The name may sound a little tinny, but the service is great. They offer their domain guard service for free and have one of the cheapest registration prices around.
He seems to be the kind of person who doesn't give a shit how powerful you are, he will kick their ass anyway. It is refreshing to see someone in a position where they can do some good, and actually doing some good! Man, what would it be like to have someone in government actually do that?
Spitzer is a smart guy. I could see him making a good contribution to the country.
Hmmmm. Well, you're free to hate me. I welcome it.
You started off with quite a nice little analogy, not that it really makes sense to me, but you failed to follow up with how it relates to the recording industry. You alluded to it, but just didn't take the time to type it all out.
Let me respond to what I think you meant:
Yes, copyright can serve to protect an author's works from unauthorized copying and distribution. Whether or not the current copyright laws do this justly is another matter, but what I will say is so what? Why would an author want to protect their works from unauthorized copying and distribution? Ah, do they want the royalties that come with it? Do they want the control of their artistic work? Are they just selfish and don't want to share? The reasons may go on, but I believe that most (if not all) of these do not justify the end result of copyright.
I believe that limited copyright is a good thing. It can establish a record of ownership of a particular work, and recognize the author for their contribution. It could be used to prevent a person or entity from taking a created work and calling it their own. What I don't think is good are the "extras" attributed to copyright protection. The notion of "you can't copy this, you have to pay me for every single recording, and you can't even sing it at girls camp without paying me xxx dollars!" Control of a work at this level is wrong in my belief. It creates the urge in me to say "Fuck you, that is way too unjust!"
Like the grandparent poster said, the reason most people buy things is that they are told to buy it. They are given a want, a desire, a reason to fork out the money for it. Marketing. Common sense. Capitalism. Make it affordable and desireable for me to buy, and I will. Overprice it, and only give me a small part of what I want and I will laugh in your face while walking away... (and with digital goods, walking away with a copy!)
I just think that the notion of copyrights in the Western world has overstepped its bounds.
If it movies that they want then it is movies that should be produced, and if it is money that it takes to make these movies then it is money that should be paid. Not paid forever as the creators seem to think, but still paid nonetheless.
I think you may have missed the point the grandparent poster made, that content is basically worthless - no matter how much was paid to make it - unless there is the want or desire for that content.
It is the content producer's responsibility to create the want for their product/content/whatever. It is not the consumer's responsibility to pay homage to the content producers just because it cost them money! If that were the case, every bleeding investor worldwide would be demanding money for their investments, and there would never be a failed movie because "Hey, it cost me money to make this thing! So go pay money to watch it!"
I don't think its bad that you are sympathetic with the movie producers, they do work hard, and create some good movies. I do think it is a bit naiive however to insist that the rest of the world give a rat's ass whether or not the movie producer gets another beach home or not.
If the producers can create a want or desire for the masses to pay, then good for them. They deserve every penny. If they cannot, fuck em. It should not be our problem. Especially if "we" are living in an eastern european slum and cannot afford to buy anything but bread and water... or even less.
Wow, so you're ok with killing [quote]thousands of civilians half way around the world in the name of fighting a war on terror[/quote]?
I'm not, and I don't necessarily agree with your viewpoints either. I'll give you this though, you'd be a great politician. Lump all kinds of unrelated generalizations together and then attack it as something stupid, inhuman, or "unamerican" to support your viewpoint.
Vote for me! Everyone else wants to kill innocent civilians! Rah! Rah! Rah!
Ahahahaaa! Yes! I've been called an asshat! I love that word... very descriptive:)
In.uk, every single fucking slide in every single fucking playground in the whole fucking country is made from stainless steel and has been for nearly twenty years. Why? It's weatherproof, slippery, and vandal-resistant (I've never seen one damaged to the point of being unsafe, and I used to test IED's on them).I'm sure that hundreds, maybe thousands of children use every year use them to make the important discovery that metal gets hot if it's sunny. Vey few (if any) of them are permanently harmed by it.
