Karma Whore I'm not, but I wanted to know the answer too:
Here is where I found these.
USNO Master Clock Telephone Voice Announcer
Time Voice Announcer, Washington, DC: 202-762-1401 & 202-762-1069 (DSN 762-1401, 762-1069)
Time Voice Announcer, Colorado Springs, CO: 719-567-6742 (DSN 560-6742)
(Long distance time may be delayed).
Digital Time for MODEMS, which operate at 1200 baud, 8N1 only.
From Washington, DC: 202-762-1594 (DSN 762-1594) From Colorado Springs, CO: 719-567-6743 (DSN 560-6743)
From his mailing list when I posted a this direct question:
Q: "...Does anyone know where Mr. Badnarik stands in regards to the issues I mentioned (DMCA, P2P/RIAA, ETC?) I think that in my little circle those would probably be some of the most persuading issues in the campaign, and they are being ignored by the big two."
A: I asked him about "Intellectual Property" last night on the conference call. He admitted that it was an issue he had not worked on much yet, and that he had more studying and thinking to do on it, and reserved the right to change his answer... but he said that one thing he believed was that copyright should be limited to the lifetime of the
copyright holder.
He didn't really address patents, DMCA, etc. He did say that he fundamentally agrees with the concept of "IP" though, although he also said that it was "very abstract and hard to define."
Even within the Libertarian Party there is considerable debate about those issues, apparently. Hopefully by the time the/. interview
happens, Mike will have come up with some solid positions on those issues.
Hope this helps, also Michael Badnarik has been told that he will be interviewed by/. editors in the month of September. He did state in his constitution class that I took that he is a firm supporter of the Government not being allowed to limit technology (he comes from a comp. geek background as weel) like encryption, etc. because they don't deserve to be handed the lock to your "papers" due to the fourth ammendment, I think of all the canditates, he is most in tune with the/. crowd's concerns.
It doesn't work this way. Alice, Bob, and Charlene are trying to convince 50 people to agree to their chosen deserts, and whoever wins get to pick all the deserts for 4 days, and then can "run again" to get to pick desert for 4 more days.
Everyone knows that Charlene will lose though, because she doesn't have as much pull as Alice or Bob with the diners. So no one in their right mind will vote for her, since they are throwing away their vote.
BUT, if you looked at it the way the actual elections in this country run. Try this on for size:
Alice wins with 40% of the vote, Bob gets 35% of the vote, and Charlene gets the remaining 25% of the vote. In four days when the diners vote again, Bob looks at what happened and says "hey, if I could have won over just 6% of those that voted for Charlene I could have won last time. Maybe I should listen to what it is they want and work it into my menu selections, and have a better chance at beating Alice."
That is the way a third-party vote is not thrown away. Even if you think the candidate you agree the most with will lose, you can influence the other parties by voting along with your beliefs - you show the big two parties that your views do mean something and, being the power hungry twats that they are they will try to coddle to you while in office to get your votes next time. If you vote based on actions and not the empty words of the politicians, then they will have to at least make an attempt to do "your will" while in office to gain those votes next time around.
OK, you are a Fucktray as are your friends who keep saying the same thing... RTF'nA! The FTC has barred ONE COMPANY - D Squared from continuing the practice which it recieved consumer complaints about.
This is an agreement between the FTC and D Squared, who along with not doing this annoying shit anymore has also agreed to not send spam via IM programs, and to have it's business practices monitored by the FTC for a period of 5 years.
You see, using an OS flaw to force ads upon people who aren't even surfing the web, selling software to "Stop annoying ads like these" amounts to extortion (which is what the complaint and the FTC said about the practice) D Squared said "Uh uh, our business model is perfect, so we can fuck our customers over if we want" FTC said no, and fought D Squared, who then agreed to this settlement (they could have kept fighting and possibly won) with the FTC.
NOW HOW IS THE FTC GOING TO FUCKING REGULATE IT... they are going to monitor D Squared's future business practices AS STATED IN THE FUCKING ARTICLE ASSTARDS!
The vote is never thrown away. Think about it, if the Libertarians (or insert whatever variable third-party you want here) get 15% of the vote, they lose right?
While most people would say "those voters threw away their vote" most people would also be wrong. Because the two major parties would take notice and say "Hey, that was a closer election that we thought, those libertarians got 15% of the vote, maybe next time we need to lean a little more toward their views to help win more support from them. This has happened in the past with the socialist party in America, and could happen in the future with any of the the third-parties.
I've been running SP2 Beta since it was first released and there was a lot of talk about blocking "pirated serials" (FCKG.....) like they did with SP1, but (and I don't know if this is how it finally turned out) Microsoft was leaning toward not including a serial check in the final because they plan to use SP2 to show how much more "secure" they are (still users are running with admin priv... so how can that be true) and prevent the spread of viruses/worms.
Like I said, I don't know if this is true now, but it was stated earlier in testing that they would allow known "pirate (meaning, blocked from Windows Update) installs" to install the SP because of the benefits to them in PR if it actually slows the spread of viruses/worms in the future and limits the number of zombie boxes out there.
These types of comments are all well and good, but what about those people that are in a "non-specialized" role in a company?
Let's use me as an example. I work for a small software company that makes a CRM tool for automotive retailers. I took this job after a six month job hunt with no income coming in - I was flat out broke, living, quite literally, in my father's basement when I was offered the job I currently have.
I was hired as a web-developer/graphic designer, but my day to day job has been importing data from DMS systems into our software, providing network administration, hardware installation and repair, virus/malware removal, training and doing telephone tech support for our software. In the brief moments that I am not tied up with that I have been able to completely rebuild our neglected website, improved the product that we sell's code, developed every single item of marketing material that is used by our sales staff, and automated processes that took the individual I replaced about four man-hours a day to complete.
