I can almost hear the dripping of lawyer drool already.
Of course, I guess the fact that MS put up a patch for it, and they've got a CYA section in the EULA would probably protect them from the splash.
While I don't think Xerox printers can handle such small pieces of papter without choking, based on PBS and Discovery channel educational shows on the subject, you can obtain the paper from already printed bills or from foreign currency. Counterfeiters used to chemically remove the ink from small denomination bills and reprint them.
It's why the US Gov added that metal strip into the 20+ bills with the denomination written into them.
Dalton paper is used around the world for government documents, so the stuff is probably easier to find than you might think. The big deal is that being in posession of blank Dalton paper is a treasonous act in many countries.
Considering that the USA is at war right now, does this make counterfeiting a potentially capitol offense?
Yeah, it's a stupid slogan from Nike(tm). I agree that all of the stuff mentioned previously about getting enough sleep and avoiding caffeine make sense. I used to find that procrastination was a big one too, and your description sounds a lot like that.
Oh, I've got a month to do that...
I'll be ok, I've got a week...
No problem, still got a few days, more than enough time.
OH CRAP!!! 2 HOURS BEFORE CLASS!!! %#@!
Actually getting started is the hardest part. Once you actually get started, things start falling into place.
If it's allowed, try doing stuff as a team with someone else. It's actually a lot easier to convince yourself that it's ok to slack off than it is to convince yourself AND someone else. Of course, this assumes that you've not allied yourself with a team of slackers. You REALLY don't want to get into a MacKenzie Brothers situation.
it might not make sense for printers, but i'm not sure that i agree with your comment about the ink cartridges, b/c why couldn't you buy generic cartridges and circumvent giving the manufacturer any money back????
As mentioned previously on Slashdot and other places, companies like Lexmark have added chips to some cartridges to prevent people from refilling them, or making generics.
Basically, the hitch to making generic carts is that the firmware on the chips is copyright. You can't produce working cartridges without a compatible chip. Of course, you can't do that without either a copy of the firmware or by reverse engineering the firmware, which is apparently a no longer a legal practice under the DMCA if you're in the USA.
Through the magic of legal acrobatics, making certain generic printer cartridges is made illegal under the DMCA.
This doesn't explain why such generics aren't produced and sold in other countries though...
Even though they've made it illegal for Americans to import them, the Americans have a major hardon for Cuban cigars. Must be all that Cuban siliva. If you smoke those things, and don't know how they're made, you really MUST have a look at a video on traditional Cuban cigar manufacturing. Might help with that whole stop-smoking thing.
Think sweatshops full of old ladies rolling tobacco leaves, frequently licking their hands and the tobacco leaves to help the leaves stay together.
Thing is, space exploration isn't done with *current* technology. The computing technology used in a lot of aerospace applications is 20-30 years old. There are a number of reasons for this, but the ones I've heard of are:
1. The projects are long-term, and have been in development for a lot of years. Especially when it comes to government projects. They can't just up and switch to the latest tech whenever it comes around, otherwise it will end up like DNF and never see the light of day.
2. The engineers don't trust the latest and greatest. The technology isn't considered mature enough. All the bugs have been worked out in the older tech, so it's more robust, the engineers are more familiar with it, and more often than not, manufacturers have shunk and simplified the designs significantly since introduction.
It's more likely that you'd find a 8086 processor in the space shuttle than a Pentium 4 unless someone brings a laptop aboard. It wasn't all that long ago that NASA put adds on websites and geek magazines appealing for old 8086 processors for spare parts. I haven't heard anything since, so either they found a supplier, or they're too busy piecing together the Columbia.
What if you've never set foot in the states, and all of your product is sold in Taiwan to a Taiwanese company? The Taiwanese company opens a branch office in the US and either uses your product as a part or rebadges your product and sells it in the US. Some of that product makes its way to California. Does this mean that you have to abide by California Law? I'm sure multinational companies will at least have some indirect connection to the US and perhaps to California.
How many degrees of separation do you have to have in order be outside of California's jurisdiction?
I'm curious how this works. I hear about it all the time, that some company or other has ripped off a piece of someone else's code and they're suing. The thing is, if I understand this correctly, a number of modern compilers optimize the executable to such an extent that t's theoretically possible that two completely different pieces of code employing the same algorithm will end up with an extremely similar executable. Unless your algorithm was unique, how can you possibly prove definitively that someone ripped off your code.
