
I am simply amazed by the number of people who seem to have turned into absolute raving anti-government loons since Obama was elected. It is as if some people see him as some kind of Evil Overlord bent on destroying America. I mean, people are terrified and I find it kind of amusing.
Let me ask you, were you up in arms over government abrogation of our rights during the Bush administration? Because Bush actually did things that are far worse than the paranoid fantasies of the Obamaphobes. And back then, everyone called me paranoid for voicing concerns. Well, in the end, the fascists did not end up taking over the country and things turned out all right, despite actions far worse than GPSs in cars, we had an election, and the Republicans got booted out of power, perhaps for decades to come. So maybe I was overreacting back then.
Yes. Yes it is dead. In the way that someone who has never been born is dead. I would love a real meritocracy, but one in which everyone gets a say in who holds merit. In a real meritocracy, those without merit could not steal power through coercion and force.
Striving to become wealthy is evil, remember the adage is actually, 'the desire for money is the root of all evil.' Strive to be useful to your society, your friends, your family, and in a decent and just society, acceptable levels of wealth will follow.
The problem with trying to be better than everyone else is, well, everyone else. Why should they agree with you? Games are not played to determine the winner. Who would dispute being called the winner? Games are played to determine the losers in such a way that they must acknowledge that they are not the winners.
Without recourse to coercion and force, a lot of elitists would get a rude awakening. They aren't actually better than anyone, they are merely sociopaths with no empathy and no morals. If no one agrees that you are better, you aren't. Only when respect is freely given is it real. Saying, 'respect me, or you won't eat' does not create real respect, it creates fear and resentment.
There is no good reason to put GPS in cars. We have government subsidized roads for a reason. If we wanted people to pay as they go, we could have stuck with private turnpikes.
On the flip side, the paranoid fantasy that government will spy on you through your GPS is not a reason not to put GPS in cars. Honestly, do you think the government is out to get you? Yeah, I thought that way when I was 21, too, but I grew up.
Yes, the idea of a GPS in every car is ludicrous. But NOT because teh ebil gubermint is going to use them to spy on you. It's ludicrous all on its own, it doesn't need any 'help' from wacky conspiracy theories to be stupid.
Sorry to disillusion you, but nobody gives a rat's ass about your movements. You aren't that important. Well, maybe your insurance company cares, but the government doesn't. This is not some back door surveillance program.
Your answer seems to be to vilify the tool (government) and not the ones wielding the tool against you (the rich) Government is only a tool, it can be used for good or for evil. But if a representative form of government is used for evil, who is really to blame? We are.
Look at the word 'anarchy.' What are the roots? An means none. Archy, though, what does that mean? Not government, that root is ocracy. The word is not anocracy. The root 'archos' means ruler, anarchy means 'no ruler,' not 'no government.'
Government is not the enemy. The enemy is and always has been people who consider themselves our superiors, who seek to dominate us and profit off of our labor. Government is a tool that we, the people, can use to keep those hierarchical elitists from oppressing us. The fact that we let them take it away from us and use it against us is our own fault, but that also means we can take it back.
One word: turnpike. Simple, privately owned, low tech, no spying, pays for the actual use of a particular road. Why don't we do that, hmmm?
As for your argument, you've simply misconstrued what I posted. It was never my intention to infer anything from the data provided. It was my intention to keep other people from inferring things the data provided simply does not support. Yes, there are things a GPS can do that an odometer can't. Therefore, any claims that the only reason to use a GPS for this purpose is to spy on us is false.
I am not making claims of certainty. I am trying to show that claims that the only possible reason to use GPSs to monitor road use is governmental spying are ridiculous claims not backed up by anything more than knee jerk anti-government paranoia.
Your fear of the government is naive. It isn't the government that is out to use and abuse us, it is the ruling class, and they gave up on using governments as their primary tool long ago. Nowadays, the weapons of oppression are called 'corporations.'
Its not just off road usage. It is also out of state or out of country usage. An odometer wouldn't work. How would you back up your documentation for refunds or deductions? When I file taxes, I need receipts to get deductions, not just my word.
