A school is a place of education, NOT A PROFESSOR'S BUSINESS!
By accepting his salary, the professor already has given up his rights to his lessons, since the institution has effectively "bought" his lessons/teaching by employing him and paying him for his work.
Additionally, what are professors doing treating their own classrooms as captive-audience MARKETPLACES?! Classrooms are where people go because they want to learn, not because they want to pay money to get into a class AND pay the professor money to buy a textbook he wrote so they can complete the class.
If you ask me, allowing professors to force students to shell out more cash so they can complete the course by buying materiels produced by the professor, for the explicit purpose of earning additional money for the professor, IS A MAJOR CONFLICT OF INTEREST, and NOT in the best interest, or spirit of the students or institution. Students already pay to be taught, which means, they have the RIGHTS TO THE LESSON AND ITS CONTENT, regardless of the order it is in or how detailed their notes are. If I sat in a class that I didn't pay enrollment fees for, the school has every right to remove that person from the classroom. But, if I sit in a class that I have already PAID for, then each student has the legal right to be in the class, the rights to the lecture, and the rights to copy the content for their own uses.
1) Professor owns rights to lesson 2) Professor sells rights to lesson by accepting payment or compensation from the University for the teaching of the lessons. 3) University "buys" lessons from professors by paying professors a salary, wages, or other non-monetary compensation. 4) Students buy the rights to the lesson by enrolloing in the class and paying enrollment/university fees to the University, which now owns the rights to the lesson 5) Since students have paid for the lesson, they have the right to now do as they please with the lesson's content.
The copyrights, if any, travel like this:
1) Professor owns rights to lessons. 2) Professor sells rights to University. 3) University now owns rights to lesson. 4) University sells rights to students. 5) Students now own rights to lesson. 6) Since students now own rights to the lesson, they can do with it as they please.
I would hope somebody files a suit against the schools for breach of contract, breach of confidence, deceptive business practices, fraud, and financial abuse of students by employing/allowing corrupt and slimy professors to take money from students just so they can PASS the class, on top of what the students already paid JUST TO GET INTO IT.
Someone ought to make an example of this scumbag and spike his head onto a fencepost in the midle of campus. I sure won't stop them. Hell, I'd buy the post for them!
Looks like old Ma Bell wasn't really dead after all..... She was just in at home regaining her strength and plotting her next move with her Baby Bells.....
Prof: Farnsworth: "The ads get into your dreams the same way this liquid gets into this egg." (sticks syringe into egg. Egg pops and splatters) "Except instead of liquid, it's gamma radiation!"
Wow. I thought that level of unleashed marketing was only good for cartoon humor.
Actually, he makes a *VERY* good point. You don't.
"Do UPS drivers need to think about anything when they do their jobs besides matching the address on the box to the one on the building?"
Yes. Shifting gears, avoiding bad drivers, navigating a large truck through a shooting gallery of cell-phone chatting zombie drivers, while trying to find the right address.
"Do programmers ride little bicycles to power their computers? Do they mop the halls?"
If they are smart programmers, they would plug their laptops into wall outlets and let the janitors mop the halls.
"Should programmers have octacore xeons with blinking lights on top and every little bell and whistle imaginable, like police cars do? Do programmers get a taser? Are they going to have to clean the taser?"
The "little blinking lights" in police cars have very real functions (gun unlock, sirens, different lights, radio/communications info, dispatch info, GPS/navigation. Programmers don't need a taser, unless they work in Compton (they'd be better off with a BAR). And Tasers don't need cleaning.....you just unsnap the old cartridge and snap in the new one. Easy.
"Should programmers remove dirt from the heating vents and scrub the windows? Should they clean the dustbunnies behind their desks?"
Only if they have nothing better to do than spend the day watching anime and Japanese tentacle porn. Other than that, they should leave it to the Janitor if its not at their home. If it IS at their home, then yes, they should clean the heating vents and windows.
"Your questions are as relevant as a shoe in a box of chocolates, or whatever two things don't make any sense together."
Like what? Your responses to the parent's comments?
"I have, in my life, been denied the ability to petition for a writ of habeas corpus right here in this country you're so fond of claiming is free. "I have had my rights violated, under color of law, and been denied any redress thanks to procedural technicalities."
Boo hoo. So the law didn't let you get your way, because you weren't supposed to under the way it was written. Just because you feel that you should get something doesn't meant that you are SUPPOSED to get something. Freedom and rights do not mean that you were supposed to get something because you feel like it. You didn't get what you asked for because you weren't SUPPOSED to get it. Unitl the judge, or whoever denied your requests, is overruled, justice has been served and freedoms preserved.
"I have had my rights violated, under color of law, and been denied any redress thanks to procedural technicalities."
Lemme guess..... You were roughed up by the cops for no reason?
When companies start renting bloggers to do product promos, it's pretty obvious.
The biggest red flags for a grossly over-hyped or down-reigh bogus product is when people or companies start derscibing a product with words like:
"Paradigm shift" "Revolutionary" "Breakthrough" "Cutting edge" "Sweeping the nation" "As seen on T.V." "Endorsed by (insert celebrity)" "Patented" "Patent-pending" "As seen in (insert magazine)" "Space Age" "("customer" testimony dripping with praise)" "Technology" "All new" "Natural" "Regrows hair" "Pill that enlarges penis".....and anything seen on a late-night infomercial.
