Muzak (or elevator music or bland background music, for those that don't know the slang)
Actually Muzak (http://muzak.com) is a corporation, which exists for decades. Their mission is to grace humanity with this fine music you can hear in elevators and shopping malls throughout the world.
"Music" that is filtered and frequency optimized so it doesn't disturb your lift riding -, or shopping experience.
So no, even if a lot of people think so, Muzak is not a slang word for rotten music. Then again: The general public has hardly any dealings with Muzak LLC (apart from being forced to listen to this shit).
If I've learned anything from recent Presidential elections, changing your opinions due to new information is a sign of weakness. The Economist, the arguably most influential newspaper in the world and opinion journalsim to boot, does that on a regular basis. They always stand by their guns, but admit that they where wrong when new facts are unearthed.
Good examples are the Iraq war, or the earth' climate change.
When they can't even stop their own internal emails and phone calls from leaking you'd have to be pretty gullible to believe their claims. To make matters worse they resort to legal nasty grams and censorship to try and suppress the evidence of their incompetence which makes them look all the more the fool.
I read that the price problem actually came up when he visited an Australian record store and saw some Britney crap (or so) sold for 19$, while the new NIN CD went for 35$.
He asked the record company representative about the discrpancy and the answer was in the line of "well, your fans are so hardcore, they are willing to pay whatever we charge."
It wasn't, as I understand it, the high price per se, but it was the fact that his fans are fleeced, ripped off and cheated by the label, exactly because they are so dedicated.
This would probably infuriate me too; especially if I'd be such a dedicated, perfectionists artist that doesn't spare expense and effort invested in his art and that really seems to care about his fans. In that sense I can fully support his statement.
Remember the Sony rootkit fiasco? Remeber that F-Secure was the only security company detecting it and approaching Sony?
This leads to the conclusion that all other "security"-companies where either in bed with Sony, or that their "security"-products are utterly useless. I'm not sure, which is worse.
So why again should I give a rats ass about the opinion of those guys, when it comes to security?
This may be nitpicking, but I was somewhat shocked about the tone of the (paraphrased) emails. There seems a lot of f**k and s**t flowing around from the head honchos of this dodgy outfit right to the bottom.
Now don't get me wrong. I'm neither squeamish, nor easily offended. But in professional, corporate email communications such a tone has about as much justification as surfing porn at work.
It doesn't take great courage to start a war.
Let's all hope that you're never in a position to find out just how wrong you are.
Well, dude; I didn't really get the impression that the neocon hawks that started this whole mess had a lot of courage. It's not their necks after all.
Greed? Deception? Lies? Croniism? All of the above? I'd say yes. But sure as hell not courage.
I think the evidence now pretty much indicate what a bunch of lying war-criminal-weasels the current US administration actually is
The fanbois will probably mod me into oblivion for that. But what the hell; I have the kharma to blow.
In my opinion the current incarnation of the iPhone is unsellable in theEuropean market, save for a few superfans. One major reason is the lack of UMTS support, but that's fixable. For some business users an unchangeable battery is a no-go, but that's not it. But the death-knell (again in my opinion) is that you're not able to change the SIM. A GSM phone in Europe is not crippled (Bluetooth, et al) and, except for SIM locked phones is never bound to a specific network operator and it is very common to change the SIM to something local and pre-payed, or to a roaming-free call back SIM when travelling and if you can't do that the phone is DOA; period!
The problem here is: AllOfMP3 is selling songs not only to Russians, but also to Americans.
You know, that's precisely what bugs me about globalization:
When a hightech company ships 20'000 jobs to Heyderabad, or a huge consultancy moves it's headquarters to the Bahamas in order to shave taxes, then that's considered a smart move and a savvy business decision.
When I, under the same logic, buy a tune from a foreign web site that's supposed to be a criminal act and fraudulent.
Mind you, I'm not complaining about outsourcing jobs, or making smart tax decisions (overall, the cake is probably growing for all due to globalisation), but this is one of the most blatantly hypocritical attitudes by big business and they should hang their head in shame for that.
(Actually tarring and feathering a few of those corporate bozos would be even more fun then lambasting them; but I digress).
Psssst! Will you shut up? You're ruining all the carefully cultivated prejudices of all those fine/.ers.