As far as some government agency making the cash useless by "deactivating" the bank notes, what's to prevent the notes from just shutting down on their own. Electronic tech in general isn't terribly robust as far as rough handling goes, and money is generally handled pretty roughly. I doubt such a thing would survive even one trip through the wash.
Based on what was said in the first movie, your matrix self is how you view yourself. It's a bastardized version of Maslow's whole self-actualization thing. As you get to know yourself better and satisfy your personal needs, you apparently become more powerful and more "stylish" in the matrix. You're still you, however, and so that will be reflected in the matrix.
If you're going to those lengths for your conspiracy theory, I think it would simply be easier to swap the farmer's seed with the GM seeds. Then the farmer would do the planting for you. Realistically, I'd imagine the GM and natural seeds would look identical. It's not like the farmer's going to have a genetic fingerprinting lab in the shed.
We're talking about a criminal act here. If you choose to handle it this way on your own, and it comes out that you were covering for this sicko, you're an accessory to the crime. A conviction for Kiddie porn possession and an entry in the cop's Pedophile database isn't going to do your career any good. This guy had better be a damned good friend of yours if you're willing to risk this much for him.
Re: Penny minting - Inflation?
on
Making Change
·
· Score: 1
ukyoCE mentioned this on Friday May 16:
The only problem with our current monetary system is that inflation has made pennies freakin worthless.
The penny is a very weird denomination. In Canada anyways, they cost more in materials than they're actually worth, and they don't stay in circulation. It's the only denomination that people would rather store in jars in the basement than spend. Since stores need them to make change, and the coins aren't going back into circulation, the mint has to keep cranking them out due to high demand. It got so bad that at one point, some banks actually paid people.05 cents on the dollar for pennies.
I wonder how much affect this has on inflation, since uncontrolled minting of money usually does cause inflation to go up.
Last I checked, if you're asked by the store to leave and you refuse, you're trespassing.
You can be arrested and charged by police for that (at least in the US and Canada). You can always bring your story to the press, but unless it's a slow news day or you can tie some other issue that's in vogue, it won't make the news.
Eg. the Peacenik T-Shirt guy that got busted for wearing a peacenik T-shirt in the US at a mall where he bought it. Some papers chose to omit this part, but the guy didn't get busted for wearing the shirt. He got busted for not leaving when mall security asked him to leave.
Why is using a scraper robot so different from, say, walking into Best Buy with a handheld and recording product pricing manually?
There are some stores that actively discourage people from bringing in notebooks and PDAs to record their pricing information. While I wasn't working for anyone at the time, this happened to me about 2 years ago at a local Future Shop (division of Best Buy Canada). The experience suggests that some stores are very protective of their pricing info. I don't know to what extent this is legal.
I was shopping for a CD burner and a joystick at the time for Christmas (and maybe a little something for my own rig). I don't like shopping online and wanted to know what was available and at what prices locally, so I went around to stores gathering this info. Most didn't have a problem with this. One of the stores I stopped at was Future Shop. I was in the middle of writing down the information when I was suddenly surrounded by 3 salesmen in business suits asking me what I was doing. I told them, and one of them said I couldn't do that. Another fellow in a blue suit IDing himself as a manager came over and told me the same thing. He then said he wanted to know who I worked for, and what to see what I had written in my notebook. I told him I was shopping for myself and refused to hand over my notebook. I left without being challenged. Weirdest Christmas shopping experience I've ever had.
Since the manager joined in, I'm guessing the gestapo stuff is (or was, haven't been back in a while) store policy. It certainly didn't make me want to shop there again. The only thing I can think of is that their competitors often sent "operatives" into the store to collect pricing info and they tired of it. The only thing is, if that store didn't allow price comparisons, how the heck else can you find out what is available locally and at what prices?
======================= MCheu -Internat ional shopper of mystery
In most cases, I pretend there is no rebate to be safe.
That's what people really should do. Certainly send in the rebates, of course. The companies pretty much count on you forgetting or not bothering with them. Whatever rebates you don't send for is more profit for them.
Don't count on the rebate money. When you buy, just buy it based on the sticker price. When you actually get a rebate, treat it as you would if you found it on the street or won it in the lottery. It's extra cash. If you don't get it, it's not really worth losing sleep over it, but if you do. Cool.
