The thing about Radio Shack's policy was that they never required it if you were paying cash.
Bullshit. In the 1980s they introduced a computerized cash register system that would not sell anything without a customer name, address, and phone number. I've not been back since.
"Customers tell us the practice of asking them for names and addresses is time consuming and annoying and is not something that endears them to us,"
Geeze, I've been telling them this since the 1970's. I've shopped elsewhere since the 1980's. I guess now I'll give them another look. Maybe. If I'm desperate.
So, what does Radio Shack carry these days? Anything worth the bother of going there for a look?
Are you sure you're not on an anti-spammer blacklist, and thus blocked by their ISP? It's really easy to be wrongly blacklisted (without notification), and virtually impossible to get de-listed without a court order (if you can identify the list maintainers). And the best part is that there are so many blacklists, it's impossible to check them all to see if you're one of the unluckly winners of their Shit-On-Some-Random-Sucker lottery.
The claim is that they changed both their serial number and MAC address and were allowed into XBox Live. This implies they changed them at random -- there's no indication that they even used a MAC address within the chip manufacturer's range, let alone that they used a MAC address and serial number off another XBox. The implication is that Microsoft is not checking a master list of known good Serial Number/MAC Address combos -- heck, the implication is that they're not even checking that the Serial Number or MAC Address are "valid", they're just checking that one or the other (probably just the serial number*) is not on the "Banned" list.
* XBox Live is supposed to work from behind a firewall/NAT router, so they're not getting the XBox's MAC address, they're getting the router's MAC address. I doubt they check the MAC address, and I'll bet spoofing the Serial Number alone is enough to use a previously banned XBox on XBox Live.
XBox Live requires a high-speed connection. There's no harm in banning all dialup AOL users, as they can't us XBox Live anyway. If Microsoft is smart (i know, that's a streach) they've already banned all AOL accounts.
Geeze, I hope I don't give them any ideas -- next thing you know, XBox Live will only work if your ISP is MSN!
That's right: Real geeks write such wonderful code that, even though it's GPL'd (perhaps because it's GPL'd), people throw buckets of money at them. Really! Just ask Stallman.
Oh, wait, those aren't buckets of money they're throwing at him -- those are buckets of...
Troll this may be, but you're on to something. I suspect a water-soluble hairspray might be benificial. Wash off the hairspray and anything stuck to it comes off.
You're just nuts. Any place where they actually treat the third lane as a passing lane is civilized and sensible.
They call it "road rage" and "agressive driving" when I pull up behind some blockhead in the left lane going no faster than the traffic in the middle lane. Yet in Driver's Ed I was taught that the jerk I'm apparantly guilting of (what? "agressing"?) is known as a "Road Hog." They even showed us a Disney film about it, with Goofy playing the part of the Road Hog. Now, thanks to Political Correctness, I'm in the wrong and subject to a ticket!
Give me a place where they use the passing lane for passing any day!
Well, the company that built the existing monorail did go out of business, but that's not a problem because the monorail company (yes, it's owned/operated by a private company, not the city) got the blueprints, and can make their own parts if they need to.
You can make the same arguement about busses, trains, etc. Hell, you can make the same arguement about the firetrucks that rescued the stranded passengers!. But that shouldn't be a problem. The new Las Vegas monorail has a catwalk for emergencies, and I'll bet the Seattle one will, too. In Japan the monorails have a door at each end, so they can evacuate passengers to another train. This isn't rocket science, folks, just common sense.
The freeways have an empty zone down the middle just waiting for a high-speed train track.
Uh, no, they don't. The "empty zone" in most places is a Jersy barrier and a sliver of asphalt barely wide enough to pull out of the way if you get a flat. There's nowhere near enough room for a train track, but more than enough for monorail supports. Go Mono!
Actually, you're wrong. The city government opposed the Monorail. This is the third time the public has voted to support the Monorail: The first time the city ignored the vote. The second vote forced the city to appropriate the money for a study. And with this vote the people of Seattle decided to tax themselves to build it. The city government has nothing to do with it, which is sort of the point; the government-backed transportation measure was defeated state-wide. The government as proven it can't do it right, and the people are showing them what they should have done all along. Go mono!
This is what made The Truman Show such a ridiculous premise. Who's life is so interesting that anyone else would want to watch it un-edited? The Osbournes is good, but it's edited.
OK, I just Meta-Moderated that "Informative" as Fair, because I understand it. But, really, if you haven't read Gibson, this wasn't informative at all. Then again, if you haven't read Gibson, what are you doing here on Slashdot? Go do something useful!
It's slashdot. They just did an un-announced "upgrade" to Slash. Now, when you check your page, it not only shows how many replies and the mod value of the post, but also the latest moderation (offtopic, funny, etc.). Ooooh -- I'm so impressed. How slick; how hip. Also, when you MetaModerate, if the post was modded "Funny" your choices are no longer "Fair" or "Unfair" but rather "Funny" and "not Funny" -- another major improvement, CT! Now, how about you start editing? You know, proofreading and checking links and such? What, no time for that because you're so busy improving Slash? Yeah, right.
Hey, dipstick! Yeah, you with the Mod points: Before you moderate me "Offtopic" please answer this: Where the hell are we supposed to discuss these subjects? Where are comments like this Ontopic?
Are these geosyncro like the TV satellites, or a constellation like Iridium (and Teledesic, before they folded)?
It makes a big difference -- Do you have a dish that points to one spot in the sky, or do you link to a series of sats as they pass overhead? In other words, will this work while you're mobile, or do you have to be in a fixed spot? And is the coverage global or regional? Will it reach Alaska and Hawaii or are they too far off-center?
