Unfortunately for all these watchdog groups, every parent gets to decide when and how much to warp their kids' little minds.
My kid turned eleven last year. She's been playing Bugs Bunny, Harry Potter and kid-specific crap for four years. She wanted something more challenging and maybe just a bit more grown up. We pulled Resident Evil and Oddworld from our old collection and they seem to suit her just fine.
I'm sure some parents would object but they don't get to decide what's best for my kid. Likewise, I may not approve of Cletus buying Grand Theft Auto for his five year old, but it's his business not mine. Until his kid kills my kid with his car imitating the game.
Then I kill Cletus for not monitoring his kid and and I go to jail and later it gets turned into a "Law and Order" episode which me and my new lesbian lover watch together.
Why, oh why couldn't there be just ONE type of computer that'll run any program I buy? Now they've got what they wanted and they're happy, even with the virus/spyware problems. Linux, however, is all about choice.
The problem is they don't have what they wanted and especially not at the cost they want. Typing "M$" is old and busted but it came about for a reason.
Use your own analogy to really hear what any user really wants: Why oh why couldn't there just be ONE type of DVD player that'll play any DVD I buy?
It sounds absurd doesn't it? It sounds just as absurd as Joe Six Pack buying ANY computer off the shelf and being able to load Mircosoft Office and the iLife Suite on that same off the shelf computer with no compatibility issues whatsover.
Think about that for a second and if you aren't still LYAO, read the rest.
It doesn't matter that those may not be the best choices for the consumer or that Star Office is a perfect foil for Microsoft Office. It's about giving consumers what they want.
That's why you don't see people running to Linux in droves. Because it does no better at bridging the gap for what people REALLY want to do on their PC's.
Give people what they want and they will buy from you in droves. What the average person sees, and they're not far wrong either, is a glorified geek pissing contest between Microsoft, Apple, Linux and any other OS out there if they're even aware that there are others.
What they don't see is anyone really giving a damn about what they want and how they want to work. It may not be true, but perception is everything.
I work for a long distance company and I spend a lot of time confirming numbers people dispute on their bill (i.e. I DEEN'T CALL THES NUMBER AN IF YOU CAYANT PROVE I DE-ID, I'M GONE SEEWWW YEW SUMBEACHES).
If we can't find a number using AnyWho, we always use Google next and I'd say 99.9% of the time this resolves the issue without having to verify the call with the term party (i.e. If that lady's daughter wasn't sleeping with my husband, my number wouldn't be on her bill).
When Yahoo first said they weren't going to use Google anymore for their search results, I really didn't believe them. I mean it took them forever to admit what we already knew so the trust factor was a little broken.
It took a while, but gradually the returns from searches did seem to be different or different enough. I'm like well, ok, they're on their own now, but Google still gives more or better results.
Until recently. Lately, searching Yahoo has been like back in the 90's when I first discovered HotBot(R.I.P.) then Google. In the past month or so, I actually have found what I wanted easier and faster using Yahoo. By faster I don't really mean return speed, I'm actually referring more to the relevance of the first items returned.
It's not every single time, but often enough and different enough where now, I don't just use Google by default anymore. I actually make a point to check both and lately Yahoo is gaining on them in turns of generating the results I need and on returning a search that's different enough from Google that's it's worth the extra time to see what Yahoo turns up as well.
Now my searches are for very simple and every day thing. However it seems to me, it's always those small things that cause the tide to turn in the larger pool of profitability in the long run.
I also like the new video search. To be honest, it's cut down my pr0n search time a lot. Uh, at home of course, not at work.
This is kind of off topic but I expressed a sentiment of this sort the other day.
We were indoors, but it was chilly. We had a logs, a starter log and even matches, but no one was really sure how to go about starting a fire in a fireplace.
None of us had ever really started a fire that wasn't a barbeque and we weren't sure how to go about checking the flue and such.
I found that really sad. I grew up a city kid and I was never a scout or anything. I've always lived or worked in buildings with central heating.
As technology has expanded, the knowledge of simple things dies.
I'm going to make sure I learn how to build a fire before the next week is out.
I work as a customer service rep for a long distance reseller. I don't place international calls but I've spent 8 hours a day for the last three years talking to people who do.