Hiring bloggers to promote products is the same thing as hiring doctors to endorse products. It's down and out SLIMY. First of all, any "doctor" who explicitly endorses things should have their license permenently revoked and barred from ever practicing medicine (if not publicly beaten). Bloggers do not need certification, so determining their credibility is more difficult, as they appear to be your everyday Average Joe. That is what makes blogs-for-rent schemes so slimy: They get everyday people to promote, usually bad, products for money, rather than getting them to promote them because thy actually work (Companies are all to happy to belive a bad product of theirs "works" and that "we will want it")
Some laws require that companies say if they have paid the individual to endorse their products. Usually, it is in very small, illegible print at the very bottom of the TV screen. I know if they had to do it for bloggers, they would find a million ways around it.
Actually, that's not a scam. The military will pay for whatever school you can get accepted into. If there is a conflict going on, and you are currently enrolled, you just send in a verification of your enrollment and the military will (they have to) pass over you until your next deployment comes up next, you graduate, or you decide to resume service.
They cannot pull you out of class. The only time they can pull you out of class is during a natural disaster (National Guard, or in extreme cases, the standing military). If the conflict or disaster gets to the point where they are pulling people out in the middle of class, school for everybody will pretty much be irrelevent to the issues occuring. However, they can keep you deployed for a certain amount of extended time, provided you are already deployed.
I know it's easy to trash the military, being all high on your horse and born with a silver spoon in your mouth, but until you can actually say you've EARNED your right to free speech, rather than using it because you were born with it, pull your head out of your ass and stop abusing it. Unlike you, obviously, those of us in the military have the guts, balls, discipline, and bravery to fight for our rights at the expense and derision of little pussies like you who talk trash about us while sipping a Starbucks latte in your comfy office. Someone should strap you to the side of a Humvee and use you for armor. Weak armor.
Ok, just how dumb can companies be when they start claiming trademarks on COLORS?!
Certain companies in certain industries have traditionally had their own colors, such as:
Company: (Color Usage:)
John Deere: Green (Logo, vehicle color) Caterpillar: Yellow (Logo, bulldozers, tractors, engines) Ford: Blue (Logo, engines) Waukesha: Orange (Logo, engines) FedEx: Blue/Red (Logo, vehicle lettering) United Parcel Servie: Brown (Logo, vehicle color) DHL: Yellow/Red (Logo (red), vehicle color (yellow) Waste Management: Green/Yellow (Logo (Green/Yellow), vehicle color (green) Microsoft: Blue (Logo) Mitsubishi: Red (Logo/lettering)
According to T-Mobile (and earlier claims by Cadbury for the color purple), since Waste Management and John Deere both have the same colors, then they must be the same thing. Apparently, these companies think wayyy too highly of themselves. Color recognition requires YEARS of using the SAME COLOR, and almost always in its entirety (covering the vast majority of the product, logo, etc.)
For some reason nowadays, companies have this conceited idea that anybody else who uses "their" colors is trying to imitate them. The thing is, the consumers that are buying their products are knowledgable enough to know the difference. If Company A was used Company B's colors, consumers would only think that Company A was trying to copy Company B, and would not be fooled. Furthermore, it would reflect badly on Company A for appearing to imitate Company B.
For example, if Ford started building tractors that were 'John Deere' green, people would think that Ford was trying to imitate a higher quality product, reflecting negatively on Ford, and John Deere would come out looking like the company that everyone was trying to be.
However, the only time colors come into importance is when they are being used specifically to make at product look indistinguishable, albeit for a few design differences. If Ford made a tractor that very closely resembled a John Deere tractor (minor design differences being things like a slightly different bucket shape, different control lever styling, longer bucket pistons, etc.) and colored it green, then people would think that Ford was trying to copy Deere, not that the tractor is made by Deere. People would not buy it because they thought it was a Deere tractor, but they would instead by a Deere tractor because they would think that Ford was trying to sell an inferior product and disguising it in Deere green.
When a company copies a characteristic of another company that is well-known and recognized by society, it reflects badly on the company doing the copying, and good on the company being copied. If you bought an imitation Rolex made by Casio, would that reflect badly on Casio? Yes, becuase consumers would think that Casio is incapable of making soething with the samel level of worksmanship as Rolex, and since, to the consumer, if Casio is trying to copy Rolex, why not buy the real thing with the quality craftsmanship practiced by Rolex?
CPU: Dual AMD dual core Opteron 276 processors. Sound Card: SoundBlaster Audigy II Video Card: ATI Radeon 8800 GT Memory: 4 GB PC 2700 ECC-Registered. Hard Disk: 2x 500GB, 1x 200GB Power Supply: 550W
Notes: Prior to death, subject complained of memory loss, cognitive difficulty after recovering from sleep mode, frequent lock-ups, severe lethargy after sleeping, confusion and sluggishnes when completing complex tasks. Previous medical history notes several near-fatal seizures, necessitating the "re-learning" of basic functions on several different occasions. Cause of seizures is as yet sill unknown, as episodes appeared to happen seemingly at random, usually during inopportune moments. Previous physician notes that resuscitation of the patient was long and time consuming. Resuscitation was further complicated by the fact that the patient was revied in a "hypnotized" state, refusing tto cooperated with medicall staff unless the correct 16-digit alphanumeric "key" was spoken to them, with the key changing after each resuscitation.
