Re:Corporations + first amendment protection
on
The Saga of Katie.com
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· Score: 2, Informative
We get by in Britain quite well where companies do not have the rights of an individual - this is a very American concept probably due to the dominance of the corporations in your company^H^H^H^H^H^H (sorry) country;-)
Generally speaking an individuals speech needs protection for we are weak compared to the might and wealth of a company. Most companies can defend much of their rights by leaning on the rights of the individuals who comprise the company (apart from the obvious of outright buying hordes of lawyers, then the courts and the politicians).
Over here in Britain, we are quite used to separating an individual acting on their own and as an officer of a company.
Finally, surely freedom of the press is prescribed specifically in both our nation's law books. You may be able to fall back on the cumulative freedom of speech of the writers and publishers while we must fall back on our own consitutional freedoms (which are a bit more complex and historically entwined). Sadly, either way we both get to here what Rupert Murdoch wants us to here and little else besides...
I'm talking about the level of legal protection we have. I make no mention of the level of service you receive. Harrods? What do you expect? It's just a tourist trap these days.
In Europe you are expected to ask for a server to take your order. We hate it when server's continually hover going "are you enjoying your meal". We also like to take a bit of time and natter and not feel like the staff are just looking at a table to be emptied and the next customers siphoned it.
Here's a tip - Australia isn't part of Europe. I know Americans have real problems with geography (like invading the wrong countries on a regular basis).
Oz is a very different place to Europe or the US and I for one have found it to be one of the friendliest places going (possibly second to NZ).
Not to skirt the question, but is this really "absurd overkill?" I'm sure that USB pens/watches/etc have been a boon to corporate espionage. With a USB storage device, you don't have to worry about burning CDs or emailing your stolen information off-site.
So you'd condone a full on body search every time an employee enters or leaves the building?? USB devices are pretty small and Flash cards are impossible to detect without going through every body crevice.
Reading some of the horrors on this thread - aggressive and abusive selling of unwanted warranties, etc., - makes me very glad that I'm not American. We still have the law that says no public shop may unreasonably refuse to serve a customer. We still have consumer protection written into law and substantial guaranteed warranties (and before some yank whines that it adds to the cost - it doesn't - that's another lie from the likes of Best Buy).
We still believe in the state protecting the weak from the abuses of the strong. But then I remember that those American business practices have already substantially eroded our culture. How long will this one last? How long will it be before we lose all that and have to beg to be allowed into a store promising to spend whatever the manager deems appropriate.
SimCity IS incredibly american centric. The contrast to a European is quite dramatic. The whole process of development of an American city is quite alien. What's with all this 'zoning' that you do - we don't have any comparison there - we rely on planning as we have cities that are thousands of years old. As a result our cities have accreted and are often radial in contrast to your amorphous grid pattern.
And on the funding side its also very different. Our cities don't have much control over their taxes and taxation takes a radically different form (we used to have this thing called 'Rates' but then the right decided it was too proportional so replaced it with a Poll Tax that brought down the bitch Maggie and that in turn was replaced with Council Tax that doesn't cover what it should). There is a lot more central control over our cities and very little freedom for the councils except to tinker.
I do agree that SimCity is an incredibly good and educational game but as always you Americans have no recognition of your cultural bias. A British SimCity would like very different and the gods alone know what a Ugandan SimCity would look like!
I disagree - we're talking about a PhD here not an ordinary degree. You don't get a PhD by learning some rote, you get it by spending some years in research and then making a significant contribution to your field. You don't 'graduate' when getting a PhD - it is 'granted' to you.
A PhD confers a title on you - that of Doctor. This is a rare badge you get to wear in public and it is right that it should be protected. Certainly the University of Cambridge (one of the few original institutions to grant PhDs) can revoke your PhD for most any reason it sees fit though it has happened very infrequently..
Note to everyone not named "George Lucus": Star Wars isn't yours. Yes, I know you're a fan.
Interesting that you should say that as Star Wars very much set a precedent as to how much of a culture could be "owned". Star Wars came out before the Berne Convention came into force and before various major changes to copyright here in the UK. Star Wars triggered a lot of fan fiction and stuff like games set in the Star Wars universe. Previously the assumption was that the original work was protected but a work of art belonged in a wider sense to society as a whole and that as a result derivative works were not so protected (and indeed were owned by the derivative's creator). But as a result of changing copyright regimes Star Wars was one of the first to assert that absolutely everything to do with Star Wars was owned by George Lucas and his lawyers relentless persued fan fiction fanzines fan clubs and anything else that took his fancy. He had to wait til 1983 to do much of this in the UK but (I believe) the assault started in the USA pretty well straight away.
