Why not just pony up about $69/mo...and get a business connection for your home.
That would be great, but many ISPs like Charter won't even sell you a business connection unless you live in a location that's zoned for commercial use/operate out of a commercial building.
In both the house I was renting a year ago and the apartment I live in now (within a 1/4 mile of each other), Charter refused to let me purchase a business connection even when I offered a copy of my state business-tax number.
I guess Charter is not home-office/home-business friendly.
I guess it is good to be the king (or the only game in town).
Actually, I did use the incorrect terms. I meant a "representative republic" (as outlined in the US Constitution) rather than "democratic republic".
The major reason that the economy of the US grew to become the largest and fastest-growing, far outstripping the more socialist-leaning governments is due in main to the ability to engage in a relatively free market capitalist economy. The more capitalism was allowed to flourish, the better off the economies and people were and are. Until recently, the US under a representative republic was the most capitalistic nation, and thus reaped the rewards of a huge, vital, and growing economy with the highest standard of living and best conditions for it's workers.
See my/. sig. Capitalism has created more wealth, raised more poor out of poverty, and created the highest standard of living for the most people of any other system yet devised, period. The reason the US is in the trouble it's in is almost entirely due to those in power ignoring this fact for over 60 years and implementing ever-more socialist/statist policies along with an ever-growing government that removes wealth from the economy to the detriment of the ability of capitalism to function.
I don't hate rich capitalists. I want the opportunity to become one myself. I don't want a government that destroys it, but only sees that laws are followed. I want the children to have that opportunity as well. Heck, I want everyone and all their kids to have that same opportunity. Therefor, I advocate for systems of government most likely to promote that opportunity. History plainly demonstrates what form of government works best to that end.
SOCIAL DEMOCRAT governments, are not run by private interests.
And here, boys & girls, is an example of someone who fails to understand that the *same people* would be "running" the government, whether it be a democratic republic or "social democrat".
It's just that the citizens of the "social democrat" government have even less influence upon, or even knowledge of, those who are running their lives than the citizens of the democratic republic. Meanwhile, the structure of a social democrat government gives the powerful people even more power, control, and anonymity while making it even harder to change the government.
This is absolutely NOT true. SoundExchange is non-exclusive, so you can play your own stuff (or stuff belonging to anyone else who says you can) and just not pay royalties for it.
"If I join SoundExchange can I still negotiate a license with a webcaster if I want to?
Yes. Although membership in SoundExchange prohibits you from licensing your sound recording copyrights to another royalty collective for purposes of collecting and distributing Sections 112 and 114 statutory royalties on your behalf, your membership in SoundExchange does not in any way limit your ability to enter into direct (i.e., nonstatutory) licenses of any sound recordings that you own, whether with webcasters or other potential statutory licensees. SoundExchange simply requires that SRCOs notify it of any direct licenses entered into with statutory licensees or digital music service providers so that it can ensure that payments received from services that hold direct licenses to certain recordings are calculated correctly and allocated properly."
A streaming station must obtain a signed contract from each copyright owner for each work and register it with Sound Exchange. If no valid contract is in the Sound Exchange database, then the station's owner will be held liable for royalties to Sound Exchange. If the copyright holder hasn't registered with Sound Exchange, Sound Exchange holds the royalties.
In other words, in the case of an artist streaming his own music, if said artist hasn't registered a contract with himself for streaming rights with Sound Exchange, then Sound Exchange will come after him for royalties.
I don't buy the "all you have to do is register" BS. Sorry, I shouldn't be required under threat of legal force to register anything with anyone to make available to others music I wrote, performed, and recorded. Not if the First Amendment has any meaning left whatsoever. If nobody stands against this crap, it surely will lose even the cursory and unequal acknowledgement.it receives now.
I've been browsing over some fo the Soundexchange's FAQ...wow, it sounds like they're wanting you to pay them if you have any sort of webcast. Maybe it is the wording....but almost sounds like if stream anything...even recordings YOU make yourself (musical or otherwise) they are wanting you to pay them a license???
Can someone tell me if I'm reading that correctly or not?
Yes, you're reading that right. The way the regulations are written, you must pay royalties to SoundExchange and then negotiate with them on reimbursement for works not copyrighted by one of the media/content cartel players.
Even if you're streaming only your own totally original, personally-written & performed music., technically you must pay SoundExchange and then file with SoundExchange as the artist in question who is "owed", and hope you see the money back (minus SoundExchange's percentage, of course) before the next geologic age comes to pass.
Basically it's a way to put a boot on the throat of non-cartel-associated streaming stations and independent artists/labels by buying legislation.
It's all part of Big Media's efforts to prevent artists and their fans/customers from using the internet to do an end-run around Big Media's real-life, conventional distribution/publication/marketing channels that take cuts at each stage.
Government will not help, as the internet and it's communications possibilities make government-types nervous, and so they're all for increasing internet restrictions, regulations, and controls in an effort to keep the populace under their control & surveillance while eliminating dissenting voices and economically-disruptive new individual-empowering distribution methods and technologies.
It's not an invasion of privacy if your privacy hasn't been invaded. No-one has access to this file unless you fail to lock your phone, or fail to protect your PC.
Unless you get stopped by the Michigan State Police with your phone in your possession. This was covered here a short time ago.
The more data your phone collects, the more you risk giving to the State. All I carry is a disposable phone with the battery removed in the glove box for emergencies.
Of course, one *could* open the phone and disconnect pin 2 and pin 3 (the 'Data +' and 'Data -' pins) of the micro-USB connector. They can't slurp what they can't connect to. The phone would charge normally, but unless you install a secret/internal switch to re-enable the pins you won't get any data in or out of that connector.
