From the blurb, it is first said that the bill would designate ISPs who block a range of prohibited materials as child friendly. Then the quote specifically says about blocking pornography. So which is it? Is Utah going to be a nanny state and tell its citizens what is and is not prohibited or is it going after just pornography?
What is considered "a range of prohibited materials"? Pornography in all its forms or just porn between two men (but not two women*)? What about transvestite or shemale sex? Does that range include sites on abortion or anti-religious views, including shots at LDS? What about sites calling for the impeachment of George Bush? Who decides and on what basis is it determined that a site should be blocked?
I guess the good folks of Utah have no problem being considered the same as China, North Korea, Myanmar and a whole host of other countries who prohibit their citizens from seeing certain material because it is deemed offensive or against public morals.
*Why is it, when talking about gay porn, it is always about two men having sex but no one seems to have a problem with two women having sex? Why is the chant, "It's Adam and Eve not Adam and Steve" rather than, "It's Adam and Eve not Shannon and Eve"?
why would you ever measure the worth of a product by how much money was made from it?
Because, as a rule, people don't mind paying for something they perceive to be worth the expenditure of money. You can use any product you want; cars, movies, books, knives, all are measured both in number of units sold as well as how much money was generated by their puchases. Statistics are kept on the best selling products as well as the most profitable products. One can use those statistics to show that product 'X' was worth something to the masses because it generated 'Y' dollars in both sales and profit.
Now it's time for me to burn my karma. It is only on places such as this that people think others should produce a product and give it away because they're too cheap to compensate the producer of said product. If someone wants to produce a product using their own money and then give that product away, that is their right. No one should expect to be able to take or use someone else's product without compensating the producer.
Reminds me of the M*A*SH episode. . . .
on
Kimchi in Space
·
· Score: 3, Interesting
where the ever diligent Frank Burns saw some Koreans burying mines or bombs in a field near their base. He went out with metal detectors and a few helpers to find and remove these nefarious devices. Hawkeye and B.J. tagged along to see how things went.
Needless to say, Frank finds one of these bombs and uncovers it. As he's standing there practically gloating to Hawkeye about being right, Hawkeye promptly opens the top, to Frank's evident distress, at which point a pungent odor wafts into the air. Hawkeye then lets Frank in on what's been happening and explains these are kim-chi pots the villagers are burying.
Balloon-borne transceivers are launched every 8 to 12 hours and last for about 24 hours before bursting and floating gently back down to earth. Each box of tricks carries a $100 reward for whoever finds it and returns it safely.
That's an awful waste of resources not to mention what happens if someone is transmitting a signal when the balloon in your area pops? How much does all this constant launching and recovering cost compared to just putting in a tower despite the remoteness?
I can see using these balloons for limited times, such as emergencies, or battlefield conditions where there are no cell towers (as the article intimates) but for every day use? I don't think so.
And what is this 'floating gently back down to earth' stuff? Unless they have a parachute, the tranceiver will not be floating gently back down to earth when the balloon pops. It will be plummeting.
but without being able to see the process in nature, it is difficult to justify calling it scientific fact.
Yeah, because without all those fossils showing us the evolution of a horse or human, there would be no way to show the evolutionary process in action. And let's not forget the different shapes of the beaks of the birds that Darwin studied. Those certainly don't show any kind of evolutionary action.
Why do people keep insisting that Evolution, the act itself, isn't a fact? If there were no fact, then there wouldn't be a theory. The only reason theories come about is because of a fact.
As if the notion that campaign contributions are not bribes, here is what the National Association of Home Builders PAC has to say about their contributions to political campaigns:
"Today, the National Association of Home Builders' Political Action Committee, BUILD-PAC, and its 150-member Board of Trustees representing all 50 states, agreed to cease all approvals and disbursements of BUILD-PAC contributions to federal congressional candidates and their PACs until further notice.