Going with a reseller is a great way to save money and get a regular bill, but the international service can be iffy. I mean, for places like the UK, Australia, China, Japan, Germany, Switerland or any place with fairly modern phone service you'll get connected with no issues.
But the biggest problems we're having are with connections to India, Serbia, Bosnia, and Croatia. Of course since our connection rates are not perfect, they balance it out with a dirt cheap rate and credit any disconnected international calls on the bill that are 1 minute and under.
You think that would be great but people don't want seem to understand this. They want dirt cheap rates, 100% connection rates and 24 hour troubleshooting to boot. My usual response to folks like this is that 2 out of 3 isn't bad.
Still going with a service like ours or one of the evil giants (MCI, Sprint, AT&T, Verizon, SBC) is better than prepaid calling cards. The people who use them and think they're saving money are nuts.
You get charged a connection fee just for placing the call. If you use the card from a payphone you get charged the connection fee and a payphone surcharge. If you don't use the whole card by the expiration date you've wasted your money. If your call drops, doesn't connect, has poor quality or the card just plain won't work, very few pre-paid cards have customer service. You're just stuck.
Not to mention that whatever rate you hope they say you're being charged is what you're being charged. And what they advertised is probably the minimum for that country. Like India.
India has a different rate for nearly all 28 states and the 7 territories, with some of the capitals in each state billed at different rates and calls to a cell phone are billed at completely different rates to a land line. So unless you keep a stop watch on each and every call, you really don't know what you're being billed or at what rate. And you won't have detailed call log or be able to dispute it if you feel you were cut off too soon because it's prepaid.
As for the guy in the thread who said he got "slammed" and that his LEC chose the "most expensive" carrier for him as a default carrier, he's smoking serious ganja. He makes it sound like they were out to cheat him when it was really his own fault.
Yes, slamming does happen. It's stupid and it's illegal. But most people do NOT want to take responsiblity for making changes to their own phone service, even after they've changed their phone number or address (yes you should call your carrier and make sure they are aware of the change and not just leave it up to your LEC).
LEC's are REQUIRED to ask people who they want for long distance and I'd bet a dime to a donut hole they get one of two responses. "Well who's the cheapest?" or "I dunno."
If you don't want to pay the highest price for services, do your research, make your choice, and make sure you get what you want or be prepared to plunk down a wad of cash.
The company I work for is PowerNet Global. It's a great place to work and has decent service to boot. Do a google search, find an agent and sign up with us. Also offering local and wireless service in several states as well.
DISCLAIMER *The opinions stated here about the companies listed as "evil giants" are my own and should not reflect on PowerNet Global. The comments are made because I have spent anywhere from 30 minutes to 2 hours on hold with all of these companies at one time or another trying to help people navigate their voice mail hell and get simple issues fixed.
The Montgomery Bus Boycott showed the same lack of principal by business.
Business will give you any piece of crap, treat you like crap and expect you to show up hat-in-hand begging to be let in. It wasn't just the bus folk claiming that people just had to ride their buses.
The other businesses in Montgomery were angry because those same people weren't coming on the bus to their stores anymore and they were "losing" money. They had they same opinion that they were somehow entitled to folks money even though they had done nothing to earn it and had actually treated their customers like crap.
It's a an old tired song that business never gets tired of singing. They've just moved on from exploiting one group to exploiting everyone. Now that's what I call Equal Opportunity.
How long until we see a "ripped from the headlines" but we "are not depicting any person living or dead" from this on Law and Order?
I'll also take odds that both this video game and the Pacers/Pistons fiasco both make it on by the end of the season. Any takers?
Sorry, but no one's going to gives a shiat if Ted Kennedy is upset over this. Hell, isn't he still on the No Fly List? Does he have any clout or respect left that isn't hanging by the string of his family name anymore? Or any favors he hasn't called in because of the earlier drunken exploits he's gotten out of?
Bottom line: There have been too many recreations of the Kennedy assasination for anyone to balk over one more, however tastless and idiotic it may be.
Frankly, the FCC should have no say one way or the other whether the states can tax anything. It is none of their business. Their mandate is far too wide in the first place and it should be pared back, in my opinion.
Ashcroft may be gone but the idicoy of Michael Powell still reigns.
