SALE: Permanently transferring ownership of property from one party to another.
RENT: Allowing use of property for a specific amount of time, with the period of time either being defined or open-ended. Ownership is not transferred. Usage rights are allotted in exchange for reimbursement based on one or more variables.
LICENSING: Allowing use of property by one party from another for a specific amount of time.
This all being said, if I BUY something, I own it and can do as I please with it. I can re-sell it just as I do my car/house/boat etc. However, I cannot buy a car, duplicate it, and then sell multiple copies of it. I can, however, make copies of it for my own enjoyment. Yet, if I pay another party to develop a custom product for me using my engineering, I retain all the rights to the product. EXAMPLE: I pay Company A for time, research, development, and testing to develop a new kind of shaving cream. Even though I did not develop it, Company A was acting as a paid agent or contractor to develop it for me. Company A does not gain the rights to the product, unless I was reckless and just gave them a pile of my money without any documentation or a contract.
A license is nothing more than permission to use something, and nothing more. If products are licensed, the licensing party grants permission for another party to do something specific with property that is under ownership of the licensing party. When the license expires, you no longer have permission to do a certain thing with the property. Since permission to use something is taken away from you, the revoking property needs to take back what they previously licensed.
When you rent something, you do not purchase any property. You are paying for the use of property, and must return it when you are finished using it, or break the rental agreement (which is conditional use).
When you buy a CD or DVD, you buy a copy. Like buying a newspaper, you can do anything you want with it physically, do anything you want with the printed content (so long as you do not engage in commercial distribution), you can photo copy an advertisement or article for your own personal enjoyment, as well as incidental enjoyment of others (such as posting a Dilbert cartoon in your humble cubicle, which is primarily for you to enjoy, but you cannot control the enjoyment of others who might see it on their own) that is beyond your control.
When you buy a copy, you own not only the physical medium, but also the data contained on it. Since the data on such things is stored in a physical manner, you own the data contained on the specific item you purchased. You cannot duplicate the item and sell it, because only the physical rights to that specific copy was purchased, and not the distribution rights to the song. Ask a record company for the prices to purchase a song on a CD from them, and then ask them for the price to distribute that song. You will get two very different numbers.
If a company is going to SELL products while LICENSING their use, then they need to buy it back when it is done being used.
I need clarification on your proposed measurement #3.
By 'Members of the Senate", do you mean:
a) The value of their lives (What the rest of us would be losing if they were to magically disappear in a Harry Potter-esque manner), b) Their value to the rest of us (What we gain from them per capita versus what they take from us), -or- c) What it costs to buy one (What needs explaining?!)
The Method of Calculating Copyright Infringement Damages:
1) Multiply # of illegal downloads by the last 4 digits of Defendant's telephone number for value A.
2) Divide value A by Defendant's Age for value B.
3) Multiply value B by 1000 for value C.
4) Multiply Defendant's weight by Defendant's Zip Code for value D. (For Zip codes that use a combination of numbers and letters, convert to Base-10 depending on the letter's position in the alphabet, then divide by a factor of 100)
5) Add values C and D together. The result is the total damages the Defendant has caused.
6) Sue the Defendant into eternal debt.
7) Cite previous court cases to support the damages claim.
8) Sing a paraphrased line from "Sixteen Tons": "When Saint Peter calls his name tell him he can't go, because he owes his soul to the Company Store....."
If a kid swallows a rare-earth magnet, the best thing to do is to seek medical attention RIGHT AWAY. Secondly, TAKE THE SOURCE OF THE MAGNETS AWAY FROM THEM!
A suitable punishment for such behavior would be to make them eat things that no kid would want to eat:
1. Chili peppers, 2. Castor oil (the medical stuff), 3. Lima beans, 4. Anchovies / Sardines
You can also spray some electronics duster on the stuff you don't want them to eat, but know they will.
The 'compressed air' stuff sold at electronics shops contains Bitrex, which I found out the hard way (by accident) tastes like absolute crap, makes everything else taste like absolute crap, stays on the hands (until they get a good scrubbing), and will linger for an hour or so in your mouth.
