This is not a "toaster". It's a piece of institutional equipment, which happens to toast bread.
Target market are hotels and restaurants.
I'm working in a plant (factory to some of you). I could point to any number of things and call them "$80,000 overhead lamps", "million dollar air conditioners" (well, the Mercedes plant is air conditioned; you just have to sweat in the Hyundai plant), and so forth.
Furthermore, analog video will not require the protection scheme, meaning that video stored on analog VCRs could be free of the copyright restrictions.
The author suggests that IFF an activity (copying) is prohibited via technical or practical means, it follows that activity is restricted by copyright law.
This is the view that the **AA has been promoting for some time now, through propoganda and the DMCA.
That is--if it's technically difficult, it must be illegal. And, via the DMCA, that we, the **AA, will decide what's legal and what rights you have. You will be informed of our decision after you buy our product.
Folks, it doesn't work that way. Fair use has not been repealed. Not by the unelected and un-apointed **AA, and not by the passage of the DMCA.
The DMCA gives a group of unelected people the practical ability to make certain legal activities illegal. Our constitution doesn't allow that. The power to pass legislation comes from the whole of the people. The select group that we give this task was ostensibly elected by the whole of the people they represent. Not by a small group.
A person (or corporate "person") who wishes to apply for this sort of protection should not be allowed to arbitrarily remove rights from other persons.
I propose a test:
"If you want your RM system to be protected under the DMCA, you must submit it for approval. (leaving the approval process and challenges to improperly approved systems to another discussion). If your system inhibits legally protected activities, your system may not be protected under the DMCA. You may implement the system, as long as it doesn't break existing laws. But if someone chooses to break your system in order to exercise their rights in an otherwise legal manner of their choosing, the law will not stop them. However, if your system ONLY inhibits those activities in a manner you are already legally entitled to control, then it may be protected."
Seems to me a fair test--Everybody's existing rights are protected. No unelected person gets to make arbitrary decisions for the rest of us, then use the penalty of law to enforce those decisions.
It removes the power to enact laws from the **AA and the puts it back into the hands of the legislature where it belongs.
This assumes, of course, that legislators answer to the will of the majority of the citizens they represent--not to the citizens offering the biggest bribe.
I paid under $300 for a 26" RCA CRT tv 10 years ago. It still looks as good as it did then. No, it's not the super-badass picture in the $3,000 TVs in the stores today. But it's not getting any worse.
I've looked around and talked to people that own these fancy TVS as well as people that sell them. AFAICT, my options today are.
1. Buy a CRT tv (but I already have one!)
Maybe it'll last.
Cost: Hundreds to a thousand.
2. Buy a plasma TV.
It'll last a year if you're lucky.
Failure mode is "dead spots"
Not repairable; throw it away.
Cost: Starts at around a thousand for a crappy one.
3. Buy an LCD TV.
Same as plasma above, except failure mode is pixels stuck on or less frequently off.
4. Buy a DLP projector.
It'll probably last.
But the bulb dies after 2-4k hours.
Cost: Starts at around 500 for a crappy one.
Plus about $150-$600/year for bulbs, depending on how much TV you watch--and my wife likes to have the TV on while she's home by herself.
5. 'Course, if you're going to buy the "crappy one", you might as well keep that 10-year old RCA and save your money!
I just don't see paying $1500 to $5,000 a year to watch TV. For a 3,000 hour year, that's $0.50 to $1.67 an hour cut in salary.
To watch TV.
I like cool gadgets as much as the next guy. But I already have a TV. If I'm going to drop that kinda cash EVERY YEAR, it's not going to be on a POS TV that craps out after a year or two.
And, yes, my computer is almost 10 years old, too. It's amazing what you can get out of old hardware if you have the right distro.
OK, we're really entering the realm of science fiction here. But, let's take a look at what you've said, and see how it applies to our experience today. After all, that's what good science fiction often does--provide us with a new way to look at an old experience. In this case, it's the failure of society to recognize the rights of some.
You say, regarding the recognition of the civil rights of machines: This could well involve force, but I don't think it would be necessary.
For those in the US... (other countries, substitute oppressed peoples as appropriate)
You have friends who are black? Indigenous? Female? Working for someone else?
When their white male friends in management politely asked their rights be recognized, there was no struggle? It was easy?
It is not in the nature of those who have power to willingly give it away. If one group of people in society has the power to take advantage of another group, they tend to do so. There will be those who oppose this practice, and they will fight to change it. The key word here is fight. As part of the group of opressed or of opressors, one who wishes to fundamentally change the social order will be opposed--usually violently.