This is yet another attempt to dumb down consumers to make the more receptive to truly weak sales pitches. Best Buy won't be getting any more of my business if they value this philosophy.
Yeah, but I think they've made it clear they don't want your business anyway:)
Not really. You can't tell from this guys post whether he's in the 20% they don't want or the 80% they do want.
He could be an 80 percenter who doesn't like to see people with less money mistreated. Or he could be an 80 percenter who realizes that Best Buy's perceptions of his group are equally as insulting.
Store clerks receive hours of training in identifying desirable customers according to their shopping preferences and behavior. High-income men, referred to internally as Barrys, tend to be enthusiasts of action movies and cameras. Suburban moms, called Jills, are busy but usually willing to talk about helping their families. Male technology enthusiasts, nicknamed Buzzes, are early adopters, interested in buying and showing off the latest gadgets.
Why doesn't Best Buy just come out and say they want customers with more cash than common sense? That would be less insulting to the customers they say they want to keep.
Barry: A guy who's willing to blow a wad of cash to prove he has more.
Jill: A mom who's willing to buy and pay anything to be the "coolest" mom or to show off to her friends.
Buzzes: Guy & gals who think they're Slashdot when they're really Fark.
(ouch, that hurt a bit, but I won't cry)
/just copied this from my Fark comments about the same article a few minutes ago:)
If you're rich and powerful and have enough money to sue the people using your name, it's cybersquatting.
If you're a poor nobody, who cares?
When I'm not impersonating a glorified light bulb holder online, my name is Deborah. I'd love to use Deborah.com or at least see it used for something other than pr0n. But I'm a poor nobody, so who gives a shiat?
The name is also biblical (which few people know, but Deborah was a tough enough chic back in the B.C. days to rate a couple of chapters in the male dominated Good Book). Now all Debbie is known for is the mark she made on Dallas.
I guess that's part of the point as well though. If you're known well enough for people to be googling you or think that your name should equal dotcom somewhere in the netaverse, then maybe just maybe, the person who feels they're being maligned should be master of their own domain.
Seems like everything generates a lawsuit these days, but couldn't we (we meaning any and all American Citizens) sue the CPD for fraud or something like it?
In essence they are purporting to the American People that they are presenting a "fair and balanced" view of the presidential candidates to the citizens of this country and they are not.
That, to me, is fraud. If it's not a federal crime to unfairly influence election results, it should be and it seems the folks who run the CPD are decidedly guilty.
If a lawsuit against the CPD is unreasonable, then what do you all think it will really take to overhaul the way our election process is run.
I for one feel that the current process has outlived it's usefulness and should be completely overhauled.
Well, the FCC clearly does have some authority over end-user devices: notice the FCC logo on the back of every monitor/TV in the US? There's a reason it's there.
Yes, part of the reason it's there is to ensure that the whatever electronic device meets safety guidlines and standards so little Johnny doesn't get the worst electric shock of his just ended life just for turning the thing on; or so you don't get brain cancer just so you can get a better signal on your wireless.
Granted this might not be a long term solution, if you could get it to be somewhat the same power as running on gasoline it could give us time to develop hydrogen or what ever while not using our oil.
WagerWeb was knocked offline for about a day, says Dan Johnson, senior VP and senior oddsmaker at the site. Rather than pay off the attackers, the company called on its technical forces to build a defense and enlisted the help of Internet security-services provider Prolexic Technologies Inc. The vendor's services, at about $100,000 a year, aren't cheap. But, "I'd rather pay the $100,000 than pay the extortionists," Johnson says. The gamble paid off. "As soon as we got the service running, the attack stopped," technology manager Burns says.
1. Find Security Holes 2. Send extortion letters 3. Exploit security holes to show you mean business. 4. Company Pays extortion money 5. Profit 6. Extortionists hit them one time to many, company gets sick of it. Extortionists get caught and go to jail.
OR 4. Advertise solution to security problems under a different company name (i.e. Proicanfixit Technologies) 5. Solve companies problem 6. Profit to the tune of $100, 000 a year for life
I'm sure there's a hole in this theory somewhere (collusion, racketeering, plain old thievery) and I'm sure one of you will kindly point out what it is.
This post is so sad, regardless of the fact that it's marked "Insightful".
