As everybody else has said... why bother rebooting it? My XP-based laptop is effectively instant-on and instant-off with sleep mode, and it really only gets rebooted after I've been playing video games all day, or after a system update.
And don't gripe about battery life... sleep mode uses *very* little power. I have, quite literally, put my laptop in sleep mode, gone on vacation, and come back 3 weeks later to a laptop with a battery that still had enough juice to run for 3.5h before it needed to be plugged in. (The laptop in question has a Core 2 Duo T5450 @ 1.66GHz, 2GB of RAM, 120GB 7200rpm HDD, DVD, 15.4" LCD @ 1680x1050).
"lossy" when referring to an audio recording doesn't refer to the fact that the media itself will not degrade, it refers to the fact that the waveform as stored/reproduced does not perfectly record the waveform as originally played. As such, every playback medium that's come out since 8-track tapes has been "lossy", because to some extent they've all been digital representations of the waveform rather than the actual wavefrom. You are literally losing some of the information in the waveform because you have to throw it away as a necessary step in saving the data on a computer. You can make up for it by using a high sample rate (this is why something recorded at 44.1KHz sounds better than something recorded at, say, 8KHz), but you're still throwing data away as part of the recording process.
Depending on the amount of compression being used, you're throwing away even more data. MP3, for example, uses the knowledge that the human ear simply can't hear some frequencies, and that the brain will automatically fill in the holes to even out the sound at lower frequencies in order to discard large portions of the recording as part of the compression algorithm.
You're also incorrect in saying that all analogue formats are necessarily lossy. There are perfectly lossless methods of recording sound that have been around as long as recording has been around. The problem is the media itself degrades in time... there's precious few wax cylinders that are still playable, and it would be very unwise to play one because they're so fragile. There are, however, some early records which have not degraded at all... the vinyl records do degrade in time, but there was a time when they used aluminum to produce records, and those have stood up quite well.
Or you can not be an asshole, and not park in the handicapped spot in the first place. Those exist for a reason, and while there's usually more than needed, I've been in situations where I wasn't able to use the parking space I needed because some fuckwit in a BMW M3 parked in the handicapped spot.
Fortunately, there was a cop shop next door, and I went there instead. The officer who wrote the ticket said "unfortunately, being mentally handicapped doesn't count unless you've got a permit". I get a warmfuzzy when I remember that it was a $300 fine.
And for those wondering why I was using the space, it was shortly after the training accident that got me out of the military, when the doctors thought I wouldn't be able to walk again. Thankfully, I found a good surgeon and don't need the permit any more.
Quebec isn't a country, but it is a nation. They're entitled to try to preserve their own unique cultural identity. They're just not entitled to try to force it on the rest of us.
Although I wold welcome a Poly-Pride march at the mall. I'd love to see a bunch of prude soccer moms freak out.
I'd pay to see that, lol. That would be great.
And you're right, it is about "look at me, give me attention". A lot of it is also about "I'm sick of hiding who I am, and want to openly and publicly embrace my culture." It's part of coming out and coming to grips with who and what you are, and most queer people I know grow out of it eventually, when they realize that most of the enlightened populace doesn't give a shit that they're gay, it doesn't change who they are. But as with drag queens, a lot of what goes on in Pride is deliberately over the top with the purpose of provoking people, and the intention of having a good time. It really is a great party, if you relax and just embrace what's going on. Tons of fun.
*shrugs* Each to their own. It's been a few years since I've been to pride, and I don't have a rainbow sticker on my car either. As I see it, the only circumstance under which you've got a right to know what I like in the bedroom is when you're there, or there's a chance you'll be invited. Unlikely... I like girls, and I don't think you are one... ^.~
The offense on behalf of the LGBT community is that we shouldn't be forced to hide who we are, or to deny it, or to downplay it. I agree that some people do make a point of broadcasting it to the world, and get pretty damned annoying, but so do some straight people, and you really need to calm the fuck down if you're offended by seeing a couple of girls holding hands, or if you hold a queer couple sucking face in a park to a different standard than you would a straight couple: that act is offensive because they should get a room, not because it's two guys making out instead of a guy and a girl.