Maybe, but with the current global environment, Freedom of the Press seems to be getting the short end a lot whenever the DCMA and its international clones come into play. Even now, when the DeCSS code is pretty much obsolete, they still can't publish the source code to it (though it's still easily found).
How much of a story would it be if the NYT and 60 minutes aren't able to disclose any details?
For instance, go look up wireless routers on Amazon.com, and read some of the reviews. In many cases, it's quite evident that these people have no concept of the limitations that can reduce signal strength on a wireless router, so you get these stories along the lines of, "One star!! This product is awful! I installed the wireless router in the backroom of my all-concrete basement, and I wasn't able to get 'excellent' quality signal strength on the third floor of my friends house next door! And [company name] told me that was expected!"
While I agree that this person may not know the strengths and weaknesses of a wireless router, the average consumer wouldn't either. In that respect, I'd consider myself in that league. Most of us rely to some extent on both reviews and statements made by company representatives. If someone in sales or tech support told this guy that it would work through a concrete bunker, then I'd say he's justified in being pissed that it doesn't.
It's not just about technical knowledge. It's about truth in advertising. It doesn't take an expert to compare what something does to what the company and its agents say it does.
In Canada, the CRTC routinely requires television stations to broadcast a certain percentage of "Canadian Content" which is defined by specific guidelines. If the station doesn't comply or can't prove it, the CRTC can either fine them or not renew their licence.
Presumably legislation could be put in place that would require a corporation renew their charter with a regulatory agency every once in a while. If the corporation can't prove that they're dealing with at least 50%+ companies in whatever country they're in, the company can't do business in the country anymore until the situation is fixed. A million dollar fine is nothing to a company like Microsoft, but shutting down their US operations for even a day could be very costly.
Obviously not ideal, as anything that would make lawyers overly happy is not ideal. I'm just saying there are other alternatives besides tarrifs.
I'm not in the US, so it doesn't directly affect me, but apparently, the chip is meant as a form of copy protection (preventing you from producing a working copy of the ink cartridge). In order to produce a compatible ink cartridge, you'd have to "crack" the protection on the printer or the cartridge. In the US, the DCMA prohibits anyone from circumventing copy protection, so putting these chips is meant to give the cartridges the same protection that CSS does on DVDs.
Some of the cartridge manufacturers employing this scheme are using this argument to prevent producing clone cartridges.
Slashdot Mirror
I can almost hear the dripping of lawyer drool already. Of course, I guess the fact that MS put up a patch for it, and they've got a CYA section in the EULA would probably protect them from the splash.
While I don't think Xerox printers can handle such small pieces of papter without choking, based on PBS and Discovery channel educational shows on the subject, you can obtain the paper from already printed bills or from foreign currency. Counterfeiters used to chemically remove the ink from small denomination bills and reprint them.
It's why the US Gov added that metal strip into the 20+ bills with the denomination written into them.
Dalton paper is used around the world for government documents, so the stuff is probably easier to find than you might think. The big deal is that being in posession of blank Dalton paper is a treasonous act in many countries.
Considering that the USA is at war right now, does this make counterfeiting a potentially capitol offense?
Yeah, it's a stupid slogan from Nike(tm). I agree that all of the stuff mentioned previously about getting enough sleep and avoiding caffeine make sense. I used to find that procrastination was a big one too, and your description sounds a lot like that.
Oh, I've got a month to do that...
I'll be ok, I've got a week...
No problem, still got a few days, more than enough time.
OH CRAP!!! 2 HOURS BEFORE CLASS!!! %#@!
Actually getting started is the hardest part. Once you actually get started, things start falling into place.
If it's allowed, try doing stuff as a team with someone else. It's actually a lot easier to convince yourself that it's ok to slack off than it is to convince yourself AND someone else. Of course, this assumes that you've not allied yourself with a team of slackers. You REALLY don't want to get into a MacKenzie Brothers situation.
it might not make sense for printers, but i'm not sure that i agree with your comment about the ink cartridges, b/c why couldn't you buy generic cartridges and circumvent giving the manufacturer any money back???? As mentioned previously on Slashdot and other places, companies like Lexmark have added chips to some cartridges to prevent people from refilling them, or making generics. Basically, the hitch to making generic carts is that the firmware on the chips is copyright. You can't produce working cartridges without a compatible chip. Of course, you can't do that without either a copy of the firmware or by reverse engineering the firmware, which is apparently a no longer a legal practice under the DMCA if you're in the USA. Through the magic of legal acrobatics, making certain generic printer cartridges is made illegal under the DMCA. This doesn't explain why such generics aren't produced and sold in other countries though...
