Does this correlation finding mean that the RIAA should pursue and find reasons to sue people who don't use P2P, because thse are the very people NOT buying CDs?
Actually the Laws and Court systems are very similar, in both the UK and the USA, for this type of issue. So can we please desist with the titles "You Americans...". I say this as a Brit by birth and a current US Citizen. Actuually the only significant difference between the systems in the 2 countries is that the UK comsumer would likely have been overcharged by UK equivalent of Best Buy, as American consumer prices are usually much lower.
All that said the best advice is to pay by your Credit Card, preferably American Express, as the latter act most impartially in immediately reversing the charge and handling the matter with the chain store. My AXP card also douibles the length of the manufacturers warranty as a side benefit.
Operationally in the California Fire scenario FEMA = Fantastic Emergency Management Agency
External Affairs wise FEMA = Fake Emergency Management Agency.
Heads should roll at the External Affairs office as this behavior is beyond that acceptable and undermines the operational capabilities and integrity IMHO.
Quote....That ability to listen in on the plotters' conversations "allowed us to see and understand all the connections"........ said the official, Mike McConnell, the director of national intelligence.
"Because we could understand it, we could help our partners through a long process of monitoring and observation,......... Mr. McConnell's disclosure to the Senate Homeland Unquote
Notice that Mr. McConnell notes this was a "LONG" process. This means that normal eavesdropping Laws would have allowed Federal Agencies to have gone through the usual Court system to grant access to these communications. i.e. there is nothing here that shows that the exisiting process needed to be sidestepped in any way. The existing systems allows for eavesdropping followed by by a court approval.
Or am I missing something?
It really makes me wonder why "officials" try to highlight their needs by quoting cases which don't seem to need the application of new laws....
Quote
If you refuse the test you are denying them evidence to use against you in a criminal proceeding.
Unquote
The proceeding is not alwats through a criminal court. Some States treat as a traffic offence i.e. neither a misdemeanor, nor a felony proceeding..
I challenge this moderator's action and request a moderator supervisor to review it.
My post was in no way "Flamebait". It's the truth. Every week I read of massive potential improvements in efficiencies on Solar products. Yet when I actually (and I have done so a few times) go for quotations of systems to imstall in my house, the prices do not seem to fall much and the size of system remains the same. The only thing I can think of is that all these gains are not coming into production. So I seriously want to know what's happening. Why is Joe user of home solar systems not getting any radically improved products offeredto him/her? I was even thinking of suggesting that slashdot start a specific thread with posters offering their real experiences on systems and giving links etc. I hink this would be more useful than yet another thread talkin about fficiency gains in Labs! This is a serious subject and needs to be treated as such. Ergo moderation of my remarks as "Flamebait" is completely and utterly misplaced IMHO.
Records being broken for efficiency gains etc. are fine. But why are no new hone systems available today getting more efficient and better priced? It's always "tomorrow is the promised land". Enough already.
Wasn't it AMD which just a few years ago said it was going to undercut ALL Intel CPUs prices in a price war which Intel could not match?
Seems to me that in the last 3 years, or so, AMD met their match in terms of performance and price. Given this I don't think that Intel will have much of a problem proving their case. Meantime the EU should pay attention to the signals coming from AMD that they may go fabless. Then what happens to those AMD factories in Germany? Meantime Intel has an EU factory presence in Countries like Ireland. So perhaps the EU is going after the wrong company re the EU's best long term interests.
It's amazing how this Galileo topic ALWAYS ends up in people slagging off against America.
OK moving on: The American GPS system is a fantastic FREE product (free to uses, not free to US citizens who pay through their Federal Taxes). The rest of the world has used the system for years and benefited. Then a European venture (made up of several disparate partners) decided there was a business opportunity to launch a rival system and pay for it by offering PAY services to users, in return for increased accuracy. Unfortunately while the tests went OK the European partners did not step up to formally fund the venture. Possibly fearing the financial numbers didn't work. This alliance of the existing US service and a likely "rightsized" Galileo, probably makes huge sense. The new Galileo Satellites can be launched, in far less numbers, while accuracy can be improved by combining the signals from both systems. In other words, everybody wins here.