It wasn't until after my 90 day trial-period, when I became an actual employee, I was told I must sign a NDA, and a non-compete contract. Now, having fresh memories of what it was like having $0.00 income and literally wondering if I would be able to have groceries to eat each day, I was hesitant to sign, but felt that I had no choice.
I now have been here for a little over a year, and have been told that although every other employee here is able to have sick days/vacation (things that I was told were part of the compensation package when I accepted the job) my daily job duties cannot be handled by any of the other employees, and if I take a sick day, or, God forbid, my vacation time, I am jeopardizing the company and would have to be replaced. Further, as the president of the company has just received $8 million in VC, part of which was used to increase the sales staff 10 fold, I have spent the last two months averaging 11-14 hours per day without overtime (gotta love the lax labor laws in my state.)
I've started looking for a new job, but upon reviewing my NDA and non-compete contracts, they basically state (and this is what I feared when being forced to sign them) that I cannot accept employment using the skills I have used while employed here for a period of two years for any competitor. This means I cannot do web design, graphic design work, copy writing, logo design, programming, tech support, hardware installation, hardware/software purchasing, network administration, network installation, developing training material, developing marketing material, teaching how to use software, flash animation, video editing, or DVD production for anyone that does any of those things because even though our business is geared specifically for automotive retailers (and they are our only clients,) our companies president likes to believe we are a player in all software/computing fields.
So, how do I upgrade my position? How do I downgrade for that matter? This is where the uneven bargaining position comes into play, and I hope beyond hope that it will save my ass when I accept the job offer I have been given from a direct competitor that will finally pay me more that $25,000.00 per year, and has even offered to pay moving expenses to take the job they have offered.
I fully expect the lawsuit, even though I will not be working on their CRM product, as I am obviously violating the terms of the contract that I willing signed. Those of you defending Seagate's position all say I should be forced to remain in this dead-end position, working 80 hours a week, or go hungry.
You utterly moronic, politically-correct, spineless, ethically challenged, whiny fucktard. Where do you get off saying it should be a crime or an offense for me to state my personal opinion no matter how it makes you "feel?"
Your right to "feel good" is not guarenteed in the United States, nor anywhere else as far as I know. I feel that your defense of this shyster and swindler of good persons hard earned money is offensive to me and makes me physically ill contemplating the fact that there are individuals in the world who subscribe to your point of view.
Should I have the right to sue slashdot.org or you for that?
NO! I should have the "grown (sometimes mentally) up" attitude of "GETTING OVER IT!"
While it may be rude to call someone names, but it should never be illegal to say something derogatory about someone else as long as it is obvious that you are stating an opinion - and by that I mean someone with a grain of common sense (look it up, you may have a close friend or family member with some since you seem to be lacking) can realize someone is stating the thoughts in their own mind not by typing/saying IMHO.
This type of shit is why IANAL because I like to be able to look at myself in the mirror on occasion, and unlike that vampiric crowd I would find myself ill at the thought of doing so if that were my chosen profession.
And with all that said "Fatty Fatty Two By Four Can't Get Through The Courtroom Door... NAH NAH NAH BOO BOO!"
I call BULLSHIT - on shops that pull that sort of thing. I worked for a whitebox vendor that has been named in the top 5 technology providers in AZ for three years straight (with the likes of Intel, Intuit, and Honeywell) by Ranking Arizona Business Magazine and has been in business since 1993.
We did an assload of repair work on client's PCs most clients were charged in the $35-$40 range for minor work (upgrading a video card, installing a new Hard Drive, putting a burner in, cleaning up a virus) the vast majority that spent more than that we charge $75 to. This was for Windows installs, along with all updates, Anti-virus etc.
I have seen a lot of little shops that are staffed with guys that "know all about computers so they went into the computer business (primarily to be able to save on personal hardware purchases)" charge stuff like "bench-fee" etc. but I haven't seen many of them survive longer than their first lease.
Licensing does nothing to prevent this, it only gives the state more $$$ from citzens pockets and ensures that the bar is raised a little bit further to prevent people from "freelancing" because that sort of independence doesn't fit the mold of the 40s-50s and scares the holy shit out of people that grew up hoping to get a good job at the widget factory. These are the people passing the laws.
No, because it's not worth my time or effort or my clients money. Cheaper for them, quicker for me to swap the PSU out with a good rock solid Antec in 5 minutes and off to the next PC that needs repaired or software cleaned/upgraded.
I don't want to be an electronics technician, I want to work with computers. It's a cost/benefit thing, I do snatch many a good fan from PSUs that had other problems, but there is time for that later. I don't find soldering particularly enjoyable and only do that sort of thing when it is my only choice. I do, however, enjoy optimizing OSs showing people new and exciting things they didn't realize their PC could do etc. I charge a fair and reasonable price for my labor and parts and users are happy to be back up and running so fast.
You, and your brother and friend probably all have fairly decent hardware. People buy no-name hardware from fly-by-nights, knock-offs, grey marketers, etc. and blame all problems they ever face on Operating Systems because [BEGIN SARCASM]what are the odds of having a shitty bios, bad chips, buggy drivers or lackluster performance from a component that sells for 30% less than its competitors.[END SARCASM]
I see this all the time, it's amazing to me that when you replace the components with decent hardware (IE - that review sites don't tell you to run screaming from) the problems for the most part magically disappear. Of course these same people would never try to say that a Yugo will perform like a Porsche because you get what you pay for. They only forget that when it comes to the computer hardware market where whatever is cheapest always must be the best buy.
