No, I didn't. Chris Cannon was one of the 'yeas.' I was referring to HR 395, the actual Do-Not-Call List bill. What Cannon voted 'nay' on was HR 3161, the bill that got pushed through both houses in response to a federal court ruling that the FTC didn't have the authority to enforce the law. He was joined in by Kendrick Meek (D-FL), while Tom Tancredo (R-CO) did the reverse by voting against the actual law but in favor of delegating authority to the FTC.
What's really interesting is the number of abstentions in the two votes, with almost twice as many non-voting members on HR 3161 as there were with HR 395. And, while I'm on the subject, HR 395 sailed through the Senate on a voice vote (which means nobody objected and there was no record kept) while there was a recorded Senate vote on HR 3161 of 95-0 with 5 abstentions.
I'd wager that the dividing line between "meteroid" and "asteroid" is like the dividing line between "asteroid" and "planet," where pretty much the entire astronomical community says "I don't know, but I know it when I see it."
"In my experience, these very political groups urge their members to contact only their representatives."
IMO, this has less to do with being polite about other states' "resources" and more to do with the PAC trying to astroturf the legislators. It gives both the PAC and their legislators the ability to say "See? This is what people in our district want! It's not just some out-of-state money pool!"
"Don't waste my state's resources with your harassment, please."
The money to pay members of Congress, their staff and to run an office in DC and one in your district comes from federal coffers. I'm paying for your member of Cogress just as much as you are.
Also, being a member of the United States Congress means that their actions affect people thoughout the country as a whole (hence the name "United States Congress"), so all citizens have just as much right to contact your member of Congress as you do. Whether your member of Congress actually listens to out-of-state interests is something else, and something you should perhaps keep in mind in Nobember '04.
"It would clear the confusion and make it easy for everyone."
Y'see, there is no confusion. Companies are already very well aware that their customers don't like being contacted by telemarketers. What's important to them isn't that we don't want to get these calls, it's that some of us are vulnerable to the high-pressure sales tactics and will actually buy this kind of stuff.
Something disturbing I heard on NPR a few days ago what someone from the ATA talking about how, out of the 50 million numbers on the federal list, he knows at least 20 million have bought from telemarketers before and will probably buy again. It didn't matter that these people didn't want to be called, only that they were vulnerable to his organization (the guy sounded like date rape waiting to happen).
Seriously, do you really believe it takes these companies 6-8 months to process your opt-out request when you get added to their calling list almost instantly?
So much for Window-less PCs. Now, even if you rip out the HDD with its OEM installation, you can't even friggin' POST without being confronted with a EULA?
"For example an amazon.com order plus the taxes verses an amazon.ca order with shipping and the exchange rate differences?"
Unless the goods you are ordering originated in the NAFTA zone (ie. not made in China, Korea, et al), then I have two things to say to you: "duties" and "excise taxes." The money you don't pay at amazon.ca will be collected at the post office.
Slashdot Mirror
If the cable companies and the Baby Bells have their way, we'll catch up with North Korea in broadband within a decade.
Now now, dragging Microsoft into this is just a teensy bit extraneous, isn't it?
:)
After all, I'm sure that the "One-Click C&D" is covered by an Amazon patent, not Microsoft.
No, I didn't. Chris Cannon was one of the 'yeas.' I was referring to HR 395, the actual Do-Not-Call List bill. What Cannon voted 'nay' on was HR 3161, the bill that got pushed through both houses in response to a federal court ruling that the FTC didn't have the authority to enforce the law. He was joined in by Kendrick Meek (D-FL), while Tom Tancredo (R-CO) did the reverse by voting against the actual law but in favor of delegating authority to the FTC.
What's really interesting is the number of abstentions in the two votes, with almost twice as many non-voting members on HR 3161 as there were with HR 395. And, while I'm on the subject, HR 395 sailed through the Senate on a voice vote (which means nobody objected and there was no record kept) while there was a recorded Senate vote on HR 3161 of 95-0 with 5 abstentions.
I'd wager that the dividing line between "meteroid" and "asteroid" is like the dividing line between "asteroid" and "planet," where pretty much the entire astronomical community says "I don't know, but I know it when I see it."
That's what RAM is for. Buffer your interaction with the data until the HDD comes back online. Problem solved.
"Something I've always found strange is that laptop carrying cases don't ever seem to advertise how well they PROTECT the laptop,"
If people were more concerned with the protection of hardware than with how it looks, a lot more people would be wearing pocket protectors.
"when it can also detect incoming hammer blows and deflect them aside kung-fu style."
:)
That'll be a while, but I can see them making this device visible at the OS level so it can trigger a "woo-pah!" wav whenever it halts the platter.
"But it um, only runs as root, so you have to su first."
Huh? There's a Linux version of WarCraft III now?
Srew that, I'd spend the half-mil on "big iron!" And I'd run emacs on it (maybe)!
"In my experience, these very political groups urge their members to contact only their representatives."