I don't really think that she should be advertising on her gamer profile that she's a lesbian, but I don't exactly make a secret of my sexuality when I'm playing WoW, either. If I get hit on, I politely decline and explain that I like girls. *shrugs*
Also... do you have any idea how often girls get hit on by horny retards in games? Often enough that a lot of them will pretend to be male (I used to, hence the/. name) just to avoid it. She was probably saying she was a lesbian in a misguided attempt to discourage them: I've found, from experience, that while some guys will stop hitting on you when they find out they're not getting anywhere, a lot will just try harder in the hopes of racking up a conversion. My usual response to that is something like "if you point that thing at me, I'll remove it with a rusty spoon", and even that's not enough to discourage all of them. Until you've actually *been* a female gamer, you're not qualified to really comment on what kind of things we need to do in order to avoid being hit on by retards.
Fortunately, there's an operation to fix that, if you're interested. I have some friends who've been through it, and they're quite happy with the results.:)
Mod the parent up, he's right. Pistols are sub-sonic, and fire bullets that are mostly made of lead. They have a ton of stopping power, but almost no penetration. Also, the bullets, even milspec, are rounded at the front. It's designed to mushroom like that.
Compare it against, say, a round fired from an M16 or its counterparts in other countries, where the round is jacketed, pointy, and supersonic.
Of course, it wouldn't have looked as impressive, seeing as the modern military rifle ammunition is designed to penetrate armour.
Replying here so that it's at the top, rather than it being lost in the deluge.
My local alt rock station played the album, in full, every track, the day before the leak hit everywhere. Not only were they broadcasting it over the air, they have a 192kbit live stream out over the Internet that can be accessed from anywhere in the world. (http://www.livelifelive.fm... sadly, it's blocked by my work filters.)
Something tells me the leak has nothing to do with Last.FM.... nasty rumours about them sharing info, etc., is really just fearmongering.
I think he was talking about people specifically trying to break into his box, presumably a server. Like him, I don't really think my server is that juicy a target. A determined hacker *can* break into it, no argument. But it's got enough of a deterrent in place, in the form of frequent updates by a sysadmin who subscribes to the mailing lists for all the software she's running, requiring SSH to log in, the non-existence of any remote administration tools except for SSH, only allowing one user shell access (unfortunately, I'm on a dynamic IP, else I'd be restricting it to IP as well), and said user having a password that expires every 30 days, to make it an unattractive target for that kind of attack.
When it comes to viruses, trojans, and other forms of malware, you're absolutely right. The human will always be the weak factor, and the software doesn't give a damn what human it's targetting. A little bit of common sense and a little bit of knowledge about how these kinds of things work will do wonders to protect you from harmful attack. But when it comes to securing a server against intrusion, it's not about preventing attack: there's nothing you can do short of taking the server offline to 100% guarantee that it won't be attacked. It's about making it enough of an annoyance to break into your computer that anybody who doesn't have a personal vendetta will go after an easier target.
Why would a wife-batterer be able to keep custody of their kids? I'm sure it happens, but it seems a little ridiculous that you could beat your wife and take the kids.
Sometimes a battered wife doesn't have the option of taking the kids with her when she leaves. Sometimes it's a case of "he's gone, get to the shelter now." Usually when it's a case like that, she will ultimately get custody of the kids, but it's in process. The legal system is not instant.
I thought only North American countries had people driving on the "wrong" side of the street.
You thought wrong. Most of the world drives on the right-hand side of the road. The UK and Ireland are the only European nations that drive on the left-hand side, and join Japan, India/Pakistan, Australia, and parts of southern Africa as the only regions where driving's done on the left. About 70% of the world's population drives on the right-hand side.:)
I wouldn't go 100% with *thin* clients, but some smarts would be quite adequate. Set up one or two superservers, and a whole bunch of VIA C7 boxen with cheap 17" LCD's and the barest hard drive. Just enough to boot up an X server and connect via XDMCP to t he superserver. That way you can set them up without any optical drives, and safely keep the USB disconnected. You don't really need to worry that the terminal is underpowered, as long as the network that it's connecting to has the bandwidth for XDMCP.... 100mbit (which every C7-board I've ever seen has onboard) is more than adequate... maybe connected into a gigabit or 10gbit switched connection to the server.... client to switch is 100mbit, switch to server is gigabit.
