Travelling at speeds of up to 130km/hr (80mph), these teams will race from Austin Texas to Calgary Alberta all with no non-reusable energy.
That will be an impressive feat, with the US Federal highway speed limit of 65, and a Canadian speed limit on major roads up there not much faster; 100km/hr to 120km/hr, if I recall on my last trip?(it was months ago, sorry). Why is it that nobody else is allowed to break the speed limit, but these guys are? +5 interesting. unsound, but interesting.
If you plan to spend much time on the internets, you might want to learn the meaning of "up to".
Ok, we know it's a dupe. Here is a dupe of what I wrote last time: dupe.
However, this article gets the story wrong. "Arrested for stealing wifi."
Previously, the original post had been titled, florida man arrested for using wifi.
He was using the wifi.
He wasn't stealing it.
He wasn't arrested for stealing it.
He was charged with unauthorized access to a computer network. Since his access was authorized (in dispute, but reasonable) a good lawyer could get him off. If he can't afford his own net connection, what are the chances he can afford a good lawyer? I encourage slashdot users to ask the prosecutor to drop the case, and if that fails, to consider filing a complaint with the florida attorney disciplinary commission, and to see to it that the prosecutor gets some competition within his party in the next election.
The guy's conduct is like somebody who rides an elevator or escalator they don't own, or who listens to a radio station they don't own. Reasonable people can disagree whether or not his conduct was authorized. No reasonable person could contend that he was charged with stealing. The article isn't just a dupe, it's wrong. I must be new here.
Human meat is one of the obvious potentials of this technology. Tastes like pork. Growing it in a a vat solves many of the ethical problems.
The idea of artificial meat is not new. Robert Heinlein may have invented it. Was it in The Moon is a Harsh Mistress? His character built an artifical cow for milk, and beef was a byproduct. Pohl and Kornbluth also had the concept, in, I think, the Space Merchants, a giant chicken heart.
I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and assume you understand that the "bash over the head" model of caveman culture is a false sterotype invented by some male paleontologist geek types, projecting their own issues. Paleolithic women chose their mates based on perceived fitness. http://www.blockbonobofoundation.org/ (not entirely work-safe) makes some comparisons of pygmy chimp culture and human culture that might be relevant.
All well and good, but some of us don't live with our parents and need to pay rent or a mortgage. So the "not having a job" is not really an option....Hmm...living without working, hey how do you do that?
Short flippant version: make money fast, then retire. Be the guy who sold beer.com for $500K. Longer version: Rent or a mortgage may well be your best option, but it's not your only option. I paid rent for 10 years, then I paid a mortgage for 5 years, then I paid cash for my second house. Currently I rent out that house which covers my rent and utilities at a cheaper place, and a little extra for my few necessities like instant coffee @ $4/lb. I also have some investment income. I also have some hobbies, like my law practice, which might generate income someday, and a few internet plays like google ads on my blog.
I can't explain the whole technology of living outside the money economy in one slashdot post. There are good books out there - Possum Living, Walden, stuff by Rodale Press and Mother earth News, cory doctorow's free online books, Euwell Gibbons, etc.
Make a list of what you've spent money on in the past year. Figure out strategies to meet those goals without money. Get a computer, a bike, a garden, a network of friends. Your list might look like this: taxes, housing, transportation, entertainment, food, clothing, toys, gifts. There are ways to reduce expenses in each category. Reduce, reuse, recycle. Several billion people are living well at under $5K/yr. A smart guy like you can come up with $5K/yr without a job. probably a lot of your expenses - big house in expensive area, new car, fancy suits - are things you need for your job. get rid of the job, and you are more free to adopt new strategies.
When robert heinlein was in his late 30s, he got sick and couldn't hold a regular job. So he became a writer. I'm not saying everybody should quit their day job today and move to a yurt in thailand. I am saying everybody can makes plans about their future in which a job is an option, not a sentence. And then take incremental steps in that direction, like saving more and buying less or buying cheaper. I'm also not talking about living without effort - i'm talking about not being chained to a paycheck.
Pasco County Of,Pinella County of, State Attorney's Office, Clearwater - (727) 464-6221 - , Clearwater, FL 33755 - Google Maps 14250 49th St N, Clearwater, FL 33762 - (the number seems to be to a central switchboard for a bunch of offices - so if you call know who you are calling. - oh. Bernie McCabe handles both counties. Post Office Box 5028, Clearwater, Florida 34618 Telephone (813) XXX-XXXX Bernie McCabe Firm: State of Florida, State Attorney's Office, 6th Judicial Circuit Address: Room B-200 5100 144th Ave N Clearwater, FL 34620-2803 Phone: (727) 464-6221 (Pinellas County) (727) 847-8158 (New Port Richey) Fax: (727) 464-7303 E-mail: Best known for the terry shiavo case.
