True. But at the same time, *big surprise*, like many of the rest of us the primary goal of most artists is to make a living. My brother and several of my uncles are artists, and guess what? 99.5% of artists are, if not starving, at least very underpaid. They would LOVE to sell their works to make a reasonable profit, and if someone else wants to shelve it that's their RIGHT AS THE BUYER. If they want *control* over their art they shouldn't have accepted money for it...
I like to call that "The Final Indignity". And I love the indignant look on the customers lined up to be searched as I walk right by them and out the door.
Though I have noticed Fry's (at least the one I frequent) has started putting cute 20-something girls at the door these days. Probably wouldn't be help much stopping a shoplifter, but they do get a lot more of their typical customer base stopping to let them check their bag...
That's true. Whatever you may think of their business practices, Wal-Mart (and Costco, I suppose) gets the foot traffic and the sales because they still *do* manage to stay competitive...
That's funny, because I remember Circuit City really started pushing their extended warranty before they went out of business. And I swear these days Best Buy will try to offer you a warranty on their snack food if you let them.
I think we may have discovered a new Chapter 11 leading indicator...
Actually I almost wrote "dumpster" but then I figured if you spent a few bucks to label a Ziploc and toss it in the Frigidaire you could at least "pull it out of storage", clean it up, and show it to the customer in the off chance someone tried to check up on you. Plus this way it's probably THE EXACT BUSINESS PLAN of some of these companies...
Can't add that much overhead, I have things in the back of my freezer I haven't been able to identify for years.
The person who said that is still correct. The last few PC games I bought *required* an key and online activation just to play. The last few console games I bought did not.
Maybe that will change in the future, but so far it's all just a *rumor*.
He sold it and took their money. If he wants he can try to buy it back, or if he doesn't want to give back the money he can write a different script (a monkey could write the crap they have been passing off as Star Trek TV episodes in the last decade).
If you want to argue the abstract validity of copyrights, fine, but the fact that a guy who wrote the work sold it for profit and now needs permission to use it not relevant to that argument.
The First Amendment protects your right to speak, but it certainly doesn't mean there can't be consequences. Go look up libel.
Nor does it require any private company to give you a platform to make shit up. I guess he should have stated it as "People who make this shit up should be banned by all of the companies that provide Internet services for a month".
1. take $4000 from each customer 2. toss the tissue in a cheap walk in frreezer 3. when a customer actually needs it, apologize that there was an equipment malfunction, and give them their money back (hell, give them a 10x their money back guarantee - preferably in a contract that waives other legal recourse) 4. disgruntled customer gives service a bad review. That still means 99.75% (probably way *less* than 0.25% would ever use it, but let's be generous) of your customers are "happy", which is pretty damn good customer satisfaction!
Except for possibly #2, this sounds surprisingly close to the business plans of the nominally legitimate companies doing this. And even if they are reputable, who's to say a private company will last for 18 years in what seems like a bit of a scam in the first place. I agree with other posters - donate it to a reputable non-profit service and keep the money for something useful.
Bizarrely, this isn't necessarily a troll... In China human placenta has long been used in traditional medicine and is becoming a trendy, if somewhat black market, delicacy.
Personally I think it's a horrible idea - not because of the gross-out factor, but because eating human tissue is an great way to contract human diseases. Do you really want to eat something that comes with test results certifying it is HIV-free? (to quote Dave Barry - I am not making this up).
Based on how well the franchise has sold in the US, yes, it did the job pretty damn well. And also note it's very much considered a kid's game by YOU; not so much by the millions of adults who bought it. You're probably what, 17, and now anything those 14 year olds in your school want to play is for kiddies? Grow up.
Personally I gave up on the series a while back because I'm not interested in paying $60 for an 8 hour single player campaign or playing online with the type of people who play it online...
See, now, that's precisely the problem. Even their good games sound like stupid kids games from the 80's. Maybe they should make the translations from Japanese a bit less literal...
Compared to the taxpayer expense of the mortgage fiasco, the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, and and the many costs due to the recession caused by the Bush administration, a failed loan to a solar energy company is a drop in a bucket in a swimming pool on a cruise ship in the Pacific Ocean...
Our unions and environmental regulations are quite effective at that.
Why is it the unions and regulations that are to blame for outsourcing?? I'd say the blame rests squarely on the companies that *do* it and the consumers that care about low prices more than anything else. But really everyone involved is shooting themselves in the foot for the short term gain.
When a company offshores operations, they should be required to follow their home nation's environmental and labour laws as WELL as those of the foreign country.
Wait, would this be through... another environmental regulation? At least I agree that we need to look for solutions that pull up the horrible working conditions in China that allow the price advantage. But since the corporations and consumers have shown absolutely no moral compass in this regard, unfortunately tariffs and other government regulations may be one of the few means we have to affect any changes.
