Are you really bitching that there MUST be a law to force Apple to deliver a 25â adapter?
Deliver, no. Make their phones compatible with micro-USB chargers, yes. Governments impose regulations and pass laws requiring standards compliance on products all the time. Especially in the EU, where there are laws which do such things as force standard sizes for foods (for example, in the UK, manufacturers were forced to sell products in sizes that were round numbers in grams and not just conversions from the old imperial units).
I know this firsthand. Had a job interviewer tell me that I was too old for IT work and show me the door because he wanted to read/follow my Twitter account, and I told him that I didn't have one.
People rarely realize how much stuff they put on the internet about themselves, willingly or not. Since the internet never forgets, it's usually quite easy to dig up a lot of information about almost everybody. All it takes is a lot of time and knowing how to look.
If anyone ever figures out who that "Anonymous Coward" is, his life is going to be over!!
Typically the person who's assets are seized can't sue, because they're found to have no standing, since the assets themselves are 'charged' with the crime. If you can't get into a lower court, the SCOTUS can't hear a case about it and it can't be ruled unconstitutional.
I know that's how it has been played, but SCOTUS hasn't ruled on it yet. It seems to me that arguing that someone doesn't have standing is a pretty clear indication that there was no "due process". Even if a ruling on standing prevents the substantial question from being appealed, the rulings on standing can themselves be appealed.
Over the years, the SCOTUS has come up with some pretty tortured reasoning, so I would not like to predict the outcome of any case that made it to SCOTUS.
Mostly, though, those behind the confiscations rely on the fact that challenging the confiscation costs more than the amount of property confiscated.
The point of freedom is that you could just rent a VPS and start another service that offered what features you're worried would dry up. Freedom does not mean others joining you, it means that they could if they actually wanted to.;)
Communication doesn't happen if people don't hear or read your words. If everyone else is in the walled garden and they don't see what you are saying through your VPS, what's the point? Yes, you are free, but you can't get your message through. Censorship can happen at either end of a discussion.
I am concerned about the rise of walled gardens. If Facebook can get everyone to communicate via Facebook, then communication becomes limited to whatever Facebook will allow. Repeat for other services.
Journalism is being starved to death, so that source of real news is drying up.
For example, predictions that the earth will be two degrees warmer in 100 years. That is completely testable: it will take 100 years to test it, but that's irrelevant.
Actually, the 100 years is very important. The actual prediction is more likely to be something like: "if we continue to burn fossil fuels at the same rate, then...". The prediction relies the values of other factors, which are not controlled. An experiment in which all the variables are not controlled is not a valid experiment.
I see this "Not Educated" meme all the time. Mostly by nitwits (not accusing you of being one BTW) who think because they are "Well Read/Literate" that means that their "Education" is complete and anyone who is not has "No Education". Nothing could be further from the truth. People who are illiterate are not "Uneducated" for the most part (especially in the past).
These types of statements are usually only made by people who have not had much education, and really don't know what they have missed. Yes, "uneducated" people have some education, but it is, by definition, very little and could be picked up with a few weeks of study. The reverse is not true.
Most of the so-called modern, literate, educated populace would quickly starve to death if nearly everything they needed to survive weren't provided to them by seemingly less educated peers
Most of the so-called "seemingly less educated" people would not be able to sell their labor, pay bills, drive a car, etc, if it were not for their more educated peers designing cars, planning and building roads, providing accounting services, etc.. Did you see what I did there?
You just need a static IP that wasn't sending spam before you got it. If it was, you can send notices to black list administrators to make them take you off their list faster but it will eventually get off by itself if it stops sending spam..
I have a static IP address. The IP address is not listed in any reputable block lists. I have been using (and not spamming from) this IP address for about 18 months. My ISP (I am sending from a VPS in a datacenter) runs a transparent proxy for outgoing smtp traffic, so I can be fairly confident that none of my IP neighbors are spamming.
My gripe with GNOME, which shows how (IMHO) brain-dead the UI/UX people developing GNOME are is adding things to the Panel. In Gnome 1/2. this is achieved with a right-mouse button on the panel. In Gnome 3, it requires Meta-right-mouse key (I think). Why this change? It's not reasonably discoverable. The simple right-mouse-key on the panel does not perform some other important function (it does nothing).
I'm sorry, but anyone who thinks that adding an extra key that must be pressed to get the same functionality as was achieved without it, unless there is a really good reason, is stupid.
Even email is becoming centralized. Try running your own mail server and see how easy it is for your outgoing emails to be treated as SPAM -- which is pretty much the same as not being accepted.
Criminal law, civil law, don't split hairs. The point is the same. The corporations are doing what they are required to.
A quick search with Google (as you suggested others do) shows that the proposition that the Board of Directors of a company has an unfettered duty to maximize profits is not true. There doesn't seem to be a decision that clearly puts forward this viewpoint. Yes, Boards owe duties to shareholders, but a singular focus on maximizing profits doesn't seem to be one of those duties.
Taxing them more simply means higher prices for all the customers.
That implies that the prices are not already as high as the market will allow. No, I don't think that Apple can raise prices any higher. Note that increased taxes does NOT mean lower profits. What it means is less money is available to be distributed to shareholders, or less money sitting in investments overseas, which would likely result in a lower price for Apple stock.
If you feel they should OWE more, then stop voting for people that keep giving them more ways to pay less taxes.
