if the patent is broad enough to include all media rentals with the same scheme.
How about books? Netflix sounds a little like the once-common institution of subscription libraries. Someone who knows the history of libraries might be able to dig up some prior art on this. If the only real difference is DVDs instead of books, I don't see how they'd be able to keep the patent.
I have a hard time believing someone out there won't retaliate in kind. I remember when it was predicted that the Internet would be Co$'s Vietnam. I think there's a better case to be made that it could turn out to be RIAA's Vietnam instead; many more people have an interest in music and have spent far too much on CDs than have ever forked over even a cent to L. Ron's merry band of psychopaths. I hope they don't know what they're getting into.
"We can build a collective civic space large enough for all our separate identities, that we can be e pluribus unum -- out of one, many." E Pluribus Unum is the motto on the Great Seal of the United States of America, and is Latin for "out of many, one," not "out of one, many."
(Source: January 1994. From a Milwaukee speech to the Institute of World Affairs as quoted in Investor's Business Daily, October 25, 1996.)
Let's see Bush master his native tongue before we go off finding politicians no longer in office mangling dead languages, shall we?
He gets no respect from me, zero. He hasn't earned it. He rules with no mandate, without a majority behind him. In diplomacy, he has trod upon the world stage only to take a steaming crap upon it, pissing off friends with relationships that go back decades. All the goodwill after 9/11 squandered. The surpluses we once had are also squandered, gone forever. The funds he promised NYC after 9/11 have yet to be delivered. He "forgot" to budget anything for rebuilding Afghanistan. He is about to break international law and force us into a war against an enemy who poses no threat to us so long as he is left alone. Bush does not deserve the respect of an office he has no right to occupy. He deserves a trial in the Hague and three squares a day. Nothing more.
With respect to lies about Gore and the Internet, he did actually say that. It was blown out of proportion, but it was completely ridiculous for him to assert that he was the creator of the internet as we know it.
My understanding is that he claimed to have taken the initiative in creating the legislation that ultimately provided us with the Internet. IOW, "I got the money to people who used it to build the Internet," and not "I coded the whole damn thing myself one weekend." If you have a credible source that indicates otherwise, please post it.
How effectively do you want to be dragged to Hell? Effective leadership is only a plus when you're moving in the right direction. We aren't. Even if you take it as a given that smart people can say dumb things, it does not automatically follow that dumb people can say smart things. Words and deeds are the only reliable metric of people, and Bush fails miserably. I don't give a screaming shit what's in his heart, or what he believes, or what his worldview is. He's fucked us all and pissed off most of our friends, and we still don't have Osama. Shit, we don't even have the name of one single person who shorted those airline and insurance stocks right before 9/11! Eighteen months and not one single name. I can't respect that at all. Can you?
When every word you say is recorded, it's not hard to find stupid things that were said by leaders.
Maybe, maybe not. But when you're a fucking dumbass and every word you say is recorded, it's guaranteed:
"I understand that the unrest in the Middle East creates unrest throughout the region."--Washington, D.C., March 13, 2002
"I want to thank the dozens of welfare to work stories, the actual examples of people who made the firm and solemn commitment to work hard to embetter themselves."--Washington, D.C., April 18, 2002
"Over 75 percent of white Americans own their home, and less than 50 percent of Hispanos and African Americans don't own their home. And that's a gap, that's a homeownership gap. And we've got to do something about it."--Cleveland, Ohio, July 1, 2002
"There's no bigger task than protecting the homeland of our country."
"The federal government and the state government must not fear programs who change lives, but must welcome those faith-based programs for the embetterment of mankind."--Stockton, Calif., Aug. 23, 2002
If you have no command of your native tongue, you can't communicate. If you can't communicate, you can't be an effective leader. The man is a hopeless dunce. Some things are beyond defending.
Also, this "inventing the Internet" bullshit has been explained time and time again. Only a partisan hack willfully ignorant of the record would persist in spreading lies like this so long after the 2000 campaign.
"We feel the decision is best left in the hands of parents." He said the opt-out clause "could work" but feared routine filtering could seriously slow down the internet.
They should go with an opt-in policy instead. Those willing to stick their heads in the sand and let others make decisions about what they can and can not read should stand up and ask for it by name instead of forcing the everyone else to bail out of such a scheme.