Five years from now, they will have a lot less money
Are you joking? Have you SEEN the trade surplus? They are getting bored propping up our government with loans, so they decided they might as well try cornering a few markets as well.
we will be competitive again. Actually moreso, because we are doing most of the cutting edge research
And who will be doing all of this R&D and providing the competition when the industry is gone because there is no market? Where does all of this capital investment for new ventures come from when investors have seen how easy it was for China to destroy that industry, and how the US wasn't willing to help stop it?
thank you, Chinese taxpayer, for giving us yet more free shit while allowing us a chance (which we will squander) to regain our position as a manufacturing superpower
Did you actually *read* the post you replied to? The current rare earth metal situation is a disaster - if China wanted to they could practically shut down all non-Chinese manufacturing of a lot of electronics devices right now, and it would take years to start mining enough to recover (at which time the non-Chinese factories would have long shut down). If you still don't get it, I have some free heroin for you. Try it out a few times, and if you want more, I promise it will be reasonably priced...
Government intervention in markets may not always be the best idea, but it sure works to provide an advantage when one government does it and another doesn't. China's approach to the market is practically military in it's aggressiveness. You might as well just try to state "government intervention in sovereignty is never a good idea".
What the hell are you ranting about? Your phone is already "registered" with the carrier you are using it on, DUH.
And the number of absurd hypothetical arguments about how difficult this is laughable, as this system ALREADY EXISTS in other countries. And in fact some carriers in the US already do it for their service (I have heard Verizon disables the IMEI of stolen phones for reuse on their network, at least).
The problem is that not all carriers do it, and they need better communication between them. But technically impossible? Bullshit. They all whined about number portability as well but after it was made law they implemented it just fine.
Do you REALLY want to give some anonymous, unaccountable bureaucrat the ability to remotely disable your car at the touch of a button? REALLY???
I'm not necessarily in favor of making it mandatory, actually, since there is such potential for abuse and invasion of privacy. But playing devil's advocate, it could be limited to police use, not "bureaucrats". Or the companies like OnStar who CAN ALREADY DO THIS. If you have late model GM vehicle with OnStar, it's likely they can disable it. In fact, go look it up - it's already being used (currently OnStar's policy is to require the owner's permission before police can request it).
Do you really trust the government (or big business) to able to do that without making mistakes or abusing that power?
I already have to trust the government/police not to break down my door, arrest me, shoot me, etc with the powers they already have. And OnStar/GM is a big business who already has this power on millions of cars, with no reports of abuse yet.
Do you really think a system like that WOULDN'T get hacked?
IT'S NOT A NEW SYSTEM. It's mandated in some countries, and available as an option/aftermarket in the US. If you can point to hacking of the current systems fine, but otherwise it's just FUD. And even it that weren't the case, a similar argument could be made against having a home security system that allows the operating service to turn it off and on, sometimes lock and unlock your front door, etc at will. Does that make the whole idea bad because of the remote possibility it could be hacked or abused?
Sometimes you do have to trust people and/or play the odds. If you live and work in modern society you are unconsciously doing this 1000s of times a day. Otherwise you should probably just go live alone in an armed compound in the mountains...
"Hi, is that the DMV? My name's Dahamma, and my car's just been stolen. Could you disable it for me? Thanks." "Please call your local police department for a car theft." "Hi, is this the police? My name's Dahamma, and my car's just been stolen. Could you disable it for me? Thanks." "Ok, we we'll be there in 20 minutes to take a statement, after which we will be able to disable your car. What's your address?" "Umm, uh, nevermind, I made a mistake." "You sure did, we already have your address from the call, we'll be over there in 20 minutes to arrest you for the felony of false reporting of a crime. Have a nice day!"
There is a reason clueless people on/. are not creating these systems and policies (or hopefully trying to steal cars)...
This isn't a new idea, it's already mandatory in some countries and equipped as an aftermarket item on plenty of cars in the US. There are safety measures in place, of course.
And sure, if you want to file a false police report you can do so with or without an engine immobilizer (for any number of different crimes) - but in doing so you have committed a crime yourself, and in some jurisdictions it's a felony. Hell, if I didn't like you and you did it to me I'd be ok with having my car immobilized in order to get your ass thrown in prison for a few years...
Slashdot Mirror
Between the cloud, my iPhone, 4 synced home boxes, a drop box for some important stuff, Google, I can recover anything non-trivial.
