What is so fucking difficult about simply saying, "No thanks," and hanging up, or just hanging up, period, no conversation required? No need to be rude, angry, uncivil or impolite, just businesslike. And I don't need lists, web sites, government agencies and university professors, albeit one that has my thorough respect, to accomplish something as simple as "no."
I used to work myself into a froth over these calls until I realized it's just a phone call.
Simsubbing, or simultaneous substitution, is a CRTC rule that permits local Canadian broadcasters to overlay their commercials over the American broadcast. Essentially the practice permits local broadcasters to mirror their commercials onto American stations when Canadian stations are airing the same programs at the same time as the American broadcast.
It is a controversial practice in Canada for reasons that I won't get into, but the practice is governed by strict rules on when and how a broadcaster may simsub in Canadian commercials.
Here is the Wikipedia article that goes into more detail:
Westjet here in Canada flies variants of the 737 and nothing else. You are guaranteed to fly in a 737-700, 737-800 or 737-600. As these aircraft are all about 34" feet long, Westjet employs dual jetways at airports like Vancouver. Loading is much faster, but just as importantly people have a better opportunity to stow their carry-on luggage without blocking the aisle for those passengers waiting to pass. Calgary also is equipped with dual jetways, although it appears they don't always use them for some reason.
At smaller airports without jetways, Westjet will open the front and rear doors and move stairs in to facilitate loading and unloading.
Yes, a copyright levy is collected on CD-Rs and other media to compensate artists for personal copies of musical works, which is permitted under the Copyright Act. If I borrow a friend's music CD and copy that CD on to media purchased under the levy then I have broken no law. The caveat is a person must make the copy for themselves; you cannot make the copy for a friend and then give it to them. Of course, there is absolutely no way of determining this.
I remember in many movies from the 50s, 60's and 70s how the sturdy Bell phones were used to beat a character to death. Those were some incredibly durable and solid phones.
The patent in question is owned by a company called Minerva Industries. If you look at their web site their "products" consist of nothing more than their accumulated portfolio of patents. It's safe to say that this company has no products to speak of and is simply your typical patent troll.
IBM's expansive patent portfolio would appear to be worthless as a legal lever against a company that neither manufactures nor sells anything, unless some portion of Minerva's smartphone patent is covered by other patents IBM retains.
Regardless, I have to agree with you that Minerva taking on the biggest of the big in the technology sector with this legal challenge is sheer stupidity.
The very first thought I had when I saw tear down photos of the 360 hardware around the time the console was first released was how idiotic it was to place the DVD drive directly over the GPU, which had a pathetically inadequate heatsink in comparison to the CPU. I am not any sort of engineer, but years of tearing apart and building computers led me to conclude that the particular arrangement of the GPU under the DVD was poorly thought out.
Recent game developments I would love to see dismissed forever:
Non-interactive, long, drawn out, cinematic cut scenes. Just let me play the fucking game.
Downloadable content that isn't downloaded but only unlocked on the game disc.
Unrealistic release schedules.
Timed exclusives.
Rabid fanboi 360 versus PS3 frame by frame game comparisons. I love great games on any system.
Shitty, utterly tacked-on Wii games.
The yearly $60 sports games that feature incremental improvements and roster changes. We should be able to download roster changes by now; keep major changes to the game engine to a release every couple of years.
"As people are approaching a port of inspection, they can show the card to the reader, and by the time they get to the inspector, all the information will have been verified and they can be waved on through," said Ann Barrett, deputy assistant secretary of state for passport services, commenting on the final rule on passport cards published yesterday in the Federal Register.
Hahahahaha. You have got to be fucking kidding me. I have been the United States on two separate occasions via air in the last few years and in both cases neither myself nor any of my fellow passengers were ever "waved on through" inspection. Everybody got the royal ass raping treatment and this comment by Ann Barrett is just a bureaucratic pie-in-the-sky sales job for the new passports.
At the start of 2007 and after a Democratically controlled Congress was sworn into office I was of the opinion that impeachment should be off the table while Congress got down to some real business with a President that recognized the winds of change. I couldn't have been more wrong.