Indeed. I went to elementary school over twenty years ago, and remember those metal slides... the difference is that I went to school in the high desert of southern California where it is over 100 degrees fahrenheit in January. Almost every kid in school knew about the bunson burner. Most would be ok if they wore long pants, and didn't actually touch the metal... but that's a difficult thing to do when climbing a metal ladder, and sliding down a slippery slope. Every year there would be a dozen or so kids treated for burns. I myself happened to lean up against it once, and it left quite a mark on my upper arm.
I guess I should have narrowed the scope of my accusations to those areas where it is known to be a danger on the playground... My bad.
I think it is great that children in areas with a bit more latitude can enjoy these durable, weatherproof, slippery, and vandal-resistant metal slides.
You are exactly the kind of moron you deny yourself to be, you believe all risks to be a Bad Thing (TM) to be stamped out even at the cost of denying anyone enjoyment.
Exactly. I am an asshat. Yes, yes, I'll try to lighten up. I suppose that the slides aren't all that bad. I just think that common sense should prevail on all levels. Kids should try to slide down without getting burned. School admins should see that kids are getting burned and put some kind of protective coating on the slide, or replace it with one of the nice plastic ones available. No need for lawsuits, just a bit of common sense.
I hope you die in a freak gardening accident.
I also hope that I die in some freak gardening accident... the more bizarre the better:) Just think about all of the parties on the other side where everyone is standing around drinking some ghost beer or whatever, and asking each other, "So, how did you die?" To which I'd reply, "Heh, weeeell see, it involved this turnip seed, some pesticides, and a backhoe..."
Heh, you are obviously very passionate about your convictions, but the example you gave does lack some basic common sense.
Kids are kids, they (well most of them anyway) do not have the mental faculties of adults. Suggesting that a child is "stupid" for sliding down a metal slide in the summer is just that... stupid. Children are for the most part very trusting and naive, and if there is a slide on the playground of an elementary school they will play on it until they get hurt. Only after the painful experience will they realize that it is not a good thing to do.
Now, putting a metal slide in the playground of an elementary school in my opinion is a very dangerous and stupid thing to do. It would be the equivalent of replacing your nice leather car seats with a bright and shiny sheet metal. "Yeah, those adults that burn themselves on their metal car seats are stupid! Don't they know that you can't drive in the summer?!!"
I do agree (I think) with the theme of your argument that lawsuits have become outrageously frivolous and common, but I must part ways on this particular example.
I wish I could thrive on pressure. Hell, I wish I liked my job.
I have been wanting for a long time to feel the thrill of engaging myself in a good cause. The feeling of going to a place everyday where I can do something that matters, and that will make a difference. Yes, I think that were that the case, I would truly thrive under pressure. I would crave it.
That is, until I got home to enjoy the emotional abuse that my wife constantly doles out on me. It really sucks that I have kids that I love too much to leave her.
Ah, well... here's to wishing... [raises a pint... uh, well I wish I had a pint to raise]
I remember reading that General Grant (US Civil War General) was a worthless drunk whenever he did'nt have anything to do. He would just sit around and drink his ass off... Then when he got a commission, or was given some type of authority or promotion he would perform like a champion.
I think that quite a few of the US military geniuses were the same way.
... excepting of course our current president, who it seems has never stopped drinking his ass off, and has no functional brain left. That's why he's such a fucking stupid dickshit.
Indeed! I remember seeing a documentary about one of the first guys to build (it might even have been the inventor, it has been a while) a floating transporter. Apparently he lived in Paris, and used to fly all over the place to parties and such.
I can see that the safety issues would me much less complex than with a plane or helo type device, and you could probably get it to travel at a decent pace, though the wind factor would be an interesting challenge to solve.
Wow, you seem to be pretty fanatical about Israel. I'm not saying that's bad, mind you, I'm saying that I've noticed that when a person does not look critically and realistically at their own government/race/beliefs and only accepts the given information/(propaganda) given, that person almost inevitably becomes ignorant and invariably naive.