(This is the kind of stuff that happens when a bunch of cops get bored and realize the department is awash in office supplies and Christmas food. It made a better prank than crank-calling the Lt. from the office next to his, but that's another story.....)
A leak website complaining about some leaking documents about it? Delicious!
That's the problem with Assange and Wikileaks..... They are essentially griefers who can't swallow their own medicine. They think it is O.K. leak everybody else's secrets, which they have no right to do, but they run and cower behind lawyers when someone releases WikiLeaks' secrets.
***** THERE IS NO HOTSPOT ON THE MOON ***** ***** THERE ARE NO VOLCANOES ON THE MOON ***** ***** THE EVIDENCE IS OF VOLCANISM 800,000,000 YEARS AGO *****
derGoldstein, please read the articles you BEFORE you type the summary AND TITLE. I mean, if you are linking to an article, please read it first.
The way to get around all of this "wiretapping" crap, aside from a judge who beats some common sense into police chiefs with his gavel, is simple:
A small red led, either flashing or continuous, on the recording device, or.....
A t-shirt that says "Audio / Video Monitoring In Progress", or both.
If you want to cover your ass while driving, place a reflective sticker right next to your license plate that reads: "This vehicle equipped with active audio / visual recording devices.". The officer won't be able to claim, unless he is blind, that he didn't see the duly posted notice. Hell, you'd even be able to see it on the officer's dashcam recording. Be vague yet accurate and truthful to the officer if he asks you about being recorded (don't be a total dick, especially if you really did run the stop sign and are trying to cover your ass, as it will look bad in court).
Officer: Am I being recorded? Driver: Yes, that is why I posted the sticker on my car, right next to my license plate. Officer: You do realize that it is interfering with my investigation and traffic stop, don't you? Driver: No, I don't. How is it interfering with your investigation and traffic stop? Officer: You might use the recording improperly. Driver: Like how? Officer: Where is the recording? Driver: It's being streamed to servers in Havana, Cuba, with the added bonus that they don't have an extradition treaty with the U.S. It's also available streaming from Hulu, but people only watch the good ones the whole way through. Officer: Good ones? Driver: You know, where the cop goes ballistic about being videotaped by some bystander from 50 yards away, and then confiscates his phone and tries to arrest him on charges of wiretapping, invasion of privacy, interfering, tax evasion, lion taming, etc., then simultaneously "loses" both the phone recording and the squad car's dash cam tapes. It only works because those idiots didn't post any notice that they were recording the cops. Which is why I posted notice......
Geologists have know for decades that the oceans contain a vast quantity of minerals, including rare earths. The Glomar Explorer, for example was built to secretly salvage a sunken Soviet submarine. However, a realistic cover story was needed, so the Government settled on saying that it was a ship designed to recover manganese nodules (which contain a smorgasboard of minerals and rare earths, in addition to high concentrations of manganese, hence the name) that cover the ocean floor.
The plausibility of the story rested in the fact that there *DO* exist extremely vast sources of minerals (including rare earths) on the sea floor.
Honest to God, why do highly educated and credentialed people keep overlooking things that have been known for a years?!
This should be grounds for revoking their credentials until they go back to school..... again.
I can already see the next "discovery" headline:
"Japanese researchers discover rotting fish stinks!"
What Robbins doesn't mention is that those same quirky people are a complete pain in the ass to deal with in real life.
They complain constantly when having to do hard, manual labor,
They can't tolerate any kind of inconvenience,
They can't tolerate any kind of irritation, sometimes threatening to sue if it doesn't do away,
They are self-centered, and think the world owes them something,
They think people are obligated to listen to whatever they have to say, and don't like being told they are wrong when they are wrong,
They think that people should give them respect, rather than have to earn it,
When a problem occurs that is outside their area of technical expertise, they are completely helpless. (Such as the tax genius who knows everything about taxes and accounting, but can't understand why the gas pump suddenly clicked off after 15 gallons and wouldn't let him put any more gas in his car. HINT: It's full. Actually had this one, and I still had to explain what I meant by 'Full').
When something doesn't go the way they want, they complain constantly, e.g. FML, Life Hates Me (sort of true), My boss/neighbor/etc. is a complete retard.....ad nauseum.