But there is an easier, simpler, low tech way of doing this. It's called 'the turnpike.' You get a ticket when you get on, you pay based on mileage when you get off. Why should my taxes go to support roads I don't even use? We could have a glorious free market of roadways all competing for out transportation dollar. Oh, think of the quality of service compared to the sad and sorry state of affairs we have now with an evil socialist state run road system.
Extra credit for anyone who can explain why an all private road system is a very bad idea.
Sigh. That was meant as an example. I left out driving out of state for state systems, or driving to, oh I don't know, Canada and Mexico for a US-wide system. When you think about the implications, you can easily see that an odometer only system will not work.
Why should I pay a tax on mileage I drive on my own property? There are reasons to use a GPS in a system like this. Of course, there are reasons never to enact a system like this, too. But don't act like odometer readings are an option for this type of mileage tax.
An odometer won't tell us whether someone was driving on roads. I shouldn't be taxed for driving around on my own property, should I? If states adopt this, as Oregon evidently has, well, Oregon can't tax you for miles driven in California, can it? I can't say I agree or disagree with this proposed tax, but I do know that using a GPS over an odometer is not a case of teh ebil gubermint wanting to spy on you. There are legitimate reasons to do so.
Well, you're both right. The article IS talking about cascading power failures due to electrical grid connection, not Internet connection, while the part you quote backs up your... hey! Wait a second, it doesn't back up what you were saying AT ALL! Where does it say the 'cyberspies' gained access through the Internet?
Your argument is invalid because I lost my left eye in a game of lawn darts. QED. What the hell is this about, anyway? Could someone summarize it for me? You see, due to my injury, I can only read in 2D. I promise not to mod you down, or to chortle diabolically.
Seriously, people, anyone who has read comic books knows that strange scientific experiments involving lasers, quantum mechanics and viruses can only lead to an acute case of superheroitis.
Created something that was already a surefire money maker. They take no real risk making movies from currently popular entertainment. Also, New Line have proven themselves to be parasites through their previous actions.
Because of our copyright laws, Tolkien could leave his works to his family. They are the legitimate owners of the works, based on those laws. Copyright in America is based not on the author's supposed moral right to a work, but only on the law. The movie studios supported changing the laws to extend copyright. But when it inconveniences them, they want to get around that.
Should we change the laws? Damn straight we should. Copyright should be limited in duration, it says so in the constitution. Should we vilify the Tolkien Trust while giving New Line a pass? No, absolutely not.
Funny, and true. Mickey is to blame for overly long copyrights. Every time his copyright comes up for expiration, lo and behold, congress extends copyright duration.
No. I'm not. I'm arguing that one parasite deriving money off of something they didn't create is much the same as any other. Why get pissed at the Tolkien Trust, and not the parasitic movie studios? Personally, I'd like to see shorter copyright terms, but that's not what we have now, is it? And who do we have to blame? The same parasitic movie studios that are trying to screw over the trust.
There's a picture of a multimeter, and a lighted bulb, but the panel shown is IN THE DARK! Unless it's on a totally different panel that is in the sun, it's way fake. And, as pointed out, 9volts is trivial, but 18 watts is actually really hard.
Also, the reporter is not energy-literate, but that's not a surprise.
I once showed an artist a calculator running on a lemon battery. Not knowing about CURRENT and POWER, she then went and proposed a project to a museum where a classic Gameboy would run on lemons, and they accepted it. Of course this would take a few thousand lemons! Luckily, it was an art museum, not a science museum. We ended up hiding double-A's inside some of the lemons. (We came clean to anyone smart enough to ask!)
Hey, look, you misread my intent. I think copyright should be reset to the original terms. Tolkien should be out of copyright and the Trust should be a non-issue. But that's not the world we live in. As it stands, the Trust owns the works. Big corporate studios don't. Neither, in my mind, has any more of a right to profit from those creative works than the other. Given that neither has more of an inherent right, but one party has more of a legal right, I've got to side with the Trust on this one.
Would a movie studio even produce a work they could not lock in? If anyone can make the Tolkien toys, the collector's cups, the Ring, swords, etc., then they would not be able to profit nearly as much. If they knew anyone could remake the movie, at any time, then any movie they produced would be worth less and they would not invest as much into it. How many new adaptations of Shakespeare, Red Riding Hood, or Goldilocks have you seen made into major motion pictures recently?
