Gateway? Their support sucks unless they've changed since I last had a Gateway PC. And their hardware stinks too. I bought two PCs from Gateway for myself and the first had the motherboard and hdd die in the first year. The second one, a laptop, had the LCD crack after I had it only a couple of months and even though I got the extended service plan the LCD still wasn't covered. The first one, because Windows kept crashing tech support had me reinstall Windows a few tymes. And everytime I called tech support after giving them the serial number the first question they'd ask was if anything had been installed, hardware or software. If I said "yes" they'd say they didn't cover that, they wouldn't even try to see what the problem was, all they'd say was in order to get support I'd have to reinstall the OS without installing anything else. Each tyme I did I still had the same problems, such as the same 0E errs or the hdd not working.
Drivers licenses aren't that hard to fake, particularly when you only need to get it past a store clerk who isn't really trained to inspect them and probably doesn't care that much anyway.
You're right, I don't think sales clerks are trained to look and check signitures. I knew someone years ago who worked in a store and all the clerks there had to go through training to compare sigs.
When's the last time you've ever had your signature questioned?
I'd say 7 out of 10 tymes sales clerks don't even glance at my sigs. Yet maybe only once every tens tymes they ask for my id, and I wrote "check id" on my cards.
Smartcards (where the card holds the CC number and only releases it in encrypted form), preferably with a built-in PIN-pad or biometric reader (so that the merchant terminal couldn't snoop on you) would be another big step.
The bank I got my credit card from used to have smartchips in them but when my old card expired and they replaced it they dropped the chip, appearently it didn't work or wasn't worth it.
I wouldn't worry about credit cards when worrying about identity theft. What's much more difficult to track is loan applications made in your name,
You wouldn't worry about credit cards when it comes to id theft? Hell, it's easy and getting easier to get a credit card in someone else's name. And when they do, you don't get a bill from the credit card issuer unless whoever got it used your address. However it can and will come back to haunt you.
What's much more difficult to track is loan applications made in your name, because you have to actively retrieve (and usually pay for) your credit report. It's not mailed to you on a monthly basis.
Unless an id thief gets credit cards in your name.
How many cards are you carrying around, anyway? If you have more than two or three, you've got a problem with credit. What you need:
Not neccessarily. Your FICO Score, which partially determines your credit worthiness is in part determined by what your total credit limit and what your balance is, the more credit cards you have the higher your credit limit is.
You may think you need to because of credit limits, but you're better off using a single card with a higher limit (fewer rotating credit accounts allows for a higher limit on the ones you really need).
AH I see you brought up credit limits yourself. However just because you only have one or two credit cards instead a bunch it does not mean your credit limit will be the same, it's possible it will be lower with only two cards than with 4. What matters more is how much balance you keep and how much you pay monthly, do you only pay minimum, do you pay more than that, or do you pay in full every month.
Admittedly I don't know everything about it but I know some and I'm learning more from my brother-in-law who is a Certified Financial Planner, CFP.
If someone says "papers, please," I expect them to have a badge, a gun, and probable cause.
I live in the US and it bothers me when I am not asked for my id when I use my credit card or write a check. While I don't like having to show id when I'm out somewhere but not buying something and using a credit card or check, I hate the thought someone can mess up my credit. Someone could steal my card, or could apply for credit using my name and screw my credit reports.
I process cards for customers every day that have 'ask for id' in big letters on them. It is the card owner's way of making it harder for a thief to use his card.
My card says "check id", however even when sales clerks look at it, which is rare, they rarely ever ask. I rarely even had my id checked when I wrote checks. And the thing is is where I used to live, even those who knew you still checked your id.
I don't know about Mastercards but with VISA cards Visa doesn't require id checks for purchases under $25, or is it $50, but they do require it over this.
The relevent question is whether Linux is violating MS patents
As Dan Ravicher the author of the study said, "Linux potentially infringes X patent,". He didn't say Linux definitely violates MS patents, only that it potentially does. MS and specifically Ballmer says Linux does violate MS's patents not potentially does. There's a world of a difference.
"And MS doesn't have any special insight either as they haven't studied it either"
Nobody asked for MS's opinion, they just announced it. As far as what they have or have not studied, who knows?
