I'm a realist when it comes to government, but he speaks the truth. The Federal government has for the past 75 years overstepped its authority and ignored the original intent of the constitution.
What he is pointing out is that the FBI has powers not granted to it by the constitution nor does congress have the legal authority to have such powers if you were to take a interpretation of the constitution that if the power is not granted then it is not given.
However, the Federal government to an extent has override such things by apathy of most Americans or placated them with ear marked funds for their district (see Bridge to Nowhere).
Pretty much the only real Constitutionalists in government these days is of course Ron Paul who recognizes this fact and wants a government to return to its roots and core values of what the original frame workers intended. In fact its pretty much what the whole Libertarian movement is about and if you really believe the current way government is run is the way it should be then you really need to read Thomas Jefferson's views on government. Even the contemporary Federalists like James Madison never believed in a centralized government this strong.
Yes what the boy has done was highly wrong and illegal, but this is something for local authorities to pursue! There are laws already against such behavior on the books and we don't need a central police force to take care of it.
The Germans already proposed something like that. It was retracted when they realized that it pretty much opens the door to any kind of espionage, and that this could quickly turn AGAINST them. Its already happened to Greece's wiretapping software. Someone broke into the main cell phone company and hacked the software installed for legal wire taps to listen in on government official's cell phone. They didn't notice it until they tried to upgrade the software and realized someone had been using it.
What might be more interesting is to dock 10,000k from the salaries of the security team everytime someone finds a serious exploit. Sometimes punishments are far more effective than rewards.
Wrong. Studies have shown that negative reinforcement often has the reverse effect due to the fact it breeds contempt. After you punish the security so much that they have little left to work for, they'll probably start including exploits for spite.
Here's a hint to the idiot who posted this: DON'T INSTALL THEIR SOFTWARE. YOU DON'T NEED IT. Plug your router/linux box into the cable modem, DHCP, viola, internet connection. Easy as that. Wrong. Newer modems require this as a MAC address security. Simply spoofing the Mac address on Linux or the router no longer works.
Once you use the software to register the new modem then you can spoof your mac address.
So as long as you keep the same modem its not a problem, but if it dies and you get a newer Comcast modem then you will have to run the software. I've run into a few times because of bad lines and dead modems.
(In the good old days, you could simply call comcast support and give them your mac address over the phone, but they don't play nice anymore)
The guys who come to wire your house need to be able to configure your computer. Just ask the guy for the DNS servers if it doesn't just work when you hook it up. After this you should be on your way (atleast that is all that I remember I needed from him). Most modern Comcast installs require some funky mac address security setup with the cable modem and your computer. You used to be able to call it in over the phone if you needed to change a NIC, but in order to save money and reduce support costs, they created a tool to do it. Which unfortunately requires IE.
Heck... I've seen a comcast technician getting pissed at this new policy when they first instituted it. He was troubleshooting a bad line at my house (he wasn't sure if it was the modem or the line at the time... it turned out to be the line) and was trying to re-register the modem and I didn't keep my comcast software and he didn't have any on his truck so he tried to bypass by calling in the Mac number of his modem into a relay station but they were giving him grief about it.
Technically, the newer modems now have this software actually embedded in them so they can access on web site from cocast to download the software soits not much of a problem these days if you throw away your comcast CD.
What? Its not like we have bombers than can fly from the US to the mideast, drop their bombs, and back again without ever seeing an Iraqi face.
But seriously, no one that would be flying a crewed aircraft would be mentally or morally affected anymore than the person sitting at the other end of the the controls of the UAV.
One might argue the actual live pilot would be more dangerous because of mistakes due to long shift times, lack of sleep, and of course combat stress.
Do you stand underneath the spinning blades of a nice, Green-friendly power generating windmill and eat the birds and bats that are beaten to death and fall to the ground so that some electrons can make your Wii glow and amuse you?
Not to be so offtopic, but this is a blatant myth. The only birds that get killed by wind power blades are the retarded ones that fly into the side of mountains, trees, telephone poles, and your house (there are plenty out there) but glass skyscrapers kill more on a daily basis.
