I'm going to take a lot of heat for this unpopular opinion, probably, but since I visit this site less and less anyhow for various reasons I'll take the karma hit.
Do you also steal candy you don't like and eat it to only tell shop owners they didn't lose any revenue because you wouldn't have paid for it anyway since you figured it would suck and wouldn't have bought it anyhow? Is it ok to steal non-physical products because you can't feel them?
I am really sick and tired of this "it's not lost revenue because I didn't want it anyway" mentality. You downloaded content that was produced by someone and they expected to be paid for it. But you didn't want to pay for it. What you mean to say is "I didn't think it was worth giving my money to the producers/actors/musicians but I took the content anyway". It doesn't matter whether you think it was worth it or not; but they surely did.
I am no saint. I've used TPB and other trackers. But I'm not a fool who tries to convince the whole world that I wasn't stealing. I'm just adult enough to admit it.
Unless they plan to put him into a gigantic diplomatic pouch after he steps out of the convoy and onto sovereign UK territory, your comment doesn't apply.
I actually am an American living in the Netherlands. I didn't take the time to read the other posts (sorry!) to see if someone else had posted this information but I thought I'd do it anyway since I have a personal interest.
I moved here about 6 months ago with the help of the company I work for. Because of my salary I was allowed to get what is called a "Knowledge Migrant" (kennismigrant) visa. This is a special "fast track" visa that is granted to people who make over 45,000 euros if they are over 30 or 32,600 euros if you under under 30. It allows me to bypass most processes for migration (no requirement for degrees, language classes, etc) but does NOT allow me access to the public health or pension system. Because I was able to follow the kennismigrant procecss, it was fairly simple to get settled in. Also, since I will likely be subject to the 30% tax ruling (an beneficial ruling) I will be able to swap my US drivers license for a Dutch one without taking any tests or classes. Being that Dutch driving classes can run into the 1000s of euros this is a good thing.
Life in the Netherlands is nice and the country is great. They say that 80-90% of the Dutch people speak English which I find to be accurate. I am always able to get around with English and the few Dutch words I know. I am currently enrolled in classes to learn Dutch, but it's an incredibly difficult language because the two languages I already speak fluently (English and Spanish) have virtually no relationship to Dutch besides some common sounding words. The society here is fairly modern and you can get everything you need at any time, except Sunday. Everything is closed on Sundays except for restaurants, which generally open around 4 in the afternoon.
I found this article of particular interest because often time, especially from Americans, I hear things like "This country is stupid and I'd love to leave". After living in a few different countries now, I can honestly say I'd rather live no where else permanently but the US. The Netherlands and the the UK (the other place I spent considerable time) are great places, but it's not home. Life in other countries is very inconvenient (yes, I know, an American comment) and the people are generally much more orderly and nicer in the US. This may seem like a shock to people in the US (and a shock to people outside the US too) but I truly believe that is how it is. Simple things like standing in a line to wait for services or having a quick meal do not exist here. I know that for some people that is a charm, but for me it's an annoyance.
As a final note, I recently sent my entire team (10 Dutch guys) back to the US for training on our product. It was in the SF Bay Area and they all had a great time. The weather was perfect, the people were nice, and they all particular enjoyed Starbucks (the Dutch are huge coffee drinkers). When they all came back, each and every one of them pointedly asked me why the hell I would move here and leave San Francisco. It was nice validation for me and the US and makes me even more anixous to one day return.
I hope this post has given some insight to some people. Until you have truly lived somewhere else you won't understand how lucky we are in the US. Simply visiting a country on vacation does not give you the proper insight. You really need to experience daily life in other parts of the world to understand how good you have it.
For the same reason anyone pays attention to this website for more than a millisecond: a different opinion.
I've been a slashdot reader for years, and there are times I find myself wondering why the hell I read when virtually every "opinion" piece here is someone's tired old rhetoric of "we're David and they are Goliath!". Or every Microsoft news story turns into a flame fest of +5s on every piece of posted troll against Microsoft.
Perhaps if people here learned to respect the value of outside opinions, outside people might respect the opinions posted here.
The gray market for services has grown consistently since I moved out to the bay area. Since the dot-com flame-out and the massive spending binges have ended, it's easier to hire someone for some quick "consulting" work than to employee people full time. A lot of people I know do on-the-side consulting for a few dollars here and there. Mostly IT stuff: companies small enough to not be able to pay someone full time but big enough to need someone to call on when they are in trouble. Lots of "checking the CEO's laptop" type jobs.