So enough of the bickering posts please and let's congratulate the new American/European alliance and improved future GPS products.
As I understand it Libby was found guilty of lying to Federal Employees and thereby impeding a still ongoing investigation. i.e. By whom and what purpose was the identity of an active CIA agent leaked to the public via the media. (A severe crime even, a "treasonable" offence). Thus the commuting of the most severe pentalty phase of Libby's punishment removes to a great extent, at a sensitive time, the willingness of said person to be further co-operative with Federal Employees/Prosecutors investigating the much larger offence. Given that such investigation centers largely upon the current administration, specifically the office of the VP, could it be construed that the President's recent action "hinders" the ability of the Proscutor on that case to offer the person with the most insight and knowledge a "deal" to co-operate and tell the whole truth? If construed this way, is the recent action by the President an act of hindering the ongoing investigation? And if so what implications roll out from this?
Because without me observing it, it in fact doesn't exist at all.
Even slashdot doesn't exist until I observe it and better yet post on it.
Therefore as I didn't observe either our Universe starting, or ending then neither has happenend yet.
Meantime I am in the here and now and there is no real "time" as we know it.
OK now I am off to the gym, so slashdot will cease to exist for a while and the ymca will suddenly exist, as will all the roads leading to it from where I am now.
Logically, "Evolution" should be taught in Science classes and "Intelligent Design" should be taught in Religious Classes. If you don't get the latter in the school your children attend I am sure your Church obliges. I am also sure that most Churches (in the USA) do not teach evolution.
One has to look at history and see that America took the "good guys" side in the last 2 world wars. Indeed without American military WWII might have turend out very differently and I might have been raised in a very different European society to the one of the last 50 years. A free society! Ghen we had the "Cold War" when Europe was too weak to adequately defend itself without massive US support and a clear understanding that if Europe is attacked it's considered an attack on the USA. America still has near 100K troops in Europe and every time they suggest a withdrawal it brings howls of "NO" from European Leaders. With all this history, linkage, alliances, whatever one wishes to call it, it's difficult to see the USA and Europe being so at odds that they might possibly disagree on a threat so severe as needing the GPS system degraded, or worse, for a short period. If you do see a risk of such a high level of disagreement, then Europe needs to grow it's military capacity drastically and quickly and not continue to be so dependant upon the USA for absolute support and NATO etc.
Ergo IMHO Europe cannot raise # 3 as the underlying need for a separate GPS system, while at the same time not bother with a greater military and not desire US continued support in security matters.
ACtually # 3 does not apply.
The US and the EU had many meetings to discuss the issue of a "threat" and how to handle any type of GPS signal. It was jointly agreed that if either party (EU or USA) considered an imminent threat needing the shut down, or degredation, of such a service that BOTH systems would respond at the same time. As others have pointed out the reliance on GPS for navigational systems is so endemic now that it would be near catastrophic for the system to be totally shut down. Thus # 3 does NOT apply as a rationale for duplicating the GPS system now in place.
I also have to wonder how the private firms would ever make Galileo an economically succesful business. This 100% depends upon users subscribing and paying money for services. Given all the delays and cost over runs being faced the likelyhood is that it either won't be built, or will become a massive governmental/EU project.
I just wish Europe had decided to be innovative and invent a new service, rather than duplicate the wheel.
Seriously, I wonder how many of the local Police are familiar with the layout of this local High School? They should ask the kid for a copy of the game and put all their force through intensive training utilizing it. This would best prepare the Police if any incident ever happened in the school. Better still the kid should spend time at the Police office helping to train the members. This would allow interaction between the police and the kid and probably generate a better understanding of each other.
Now it's likely the kid is developing a dislike for the Schools management and considers the police people to be avoided and NOT trusted. Makes me wonder why educators can't grasp such a situation and make something really positive come out of it.