Cuba obviously.
Even though they've made it illegal for Americans to import them, the Americans have a major hardon for Cuban cigars. Must be all that Cuban siliva. If you smoke those things, and don't know how they're made, you really MUST have a look at a video on traditional Cuban cigar manufacturing. Might help with that whole stop-smoking thing.
Think sweatshops full of old ladies rolling tobacco leaves, frequently licking their hands and the tobacco leaves to help the leaves stay together.
Thing is, space exploration isn't done with *current* technology. The computing technology used in a lot of aerospace applications is 20-30 years old. There are a number of reasons for this, but the ones I've heard of are:
1. The projects are long-term, and have been in development for a lot of years. Especially when it comes to government projects. They can't just up and switch to the latest tech whenever it comes around, otherwise it will end up like DNF and never see the light of day.
2. The engineers don't trust the latest and greatest. The technology isn't considered mature enough. All the bugs have been worked out in the older tech, so it's more robust, the engineers are more familiar with it, and more often than not, manufacturers have shunk and simplified the designs significantly since introduction.
It's more likely that you'd find a 8086 processor in the space shuttle than a Pentium 4 unless someone brings a laptop aboard. It wasn't all that long ago that NASA put adds on websites and geek magazines appealing for old 8086 processors for spare parts. I haven't heard anything since, so either they found a supplier, or they're too busy piecing together the Columbia.
What if you've never set foot in the states, and all of your product is sold in Taiwan to a Taiwanese company? The Taiwanese company opens a branch office in the US and either uses your product as a part or rebadges your product and sells it in the US. Some of that product makes its way to California. Does this mean that you have to abide by California Law? I'm sure multinational companies will at least have some indirect connection to the US and perhaps to California. How many degrees of separation do you have to have in order be outside of California's jurisdiction?
I'm curious how this works. I hear about it all the time, that some company or other has ripped off a piece of someone else's code and they're suing. The thing is, if I understand this correctly, a number of modern compilers optimize the executable to such an extent that t's theoretically possible that two completely different pieces of code employing the same algorithm will end up with an extremely similar executable. Unless your algorithm was unique, how can you possibly prove definitively that someone ripped off your code.
As far as some government agency making the cash useless by "deactivating" the bank notes, what's to prevent the notes from just shutting down on their own. Electronic tech in general isn't terribly robust as far as rough handling goes, and money is generally handled pretty roughly. I doubt such a thing would survive even one trip through the wash.
Based on what was said in the first movie, your matrix self is how you view yourself. It's a bastardized version of Maslow's whole self-actualization thing. As you get to know yourself better and satisfy your personal needs, you apparently become more powerful and more "stylish" in the matrix. You're still you, however, and so that will be reflected in the matrix.
If you're going to those lengths for your conspiracy theory, I think it would simply be easier to swap the farmer's seed with the GM seeds. Then the farmer would do the planting for you. Realistically, I'd imagine the GM and natural seeds would look identical. It's not like the farmer's going to have a genetic fingerprinting lab in the shed.
There's an old Chinese saying:
"Ne Em Say, Gnoi Say." (You Die or I die.)
Which would you choose?.
We're talking about a criminal act here. If you choose to handle it this way on your own, and it comes out that you were covering for this sicko, you're an accessory to the crime. A conviction for Kiddie porn possession and an entry in the cop's Pedophile database isn't going to do your career any good. This guy had better be a damned good friend of yours if you're willing to risk this much for him.
The only problem with our current monetary system is that inflation has made pennies freakin worthless.
The penny is a very weird denomination. In Canada anyways, they cost more in materials than they're actually worth, and they don't stay in circulation. It's the only denomination that people would rather store in jars in the basement than spend. Since stores need them to make change, and the coins aren't going back into circulation, the mint has to keep cranking them out due to high demand. It got so bad that at one point, some banks actually paid people .05 cents on the dollar for pennies.
I wonder how much affect this has on inflation, since uncontrolled minting of money usually does cause inflation to go up.
Last I checked, if you're asked by the store to leave and you refuse, you're trespassing. You can be arrested and charged by police for that (at least in the US and Canada). You can always bring your story to the press, but unless it's a slow news day or you can tie some other issue that's in vogue, it won't make the news. Eg. the Peacenik T-Shirt guy that got busted for wearing a peacenik T-shirt in the US at a mall where he bought it. Some papers chose to omit this part, but the guy didn't get busted for wearing the shirt. He got busted for not leaving when mall security asked him to leave.
