Stating the obvious here but it is my very, very strong hope that the judge that presides over this (and the other) case see things through to completion and agree that the RIAA's tactics _do_ amount to RICO violations. It's about time that they get served the counter-justice that they deserve.
"Verizon says the people involved have all been put on leave with pay..."
Leave WITH pay? Are you joking? This is easily the most offensive "punishment" I've ever heard of. Leave WITH pay is called a VACATION! That's not punishment! I find garbage like this to be more offensive when it's applied to cops who abuse their position or the like but it's simply offensive that any PUNISHMENT would equate with a VACATION. Leave withOUT pay is a punishment.
I suspect a purely random search of people would actually result in a higher arrest rate - they'd likely find more people with drugs or whatever if they just rolled the dice and every time they rolled a 20 they searched a person. Of course, I have nothing to support that opinion so feel free to ignore it, but 1%? Come on. That's pathetically low.
Stupid business model. Just tell her to make a Slashdot profile and post stories about stupid patents and there'll be a dozen posts about prior art within an hour, all for free. Why throw away $50k when free is better?...
"We're considering continuing to use a vehicle that has a failure rate of 1-2% per flight?"
Just a reminder, the NASA space shuttle program is one of the most successful long term space programs ever. Remember - this IS rocket science. Seriously, look up some of the other space programs and you'll see some spectacular failures with nowhere near as many successes over the span of decades. The space shuttle program is an enormous success.
Or they will think they've been successful for 800 years and thus they don't need to move anywhere - they can continue to fight the good fight because running away is letting nature win. Yes, many generations may enjoy humanity successfully holding nature back but thinking that it will always be this way is what will lead to disaster at some point down the road. I disagree with the "if it lasts long enough for several human lifetimes, it's good enough." The current global environmental crisis is proof that's wrong... We need to stop looking a generation or two down the road and be willing to look several generations down the road. Or is it ok to put our great grandchildren in harm's way just to make our lives a little easier now?
I hate to break it to you but Mother Nature/Gaia will always win. You might get lucky and never see that day but all the Netherlands is doing is postponing the inevitable. Something will change (earthquake or water rising higher than expected or whatever) or someone will make a mistake (engineering error or faulty construction or whatever) or _something_ and then Mother Nature/Gaia will remind you that she is boss. We live at her mercy. Seriously, not to be all new age-y but anyone who thinks they can beat nature is simply not paying attention. The history books are littered with civilizations who thought they could win the "fight." Here's a recent example - New Orleans was almost destroyed _by a storm._ Building a city in a region that is dangerous is stupid. Sorry to be so blunt, but it is.
CC going out of business won't have zero impact - all those employees will be drawing employment insurance, be forced to reduce their spending, etc., etc., etc. Yes, the impact to the country will be _smaller_ but it won't be zero. Thus, by your logic, CC deserves a smaller bailout compared to AIG's massive bailout(s). But, CC, for the most part, doesn't make fat cats richer whereas AIG does...
So, as AIG gets its THIRD multi-billion dollar bailout in just a few months, I'm left wondering where Circuit City's bailout is. Or is it ok for a company their size to lay off 17% of their workforce but not ok for the financial sector to do the same? What's that? Circuit City doesn't help make politicians rich? Ah. I see... Pathetic.
So he's suing because he'd prefer to play the game than have a legit job?
Legit job? The guy's an inmate. A criminal. I don't think this guy knows what "legit job" means. He's a parasite intent on taking the easy way out. (Yes, I'm making an enormous generalization here but I'm in a pissy mood so the outcome is I'm going to insult some dumbass crackpot criminal - sue me.)
Read my post again. You're welcome to disagree with him as a politician. You're welcome to vote against him based on those policies. That's your right. I figured "Sure, you may disagree with Obama's policies and wish McCain won..." made that clear. But, even if you disagree with him, you should be happy that he was elected because of what it represents for the country - it represents the beginning of the end of racism. That is a very good thing.