* Bernie Mccabe Unlisted Phone Number & Address Found. - Information was found in Public Records, including Age, Address History and Family Members.
www.intelius.com
"It's no different if I went out and bought a Microsoft program and started sharing it with everyone in my apartment. It's theft," said Kena Lewis, spokeswoman for Bright House Networks in Orlando. "Just because a crime may be undetectable doesn't make it right."
Perhaps someone with a more objective outlook on this than i have can express an informed opinion about whether this is defamation. To do: cancel brighthouse subscription.
-Times staff writer Matthew Waite contributed to this report. Alex Leary can be reached at 727 893-8472 or leary@sptimes.com I think that this article was shameless yellow journalism. A drive through downtown St. Petersburg shows how porous networks can be. In less than five minutes, a Times reporter with a laptop found 14 wireless access points, six of which were wide open Has he been arrested yet? Six felonies in 5 minutes - a serial hacker, clearly 3|33t. Or are they arresting some people and not others, in an arbitrary and capricious manner?
I'm guessing some of the big title company chains are starting to do this sort of thing, for internal use, but will keep it as a trade secret in the near term.
Let's focus a bit on the potential evil uses. Spam that knows where you live?
you are in luck! check his blog. http://www.wilwheaton.net/ there's a sort of pre-release version of him reading just a geek. and he has audioblogs. and i think if you check him under amazon, that he's done an audiobook of tom sawyer or something. also, since you sound like a nice person, check tehsoapbox.net. it's a.php forum that evolved out of what used to be wil's forum. http://www.stripcreator.com/comics/arbi/295345
Reno v ACLU was a set of consolidated cases. Congress passed the Exxon-Coats bill which would have prohibited online indecency. A flock of people sued. By the time it got to the supreme court, the lead counsel were Ann Beeson for the ACLU, Mike Godwin for EFF, and I think David Sobel for, was it EPIC or CPSR. Reasonable question.
Parent post is modded "3 interestingly wrong". It should modded down, overrated or perhaps troll. A single counterexample out of dozens: Reno v ACLU http://laws.findlaw.com/us/000/96-511.html EFF's attorney was Mike Godwin. Maybe you've heard of him.
heh. that's funnier than mine. I tried that once, but I had to fire myself, for showing up late, missing deadlines, and just sitting around reading slashdot all day. Luckily the severance package was good. Eventually, I'll go do something else.
A few thoughts about the article: It compares apples and volcanos: Profit in the top 7 firms versus employment thoughout the county.
Companies with employees are working them overtime because of the regulatory costs of adding new employees - budgeting now for that employee's retirement health care, unemployment insurance, severance package, harrassment litigation costs, etc. In exchange the overtime worker's week looks likes this: 20 hours working. 10 hours meetings. 10 hours coffee breaks. 20 hours slashdot/irc/ebay.
Harry Browne, in how i found freedom in an unfree world, suggested companies that would be networks of subcontractors with no employees as such. The industry has taken him up on that to some extent; we are all consultants now.
The austrian school of economics says that a market economy drives technological change via temporary monopolies. IBM gives way to Microsoft gives way to Google. My dad worked for one firm for 30 years for a paycheck, a profitsharing bonus, and a pension. Most of the places I've worked are now out of business, and i've built and lost a few small (really small) businesses, and don't know in detail what i'll be doing in 5 years. The dot.com boom was driven by stock options. Get in on the ground floor, work a few years, IPO, cash out, retire, build reputation capital by working on open source, so you can get in on the ground floor of the next wave.
The japanese are good at this because their culture is used to rebuilding periodicly after an earthquake/tsunami/typhoon/invasion.
The material standard of living is 5 times what it was when I was born. It's not evenly distributed, but today's american poor tend to have hot water, refridgerators, cable tv, dvd player. People who have lost hi-tech jobs in silicon valley are not mostly standing in soup lines or picking cotton. They've moved on to the next thing, and are probably materially better off than their grandparents. They may feel a loss of social status if they are clerking at 7-11, because they didn't save half their pay when they did have a job, or they saved in their now-worthless company stock. The future is very uncertain. Save like crazy, diversify your portfolio, keep your skill sets current, make 5 good friends, keep a bag packed, have an exit strategy.
