I have to ask this question: Is it me or is the modding system here really subjective. Seems to me that a chosen few always get fours and fives while the rest of us wind up with ones and twos...or zeros.
It doesn't really bother me too much, as I post to express my opinions...BUT..it implies that most here are dumber then the 'chosen few'..which to me seems to NOT be the case....
Congress got paid off to extend copyrights by a big corporation that owns the copyright to a little mouse. said mouse was copyrighted in the early 1930's and his inventor died over 30 years ago. How Congress can arbitrarily and retroactively extend said mouse's copyright smacks of bribery...
But then again...all this was done when the Republicans controlled both houses of Congress, which meant that EVERYTHING was for sale...for the right price.
This whole sickening item proves one thing to me: The only thing big business will ever care about is the almighty dollar. Morals and ethics literally fly out the window in the face of big bucks. I question whether Cisco and it's ilk would have someone killed to make a million bucks? Probably...if they could get away with it!
The telcos have spent the past few years throwing up roadblock after roadblock at the CLEC's, thus keeping them minor players in the broadband game.
The FCC, instead of PUNISHING them for breaking the law, now wants to REWARD them for doing so by allowing them a virtual (pun intended) monopoly on non cable broadband services.
The reason for the FCC's doing this is because the FCC wants access to broadband sped up.
Seems to me that what the FCC SHOULD be doing is forcing the bells to abide by the laws that have been in effect for the past five plus years!
Maybe then the Covads and Rhythms of the world might have a snowball's chance in hell of offering reliable, reasonable broadband service.
But then again, I'm probably all wrong here. After all, I'm not a Republican, which makes surely me wrong....just ask one.
....and it's now law.
We have no idea who these studios might have in their back pocket..or how much bribe money they've already thrown about.
The movie studios are a cartel..and their ability to BUY laws and judges is already well known.
I know...many here will say that even is judge X is paid off and rules against TIVO then the appeals court will overturn them...BUT consider this...
TIVO isn't Sony...Most companies aren't Sony, nor do they have even 1/10th the resources of Sony.
It takes time and money..LOTS of money to win an appeal like the Betamax one..and I'll bet that a company the size of TIVO would be long broke, dead and buried before Sony even broke into a fiscal sweat.
TIME is on these studios' side..this is why they keep filing all these (obviously frivolous) lawsuits. They know they can't win..but by suing they can delay...giving them the opportunity to get into the business themselves.
Look at the RIAA and Napster. Napster, like TIVO didn't infringe on copyright...it's the USERS who infringed. Patel's decision is like finding Smith and Wesson guilty of murder because someone got killed with one of the guns they manufactured.
Yet..(clueless) Judge Patel found against Napster.
Hmmmm..I wonder if she ever has to pay for another CD? Anyone willing to give me odds on the size of her swiss bank account?
I was laid off in L.A. for four months in 2001....
on
The Laid-off Techie
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· Score: 1
I got a month's severance pay. Unemployment in California is a massive $230.00 a week!
The COBRA payments for my family's health insurance (court ordered) were $797.00 a month.
You do the math. I survived by selling lots of stuff, living frugally (and I mean cutting out EVERY unnecessary thing), and sending out literally 500 + resumes. I finally found a job 500 miles away in Tucson that has five times the work for 75% of the pay. Now my credit is beyond shot (I'm barely staying out of bankruptcy), and some weeks I still have pocket change for $$.
In a way it's funny when a credit card company calls up and demands 400 bucks and you have 40 cents in your checking account....then they wonder why I'm lauging out loud on the phone. But...I had a wonderful girlfriend (who is now my wife), who shared her house, her food and her money with me. I start a new job in L.A. on 3/1 that pays more then I was making before all this happened (and they recruited me!).
My advice? Keep hanging in there...there is a light at the end of the tunnel...just make sure it isn't attached to a freight train!
We had to walk five miles in a blizzard to use the 'net. You young whippersnappers have it way too easy..Just open the browser and there it is.
