I wish that were possible, but corporate ownership and control are so deeply tangled throughout all economic sectors that it's utterly impossible to 'vote with your wallet' 100% of the time. You're lucky to have an option to purchase from someone else, much less a realistic option.
Until we tackle the rats nest of corporate parentage, and the protective 'regulations' that only serve to keep competition out of markets, voting with your dollar in a way that makes any impact at all remains a high-minded dream.
In all, I think we can assign blame to the shift from citizens to consumers. That is to say, sigh, we're all responsible for being negligent.
Instead of "redefining" privacy to mean "we know your private data, but we'll be responsible with it", how about we re-institute actual privacy? Instead of giving our personal information to companies who lose it or sell it or share it, how about we the people guard our own data? Instead of keeping it on their computers, let's keep it on our own.
In my opinion, software as a service and registration based software are two of the biggest perpetrators of data and privacy violations. They take away your right to manage who knows what about you, forcing you to provide whatever data the "service provider" chooses or dictates that they "need".
1) Make it illegal to force consumers to turn over private information unless it's a functional requirement of the process (not just data mining or marketing enhancement)
2) Make it illegal for companies to sell or share ANY personally identifiable data they collect, even names, phone numbers, and addresses.
3) Dismantle companies that violate privacy laws, retain identifiable customer data, or insist on data that is not a necessity to do business.
It's pretty simple! You own YOUR OWN data. No one else has a right to it. No one can force you to turn it over to do business with them unless it's a functional necessity of doing business and not just a preference. Anyone that violates privacy laws is dismantled.
BUT! BUT! It won't happen, because we live in a fascist corporate pathocracy where companies and money rule politics, the individual citizen, nay citizens period, are not considered, asked, or involved in any decisions, and THE GOVERNMENT WANTS YOUR DATA ALSO. So they can spy on you. It's all to protect YOU from the "terrists" you know.
Nevermind the true terrorists are OUR OWN GOVERNMENT.
Vague "terrorist threats", data mining, advertising, marketing, and "revenue enhancement" ARE NOT ACCEPTABLE REASONS TO DISMANTLE PRIVACY. Money and fear are NEVER reasons to willingly accept oppression or subordination.
Fight for your rights, America. Our rights aren't what some company claims they will recognize, or what our government claims they will 'allow'. These are inherent to our existence, and they are for US to decide, not someone else. Fight for your rights! Wake up before it's too late.
How about a system where I get paid royalties every time someone reads a comment I leave on Slashdot or anywhere else I comment on stories? It's just as fair and reasonable as anything the RIAA / MPAA comes up with, and I have just as much right to getting paid every time someone reads my comment, as they have a right to get paid every time anyone uses 'their' content.
I've seen it expressed here several times that, "VISA would be a lot more effective at combating fraud if they had to pay for every false credit card opened in my name."
Wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong.
ANYTHING that VISA or Mastercard are forced to 'pay' for is NOT coming out of their profits. Are you kidding me? You must be high. That would show responsible behavior.
Do you know who will pay for anything VISA or Mastercard are found liable for?
Wait for it...
MERCHANTS AND OTHER CARD HOLDERS!!!
Yes, merchants and other card holders will pay for it through increased fees, penalties, late charges, and any other rubbish the card companies can come up with to pass the buck.
Do you REALLY think management is going to choke down that bitter pill when they can just dump those expenses off on their cardholders and merchants? No f'n way! They're going to shore up their profits and raise their fees.
This is all a game of duck duck goose where we run around and around, passing the blame to someone else, who passes it on still. It's all about responsibility, and no-one wants to accept any. The credit card companies, the credit agencies, the banks, the government, nobody is willing to step up and admit any culpability for the problem. It's not harming their bottom lines, as they don't have to foot any of the charges, in the end, the consumer pays for it all. So we sit here playing duck duck goose, and goose gets stuck with the bill.
I've seen it expressed here several times that, "VISA would be a lot more effective at combating fraud if they had to pay for every false credit card opened in my name."
Wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong.
ANYTHING that VISA or Mastercard are forced to 'pay' for is NOT coming out of their profits. Are you kidding me? You must be high. That would show responsible behavior.
Do you know who will pay for anything VISA or Mastercard are found liable for?
Wait for it...