If you absolutely must deal with circuit city, pay cash. I made the mistake of getting their "free" credit card when I bought a computer there. They screwed up my account, and then spent a year harrassing me by phone about it. My go.to/circuitcitysux page is no longer on line, but I one point I had this all fully documented. I did end up learning a lot about my rights as a consumer. ---
As to buying online, consider this option: don't. Reduce, reuse, recycle.
I've bought a couple books from amazon, to encourage the authors, and i still get christmas cards from a politician who i gave a dollar to, but I've transitioned to a post-scarcity economy. I have enough stuff. There is cornocopia of free stuff online. If it isn't free online, I can probably do without it. You can augment that with a library card, and by participating in a tool cooperative. Tool coops aren't always called that; yours might call itself a church or a neighborhod association or uncle fred.
If I felt a need for more random stuff, dumpster diving is more fun than golf. Here's a free copy of cory doctorow's latest book about dumpster diving: http://www.craphound.com/someone.
The american assumption that we need more stuff to keep up with the joneses is one reason asia is kicking our asses. Lower overhead.
By not buying online, you can resist impulse buys. I got this computer for $100 + tax from a local computer recycling nonprofit, virtualscavengers. Occasionally I'll get a good cup of coffee downtown, or have a drink at a local club, but that's more about renting space. I'm mostly out of the money economy, because i don't need more stuff, so i don't need a traditional job, which frees up a big block of time to waste on slashdot and suchlike.
My approach is only one strategy, and has some disadvantages too, but you can incorporate it incrementally into your lifestyle. We are moving to a post-scarcity economy, like it or not. Stuff matters, but not like it used to.
since God's marketshare is expected to dwindle to the point of Him not being able to support a lawsuit against Microsoft.
Reminds me of the time the devil has his lawyers write to god threatening to sue because of a hole in the fence between heaven and hell. God writes back, "Being without counsel...."
I want to commend you for actually reading Pataki, and you argue your point well.
Keep in mind the text you quoted isn't me, it's the federal judge who ruled in Cyberspace v Engler that Michigan can't impose its own rules on the internet. We tend to point to Pataki as the case that established that point. It's been followed by at least 5 other courts, although there are a couple of cases that go the other way.
One problem with the Michigan law is say somebody claiming to be 52 and from Hawaii emails you asking for something - cigarette coupon, voting registration form, just anything that would be verboten to a michigan 9 year old. Do you check the email against the Michigan list, for a fee, before replying? Or run the risk of being jailed in Michigan? It burdens commerce that is wholly outside Michican. If Michigan can do it, can your city? My trailer park association? If 0.07 cents is ok, is 25 cents ok? $25? You might be a Michigan minor; I have no way of knowing for sure.
The general rule is only congress has jurisdiction over internet speech and commerce. I'm guessing, and I could be wrong, that the general rule would apply if this act gets litigated.
There are some smart judges, Thomas among them, who don't even believe in the dormant commerce clause. But for now it's the law of the land and seems to fit here.
Also, I think there's some overlap between "overrated" and "i disagree". When something's rated 5 for insightful informatively interestingly wrong, an "overrated" mod might be appropriate. I agree with your point that disagree does not equal troll or flamebait.
Cordially, an arbitrary aardvark.
(could be redundant, i havent read thru every post)
One of the reasons Newton did some strange things is that as part of his alchemical investigations, he played around with mercury (quicksilver) and got mercury poisoning. A symptom of mercury poisoning is madness -"mad as a hatter" is an expression from a period when hatters used mercury.
So it's useful to distinguish his earlier work from his later. By the standards of a couple hundred years from now, some of us are crazy as a result of work-related exposure to toxins.
# Energy production. # Space travel # Artificial intelligence
Wind power is now a cost effective replacement for fossil fuels. Solar is doable for a lot of specific applications, and seems to be getting there as a general power supply. Negawatts have been the best bet - we're getting more use of out electricity to run computers instead of toasters. Space travel - Sattelites are a daily reality. Ion drives have been proven. Dozens of players in the space game these days. AI- Google and slashdot are examples of what works - connecting human brains with machines. The hard problems are being cracked.
Sec. 5. A person shall not send, cause to be sent, or conspire with a third party to send a message to a contact point that has been registered for more than 30 calendar days with the department if the primary purpose of the message is to, directly or indirectly, advertise or otherwise link to a message that advertises a product or service that a minor is prohibited by law from purchasing, viewing, possessing, participating in, or otherwise receiving.
Now I haven't seen a lot of gun or booze spam, so basically, this is talking about porn.