I mean have you seen how slow those blades move on the larger newer models? Yes the things is friggin huge and would hurt if you stood still on a platform beneath it, but its not moving so fast that its chopping birds up like a meat blender.
Yes the early models sort of had this problem, but they were phased out because they are generally noisy and it turned out larger slower moving windmills were more efficient.
Personally, I eat meet and wouldn't loose if species got extinct due to windmills because it helps end the dependency on foreign oil and coal, but the fact of the matter is they don't do that anymore when it comes to genociding birds.
Have you ever tried to not do something in your life?
I've quit smoking for at least a year since smoking straight for 5 years, but I want a cigarette right now and I know I would enjoy it (but I'm not because I know its bad for me).
If I demanded a law that outlawed smoking because I didn't want others to enjoy it, it would make me a hypocrite because I know I'd light one up in a minute if offered in a moment of weakness. Now if demanded a law to outlaw smoking because I'm too weak to not smoke... Well that means I'm just a weak fool that wants government to take care of his problems and not accept personal responsibility.
Hence... You don't see me out and about demanding more anti-smoking regulation.
Note: Other then Arnold for Gov., I haven't voted for a Republican for national office since 1999. I've even donated to Democrat campaigns. But I don't think I could ever consider myself a Democrat. I'm too much of a liberal in the old school sense. Really old school.
I hope you re-register republican and vote Ron Paul in the primaries. He's the only hope we've got to have a real libertarian republican in the white house.
If he thought it was a bad thing, and tried to outlaw it anyway, but succumbed to it anyway, he would not be a hypocrite.
Umm... That doesn't make sense.
How can you succumb to something and still think its a bad thing? Of course you might still say "Oh! I hated every minute the hooker had sex with me!", but the truth of the matter is that at that moment you loved the hell of prostitution and you cannot change that fact.
Maybe you'll regret it down the road, but during the time you are thinking this is the best thing since sliced bread. That is by definition a hypocrite.
Personally, I don't care if the politician sleeps with a thousand prostitute, but when they continually keep it illegal and forcefully prosecute others who partake in it... That is what bothers me.
If I had to choose between a Senator who hires prostitutes or one who was elected by dead people, I'd choose the former.
Thats fine and dandy, but when Senator that hired a prostitute proactively campaigns for family values, extols virtues, and also keep prostitution illegal for anyone else... Well... He's not on my "good person" list.
Its like passing a law for harder fines for cell phone use while driving and then getting caught doing the same in your own car.
Fear is a useful mechanism in preventing humans from doing things that have potentially bad consequences for the person.
Fear is a useful mechanism in preventing humans from doing things that have potentially bad consequences for the powers that be.
But on a more serious not, fear does prevent humans from doing things they have no little understanding of which may lead to potentially have "good" consequences.
I mean what if Christopher Columbus has been too scared to travel to the new world? What if NASA had been too scared of sending a man to the moon? And more importantly what if you dad had been too scared to make a pass at your mom? (We'll you wouldn't be here today)
Fear does keep us from doing things doing stupid things that will get us killed, but often times we let it get out of control in which we don't do things that are not even remotely harmful because we are too scared of the consequences. This also means fear can be used as a tool by powerful persons or organizations to keep others in line without having to result to physical force.
Re:Its about raising the barrier of entry
on
Patents Don't Pay
·
· Score: 1
I mean the whole point of the patent is to give its inventor exclusive license to be free from competition, the author of this piece doesnt take that into account at all. Im not saying that this is good or bad for innovation, just that there is significant financial incentive that the writer fails to account for. The real question we should be asking is how many independent inventors are out there? Then the second question you should be asking is how many independent inventors out there have the resources to bring a product to market without signing away their original rights?
And lastly, would these people actual be hurt by lack of patents?
This is not rhetorical and I personally don't have the answer for it, but it should be addressed before we go one way or another.
Absolutely... just as you would with any other vendor patch to a production system. So are you going to tell the CIO that the vendor he choose is a liar when he asks you why are you spending all this time reviewing patches?