When their toy fails to steal your data and they question you, just say "You broke my PHONE with that stupid toy!?!? What, are you gonna wreck my car or torch my house with some other new toys there, "Inspector Gadget"? I hope your department's budget can take the hit for a new phone!".
It's still a new device and patrol officers are likely unfamiliar enough with the finer points of the new concepts, equipment, & techniques involved here that they may just suddenly be in a hurry to be done with you and send you on your way in such a scenario.
I wonder when someone will publish a "Surviving The Police State For Dummies" how-to book.
The government's trying to do that with this stupid War on Drugs, and previously with Prohibition, and where did it get them? Crime and bloodshed on immense scales.
It's working precisely as planned. What, you didn't think politicians were trying to actually *decrease" drug/alcohol use or gambling, did you?
The politicians see crime & bloodshed as great opportunities to increase the size and scope of government and it's control over people's lives, and thus increase their own power. That, and the kickbacks/campaign contributions generated are vital to the maintenance and continuing expansion of their wealth & power. They *need* people to become drug addicts and compulsive gamblers.
Most politicians are completely amoral. If politicians thought they'd get away with it, they'd happily hand out heroin and syringes in elementary schools and fund school field trips to casinos with our taxes. Ignorant, destitute, and desperate gamblers and drug addicts are easy to manipulate and control. "Vote for me/my legislation/my policies! I'll let you get you your fix and make those other *evil* people that disagree with me pay for it!"
It's simply had the political name-change game played with it. If at first it doesn't fly, rename it and try again. Rinse & repeat until passage/implementation/adoption.
As has been commented elsewhere here, this is something that will be slowly expanded with government and corporate pressure from initially being voluntary to eventually become necessary to connect to your ISP.
This thing is a tyrant's dream. It *must* be prevented from being implemented. There's no way that much power will escape being abused and corrupted.
You know I never really cared for GWB either but mocking the man's intelligence when he was smart enough to get elected Governor of one of the largest states in the Union and then beat the best the Democratic Party had to offer twice in a national election is pretty pathetic.
Not only that GWB has a MBA from Harvard. 0 has kept his records closed, why is that do you suppose? Don't the American people deserve to see the school accomplishments of the "smartest President ever"? What was his SAT/ACT score I wonder?
0 is an outright sham and disgrace.
Never mind a Harvard MBA. He piloted a Convair F-102A Delta Dagger supersonic fighter/interceptor that was designed to carry up to two GAR-11/AIM-26 Nuclear Falcon missiles or conventional air-to-air or air-to-ground missiles!
This wasn't some computerized, automated, fly-by-wire video-game-simulation-like aircraft. I've been around aircraft all my life, worked as an avionics tech for decades, and had the opportunity to fly a number of different civilian aircraft, and I can tell you that unless you're able to perform some serious mental calculations *quickly* on the fly and be right *every single time* while you're busy guiding a ~12-ton, non-computer-assisted-stability, jet-powered, supersonic metal wedge with a seat, traveling at many hundreds of miles per hour, maintaining near-perfect three-dimensional situational awareness, all while being placed under various random high-G maneuvers, you'll turn an F-102A into a smoking crater in the landscape in short order.
That's just to fly one enough to take off & land and actually walk away, not engage hostile targets in a coordinated military operation, possibly with a mix of friendly and hostile aircraft also sharing your airspace along with possible hostile SAM installations/mobile launchers trying to track/destroy you. (I'm aware GWB never flew any sorties in hostile airspace. He had to be trained, prepared, and demonstrate the ability to handle that to experienced fighter pilots to be certified in the aircraft, however.)
There *are* no stupid -living- fighter pilots that ever did any actual flying, regardless of if they ever flew sorties in an active military engagement or not. The US Air Force is *not* about to allow an idiot behind the controls of a multi-million-dollar, nuclear-capable, supersonic jet fighter/interceptor no matter *who* his/her family is, or how connected they are.
This is why, when I hear someone start in about how stupid GWB is, I know I can safely dismiss pretty much anything this person has to say due to total cluelessness in the face of the obvious.
By the way, I hated a LOT of what GWB did. I think he did tremendous damage to the US in many, many ways. There's far too much easily-referenced factual information about the bad decisions and policies of GWB to seriously listen to someone so lazy they resort to parroting a completely and obviously false ad hominem. That's just intellectual laziness.
You know I never really cared for GWB either but mocking the man's intelligence when he was smart enough to get elected Governor of one of the largest states in the Union and then beat the best the Democratic Party had to offer twice in a national election is pretty pathetic.
Not only that GWB has a MBA from Harvard. 0 has kept his records closed, why is that do you suppose? Don't the American people deserve to see the school accomplishments of the "smartest President ever"? What was his SAT/ACT score I wonder?
0 is an outright sham and disgrace.
Never mind a Harvard MBA. He piloted a Convair F-102A Delta Dagger supersonic fighter/interceptor that was designed to carry up to two GAR-11/AIM-26 Nuclear Falcon missiles or conventional air-to-air or air-to-ground missiles!
This wasn't some computerized, automated, fly-by-wire video-game-simulation-like aircraft. I've been around aircraft all my life, worked as an avionics tech for decades, and had the opportunity to fly a number of different civilian aircraft, and I can tell you that unless you're able to perform some serious mental calculations *quickly* on the fly and be right *every single time* while you're busy guiding a ~12-ton, non-computer-assisted-stability, jet-powered, supersonic metal wedge with a seat, traveling at many hundreds of miles per hour, maintaining near-perfect three-dimensional situational awareness, all while being placed under various random high-G maneuvers, you'll turn an F-102A into a smoking crater in the landscape in short order.
