Right. Because disobeying my parents would have just worked so well.
The problem is, these days, parents are so afraid of being labeled as bad parents or having their children taken away, that they're afraid of disciplining their child. And, like I said before, there is a helluva lot of difference between "spank your child" and "beat your child".
I do not countenance child abuse. But I also do not countenance letting little Knothead roam free, doing whatever the fuck he wants, with no punishments or consequences to his actions. It's REAL GODDAMN SIMPLE. Child fucks up, child gets punished. And if that means take away their cell phone/text-messager/whatever, ground them, remove other priveleges, or if necessary, spank them, I'm cool with that. Because maybe then, the child will learn.
And they damn sure would pay for any damages they caused or any bills they racked up.
*grabs a pysch book and points out Pavlovian response*
You know what? As a kid, if I did something stupid, my parents spanked me. Guess what? I usually didn't do the same stupid thing twice. You want to know why, Camper Dan? Because, shockingly enough, I didn't want to get spanked again.
It's one of those marvels of thought. "Hey, I did activity X, and my parents said 'Oh hell no!' and spanked me. And 'lo and behold, I learned... they do not have a sense of humor about me starting fires, or getting in fights at school, or any of that shit."
I'm not saying that we need to have every parent resort to playing "Punch the Monkey" with their kids, but there is a damn large difference between spanking a disobediant child and physical abuse. Maybe if you took a really healthy dump and got rid of that hippie liberal crap, you'd realize this.
1) He doesn't have to obtain permission to do the parody under Fair Use. However, he always asks permission from the artist anyway. If the artist doesn't give permission, Weird Al doesn't put the parody on the album. (Yes, there was the whole Coolio thing, but that was some serious miscommunication.)
2) His band-mates are pretty accomplished musicians, considering the wide variety of genres of music that they play for the parodies, and they actually learn the music for songs by playing it by ear.
Basically, the Church of Scientology has a history of behavior that is questionable, but when you infiltrate government agencies like the IRS, well.... is it still a religion at that point? Or is it a cult? Or, hey, perhaps more like organized crime?
Please tell me you see something wrong with your first point. A musician not already working with SoundExchange should not have to pay a fee to get royalties that are owed him. All SoundExchange should require is proof of identity and then just transfer the funds. If there's any transaction fee incurred because of the movement of the royalty monies, SoundExchange should be willing to absorb that fee into the cost of their business of holding the royalty monies of non-members. (And don't tell me that they're not earning interest on that cash at the same time...)
Actually, it could be held to be non-binding because of several different factors.
1) The non-RIAA artist whose royalties are being held by SoundExchange has not entered into a contract with SoundExchange, therefore, SoundExchange does not have the legal right to hold the royalties, or make any pre-existing conditions on the disbursement of said royalties.
2) The non-RIAA artist can enter into a seperate contract with an Internet Radio station to provide music for whatever rate they desire, whether it is a greater rate then the current legislation provides, or even give it away for free. They did not waive their rights to set the terms for their own copyright assignations, after all.
Of course, IANAL, so all this could just be talking out my ass. But it makes sense (wait, there's the clear sign that I might be wrong. It makes sense, therefore, there has to be legislation preventing it) that SoundExchange cannot hold someone else's royalties and then require them to pay a fee to get what is rightfully due them without any pre-existing contract.
Well, look at it like this. Circumventing Blizzard's controls allows access to content that the Bot-user wouldn't otherwise have. I mean, sure, I'd love to powerlevel a character from 1-40 in one day, but I have things to do. It's going to take me some time. But using this (or other) botting software, I can cut a lot of the time needed, plus have it play while I sleep or am at work...
Which is not what Blizzard intends to be done with their game.
If you're selling gold or a power-leveling service, or whatever, in a MMORPG, and you're getting real money for it, it should be taxable income. If you're exchanging in-game items or gold for other in-game items, then it shouldn't be taxable. But there are quite a number of sites out there that offer gold in WoW or DAOC or EQ2 or whatever, and, quite frankly, they should be taxed on any income. And their employees should be filling out tax returns for the gold-selling company they work for.
How many people pay thousands of dollars per person for a dinner funding a politician? How many multi-millionaires have three, four or five homes? Have multiple high-end cars?
Yeah, it's going to be a rich man's tourist trade for several years, no doubt. But there are plenty of movie stars, rock stars, sports stars, politicians, industrialists, oil tycoons, bankers and so forth AND THEIR KIDS who will pay money for it. Hell, I'm sure that once the spaceport gets built, the seats on the first flight out of it will run higher then 200 thousand per, simply because it's the first flight out.