Thank you. I was going to comment along the same lines but I also wanted to point out that there is more to "inventing" than simply conceptualizing an idea, you have to make it practical and economical as well. John Logie Baird created the first working television system which he designed around electromechanical principles, but when the money men saw the superiority of an all-electronic system his invention died off. Like so many innovators before him, he wasn't able to make it practical.
Similarly, Nikola Tesla developed a working wireless system well before Marconi, but because Tesla essentially left the technology to sit on the shelf it took Marconi to popularize and promote it.
For example, the U.S. might reject Egypt's indefinite copyright claim, but Egypt can in retaliation refuse to recognize or enforce US copyright on its territory, essentially legitimazing piracy of any US copyrighted property (including, of course, software).
When my girlfriend was in Cairo a couple of years ago she saw many, many places selling burned CDs and DVDs, all underground, of course. While Egypt is probably not on the radar of the RIAA/MPAA, there is plenty of pirating that indicates U.S. copyright isn't respected now, nothing will materially change if Egypt announces they will not honor American copyrights in their country.
Wow, these scientists really were shooting for the stars. Why not start small, like say the brain of a GOP presidential candidate or that of a Britney Spears fan?
How many Bothan spies had to die to get us this information? God knows that the Democratically controlled Congress didn't do shit to get this information.
I doubt the bill, at least as it currently stands, will ever become law.
First, I would be surprised if the bill even makes it out of committee because the minority Conservatives have to beg, borrow and steal support from any and all parties for any bill to become law; they are effectively politically neutered. This has created some rather unique partnerships over the last year, with the Conservatives finding support for some bills from such ideological enemies as the left wing NDP and the separationist Bloc Quebecois. The current Parliament has been limping along like this for too long and a political showdown is coming in the form of an election. The problem is the only other party that can challenge the Conservatives, the Liberals, are laboring under an ineffective leader, an essentially non-existent platform and a divided and disorganized membership.
Second, even without the dagger of a potential election hanging over it, this legislation will almost certainly be amended, picked apart and thoroughly scrutinized by the opposition and other parties looking to embarrass the Conservatives or score political points. This is where public furor will have the most effect. If the public and affected parties can hammer home the reality of what this bill is proposing, it will leave the committee stage with amendments to the most egregious portions of the bill. Regardless, I can't think of a single piece of legislation the Conservatives have introduced since they took power that has not come back from committee without amendments. They simply do not have the votes to overturn such changes.
I am not trying to be unrealistically optimistic here, but I just don't see a need to panic -- yet. Call, write or email your MP and let them know your opinions.
This game screams for mulitplayer...
on
BioShock Backlash
·
· Score: 1
The entire time I was playing Bioshock the same thought ran through my head: "This game just begs for a multiplayer element to it." 2K Games threw away some exciting multiplayer substance with the plasmid and weapon upgrade elements of the game. Combined with the unique underwater environments, it could have come together nicely.
Look at Call of Duty 4, without the online mutliplayer it would have been in the same category as Bioshock; an incredible game with very little replay value.
Technically, there is no reason why Orange Box should have turned out the way it did. Not when games like COD 4, Drake's Fortune and Ratchet and Clank have shown what the PS3 is capable of in the hands of a conscientious development team.
Financially is another matter. It seems EA just didn't want to allocate the assets necessary to produce a top notch game, and that shows.
I hope two things result from this fiasco:
1. That sales of Orange Box for the PS3 absolutely tank. Resulting in...
2. EA never again produces another PS3 title, leaving a sizable void for a better, smarter studio to fill in the gap. Personally, I wouldn't shed a single tear if EA announced that they will never develop for the PS3 again.
Something tells me that as word spreads of just how bad Orange Box is the former is likely to happen, while the latter will not and this time next year everyone will have the same conversation about the disconnect between the quality of EA titles and those produced by everyone else.
Yes, but parody is fair use. What else could one conclude other than that the laughably ridiculous antics of Creationists are nothing more than a parody of science?
Reading through this thread I see that many have suggested technical solutions or humorous responses to "ghost" type telemarketing calls. I simply don't have the time or the patience to waste on such "solutions" and simply hang up, even if the phone droid is droning on.