Lucky! I've never seen 28.8 on a dialup here. 24.0 is typical; the best I've ever seen is 26.0. I have no idea why AT&T Broadband included us in their fiber optic upgrade, but I'm glad they did because now we have decent (full time!) internet access. USQwest told us they'll never upgrade our service because we're too remote.
Why does everyone think the DMCA is only about encryption?
Because the DMCA is about circumventing copyright protection technology, which usually means encryption. Please explain what copyright protection technology the retailers employed on their copyrighted sales prices, and how exactly these web site circumvented it.
For that matter, please show me the copyright notice on a sales price. For extra credit, please explain how I'm supposed to know the sales price has a copyright notice without looking at it, which requires violating the copyright? Talk about Catch-22! "If you are reading this copyright notice you are violating it."
The trick is to write the first draft in a way that anticipates the sort of changes he'll make, so that his changes turn it into the document you wanted in the first place. You have to really know your boss well to pull this off, and usually by then you get so disgusted you've moved on (unless your name is "Dilbert" -- why he stays in that job is beyond me).
Do you have any idea what percentage of shareholder proposals pass without the endorsement of the BoD? Geeze, what are you smoking? 'cause I want some.
The problem isn't capitalism, it's a lack of capitalism. I have two choices: Dialup at 24k (at best) or AT&T Broadband. If there were true capitalism I would have true choice (like they have in Tacoma, WA) and when AT&T/Comcast introduce this I could go elsewhere; as it is, my wife and I both need the ability to VPN into work from home, so we have no choice.
Unless you consider "move" a choice, which believe it or not is exactly what I was once told by my cable company (before they were bought by TCI, later bought by AT&T). They had the nerve to tell me to my face that they don't have a monopoly on cable TV because I am free to move! With this attitude, is it any surprise they will cap downloads? It's simple math: Those who use the most have the least option to switch, so they're the most likely to pay whatever you charge. Those who use the least could always go back to dialup Juno for email, so you have to treat them nice.
What some people would ban, others would accept without a second thought.
I'm one of those more open minded folk in your second catagory, and I welcome.kids.us. If it's locked down tighter than I would, so what? There's still nothing there I won't want my kids to see. If it's not locked down tight enough for someone, they can block.kids.us just like they probably now block the entire internet. If it becomes too restricted, the kids will find it lame and bother me to let them see barbie.com or bionicles.com or whatever -- and we're back to where we are today. Indeed, I fully expect to open up our filter (squidguard, btw) to more than just.kids.us.
My point is that there's no harm in this proposal, and lots of potential good, so I'm all for it.
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So, what does Radio Shack carry these days? Anything worth the bother of going there for a look?
Are you sure you're not on an anti-spammer blacklist, and thus blocked by their ISP? It's really easy to be wrongly blacklisted (without notification), and virtually impossible to get de-listed without a court order (if you can identify the list maintainers). And the best part is that there are so many blacklists, it's impossible to check them all to see if you're one of the unluckly winners of their Shit-On-Some-Random-Sucker lottery.
* XBox Live is supposed to work from behind a firewall/NAT router, so they're not getting the XBox's MAC address, they're getting the router's MAC address. I doubt they check the MAC address, and I'll bet spoofing the Serial Number alone is enough to use a previously banned XBox on XBox Live.
Geeze, I hope I don't give them any ideas -- next thing you know, XBox Live will only work if your ISP is MSN!
Oh, wait, those aren't buckets of money they're throwing at him -- those are buckets of...
EWEWWUU! That's GROSS!
They call it "road rage" and "agressive driving" when I pull up behind some blockhead in the left lane going no faster than the traffic in the middle lane. Yet in Driver's Ed I was taught that the jerk I'm apparantly guilting of (what? "agressing"?) is known as a "Road Hog." They even showed us a Disney film about it, with Goofy playing the part of the Road Hog. Now, thanks to Political Correctness, I'm in the wrong and subject to a ticket!
Give me a place where they use the passing lane for passing any day!
You can make the same arguement about busses, trains, etc. Hell, you can make the same arguement about the firetrucks that rescued the stranded passengers!. But that shouldn't be a problem. The new Las Vegas monorail has a catwalk for emergencies, and I'll bet the Seattle one will, too. In Japan the monorails have a door at each end, so they can evacuate passengers to another train. This isn't rocket science, folks, just common sense.
Hey, dipstick! Yeah, you with the Mod points: Before you moderate me "Offtopic" please answer this: Where the hell are we supposed to discuss these subjects? Where are comments like this Ontopic?
It makes a big difference -- Do you have a dish that points to one spot in the sky, or do you link to a series of sats as they pass overhead? In other words, will this work while you're mobile, or do you have to be in a fixed spot? And is the coverage global or regional? Will it reach Alaska and Hawaii or are they too far off-center?
For that matter, please show me the copyright notice on a sales price. For extra credit, please explain how I'm supposed to know the sales price has a copyright notice without looking at it, which requires violating the copyright? Talk about Catch-22! "If you are reading this copyright notice you are violating it."
Unless you consider "move" a choice, which believe it or not is exactly what I was once told by my cable company (before they were bought by TCI, later bought by AT&T). They had the nerve to tell me to my face that they don't have a monopoly on cable TV because I am free to move! With this attitude, is it any surprise they will cap downloads? It's simple math: Those who use the most have the least option to switch, so they're the most likely to pay whatever you charge. Those who use the least could always go back to dialup Juno for email, so you have to treat them nice.
My point is that there's no harm in this proposal, and lots of potential good, so I'm all for it.