Well, it's a crazy made-up IP law hack, so it's not going to have a perfect real-world analogy. A virus as an analogy is as good and as bad as any. The point is that it will infect your code, and it can be difficult to avoid. That serves MS marketing quite well. On the other hand, they would probably not use the analogy of their own software being like a blood-sucking parasite or a tax - yet both are pretty good analogies.
The reason a micronation *should* be feasible is the hope that the rest of the existing nations of the world are civilized enough not to come in and slaughter their populations, just because they don't like a little competition.
Actually, the main threat to a micronation would likely be privateers.
I think you are being a bit pedantic there. While you are technically correct, it does not change the essence of his argument - that you need to possess sufficient force to give your declaration some credibility.
it will not likely get you anything without some action on the government's part.
Small claims court IS action on the government's part. The civil court would have the same power to get money from him as a criminal court.
So, yes the government did take action against the guy for circumventing it's regulations but it has left the victims on their own.
It seems to be contacting as many of the victims as it can find, and is reaching out to the media as well. I'm sorry, but I don't want to go down the path of the government reimbursing every person who has been scammed directly. If I get mugged by a crackhead, should they make sure he reimburses me?
I don't think it is fair to say they "won't lift a finger"... this warning comes from the NHTSA. TFA also says that the feds arrested a North Carolina man for selling these things. It even says they convicted a Chinese national for manufacturing and selling the bogus airbags on his website. Presumably, if you bought an airbag from Dai Zhensong or his website "Guangzhou Auto Parts" you could recover the cost of the bag ($57) and the installation in small claims court.
The governments behavior regarding the *AA is probably not a good starting point with me, since I disagree with that relationship. If you are trying to go after people in China, then obviously you would need the government's help. If your mechanic is knowingly installing these things, small claims court is the proper venue.
I don't like class action suits, either - but I doubt this would wind up there. If a mechanic is convicted of defrauding his customers by installing fake airbags, it should be pretty easy to win a claim in small claims court. Even if he's not convicted, you probably still stand a chance of winning - which is not the case if it is treated in the criminal courts. The burden of proof is lower for civil suits, so I think they are better suited for this sort of thing.
I don't think that government should be in the business of reimbursing people who were scammed, but I am all for government arresting people who take part in the fraud.
Weren't the examples in that story big public figures? I'm thinking that a few more eyeballs might be on their wardrobes than on the typical Slashdot workin' stiff.
You make the false assumption that NASA is just a whole bunch of government employees.
Where did I make that assumption? Presumably at least some employees are government employees, and that is going to mean pension costs and productivity loss that SpaceX does not have.
As for government contractors... well, I worked for one and we had to keep very detailed records of our hours, and we were never allowed to work overtime. We actually got in trouble for staying late. It was frustrating, because you might only need another half of an hour to complete an experiment, but instead you had to clean it up and start over the next day. One co-op was being paid from a project that had completed, and he couldn't work on another project until that one was exhausted. They didn't want to do anything unscrupulous, so they made him sit there for a few weeks and review documentation from the completed project. The same documentation. Over, and over again. We also had to have paper records of everything, in some government-approved notebook. You would do all of your work on the computer, print out your work and data, and then literally cut-and-paste the work into these stupid notebooks. Then the notebook would be filed into a big cabinet, only making an appearance if we were audited. That was almost 20 years ago, so maybe it has changed - but it was very different than working in the "real" private sector.
You could do what my neighbor does - when the smartphone gets broken, it's off to the Walgreens for a $20 flip phone until the next contract comes up:)
It is not hard for me to see how SpaceX could make a good profit and still be cheaper than NASA. I suspect they don't have pensions on their budget. I suspect people work more than 40 hours a week, and without an expectation of overtime. I suspect they don't have 50-year-old facilities scattered throughout states in a way that only makes sense once you consider congressional districts. And finally, if they fail they go out of business. When NASA fails, the schedule slips. I have a feeling that given this incentive, they will manage risk differently...
What smartphone has no case available? It's the most popular accessory - any company would be giving up an automatic sale if they didn't have cases ready for their phone.
Yeah, it's a tool - but it's a broken tool when it hits tile or concrete. Practically the whole first floor of my home is tile, and it eats smartphone screens (2 so far). Hardwood or carpet aren't so bad... I don't even blink when I drop a phone at work on the carpet.