The next time you receive one of these calls, just hang up. Don't waste your time, don't install some advanced phone system, don't engage in conversation, don't get angry and don't try and be funny (unless you are). Just hang up the fucking phone and get on with your life.
Slashdot Mirror
What is so fucking difficult about simply saying, "No thanks," and hanging up, or just hanging up, period, no conversation required? No need to be rude, angry, uncivil or impolite, just businesslike. And I don't need lists, web sites, government agencies and university professors, albeit one that has my thorough respect, to accomplish something as simple as "no."
I used to work myself into a froth over these calls until I realized it's just a phone call.
You take the good, you take the bad and there you have the facts of life.
Simsubbing, or simultaneous substitution, is a CRTC rule that permits local Canadian broadcasters to overlay their commercials over the American broadcast. Essentially the practice permits local broadcasters to mirror their commercials onto American stations when Canadian stations are airing the same programs at the same time as the American broadcast.
It is a controversial practice in Canada for reasons that I won't get into, but the practice is governed by strict rules on when and how a broadcaster may simsub in Canadian commercials.
Here is the Wikipedia article that goes into more detail:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simultaneous_substitution
Westjet here in Canada flies variants of the 737 and nothing else. You are guaranteed to fly in a 737-700, 737-800 or 737-600. As these aircraft are all about 34" feet long, Westjet employs dual jetways at airports like Vancouver. Loading is much faster, but just as importantly people have a better opportunity to stow their carry-on luggage without blocking the aisle for those passengers waiting to pass. Calgary also is equipped with dual jetways, although it appears they don't always use them for some reason.
At smaller airports without jetways, Westjet will open the front and rear doors and move stairs in to facilitate loading and unloading.
It really does work better.
Apparently the counterfeit Cisco products were labeled "D-Link."
Yes, a copyright levy is collected on CD-Rs and other media to compensate artists for personal copies of musical works, which is permitted under the Copyright Act. If I borrow a friend's music CD and copy that CD on to media purchased under the levy then I have broken no law. The caveat is a person must make the copy for themselves; you cannot make the copy for a friend and then give it to them. Of course, there is absolutely no way of determining this.
I remember in many movies from the 50s, 60's and 70s how the sturdy Bell phones were used to beat a character to death. Those were some incredibly durable and solid phones.
Don't you mean GNU is stupid?
The patent in question is owned by a company called Minerva Industries. If you look at their web site their "products" consist of nothing more than their accumulated portfolio of patents. It's safe to say that this company has no products to speak of and is simply your typical patent troll.
IBM's expansive patent portfolio would appear to be worthless as a legal lever against a company that neither manufactures nor sells anything, unless some portion of Minerva's smartphone patent is covered by other patents IBM retains.
Regardless, I have to agree with you that Minerva taking on the biggest of the big in the technology sector with this legal challenge is sheer stupidity.
The very first thought I had when I saw tear down photos of the 360 hardware around the time the console was first released was how idiotic it was to place the DVD drive directly over the GPU, which had a pathetically inadequate heatsink in comparison to the CPU. I am not any sort of engineer, but years of tearing apart and building computers led me to conclude that the particular arrangement of the GPU under the DVD was poorly thought out.
Oh, you mean presentations where the presenter simply reads off a Powerpoint slide?
From TFA:
"As people are approaching a port of inspection, they can show the card to the reader, and by the time they get to the inspector, all the information will have been verified and they can be waved on through," said Ann Barrett, deputy assistant secretary of state for passport services, commenting on the final rule on passport cards published yesterday in the Federal Register.
Hahahahaha. You have got to be fucking kidding me. I have been the United States on two separate occasions via air in the last few years and in both cases neither myself nor any of my fellow passengers were ever "waved on through" inspection. Everybody got the royal ass raping treatment and this comment by Ann Barrett is just a bureaucratic pie-in-the-sky sales job for the new passports.
At the start of 2007 and after a Democratically controlled Congress was sworn into office I was of the opinion that impeachment should be off the table while Congress got down to some real business with a President that recognized the winds of change. I couldn't have been more wrong.
