How about if you (or at least your family etc) is male of "strict religion X" and it was a girl of "other religion Y" (or vise-versa for genders) How about if it's with somebody who your friends don't like, or is unpopular/unattractive/etc How about if it's with somebody else whom the relationship was taboo (say a friend's sister/ex, the quarterback's girl, the Dean's daughter, etc)?
Not that I condone what this guy did. Filming your roomie in an intimate act is a huge violation, and sharing it even worse. I think my personal solution back in college would have been somewhere between a punch to the nose and a rather hefty lawsuit...
In Canada, you pay taxes based on your "personal use" of a work-supplied vehicle. This includes if you take the office vehicle to/from home (unless you don't have a centralized workplace AFAIK, for example if you're a delivery driver). Mileage should be assessed and at the end of the year you're expected to pay extra based on the percentage that was "personal" VS "work-related" travel.
The part that sucks for some people is that the actual "benefit" (what you pay taxes on) is based on the purchase value of the vehicle. So if your employer paid $50k 10 years for the vehicle, but is now a beat-down rattle-trap... you're still paying taxes based on a $50k valuation. Depreciation is *not* taken into effect. If the employer bought it used 1 year ago at the depreciated value, then you only pay based on that purchase price.
In that case, you're better with the Chevy than the Lexus:-)
sometimes he was out of touch with reality and had no sense of business, but geniuses often are like that...
Doing what they do for the love of science and the benefit of humanity? We need more such geniuses. Unfortunately in the days of patent hoarding/trolling, IP-ownership clauses, and other such things, the "basement genius" has less chance of making such contributions without running afoul of an IP/patent based lawsuit.
Perhaps this is why good shows die. Not the piracy, but the high cost of initial adoption. I spent many years disconnected from the tube. I did go to the theatre here and there, and bought/rented a few movies, but by-and-large didn't pay much attention to TV series. Subsequently, there are a *lot* of good shows out there that I haven't watched. Rather than watching something that costs $100+/month for a cable subscription that shows in [insert obscure and inconvenient timeslot here], I manage to pick up all the slightly older stuff I haven't seen at a reasonable price for box sets etc.
Of course, by this time the series are several seasons in. My purchase counts little towards whatever stats they use to determine popularity, and they usually get cut (or start to dry up). I know *tons* of people that by the big box-sets for shows (usually a short time after release when they're a bit more reasonably price) but - like me - don't want to pay for overpriced, commercial-ridden, inconveniently-timed cable/satellite runs or overpriced singles.
On the other hand, most of us are more-than-willing to pay a reasonable price for stuff like Netflix etc. Even in the busy summer when my own TV-viewership is near nil, I don't mind keeping the subscription running (both to support the service and for the odd time when I have my niece over for cartoons, etc).
I stopped by a relatives and *tried* to watch a show with them but the amount of commercials made me feel ill.
On-demand subscriptions (and to some extent physical releases for us collectors) are where it's at. Netflix is great. For more up-to-date programming, I would be more than happy to pay a reasonable fee per-episode to watch on-demand. No, not the $5.99 for a movie B.S., but a buck or so, maybe two for an episode. I'd even stomach a few (a few, mind you) commercials at a non-deafening volume. In the digital age, they could probably even profile people pretty easily and start having *more effective* commercials by targeting them better to area and interest.
Modern TV packages need to die. Once they go to the tar-pits, everyone wins. The viewers who get the shows they want, and TV companies and studios who could likely sell a shit-load of programming and actually see an improvement in the effectiveness of advertising as well. Hell, they could adopt the gaming model where you pre-buy "credits" and then use them to watch the shows you want. Sell X credits at $Y, or have a credits subscription on a monthly basis for a slightly discount price.
I get the shows I when. They get money. Their advertisers get eyeballs that actually result in sales. They get stats on who likes what shows, and perhaps less good shows die. Everyone wins. Sounds good to me.
Yes, in the end the plaintiff's may get squat and the layers make a fortune. However, sometimes the message sent is worth more than the dollars earned. I doubt that anyone is going to see $15 billion, even the lawyers. However if they manage to hit FB for enough money to make it hurt, then that's going to spark a change in behaviour. The end result is still beneficial to those that don't want to be tracked.
Unlike lawsuits where people are out some monetary amount due to a defective product or physically harmful practice, the message *IS* the answer in this case.