Yea, MS announced their FUD opinion. Without being asked. Linus on the other hand WAS ASKED. As for whether MS has studied it, when Ballmer cites Linux as violating more than 200 MS patents, the study he gets the numbers from is one done by Dan Ravicher for OSRM (Open Source Risk Management) and he says MS mischaracterizes his study.
As I've said he has no special insight since he hasn't studyed the patents and his answer is entirely predictable.
And MS doesn't have any special insight either as they haven't studied it either. While it's wrong for Linus to say Linux doesn't violate say patents without studying whether it does or not it's also wrong for MS to declare Linux does again without studying it themself. What linus may of said that would of been better was "identify what patents Linux violates. Put up or shut up." He could of then mentioned their libel and slander was illegal and they could be sued for it.
In a way, I wish the RICO Act covered this kind of behavior. Conspiracy to Bluff or something.
Hey, now there's an idea, slap MS with a RICO Act. While they've already been found guilty of being an illegal monopoly, this doesn't fit as a violation unfortunately. Well maybe it can be seen as extortion, fraud, or racketeering.
I hope that it does not fall into the hands of those who are only seeking "Shareholder Value", then all users lose and a few wealthy people gain more cash.
I don't believe any company or organization in history has ever recorded so much private information on so many individuals as Google.
However nobody is forced to use Google. Their terms of use are pretty clear and if you don't like them then you can use another search engine. And at the same tyme Google was the only major SE to refuse to turn over to the government thier records of people's searchs.
Google has very serious challengers. Microsoft and Yahoo are throwing billions at that problem right now. As is Google itself. Ask is also in the game.
I don't think Ask presents much of a game. It used to be that when I googled for something but didn't get any results I'd go over to Teoma and I'd get results there. However since Ask bought Teoma it has gone downhill. I've found another SE that returns results when Google doesn't, Mooter.
It really depends on what you're searching for. Most of the tyme I start a search with Google myself however sometimes I find Alta Vista is better. I've done searchs with Google that didn't return any results but I would get some at Teoma, before Ask.com bought it out, or Mooter. And for a couple of areas of searchs I start right away with About.com. Actually it was Google that led me to using About.com. Googling for archeology/anthopology led me to About's section on it. A later Google led me to About's photography section.
Monopoly is NOT given by the state. Monopoly is a degenerated case that can happen in a very unbalanced market, but happens due to the natural evolution of said market rather then from a state decision.
Oh but states, government, does give or create monopolies. Take the cases of electrical transmission, cable tv/net access, and landline phone service. In each of these cases the local government granted the companies an exclusive right to use the right of way to lay their cables or fiber. No place I've ever lived did I have a choice as to who I got these services from.
Look at the other modern democratic countries: you can watch all the porn you want, and birth rate is so low that most of said countries rely on excessive immigration to keep the population numbers stable.
The birthrates in developed countries is low because they are developed not because they allow porn. A nation's birthrate is inversely related to the socio-economic situation of the people. As people enjoy more freedom especially women, ie women's sufferage, they tend to have less children. Raise the amount they earn, and therefore their economic status, and brithrates will drop more. The two most populus nations in the world, China and India, are both seeing a drop in child birth rates because both have improved both social and economic status of many of the people living there. I haven't seen data as it relates to India but studies of the Chinese population forcast that by 2050 there will more retired people than there are workers.
The big problem I have with the article is that they did not tell us what forum he posted the links in.
Seeing as how the newspaper is located in the UAE, United Arab Emirates, where they've banned Flicker because of corrupting photos a link could not be included.
The press loves to tell us that China is now post-communism since it allows citizens to own businesses. There is still only one political party there, they have very strict policies against just about everything
Ah but China is post communist seeing as how communism is an economic system wherein the state owns all property and businesses and controls the markets. However China never was Marxist, which is political as well as economic, as Marxism focused on industrial workers whereas Mao and the Chicoms focused on peasants, farmers and farm workers.
God, what is it with you americans and sex. Why is it dangerous to see two people have sex, but it is perfectly OK to see people be beaten up, maimed and killed??>
Because there is a vocal minority of prudes and Christian Talibans. Much like what they do to people that have sex outside of marriage in Iran, there are some Christians who want to stone people to death for having any sex outside of heterosexual sex in marriage.