We 'roughed it' to use the 'net. We used Trumpet Winsock and Windows 3.1...and Mosaic!
Youngens...they just have it way too easy!But I'll tell you..those shell and SLIP accounts..they just don't make 'em like they used to in the good old days!
I was beta testing a piece of equipment. Made an off the cuff remark about another (not thought of) use for it with a minor modification. The company did it, and made a fortune with it.
THEN they had the balls to demand the prototype back (but I could get a finished one..at regular price of course!).
I didn't bite....
I think if a beta tester does or suggests something that adds a significant value to the product, they should be compensated in some way.
Otherwise, the company is stealing....
Since September 11th, OUR (caps for emphasis) Government has been acting with a "ready, fire, aim" mentality. I mean hordes of FBI and troops with machine guns to pick up a 15 year old kid??
We are in a very dangerous place here. The U.S. to me seems to be at a crossroads - are we to be a free, open society as planned by our founding fathers or a closed, military state?
See, I believe that it has to be one or the other.
Seems to me that the U.S. has plenty to atone for internationally too.
We're not as innocent as we think we are. Every day covert operations are going on all over the world courtesy of us. People are being killed (sometimes a lot of them) because of our behavor.
Do I advocate terrorism? NO WAY. I don't advocate it when ANYONE does it, INCLUDING our government.
Maybe the Govt. doesn't call what they do terrorism, but for all practical purposes it is.
In the past, we've overthrown governments, invoked the Marshall plan (which says that the U.S. can do basically whatever they want to in the Americas), assassinated people, etc. etc.
I guess what I'm saying is that before we go and put down others for having a dirty house, we need to make sure ours is clean! And it isn't.
America needs to lose the smug arrogance we've had for the past 50 years. We need to stop thinking that our way is so good that everyone (of course) wants to BE us! Fact is, they don't.
If they did, Cuba would have fallen years ago.
Indeed, we have to start by not oppressing our OWN citizens! The past century is filled to the brim with examples of oppression by our own government of it's citizens. Americans were imprisoned and even died at the hands of the U.S. Government. Look at McCarthyism as an example.
If we don't learn from the mistakes of the past, we WILL repeat them. Problem is, that's happening as we speak.
That most of the RF radiation received on earth comes from space...you know from places like the SUN!
I know...Mendocino is going to build a giant aluminumized dome over itself..and become the SUN FREE ZONE!
What a pure whacko!
"During one quarter alone, these inflated commissions on profit-sharing trades accounted for over 22 percent of CSFB's commission revenue".
A 100 million dollar fine for this? Give me a break! CSFB made BILLIONS from this! This isn't even a slap on the wrist for them. It's like saying: Okay Joe, you robbed a bank of $100,000...and for that we're fining you $1.00!
Until these crooked firms REALLY GET PUNISHED for their crimes, there's simply no incentive for them to BE HONEST!
Who says crime doesn't pay? Apparently if you're big enough of rich enough it certainly does!
after getting the letter that said she'd be cut off if she didn't. She's no techie, she's a Social Worker who needs uninterrupted 'net for her job! Qwest and MSN prey on non technical types who think DSL is like the phone; you order it and it works, which is ironic beacuse it took five weeks of constant calls to MSN tech support to get it working properly. I will give credit to the MSN tech support people, they WANT to help but most of the time their hands seem to be tied.
Frankly, I can't complain about the service once they fixed it. It's very reliable and has reasonable speed (540 down, 230 up) on a 640/256 line. One big thing is that I still have the Cisco 678 modem (which I own). I've heard 1001 horror stories about the Arescom modems.
I thought about switching ISP's but since I'll be moving in April, I'm not going to bother...too many horror stories of people losing service for months during the switch. With regards to Qwest, they are truly an evil company. They constantly screw up my phone bills (and the screw ups always favor them, of course!)
They bill for services you don't have. They over billed me 100 bucks for my Cisco modem. They
double billed everyone in AZ for their MSN DSL service last month.
