What if 3rd partys promote it as a tool with illegal uses?
Heh - we should all start promoting Windows File Share as a P2P method for copyright infringement. It would be interesting to watch Microsoft squirm out of that one...:)
My kids have a few games that don't run without the install CD in the CD drive - copy protection, I guess, as it means you can't "borrow" someone else's CD. This method only works if the user is an Administrator, or "RunAs" maybe. I'd rather not let my kids have admin mode, so I went out and found a cracked copy of the game binary. I still have the original install disks, but they're safely put away where they won't get sticky, dusty or scratched.
When you buy a house, you get a valuation made so that your mortgage company can see that it's worth at least what you're offering. That valuation takes into account three or more similar properties that have sold recently in the nearby area.
When I bought my current house, it was surrounded mostly by open fields, and the valuation area was quite large. Now, though, those fields have become brand new neighborhoods, where the houses are squeezed onto 1/4th acre (or less) lots, and each empty lot sells for up to $70,000. My house was recently valued at around $100,000, but it sits in 3/4th acre, so the land itself ought to be worth up to $200,000, going by the current prices just 2 blocks down the road.
If the town decided this mostly 25-year-old neighborhood of 65 houses needed redeveloping, what do you think we'd be paid?? The current evaluation, or the current value of the land?? That's not a question of "what if, sometime in the future", it's a question of right now.
This neighborhood would so easily qualify for redevelopment "for the public good" - it's roughly 50 acres with 65 houses, but at current empty lot sizes, that translates to around 200 lots. By hanging onto to our old houses, we're denying 135 other families the right to pay city taxes...
I think in the main I agree with you. The "fair price" should be set relative to the value of a nearby empty lot + the cost of building an equivalent house on it at current prices. With that kind of "fair price", I'd expect to get around $200,000 for my land. On top of that, the current price for building a 2,000 sq.ft., 4 bedroom house sits at around $150,000 to $200,000, in these parts. That's what it would cost for a new house owner in this area to get the same size lot and the same size house, and that's what I'd expect as a "fair price". I bet I'd be lucky to see $100,000, though...
If your local government makes a bad decision, such as this one, it's a lot easier to deal with. A leaflet and word-of-mouth campaign will reach other local people who could equally be affected by such a decision as this one. If pressure is kept up, every single elected official who voted for the decision, or who abdicated responsibility and handed it over to another party, can be un-elected again. That's far harder to do when the Federal Government fucks you over...
What's needed is a big stink right now, through that whole area, then let it go quiet until the next round of elections. In the meantime, gather up evidence of other similar bad decisions and how people have been affected, then at election time, raise another big stink and present clear, rational statements of the facts. Leave nothing unverified, so that there's no way to refute the facts.
I wonder if the State would have been so quick to take the properties if the "fair market value" was set at the price Pfizer would have to pay for commercial land.
Second that. Software makers shouldn't be allowed to disclaim all responsibility for their products. They should be forced to deal with the consequences of their shoddy software. I'm constantly amazed that, in sue-happy America, software makers are allowed to get away with producing such crap.
For example, I just bought a brand new GPS receiver that came with Rand McNally Streetfinder. The map doesn't even show the entire neighborhood where I live, and the roads have been here since at least 1978. The map is crap, but I have very little chance of getting a refund. Instead I'll probably end up getting another GPS mapping application, and that'll likely be crap too. The best I've seen so far is USAPhotoMaps (from jdmcox.com), which uses actual satellite photos from Microsoft's TerraServer. At least the roads and houses are accurate as of the time the photos were taken (mid 1990's), even if it doesn't have a builtin navigation function.
I remember Collosal Cave Adventure, but not the other thing. I drew out a set of maps for it by reading the travel table in the (Fortran!) source. I could run around the whole cave system and steal everything before the pirate showed up...
Ah, but that assumption isn't necessarily valid. For example, I have a WAP that has several different power levels. I think right now it's set for the low level, because the only wifi-connected computer in the house at present is usually close to it. Later in the year I may increase the power so I can get wifi out by my pool...