So then, yes, you do backup. You just don't realize it :)
True. But at the same time, *big surprise*, like many of the rest of us the primary goal of most artists is to make a living. My brother and several of my uncles are artists, and guess what? 99.5% of artists are, if not starving, at least very underpaid. They would LOVE to sell their works to make a reasonable profit, and if someone else wants to shelve it that's their RIGHT AS THE BUYER. If they want *control* over their art they shouldn't have accepted money for it...
Not bad, I'd watch it... ;)
I like to call that "The Final Indignity". And I love the indignant look on the customers lined up to be searched as I walk right by them and out the door.
Though I have noticed Fry's (at least the one I frequent) has started putting cute 20-something girls at the door these days. Probably wouldn't be help much stopping a shoplifter, but they do get a lot more of their typical customer base stopping to let them check their bag...
That's true. Whatever you may think of their business practices, Wal-Mart (and Costco, I suppose) gets the foot traffic and the sales because they still *do* manage to stay competitive...
That's funny, because I remember Circuit City really started pushing their extended warranty before they went out of business. And I swear these days Best Buy will try to offer you a warranty on their snack food if you let them.
I think we may have discovered a new Chapter 11 leading indicator...
Actually I almost wrote "dumpster" but then I figured if you spent a few bucks to label a Ziploc and toss it in the Frigidaire you could at least "pull it out of storage", clean it up, and show it to the customer in the off chance someone tried to check up on you. Plus this way it's probably THE EXACT BUSINESS PLAN of some of these companies...
Can't add that much overhead, I have things in the back of my freezer I haven't been able to identify for years.
The person who said that is still correct. The last few PC games I bought *required* an key and online activation just to play. The last few console games I bought did not.
Maybe that will change in the future, but so far it's all just a *rumor*.
Depends, are you talking about Mitt Romney's definition of a company?
He sold it and took their money. If he wants he can try to buy it back, or if he doesn't want to give back the money he can write a different script (a monkey could write the crap they have been passing off as Star Trek TV episodes in the last decade).
If you want to argue the abstract validity of copyrights, fine, but the fact that a guy who wrote the work sold it for profit and now needs permission to use it not relevant to that argument.
You clearly don't even know what GMO means. Maybe you should start your "research" there. Hint: it involves Genetically Modified Organisms.
The First Amendment protects your right to speak, but it certainly doesn't mean there can't be consequences. Go look up libel.
Nor does it require any private company to give you a platform to make shit up. I guess he should have stated it as "People who make this shit up should be banned by all of the companies that provide Internet services for a month".
The creator (or owner if the creator sold it) of that work, that's who.
Yeah, here's a great scam idea:
1. take $4000 from each customer
2. toss the tissue in a cheap walk in frreezer
3. when a customer actually needs it, apologize that there was an equipment malfunction, and give them their money back (hell, give them a 10x their money back guarantee - preferably in a contract that waives other legal recourse)
4. disgruntled customer gives service a bad review. That still means 99.75% (probably way *less* than 0.25% would ever use it, but let's be generous) of your customers are "happy", which is pretty damn good customer satisfaction!
Except for possibly #2, this sounds surprisingly close to the business plans of the nominally legitimate companies doing this. And even if they are reputable, who's to say a private company will last for 18 years in what seems like a bit of a scam in the first place. I agree with other posters - donate it to a reputable non-profit service and keep the money for something useful.
Bizarrely, this isn't necessarily a troll... In China human placenta has long been used in traditional medicine and is becoming a trendy, if somewhat black market, delicacy.
Personally I think it's a horrible idea - not because of the gross-out factor, but because eating human tissue is an great way to contract human diseases. Do you really want to eat something that comes with test results certifying it is HIV-free? (to quote Dave Barry - I am not making this up).
I first read the title as "Monster Solar Tomatoes". Try that visual image ;)
Based on how well the franchise has sold in the US, yes, it did the job pretty damn well. And also note it's very much considered a kid's game by YOU; not so much by the millions of adults who bought it. You're probably what, 17, and now anything those 14 year olds in your school want to play is for kiddies? Grow up.
Personally I gave up on the series a while back because I'm not interested in paying $60 for an 8 hour single player campaign or playing online with the type of people who play it online...
Xenoblade, Last Story, Monster Hunter Tri
See, now, that's precisely the problem. Even their good games sound like stupid kids games from the 80's. Maybe they should make the translations from Japanese a bit less literal...
Compared to the taxpayer expense of the mortgage fiasco, the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, and and the many costs due to the recession caused by the Bush administration, a failed loan to a solar energy company is a drop in a bucket in a swimming pool on a cruise ship in the Pacific Ocean...
Our unions and environmental regulations are quite effective at that.
Why is it the unions and regulations that are to blame for outsourcing?? I'd say the blame rests squarely on the companies that *do* it and the consumers that care about low prices more than anything else. But really everyone involved is shooting themselves in the foot for the short term gain.