Previous Treatments Administered By Last Attending Physician:
Prescribed one (1) copy of Linux, but patient refused.
Time Of Death: 0832, 0901, 1055, 1129, 1344, 1508 Method Of Death: Fatal Error Cause Of Death: Windows
Precedures performed in determining occurence of death: Subject was BSOD on arrival Unresponsive to verbal stimuli: (shouting, cursing) Unresponsive to Sensory stimuli: (hitting, smacking with keyboard)
Additional Notes / Instructions:
As Coroner, it is recommended that the law enforcement agencies involved with the death of the subject investigate Mr. William Henry Gates III, and Steven Anthony Ballmer. Both subjects have known employment at Microsoft Corp. It has been determined by the Office Of The Coroner that a product known colloquially as "Windows", which was/is compiled, manufactured, and sold by Microsoft, while under the direct supervision and control of Mr. Gates and Mr. Ballmer, despite widespread reports of patients expiring from complications and/or adverse reactions after ingesting "Windows".
So, people are paying for HD content, but Comcast compresses the video degrading the quality. So now the HD content that people are paying for is no longer HD quality. So now the quality is nolonger HD, but there is more room for "HD" channels.
I smell a very big lawsuit coming on.
This is like paying for 92 octane gasoline, but having it cut with diesel when you put in in your tank, so as to make the station's reserves of gasoline last longer.
Seriously.....If an indie band can't affort that, then the band obviously isn't good enough to need/have a website. Or the the title 'band' for that matter.....
If I was the Judge that had to deal with these citations, I would give each and every issuing officer a good 'ol fashioned judicial beat-down.
Nerf guns are just like firearms and just as dangerous:
Nerf Guns:
Brightly colorful. Use compressed air. Don't resemble, even remotely, real guns. Shoot big yellow sponges. Sponge "bullets" bounce off of their target and usually make the target laugh. Make funny noises when fired. The target either never falls down, or gets right back up immediately, provided he or she didn't fall of a cliff. Can be bought at any Toy's 'R' Us by a 10 year old. Cost as cheap as $10.
Real guns:
Black or chrome plated. Use smokeless powder. Resemble reals guns because they are real guns. Shoot lead or copper-jacketed bullets. Lead bullets penetrate the target and usually make the target scream in pain. Makes a loud bang when fired. The person who was shot doesn't usually get up. Can only be bought by someone who is 21 or older at licensed dealerships, plus State and Federal background checks. Usually cost between $500-$2999 (hardly milk money)
So, yeah, I can understand how the police became easily confused between the two. Someone should give Barney Fife and his fellow deputies a public commendation for protecting safe fun-loving people from themselves.
I was looking through my college's regulations to see if they had rules prohibiting Nerf Guns and came across the following:
"Weapons and Explosives 1. Possession, use, or sale of any incendiary, explosive, firearm, or destructive device is not permitted. At no time will live ammunition of any type be permitted in or on university premises. 2. Any weapon including, but not limited to guns (i.e., air soft guns, BB/pellet guns, paintball guns, potato guns, pistols, revolvers, firearms, etc.), knives, and any items that are a reasonable facsimile of such weapons are prohibited. 3. Ammunition or explosives (including fireworks) of any kind are prohibited. 4. Failure to report to campus security and/or residence hall personnel the presence of an unlawful weapon, explosive or incendiary device, when the presence of such weapon or device is known or reasonably suspected is a violation of the rules and regulations of the University. 5. Reporting the false presence of an unlawful weapon, explosive or incendiary device with the intent to mislead or deceive is prohibited."
It doesn't list Nerf guns, but states that guns "that are a "resonable facsimile of such weapons are prohibited". This allows anybody with half a brain to successfully argue that Nerf guns are not a "resonable facsimile".
Interestingly enough, the preceeding section is of the following:
"Projectiles 1. Throwing, dropping, or projecting objects from any residence structure, including but not limited to self, keys, bodily fluids, and trash is strictly prohibited. In addition, throwing objects or playing sports in community courtyards is not permitted without permission from the Community Director of that area. Individuals and/or residential communities may be held financially responsible for repairing damages, painting costs, and general maintenance related to projectiles."
So, technically, that means it is against the rules to play flag football, catch, pickle, or Frisbee without getting permission. Man, we didn't even have to ask the Yard Duty for permission to do these things in Elementary school. I guess I should pack up my lawn darts.
Whatever happened to *REAL* police work? Every time they come up with some way to "control/solve" crimes, it winds up being a way to make the job of a cop as easy as pushing a button. Plus, it turns into something that is wayyy more intrusive, as if everybody is a criminal (or potential criminal, in this case):
1) CCTV cameras lining city streets. 2) Self-defense devices (Handguns, knives, tasers, stun guns, pepper spray) are either illegal or heavily regulated to the point where they are defacto illegal. 3) RFID tags in Passports can be used to track whereabouts of the holder. 4) Automated toll tags (like FasTrack) record road/bridge uses. 5) Traffic Cameras automatically cite "violators", doing the job of the police officer instead.