I've yet to lose a screen since using the cheap rubbery-ish silicony case. It does nothing for scratches, since all sorts of odd grit gets in between the case and the phone and rubs. And of course, it doesn't protect the face of the screen. My wife has one of those Otter cases, but she works in a hospital and needs to sanitize it.
I think if you pay attention, you'll see lots of cases - especially the kind that clip on to a belt holster. Women all seem to have them - I think purses must be something like garbage disposals.
you can more easily parent if you are their friend. I can get my 2 year old to do just about anything. He'll eat foods I ask him to, and he'll run when I say run, and stop when I say stop.
I'd say you have the parent thing nailed, but you need to work on the "friend" thing!:)
I agree harder != better. Glass will resist scratching better than plastic and plastic will resist shattering better than glass. I personally prefer plastic because I drop my phone and don't really mind scratches. I do have to admit that the iPhone is a much nicer looking phone than my Samsung, but that doesn't really sway me. For someone who likes their phone to feel solid and look nice, it would be a definite plus - and then they'd bury it in a case. It's so common that people assume my Android is an iPhone since it is in a case.
Wow, 6, that's a big dataset you are working from there... I have a dataset from Thursday of 4 phones on a table, all with cases... so I guess 60% of all smartphones in the world are caseless - you win!
I have a tile floor at home and two young children - after two broken screens I learned to love the case. Cases also happen to be the number one selling mobile phone accessory - just ahead of headphones - so I don't think I'm alone.
Do you honestly know any substantial number of smartphone users who run caseless? I did with the older iPhones, and people teased me all the time. Maybe it's a generational thing - I don't interact with many teenagers (yet).
I didn't build up a straw man - I directly addressed the issue of glass as a phone material, and then added that line as an aside. Did you just read the straw man article on Wikipedia or something and rush over to show us how brilliant you are?
Slashdot Mirror
Now I have to admit that I have been playing Minecraft lately... but honestly, gaming is not a reason that I have a computer.
Well, it's a crazy made-up IP law hack, so it's not going to have a perfect real-world analogy. A virus as an analogy is as good and as bad as any. The point is that it will infect your code, and it can be difficult to avoid. That serves MS marketing quite well. On the other hand, they would probably not use the analogy of their own software being like a blood-sucking parasite or a tax - yet both are pretty good analogies.
The reason a micronation *should* be feasible is the hope that the rest of the existing nations of the world are civilized enough not to come in and slaughter their populations, just because they don't like a little competition.
Actually, the main threat to a micronation would likely be privateers.
I think you are being a bit pedantic there. While you are technically correct, it does not change the essence of his argument - that you need to possess sufficient force to give your declaration some credibility.
Put more fuel or less cargo in the lead aircraft.
it will not likely get you anything without some action on the government's part.
Small claims court IS action on the government's part. The civil court would have the same power to get money from him as a criminal court.
So, yes the government did take action against the guy for circumventing it's regulations but it has left the victims on their own.
It seems to be contacting as many of the victims as it can find, and is reaching out to the media as well. I'm sorry, but I don't want to go down the path of the government reimbursing every person who has been scammed directly. If I get mugged by a crackhead, should they make sure he reimburses me?
I don't think it is fair to say they "won't lift a finger"... this warning comes from the NHTSA. TFA also says that the feds arrested a North Carolina man for selling these things. It even says they convicted a Chinese national for manufacturing and selling the bogus airbags on his website. Presumably, if you bought an airbag from Dai Zhensong or his website "Guangzhou Auto Parts" you could recover the cost of the bag ($57) and the installation in small claims court.
I was going to mention that to him/her, but they will find out shortly :)
The governments behavior regarding the *AA is probably not a good starting point with me, since I disagree with that relationship. If you are trying to go after people in China, then obviously you would need the government's help. If your mechanic is knowingly installing these things, small claims court is the proper venue.
I don't like class action suits, either - but I doubt this would wind up there. If a mechanic is convicted of defrauding his customers by installing fake airbags, it should be pretty easy to win a claim in small claims court. Even if he's not convicted, you probably still stand a chance of winning - which is not the case if it is treated in the criminal courts. The burden of proof is lower for civil suits, so I think they are better suited for this sort of thing.