Robbins' study is so flawed in so many ways, it shouldn't have even been published. The term "quirky" varies widely, and she also uses self-claims of quirkyness in validating quirky people. If a student had done this as a research project in my Psych classes, there wouldn't be a student or Professor around who wouldn't be able tear this to shreds. I could go on and on about the crappy research, methods, and conclusion, it would just be a rant.
Technical Analysis:
10% Junk Journalism 20% Poorly Defined Variables 20% Poor Statistical Analysis 50% Bad Data Collection Methodology
Nowadays, we have effectively been turned into a bunch of idiots who need medical science professionals to address everything that can possibly go wrong with us, and that we are unable to tolerate even the slightest amount of discomfort or inconvenience.
Before someone says that I am an evil Right-Wing nutjob, it needs to be explained that people have progressively had less and less common sense about what is going on with their health: Sniffles and a fever are now treated with a doctor's visit and prescription medications (assuming the "patient" is a previously healthy individual over 5 years old or not elderly), when common sense remedies, like bed rest, fluids and taking it easy, should be tried first. If the condition gets worse (i.e. vomiting, bloody diarrhea, tremors, etc.), THEN a doctor's visit is warranted.
Society does not understand that it is unreasonable to see a doctor every time they feel any kind of discomfort, and that they should use common sense in treating the ailment with common sense approaches. Those that want highly personalized heath care should be the ones that pay for it. For those of us without the $$$$$ needed to pay for a personal doctor, we should be treating ailments with a common sense approach BEFORE going to the doc.
Not every illness is serious, but some are. Many can be treated without a doctor's visit.
Preventive Healthcare means PREVENTING illness to a reasonable degree. If you have a strong family history of liver cancer, then it would be a good idea to have tests performed to make sure none is developing. If you don't, then such tests are unnecessary regardless of how much emotional pining and whining that you can come up with.
ON THE OTHER HAND,
Doctors need to be able to quell unreasonable concerns from their patients, while being able to tell an 'inconvenience' from a 'condition'. Nowadays, Defensive Medicine falls into three categories:
1) They just want to keep from getting sued,
2) They want to keep the customer happy so that they won't have complaints filed against them when they tell them there is nothing wrong and that their issue is not serious or warranting of a full battery of tests and scans,
3) They do not know enough to accurately decide if a problem does, or does not, exist.
Lawsuit caps *do* need to be put in place to keep doctors from losing everything they have when an accident happens. Doctors are human just like everybody else, and they *WILL* make mistakes (anybody who think they don't, or that it won't happen to them is just kidding themselves), and people don't seem to get that, and expect flawless service whenever they ask for it.
Analogies like this could be made for *any* profession.
E.G.:
1) Mechanics do a poor job so cars break more often,
2) Nurseries sell plants that don't last very long so they can sell more,
3) Computer technicians do a poor job so they can get more business,
4) Construction Firms build faulty buildings so they can get more business.....
5) Road Crews do a poor job paving roads so cracks occur more frequently and the roads wear out faster, necessitating more repairs.....
Of course, all of the failures that happen occur long enough for enough time to elapse so that there is reasonable doubt it was their fault.....
Preventive healthcare is the patient's responsibility, within reason.
Eat healthy, exercise, don't smoke, brush your teeth, don't play in traffic, etc. Get a regular checkup once a year, and if you have any concerns (like lumps, things changing color, rashes, etc.). Additionally, Preventive Healthcare also includes a big degree of discretion (a 6 year old who eats a too much at a restaurant and then complains of a stomach ache probably doesn't need a doctor, whereas a 6 year old who has a stomach ache and bloody stools after eating too much as a restaurant probably does ASAP).
Someone should tack on a "Politician Bullshit Tax" to generate funds lost to bad spending, pet projects, and unethical behavior.
This would provide a healthy offset to this bullshit idea.
Now that I think about it, I can disconnect my truck's odometer simply be removing an easily removable fuse!
Obama should understand that vast majority of the goodwill he earned from killing Osama will evaporate faster than a gallon of gas in the Arizona sunshine.
How, exactly, is this money going to be used? As long at it gets spent on projects that are innovative, I have no problem.