Their biggest obscenity however is the way that they treat their employees. I know several present and former Qwest employees who are good people and really care about satisfying the customer. Qwest's mountains of red tape makes this impossible, which is very frustrating to them. Their employees are also treated like shit...Qwest is a prime example of the need for unions!
QWORST....Ride the lie!
With the deal that Qworst and MSN have MSN assumes 'ownership' of the DSL part of your line. This means that until MSN releases the line, Qworst can't put another DSL customer onto it.
Typically, this can take months.
By the way, Qworst double billed everyone in AZ for MSN DSL service last month. MSN didn't even know about it.
Who will force you to watch the commercials. Also, Time shifting will be for a maximum of 30 days. After that, the recordings will delete.
The content providers will hold all the cards, thanks to Congress and the DMCA.
They might even have the audacity to make you pay to record a program. They'll certainly have the ability to control most everything. There will be over the air encryption. Don't pay..you can't watch. Skip the commercials, you can't watch. Don't interact with the commercials? You can'5t watch either!
If you don't think this is happening, think again.
I'm in the media and it WILL happen...
Give them 10 years.....you'll see.
If you truly want to support your favorite band...
on
Review of Pay Napster
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· Score: 2, Informative
Then go buy a ticket for their next concert. Even if you can'y go, buy one anyway. I can tell you for a FACT that buying one ticket puts more cash into their pocket then buying a dozen of their CD's.
Screw the record labels. Screw Hilary Rosen (oh wait, guys can't do her LOL).
Put the money where it belongs..in the pockets of the performers!
This is a SCAM if there ever was one.
Here's how it works:
1. Become a monopoly (but of course LIE and say you're not one).
2. Sue everyone in sight...but make sure you RIP THEM OFF before you sue them!
3. Continue to rip them off AFTER you sue them.
4. Sue them totally out of business.
5. Steal what's left (that which you couldn't steal before). Make sure you pick that carcass clean now!
Of course, you may do this with the full support and encouragement of the Congress and court system....after all, we ARE a capitalist country you know!
See, I want my phone to work during a power failure, and with the cable infrastructure built as it is, it won't.
I want to be able to CALL the power company to report a local power outage. During a storm, I want to be able to CALL the police and fire departments and/or an ambulance if one of my loved ones is sick or injured. Cellular service is spotty at best where I live and therefore, I want the phone to work...just as it has the last 100 years or so. No, I don't care about 'advanced' services during a power failure. My computer and TV won't work during a power failure. Neither will my lights. There's candles for that. BUT I do want basic voice service to continue to work.
The U.S. has traditionally been behind in adopting new technlolgies. ISDN is the perfect example. ISDN was widely available in Europe in the early 1980's but it took another 10 years for it to arrive in the U.S. Why? simple. Big corporations are very slow to upgrade anything. The telcos squeezed every last hour they could out of the old mechanical central offices until they literally were falling apart. Only then did they upgrade to ESS CO's. In Europe, ESS came many years earlier. All of corporate America is this way! Just look at how many 300 Mhz (36 channel) cable systems are still out there. Corporate America will only spend $$ on infrastructure when they absolutely have to - kicking and screaming all the way......
Look around! Everywhere you look freedom is slowing being eroded. Courts are ruling against the people. Congress and the President are passing laws against the people. WHY?
Because the people are LETTING THEM!!
"The price of freedom is eternal vigilence".
Re:Has anyone ever gotten something reasonably pri
on
Be Gear Up For Auction
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· Score: 1
If you want an answer to this, go to ebay or Ubid or any other number of auction sites. The stuff usually gies for OUTRAGEOUS prices. Frankly, I find much better deals in the want ads...or at swap meets or even yard sales. I have no idea what it is about auctions that make so many ppl overbid. Just for the hell of it, I put in a bunch of what I thought to be reasonable bids at ebay. I didn'twin a single thing..and many items went for over twice what I bid...some even for more then you could buy them for new. THEN add shipping & handling in...
