Think about it for a moment. If you live in Germany and buy a book from amazon.de, you'll pay assorted sales taxes on it. If you order the same book from amazon.com and have it shipped, the book may actually be cheaper. By making US retailers more expensive than European ones, this will increase sales for European retailers. That's the theory, at least.
The EU can't do much about sites run strictly by outfits in the US. Mom and pop type online stores are far too numerous (and many don't even ship to Europe, anyway).
What ths is really aimed at is the Yahoo's and Amazon's, who do maintain a presence in the EU. Because they have offices and such in the EU, that does place them under EU jurisdiction, to some extent.
Amazon has at least one order fulfillment center in the EU (I want to say in Rotterdam, but I could be wrong). Yahoo has offices in Munich, Paris, London, and other EU cities.
In short, if you don't want to be charged, the best course may simply be to never physically do business in the EU. Don't open a Parisian office. If you need to be in Europe, Switzerland's not in the EU.
I figured that a big draw like Aerosmith would get millions for their next record
Many big, established artists do. Once they negotiate their second contract, they set the terms (if they sold well under the first contract). Often the terms include purchasing the copyright to their older material back from the label and ownership of all music to come out in the future. The only conditions become "we agree to put out n albums exclusively through you".
The ownership of the back catalog is the big thing. Generally, under the terms of the deal, they grant the label distribution rights. They end up paying the label a set fee per CD and taking the rest for themselves (effectively reversing the equation.
For instance, in the early 90's, Metallica did this with Elektra. The back catalog was transferred to a company, E/M Ventures (stands for, obviously, Elektra/Metallica Ventures), which was owned by Elektra and the band. This gave Elektra a share of the concert and merchandising revenues (which have tended to be huge), but in return, they gave the band (by some reports) upwards of $3/album in royalties (which is huge).
However, the fewer there are to be governed, the more apt government is going to be transparent. For instance, at the ultimate form of local government, imho, (the true New England town meeting) every dealing that the town has made is up for scrutiny of the citizens. There are instances of corruption, but it is generally detected quickly and recified before much damage can be done. Admittedly, this is an extreme example.
You know why Switzerland is safe? Simple: they spend money on their defense (as opposed to offense). Every household has a machine gun issued to it by the government. They have a network of underground tunnels where they keep all sorts of goodies. They maintain a top-notch air force. The reason no one fucks with them is because a) Switzerland doesn't go out of their way to piss other people off and b) if you invaded Switzerland, you would have to fight for every last foot, over some of the roughest terrain on earth. In short, messing with the Swiss is foolhardy.
The US should look to Switzerland for inspiration.
[Disclaimer: I've lived all my life in Massachusetts]
LA the city is a fairly meaningless entity, but LA County isn't much better now that Greater LA (as it were) also includes big chunks of Ventura, Orange, and San Bernadino counties as well. Of
course, those counties don't want to be "dominated" politically by LA, where they have no
direct voting rights, but they need to have some involvement in the decision-making process in LA
since it so clearly affects them.
As it stands now, LA, with it's population, can effectively mess things up for San Bernardino anyway. So I'm not sure where that argument is going. But San Bernardino will have more power over regional affairs if a SoCal state is created.
[Population figures in hundred thousands]
LA County: 95 (47%)
Orange: 28 (14%)
San Diego: 28 (14%)
San Bernardino: 17 (8%)
Riverside: 15 (7%)
Ventura: 8 (4%)
Kern: 7 (3%)
Santa Barbara: 4 (2%)
Imperial: 1 (
Total: 203 (20,300,000)
Since representation in the legislature would more or less mirror this breakdown, if there were an issue that all of LA's reps agreed on (which, considering the demographics in LA county is not, I'd imagine, a common occurence), they would still have to, at the least, Kern or Ventura to go along with it.
