According to BoxOfficeMojo.com the three Twilight movies so far have grossed about $1.8 billion at the theater. That doesn't include any DVD sales, the original books or any other merchandise. So yeah it is billions and billions of dollars.
All the vending machines where I work have accepted dollar coins for at least the past 5 years, and give them as change when you use a bill larger then $1.
So if somebody kills someone with a car the car manufacturer is at fault, because without the car the hit and run would not be possible? How about knives, or baseball bats, or tire irons, etc.? Should the manufacturers of all these items which have been used to kill people also be just as guilty as the person using them?
Note I am a supporter of gun controls, but not an outright ban of all guns.
Why do you have trackers instead of a central Napster style server if the information you are sharing is legal?
Today this one really has more to do with the cost of running a centralized server then anything else. Why pay for a lot of beefy servers and tons of network bandwidth when you can have the end users pay for most of it?
there is also the question of protecting yourself from the actions of third parties that use your service, that you do not condone.
...and signing up for VPNs if everything you are doing is legal?
I use VPNs because of concerns about theft of both personal and employer secrets. Mainly financial and trade secret related. Does this automatically make me a criminal?
I was introduced to IEEE and ACM when I entered college back in 1980. This kind of activity is nothing new. Both organizations have had a focus on revenue streams as much as anything else they do.
The thing is there are now a lot of lawyers getting involved in copyright matters that are not really trained in copyright law. It is these lawyers that state that you must defend a copyright in order to keep it.
Just goes to show how little various "business people" paid attention to the business classes they took in college. What's really funny in the case of Reggie Fils-Aime is according to Wikipedia he has a degree in Applied Economics.
In the case of Star Wars it is not about copyright. It is about trademarks. Lucas and company have trademarks on the character names in the area of movies, toys, games, books, etc. When they go to stop someone it is almost always on trademark usage and not copyright.
There was some crossover between FidoNet and Usenet. It was mostly FidoNet carrying Usenet groups, but there were a few Echomail conferences that were gatewayed to Usenet.
It comes down to the same reason the tech companies have kowtowed to the music and movie industries. For some weird reason the people making the decisions are infatuated by music and movie stars, and think it is cool to associate with them. Government has done the same thing lately.
So it's a case of selling out in hopes of being seen as being cool. Just plain stupid.
Labor relations law is actually pretty tricky and an employer has to be careful about your work rules, and what they say to or about an employee.
In this case employees having a discussion about work conditions on Facebook definitely is a protected concerted activity. Labor law and many prior judicial precedents spell this out pretty clearly. It all goes back to the first amendment freedom of speech thing. The method or location of the discussion do not matter. Many businesses do NOT understand this. Particularly non-union employers.
In this specific case the companies internet policies limit the "location" of protected discussions. To then use this as an excuse to discipline or terminate someone will get you in trouble with the NLRB.
In a true "at will" situation the smart thing to do is not give a reason for terminating someone. if you can. Union contracts have a big effect on this because you have to give good reason for termination to avoid union backlash. But even in non-union situations companies get themselves into trouble on this all the time because they often want to have a reason for contesting unemployment payments.
On a system that has access to data deemed to be classified and secret, why the heck would you allow such things in the first place.
I know of multiple companies that don't allow anything to be plugged into the USB ports. Some even disable the USB ports completely, and yes they use only PS/2 keyboards and mice. And these companies don't deal with classified data.
If they are only counting those acts that play 1K+ venues they are leaving out A LOT of acts. I know a bunch of musicians in the Chicago area that make a reasonable living from playing venues half that size or less. Most of them don't really tour however because they have weekly or even nightly gigs at the same place or two.
Now they don't make a huge amount of money, but they do ok. Yes, plenty of them supplement their income with other jobs, but they could get by no problem with just the music job. Besides I know a bunch of people making $40K, $60K, even $100K that have second part time job.
As with anything in this manner, one has to do what the boss says, no matter how wrong they may be.
Which is the type of job most of us have. I've worked in IT for 14+ years and did 6 years of embedded systems programming before that. Other then a few minor details I don't think I have agreed with much that my bosses have decided. But you have to pay the bills somehow.
There are some companies that are worse then others when it comes to this.
The biggest issue is typically miscoding of the care provided. Get one digit wrong and you go from having a orthodontic procedure to having an inflamed cevix. I have a relative that works for their insurance company that had something similar happen that took over 6 months to get straightened out, because the health care provider kept refusing to correct the coding.
On the other hand there are some insurance companies, typically the publicly traded ones, that have been found to have a policy of rejecting a percentage of all claims. Working like some rebate companies do and knowing that a certain percentage of people will not follow up and just pay the bill themsleves.
Yup, Anthem, a Wellpoint company. Wellpoint being one of the bigger publicly traded health insurance companies out there.