Some 10 years ago wasn't Engellhard (now a part of BASF) producing a compound which was painted onto Ford radiators. The idea was it would take CO2 out of the atmosphere?
I think that just about every country, especially in Europe, takes action to reduce specific types of imports and has done for many decades. Thus highlighting a few specific examples of the USA's disagreement with the WTO proves nothing, but everyone does it, to some degree.
We need IMHO to take a step back. The USA runs an absolutely MASSIVE trade deficit with China and allows huge importation of China products to be sold all across America. In return Chnina tries to replicate American products and software and breaks all copyright and patent rules along the way. If China doesn't do that instead of buying American cellular systems or paying for patents they attempt "work arounds" and come out with China only products to save them from buying from America. So the China/America trade relationship is massively one way, on all levels. Don't tell me that the deficit of trade is around $160Billion a year, because America doesn't produce anything, or have software patents, or copyright that Chnina doesn't need.....
With all this in mind, after years of talks is it so surprising, or indeed wrong, that the USA should take China to the WTO re their endemic breaking of copyrights related to entertainement products such as music CDs and film DVDs?
Intel and DELL discuss the forward CPU buasiness between them. Dells says we ae going to sell approx X + or - 5% PCs nect year. Intel says well we will sell youour CPUs are $y per unit cost, however if we approach X in volume we will repay you $250mm. DELL says well that seems good to us, it's a done deal.
Now what has DELL done wrong? They have negotiated the best possible NET unit cost for a supply of CPUs which advanatges them to sell more PCs and which advantages SHareholders who will see a growing and hopefully as profitable busines as possible? Under such circum,stances I see any shareholder suit of DELL as entirely without merit as both DELL's customers and shareholder have benefited....
Now over at Intel I have no idea whether they have broken any other side agreements with other OEMs.
I also do not think that there was a person alive in the industry who did not know that DELL was getting superb pricing from Intel.
In the US is not there a Federally authorized tax holiday in Federal Tax charges re transactions on the internet? ANd this is likely going to be extended.
It's the individual US States who might want such info. But each State would then have to have it's own spiders.
I am glad to hear of the direction of OU. More power to you.
I would make one point: For Baby Boomers, like myself, the time is now.... We BBs are approaching retirement/semi-retirment with immediate effect and probably we form the largest one time generation bulge with the time to indulge in an education some missed, or in a new direction. But we were a driven generation and need the motivation of a result at the end of an pursuits. (Hmm I am even now slipping into English spelling, my computer hates this!).
I will follow OU and will likely try some of your OL courses for fun, but sadly you remain a mostly closed avenue for my main endeavour, for now....
Thanks for your evening time:)
Thanks for the thoughtful input/update. Indeed some of those courses are of interest to me, so it's very useful. I did guess that you were an "insider", but appreciate your making it clear.
I do not know whether my circumstances and needs are unique, or do indeed represent a larger potential source for online "students" with needs not yet fulfilled. What I do know is that my needs are not yet addressed (as far as I can yet see) by the MIT, or OU or even OpenLearn or other institutions of learning.
Let me expand further.
I was educated in the UK (9+ O'Levela, Additonal Math and 1 A level (Art)). I went into banking and had a 30+ year international career with appointments in Liverppol, London, Singapor, Bahrain. Geneva and New York. I am currently in semi-retirement in New Jersey, USA. I reached the EVP level of management, in a very large US Multinational Financial Services Company. The last 10 years I have been self employed, but now I have the appetite/desire to get a degree, for the pure challenge and learning experience. I do not need the usual "social college experience", hence online learning is very suitable to me and I have the time now.
