Yes the money didn't "disappear" but the net effect is the same....From your point of view it did when it went from your account into "thin air" (the fraud)...You are arguing semantics. All things are relevant from ones point of view.
"Again, the money didn't disappear, There isn't a black hole the money disappears into never to be seen again. It just ends up in someone else's hands. Or it's wasted but even then it still doesn't disappear."
Tell that to the Enron/WorldCom investors or the S&L scammed folk who to this day haven't seen their money.
Sure, safeguards for these specific frauds have been implemented in hindsight but that doesn't stop the future fraudsters or get the money that was stolen back...
Amongst all of your fence strattling and waffling you have going on in your post you state this:
"We can't really have both situations at the same time, so I agree that the content providers should have to actually produce a good product in order to make consumers want to pay for it, but I also don't think that someone should be stealing a Brittany Spears album despite its not being worth $16."
I hate to point it out to you that most people don't download the whole album but instead only get those songs they like and leave the "fluff" (read shit) songs behind. That is the crux of the problem. The RIAA (and the artists for that matter) want you to buy the whole thing, not peices. Ask yourself this, when was the last time you were able to buy a "single" at Walmart? That went out with the 45 phonograph!
The ratings aren't there for parents or children. They are there to prevent law suits a-la Columbine. It is like the McDonalds coffee suit. Now every cup you get has warnings in some cases (Burger King) it is in several languages!
There is a study floating around (can't recall where) that found that spammers aren't making money off the products they "offer". They are making their money by selling email addresses to other spammers. Email address harvesting is where the true spammer makes his bread...
Still, how this translates into Microsoft getting the loot is beyond me.
"War on terrorism" or not, those chips ARE considered the mark of the beast and millions will not take them, even if mandated by government."... "Take it from there sparky"
Even though I'm not sparky I'll take it....
tinfoil hat mode on...
It won't be mandated as such...
It will be "voluntary" to the point that services will be denied if you don't have one. In short, it is the "if you ain't with us you're against us" mentality. There are other ways to lead sheeple to the well than with a stick. You do it by making any other choice unpleasant.
"The major issue with Windows is that most people run it with Administrative accounts as poorly coded programs don't work under User access levels. Of course if Microsoft had a way to fix it most people probably would still run under administrative accounts. You can't stop user stupidity."
Is it user stupidity when XP Home comes pre-configured as admin by default? Who's fault would that one be? Wonder what brianiac in Redmond thought up the whole concept of "Home" vs "Professional"... That's the one that deserves a kick in the nads!
That is because they are relying on the old USGS DOQQ for rural areas. Most larger cities have already updated their imagery thus the color. Eventually every community will be updated but that mainly falls to the community's funding to dictate when.
"Do all people who fund scientific work do so with no expectation to a specific end result?"
Of course not! Not even the NIH which seeds most scientific research in the US will fund a project to completion. For that your research had better lead to commercial viability or you're dead in the water.
"Will all scientists be bold enough to draw conclusions that diverge from the expected end result?"
Hardly given that most research is for commercial exploitation. Any research that shows that commercial exploitation as "harmful" will be shot down either in lack of funding or lack of publicity (being downplayed). Environmental research is some of the toughest to do because of the divergent intrests in the products of that environment. For an instance of this going on now all you have to do is look at the amount of political pull that the coal industry has.
I believe the funding for this study should be reveled just as I believe the funding for any research should be. Scientists are human after all and as humans bias *DOES* come into play. If nothing else, then the "bias" to stay employed!
"If the city is up in arms with dissatisfaction in service, they can revoke the business' franscise license of COX, Charter, ect and allow another company to come in."
That's assuming another company is willing to come in. In rural areas this is problematic. Let's face it, the big bucks don't come from rural areas. In fact, rural areas are a source of huge expense when you consider transmission line amplification as well as length compared to how many are on that line. This article didn't say what led up to the decision to wire themselves up but if they are rural I would suspect that could be one reason.
"If your cell phone company, for example, charges you a ruinous rate, you can see exactly how ruinous it is. You can then decide whether their cell service is really that important to you, and if it's not, you can cancel and take your money elsewhere."
Therein lies the problem. There is no "elsewhere" to take it in most rural areas. Cable & phone companies are government sanctioned monopolies. I'm sure you have cable in your area. Let's say it is Cox. Try taking your cable business to Charter and see what answer you get.
Governments provide services like these when corporate entities can't or won't. That is one of the jobs of government.
The works themselves are "public domain" but the performance of those works is covered by copyright. Remember folks, copyright covers the expression of ideas where patent covers the whole idea.
You act as if I have to manually go through the code to get the fix. In either event, you are still chained to one producer and their whims. Let me ask a question of all those that replied (including you). What would you do with Windows if tomorrow Microsoft decided it wasn't worth doing PC applications any more and dropped it's entire Windows line? Who can and will take up the slack? That is less likely on open source projects because the genie is out of the bottle for anyone to pick it up.