The people (in America anyway) ARE the goverment. The sad part is too many citizens of this country are so disconnected from this idea that they don't realize the government is not some separate, mysterious entity. The preamble doesn't say "We, the people and those who govern them", it simply says "We the people".
The people in Kuztown did what people at Slashdot talk about all the time. They woke up. They realized that where getting less than stellar service at stellar prices and (probably after getting absolutly nowhere with their "local" providers)they decided to do something about it.'
From the article:
The aim of the Government Competition Against Private Enterprise Act (HB298) is to "protect economic opportunities for private enterprise against unfair competition by government agencies" in services "beyond their government function."
In other words, Private corporations know what is better for citizens than the citizens themselves. We've seen this time and again with the RIAA and MPAA. A bunch of private companies get together, build a larger monopoly and then decide that they know better than the people, what people should spend their money on an how it should be spent.
It's time some communities took a stand on this and not only changed the laws but maybe started having more control over their own telecommunications lines...
Oh wait...
Should there be another Trek TV series? Definitely not. They've bled them dry and if Voyager and Enterprise are any indication of where the series is headed, then by all means, no more tv shows.
Should there be another Trek Movie? Not until Jonathan Frakes is either dead or otherwise incapacitated.
No matter about the movies and tv series, the Fandom will rock on under it's own steam for another few decades or until every last series is out of syndication and even then I'm not really sure that the Fandom can die.
People will still have conventions and websites and the multiplayer game if they want the "Star Trek Experience", speaking of which, has anyone visited Deep Space Nine in Las Vegas?
At any rate, Leonard Nemoy is the last person to look to for objective commentary on whether the franchise would die. He's been campaigning for it to die in one way or another since "The Search for Spock". I guess being an icon sucks but if he no longer wants to participate he should just quit showing up at conventions and crap instead of putting on the "woe-is-me" act.
This site has nothing to offer but a bunch of think-they-are-smart geeks whining about Microsoft and whoring themselves for Apple.
I don't know about the "whoring themselves for Apple" part, but the Microsoft hatred is very strong.
One day, back when I was still using windows and word, word crashed one time too many because I moved a text box from point A to point B.
I cried out to the tech gods, "There must be an easier way" and of course I turned to google to find another way. (All hail Linux).
This story is too long at this point, and the post doesn't really matter anyway, but I'll speed things along here.
In a moment of extreme frustration I typed into the google search bar "Microsft SUX". The very first search result was a post here at slashdot. I joined up and have been here at least once a day ever since. (Penguins are sexy wise beasts, Amen).
QThat is not an answer to my question. Name one right.
AThe right to due process of law as granted in the 5th Amendment.
Want more to be listed, smart guy?
OK, supposedly smart guy...
Name one right that cannot now be circumvented by the Patriot Act and didn't apply to you anyway if you were of color, wearing a turban or veil, or using a laptop outside a library?
Well, the difference being that it is a private school with its own set of laws. Even though the knee-jerk supporters of the first amendement will be up at arms about this, it's really a question of vandalism than anything else.
So was the Boston Tea Party. And look where that got us.
I wish/. would have an "International Joe/Jill Six Pack Day". A day when geeks everywhere commit to spending time with those less fortunate and clueless people on PC education.
Maybe even take some promising above average newbie under your wings and teach them as much as you can.
You won't live forever you know and you should pass on your knowledge.
...sharing copyrighted works with the expectation of getting works in return counts as "financial gain".
So if I share and ask for nothing back...just from the goodness of my heart, then what?
Finally some good news in the fight against idiocy and censorship! You can never know how glad I was to read this article today! I am so happy for the JibJab guys! I really thought the lawsuit was ridiculous.
(Please excuse my overuse of exclamation points, but I am really happy about this!)
I read the official reason, but I'm thinking the case had to be thrown out because they realized that it was going to be hard to find anyone, let alone a judge, who could watch the video and not have to be escorted from the room for laughing so hard!
At least America hasn't been ruled or legislated out of having a sense of humor. For today anway...
...say we get their staff on the list. Someone that's important to them, but not important enough that they'd pay to charter rates to fly 'em around.
No, then we'd just see more of our tax dollars "at work" in the transportation industry.
Slashdot Mirror
...from simply buying their kids the games.