Anyway, I can't figure the attraction out....
Slashdot Mirror
I have to ask this question: Is it me or is the modding system here really subjective. Seems to me that a chosen few always get fours and fives while the rest of us wind up with ones and twos...or zeros. It doesn't really bother me too much, as I post to express my opinions...BUT..it implies that most here are dumber then the 'chosen few'..which to me seems to NOT be the case....
Congress got paid off to extend copyrights by a big corporation that owns the copyright to a little mouse. said mouse was copyrighted in the early 1930's and his inventor died over 30 years ago. How Congress can arbitrarily and retroactively extend said mouse's copyright smacks of bribery... But then again...all this was done when the Republicans controlled both houses of Congress, which meant that EVERYTHING was for sale...for the right price.
This whole sickening item proves one thing to me: The only thing big business will ever care about is the almighty dollar. Morals and ethics literally fly out the window in the face of big bucks.
I question whether Cisco and it's ilk would have someone killed to make a million bucks? Probably...if they could get away with it!
It's his son.
The telcos have spent the past few years throwing up roadblock after roadblock at the CLEC's, thus keeping them minor players in the broadband game.
The FCC, instead of PUNISHING them for breaking the law, now wants to REWARD them for doing so by allowing them a virtual (pun intended) monopoly on non cable broadband services.
The reason for the FCC's doing this is because the FCC wants access to broadband sped up.
Seems to me that what the FCC SHOULD be doing is forcing the bells to abide by the laws that have been in effect for the past five plus years!
Maybe then the Covads and Rhythms of the world might have a snowball's chance in hell of offering reliable, reasonable broadband service.
But then again, I'm probably all wrong here. After all, I'm not a Republican, which makes surely me wrong....just ask one.
....and it's now law. We have no idea who these studios might have in their back pocket..or how much bribe money they've already thrown about. The movie studios are a cartel..and their ability to BUY laws and judges is already well known. I know...many here will say that even is judge X is paid off and rules against TIVO then the appeals court will overturn them...BUT consider this... TIVO isn't Sony...Most companies aren't Sony, nor do they have even 1/10th the resources of Sony. It takes time and money..LOTS of money to win an appeal like the Betamax one..and I'll bet that a company the size of TIVO would be long broke, dead and buried before Sony even broke into a fiscal sweat. TIME is on these studios' side..this is why they keep filing all these (obviously frivolous) lawsuits. They know they can't win..but by suing they can delay...giving them the opportunity to get into the business themselves. Look at the RIAA and Napster. Napster, like TIVO didn't infringe on copyright...it's the USERS who infringed. Patel's decision is like finding Smith and Wesson guilty of murder because someone got killed with one of the guns they manufactured. Yet..(clueless) Judge Patel found against Napster. Hmmmm..I wonder if she ever has to pay for another CD? Anyone willing to give me odds on the size of her swiss bank account?
I got a month's severance pay. Unemployment in California is a massive $230.00 a week! The COBRA payments for my family's health insurance (court ordered) were $797.00 a month. You do the math. I survived by selling lots of stuff, living frugally (and I mean cutting out EVERY unnecessary thing), and sending out literally 500 + resumes. I finally found a job 500 miles away in Tucson that has five times the work for 75% of the pay. Now my credit is beyond shot (I'm barely staying out of bankruptcy), and some weeks I still have pocket change for $$. In a way it's funny when a credit card company calls up and demands 400 bucks and you have 40 cents in your checking account....then they wonder why I'm lauging out loud on the phone. But...I had a wonderful girlfriend (who is now my wife), who shared her house, her food and her money with me. I start a new job in L.A. on 3/1 that pays more then I was making before all this happened (and they recruited me!). My advice? Keep hanging in there...there is a light at the end of the tunnel...just make sure it isn't attached to a freight train!
moron
We had to walk five miles in a blizzard to use the 'net. You young whippersnappers have it way too easy..Just open the browser and there it is. We 'roughed it' to use the 'net. We used Trumpet Winsock and Windows 3.1 ...and Mosaic!