Actually, the real problem is Ireland, which give non-resident individuals and companies a massive tax break. Ireland is acting like a parasite in this case, getting a small amount of tax, while reducing the tax load for big foreign businesses and individuals.
The tax breaks make sense for each individual state. Just like when you are arrested, and offered a plea deal to rat on your partners, it makes sense to do so: This is the Prisoner's Dilemma [wikipedia.org].
This is simply not true. Since the datacenters create only a tiny number of permanent jobs, there is no benefit in defecting (in this case, offering a tax break).
You listen to some people and you get the idea that the business world is run by Gordon Geckos, that Hollywood caricatures of capitalist villains are the reality and the norm and that the greedy bastards who would do anything to take one dollar more control corporate America.
Slashdot Mirror
Microsoft knows that its long term future depends on success in mobile, and no, a tablet that is a replacement for laptops is not "mobile".
Deliver, no. Make their phones compatible with micro-USB chargers, yes. Governments impose regulations and pass laws requiring standards compliance on products all the time. Especially in the EU, where there are laws which do such things as force standard sizes for foods (for example, in the UK, manufacturers were forced to sell products in sizes that were round numbers in grams and not just conversions from the old imperial units).
Did you fail to read in the GP post that the interviewer told him that he was too old? "Too old" is one of those "few other specific criteria".
Did you sue the company?
If anyone ever figures out who that "Anonymous Coward" is, his life is going to be over!!
I know that's how it has been played, but SCOTUS hasn't ruled on it yet. It seems to me that arguing that someone doesn't have standing is a pretty clear indication that there was no "due process". Even if a ruling on standing prevents the substantial question from being appealed, the rulings on standing can themselves be appealed.
Over the years, the SCOTUS has come up with some pretty tortured reasoning, so I would not like to predict the outcome of any case that made it to SCOTUS.
Mostly, though, those behind the confiscations rely on the fact that challenging the confiscation costs more than the amount of property confiscated.
Communication doesn't happen if people don't hear or read your words. If everyone else is in the walled garden and they don't see what you are saying through your VPS, what's the point? Yes, you are free, but you can't get your message through. Censorship can happen at either end of a discussion.
I am concerned about the rise of walled gardens. If Facebook can get everyone to communicate via Facebook, then communication becomes limited to whatever Facebook will allow. Repeat for other services.
Journalism is being starved to death, so that source of real news is drying up.
Actually, the 100 years is very important. The actual prediction is more likely to be something like: "if we continue to burn fossil fuels at the same rate, then ...". The prediction relies the values of other factors, which are not controlled. An experiment in which all the variables are not controlled is not a valid experiment.
Do you see what I did there?
All it takes is a comma: Drone Crashes, Missing Champion Skier By Inches. Or a slightly large change: Drone Crashes; Misses Champion Skier By Inches
Pics, or it didn't happen!
These types of statements are usually only made by people who have not had much education, and really don't know what they have missed. Yes, "uneducated" people have some education, but it is, by definition, very little and could be picked up with a few weeks of study. The reverse is not true.
Most of the so-called "seemingly less educated" people would not be able to sell their labor, pay bills, drive a car, etc, if it were not for their more educated peers designing cars, planning and building roads, providing accounting services, etc.. Did you see what I did there?
I have a static IP address. The IP address is not listed in any reputable block lists. I have been using (and not spamming from) this IP address for about 18 months. My ISP (I am sending from a VPS in a datacenter) runs a transparent proxy for outgoing smtp traffic, so I can be fairly confident that none of my IP neighbors are spamming.
My gripe with GNOME, which shows how (IMHO) brain-dead the UI/UX people developing GNOME are is adding things to the Panel. In Gnome 1/2. this is achieved with a right-mouse button on the panel. In Gnome 3, it requires Meta-right-mouse key (I think). Why this change? It's not reasonably discoverable. The simple right-mouse-key on the panel does not perform some other important function (it does nothing).
I'm sorry, but anyone who thinks that adding an extra key that must be pressed to get the same functionality as was achieved without it, unless there is a really good reason, is stupid.
Even email is becoming centralized. Try running your own mail server and see how easy it is for your outgoing emails to be treated as SPAM -- which is pretty much the same as not being accepted.
A quick search with Google (as you suggested others do) shows that the proposition that the Board of Directors of a company has an unfettered duty to maximize profits is not true. There doesn't seem to be a decision that clearly puts forward this viewpoint. Yes, Boards owe duties to shareholders, but a singular focus on maximizing profits doesn't seem to be one of those duties.
Nor are they Irish profits. But that's how they are treated for tax.
That implies that the prices are not already as high as the market will allow. No, I don't think that Apple can raise prices any higher. Note that increased taxes does NOT mean lower profits. What it means is less money is available to be distributed to shareholders, or less money sitting in investments overseas, which would likely result in a lower price for Apple stock.
Actually, the real problem is Ireland, which give non-resident individuals and companies a massive tax break. Ireland is acting like a parasite in this case, getting a small amount of tax, while reducing the tax load for big foreign businesses and individuals.
I wonder if the voting arrangements in the City of London are legal under EU and other treaty obligations?
This is simply not true. Since the datacenters create only a tiny number of permanent jobs, there is no benefit in defecting (in this case, offering a tax break).
Studies show that the business world is run by psychopaths: CEOs higher on measurements of psychopathy than inmates at a hospital for the criminally insane.
That's easy. The law will provide protection from prosecution for people that use a government approved web filter.
Or it could just be a typo, which makes you look like an arrogant prick!