it's us Canadians that are paying the tax, so why shouldn't the money go to Canadian artists?
...especially the fact that the vast majority of CD-R use is most likely for data storage...
That's why. Besides, it's distributed according to lifetime album sales, which means Barenaked Ladies get a cut, Bryan Adams gets a cut, Sarah McLaughlin gets a cut. I doubt Nickelback will see too much cash from this.
If the money was used for something like promoting new bands, or giving out record contracts or something, I'd be all for it, but I don't see it helping Canadian music at all
Not only that, but it's just the Canadian music industry that gets the profits. Nothing against Bryan Adams, but who do you think sells more albums, him or N'Sync? Who do you think gets copied more, him or Britney Spears? So not only does he get a cut if I copy Slackware, he gets some cash every time I copy American/English/Swedish/Zimbabwean/Japanese music. Laughing all the way to the bank.
I doubt it. You didn't raise your existing subsidy (~5c/disc) the last time we raised it (2000, up to 21c/disc), or when it was introduced a couple years before that.
Although don't call it pirating (which is a dumb term anyway), since it's not illegal. In Canada, we're allowed to borrow CDs and make copies of them for personal use. That's what the tax^H^H^Hlevy is supposed to offset; unfortunately, if you buy CD-Rs to burn the latest FreeBSD, you're still supporting Celine Dion's retirement fund.
Sounds like the exact opposite of Future Shop. I bought a pretty decent two-line cordless phone (~$300), with the extended warranty (3 years). They only had the display model, but they said when the New Store Opened in four months, I could exchange it. New store opens, I take it in, and they said "Oh, we can't do that. Sorry." Portents of things to come.
After about a year, the thing starting randomly dying, and consistently when the antenna was pushed in. Push it in, power goes off, pull it out, it powers up again. I took it back, and found out they had changed their policy - now they had to get it fixed 3 times before they'd exchange it. OK, so I put it in for repairs. They won't give me a spare phone, but they say that if I buy one I can take it back when my phone's ready.
I bought the cheapest POS cordless they had (it sucked), and after two weeks, my phone's ready. I take it home, push in the antenna, and it dies. Next day, I take it back. The moron at the returns desk tries to convince me that it's something else - maybe the battery's dead. I tell her I don't think that's the problem, and she gets all huffy, and writes on the form "Customer claims it isn't the battery." Nice. So I get it "fixed" a second time. Get it home, and it worked for about 5 hours before it bombed out again. I didn't have time to screw around with it, so I just left it in the box for a while.
Eventually, I get around to taking it back. Third time, no go, so I take it in for the last time. To be able to exchange it, you need the original receipt (which I had), the original box (beat up, but I had it), and every single return form from each attempted repair (which they never gave me). "Oh, I'm sorry, but we can't accept any returns without the repair forms." Great, except you have them. It wasn't even worth it to try and deal with these idiots, so I just left. I'll never shop at Future Shop again though.
Grab a user that isn't a web programmer. Go to their machine and have them load your page. Then ask them to perform some function and watch what they do.
I'd recommend a grandmother, if there's one handy. They make great beta testers. Mine lasted about 4 seconds before getting completely lost, before I went for a complete overhaul on that particular site.
I just installed Windows 2000 for a friend a couple of days ago. When I was copying over his old stuff (HD to HD), the progress bar kept jumping up the wrong way. When it hit '941873 minutes remaining,' I took a screenshot. Too funny. Yeah, I'm gonna wait a little over 654 DAYS for Windows to copy 2 Gigs of data.:-P
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it's us Canadians that are paying the tax, so why shouldn't the money go to Canadian artists?
...especially the fact that the vast majority of CD-R use is most likely for data storage...
That's why. Besides, it's distributed according to lifetime album sales, which means Barenaked Ladies get a cut, Bryan Adams gets a cut, Sarah McLaughlin gets a cut. I doubt Nickelback will see too much cash from this.
If the money was used for something like promoting new bands, or giving out record contracts or something, I'd be all for it, but I don't see it helping Canadian music at all
Not only that, but it's just the Canadian music industry that gets the profits. Nothing against Bryan Adams, but who do you think sells more albums, him or N'Sync? Who do you think gets copied more, him or Britney Spears? So not only does he get a cut if I copy Slackware, he gets some cash every time I copy American/English/Swedish/Zimbabwean/Japanese music. Laughing all the way to the bank.