That's just to fly one enough to take off & land and actually walk away, not engage hostile targets in a coordinated military operation, possibly with a mix of friendly and hostile aircraft also sharing your airspace along with possible hostile SAM installations/mobile launchers trying to track/destroy you. (I'm aware GWB never flew any sorties in hostile airspace. He had to be trained, prepared, and demonstrate the ability to handle that to experienced fighter pilots to be certified in the aircraft, however.)
There *are* no stupid -living- fighter pilots that ever did any actual flying, regardless of if they ever flew sorties in an active military engagement or not. The US Air Force is *not* about to allow an idiot behind the controls of a multi-million-dollar, nuclear-capable, supersonic jet fighter/interceptor no matter *who* his/her family is, or how connected they are.
This is why, when I hear someone start in about how stupid GWB is, I know I can safely dismiss pretty much anything this person has to say due to total cluelessness in the face of the obvious.
By the way, I hated a LOT of what GWB did. I think he did tremendous damage to the US in many, many ways. There's far too much easily-referenced factual information about the bad decisions and policies of GWB to seriously listen to someone so lazy they resort to parroting a completely and obviously false ad hominem. That's just intellectual laziness.
So you are saying we should give the republicans everything they want and hope that this time it will be different
Where did I say that? Please point to that text in my post, as I don't see it.
I guess by using those "standards" that means we are free to assume that you're saying that Democrats and the labor unions are anti-Capitalism and democracy, pro-Socialist/Communist then, right? Please see my sig.
The benefit of capitalism is better products and services through competitive pressure. Where's the competition for insurance companies that drives them to serve the customer better?
There is no "free market" in the USA regarding healthcare and health insurance. There must be something approaching a free market for Capitalism to function as it has to lift more people from poverty and provide a higher standard of living for more people than any other system ever tried.
Health insurance is one of the most heavily government-regulated activities. Government regulations prevent healthcare insurance from being offered across state lines, unlike most other forms of insurance, thus preventing any effective competition which provides the necessary pressure to increase quality while lowering costs.
Maybe there are just certain industries and services where capitalism is a net negative?
Well, wouldn't we first have to see if having healthcare insurance work in something approaching a free-market, capitalistic environment made the health insurance industry & healthcare better than the existing system before making assumptions without any examples?
To say the health insurance industry works in a capitalistic environment in anything but name, and then extend that to a slam on Capitalism, is either doubling-down on delusional or else blindly partisan. Or both.
They have only "Save the children" or "Save the entertainment cartels" on their minds. Well, what little minds they have, anyway.
They've got their minds on their money and their money on their minds. Except when they've got their minds on their power and their power on their minds.
Everything else, particularly people, are either a means to an end or an obstacle to be rolled over or bought off.
Much of the problem is with a society that tolerates, even rewarding and celebrating, such ruthlessness, greed, and amorality as demonstrated over the last 100 years or so by those in government.
It *can* be changed and even reversed, *if* the majority of people would decide they're tired of it and start to actually hold politicians accountable, educate themselves on the issues, and treat voting seriously.
I know. Miracles *do* happen, though. "It's tough to make predictions, especially about the future." - Yogi Berra
Oh look it's one of those 'fuck you I got mine!' people
Oh look it's one of those "screw earning my own, I want yours!" people.
I await your explanation on how you exist without interacting with some sort of tax created item. Please do hurry.
Yes, because everyone knows there are only two choices, like either confiscatory tax rates or none at all, or like either spending tax revenues for anything and everything some politician wants to use to gain re-election, or never spending a dime to help anyone ever.
Yeah, I understand your "binary logic". I simply refuse to accept it.
Instead of increasing taxes on struggling citizens coping with high unemployment and an already extremely-shaky economy, how about reducing the cost/size/scope of government?
Hey, wow!
I didn't even spontaneously burst into flames at the mere mention!
Strat
*"Insane" as defined by politicians determined to increase their personal wealth & power.
I'm quite flattered, as you are obviously an individual of high intelligence and intellectual standards, as well as being a possessor of discerning tastes.:P
The Americans overthrew British rule for their own interests. It had nothing to do with The Greater Good. This selfish character persists until today and has a lot to do with why a lot of people hate the USA's guts.
We threw off British rule for much the same reasons every other group has declared independence from their home country; The home country made demands and set conditions upon that group that were intolerable enough to spark revolution. It is no more "selfish" than any other country that is a former colony or split from an existing country like many in the EU.
Where the US started down the wrong path was with the doctrine of Manifest Destiny. Then the government descended into even further depths of iniquity with the rise of the Progressives with Woodrow Wilson and FDR, where things like the rounding-up and imprisoning of US citizens that peacefully voiced political dissent occurred, and of course the WW2 Japanese-American/Italian/German camps where many thousands of innocent people were imprisoned.
This era in US history is where the government truly started operating on a "the ends justify the means" basis in a more open and blatant manner as it got better at the art of propaganda, which Goebbels learned from one of Wilson's advisers.
This bad behavior continues to grow, only limited by mass public outrage, and that grows ever-less as people become desensitized, to the current day where the government is now feeling itself powerful enough to completely ignore the Constitution and the people, even working around the people's representation in Congress through Executive-appointed unelected bureaucrats and government departments and their myriad regulations.
Those in the US government that have kept us on this path have made the ideological decision to abandon morals, principles, and honor for money, power, and hatred for the roaring success of Capitalism. The US government has nearly succeeded in destroying all trust in it by both it's own citizens as well as it's allies and other countries.
I wonder how far this will go - would it stop Facebook from having some sort of User License Agreement whereby users can only get on Facebook if they allow all their info to be sold on?