Thanks for pointing out "primary purpose"; I'd missed that before so it probably doesn't cover sigs. You may be right about what they meant. As an attorney, I'm concerned about what they said. Maybe I've seen more emails than you have about booze or guns. Advertising is undefined, and could mean "promote", so it's more than just commercial transactions. What are minors not allowed to buy, see, participate in or receive in Michigan? I'm not sure.
They don't get to vote. They don't get to go to punk shows held in bars. They don't get to sue in their own names. They probably don't get to get married. On myspace, the punk bands send out notices of where they'll be playing, to people who have signed up for that info. That often includes bars as venues and minors on their contacts lists. That's just one example i can think of; most of the problems will be in situations we can't think of, unintended consequences. Am I paranoid? Well, yes. It's kept me alive a few times.
If what they wanted to do was say "don't spam kids with porn", they could have just written it that way. They didn't. That could be stupidity rather than evil. But the statute has problems with overbreadth and vagueness, and is probably pre-empted by the can-spam act, and seems to violate the commerce clause. I haven't looked at the Michigan constitution recently, but I'm guessing that raises issues too.
he states that he wants Microsoft to marry the PC, the cell phone and the desk phone Unfortunately, he can't do that in washington state, where by law marriage is only between a man and a woman.
Bingo, right in one. from cyberspace v engler permanent injunction: A state's power to regulate commerce may be limited by the right of Congress to regulate interstate commerce. U.S. Const. Art. I, 8, cl. 3. Michigan's effort to regulate what information may be transmitted to Michigan's children, via the Internet, attempts to control Internet communications which might originate within Michigan, in other states, or in other countries. The Commerce Clause precludes the application of state statutes to commerce that commences or occurs outside of a state's borders. American Libraries Association v. Pataki, 969 F.Supp. 160, 175 (S.D. N.Y. 1997).
"[A] statute that directly controls commerce occurring wholly outside the boundaries of a State exceeds the inherent limits of the enacting State's authority and is invalid regardless of whether the statute's extraterritorial reach was intended by the legislature." Healy v. The Beer Institute, et al., 491 U.S. 324, 336 (1989). Thus, regardless of the legislature's intent to regulate solely within the State's own borders, the Act would, in effect, attempt to control communications occurring outside of the State of Michigan. Therefore, Michigan's 1999 Public Act 33 would violate the Dormant Commerce Clause of the United States Constitution, and may not be enforced.
possible examples: "legalize medical marijuana in hawaii" "don't drink and drive" "tobacco kills"
It bans some email. It doesn't tell you which email; you have to guess. Lots of spam is ok under the statute. It's not limited to bulk email, one is enough. Have you verified everyone on your contacts list isn't actually a michigan minor? How exactly did you verify that? It's not limited to commercial email. http://www.isipp.com/michigan-email-child-protecti on-registry-law.php There's the text, which was missing from the main post. Do you understand it? Does your lawyer understand it? Are you in compliance?
The statute is not a law. One of the basic rules of american law established by Marbury v Madison is that an unconstitutional statute is not law. This statute appears to be unconstitutional for the reasons discussed in Cyberspace v Engler, which stuck down Michigan's previous attempt at banning the internet because of the kiddies. http://www.cyberspace.org/lawsuit/
Some of the fun provisions in the act: they can make you come to michigan with all your business records to answer questions. They can seize your computers. If they were serious about protecting kids, they wouldn't be charging a fee to check the list. Oh and it's not just parents who can add names - government officials can add kids' names, probably without telling them. For fun, check the linking policy. http://www.michigan.gov/som/0,1607,7-192-26915-208 9--,00.html It's a shakedown. It's not constitutional. It doesn't protect against spam. It bans some email but not others. Spam is a real problem. This isn't a real solution. Personally, getting on the federal and state do not call lists has been great for me. This isn't like that. Don't be a dupe. This is what we fought Reno v ACLU for - to keep the government from shutting down the internet.
Wrong crappy movie. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0202314/ Deep Core, starring clever nickname. Wil, by the way, says he'll have his slashdot interview answers up any day now. meanwhile you can find him playing poker or at suicidegirls. http://www.wilwheaton.net/
Slashdot Mirror
Travelling at speeds of up to 130km/hr (80mph), these teams will race from Austin Texas to Calgary Alberta all with no non-reusable energy. That will be an impressive feat, with the US Federal highway speed limit of 65, and a Canadian speed limit on major roads up there not much faster; 100km/hr to 120km/hr, if I recall on my last trip?(it was months ago, sorry). Why is it that nobody else is allowed to break the speed limit, but these guys are? +5 interesting. unsound, but interesting. If you plan to spend much time on the internets, you might want to learn the meaning of "up to".
Mod parent up. Is a 3, should be a 5.