This is the question that stories like A.I., I. Robot, and many, many others ask us: What is a person? Who gets "rights"? Why? Blade Runner (Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep) really hits you in the face with it, but like the rest, it's not a story about androids.
Don't get hung up in the technical aspect of "computers as humans". That's not what this piece of science fiction is about.
The legal fiction of "machine as person" presumes a sentient machine or program. Whether programmers agree one exists, if the courts presume it does, then legally it does.
A single programmer can create a sentient program to do his or her will. Once the SDK is released and someone puts together a decent GUI, a single human will have this ability. Machine citizenship will grant this program recognition by the courts--and absolve the programmer of responsibility for the actions of the program.
Computer-as-citizen gives any individual programmer or open group of programmers the same legal protections and license as corporation-as-citizen gives Exxon-Mobil, Wal-Mart, Daimler-Benz, McDonalds, etc. etc.
For good or for ill, the folks running things today would like to be the folks running things tomorrow, thank you very much. And they will fight to retain their positon. It's not an evil conspiracy; it's the nature of power. It is unusual for kings--good ones or evil ones--to willingly step down from the throne.
The only way for computers to gain personhood will be for us to take it by force.
Well, they have, actually. It's called "reality tv". Basically, you throw out the writers and actors and just churn out themed interaction between performers. You can still call them actors and writers, but there contribution is at a commodity level of talent.
For some reason, people watch it.
Beauty for the producers is that there is no talent. Actors and writers (such as they are) don't like it? Fire 'em and get a new one.
None of these things have intrinsic value. Including the gold coin, unless you actually plan to use the unique properties of the soft yellow metal for something.
Awesome Tune! Didn't know they had a wiki about it, though...
You see me now a veteran of a thousand psychic wars Ive been living on the edge so long Where the winds of limbo roar And Im young enough to look at And far too old to see All the scars are on the inside Im not sure if theres anything left of me
Dont let these shakes go on Its time we had a break from it Its time we had some leave Weve been living in the flames Weve been eating up our brains Oh, please dont let theses shakes go on
You ask me why Im weary, why I cant speak to you You blame me for my silence Say its time I changed and grew But the wars still going on dear And theres no end that I know And I cant say if were ever... I cant say if were ever gonna to be free
Dont let these shakes go on Its time we had a break from it Its time we had some leave Weve been living in the flames Weve been eating out our brains Oh, please dont let theses shakes go on
You see me now a veteran of a thousand psychic wars My energys spent at last And my armor is destroyed I have used up all my weapons and Im helpless and bereaved Wounds are all Im made of Did I hear you say that this is victory?
Dont let these shakes go on Its time we had a break from it Send me to the rear Where the tides of madness swell And been sliding into hell Oh, please dont let shakes go on Dont let these shakes go on Dont let these shakes go on
One thing that made B5 so great was that it's a story. It has a beginning, middle, and end. (Well, 2 ends, actually, but that's only because they thought there wasn't going to be a season 5).
Anyhow, the story's been told; it's finished. Anything after that is going to be a disappointment.
It's pure vapor until enough early adopters buy into it.
Then it's extortion by unelected, unregulated authority.
"If you have ISO certification, you'll be better than everyone else" quickly turns to "If you're not ISO certified, you'll be perceived as a fly-by-night operation."
Do the math--is the pay less bennies acceptable to you?
At the co. I work for, the multiplier is 1.5.
Or, calculate the cost (if you can even get it) to purchase appropriate health insurance, life insurance, equivalent vacation days, etc.
My employer has contractors and employees--we're a consulting firm. Contractors who are worth a damn stick around as long as they choose to. Same thing with employees.
I suppose, as a consultant, getting laid off from a job is irrelevant. One job ends, the next one starts. In 10 years of employment, I've had 1 week when I didn't work, not counting planned vacations. During that week, I could have done minor jobs, but I wanted the time with my wife before going out of town.
If you see a "permanent" position as somehow more stable or respectable, or as a guarantee that your family will be secure then you're fooling yourself.
I was oversimplifying and setting the bar very low in order to make a point.
People go to great lengths to delude themselves into thinking that getting what they want right now will lead to them also getting what they want in the long term.
