.. the intifada not destroyed his company, but has actually made it a leaner and more efficient organization
Hmm, what we can learn from business under fire... I fear our next headcount reduction.
Re:If both sides settled things
on
Business Under Fire
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· Score: 2, Insightful
Have you ever heard any palestenian or israeli ever have a conversation about this subject without reeling off all the wrongdoings the evil others did in the past?.
Hell yes. Just go and listen to normal Palestinian or Israelite. All you probably hear is the warhawk politicians in the country, who derive power and popularity from the conflict, or from politicians in other countries who have firmly decided which side is right to them, and which is wrong. The press is just as bad, whenever the conflict makes the news, they love to show those shots of bombed cafes, bulldozed houses, guys waving machine guns in glee, and soldiers at checkpoints mistreating the people passing by.
There are people on both sides who wish this war ended. Even many who dislike the other side for what they did, might 'hug & make up' given the opportunity. But these people do not make the evening news, nor do they often make it into politics.
Re:How Israeli Companies Are Succeeding...
on
Business Under Fire
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· Score: 1
An anonymous post, with anti-semite tones, gets modded as insightful on Slashdot?
1) I see nothing particularly anti-Israel in that post, or a statement that their success is hampering anyone else.. Simply stating that the American donations (which are a public fact) to Israel are helping the companies there is hardly anti-Israel, even if it is false.
2) Anti Israel != Anti semitic. That is a mistake (intentionally) made all too often by the pro-Israel factions, especially in Europe, since over here being an anti-semite is a close second to being the antichrist himself.
For the record, I am neutral on the Israel vs. Palestine issue, but I am utterly sick and tired of the way most people of both sides are fighting the conflict; both those fighting with actual weapons or those with words, they are all in the wrong.
Not that he minds downloading free music and pr0n but ultimatly he does see it as theft.
If he is downloading copyrighted works without the owner's permission, it is theft. Alwas was, and always should be. (And please, no nitpicking over the use of the word 'theft' instead of 'copyright infringement'). The very idea that the problem with our current IP laws is that we cannot freely download everything we want, is hurting the community. This is exactly what Bill Gates and his pals want the public to think: that those who seek to reform IP laws only want stuff without having to pay for it.
The real problem with IP laws, as I see it, are more in the domain of patent law, how that law is applied and enforced, the duration for which IP rights are granted, and fair-use rights. But I see nothing wrong with granting (for a limited time) the rights to charge for creative works to the creator, and denying the rights to leechers to avail themselves of those works without payment.
...a common European practice to mandate an additional levy on the price of any appliance that can be used to copy copyrighted material.
The levy is generally not on equipment, but on blank media, which is the fairest way to collect it from a practical standpoint: the equipment is used for many other things besides copying and not everyone engages in that, whereas the blank media are used almost eclusively to store copyrighted content. I'm not sure how the German law is worded... in Holland, the law explicitly names the media to which the levy applies (tapes, cds, dvds).
Seems to me that an attempt to convince the court that this levy shouldn't be applied would have to include an attack on all the other levies.
No, courts only deal with the application of law to a particular case, never with the law itself (excluding courts which can throw out unconstitutional laws). If a judge would rule that the levy should not include computers, all the existing levies would still remain legal. And even if a judge finds this article of law so badly worded that a case can be made against all levies of this kind, the legislator would simply change the law so that it again accurately reflects the intent of the legislator. This can and does happen all the time. Even so, any ramificiations outside the case would never be taken into consideration by a judge. If his ruling completely screws up IP taxation, traffic regulations and the movements of the very planets, he'd still pronounce it, if it would be the correct application of the law to the case at hand. Politics doesn't enter into it.
By the way, if I remember correctly, Canada for one applies the levy also to hard disks (I'm not sure Germany does this). So Canadians already pay the IP tax on their computers.
Yes, that's the point. In Germany, copying for private purposes is explicitly allowed by law.
If people are forced pay this hefty tax on blank media and even on computers, then private copying should become a right rather than a privilege. That means that publishers should be forbidden to add any DRM, region codes, Macrovision and whatnot to their content.