MERCHANTS AND OTHER CARD HOLDERS!!!
Yes, merchants and other card holders will pay for it through increased fees, penalties, late charges, and any other rubbish the card companies can come up with to pass the buck.
Do you REALLY think management is going to choke down that bitter pill when they can just dump those expenses off on their cardholders and merchants? No f'n way! They're going to shore up their profits and raise their fees.
This is all a game of duck duck goose where we run around and around, passing the blame to someone else, who passes it on still. It's all about responsibility, and no-one wants to accept any. The credit card companies, the credit agencies, the banks, the government, nobody is willing to step up and admit any culpability for the problem. So we sit here playing duck duck goose, and goose gets stuck with the bill.
Anything else would be uncivilized.
It's known around Kansas City that Sprint's CEO can't even get Sprint reception in his own home in Mission Hills, KS. You can prove it yourself. Drive to Mission Hills, go up the hill to his house, park in front of his driveway, and try to place a call with Sprint or Virgin pre-paid. No signal.
You know what Rix? You aren't even worth talking to. You say Goons are asshats but YOU are the one who has stereotyped them with no basis or evidence, and YOU are the one throwing out ad hominem attacks.
I really don't care what you say, you are obviously braindead. I just with someone would read your comments here and realize that you in no way deserve a Karma bonus.
Let's see if I can follow the Rix method for blameless non-ad hominem attacks.
Rix, the implication of your actions is that you are a complete and utter douchebag. Notice I did not say that you are a douchebag, but that is obvious from your actions. Actually, us Goons have coined a term for obese wastes of opinous gasbags like yourself - you perfectly fit the description of a neckbeard.
Thanks for playing!
Wow, stereotyping, absolutely no knowledge of what you are stereotyping,/and/ calling me an asshat because I pointed out how foolish you are. You really earned that +1, didn't you?
So you admit that you are stereotyping without any real knowledge or direct experience? And what makes you think this is a fair or accurate way to assess the situation?
I presume, of course, you don't judge all black people by the ones who make the crime reports, or all white people by the actions of skinheads. Why would you judge all goons by the actions of a few self-proclaimed, out of their environment? In all likelihood, these are persons who were banned and forced to leave.
Are we even talking about the same Goons here... ? Have you ever even interacted with Goons, or just skimmed GBS (admittedly the whiny-bitch shallow end of the pool)?
And how in the HELL did you get +1 in the 2 seconds your post has been up?
COLLUSION! COLLUSION!!!!:)
Goons don't "shit over" MMOs. We discover them, swarm in en masse, enjoy the hell of it, get ADD, wander out, and then find a new MMO.
Also, goons aren't shameless assholes as another said, some of us are, but for the most part, Goons are/perceived/ as assholes because
1) We have a strong technical understanding 2) We have high standards and expectations 3) We tend to gang up together 4) We scream bloody murder when our expectations aren't met 5) We tell everyone in the universe when we are treated unfairly
So take some (mostly) smart people with strong technical skills, high standards and expectations, and a sense of fairness. Then, screw them over, and don't act surprised when your ass gets swarmed and everyone finds out. That's just us. If you don't like it, stop trying to screw people over. Goons don't put up with that.
I actually came here to post exactly this.
And the problem with United Way vs the Red Cross is that the United Way pays their management hundreds of thousands of dollars a year to do jack shit. They waste huge amounts of donations on unnecessary expenses, and they use strong-arm tactics to 'encourage' these donations at large companies. United Way is a morally corrupt vehicle to enrich the company's directors, and SA did not want to contribute to that.
I had an idea a few summers ago. People tend to run their air conditioner in the summer, and often will run the pool heater while the a/c is running also. If you put a heat exchanger between the a/c and the pool heater, you could greatly reduce your power requirements just by using heat you're removing from your household air.
Putting a heat exchanger between the a/c and water heater would probably reduce power requirements there, also.
Okay, so give me a trimaran with submerged outriggers, non-linear wave-formed hulls (Who has more info on this? I saw it recently, probably NewScientist, but can't find more info), bubble cavitation, solar panels, sails, and a kite!
Slashdot Mirror
I wish that were possible, but corporate ownership and control are so deeply tangled throughout all economic sectors that it's utterly impossible to 'vote with your wallet' 100% of the time. You're lucky to have an option to purchase from someone else, much less a realistic option.