However, if they wind up financing some art junkie's skidmarks, or a large percentage of each dollar gets spent on "administrative costs" (like the Red Cross), and not something that will actually contribute anything of practical value, they will lose credibility rapidly. Knowing the kinds of incredibly stupid mistakes that wealthy organizations can make is why I am undecided on how this will turn out.
As patently stupid as this is, the court forgot one detail:
There is nothing that says customers can't band together and force AT&T to arbitrate with a large group of people at the same time. Or drag out the arbitration proceedings until they are no longer profitable.
It would be nice to see some states force companies to give up the right to forced arbitration as a condition of doing business in their state! No state is obligated to permit a business to operate, especially if they deny a permit to operate as a means of protecting their citizens from unfair practices.
I am pretty sure this information is being collected simply to identify areas where people are exceeding the speed limit, so police can identify hotspots and times where this happens in order to more effectively police traffic.
There is nothing wrong with this, but the fact that TomTom:
A) Does not disclose this fact to customers before purchase, B) May sell the info to Law Enforcement for profit, C) Does not offer customers an Opt-Out option, D) Does not offer any compensation to customers for supplying information, other than the services that they (the customers) paid for, that they are profiting from.
This is a very well-intentioned idea, and a good one at that, but the fact that data collection is being made involuntarily and covertly is a big screw-up.
Slashdot Mirror
Those digital bits are actually in the physical world! Pits/lans, magnetic polarity, light/dark spots..... they are still physically tangible!
SALE: Permanently transferring ownership of property from one party to another.
RENT: Allowing use of property for a specific amount of time, with the period of time either being defined or open-ended. Ownership is not transferred. Usage rights are allotted in exchange for reimbursement based on one or more variables.
LICENSING: Allowing use of property by one party from another for a specific amount of time.
This all being said, if I BUY something, I own it and can do as I please with it. I can re-sell it just as I do my car/house/boat etc. However, I cannot buy a car, duplicate it, and then sell multiple copies of it. I can, however, make copies of it for my own enjoyment. Yet, if I pay another party to develop a custom product for me using my engineering, I retain all the rights to the product. EXAMPLE: I pay Company A for time, research, development, and testing to develop a new kind of shaving cream. Even though I did not develop it, Company A was acting as a paid agent or contractor to develop it for me. Company A does not gain the rights to the product, unless I was reckless and just gave them a pile of my money without any documentation or a contract.
A license is nothing more than permission to use something, and nothing more. If products are licensed, the licensing party grants permission for another party to do something specific with property that is under ownership of the licensing party. When the license expires, you no longer have permission to do a certain thing with the property. Since permission to use something is taken away from you, the revoking property needs to take back what they previously licensed.
When you rent something, you do not purchase any property. You are paying for the use of property, and must return it when you are finished using it, or break the rental agreement (which is conditional use).
When you buy a CD or DVD, you buy a copy. Like buying a newspaper, you can do anything you want with it physically, do anything you want with the printed content (so long as you do not engage in commercial distribution), you can photo copy an advertisement or article for your own personal enjoyment, as well as incidental enjoyment of others (such as posting a Dilbert cartoon in your humble cubicle, which is primarily for you to enjoy, but you cannot control the enjoyment of others who might see it on their own) that is beyond your control.
When you buy a copy, you own not only the physical medium, but also the data contained on it. Since the data on such things is stored in a physical manner, you own the data contained on the specific item you purchased. You cannot duplicate the item and sell it, because only the physical rights to that specific copy was purchased, and not the distribution rights to the song. Ask a record company for the prices to purchase a song on a CD from them, and then ask them for the price to distribute that song. You will get two very different numbers.
If a company is going to SELL products while LICENSING their use, then they need to buy it back when it is done being used.
RoboCar.....Meet RoboCop!
I need clarification on your proposed measurement #3.
By 'Members of the Senate", do you mean:
a) The value of their lives (What the rest of us would be losing if they were to magically disappear in a Harry Potter-esque manner),
b) Their value to the rest of us (What we gain from them per capita versus what they take from us),
-or-
c) What it costs to buy one (What needs explaining?!)
The Method of Calculating Copyright Infringement Damages:
1) Multiply # of illegal downloads by the last 4 digits of Defendant's telephone number for value A.