"This extraordinary action was taken because the NAHB BUILD-PAC Board of Trustees felt that over the past six months Congress and the Administration have not adequately addressed the underlying economic issues that would help to stabilize the housing sector and keep the economy moving forward. Housing and related industries account for more than 16 percent of the Gross Domestic Product. More needs to be done to jump-start housing and ensure the economy does not fall into a recession. This action will remain in effect until further notice."
The crux of the matter is the homebuilders wanted Congress to pass a new tax law for them, and only them, which would allow them to offset their past profits with future losses. Congress didn't do this when they implemented their debt-increasing package (er, stimulus package) and so the PAC has stomped off like a mad three year old, taking its money with it.
What is Lessig's opinion of such legalized bribery and how does he intend to compensate for it?
of the situation years ago when a patch went that killed ones network connection. The solution from Microsoft? Download a new patch to correct the situation.
The liberals are hypocrites for preaching cultural relativism but not practicing it.
Whoa! Hold on thar pardner. Your first sentence was correct but your second one needs to be reconsidered. While yes, there are those on the left who say one thing and do another, there are just as many, if not more, folks on the right who are just as hypocritical. Let's use the current financial mess the country is in.
As a rule, those on the right will talk about free markets and capitalism working more efficiently than government programs. However, who are the ones shouting the loudest for the government to bail out banks, mortgage lenders, home builders and related folks? Yes, people like Hillary and Obama but also folks like Larry Kudlow and Jim Cramer. In fact, despite his supposed anti-government, pro-business stance, Larry is undoubtedly the loudest cheerleader for the government to solve problems created by the free market.
The same goes with subsidies for farmers and tax breaks for oil companies. If the free market is so great, how come we haven't gotten rid of those tax breaks for oil companies who are making billions of dollars in profits each quarter? What about the subsidies for ethanol production? If the free market is supposed to solve our problems, let the ethanol industry do its own work.
Then there is the issue of gay marriage. Whenever you talk to people who claim to be conservatives, invariably they will say they don't want the government telling them how to live their lives. Yet, when gay marriage is brought up, the first thing these same people will tell you is the government should outlaw it.
The same situation exists about flag burning. Everyone is entitled to their free speech rights except when it comes to flag burning.
Then there is the whole religion issue. If you even think about doing something that the right believes will be an infringement on their religious (i.e. Christian) principles, they'll raise holy hell (pun intended). However, if an atheist or wiccan wants to espouse their views or have their views included, well that ain't right. Those heathens should be tarred and feathered.
See what I'm getting at? Most people are willing to talk the talk but few are actually willing to walk the walk. For all their talk of smaller, less intrusive government, lower government spending and related matters, the conservative wing of politics in this country has done the complete opposite. This administration alone has had the greatest expansion of government since FDR and this was when there was a Republican president and Repubican-controlled Congress.
You might want to look in the mirror the next time you think only one side are hypocrites.
Yes, all we need is a world dictatorship to tell sovereign nations what they are permitted to do.
Such as telling certain countries they are not allowed to have nuclear weapons while allowing, and even encouraging, others to do so. Or telling certain countries they cannot have wmds in general and then invading that country to prove they don't have any. Or did you mean not trading with a country until it changes its political climate?
You mean a world dictatorship telling soverign nations what they are permitted to do like that, right?
1) . . . will suck up all the dirt and grim and little bits from below.
That would be one mighty vaccum considering it would have to pull all the dirt, skin flecks, dead organisms, etc through the bottom of the carpet.
2) an in-sink dishwasher
Unless you're a bachelor, it would take forever to wash a load of dishes for a standard-size family (two adults, two kids)
3) that will help me track my chores and tasks for that day, wake me in the morning, remind me of events on certain dates...
It's called a wife. You should look into it.
4) runs energy efficient!
Turn off lights in rooms you're not in, open the curtains on your windows to let in natural light, open windows during warmer months instead of using a/c
See, no need for the house of tomorrow. It's already here!
How do I turn this crap off? If I put a piece of food on the counter I'm either:
a) putting it there temporarily because I just bought it for future use in a recipe and haven't put it away or b) putting it there to be used in a recipe I am currently making
I don't need something to tell me what I can make with whatever food is sitting on the counter. What if I leave my bananas sitting on the counter (which I do)? Will I be bombarded with a non-stop barrage of recipes or ideas on how to use those bananas until I eat them? What about that bottle of olive oil that sits there?