. html
https://www.annualcreditreport.com/cra/index.jsp
seems to be a legit source? of free credit reports from the big 3.
Text of fair dept collection practice act:
http://www.ftc.gov/os/statutes/fdcpa/fdcpact.htm
http://www.fair-debt-collection.com/fair-debt-act
Ok, we know it's a dupe.
Here is a dupe of what I wrote last time:
dupe.
However, this article gets the story wrong.
"Arrested for stealing wifi."
Previously, the original post had been titled, florida man arrested for using wifi.
He was using the wifi.
He wasn't stealing it.
He wasn't arrested for stealing it.
He was charged with unauthorized access to a computer network. Since his access was authorized (in dispute, but reasonable) a good lawyer could get him off. If he can't afford his own net connection, what are the chances he can afford a good lawyer? I encourage slashdot users to ask the prosecutor to drop the case, and if that fails, to consider filing a complaint with the florida attorney disciplinary commission, and to see to it that the prosecutor gets some competition within his party in the next election.
The guy's conduct is like somebody who rides an elevator or escalator they don't own, or who listens to a radio station they don't own.
Reasonable people can disagree whether or not his conduct was authorized. No reasonable person could contend that he was charged with stealing.
The article isn't just a dupe, it's wrong.
I must be new here.
Human meat is one of the obvious potentials of this technology. Tastes like pork. Growing it in a a vat solves many of the ethical problems.
The idea of artificial meat is not new.
Robert Heinlein may have invented it. Was it in The Moon is a Harsh Mistress? His character built an artifical cow for milk, and beef was a byproduct.
Pohl and Kornbluth also had the concept, in, I think, the Space Merchants, a giant chicken heart.
Yay! I'm a slabber of beef! - beefsteak, http://filthylies.net/
You insensitive clod!
I for one welcome...
I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and assume you understand that the "bash over the head" model of caveman culture is a false sterotype invented by some male paleontologist geek types, projecting their own issues. Paleolithic women chose their mates based on perceived fitness.
http://www.blockbonobofoundation.org/ (not entirely work-safe) makes some comparisons of pygmy chimp culture and human culture that might be relevant.
All well and good, but some of us don't live with our parents and need to pay rent or a mortgage. So the "not having a job" is not really an option....Hmm...living without working, hey how do you do that?
Short flippant version: make money fast, then retire. Be the guy who sold beer.com for $500K.
Longer version:
Rent or a mortgage may well be your best option, but it's not your only option. I paid rent for 10 years, then I paid a mortgage for 5 years, then I paid cash for my second house. Currently I rent out that house which covers my rent and utilities at a cheaper place, and a little extra for my few necessities like instant coffee @ $4/lb. I also have some investment income. I also have some hobbies, like my law practice, which might generate income someday, and a few internet plays like google ads on my blog.
I can't explain the whole technology of living outside the money economy in one slashdot post. There are good books out there - Possum Living, Walden, stuff by Rodale Press and Mother earth News, cory doctorow's free online books, Euwell Gibbons, etc.
Make a list of what you've spent money on in the past year. Figure out strategies to meet those goals without money. Get a computer, a bike, a garden, a network of friends. Your list might look like this: taxes, housing, transportation, entertainment, food, clothing, toys, gifts. There are ways to reduce expenses in each category.
Reduce, reuse, recycle. Several billion people are living well at under $5K/yr. A smart guy like you can come up with $5K/yr without a job. probably a lot of your expenses - big house in expensive area, new car, fancy suits - are things you need for your job. get rid of the job, and you are more free to adopt new strategies.
When robert heinlein was in his late 30s, he got sick and couldn't hold a regular job. So he became a writer. I'm not saying everybody should quit their day job today and move to a yurt in thailand. I am saying everybody can makes plans about their future in which a job is an option, not a sentence. And then take incremental steps in that direction, like saving more and buying less or buying cheaper. I'm also not talking about living without effort - i'm talking about not being chained to a paycheck.
Thank you. I found that helpful.
Pasco County Of,Pinella County of, State Attorney's Office, Clearwater - (727) 464-6221 - , Clearwater, FL 33755 - Google Maps 14250 49th St N, Clearwater, FL 33762 - (the number seems to be to a central switchboard for a bunch of offices - so if you call know who you are calling. - oh. Bernie McCabe handles both counties.
Post Office Box 5028, Clearwater, Florida 34618 Telephone (813) XXX-XXXX
Bernie McCabe
Firm: State of Florida, State Attorney's Office, 6th Judicial Circuit
Address: Room B-200
5100 144th Ave N
Clearwater, FL 34620-2803
Phone: (727) 464-6221 (Pinellas County)
(727) 847-8158 (New Port Richey)
Fax: (727) 464-7303
E-mail:
Best known for the terry shiavo case.