Unfortunately for all these watchdog groups, every parent gets to decide when and how much to warp their kids' little minds.
My kid turned eleven last year. She's been playing Bugs Bunny, Harry Potter and kid-specific crap for four years. She wanted something more challenging and maybe just a bit more grown up. We pulled Resident Evil and Oddworld from our old collection and they seem to suit her just fine.
I'm sure some parents would object but they don't get to decide what's best for my kid. Likewise, I may not approve of Cletus buying Grand Theft Auto for his five year old, but it's his business not mine. Until his kid kills my kid with his car imitating the game.
Then I kill Cletus for not monitoring his kid and and I go to jail and later it gets turned into a "Law and Order" episode which me and my new lesbian lover watch together.
Let the circle be unbroken...
Why, oh why couldn't there be just ONE type of computer that'll run any program I buy? Now they've got what they wanted and they're happy, even with the virus/spyware problems. Linux, however, is all about choice.
The problem is they don't have what they wanted and especially not at the cost they want. Typing "M$" is old and busted but it came about for a reason.
Use your own analogy to really hear what any user really wants: Why oh why couldn't there just be ONE type of DVD player that'll play any DVD I buy?
It sounds absurd doesn't it? It sounds just as absurd as Joe Six Pack buying ANY computer off the shelf and being able to load Mircosoft Office and the iLife Suite on that same off the shelf computer with no compatibility issues whatsover.
Think about that for a second and if you aren't still LYAO, read the rest.
It doesn't matter that those may not be the best choices for the consumer or that Star Office is a perfect foil for Microsoft Office. It's about giving consumers what they want.
That's why you don't see people running to Linux in droves. Because it does no better at bridging the gap for what people REALLY want to do on their PC's.
Give people what they want and they will buy from you in droves. What the average person sees, and they're not far wrong either, is a glorified geek pissing contest between Microsoft, Apple, Linux and any other OS out there if they're even aware that there are others.
What they don't see is anyone really giving a damn about what they want and how they want to work. It may not be true, but perception is everything.
Until that changes, no one wins.
I work for a long distance company and I spend a lot of time confirming numbers people dispute on their bill (i.e. I DEEN'T CALL THES NUMBER AN IF YOU CAYANT PROVE I DE-ID, I'M GONE SEEWWW YEW SUMBEACHES).
If we can't find a number using AnyWho, we always use Google next and I'd say 99.9% of the time this resolves the issue without having to verify the call with the term party (i.e. If that lady's daughter wasn't sleeping with my husband, my number wouldn't be on her bill).
When Yahoo first said they weren't going to use Google anymore for their search results, I really didn't believe them. I mean it took them forever to admit what we already knew so the trust factor was a little broken.
It took a while, but gradually the returns from searches did seem to be different or different enough. I'm like well, ok, they're on their own now, but Google still gives more or better results.
Until recently. Lately, searching Yahoo has been like back in the 90's when I first discovered HotBot(R.I.P.) then Google. In the past month or so, I actually have found what I wanted easier and faster using Yahoo. By faster I don't really mean return speed, I'm actually referring more to the relevance of the first items returned.
It's not every single time, but often enough and different enough where now, I don't just use Google by default anymore. I actually make a point to check both and lately Yahoo is gaining on them in turns of generating the results I need and on returning a search that's different enough from Google that's it's worth the extra time to see what Yahoo turns up as well.
Now my searches are for very simple and every day thing. However it seems to me, it's always those small things that cause the tide to turn in the larger pool of profitability in the long run.
I also like the new video search. To be honest, it's cut down my pr0n search time a lot. Uh, at home of course, not at work.
This is kind of off topic but I expressed a sentiment of this sort the other day.
We were indoors, but it was chilly. We had a logs, a starter log and even matches, but no one was really sure how to go about starting a fire in a fireplace.
None of us had ever really started a fire that wasn't a barbeque and we weren't sure how to go about checking the flue and such.
I found that really sad. I grew up a city kid and I was never a scout or anything. I've always lived or worked in buildings with central heating.
As technology has expanded, the knowledge of simple things dies.
I'm going to make sure I learn how to build a fire before the next week is out.
I work as a customer service rep for a long distance reseller. I don't place international calls but I've spent 8 hours a day for the last three years talking to people who do.