That's not an end user's job. That's the IT staff's job. End users shouldn't be applying patches. Period. End of story. That's what the IT staff is there for. What if the VP directly issues cuts and layoffs to IT in which you are so understaffed, it is the only way to do it.
Those sysads should be retrained or fired. Unfortunately, its the CEO's nephew. Even if you could fire him, there is no money to hire or train anyone.
If you allow things like that to happen automatically, you're going to have to deal with the consequences. Like shareholder meetings and employee moral campaigns.
Find another vendor then. No one forces Microsoft's products on you. Unfortunately, the last CIO (which has left the company) chose the current vendor because they paid for his lunch and some free swag, but yet allowed a 5 year binding lock-in in which the company can't change vendors.
I know my jaded response is a bit over in the worse case scenario of corporate incompetence and nepotism but more seriously, most companies management doesn't care about IT nor want to put any money towards it than they have to. Most operations are simply guys they hired off the street with minimal knowledge to program Access Databases when they should be using SQL servers. So the truth of the matter is most persons in IT would not have the ability nor the authority to complete your suggestions.
It sucks, but thats how the corporate world is most of the time.
Because he speaks a bit of truth. If you have supported Vista on the corporate side of things, it is a bit of the spawn of the devil in some regards. Most legacy VPN programs are hosed and countless other products had to go through a whole series of revamping and patching (heck even Outlook Web Access controls are broke on systems using Vista if you don't patch)
Of course most corporate users wouldn't notice thing since most companies are staying away from Vista like the plague but on occasion when a user calls in saying they got a new persona computer from dell and need to VPN or use OLWA or a legacy app... Well...
Office 2007 on the other hand is great, but you can run that on WinXP. No need to upgrade.
Personally, I can't stand all the corn syrup the Americans seem to have in everything they eat. Maybe this is my body's way of saying "get the hell out of this silly country before you become one of them!"?
Personally, I'm an American, but I hate American food. If I could afford it, I'd just shop at the international shops and bring home 50lbs of Japanese snacks. Of course I'm sure your not supposed to eat that in large quantities either, but for some reason pocky and ramen never makes me feel fat.
But more seriously, I think the problem is more cultural than anything else. Most popular American foods are deep fried (Mmmm... Onion Rings) and probably not meant for human consumption (Mmmmm... Pulled Pork Sandwhiches) and that the reason for obesity in America is that we haven't really scaled our fatty foods to match our supply.
As in... These were good for you in the 1920's when the lack of food was an issue for most Americans, but now... Not so good.
We need to focus on just not cooking foods in fat or deep fry them. Plenty of good stuff out there that you can eat a lot of and still not get fat.
There was that one cartoon by Warner Brother's that changed something because of an online petition (because it was too scary) and the issue with the road tax in the UK.
Slashdot Mirror
I'm a realist when it comes to government, but he speaks the truth. The Federal government has for the past 75 years overstepped its authority and ignored the original intent of the constitution.
What he is pointing out is that the FBI has powers not granted to it by the constitution nor does congress have the legal authority to have such powers if you were to take a interpretation of the constitution that if the power is not granted then it is not given.
However, the Federal government to an extent has override such things by apathy of most Americans or placated them with ear marked funds for their district (see Bridge to Nowhere).
Pretty much the only real Constitutionalists in government these days is of course Ron Paul who recognizes this fact and wants a government to return to its roots and core values of what the original frame workers intended. In fact its pretty much what the whole Libertarian movement is about and if you really believe the current way government is run is the way it should be then you really need to read Thomas Jefferson's views on government. Even the contemporary Federalists like James Madison never believed in a centralized government this strong.
Yes what the boy has done was highly wrong and illegal, but this is something for local authorities to pursue! There are laws already against such behavior on the books and we don't need a central police force to take care of it.
http://www.spectrum.ieee.org/jul07/5280/1
What might be more interesting is to dock 10,000k from the salaries of the security team everytime someone finds a serious exploit. Sometimes punishments are far more effective than rewards.
Wrong. Studies have shown that negative reinforcement often has the reverse effect due to the fact it breeds contempt. After you punish the security so much that they have little left to work for, they'll probably start including exploits for spite.