* Bernie Mccabe Unlisted Phone Number & Address Found. - Information was found in Public Records, including Age, Address History and Family Members.
www.intelius.com
"It's no different if I went out and bought a Microsoft program and started sharing it with everyone in my apartment. It's theft," said Kena Lewis, spokeswoman for Bright House Networks in Orlando. "Just because a crime may be undetectable doesn't make it right."
Perhaps someone with a more objective outlook on this than i have can express an informed opinion about whether this is defamation.
To do: cancel brighthouse subscription.
-Times staff writer Matthew Waite contributed to this report. Alex Leary can be reached at 727 893-8472 or leary@sptimes.com
I think that this article was shameless yellow journalism.
A drive through downtown St. Petersburg shows how porous networks can be. In less than five minutes, a Times reporter with a laptop found 14 wireless access points, six of which were wide open Has he been arrested yet? Six felonies in 5 minutes - a serial hacker, clearly 3|33t.
Or are they arresting some people and not others, in an arbitrary and capricious manner?
*informative. interesting. flamebait*
I'm guessing some of the big title company chains are starting to do this sort of thing, for internal use, but will keep it as a trade secret in the near term.
Let's focus a bit on the potential evil uses. Spam that knows where you live?
that has the data,at least for a start, but it's not mapped, unless i missed it. it would be easy for someone (not me) to do.
you are in luck! .php forum that evolved out of what used to be wil's forum.
check his blog. http://www.wilwheaton.net/ there's a sort of pre-release version of him reading just a geek.
and he has audioblogs. and i think if you check him under amazon, that he's done an audiobook of tom sawyer or something.
also, since you sound like a nice person, check
tehsoapbox.net. it's a
http://www.stripcreator.com/comics/arbi/295345
http://www.wilwheaton.net/wish.php
Reno v ACLU was a set of consolidated cases. Congress passed the Exxon-Coats bill which would have prohibited online indecency. A flock of people sued. By the time it got to the supreme court, the lead counsel were Ann Beeson for the ACLU, Mike Godwin for EFF, and I think David Sobel for, was it EPIC or CPSR. Reasonable question.
Parent post is modded "3 interestingly wrong".
It should modded down, overrated or perhaps troll.
A single counterexample out of dozens:
Reno v ACLU
http://laws.findlaw.com/us/000/96-511.html
EFF's attorney was Mike Godwin.
Maybe you've heard of him.
heh. that's funnier than mine.
I tried that once, but I had to fire myself, for showing up late, missing deadlines, and just sitting around reading slashdot all day. Luckily the severance package was good. Eventually, I'll go do something else.
A few thoughts about the article:
It compares apples and volcanos: Profit in the top 7 firms versus employment thoughout the county.
Companies with employees are working them overtime because of the regulatory costs of adding new employees - budgeting now for that employee's retirement health care, unemployment insurance, severance package, harrassment litigation costs, etc. In exchange the overtime worker's week looks likes this: 20 hours working. 10 hours meetings. 10 hours coffee breaks. 20 hours slashdot/irc/ebay.
Harry Browne, in how i found freedom in an unfree world, suggested companies that would be networks of subcontractors with no employees as such. The industry has taken him up on that to some extent; we are all consultants now.
The austrian school of economics says that a market economy drives technological change via temporary monopolies. IBM gives way to Microsoft gives way to Google. My dad worked for one firm for 30 years for a paycheck, a profitsharing bonus, and a pension. Most of the places I've worked are now out of business, and i've built and lost a few small (really small) businesses, and don't know in detail what i'll be doing in 5 years.
The dot.com boom was driven by stock options.
Get in on the ground floor, work a few years, IPO, cash out, retire, build reputation capital by working on open source, so you can get in on the ground floor of the next wave.
The japanese are good at this because their culture is used to rebuilding periodicly after an earthquake/tsunami/typhoon/invasion.
The material standard of living is 5 times what it was when I was born. It's not evenly distributed, but today's american poor tend to have hot water, refridgerators, cable tv, dvd player.
People who have lost hi-tech jobs in silicon valley are not mostly standing in soup lines or picking cotton. They've moved on to the next thing, and are probably materially better off than their grandparents. They may feel a loss of social status if they are clerking at 7-11, because they didn't save half their pay when they did have a job, or they saved in their now-worthless company stock. The future is very uncertain. Save like crazy, diversify your portfolio, keep your skill sets current, make 5 good friends, keep a bag packed, have an exit strategy.