"Myself, I'm also very happy with XP. I'll have to decide if some of the new features in Longhorn are worth it. If they aren't, then I won't upgrade."
It isn't that easy. Try getting fixes for it when Longhorn hits the streets. The common support answer for XP from Redmond will be, "Upgrade!" Unfortunately, that is the way of all closed source programs.
Part of the reason a lot of people went with Firefox to begin with was it was "light-weight" compared to Mozilla. Adding dufingletrons to it only serves to defeat that one goal. Sure, it's optional and all that but why even use Firefox if it is going to be slowed down by add-on bloat?
"Gotta hand it to corporate wisdom of carrying a nice uniform case with "Dell" or somesuch emblazoned on the side, make you know just what you're getting."
Call it a courtesy...;-)
Anyway, those handlers had houndreds of thousands of dollars worth of equipment in their homes when the search warrent was executed (while they were at work getting arrested and seeing the video of their doings). Thing that gets me is it took months for the police to catch on to them. Either way, it is a hell of a way to lose your job and your freedom.
"You['re] right, security is an illusion, and some people prefer to turn a blind eye rather than look at the root cause."
You were ranting on about data / network security which is a little different than physical security. Try and guess where most laptops are physically stolen from? Give up? The airport where bagage handlers are usually the guilty party. Not too long ago they made a whole slew of arrests here in my city of bagage handlers who stole laptops, cameras, camcorders, etc.. from people's luggage.
You are probably thinking along the lines of Trumpet Winsock. It provided the stack as well as the socket tools to connect with. I remember using it when it was version 1.something. Funny thing is you can still get it and it is up to version 3.0. Go figure.
He got off lighter than he could have. He could have been charged with willful patent infringement for distributing a derivative work based on Microsoft's patented one.
Ah.....But eventually your city will get the bright idea to pass that ordinance that allows them to ticket you every hour on the hour. With every ticket increasing in price. That shit will end very fast...
Slashdot Mirror
Yes the money didn't "disappear" but the net effect is the same....From your point of view it did when it went from your account into "thin air" (the fraud)...You are arguing semantics. All things are relevant from ones point of view.
B.
"Again, the money didn't disappear, There isn't a black hole the money disappears into never to be seen again. It just ends up in someone else's hands. Or it's wasted but even then it still doesn't disappear."
Tell that to the Enron/WorldCom investors or the S&L scammed folk who to this day haven't seen their money.
http://www.fdic.gov/bank/historical/s&l/
Sure, safeguards for these specific frauds have been implemented in hindsight but that doesn't stop the future fraudsters or get the money that was stolen back...
B.
Amongst all of your fence strattling and waffling you have going on in your post you state this:
"We can't really have both situations at the same time, so I agree that the content providers should have to actually produce a good product in order to make consumers want to pay for it, but I also don't think that someone should be stealing a Brittany Spears album despite its not being worth $16."
I hate to point it out to you that most people don't download the whole album but instead only get those songs they like and leave the "fluff" (read shit) songs behind. That is the crux of the problem. The RIAA (and the artists for that matter) want you to buy the whole thing, not peices. Ask yourself this, when was the last time you were able to buy a "single" at Walmart? That went out with the 45 phonograph!
B.
And in c. 1950 they were saying, "Repeat after me: Nuclear power is absolutely safe!"
Just goes to show it pays to be skeptical...
B.
The ratings aren't there for parents or children. They are there to prevent law suits a-la Columbine. It is like the McDonalds coffee suit. Now every cup you get has warnings in some cases (Burger King) it is in several languages!
B.
To add spice to your already excellent post...
There is a study floating around (can't recall where) that found that spammers aren't making money off the products they "offer". They are making their money by selling email addresses to other spammers. Email address harvesting is where the true spammer makes his bread...
Still, how this translates into Microsoft getting the loot is beyond me.
B.
"War on terrorism" or not, those chips ARE considered the mark of the beast and millions will not take them, even if mandated by government."...
"Take it from there sparky"
Even though I'm not sparky I'll take it....
tinfoil hat mode on...
It won't be mandated as such...
It will be "voluntary" to the point that services will be denied if you don't have one. In short, it is the "if you ain't with us you're against us" mentality. There are other ways to lead sheeple to the well than with a stick. You do it by making any other choice unpleasant.
tinfoil hat mode off...
B.
Besides, it is "Dr. Seuss" not "Dr. Zeus". One is the author of children's books the other I presume is the doctor of the gods...
B.
"The major issue with Windows is that most people run it with Administrative accounts as poorly coded programs don't work under User access levels. Of course if Microsoft had a way to fix it most people probably would still run under administrative accounts. You can't stop user stupidity."
Is it user stupidity when XP Home comes pre-configured as admin by default? Who's fault would that one be? Wonder what brianiac in Redmond thought up the whole concept of "Home" vs "Professional"... That's the one that deserves a kick in the nads!