A lot of this also depends on if you get your insurance directly as an individual or through your employer or some other organization. Employers and organizations have the benefit of having more power when negotiating pricing and get the benefit of a large pool of covered individuals. If you are buying coverage directly from an insurance company you can often get screwed.
When getting insurance through your employer you can often get hit as well however. It all depends on how much of the cost your employer decides to pass along to you. I have heard that BC/BS of Illinois, which is one of the non-public, non-profit companies, has decided to almost double the amount their employees have to pay for health insurance. It has something to do with meeting the 80% number in the health care bill. Kind of ironic.
From a business/financial perspective it all makes sense. It is really just diversification. Just the old "common sense" idea of not putting all your eggs in one basket. So if music doesn't work out you still have the restaurant, and visa versa .
One thing to keep in mind is that for most people it is NOT the insurance company that decide's what is or is not covered by an insurance plan. It is the purchaser of the plan that makes this decision, which for most people is their employer.
Also something that most people do not realize is that there are two significantly different types of health insurance providers in the US. The for profit companies like Humana and the not for profit onesusually owned by a Mutual Legal Reserve Company, like Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois. These two different types of companies have significantly different goals. The for profit ones of course are about keep their stock holders happy.
One other kink in the health insurance minefield is that not all of the Blue Cross/Blue Shield companies are the same. Blue Cross/Blue Shield is an association that licenses out the name to various insurance companies. Originally there were separate BC/BS companies in each state, because insurance law was set at the state level, just like banking used to be. In some states the BC/BS companies could be for profit, in others they could not be. Other the years they have consolidated and there are no longer 50 different BC/BS companies.
There isn't an operating system sold today that does not have encryption software of some sort included.
Also he couldn't use any cell phone made in the past 10-15 years either. They are all computers and use encryption on the data they transmit and receive.
He also can't use any gaming consoles, modern automobiles, televisions or cable boxes, DVD or BluRay players, MP3 players, satellite or digital radio, cordless phones, etc. Almost everything electronic today is a computer and the vast majority have some sort of encryption software on them.
In the hand animation business most of the animators work long hours for poor pay. Over the past couple of decades most of the works has moved from Japan, to Korea, to Viet Nam, etc. to keep costs as low as possible.
The most skilled, and best paid, animators are used to make what are called key cels. Key cels are the most detailed in a sequence, with the ones in between key cels not needing the same detail because they are only visible for a fraction of a second. Particularly when motion is involved the in between cels are of lesser quality. In many cases the in between cels only contain the portion of the frame that is changing, not the entire scene. This is why as a collector you want to buy the key cels.
The people that make the non-key cels really don't get paid much. But in some of the third world places the work actually takes place it is still better then starving.
I'm not sure if things are similar in the computer animation world, but would not be surprised if it is similar. Much like the "chinese gold farmer" working conditions.
On the post: Bath & Bodyworks Goes To Court To Explain To Summit Entertainment That The Word Twilight Existed Before The Movie
Re: Re: Re: hated?
On the post: GAO Suggests It's Time To Ditch Dollar Bills For Coins
Re: Vending machines love coins
On the post: Just Because You Don't Like Something Online, Doesn't Mean We Should Blame Third Parties
Re: Re: Re: Re:
Note I am a supporter of gun controls, but not an outright ban of all guns.
On the post: Is It Possible To Block The 'Bad Stuff' Online Without Also Stopping The 'Good Stuff'?
Re:
Today this one really has more to do with the cost of running a centralized server then anything else. Why pay for a lot of beefy servers and tons of network bandwidth when you can have the end users pay for most of it?
there is also the question of protecting yourself from the actions of third parties that use your service, that you do not condone.
...and signing up for VPNs if everything you are doing is legal?
I use VPNs because of concerns about theft of both personal and employer secrets. Mainly financial and trade secret related. Does this automatically make me a criminal?
On the post: IEEE Decides That Its Own Profits Are More Important Than Sharing Knowledge
Nothing New
On the post: Tolkien Estate Says Just Mentioning Tolkien Infringes; Tolkien Censorwear Appears In Response
Re: Re: Re: Re: Use it or lose it?
On the post: Maybe Super Cheap Video Games Are Helping, Not Destroying, The Video Game Industry
Re: Coincidence or magic?
On the post: Does Re-Imagining Lord Of The Rings From The Perspective Of Mordor Violate Tolkien's Copyrights?
Re: Re: Re:
On the post: How The 1991 'Usenet Revolution' In Moscow Predates The 'Twitter Revolution' Claims
Re: Wasn't the only channel...
On the post: Dumb Trends: Tech Companies Hiring Pop Stars As 'Creative Directors'
Infatuation
So it's a case of selling out in hopes of being seen as being cool. Just plain stupid.
On the post: Does It Violate The Law To Fire Someone For Their Facebook Comments?
