So they decided to add censorship to their reputation. There's good planning. Follow one stupid move with another. File this one in the What Were They Thinking? folder.
...that they're not picking on people who can afford to hire their own lawyers and fight back? You don't see any Congreecitter kids getting letters, or the Kennedy's, or anyone in Warren Buffet's family. Bet if they get bent over for a big counter-claim suddenly this won't seem like such a great idea.
No fear that Congress will step in to discourage this kind of corporate behavior. Our government is pretty much owned by corporate interests now. Any connection with average Americans is nothing more than a photo op.
In a way it's good. Now Britney will be able to afford those new breast implants!
When strapped to something that's basically a tightly controlled explosive device, the word "safety" is somewhat relative. Space travel will never be completely safe, any more than driving or flying are completely safe. Exploration and risk are inherently intertwined. Because there is risk is not a good reason not to do something.
But there are certainly better and cheaper ways to manage risk when it comes to work in space. Winged spacecraft are what you get when pilots (and former pilots), specifically the Air Force, are running the space program. Wings on a space ship are about as useful as parachutes on a submarine. What we have now is a space plane. What a successful space program needs is a space truck. That means cargo and humans on separate flights and going back to good 'ol ballistic re-entry vehicles, aka Spam Cans. You'll notice the rest of the world using them successfully. They're not pretty but they get the job done on a budget we can afford and they're safe.
Risk management isn't the problem, NASA is the problem. And right now we have the problem dictating the solution.
how much longer will it be before the radio, and the RIAA, will be an obsolete means to promote artists?"
Not soon enough. They've been dicking artists and the general public at the same time for decades. Quite a trick. There are few organizations that deserve to end up on the scrap heap of history as much as they do. Right next to SCO, M$, Enron and the Bush administration.
You just know that's coming. Then the plantiffs will break into the SCO Riverdance tap fest. Clickety-clickety-click-click-click, tapa-tapa-tapa Yeah! Nothing about this case would surprise me anymore.
I like it. A dig at Gator and Prince in one neat package. One could also use "the software most people consider spyware, but the company claims is adware." It calls it what it is and amplifies the assertion with the company's own spin.
If they want to sue over that then it's time for my lawyer to get off his fat butt and earn that retainer!
To have your music locked to your stereo. No thanks. I have enough trouble connecting computers to the Internet, when my stereo wants to connect, that's where I draw the line.
This is not a unique experience. The only real FUM-BLE's I've seen were when Windows admins attempted to implement Linux. Most of those were a disaster. Otherwise, there are many experiences similar to the one you describe.
There just isn't any deep pocket funding the success story ink.
You left out how easy it is for the administrator to push out updates with Debian.:)
Amazing to me MS never seems to learn anything. It's like they're trying to soak up as much money as they can before the end. Sad. It didn't used to be that way in Redmond.
to the people who focus on the trouble it will stop. There's always a good reason for these types of intrusions. It'll keep teenagers out of nightclubs, it'll cut down on date rape, yeah terrific. That's the way it starts, with good intentions.
Then pretty soon someone gets in a fender bender on the way home and the other party's lawyer subpeonas all the nightclub swipe records. You had two drinks that night, under the legal limit but you could've avoided the accident if you hadn't been drinking at all. It'll be a stalker's delight to hack those records. Hey, that cute blonde is at such and such club with her friends. Pretty soon the cops will be watching the records, just looking for known felons. Maybe just to see who's out drinking tonight and maybe they run a hot sheet on vehicles of people visiting more than two clubs in a night.
There's always a good reason for big brother to intrude on your life.
...the guys from Queer Eye to do a makeover on Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer...
I'd like to see the Queer Eye guys doing something else to Gates and Ballmer...something they've been doing to the public for years. Squeal like a pig, Billy!
When loading a hot mortar one might suggest not looking down the barrel while reloading. Bad enough to have a hand in front of the tube if it cooked off, but your head would fly almost as far as the bowling ball.
Where I live it would be the cops out building the bowling ball mortar.
I see a Patriot Act secret subpoena in their future. They're definitely domestic terrorists in Ashcroft's book. You're all instructed not to destroy any information relevant to this investigation and you can't tell anyone the secret subpoenas are coming, not even your lawyer. Everybody got that? Okay, then. Without the Patriot Act rounding up people in secret and holding them without charges with no access to an attorney would not have been possible. Now we can go out and take these otherwise law abiding bastards to GITMO where they belong. Hey, if we don't nip this in the bud they'll be out torching Hummers before you know it! Bastards.
Or what's to stop someone from NATing them off with a cheap router? That must be some pretty freakin' impressive software that could invade a NAT'd Linux box. You'd think a university would be the last place you'd want to start a shooting war with computer users. They're smart and relentless. They have more time than the under-funded administrators. Someone will have a wireless AP somewhere and the smart ones will air snort their way in with a pringle's can and coil of wire. You can't win that fight.
Once again only the stupid get caught. It took a real Republican to think up that bright idea.
If getting tough on a crime doesn't work, what makes them think getting tougher on a crime will help?
Same with drugs. They've been getting tougher on drug laws for years but it hasn't changed the street price of a rock of crack...uh, well that's what I hear anyway. Instead lets spend billions imprisoning people for minor drug offenses, spend millions more on privacy-invading drug tests, all of which has bought us exactly nothing. Just so our lawmakers can stand up and show people they're tough on drugs? Somebody explain to me just where this insanity stops? I'm hoping the answer is not "at the Canadian border."