They run quiet, they run cold, and nobody in their right mind would steal them.:) They also use very little electricity, and are dirt cheap... you can put together a client similar to what I'm proposing for $200 per unit... That could be an enormous savings in implementing the system (just because the math is easy, and it's in the ballpark, I'll assume $500 per desktop/laptop)... even if you design around one server per 10 clients (realistically, any single server should be able to handle closer to 20-30 clients under load), that's still $3000 per server that you get to play with to keep the same budget. You can buy a lot of computer for $3000... my current superserver cost less than 1/3 of that, and it's got a quad core 2.5GHz processor, a 1.5TB RAID, and 8GB of RAM. (bought it in March 2008). Set up roaming profiles so that the servers can handle the same user connecting to potentially more than one server, and you're off to the races.
Back home in Australia (240v), two-prong plugs are about the same size as US plugs, and it would be unusual to find less than 4 outlets in a room (two sets of two).
Code, in Ontario, says a maximum of 10' of wall space between receptacles, and the receptacles have a minimum of two sockets. In my bedroom, which is 15'x10', that means that, according to code, there's a minimum of 6 pairs of receptacles. There's actually 5 pairs and one block with 6 sockets for the computer desk.
And most modern appliances can take universal power input. I don't think there's a single power brick in my house for anything, my elliptical machine, my TV, my computers, etc. that doesn't take 100-240V @ 50-60Hz. It's cheaper, for a global company, to manufacture one device that can take anything than it is to manufacture 6 or 7 different devices to account for all of the weird power configurations you find in the world. Case in point, I'm currently waiting in an airport for a flight down to Curacao. There, they have a mix of sockets... some of them are US 110V-60Hz, some of them are US 110V-50Hz, and some of them are Europlug 240V-50Hz. I don't need a transformer, because everything I'm bringing with me (battery charger for my camera, laptop, bathroom appliances) is universal input. I have two socket adaptors with me, and that's all I need.
The oath itself takes less than 30s to recite, and there have been cases in the past where the inauguration ceremonies have been cancelled and everything done inside behind closed doors. All the rest... parties, parades, recitations of poems that are completely ungrammatical and don't rhyme, prayers, etc. is pomp and circumstance with no real purpose other than to put on a good show.
Yes, he'd have more on his mind, and yes, it's really for show more than anything (Obama's people have been working with Bush's people to ensure a clean transition since before the election), but it is still a necessary step based in military tradition that goes back to the Romans and probably before... Don't forget that part of the President's title is Commander in Chief.
Traditionally, whoever holds the commission (or sword or banner or....) is the one who wields power. It's like the conch from Lord of the Flies. There's a good reason for that: if the leader falls in battle, then somebody can take up the mantle of leadership and start issuing orders to get through the battle alive... it helps to avoid confusion if you know who's in charge. While there's no actual physical exchange of anything these days, the swearing of the oath represents the changing of the guard.
I agree it's questionable as to whether it's legally stealing. But what about morally? That seems pretty clear-cut -
Yep, you forbidding me from freely sharing my knowledge with Bob is the worst kind of intellectual slavery.
taking someone else's work without paying for it, and without permission, is stealing.
Copying something is very different from taking something.
This isn't riaa brainwashing, it's the basic "right and wrong" thing that most folks are taught when growing up. I seem to be part of dwindling number of people who think that such actions are wrong. Who think that when I want a product, I don't have a right to just take it - even if the taking incurs no physical loss for anyone else.
Then people must be realizing that what they've been taught is nonsensical.
I think that the point the RIAA is trying to make is that by depriving them of the money they would have made from selling the CD to you, you're in essence stealing it.
Personally, I don't really care one way or the other. It's your business, and if they want to prevent you from downloading it they should make it harder. Of course, it'd make better economic sense for them to realize that people will download because it's easier, and because most of the stuff they're producing is crap and not worth the price of a CD, but still. I'm not holding my breath. It'd be nice if they realized that and adjusted their business model to suit, but I doubt it'll happen.
If they do it the way the same program works in Ontario, then you won't get the credit for buying a used car, unless you buy it straight from a dealer. And there's certain requirements on the new car you're buying to qualify for it. You can get the rebate on a used car from a dealer, but most of the cars they have on the used car lots don't qualify for it because they aren't efficient enough.
That said... I did get the car heaven rebate when I turned in my 95 Subaru for a new 2007 Aveo a couple of years ago, so it does have the potential to benefit the big 3. They actually *do* make efficient cars... they just don't market them as well as they do the tanks like a Hummer or an Escalade. Said Aveo can make it from a suburb west of Ottawa to Montreal and back on 3/4 of a tank, and a tank of gas is $35 right now.
... You can get a private pilot's license, good for light aircraft and night flying, for about $5,000, with about 100 hours logged. Simulator time counts. It's really not that much of an impediment, and this thing will probably be small enough to count as a light aircraft.
