With McClellan kicked to the curb, the administration has to find some other fool for that thankless job. This new position allows one person to focus exclusively on denying and/or declining comment on civil rights abuses, while the new press secretary can focus more on denying and/or declining comment on other topics, like corruption, nuking Iran, etc.
With satellite radio, just the opposite: Sirius' "no ads on the music channels" stance forced XM's hand, who had to drop the (few) commercials they had among the music channels to compete.
"No commercials" really is one of the big selling points for satellite radio, and the providers know it.
"Real and Apple have both done, IMHO, irreparable harm to themselves without the aid of Microsoft."
Both of whose players entered the market before Microsoft started bundling WMP. Why should we assume that no new/better media player would come along even if it didn't have to go up against MWP bundling?
"Anyone who got one for christmas got totally hosed."
Bitch all you want, I've thoroughly enjoyed playing with my DS since launch. If you want to waste your time waiting for the latest and greatest, that's your choice, but it's still silly.
At what point would you have gotten an old one? If they announced the new one two years ahead of time? Three? If Nintendo announced the forthcoming NES-101 back when they were still pushing ROB, would you have cooled your heels for the entire NES era?
"I'll be able to show them to [Toys For Bob parent company] Activision, along with a loaded handgun, and they will finally be convinced to roll the dice on this thing.'"
I'm surprised there hasn't been any comparison between Activision and the Crimson Corporation yet.
Alas, I must now remove my Mask of Rampant Jubilation and Jumping With Ecstatic Glee and replace it with my Mask of Ultimate Embarrassment and Shame. If only Toys for Bob had the Ultron, then I'm sure there'd be a proper sequel!
"A laptop or item purchased outside of a juristiction cannot be simply stated to be the same species of thing. The laptop purchased outside of the juristiction in no way negatively impacted the juristiction by using any of its services. Unless you want to make an argument that they deprived the juristiction of future proceeds to be spent in that juristiction (which, because no one has a RIGHT to make money, is absurd), there is no reason to tax out of state purchases that do not use in state resources."
That's only true if the laptop stays out-of-state, otherwise it's reasonable to assume the laptop will be used in your state of residence/citizenship, delivered via roads built by your state, hooked up to utilities the state helps to provide, and ultimately disposed of as part of your state's waste management resources.
But even if it used absolutely no state resources...
"(which, because no one has a RIGHT to make money, is absurd)"
... unless you can find a specific part of the federal constitution being violated, how the people of a state set up their constitution and fund their government is their problem. If a state wants to establish such a right/privilege/whatever, it is their republican right.
"For taxing online content, one could argue that the data infrastructure is a state resource, but then why not tax every packet?"
Because it is a tax, not a user fee. By taxing music files, they are taxing a particular subset of internet users who are least likely to be burdened by such a tax (i. e. those that can afford MP3 players).
"Actually, I wonder why the state government needs taxes on something it in no way provided for."
Eminent domain for electricity and communications lines don't count? Even if you're not using them to download a particular purchase, they're still used when you pay for your monthly subscription fee to your ISP (unless, of course, you change ISPs when you cross state lines), as they regulate both telecommunications and banking within their borders.
Like Yahoo, Hotmail and Gmail, whose parent companies have a presence in China and are more than willing to comply with China's censorship regime and turn people in?
If you want free speech in China, you do not use an American company to do it with.
"Digital media does NOT cause any action to occur."
Turn on your speakers, then.
Of course, with most speakers, even without amplification, the media will still cause the diaphragms to move and create sound, just not loud enough to be heard normally.
Slashdot Mirror
With McClellan kicked to the curb, the administration has to find some other fool for that thankless job. This new position allows one person to focus exclusively on denying and/or declining comment on civil rights abuses, while the new press secretary can focus more on denying and/or declining comment on other topics, like corruption, nuking Iran, etc.
"I can envision one billion Chinese reading Slashdot, gambling online, surfing for porn,"
Except that the Beloved Party has made most of those illegal in China, and heavily frowns upon the rest.
The only killer app for the internet in China is to say you're keeping up with the Joneses.
"Another headshot, you're pretty good at that. Have you considered the Marine Corps?"
"10,240 Itanium processor"
They could have done the same with 7,869 Athlon 64 processors.