Why don't cops spend time tracking ACTUAL CRIMINALS and solving ACTUAL CRIMES, instead of grouping everyone together and tracking them as "potential criminals" and waiting for potential crimes?
"Behind Closed Doors" is PolitiSpeak for "Let's vaguely mention the topic so we can tell the public we talked about it. We'll spend the rest of the time practicing our golf swings and playing charades."
How can the phone companies, or any company, be fined so little when the actual theft was far more? I mean, a $1.9 million dollar fine for $30 million worth of fraudulent charges?
1: Charge $30 million in fraudulent charges. 2: Generate gross fraud revenue of $30 million. 3: Customers report you. 4: FTC fines you $1.9 million. 5: KEEP PROFIT of $28.1 million. 6: Lather, rinse, repeat.
(Now that I think about it, this could be a buisiness model/method. I CALL PATENT!)
If a company makes more from fraud than it has to pay in fines, where is the deterrent? 28.1 million in retained fraudulent revenue won't discourage anything.
A better way:
1: Fine the company 50% of fraud revenue. 2: Force restitution of 100% of fraud revenue
If the combined amounts of the fine and fraud revenue exceed the total profits and cash reserves of the company, then allow the company to pay in installments that will allow the company to continue operating so that both the fine and restitution can be paid back, with restitution to defrauded customers taking priority over the fine. If the company keeps up fraudulent activity to the point where payments continually compound onto one another and the company cannot make all its payments because the amount exceeds it's profits and cash reserves, then the company, assets and all, is sold off to competitors or creditors, and the assets of responsible executives are used to reimburse shareholders, consumers, and creditors.
Fines need to be a *DETERRENT*, not an inconvenience.
First of all, the music industry is NOT ailing. Second, if it is, it's not because of P2P - It's because record labels are peddling crappy songs, and crappy albums that people DO NOT want to buy.
This is simply a "Sports Car Subsidy": They don't need it, but want it.
How stupid can you be to start asking the Government to compensate you for lost revenue because people do not want to buy your crappy products?
Example:
A car manufacturer produces a car nobody wants to buy that is priced far higher than it is worth, and has alot of features that consumers do not wat. Consumers start getting their cars from other sources because they are better than what the manufacturer in question is selling, have the feaures they want, and are priced what they are worth. Now, the manufacturer says that the other sources are hurting their sales, and wants the Government to subsidize their losses.
If you want profit, sell something consumers will pay money for.
I can see the good points of the mandated upgrades, but no more magnetic tape?
The pros and cons of solid-state memory in black boxes:
Pros:
1) Increased number of system parameters. 2) Smaller phyisical size, which permits larger drive size and thus longer data retention. The available space can allow for either a smaller overall unit size (not necessarily a good thing) or more room for battery power for beacons.
Cons:
1) More susceptible to impacts. 2) Can be damaged by voltage spikes/short circuits, or electrical faults (momentary or continuous). 3) If part of the memory unit is damaged or missing, you could lose some very critical parameter recordings, or more likely, the information entirely. 4) Still susceptable to heat-induced losses of stored data. However, if a tape (analog) recording system is used, you can still use the information on the rest of the spool. Plus, there is still the ability to recover parameter information from physicall damaged portions of the tape. 5) Easier to manipulate/alter the stored information. 6) Easier to "acidentally destroy".
Here is an analogy:
If you shot at a "Black Box", it is guarenteed that the unit will be a total loss, with no information recoverable. If you shot at a current (analog tape) unit, ther is still usable tape. Plus, even the physically damaged tape (ripped/torn/creased) will have parameters that can be analyzed (There is a case of a murderer who tried to cover up his tracks by cutting up an old school floppy disk in an attempt to detroy incriminating evidence. Didn't work.).
Sometimes, newer technology isn't necessarily better than old technology.
It's actually not very expensive to use prisoner labor, and people are already doing it, as there are some prisons that use manual labor. I think Leavenworth, Attica, Angola, and some prison in New Mexico still use prison labor. The problem with using it is that there are always some Bleeding-Heart Idiot groups who don't understand the concept of punishment. These are exactly the kind of people who would decry making a prisoner pick cotton, pull weeds, shuck corn, or hoe a field and, through some form of bastardized logic, decry it as an "atrocity tantamount to torture".
Fortunately, there are some places that refuse to bow to those kinds of idiots and instead hand the cons a shovel and a canteen instead of a T.V.
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A school is a place of education, NOT A PROFESSOR'S BUSINESS!
By accepting his salary, the professor already has given up his rights to his lessons, since the institution has effectively "bought" his lessons/teaching by employing him and paying him for his work.
Additionally, what are professors doing treating their own classrooms as captive-audience MARKETPLACES?! Classrooms are where people go because they want to learn, not because they want to pay money to get into a class AND pay the professor money to buy a textbook he wrote so they can complete the class.