If you absolutely must deal with circuit city, pay cash. I made the mistake of getting their "free" credit card when I bought a computer there. They screwed up my account, and then spent a year harrassing me by phone about it. My go.to/circuitcitysux page is no longer on line, but I one point I had this all fully documented.
I did end up learning a lot about my rights as a consumer.
---
As to buying online, consider this option: don't.
Reduce, reuse, recycle.
I've bought a couple books from amazon, to encourage the authors, and i still get christmas cards from a politician who i gave a dollar to,
but I've transitioned to a post-scarcity economy.
I have enough stuff. There is cornocopia of free stuff online. If it isn't free online, I can probably do without it. You can augment that with a library card, and by participating in a tool cooperative. Tool coops aren't always called that; yours might call itself a church or a neighborhod association or uncle fred.
If I felt a need for more random stuff, dumpster diving is more fun than golf. Here's a free copy of cory doctorow's latest book about dumpster diving: http://www.craphound.com/someone.
The american assumption that we need more stuff to keep up with the joneses is one reason asia is kicking our asses. Lower overhead.
By not buying online, you can resist impulse buys. I got this computer for $100 + tax from a local computer recycling nonprofit, virtualscavengers. Occasionally I'll get a good cup of coffee downtown, or have a drink at a local club, but that's more about renting space. I'm mostly out of the money economy, because i don't need more stuff, so i don't need a traditional job, which frees up a big block of time to waste on slashdot and suchlike.
My approach is only one strategy, and has some disadvantages too, but you can incorporate it incrementally into your lifestyle. We are moving to a post-scarcity economy, like it or not. Stuff matters, but not like it used to.
since God's marketshare is expected to dwindle to the point of Him not being able to support a lawsuit against Microsoft.
Reminds me of the time the devil has his lawyers write to god threatening to sue because of a hole in the fence between heaven and hell. God writes back, "Being without counsel...."
I want to commend you for actually reading Pataki, and you argue your point well.
Keep in mind the text you quoted isn't me, it's the federal judge who ruled in Cyberspace v Engler that Michigan can't impose its own rules on the internet.
We tend to point to Pataki as the case that established that point. It's been followed by at least 5 other courts, although there are a couple of cases that go the other way.
One problem with the Michigan law is say somebody claiming to be 52 and from Hawaii emails you asking for something - cigarette coupon, voting registration form, just anything that would be verboten to a michigan 9 year old. Do you check the email against the Michigan list, for a fee, before replying? Or run the risk of being jailed in Michigan? It burdens commerce that is wholly outside Michican. If Michigan can do it, can your city? My trailer park association? If 0.07 cents is ok, is 25 cents ok? $25? You might be a Michigan minor; I have no way of knowing for sure.
The general rule is only congress has jurisdiction over internet speech and commerce.
I'm guessing, and I could be wrong, that the general rule would apply if this act gets litigated.
There are some smart judges, Thomas among them, who don't even believe in the dormant commerce clause. But for now it's the law of the land and seems to fit here.
Also, I think there's some overlap between "overrated" and "i disagree". When something's rated 5 for insightful informatively interestingly wrong, an "overrated" mod might be appropriate.
I agree with your point that disagree does not equal troll or flamebait.
Cordially, an arbitrary aardvark.
i couldn't find a toyota specificly.f ing%20float.jpg
http://iloveoregon.com/images/Big%20Air%20windsur
http://images.burningman.com/gallery/jbain.56.jpg
(could be redundant, i havent read thru every post)
One of the reasons Newton did some strange things is that as part of his alchemical investigations, he played around with mercury (quicksilver) and got mercury poisoning. A symptom of mercury poisoning is madness -"mad as a hatter" is an expression from a period when hatters used mercury.
So it's useful to distinguish his earlier work from his later. By the standards of a couple hundred years from now, some of us are crazy as a result of work-related exposure to toxins.
# Energy production.
# Space travel
# Artificial intelligence
Wind power is now a cost effective replacement for fossil fuels. Solar is doable for a lot of specific applications, and seems to be getting there as a general power supply. Negawatts have been the best bet - we're getting more use of out electricity to run computers instead of toasters.
Space travel - Sattelites are a daily reality. Ion drives have been proven. Dozens of players in the space game these days.
AI- Google and slashdot are examples of what works - connecting human brains with machines.
The hard problems are being cracked.