Of course that side of the bargain is always conveniently overlooked. I hope this 'success' won't mean similar arrangements in other European countries; but the movie industry would love to collect a tax for private copies we can't make.
If the German agency for collecting royalties is anything like the Dutch one, the answer would be yes... and no. At a rough guess, half the money collected is used to pay for the collection agency itself (as is usually the case), perhaps 15% will find its way abroad (even though most music played here is foreign); the rest goes to Dutch artists (including independent ones) divided according to radio stations' playlists.
It's hard to see how that will advance the agenda of any of the terrorists we know about right now
If they can manage to destroy the entire US eastern seaboard, terrorists of pretty much any stripe will probably accept any other damage as 'aceptable losses'.
An interesting anecdote: recently, a guy working for the public prosecutor's office threw out his computer because 'it had become unusable due to viruses and stuff'. A taxi driver noticed the computer sitting in the trash can, and took it with him. Later he gave it to a well-known investigative reporter, since he found that the computer was a veritable treasure trove of sensitive informations about criminal investigations, informants, passwords into secured email accounts and whatnot.
Incidentally, the prosecutor who threw out his computer, later resigned/was fired (not sure which).
That sounds like evolution is something that deliberately picks what it thinks are good traits, and then decides to keep them around. In other words: God:)
Perhaps left-handedness doesn't have any advantages, but no drawbacks detrimental to survival either. That too would allow it to remain in the 'gene pool'.
In the Netherlands there are many intersections with separate traffic lights for bicycles, and a separate 'call button' similar to the one for pedestrians. The button lights up when you push it... and also, quite reliably, lights up by itself when you pull up to the stop line.
I guess it works fine for bikes, but you need separate detection loops for them.
I remember compaints about a Windows NT server slowing down to a crawl even when there weren't that many people using it. So the SysOp would fire up a few performance monitors and keep an eye on the thing. Sure enough: no slowdowns, no performance issues, normal operation. But every time when the guy would leave, the system would slow down again after 5 minutes or so. For a few days this had us stumped.
Then someone figured out that the system had the 'pipes' screensaver on that came with NT3.51. Of course, as soon as we started to diagnose the machine, the screensaver would disappear. And yes... the screensaver turned out to be the culprit, sucking all the system resources away. We removed it and all was well.
Does anyone know who coined the term 'heisenbug' by the way?
But to the extent that fiddling with the next gadget takse your mind off the main goal, viz, making yourself liked by the locals, then leaving, it is counterproductive.
Clearing a building, road or field of unexploded mines and stuff like that, is not a bad way to get in the locals' good book.
Since when is it piracy to copy and share copies of tv shows THAT ARE ON TV? I pay my dues in cable bills, so how the hell is it illegal? Recording shows to VHS has been done plenty of times - and you'd think they'd want you to watch the shows again and again....
It's (probably) not the copying they are worried about, but the sharing. Same as with movies on DVD: you pay your dues when you purchase the DVD, and you should be allowed to copy it, but distributing those copies online is not allowed and rightly so.
If I can download all my favorite shows from people who capture and share them online, why on earth would I still need to pay for cable or watch commercials? People deciding to drop cable and download shows instead means lost revenue for cable companies and TV stations, so they are rightly worried.
With that said, I wouldn't know what rights pertain to recordings of TV shows, but I imagine it's much the same as with movies.
Most european countries have substantial socialist components to thier governments. This means that when these people quit working they'll have..
... not a great deal. We in the Netherlands pay only partly towards our own pension; the rest of the payments are premiums for a state pension. These premiums are to pay for the people who are retiring now, so they're spent immediately rather than saved up. You can see the problem here (everyone can except the politicians): the babyboomer generation is about to retire en masse, and the system is about to explode because the collected premiums do not nearly cover the pensions paid out. Young people can look forward to paying double pension premiums, and since there is no guarantee whatsoever the pension scheme will exist when they retire themselves, I advise them to do what I do and start saving for their own old age. So yes, I am paying triple.