I don't know how repressed you were as a kid, but when I grew up, 10 year olds were reading pr0n on paper. They were just curious and it would not make the world better to arrest them for a criminal offence, just because the pr0n is on DVDs.
At the same age, my mom gave me issues of "Playboy".
So he should be held accountable if he had pointed the way to a church too, then?
Not all religions, er churchs and other places of worship, are banned or illegal. Both Christianity and Islam are practiced, in the open, in China. While there is religious persecutions in China and the authorities discourage religion they haven't made it illegal.
As for TFA, it's ironic the newspaper the TFA comes from is in United Arab Emirates which bans porn. Like Iran and other countries, the UAE has banned Flicker because some photos are considered bad influences.
In the story, the man offered information that nobody asked for
I have to ask because TFA doesn't say, so how do you know if no one asked for the links? Are you a member of the forum?
the the information made the provocative material very accessible
Being on the net, it's already readily accessible. Now whether it can be easily found is another matter, but obviously the person who posted the links found them.
Are you talking about A Torx T45 bit, or this crazy thing?
It might be but I don't recall exactly what the tool was. All I recall was that I was mad that I needed a special tool just to change oil and oil filter.
That's really not an argument for why we, the people, should be willing to enact copyright laws and obey them.
It's an excellent reason, even writers have to eat. And if they can make money from writing then they may write more.
I'm sure a lot of surfers would like there to be a tax which enables them to surf all day and have us flip the bill, but just them expressing their desire is not a reason for us to pay for it.
Other than pollution, surfing the web, all day isn't creating anything. Now if a surfer enters competition or advertises a line of surfboards, they are then providing something to those willing to pay. Writing is an act of creation. And copyrights aren't a tax on everyone.
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Gateway? Their support sucks unless they've changed since I last had a Gateway PC. And their hardware stinks too. I bought two PCs from Gateway for myself and the first had the motherboard and hdd die in the first year. The second one, a laptop, had the LCD crack after I had it only a couple of months and even though I got the extended service plan the LCD still wasn't covered. The first one, because Windows kept crashing tech support had me reinstall Windows a few tymes. And everytime I called tech support after giving them the serial number the first question they'd ask was if anything had been installed, hardware or software. If I said "yes" they'd say they didn't cover that, they wouldn't even try to see what the problem was, all they'd say was in order to get support I'd have to reinstall the OS without installing anything else. Each tyme I did I still had the same problems, such as the same 0E errs or the hdd not working.
FalconDrivers licenses aren't that hard to fake, particularly when you only need to get it past a store clerk who isn't really trained to inspect them and probably doesn't care that much anyway.
You're right, I don't think sales clerks are trained to look and check signitures. I knew someone years ago who worked in a store and all the clerks there had to go through training to compare sigs.
When's the last time you've ever had your signature questioned?
I'd say 7 out of 10 tymes sales clerks don't even glance at my sigs. Yet maybe only once every tens tymes they ask for my id, and I wrote "check id" on my cards.
Smartcards (where the card holds the CC number and only releases it in encrypted form), preferably with a built-in PIN-pad or biometric reader (so that the merchant terminal couldn't snoop on you) would be another big step.
The bank I got my credit card from used to have smartchips in them but when my old card expired and they replaced it they dropped the chip, appearently it didn't work or wasn't worth it.
FalconI wouldn't worry about credit cards when worrying about identity theft. What's much more difficult to track is loan applications made in your name,
You wouldn't worry about credit cards when it comes to id theft? Hell, it's easy and getting easier to get a credit card in someone else's name. And when they do, you don't get a bill from the credit card issuer unless whoever got it used your address. However it can and will come back to haunt you.
What's much more difficult to track is loan applications made in your name, because you have to actively retrieve (and usually pay for) your credit report. It's not mailed to you on a monthly basis.
Unless an id thief gets credit cards in your name.
How many cards are you carrying around, anyway? If you have more than two or three, you've got a problem with credit. What you need:
Not neccessarily. Your FICO Score, which partially determines your credit worthiness is in part determined by what your total credit limit and what your balance is, the more credit cards you have the higher your credit limit is.