There is also a precedent for states (especially in the Northeast) which are dominated by one city to treat that particular city differently from the others. For instance, New York City functions largely independently of the state. The New York Thruway Authority's jurisdiction, by charter, ends at the New York City line. The NYSP have little authority within the city. The city essentially regulates itself.
In addition, California would be much more powerful on the electoral stage, were it to be split, because the territory formerly known as California would have effectively four senators (breaking Massachusetts' record of three...).
There's an East-West line that coincides with county lines. Cut the state in two at that line. California may have grown too large to be effectively governed. And it may be the best way to avoid a civil war between Hollywood and Silicon Valley.
If we allow noseless smileys, then the teen pregnancy rate will increase! In addition, the CBDTPA will become law if we don't do anything about the scourge of noseless smileys!
I am forming the coalition to kill noseless smileys! Smiley genocide!
But for a few shining moments, I had visions of the pr0n vesrion of Jane's Information Group [janes.com]. I mean, imagine naked chicks posing beside every entry in something like All The World's Aircraft [janes.com].
Dude! That's an excellent idea. I'm going to have to work on something like that. I'll make a shitload of money.
On a slightly related note, has anyone wondered how long it is before Hef negotiates a deal with the Russians to do a pictorial aboard the ISS?
One of Murdoch's sons is named James. He's actually quite an interesting character, having only joined the family business a few years ago (he's also reportedly something of a fan of Chairman Mao). James runs the Star Broadcasting operation out of Hong Kong. There are rumors that, should, by some miracle, he turn that turkey around, he'll be the heir to the throne.
There was an interesting article in Details (after they quit chasing Maxim) about a year ago about the state of the race for Rupert's throne.
Microsoft has done this already, albeit in a weaker form. IIRC, the license for IE forbids running it on any copy of Windows not licensed by Microsoft.
It is debatable whether wine qould qualify as an unlicensed copy of Windows, though.
It's been a while since I've done anything with templates... the joys of being in a CS department that worships at the holy altar of Joy and Gosling...
template <int nb> void SingVerse() { cout << nb << " bottles of beer on the wall;\n" << nb << " bottles of beer.\n" << "Take one down, pass it around.\n" << nb-1 << " bottles of beer on the wall\n"; }
int main(int argc, char** argv) { for (int i=99; i>0; i++) { SingVerse<i>(); }
Mandrake is expecting to move to gcc3 for Mandrake 9.0 (I doubt it will be called 8.3). As a matter of fact, they've begun the process of building things with gcc3.
Admittedly, since the ABI is changed, you may have difficulty using g++3 for some time.
As an addendum, I should note that the bits on the AOLTW bureaucracy are pretty much describing Murdoch's philosophy on management of a media company (which I agree with, as it happens, though IANA Media Executive). Murdoch has always held that media companies should not be publicly controlled (stock issuance is fine, as long as the shareholders are not in voting control) and that whoever does have control should, at some level, micromanage (or delegate responsibilities to a few very trustworthy people; in Rupert's case, these would include his sons Lachlan and {name escapes me at the moment, though I want to say James} and his longtime lieutenant Peter Chernin; IIRC, Lachlan is essentially in charge of the NY Post, for example, while Chernin oversees Fox TV and movies).
Especially Fox, a subsidiary of News Corporation. In any major media area, save for music (and News Corp. is working on that), if AOLTW is in that sector, News Corp. is, also.
In addition, Rupert Murdoch and Ted Turner (who founded CNN and sold it to TW for a large sum of money and stock) do not get along. Ted has tempted Godwin's Law on at least one occasion in his dealings with Rupert.
One of the more recent chapters in the rivalry was when TW was very slow to put Fox News Channel on their cable systems (especially in Manhattan). In order for a cable channel to survive, it pretty much has to be available in Manhattan. Why? Because most ad execs live in Manhattan and if they can't see your programming, they're not going to buy ads.