When I was young I believed wholeheartedly in the sanctity of the US. The US was righteous, and all her enemies were evil. I see now that I was very naive, and very very wrong. People are people, and people in power are corrupt. Everyone has their preconceived ideas, their biases, their hatreds... no nation or group of people on this earth are exempt from this. It is the cycle of human existence, and until some Godly being decides to interrupt it, the cycle will continue with nations fighting against nations, and people hating each other.
I guess what I'm suggesting is that you try to look at your point of view from _another_ point of view. Israel, despite the history of it's people, may not be the holy sanctuary you once thought it was.
Like I said, people are people. You'd be surprised how many people in desperate situations (such as the holocaust) hang on to their bitterness and hatred, and project those feelings outward on others. I'm not saying that all (or any) holocaust survivors do this, but I know personally a small group of people that have survived some horrific situations, and some of them have been so affected by it that they hate the world, and look to punish the human race for their suffering.
An additional point to your informative post is that the majority of literate people in the 17th-19th centuries had an astounding command of the pen.
If you've ever seen a letter written during that time you will notice that the penmanship is excellent. Contrast that with what you see scribbled on papers today.
It is truly a shame that in today's world one must use computer fonts to match the writing of over a hundred years ago.
That said, an enclosed scooter like the BMW C1 makes much more sense than the four-wheeled PM because you can operate it in a narrow vehicle lane and park in a motorcycle space.
Not available in the US though... It's a cool concept I'd like to see more automakers come up with.
I've noticed the change certainly since my sons drink a lot of milk. Just about two weeks ago Whole Milk used to cost a little over $2.00 per gallon (US). Yesterday it was listed at $3.49 or something close to it.
Something is going on to drive up dairy prices so much... though it is more than just dairy products. A lot of other things are more pricey than I remember them being - construction materials for one.
Some people around here say that it is because of the demand of products in Iraq that is driving up the price... could we be exporting that much stuff to Iraq to make such a serious dent in our local economy?
Although in the first case with providian several checks bounced because of it, the charges from those caused the account to below (I had about 15 outstanding checks bounce as a chain effect of the initial charge) and the bank refused to refund the charges for those. It ended up costing me alot more than the wrongful charge was in the end.
That is fucked up. Seriously. Yell louder, and make some serious demands. In my experience, they will always waive the charges if you sound serious enough. It is their fault the charges occurred, therefore it is their responsibility to cover those charges.
It seems to me that you are far too quick to denounce the validity of some arguments simply because the word 'Nazi' or 'holocaust' is mentioned. The grandparent has a valid point that in a discussion, many corrolations can be made between current events and those events that took place in the 1930's and 1940's Western Europe.
In your great-grandparent post, your example of Godwin's Law mentions that one "loses" the argument if someone is labeled a Nazi or Holocaust Denier. That to me seems valid and accurate, since labeling a person with something that contains such negative connotations is a very dangerous thing. However, comparing social situations with those of the Nazis really should not incur the invoking of Godwin's Law.
Shifting the subject slightly, Godwin's Law is a social law invented by a group of people that agreed to abide by that law. The law really has no real force behind it aside from the social pressure to follow it.
I heartily encourage those who have fallen victim to the woes of Godwin's Law - and who at the time were engaged in a good and thought provoking discussion - to unshackle themselves from this shortsighted stigma and continue the debate! Be careful however, to not let the same methods of labeling befall you. To name a person a Nazi should not be taken lightly, and should only be done if they are actually members of the Nazi party. As well, invoking Godwin's Law simply to stifle the discussion is an equally spiteful and dangerous thing.
"Loyalty to the country always. Loyalty to the government when it deserves it."
Mark Twain
Indeed!
Protect our freedoms? Absolutely! Who is trying to take them away?
Protect our liberty? Absolutely! Who is trying to take it away?
Defend the homeland? Absolutely! Who is trying to invade?
Unfortunately, many people are so blind as to rush to answer these questions with something that just isn't true. It's like every enemy of the US government is somehow trying to take away our civil liberties and freedoms... funny how it isn't any of these enemies that have succeded, but our own government!