No, because some people are absolute bastards and vandalize other people's vehicles in apartment parking lots that are inadequately lit and have absolutely no security. My daughter's husband's Jeep had a window smashed and a tire slashed, and while we think it might have been related to another incident in the parking lot, we have no proof. A camera on her balcony hooked up to a motion sensor and VCR could probably have nailed the bastard.
Plus, some people just like to be able to check who's at their front door before opening it, and those little fish-eye view holes just don't cover enough area. Paranoid?? Maybe. Have people been mugged and robbed in that apartment complex?? Sure as hell have. What did management do?? Recently sold out to another, slightly less conscientious management company...
The frame could have other uses too - the thing's networked, so presumably it could be fed images from elsewhere, such as from a security camera whenever a motion detector saw something moving in its field of view.
There used to be a test program in SunOS Windows (before Solaris..) called ico, which would bounce a wireframe icosahedron around a window. Someone came up with a better version and called it psycho (I think), which would bounce the icosahedron between multiple independant SunOs displays. It would be interesting to watch someone's reaction to seeing something like that slowly glide out of one picture frame and into another...
The question you really have to ask yourself is, by this one horrendous action, can I save many more lives?? In the case of Nagasaki, arms and munitions plants were *also* knocked out, so that even if Japan had not surrendered, their means for continuing the war was greatly reduced. Does that outweigh the aftermath of two nuclear weapons?? I don't know.
Radon also occurs naturally over granite. People living on or near to large areas of granite are advised *not* to try to make their houses completely airtight, to avoid a build-up of radon gas.
There are even places in Scotland, and probably elsewhere, where the natural background radiation is so high that you can get more than the maximum recommended dosage just by walking around outside.
Secodn that - shoot for the ideal, knowing full well that the customer will very likely move the goal posts before you're finished, either shortening the deadline and/or insisting on bolt-on extras with no additional time allowed.
Make that definitely causing yourself huge amounts of grief, especially when you have some complex apps to validate on the new environment. We're behind several layers of firewalls and can afford to take it easy with all but the most extremely urgent patches. There's a whole department responsible for checking that any given patch won't screw anything up. Once they're satisfied, it goes out on the auto-update.
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Heh - we should all start promoting Windows File Share as a P2P method for copyright infringement. It would be interesting to watch Microsoft squirm out of that one... :)
My kids have a few games that don't run without the install CD in the CD drive - copy protection, I guess, as it means you can't "borrow" someone else's CD. This method only works if the user is an Administrator, or "RunAs" maybe. I'd rather not let my kids have admin mode, so I went out and found a cracked copy of the game binary. I still have the original install disks, but they're safely put away where they won't get sticky, dusty or scratched.
When I bought my current house, it was surrounded mostly by open fields, and the valuation area was quite large. Now, though, those fields have become brand new neighborhoods, where the houses are squeezed onto 1/4th acre (or less) lots, and each empty lot sells for up to $70,000. My house was recently valued at around $100,000, but it sits in 3/4th acre, so the land itself ought to be worth up to $200,000, going by the current prices just 2 blocks down the road.
If the town decided this mostly 25-year-old neighborhood of 65 houses needed redeveloping, what do you think we'd be paid?? The current evaluation, or the current value of the land?? That's not a question of "what if, sometime in the future", it's a question of right now.
This neighborhood would so easily qualify for redevelopment "for the public good" - it's roughly 50 acres with 65 houses, but at current empty lot sizes, that translates to around 200 lots. By hanging onto to our old houses, we're denying 135 other families the right to pay city taxes...
I think in the main I agree with you. The "fair price" should be set relative to the value of a nearby empty lot + the cost of building an equivalent house on it at current prices. With that kind of "fair price", I'd expect to get around $200,000 for my land. On top of that, the current price for building a 2,000 sq.ft., 4 bedroom house sits at around $150,000 to $200,000, in these parts. That's what it would cost for a new house owner in this area to get the same size lot and the same size house, and that's what I'd expect as a "fair price". I bet I'd be lucky to see $100,000, though...