I would think, regardless of which party/candidate one supports, everyone should view today as a good day. Sure, you may disagree with Obama's policies and wish McCain won, but Obama's victory demonstrates that America is taking a MASSIVE step forward and that should be viewed as a very good thing. And, anyone who thinks that a black man becoming president is a bad thing is someone who needs to die in a fire, to put it very bluntly.
If I could buy an iPhone and get a data plan and only a data plan with Rogers (I'm Canadian), I would. Their phone plans SUCK so I refuse to get an iPhone and am sticking with Koodo instead but, if Rogers ever pulls their heads out of their @ss or starts offering data-only plans for iPhone owners, I'll snatch one up in a second. Of course, one would surely ask why I'd want an i_Phone_ if I don't want to use the phone part but, first, the ability to have the internet in your pocket is VERY appealing and the my iPod Touch has made me realize that Apple "got it right" with their internet access. Second, even without a phone plan, one can still use the iPhone as a phone with voip programs (over wi-fi, of course). But, it's all a non-issue because I can't imagine Rogers _ever_ offering a data-only plan...
I'm a Mac guy but I've got a PC for gaming, running XP. I would _love_ to switch to Ubuntu but, unless I'm mistaken (and please! feel free to correct me if I'm wrong), in order to play my PC games I'd need to run an emulator or boot to XP which would defeat the entire purpose - the machine is used solely for gaming so why use a different system and then boot/emulate back to the system I already have? If Ubuntu ever enabled me to play my PC games natively, I'd ditch XP entirely and become a happy Mac/Ubuntu geek.
Who uploads photos of themselves (or others) holding credit cards or keys? In my entire life, I don't think I've EVER even TAKEN a photo like that, let alone thought about sharing it. Am I just bizarre or is it the people on Flickr? Ok, admittedly it could be both, but still....
As someone who lives in Canada (and having just gone through a federal election), I just cannot understand why it's impossible to have a paper ballot, with a big circle, that one makes a mark (check, X, whatever) in the circle for your candidate of choice with a pencil and then have people count the ballots at the end. Canada manages to do it every time we have an election and it seems to work out just fine. And, with a paper trail, we can easily recount, if needed. Yes, America has ten times the population but it probably has ten times the election volunteers as well so there's really no difference. I just don't understand why a good paper ballot is so hard to accept...
...scraping is extremely delicate and very easy to thwart.
Then that's what he needs to tell his boss (and I agree with you). He needs to clearly inform his boss that it is probably illegal and opens his company up to (expensive) litigation and, more importantly, even if it doesn't get to litigation, the source site could make a change that renders their scraping efforts null and void. It needs to be put in a dollars-and-cents picture so that the boss realizes that the best (and only) solution is to pay the licensing fee. Doing otherwise will likely be more expensive and inconvenient. Any other depiction of the scenario won't matter to a boss that is only concerned with the bottom line.
Shit falls downhill. This mantra cannot be overstated. You must always remember that, at the end of the day, the shit will _always_ fall downhill. If a bad/illegal system is implemented, it will not be the fault of the person who requested said system - it will be the fault of who implemented the system.
How should one deal with this situation? It depends. Do you feel sufficiently confident in your job that you can say "no" without being fired? Does being fired scare you (will you be able to make ends meet and put food on the table without the job)? Do you think, especially in this collapsing economy, that you could find a new job if you lost this one? Is this even a job you want to continue with? We don't know the answers to these questions - only you do. But, regardless of the answers, you must remember that shit falls downhill. If things are going to go bad, you will get the blame. If you can accept that then go for it. If you can't, then make other plans.
Slashdot Mirror
Android has the potential to power a real iPod killer...
I've read that, in regards to other products, about 100 times before. Eventually it'll be true...
"A single counter-example doesn't contest his statement about rarity at all."
Ok, how about Coke? Pepsi? Two quick ones just off the top of my head.
Make it stop. Please. I beg of you.
Stating the obvious here but it is my very, very strong hope that the judge that presides over this (and the other) case see things through to completion and agree that the RIAA's tactics _do_ amount to RICO violations. It's about time that they get served the counter-justice that they deserve.
"Verizon says the people involved have all been put on leave with pay..."