30 years ago I sat for and passed 8 out of 10 exams for the Chartered Institute of Bankers (ACIB) qualification. I stopped short as my day (and night) job commitments conflicted with the time needed to finish. In the 1990s the CIB and UMIST offered to allow people like me (in mid stream of a qualification) to convert to a IFS Hons degree course (1986 onwards). I didn't attempt to take up on this opportunity, sadly, until last year, when I contacted them and asked if I could enter their course at some level. They, quite frnakly, came back and told me that since my courses for the ACIB were taken in the late 1960s I would "devalue their degree qualification" if they allowed me to rejoin. I was quite startled by this reproach. In their defence they knew nothing of my lifetime work achievements, but that's as far as I would EVER defend them! Their answer was very exclusive rather than suggesting ANY way fwd
Thus I started looking around for other degree courses I could enter, online. There are many course, but most are exceedngly expensive (especially in the USA where degree courses are certainly anything but inexpensive). I loooked at the local alternative in a "County College", but these largely necessitate quite some distance in daily travel and actual physical attendance. i.e. not the route I wanted. The flexibility of an online set of courses being paramount to me. I then switched and looked at the well recommended OpenUniversity (OU) and fould it to be ideally suited to my circumstance. Except that non UK tax residents are closed out (except for Post Graduate courses/qualifications and a few courses in "online basket weaving" please excuse the humour). Ergo total frustration at their being no middle ground, for me to pay a lttle extra than the subsidised tax resident course fees. No other similar opportunity has yet to be found, in all my research. I must admit I even considered using a family UK address etc. and flying over for exams, but thought this was rather "inconsiderate" to the OU's stated policies as far as I understand them.
Thus inspite of your kindly taking the time to respond, I am still left in a situation whereby I see some good learning opportunitues (such as OpenLearn) but no way to transform the education into a physical qualification, if indeed I am going to spend a few years and perhaps hundreds if not a thousand of hours of study, I like to know there is a piece of paper at the end of it. Call it motivation:)
OK enough of my ramblings. My intent is to show that there MAY be a decently large group of potential students with needs not presently being met, for an institution such as the OU, consider future niche offering to...... i.e. a new Revenue stream without increasing your expenses excessively so that OU Fees + a reasonable premium charge might well make viable sense.
Thanks again for having the consideration of replying to my comment.
Slashdot Mirror
Does this correlation finding mean that the RIAA should pursue and find reasons to sue people who don't use P2P, because thse are the very people NOT buying CDs?
Actually the Laws and Court systems are very similar, in both the UK and the USA, for this type of issue. So can we please desist with the titles "You Americans...". I say this as a Brit by birth and a current US Citizen. Actuually the only significant difference between the systems in the 2 countries is that the UK comsumer would likely have been overcharged by UK equivalent of Best Buy, as American consumer prices are usually much lower. All that said the best advice is to pay by your Credit Card, preferably American Express, as the latter act most impartially in immediately reversing the charge and handling the matter with the chain store. My AXP card also douibles the length of the manufacturers warranty as a side benefit.
Operationally in the California Fire scenario FEMA = Fantastic Emergency Management Agency External Affairs wise FEMA = Fake Emergency Management Agency. Heads should roll at the External Affairs office as this behavior is beyond that acceptable and undermines the operational capabilities and integrity IMHO.
Quote ....That ability to listen in on the plotters' conversations "allowed us to see and understand all the connections" ........ said the official, Mike McConnell, the director of national intelligence.
.........
"Because we could understand it, we could help our partners through a long process of monitoring and observation,
Mr. McConnell's disclosure to the Senate Homeland
Unquote
Notice that Mr. McConnell notes this was a "LONG" process. This means that normal eavesdropping Laws would have allowed Federal Agencies to have gone through the usual Court system to grant access to these communications. i.e. there is nothing here that shows that the exisiting process needed to be sidestepped in any way. The existing systems allows for eavesdropping followed by by a court approval.
Or am I missing something?
It really makes me wonder why "officials" try to highlight their needs by quoting cases which don't seem to need the application of new laws....
Again: What am I missing here?
Quote If you refuse the test you are denying them evidence to use against you in a criminal proceeding. Unquote The proceeding is not alwats through a criminal court. Some States treat as a traffic offence i.e. neither a misdemeanor, nor a felony proceeding..