You have to be careful with this kind of work, though. As the name implies, the gray market is somewhere between the black market (totally illegal) and the normal market (regulated by industry and government). Some companies will 1099 you and report what they paid you, some companies won't. It is illegal, AFAIK, to receive money for work and not report it as income.
The money can be good, but if you are unlucky enough to be caught, the back taxes can be quite expensive.
Is there such a thing as too connected? This is just a personal opinion of course, but sometimes I wonder if we are driving ourselves out of our own privacy and personal sanity by making ourselves always available all the time, no matter where we are. If I require a device which always tells me where I am supposed to be when, what kind of life am I leading?
I work for a company which produces software used by hospitals, and I am required to be available 24x7x365 in case something goes wrong. They pay me well for what I do and I enjoy the work, but I've spent the last 3 years in the "most connected" job of my life and sometimes I feel like I can't escape.
What ever happen to returning a phone call or an email the next day?
A list or a calendar of some sorts of where these meet-ups take place would be quite useful. I for one would defintely attend if I knew when and where they were going to happen.
Maybe I am just blind and somewhere on slashdot that exists, but I do see it anywhere.
The Bay Area economy has always been like this. Anyone who has been here for more then 10 years will realise that the entire thing is cyclical. Years of boom, then years of bust.
If you stick around long enough, you'll even see it yourself. Eventually, the next big thing(tm) will make its way back to the Bay Area and everyone will re-locate here again.
It's a shame they couldn't find a way to profit off of their service. While I never had the service myself (no use for me) I had a friend who used to enjoy chatting from Caltrain on his way back from Palo Alto.
Of course it was also quite funny when he would drop from IRC because the train would pick up speed. Made for great jokes at his expense.
Slashdot Mirror
I'm going to take a lot of heat for this unpopular opinion, probably, but since I visit this site less and less anyhow for various reasons I'll take the karma hit.
Do you also steal candy you don't like and eat it to only tell shop owners they didn't lose any revenue because you wouldn't have paid for it anyway since you figured it would suck and wouldn't have bought it anyhow? Is it ok to steal non-physical products because you can't feel them?
I am really sick and tired of this "it's not lost revenue because I didn't want it anyway" mentality. You downloaded content that was produced by someone and they expected to be paid for it. But you didn't want to pay for it. What you mean to say is "I didn't think it was worth giving my money to the producers/actors/musicians but I took the content anyway". It doesn't matter whether you think it was worth it or not; but they surely did.
I am no saint. I've used TPB and other trackers. But I'm not a fool who tries to convince the whole world that I wasn't stealing. I'm just adult enough to admit it.
Unless they plan to put him into a gigantic diplomatic pouch after he steps out of the convoy and onto sovereign UK territory, your comment doesn't apply.
Individually, all of those words make sense. But strung together, huh?
Unless, of course, you need directions on how to use the transit system.
Is that you, Mr. Takei?
Ugh you are right. Apologies. My want to get that joke out there trumped fact checking. Do I get points if I am still laughing inside though?
Someone should inform Jewel that this is an appropriate example of irony!
No, but they could die (or at least suffer harm) if the mail was something like insulin or heart medication.
Merrly being snarky does not make a convincing argument.
http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/02/06/16869665-wait-a-minute-mr-postman-new-mail-delivery-schedule-raises-eyebrows?lite
The Postmaster General has already confirmed that mail-order medicine will continue to be delivered on Saturday.
Yes that is true but don't worry. Your kind usually go back to their home country at the end of your trip.
I wonder how many will actually cut AT&T some slack or give them credit for NOT interfering?
\insert is this your first time on slashdot joke here\
I never understood why people didn't want to be catalogued. I think life would be lovely if everywhere I went, everyone knew what I wanted.
That can't *possibly* be a bad thing!
I believe the target market here is peace officers; so their guns cannot be taken from them and used against them. Not you and me.
Talk about a non-responsive response: "Our rules don't allow for hacking and violations of citizen's privacy".
Considering the state of privacy there, they certainly aren't lying.
Or gained...
Well, that, or not opening unexpected spreadsheets emailed to you by random strangers.
Or not have friends who do the same thing.
And they'll tell two friends... and they'll tell two friends..
And are those kept near the nuclear wessels?
Sorry, could not resist.
I actually am an American living in the Netherlands. I didn't take the time to read the other posts (sorry!) to see if someone else had posted this information but I thought I'd do it anyway since I have a personal interest.