Saddam Hussein? He didn't try to invade. He didn't try to take away my liberty. He didn't try to take away my freedom. But he did start accepting Euros for oil instead of dollars... hmmm.
I've rarely heard anyone take this attitude except when they don't have a wife/girlfriend. I have one
Hey, me too! What a coincidence!
What will suck is when you can nano-manufacture all of this for cheap and it will be worth nothing, and then you won't be able to give the girlfriend ANYTHING appreciable to prove you'll sacrifice for her. =)
Holy shit. Here's another one. How about a fucking house? Or a car? Or a nice Alaskan cruise? Or how about giving up your poker night? There are a thousand things you could do to prove your willingness to sacrifice, it doesn't have to be some stupid worthless fucking piece of compressed carbon that glitters in the sunlight.
You just gotta think and do a little research before you plunk down money like that, and it will always be more significant and a better reminder to the woman than a chunk of land.
... and what is that diamond made from? Hmmm... "Yeah honey, here is a nice glittery chunk of land for you to put on your finger... Um, no, it really doesn't do anything, but it looks nice... Ah, yes I suppose a 1 acre lot in the suburbs looks nice too, but I thought... yes, we could have build a home on that lot too, and raised children... Yes, honey, I am a brainless shit. I'll take the ring back now."
I would never ever buy a piece of synthetic diamond jewlery unless it cost as much as a natural one. The last thing you should ever do is cheapen love by trying to buy a symbol of it at a discount.
If you can't afford a natural diamond, then don't buy one at all (a fake symbol is worse than no symbol at all)...
... said the DeBeers salesman.
Send me your work phone # and I'll give you a call... you know, with Mother's Day and all I thought I'd go waste some more money on something that has no utility. Yep, I'm convinced that the boost to that special woman's self esteem is worth the cost in tears and blood that the diamond cartels extract from those children in the mines.
Eclipse is a pretty decent platform built on SWT, and the JFace libraries.
You can build completely customized applications using the JFace/Eclipse platform that have nothing whatsoever to do with the concept of an IDE. I've recently built a small client app using it and it's not bad really.
I suppose there's an outside chance (only in the US, [grin]) that he *might* be right - witness the uproar over 1 cm^2 of female flesh after a certain kickabout recently...
One thing to understand is that the public backlash against Janet was because she exposed herself on public television during a show that the majority of Americans watch. It is one thing to provide porn material for people to enjoy in private, and a completely separate thing to publicly force porn (even softcore) to the masses (including children).
Contrary to the popular/. opinion, many people are offended by porn and really have no desire to see that type of material. I know that most europeans scoff at that idea, praising their "liberated" society for a high tolerance of nudity and sexual expression and that is their right. The US however has a different standard, be it right or wrong, that defines public nudity as wrong. Janet broke the rules of that standard and has paid for it (although she probably gained more than she lost).
What Ashcroft is doing appears to be overzealous in my opinion. Leave porn for those who want it I say... but I do think that something needs to be done about the problem of forcing porn onto innocent and unsuspecting people - especially in the form of SPAM. Filters work most of the time, but occasionally something gets through.
I know not to click on the link in the email, but what about my kids? I can tell them never to do it, but if you have (or know) kids they're going to forget and do it anyway. As a father I do not want my kids exposed to that type of material.
I think that Ashcroft should focus more on eliminating spam than going after porn. If he gets rid of porn... ack! what will I do when my wife wants to have sex?! I can't think about HER!
Their software is some of the most pirated software out there and there is no excuse for it except you're too cheap to buy it or you think it's cool to pirate software even if you'll never use it.
So it's cool to buy software even if you'll never use it? Hmmm... so if I buy lots of software that I don't need and will never use, maybe that will make me cool, and I might even get laid! Yeah, CompUSA here I come!
In all seriousness, cracke/warez software serves a very important purpose that the major software makers tend to understand and exploit for their purposes. They know that if piracy were rampant, and everyone did it, then it would be difficult to sell a product. On the other hand, if noone were able to get a copy of the software to try out (for more than the measly month trial) and really learn and understand, their sales would also drop.