Sec. 5. A person shall not send, cause to be sent, or conspire with a third party to send a message to a contact point that has been registered for more than 30 calendar days with the department if the primary purpose of the message is to, directly or indirectly, advertise or otherwise link to a message that advertises a product or service that a minor is prohibited by law from purchasing, viewing, possessing, participating in, or otherwise receiving.
Now I haven't seen a lot of gun or booze spam, so basically, this is talking about porn.
Thanks for pointing out "primary purpose"; I'd missed that before so it probably doesn't cover sigs. You may be right about what they meant. As an attorney, I'm concerned about what they said.
Maybe I've seen more emails than you have about booze or guns. Advertising is undefined, and could mean "promote", so it's more than just commercial transactions. What are minors not allowed to buy, see, participate in or receive in Michigan? I'm not sure.
They don't get to vote. They don't get to go to punk shows held in bars. They don't get to sue in their own names. They probably don't get to get married. On myspace, the punk bands send out notices of where they'll be playing, to people who have signed up for that info. That often includes bars as venues and minors on their contacts lists.
That's just one example i can think of; most of the problems will be in situations we can't think of, unintended consequences. Am I paranoid? Well, yes. It's kept me alive a few times.
If what they wanted to do was say "don't spam kids with porn", they could have just written it that way. They didn't. That could be stupidity rather than evil. But the statute has problems with overbreadth and vagueness, and is probably pre-empted by the can-spam act, and seems to violate the commerce clause. I haven't looked at the Michigan constitution recently, but I'm guessing that raises issues too.
he states that he wants Microsoft to marry the PC, the cell phone and the desk phone
Unfortunately, he can't do that in washington state, where by law marriage is only between a man and a woman.
+1 stupid
Bingo, right in one.
from cyberspace v engler permanent injunction:
A state's power to regulate commerce may be limited by the right of Congress to regulate interstate commerce. U.S. Const. Art. I, 8, cl. 3. Michigan's effort to regulate what information may be transmitted to Michigan's children, via the Internet, attempts to control Internet communications which might originate within Michigan, in other states, or in other countries. The Commerce Clause precludes the application of state statutes to commerce that commences or occurs outside of a state's borders. American Libraries Association v. Pataki, 969 F.Supp. 160, 175 (S.D. N.Y. 1997).
"[A] statute that directly controls commerce occurring wholly outside the boundaries of a State exceeds the inherent limits of the enacting State's authority and is invalid regardless of whether the statute's extraterritorial reach was intended by the legislature." Healy v. The Beer Institute, et al., 491 U.S. 324, 336 (1989). Thus, regardless of the legislature's intent to regulate solely within the State's own borders, the Act would, in effect, attempt to control communications occurring outside of the State of Michigan. Therefore, Michigan's 1999 Public Act 33 would violate the Dormant Commerce Clause of the United States Constitution, and may not be enforced.
possible examples:
"legalize medical marijuana in hawaii"
"don't drink and drive"
"tobacco kills"
It's not a law, and it doesn't ban spam.
i on-registry-law.php
8 9--,00.html
It bans some email. It doesn't tell you which email; you have to guess. Lots of spam is ok under the statute. It's not limited to bulk email, one is enough. Have you verified everyone on your contacts list isn't actually a michigan minor? How exactly did you verify that? It's not limited to commercial email.
http://www.isipp.com/michigan-email-child-protect
There's the text, which was missing from the main post. Do you understand it? Does your lawyer understand it? Are you in compliance?
The statute is not a law. One of the basic rules of american law established by Marbury v Madison is that an unconstitutional statute is not law.
This statute appears to be unconstitutional for the reasons discussed in Cyberspace v Engler, which stuck down Michigan's previous attempt at banning the internet because of the kiddies.
http://www.cyberspace.org/lawsuit/
Some of the fun provisions in the act:
they can make you come to michigan with all your business records to answer questions.
They can seize your computers.
If they were serious about protecting kids, they wouldn't be charging a fee to check the list.
Oh and it's not just parents who can add names - government officials can add kids' names, probably without telling them.
For fun, check the linking policy.
http://www.michigan.gov/som/0,1607,7-192-26915-20
It's a shakedown.
It's not constitutional.
It doesn't protect against spam.
It bans some email but not others.
Spam is a real problem. This isn't a real solution.
Personally, getting on the federal and state do not call lists has been great for me.
This isn't like that.
Don't be a dupe.
This is what we fought Reno v ACLU for - to keep the government from shutting down the internet.
Wrong crappy movie.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0202314/
Deep Core, starring clever nickname.
Wil, by the way, says he'll have his slashdot interview answers up any day now. meanwhile you can find him playing poker or at suicidegirls.
http://www.wilwheaton.net/