Not saying there isn't problems with SP2 BTW, just saying that often times there are other causes that must be taken into account when you see all these numbers tossed around. Just like the people that claim they can't install windows without it getting a virus before being updated - true techies have no problems because they know what the hell they are doing - Joe User who "knows all about computers" knows enough to fuck it up.
---- NOTE: let's not point out the Windows v Linux v [INSERT WHATEVER YOU LOVE MOST HERE] arguments, I've seen people make these complaints under multiple OSs that have been traced to bad hardware.
I call BULLSHIT! Society doesn't make fucking victims - stupidity does. I had a pretty shitty home life growing up, in the poorest of neighborhoods, broken home, all that shit - I didn't end up like the majority of my peers (in jail, broke, living off handouts from honest taxpayers) because I realized at an early age that I was responsible for my own actions, and the consequences thereof. I am sick and tired of people giving kids a green light to fuck up because they are young - were you that stupid as a teen?
No control or knowledge my ass - it's HER LAWYER not the publisher pursuing this.
While I agree that it is not right to wish further ills on the author over this, it is not right to support her and her publishers either. A brief look at katiet.com shows that her rough childhood has likely made her a quite well off adult, and the argument that she has no control over the decisions of her publisher are utter bullshit - they need her to be able to promote the damn book, so she has pull. Futher, just because something bad happened to you in the past, being a thief still makes you a thief and if her lawyer (working on her behalf, that she has the ability to hire and fire) succeeds, Katie Tarbow will be exactly that, a thief.
Well, since you bring up supply and demand, let me tell you my tail. I went to *local software megachaindeargodwhythehelldoiliveinbumfuck* with every intention of buying Doom 3 to make full use of my kick-ass gaming rig at home - saw the sticker price, said "F-that" and gave Novalogic $40 for Joint Ops because it will satisfy my need to frag sufficiently and was worth the expense (considering I've played the single level MP demo for months.)
My price point for entertainment software is $39.95, I just can't bring myself to pay more than that, not through determined choice, I just realized as I was reading that I have chosen to say no and wait every time a game cost more than that. $54.95 is too damn much to pay for a game that I may or may not like, and like most of the people pointing out that is too high in this thread there is nothing wrong with us as consumers saying we don't see the cost/benefit ratio in paying $60.00 for a game.
No, actually Libs tend to be strong proponents of Property rights - meaning you own the stuff you buy. Meaning you can do whatever you want with it. Libs tend to be very strong against corporations being able to infringe on your rights.
Do what I do - remind them you can't buy a mercedes for the price of a yugo and have them try calling the Tech support number one time before ordering.
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. --That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness."
Some of you may have read that somewhere before, but we tend to focus our attention on the whole "Life, Liberty, and Happiness" thing and not on the "When Government no longer does these things, scrap it and start over" - but the document I am quoting goes on to say "Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes;"
This means that when the people disagree with what the Government is doing, and feel that it's actions are not fitting with what it was intended to do, the people should do all in their power to make the changes needed to the Government without overthrowing it, using the laws in place. Just because someone disagrees what those temporarily in power are doing doesn't mean that we should "take up arms against this government" - it does however mean that is our moral and civic duty to use the system in place to correct those wrongs as we see them.
//insert less intelligent argument here
Its asshats like you that claim that stating an opinion against the actions of Government is treason that should be yanking your head out of your ass and using the same system in place to mold the leadership of the USA into the image you want it to take motherfucker. //return to reasoned debate
No, I don't question Moore's sources, I question the fact that he fails to list sources and quite often takes his source material out of context to spin it to an entirely different meaning. I tend to prefer the actual source instead of the lame edited and watered down "this is what I want you to think as I shove my opinion or lie down your throat version."
CBS news department itself (hard to take that for granted) was the source of the example here (the link to the PDF document from the site I sourced is a cbsnews.com address - it is coming direct from the horse's mouth) their own timeline of the election shows they made the statement at 10:00PM, where Fox new's own video shows the 2:16AM reversal from them. But, Moore chooses to ignore these readily available facts and make up his own version of history based on his agenda. This is called historical fiction, not documentary.
To prove the point that Moore twists the clips in the edit room to lie, let's look at the following clip from the movie:
Condoleezza Rice in Fahrenheit 9-11 (speaking to Charles Gibson on CBS's The Early Show following President Bush's trip to Baghdad):
Rice: "Oh, indeed there is a tie between Iraq and what happened on 9/11." CUT FILM ON TO THE NEXT CLIP NO FUTHER COMMENTARY OR QUOTE FOR THE AUDIENCE TO SEE.
Now, in acuality, the entire statement Condi Rice made completely agrees with Moore's argument, so it does him no service to show the entire quote, instead he cuts one sentance out of context (there is a whopping 8 or so seconds more, so don't tell me he had to cut for time) and says "SEE - SEE LOOK AT THE LIAR, THOSE EVIL LIARS ARE LYING TO YOU AND I AM EXPOSING THE TRUTH, LOOK AT THE LIES!" while turning a simple snip of the film into a huge out and out lie -
Actual unedited quote which is 180 from the statement that Moore makes the audience believe (Emp. added):
Rice: "Oh, indeed there is a tie between Iraq and what happened on 9/11. It's not that Saddam Hussein was somehow himself and his regime involved in 9/11, but, if you think about what caused 9/11, it is the rise of ideologies of hatred that lead people to drive airplanes into buildings in New York."