It is a very difficult balance, but one that they seem to have under control for the moment.
The steps are:
Make a cool software product.
Add decent software protection.
Charge license fees, and enforce it rigidly for businesses and commercial purposes.
Let cracked copies circulate to increase mindshare and trained user base, and don't enforce license for private use.
Profit!!!
You see, Adobe knows that if they were to crack down on the piracy and try to eliminate it like the RIAA is doing with music files, it would result in a decrease in the number of people who use and would potentially buy their products. Like I said before, it is a very delicate balancing game they play, but it is a must for the content industry to play if they want to remain competitive (unless they have a monopoly already).
Adobe makes their money from license fees paid by companies, who likely have a user base of people who learned the product from a pirated copy. What good would it do Adobe if they were to try to extort license fees from the average Joe who only wants to check out Photoshop because it looks cool and he wants to make a few "graphics" for his personal website? There are already many social factors in place that will influence many of these "Joe's" to pay the license fee which makes Adobe happy, but many will not... yet. Some of these Joe's will become very familiar with the product, and maybe even start to dabble in freelance graphic design. They will want to start charging for their work, so they will buy a Photoshop license to make the business legit. A few of them may try to get away with not buying a license, but that is where the ***BUM BUM BUM*** BSA ***BOOOOOOO*** comes into play. They will crack down HARD on the offenders to make an example and send a message that says "Hey, if you want to use our product to make money, pay us the license!"
So does Adobe lose money on warez? Maybe. But I believe that they more than make up for it in license fees paid by people who already use and love their products.
Slashdot Mirror
Bot loses signal from original remote -> bot broadcasts emergency transmission -> F16 flies by and bombs the thing into oblivion.
This is just one possible scenario.
They've been very good to me.
Spitzer is a smart guy. I could see him making a good contribution to the country.
You started off with quite a nice little analogy, not that it really makes sense to me, but you failed to follow up with how it relates to the recording industry. You alluded to it, but just didn't take the time to type it all out.
Let me respond to what I think you meant:
Yes, copyright can serve to protect an author's works from unauthorized copying and distribution. Whether or not the current copyright laws do this justly is another matter, but what I will say is so what? Why would an author want to protect their works from unauthorized copying and distribution? Ah, do they want the royalties that come with it? Do they want the control of their artistic work? Are they just selfish and don't want to share? The reasons may go on, but I believe that most (if not all) of these do not justify the end result of copyright.
I believe that limited copyright is a good thing. It can establish a record of ownership of a particular work, and recognize the author for their contribution. It could be used to prevent a person or entity from taking a created work and calling it their own. What I don't think is good are the "extras" attributed to copyright protection. The notion of "you can't copy this, you have to pay me for every single recording, and you can't even sing it at girls camp without paying me xxx dollars!" Control of a work at this level is wrong in my belief. It creates the urge in me to say "Fuck you, that is way too unjust!"
Like the grandparent poster said, the reason most people buy things is that they are told to buy it. They are given a want, a desire, a reason to fork out the money for it. Marketing. Common sense. Capitalism. Make it affordable and desireable for me to buy, and I will. Overprice it, and only give me a small part of what I want and I will laugh in your face while walking away... (and with digital goods, walking away with a copy!)
I just think that the notion of copyrights in the Western world has overstepped its bounds.
I think you may have missed the point the grandparent poster made, that content is basically worthless - no matter how much was paid to make it - unless there is the want or desire for that content.
It is the content producer's responsibility to create the want for their product/content/whatever. It is not the consumer's responsibility to pay homage to the content producers just because it cost them money! If that were the case, every bleeding investor worldwide would be demanding money for their investments, and there would never be a failed movie because "Hey, it cost me money to make this thing! So go pay money to watch it!"
I don't think its bad that you are sympathetic with the movie producers, they do work hard, and create some good movies. I do think it is a bit naiive however to insist that the rest of the world give a rat's ass whether or not the movie producer gets another beach home or not.
If the producers can create a want or desire for the masses to pay, then good for them. They deserve every penny. If they cannot, fuck em. It should not be our problem. Especially if "we" are living in an eastern european slum and cannot afford to buy anything but bread and water... or even less.