I realize there are those who will find this kind of stuff neat and are probably the same people who think having GPS systems permanently installed in ones new car is a good thing, but I don't. The more complicated you make something, the more chances there are for something to fail. Apparently the KISS principle has been abandoned by designers.
It's not mine per se. It's where I work. That's the way it looks after I've done a small amount of organization to the cables.
One of the first things I asked if could be done when I started here was to go through each closet and try to get them organized. Make sure they cables were wrapped around each other, each cable was labeled, etc. Obviously my request hasn't been acted upon.
At least I've been able to document what device is using what cable number connected to what port on a switch. Granted, others haven't been keeping up with the changes but at least I try.
That's my understanding as well. Cable = sharing a big pipe with others, fiber et al = smaller pipe dedicated to you.
Both have their merits but Comcast and others don't tell you that so you can get inconsistent speeds whereas with fiber and others, your speed is pretty much constant. They will claim this is no longer true but obviously it is.
It didn't appear in the linked article but in this AP news article from Excite, the following comment by Comcast stood out in my mind:
Comcast says it must curb some file-sharing traffic because some subscribers would otherwise hog the cables with their uploads and slow traffic in their neighborhood.
In other words, despite what Comcast and every other cable provider who offers high-speed access to the Net will have you believe, you are still sharing one line with all your neighbors. This is different than FiOS or other non-cable connections where you have your own line.
They'll never admit to it but their own comments prove otherwise.
This is what one of our wiring closets looks like. Untangling cables to have some sense of order is just another job duty.
And in case anyone is wondering, yes, those are punchdown boxes you see. It would be horrible to run the cable directly to the switch without having boxes and patch cables on each end.
The fact of the matter is, they shouldn't sign a contract which doesn't compensate them for things they want to be compensated for.
That's all well and good except I'll wager that when they signed their previous contract, NBC et al were not redistributing their shows via iTunes or other means. It's only been a year or so the major players started doing that so the writers had no way of knowing that that would take place when they signed their previous contract.
I've said many times I am not a big fan of unions, especially since I worked in a forced union dues paying environment (state government) but on rare occasions I do agree with some things unions want for their members.
Unions only serve to create imbalances of power that primarily benefit a few.
Agreed. And those few are the ones at the top end of the unions themselves. The amount of money those folks make while stealing money from those they supposedly represent is ridiculous.
Labor unions reward mediocrity.
Yeah, have to agree with you there. Even though I don't fall under the mediocrity mindset (I'm there to do a job and I do it well) there are those people that you have to wonder how they function every day they're so stupid.
I kid you not, we have at least one guy who every day, day after day, would try to get at adult sites for 20 - 30 minutes at a time even though we block that stuff. We logged every attempt and every site and as far as I know, passed the info along to the higher ups. He's still working.
By the same token it's not always unions that reward mediocrity. Our CIO is essentially incompetent. As far as I can tell he has no organizational skills, most definitely has no social skills and knows he's in over his head with the ERP upgrade we're going through but will never admit it, yet he still gets his 100K salary because the higher ups think he's doing a good job. Why do they think he's doing a good job? Because we're doing our best to keep things on schedule despite his incompetence.
Hopefully, if things go well, I'll be moving up and out in a few weeks and so won't have to deal with the nonsense any longer. Spend a few more years getting some experience under my belt then move back out to the private sector.
a large portion of those who work hard to entertain you
If someone doesn't watch tv, then how are/were they affected by this strike? They weren't. I do watch some tv but didn't really notice any change except for reruns of 'How I Met Your Mother' and 'The Big Bang Theory'. Other than that, no problems here either.
Aside from that, this is probably one of the few times I will agree with a union demand. In this case, yes, the writers should get compensated for their work when that work is sent online, on DVD or elsewhere. The medium doesn't matter. The fact of the matter is, they worked to produced the product, they should get compensated.