Until we tackle the rats nest of corporate parentage, and the protective 'regulations' that only serve to keep competition out of markets, voting with your dollar in a way that makes any impact at all remains a high-minded dream.
In all, I think we can assign blame to the shift from citizens to consumers. That is to say, sigh, we're all responsible for being negligent.
Instead of "redefining" privacy to mean "we know your private data, but we'll be responsible with it", how about we re-institute actual privacy? Instead of giving our personal information to companies who lose it or sell it or share it, how about we the people guard our own data? Instead of keeping it on their computers, let's keep it on our own.
In my opinion, software as a service and registration based software are two of the biggest perpetrators of data and privacy violations. They take away your right to manage who knows what about you, forcing you to provide whatever data the "service provider" chooses or dictates that they "need".
1) Make it illegal to force consumers to turn over private information unless it's a functional requirement of the process (not just data mining or marketing enhancement)
2) Make it illegal for companies to sell or share ANY personally identifiable data they collect, even names, phone numbers, and addresses.
3) Dismantle companies that violate privacy laws, retain identifiable customer data, or insist on data that is not a necessity to do business.
It's pretty simple! You own YOUR OWN data. No one else has a right to it. No one can force you to turn it over to do business with them unless it's a functional necessity of doing business and not just a preference. Anyone that violates privacy laws is dismantled.
BUT! BUT! It won't happen, because we live in a fascist corporate pathocracy where companies and money rule politics, the individual citizen, nay citizens period, are not considered, asked, or involved in any decisions, and THE GOVERNMENT WANTS YOUR DATA ALSO. So they can spy on you. It's all to protect YOU from the "terrists" you know.
Nevermind the true terrorists are OUR OWN GOVERNMENT.
Vague "terrorist threats", data mining, advertising, marketing, and "revenue enhancement" ARE NOT ACCEPTABLE REASONS TO DISMANTLE PRIVACY. Money and fear are NEVER reasons to willingly accept oppression or subordination.
Fight for your rights, America. Our rights aren't what some company claims they will recognize, or what our government claims they will 'allow'. These are inherent to our existence, and they are for US to decide, not someone else. Fight for your rights! Wake up before it's too late.
No other explanation really. He was getting too close to commercial spaceflight so the Reptilians have taken him. It's the logical conclusion.
How about a system where I get paid royalties every time someone reads a comment I leave on Slashdot or anywhere else I comment on stories? It's just as fair and reasonable as anything the RIAA / MPAA comes up with, and I have just as much right to getting paid every time someone reads my comment, as they have a right to get paid every time anyone uses 'their' content.
Greed. Corporate greed. Americans are far too complacent and subservient to their corporate masters to EVER object.
I've seen it expressed here several times that, "VISA would be a lot more effective at combating fraud if they had to pay for every false credit card opened in my name."
Wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong.
ANYTHING that VISA or Mastercard are forced to 'pay' for is NOT coming out of their profits. Are you kidding me? You must be high. That would show responsible behavior.
Do you know who will pay for anything VISA or Mastercard are found liable for?
Wait for it...
MERCHANTS AND OTHER CARD HOLDERS!!!
Yes, merchants and other card holders will pay for it through increased fees, penalties, late charges, and any other rubbish the card companies can come up with to pass the buck.
Do you REALLY think management is going to choke down that bitter pill when they can just dump those expenses off on their cardholders and merchants? No f'n way! They're going to shore up their profits and raise their fees.
This is all a game of duck duck goose where we run around and around, passing the blame to someone else, who passes it on still. It's all about responsibility, and no-one wants to accept any. The credit card companies, the credit agencies, the banks, the government, nobody is willing to step up and admit any culpability for the problem. It's not harming their bottom lines, as they don't have to foot any of the charges, in the end, the consumer pays for it all. So we sit here playing duck duck goose, and goose gets stuck with the bill.
Anything else would be uncivilized.