In this case employees having a discussion about work conditions on Facebook definitely is a protected concerted activity. Labor law and many prior judicial precedents spell this out pretty clearly. It all goes back to the first amendment freedom of speech thing. The method or location of the discussion do not matter. Many businesses do NOT understand this. Particularly non-union employers.
In this specific case the companies internet policies limit the "location" of protected discussions. To then use this as an excuse to discipline or terminate someone will get you in trouble with the NLRB.
In a true "at will" situation the smart thing to do is not give a reason for terminating someone. if you can. Union contracts have a big effect on this because you have to give good reason for termination to avoid union backlash. But even in non-union situations companies get themselves into trouble on this all the time because they often want to have a reason for contesting unemployment payments.
On the post: Military Threatens To Court Martial Anyone Using USB Drives Or Other Removable Media
Why Did They Allow It In The First Place
I know of multiple companies that don't allow anything to be plugged into the USB ports. Some even disable the USB ports completely, and yes they use only PS/2 keyboards and mice. And these companies don't deal with classified data.
On the post: 30,000 Musical Acts Are Making A Living... But Is That Good Or Bad?
Small Subset
Now they don't make a huge amount of money, but they do ok. Yes, plenty of them supplement their income with other jobs, but they could get by no problem with just the music job. Besides I know a bunch of people making $40K, $60K, even $100K that have second part time job.
On the post: Kindle To Let You Lend Books, Just Like A Real Book... Except Not
Re: The answer to life.
On the post: The New Children's Health Plan Is Videogames?
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Sleazy???
The biggest issue is typically miscoding of the care provided. Get one digit wrong and you go from having a orthodontic procedure to having an inflamed cevix. I have a relative that works for their insurance company that had something similar happen that took over 6 months to get straightened out, because the health care provider kept refusing to correct the coding.
On the other hand there are some insurance companies, typically the publicly traded ones, that have been found to have a policy of rejecting a percentage of all claims. Working like some rebate companies do and knowing that a certain percentage of people will not follow up and just pay the bill themsleves.
On the post: The New Children's Health Plan Is Videogames?
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Sleazy???
A lot of this also depends on if you get your insurance directly as an individual or through your employer or some other organization. Employers and organizations have the benefit of having more power when negotiating pricing and get the benefit of a large pool of covered individuals. If you are buying coverage directly from an insurance company you can often get screwed.
When getting insurance through your employer you can often get hit as well however. It all depends on how much of the cost your employer decides to pass along to you. I have heard that BC/BS of Illinois, which is one of the non-public, non-profit companies, has decided to almost double the amount their employees have to pay for health insurance. It has something to do with meeting the 80% number in the health care bill. Kind of ironic.
On the post: Belle & Sebastian Considers Opening Up A Taqueria
On the post: The New Children's Health Plan Is Videogames?
Re: Re: Re: Re: Sleazy???
Also something that most people do not realize is that there are two significantly different types of health insurance providers in the US. The for profit companies like Humana and the not for profit onesusually owned by a Mutual Legal Reserve Company, like Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois. These two different types of companies have significantly different goals. The for profit ones of course are about keep their stock holders happy.
One other kink in the health insurance minefield is that not all of the Blue Cross/Blue Shield companies are the same. Blue Cross/Blue Shield is an association that licenses out the name to various insurance companies. Originally there were separate BC/BS companies in each state, because insurance law was set at the state level, just like banking used to be. In some states the BC/BS companies could be for profit, in others they could not be. Other the years they have consolidated and there are no longer 50 different BC/BS companies.
On the post: Court Rejects Probation Rules On Teen That Ban Him From Using Social Networks Or Instant Messaging Programs
Re:
Also he couldn't use any cell phone made in the past 10-15 years either. They are all computers and use encryption on the data they transmit and receive.
He also can't use any gaming consoles, modern automobiles, televisions or cable boxes, DVD or BluRay players, MP3 players, satellite or digital radio, cordless phones, etc. Almost everything electronic today is a computer and the vast majority have some sort of encryption software on them.
On the post: Fox Gets Tons Of Attention For Banksy Simpsons Video... Then Pulls It Off YouTube
Re: Re: Make a real statement
The most skilled, and best paid, animators are used to make what are called key cels. Key cels are the most detailed in a sequence, with the ones in between key cels not needing the same detail because they are only visible for a fraction of a second. Particularly when motion is involved the in between cels are of lesser quality. In many cases the in between cels only contain the portion of the frame that is changing, not the entire scene. This is why as a collector you want to buy the key cels.
The people that make the non-key cels really don't get paid much. But in some of the third world places the work actually takes place it is still better then starving.
I'm not sure if things are similar in the computer animation world, but would not be surprised if it is similar. Much like the "chinese gold farmer" working conditions.
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