Hell, every time some space-based movie comes out, the studio will probably pick up the tab to send the leading actor up just for the publicity.
And yeah, maybe some of the people who live there now will have low paying jobs there. But some could, and almost certainly eventually will have better paying jobs there. As long as it isn't a complete bust, it can really only help the economy in the area.
You are correct in that a civil trial uses "preponderance of evidence" rather then "beyond a reasonable doubt", which is the burden in criminal trials.
However, it is still the burden of the RIAA to prove him civilly liable. It is assumed that the defendant is innocent of any charges leveled against him in a court of law. Not just a court of criminal law, but civil law as well.
Um, because the group actually is Christian? I suppose if they were instead fundamentalist cat-worshippers, the article would have mentioned that too. Frankly, I read a couple of articles on this already, and it seems their concerns are the typical "sex bad" attitude of a lot of fundie Christians, rather then an actual examination of any sort of problems with the Wii and its' ability to access the internet.
Competition? The prevalence of instancing in WoW basically destroyed the idea of competition. All that you have is who is first to beat new content. There's no more racing for big named mobs, which was part of the fun of EQ, imo.
Yes, because there's just loads of fun competing against a team of people who take turns keeping specific mobs on farm status over and over again so I could never get my JBoots.
WoW removed the "competition" of having to be the first one to a specific mob in the once-in-24 hours that it spawns so you can get the ultra-rare item. Which, basically was over half the asshattery in EQ.
Something happens that makes the Muslims look bad. It's the Zionist conspiracy. Something happens that makes the Muslims look good. It's the Zionist conspiracy. A company does something you don't like. Zionist conspiracy. Your Eggos were burnt this morning. Zionist conspiracy.
We need a new moderation descriptor. -1 - Complete nutter
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Right. Because disobeying my parents would have just worked so well.
The problem is, these days, parents are so afraid of being labeled as bad parents or having their children taken away, that they're afraid of disciplining their child. And, like I said before, there is a helluva lot of difference between "spank your child" and "beat your child".
I do not countenance child abuse. But I also do not countenance letting little Knothead roam free, doing whatever the fuck he wants, with no punishments or consequences to his actions. It's REAL GODDAMN SIMPLE. Child fucks up, child gets punished. And if that means take away their cell phone/text-messager/whatever, ground them, remove other priveleges, or if necessary, spank them, I'm cool with that. Because maybe then, the child will learn.
And they damn sure would pay for any damages they caused or any bills they racked up.
*grabs a pysch book and points out Pavlovian response*
You know what? As a kid, if I did something stupid, my parents spanked me. Guess what? I usually didn't do the same stupid thing twice. You want to know why, Camper Dan? Because, shockingly enough, I didn't want to get spanked again.
It's one of those marvels of thought. "Hey, I did activity X, and my parents said 'Oh hell no!' and spanked me. And 'lo and behold, I learned... they do not have a sense of humor about me starting fires, or getting in fights at school, or any of that shit."
I'm not saying that we need to have every parent resort to playing "Punch the Monkey" with their kids, but there is a damn large difference between spanking a disobediant child and physical abuse. Maybe if you took a really healthy dump and got rid of that hippie liberal crap, you'd realize this.
Okay, here's the thing with Weird Al's parodies.
1) He doesn't have to obtain permission to do the parody under Fair Use. However, he always asks permission from the artist anyway. If the artist doesn't give permission, Weird Al doesn't put the parody on the album. (Yes, there was the whole Coolio thing, but that was some serious miscommunication.)
2) His band-mates are pretty accomplished musicians, considering the wide variety of genres of music that they play for the parodies, and they actually learn the music for songs by playing it by ear.
Nope, infiltration is exactly the right word.
Actually, yes, it's much less plausible, considering that the founder of the CoS was a mediocre sci-fi writer.
I take it you have never read about Operation Snow White?
Basically, the Church of Scientology has a history of behavior that is questionable, but when you infiltrate government agencies like the IRS, well.... is it still a religion at that point? Or is it a cult? Or, hey, perhaps more like organized crime?
Heck, I'm wondering why there's not a haha tag on this already.
You know, the Star Trek answer given below is actually slightly more useful.
Please tell me you see something wrong with your first point. A musician not already working with SoundExchange should not have to pay a fee to get royalties that are owed him. All SoundExchange should require is proof of identity and then just transfer the funds. If there's any transaction fee incurred because of the movement of the royalty monies, SoundExchange should be willing to absorb that fee into the cost of their business of holding the royalty monies of non-members. (And don't tell me that they're not earning interest on that cash at the same time...)