Youngens...they just have it way too easy!But I'll tell you..those shell and SLIP accounts..they just don't make 'em like they used to in the good old days!
I was beta testing a piece of equipment. Made an off the cuff remark about another (not thought of) use for it with a minor modification. The company did it, and made a fortune with it. THEN they had the balls to demand the prototype back (but I could get a finished one..at regular price of course!). I didn't bite.... I think if a beta tester does or suggests something that adds a significant value to the product, they should be compensated in some way. Otherwise, the company is stealing....
Since September 11th, OUR (caps for emphasis) Government has been acting with a "ready, fire, aim" mentality. I mean hordes of FBI and troops with machine guns to pick up a 15 year old kid?? We are in a very dangerous place here. The U.S. to me seems to be at a crossroads - are we to be a free, open society as planned by our founding fathers or a closed, military state? See, I believe that it has to be one or the other. Seems to me that the U.S. has plenty to atone for internationally too. We're not as innocent as we think we are. Every day covert operations are going on all over the world courtesy of us. People are being killed (sometimes a lot of them) because of our behavor. Do I advocate terrorism? NO WAY. I don't advocate it when ANYONE does it, INCLUDING our government. Maybe the Govt. doesn't call what they do terrorism, but for all practical purposes it is. In the past, we've overthrown governments, invoked the Marshall plan (which says that the U.S. can do basically whatever they want to in the Americas), assassinated people, etc. etc. I guess what I'm saying is that before we go and put down others for having a dirty house, we need to make sure ours is clean! And it isn't. America needs to lose the smug arrogance we've had for the past 50 years. We need to stop thinking that our way is so good that everyone (of course) wants to BE us! Fact is, they don't. If they did, Cuba would have fallen years ago. Indeed, we have to start by not oppressing our OWN citizens! The past century is filled to the brim with examples of oppression by our own government of it's citizens. Americans were imprisoned and even died at the hands of the U.S. Government. Look at McCarthyism as an example. If we don't learn from the mistakes of the past, we WILL repeat them. Problem is, that's happening as we speak.
wow. Thank you Mrs. Robinson.
That most of the RF radiation received on earth comes from space...you know from places like the SUN! I know...Mendocino is going to build a giant aluminumized dome over itself..and become the SUN FREE ZONE! What a pure whacko!
"During one quarter alone, these inflated commissions on profit-sharing trades accounted for over 22 percent of CSFB's commission revenue". A 100 million dollar fine for this? Give me a break! CSFB made BILLIONS from this! This isn't even a slap on the wrist for them. It's like saying: Okay Joe, you robbed a bank of $100,000...and for that we're fining you $1.00! Until these crooked firms REALLY GET PUNISHED for their crimes, there's simply no incentive for them to BE HONEST! Who says crime doesn't pay? Apparently if you're big enough of rich enough it certainly does!
after getting the letter that said she'd be cut off if she didn't. She's no techie, she's a Social Worker who needs uninterrupted 'net for her job! Qwest and MSN prey on non technical types who think DSL is like the phone; you order it and it works, which is ironic beacuse it took five weeks of constant calls to MSN tech support to get it working properly. I will give credit to the MSN tech support people, they WANT to help but most of the time their hands seem to be tied. Frankly, I can't complain about the service once they fixed it. It's very reliable and has reasonable speed (540 down, 230 up) on a 640/256 line. One big thing is that I still have the Cisco 678 modem (which I own). I've heard 1001 horror stories about the Arescom modems. I thought about switching ISP's but since I'll be moving in April, I'm not going to bother...too many horror stories of people losing service for months during the switch. With regards to Qwest, they are truly an evil company. They constantly screw up my phone bills (and the screw ups always favor them, of course!) They bill for services you don't have. They over billed me 100 bucks for my Cisco modem. They double billed everyone in AZ for their MSN DSL service last month. Their biggest obscenity however is the way that they treat their employees. I know several present and former Qwest employees who are good people and really care about satisfying the customer. Qwest's mountains of red tape makes this impossible, which is very frustrating to them. Their employees are also treated like shit...Qwest is a prime example of the need for unions! QWORST....Ride the lie!