You may think you need to because of credit limits, but you're better off using a single card with a higher limit (fewer rotating credit accounts allows for a higher limit on the ones you really need).
AH I see you brought up credit limits yourself. However just because you only have one or two credit cards instead a bunch it does not mean your credit limit will be the same, it's possible it will be lower with only two cards than with 4. What matters more is how much balance you keep and how much you pay monthly, do you only pay minimum, do you pay more than that, or do you pay in full every month.
Admittedly I don't know everything about it but I know some and I'm learning more from my brother-in-law who is a Certified Financial Planner, CFP.
FalconAnd in America we find this creepy.
If someone says "papers, please," I expect them to have a badge, a gun, and probable cause.
I live in the US and it bothers me when I am not asked for my id when I use my credit card or write a check. While I don't like having to show id when I'm out somewhere but not buying something and using a credit card or check, I hate the thought someone can mess up my credit. Someone could steal my card, or could apply for credit using my name and screw my credit reports.
FalconI process cards for customers every day that have 'ask for id' in big letters on them. It is the card owner's way of making it harder for a thief to use his card.
My card says "check id", however even when sales clerks look at it, which is rare, they rarely ever ask. I rarely even had my id checked when I wrote checks. And the thing is is where I used to live, even those who knew you still checked your id.
FalconMastercard or Visa.
I don't know about Mastercards but with VISA cards Visa doesn't require id checks for purchases under $25, or is it $50, but they do require it over this.
FalconA person certainly can use their debit cards online, I have.
FalconThe relevent question is whether Linux is violating MS patents
As Dan Ravicher the author of the study said, "Linux potentially infringes X patent,". He didn't say Linux definitely violates MS patents, only that it potentially does. MS and specifically Ballmer says Linux does violate MS's patents not potentially does. There's a world of a difference.
Falcon"And MS doesn't have any special insight either as they haven't studied it either"
Nobody asked for MS's opinion, they just announced it. As far as what they have or have not studied, who knows?
Yea, MS announced their FUD opinion. Without being asked. Linus on the other hand WAS ASKED. As for whether MS has studied it, when Ballmer cites Linux as violating more than 200 MS patents, the study he gets the numbers from is one done by Dan Ravicher for OSRM (Open Source Risk Management) and he says MS mischaracterizes his study.
FalconAs I've said he has no special insight since he hasn't studyed the patents and his answer is entirely predictable.
And MS doesn't have any special insight either as they haven't studied it either. While it's wrong for Linus to say Linux doesn't violate say patents without studying whether it does or not it's also wrong for MS to declare Linux does again without studying it themself. What linus may of said that would of been better was "identify what patents Linux violates. Put up or shut up." He could of then mentioned their libel and slander was illegal and they could be sued for it.
FalconIn a way, I wish the RICO Act covered this kind of behavior. Conspiracy to Bluff or something.
Hey, now there's an idea, slap MS with a RICO Act. While they've already been found guilty of being an illegal monopoly, this doesn't fit as a violation unfortunately. Well maybe it can be seen as extortion, fraud, or racketeering.
FalconI hope that it does not fall into the hands of those who are only seeking "Shareholder Value", then all users lose and a few wealthy people gain more cash.
When users loose, so does the investors.
FalconI don't believe any company or organization in history has ever recorded so much private information on so many individuals as Google.
However nobody is forced to use Google. Their terms of use are pretty clear and if you don't like them then you can use another search engine. And at the same tyme Google was the only major SE to refuse to turn over to the government thier records of people's searchs.
FalconGoogle has very serious challengers. Microsoft and Yahoo are throwing billions at that problem right now. As is Google itself. Ask is also in the game.
I don't think Ask presents much of a game. It used to be that when I googled for something but didn't get any results I'd go over to Teoma and I'd get results there. However since Ask bought Teoma it has gone downhill. I've found another SE that returns results when Google doesn't, Mooter.
Falcongoogle
It really depends on what you're searching for. Most of the tyme I start a search with Google myself however sometimes I find Alta Vista is better. I've done searchs with Google that didn't return any results but I would get some at Teoma, before Ask.com bought it out, or Mooter. And for a couple of areas of searchs I start right away with About.com. Actually it was Google that led me to using About.com. Googling for archeology/anthopology led me to About's section on it. A later Google led me to About's photography section.