If you have a truly excellent credit card, (from a credit union) you may get prime plus a few percent. A cursory glance shows something around 9% is easily available if you have immaculate credit rating. Active and retired military may do a little better with USAA's platinum card. Heck, let's say by some miracle you're paying 6% on your credit card. Unheard of, but let's set the bar low for your "investment".
Paying that off is a guaranteed 6% return on your investment with ZERO risk. And your billing cycle is 30 days. Yeah, I know you can pay it off after 1 day of interest if you want. Again, I'll set the bar low for you--call it a 30-day loan.
Please, Please tell me what is this investment you've found that pays better than 6%, guarantees the rate of return, has absolutely zero risk of loss of principle, and requires only a 30 day commitment.
Actually ran across some of this a few years ago.
In a plant in Oklahoma City, some of the old processors used magnetic core memory.
One 16k memory module was about the size of a locker (24" x 24" x 6'). The thing was being decomissioned, so I took the covers off to see the memory.
Lots of tiny wires (I think 6 pass through each bead) with beads on them in grids. And stacks of grids.
Beads were about 1-1.5mm across (been a while).
And I touched them.
I don't know why, but it's just kind of cool that I could actually see the bits. And I touched a bit.
My kids will probably never touch a bit.
I totally agree! When we compete and BB wins, it's good business. When we compete and customer win, customer's cheating. BB: "It's not fair." Customer: "Cry me a * river." Customer: [ALT]F2 mozilla [ENTER] ^T www.streeptrices.com [ENTER] BB: "Hey--what happened to my customer base?"
Someday, they will perfect the rotary hard drive. This amazing device simply spins in one direction--the faster it goes the faster it wants to go.
Once the valves (seals) can be manufactured precisely enough, and the real-world effeciency begins to approach the theoretical effeciency, we will all use them.
Until then, we will have to live with the old reciprocating hard drives that try to shake themselves apart as they operate.
A purchase is a contract. If a purchase is anything other than an "as-is" cash sale (warranties, returns policies, financing agreements, etc.), both parties should have a copy of the terms of the purchase (the contract). In retail, this is typically a returns policy and a warranty.
If it's a $0.59 piece of gum, it's kind of silly. But if you're buying a $2,000 plasma TV (saw one at Wal-Mart yesterday), it might be worth your effort to collect this documentation before you part with your money.
Read and understand any contract before you enter into it. Again, this will probably be the returns policy and warranty. If you don't like the contract, don't enter into it. It is generally not a good idea to modify the contract in these instances. It may be technically legal, but you probably don't want to go to court over it. If the policy is unacceptable to you, shop somewhere else.
Pay with Visa. Other credit cards may offer similar purchase protection; this is not a Visa ad. It happens that I use Visa, and have had to use this process a couple of times in the past fifteen years. It has worked for me every time.
If the vendor refuses to honor the terms of the sale (e.g. won't take a return that the policy says he should), document what happened.
Do not get angry or belligerent. Do not try to "make them pay", "get even", or make the vendor lose face. Just make a sincere attempt act under the terms of the contract.
Document what you did. Document what the merchant did. Do this immediately, while it's fresh in your mind.
Tell the truth. Lying to get something for nothing is fraud, and you're deliberately creating a paper trail here. If you're wrong, deal with it. Don't try to scam the system.
Contest the charge with Visa. You will need to provide documentation showing:
The terms of the sale (the documented contract, consisting of copies of all policies, receipts, whatever you agreed to). That's the stuff that's written down at the time of the sale! "I remember the salesman told me I could bring it back" is not documentation.
Specifically how the merchant did not comply with the terms of the sale.
The fact that you made a good faith attempt to resolve the issue with the merchant.
Your statement that the following charges (here you specify the items on your Visa bill) are erroneous, fraudulent, not owed, or whatever the case might be.
If it's a return that was refused, you may also indicate that you will retain the item for a reasonable time period during which the vendor may arrange to pick it up. After that, you will dispose of it as you see fit. This is not necessary, but will help support your case that you're not trying to scam the merchant.
Do this within the time limit specified by Visa for contesting of charges. Typically 60 days from close of statement on which the purchase was made.
Works for me. Haven't had to do it too many times, but every time, Visa has refunded the charges.
Most recently, with the Sprint store.
If you're going to try to scam the vendor, you're not going to have any luck for very long. You will lose credibility with Visa (or whoever you use) if you contest charges every week. That's because you're trying to cheat the vendor.
If it sounds too good to be true, it is. Don't even bother to read the contract if you think you're going to get something for nothing. You're not. Just leave. Or your own greed will get you.