With the deal that Qworst and MSN have MSN assumes 'ownership' of the DSL part of your line. This means that until MSN releases the line, Qworst can't put another DSL customer onto it.
Typically, this can take months.
By the way, Qworst double billed everyone in AZ for MSN DSL service last month. MSN didn't even know about it.
Who will force you to watch the commercials. Also, Time shifting will be for a maximum of 30 days. After that, the recordings will delete. The content providers will hold all the cards, thanks to Congress and the DMCA. They might even have the audacity to make you pay to record a program. They'll certainly have the ability to control most everything. There will be over the air encryption. Don't pay..you can't watch. Skip the commercials, you can't watch. Don't interact with the commercials? You can'5t watch either! If you don't think this is happening, think again. I'm in the media and it WILL happen... Give them 10 years.....you'll see.
Then go buy a ticket for their next concert. Even if you can'y go, buy one anyway. I can tell you for a FACT that buying one ticket puts more cash into their pocket then buying a dozen of their CD's. Screw the record labels. Screw Hilary Rosen (oh wait, guys can't do her LOL). Put the money where it belongs..in the pockets of the performers!
This is a SCAM if there ever was one. Here's how it works: 1. Become a monopoly (but of course LIE and say you're not one). 2. Sue everyone in sight...but make sure you RIP THEM OFF before you sue them! 3. Continue to rip them off AFTER you sue them. 4. Sue them totally out of business. 5. Steal what's left (that which you couldn't steal before). Make sure you pick that carcass clean now! Of course, you may do this with the full support and encouragement of the Congress and court system....after all, we ARE a capitalist country you know!
See, I want my phone to work during a power failure, and with the cable infrastructure built as it is, it won't. I want to be able to CALL the power company to report a local power outage. During a storm, I want to be able to CALL the police and fire departments and/or an ambulance if one of my loved ones is sick or injured. Cellular service is spotty at best where I live and therefore, I want the phone to work...just as it has the last 100 years or so. No, I don't care about 'advanced' services during a power failure. My computer and TV won't work during a power failure. Neither will my lights. There's candles for that. BUT I do want basic voice service to continue to work.
enough said!
The U.S. has traditionally been behind in adopting new technlolgies. ISDN is the perfect example. ISDN was widely available in Europe in the early 1980's but it took another 10 years for it to arrive in the U.S. Why? simple. Big corporations are very slow to upgrade anything. The telcos squeezed every last hour they could out of the old mechanical central offices until they literally were falling apart. Only then did they upgrade to ESS CO's. In Europe, ESS came many years earlier. All of corporate America is this way! Just look at how many 300 Mhz (36 channel) cable systems are still out there. Corporate America will only spend $$ on infrastructure when they absolutely have to - kicking and screaming all the way......
Look around! Everywhere you look freedom is slowing being eroded. Courts are ruling against the people. Congress and the President are passing laws against the people. WHY? Because the people are LETTING THEM!! "The price of freedom is eternal vigilence".
If you want an answer to this, go to ebay or Ubid or any other number of auction sites. The stuff usually gies for OUTRAGEOUS prices. Frankly, I find much better deals in the want ads...or at swap meets or even yard sales. I have no idea what it is about auctions that make so many ppl overbid. Just for the hell of it, I put in a bunch of what I thought to be reasonable bids at ebay. I didn'twin a single thing..and many items went for over twice what I bid...some even for more then you could buy them for new. THEN add shipping & handling in...
Anyway, I can't figure the attraction out....
By about 225 years... "People who are willing to sacrifice liberty for security deserve neither".