I wonder how they will square this with the recent DoE threats to sue public school teachers/administrators that fail to monitor student's non-school-related Facebook pages and other online communications for any hints of non-specific "harassment or bullying" and punish and/or suspend "offenders"?
I remember a time when any teachers or school administrators who "monitored" a student outside of school in such an intrusive way would get a starring role in a criminal investigation.
So, when (not "if") some sick, twisted teacher/administrator uses their access to student's online postings and personal information to victimize students, will those at the DoE who are pushing this policy be held criminally liable?
How is this a problem? An initial positive is not the final thing.
Not sure where you're at, but in the US, one failed workplace/employee/pre-hire drug test is all it takes for an employer to refuse to hire or to dismiss an employee. Most states have labor provisions that technically give the person the right to pay for another test, but employers will usually find some other reason if need be to not hire or to dismiss said applicant/employee anyway to avoid risk.
They perceive any association with anything to do with even a mistaken perception of illegal drugs or drug use as unacceptable and go to great lengths to avoid even the most remote suggestion.
It's not the employer's fault. It's the conditions and attitudes in US society. It's government/law enforcement and the laws and tactics used in the war on some drugs, along with the majority sentiments regarding recreational drugs that were largely formed by government policies and propaganda, intended to be used as one tactic to attack/suppress/drive out non-whites starting around the 1930s, and which we are just starting to awaken from.
Besides the risk of involvement in some prosecutor's or enforcement agency's investigations, employers also face civil litigation risks and corresponding risk-control pressures from commercial workplace insurers.
Decades of government-driven intra-societal warfare and government propaganda based on demonizing recreational drugs have resulted in a society-wide paranoia regarding even seriously discussing the concept of recreational drugs and/or responsible use.
Employers are simply reacting in the only logical way they can for their own survival in a dysfunctional society and legal system. Without changing those things, hiring and workplace policies cannot improve.
That said, if anyone was actually using drugs while working on or around something like a freaking ~180 ft tall bundle of rockets filled with enough liquid and solid explosives to do a good imitation of a tactical nuke, they're either criminally stupid or insane, and should be removed before their personal drive for a Darwin Award costs other people their lives.
It's bad enough that all the tens of thousands of parts come from the lowest bidder*, let's not make Cheech & Chong the ground crew.
Strat
* Yes, I'm aware that there have been *some* procurement policy improvements/changes over the years. Not nearly enough though, IMHO as a former long-time worker in the aerospace industry in and around the KSC area.
...better future-proofing and converting capabilities. FLAC is a good, free and open format...
We see here yet another case of mistakenly assuming a commonality of perception where history strongly suggests the opposite. The things listed above as features are actually perceived as bugs by the media distribution cartels.
Voice-mode message passing is indeed a slow fallback (I think 5wpm was the number given at a recent RACES drill locally), which is why various digital/packet modes are coming into use.
Granted, it's still probably a good idea to have those skills in case your TNC fails, and voice is the only mode you have available.
Gotta do better than that. What do you do if the radio equipment is damaged and all you can do is create a bare carrier wave?
Morse, baby!
Morse Code has surprising data rates with skilled operators. For decades an FCC Amateur Radio Novice Class license required the ability to receive and transmit Continuous-Wave Morse Code at 5 wpm (words per minute), the General Class required 13 wpm, and Extra Class required 20 wpm. For Novices, CW was the *only* mode allowed!
Heck, back "in the day" I, myself, casually conversed daily with over-the-air chat buddies in multiple countries/regions using Morse code on the H.F. ham bands at around 30-35 wpm. Sadly, I'd probably fail a 5 wpm test these days without serious practice to bring back old skills.
Under weak or bad radio signal conditions where the signal-to-noise ratio sucks, Morse code/CW is the most readable/reliable form of radio communication. This was the argument used for many decades to retain Morse code requirements for Amateur Radio Service licensing in the US.
Many people are unaware that a relatively low-powered CW transmitter with only a handful of watts on one of the H.F./shortwave Ham bands like 40 meters (~7 mHz) or 20 meters (~14 mHz) is able to communicate many thousands of miles depending on conditions in the ionosphere. Experienced operators compare their message's desired destination to ionospheric/signal-bounce conditions and choose the band with the best conditions to reach that region.
Often conditions were unsuitable for direct station-to-station contact, so an organized system for passing messages was devised and implemented. This is the original reason for the creation of one of the foundational organizations of Amateur Radio, the A.R.R.L. ( Amateur Radio Relay League).
could it possibly be because the other symptoms of black widow bite include "local pain, followed by localized or generalized severe muscle cramps, abdominal pain, weakness, and tremor. Large muscle groups (such as shoulder or back) are often affected, resulting in considerable pain. In severe cases, nausea, vomiting, fainting, dizziness, chest pain, and respiratory difficulties may follow." -- ehealthmedicine.com
As crazy as people are, I'm sure that someone somewhere calls that "a Tuesday".
Slashdot Mirror
Why not just pony up about $69/mo...and get a business connection for your home.
That would be great, but many ISPs like Charter won't even sell you a business connection unless you live in a location that's zoned for commercial use/operate out of a commercial building.
In both the house I was renting a year ago and the apartment I live in now (within a 1/4 mile of each other), Charter refused to let me purchase a business connection even when I offered a copy of my state business-tax number.
I guess Charter is not home-office/home-business friendly.
I guess it is good to be the king (or the only game in town).
Strat
Actually, I did use the incorrect terms. I meant a "representative republic" (as outlined in the US Constitution) rather than "democratic republic".