I've seen it expressed here several times that, "VISA would be a lot more effective at combating fraud if they had to pay for every false credit card opened in my name." Wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong. ANYTHING that VISA or Mastercard are forced to 'pay' for is NOT coming out of their profits. Are you kidding me? You must be high. That would show responsible behavior. Do you know who will pay for anything VISA or Mastercard are found liable for? Wait for it... MERCHANTS AND OTHER CARD HOLDERS!!! Yes, merchants and other card holders will pay for it through increased fees, penalties, late charges, and any other rubbish the card companies can come up with to pass the buck. Do you REALLY think management is going to choke down that bitter pill when they can just dump those expenses off on their cardholders and merchants? No f'n way! They're going to shore up their profits and raise their fees. This is all a game of duck duck goose where we run around and around, passing the blame to someone else, who passes it on still. It's all about responsibility, and no-one wants to accept any. The credit card companies, the credit agencies, the banks, the government, nobody is willing to step up and admit any culpability for the problem. So we sit here playing duck duck goose, and goose gets stuck with the bill. Anything else would be uncivilized.
It's known around Kansas City that Sprint's CEO can't even get Sprint reception in his own home in Mission Hills, KS. You can prove it yourself. Drive to Mission Hills, go up the hill to his house, park in front of his driveway, and try to place a call with Sprint or Virgin pre-paid. No signal.
You know what Rix? You aren't even worth talking to. You say Goons are asshats but YOU are the one who has stereotyped them with no basis or evidence, and YOU are the one throwing out ad hominem attacks. I really don't care what you say, you are obviously braindead. I just with someone would read your comments here and realize that you in no way deserve a Karma bonus. Let's see if I can follow the Rix method for blameless non-ad hominem attacks. Rix, the implication of your actions is that you are a complete and utter douchebag. Notice I did not say that you are a douchebag, but that is obvious from your actions. Actually, us Goons have coined a term for obese wastes of opinous gasbags like yourself - you perfectly fit the description of a neckbeard. Thanks for playing!
Wow, stereotyping, absolutely no knowledge of what you are stereotyping, /and/ calling me an asshat because I pointed out how foolish you are. You really earned that +1, didn't you?
So you admit that you are stereotyping without any real knowledge or direct experience? And what makes you think this is a fair or accurate way to assess the situation? I presume, of course, you don't judge all black people by the ones who make the crime reports, or all white people by the actions of skinheads. Why would you judge all goons by the actions of a few self-proclaimed, out of their environment? In all likelihood, these are persons who were banned and forced to leave.
Are we even talking about the same Goons here... ? Have you ever even interacted with Goons, or just skimmed GBS (admittedly the whiny-bitch shallow end of the pool)? And how in the HELL did you get +1 in the 2 seconds your post has been up? COLLUSION! COLLUSION!!!! :)
Goons don't "shit over" MMOs. We discover them, swarm in en masse, enjoy the hell of it, get ADD, wander out, and then find a new MMO.
/perceived/ as assholes because
Also, goons aren't shameless assholes as another said, some of us are, but for the most part, Goons are
1) We have a strong technical understanding
2) We have high standards and expectations
3) We tend to gang up together
4) We scream bloody murder when our expectations aren't met
5) We tell everyone in the universe when we are treated unfairly
So take some (mostly) smart people with strong technical skills, high standards and expectations, and a sense of fairness. Then, screw them over, and don't act surprised when your ass gets swarmed and everyone finds out. That's just us. If you don't like it, stop trying to screw people over. Goons don't put up with that.
Wow. You are completely wrong. Some of the best episodes were in the last season.
I actually came here to post exactly this. And the problem with United Way vs the Red Cross is that the United Way pays their management hundreds of thousands of dollars a year to do jack shit. They waste huge amounts of donations on unnecessary expenses, and they use strong-arm tactics to 'encourage' these donations at large companies. United Way is a morally corrupt vehicle to enrich the company's directors, and SA did not want to contribute to that.
I had an idea a few summers ago. People tend to run their air conditioner in the summer, and often will run the pool heater while the a/c is running also. If you put a heat exchanger between the a/c and the pool heater, you could greatly reduce your power requirements just by using heat you're removing from your household air. Putting a heat exchanger between the a/c and water heater would probably reduce power requirements there, also.
Okay, so give me a trimaran with submerged outriggers, non-linear wave-formed hulls (Who has more info on this? I saw it recently, probably NewScientist, but can't find more info), bubble cavitation, solar panels, sails, and a kite!
From what I've read the cable would disentigrate before it landed.