And just because it seems to piss off some people around here, I'll repeat the same wisdom my father told me:
Slashdot Mirror
They have something better. (Sattelites in the case of the SR-71).
Target market are hotels and restaurants.
I'm working in a plant (factory to some of you). I could point to any number of things and call them "$80,000 overhead lamps", "million dollar air conditioners" (well, the Mercedes plant is air conditioned; you just have to sweat in the Hyundai plant), and so forth.
But I don't go calling the media about it.
The author suggests that IFF an activity (copying) is prohibited via technical or practical means, it follows that activity is restricted by copyright law.
This is the view that the **AA has been promoting for some time now, through propoganda and the DMCA.
That is--if it's technically difficult, it must be illegal. And, via the DMCA, that we, the **AA, will decide what's legal and what rights you have. You will be informed of our decision after you buy our product.
Folks, it doesn't work that way. Fair use has not been repealed. Not by the unelected and un-apointed **AA, and not by the passage of the DMCA.
The DMCA gives a group of unelected people the practical ability to make certain legal activities illegal. Our constitution doesn't allow that. The power to pass legislation comes from the whole of the people. The select group that we give this task was ostensibly elected by the whole of the people they represent. Not by a small group.
A person (or corporate "person") who wishes to apply for this sort of protection should not be allowed to arbitrarily remove rights from other persons.
I propose a test:
"If you want your RM system to be protected under the DMCA, you must submit it for approval. (leaving the approval process and challenges to improperly approved systems to another discussion). If your system inhibits legally protected activities, your system may not be protected under the DMCA. You may implement the system, as long as it doesn't break existing laws. But if someone chooses to break your system in order to exercise their rights in an otherwise legal manner of their choosing, the law will not stop them. However, if your system ONLY inhibits those activities in a manner you are already legally entitled to control, then it may be protected."
Seems to me a fair test--Everybody's existing rights are protected. No unelected person gets to make arbitrary decisions for the rest of us, then use the penalty of law to enforce those decisions.
It removes the power to enact laws from the **AA and the puts it back into the hands of the legislature where it belongs.
This assumes, of course, that legislators answer to the will of the majority of the citizens they represent--not to the citizens offering the biggest bribe.
It still looks as good as it did then. No, it's not the super-badass picture in the $3,000 TVs in the stores today. But it's not getting any worse.
I've looked around and talked to people that own these fancy TVS as well as people that sell them. AFAICT, my options today are.
1. Buy a CRT tv (but I already have one!)
Maybe it'll last.
Cost: Hundreds to a thousand.
2. Buy a plasma TV.
It'll last a year if you're lucky.
Failure mode is "dead spots"
Not repairable; throw it away.
Cost: Starts at around a thousand for a crappy one.
3. Buy an LCD TV.
Same as plasma above, except failure mode is pixels stuck on or less frequently off.
4. Buy a DLP projector.
It'll probably last.
But the bulb dies after 2-4k hours.
Cost: Starts at around 500 for a crappy one.
Plus about $150-$600/year for bulbs, depending on how much TV you watch--and my wife likes to have the TV on while she's home by herself.
5. 'Course, if you're going to buy the "crappy one", you might as well keep that 10-year old RCA and save your money!
I just don't see paying $1500 to $5,000 a year to watch TV. For a 3,000 hour year, that's $0.50 to $1.67 an hour cut in salary.
To watch TV.
I like cool gadgets as much as the next guy. But I already have a TV. If I'm going to drop that kinda cash EVERY YEAR, it's not going to be on a POS TV that craps out after a year or two.
And, yes, my computer is almost 10 years old, too. It's amazing what you can get out of old hardware if you have the right distro.
That's because we're all browsing /. at work.
Why create your own? Why not contribute to the one people already know
You say, regarding the recognition of the civil rights of machines: This could well involve force, but I don't think it would be necessary.
For those in the US... (other countries, substitute oppressed peoples as appropriate)
You have friends who are black?
Indigenous?
Female?
Working for someone else?
When their white male friends in management politely asked their rights be recognized, there was no struggle?
It was easy?
It is not in the nature of those who have power to willingly give it away. If one group of people in society has the power to take advantage of another group, they tend to do so. There will be those who oppose this practice, and they will fight to change it.
The key word here is fight. As part of the group of opressed or of opressors, one who wishes to fundamentally change the social order will be opposed--usually violently.