My real question is what kind of fuel it runs on. There aren't a lot of aircraft that'll run well on less than avgas, and avgas is very expensive. (The aircraft I trained on was a Diamond Eclipse, which *will* run on premium unleaded, but runs a lot better on avgas....)
The US is the only Anglo-Saxon country where free speech (or a limited slice thereof) is constitutionally protected.
Your argument fails here. First, there are exemptions to free speech in the US. You do not have a right to say anything you want without fear of repercussions. Certain forms of speech are actually illegal and can land you in jail: perjury, libel, and anything covered under the National Secrets Act. There's also concepts like "fighting words", and other cases of inciteful words. We have a concept in Canada called "hate speech", and while you don't call it the same thing in the US, it's also illegal: spreading hateful speech or literature with the intention of causing harm to a group within society.
Second, free speech, as it exists in the US, is also a protected right throughout most of the former British Empire, as well as most of Europe.
That recordable media levy is the main reason that Canada doesn't have a DMCA. And the price is virtually non-existent. I can still buy a 50-pack of blank CD's for $20 at the local Staples, less if I go to somebody who actually specializes in computer gear.
It's also worth pointing out that any Canadian version of the DMCA is unlikley to gain footing... it's only supported by the Conservatives, and they have a minority. One that's so stable, actually, that they had to have the Governor General suspend parliament before Christmas to avoid a confidence vote. Parliament resumes next week, and the vote is likely to happen then.
Smart move by them, really... it gave the Liberals time to remove Stephane Dion, whose wishy-washy leadership is the main reason the Liberals didn't win the last election... had they allowed the Liberals to topple the government, they would have been able to fight another election against Dion. Now they're going up against Michael Ignatieff, who appears significantly more competent, and has a *much* higher approval rating.:)
You don't actually have to follow a process to copyright it... if you write it, it's your copyright. It's a safe bet that everybody on the planet who's ever held a pen has some copyrights to their name. The question, really, is whether you've produced anything that people actually want to copy.
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As everybody else has said... why bother rebooting it? My XP-based laptop is effectively instant-on and instant-off with sleep mode, and it really only gets rebooted after I've been playing video games all day, or after a system update.
And don't gripe about battery life... sleep mode uses *very* little power. I have, quite literally, put my laptop in sleep mode, gone on vacation, and come back 3 weeks later to a laptop with a battery that still had enough juice to run for 3.5h before it needed to be plugged in. (The laptop in question has a Core 2 Duo T5450 @ 1.66GHz, 2GB of RAM, 120GB 7200rpm HDD, DVD, 15.4" LCD @ 1680x1050).
Even with netbooks, battery life in sleep mode is very long. I have a Dell Mini 9 (64GB SSD, 2GB RAM) running OS/X (thanks to http://gizmodo.com/5156903/how-to-hackintosh-a-dell-mini-9-into-the-ultimate-os-x-netbook), and that one is also pretty much instant-on and instant-off with sleep mode, and hasn't needed to be plugged in in 3 days.
So... why are you actually bothering to power-down and reboot from cold your acer-one?
"lossy" when referring to an audio recording doesn't refer to the fact that the media itself will not degrade, it refers to the fact that the waveform as stored/reproduced does not perfectly record the waveform as originally played. As such, every playback medium that's come out since 8-track tapes has been "lossy", because to some extent they've all been digital representations of the waveform rather than the actual wavefrom. You are literally losing some of the information in the waveform because you have to throw it away as a necessary step in saving the data on a computer. You can make up for it by using a high sample rate (this is why something recorded at 44.1KHz sounds better than something recorded at, say, 8KHz), but you're still throwing data away as part of the recording process.
Depending on the amount of compression being used, you're throwing away even more data. MP3, for example, uses the knowledge that the human ear simply can't hear some frequencies, and that the brain will automatically fill in the holes to even out the sound at lower frequencies in order to discard large portions of the recording as part of the compression algorithm.
You're also incorrect in saying that all analogue formats are necessarily lossy. There are perfectly lossless methods of recording sound that have been around as long as recording has been around. The problem is the media itself degrades in time... there's precious few wax cylinders that are still playable, and it would be very unwise to play one because they're so fragile. There are, however, some early records which have not degraded at all... the vinyl records do degrade in time, but there was a time when they used aluminum to produce records, and those have stood up quite well.