2) Divide value A by Defendant's Age for value B.
3) Multiply value B by 1000 for value C.
4) Multiply Defendant's weight by Defendant's Zip Code for value D. (For Zip codes that use a combination of numbers and letters, convert to Base-10 depending on the letter's position in the alphabet, then divide by a factor of 100)
5) Add values C and D together. The result is the total damages the Defendant has caused.
6) Sue the Defendant into eternal debt.
7) Cite previous court cases to support the damages claim.
8) Sing a paraphrased line from "Sixteen Tons": "When Saint Peter calls his name tell him he can't go, because he owes his soul to the Company Store....."
If a kid swallows a rare-earth magnet, the best thing to do is to seek medical attention RIGHT AWAY. Secondly, TAKE THE SOURCE OF THE MAGNETS AWAY FROM THEM!
A suitable punishment for such behavior would be to make them eat things that no kid would want to eat:
1. Chili peppers,
2. Castor oil (the medical stuff),
3. Lima beans,
4. Anchovies / Sardines
You can also spray some electronics duster on the stuff you don't want them to eat, but know they will.
The 'compressed air' stuff sold at electronics shops contains Bitrex, which I found out the hard way (by accident) tastes like absolute crap, makes everything else taste like absolute crap, stays on the hands (until they get a good scrubbing), and will linger for an hour or so in your mouth.
(This is the kind of stuff that happens when a bunch of cops get bored and realize the department is awash in office supplies and Christmas food. It made a better prank than crank-calling the Lt. from the office next to his, but that's another story.....)
Possibly, but the degaussing would probably be due to the force of the magnet slamming up against the machine after it shot out of the kid.....
Would be pretty funny if it was strong enough to levitate the kid, though. The look on the technician would be priceless.....
Right! Get on it. You will need to get the cleaning chemicals out of the tape safe.....
May God help them if that thing carried the Spice Channel!
1. The Bastard Bible: The Tome From Hell.
2. The Compleat BOFH.
3. Kama Sutra
Pop quizzes every Friday. Tardiness punishable by 2 days in the comms cupboard. Unexcused absences punishable by cattle prod.
I think we may have another drunk Russian commie on our hands.....
"He who lulz last, lulz best"
A leak website complaining about some leaking documents about it? Delicious!
That's the problem with Assange and Wikileaks..... They are essentially griefers who can't swallow their own medicine. They think it is O.K. leak everybody else's secrets, which they have no right to do, but they run and cower behind lawyers when someone releases WikiLeaks' secrets.
Talk about hypocrites!
***** THERE IS NO HOTSPOT ON THE MOON *****
***** THERE ARE NO VOLCANOES ON THE MOON *****
***** THE EVIDENCE IS OF VOLCANISM 800,000,000 YEARS AGO *****
derGoldstein, please read the articles you BEFORE you type the summary AND TITLE. I mean, if you are linking to an article, please read it first.
Sincerely,
The Rest Of SlashDot
The way to get around all of this "wiretapping" crap, aside from a judge who beats some common sense into police chiefs with his gavel, is simple:
A small red led, either flashing or continuous, on the recording device, or.....
A t-shirt that says "Audio / Video Monitoring In Progress", or both.
If you want to cover your ass while driving, place a reflective sticker right next to your license plate that reads: "This vehicle equipped with active audio / visual recording devices.". The officer won't be able to claim, unless he is blind, that he didn't see the duly posted notice. Hell, you'd even be able to see it on the officer's dashcam recording. Be vague yet accurate and truthful to the officer if he asks you about being recorded (don't be a total dick, especially if you really did run the stop sign and are trying to cover your ass, as it will look bad in court).
Officer: Am I being recorded? .....
Driver: Yes, that is why I posted the sticker on my car, right next to my license plate.
Officer: You do realize that it is interfering with my investigation and traffic stop, don't you?
Driver: No, I don't. How is it interfering with your investigation and traffic stop?
Officer: You might use the recording improperly.
Driver: Like how?
Officer: Where is the recording?
Driver: It's being streamed to servers in Havana, Cuba, with the added bonus that they don't have an extradition treaty with the U.S. It's also available streaming from Hulu, but people only watch the good ones the whole way through.