I would think that could be taken care of with a civil suit.
I don't think that government should be in the business of reimbursing people who were scammed, but I am all for government arresting people who take part in the fraud.
Weren't the examples in that story big public figures? I'm thinking that a few more eyeballs might be on their wardrobes than on the typical Slashdot workin' stiff.
You make the false assumption that NASA is just a whole bunch of government employees.
Where did I make that assumption? Presumably at least some employees are government employees, and that is going to mean pension costs and productivity loss that SpaceX does not have.
As for government contractors... well, I worked for one and we had to keep very detailed records of our hours, and we were never allowed to work overtime. We actually got in trouble for staying late. It was frustrating, because you might only need another half of an hour to complete an experiment, but instead you had to clean it up and start over the next day. One co-op was being paid from a project that had completed, and he couldn't work on another project until that one was exhausted. They didn't want to do anything unscrupulous, so they made him sit there for a few weeks and review documentation from the completed project. The same documentation. Over, and over again. We also had to have paper records of everything, in some government-approved notebook. You would do all of your work on the computer, print out your work and data, and then literally cut-and-paste the work into these stupid notebooks. Then the notebook would be filed into a big cabinet, only making an appearance if we were audited. That was almost 20 years ago, so maybe it has changed - but it was very different than working in the "real" private sector.
You could do what my neighbor does - when the smartphone gets broken, it's off to the Walgreens for a $20 flip phone until the next contract comes up :)
It is not hard for me to see how SpaceX could make a good profit and still be cheaper than NASA. I suspect they don't have pensions on their budget. I suspect people work more than 40 hours a week, and without an expectation of overtime. I suspect they don't have 50-year-old facilities scattered throughout states in a way that only makes sense once you consider congressional districts. And finally, if they fail they go out of business. When NASA fails, the schedule slips. I have a feeling that given this incentive, they will manage risk differently...
What smartphone has no case available? It's the most popular accessory - any company would be giving up an automatic sale if they didn't have cases ready for their phone.
I was trying to make a joke about how your idea of a friend is someone who is obedient... ah, well.
Yeah, it's a tool - but it's a broken tool when it hits tile or concrete. Practically the whole first floor of my home is tile, and it eats smartphone screens (2 so far). Hardwood or carpet aren't so bad... I don't even blink when I drop a phone at work on the carpet.
I've yet to lose a screen since using the cheap rubbery-ish silicony case. It does nothing for scratches, since all sorts of odd grit gets in between the case and the phone and rubs. And of course, it doesn't protect the face of the screen. My wife has one of those Otter cases, but she works in a hospital and needs to sanitize it.
I think if you pay attention, you'll see lots of cases - especially the kind that clip on to a belt holster. Women all seem to have them - I think purses must be something like garbage disposals.
you can more easily parent if you are their friend. I can get my 2 year old to do just about anything. He'll eat foods I ask him to, and he'll run when I say run, and stop when I say stop.
I'd say you have the parent thing nailed, but you need to work on the "friend" thing! :)
I agree harder != better. Glass will resist scratching better than plastic and plastic will resist shattering better than glass. I personally prefer plastic because I drop my phone and don't really mind scratches. I do have to admit that the iPhone is a much nicer looking phone than my Samsung, but that doesn't really sway me. For someone who likes their phone to feel solid and look nice, it would be a definite plus - and then they'd bury it in a case. It's so common that people assume my Android is an iPhone since it is in a case.
Rare? Cases comprise 36% of all cell phone accessory sales. You probably just aren't looking.
Wow, 6, that's a big dataset you are working from there... I have a dataset from Thursday of 4 phones on a table, all with cases... so I guess 60% of all smartphones in the world are caseless - you win!
I have a tile floor at home and two young children - after two broken screens I learned to love the case. Cases also happen to be the number one selling mobile phone accessory - just ahead of headphones - so I don't think I'm alone.
Do you honestly know any substantial number of smartphone users who run caseless? I did with the older iPhones, and people teased me all the time. Maybe it's a generational thing - I don't interact with many teenagers (yet).
I didn't build up a straw man - I directly addressed the issue of glass as a phone material, and then added that line as an aside. Did you just read the straw man article on Wikipedia or something and rush over to show us how brilliant you are?