President Shrub II has retired.
Or you can not be an asshole, and not park in the handicapped spot in the first place. Those exist for a reason, and while there's usually more than needed, I've been in situations where I wasn't able to use the parking space I needed because some fuckwit in a BMW M3 parked in the handicapped spot.
Fortunately, there was a cop shop next door, and I went there instead. The officer who wrote the ticket said "unfortunately, being mentally handicapped doesn't count unless you've got a permit". I get a warmfuzzy when I remember that it was a $300 fine.
And for those wondering why I was using the space, it was shortly after the training accident that got me out of the military, when the doctors thought I wouldn't be able to walk again. Thankfully, I found a good surgeon and don't need the permit any more.
Quebec isn't a country, but it is a nation. They're entitled to try to preserve their own unique cultural identity. They're just not entitled to try to force it on the rest of us.
I'd pay to see that, lol. That would be great.
And you're right, it is about "look at me, give me attention". A lot of it is also about "I'm sick of hiding who I am, and want to openly and publicly embrace my culture." It's part of coming out and coming to grips with who and what you are, and most queer people I know grow out of it eventually, when they realize that most of the enlightened populace doesn't give a shit that they're gay, it doesn't change who they are. But as with drag queens, a lot of what goes on in Pride is deliberately over the top with the purpose of provoking people, and the intention of having a good time. It really is a great party, if you relax and just embrace what's going on. Tons of fun.
*shrugs* Each to their own. It's been a few years since I've been to pride, and I don't have a rainbow sticker on my car either. As I see it, the only circumstance under which you've got a right to know what I like in the bedroom is when you're there, or there's a chance you'll be invited. Unlikely... I like girls, and I don't think you are one... ^.~
The offense on behalf of the LGBT community is that we shouldn't be forced to hide who we are, or to deny it, or to downplay it. I agree that some people do make a point of broadcasting it to the world, and get pretty damned annoying, but so do some straight people, and you really need to calm the fuck down if you're offended by seeing a couple of girls holding hands, or if you hold a queer couple sucking face in a park to a different standard than you would a straight couple: that act is offensive because they should get a room, not because it's two guys making out instead of a guy and a girl.
I don't really think that she should be advertising on her gamer profile that she's a lesbian, but I don't exactly make a secret of my sexuality when I'm playing WoW, either. If I get hit on, I politely decline and explain that I like girls. *shrugs*
Also... do you have any idea how often girls get hit on by horny retards in games? Often enough that a lot of them will pretend to be male (I used to, hence the /. name) just to avoid it. She was probably saying she was a lesbian in a misguided attempt to discourage them: I've found, from experience, that while some guys will stop hitting on you when they find out they're not getting anywhere, a lot will just try harder in the hopes of racking up a conversion. My usual response to that is something like "if you point that thing at me, I'll remove it with a rusty spoon", and even that's not enough to discourage all of them. Until you've actually *been* a female gamer, you're not qualified to really comment on what kind of things we need to do in order to avoid being hit on by retards.
Fortunately, there's an operation to fix that, if you're interested. I have some friends who've been through it, and they're quite happy with the results. :)
Mod the parent up, he's right. Pistols are sub-sonic, and fire bullets that are mostly made of lead. They have a ton of stopping power, but almost no penetration. Also, the bullets, even milspec, are rounded at the front. It's designed to mushroom like that.
Compare it against, say, a round fired from an M16 or its counterparts in other countries, where the round is jacketed, pointy, and supersonic.
Of course, it wouldn't have looked as impressive, seeing as the modern military rifle ammunition is designed to penetrate armour.
So... what you're saying is that Linux is the only OS that'll be Y10k compatible?
Replying here so that it's at the top, rather than it being lost in the deluge.
My local alt rock station played the album, in full, every track, the day before the leak hit everywhere. Not only were they broadcasting it over the air, they have a 192kbit live stream out over the Internet that can be accessed from anywhere in the world. (http://www.livelifelive.fm ... sadly, it's blocked by my work filters.)
Something tells me the leak has nothing to do with Last.FM.... nasty rumours about them sharing info, etc., is really just fearmongering.
I think he was talking about people specifically trying to break into his box, presumably a server. Like him, I don't really think my server is that juicy a target. A determined hacker *can* break into it, no argument. But it's got enough of a deterrent in place, in the form of frequent updates by a sysadmin who subscribes to the mailing lists for all the software she's running, requiring SSH to log in, the non-existence of any remote administration tools except for SSH, only allowing one user shell access (unfortunately, I'm on a dynamic IP, else I'd be restricting it to IP as well), and said user having a password that expires every 30 days, to make it an unattractive target for that kind of attack.