50Mbps down, 3Mbps up, 400GB limit. @ $70/mo or 20Mbps down, 512Kbps up, 200GB limit (ok the up kinda sucks) @ $55/mo
And yes, the 50Mbps seems fairly accurate. I've had 4-5 connections pulling around 2MB/s (16Mbps) each without tapping out my connection on the 50 plan, and 2-3 pulling around 1-1.5MB/s on the 20 plan
I don't download blu-ray rips or stuff like that, but I have had some large downloads going whilst Steam was simultaneously grabbing a bunch of games+updates at several MBPS each.
Actually, I'd rather see it comes out as a suit against the officer in question, and/or any other involved in cover-up. Paying out taxpayer money for lawsuits might not do much unless there are a lot of cases hitting public attention. On the other hand, if beating some guy up comes with a $100,000 price-tag (to the offender) and bad cops ending up paying out a few hundred G's in civil suits it would probably serve as a deterrent from such behaviour.
In addition to other exercise, I've actually increased my TV watching lately. Since my fiancee is away, I've been catching up on sci-fi shows that don't interest her (and thankfully, I've been spared from "Say yes to the dress"). However, there's nothing saying you have to sit on your ass while watching TV. Free-arm weights and various other exercises are pretty easy to do while watching. If you've got floor space you can do even more, but barbells don't require any extra space.
Not sure it's making a huge dent in my flab (the biking and other exercise is likely a higher contributor) but it's definitely improved the musculature in my arms etc.
the company's customers hold various claims against the company under loyalty cards, gift cards and vouchers.
Nice to hear that they have some respect for the customers in that regard. When Blockbuster went under, they stopped accepting gift cards locally (gift cards that were paid for in cash) for the final sales. Seems Australia treats the customer better than Canada in such instances.
Actually, I think that the rise of internet gaming VS LAN gaming has several factors, few of them due to being antisocial. I still do LAN game but play online as well at times The bad... a) Convenience: Pack up your oversized gaming PC, monitor etc. Drag them to somebody's house, possibly popping a few vertebra hauling crap around. Plug into power for 3 daisy-chained power bars and an ethernet cable that is just a bit too short. Pop a few breakers until you figure out who plugs in where. After an hour you might actually get things ready to play.
b) Availability: Try and figure out what you're all going to play. Six of us want to play Shooter Game X, but Bob only wants to play RTS's. Everyone finally agrees on game Y, except John who doesn't have it and needs to install/download. By the time John installs, everyone else has played up and is moving on to another game
c) Play games on a LAN that still need an internet connection. Lag occurs. People get dropped, and even though you're all trying to play with only those in your room, hackerKid239 joins the game and headshots every one of you within 2.5 seconds whilst insulting your mom
d) Several makes of various shapes and sizes drinking, eating greasy food, and fit into a small poorly ventilated room. 'nuff said
The good... a) Social: You get to visit with your buds, have a few drinks perhaps etc. While loading you can trade funny youtube clips or photoshopped pictures of Bob's wife b) Private LAN games: For games that actually allow it, being able to play with your buds and *NOT* hackerKid239 is fun c) Trading: Although arguments over what to play may arise, you get to see what other cool games people in your group have. Rather than spending 5h downloading, buy the game in steam and then snag the install files from a USB drive being passed around
I have a 5-disc DVD Sony DVD player. I've had it for ages, and it's pissed me off to no end with the unskippable ads or warnings. The only reason I haven't replaced it is because it's also the head for surround-sound. My current plan is to toss the damn thing (or maybe inflict it upon some other poor soul from ebay) and buy a separate surround-sound head unit + a blu-ray player.
Finding a DVD player that doesn't have unskippables or region-locks is pretty easy, usually the cheaper brands work best.
Does anyone know of a decent blu-ray player that a) Doesn't take 10000001 years to load b) Doesn't prevent skipping the threats and ads sections c) Preferable doesn't region-block d) Is generally affordable (but if it does all the above, that's more important than cheap)
Not as uncommon as you might think. I'd rather not have to talk loud enough for the cellphone operator to hear me whilst hiding in the closet from armed intruders.
Cellular voice/data -- existed for a couple decades. Barely-regulated private kleptocracy; every provider sucks in an individual, unique way.
I humbly disagree. While carriers may have some unique versions of their own "suck", there are plenty of methods of suck which they share around (hidden fees, unreasonable limits, and terrible contracts come to mind).
IIRC, the judge instructed to have the jury come to their decision based on the concept that the material in question could be copyrighted. The judge still has the final says as to whether the material *CAN* be copyrighted. That's still a big if for this case, so it's not over yet.
Facebook users provide their real names and information, and we need your help to keep it that way. Here are some commitments you make to us relating to registering and maintaining the security of your account: 1. You will not provide any false personal information on Facebook, or create an account for anyone other than yourself without permission.