I'm not, and I don't necessarily agree with your viewpoints either. I'll give you this though, you'd be a great politician. Lump all kinds of unrelated generalizations together and then attack it as something stupid, inhuman, or "unamerican" to support your viewpoint.
Vote for me! Everyone else wants to kill innocent civilians! Rah! Rah! Rah!
Ahahahaaa! Yes! I've been called an asshat! I love that word... very descriptive :)
In .uk, every single fucking slide in every single fucking playground in the whole fucking country is made from stainless steel and has been for nearly twenty years. Why? It's weatherproof, slippery, and vandal-resistant (I've never seen one damaged to the point of being unsafe, and I used to test IED's on them).I'm sure that hundreds, maybe thousands of children use every year use them to make the important discovery that metal gets hot if it's sunny. Vey few (if any) of them are permanently harmed by it.
Indeed. I went to elementary school over twenty years ago, and remember those metal slides... the difference is that I went to school in the high desert of southern California where it is over 100 degrees fahrenheit in January. Almost every kid in school knew about the bunson burner. Most would be ok if they wore long pants, and didn't actually touch the metal... but that's a difficult thing to do when climbing a metal ladder, and sliding down a slippery slope. Every year there would be a dozen or so kids treated for burns. I myself happened to lean up against it once, and it left quite a mark on my upper arm.
I guess I should have narrowed the scope of my accusations to those areas where it is known to be a danger on the playground... My bad.
I think it is great that children in areas with a bit more latitude can enjoy these durable, weatherproof, slippery, and vandal-resistant metal slides.
You are exactly the kind of moron you deny yourself to be, you believe all risks to be a Bad Thing (TM) to be stamped out even at the cost of denying anyone enjoyment.
Exactly. I am an asshat. Yes, yes, I'll try to lighten up. I suppose that the slides aren't all that bad. I just think that common sense should prevail on all levels. Kids should try to slide down without getting burned. School admins should see that kids are getting burned and put some kind of protective coating on the slide, or replace it with one of the nice plastic ones available. No need for lawsuits, just a bit of common sense.
I hope you die in a freak gardening accident.
I also hope that I die in some freak gardening accident... the more bizarre the better :) Just think about all of the parties on the other side where everyone is standing around drinking some ghost beer or whatever, and asking each other, "So, how did you die?" To which I'd reply, "Heh, weeeell see, it involved this turnip seed, some pesticides, and a backhoe..."
Kids are kids, they (well most of them anyway) do not have the mental faculties of adults. Suggesting that a child is "stupid" for sliding down a metal slide in the summer is just that... stupid. Children are for the most part very trusting and naive, and if there is a slide on the playground of an elementary school they will play on it until they get hurt. Only after the painful experience will they realize that it is not a good thing to do.
Now, putting a metal slide in the playground of an elementary school in my opinion is a very dangerous and stupid thing to do. It would be the equivalent of replacing your nice leather car seats with a bright and shiny sheet metal. "Yeah, those adults that burn themselves on their metal car seats are stupid! Don't they know that you can't drive in the summer?!!"
I do agree (I think) with the theme of your argument that lawsuits have become outrageously frivolous and common, but I must part ways on this particular example.
I have been wanting for a long time to feel the thrill of engaging myself in a good cause. The feeling of going to a place everyday where I can do something that matters, and that will make a difference. Yes, I think that were that the case, I would truly thrive under pressure. I would crave it.
That is, until I got home to enjoy the emotional abuse that my wife constantly doles out on me. It really sucks that I have kids that I love too much to leave her.
Ah, well... here's to wishing... [raises a pint... uh, well I wish I had a pint to raise]
I remember reading that General Grant (US Civil War General) was a worthless drunk whenever he did'nt have anything to do. He would just sit around and drink his ass off... Then when he got a commission, or was given some type of authority or promotion he would perform like a champion.
I think that quite a few of the US military geniuses were the same way.