When a company offshores operations, they should be required to follow their home nation's environmental and labour laws as WELL as those of the foreign country.
Wait, would this be through... another environmental regulation? At least I agree that we need to look for solutions that pull up the horrible working conditions in China that allow the price advantage. But since the corporations and consumers have shown absolutely no moral compass in this regard, unfortunately tariffs and other government regulations may be one of the few means we have to affect any changes.
Five years from now, they will have a lot less money
Are you joking? Have you SEEN the trade surplus? They are getting bored propping up our government with loans, so they decided they might as well try cornering a few markets as well.
we will be competitive again. Actually moreso, because we are doing most of the cutting edge research
And who will be doing all of this R&D and providing the competition when the industry is gone because there is no market? Where does all of this capital investment for new ventures come from when investors have seen how easy it was for China to destroy that industry, and how the US wasn't willing to help stop it?
thank you, Chinese taxpayer, for giving us yet more free shit while allowing us a chance (which we will squander) to regain our position as a manufacturing superpower
Did you actually *read* the post you replied to? The current rare earth metal situation is a disaster - if China wanted to they could practically shut down all non-Chinese manufacturing of a lot of electronics devices right now, and it would take years to start mining enough to recover (at which time the non-Chinese factories would have long shut down). If you still don't get it, I have some free heroin for you. Try it out a few times, and if you want more, I promise it will be reasonably priced...
Government intervention in markets may not always be the best idea, but it sure works to provide an advantage when one government does it and another doesn't. China's approach to the market is practically military in it's aggressiveness. You might as well just try to state "government intervention in sovereignty is never a good idea".
What the hell are you ranting about? Your phone is already "registered" with the carrier you are using it on, DUH.
And the number of absurd hypothetical arguments about how difficult this is laughable, as this system ALREADY EXISTS in other countries. And in fact some carriers in the US already do it for their service (I have heard Verizon disables the IMEI of stolen phones for reuse on their network, at least).
The problem is that not all carriers do it, and they need better communication between them. But technically impossible? Bullshit. They all whined about number portability as well but after it was made law they implemented it just fine.
Do you REALLY want to give some anonymous, unaccountable bureaucrat the ability to remotely disable your car at the touch of a button? REALLY???
I'm not necessarily in favor of making it mandatory, actually, since there is such potential for abuse and invasion of privacy. But playing devil's advocate, it could be limited to police use, not "bureaucrats". Or the companies like OnStar who CAN ALREADY DO THIS. If you have late model GM vehicle with OnStar, it's likely they can disable it. In fact, go look it up - it's already being used (currently OnStar's policy is to require the owner's permission before police can request it).
Do you really trust the government (or big business) to able to do that without making mistakes or abusing that power?
I already have to trust the government/police not to break down my door, arrest me, shoot me, etc with the powers they already have. And OnStar/GM is a big business who already has this power on millions of cars, with no reports of abuse yet.
Do you really think a system like that WOULDN'T get hacked?
IT'S NOT A NEW SYSTEM. It's mandated in some countries, and available as an option/aftermarket in the US. If you can point to hacking of the current systems fine, but otherwise it's just FUD. And even it that weren't the case, a similar argument could be made against having a home security system that allows the operating service to turn it off and on, sometimes lock and unlock your front door, etc at will. Does that make the whole idea bad because of the remote possibility it could be hacked or abused?
Sometimes you do have to trust people and/or play the odds. If you live and work in modern society you are unconsciously doing this 1000s of times a day. Otherwise you should probably just go live alone in an armed compound in the mountains...
"Hi, is that the DMV? My name's Dahamma, and my car's just been stolen. Could you disable it for me? Thanks."
"Please call your local police department for a car theft."
"Hi, is this the police? My name's Dahamma, and my car's just been stolen. Could you disable it for me? Thanks."
"Ok, we we'll be there in 20 minutes to take a statement, after which we will be able to disable your car. What's your address?"
"Umm, uh, nevermind, I made a mistake."
"You sure did, we already have your address from the call, we'll be over there in 20 minutes to arrest you for the felony of false reporting of a crime. Have a nice day!"
There is a reason clueless people on /. are not creating these systems and policies (or hopefully trying to steal cars)...
This isn't a new idea, it's already mandatory in some countries and equipped as an aftermarket item on plenty of cars in the US. There are safety measures in place, of course.
And sure, if you want to file a false police report you can do so with or without an engine immobilizer (for any number of different crimes) - but in doing so you have committed a crime yourself, and in some jurisdictions it's a felony. Hell, if I didn't like you and you did it to me I'd be ok with having my car immobilized in order to get your ass thrown in prison for a few years...