Then I watched it 4 more times over that weekend, then I bought the books, then I bought the dvd, then the extended dvd, then I saw the two towers on opening night, then a week later, and a week after that.
You left out the part where you admit you've never been laid.;-)
I write to urge your opposition to S.2395, "A bill to prevent and punish counterfeiting and copyright piracy, and for other purposes."
Although I understand this bill has been introduced by fellow Democrats, I do not believe you should vote for it. The restrictions imposed by this bill could result in increased costs to hardware and software manufacturers, resulting in higher prices for consumers and/or fewer jobs. Entire operating systems, some relied upon by Fortune 500 companies, could be rendered obsolete overnight. Hundreds of Federal and Georgia government agencies could be forced to upgrade to compliant hardware and software at a staggering cost to taxpayers.
Piracy is a problem, but I believe the solution is to go after those who make money from it, not going after the average voter. Instead, why not penalize for-profit providers of copyrighted materials? Snatch up those who truly prey on the intellectual property of others and leave the curious music fan alone.
This bill is the result of big Hollywood money donations. In an election year, I think it unwise to cast votes that your opponents may seize upon to depict you as "in Hollywood's pocket." Hollywood predicted doom with the advent of the VCR and the cassette recorder, yet here they are, trying to strangle yet another emergent technology in the crib. Please resist the urge to legislate solutions to what is essentially a technical problem. If the money behind this bill doesn't want their works reproduced in a given format, let them be the ones to figure out how to go about it.
An arrogant redneck asshole who lives better than you ever will.
Inbetween jobs, you're on your way to an interview when you have a heart attack in your SUV* during rush-hour traffic on the interstate. Sadly, you are turned away from the nearest hospital because your HMO doesn't work with them. En route to a hospital that does, you croak. But that's OK, because your HMO's CEO shouldn't have to wear the same pair of socks twice. Portraits of George W. Bush and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. are laser etched on your $50,000 cubic zirconium tombstone. You are buried with copies of None Dare Call it Treason, Atlas Shrugged, and a coloring book. However, crayons are not covered under the terms of your burial insurance. You spend eternity reading moronic fiction and really wishing you had some crayons, only it's so hot where you are they'd melt anyway.
The Ralph Nader far-left nuts have made frivolous lawsuits a way of life and a means to at personal profit and power.
Here's the keys to my Corvair. Please take it for a spin. If you're lucky, it will frivolously explode before you reach 65MPH, thereby directly enriching every "libruhl" from the People's Republic of MA to the Left Coast. We fervently desire your death at the hands of greedy capitalist warmongers unable to offer a non-hegemonistic ten-year warranty covering parts and LABOR!
Besides, when you cast Mattel as a victim, you know what demon you summon forth...
I do remember some sabotage out west (AZ?) but wasn't aware their safety record was significantly worse than other countries. If you have a link, I'd like to take a look at it.
Mass transit it not economical for most of the US given the population density, or lack therof.
Have you factored in the costs of roads, highway patrols, wrecks, ambulances, and the whole taxpayer-funded infrastructure that props up the federal highway system? Mass transit isn't economical, period (if you mean profitable as a stand-alone enterprise.) The Interstates are even less "economical" because (excepting toll roads,) you don't pay to get on. You can't make the comparison until you've factored in costs such as these. Pollution should be counted in as well. If hundreds of thousands took public transport, would auto insurance premiums change? You still have to insure the sucker to put it on the street, but if you don't use it as often, odds of an accident should go down. Whether rates would go down is a differnt story.
this will make for some spectacular derailments if Amtrak gets their hands on it
Do you mean to say that Americans can't manage the technology as well as Japanese can? Or that we have a rail bureaucracy not present in other nations? Or that we have domestic saboteurs not found in Japan? Or do you mean that public funding of rail is inherently bad? If so, does public funding of highways merit a squawk as well?
Slashdot Mirror
Check out article four of this treaty.
The first three are TRUE. I'm still debating the fourth point.
No. The tomato is a fruit, not a vegetable.
if the patent is broad enough to include all media rentals with the same scheme.
How about books? Netflix sounds a little like the once-common institution of subscription libraries. Someone who knows the history of libraries might be able to dig up some prior art on this. If the only real difference is DVDs instead of books, I don't see how they'd be able to keep the patent.
I'll do a patent on duplicate posts! Anyone know of any prior art?
Sorry, that's been done already. Twice.
Well, it does have a hole in it.