The major reason that the economy of the US grew to become the largest and fastest-growing, far outstripping the more socialist-leaning governments is due in main to the ability to engage in a relatively free market capitalist economy. The more capitalism was allowed to flourish, the better off the economies and people were and are. Until recently, the US under a representative republic was the most capitalistic nation, and thus reaped the rewards of a huge, vital, and growing economy with the highest standard of living and best conditions for it's workers.
See my /. sig. Capitalism has created more wealth, raised more poor out of poverty, and created the highest standard of living for the most people of any other system yet devised, period. The reason the US is in the trouble it's in is almost entirely due to those in power ignoring this fact for over 60 years and implementing ever-more socialist/statist policies along with an ever-growing government that removes wealth from the economy to the detriment of the ability of capitalism to function.
I don't hate rich capitalists. I want the opportunity to become one myself. I don't want a government that destroys it, but only sees that laws are followed. I want the children to have that opportunity as well. Heck, I want everyone and all their kids to have that same opportunity. Therefor, I advocate for systems of government most likely to promote that opportunity. History plainly demonstrates what form of government works best to that end.
Strat
SOCIAL DEMOCRAT governments, are not run by private interests.
And here, boys & girls, is an example of someone who fails to understand that the *same people* would be "running" the government, whether it be a democratic republic or "social democrat".
It's just that the citizens of the "social democrat" government have even less influence upon, or even knowledge of, those who are running their lives than the citizens of the democratic republic. Meanwhile, the structure of a social democrat government gives the powerful people even more power, control, and anonymity while making it even harder to change the government.
Strat
This is absolutely NOT true. SoundExchange is non-exclusive, so you can play your own stuff (or stuff belonging to anyone else who says you can) and just not pay royalties for it.
"If I join SoundExchange can I still negotiate a license with a webcaster
if I want to?
Yes. Although membership in SoundExchange prohibits you from licensing your sound
recording copyrights to another royalty collective for purposes of collecting and
distributing Sections 112 and 114 statutory royalties on your behalf, your membership in
SoundExchange does not in any way limit your ability to enter into direct (i.e.,
nonstatutory) licenses of any sound recordings that you own, whether with webcasters or
other potential statutory licensees. SoundExchange simply requires that SRCOs notify it
of any direct licenses entered into with statutory licensees or digital music service
providers so that it can ensure that payments received from services that hold direct
licenses to certain recordings are calculated correctly and allocated properly."
A streaming station must obtain a signed contract from each copyright owner for each work and register it with Sound Exchange. If no valid contract is in the Sound Exchange database, then the station's owner will be held liable for royalties to Sound Exchange. If the copyright holder hasn't registered with Sound Exchange, Sound Exchange holds the royalties.
In other words, in the case of an artist streaming his own music, if said artist hasn't registered a contract with himself for streaming rights with Sound Exchange, then Sound Exchange will come after him for royalties.
I don't buy the "all you have to do is register" BS. Sorry, I shouldn't be required under threat of legal force to register anything with anyone to make available to others music I wrote, performed, and recorded. Not if the First Amendment has any meaning left whatsoever. If nobody stands against this crap, it surely will lose even the cursory and unequal acknowledgement.it receives now.
Strat
I've been browsing over some fo the Soundexchange's FAQ...wow, it sounds like they're wanting you to pay them if you have any sort of webcast. Maybe it is the wording....but almost sounds like if stream anything...even recordings YOU make yourself (musical or otherwise) they are wanting you to pay them a license???
Can someone tell me if I'm reading that correctly or not?
Yes, you're reading that right. The way the regulations are written, you must pay royalties to SoundExchange and then negotiate with them on reimbursement for works not copyrighted by one of the media/content cartel players.
Even if you're streaming only your own totally original, personally-written & performed music., technically you must pay SoundExchange and then file with SoundExchange as the artist in question who is "owed", and hope you see the money back (minus SoundExchange's percentage, of course) before the next geologic age comes to pass.
Basically it's a way to put a boot on the throat of non-cartel-associated streaming stations and independent artists/labels by buying legislation.
It's all part of Big Media's efforts to prevent artists and their fans/customers from using the internet to do an end-run around Big Media's real-life, conventional distribution/publication/marketing channels that take cuts at each stage.
Government will not help, as the internet and it's communications possibilities make government-types nervous, and so they're all for increasing internet restrictions, regulations, and controls in an effort to keep the populace under their control & surveillance while eliminating dissenting voices and economically-disruptive new individual-empowering distribution methods and technologies.
Strat
It's not an invasion of privacy if your privacy hasn't been invaded. No-one has access to this file unless you fail to lock your phone, or fail to protect your PC.
Unless you get stopped by the Michigan State Police with your phone in your possession. This was covered here a short time ago.
http://slashdot.org/story/11/04/19/2231240/Michigan-Police-Could-Search-Cell-Phones-During-Traffic-Stops
The more data your phone collects, the more you risk giving to the State. All I carry is a disposable phone with the battery removed in the glove box for emergencies.
Of course, one *could* open the phone and disconnect pin 2 and pin 3 (the 'Data +' and 'Data -' pins) of the micro-USB connector. They can't slurp what they can't connect to. The phone would charge normally, but unless you install a secret/internal switch to re-enable the pins you won't get any data in or out of that connector.
When their toy fails to steal your data and they question you, just say "You broke my PHONE with that stupid toy!?!? What, are you gonna wreck my car or torch my house with some other new toys there, "Inspector Gadget"? I hope your department's budget can take the hit for a new phone!".
It's still a new device and patrol officers are likely unfamiliar enough with the finer points of the new concepts, equipment, & techniques involved here that they may just suddenly be in a hurry to be done with you and send you on your way in such a scenario.