So, in a sense, no: Star Wars is ours - we've all paid for it - and George Lucas is only allowed that level of control because of the increasing legal ownership of "intellectual property" that leads us up to the modern antics of Disney, the RIAA and MPAA.
Also announced at E3 was the "Torture" expansion pack for America's Army. As every online gamer knows a lot of the fun is flaming the opposition in the game chat, settling vendettas and generally getting personal. The Torture pack takes this to the next level by letting gamers capture their opponents and force them through all sorts of humiliating and excruciating 'softening up' procedures before proceeding with the real interrogation. Gamers with a high R2I (resistance to interrogation) will not be so lightly hazed by these procedures allowing the leet gamers to stick one up their captors (shouldn't that be the other way round - Ed.). The torture is described as extremely graphic (requiring the very latest nVidia or ATI cards) and follows standard US Army procedures and is based on extensive footage researched in Iraq.
Listen, I'm just impressed and very very surprised that it turned out to be an actual system rather than a VC scam.
It WAS a VC scam. Trouble is it worked. They got the money. Then they had to spend it. So now they've hired Kevin Bacchus and actually had to make good on their promises. Who knows it might even pay off.
Damn the xtians have scarpered. Tried to follow the jesussave.us url and it just led to a web hosting site and a paid survey site. Shame - that looked to be a good laugh.
I'm always suspicious of anyone claiming to be Christian who quotes the arch-heretic Paul. Paul never met Jesus and is just a stooge for the Romans who wanted a malleable religion that was also acceptable to the legions (hence lots of Mithraic stuff made it into the gospels like the stable birth).
Pilate went out of his to try to set Jesus free.
Ah yes - they asked to free Bar Abbas instead. However there is good evidence that Jesus full name was Jesus Bar Abbas (tran. son of the father) - the crowded were calling for Jesus to be freed but Pilate refused.
Yes, lavatory is just the latinate name for a washroom!
PS: Bathroom is a really stupid name for the bog. Always cracks me up when in America and this euphemism is used. Like I want to take a bath after lunch. Over here in blighty, bathrooms frequently don't have toilets in them and it is a relatively common occurence to direct an American visitor to the bathroom (perhaps wanting a wash and brush up) and then have them very asking for what they really want in a very embarassed tone!
But, because I believe in God, I don't risk having my beliefs invalidated by a scientific discovery.
Christians! Fucking morons who believe the advancement of knowledge stopped three thousand years ago when the deutronomists wrote the first edition of the bible. Despite all the advancements since then that these idiots use in their daily lives. The OP clearly doesn't appreciate that the very same science that came up with evolution also came up with quantum mechanics, semiconductors and the internet by which means the OP posted his neandertal rubbish.
Just return to your attempt to turn on the central heating by rubbing two flashlights together and leave this advanced cerebral stuff to the more evolved.
This is probably not the answer you're looking for - but NetBeans works very well on a Mac as it uses Swing not SWT. NetBeans vs Eclipse is a real case of swings and roundabouts. For some things I prefer Eclipse (better autocompilation and error detection and better execution targets) but in other ways I prefer NetBeans. Give NetBeans a whirl - it may work for you.
Just remember sunwise is the other way round in the southern hemisphere as Stonehenge is a solar site.
PS: English Heritage are blasphemeous bastards as punters are supposed to go along the walkway (which is close as you can get to the stones these days) anticlockwise round Stonehenge
Cor, do you really believe private companies are completely unencumbered in how they make their rules? Thank the universe I live in the UK where companies have to act to a social norm.
In the UK, if you own a TV you are required by law the pay the 100 pound licence fee each year. Only if you are able to demonstrate that you don't own a TV are the fees waived.
Well you don't live here then;-) There seems to be a lot of FUD over the BBC licence fee. Every household that owns one or more TV sets must pay for a licence (various exemptions for disabled, pensioners etc). The onus is on the licence authority to prove you do have a TV not on you to prove not. They have a big database these days of all people who've bought TVs but students with s/h tellies can often get away with it.