I'm a big proponent of not buying goods made in China due to their human rights abuses, but this most certainly falls under the cool category (literally). Dragging all that equipment and fuel across what is probably the most barren landscape on the planet, with weather conditions subject to change at a moments notice, is a feat. Unfortunately, the generator will now be polluting this area but I don't think solar panels would do the trick.
Something else though. With the recent flyby of an asteroid last month, wouldn't this location also be a good place to look for asteroids or other objects coming at us from that direction?
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From the blurb, it is first said that the bill would designate ISPs who block a range of prohibited materials as child friendly. Then the quote specifically says about blocking pornography. So which is it? Is Utah going to be a nanny state and tell its citizens what is and is not prohibited or is it going after just pornography?
What is considered "a range of prohibited materials"? Pornography in all its forms or just porn between two men (but not two women*)? What about transvestite or shemale sex? Does that range include sites on abortion or anti-religious views, including shots at LDS? What about sites calling for the impeachment of George Bush? Who decides and on what basis is it determined that a site should be blocked?
I guess the good folks of Utah have no problem being considered the same as China, North Korea, Myanmar and a whole host of other countries who prohibit their citizens from seeing certain material because it is deemed offensive or against public morals.
*Why is it, when talking about gay porn, it is always about two men having sex but no one seems to have a problem with two women having sex? Why is the chant, "It's Adam and Eve not Adam and Steve" rather than, "It's Adam and Eve not Shannon and Eve"?
HEY! I resemble that remark.
Besides, can I help it if question marks are tasty?
Based on at least one person I've seen on that show, they very well could be.
Because, as a rule, people don't mind paying for something they perceive to be worth the expenditure of money. You can use any product you want; cars, movies, books, knives, all are measured both in number of units sold as well as how much money was generated by their puchases. Statistics are kept on the best selling products as well as the most profitable products. One can use those statistics to show that product 'X' was worth something to the masses because it generated 'Y' dollars in both sales and profit.
Now it's time for me to burn my karma. It is only on places such as this that people think others should produce a product and give it away because they're too cheap to compensate the producer of said product. If someone wants to produce a product using their own money and then give that product away, that is their right. No one should expect to be able to take or use someone else's product without compensating the producer.
where the ever diligent Frank Burns saw some Koreans burying mines or bombs in a field near their base. He went out with metal detectors and a few helpers to find and remove these nefarious devices. Hawkeye and B.J. tagged along to see how things went.
Needless to say, Frank finds one of these bombs and uncovers it. As he's standing there practically gloating to Hawkeye about being right, Hawkeye promptly opens the top, to Frank's evident distress, at which point a pungent odor wafts into the air. Hawkeye then lets Frank in on what's been happening and explains these are kim-chi pots the villagers are burying.
Funny what one can learn from watching t.v.
If you're this guy, you never have to wonder about that question. (third paragraph)
And for the record, I worked with this guy for a time.
That's an awful waste of resources not to mention what happens if someone is transmitting a signal when the balloon in your area pops? How much does all this constant launching and recovering cost compared to just putting in a tower despite the remoteness?
I can see using these balloons for limited times, such as emergencies, or battlefield conditions where there are no cell towers (as the article intimates) but for every day use? I don't think so.
And what is this 'floating gently back down to earth' stuff? Unless they have a parachute, the tranceiver will not be floating gently back down to earth when the balloon pops. It will be plummeting.
Yeah, because without all those fossils showing us the evolution of a horse or human, there would be no way to show the evolutionary process in action. And let's not forget the different shapes of the beaks of the birds that Darwin studied. Those certainly don't show any kind of evolutionary action.
Why do people keep insisting that Evolution, the act itself, isn't a fact? If there were no fact, then there wouldn't be a theory. The only reason theories come about is because of a fact.
The crux of the matter is the homebuilders wanted Congress to pass a new tax law for them, and only them, which would allow them to offset their past profits with future losses. Congress didn't do this when they implemented their debt-increasing package (er, stimulus package) and so the PAC has stomped off like a mad three year old, taking its money with it.