Going with a reseller is a great way to save money and get a regular bill, but the international service can be iffy. I mean, for places like the UK, Australia, China, Japan, Germany, Switerland or any place with fairly modern phone service you'll get connected with no issues.
But the biggest problems we're having are with connections to India, Serbia, Bosnia, and Croatia. Of course since our connection rates are not perfect, they balance it out with a dirt cheap rate and credit any disconnected international calls on the bill that are 1 minute and under.
You think that would be great but people don't want seem to understand this. They want dirt cheap rates, 100% connection rates and 24 hour troubleshooting to boot. My usual response to folks like this is that 2 out of 3 isn't bad.
Still going with a service like ours or one of the evil giants (MCI, Sprint, AT&T, Verizon, SBC) is better than prepaid calling cards. The people who use them and think they're saving money are nuts.
You get charged a connection fee just for placing the call. If you use the card from a payphone you get charged the connection fee and a payphone surcharge. If you don't use the whole card by the expiration date you've wasted your money. If your call drops, doesn't connect, has poor quality or the card just plain won't work, very few pre-paid cards have customer service. You're just stuck.
Not to mention that whatever rate you hope they say you're being charged is what you're being charged. And what they advertised is probably the minimum for that country. Like India.
India has a different rate for nearly all 28 states and the 7 territories, with some of the capitals in each state billed at different rates and calls to a cell phone are billed at completely different rates to a land line. So unless you keep a stop watch on each and every call, you really don't know what you're being billed or at what rate. And you won't have detailed call log or be able to dispute it if you feel you were cut off too soon because it's prepaid.
As for the guy in the thread who said he got "slammed" and that his LEC chose the "most expensive" carrier for him as a default carrier, he's smoking serious ganja. He makes it sound like they were out to cheat him when it was really his own fault.
Yes, slamming does happen. It's stupid and it's illegal. But most people do NOT want to take responsiblity for making changes to their own phone service, even after they've changed their phone number or address (yes you should call your carrier and make sure they are aware of the change and not just leave it up to your LEC).
LEC's are REQUIRED to ask people who they want for long distance and I'd bet a dime to a donut hole they get one of two responses. "Well who's the cheapest?" or "I dunno."
If you don't want to pay the highest price for services, do your research, make your choice, and make sure you get what you want or be prepared to plunk down a wad of cash.
The company I work for is PowerNet Global. It's a great place to work and has decent service to boot. Do a google search, find an agent and sign up with us. Also offering local and wireless service in several states as well.
DISCLAIMER *The opinions stated here about the companies listed as "evil giants" are my own and should not reflect on PowerNet Global. The comments are made because I have spent anywhere from 30 minutes to 2 hours on hold with all of these companies at one time or another trying to help people navigate their voice mail hell and get simple issues fixed.
It's not new. It's very old.
The Montgomery Bus Boycott showed the same lack of principal by business.
Business will give you any piece of crap, treat you like crap and expect you to show up hat-in-hand begging to be let in. It wasn't just the bus folk claiming that people just had to ride their buses.
The other businesses in Montgomery were angry because those same people weren't coming on the bus to their stores anymore and they were "losing" money. They had they same opinion that they were somehow entitled to folks money even though they had done nothing to earn it and had actually treated their customers like crap.
It's a an old tired song that business never gets tired of singing. They've just moved on from exploiting one group to exploiting everyone. Now that's what I call Equal Opportunity.
Isn't America grand?
How long until we see a "ripped from the headlines" but we "are not depicting any person living or dead" from this on Law and Order?
I'll also take odds that both this video game and the Pacers/Pistons fiasco both make it on by the end of the season. Any takers?
Sorry, but no one's going to gives a shiat if Ted Kennedy is upset over this. Hell, isn't he still on the No Fly List? Does he have any clout or respect left that isn't hanging by the string of his family name anymore? Or any favors he hasn't called in because of the earlier drunken exploits he's gotten out of?
Bottom line: There have been too many recreations of the Kennedy assasination for anyone to balk over one more, however tastless and idiotic it may be.
Frankly, the FCC should have no say one way or the other whether the states can tax anything. It is none of their business. Their mandate is far too wide in the first place and it should be pared back, in my opinion.