I wonder when someone will publish a "Surviving The Police State For Dummies" how-to book.
"Interesting times", indeed.
Strat
i'd say 7 pairs and a sideboob
Sorry, Joe Biden is busy until 2012. [rimshot]
Thanks, I'll be here all week.
Tip the steaks and try your waitress.
~Strat
The government's trying to do that with this stupid War on Drugs, and previously with Prohibition, and where did it get them? Crime and bloodshed on immense scales.
It's working precisely as planned. What, you didn't think politicians were trying to actually *decrease" drug/alcohol use or gambling, did you?
The politicians see crime & bloodshed as great opportunities to increase the size and scope of government and it's control over people's lives, and thus increase their own power. That, and the kickbacks/campaign contributions generated are vital to the maintenance and continuing expansion of their wealth & power. They *need* people to become drug addicts and compulsive gamblers.
Most politicians are completely amoral. If politicians thought they'd get away with it, they'd happily hand out heroin and syringes in elementary schools and fund school field trips to casinos with our taxes. Ignorant, destitute, and desperate gamblers and drug addicts are easy to manipulate and control. "Vote for me/my legislation/my policies! I'll let you get you your fix and make those other *evil* people that disagree with me pay for it!"
Strat
As the subject states, this is the initial roll-out of "Trusted Computing".
http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~rja14/tcpa-faq.html
It's simply had the political name-change game played with it. If at first it doesn't fly, rename it and try again. Rinse & repeat until passage/implementation/adoption.
As has been commented elsewhere here, this is something that will be slowly expanded with government and corporate pressure from initially being voluntary to eventually become necessary to connect to your ISP.
This thing is a tyrant's dream. It *must* be prevented from being implemented. There's no way that much power will escape being abused and corrupted.
Strat
Hmmm. I only hit "submit" once. :/
Maybe the new Slashcode likes me...or not.
You know I never really cared for GWB either but mocking the man's intelligence when he was smart enough to get elected Governor of one of the largest states in the Union and then beat the best the Democratic Party had to offer twice in a national election is pretty pathetic.
Not only that GWB has a MBA from Harvard. 0 has kept his records closed, why is that do you suppose? Don't the American people deserve to see the school accomplishments of the "smartest President ever"? What was his SAT/ACT score I wonder?
0 is an outright sham and disgrace.
Never mind a Harvard MBA. He piloted a Convair F-102A Delta Dagger supersonic fighter/interceptor that was designed to carry up to two GAR-11/AIM-26 Nuclear Falcon missiles or conventional air-to-air or air-to-ground missiles!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convair_F-102_Delta_Dagger
This wasn't some computerized, automated, fly-by-wire video-game-simulation-like aircraft. I've been around aircraft all my life, worked as an avionics tech for decades, and had the opportunity to fly a number of different civilian aircraft, and I can tell you that unless you're able to perform some serious mental calculations *quickly* on the fly and be right *every single time* while you're busy guiding a ~12-ton, non-computer-assisted-stability, jet-powered, supersonic metal wedge with a seat, traveling at many hundreds of miles per hour, maintaining near-perfect three-dimensional situational awareness, all while being placed under various random high-G maneuvers, you'll turn an F-102A into a smoking crater in the landscape in short order.
That's just to fly one enough to take off & land and actually walk away, not engage hostile targets in a coordinated military operation, possibly with a mix of friendly and hostile aircraft also sharing your airspace along with possible hostile SAM installations/mobile launchers trying to track/destroy you. (I'm aware GWB never flew any sorties in hostile airspace. He had to be trained, prepared, and demonstrate the ability to handle that to experienced fighter pilots to be certified in the aircraft, however.)
There *are* no stupid -living- fighter pilots that ever did any actual flying, regardless of if they ever flew sorties in an active military engagement or not. The US Air Force is *not* about to allow an idiot behind the controls of a multi-million-dollar, nuclear-capable, supersonic jet fighter/interceptor no matter *who* his/her family is, or how connected they are.
This is why, when I hear someone start in about how stupid GWB is, I know I can safely dismiss pretty much anything this person has to say due to total cluelessness in the face of the obvious.
By the way, I hated a LOT of what GWB did. I think he did tremendous damage to the US in many, many ways. There's far too much easily-referenced factual information about the bad decisions and policies of GWB to seriously listen to someone so lazy they resort to parroting a completely and obviously false ad hominem. That's just intellectual laziness.
Strat
You know I never really cared for GWB either but mocking the man's intelligence when he was smart enough to get elected Governor of one of the largest states in the Union and then beat the best the Democratic Party had to offer twice in a national election is pretty pathetic.
Not only that GWB has a MBA from Harvard. 0 has kept his records closed, why is that do you suppose? Don't the American people deserve to see the school accomplishments of the "smartest President ever"? What was his SAT/ACT score I wonder?
0 is an outright sham and disgrace.
Never mind a Harvard MBA. He piloted a Convair F-102A Delta Dagger supersonic fighter/interceptor that was designed to carry up to two GAR-11/AIM-26 Nuclear Falcon missiles or conventional air-to-air or air-to-ground missiles!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convair_F-102_Delta_Dagger
This wasn't some computerized, automated, fly-by-wire video-game-simulation-like aircraft. I've been around aircraft all my life, worked as an avionics tech for decades, and had the opportunity to fly a number of different civilian aircraft, and I can tell you that unless you're able to perform some serious mental calculations *quickly* on the fly and be right *every single time* while you're busy guiding a ~12-ton, non-computer-assisted-stability, jet-powered, supersonic metal wedge with a seat, traveling at many hundreds of miles per hour, maintaining near-perfect three-dimensional situational awareness, all while being placed under various random high-G maneuvers, you'll turn an F-102A into a smoking crater in the landscape in short order.