OMFG Mikey is proven yet again to have taken someone's words out of context and leaving his audience with the impression that they said something completely opposite of the statement they were making, what's next splicing two completely different speeches that were made almost a year apart into one and using a clever video edit make your audience believe it was all one speech (oh, you already did that in Bowling for Columbine- my bad.)
I quess it would be easy for me to point out that when Moore was on Fox News earlier this week, he was asked if he felt that American's should pay 75% of their income in taxes, and responded with "Yes, definately" - that should win him some real brownie points with the workaday Joes in the US. All I had to drop out was the word Multi-Millionaires from the question (Should American Multi-Millionaires pay...) and it looks like he is saying all American's should pay 75% of their income as taxes - but hey, I'm no propogandist, I leave the Bullshit artisty to the fat multi-millionaire who is one of the working people just out to expose the truth with no agenda at all in mind.
...at 7:52 p.m., Fox called Florida for Gore. Moore never lets the audience know that Fox was among the networks which made the error of calling Florida for Gore prematurely.
At 10:00 p.m., which network took the lead in retracting the premature Florida result? The first retracting network was CBS, not Fox.
It took Fox another 4 hours and 16 minutes (2:16 AM) to retract their original forcast and change it to Bush (you know after the polls had closed and the entire state had finished voting and all.) Somehow, 4 hours and 16 minutes of time is either in your and Moore's book simultaneous, AND/OR you have a problem with reading comprehension, AND/OR you are like the mods that sent my informative and sourced (as opposed to blatent lies and outlandish opinions - oh wait this is/.) original post into the redundant category (even though it was strictly addressing it's parent's question/comment), you have a problem when your fragile little theories get ripped to shreds by something as minor and insignificant as the facts. Sometimes I really feel like it should be legal to shoot sheep.
Ok, let's start with a specific case, because it only took me about 30 seconds to find one:
1. The Florida Election Results Ruined by Fox News Reports.
From the film: NARRATOR: Did the last four years not really happen? Look, there's Ben Affleck. He's often in my dreams. And the taxi driver guy. He was there too. And little Stevie Wonder, he seemed so happy, like a miracle had taken place. Was it a dream? Or was it real? It was election night 2000 and everything seemed to be going as planned.
Series of news clips: In New York, Al Gore is our projected winner. / The Garden State is green for Gore. / We project that Mr. Gore is the winner in Delaware. This state has voted with the winner in... / (Tom Brokaw interrupts) Mike, you know I wouldn't do this if it weren't big: Florida goes for Al Gore. / CNN announces that we call Florida in the Al Gore column.
NARRATOR: Then something called the Fox News Channel called the election in favor of the other guy.
BRIT HUME: Sorry to interrupt you; Fox News now projects George W. Bush the winner in Florida and thus it appears the winner of the Presidency of the United States.
NARRATOR: All of a sudden the other networks said, "Hey, if Fox said it, it must be true."
Ok, so Micky Moore is all about the truth right, and Bush is a liar because we haven't found the stockpiles of WMDs in Iraq. (Remember being given incorrect facts and believing the source as a fact makes you a liar in Moore and camp's books.) Let's watch Moore quickly become a LIAR:
[Source] NBC called Florida for Gore at 7:49:40 p.m., Eastern Time. This was 10 minutes before polls closed in the Florida panhandle. Thirty seconds later, CBS called Florida for Gore. And at 7:52 p.m., Fox called Florida for Gore. Moore never lets the audience know that Fox was among the networks which made the error of calling Florida for Gore prematurely. Then at 8:02 p.m., ABC called Florida for Gore. Only ABC had waited until the Florida polls were closed....
At 10:00 p.m., which network took the lead in retracting the premature Florida result? The first retracting network was CBS, not Fox.
Over four hours later, at 2:16 a.m., Fox projected Bush as the Florida winner, as did all the other networks by 2:20 a.m.
There's just one quick example, check out the source above for plenty more examples of what a pompus twisted politico Moore is with plenty more independant sources to rebuff almost every single thing that Moore has ever put to celluloid. I'm sorry I don't think that corporation's have a need or demand to guarentee an unskilled laborer a job, I don't think that Government should be playing daddy to us, and I don't think that anyone should have a right to bitch about their station in life because someone else was successful enough to have a bigger bank account than you. Michael is a liar and that is something I think everyone has a moral obligation not to be - and no I don't support Bush, my vote will be cast for Michael Badnarik and I hope that most of you here will be casting votes with your hearts not with the idea of the lesser of two evils.
Welcome to/. - where geeks who have bemoaned the fact that they have been ostracized for ages for being different can bemoan the fact that other geeks may want software different than the stuff they want to use.
I'm looking forward to my applications breaking out of the 2D mold where everything has to be minimized, maximized to be useful, I'm looking forward to people being able to create something new - not copy something that exists 1000 times over (wow - another audio player OH BOY!) or that can add some functionality - what I don't get is the fact that it seems the majority of/. posters have to bitch and moan whenever something exists that might upset their delicate world of text-only browsing, or non-CLI interfaces. JESUS H. CHRIST PEOPLE IT'S ABOUT HAVING A CHOICE TO DO WHAT THE &%*% YOU WANT TO DO WITH YOUR OWN $&%(ING COMPUTER! If you like the old ways - stick to them no one is taking that away from you, but don't be so damned negative when others try to do something they want with theirs.
Slashdot Mirror
Karma Whore I'm not, but I wanted to know the answer too:
Here is where I found these.
USNO Master Clock Telephone Voice Announcer
Time Voice Announcer, Washington, DC: 202-762-1401 & 202-762-1069 (DSN 762-1401, 762-1069)
Time Voice Announcer, Colorado Springs, CO: 719-567-6742 (DSN 560-6742) (Long distance time may be delayed).