I can see that the safety issues would me much less complex than with a plane or helo type device, and you could probably get it to travel at a decent pace, though the wind factor would be an interesting challenge to solve.
When I was young I believed wholeheartedly in the sanctity of the US. The US was righteous, and all her enemies were evil. I see now that I was very naive, and very very wrong. People are people, and people in power are corrupt. Everyone has their preconceived ideas, their biases, their hatreds... no nation or group of people on this earth are exempt from this. It is the cycle of human existence, and until some Godly being decides to interrupt it, the cycle will continue with nations fighting against nations, and people hating each other.
I guess what I'm suggesting is that you try to look at your point of view from _another_ point of view. Israel, despite the history of it's people, may not be the holy sanctuary you once thought it was.
Like I said, people are people. You'd be surprised how many people in desperate situations (such as the holocaust) hang on to their bitterness and hatred, and project those feelings outward on others. I'm not saying that all (or any) holocaust survivors do this, but I know personally a small group of people that have survived some horrific situations, and some of them have been so affected by it that they hate the world, and look to punish the human race for their suffering.
If you've ever seen a letter written during that time you will notice that the penmanship is excellent. Contrast that with what you see scribbled on papers today.
It is truly a shame that in today's world one must use computer fonts to match the writing of over a hundred years ago.
Not available in the US though... It's a cool concept I'd like to see more automakers come up with.
Something is going on to drive up dairy prices so much... though it is more than just dairy products. A lot of other things are more pricey than I remember them being - construction materials for one.
Some people around here say that it is because of the demand of products in Iraq that is driving up the price... could we be exporting that much stuff to Iraq to make such a serious dent in our local economy?
touché
That is fucked up. Seriously. Yell louder, and make some serious demands. In my experience, they will always waive the charges if you sound serious enough. It is their fault the charges occurred, therefore it is their responsibility to cover those charges.
It seems to me that you are far too quick to denounce the validity of some arguments simply because the word 'Nazi' or 'holocaust' is mentioned. The grandparent has a valid point that in a discussion, many corrolations can be made between current events and those events that took place in the 1930's and 1940's Western Europe.
In your great-grandparent post, your example of Godwin's Law mentions that one "loses" the argument if someone is labeled a Nazi or Holocaust Denier. That to me seems valid and accurate, since labeling a person with something that contains such negative connotations is a very dangerous thing. However, comparing social situations with those of the Nazis really should not incur the invoking of Godwin's Law.
Shifting the subject slightly, Godwin's Law is a social law invented by a group of people that agreed to abide by that law. The law really has no real force behind it aside from the social pressure to follow it.
I heartily encourage those who have fallen victim to the woes of Godwin's Law - and who at the time were engaged in a good and thought provoking discussion - to unshackle themselves from this shortsighted stigma and continue the debate! Be careful however, to not let the same methods of labeling befall you. To name a person a Nazi should not be taken lightly, and should only be done if they are actually members of the Nazi party. As well, invoking Godwin's Law simply to stifle the discussion is an equally spiteful and dangerous thing.
Mark Twain
Indeed!
Protect our freedoms? Absolutely! Who is trying to take them away?
Protect our liberty? Absolutely! Who is trying to take it away?
Defend the homeland? Absolutely! Who is trying to invade?
Unfortunately, many people are so blind as to rush to answer these questions with something that just isn't true. It's like every enemy of the US government is somehow trying to take away our civil liberties and freedoms... funny how it isn't any of these enemies that have succeded, but our own government!
Saddam Hussein? He didn't try to invade. He didn't try to take away my liberty. He didn't try to take away my freedom. But he did start accepting Euros for oil instead of dollars... hmmm.
Hey, me too! What a coincidence!
What will suck is when you can nano-manufacture all of this for cheap and it will be worth nothing, and then you won't be able to give the girlfriend ANYTHING appreciable to prove you'll sacrifice for her. =)
Holy shit. Here's another one. How about a fucking house? Or a car? Or a nice Alaskan cruise? Or how about giving up your poker night? There are a thousand things you could do to prove your willingness to sacrifice, it doesn't have to be some stupid worthless fucking piece of compressed carbon that glitters in the sunlight.