IMO, this has less to do with being polite about other states' "resources" and more to do with the PAC trying to astroturf the legislators. It gives both the PAC and their legislators the ability to say "See? This is what people in our district want! It's not just some out-of-state money pool!"
"Don't waste my state's resources with your harassment, please."
The money to pay members of Congress, their staff and to run an office in DC and one in your district comes from federal coffers. I'm paying for your member of Cogress just as much as you are.
Also, being a member of the United States Congress means that their actions affect people thoughout the country as a whole (hence the name "United States Congress"), so all citizens have just as much right to contact your member of Congress as you do. Whether your member of Congress actually listens to out-of-state interests is something else, and something you should perhaps keep in mind in Nobember '04.
Voice mail, as was mentioned in TFA you didn't R.
"You have to pay long-distance charges, hence there is no actual damage done to the association people might want to annoy."
Wasted man-hours.
"Can we let it go?"
If they can't, why should we?
"How about publishing the numbers of those congressmen who voted against DNC list?"
- Rob Bishop (R-UT)
- Washington, DC Office: 202-225-0453
- Ogden, Utah Office: 801-625-0107
- Tim Ryan (D-OH)
- Washington, DC Office: 202-225-5261
- Warren, Ohio Office: 330-373-0074
- Youngstown, Ohio Office: 330/740-0193
- Lee Terry (R-NE)
- Washington, DC Office: 202-225-4155
- Omaha, Nebraska Office: 402-397-9944
- Jeff Flake (R-AZ)
- Washington, DC Office: 202-225-2635
- Mesa, Arizona Office: 480-833-0092
- Ted Strickland (D-OH)
- Washington, DC Office: 202-225-5705
- Marietta, Ohio Office: 740-376-0868
- Wheelersburg, Ohio Office: 740-574-2676
- Boardman, Ohio Office: 330-965-4220
- Martins Ferry, Ohio Office: 740-633-2275
- Ron Paul (R-TX)
- Washington, DC Office: 202-225-2831
- Freeport, Texas Office: 979-230-0000
- Victoria, Texas Office: 361-576-1231
- Western District (14) Office: 512-753-5553
- Tom Tancredo (R-CO)
- Washington, DC Office: 202-225-7882
- Centennial, Colorado Office: 720-283-9772
When complaining, refer to House Resolution 395 (Do-Not-Call Implementation Act), which they saw fit to vote against on 12 February 2003 at 5:17 PM."It would clear the confusion and make it easy for everyone."
Y'see, there is no confusion. Companies are already very well aware that their customers don't like being contacted by telemarketers. What's important to them isn't that we don't want to get these calls, it's that some of us are vulnerable to the high-pressure sales tactics and will actually buy this kind of stuff.
Something disturbing I heard on NPR a few days ago what someone from the ATA talking about how, out of the 50 million numbers on the federal list, he knows at least 20 million have bought from telemarketers before and will probably buy again. It didn't matter that these people didn't want to be called, only that they were vulnerable to his organization (the guy sounded like date rape waiting to happen).
Seriously, do you really believe it takes these companies 6-8 months to process your opt-out request when you get added to their calling list almost instantly?
So much for Window-less PCs. Now, even if you rip out the HDD with its OEM installation, you can't even friggin' POST without being confronted with a EULA?
"The fact is, I'd rather have Mob Rule than Elite rule, which is what we (oh so Ameri-centric, I know) have right now. I can talk to the mob."
Socrates tried that, but Athens democratically voted to make him drink the hemlock anyway.
Democracy is all well and good, but it isn't a panacea and it is dangerous to use it as such.
"Maybe people got bored of 15 year old girls in miniskirts casting spells?"
Yeah! Here in North America, we want our spell casters to at least look like legal age! And with larger breasts!
"For example an amazon.com order plus the taxes verses an amazon.ca order with shipping and the exchange rate differences?"
Unless the goods you are ordering originated in the NAFTA zone (ie. not made in China, Korea, et al), then I have two things to say to you: "duties" and "excise taxes." The money you don't pay at amazon.ca will be collected at the post office.
A lot of what you mention in your post sounds vaguely familiar.
"all the guys looked pretty pissed off, but it was in the 20s or 30s, maybe people didn't smile back then."
Beer was illegal back then. What were you expecting?
Actually, I was thinking more along these lines.
"Frankly, the physics of using rockets in space has never made sense to me"
You wouldn't happen to work for the New York Times, would you?
IIRC, Deep Impact had one chunk of comet hitting the Atlantic, and the second chunk aiming for Canada.
"And in the darkness to bind them."
I thought BIND already had a patch to save us from the darkness
"Why would I want to store a HD so far away from my computer?"
So you can keep your pr0n collection in your secret undergound bunker, along with your spare deflector beanies.
"If I want peripherals to communicate for such a distance, I'll just use LAN."
A LAN? That reaches ten klicks? Are we not clear on what the "L" in "LAN" stands for?
"TheOneRingSCSI?"
Implemented on raw token ring, of course.