Monopoly is NOT given by the state. Monopoly is a degenerated case that can happen in a very unbalanced market, but happens due to the natural evolution of said market rather then from a state decision.
Oh but states, government, does give or create monopolies. Take the cases of electrical transmission, cable tv/net access, and landline phone service. In each of these cases the local government granted the companies an exclusive right to use the right of way to lay their cables or fiber. No place I've ever lived did I have a choice as to who I got these services from.
FalconLook at the other modern democratic countries: you can watch all the porn you want, and birth rate is so low that most of said countries rely on excessive immigration to keep the population numbers stable.
The birthrates in developed countries is low because they are developed not because they allow porn. A nation's birthrate is inversely related to the socio-economic situation of the people. As people enjoy more freedom especially women, ie women's sufferage, they tend to have less children. Raise the amount they earn, and therefore their economic status, and brithrates will drop more. The two most populus nations in the world, China and India, are both seeing a drop in child birth rates because both have improved both social and economic status of many of the people living there. I haven't seen data as it relates to India but studies of the Chinese population forcast that by 2050 there will more retired people than there are workers.
FalconThe big problem I have with the article is that they did not tell us what forum he posted the links in.
Seeing as how the newspaper is located in the UAE, United Arab Emirates, where they've banned Flicker because of corrupting photos a link could not be included.
FalconThe press loves to tell us that China is now post-communism since it allows citizens to own businesses. There is still only one political party there, they have very strict policies against just about everything
Ah but China is post communist seeing as how communism is an economic system wherein the state owns all property and businesses and controls the markets. However China never was Marxist, which is political as well as economic, as Marxism focused on industrial workers whereas Mao and the Chicoms focused on peasants, farmers and farm workers.
Falcon
Ne how,Ne how ma?
Hate sites should be legal. As much as despise whats spouted, I believe in freedom of speech
ie, "while I disagree and hate what you say, I defend your right to say it." Instead of oulawing hate speech it needs to be countered with facts.
FalconGod, what is it with you americans and sex. Why is it dangerous to see two people have sex, but it is perfectly OK to see people be beaten up, maimed and killed??>
Because there is a vocal minority of prudes and Christian Talibans. Much like what they do to people that have sex outside of marriage in Iran, there are some Christians who want to stone people to death for having any sex outside of heterosexual sex in marriage.
I don't know how repressed you were as a kid, but when I grew up, 10 year olds were reading pr0n on paper. They were just curious and it would not make the world better to arrest them for a criminal offence, just because the pr0n is on DVDs.
At the same age, my mom gave me issues of "Playboy".
FalconSo he should be held accountable if he had pointed the way to a church too, then?
Not all religions, er churchs and other places of worship, are banned or illegal. Both Christianity and Islam are practiced, in the open, in China. While there is religious persecutions in China and the authorities discourage religion they haven't made it illegal.
As for TFA, it's ironic the newspaper the TFA comes from is in United Arab Emirates which bans porn. Like Iran and other countries, the UAE has banned Flicker because some photos are considered bad influences.
FalconIn the story, the man offered information that nobody asked for
I have to ask because TFA doesn't say, so how do you know if no one asked for the links? Are you a member of the forum?
the the information made the provocative material very accessible
Being on the net, it's already readily accessible. Now whether it can be easily found is another matter, but obviously the person who posted the links found them.
People didn't ask for it
Again, how do you know no one asked for it?
FalconAre you talking about A Torx T45 bit, or this crazy thing?
It might be but I don't recall exactly what the tool was. All I recall was that I was mad that I needed a special tool just to change oil and oil filter.
FalconThat's really not an argument for why we, the people, should be willing to enact copyright laws and obey them.
It's an excellent reason, even writers have to eat. And if they can make money from writing then they may write more.
I'm sure a lot of surfers would like there to be a tax which enables them to surf all day and have us flip the bill, but just them expressing their desire is not a reason for us to pay for it.
Other than pollution, surfing the web, all day isn't creating anything. Now if a surfer enters competition or advertises a line of surfboards, they are then providing something to those willing to pay. Writing is an act of creation. And copyrights aren't a tax on everyone.
Falcon