I'm surprised there has been so little reaction like this in the US. Over here in England, gerrymandering or interfering with the ballot is a very serious offence comparable to treason. Given how seriously you lot take your 'democracy' I'm surprised you don't jump on Diebold from a very great height leaving nothing but a few jailed execs and bankrupt investors.
We fined Dame Shirley Porter 30m for rigging the sale of council houses in her constituency to Tory rather than Labour buyers.
We still hand count things cos we're a quaint backwards country but I'd rather that than trust a machine who's owners I don't trust.
Not quite - it was a class B controlled substance (bad but not as bad as H which is class A) and is now to be a class C controlled substance (not that bad really).
Again this is not legalising it. We can't legalise Marijuana because the USA will get really pissed off with us if we do. You might think we had the sovereign right to determine that ourselves but no - every time this comes up the USA makes big threats should we go ahead with it.
This is a really good example of why corporations should be limited to doing one thing and one thing well. Much of the problem with the 'free market' (whatever that is) and 'globalisation' (sic) comes down to too many different segments of the market owned under one roof and run to their vested interests and to the detriment of the public.
Sony in particular is one of the worst monopolies in the world (makes Microsoft look like good guys) and really should be broken up but Japan won't let its champion suffer (anymore than the US will let MS suffer) and nobody else has the power to make a difference.
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Generally speaking an individuals speech needs protection for we are weak compared to the might and wealth of a company. Most companies can defend much of their rights by leaning on the rights of the individuals who comprise the company (apart from the obvious of outright buying hordes of lawyers, then the courts and the politicians).
Over here in Britain, we are quite used to separating an individual acting on their own and as an officer of a company.
Finally, surely freedom of the press is prescribed specifically in both our nation's law books. You may be able to fall back on the cumulative freedom of speech of the writers and publishers while we must fall back on our own consitutional freedoms (which are a bit more complex and historically entwined). Sadly, either way we both get to here what Rupert Murdoch wants us to here and little else besides...
I'm talking about the level of legal protection we have. I make no mention of the level of service you receive. Harrods? What do you expect? It's just a tourist trap these days.
In Europe you are expected to ask for a server to take your order. We hate it when server's continually hover going "are you enjoying your meal". We also like to take a bit of time and natter and not feel like the staff are just looking at a table to be emptied and the next customers siphoned it.
Oz is a very different place to Europe or the US and I for one have found it to be one of the friendliest places going (possibly second to NZ).
So you'd condone a full on body search every time an employee enters or leaves the building?? USB devices are pretty small and Flash cards are impossible to detect without going through every body crevice.
We still believe in the state protecting the weak from the abuses of the strong. But then I remember that those American business practices have already substantially eroded our culture. How long will this one last? How long will it be before we lose all that and have to beg to be allowed into a store promising to spend whatever the manager deems appropriate.
Works for me - I understood what you wrote - whats your problem?
And on the funding side its also very different. Our cities don't have much control over their taxes and taxation takes a radically different form (we used to have this thing called 'Rates' but then the right decided it was too proportional so replaced it with a Poll Tax that brought down the bitch Maggie and that in turn was replaced with Council Tax that doesn't cover what it should). There is a lot more central control over our cities and very little freedom for the councils except to tinker.
I do agree that SimCity is an incredibly good and educational game but as always you Americans have no recognition of your cultural bias. A British SimCity would like very different and the gods alone know what a Ugandan SimCity would look like!
A PhD confers a title on you - that of Doctor. This is a rare badge you get to wear in public and it is right that it should be protected. Certainly the University of Cambridge (one of the few original institutions to grant PhDs) can revoke your PhD for most any reason it sees fit though it has happened very infrequently..
Interesting that you should say that as Star Wars very much set a precedent as to how much of a culture could be "owned". Star Wars came out before the Berne Convention came into force and before various major changes to copyright here in the UK. Star Wars triggered a lot of fan fiction and stuff like games set in the Star Wars universe. Previously the assumption was that the original work was protected but a work of art belonged in a wider sense to society as a whole and that as a result derivative works were not so protected (and indeed were owned by the derivative's creator). But as a result of changing copyright regimes Star Wars was one of the first to assert that absolutely everything to do with Star Wars was owned by George Lucas and his lawyers relentless persued fan fiction fanzines fan clubs and anything else that took his fancy. He had to wait til 1983 to do much of this in the UK but (I believe) the assault started in the USA pretty well straight away.