Or should I ask how long an exaduration lasts?
;)
Sounds like a long time, but really isn't
smells like cat cancer.
I have a hard time believing someone out there won't retaliate in kind. I remember when it was predicted that the Internet would be Co$'s Vietnam. I think there's a better case to be made that it could turn out to be RIAA's Vietnam instead; many more people have an interest in music and have spent far too much on CDs than have ever forked over even a cent to L. Ron's merry band of psychopaths. I hope they don't know what they're getting into.
2 whole months!
I wonder what really made him quit?
Maybe they forgot to reboot him?
Is this why I never see Tyson vs a Woman on paytv?
Try CourtTV.
AFAIK there is no general term for a person that becomes an amimal.
Ahem.
"Manimal"
"We can build a collective civic space large enough for all our separate identities, that we can be e pluribus unum -- out of one, many." E Pluribus Unum is the motto on the Great Seal of the United States of America, and is Latin for "out of many, one," not "out of one, many." (Source: January 1994. From a Milwaukee speech to the Institute of World Affairs as quoted in Investor's Business Daily, October 25, 1996.)
Let's see Bush master his native tongue before we go off finding politicians no longer in office mangling dead languages, shall we?
He gets no respect from me, zero. He hasn't earned it. He rules with no mandate, without a majority behind him. In diplomacy, he has trod upon the world stage only to take a steaming crap upon it, pissing off friends with relationships that go back decades. All the goodwill after 9/11 squandered. The surpluses we once had are also squandered, gone forever. The funds he promised NYC after 9/11 have yet to be delivered. He "forgot" to budget anything for rebuilding Afghanistan. He is about to break international law and force us into a war against an enemy who poses no threat to us so long as he is left alone. Bush does not deserve the respect of an office he has no right to occupy. He deserves a trial in the Hague and three squares a day. Nothing more.
With respect to lies about Gore and the Internet, he did actually say that. It was blown out of proportion, but it was completely ridiculous for him to assert that he was the creator of the internet as we know it.
My understanding is that he claimed to have taken the initiative in creating the legislation that ultimately provided us with the Internet. IOW, "I got the money to people who used it to build the Internet," and not "I coded the whole damn thing myself one weekend." If you have a credible source that indicates otherwise, please post it.
How effectively do you want to be dragged to Hell? Effective leadership is only a plus when you're moving in the right direction. We aren't. Even if you take it as a given that smart people can say dumb things, it does not automatically follow that dumb people can say smart things. Words and deeds are the only reliable metric of people, and Bush fails miserably. I don't give a screaming shit what's in his heart, or what he believes, or what his worldview is. He's fucked us all and pissed off most of our friends, and we still don't have Osama. Shit, we don't even have the name of one single person who shorted those airline and insurance stocks right before 9/11! Eighteen months and not one single name. I can't respect that at all. Can you?
When every word you say is recorded, it's not hard to find stupid things that were said by leaders.
Maybe, maybe not. But when you're a fucking dumbass and every word you say is recorded, it's guaranteed:
"I understand that the unrest in the Middle East creates unrest throughout the region."--Washington, D.C., March 13, 2002
"I want to thank the dozens of welfare to work stories, the actual examples of people who made the firm and solemn commitment to work hard to embetter themselves."--Washington, D.C., April 18, 2002
"Over 75 percent of white Americans own their home, and less than 50 percent of Hispanos and African Americans don't own their home. And that's a gap, that's a homeownership gap. And we've got to do something about it."--Cleveland, Ohio, July 1, 2002
"There's no bigger task than protecting the homeland of our country."
"The federal government and the state government must not fear programs who change lives, but must welcome those faith-based programs for the embetterment of mankind."--Stockton, Calif., Aug. 23, 2002
If you have no command of your native tongue, you can't communicate. If you can't communicate, you can't be an effective leader. The man is a hopeless dunce. Some things are beyond defending.
Also, this "inventing the Internet" bullshit has been explained time and time again. Only a partisan hack willfully ignorant of the record would persist in spreading lies like this so long after the 2000 campaign.
Don't get me started on Quayle, either.
"We feel the decision is best left in the hands of parents." He said the opt-out clause "could work" but feared routine filtering could seriously slow down the internet.
They should go with an opt-in policy instead. Those willing to stick their heads in the sand and let others make decisions about what they can and can not read should stand up and ask for it by name instead of forcing the everyone else to bail out of such a scheme.