When it comes to viruses, trojans, and other forms of malware, you're absolutely right. The human will always be the weak factor, and the software doesn't give a damn what human it's targetting. A little bit of common sense and a little bit of knowledge about how these kinds of things work will do wonders to protect you from harmful attack. But when it comes to securing a server against intrusion, it's not about preventing attack: there's nothing you can do short of taking the server offline to 100% guarantee that it won't be attacked. It's about making it enough of an annoyance to break into your computer that anybody who doesn't have a personal vendetta will go after an easier target.
Sometimes a battered wife doesn't have the option of taking the kids with her when she leaves. Sometimes it's a case of "he's gone, get to the shelter now." Usually when it's a case like that, she will ultimately get custody of the kids, but it's in process. The legal system is not instant.
Depends on where... I got back from Curacao last Monday, and right of way, there, is determined by who leans on the horn first. :)
You thought wrong. Most of the world drives on the right-hand side of the road. The UK and Ireland are the only European nations that drive on the left-hand side, and join Japan, India/Pakistan, Australia, and parts of southern Africa as the only regions where driving's done on the left. About 70% of the world's population drives on the right-hand side. :)
In the civilised part of the world, it's spelled with an S....
I'm in an airport, so no sound, but is it as bad as the last time Microsoft tried writing music?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Xfqkdh5Js4
I wouldn't go 100% with *thin* clients, but some smarts would be quite adequate. Set up one or two superservers, and a whole bunch of VIA C7 boxen with cheap 17" LCD's and the barest hard drive. Just enough to boot up an X server and connect via XDMCP to t he superserver. That way you can set them up without any optical drives, and safely keep the USB disconnected. You don't really need to worry that the terminal is underpowered, as long as the network that it's connecting to has the bandwidth for XDMCP.... 100mbit (which every C7-board I've ever seen has onboard) is more than adequate... maybe connected into a gigabit or 10gbit switched connection to the server.... client to switch is 100mbit, switch to server is gigabit.
They run quiet, they run cold, and nobody in their right mind would steal them. :) They also use very little electricity, and are dirt cheap... you can put together a client similar to what I'm proposing for $200 per unit... That could be an enormous savings in implementing the system (just because the math is easy, and it's in the ballpark, I'll assume $500 per desktop/laptop)... even if you design around one server per 10 clients (realistically, any single server should be able to handle closer to 20-30 clients under load), that's still $3000 per server that you get to play with to keep the same budget. You can buy a lot of computer for $3000... my current superserver cost less than 1/3 of that, and it's got a quad core 2.5GHz processor, a 1.5TB RAID, and 8GB of RAM. (bought it in March 2008). Set up roaming profiles so that the servers can handle the same user connecting to potentially more than one server, and you're off to the races.
Code, in Ontario, says a maximum of 10' of wall space between receptacles, and the receptacles have a minimum of two sockets. In my bedroom, which is 15'x10', that means that, according to code, there's a minimum of 6 pairs of receptacles. There's actually 5 pairs and one block with 6 sockets for the computer desk.
And most modern appliances can take universal power input. I don't think there's a single power brick in my house for anything, my elliptical machine, my TV, my computers, etc. that doesn't take 100-240V @ 50-60Hz. It's cheaper, for a global company, to manufacture one device that can take anything than it is to manufacture 6 or 7 different devices to account for all of the weird power configurations you find in the world. Case in point, I'm currently waiting in an airport for a flight down to Curacao. There, they have a mix of sockets... some of them are US 110V-60Hz, some of them are US 110V-50Hz, and some of them are Europlug 240V-50Hz. I don't need a transformer, because everything I'm bringing with me (battery charger for my camera, laptop, bathroom appliances) is universal input. I have two socket adaptors with me, and that's all I need.
The oath itself takes less than 30s to recite, and there have been cases in the past where the inauguration ceremonies have been cancelled and everything done inside behind closed doors. All the rest... parties, parades, recitations of poems that are completely ungrammatical and don't rhyme, prayers, etc. is pomp and circumstance with no real purpose other than to put on a good show.