Digital Time for MODEMS, which operate at 1200 baud, 8N1 only.
From Washington, DC: 202-762-1594 (DSN 762-1594)
From Colorado Springs, CO: 719-567-6743 (DSN 560-6743)
From his mailing list when I posted a this direct question:
Q: "...Does anyone know where Mr. Badnarik stands in regards to the issues I mentioned (DMCA, P2P/RIAA, ETC?) I think that in my little circle those would probably be some of the most persuading issues in the campaign, and they are being ignored by the big two."
/. interview
happens, Mike will have come up with some solid positions on those issues.
A: I asked him about "Intellectual Property" last night on the conference call. He admitted that it was an issue he had not worked on much yet, and that he had more studying and thinking to do on it, and reserved the right to change his answer... but he said that one thing he believed was that copyright should be limited to the lifetime of the copyright holder.
He didn't really address patents, DMCA, etc. He did say that he fundamentally agrees with the concept of "IP" though, although he also said that it was "very abstract and hard to define."
Even within the Libertarian Party there is considerable debate about those issues, apparently. Hopefully by the time the
Hope this helps, also Michael Badnarik has been told that he will be interviewed by /. editors in the month of September. He did state in his constitution class that I took that he is a firm supporter of the Government not being allowed to limit technology (he comes from a comp. geek background as weel) like encryption, etc. because they don't deserve to be handed the lock to your "papers" due to the fourth ammendment, I think of all the canditates, he is most in tune with the /. crowd's concerns.
It doesn't work this way. Alice, Bob, and Charlene are trying to convince 50 people to agree to their chosen deserts, and whoever wins get to pick all the deserts for 4 days, and then can "run again" to get to pick desert for 4 more days.
Everyone knows that Charlene will lose though, because she doesn't have as much pull as Alice or Bob with the diners. So no one in their right mind will vote for her, since they are throwing away their vote.
BUT, if you looked at it the way the actual elections in this country run. Try this on for size:
Alice wins with 40% of the vote, Bob gets 35% of the vote, and Charlene gets the remaining 25% of the vote. In four days when the diners vote again, Bob looks at what happened and says "hey, if I could have won over just 6% of those that voted for Charlene I could have won last time. Maybe I should listen to what it is they want and work it into my menu selections, and have a better chance at beating Alice."
That is the way a third-party vote is not thrown away. Even if you think the candidate you agree the most with will lose, you can influence the other parties by voting along with your beliefs - you show the big two parties that your views do mean something and, being the power hungry twats that they are they will try to coddle to you while in office to get your votes next time. If you vote based on actions and not the empty words of the politicians, then they will have to at least make an attempt to do "your will" while in office to gain those votes next time around.
OK, you are a Fucktray as are your friends who keep saying the same thing... RTF'nA! The FTC has barred ONE COMPANY - D Squared from continuing the practice which it recieved consumer complaints about.
This is an agreement between the FTC and D Squared, who along with not doing this annoying shit anymore has also agreed to not send spam via IM programs, and to have it's business practices monitored by the FTC for a period of 5 years.
You see, using an OS flaw to force ads upon people who aren't even surfing the web, selling software to "Stop annoying ads like these" amounts to extortion (which is what the complaint and the FTC said about the practice) D Squared said "Uh uh, our business model is perfect, so we can fuck our customers over if we want" FTC said no, and fought D Squared, who then agreed to this settlement (they could have kept fighting and possibly won) with the FTC.
NOW HOW IS THE FTC GOING TO FUCKING REGULATE IT... they are going to monitor D Squared's future business practices AS STATED IN THE FUCKING ARTICLE ASSTARDS!
The vote is never thrown away. Think about it, if the Libertarians (or insert whatever variable third-party you want here) get 15% of the vote, they lose right?
While most people would say "those voters threw away their vote" most people would also be wrong. Because the two major parties would take notice and say "Hey, that was a closer election that we thought, those libertarians got 15% of the vote, maybe next time we need to lean a little more toward their views to help win more support from them. This has happened in the past with the socialist party in America, and could happen in the future with any of the the third-parties.
Just food for thought.
Are you sure you don't want another degree?
"...none of the companies that I *would* have bought from (wisely) don't use spam..."
So all of the companies you buy from do use spam? Good Lord man!
I've been running SP2 Beta since it was first released and there was a lot of talk about blocking "pirated serials" (FCKG.....) like they did with SP1, but (and I don't know if this is how it finally turned out) Microsoft was leaning toward not including a serial check in the final because they plan to use SP2 to show how much more "secure" they are (still users are running with admin priv... so how can that be true) and prevent the spread of viruses/worms.
Like I said, I don't know if this is true now, but it was stated earlier in testing that they would allow known "pirate (meaning, blocked from Windows Update) installs" to install the SP because of the benefits to them in PR if it actually slows the spread of viruses/worms in the future and limits the number of zombie boxes out there.
These types of comments are all well and good, but what about those people that are in a "non-specialized" role in a company?
Let's use me as an example. I work for a small software company that makes a CRM tool for automotive retailers. I took this job after a six month job hunt with no income coming in - I was flat out broke, living, quite literally, in my father's basement when I was offered the job I currently have.
I was hired as a web-developer/graphic designer, but my day to day job has been importing data from DMS systems into our software, providing network administration, hardware installation and repair, virus/malware removal, training and doing telephone tech support for our software. In the brief moments that I am not tied up with that I have been able to completely rebuild our neglected website, improved the product that we sell's code, developed every single item of marketing material that is used by our sales staff, and automated processes that took the individual I replaced about four man-hours a day to complete.