If you ask me, allowing professors to force students to shell out more cash so they can complete the course by buying materiels produced by the professor, for the explicit purpose of earning additional money for the professor, IS A MAJOR CONFLICT OF INTEREST, and NOT in the best interest, or spirit of the students or institution. Students already pay to be taught, which means, they have the RIGHTS TO THE LESSON AND ITS CONTENT, regardless of the order it is in or how detailed their notes are. If I sat in a class that I didn't pay enrollment fees for, the school has every right to remove that person from the classroom. But, if I sit in a class that I have already PAID for, then each student has the legal right to be in the class, the rights to the lecture, and the rights to copy the content for their own uses.
1) Professor owns rights to lesson
2) Professor sells rights to lesson by accepting payment or compensation from the University for the teaching of the lessons.
3) University "buys" lessons from professors by paying professors a salary, wages, or other non-monetary compensation.
4) Students buy the rights to the lesson by enrolloing in the class and paying enrollment/university fees to the University, which now owns the rights to the lesson
5) Since students have paid for the lesson, they have the right to now do as they please with the lesson's content.
The copyrights, if any, travel like this:
1) Professor owns rights to lessons.
2) Professor sells rights to University.
3) University now owns rights to lesson.
4) University sells rights to students.
5) Students now own rights to lesson.
6) Since students now own rights to the lesson, they can do with it as they please.
I would hope somebody files a suit against the schools for breach of contract, breach of confidence, deceptive business practices, fraud, and financial abuse of students by employing/allowing corrupt and slimy professors to take money from students just so they can PASS the class, on top of what the students already paid JUST TO GET INTO IT.
Someone ought to make an example of this scumbag and spike his head onto a fencepost in the midle of campus. I sure won't stop them. Hell, I'd buy the post for them!
Looks like old Ma Bell wasn't really dead after all..... She was just in at home regaining her strength and plotting her next move with her Baby Bells.....
Prof: Farnsworth: "The ads get into your dreams the same way this liquid gets into this egg." (sticks syringe into egg. Egg pops and splatters) "Except instead of liquid, it's gamma radiation!"
Wow. I thought that level of unleashed marketing was only good for cartoon humor.
The Department Of Homeland Security lists Underwriters' Laboratories as a "Terrorist Organization", and tech schools as "Terrorist Training Camps".
That degree in Engineering now seems less like a Badge Of Honor and more like the Mark Of The Devil.
Actually, he makes a *VERY* good point. You don't.
"Do UPS drivers need to think about anything when they do their jobs besides matching the address on the box to the one on the building?"
Yes. Shifting gears, avoiding bad drivers, navigating a large truck through a shooting gallery of cell-phone chatting zombie drivers, while trying to find the right address.
"Do programmers ride little bicycles to power their computers? Do they mop the halls?"
If they are smart programmers, they would plug their laptops into wall outlets and let the janitors mop the halls.
"Should programmers have octacore xeons with blinking lights on top and every little bell and whistle imaginable, like police cars do? Do programmers get a taser? Are they going to have to clean the taser?"
The "little blinking lights" in police cars have very real functions (gun unlock, sirens, different lights, radio/communications info, dispatch info, GPS/navigation. Programmers don't need a taser, unless they work in Compton (they'd be better off with a BAR). And Tasers don't need cleaning.....you just unsnap the old cartridge and snap in the new one. Easy.
"Should programmers remove dirt from the heating vents and scrub the windows? Should they clean the dustbunnies behind their desks?"
Only if they have nothing better to do than spend the day watching anime and Japanese tentacle porn. Other than that, they should leave it to the Janitor if its not at their home. If it IS at their home, then yes, they should clean the heating vents and windows.
"Your questions are as relevant as a shoe in a box of chocolates, or whatever two things don't make any sense together."
Like what? Your responses to the parent's comments?
"I have, in my life, been denied the ability to petition for a writ of habeas corpus right here in this country you're so fond of claiming is free.
"I have had my rights violated, under color of law, and been denied any redress thanks to procedural technicalities."
Boo hoo. So the law didn't let you get your way, because you weren't supposed to under the way it was written. Just because you feel that you should get something doesn't meant that you are SUPPOSED to get something. Freedom and rights do not mean that you were supposed to get something because you feel like it. You didn't get what you asked for because you weren't SUPPOSED to get it. Unitl the judge, or whoever denied your requests, is overruled, justice has been served and freedoms preserved.
"I have had my rights violated, under color of law, and been denied any redress thanks to procedural technicalities."
Lemme guess..... You were roughed up by the cops for no reason?
When companies start renting bloggers to do product promos, it's pretty obvious.
.....and anything seen on a late-night infomercial.
The biggest red flags for a grossly over-hyped or down-reigh bogus product is when people or companies start derscibing a product with words like:
"Paradigm shift"
"Revolutionary"
"Breakthrough"
"Cutting edge"
"Sweeping the nation"
"As seen on T.V."