Yes, he'd have more on his mind, and yes, it's really for show more than anything (Obama's people have been working with Bush's people to ensure a clean transition since before the election), but it is still a necessary step based in military tradition that goes back to the Romans and probably before... Don't forget that part of the President's title is Commander in Chief.
Traditionally, whoever holds the commission (or sword or banner or....) is the one who wields power. It's like the conch from Lord of the Flies. There's a good reason for that: if the leader falls in battle, then somebody can take up the mantle of leadership and start issuing orders to get through the battle alive... it helps to avoid confusion if you know who's in charge. While there's no actual physical exchange of anything these days, the swearing of the oath represents the changing of the guard.
I agree it's questionable as to whether it's legally stealing. But what about morally? That seems pretty clear-cut -
Yep, you forbidding me from freely sharing my knowledge with Bob is the worst kind of intellectual slavery.
taking someone else's work without paying for it, and without permission, is stealing.
Copying something is very different from taking something.
This isn't riaa brainwashing, it's the basic "right and wrong" thing that most folks are taught when growing up. I seem to be part of dwindling number of people who think that such actions are wrong. Who think that when I want a product, I don't have a right to just take it - even if the taking incurs no physical loss for anyone else.
Then people must be realizing that what they've been taught is nonsensical.
I think that the point the RIAA is trying to make is that by depriving them of the money they would have made from selling the CD to you, you're in essence stealing it.
Personally, I don't really care one way or the other. It's your business, and if they want to prevent you from downloading it they should make it harder. Of course, it'd make better economic sense for them to realize that people will download because it's easier, and because most of the stuff they're producing is crap and not worth the price of a CD, but still. I'm not holding my breath. It'd be nice if they realized that and adjusted their business model to suit, but I doubt it'll happen.
If they do it the way the same program works in Ontario, then you won't get the credit for buying a used car, unless you buy it straight from a dealer. And there's certain requirements on the new car you're buying to qualify for it. You can get the rebate on a used car from a dealer, but most of the cars they have on the used car lots don't qualify for it because they aren't efficient enough.
That said... I did get the car heaven rebate when I turned in my 95 Subaru for a new 2007 Aveo a couple of years ago, so it does have the potential to benefit the big 3. They actually *do* make efficient cars... they just don't market them as well as they do the tanks like a Hummer or an Escalade. Said Aveo can make it from a suburb west of Ottawa to Montreal and back on 3/4 of a tank, and a tank of gas is $35 right now.
... You can get a private pilot's license, good for light aircraft and night flying, for about $5,000, with about 100 hours logged. Simulator time counts. It's really not that much of an impediment, and this thing will probably be small enough to count as a light aircraft.
My real question is what kind of fuel it runs on. There aren't a lot of aircraft that'll run well on less than avgas, and avgas is very expensive. (The aircraft I trained on was a Diamond Eclipse, which *will* run on premium unleaded, but runs a lot better on avgas....)
Your argument fails here. First, there are exemptions to free speech in the US. You do not have a right to say anything you want without fear of repercussions. Certain forms of speech are actually illegal and can land you in jail: perjury, libel, and anything covered under the National Secrets Act. There's also concepts like "fighting words", and other cases of inciteful words. We have a concept in Canada called "hate speech", and while you don't call it the same thing in the US, it's also illegal: spreading hateful speech or literature with the intention of causing harm to a group within society.
Second, free speech, as it exists in the US, is also a protected right throughout most of the former British Empire, as well as most of Europe.
That recordable media levy is the main reason that Canada doesn't have a DMCA. And the price is virtually non-existent. I can still buy a 50-pack of blank CD's for $20 at the local Staples, less if I go to somebody who actually specializes in computer gear.
It's also worth pointing out that any Canadian version of the DMCA is unlikley to gain footing... it's only supported by the Conservatives, and they have a minority. One that's so stable, actually, that they had to have the Governor General suspend parliament before Christmas to avoid a confidence vote. Parliament resumes next week, and the vote is likely to happen then.
Smart move by them, really... it gave the Liberals time to remove Stephane Dion, whose wishy-washy leadership is the main reason the Liberals didn't win the last election... had they allowed the Liberals to topple the government, they would have been able to fight another election against Dion. Now they're going up against Michael Ignatieff, who appears significantly more competent, and has a *much* higher approval rating. :)
You don't actually have to follow a process to copyright it... if you write it, it's your copyright. It's a safe bet that everybody on the planet who's ever held a pen has some copyrights to their name. The question, really, is whether you've produced anything that people actually want to copy.