Obviously the "no false personal information" is not widely followed anyhow... but it is a TOS violation.
you'd think, "I must actually know this person, and just don't realize it."
This tends to be more true after graduation. Lots of people change their last name upon being married. Some people even change their first name for various reasons. That said, I tend to be wary of adding people I'm unsure of due to creepy stalker-ex's, so I usually do a bit of research first. FB doesn't make it easy as somebody can request to friend you without supplying any details of their own (perhaps that's changed now but I doubt it). The system should work so that anyone who makes a friend request should automatically share the same pages as they do to the already-friended
Yet it only confirms that we do not know how to be citizens: and when it is demanded of us, we fail
It's fine to be a citizen. The problem is trying to have an average person understand a system built by lawyers. One so complex and Byzantine that it even requires "specialized" lawyers for certain types of lawyers, which even then can have multiple interpretations of the law.
The problem in the courts isn't (just) with people being poor citizens, it's with a legal system that is so incomprehensible that none can properly understand it.
Either you need a standard battery which prevents auto manufacturers from building different vehicles with different batteries, or the replacement station needs to store all possible batteries.
Why would you need different batteries? How about standard batteries in different combinations. Parallel or series gets the needed power output or duration.
That, or there will be a few standard sizes, just like we have for A-D batteries for everyday stuff.
Still, being able to "plug in" is a better solution, but a quick swappable battery would also do in a pinch.
Not bad, but I'd worry about the screws dislodging from the sheets, etc
If they're really tiny, I often tape them in place. If the head is big enough, they usually stick fine just poking into the page. IIRC, I taped them for the last iPhone I opened up, but laptop screws were a bit bigger and didn't need tape.
I usually take a picture of the device (several if there are "layers" to the disassembly) and print it off. Then I poke the screws into the picture in the same place as they were removed from the laptop/phone.
That way, I not only keep track of how many screws I have, but at which stage and location they go back into the device. Result=no forgotten/lost screws, and a good template for the next time I have to disassemble.
Slashdot Mirror
Yes, Canada does, though it's tied to residency rather than citizenship.
The CBC had some info on this last year.
How about if you (or at least your family etc) is male of "strict religion X" and it was a girl of "other religion Y" (or vise-versa for genders)
How about if it's with somebody who your friends don't like, or is unpopular/unattractive/etc
How about if it's with somebody else whom the relationship was taboo (say a friend's sister/ex, the quarterback's girl, the Dean's daughter, etc)?
Not that I condone what this guy did. Filming your roomie in an intimate act is a huge violation, and sharing it even worse. I think my personal solution back in college would have been somewhere between a punch to the nose and a rather hefty lawsuit...
In Canada, you pay taxes based on your "personal use" of a work-supplied vehicle.
This includes if you take the office vehicle to/from home (unless you don't have a centralized workplace AFAIK, for example if you're a delivery driver). Mileage should be assessed and at the end of the year you're expected to pay extra based on the percentage that was "personal" VS "work-related" travel.
The part that sucks for some people is that the actual "benefit" (what you pay taxes on) is based on the purchase value of the vehicle. So if your employer paid $50k 10 years for the vehicle, but is now a beat-down rattle-trap... you're still paying taxes based on a $50k valuation. Depreciation is *not* taken into effect. If the employer bought it used 1 year ago at the depreciated value, then you only pay based on that purchase price.
In that case, you're better with the Chevy than the Lexus :-)
sometimes he was out of touch with reality and had no sense of business, but geniuses often are like that...
Doing what they do for the love of science and the benefit of humanity? We need more such geniuses.
Unfortunately in the days of patent hoarding/trolling, IP-ownership clauses, and other such things, the "basement genius" has less chance of making such contributions without running afoul of an IP/patent based lawsuit.
Perhaps this is why good shows die. Not the piracy, but the high cost of initial adoption.
I spent many years disconnected from the tube. I did go to the theatre here and there, and bought/rented a few movies, but by-and-large didn't pay much attention to TV series.
Subsequently, there are a *lot* of good shows out there that I haven't watched. Rather than watching something that costs $100+/month for a cable subscription that shows in [insert obscure and inconvenient timeslot here], I manage to pick up all the slightly older stuff I haven't seen at a reasonable price for box sets etc.
Of course, by this time the series are several seasons in. My purchase counts little towards whatever stats they use to determine popularity, and they usually get cut (or start to dry up). I know *tons* of people that by the big box-sets for shows (usually a short time after release when they're a bit more reasonably price) but - like me - don't want to pay for overpriced, commercial-ridden, inconveniently-timed cable/satellite runs or overpriced singles.