Its human nature.
Once you use the software to register the new modem then you can spoof your mac address.
So as long as you keep the same modem its not a problem, but if it dies and you get a newer Comcast modem then you will have to run the software. I've run into a few times because of bad lines and dead modems.
(In the good old days, you could simply call comcast support and give them your mac address over the phone, but they don't play nice anymore)
Heck... I've seen a comcast technician getting pissed at this new policy when they first instituted it. He was troubleshooting a bad line at my house (he wasn't sure if it was the modem or the line at the time... it turned out to be the line) and was trying to re-register the modem and I didn't keep my comcast software and he didn't have any on his truck so he tried to bypass by calling in the Mac number of his modem into a relay station but they were giving him grief about it.
Technically, the newer modems now have this software actually embedded in them so they can access on web site from cocast to download the software soits not much of a problem these days if you throw away your comcast CD.
Unless of course you don't have IE...
As such, creation of malware actually *helps* to make the vendor take more responsibility for the defects in their product.
Are we talking about the same Microsoft?
Not true, they make very nice mice and keyboards.
But they've been making millions on their mice years before they even released Windows 95. Its not something they simply came up with recently.
What is the back-up release mechanism if there's a problem?
You have to mentally think the safe word... In Russian.
What? Its not like we have bombers than can fly from the US to the mideast, drop their bombs, and back again without ever seeing an Iraqi face.
But seriously, no one that would be flying a crewed aircraft would be mentally or morally affected anymore than the person sitting at the other end of the the controls of the UAV.
One might argue the actual live pilot would be more dangerous because of mistakes due to long shift times, lack of sleep, and of course combat stress.
Do you stand underneath the spinning blades of a nice, Green-friendly power generating windmill and eat the birds and bats that are beaten to death and fall to the ground so that some electrons can make your Wii glow and amuse you?
Not to be so offtopic, but this is a blatant myth. The only birds that get killed by wind power blades are the retarded ones that fly into the side of mountains, trees, telephone poles, and your house (there are plenty out there) but glass skyscrapers kill more on a daily basis.
I mean have you seen how slow those blades move on the larger newer models? Yes the things is friggin huge and would hurt if you stood still on a platform beneath it, but its not moving so fast that its chopping birds up like a meat blender.
Yes the early models sort of had this problem, but they were phased out because they are generally noisy and it turned out larger slower moving windmills were more efficient.
Personally, I eat meet and wouldn't loose if species got extinct due to windmills because it helps end the dependency on foreign oil and coal, but the fact of the matter is they don't do that anymore when it comes to genociding birds.
Why is going from 1 to 0 such a problem?
The body sized hickey.
Have you ever tried to not do something in your life?
I've quit smoking for at least a year since smoking straight for 5 years, but I want a cigarette right now and I know I would enjoy it (but I'm not because I know its bad for me).
If I demanded a law that outlawed smoking because I didn't want others to enjoy it, it would make me a hypocrite because I know I'd light one up in a minute if offered in a moment of weakness. Now if demanded a law to outlaw smoking because I'm too weak to not smoke... Well that means I'm just a weak fool that wants government to take care of his problems and not accept personal responsibility.
Hence... You don't see me out and about demanding more anti-smoking regulation.
Note: Other then Arnold for Gov., I haven't voted for a Republican for national office since 1999. I've even donated to Democrat campaigns. But I don't think I could ever consider myself a Democrat. I'm too much of a liberal in the old school sense. Really old school.
I hope you re-register republican and vote Ron Paul in the primaries. He's the only hope we've got to have a real libertarian republican in the white house.
The reason it does not have more is there is a land shortage.
I hear they have the same problem in New York City and in San Fransisco.
Maybe they should move 60 minutes into the suburbs like everyone else in the states or enjoy the ferry like they still run in NYC.
If he thought it was a bad thing, and tried to outlaw it anyway, but succumbed to it anyway, he would not be a hypocrite.
Umm... That doesn't make sense.