All I'm saying is, we follow the rule of law. The movie studios, among others, have lobbied for increased duration of copyright. That's the law we now have. Sucks for them when that bites them in the ass and they have to pay, but that's what they wanted, right?
Boo fucking hoo, somebody inherited something of value, and you didn't. Yeah, it's an imaginary something, but in our system even decades old imaginary ideas are valuable. That's life in capitalist, corporatist America. Why single out the Tolkien trust? Because Tolkien should be free to be adapted and misused by every leach out there, not just the official leaches? You REALLY aren't thinking this through.
I am really disgusted that anyone would want to hand over any valuable intellectual property to a movie studio free of charge. If movie studios don't pay, how exactly are they not welfare leaches? Maybe in your world, lowly human citizens are welfare leaches, while our exalted corporate masters may do whatever they please, because they are superior to us mere mortals? Look, if we're going to pretend that ideas are somehow property, then we treat them like property. If we're going to let our corporate masters hold copyrights for decades, why can't the lowly peons do so as well? If ideas can be bought and sold, why can't they be passed on to heirs? Maybe you think no one should inherit anything? The hypocrisy and corporate boot licking evident in your post is simply nauseating.
If there's one wikipedia page (and in reality there's 10,000s), that sums up the inadequacies of wikipedia, it's that Hollywood Accounting one. That page is 100% hearsay, gossip column and TMZ-esque gossip presented as fact and wikiality.
Phew, thank God a random Slashdot user saved us from that evil Wikipedia page, because of course, since we can fully trust Slashdot users always check their facts before posting.
Finally, an Anonymous Coward has stepped forward to put an end to this pointless bickering, warning us not to trust random Slashdot users. Because of course, we can fully trust Anonymous Cowards. They are anonymous, what would they have to gain by lying?
Slashdot Mirror
Okay, I've got to confess that I've been playing devil's advocate here. I honestly don't want GPSs in my car. It's just that your arguments suck so badly and sound so histrionic, I can't help myself. You can't seem to argue rationally, you appear honestly terrified that the current administration is going to destroy America and take away our freedoms, and you use the most over the top examples and outcomes, undermining any real point you had against using GPSs in cars. There are tons of reasons not to, but 'omigawd! The fascist-socialists are taking over America!' is not one of them.
I am simply amazed by the number of people who seem to have turned into absolute raving anti-government loons since Obama was elected. It is as if some people see him as some kind of Evil Overlord bent on destroying America. I mean, people are terrified and I find it kind of amusing.
Let me ask you, were you up in arms over government abrogation of our rights during the Bush administration? Because Bush actually did things that are far worse than the paranoid fantasies of the Obamaphobes. And back then, everyone called me paranoid for voicing concerns. Well, in the end, the fascists did not end up taking over the country and things turned out all right, despite actions far worse than GPSs in cars, we had an election, and the Republicans got booted out of power, perhaps for decades to come. So maybe I was overreacting back then.
And maybe you are now.
Sure they have, but we don't have one of those.
Yes. Yes it is dead. In the way that someone who has never been born is dead. I would love a real meritocracy, but one in which everyone gets a say in who holds merit. In a real meritocracy, those without merit could not steal power through coercion and force.
Striving to become wealthy is evil, remember the adage is actually, 'the desire for money is the root of all evil.' Strive to be useful to your society, your friends, your family, and in a decent and just society, acceptable levels of wealth will follow.
The problem with trying to be better than everyone else is, well, everyone else. Why should they agree with you? Games are not played to determine the winner. Who would dispute being called the winner? Games are played to determine the losers in such a way that they must acknowledge that they are not the winners.
Without recourse to coercion and force, a lot of elitists would get a rude awakening. They aren't actually better than anyone, they are merely sociopaths with no empathy and no morals. If no one agrees that you are better, you aren't. Only when respect is freely given is it real. Saying, 'respect me, or you won't eat' does not create real respect, it creates fear and resentment.
There is no good reason to put GPS in cars. We have government subsidized roads for a reason. If we wanted people to pay as they go, we could have stuck with private turnpikes.
On the flip side, the paranoid fantasy that government will spy on you through your GPS is not a reason not to put GPS in cars. Honestly, do you think the government is out to get you? Yeah, I thought that way when I was 21, too, but I grew up.