It wasn't until after my 90 day trial-period, when I became an actual employee, I was told I must sign a NDA, and a non-compete contract. Now, having fresh memories of what it was like having $0.00 income and literally wondering if I would be able to have groceries to eat each day, I was hesitant to sign, but felt that I had no choice.
I now have been here for a little over a year, and have been told that although every other employee here is able to have sick days/vacation (things that I was told were part of the compensation package when I accepted the job) my daily job duties cannot be handled by any of the other employees, and if I take a sick day, or, God forbid, my vacation time, I am jeopardizing the company and would have to be replaced. Further, as the president of the company has just received $8 million in VC, part of which was used to increase the sales staff 10 fold, I have spent the last two months averaging 11-14 hours per day without overtime (gotta love the lax labor laws in my state.)
I've started looking for a new job, but upon reviewing my NDA and non-compete contracts, they basically state (and this is what I feared when being forced to sign them) that I cannot accept employment using the skills I have used while employed here for a period of two years for any competitor. This means I cannot do web design, graphic design work, copy writing, logo design, programming, tech support, hardware installation, hardware/software purchasing, network administration, network installation, developing training material, developing marketing material, teaching how to use software, flash animation, video editing, or DVD production for anyone that does any of those things because even though our business is geared specifically for automotive retailers (and they are our only clients,) our companies president likes to believe we are a player in all software/computing fields.
So, how do I upgrade my position? How do I downgrade for that matter? This is where the uneven bargaining position comes into play, and I hope beyond hope that it will save my ass when I accept the job offer I have been given from a direct competitor that will finally pay me more that $25,000.00 per year, and has even offered to pay moving expenses to take the job they have offered.
I fully expect the lawsuit, even though I will not be working on their CRM product, as I am obviously violating the terms of the contract that I willing signed. Those of you defending Seagate's position all say I should be forced to remain in this dead-end position, working 80 hours a week, or go hungry.
You utterly moronic, politically-correct, spineless, ethically challenged, whiny fucktard. Where do you get off saying it should be a crime or an offense for me to state my personal opinion no matter how it makes you "feel?"
Your right to "feel good" is not guarenteed in the United States, nor anywhere else as far as I know. I feel that your defense of this shyster and swindler of good persons hard earned money is offensive to me and makes me physically ill contemplating the fact that there are individuals in the world who subscribe to your point of view.
Should I have the right to sue slashdot.org or you for that?
NO! I should have the "grown (sometimes mentally) up" attitude of "GETTING OVER IT!"
While it may be rude to call someone names, but it should never be illegal to say something derogatory about someone else as long as it is obvious that you are stating an opinion - and by that I mean someone with a grain of common sense (look it up, you may have a close friend or family member with some since you seem to be lacking) can realize someone is stating the thoughts in their own mind not by typing/saying IMHO.
This type of shit is why IANAL because I like to be able to look at myself in the mirror on occasion, and unlike that vampiric crowd I would find myself ill at the thought of doing so if that were my chosen profession.
And with all that said "Fatty Fatty Two By Four Can't Get Through The Courtroom Door... NAH NAH NAH BOO BOO!"
I call BULLSHIT - on shops that pull that sort of thing. I worked for a whitebox vendor that has been named in the top 5 technology providers in AZ for three years straight (with the likes of Intel, Intuit, and Honeywell) by Ranking Arizona Business Magazine and has been in business since 1993.
We did an assload of repair work on client's PCs most clients were charged in the $35-$40 range for minor work (upgrading a video card, installing a new Hard Drive, putting a burner in, cleaning up a virus) the vast majority that spent more than that we charge $75 to. This was for Windows installs, along with all updates, Anti-virus etc.
I have seen a lot of little shops that are staffed with guys that "know all about computers so they went into the computer business (primarily to be able to save on personal hardware purchases)" charge stuff like "bench-fee" etc. but I haven't seen many of them survive longer than their first lease.
Licensing does nothing to prevent this, it only gives the state more $$$ from citzens pockets and ensures that the bar is raised a little bit further to prevent people from "freelancing" because that sort of independence doesn't fit the mold of the 40s-50s and scares the holy shit out of people that grew up hoping to get a good job at the widget factory. These are the people passing the laws.
No, because it's not worth my time or effort or my clients money. Cheaper for them, quicker for me to swap the PSU out with a good rock solid Antec in 5 minutes and off to the next PC that needs repaired or software cleaned/upgraded.
I don't want to be an electronics technician, I want to work with computers. It's a cost/benefit thing, I do snatch many a good fan from PSUs that had other problems, but there is time for that later. I don't find soldering particularly enjoyable and only do that sort of thing when it is my only choice. I do, however, enjoy optimizing OSs showing people new and exciting things they didn't realize their PC could do etc. I charge a fair and reasonable price for my labor and parts and users are happy to be back up and running so fast.
You, and your brother and friend probably all have fairly decent hardware. People buy no-name hardware from fly-by-nights, knock-offs, grey marketers, etc. and blame all problems they ever face on Operating Systems because [BEGIN SARCASM]what are the odds of having a shitty bios, bad chips, buggy drivers or lackluster performance from a component that sells for 30% less than its competitors.[END SARCASM]
I see this all the time, it's amazing to me that when you replace the components with decent hardware (IE - that review sites don't tell you to run screaming from) the problems for the most part magically disappear. Of course these same people would never try to say that a Yugo will perform like a Porsche because you get what you pay for. They only forget that when it comes to the computer hardware market where whatever is cheapest always must be the best buy.