Lithium ion batteries, so popular for their power density, are inherently unstable if they are overcharged or become too hot (about 140 F is the threshold).
These batteries are very tricky... I would advise everyone to buy A-brand batteries only, but even good batteries charged on a proper charger can explode, if the pack becomes 'unbalanced' ie. one cell is discharged less than the others in the pack, and can thus become overcharged during the charge cycle.
I use these batteries myself in R/C models, and I take proper precautions:
- My packs all have a 'Cell balancer' installed, which monitors individual cells during charging.
- I put the pack (or my cellphone) to be charged inside a metal ammunitions box partially filled with sand covered by plastic, and I put a plastic bag filled with sand on top of the pack.
- I never leave the house during the charge cycle.
Paranoid? While I haven't heard of cell phones exploding while on the charger, I have plenty of examples (including 'after' photos) of people charging LiIon packs unattended, resulting in a burnt-out models, carpets, car seats and yes: houses.
That's what I miss on the Project Honeypot site statistics! It lists nr. of spams received, servers identified, etc, but I want statistics on the follow-through as well!
- Nr of scumbag spammers identified.
- Nr of bookclubs, cooky sects and mail order firms these spammers have been signed up with.
- Nr of spammers served/sued.
- Nr of spammers drawn & quartered by angry mob.
Come one... inquiring (and vengeful) mind wants to know.
An LCD makes it possible to actually see the individual pixels.
I heard that this can actually be harded on the eyes when reading lots of text off an LCD panel. If you work on an LCD for longer periods of time, you should turn on the 'soft fonts' option (or whatever it's called) which adds anti-aliasing to fonts. I've done this on my laptop, and I think I can notice less eyestrain, but it's hard to tell since eyestrain has never bothered me much since I switched to LCDs.
This idea will never happen. Too many people enjoy driving for this to really catch on.
Since not everyone will have an AutoDrive vehicle when the system is first introduced, there will have to be provisions to mix the two types of traffic. Then, when the old-fashioned lovers of driving sit for hours in their traffic jam, and watch the automatic vehicles whizz by in a special lane at 250km/h, they will probably reconsider their decision to drive themselves. No, I think this system will sell itself.
With all the writing this guy does, on physics, the stock market and on other stuff, you wonder where he finds the time to do any actual research. Reading his 'proof' about the limits on output of a fusion reactor, I can draw only one conclusion: he's a crackpot.
Oh and in between cracking the secrets to the stockmarkets and proving wrong all the eminent scientists who believe fusion power can work, he also solved the problem of the Grand Unified Theory of Physics, according to his website.
This is not intended as a flame; but I have some serious problems taking this guy seriously.
I have to say that toys that invole the real world beat the heck heck out of video games. I have to wonder what we are teaching our kids.
Heh, you mentioned R/C planes too, which reminds me of an interview I read recently with one of the world's leading scale R/C modellers. The guy was driving a turbojet-powered R/C model of an F18 up and down the street. Every now and then some kids on bicycles passed this model, but didn't spare it more than a glance. Dunno, but in my days any R/C airplane (or even a control line one) had the all neighbourhood's kids out in force to gape at it (including the girls, I might add)
Are those still available or has rc become so cheap that those are not worth it anymore?
Control line (U-Control) airplanes are still alive and kicking, up to and including international competitions and events. Visit your local hobby shop; they should have some and they won't cost a lot either.
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There are people on both sides who wish this war ended. Even many who dislike the other side for what they did, might 'hug & make up' given the opportunity. But these people do not make the evening news, nor do they often make it into politics.
2) Anti Israel != Anti semitic. That is a mistake (intentionally) made all too often by the pro-Israel factions, especially in Europe, since over here being an anti-semite is a close second to being the antichrist himself.
For the record, I am neutral on the Israel vs. Palestine issue, but I am utterly sick and tired of the way most people of both sides are fighting the conflict; both those fighting with actual weapons or those with words, they are all in the wrong.