"Endorsed by (insert celebrity)"
"Patented"
"Patent-pending"
"As seen in (insert magazine)"
"Space Age"
"("customer" testimony dripping with praise)"
"Technology"
"All new"
"Natural"
"Regrows hair"
"Pill that enlarges penis"
Hiring bloggers to promote products is the same thing as hiring doctors to endorse products. It's down and out SLIMY. First of all, any "doctor" who explicitly endorses things should have their license permenently revoked and barred from ever practicing medicine (if not publicly beaten). Bloggers do not need certification, so determining their credibility is more difficult, as they appear to be your everyday Average Joe. That is what makes blogs-for-rent schemes so slimy: They get everyday people to promote, usually bad, products for money, rather than getting them to promote them because thy actually work (Companies are all to happy to belive a bad product of theirs "works" and that "we will want it")
Some laws require that companies say if they have paid the individual to endorse their products. Usually, it is in very small, illegible print at the very bottom of the TV screen. I know if they had to do it for bloggers, they would find a million ways around it.
Actually, that's not a scam. The military will pay for whatever school you can get accepted into. If there is a conflict going on, and you are currently enrolled, you just send in a verification of your enrollment and the military will (they have to) pass over you until your next deployment comes up next, you graduate, or you decide to resume service.
They cannot pull you out of class. The only time they can pull you out of class is during a natural disaster (National Guard, or in extreme cases, the standing military). If the conflict or disaster gets to the point where they are pulling people out in the middle of class, school for everybody will pretty much be irrelevent to the issues occuring. However, they can keep you deployed for a certain amount of extended time, provided you are already deployed.
I know it's easy to trash the military, being all high on your horse and born with a silver spoon in your mouth, but until you can actually say you've EARNED your right to free speech, rather than using it because you were born with it, pull your head out of your ass and stop abusing it. Unlike you, obviously, those of us in the military have the guts, balls, discipline, and bravery to fight for our rights at the expense and derision of little pussies like you who talk trash about us while sipping a Starbucks latte in your comfy office. Someone should strap you to the side of a Humvee and use you for armor. Weak armor.
Ok, just how dumb can companies be when they start claiming trademarks on COLORS?!
Certain companies in certain industries have traditionally had their own colors, such as:
Company: (Color Usage:)
John Deere: Green (Logo, vehicle color)
Caterpillar: Yellow (Logo, bulldozers, tractors, engines)
Ford: Blue (Logo, engines)
Waukesha: Orange (Logo, engines)
FedEx: Blue/Red (Logo, vehicle lettering)
United Parcel Servie: Brown (Logo, vehicle color)
DHL: Yellow/Red (Logo (red), vehicle color (yellow)
Waste Management: Green/Yellow (Logo (Green/Yellow), vehicle color (green)
Microsoft: Blue (Logo)
Mitsubishi: Red (Logo/lettering)
According to T-Mobile (and earlier claims by Cadbury for the color purple), since Waste Management and John Deere both have the same colors, then they must be the same thing. Apparently, these companies think wayyy too highly of themselves. Color recognition requires YEARS of using the SAME COLOR, and almost always in its entirety (covering the vast majority of the product, logo, etc.)
For some reason nowadays, companies have this conceited idea that anybody else who uses "their" colors is trying to imitate them. The thing is, the consumers that are buying their products are knowledgable enough to know the difference. If Company A was used Company B's colors, consumers would only think that Company A was trying to copy Company B, and would not be fooled. Furthermore, it would reflect badly on Company A for appearing to imitate Company B.
For example, if Ford started building tractors that were 'John Deere' green, people would think that Ford was trying to imitate a higher quality product, reflecting negatively on Ford, and John Deere would come out looking like the company that everyone was trying to be.
However, the only time colors come into importance is when they are being used specifically to make at product look indistinguishable, albeit for a few design differences. If Ford made a tractor that very closely resembled a John Deere tractor (minor design differences being things like a slightly different bucket shape, different control lever styling, longer bucket pistons, etc.) and colored it green, then people would think that Ford was trying to copy Deere, not that the tractor is made by Deere. People would not buy it because they thought it was a Deere tractor, but they would instead by a Deere tractor because they would think that Ford was trying to sell an inferior product and disguising it in Deere green.
When a company copies a characteristic of another company that is well-known and recognized by society, it reflects badly on the company doing the copying, and good on the company being copied. If you bought an imitation Rolex made by Casio, would that reflect badly on Casio? Yes, becuase consumers would think that Casio is incapable of making soething with the samel level of worksmanship as Rolex, and since, to the consumer, if Casio is trying to copy Rolex, why not buy the real thing with the quality craftsmanship practiced by Rolex?
Patient Info:
CPU: Dual AMD dual core Opteron 276 processors.
Sound Card: SoundBlaster Audigy II
Video Card: ATI Radeon 8800 GT
Memory: 4 GB PC 2700 ECC-Registered.
Hard Disk: 2x 500GB, 1x 200GB
Power Supply: 550W
Notes: Prior to death, subject complained of memory loss, cognitive difficulty after recovering from sleep mode, frequent lock-ups, severe lethargy after sleeping, confusion and sluggishnes when completing complex tasks. Previous medical history notes several near-fatal seizures, necessitating the "re-learning" of basic functions on several different occasions. Cause of seizures is as yet sill unknown, as episodes appeared to happen seemingly at random, usually during inopportune moments. Previous physician notes that resuscitation of the patient was long and time consuming. Resuscitation was further complicated by the fact that the patient was revied in a "hypnotized" state, refusing tto cooperated with medicall staff unless the correct 16-digit alphanumeric "key" was spoken to them, with the key changing after each resuscitation.