I challenge this moderator's action and request a moderator supervisor to review it. My post was in no way "Flamebait". It's the truth. Every week I read of massive potential improvements in efficiencies on Solar products. Yet when I actually (and I have done so a few times) go for quotations of systems to imstall in my house, the prices do not seem to fall much and the size of system remains the same. The only thing I can think of is that all these gains are not coming into production. So I seriously want to know what's happening. Why is Joe user of home solar systems not getting any radically improved products offeredto him/her? I was even thinking of suggesting that slashdot start a specific thread with posters offering their real experiences on systems and giving links etc. I hink this would be more useful than yet another thread talkin about fficiency gains in Labs! This is a serious subject and needs to be treated as such. Ergo moderation of my remarks as "Flamebait" is completely and utterly misplaced IMHO.
Records being broken for efficiency gains etc. are fine. But why are no new hone systems available today getting more efficient and better priced? It's always "tomorrow is the promised land". Enough already.
Wasn't it AMD which just a few years ago said it was going to undercut ALL Intel CPUs prices in a price war which Intel could not match? Seems to me that in the last 3 years, or so, AMD met their match in terms of performance and price. Given this I don't think that Intel will have much of a problem proving their case. Meantime the EU should pay attention to the signals coming from AMD that they may go fabless. Then what happens to those AMD factories in Germany? Meantime Intel has an EU factory presence in Countries like Ireland. So perhaps the EU is going after the wrong company re the EU's best long term interests.
It's amazing how this Galileo topic ALWAYS ends up in people slagging off against America. OK moving on: The American GPS system is a fantastic FREE product (free to uses, not free to US citizens who pay through their Federal Taxes). The rest of the world has used the system for years and benefited. Then a European venture (made up of several disparate partners) decided there was a business opportunity to launch a rival system and pay for it by offering PAY services to users, in return for increased accuracy. Unfortunately while the tests went OK the European partners did not step up to formally fund the venture. Possibly fearing the financial numbers didn't work. This alliance of the existing US service and a likely "rightsized" Galileo, probably makes huge sense. The new Galileo Satellites can be launched, in far less numbers, while accuracy can be improved by combining the signals from both systems. In other words, everybody wins here. So enough of the bickering posts please and let's congratulate the new American/European alliance and improved future GPS products.
A pity moderators have no sense of humor!
Solar warming is an inconvenient truth?
As I understand it Libby was found guilty of lying to Federal Employees and thereby impeding a still ongoing investigation. i.e. By whom and what purpose was the identity of an active CIA agent leaked to the public via the media. (A severe crime even, a "treasonable" offence). Thus the commuting of the most severe pentalty phase of Libby's punishment removes to a great extent, at a sensitive time, the willingness of said person to be further co-operative with Federal Employees/Prosecutors investigating the much larger offence. Given that such investigation centers largely upon the current administration, specifically the office of the VP, could it be construed that the President's recent action "hinders" the ability of the Proscutor on that case to offer the person with the most insight and knowledge a "deal" to co-operate and tell the whole truth? If construed this way, is the recent action by the President an act of hindering the ongoing investigation? And if so what implications roll out from this?
Because without me observing it, it in fact doesn't exist at all. Even slashdot doesn't exist until I observe it and better yet post on it. Therefore as I didn't observe either our Universe starting, or ending then neither has happenend yet. Meantime I am in the here and now and there is no real "time" as we know it. OK now I am off to the gym, so slashdot will cease to exist for a while and the ymca will suddenly exist, as will all the roads leading to it from where I am now.
Logically, "Evolution" should be taught in Science classes and "Intelligent Design" should be taught in Religious Classes. If you don't get the latter in the school your children attend I am sure your Church obliges. I am also sure that most Churches (in the USA) do not teach evolution.