Thank you. I was going to comment along the same lines but I also wanted to point out that there is more to "inventing" than simply conceptualizing an idea, you have to make it practical and economical as well. John Logie Baird created the first working television system which he designed around electromechanical principles, but when the money men saw the superiority of an all-electronic system his invention died off. Like so many innovators before him, he wasn't able to make it practical.
Similarly, Nikola Tesla developed a working wireless system well before Marconi, but because Tesla essentially left the technology to sit on the shelf it took Marconi to popularize and promote it.
When my girlfriend was in Cairo a couple of years ago she saw many, many places selling burned CDs and DVDs, all underground, of course. While Egypt is probably not on the radar of the RIAA/MPAA, there is plenty of pirating that indicates U.S. copyright isn't respected now, nothing will materially change if Egypt announces they will not honor American copyrights in their country.
Wow, these scientists really were shooting for the stars. Why not start small, like say the brain of a GOP presidential candidate or that of a Britney Spears fan?
How many Bothan spies had to die to get us this information? God knows that the Democratically controlled Congress didn't do shit to get this information.
I doubt the bill, at least as it currently stands, will ever become law.
First, I would be surprised if the bill even makes it out of committee because the minority Conservatives have to beg, borrow and steal support from any and all parties for any bill to become law; they are effectively politically neutered. This has created some rather unique partnerships over the last year, with the Conservatives finding support for some bills from such ideological enemies as the left wing NDP and the separationist Bloc Quebecois. The current Parliament has been limping along like this for too long and a political showdown is coming in the form of an election. The problem is the only other party that can challenge the Conservatives, the Liberals, are laboring under an ineffective leader, an essentially non-existent platform and a divided and disorganized membership.
Second, even without the dagger of a potential election hanging over it, this legislation will almost certainly be amended, picked apart and thoroughly scrutinized by the opposition and other parties looking to embarrass the Conservatives or score political points. This is where public furor will have the most effect. If the public and affected parties can hammer home the reality of what this bill is proposing, it will leave the committee stage with amendments to the most egregious portions of the bill. Regardless, I can't think of a single piece of legislation the Conservatives have introduced since they took power that has not come back from committee without amendments. They simply do not have the votes to overturn such changes.
I am not trying to be unrealistically optimistic here, but I just don't see a need to panic -- yet. Call, write or email your MP and let them know your opinions.
The entire time I was playing Bioshock the same thought ran through my head: "This game just begs for a multiplayer element to it." 2K Games threw away some exciting multiplayer substance with the plasmid and weapon upgrade elements of the game. Combined with the unique underwater environments, it could have come together nicely.
Look at Call of Duty 4, without the online mutliplayer it would have been in the same category as Bioshock; an incredible game with very little replay value.
Strange, I went back and changed it before hitting "Submit".
It's actually a peeve of my own. "CD's" instead of CDs.
*Shrug* Oh well...
Jesus also loves you, but everyone else thinks your an asshole.
Technically, there is no reason why Orange Box should have turned out the way it did. Not when games like COD 4, Drake's Fortune and Ratchet and Clank have shown what the PS3 is capable of in the hands of a conscientious development team.
Financially is another matter. It seems EA just didn't want to allocate the assets necessary to produce a top notch game, and that shows.
I hope two things result from this fiasco:
1. That sales of Orange Box for the PS3 absolutely tank. Resulting in...
2. EA never again produces another PS3 title, leaving a sizable void for a better, smarter studio to fill in the gap. Personally, I wouldn't shed a single tear if EA announced that they will never develop for the PS3 again.
Something tells me that as word spreads of just how bad Orange Box is the former is likely to happen, while the latter will not and this time next year everyone will have the same conversation about the disconnect between the quality of EA titles and those produced by everyone else.
Yes, but parody is fair use. What else could one conclude other than that the laughably ridiculous antics of Creationists are nothing more than a parody of science?
Reading through this thread I see that many have suggested technical solutions or humorous responses to "ghost" type telemarketing calls. I simply don't have the time or the patience to waste on such "solutions" and simply hang up, even if the phone droid is droning on.
The next time you receive one of these calls, just hang up. Don't waste your time, don't install some advanced phone system, don't engage in conversation, don't get angry and don't try and be funny (unless you are). Just hang up the fucking phone and get on with your life.