I moved here about 6 months ago with the help of the company I work for. Because of my salary I was allowed to get what is called a "Knowledge Migrant" (kennismigrant) visa. This is a special "fast track" visa that is granted to people who make over 45,000 euros if they are over 30 or 32,600 euros if you under under 30. It allows me to bypass most processes for migration (no requirement for degrees, language classes, etc) but does NOT allow me access to the public health or pension system. Because I was able to follow the kennismigrant procecss, it was fairly simple to get settled in. Also, since I will likely be subject to the 30% tax ruling (an beneficial ruling) I will be able to swap my US drivers license for a Dutch one without taking any tests or classes. Being that Dutch driving classes can run into the 1000s of euros this is a good thing.
Life in the Netherlands is nice and the country is great. They say that 80-90% of the Dutch people speak English which I find to be accurate. I am always able to get around with English and the few Dutch words I know. I am currently enrolled in classes to learn Dutch, but it's an incredibly difficult language because the two languages I already speak fluently (English and Spanish) have virtually no relationship to Dutch besides some common sounding words. The society here is fairly modern and you can get everything you need at any time, except Sunday. Everything is closed on Sundays except for restaurants, which generally open around 4 in the afternoon.
I found this article of particular interest because often time, especially from Americans, I hear things like "This country is stupid and I'd love to leave". After living in a few different countries now, I can honestly say I'd rather live no where else permanently but the US. The Netherlands and the the UK (the other place I spent considerable time) are great places, but it's not home. Life in other countries is very inconvenient (yes, I know, an American comment) and the people are generally much more orderly and nicer in the US. This may seem like a shock to people in the US (and a shock to people outside the US too) but I truly believe that is how it is. Simple things like standing in a line to wait for services or having a quick meal do not exist here. I know that for some people that is a charm, but for me it's an annoyance.
As a final note, I recently sent my entire team (10 Dutch guys) back to the US for training on our product. It was in the SF Bay Area and they all had a great time. The weather was perfect, the people were nice, and they all particular enjoyed Starbucks (the Dutch are huge coffee drinkers). When they all came back, each and every one of them pointedly asked me why the hell I would move here and leave San Francisco. It was nice validation for me and the US and makes me even more anixous to one day return.
I hope this post has given some insight to some people. Until you have truly lived somewhere else you won't understand how lucky we are in the US. Simply visiting a country on vacation does not give you the proper insight. You really need to experience daily life in other parts of the world to understand how good you have it.
For the same reason anyone pays attention to this website for more than a millisecond: a different opinion.
I've been a slashdot reader for years, and there are times I find myself wondering why the hell I read when virtually every "opinion" piece here is someone's tired old rhetoric of "we're David and they are Goliath!". Or every Microsoft news story turns into a flame fest of +5s on every piece of posted troll against Microsoft.
Perhaps if people here learned to respect the value of outside opinions, outside people might respect the opinions posted here.
-J
The gray market for services has grown consistently since I moved out to the bay area. Since the dot-com flame-out and the massive spending binges have ended, it's easier to hire someone for some quick "consulting" work than to employee people full time. A lot of people I know do on-the-side consulting for a few dollars here and there. Mostly IT stuff: companies small enough to not be able to pay someone full time but big enough to need someone to call on when they are in trouble. Lots of "checking the CEO's laptop" type jobs.
You have to be careful with this kind of work, though. As the name implies, the gray market is somewhere between the black market (totally illegal) and the normal market (regulated by industry and government). Some companies will 1099 you and report what they paid you, some companies won't. It is illegal, AFAIK, to receive money for work and not report it as income.
The money can be good, but if you are unlucky enough to be caught, the back taxes can be quite expensive.
Jeff
Is there such a thing as too connected? This is just a personal opinion of course, but sometimes I wonder if we are driving ourselves out of our own privacy and personal sanity by making ourselves always available all the time, no matter where we are. If I require a device which always tells me where I am supposed to be when, what kind of life am I leading?
I work for a company which produces software used by hospitals, and I am required to be available 24x7x365 in case something goes wrong. They pay me well for what I do and I enjoy the work, but I've spent the last 3 years in the "most connected" job of my life and sometimes I feel like I can't escape.
What ever happen to returning a phone call or an email the next day?
A list or a calendar of some sorts of where these meet-ups take place would be quite useful. I for one would defintely attend if I knew when and where they were going to happen.
Maybe I am just blind and somewhere on slashdot that exists, but I do see it anywhere.
The Bay Area economy has always been like this. Anyone who has been here for more then 10 years will realise that the entire thing is cyclical. Years of boom, then years of bust.
If you stick around long enough, you'll even see it yourself. Eventually, the next big thing(tm) will make its way back to the Bay Area and everyone will re-locate here again.
Of course it was also quite funny when he would drop from IRC because the train would pick up speed. Made for great jokes at his expense.
-J