The real problem with IP laws, as I see it, are more in the domain of patent law, how that law is applied and enforced, the duration for which IP rights are granted, and fair-use rights. But I see nothing wrong with granting (for a limited time) the rights to charge for creative works to the creator, and denying the rights to leechers to avail themselves of those works without payment.
By the way, if I remember correctly, Canada for one applies the levy also to hard disks (I'm not sure Germany does this). So Canadians already pay the IP tax on their computers.
Of course that side of the bargain is always conveniently overlooked. I hope this 'success' won't mean similar arrangements in other European countries; but the movie industry would love to collect a tax for private copies we can't make.
If the German agency for collecting royalties is anything like the Dutch one, the answer would be yes... and no. At a rough guess, half the money collected is used to pay for the collection agency itself (as is usually the case), perhaps 15% will find its way abroad (even though most music played here is foreign); the rest goes to Dutch artists (including independent ones) divided according to radio stations' playlists.
Not apathy, but ignorance.
An interesting anecdote: recently, a guy working for the public prosecutor's office threw out his computer because 'it had become unusable due to viruses and stuff'. A taxi driver noticed the computer sitting in the trash can, and took it with him. Later he gave it to a well-known investigative reporter, since he found that the computer was a veritable treasure trove of sensitive informations about criminal investigations, informants, passwords into secured email accounts and whatnot.
Incidentally, the prosecutor who threw out his computer, later resigned/was fired (not sure which).
Perhaps left-handedness doesn't have any advantages, but no drawbacks detrimental to survival either. That too would allow it to remain in the 'gene pool'.
I guess it works fine for bikes, but you need separate detection loops for them.
I remember compaints about a Windows NT server slowing down to a crawl even when there weren't that many people using it. So the SysOp would fire up a few performance monitors and keep an eye on the thing. Sure enough: no slowdowns, no performance issues, normal operation. But every time when the guy would leave, the system would slow down again after 5 minutes or so. For a few days this had us stumped.
Then someone figured out that the system had the 'pipes' screensaver on that came with NT3.51. Of course, as soon as we started to diagnose the machine, the screensaver would disappear. And yes... the screensaver turned out to be the culprit, sucking all the system resources away. We removed it and all was well.
Does anyone know who coined the term 'heisenbug' by the way?
If I can download all my favorite shows from people who capture and share them online, why on earth would I still need to pay for cable or watch commercials? People deciding to drop cable and download shows instead means lost revenue for cable companies and TV stations, so they are rightly worried.
With that said, I wouldn't know what rights pertain to recordings of TV shows, but I imagine it's much the same as with movies.
That is what socialism brings you. Beware.
I use these batteries myself in R/C models, and I take proper precautions:
- My packs all have a 'Cell balancer' installed, which monitors individual cells during charging.
- I put the pack (or my cellphone) to be charged inside a metal ammunitions box partially filled with sand covered by plastic, and I put a plastic bag filled with sand on top of the pack.
- I never leave the house during the charge cycle.
Paranoid? While I haven't heard of cell phones exploding while on the charger, I have plenty of examples (including 'after' photos) of people charging LiIon packs unattended, resulting in a burnt-out models, carpets, car seats and yes: houses.
That's what I miss on the Project Honeypot site statistics! It lists nr. of spams received, servers identified, etc, but I want statistics on the follow-through as well!
- Nr of scumbag spammers identified.
- Nr of bookclubs, cooky sects and mail order firms these spammers have been signed up with.
- Nr of spammers served/sued.
- Nr of spammers drawn & quartered by angry mob.
Come one... inquiring (and vengeful) mind wants to know.
With all the writing this guy does, on physics, the stock market and on other stuff, you wonder where he finds the time to do any actual research. Reading his 'proof' about the limits on output of a fusion reactor, I can draw only one conclusion: he's a crackpot.
Oh and in between cracking the secrets to the stockmarkets and proving wrong all the eminent scientists who believe fusion power can work, he also solved the problem of the Grand Unified Theory of Physics, according to his website.
This is not intended as a flame; but I have some serious problems taking this guy seriously.
Parental supervision strongly advised