There are some stores that actively discourage people from bringing in notebooks and PDAs to record their pricing information. While I wasn't working for anyone at the time, this happened to me about 2 years ago at a local Future Shop (division of Best Buy Canada). The experience suggests that some stores are very protective of their pricing info. I don't know to what extent this is legal.
I was shopping for a CD burner and a joystick at the time for Christmas (and maybe a little something for my own rig). I don't like shopping online and wanted to know what was available and at what prices locally, so I went around to stores gathering this info. Most didn't have a problem with this. One of the stores I stopped at was Future Shop. I was in the middle of writing down the information when I was suddenly surrounded by 3 salesmen in business suits asking me what I was doing. I told them, and one of them said I couldn't do that. Another fellow in a blue suit IDing himself as a manager came over and told me the same thing. He then said he wanted to know who I worked for, and what to see what I had written in my notebook. I told him I was shopping for myself and refused to hand over my notebook. I left without being challenged. Weirdest Christmas shopping experience I've ever had.
Since the manager joined in, I'm guessing the gestapo stuff is (or was, haven't been back in a while) store policy. It certainly didn't make me want to shop there again. The only thing I can think of is that their competitors often sent "operatives" into the store to collect pricing info and they tired of it. The only thing is, if that store didn't allow price comparisons, how the heck else can you find out what is available locally and at what prices?
=======================MCheu
-Interna
In most cases, I pretend there is no rebate to be safe. That's what people really should do. Certainly send in the rebates, of course. The companies pretty much count on you forgetting or not bothering with them. Whatever rebates you don't send for is more profit for them. Don't count on the rebate money. When you buy, just buy it based on the sticker price. When you actually get a rebate, treat it as you would if you found it on the street or won it in the lottery. It's extra cash. If you don't get it, it's not really worth losing sleep over it, but if you do. Cool.
Maybe, but with the current global environment, Freedom of the Press seems to be getting the short end a lot whenever the DCMA and its international clones come into play. Even now, when the DeCSS code is pretty much obsolete, they still can't publish the source code to it (though it's still easily found).
How much of a story would it be if the NYT and 60 minutes aren't able to disclose any details?
For instance, go look up wireless routers on Amazon.com, and read some of the reviews. In many cases, it's quite evident that these people have no concept of the limitations that can reduce signal strength on a wireless router, so you get these stories along the lines of, "One star!! This product is awful! I installed the wireless router in the backroom of my all-concrete basement, and I wasn't able to get 'excellent' quality signal strength on the third floor of my friends house next door! And [company name] told me that was expected!"
While I agree that this person may not know the strengths and weaknesses of a wireless router, the average consumer wouldn't either. In that respect, I'd consider myself in that league. Most of us rely to some extent on both reviews and statements made by company representatives. If someone in sales or tech support told this guy that it would work through a concrete bunker, then I'd say he's justified in being pissed that it doesn't.
It's not just about technical knowledge. It's about truth in advertising. It doesn't take an expert to compare what something does to what the company and its agents say it does.
In Canada, the CRTC routinely requires television stations to broadcast a certain percentage of "Canadian Content" which is defined by specific guidelines. If the station doesn't comply or can't prove it, the CRTC can either fine them or not renew their licence.
Presumably legislation could be put in place that would require a corporation renew their charter with a regulatory agency every once in a while. If the corporation can't prove that they're dealing with at least 50%+ companies in whatever country they're in, the company can't do business in the country anymore until the situation is fixed. A million dollar fine is nothing to a company like Microsoft, but shutting down their US operations for even a day could be very costly.
Obviously not ideal, as anything that would make lawyers overly happy is not ideal. I'm just saying there are other alternatives besides tarrifs.
I'm not in the US, so it doesn't directly affect me, but apparently, the chip is meant as a form of copy protection (preventing you from producing a working copy of the ink cartridge). In order to produce a compatible ink cartridge, you'd have to "crack" the protection on the printer or the cartridge. In the US, the DCMA prohibits anyone from circumventing copy protection, so putting these chips is meant to give the cartridges the same protection that CSS does on DVDs. Some of the cartridge manufacturers employing this scheme are using this argument to prevent producing clone cartridges.