The Canadians are Taking Over!
on
PDAs For Kids
·
· Score: 0, Offtopic
Didn't the FSF forbid porting GPL'd programs (at least those that they owned the copyrights to like GNU Emacs, gcc, bash, etc.) to A/UX as a protest against the Look and Feel lawsuit?
Slashdot Mirror
Think about it for a moment. If you live in Germany and buy a book from amazon.de, you'll pay assorted sales taxes on it. If you order the same book from amazon.com and have it shipped, the book may actually be cheaper. By making US retailers more expensive than European ones, this will increase sales for European retailers. That's the theory, at least.
The EU can't do much about sites run strictly by outfits in the US. Mom and pop type online stores are far too numerous (and many don't even ship to Europe, anyway).
What ths is really aimed at is the Yahoo's and Amazon's, who do maintain a presence in the EU. Because they have offices and such in the EU, that does place them under EU jurisdiction, to some extent.
Amazon has at least one order fulfillment center in the EU (I want to say in Rotterdam, but I could be wrong). Yahoo has offices in Munich, Paris, London, and other EU cities.
In short, if you don't want to be charged, the best course may simply be to never physically do business in the EU. Don't open a Parisian office. If you need to be in Europe, Switzerland's not in the EU.
Most K12 institutions would frown on P2P use. In this context it's effectively illegal.
In addition, most of the zitfaced kids using P2P on a school network are going to think that it's illegal. That's the important part.
Many big, established artists do. Once they negotiate their second contract, they set the terms (if they sold well under the first contract). Often the terms include purchasing the copyright to their older material back from the label and ownership of all music to come out in the future. The only conditions become "we agree to put out n albums exclusively through you".
The ownership of the back catalog is the big thing. Generally, under the terms of the deal, they grant the label distribution rights. They end up paying the label a set fee per CD and taking the rest for themselves (effectively reversing the equation.
For instance, in the early 90's, Metallica did this with Elektra. The back catalog was transferred to a company, E/M Ventures (stands for, obviously, Elektra/Metallica Ventures), which was owned by Elektra and the band. This gave Elektra a share of the concert and merchandising revenues (which have tended to be huge), but in return, they gave the band (by some reports) upwards of $3/album in royalties (which is huge).
Actually, the highest UID assigned, as I write this is 578138, which belongs to slcgreek.
Welcome aboard, slcgreek!
However, the fewer there are to be governed, the more apt government is going to be transparent. For instance, at the ultimate form of local government, imho, (the true New England town meeting) every dealing that the town has made is up for scrutiny of the citizens. There are instances of corruption, but it is generally detected quickly and recified before much damage can be done. Admittedly, this is an extreme example.
You know why Switzerland is safe? Simple: they spend money on their defense (as opposed to offense). Every household has a machine gun issued to it by the government. They have a network of underground tunnels where they keep all sorts of goodies. They maintain a top-notch air force. The reason no one fucks with them is because a) Switzerland doesn't go out of their way to piss other people off and b) if you invaded Switzerland, you would have to fight for every last foot, over some of the roughest terrain on earth. In short, messing with the Swiss is foolhardy.
The US should look to Switzerland for inspiration.
[Disclaimer: I've lived all my life in Massachusetts]
As it stands now, LA, with it's population, can effectively mess things up for San Bernardino anyway. So I'm not sure where that argument is going. But San Bernardino will have more power over regional affairs if a SoCal state is created.
Since representation in the legislature would more or less mirror this breakdown, if there were an issue that all of LA's reps agreed on (which, considering the demographics in LA county is not, I'd imagine, a common occurence), they would still have to, at the least, Kern or Ventura to go along with it.
There is also a precedent for states (especially in the Northeast) which are dominated by one city to treat that particular city differently from the others. For instance, New York City functions largely independently of the state. The New York Thruway Authority's jurisdiction, by charter, ends at the New York City line. The NYSP have little authority within the city. The city essentially regulates itself.