Previous Treatments Administered By Last Attending Physician:
Prescribed one (1) copy of Linux, but patient refused.
Time Of Death: 0832, 0901, 1055, 1129, 1344, 1508
Method Of Death: Fatal Error
Cause Of Death: Windows
Precedures performed in determining occurence of death:
Subject was BSOD on arrival
Unresponsive to verbal stimuli: (shouting, cursing)
Unresponsive to Sensory stimuli: (hitting, smacking with keyboard)
Additional Notes / Instructions:
As Coroner, it is recommended that the law enforcement agencies involved with the death of the subject investigate Mr. William Henry Gates III, and Steven Anthony Ballmer. Both subjects have known employment at Microsoft Corp. It has been determined by the Office Of The Coroner that a product known colloquially as "Windows", which was/is compiled, manufactured, and sold by Microsoft, while under the direct supervision and control of Mr. Gates and Mr. Ballmer, despite widespread reports of patients expiring from complications and/or adverse reactions after ingesting "Windows".
So, people are paying for HD content, but Comcast compresses the video degrading the quality. So now the HD content that people are paying for is no longer HD quality. So now the quality is nolonger HD, but there is more room for "HD" channels.
I smell a very big lawsuit coming on.
This is like paying for 92 octane gasoline, but having it cut with diesel when you put in in your tank, so as to make the station's reserves of gasoline last longer.
Seriously.....If an indie band can't affort that, then the band obviously isn't good enough to need/have a website. Or the the title 'band' for that matter.....
Is possible to set up a working web address without going through ICANN?
So would that make California a single mommy that also is a stay-at-home nanny?
I smell a vengeful, unahppy Slashdotter with mod points that will be marking this down.
Is that the protein level before or AFTER a date?
Ya know, there are just too many jokes that can be made about this article.....
If I was the Judge that had to deal with these citations, I would give each and every issuing officer a good 'ol fashioned judicial beat-down.
Nerf guns are just like firearms and just as dangerous:
Nerf Guns:
Brightly colorful.
Use compressed air.
Don't resemble, even remotely, real guns.
Shoot big yellow sponges.
Sponge "bullets" bounce off of their target and usually make the target laugh.
Make funny noises when fired.
The target either never falls down, or gets right back up immediately, provided he or she didn't fall of a cliff.
Can be bought at any Toy's 'R' Us by a 10 year old.
Cost as cheap as $10.
Real guns:
Black or chrome plated.
Use smokeless powder.
Resemble reals guns because they are real guns.
Shoot lead or copper-jacketed bullets.
Lead bullets penetrate the target and usually make the target scream in pain.
Makes a loud bang when fired.
The person who was shot doesn't usually get up.
Can only be bought by someone who is 21 or older at licensed dealerships, plus State and Federal background checks.
Usually cost between $500-$2999 (hardly milk money)
So, yeah, I can understand how the police became easily confused between the two. Someone should give Barney Fife and his fellow deputies a public commendation for protecting safe fun-loving people from themselves.
I was looking through my college's regulations to see if they had rules prohibiting Nerf Guns and came across the following:
"Weapons and Explosives
1. Possession, use, or sale of any incendiary, explosive, firearm, or destructive device is not permitted. At no time will live ammunition of any type be permitted in or on university premises.
2. Any weapon including, but not limited to guns (i.e., air soft guns, BB/pellet guns, paintball guns, potato guns, pistols, revolvers, firearms, etc.), knives, and any items that are a reasonable facsimile of such weapons are prohibited.
3. Ammunition or explosives (including fireworks) of any kind are prohibited.
4. Failure to report to campus security and/or residence hall personnel the presence of an unlawful weapon, explosive or incendiary device, when the presence of such weapon or device is known or reasonably suspected is a violation of the rules and regulations of the University.
5. Reporting the false presence of an unlawful weapon, explosive or incendiary device with the intent to mislead or deceive is prohibited."
It doesn't list Nerf guns, but states that guns "that are a "resonable facsimile of such weapons are prohibited". This allows anybody with half a brain to successfully argue that Nerf guns are not a "resonable facsimile".
Interestingly enough, the preceeding section is of the following:
"Projectiles
1. Throwing, dropping, or projecting objects from any residence structure, including but not limited to self, keys, bodily fluids, and trash is strictly prohibited. In addition, throwing objects or playing sports in community courtyards is not permitted without permission from the Community Director of that area. Individuals and/or residential communities may be held financially responsible for repairing damages, painting costs, and general maintenance related to projectiles."
So, technically, that means it is against the rules to play flag football, catch, pickle, or Frisbee without getting permission. Man, we didn't even have to ask the Yard Duty for permission to do these things in Elementary school. I guess I should pack up my lawn darts.
Sounds like Big Oil has finally tapped out the rover's gas money.....
Whatever happened to *REAL* police work? Every time they come up with some way to "control/solve" crimes, it winds up being a way to make the job of a cop as easy as pushing a button. Plus, it turns into something that is wayyy more intrusive, as if everybody is a criminal (or potential criminal, in this case):
1) CCTV cameras lining city streets.