Not saying there isn't problems with SP2 BTW, just saying that often times there are other causes that must be taken into account when you see all these numbers tossed around. Just like the people that claim they can't install windows without it getting a virus before being updated - true techies have no problems because they know what the hell they are doing - Joe User who "knows all about computers" knows enough to fuck it up.
---- NOTE: let's not point out the Windows v Linux v [INSERT WHATEVER YOU LOVE MOST HERE] arguments, I've seen people make these complaints under multiple OSs that have been traced to bad hardware.
I call BULLSHIT! Society doesn't make fucking victims - stupidity does. I had a pretty shitty home life growing up, in the poorest of neighborhoods, broken home, all that shit - I didn't end up like the majority of my peers (in jail, broke, living off handouts from honest taxpayers) because I realized at an early age that I was responsible for my own actions, and the consequences thereof. I am sick and tired of people giving kids a green light to fuck up because they are young - were you that stupid as a teen?
No control or knowledge my ass - it's HER LAWYER not the publisher pursuing this.
While I agree that it is not right to wish further ills on the author over this, it is not right to support her and her publishers either. A brief look at katiet.com shows that her rough childhood has likely made her a quite well off adult, and the argument that she has no control over the decisions of her publisher are utter bullshit - they need her to be able to promote the damn book, so she has pull. Futher, just because something bad happened to you in the past, being a thief still makes you a thief and if her lawyer (working on her behalf, that she has the ability to hire and fire) succeeds, Katie Tarbow will be exactly that, a thief.
Well, since you bring up supply and demand, let me tell you my tail. I went to *local software megachaindeargodwhythehelldoiliveinbumfuck* with every intention of buying Doom 3 to make full use of my kick-ass gaming rig at home - saw the sticker price, said "F-that" and gave Novalogic $40 for Joint Ops because it will satisfy my need to frag sufficiently and was worth the expense (considering I've played the single level MP demo for months.)
My price point for entertainment software is $39.95, I just can't bring myself to pay more than that, not through determined choice, I just realized as I was reading that I have chosen to say no and wait every time a game cost more than that. $54.95 is too damn much to pay for a game that I may or may not like, and like most of the people pointing out that is too high in this thread there is nothing wrong with us as consumers saying we don't see the cost/benefit ratio in paying $60.00 for a game.
This says it all when it comes to seqway. All that cash for nothing.
No, actually Libs tend to be strong proponents of Property rights - meaning you own the stuff you buy. Meaning you can do whatever you want with it. Libs tend to be very strong against corporations being able to infringe on your rights.
Do what I do - remind them you can't buy a mercedes for the price of a yugo and have them try calling the Tech support number one time before ordering.
Dipshit... the patent was filed in 2000! After Apple and MikeRoweSoft (hey they bought the fucking trademark) were already using their update systems.
You shouldn't be able to patent anything you can't bring to market!
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. --That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, -- That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government , laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness."
Some of you may have read that somewhere before, but we tend to focus our attention on the whole "Life, Liberty, and Happiness" thing and not on the "When Government no longer does these things, scrap it and start over" - but the document I am quoting goes on to say "Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes;"
This means that when the people disagree with what the Government is doing, and feel that it's actions are not fitting with what it was intended to do, the people should do all in their power to make the changes needed to the Government without overthrowing it, using the laws in place. Just because someone disagrees what those temporarily in power are doing doesn't mean that we should "take up arms against this government" - it does however mean that is our moral and civic duty to use the system in place to correct those wrongs as we see them.
No, I don't question Moore's sources, I question the fact that he fails to list sources and quite often takes his source material out of context to spin it to an entirely different meaning. I tend to prefer the actual source instead of the lame edited and watered down "this is what I want you to think as I shove my opinion or lie down your throat version."
CBS news department itself (hard to take that for granted) was the source of the example here (the link to the PDF document from the site I sourced is a cbsnews.com address - it is coming direct from the horse's mouth) their own timeline of the election shows they made the statement at 10:00PM, where Fox new's own video shows the 2:16AM reversal from them. But, Moore chooses to ignore these readily available facts and make up his own version of history based on his agenda. This is called historical fiction, not documentary.
To prove the point that Moore twists the clips in the edit room to lie, let's look at the following clip from the movie:
Condoleezza Rice in Fahrenheit 9-11 (speaking to Charles Gibson on CBS's The Early Show following President Bush's trip to Baghdad):
Rice: "Oh, indeed there is a tie between Iraq and what happened on 9/11." CUT FILM ON TO THE NEXT CLIP NO FUTHER COMMENTARY OR QUOTE FOR THE AUDIENCE TO SEE.
Now, in acuality, the entire statement Condi Rice made completely agrees with Moore's argument, so it does him no service to show the entire quote, instead he cuts one sentance out of context (there is a whopping 8 or so seconds more, so don't tell me he had to cut for time) and says "SEE - SEE LOOK AT THE LIAR, THOSE EVIL LIARS ARE LYING TO YOU AND I AM EXPOSING THE TRUTH, LOOK AT THE LIES!" while turning a simple snip of the film into a huge out and out lie -
Actual unedited quote which is 180 from the statement that Moore makes the audience believe (Emp. added):
OMFG Mikey is proven yet again to have taken someone's words out of context and leaving his audience with the impression that they said something completely opposite of the statement they were making, what's next splicing two completely different speeches that were made almost a year apart into one and using a clever video edit make your audience believe it was all one speech (oh, you already did that in Bowling for Columbine- my bad.)Rice: "Oh, indeed there is a tie between Iraq and what happened on 9/11. It's not that Saddam Hussein was somehow himself and his regime involved in 9/11, but, if you think about what caused 9/11, it is the rise of ideologies of hatred that lead people to drive airplanes into buildings in New York."