This is the question that stories like A.I., I. Robot, and many, many others ask us: What is a person? Who gets "rights"? Why? Blade Runner (Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep) really hits you in the face with it, but like the rest, it's not a story about androids.
Don't get hung up in the technical aspect of "computers as humans". That's not what this piece of science fiction is about.
I am not a machine!
I am a human being--no, I'm TWO human beings. Really. I promise. Pay attention--there is a man behind the curtain!
A single programmer can create a sentient program to do his or her will. Once the SDK is released and someone puts together a decent GUI, a single human will have this ability. Machine citizenship will grant this program recognition by the courts--and absolve the programmer of responsibility for the actions of the program.
Computer-as-citizen gives any individual programmer or open group of programmers the same legal protections and license as corporation-as-citizen gives Exxon-Mobil, Wal-Mart, Daimler-Benz, McDonalds, etc. etc.
For good or for ill, the folks running things today would like to be the folks running things tomorrow, thank you very much. And they will fight to retain their positon. It's not an evil conspiracy; it's the nature of power. It is unusual for kings--good ones or evil ones--to willingly step down from the throne.
The only way for computers to gain personhood will be for us to take it by force.
Vive la revolucion.
don't hold your breath for a reliable functional product.
Well, they have, actually. It's called "reality tv". Basically, you throw out the writers and actors and just churn out themed interaction between performers. You can still call them actors and writers, but there contribution is at a commodity level of talent.
For some reason, people watch it.
Beauty for the producers is that there is no talent. Actors and writers (such as they are) don't like it? Fire 'em and get a new one.
From a business point of view, it's wonderful.
Artistically, I find it lacks appeal.
Do you use cash? A credit card? Gold coin?
None of these things have intrinsic value. Including the gold coin, unless you actually plan to use the unique properties of the soft yellow metal for something.
Geez, think about it, people!
Awesome Tune! Didn't know they had a wiki about it, though...
You see me now a veteran of a thousand psychic wars
Ive been living on the edge so long
Where the winds of limbo roar
And Im young enough to look at
And far too old to see
All the scars are on the inside
Im not sure if theres anything left of me
Dont let these shakes go on
Its time we had a break from it
Its time we had some leave
Weve been living in the flames
Weve been eating up our brains
Oh, please dont let theses shakes go on
You ask me why Im weary, why I cant speak to you
You blame me for my silence
Say its time I changed and grew
But the wars still going on dear
And theres no end that I know
And I cant say if were ever...
I cant say if were ever gonna to be free
Dont let these shakes go on
Its time we had a break from it
Its time we had some leave
Weve been living in the flames
Weve been eating out our brains
Oh, please dont let theses shakes go on
You see me now a veteran of a thousand psychic wars
My energys spent at last
And my armor is destroyed
I have used up all my weapons and Im helpless and bereaved
Wounds are all Im made of
Did I hear you say that this is victory?
Dont let these shakes go on
Its time we had a break from it
Send me to the rear
Where the tides of madness swell
And been sliding into hell
Oh, please dont let shakes go on
Dont let these shakes go on
Dont let these shakes go on
Anyhow, the story's been told; it's finished. Anything after that is going to be a disappointment.
Kind of like "Galactica 1980".
It's pure vapor until enough early adopters buy into it.
Then it's extortion by unelected, unregulated authority.
"If you have ISO certification, you'll be better than everyone else" quickly turns to "If you're not ISO certified, you'll be perceived as a fly-by-night operation."
not s/he. [s]he
At the co. I work for, the multiplier is 1.5.
Or, calculate the cost (if you can even get it) to purchase appropriate health insurance, life insurance, equivalent vacation days, etc.
My employer has contractors and employees--we're a consulting firm. Contractors who are worth a damn stick around as long as they choose to. Same thing with employees.
I suppose, as a consultant, getting laid off from a job is irrelevant. One job ends, the next one starts. In 10 years of employment, I've had 1 week when I didn't work, not counting planned vacations. During that week, I could have done minor jobs, but I wanted the time with my wife before going out of town.
If you see a "permanent" position as somehow more stable or respectable, or as a guarantee that your family will be secure then you're fooling yourself.
Hydrogen's kinda cool, though--it burns with such a pale blue flame that you can hardly see it in the daylight.
Hydrogen fires Yayy!!
I was oversimplifying and setting the bar very low in order to make a point.
People go to great lengths to delude themselves into thinking that getting what they want right now will lead to them also getting what they want in the long term.