Name a Canadian-made CD-R. Just one. No? How 'bout a Canadian-made mp3-player? Hmm, didn't think so.
I doubt it. You didn't raise your existing subsidy (~5c/disc) the last time we raised it (2000, up to 21c/disc), or when it was introduced a couple years before that.
Although don't call it pirating (which is a dumb term anyway), since it's not illegal. In Canada, we're allowed to borrow CDs and make copies of them for personal use. That's what the tax^H^H^Hlevy is supposed to offset; unfortunately, if you buy CD-Rs to burn the latest FreeBSD, you're still supporting Celine Dion's retirement fund.
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi
It is an unfortunate fact that not only does that attitude still prevail, it's looked upon with something like reverence.
Except they'll never forgive you for that. Nor should anyone else. Dropping a nuke after your enemy surrenders is disgusting.
There is something to be said for an adequate use of force.
Yeah? I'd love to hear it.
Sounds like the exact opposite of Future Shop. I bought a pretty decent two-line cordless phone (~$300), with the extended warranty (3 years). They only had the display model, but they said when the New Store Opened in four months, I could exchange it. New store opens, I take it in, and they said "Oh, we can't do that. Sorry." Portents of things to come.
After about a year, the thing starting randomly dying, and consistently when the antenna was pushed in. Push it in, power goes off, pull it out, it powers up again. I took it back, and found out they had changed their policy - now they had to get it fixed 3 times before they'd exchange it. OK, so I put it in for repairs. They won't give me a spare phone, but they say that if I buy one I can take it back when my phone's ready.
I bought the cheapest POS cordless they had (it sucked), and after two weeks, my phone's ready. I take it home, push in the antenna, and it dies. Next day, I take it back. The moron at the returns desk tries to convince me that it's something else - maybe the battery's dead. I tell her I don't think that's the problem, and she gets all huffy, and writes on the form "Customer claims it isn't the battery." Nice. So I get it "fixed" a second time. Get it home, and it worked for about 5 hours before it bombed out again. I didn't have time to screw around with it, so I just left it in the box for a while.
Eventually, I get around to taking it back. Third time, no go, so I take it in for the last time. To be able to exchange it, you need the original receipt (which I had), the original box (beat up, but I had it), and every single return form from each attempted repair (which they never gave me). "Oh, I'm sorry, but we can't accept any returns without the repair forms." Great, except you have them. It wasn't even worth it to try and deal with these idiots, so I just left.
I'll never shop at Future Shop again though.
Episode I: The Phantom Anus
I miss the ISA days personally. PCI cards just aren't as scary when you throw them at somebody.
Grab a user that isn't a web programmer. Go to their machine and have them load your page. Then ask them to perform some function and watch what they do.
I'd recommend a grandmother, if there's one handy. They make great beta testers. Mine lasted about 4 seconds before getting completely lost, before I went for a complete overhaul on that particular site.
"A user," huh? Suuuuuure. And these condoms are for your, uh, friend, right? ;)
It's not free. It comes included with a $400 per desktop Windows license.
I think my favourite message is "An unknown program has caused an unknown error in an unknown module." Instant bluescreen.
I just installed Windows 2000 for a friend a couple of days ago. When I was copying over his old stuff (HD to HD), the progress bar kept jumping up the wrong way. When it hit '941873 minutes remaining,' I took a screenshot. Too funny. Yeah, I'm gonna wait a little over 654 DAYS for Windows to copy 2 Gigs of data. :-P
Depends. If you say something like "Imagine a beowulf cluster of these," you'll get smacked down. Nobody wants to imagine that.
*Were* so pedantile.
Ah, but who will give the spammer the herpes?
Our corrupt officials are elected
Which ones? Not your appointed president...
Nirvana's In Utero, for example. Waif Me?
Aww, you poor bastards. Gas up here is 84c - per LITRE, not gallon. Multiply by 4, suckas.
Yeah, try this one.
Sure. Whaddya need?
It's still Windows only, but it's possible to run it under Wine.