I quess it would be easy for me to point out that when Moore was on Fox News earlier this week, he was asked if he felt that American's should pay 75% of their income in taxes, and responded with "Yes, definately" - that should win him some real brownie points with the workaday Joes in the US. All I had to drop out was the word Multi-Millionaires from the question (Should American Multi-Millionaires pay...) and it looks like he is saying all American's should pay 75% of their income as taxes - but hey, I'm no propogandist, I leave the Bullshit artisty to the fat multi-millionaire who is one of the working people just out to expose the truth with no agenda at all in mind.
... and I quote for the illiterate AC:
...at 7:52 p.m., Fox called Florida for Gore. Moore never lets the audience know that Fox was among the networks which made the error of calling Florida for Gore prematurely.
/.) original post into the redundant category (even though it was strictly addressing it's parent's question/comment), you have a problem when your fragile little theories get ripped to shreds by something as minor and insignificant as the facts. Sometimes I really feel like it should be legal to shoot sheep.
At 10:00 p.m., which network took the lead in retracting the premature Florida result? The first retracting network was CBS, not Fox.
It took Fox another 4 hours and 16 minutes (2:16 AM) to retract their original forcast and change it to Bush (you know after the polls had closed and the entire state had finished voting and all.) Somehow, 4 hours and 16 minutes of time is either in your and Moore's book simultaneous, AND/OR you have a problem with reading comprehension, AND/OR you are like the mods that sent my informative and sourced (as opposed to blatent lies and outlandish opinions - oh wait this is
Ok, let's start with a specific case, because it only took me about 30 seconds to find one:
1. The Florida Election Results Ruined by Fox News Reports.
From the film:
NARRATOR: Did the last four years not really happen? Look, there's Ben Affleck. He's often in my dreams. And the taxi driver guy. He was there too. And little Stevie Wonder, he seemed so happy, like a miracle had taken place. Was it a dream? Or was it real? It was election night 2000 and everything seemed to be going as planned.
Series of news clips: In New York, Al Gore is our projected winner. / The Garden State is green for Gore. / We project that Mr. Gore is the winner in Delaware. This state has voted with the winner in... / (Tom Brokaw interrupts) Mike, you know I wouldn't do this if it weren't big: Florida goes for Al Gore. / CNN announces that we call Florida in the Al Gore column.
NARRATOR: Then something called the Fox News Channel called the election in favor of the other guy.
BRIT HUME: Sorry to interrupt you; Fox News now projects George W. Bush the winner in Florida and thus it appears the winner of the Presidency of the United States.
NARRATOR: All of a sudden the other networks said, "Hey, if Fox said it, it must be true."
Ok, so Micky Moore is all about the truth right, and Bush is a liar because we haven't found the stockpiles of WMDs in Iraq. (Remember being given incorrect facts and believing the source as a fact makes you a liar in Moore and camp's books.) Let's watch Moore quickly become a LIAR:
[Source]
NBC called Florida for Gore at 7:49:40 p.m., Eastern Time. This was 10 minutes before polls closed in the Florida panhandle. Thirty seconds later, CBS called Florida for Gore. And at 7:52 p.m., Fox called Florida for Gore. Moore never lets the audience know that Fox was among the networks which made the error of calling Florida for Gore prematurely. Then at 8:02 p.m., ABC called Florida for Gore. Only ABC had waited until the Florida polls were closed....
At 10:00 p.m., which network took the lead in retracting the premature Florida result? The first retracting network was CBS, not Fox.
Over four hours later, at 2:16 a.m., Fox projected Bush as the Florida winner, as did all the other networks by 2:20 a.m.
There's just one quick example, check out the source above for plenty more examples of what a pompus twisted politico Moore is with plenty more independant sources to rebuff almost every single thing that Moore has ever put to celluloid. I'm sorry I don't think that corporation's have a need or demand to guarentee an unskilled laborer a job, I don't think that Government should be playing daddy to us, and I don't think that anyone should have a right to bitch about their station in life because someone else was successful enough to have a bigger bank account than you. Michael is a liar and that is something I think everyone has a moral obligation not to be - and no I don't support Bush, my vote will be cast for Michael Badnarik and I hope that most of you here will be casting votes with your hearts not with the idea of the lesser of two evils.
Then how about checking out Badnarik Choosing the lesser of two evils is still a pretty bad choice. I for one will be voting to keep my freedoms.
Welcome to /. - where geeks who have bemoaned the fact that they have been ostracized for ages for being different can bemoan the fact that other geeks may want software different than the stuff they want to use.
/. posters have to bitch and moan whenever something exists that might upset their delicate world of text-only browsing, or non-CLI interfaces. JESUS H. CHRIST PEOPLE IT'S ABOUT HAVING A CHOICE TO DO WHAT THE &%*% YOU WANT TO DO WITH YOUR OWN $&%(ING COMPUTER! If you like the old ways - stick to them no one is taking that away from you, but don't be so damned negative when others try to do something they want with theirs.
I'm looking forward to my applications breaking out of the 2D mold where everything has to be minimized, maximized to be useful, I'm looking forward to people being able to create something new - not copy something that exists 1000 times over (wow - another audio player OH BOY!) or that can add some functionality - what I don't get is the fact that it seems the majority of
"Bunch a fucking savages in this town!"
"...a piece of crap that isnt worth cappin'."
Sir or Ma'am, I am under the impression that you were the victim of a minor typographical error, or a grammatical one.
I assume that you actually meant to say:
"...a piece of crap that ain't worth cappin' bitch!"
Hopefully this corrects any confusion that may have arisen out of the parent post.