How can you succumb to something and still think its a bad thing? Of course you might still say "Oh! I hated every minute the hooker had sex with me!", but the truth of the matter is that at that moment you loved the hell of prostitution and you cannot change that fact.
Maybe you'll regret it down the road, but during the time you are thinking this is the best thing since sliced bread. That is by definition a hypocrite.
Personally, I don't care if the politician sleeps with a thousand prostitute, but when they continually keep it illegal and forcefully prosecute others who partake in it... That is what bothers me.
If I had to choose between a Senator who hires prostitutes or one who was elected by dead people, I'd choose the former.
Thats fine and dandy, but when Senator that hired a prostitute proactively campaigns for family values, extols virtues, and also keep prostitution illegal for anyone else... Well... He's not on my "good person" list.
Its like passing a law for harder fines for cell phone use while driving and then getting caught doing the same in your own car.
Fear is a useful mechanism in preventing humans from doing things that have potentially bad consequences for the person.
Fear is a useful mechanism in preventing humans from doing things that have potentially bad consequences for the powers that be.
But on a more serious not, fear does prevent humans from doing things they have no little understanding of which may lead to potentially have "good" consequences.
I mean what if Christopher Columbus has been too scared to travel to the new world?
What if NASA had been too scared of sending a man to the moon?
And more importantly what if you dad had been too scared to make a pass at your mom? (We'll you wouldn't be here today)
Fear does keep us from doing things doing stupid things that will get us killed, but often times we let it get out of control in which we don't do things that are not even remotely harmful because we are too scared of the consequences. This also means fear can be used as a tool by powerful persons or organizations to keep others in line without having to result to physical force.
And lastly, would these people actual be hurt by lack of patents?
This is not rhetorical and I personally don't have the answer for it, but it should be addressed before we go one way or another.
I know my jaded response is a bit over in the worse case scenario of corporate incompetence and nepotism but more seriously, most companies management doesn't care about IT nor want to put any money towards it than they have to. Most operations are simply guys they hired off the street with minimal knowledge to program Access Databases when they should be using SQL servers. So the truth of the matter is most persons in IT would not have the ability nor the authority to complete your suggestions.
It sucks, but thats how the corporate world is most of the time.
Because he speaks a bit of truth. If you have supported Vista on the corporate side of things, it is a bit of the spawn of the devil in some regards. Most legacy VPN programs are hosed and countless other products had to go through a whole series of revamping and patching (heck even Outlook Web Access controls are broke on systems using Vista if you don't patch)
Of course most corporate users wouldn't notice thing since most companies are staying away from Vista like the plague but on occasion when a user calls in saying they got a new persona computer from dell and need to VPN or use OLWA or a legacy app... Well...
Office 2007 on the other hand is great, but you can run that on WinXP. No need to upgrade.
So, which is it? Is the Zune going to be bought, or is it going to tank?
He's talking about the poor Joe Six Packs who got a Zune for Christmas because the iPod was sold out.
Personally, I can't stand all the corn syrup the Americans seem to have in everything they eat. Maybe this is my body's way of saying "get the hell out of this silly country before you become one of them!"?
Personally, I'm an American, but I hate American food. If I could afford it, I'd just shop at the international shops and bring home 50lbs of Japanese snacks. Of course I'm sure your not supposed to eat that in large quantities either, but for some reason pocky and ramen never makes me feel fat.
But more seriously, I think the problem is more cultural than anything else. Most popular American foods are deep fried (Mmmm... Onion Rings) and probably not meant for human consumption (Mmmmm... Pulled Pork Sandwhiches) and that the reason for obesity in America is that we haven't really scaled our fatty foods to match our supply.
As in... These were good for you in the 1920's when the lack of food was an issue for most Americans, but now... Not so good.
We need to focus on just not cooking foods in fat or deep fry them. Plenty of good stuff out there that you can eat a lot of and still not get fat.
Well if you judge a society by its commercials, then I'm shocked they'd choose any non-Microsoft product that wasn't Windows.
There was that one cartoon by Warner Brother's that changed something because of an online petition (because it was too scary) and the issue with the road tax in the UK.