Ashcroft may be gone but the idicoy of Michael Powell still reigns.
This is yet another attempt to dumb down consumers to make the more receptive to truly weak sales pitches. Best Buy won't be getting any more of my business if they value this philosophy.
:)
Yeah, but I think they've made it clear they don't want your business anyway
Not really. You can't tell from this guys post whether he's in the 20% they don't want or the 80% they do want.
He could be an 80 percenter who doesn't like to see people with less money mistreated. Or he could be an 80 percenter who realizes that Best Buy's perceptions of his group are equally as insulting.
Why doesn't Best Buy just come out and say they want customers with more cash than common sense? That would be less insulting to the customers they say they want to keep.
Barry: A guy who's willing to blow a wad of cash to prove he has more.
Jill: A mom who's willing to buy and pay anything to be the "coolest" mom or to show off to her friends.
Buzzes: Guy & gals who think they're Slashdot when they're really Fark.
(ouch, that hurt a bit, but I won't cry)/just copied this from my Fark comments about the same article a few minutes ago :)
If you're rich and powerful and have enough money to sue the people using your name, it's cybersquatting.
If you're a poor nobody, who cares?
When I'm not impersonating a glorified light bulb holder online, my name is Deborah. I'd love to use Deborah.com or at least see it used for something other than pr0n. But I'm a poor nobody, so who gives a shiat?
The name is also biblical (which few people know, but Deborah was a tough enough chic back in the B.C. days to rate a couple of chapters in the male dominated Good Book). Now all Debbie is known for is the mark she made on Dallas.
I guess that's part of the point as well though. If you're known well enough for people to be googling you or think that your name should equal dotcom somewhere in the netaverse, then maybe just maybe, the person who feels they're being maligned should be master of their own domain.
Seems like everything generates a lawsuit these days, but couldn't we (we meaning any and all American Citizens) sue the CPD for fraud or something like it?
In essence they are purporting to the American People that they are presenting a "fair and balanced" view of the presidential candidates to the citizens of this country and they are not.
That, to me, is fraud. If it's not a federal crime to unfairly influence election results, it should be and it seems the folks who run the CPD are decidedly guilty.
If a lawsuit against the CPD is unreasonable, then what do you all think it will really take to overhaul the way our election process is run.
I for one feel that the current process has outlived it's usefulness and should be completely overhauled.
Well, the FCC clearly does have some authority over end-user devices: notice the FCC logo on the back of every monitor/TV in the US? There's a reason it's there.
Yes, part of the reason it's there is to ensure that the whatever electronic device meets safety guidlines and standards so little Johnny doesn't get the worst electric shock of his just ended life just for turning the thing on; or so you don't get brain cancer just so you can get a better signal on your wireless.
Granted this might not be a long term solution, if you could get it to be somewhat the same power as running on gasoline it could give us time to develop hydrogen or what ever while not using our oil.
.vs vegetable oil debate when you can just get your fuel from the garden hose.
Why bother with ye olde hydrogen
WagerWeb was knocked offline for about a day, says Dan Johnson, senior VP and senior oddsmaker at the site. Rather than pay off the attackers, the company called on its technical forces to build a defense and enlisted the help of Internet security-services provider Prolexic Technologies Inc. The vendor's services, at about $100,000 a year, aren't cheap. But, "I'd rather pay the $100,000 than pay the extortionists," Johnson says. The gamble paid off. "As soon as we got the service running, the attack stopped," technology manager Burns says.
1. Find Security Holes
2. Send extortion letters
3. Exploit security holes to show you mean business.
4. Company Pays extortion money
5. Profit
6. Extortionists hit them one time to many, company gets sick of it. Extortionists get caught and go to jail.
OR
4. Advertise solution to security problems under a different company name (i.e. Proicanfixit Technologies)
5. Solve companies problem
6. Profit to the tune of $100, 000 a year for life
I'm sure there's a hole in this theory somewhere (collusion, racketeering, plain old thievery) and I'm sure one of you will kindly point out what it is.