That's just to fly one enough to take off & land and actually walk away, not engage hostile targets in a coordinated military operation, possibly with a mix of friendly and hostile aircraft also sharing your airspace along with possible hostile SAM installations/mobile launchers trying to track/destroy you. (I'm aware GWB never flew any sorties in hostile airspace. He had to be trained, prepared, and demonstrate the ability to handle that to experienced fighter pilots to be certified in the aircraft, however.)
There *are* no stupid -living- fighter pilots that ever did any actual flying, regardless of if they ever flew sorties in an active military engagement or not. The US Air Force is *not* about to allow an idiot behind the controls of a multi-million-dollar, nuclear-capable, supersonic jet fighter/interceptor no matter *who* his/her family is, or how connected they are.
This is why, when I hear someone start in about how stupid GWB is, I know I can safely dismiss pretty much anything this person has to say due to total cluelessness in the face of the obvious.
By the way, I hated a LOT of what GWB did. I think he did tremendous damage to the US in many, many ways. There's far too much easily-referenced factual information about the bad decisions and policies of GWB to seriously listen to someone so lazy they resort to parroting a completely and obviously false ad hominem. That's just intellectual laziness.
Strat
I suspect a disturbing proportion of Americans confuse "hash" with something smoked by hippies.
Actually, an even more disturbing percentage of Americans associate "hash" with Corned Beef.
Strat
So you are saying we should give the republicans everything they want and hope that this time it will be different
Where did I say that? Please point to that text in my post, as I don't see it.
I guess by using those "standards" that means we are free to assume that you're saying that Democrats and the labor unions are anti-Capitalism and democracy, pro-Socialist/Communist then, right? Please see my sig.
Strat
The benefit of capitalism is better products and services through competitive pressure. Where's the competition for insurance companies that drives them to serve the customer better?
There is no "free market" in the USA regarding healthcare and health insurance. There must be something approaching a free market for Capitalism to function as it has to lift more people from poverty and provide a higher standard of living for more people than any other system ever tried.
Health insurance is one of the most heavily government-regulated activities. Government regulations prevent healthcare insurance from being offered across state lines, unlike most other forms of insurance, thus preventing any effective competition which provides the necessary pressure to increase quality while lowering costs.
Maybe there are just certain industries and services where capitalism is a net negative?
Well, wouldn't we first have to see if having healthcare insurance work in something approaching a free-market, capitalistic environment made the health insurance industry & healthcare better than the existing system before making assumptions without any examples?
To say the health insurance industry works in a capitalistic environment in anything but name, and then extend that to a slam on Capitalism, is either doubling-down on delusional or else blindly partisan. Or both.
Strat
They have only "Save the children" or "Save the entertainment cartels" on their minds. Well, what little minds they have, anyway.
They've got their minds on their money and their money on their minds. Except when they've got their minds on their power and their power on their minds.
Everything else, particularly people, are either a means to an end or an obstacle to be rolled over or bought off.
Much of the problem is with a society that tolerates, even rewarding and celebrating, such ruthlessness, greed, and amorality as demonstrated over the last 100 years or so by those in government.
It *can* be changed and even reversed, *if* the majority of people would decide they're tired of it and start to actually hold politicians accountable, educate themselves on the issues, and treat voting seriously.
I know. Miracles *do* happen, though. "It's tough to make predictions, especially about the future." - Yogi Berra
Strat
Oh look it's one of those 'fuck you I got mine!' people
Oh look it's one of those "screw earning my own, I want yours!" people.
I await your explanation on how you exist without interacting with some sort of tax created item. Please do hurry.
Yes, because everyone knows there are only two choices, like either confiscatory tax rates or none at all, or like either spending tax revenues for anything and everything some politician wants to use to gain re-election, or never spending a dime to help anyone ever.
Yeah, I understand your "binary logic". I simply refuse to accept it.
Strat
Here's a totally insane* idea.
Instead of increasing taxes on struggling citizens coping with high unemployment and an already extremely-shaky economy, how about reducing the cost/size/scope of government?
Hey, wow!
I didn't even spontaneously burst into flames at the mere mention!
Strat
*"Insane" as defined by politicians determined to increase their personal wealth & power.
that was an excellent post.
Thanks!
I'm quite flattered, as you are obviously an individual of high intelligence and intellectual standards, as well as being a possessor of discerning tastes. :P
Strat
The Americans overthrew British rule for their own interests. It had nothing to do with The Greater Good. This selfish character persists until today and has a lot to do with why a lot of people hate the USA's guts.
We threw off British rule for much the same reasons every other group has declared independence from their home country; The home country made demands and set conditions upon that group that were intolerable enough to spark revolution. It is no more "selfish" than any other country that is a former colony or split from an existing country like many in the EU.
Where the US started down the wrong path was with the doctrine of Manifest Destiny. Then the government descended into even further depths of iniquity with the rise of the Progressives with Woodrow Wilson and FDR, where things like the rounding-up and imprisoning of US citizens that peacefully voiced political dissent occurred, and of course the WW2 Japanese-American/Italian/German camps where many thousands of innocent people were imprisoned.
This era in US history is where the government truly started operating on a "the ends justify the means" basis in a more open and blatant manner as it got better at the art of propaganda, which Goebbels learned from one of Wilson's advisers.
This bad behavior continues to grow, only limited by mass public outrage, and that grows ever-less as people become desensitized, to the current day where the government is now feeling itself powerful enough to completely ignore the Constitution and the people, even working around the people's representation in Congress through Executive-appointed unelected bureaucrats and government departments and their myriad regulations.