One has to look at history and see that America took the "good guys" side in the last 2 world wars. Indeed without American military WWII might have turend out very differently and I might have been raised in a very different European society to the one of the last 50 years. A free society! Ghen we had the "Cold War" when Europe was too weak to adequately defend itself without massive US support and a clear understanding that if Europe is attacked it's considered an attack on the USA. America still has near 100K troops in Europe and every time they suggest a withdrawal it brings howls of "NO" from European Leaders. With all this history, linkage, alliances, whatever one wishes to call it, it's difficult to see the USA and Europe being so at odds that they might possibly disagree on a threat so severe as needing the GPS system degraded, or worse, for a short period. If you do see a risk of such a high level of disagreement, then Europe needs to grow it's military capacity drastically and quickly and not continue to be so dependant upon the USA for absolute support and NATO etc. Ergo IMHO Europe cannot raise # 3 as the underlying need for a separate GPS system, while at the same time not bother with a greater military and not desire US continued support in security matters.
ACtually # 3 does not apply. The US and the EU had many meetings to discuss the issue of a "threat" and how to handle any type of GPS signal. It was jointly agreed that if either party (EU or USA) considered an imminent threat needing the shut down, or degredation, of such a service that BOTH systems would respond at the same time. As others have pointed out the reliance on GPS for navigational systems is so endemic now that it would be near catastrophic for the system to be totally shut down. Thus # 3 does NOT apply as a rationale for duplicating the GPS system now in place. I also have to wonder how the private firms would ever make Galileo an economically succesful business. This 100% depends upon users subscribing and paying money for services. Given all the delays and cost over runs being faced the likelyhood is that it either won't be built, or will become a massive governmental/EU project. I just wish Europe had decided to be innovative and invent a new service, rather than duplicate the wheel.
Seriously, I wonder how many of the local Police are familiar with the layout of this local High School? They should ask the kid for a copy of the game and put all their force through intensive training utilizing it. This would best prepare the Police if any incident ever happened in the school. Better still the kid should spend time at the Police office helping to train the members. This would allow interaction between the police and the kid and probably generate a better understanding of each other. Now it's likely the kid is developing a dislike for the Schools management and considers the police people to be avoided and NOT trusted. Makes me wonder why educators can't grasp such a situation and make something really positive come out of it.
Some 10 years ago wasn't Engellhard (now a part of BASF) producing a compound which was painted onto Ford radiators. The idea was it would take CO2 out of the atmosphere?
That's OK by me so long as those asking me admit, I might be the "Supreme Being".
I think that just about every country, especially in Europe, takes action to reduce specific types of imports and has done for many decades. Thus highlighting a few specific examples of the USA's disagreement with the WTO proves nothing, but everyone does it, to some degree. We need IMHO to take a step back. The USA runs an absolutely MASSIVE trade deficit with China and allows huge importation of China products to be sold all across America. In return Chnina tries to replicate American products and software and breaks all copyright and patent rules along the way. If China doesn't do that instead of buying American cellular systems or paying for patents they attempt "work arounds" and come out with China only products to save them from buying from America. So the China/America trade relationship is massively one way, on all levels. Don't tell me that the deficit of trade is around $160Billion a year, because America doesn't produce anything, or have software patents, or copyright that Chnina doesn't need..... With all this in mind, after years of talks is it so surprising, or indeed wrong, that the USA should take China to the WTO re their endemic breaking of copyrights related to entertainement products such as music CDs and film DVDs?
Intel and DELL discuss the forward CPU buasiness between them. Dells says we ae going to sell approx X + or - 5% PCs nect year. Intel says well we will sell youour CPUs are $y per unit cost, however if we approach X in volume we will repay you $250mm. DELL says well that seems good to us, it's a done deal. Now what has DELL done wrong? They have negotiated the best possible NET unit cost for a supply of CPUs which advanatges them to sell more PCs and which advantages SHareholders who will see a growing and hopefully as profitable busines as possible? Under such circum,stances I see any shareholder suit of DELL as entirely without merit as both DELL's customers and shareholder have benefited.... Now over at Intel I have no idea whether they have broken any other side agreements with other OEMs. I also do not think that there was a person alive in the industry who did not know that DELL was getting superb pricing from Intel.
In the US is not there a Federally authorized tax holiday in Federal Tax charges re transactions on the internet? ANd this is likely going to be extended. It's the individual US States who might want such info. But each State would then have to have it's own spiders.