With satellite radio, just the opposite: Sirius' "no ads on the music channels" stance forced XM's hand, who had to drop the (few) commercials they had among the music channels to compete.
"No commercials" really is one of the big selling points for satellite radio, and the providers know it.
"Real and Apple have both done, IMHO, irreparable harm to themselves without the aid of Microsoft."
Both of whose players entered the market before Microsoft started bundling WMP. Why should we assume that no new/better media player would come along even if it didn't have to go up against MWP bundling?
I suppose you were pissed at the FTC when Enron went under.
"Anyone who got one for christmas got totally hosed."
Bitch all you want, I've thoroughly enjoyed playing with my DS since launch. If you want to waste your time waiting for the latest and greatest, that's your choice, but it's still silly.
At what point would you have gotten an old one? If they announced the new one two years ahead of time? Three? If Nintendo announced the forthcoming NES-101 back when they were still pushing ROB, would you have cooled your heels for the entire NES era?
The news is that Zonk, Slashdot's resident rabid Xbox fanboy, actually made a pro-Nintendo post.
"The meat-eaters probably lived in the same time and place as the 125-foot-long Argentinosaurus"
And people accuse us yanquis of hubris?
Did it inhabit the Malvinas?
Ah, yes, the United States, where every other driver on the road is an idiot except you.
"In Half-Life 2, you get to drive an airboat, solve physics puzzles, throw barrels,"
Yeah, but that damned Italian plumber keeps jumping over them...
"The starmap was a HORRIBLE mess if you couldn't wrap the fact that it attempt to simulate a rotating 3D sphere."
Never played SC1?
If a Mycon, an Umgah and an Orz attempt to have a conversation, will it create a singularity or a perpetual motion machine?
If the Pkunk and the Spathi went to war, who would win?
Will we ever learn the purpose of the ceremonial dagger on the Syreen "uniform?"
"I'll be able to show them to [Toys For Bob parent company] Activision, along with a loaded handgun, and they will finally be convinced to roll the dice on this thing.'"
I'm surprised there hasn't been any comparison between Activision and the Crimson Corporation yet.
Alas, I must now remove my Mask of Rampant Jubilation and Jumping With Ecstatic Glee and replace it with my Mask of Ultimate Embarrassment and Shame. If only Toys for Bob had the Ultron, then I'm sure there'd be a proper sequel!
Does that guy in the back ever post anything?
WaMu switches to XP at around the same time I start getting WaMu phish spam in my inbox.
:)
Coincidence?
Clippy: It looks like you're trying to masturbate!
So Lolita is a Russian novel?
That's only true if the laptop stays out-of-state, otherwise it's reasonable to assume the laptop will be used in your state of residence/citizenship, delivered via roads built by your state, hooked up to utilities the state helps to provide, and ultimately disposed of as part of your state's waste management resources.
But even if it used absolutely no state resources...
"(which, because no one has a RIGHT to make money, is absurd)"
... unless you can find a specific part of the federal constitution being violated, how the people of a state set up their constitution and fund their government is their problem. If a state wants to establish such a right/privilege/whatever, it is their republican right.
"For taxing online content, one could argue that the data infrastructure is a state resource, but then why not tax every packet?"
Because it is a tax, not a user fee. By taxing music files, they are taxing a particular subset of internet users who are least likely to be burdened by such a tax (i. e. those that can afford MP3 players).
Your same definition of "not software" also fits an exe file on a CD-ROM.
"Actually, I wonder why the state government needs taxes on something it in no way provided for."
Eminent domain for electricity and communications lines don't count? Even if you're not using them to download a particular purchase, they're still used when you pay for your monthly subscription fee to your ISP (unless, of course, you change ISPs when you cross state lines), as they regulate both telecommunications and banking within their borders.
"in the worst case american webmail..."
Like Yahoo, Hotmail and Gmail, whose parent companies have a presence in China and are more than willing to comply with China's censorship regime and turn people in?
If you want free speech in China, you do not use an American company to do it with.
"Digital media does NOT cause any action to occur."
Turn on your speakers, then.
Of course, with most speakers, even without amplification, the media will still cause the diaphragms to move and create sound, just not loud enough to be heard normally.