This post is so sad, regardless of the fact that it's marked "Insightful". The people (in America anyway) ARE the goverment. The sad part is too many citizens of this country are so disconnected from this idea that they don't realize the government is not some separate, mysterious entity. The preamble doesn't say "We, the people and those who govern them", it simply says "We the people". The people in Kuztown did what people at Slashdot talk about all the time. They woke up. They realized that where getting less than stellar service at stellar prices and (probably after getting absolutly nowhere with their "local" providers)they decided to do something about it.' From the article: The aim of the Government Competition Against Private Enterprise Act (HB298) is to "protect economic opportunities for private enterprise against unfair competition by government agencies" in services "beyond their government function." In other words, Private corporations know what is better for citizens than the citizens themselves. We've seen this time and again with the RIAA and MPAA. A bunch of private companies get together, build a larger monopoly and then decide that they know better than the people, what people should spend their money on an how it should be spent. It's time some communities took a stand on this and not only changed the laws but maybe started having more control over their own telecommunications lines... Oh wait...
Should there be another Trek TV series?
Definitely not. They've bled them dry and if Voyager and Enterprise are any indication of where the series is headed, then by all means, no more tv shows.
Should there be another Trek Movie?
Not until Jonathan Frakes is either dead or otherwise incapacitated.
No matter about the movies and tv series, the Fandom will rock on under it's own steam for another few decades or until every last series is out of syndication and even then I'm not really sure that the Fandom can die.
People will still have conventions and websites and the multiplayer game if they want the "Star Trek Experience", speaking of which, has anyone visited Deep Space Nine in Las Vegas?
At any rate, Leonard Nemoy is the last person to look to for objective commentary on whether the franchise would die. He's been campaigning for it to die in one way or another since "The Search for Spock". I guess being an icon sucks but if he no longer wants to participate he should just quit showing up at conventions and crap instead of putting on the "woe-is-me" act.
This site has nothing to offer but a bunch of think-they-are-smart geeks whining about Microsoft and whoring themselves for Apple. I don't know about the "whoring themselves for Apple" part, but the Microsoft hatred is very strong. One day, back when I was still using windows and word, word crashed one time too many because I moved a text box from point A to point B. I cried out to the tech gods, "There must be an easier way" and of course I turned to google to find another way. (All hail Linux). This story is too long at this point, and the post doesn't really matter anyway, but I'll speed things along here. In a moment of extreme frustration I typed into the google search bar "Microsft SUX". The very first search result was a post here at slashdot. I joined up and have been here at least once a day ever since. (Penguins are sexy wise beasts, Amen).
A The right to due process of law as granted in the 5th Amendment.
Want more to be listed, smart guy?
OK, supposedly smart guy...
Name one right that cannot now be circumvented by the Patriot Act and didn't apply to you anyway if you were of color, wearing a turban or veil, or using a laptop outside a library?
Well, the difference being that it is a private school with its own set of laws. Even though the knee-jerk supporters of the first amendement will be up at arms about this, it's really a question of vandalism than anything else.
So was the Boston Tea Party. And look where that got us.
Also, the author of Harry Potter is a proponent of wicca.
This should be modded down and is definitely NOT informative. It is the exact opposite.
J.K. Rowling is NOT a proponent of Wicca and herself does not believe in or practice witchcraft or wicca of any kind or persuasion.
She has stated this repeatedly in various press interviews.
I wish /. would have an "International Joe/Jill Six Pack Day". A day when geeks everywhere commit to spending time with those less fortunate and clueless people on PC education.
Maybe even take some promising above average newbie under your wings and teach them as much as you can.
You won't live forever you know and you should pass on your knowledge.
...sharing copyrighted works with the expectation of getting works in return counts as "financial gain". So if I share and ask for nothing back...just from the goodness of my heart, then what?
YAY! =D
Finally some good news in the fight against idiocy and censorship! You can never know how glad I was to read this article today! I am so happy for the JibJab guys! I really thought the lawsuit was ridiculous.
(Please excuse my overuse of exclamation points, but I am really happy about this!)
I read the official reason, but I'm thinking the case had to be thrown out because they realized that it was going to be hard to find anyone, let alone a judge, who could watch the video and not have to be escorted from the room for laughing so hard!
At least America hasn't been ruled or legislated out of having a sense of humor. For today anway...
...say we get their staff on the list. Someone that's important to them, but not important enough that they'd pay to charter rates to fly 'em around. No, then we'd just see more of our tax dollars "at work" in the transportation industry.