INVESTING THE EXTRA MONEY
If you have a truly excellent credit card, (from a credit union) you may get prime plus a few percent. A cursory glance shows something around 9% is easily available if you have immaculate credit rating. Active and retired military may do a little better with USAA's platinum card. Heck, let's say by some miracle you're paying 6% on your credit card. Unheard of, but let's set the bar low for your "investment".
Paying that off is a guaranteed 6% return on your investment with ZERO risk. And your billing cycle is 30 days. Yeah, I know you can pay it off after 1 day of interest if you want. Again, I'll set the bar low for you--call it a 30-day loan.
Please, Please tell me what is this investment you've found that pays better than 6%, guarantees the rate of return, has absolutely zero risk of loss of principle, and requires only a 30 day commitment.
Actually ran across some of this a few years ago.
In a plant in Oklahoma City, some of the old processors used magnetic core memory.
One 16k memory module was about the size of a locker (24" x 24" x 6'). The thing was being decomissioned, so I took the covers off to see the memory.
Lots of tiny wires (I think 6 pass through each bead) with beads on them in grids. And stacks of grids.
Beads were about 1-1.5mm across (been a while).
And I touched them.
I don't know why, but it's just kind of cool that I could actually see the bits. And I touched a bit.
My kids will probably never touch a bit.
Well, maybe the "viewable" area.
But that's always in parentheses.
I totally agree!
When we compete and BB wins, it's good business.
When we compete and customer win, customer's cheating.
BB: "It's not fair."
Customer: "Cry me a * river."
Customer: [ALT]F2 mozilla [ENTER] ^T www.streeptrices.com [ENTER]
BB: "Hey--what happened to my customer base?"
Once the valves (seals) can be manufactured precisely enough, and the real-world effeciency begins to approach the theoretical effeciency, we will all use them.
Until then, we will have to live with the old reciprocating hard drives that try to shake themselves apart as they operate.
If it's a $0.59 piece of gum, it's kind of silly. But if you're buying a $2,000 plasma TV (saw one at Wal-Mart yesterday), it might be worth your effort to collect this documentation before you part with your money.
Read and understand any contract before you enter into it. Again, this will probably be the returns policy and warranty. If you don't like the contract, don't enter into it. It is generally not a good idea to modify the contract in these instances. It may be technically legal, but you probably don't want to go to court over it. If the policy is unacceptable to you, shop somewhere else.
Pay with Visa. Other credit cards may offer similar purchase protection; this is not a Visa ad. It happens that I use Visa, and have had to use this process a couple of times in the past fifteen years. It has worked for me every time.
If the vendor refuses to honor the terms of the sale (e.g. won't take a return that the policy says he should), document what happened.
Do not get angry or belligerent. Do not try to "make them pay", "get even", or make the vendor lose face. Just make a sincere attempt act under the terms of the contract.
Document what you did. Document what the merchant did. Do this immediately, while it's fresh in your mind.
Tell the truth. Lying to get something for nothing is fraud, and you're deliberately creating a paper trail here. If you're wrong, deal with it. Don't try to scam the system.
Contest the charge with Visa. You will need to provide documentation showing:
The terms of the sale (the documented contract, consisting of copies of all policies, receipts, whatever you agreed to). That's the stuff that's written down at the time of the sale! "I remember the salesman told me I could bring it back" is not documentation.
Specifically how the merchant did not comply with the terms of the sale.
The fact that you made a good faith attempt to resolve the issue with the merchant.
Your statement that the following charges (here you specify the items on your Visa bill) are erroneous, fraudulent, not owed, or whatever the case might be.
If it's a return that was refused, you may also indicate that you will retain the item for a reasonable time period during which the vendor may arrange to pick it up. After that, you will dispose of it as you see fit. This is not necessary, but will help support your case that you're not trying to scam the merchant.
Do this within the time limit specified by Visa for contesting of charges. Typically 60 days from close of statement on which the purchase was made.
Works for me. Haven't had to do it too many times, but every time, Visa has refunded the charges.
Most recently, with the Sprint store.
If you're going to try to scam the vendor, you're not going to have any luck for very long. You will lose credibility with Visa (or whoever you use) if you contest charges every week. That's because you're trying to cheat the vendor.
If it sounds too good to be true, it is. Don't even bother to read the contract if you think you're going to get something for nothing. You're not. Just leave. Or your own greed will get you.
And just because it seems to piss off some people around here, I'll repeat the same wisdom my father told me:
You can't cheat an honest man.