On the other hand, most of us are more-than-willing to pay a reasonable price for stuff like Netflix etc. Even in the busy summer when my own TV-viewership is near nil, I don't mind keeping the subscription running (both to support the service and for the odd time when I have my niece over for cartoons, etc).
I stopped by a relatives and *tried* to watch a show with them but the amount of commercials made me feel ill.
On-demand subscriptions (and to some extent physical releases for us collectors) are where it's at. Netflix is great.
For more up-to-date programming, I would be more than happy to pay a reasonable fee per-episode to watch on-demand. No, not the $5.99 for a movie B.S., but a buck or so, maybe two for an episode. I'd even stomach a few (a few, mind you) commercials at a non-deafening volume. In the digital age, they could probably even profile people pretty easily and start having *more effective* commercials by targeting them better to area and interest.
Modern TV packages need to die. Once they go to the tar-pits, everyone wins. The viewers who get the shows they want, and TV companies and studios who could likely sell a shit-load of programming and actually see an improvement in the effectiveness of advertising as well. Hell, they could adopt the gaming model where you pre-buy "credits" and then use them to watch the shows you want. Sell X credits at $Y, or have a credits subscription on a monthly basis for a slightly discount price.
I get the shows I when. They get money. Their advertisers get eyeballs that actually result in sales. They get stats on who likes what shows, and perhaps less good shows die.
Everyone wins. Sounds good to me.
Yes, in the end the plaintiff's may get squat and the layers make a fortune.
However, sometimes the message sent is worth more than the dollars earned.
I doubt that anyone is going to see $15 billion, even the lawyers. However if they manage to hit FB for enough money to make it hurt, then that's going to spark a change in behaviour. The end result is still beneficial to those that don't want to be tracked.
Unlike lawsuits where people are out some monetary amount due to a defective product or physically harmful practice, the message *IS* the answer in this case.
100GB?
In the west with Shaw I have:
50Mbps down, 3Mbps up, 400GB limit. @ $70/mo
or
20Mbps down, 512Kbps up, 200GB limit (ok the up kinda sucks) @ $55/mo
And yes, the 50Mbps seems fairly accurate. I've had 4-5 connections pulling around 2MB/s (16Mbps) each without tapping out my connection on the 50 plan, and 2-3 pulling around 1-1.5MB/s on the 20 plan
I don't download blu-ray rips or stuff like that, but I have had some large downloads going whilst Steam was simultaneously grabbing a bunch of games+updates at several MBPS each.
Actually, I'd rather see it comes out as a suit against the officer in question, and/or any other involved in cover-up. Paying out taxpayer money for lawsuits might not do much unless there are a lot of cases hitting public attention. On the other hand, if beating some guy up comes with a $100,000 price-tag (to the offender) and bad cops ending up paying out a few hundred G's in civil suits it would probably serve as a deterrent from such behaviour.
In addition to other exercise, I've actually increased my TV watching lately.
Since my fiancee is away, I've been catching up on sci-fi shows that don't interest her (and thankfully, I've been spared from "Say yes to the dress"). However, there's nothing saying you have to sit on your ass while watching TV. Free-arm weights and various other exercises are pretty easy to do while watching. If you've got floor space you can do even more, but barbells don't require any extra space.
Not sure it's making a huge dent in my flab (the biking and other exercise is likely a higher contributor) but it's definitely improved the musculature in my arms etc.
Absolutely, if you have bullets there could no other possible use for them than to kill people...
I've always enjoyed this one, which seems a bit less jerky than the portal turret (though the portal turret *looks* cool)
http://projectsentrygun.rudolphlabs.com/
the company's customers hold various claims against the company under loyalty cards, gift cards and vouchers.
Nice to hear that they have some respect for the customers in that regard. When Blockbuster went under, they stopped accepting gift cards locally (gift cards that were paid for in cash) for the final sales. Seems Australia treats the customer better than Canada in such instances.