What's needed is a big stink right now, through that whole area, then let it go quiet until the next round of elections. In the meantime, gather up evidence of other similar bad decisions and how people have been affected, then at election time, raise another big stink and present clear, rational statements of the facts. Leave nothing unverified, so that there's no way to refute the facts.
On the other hand, this is the land of the gullible, so maybe I'll make a few bucks... :)
I wonder if the State would have been so quick to take the properties if the "fair market value" was set at the price Pfizer would have to pay for commercial land.
I got 50 gmail invites to give away, if you know anyone that needs one... :)
For example, I just bought a brand new GPS receiver that came with Rand McNally Streetfinder. The map doesn't even show the entire neighborhood where I live, and the roads have been here since at least 1978. The map is crap, but I have very little chance of getting a refund. Instead I'll probably end up getting another GPS mapping application, and that'll likely be crap too. The best I've seen so far is USAPhotoMaps (from jdmcox.com), which uses actual satellite photos from Microsoft's TerraServer. At least the roads and houses are accurate as of the time the photos were taken (mid 1990's), even if it doesn't have a builtin navigation function.
No, I don't think so.
I remember Collosal Cave Adventure, but not the other thing. I drew out a set of maps for it by reading the travel table in the (Fortran!) source. I could run around the whole cave system and steal everything before the pirate showed up...
Ah, but that assumption isn't necessarily valid. For example, I have a WAP that has several different power levels. I think right now it's set for the low level, because the only wifi-connected computer in the house at present is usually close to it. Later in the year I may increase the power so I can get wifi out by my pool...
You bite them slowly... :)
Plus, some people just like to be able to check who's at their front door before opening it, and those little fish-eye view holes just don't cover enough area. Paranoid?? Maybe. Have people been mugged and robbed in that apartment complex?? Sure as hell have. What did management do?? Recently sold out to another, slightly less conscientious management company...
The frame could have other uses too - the thing's networked, so presumably it could be fed images from elsewhere, such as from a security camera whenever a motion detector saw something moving in its field of view.
There used to be a test program in SunOS Windows (before Solaris..) called ico, which would bounce a wireframe icosahedron around a window. Someone came up with a better version and called it psycho (I think), which would bounce the icosahedron between multiple independant SunOs displays. It would be interesting to watch someone's reaction to seeing something like that slowly glide out of one picture frame and into another...
Hah! Deep-fry Mars bars?? Try 'em frozen - Mars Bars for Men! :)
I hereby patent the idea of locating cameras in remote scenic locations to feed those floor-to-ceiling displays... :)
The question you really have to ask yourself is, by this one horrendous action, can I save many more lives?? In the case of Nagasaki, arms and munitions plants were *also* knocked out, so that even if Japan had not surrendered, their means for continuing the war was greatly reduced. Does that outweigh the aftermath of two nuclear weapons?? I don't know.
There are even places in Scotland, and probably elsewhere, where the natural background radiation is so high that you can get more than the maximum recommended dosage just by walking around outside.
You may be thinking of Aardman Animations, the British creators of Wallace and Gromit and Chicken Run
How about humour in other languages?? For example, the famous Latin quote in Multics: http://www.multicians.org/hodie-natus-est.html
Secodn that - shoot for the ideal, knowing full well that the customer will very likely move the goal posts before you're finished, either shortening the deadline and/or insisting on bolt-on extras with no additional time allowed.
Make that definitely causing yourself huge amounts of grief, especially when you have some complex apps to validate on the new environment. We're behind several layers of firewalls and can afford to take it easy with all but the most extremely urgent patches. There's a whole department responsible for checking that any given patch won't screw anything up. Once they're satisfied, it goes out on the auto-update.
LiveCDs won't protect you from a hardware keylogger that plugs into the PS/2 port, in between the computer and the keyboard.
Get a grip - it's already well known that El Presidente is a major terrorist...