Why would I admit that? I thought it was a given!
A sense of humor! Makes the modding worth it. Thanks.
Then I watched it 4 more times over that weekend, then I bought the books, then I bought the dvd, then the extended dvd, then I saw the two towers on opening night, then a week later, and a week after that.
;-)
You left out the part where you admit you've never been laid.
Well, that's what happens when you FUCK A STRANGER IN THE ASS LARRY!
Hon. Senator *,
I write to urge your opposition to S.2395, "A bill to prevent and punish counterfeiting and copyright piracy, and for other purposes."
Although I understand this bill has been introduced by fellow Democrats, I do not believe you should vote for it. The restrictions imposed by this bill could result in increased costs to hardware and software manufacturers, resulting in higher prices for consumers and/or fewer jobs. Entire operating systems, some relied upon by Fortune 500 companies, could be rendered obsolete overnight. Hundreds of Federal and Georgia government agencies could be forced to upgrade to compliant hardware and software at a staggering cost to taxpayers.
Piracy is a problem, but I believe the solution is to go after those who make money from it, not going after the average voter. Instead, why not penalize for-profit providers of copyrighted materials? Snatch up those who truly prey on the intellectual property of others and leave the curious music fan alone.
This bill is the result of big Hollywood money donations. In an election year, I think it unwise to cast votes that your opponents may seize upon to depict you as "in Hollywood's pocket." Hollywood predicted doom with the advent of the VCR and the cassette recorder, yet here they are, trying to strangle yet another emergent technology in the crib. Please resist the urge to legislate solutions to what is essentially a technical problem. If the money behind this bill doesn't want their works reproduced in a given format, let them be the ones to figure out how to go about it.
Thank you for your time,
An arrogant redneck asshole who lives better than you ever will.
Inbetween jobs, you're on your way to an interview when you have a heart attack in your SUV* during rush-hour traffic on the interstate. Sadly, you are turned away from the nearest hospital because your HMO doesn't work with them. En route to a hospital that does, you croak. But that's OK, because your HMO's CEO shouldn't have to wear the same pair of socks twice. Portraits of George W. Bush and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. are laser etched on your $50,000 cubic zirconium tombstone. You are buried with copies of None Dare Call it Treason, Atlas Shrugged, and a coloring book. However, crayons are not covered under the terms of your burial insurance. You spend eternity reading moronic fiction and really wishing you had some crayons, only it's so hot where you are they'd melt anyway.
God, I envy you.
*=Saudi Underwriting Vehicle
I heard it really blew.
The Ralph Nader far-left nuts have made frivolous lawsuits a way of life and a means to at personal profit and power.
Here's the keys to my Corvair. Please take it for a spin. If you're lucky, it will frivolously explode before you reach 65MPH, thereby directly enriching every "libruhl" from the People's Republic of MA to the Left Coast. We fervently desire your death at the hands of greedy capitalist warmongers unable to offer a non-hegemonistic ten-year warranty covering parts and LABOR!
Besides, when you cast Mattel as a victim, you know what demon you summon forth...
I do remember some sabotage out west (AZ?) but wasn't aware their safety record was significantly worse than other countries. If you have a link, I'd like to take a look at it.
Mass transit it not economical for most of the US given the population density, or lack therof.
Have you factored in the costs of roads, highway patrols, wrecks, ambulances, and the whole taxpayer-funded infrastructure that props up the federal highway system? Mass transit isn't economical, period (if you mean profitable as a stand-alone enterprise.) The Interstates are even less "economical" because (excepting toll roads,) you don't pay to get on. You can't make the comparison until you've factored in costs such as these. Pollution should be counted in as well. If hundreds of thousands took public transport, would auto insurance premiums change? You still have to insure the sucker to put it on the street, but if you don't use it as often, odds of an accident should go down. Whether rates would go down is a differnt story.
this will make for some spectacular derailments if Amtrak gets their hands on it
Do you mean to say that Americans can't manage the technology as well as Japanese can? Or that we have a rail bureaucracy not present in other nations? Or that we have domestic saboteurs not found in Japan? Or do you mean that public funding of rail is inherently bad? If so, does public funding of highways merit a squawk as well?
If you want to support this ideal, snag tickets [davidbowie.com] to one of his concerts.
A good idea, except for one small problem. It seems you're damned if you do and damned if you don't.