Leave WITH pay? Are you joking? This is easily the most offensive "punishment" I've ever heard of. Leave WITH pay is called a VACATION! That's not punishment! I find garbage like this to be more offensive when it's applied to cops who abuse their position or the like but it's simply offensive that any PUNISHMENT would equate with a VACATION. Leave withOUT pay is a punishment.
Simply boggles my mind sometimes...
"I for one, welcome our new arachnid overlords."
Why would you do that? Why would you put a classic reply in your summary of the article and rob some poster of a 5 Funny rating? You're just mean.
I suspect a purely random search of people would actually result in a higher arrest rate - they'd likely find more people with drugs or whatever if they just rolled the dice and every time they rolled a 20 they searched a person. Of course, I have nothing to support that opinion so feel free to ignore it, but 1%? Come on. That's pathetically low.
Stupid business model. Just tell her to make a Slashdot profile and post stories about stupid patents and there'll be a dozen posts about prior art within an hour, all for free. Why throw away $50k when free is better?...
"We're considering continuing to use a vehicle that has a failure rate of 1-2% per flight?"
Just a reminder, the NASA space shuttle program is one of the most successful long term space programs ever. Remember - this IS rocket science. Seriously, look up some of the other space programs and you'll see some spectacular failures with nowhere near as many successes over the span of decades. The space shuttle program is an enormous success.
Or they will think they've been successful for 800 years and thus they don't need to move anywhere - they can continue to fight the good fight because running away is letting nature win. Yes, many generations may enjoy humanity successfully holding nature back but thinking that it will always be this way is what will lead to disaster at some point down the road. I disagree with the "if it lasts long enough for several human lifetimes, it's good enough." The current global environmental crisis is proof that's wrong... We need to stop looking a generation or two down the road and be willing to look several generations down the road. Or is it ok to put our great grandchildren in harm's way just to make our lives a little easier now?
Fight the water because it will fight you.
I hate to break it to you but Mother Nature/Gaia will always win. You might get lucky and never see that day but all the Netherlands is doing is postponing the inevitable. Something will change (earthquake or water rising higher than expected or whatever) or someone will make a mistake (engineering error or faulty construction or whatever) or _something_ and then Mother Nature/Gaia will remind you that she is boss. We live at her mercy. Seriously, not to be all new age-y but anyone who thinks they can beat nature is simply not paying attention. The history books are littered with civilizations who thought they could win the "fight." Here's a recent example - New Orleans was almost destroyed _by a storm._ Building a city in a region that is dangerous is stupid. Sorry to be so blunt, but it is.
CC going out of business won't have zero impact - all those employees will be drawing employment insurance, be forced to reduce their spending, etc., etc., etc. Yes, the impact to the country will be _smaller_ but it won't be zero. Thus, by your logic, CC deserves a smaller bailout compared to AIG's massive bailout(s). But, CC, for the most part, doesn't make fat cats richer whereas AIG does...
So, as AIG gets its THIRD multi-billion dollar bailout in just a few months, I'm left wondering where Circuit City's bailout is. Or is it ok for a company their size to lay off 17% of their workforce but not ok for the financial sector to do the same? What's that? Circuit City doesn't help make politicians rich? Ah. I see... Pathetic.
First, he's not mentally ill - he's a crook. Riches is incarcerated at Federal Correctional Institution Williamsburg in Salters, South Carolina, for wire fraud under the terms of a plea bargain. He's a leach. He's a criminal who looks for the easy way to make a buck and is looking for any and every chance for comical self-promotion. Second, yes, I made an enormous generalization. I stated as much. Deal with it.
So he's suing because he'd prefer to play the game than have a legit job?
Legit job? The guy's an inmate. A criminal. I don't think this guy knows what "legit job" means. He's a parasite intent on taking the easy way out. (Yes, I'm making an enormous generalization here but I'm in a pissy mood so the outcome is I'm going to insult some dumbass crackpot criminal - sue me.)
Read my post again. You're welcome to disagree with him as a politician. You're welcome to vote against him based on those policies. That's your right. I figured "Sure, you may disagree with Obama's policies and wish McCain won..." made that clear. But, even if you disagree with him, you should be happy that he was elected because of what it represents for the country - it represents the beginning of the end of racism. That is a very good thing.