What next? You want to tell us about lean production (where Toyota is world leader, bar none)? Total quality management (which was laughed out by everybody, except by the Japanese, who listended very carefully and then went to implement it)? Innovation, like Hybrids (not feasible and too expensive for most, except for some Japanese companies)?
Next you will reason that over-motorized GM junk is unsellable in the rest of the world due to gas guzzling, quality problems and overall borishness, while we all no that's a French conspiracy to hurt America.
I bet you've never changed your opinion about anything in the last 9 nine years and are exactly the same person after all this time.
Why, of course, I reserve the right to change my opinion on a daily basis, or as Konrad Adenauer put it Was interessiert mich mein Geschwätz von gestern? (English translation)
Microsoft Corporation unfortunately has done absolutely nothing in the past 9 years that made me rethink my opinion about them.
Hint: Calling Linux and the general public license a cancer doesn't help.
but international trade is the exchange of material goods for paper money.
OK, this may be a nitpick, but it's most likely not paper money.
The relation of paper money to "book money" (currencies which are moved between accounts) is minuscule in the monetary system.
If everybody at the same time would appear at a bank teller and ask for their deposits in cash the entire monetary system would be fuxored.
Case in point: Compare the rates for paper money with the currency rates and you'll find a huge difference. This is because it's far more expensive to move and handle the physical product (bank notes and coins).
Interbank transactions are virtually always movements of debts and credits between accounts.
It's actually more freedom in the US. Sheeesh! You sound like some 3rd rate AT&T PR flunky, I dare say.
In Europe, at least where I'm located, I can either get a non-crippled phone at full price, or I can get a non-crippled phone subsidized by my carrier.
In addition I can get a subsidized pre-payed phone, which may be sim locked for a specified amount of time, but which is non-crippled.
So let's see: I can chose between non-crippled, non-crippled and non-crippled subsidized or not, while you can chose between crippled and non-crippled; non-crippled at ooutrageous prices, only.
Yeah, you can certainly argue that you have the greater variety of choice. A choice, though about which I couldn't care less.
The Red Cross was founded by Henri Dunant in Geneva and the symbol is actually based on the Swiss flag (it's the negative thereof). Since Switzerland was (arguably) founded in 1291 it should sue Johnson & Johnson for the flagrant abuse of a national mark for over a century.
Additionally, I'd wager that the PR agents at Johnson & Johnson won't be too happy about the damage control they will have to undertake for the next several years.
Some of those corporate lawyer types seem to be beyond outrageously stupid.
I'll just suggest that some folks view the same issue for the US and the "Fundamental Christian" movement.
Hallelujah, brother!
As a matter of fact those fundamental Christians seem to do far more harm to the US society then muslims could ever dream to do to "Euro society" (which isn't that homogenous a mass, anyway).
Actually the vast majority (and every newly installed) cameras herearound take the picture from the front. The new ones are digital too, won't run out of film and are very accurate (3 km/h tolerance as opposed to 5 km/h of the old style cameras).
You may wonder why a red light camera has a speed tolerance. That's because they double as speed traps too.
As an added bonus when you yack away on your cell phone while being photographed you get 100 Francs tucked on to the fine for good measures.
You can try to contest it in court, but it's not a smart thing to do. Specifically for the reason how traffic fines are handled herearound: Fines under 300 Francs can be payed within 30 days without registration of personal details of the driver. If you don't pay in time, or if you contest it in court then it goes in front of a judge, which will cost you ~ 2'000 Francs instead of the 250 that the red light would have cost. (250 Francs ~= $200)
I really don't get why people are so worked up about those cameras. First you know where they are, they are not hidden. Second it's dangerous to run red lights and it's arguably even more dangerous to speed within city limits especially when yacking on a phone.
Now go back to being afraid that the evil Americans are going to send you to Guantanamo because you picked your nose in the customs line. Fucktards.
You know dude, that's not so much the point as that I spend my tourist Euros rather in places where I feel welcome. Now, giving your quite foul attitude you probably couldn't care less. But consider this:
Very qualified researchers and students shun the US and prefer to teach and study in other places. Important conferencs are held outside of the US. Evil, but important foreigners from multinational companies refuse to fly into the US for meetings, due to the crap and the indignity they are put through.
You may say, who cares? Well, for a start the deans of a few top university who voiced their fears about tightening (alas useless) immigration laws years ago, the economy will care. Multinational US companies care, since it's much, much harder to find top people outside of the US who are willing to put up with this shit. All those consequences are medium to long term, but will hurt the US.