2) Self-defense devices (Handguns, knives, tasers, stun guns, pepper spray) are either illegal or heavily regulated to the point where they are defacto illegal.
3) RFID tags in Passports can be used to track whereabouts of the holder.
4) Automated toll tags (like FasTrack) record road/bridge uses.
5) Traffic Cameras automatically cite "violators", doing the job of the police officer instead.
Why don't cops spend time tracking ACTUAL CRIMINALS and solving ACTUAL CRIMES, instead of grouping everyone together and tracking them as "potential criminals" and waiting for potential crimes?
"Behind Closed Doors" is PolitiSpeak for "Let's vaguely mention the topic so we can tell the public we talked about it. We'll spend the rest of the time practicing our golf swings and playing charades."
How can the phone companies, or any company, be fined so little when the actual theft was far more? I mean, a $1.9 million dollar fine for $30 million worth of fraudulent charges?
1: Charge $30 million in fraudulent charges.
2: Generate gross fraud revenue of $30 million.
3: Customers report you.
4: FTC fines you $1.9 million.
5: KEEP PROFIT of $28.1 million.
6: Lather, rinse, repeat.
(Now that I think about it, this could be a buisiness model/method. I CALL PATENT!)
If a company makes more from fraud than it has to pay in fines, where is the deterrent? 28.1 million in retained fraudulent revenue won't discourage anything.
A better way:
1: Fine the company 50% of fraud revenue.
2: Force restitution of 100% of fraud revenue
If the combined amounts of the fine and fraud revenue exceed the total profits and cash reserves of the company, then allow the company to pay in installments that will allow the company to continue operating so that both the fine and restitution can be paid back, with restitution to defrauded customers taking priority over the fine. If the company keeps up fraudulent activity to the point where payments continually compound onto one another and the company cannot make all its payments because the amount exceeds it's profits and cash reserves, then the company, assets and all, is sold off to competitors or creditors, and the assets of responsible executives are used to reimburse shareholders, consumers, and creditors.
Fines need to be a *DETERRENT*, not an inconvenience.
The *ailing* music industry??
First of all, the music industry is NOT ailing. Second, if it is, it's not because of P2P - It's because record labels are peddling crappy songs, and crappy albums that people DO NOT want to buy.
This is simply a "Sports Car Subsidy": They don't need it, but want it.
How stupid can you be to start asking the Government to compensate you for lost revenue because people do not want to buy your crappy products?
Example:
A car manufacturer produces a car nobody wants to buy that is priced far higher than it is worth, and has alot of features that consumers do not wat. Consumers start getting their cars from other sources because they are better than what the manufacturer in question is selling, have the feaures they want, and are priced what they are worth. Now, the manufacturer says that the other sources are hurting their sales, and wants the Government to subsidize their losses.
If you want profit, sell something consumers will pay money for.
I can see the good points of the mandated upgrades, but no more magnetic tape?
The pros and cons of solid-state memory in black boxes:
Pros:
1) Increased number of system parameters.
2) Smaller phyisical size, which permits larger drive size and thus longer data retention. The available space can allow for either a smaller overall unit size (not necessarily a good thing) or more room for battery power for beacons.
Cons:
1) More susceptible to impacts.
2) Can be damaged by voltage spikes/short circuits, or electrical faults (momentary or continuous).
3) If part of the memory unit is damaged or missing, you could lose some very critical parameter recordings, or more likely, the information entirely.
4) Still susceptable to heat-induced losses of stored data.
However, if a tape (analog) recording system is used, you can still use the information on the rest of the spool. Plus, there is still the ability to recover parameter information from physicall damaged portions of the tape.
5) Easier to manipulate/alter the stored information.
6) Easier to "acidentally destroy".
Here is an analogy:
If you shot at a "Black Box", it is guarenteed that the unit will be a total loss, with no information recoverable. If you shot at a current (analog tape) unit, ther is still usable tape. Plus, even the physically damaged tape (ripped/torn/creased) will have parameters that can be analyzed (There is a case of a murderer who tried to cover up his tracks by cutting up an old school floppy disk in an attempt to detroy incriminating evidence. Didn't work.).
Sometimes, newer technology isn't necessarily better than old technology.
I don't think that they are making him an offer he can't refuse.....
I think they are making him an offer he won't have a choice to refuse.
Shouldn't the Gov't already know that Windows security is as effective against hakers as wet Kleenex is against a Mack truck?
Microsoft likes to spend money on selling the same pile of shit packaged in a new wrapper, instead of producing anything actually useful.
This is what happens when Government officials have a threesome with Ballmer and Gates.
It's actually not very expensive to use prisoner labor, and people are already doing it, as there are some prisons that use manual labor. I think Leavenworth, Attica, Angola, and some prison in New Mexico still use prison labor. The problem with using it is that there are always some Bleeding-Heart Idiot groups who don't understand the concept of punishment. These are exactly the kind of people who would decry making a prisoner pick cotton, pull weeds, shuck corn, or hoe a field and, through some form of bastardized logic, decry it as an "atrocity tantamount to torture".
Fortunately, there are some places that refuse to bow to those kinds of idiots and instead hand the cons a shovel and a canteen instead of a T.V.