I would think, regardless of which party/candidate one supports, everyone should view today as a good day. Sure, you may disagree with Obama's policies and wish McCain won, but Obama's victory demonstrates that America is taking a MASSIVE step forward and that should be viewed as a very good thing. And, anyone who thinks that a black man becoming president is a bad thing is someone who needs to die in a fire, to put it very bluntly.
If I could buy an iPhone and get a data plan and only a data plan with Rogers (I'm Canadian), I would. Their phone plans SUCK so I refuse to get an iPhone and am sticking with Koodo instead but, if Rogers ever pulls their heads out of their @ss or starts offering data-only plans for iPhone owners, I'll snatch one up in a second. Of course, one would surely ask why I'd want an i_Phone_ if I don't want to use the phone part but, first, the ability to have the internet in your pocket is VERY appealing and the my iPod Touch has made me realize that Apple "got it right" with their internet access. Second, even without a phone plan, one can still use the iPhone as a phone with voip programs (over wi-fi, of course). But, it's all a non-issue because I can't imagine Rogers _ever_ offering a data-only plan...
I'm a Mac guy but I've got a PC for gaming, running XP. I would _love_ to switch to Ubuntu but, unless I'm mistaken (and please! feel free to correct me if I'm wrong), in order to play my PC games I'd need to run an emulator or boot to XP which would defeat the entire purpose - the machine is used solely for gaming so why use a different system and then boot/emulate back to the system I already have? If Ubuntu ever enabled me to play my PC games natively, I'd ditch XP entirely and become a happy Mac/Ubuntu geek.
Who uploads photos of themselves (or others) holding credit cards or keys? In my entire life, I don't think I've EVER even TAKEN a photo like that, let alone thought about sharing it. Am I just bizarre or is it the people on Flickr? Ok, admittedly it could be both, but still....
A number of folks have been submitting topics that indicate that they want to have a serious discussion on the issues surrounding this election.
A serious discussion about politics? On Slashdot? Heck, on the internet? Good luck with that. Let me know how that works out...
Google doesn't take video content for Youtube - users submit video content. Enormous difference.
As someone who lives in Canada (and having just gone through a federal election), I just cannot understand why it's impossible to have a paper ballot, with a big circle, that one makes a mark (check, X, whatever) in the circle for your candidate of choice with a pencil and then have people count the ballots at the end. Canada manages to do it every time we have an election and it seems to work out just fine. And, with a paper trail, we can easily recount, if needed. Yes, America has ten times the population but it probably has ten times the election volunteers as well so there's really no difference. I just don't understand why a good paper ballot is so hard to accept...
...scraping is extremely delicate and very easy to thwart.
Then that's what he needs to tell his boss (and I agree with you). He needs to clearly inform his boss that it is probably illegal and opens his company up to (expensive) litigation and, more importantly, even if it doesn't get to litigation, the source site could make a change that renders their scraping efforts null and void. It needs to be put in a dollars-and-cents picture so that the boss realizes that the best (and only) solution is to pay the licensing fee. Doing otherwise will likely be more expensive and inconvenient. Any other depiction of the scenario won't matter to a boss that is only concerned with the bottom line.
And, if that doesn't work, polish your resume.
Shit falls downhill. This mantra cannot be overstated. You must always remember that, at the end of the day, the shit will _always_ fall downhill. If a bad/illegal system is implemented, it will not be the fault of the person who requested said system - it will be the fault of who implemented the system.
How should one deal with this situation? It depends. Do you feel sufficiently confident in your job that you can say "no" without being fired? Does being fired scare you (will you be able to make ends meet and put food on the table without the job)? Do you think, especially in this collapsing economy, that you could find a new job if you lost this one? Is this even a job you want to continue with? We don't know the answers to these questions - only you do. But, regardless of the answers, you must remember that shit falls downhill. If things are going to go bad, you will get the blame. If you can accept that then go for it. If you can't, then make other plans.