There are a lot more good reasons why a xenophobic attitude towards everything foreign, especially highly qualified people, will hurt a country.
hopefully it is small enough to be under M$ radar.
Who cares? I'd wager that the whole operation is undertaken for the benefit of businesses, who potentially hate risk. However, Microsoft is banking on the fact that IT Management and CIOs are complete dimbulbs who are shaking in their boots because they may get sued by mighty Microsoft. It didn't work with SCO and it won't work now with the MS version of patent trolling.
In addition I want to see them pull that stunt off in Europe, where software patents are not only not recognized, but where the EU commission may take a very dim view and regard that as an extortion scheme (which it essentially is).
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Actually Muzak (http://muzak.com) is a corporation, which exists for decades. Their mission is to grace humanity with this fine music you can hear in elevators and shopping malls throughout the world.
"Music" that is filtered and frequency optimized so it doesn't disturb your lift riding -, or shopping experience.
So no, even if a lot of people think so, Muzak is not a slang word for rotten music. Then again: The general public has hardly any dealings with Muzak LLC (apart from being forced to listen to this shit).
Actually it's probably a fine device, but in terms of a phone it's, according to specs, a very mediocre phone.
At least from an European, let alone a Japanese perspective.
I think this is important, not because it excuses anyone, but because it points to just how inhumane the RIAA has become for their little crusade.
There, I corrected that for you...
Good examples are the Iraq war, or the earth' climate change.
I wouldn't call it a weak paper, though.
One word: Diebold
He asked the record company representative about the discrpancy and the answer was in the line of "well, your fans are so hardcore, they are willing to pay whatever we charge."
It wasn't, as I understand it, the high price per se, but it was the fact that his fans are fleeced, ripped off and cheated by the label, exactly because they are so dedicated.
This would probably infuriate me too; especially if I'd be such a dedicated, perfectionists artist that doesn't spare expense and effort invested in his art and that really seems to care about his fans. In that sense I can fully support his statement.
This leads to the conclusion that all other "security"-companies where either in bed with Sony, or that their "security"-products are utterly useless. I'm not sure, which is worse.
So why again should I give a rats ass about the opinion of those guys, when it comes to security?
Now don't get me wrong. I'm neither squeamish, nor easily offended. But in professional, corporate email communications such a tone has about as much justification as surfing porn at work.
Well, dude; I didn't really get the impression that the neocon hawks that started this whole mess had a lot of courage. It's not their necks after all.
Greed? Deception? Lies? Croniism? All of the above? I'd say yes. But sure as hell not courage.
I think the evidence now pretty much indicate what a bunch of lying war-criminal-weasels the current US administration actually is
In my opinion the current incarnation of the iPhone is unsellable in theEuropean market, save for a few superfans. One major reason is the lack of UMTS support, but that's fixable. For some business users an unchangeable battery is a no-go, but that's not it. But the death-knell (again in my opinion) is that you're not able to change the SIM. A GSM phone in Europe is not crippled (Bluetooth, et al) and, except for SIM locked phones is never bound to a specific network operator and it is very common to change the SIM to something local and pre-payed, or to a roaming-free call back SIM when travelling and if you can't do that the phone is DOA; period!
You know, that's precisely what bugs me about globalization:
When a hightech company ships 20'000 jobs to Heyderabad, or a huge consultancy moves it's headquarters to the Bahamas in order to shave taxes, then that's considered a smart move and a savvy business decision.
When I, under the same logic, buy a tune from a foreign web site that's supposed to be a criminal act and fraudulent.
Mind you, I'm not complaining about outsourcing jobs, or making smart tax decisions (overall, the cake is probably growing for all due to globalisation), but this is one of the most blatantly hypocritical attitudes by big business and they should hang their head in shame for that.
(Actually tarring and feathering a few of those corporate bozos would be even more fun then lambasting them; but I digress).
What next? You want to tell us about lean production (where Toyota is world leader, bar none)? Total quality management (which was laughed out by everybody, except by the Japanese, who listended very carefully and then went to implement it)? Innovation, like Hybrids (not feasible and too expensive for most, except for some Japanese companies)?
Next you will reason that over-motorized GM junk is unsellable in the rest of the world due to gas guzzling, quality problems and overall borishness, while we all no that's a French conspiracy to hurt America.