I am glad to hear of the direction of OU. More power to you. I would make one point: For Baby Boomers, like myself, the time is now.... We BBs are approaching retirement/semi-retirment with immediate effect and probably we form the largest one time generation bulge with the time to indulge in an education some missed, or in a new direction. But we were a driven generation and need the motivation of a result at the end of an pursuits. (Hmm I am even now slipping into English spelling, my computer hates this!). I will follow OU and will likely try some of your OL courses for fun, but sadly you remain a mostly closed avenue for my main endeavour, for now.... Thanks for your evening time:)
Thanks for the thoughtful input/update. Indeed some of those courses are of interest to me, so it's very useful. I did guess that you were an "insider", but appreciate your making it clear. I do not know whether my circumstances and needs are unique, or do indeed represent a larger potential source for online "students" with needs not yet fulfilled. What I do know is that my needs are not yet addressed (as far as I can yet see) by the MIT, or OU or even OpenLearn or other institutions of learning. Let me expand further. I was educated in the UK (9+ O'Levela, Additonal Math and 1 A level (Art)). I went into banking and had a 30+ year international career with appointments in Liverppol, London, Singapor, Bahrain. Geneva and New York. I am currently in semi-retirement in New Jersey, USA. I reached the EVP level of management, in a very large US Multinational Financial Services Company. The last 10 years I have been self employed, but now I have the appetite/desire to get a degree, for the pure challenge and learning experience. I do not need the usual "social college experience", hence online learning is very suitable to me and I have the time now. 30 years ago I sat for and passed 8 out of 10 exams for the Chartered Institute of Bankers (ACIB) qualification. I stopped short as my day (and night) job commitments conflicted with the time needed to finish. In the 1990s the CIB and UMIST offered to allow people like me (in mid stream of a qualification) to convert to a IFS Hons degree course (1986 onwards). I didn't attempt to take up on this opportunity, sadly, until last year, when I contacted them and asked if I could enter their course at some level. They, quite frnakly, came back and told me that since my courses for the ACIB were taken in the late 1960s I would "devalue their degree qualification" if they allowed me to rejoin. I was quite startled by this reproach. In their defence they knew nothing of my lifetime work achievements, but that's as far as I would EVER defend them! Their answer was very exclusive rather than suggesting ANY way fwd Thus I started looking around for other degree courses I could enter, online. There are many course, but most are exceedngly expensive (especially in the USA where degree courses are certainly anything but inexpensive). I loooked at the local alternative in a "County College", but these largely necessitate quite some distance in daily travel and actual physical attendance. i.e. not the route I wanted. The flexibility of an online set of courses being paramount to me. I then switched and looked at the well recommended OpenUniversity (OU) and fould it to be ideally suited to my circumstance. Except that non UK tax residents are closed out (except for Post Graduate courses/qualifications and a few courses in "online basket weaving" please excuse the humour). Ergo total frustration at their being no middle ground, for me to pay a lttle extra than the subsidised tax resident course fees. No other similar opportunity has yet to be found, in all my research. I must admit I even considered using a family UK address etc. and flying over for exams, but thought this was rather "inconsiderate" to the OU's stated policies as far as I understand them. Thus inspite of your kindly taking the time to respond, I am still left in a situation whereby I see some good learning opportunitues (such as OpenLearn) but no way to transform the education into a physical qualification, if indeed I am going to spend a few years and perhaps hundreds if not a thousand of hours of study, I like to know there is a piece of paper at the end of it. Call it motivation:) OK enough of my ramblings. My intent is to show that there MAY be a decently large group of potential students with needs not presently being met, for an institution such as the OU, consider future niche offering to...... i.e. a new Revenue stream without increasing your expenses excessively so that OU Fees + a reasonable premium charge might well make viable sense. Thanks again for having the consideration of replying to my comment.
I believe the cap is true. I am paying Cablevision about $1.35 p.m. for my CableCard. I've had it for just over a year now.