Actually, I think that the rise of internet gaming VS LAN gaming has several factors, few of them due to being antisocial. I still do LAN game but play online as well at times
The bad...
a) Convenience: Pack up your oversized gaming PC, monitor etc. Drag them to somebody's house, possibly popping a few vertebra hauling crap around. Plug into power for 3 daisy-chained power bars and an ethernet cable that is just a bit too short. Pop a few breakers until you figure out who plugs in where. After an hour you might actually get things ready to play.
b) Availability: Try and figure out what you're all going to play. Six of us want to play Shooter Game X, but Bob only wants to play RTS's. Everyone finally agrees on game Y, except John who doesn't have it and needs to install/download. By the time John installs, everyone else has played up and is moving on to another game
c) Play games on a LAN that still need an internet connection. Lag occurs. People get dropped, and even though you're all trying to play with only those in your room, hackerKid239 joins the game and headshots every one of you within 2.5 seconds whilst insulting your mom
d) Several makes of various shapes and sizes drinking, eating greasy food, and fit into a small poorly ventilated room. 'nuff said
The good...
a) Social: You get to visit with your buds, have a few drinks perhaps etc. While loading you can trade funny youtube clips or photoshopped pictures of Bob's wife
b) Private LAN games: For games that actually allow it, being able to play with your buds and *NOT* hackerKid239 is fun
c) Trading: Although arguments over what to play may arise, you get to see what other cool games people in your group have. Rather than spending 5h downloading, buy the game in steam and then snag the install files from a USB drive being passed around
I have a 5-disc DVD Sony DVD player. I've had it for ages, and it's pissed me off to no end with the unskippable ads or warnings. The only reason I haven't replaced it is because it's also the head for surround-sound. My current plan is to toss the damn thing (or maybe inflict it upon some other poor soul from ebay) and buy a separate surround-sound head unit + a blu-ray player.
Finding a DVD player that doesn't have unskippables or region-locks is pretty easy, usually the cheaper brands work best.
Does anyone know of a decent blu-ray player that
a) Doesn't take 10000001 years to load
b) Doesn't prevent skipping the threats and ads sections
c) Preferable doesn't region-block
d) Is generally affordable (but if it does all the above, that's more important than cheap)
Preferably close to where the neighbours annoying barking dog likes to hang out and pee...
SC2?
I'm guessing you mean Starcraft 2 and not Supreme Commander 2?
Not as uncommon as you might think. I'd rather not have to talk loud enough for the cellphone operator to hear me whilst hiding in the closet from armed intruders.
Cellular voice/data -- existed for a couple decades. Barely-regulated private kleptocracy; every provider sucks in an individual, unique way.
I humbly disagree. While carriers may have some unique versions of their own "suck", there are plenty of methods of suck which they share around (hidden fees, unreasonable limits, and terrible contracts come to mind).
IIRC, the judge instructed to have the jury come to their decision based on the concept that the material in question could be copyrighted. The judge still has the final says as to whether the material *CAN* be copyrighted. That's still a big if for this case, so it's not over yet.
4. Registration and Account Security
Facebook users provide their real names and information, and we need your help to keep it that way. Here are some commitments you make to us relating to registering and maintaining the security of your account:
1. You will not provide any false personal information on Facebook, or create an account for anyone other than yourself without permission.
Obviously the "no false personal information" is not widely followed anyhow... but it is a TOS violation.
you'd think, "I must actually know this person, and just don't realize it."
This tends to be more true after graduation. Lots of people change their last name upon being married. Some people even change their first name for various reasons.
That said, I tend to be wary of adding people I'm unsure of due to creepy stalker-ex's, so I usually do a bit of research first. FB doesn't make it easy as somebody can request to friend you without supplying any details of their own (perhaps that's changed now but I doubt it). The system should work so that anyone who makes a friend request should automatically share the same pages as they do to the already-friended
Yet it only confirms that we do not know how to be citizens: and when it is demanded of us, we fail
It's fine to be a citizen. The problem is trying to have an average person understand a system built by lawyers. One so complex and Byzantine that it even requires "specialized" lawyers for certain types of lawyers, which even then can have multiple interpretations of the law.
The problem in the courts isn't (just) with people being poor citizens, it's with a legal system that is so incomprehensible that none can properly understand it.
Either you need a standard battery which prevents auto manufacturers from building different vehicles with different batteries, or the replacement station needs to store all possible batteries.
Why would you need different batteries? How about standard batteries in different combinations. Parallel or series gets the needed power output or duration.
That, or there will be a few standard sizes, just like we have for A-D batteries for everyday stuff.
Still, being able to "plug in" is a better solution, but a quick swappable battery would also do in a pinch.
Not bad, but I'd worry about the screws dislodging from the sheets, etc
If they're really tiny, I often tape them in place. If the head is big enough, they usually stick fine just poking into the page.
IIRC, I taped them for the last iPhone I opened up, but laptop screws were a bit bigger and didn't need tape.
I usually take a picture of the device (several if there are "layers" to the disassembly) and print it off.
Then I poke the screws into the picture in the same place as they were removed from the laptop/phone.
That way, I not only keep track of how many screws I have, but at which stage and location they go back into the device. Result=no forgotten/lost screws, and a good template for the next time I have to disassemble.