Why, of course, I reserve the right to change my opinion on a daily basis, or as Konrad Adenauer put it Was interessiert mich mein Geschwätz von gestern? (English translation)
Microsoft Corporation unfortunately has done absolutely nothing in the past 9 years that made me rethink my opinion about them.
Hint: Calling Linux and the general public license a cancer doesn't help.
I didn't intend to challenge your argument. I just couldn't let the "paper money" bit stand; as a database developer at an investment bank. :)
OK, this may be a nitpick, but it's most likely not paper money.
The relation of paper money to "book money" (currencies which are moved between accounts) is minuscule in the monetary system.
If everybody at the same time would appear at a bank teller and ask for their deposits in cash the entire monetary system would be fuxored.
Case in point: Compare the rates for paper money with the currency rates and you'll find a huge difference. This is because it's far more expensive to move and handle the physical product (bank notes and coins).
Interbank transactions are virtually always movements of debts and credits between accounts.
In Europe, at least where I'm located, I can either get a non-crippled phone at full price, or I can get a non-crippled phone subsidized by my carrier.
In addition I can get a subsidized pre-payed phone, which may be sim locked for a specified amount of time, but which is non-crippled.
So let's see: I can chose between non-crippled, non-crippled and non-crippled subsidized or not, while you can chose between crippled and non-crippled; non-crippled at ooutrageous prices, only.
Yeah, you can certainly argue that you have the greater variety of choice. A choice, though about which I couldn't care less.
Well, I'll give the board and management of Monsanto also quite high marks in the evil category.
have you checked out there Factbook?
It's arguably one of the best country resources for years, alas with an US slant (i.e. illicit drugs are very mymy in just about every country).
Nevertheless, it would be a shame if such a resource was to be pulled for "security reasons").
That was not only beautifully phrased, but quite on point, too.
Are you implying that Jesus hates Switzerland?
Additionally, I'd wager that the PR agents at Johnson & Johnson won't be too happy about the damage control they will have to undertake for the next several years.
Some of those corporate lawyer types seem to be beyond outrageously stupid.
Hallelujah, brother!
As a matter of fact those fundamental Christians seem to do far more harm to the US society then muslims could ever dream to do to "Euro society" (which isn't that homogenous a mass, anyway).
You may wonder why a red light camera has a speed tolerance. That's because they double as speed traps too.
As an added bonus when you yack away on your cell phone while being photographed you get 100 Francs tucked on to the fine for good measures.
You can try to contest it in court, but it's not a smart thing to do. Specifically for the reason how traffic fines are handled herearound: Fines under 300 Francs can be payed within 30 days without registration of personal details of the driver. If you don't pay in time, or if you contest it in court then it goes in front of a judge, which will cost you ~ 2'000 Francs instead of the 250 that the red light would have cost. (250 Francs ~= $200)
I really don't get why people are so worked up about those cameras. First you know where they are, they are not hidden. Second it's dangerous to run red lights and it's arguably even more dangerous to speed within city limits especially when yacking on a phone.
You know dude, that's not so much the point as that I spend my tourist Euros rather in places where I feel welcome. Now, giving your quite foul attitude you probably couldn't care less. But consider this:
Very qualified researchers and students shun the US and prefer to teach and study in other places. Important conferencs are held outside of the US. Evil, but important foreigners from multinational companies refuse to fly into the US for meetings, due to the crap and the indignity they are put through.
You may say, who cares? Well, for a start the deans of a few top university who voiced their fears about tightening (alas useless) immigration laws years ago, the economy will care. Multinational US companies care, since it's much, much harder to find top people outside of the US who are willing to put up with this shit. All those consequences are medium to long term, but will hurt the US. There are a lot more good reasons why a xenophobic attitude towards everything foreign, especially highly qualified people, will hurt a country.
Now who exactly is the fucktard?
Who cares? I'd wager that the whole operation is undertaken for the benefit of businesses, who potentially hate risk. However, Microsoft is banking on the fact that IT Management and CIOs are complete dimbulbs who are shaking in their boots because they may get sued by mighty Microsoft. It didn't work with SCO and it won't work now with the MS version of patent trolling.
In addition I want to see them pull that stunt off in Europe, where software patents are not only not recognized, but where the EU commission may take a very dim view and regard that as an extortion scheme (which it essentially is).