Officer: Good ones?
Driver: You know, where the cop goes ballistic about being videotaped by some bystander from 50 yards away, and then confiscates his phone and tries to arrest him on charges of wiretapping, invasion of privacy, interfering, tax evasion, lion taming, etc., then simultaneously "loses" both the phone recording and the squad car's dash cam tapes. It only works because those idiots didn't post any notice that they were recording the cops. Which is why I posted notice.
JESUS H. CHRIST WITH A CHERRY ON TOP!
THIS HAS BEEN KNOWN FOR *DECADES*!!!!!
Geologists have know for decades that the oceans contain a vast quantity of minerals, including rare earths. The Glomar Explorer, for example was built to secretly salvage a sunken Soviet submarine. However, a realistic cover story was needed, so the Government settled on saying that it was a ship designed to recover manganese nodules (which contain a smorgasboard of minerals and rare earths, in addition to high concentrations of manganese, hence the name) that cover the ocean floor.
The plausibility of the story rested in the fact that there *DO* exist extremely vast sources of minerals (including rare earths) on the sea floor.
Honest to God, why do highly educated and credentialed people keep overlooking things that have been known for a years?!
This should be grounds for revoking their credentials until they go back to school..... again.
I can already see the next "discovery" headline:
"Japanese researchers discover rotting fish stinks!"
What Robbins doesn't mention is that those same quirky people are a complete pain in the ass to deal with in real life.
They complain constantly when having to do hard, manual labor,
They can't tolerate any kind of inconvenience,
They can't tolerate any kind of irritation, sometimes threatening to sue if it doesn't do away,
They are self-centered, and think the world owes them something,
They think people are obligated to listen to whatever they have to say, and don't like being told they are wrong when they are wrong,
They think that people should give them respect, rather than have to earn it,
When a problem occurs that is outside their area of technical expertise, they are completely helpless. (Such as the tax genius who knows everything about taxes and accounting, but can't understand why the gas pump suddenly clicked off after 15 gallons and wouldn't let him put any more gas in his car. HINT: It's full. Actually had this one, and I still had to explain what I meant by 'Full').
When something doesn't go the way they want, they complain constantly, e.g. FML, Life Hates Me (sort of true), My boss/neighbor/etc. is a complete retard.....ad nauseum.
Robbins' study is so flawed in so many ways, it shouldn't have even been published. The term "quirky" varies widely, and she also uses self-claims of quirkyness in validating quirky people. If a student had done this as a research project in my Psych classes, there wouldn't be a student or Professor around who wouldn't be able tear this to shreds. I could go on and on about the crappy research, methods, and conclusion, it would just be a rant.
Technical Analysis:
10% Junk Journalism
20% Poorly Defined Variables
20% Poor Statistical Analysis
50% Bad Data Collection Methodology
Nowadays, we have effectively been turned into a bunch of idiots who need medical science professionals to address everything that can possibly go wrong with us, and that we are unable to tolerate even the slightest amount of discomfort or inconvenience.
Before someone says that I am an evil Right-Wing nutjob, it needs to be explained that people have progressively had less and less common sense about what is going on with their health: Sniffles and a fever are now treated with a doctor's visit and prescription medications (assuming the "patient" is a previously healthy individual over 5 years old or not elderly), when common sense remedies, like bed rest, fluids and taking it easy, should be tried first. If the condition gets worse (i.e. vomiting, bloody diarrhea, tremors, etc.), THEN a doctor's visit is warranted.
Society does not understand that it is unreasonable to see a doctor every time they feel any kind of discomfort, and that they should use common sense in treating the ailment with common sense approaches. Those that want highly personalized heath care should be the ones that pay for it. For those of us without the $$$$$ needed to pay for a personal doctor, we should be treating ailments with a common sense approach BEFORE going to the doc.
Not every illness is serious, but some are. Many can be treated without a doctor's visit.
Preventive Healthcare means PREVENTING illness to a reasonable degree. If you have a strong family history of liver cancer, then it would be a good idea to have tests performed to make sure none is developing. If you don't, then such tests are unnecessary regardless of how much emotional pining and whining that you can come up with.