You just gotta think and do a little research before you plunk down money like that, and it will always be more significant and a better reminder to the woman than a chunk of land.
If you can't afford a natural diamond, then don't buy one at all (a fake symbol is worse than no symbol at all)...
Send me your work phone # and I'll give you a call... you know, with Mother's Day and all I thought I'd go waste some more money on something that has no utility. Yep, I'm convinced that the boost to that special woman's self esteem is worth the cost in tears and blood that the diamond cartels extract from those children in the mines.
You can build completely customized applications using the JFace/Eclipse platform that have nothing whatsoever to do with the concept of an IDE. I've recently built a small client app using it and it's not bad really.
[nelson] Ha Ha! [/nelson]
One thing to understand is that the public backlash against Janet was because she exposed herself on public television during a show that the majority of Americans watch. It is one thing to provide porn material for people to enjoy in private, and a completely separate thing to publicly force porn (even softcore) to the masses (including children).
Contrary to the popular /. opinion, many people are offended by porn and really have no desire to see that type of material. I know that most europeans scoff at that idea, praising their "liberated" society for a high tolerance of nudity and sexual expression and that is their right. The US however has a different standard, be it right or wrong, that defines public nudity as wrong. Janet broke the rules of that standard and has paid for it (although she probably gained more than she lost).
What Ashcroft is doing appears to be overzealous in my opinion. Leave porn for those who want it I say... but I do think that something needs to be done about the problem of forcing porn onto innocent and unsuspecting people - especially in the form of SPAM. Filters work most of the time, but occasionally something gets through.
I know not to click on the link in the email, but what about my kids? I can tell them never to do it, but if you have (or know) kids they're going to forget and do it anyway. As a father I do not want my kids exposed to that type of material.
I think that Ashcroft should focus more on eliminating spam than going after porn. If he gets rid of porn... ack! what will I do when my wife wants to have sex?! I can't think about HER!
So it's cool to buy software even if you'll never use it? Hmmm... so if I buy lots of software that I don't need and will never use, maybe that will make me cool, and I might even get laid! Yeah, CompUSA here I come!
In all seriousness, cracke/warez software serves a very important purpose that the major software makers tend to understand and exploit for their purposes. They know that if piracy were rampant, and everyone did it, then it would be difficult to sell a product. On the other hand, if noone were able to get a copy of the software to try out (for more than the measly month trial) and really learn and understand, their sales would also drop. It is a very difficult balance, but one that they seem to have under control for the moment.
The steps are:
- Make a cool software product.
- Add decent software protection.
- Charge license fees, and enforce it rigidly for businesses and commercial purposes.
- Let cracked copies circulate to increase mindshare and trained user base, and don't enforce license for private use.
- Profit!!!
You see, Adobe knows that if they were to crack down on the piracy and try to eliminate it like the RIAA is doing with music files, it would result in a decrease in the number of people who use and would potentially buy their products. Like I said before, it is a very delicate balancing game they play, but it is a must for the content industry to play if they want to remain competitive (unless they have a monopoly already).Adobe makes their money from license fees paid by companies, who likely have a user base of people who learned the product from a pirated copy. What good would it do Adobe if they were to try to extort license fees from the average Joe who only wants to check out Photoshop because it looks cool and he wants to make a few "graphics" for his personal website? There are already many social factors in place that will influence many of these "Joe's" to pay the license fee which makes Adobe happy, but many will not... yet. Some of these Joe's will become very familiar with the product, and maybe even start to dabble in freelance graphic design. They will want to start charging for their work, so they will buy a Photoshop license to make the business legit. A few of them may try to get away with not buying a license, but that is where the ***BUM BUM BUM*** BSA ***BOOOOOOO*** comes into play. They will crack down HARD on the offenders to make an example and send a message that says "Hey, if you want to use our product to make money, pay us the license!"
So does Adobe lose money on warez? Maybe. But I believe that they more than make up for it in license fees paid by people who already use and love their products.