What is Lessig's opinion of such legalized bribery and how does he intend to compensate for it?
Links to the NAHB PAC announcement may be found here and from The Washington Post.
of the situation years ago when a patch went that killed ones network connection. The solution from Microsoft? Download a new patch to correct the situation.
Um, yeah.
Whoa! Hold on thar pardner. Your first sentence was correct but your second one needs to be reconsidered. While yes, there are those on the left who say one thing and do another, there are just as many, if not more, folks on the right who are just as hypocritical. Let's use the current financial mess the country is in.
As a rule, those on the right will talk about free markets and capitalism working more efficiently than government programs. However, who are the ones shouting the loudest for the government to bail out banks, mortgage lenders, home builders and related folks? Yes, people like Hillary and Obama but also folks like Larry Kudlow and Jim Cramer. In fact, despite his supposed anti-government, pro-business stance, Larry is undoubtedly the loudest cheerleader for the government to solve problems created by the free market.
The same goes with subsidies for farmers and tax breaks for oil companies. If the free market is so great, how come we haven't gotten rid of those tax breaks for oil companies who are making billions of dollars in profits each quarter? What about the subsidies for ethanol production? If the free market is supposed to solve our problems, let the ethanol industry do its own work.
Then there is the issue of gay marriage. Whenever you talk to people who claim to be conservatives, invariably they will say they don't want the government telling them how to live their lives. Yet, when gay marriage is brought up, the first thing these same people will tell you is the government should outlaw it.
The same situation exists about flag burning. Everyone is entitled to their free speech rights except when it comes to flag burning.
Then there is the whole religion issue. If you even think about doing something that the right believes will be an infringement on their religious (i.e. Christian) principles, they'll raise holy hell (pun intended). However, if an atheist or wiccan wants to espouse their views or have their views included, well that ain't right. Those heathens should be tarred and feathered.
See what I'm getting at? Most people are willing to talk the talk but few are actually willing to walk the walk. For all their talk of smaller, less intrusive government, lower government spending and related matters, the conservative wing of politics in this country has done the complete opposite. This administration alone has had the greatest expansion of government since FDR and this was when there was a Republican president and Repubican-controlled Congress.
You might want to look in the mirror the next time you think only one side are hypocrites.
Such as telling certain countries they are not allowed to have nuclear weapons while allowing, and even encouraging, others to do so. Or telling certain countries they cannot have wmds in general and then invading that country to prove they don't have any. Or did you mean not trading with a country until it changes its political climate?
You mean a world dictatorship telling soverign nations what they are permitted to do like that, right?
No problem. Just make streets out of the darkest material yet created.
That would be one mighty vaccum considering it would have to pull all the dirt, skin flecks, dead organisms, etc through the bottom of the carpet.
2) an in-sink dishwasher
Unless you're a bachelor, it would take forever to wash a load of dishes for a standard-size family (two adults, two kids)
3) that will help me track my chores and tasks for that day, wake me in the morning, remind me of events on certain dates...
It's called a wife. You should look into it.
4) runs energy efficient!
Turn off lights in rooms you're not in, open the curtains on your windows to let in natural light, open windows during warmer months instead of using a/c
See, no need for the house of tomorrow. It's already here!
How do I turn this crap off? If I put a piece of food on the counter I'm either:
a) putting it there temporarily because I just bought it for future use in a recipe and haven't put it away or
b) putting it there to be used in a recipe I am currently making
I don't need something to tell me what I can make with whatever food is sitting on the counter. What if I leave my bananas sitting on the counter (which I do)? Will I be bombarded with a non-stop barrage of recipes or ideas on how to use those bananas until I eat them? What about that bottle of olive oil that sits there?
I realize there are those who will find this kind of stuff neat and are probably the same people who think having GPS systems permanently installed in ones new car is a good thing, but I don't. The more complicated you make something, the more chances there are for something to fail. Apparently the KISS principle has been abandoned by designers.