Those in the US government that have kept us on this path have made the ideological decision to abandon morals, principles, and honor for money, power, and hatred for the roaring success of Capitalism. The US government has nearly succeeded in destroying all trust in it by both it's own citizens as well as it's allies and other countries.
Strat
I wonder how far this will go - would it stop Facebook from having some sort of User License Agreement whereby users can only get on Facebook if they allow all their info to be sold on?
I wonder how they will square this with the recent DoE threats to sue public school teachers/administrators that fail to monitor student's non-school-related Facebook pages and other online communications for any hints of non-specific "harassment or bullying" and punish and/or suspend "offenders"?
I remember a time when any teachers or school administrators who "monitored" a student outside of school in such an intrusive way would get a starring role in a criminal investigation.
So, when (not "if") some sick, twisted teacher/administrator uses their access to student's online postings and personal information to victimize students, will those at the DoE who are pushing this policy be held criminally liable?
Strat
How is this a problem? An initial positive is not the final thing.
Not sure where you're at, but in the US, one failed workplace/employee/pre-hire drug test is all it takes for an employer to refuse to hire or to dismiss an employee. Most states have labor provisions that technically give the person the right to pay for another test, but employers will usually find some other reason if need be to not hire or to dismiss said applicant/employee anyway to avoid risk.
They perceive any association with anything to do with even a mistaken perception of illegal drugs or drug use as unacceptable and go to great lengths to avoid even the most remote suggestion.
It's not the employer's fault. It's the conditions and attitudes in US society. It's government/law enforcement and the laws and tactics used in the war on some drugs, along with the majority sentiments regarding recreational drugs that were largely formed by government policies and propaganda, intended to be used as one tactic to attack/suppress/drive out non-whites starting around the 1930s, and which we are just starting to awaken from.
Besides the risk of involvement in some prosecutor's or enforcement agency's investigations, employers also face civil litigation risks and corresponding risk-control pressures from commercial workplace insurers.
Decades of government-driven intra-societal warfare and government propaganda based on demonizing recreational drugs have resulted in a society-wide paranoia regarding even seriously discussing the concept of recreational drugs and/or responsible use.
Employers are simply reacting in the only logical way they can for their own survival in a dysfunctional society and legal system. Without changing those things, hiring and workplace policies cannot improve.
That said, if anyone was actually using drugs while working on or around something like a freaking ~180 ft tall bundle of rockets filled with enough liquid and solid explosives to do a good imitation of a tactical nuke, they're either criminally stupid or insane, and should be removed before their personal drive for a Darwin Award costs other people their lives.
It's bad enough that all the tens of thousands of parts come from the lowest bidder*, let's not make Cheech & Chong the ground crew.
Strat
* Yes, I'm aware that there have been *some* procurement policy improvements/changes over the years. Not nearly enough though, IMHO as a former long-time worker in the aerospace industry in and around the KSC area.
From TFS:
...better future-proofing and converting capabilities. FLAC is a good, free and open format...
We see here yet another case of mistakenly assuming a commonality of perception where history strongly suggests the opposite. The things listed above as features are actually perceived as bugs by the media distribution cartels.
Strat
Voice-mode message passing is indeed a slow fallback (I think 5wpm was the number given at a recent RACES drill locally), which is why various digital/packet modes are coming into use.
Granted, it's still probably a good idea to have those skills in case your TNC fails, and voice is the only mode you have available.
Gotta do better than that. What do you do if the radio equipment is damaged and all you can do is create a bare carrier wave?
Morse, baby!
Morse Code has surprising data rates with skilled operators. For decades an FCC Amateur Radio Novice Class license required the ability to receive and transmit Continuous-Wave Morse Code at 5 wpm (words per minute), the General Class required 13 wpm, and Extra Class required 20 wpm. For Novices, CW was the *only* mode allowed!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amateur_radio_licensing_in_the_United_States
Heck, back "in the day" I, myself, casually conversed daily with over-the-air chat buddies in multiple countries/regions using Morse code on the H.F. ham bands at around 30-35 wpm. Sadly, I'd probably fail a 5 wpm test these days without serious practice to bring back old skills.
Under weak or bad radio signal conditions where the signal-to-noise ratio sucks, Morse code/CW is the most readable/reliable form of radio communication. This was the argument used for many decades to retain Morse code requirements for Amateur Radio Service licensing in the US.
Many people are unaware that a relatively low-powered CW transmitter with only a handful of watts on one of the H.F./shortwave Ham bands like 40 meters (~7 mHz) or 20 meters (~14 mHz) is able to communicate many thousands of miles depending on conditions in the ionosphere. Experienced operators compare their message's desired destination to ionospheric/signal-bounce conditions and choose the band with the best conditions to reach that region.
Often conditions were unsuitable for direct station-to-station contact, so an organized system for passing messages was devised and implemented. This is the original reason for the creation of one of the foundational organizations of Amateur Radio, the A.R.R.L. ( Amateur Radio Relay League).
http://www.arrl.org/
They publish The Amateur Radio Handbook and many other publications, along with providing many other resources, information, and benefits for Hams.
Strat
could it possibly be because the other symptoms of black widow bite include "local pain, followed by localized or generalized severe muscle cramps, abdominal pain, weakness, and tremor. Large muscle groups (such as shoulder or back) are often affected, resulting in considerable pain. In severe cases, nausea, vomiting, fainting, dizziness, chest pain, and respiratory difficulties may follow." -- ehealthmedicine.com
As crazy as people are, I'm sure that someone somewhere calls that "a Tuesday".
Strat