ON THE OTHER HAND,
Doctors need to be able to quell unreasonable concerns from their patients, while being able to tell an 'inconvenience' from a 'condition'. Nowadays, Defensive Medicine falls into three categories:
1) They just want to keep from getting sued,
2) They want to keep the customer happy so that they won't have complaints filed against them when they tell them there is nothing wrong and that their issue is not serious or warranting of a full battery of tests and scans,
3) They do not know enough to accurately decide if a problem does, or does not, exist.
Lawsuit caps *do* need to be put in place to keep doctors from losing everything they have when an accident happens. Doctors are human just like everybody else, and they *WILL* make mistakes (anybody who think they don't, or that it won't happen to them is just kidding themselves), and people don't seem to get that, and expect flawless service whenever they ask for it.
Analogies like this could be made for *any* profession.
E.G.:
1) Mechanics do a poor job so cars break more often,
2) Nurseries sell plants that don't last very long so they can sell more,
3) Computer technicians do a poor job so they can get more business,
4) Construction Firms build faulty buildings so they can get more business.....
5) Road Crews do a poor job paving roads so cracks occur more frequently and the roads wear out faster, necessitating more repairs.....
Of course, all of the failures that happen occur long enough for enough time to elapse so that there is reasonable doubt it was their fault.....
Preventive healthcare is the patient's responsibility, within reason.
Eat healthy, exercise, don't smoke, brush your teeth, don't play in traffic, etc. Get a regular checkup once a year, and if you have any concerns (like lumps, things changing color, rashes, etc.). Additionally, Preventive Healthcare also includes a big degree of discretion (a 6 year old who eats a too much at a restaurant and then complains of a stomach ache probably doesn't need a doctor, whereas a 6 year old who has a stomach ache and bloody stools after eating too much as a restaurant probably does ASAP).
You're right! It's all a big money racket!
Someone should tack on a "Politician Bullshit Tax" to generate funds lost to bad spending, pet projects, and unethical behavior.
This would provide a healthy offset to this bullshit idea.
Now that I think about it, I can disconnect my truck's odometer simply be removing an easily removable fuse!
Obama should understand that vast majority of the goodwill he earned from killing Osama will evaporate faster than a gallon of gas in the Arizona sunshine.
What fucking bank is THAT?!
I want to use them!!!!!
SRSLY, they could start a great advertising campaign with just announcing their open hours!
How, exactly, is this money going to be used? As long at it gets spent on projects that are innovative, I have no problem.
However, if they wind up financing some art junkie's skidmarks, or a large percentage of each dollar gets spent on "administrative costs" (like the Red Cross), and not something that will actually contribute anything of practical value, they will lose credibility rapidly. Knowing the kinds of incredibly stupid mistakes that wealthy organizations can make is why I am undecided on how this will turn out.
Why bother stealing the specs?
All you really need is a good set of calipers and micrometer, or an automated CAD machine and you could get the specs yourself in no time.....
1) Buy item as soon as it is released,
2) Dissassemble and measure dimensions,
3) Design the product to your likes using said dimensions,
4) Profit!!!
Not much thinking there. Yeah you would have to wait until the product is released, but you could avoid the legal wrangling.
As patently stupid as this is, the court forgot one detail:
There is nothing that says customers can't band together and force AT&T to arbitrate with a large group of people at the same time. Or drag out the arbitration proceedings until they are no longer profitable.
It would be nice to see some states force companies to give up the right to forced arbitration as a condition of doing business in their state! No state is obligated to permit a business to operate, especially if they deny a permit to operate as a means of protecting their citizens from unfair practices.
I am pretty sure this information is being collected simply to identify areas where people are exceeding the speed limit, so police can identify hotspots and times where this happens in order to more effectively police traffic.
There is nothing wrong with this, but the fact that TomTom:
A) Does not disclose this fact to customers before purchase,
B) May sell the info to Law Enforcement for profit,
C) Does not offer customers an Opt-Out option,
D) Does not offer any compensation to customers for supplying information, other than the services that they (the customers) paid for, that they are profiting from.
This is a very well-intentioned idea, and a good one at that, but the fact that data collection is being made involuntarily and covertly is a big screw-up.