In addition, California would be much more powerful on the electoral stage, were it to be split, because the territory formerly known as California would have effectively four senators (breaking Massachusetts' record of three...).
California should be split in two.
There's an East-West line that coincides with county lines. Cut the state in two at that line. California may have grown too large to be effectively governed. And it may be the best way to avoid a civil war between Hollywood and Silicon Valley.
If we allow noseless smileys, then the teen pregnancy rate will increase! In addition, the CBDTPA will become law if we don't do anything about the scourge of noseless smileys!
I am forming the coalition to kill noseless smileys! Smiley genocide!
A Canadian researcher is working on that very technology.
Macs low cost?
Good God, man. You've been hitting the bottle pretty hard lately, haven't you?
Uh, multiply the 6.3 minutes by 8. You're dividing 2 megabytes by 53 kilobits per second.
Dude! That's an excellent idea. I'm going to have to work on something like that. I'll make a shitload of money.
On a slightly related note, has anyone wondered how long it is before Hef negotiates a deal with the Russians to do a pictorial aboard the ISS?
You have more balls than I, dear friend. You have admitted to being a Peter Frampton fan!
To the stake with you! :o)
One of Murdoch's sons is named James. He's actually quite an interesting character, having only joined the family business a few years ago (he's also reportedly something of a fan of Chairman Mao). James runs the Star Broadcasting operation out of Hong Kong. There are rumors that, should, by some miracle, he turn that turkey around, he'll be the heir to the throne.
There was an interesting article in Details (after they quit chasing Maxim) about a year ago about the state of the race for Rupert's throne.
Microsoft has done this already, albeit in a weaker form. IIRC, the license for IE forbids running it on any copy of Windows not licensed by Microsoft.
It is debatable whether wine qould qualify as an unlicensed copy of Windows, though.
You're correct... That's what I get for remembering that there is a way to do that with templates...
Here is the code that actually does what I was aiming for.
It's been a while since I've done anything with templates... the joys of being in a CS department that worships at the holy altar of Joy and Gosling...
I especially like this example:
Yeah, I know that was kind of pointless...
As James Bond said once, "How do you kill a few hours in Rio, if you don't samba?"
Mandrake is expecting to move to gcc3 for Mandrake 9.0 (I doubt it will be called 8.3). As a matter of fact, they've begun the process of building things with gcc3.
Admittedly, since the ABI is changed, you may have difficulty using g++3 for some time.
As an addendum, I should note that the bits on the AOLTW bureaucracy are pretty much describing Murdoch's philosophy on management of a media company (which I agree with, as it happens, though IANA Media Executive). Murdoch has always held that media companies should not be publicly controlled (stock issuance is fine, as long as the shareholders are not in voting control) and that whoever does have control should, at some level, micromanage (or delegate responsibilities to a few very trustworthy people; in Rupert's case, these would include his sons Lachlan and {name escapes me at the moment, though I want to say James} and his longtime lieutenant Peter Chernin; IIRC, Lachlan is essentially in charge of the NY Post, for example, while Chernin oversees Fox TV and movies).
Especially Fox, a subsidiary of News Corporation. In any major media area, save for music (and News Corp. is working on that), if AOLTW is in that sector, News Corp. is, also.
In addition, Rupert Murdoch and Ted Turner (who founded CNN and sold it to TW for a large sum of money and stock) do not get along. Ted has tempted Godwin's Law on at least one occasion in his dealings with Rupert.
One of the more recent chapters in the rivalry was when TW was very slow to put Fox News Channel on their cable systems (especially in Manhattan). In order for a cable channel to survive, it pretty much has to be available in Manhattan. Why? Because most ad execs live in Manhattan and if they can't see your programming, they're not going to buy ads.
Is conquering Slashdot part of this evil scheme?
Didn't the FSF forbid porting GPL'd programs (at least those that they owned the copyrights to like GNU Emacs, gcc, bash, etc.) to A/UX as a protest against the Look and Feel lawsuit?