So, in a sense, no: Star Wars is ours - we've all paid for it - and George Lucas is only allowed that level of control because of the increasing legal ownership of "intellectual property" that leads us up to the modern antics of Disney, the RIAA and MPAA.
Also announced at E3 was the "Torture" expansion pack for America's Army. As every online gamer knows a lot of the fun is flaming the opposition in the game chat, settling vendettas and generally getting personal. The Torture pack takes this to the next level by letting gamers capture their opponents and force them through all sorts of humiliating and excruciating 'softening up' procedures before proceeding with the real interrogation. Gamers with a high R2I (resistance to interrogation) will not be so lightly hazed by these procedures allowing the leet gamers to stick one up their captors (shouldn't that be the other way round - Ed.). The torture is described as extremely graphic (requiring the very latest nVidia or ATI cards) and follows standard US Army procedures and is based on extensive footage researched in Iraq.
It WAS a VC scam. Trouble is it worked. They got the money. Then they had to spend it. So now they've hired Kevin Bacchus and actually had to make good on their promises. Who knows it might even pay off.
Damn the xtians have scarpered. Tried to follow the jesussave.us url and it just led to a web hosting site and a paid survey site. Shame - that looked to be a good laugh.
Pilate went out of his to try to set Jesus free. Ah yes - they asked to free Bar Abbas instead. However there is good evidence that Jesus full name was Jesus Bar Abbas (tran. son of the father) - the crowded were calling for Jesus to be freed but Pilate refused.
Lavatory (aka Loo) -> Water Closet -> W.C. -> Toilet -> Washroom/Bathroom
Yes, lavatory is just the latinate name for a washroom!
PS: Bathroom is a really stupid name for the bog. Always cracks me up when in America and this euphemism is used. Like I want to take a bath after lunch. Over here in blighty, bathrooms frequently don't have toilets in them and it is a relatively common occurence to direct an American visitor to the bathroom (perhaps wanting a wash and brush up) and then have them very asking for what they really want in a very embarassed tone!
I call Stonehenge! I think you meant 3' - though up on the Pennines the poles can easily be 3m high.
Christians! Fucking morons who believe the advancement of knowledge stopped three thousand years ago when the deutronomists wrote the first edition of the bible. Despite all the advancements since then that these idiots use in their daily lives. The OP clearly doesn't appreciate that the very same science that came up with evolution also came up with quantum mechanics, semiconductors and the internet by which means the OP posted his neandertal rubbish.
Just return to your attempt to turn on the central heating by rubbing two flashlights together and leave this advanced cerebral stuff to the more evolved.
This is probably not the answer you're looking for - but NetBeans works very well on a Mac as it uses Swing not SWT. NetBeans vs Eclipse is a real case of swings and roundabouts. For some things I prefer Eclipse (better autocompilation and error detection and better execution targets) but in other ways I prefer NetBeans. Give NetBeans a whirl - it may work for you.
PS: English Heritage are blasphemeous bastards as punters are supposed to go along the walkway (which is close as you can get to the stones these days) anticlockwise round Stonehenge
Cor, do you really believe private companies are completely unencumbered in how they make their rules? Thank the universe I live in the UK where companies have to act to a social norm.
Well you don't live here then ;-) There seems to be a lot of FUD over the BBC licence fee. Every household that owns one or more TV sets must pay for a licence (various exemptions for disabled, pensioners etc). The onus is on the licence authority to prove you do have a TV not on you to prove not. They have a big database these days of all people who've bought TVs but students with s/h tellies can often get away with it.
Unlikely I'm afraid as the BBC is not a company. It's a corporation. (In the UK, corporations are public owned companies.)
We fined Dame Shirley Porter 30m for rigging the sale of council houses in her constituency to Tory rather than Labour buyers.
We still hand count things cos we're a quaint backwards country but I'd rather that than trust a machine who's owners I don't trust.
Again this is not legalising it. We can't legalise Marijuana because the USA will get really pissed off with us if we do. You might think we had the sovereign right to determine that ourselves but no - every time this comes up the USA makes big threats should we go ahead with it.
Sony in particular is one of the worst monopolies in the world (makes Microsoft look like good guys) and really should be broken up but Japan won't let its champion suffer (anymore than the US will let MS suffer) and nobody else has the power to make a difference.