B.
That is because they are relying on the old USGS DOQQ for rural areas. Most larger cities have already updated their imagery thus the color. Eventually every community will be updated but that mainly falls to the community's funding to dictate when.
B.
"Do all people who fund scientific work do so with no expectation to a specific end result?"
Of course not! Not even the NIH which seeds most scientific research in the US will fund a project to completion. For that your research had better lead to commercial viability or you're dead in the water.
"Will all scientists be bold enough to draw conclusions that diverge from the expected end result?"
Hardly given that most research is for commercial exploitation. Any research that shows that commercial exploitation as "harmful" will be shot down either in lack of funding or lack of publicity (being downplayed). Environmental research is some of the toughest to do because of the divergent intrests in the products of that environment. For an instance of this going on now all you have to do is look at the amount of political pull that the coal industry has.
I believe the funding for this study should be reveled just as I believe the funding for any research should be. Scientists are human after all and as humans bias *DOES* come into play. If nothing else, then the "bias" to stay employed!
B.
"If the city is up in arms with dissatisfaction in service, they can revoke the business' franscise license of COX, Charter, ect and allow another company to come in."
That's assuming another company is willing to come in. In rural areas this is problematic. Let's face it, the big bucks don't come from rural areas. In fact, rural areas are a source of huge expense when you consider transmission line amplification as well as length compared to how many are on that line. This article didn't say what led up to the decision to wire themselves up but if they are rural I would suspect that could be one reason.
B.
"If your cell phone company, for example, charges you a ruinous rate, you can see exactly how ruinous it is. You can then decide whether their cell service is really that important to you, and if it's not, you can cancel and take your money elsewhere."
Therein lies the problem. There is no "elsewhere" to take it in most rural areas. Cable & phone companies are government sanctioned monopolies. I'm sure you have cable in your area. Let's say it is Cox. Try taking your cable business to Charter and see what answer you get.
Governments provide services like these when corporate entities can't or won't. That is one of the jobs of government.
B.
The works themselves are "public domain" but the performance of those works is covered by copyright. Remember folks, copyright covers the expression of ideas where patent covers the whole idea.
And backporting is as simple as:
patch -p0 package.patch
You act as if I have to manually go through the code to get the fix. In either event, you are still chained to one producer and their whims. Let me ask a question of all those that replied (including you). What would you do with Windows if tomorrow Microsoft decided it wasn't worth doing PC applications any more and dropped it's entire Windows line? Who can and will take up the slack? That is less likely on open source projects because the genie is out of the bottle for anyone to pick it up.
B.
"Myself, I'm also very happy with XP. I'll have to decide if some of the new features in Longhorn are worth it. If they aren't, then I won't upgrade."
It isn't that easy. Try getting fixes for it when Longhorn hits the streets. The common support answer for XP from Redmond will be, "Upgrade!" Unfortunately, that is the way of all closed source programs.
B.
I don't care what you install. It just seems to defeat the stated purpose of Firefox. You want it, go for it.
B.
Part of the reason a lot of people went with Firefox to begin with was it was "light-weight" compared to Mozilla. Adding dufingletrons to it only serves to defeat that one goal. Sure, it's optional and all that but why even use Firefox if it is going to be slowed down by add-on bloat?
B.
There's a difference?!?!?!
"Gotta hand it to corporate wisdom of carrying a nice uniform case with "Dell" or somesuch emblazoned on the side, make you know just what you're getting."
Call it a courtesy...;-)
Anyway, those handlers had houndreds of thousands of dollars worth of equipment in their homes when the search warrent was executed (while they were at work getting arrested and seeing the video of their doings). Thing that gets me is it took months for the police to catch on to them. Either way, it is a hell of a way to lose your job and your freedom.
B.
(Sans M$ rant)
"You['re] right, security is an illusion, and some people prefer to turn a blind eye rather than look at the root cause."
You were ranting on about data / network security which is a little different than physical security. Try and guess where most laptops are physically stolen from? Give up? The airport where bagage handlers are usually the guilty party. Not too long ago they made a whole slew of arrests here in my city of bagage handlers who stole laptops, cameras, camcorders, etc.. from people's luggage.
B.
You are probably thinking along the lines of Trumpet Winsock. It provided the stack as well as the socket tools to connect with. I remember using it when it was version 1.something. Funny thing is you can still get it and it is up to version 3.0. Go figure.
B.
That's already patented by the US Postal Service. Wouldn't want to infringe and all...
B.
He got off lighter than he could have. He could have been charged with willful patent infringement for distributing a derivative work based on Microsoft's patented one.
B.
Ah.....But eventually your city will get the bright idea to pass that ordinance that allows them to ticket you every hour on the hour. With every ticket increasing in price. That shit will end very fast...
I know, it happened here in my city...
B.