Actually, it could be held to be non-binding because of several different factors.
1) The non-RIAA artist whose royalties are being held by SoundExchange has not entered into a contract with SoundExchange, therefore, SoundExchange does not have the legal right to hold the royalties, or make any pre-existing conditions on the disbursement of said royalties.
2) The non-RIAA artist can enter into a seperate contract with an Internet Radio station to provide music for whatever rate they desire, whether it is a greater rate then the current legislation provides, or even give it away for free. They did not waive their rights to set the terms for their own copyright assignations, after all.
Of course, IANAL, so all this could just be talking out my ass. But it makes sense (wait, there's the clear sign that I might be wrong. It makes sense, therefore, there has to be legislation preventing it) that SoundExchange cannot hold someone else's royalties and then require them to pay a fee to get what is rightfully due them without any pre-existing contract.
In Soviet Russia, html tags close you!
Well, look at it like this. Circumventing Blizzard's controls allows access to content that the Bot-user wouldn't otherwise have. I mean, sure, I'd love to powerlevel a character from 1-40 in one day, but I have things to do. It's going to take me some time. But using this (or other) botting software, I can cut a lot of the time needed, plus have it play while I sleep or am at work...
Which is not what Blizzard intends to be done with their game.
See, I disagree.
If you're selling gold or a power-leveling service, or whatever, in a MMORPG, and you're getting real money for it, it should be taxable income. If you're exchanging in-game items or gold for other in-game items, then it shouldn't be taxable. But there are quite a number of sites out there that offer gold in WoW or DAOC or EQ2 or whatever, and, quite frankly, they should be taxed on any income. And their employees should be filling out tax returns for the gold-selling company they work for.
How many people pay thousands of dollars per person for a dinner funding a politician? How many multi-millionaires have three, four or five homes? Have multiple high-end cars?
Yeah, it's going to be a rich man's tourist trade for several years, no doubt. But there are plenty of movie stars, rock stars, sports stars, politicians, industrialists, oil tycoons, bankers and so forth AND THEIR KIDS who will pay money for it. Hell, I'm sure that once the spaceport gets built, the seats on the first flight out of it will run higher then 200 thousand per, simply because it's the first flight out.
Hell, every time some space-based movie comes out, the studio will probably pick up the tab to send the leading actor up just for the publicity.
And yeah, maybe some of the people who live there now will have low paying jobs there. But some could, and almost certainly eventually will have better paying jobs there. As long as it isn't a complete bust, it can really only help the economy in the area.
Hey, just because no one reads your blog is no reason to take it out on PJ.
High as a kite?
If they earn enough money to be taxed on their income, sure, why not?
Mary had a little lamb.
He was born in Connecticut, true. But he moved with his parents to Texas when he was two years old.
You are correct in that a civil trial uses "preponderance of evidence" rather then "beyond a reasonable doubt", which is the burden in criminal trials.
However, it is still the burden of the RIAA to prove him civilly liable. It is assumed that the defendant is innocent of any charges leveled against him in a court of law. Not just a court of criminal law, but civil law as well.
Bill Gates shown to be giant hypocrite in favor of his own solutions! News at eleven!
Um, because the group actually is Christian? I suppose if they were instead fundamentalist cat-worshippers, the article would have mentioned that too. Frankly, I read a couple of articles on this already, and it seems their concerns are the typical "sex bad" attitude of a lot of fundie Christians, rather then an actual examination of any sort of problems with the Wii and its' ability to access the internet.
Competition? The prevalence of instancing in WoW basically destroyed the idea of competition. All that you have is who is first to beat new content. There's no more racing for big named mobs, which was part of the fun of EQ, imo.
Yes, because there's just loads of fun competing against a team of people who take turns keeping specific mobs on farm status over and over again so I could never get my JBoots.
WoW removed the "competition" of having to be the first one to a specific mob in the once-in-24 hours that it spawns so you can get the ultra-rare item. Which, basically was over half the asshattery in EQ.
The downside? I'm pretty sure it would lead to a CSI: Intellectual Property, and nobody wants that.
Ah, yes... the old Zionist conspiracy.
Something happens that makes the Muslims look bad. It's the Zionist conspiracy.
Something happens that makes the Muslims look good. It's the Zionist conspiracy.
A company does something you don't like. Zionist conspiracy.
Your Eggos were burnt this morning. Zionist conspiracy.
We need a new moderation descriptor. -1 - Complete nutter