Yes, the idea of a GPS in every car is ludicrous. But NOT because teh ebil gubermint is going to use them to spy on you. It's ludicrous all on its own, it doesn't need any 'help' from wacky conspiracy theories to be stupid.
Sorry to disillusion you, but nobody gives a rat's ass about your movements. You aren't that important. Well, maybe your insurance company cares, but the government doesn't. This is not some back door surveillance program.
First off, sorry for calling you naive.
Your answer seems to be to vilify the tool (government) and not the ones wielding the tool against you (the rich) Government is only a tool, it can be used for good or for evil. But if a representative form of government is used for evil, who is really to blame? We are.
Look at the word 'anarchy.' What are the roots? An means none. Archy, though, what does that mean? Not government, that root is ocracy. The word is not anocracy. The root 'archos' means ruler, anarchy means 'no ruler,' not 'no government.'
Government is not the enemy. The enemy is and always has been people who consider themselves our superiors, who seek to dominate us and profit off of our labor. Government is a tool that we, the people, can use to keep those hierarchical elitists from oppressing us. The fact that we let them take it away from us and use it against us is our own fault, but that also means we can take it back.
One word: turnpike. Simple, privately owned, low tech, no spying, pays for the actual use of a particular road. Why don't we do that, hmmm?
As for your argument, you've simply misconstrued what I posted. It was never my intention to infer anything from the data provided. It was my intention to keep other people from inferring things the data provided simply does not support. Yes, there are things a GPS can do that an odometer can't. Therefore, any claims that the only reason to use a GPS for this purpose is to spy on us is false.
I am not making claims of certainty. I am trying to show that claims that the only possible reason to use GPSs to monitor road use is governmental spying are ridiculous claims not backed up by anything more than knee jerk anti-government paranoia.
Your fear of the government is naive. It isn't the government that is out to use and abuse us, it is the ruling class, and they gave up on using governments as their primary tool long ago. Nowadays, the weapons of oppression are called 'corporations.'
Its not just off road usage. It is also out of state or out of country usage. An odometer wouldn't work. How would you back up your documentation for refunds or deductions? When I file taxes, I need receipts to get deductions, not just my word.
But there is an easier, simpler, low tech way of doing this. It's called 'the turnpike.' You get a ticket when you get on, you pay based on mileage when you get off. Why should my taxes go to support roads I don't even use? We could have a glorious free market of roadways all competing for out transportation dollar. Oh, think of the quality of service compared to the sad and sorry state of affairs we have now with an evil socialist state run road system.
Extra credit for anyone who can explain why an all private road system is a very bad idea.
Sigh. That was meant as an example. I left out driving out of state for state systems, or driving to, oh I don't know, Canada and Mexico for a US-wide system. When you think about the implications, you can easily see that an odometer only system will not work.
Why should I pay a tax on mileage I drive on my own property? There are reasons to use a GPS in a system like this. Of course, there are reasons never to enact a system like this, too. But don't act like odometer readings are an option for this type of mileage tax.
An odometer won't tell us whether someone was driving on roads. I shouldn't be taxed for driving around on my own property, should I? If states adopt this, as Oregon evidently has, well, Oregon can't tax you for miles driven in California, can it? I can't say I agree or disagree with this proposed tax, but I do know that using a GPS over an odometer is not a case of teh ebil gubermint wanting to spy on you. There are legitimate reasons to do so.
Well, you're both right. The article IS talking about cascading power failures due to electrical grid connection, not Internet connection, while the part you quote backs up your... hey! Wait a second, it doesn't back up what you were saying AT ALL! Where does it say the 'cyberspies' gained access through the Internet?
Your argument is invalid because I lost my left eye in a game of lawn darts. QED. What the hell is this about, anyway? Could someone summarize it for me? You see, due to my injury, I can only read in 2D. I promise not to mod you down, or to chortle diabolically.
Curses! How did you guess my super power?
Virii is not a word. The plural is 'viruses.'
If that's true, then what are infecting my boxen?
Crabs?
Seriously, people, anyone who has read comic books knows that strange scientific experiments involving lasers, quantum mechanics and viruses can only lead to an acute case of superheroitis.
Created something that was already a surefire money maker. They take no real risk making movies from currently popular entertainment. Also, New Line have proven themselves to be parasites through their previous actions.