It was on Monday night at 8:30, right after 'How I Met Your Mother' but a recent rerun was on a Wednesday night at 8:30.
That said, new episodes will be coming out March 17 according to this article.
It's not mine per se. It's where I work. That's the way it looks after I've done a small amount of organization to the cables.
One of the first things I asked if could be done when I started here was to go through each closet and try to get them organized. Make sure they cables were wrapped around each other, each cable was labeled, etc. Obviously my request hasn't been acted upon.
At least I've been able to document what device is using what cable number connected to what port on a switch. Granted, others haven't been keeping up with the changes but at least I try.
That's my understanding as well. Cable = sharing a big pipe with others, fiber et al = smaller pipe dedicated to you.
Both have their merits but Comcast and others don't tell you that so you can get inconsistent speeds whereas with fiber and others, your speed is pretty much constant. They will claim this is no longer true but obviously it is.
In other words, despite what Comcast and every other cable provider who offers high-speed access to the Net will have you believe, you are still sharing one line with all your neighbors. This is different than FiOS or other non-cable connections where you have your own line.
They'll never admit to it but their own comments prove otherwise.
And in case anyone is wondering, yes, those are punchdown boxes you see. It would be horrible to run the cable directly to the switch without having boxes and patch cables on each end.
That's all well and good except I'll wager that when they signed their previous contract, NBC et al were not redistributing their shows via iTunes or other means. It's only been a year or so the major players started doing that so the writers had no way of knowing that that would take place when they signed their previous contract.
I've said many times I am not a big fan of unions, especially since I worked in a forced union dues paying environment (state government) but on rare occasions I do agree with some things unions want for their members.
Unions only serve to create imbalances of power that primarily benefit a few.
Agreed. And those few are the ones at the top end of the unions themselves. The amount of money those folks make while stealing money from those they supposedly represent is ridiculous.
Labor unions reward mediocrity.
Yeah, have to agree with you there. Even though I don't fall under the mediocrity mindset (I'm there to do a job and I do it well) there are those people that you have to wonder how they function every day they're so stupid.
I kid you not, we have at least one guy who every day, day after day, would try to get at adult sites for 20 - 30 minutes at a time even though we block that stuff. We logged every attempt and every site and as far as I know, passed the info along to the higher ups. He's still working.
By the same token it's not always unions that reward mediocrity. Our CIO is essentially incompetent. As far as I can tell he has no organizational skills, most definitely has no social skills and knows he's in over his head with the ERP upgrade we're going through but will never admit it, yet he still gets his 100K salary because the higher ups think he's doing a good job. Why do they think he's doing a good job? Because we're doing our best to keep things on schedule despite his incompetence.
Hopefully, if things go well, I'll be moving up and out in a few weeks and so won't have to deal with the nonsense any longer. Spend a few more years getting some experience under my belt then move back out to the private sector.
If someone doesn't watch tv, then how are/were they affected by this strike? They weren't. I do watch some tv but didn't really notice any change except for reruns of 'How I Met Your Mother' and 'The Big Bang Theory'. Other than that, no problems here either.
Aside from that, this is probably one of the few times I will agree with a union demand. In this case, yes, the writers should get compensated for their work when that work is sent online, on DVD or elsewhere. The medium doesn't matter. The fact of the matter is, they worked to produced the product, they should get compensated.
Goofing off for the last 20 minutes or so of the day.
I'm a big proponent of not buying goods made in China due to their human rights abuses, but this most certainly falls under the cool category (literally). Dragging all that equipment and fuel across what is probably the most barren landscape on the planet, with weather conditions subject to change at a moments notice, is a feat. Unfortunately, the generator will now be polluting this area but I don't think solar panels would do the trick.
Something else though. With the recent flyby of an asteroid last month, wouldn't this location also be a good place to look for asteroids or other objects coming at us from that direction?
If it's anything like SafeBoot, no. Would you want to have to put in a username and password twice every time your laptop went to sleep?
The way SafeBoot works you only have to get past it once, when your machine starts, then you log onto the domain.