Slashdot Mirror
The move was announced in conjunction with the news of a new and improved copy protection technology being deployed on upcoming Sony music releases.
"Why else would anyone own a Sharpie except to thwart our copy protection schemes?" Asked a Sony spokesperson.
He went on to explain that Sony would be willing to consider settlement offers from Sharpie owners coming forward voluntarily.
--30--
The UN couldn't break up a cookie fight at Girl Scout camp and they're going to manage the Internet?! HAHAHAHAHA! Don't think so.
...this is what crack does to people. It's a lot worse than I thought.
So they decided to add censorship to their reputation. There's good planning. Follow one stupid move with another. File this one in the What Were They Thinking? folder.
No fear that Congress will step in to discourage this kind of corporate behavior. Our government is pretty much owned by corporate interests now. Any connection with average Americans is nothing more than a photo op.
In a way it's good. Now Britney will be able to afford those new breast implants!
But there are certainly better and cheaper ways to manage risk when it comes to work in space. Winged spacecraft are what you get when pilots (and former pilots), specifically the Air Force, are running the space program. Wings on a space ship are about as useful as parachutes on a submarine. What we have now is a space plane. What a successful space program needs is a space truck. That means cargo and humans on separate flights and going back to good 'ol ballistic re-entry vehicles, aka Spam Cans. You'll notice the rest of the world using them successfully. They're not pretty but they get the job done on a budget we can afford and they're safe.
Risk management isn't the problem, NASA is the problem. And right now we have the problem dictating the solution.
Not soon enough. They've been dicking artists and the general public at the same time for decades. Quite a trick. There are few organizations that deserve to end up on the scrap heap of history as much as they do. Right next to SCO, M$, Enron and the Bush administration.
There's one caveat to the procedure...
If you want to live longer in exchange for your 'nads, you all go for it!
Curly: Yeah! Habius!
Mo: Shut up, ya moron, you're blowing our case!
Larry: Hey, what about the GPL?
Mo: I'll GPL you, wise guy!
Bonk! Ow! Smack! Smack! Smack!
Wow, man, orange traffic lights. Trippy.
Apparently the same idiots who thought up the broadcast flag, DRM and software activation.
You just know that's coming. Then the plantiffs will break into the SCO Riverdance tap fest. Clickety-clickety-click-click-click, tapa-tapa-tapa Yeah! Nothing about this case would surprise me anymore.
Uhhh-huh-huh. He said infringer. Huh-huh-huh.
There's just something icky and insidious about this, regardless of their intentions.
If they want to sue over that then it's time for my lawyer to get off his fat butt and earn that retainer!
Billions of self-respecting maggots are offended by your comment, sir, and demand an apology!
Would pick up a virus and start mowing porn URLs into your lawn.
Would mow down your flowers and shrubs and leave the grass standing. Microsoft would insist this behavior is by design.
Steve Ballmer would spend 10 minutes on stage at a MS meeting chanting, "Landscapers! Landscapers! Landscapers! Landscapers!"
Would stop for no apparent reason, then suddenly race over to the neighbors yard and shave their cat.
On a certain date lawn mowers from all over the neighborhood would rush to your house in a denial of yard attack.
After it finally started working right and was stable MS would stop supporting it.
To have your music locked to your stereo. No thanks. I have enough trouble connecting computers to the Internet, when my stereo wants to connect, that's where I draw the line.
There just isn't any deep pocket funding the success story ink.
You left out how easy it is for the administrator to push out updates with Debian. :)
Amazing to me MS never seems to learn anything. It's like they're trying to soak up as much money as they can before the end. Sad. It didn't used to be that way in Redmond.
Then pretty soon someone gets in a fender bender on the way home and the other party's lawyer subpeonas all the nightclub swipe records. You had two drinks that night, under the legal limit but you could've avoided the accident if you hadn't been drinking at all. It'll be a stalker's delight to hack those records. Hey, that cute blonde is at such and such club with her friends. Pretty soon the cops will be watching the records, just looking for known felons. Maybe just to see who's out drinking tonight and maybe they run a hot sheet on vehicles of people visiting more than two clubs in a night.
There's always a good reason for big brother to intrude on your life.
I'd like to see the Queer Eye guys doing something else to Gates and Ballmer...something they've been doing to the public for years. Squeal like a pig, Billy!
Where I live it would be the cops out building the bowling ball mortar.
I see a Patriot Act secret subpoena in their future. They're definitely domestic terrorists in Ashcroft's book. You're all instructed not to destroy any information relevant to this investigation and you can't tell anyone the secret subpoenas are coming, not even your lawyer. Everybody got that? Okay, then. Without the Patriot Act rounding up people in secret and holding them without charges with no access to an attorney would not have been possible. Now we can go out and take these otherwise law abiding bastards to GITMO where they belong. Hey, if we don't nip this in the bud they'll be out torching Hummers before you know it! Bastards.
I would.
Once again only the stupid get caught. It took a real Republican to think up that bright idea.
Same with drugs. They've been getting tougher on drug laws for years but it hasn't changed the street price of a rock of crack...uh, well that's what I hear anyway. Instead lets spend billions imprisoning people for minor drug offenses, spend millions more on privacy-invading drug tests, all of which has bought us exactly nothing. Just so our lawmakers can stand up and show people they're tough on drugs? Somebody explain to me just where this insanity stops? I'm hoping the answer is not "at the Canadian border."