Because of our copyright laws, Tolkien could leave his works to his family. They are the legitimate owners of the works, based on those laws. Copyright in America is based not on the author's supposed moral right to a work, but only on the law. The movie studios supported changing the laws to extend copyright. But when it inconveniences them, they want to get around that.
Should we change the laws? Damn straight we should. Copyright should be limited in duration, it says so in the constitution. Should we vilify the Tolkien Trust while giving New Line a pass? No, absolutely not.
Funny, and true. Mickey is to blame for overly long copyrights. Every time his copyright comes up for expiration, lo and behold, congress extends copyright duration.
No. I'm not. I'm arguing that one parasite deriving money off of something they didn't create is much the same as any other. Why get pissed at the Tolkien Trust, and not the parasitic movie studios? Personally, I'd like to see shorter copyright terms, but that's not what we have now, is it? And who do we have to blame? The same parasitic movie studios that are trying to screw over the trust.
True, this is false.
There's a picture of a multimeter, and a lighted bulb, but the panel shown is IN THE DARK! Unless it's on a totally different panel that is in the sun, it's way fake. And, as pointed out, 9volts is trivial, but 18 watts is actually really hard.
Also, the reporter is not energy-literate, but that's not a surprise.
I once showed an artist a calculator running on a lemon battery. Not knowing about CURRENT and POWER, she then went and proposed a project to a museum where a classic Gameboy would run on lemons, and they accepted it. Of course this would take a few thousand lemons! Luckily, it was an art museum, not a science museum. We ended up hiding double-A's inside some of the lemons. (We came clean to anyone smart enough to ask!)
I suspect similar shenanigans...
The REAL question is... did you get some?
Hey, look, you misread my intent. I think copyright should be reset to the original terms. Tolkien should be out of copyright and the Trust should be a non-issue. But that's not the world we live in. As it stands, the Trust owns the works. Big corporate studios don't. Neither, in my mind, has any more of a right to profit from those creative works than the other. Given that neither has more of an inherent right, but one party has more of a legal right, I've got to side with the Trust on this one.
Would a movie studio even produce a work they could not lock in? If anyone can make the Tolkien toys, the collector's cups, the Ring, swords, etc., then they would not be able to profit nearly as much. If they knew anyone could remake the movie, at any time, then any movie they produced would be worth less and they would not invest as much into it. How many new adaptations of Shakespeare, Red Riding Hood, or Goldilocks have you seen made into major motion pictures recently?
All I'm saying is, we follow the rule of law. The movie studios, among others, have lobbied for increased duration of copyright. That's the law we now have. Sucks for them when that bites them in the ass and they have to pay, but that's what they wanted, right?
Boo fucking hoo, somebody inherited something of value, and you didn't. Yeah, it's an imaginary something, but in our system even decades old imaginary ideas are valuable. That's life in capitalist, corporatist America. Why single out the Tolkien trust? Because Tolkien should be free to be adapted and misused by every leach out there, not just the official leaches? You REALLY aren't thinking this through.
I am really disgusted that anyone would want to hand over any valuable intellectual property to a movie studio free of charge. If movie studios don't pay, how exactly are they not welfare leaches? Maybe in your world, lowly human citizens are welfare leaches, while our exalted corporate masters may do whatever they please, because they are superior to us mere mortals? Look, if we're going to pretend that ideas are somehow property, then we treat them like property. If we're going to let our corporate masters hold copyrights for decades, why can't the lowly peons do so as well? If ideas can be bought and sold, why can't they be passed on to heirs? Maybe you think no one should inherit anything? The hypocrisy and corporate boot licking evident in your post is simply nauseating.
If there's one wikipedia page (and in reality there's 10,000s), that sums up the inadequacies of wikipedia, it's that Hollywood Accounting one. That page is 100% hearsay, gossip column and TMZ-esque gossip presented as fact and wikiality.
Phew, thank God a random Slashdot user saved us from that evil Wikipedia page, because of course, since we can fully trust Slashdot users always check their facts before posting.
Finally, an Anonymous Coward has stepped forward to put an end to this pointless bickering, warning us not to trust random Slashdot users. Because of course, we can fully trust Anonymous Cowards. They are anonymous, what would they have to gain by lying?