In high school, I took drafting, and after many hours of practicing lettering, I was much happier to print, and always have ever since I was no longer required to write longhand. It hasn't affected me one bit.
> why not spend that $100 million to educate people
Because the media companies will spend a billion dollars to re-educate people. Then what?
Freeing $100 million worth of books, movies, music, whatever is probably the best thing you can do with the money. Microsoft gave away its browser free, how long did it take the other browsers to follow suit? If you're lucky, you will set an example that companies can follow... those materials that aren't financially feasible to sell should just be released, and maybe someone will do it.
Of course, nothing will happen until we get IP reform, but I expect IP law to get a whole lot worse before it gets better because of the people who can afford to buy it.
Because the moment people know who you voted for, campaigning becomes that much uglier. You can register with a party if you like, but that doesn't force you to vote that way.
Let's say you are a registered Republican and want to vote for a Democrat this fall. Would you want the Republicans knowing that and spamming or Karl Rove calling you wanting to know why you betrayed them, and how by voting Democrats, you are contributing to making cannibalism legal and asking you if you are strapping explosives to yourself? I know I wouldn't.
Similarly, if you voted Republican in a very close race that kept the Democrats from taking the House this fall, would you want Howard Dean calling you and screaming, or reprimanding you for voting to make rape legal and contributing to the torture of Barbra Streisand in Guantanamo. (Well, OK, I would like that, but assume it's someone who didn't deserve it.)
That there would be repercussions from knowing who you voted for doesn't mean there's something wrong with the system or the country. And to top it off, there is lots wrong with the system and the country.
Verifying who voted for whom isn't necessary, but a paper trail is and the electronic voting drive is contributing to an increasing level of distrust in the election system which, to me, is far more dangerous than Republicans robbing us of our rights or Democrats selling us out to terrorists or the French.
It was said that Nixon chose not to contest the 1960 election because of the unrest it would cause and that it would damage people's trust in the system. While I don't know if that's true or not, I could believe that politicians from 40 or 50 years ago would make that decision. Nowadays, either party would gleefully jeopardize the whole system to gain an advantage over the other. The NY Times is already predicting mass chaos in those states that are implementing e-Voting, and while it might be the NYT just fomenting unrest, or trying to hedge the Democrats' bets, or that they really believe this will happen, either possibility is equally bad. Both parties are doing everything they can to give people the feeling their votes don't count. I can imagine that if recent national elections had gone differently, the parties' roles would have been completely reversed, and while I believe that the Rule of Law ultimately won in Florida in 2000, it wasn't because the Republicans were pure of heart and the Democrats were trying to steal the election (or the other way around), but merely that by following the poorly-thought-out but established rules, the Republicans won and it was to their advantage to argue that way.
Yet another excuse for those Hollywood lame-o's to abdicate any responsibility for putting hard work into finding, securing and nurturing creativity rather than just excreting the same formulas over and over again.
I wouldn't take offense at this except for the fact that they still consider themselves "artists".
Basically, they are trying to circumvent every part of the process except the part where they get money, and wonder why their popularity and success continues to dwindle.
I'm glad I finally figured out years ago that McDonald's sucks all the joy out of their food and sells it to places like Wendy's on the side. I'm no food snob, but the last time I ate a Big Mac (in the mid 90's), I felt afterwards like I had eaten something, and I remembered the act of eating, but no sensation of taste or enjoyment remained in my mind.
I'm no food snob, but that was horrible. That McDonald's has to resort to all these giveaways to entice customers is no surprise to anyone. If they would get back to selling food people want, maybe they could give their hyperactive marketing department a little breather.
Diebold has machines that do that. They're called "Automatic Teller Machines" and they have been around for decades.
This whole Diebold situation smacks of grotesque corruption, but I cannot understand what our elected officials from either party hope to gain by undermining our whole election system.
It's frightening, and I think it's long time for state to fight back (like Maryland is trying to do.)
Here in Virginia, the ballot system we use seems to be the perfect situation for anyone except the visually impaired (for whom accomodations would be required):
We are given a very simple sheet with the candidates for each position clearly spelled out with little circles to fill in. The voter fills in the circles and feeds the ballot into a machine. The ballots are optically counted by machines, but there is obviously a hard-copy backup, the ballots themselves. This system cannot be any simpler, and I imagine its costs are an order of magnitude less than these ridiculous Diebold machines.
How long would an ATM from Diebold go unchallenged if it was divulged that there were security issues. Do you think the banks would stand for it? Well, they why do the politicians, and more importantly the Federal Election Commission?
Sometimes I don't even recognize this country any more.
The extent to which trademarks are covered is pretty clear, but given the way IP rights are being totally abused by corporations (with the facilitation of Congress), I'm not surprised that companies are all gung-ho with the C&D letters. Nowadays a C&D letters is what a polite "How ya doin'?" to a stranger on the sidewalk was in the past... just a custom, practically a reflex.
It seems to onus is entirely on the receivee of such a letter. He can probably ignore it, but entirely at his own risk. Sending out the letter, much like spam, costs little and carries no risk, and causes a lot of unsuspecting or unwary people to do what you want even if it's not in their best interest.
Similarly, the move to online content somehow translates into shorter and shorter articles. These days, a typical Web news article is little more than a summary.
I think I fall in the same category as you... I want to _READ_ something. Pictures are great... and very important for many topics. However, the meat, the content, is in the copy.
The number one cause of bad research is researchers who want attention. No, actually the number one cause of bad research is corporate or government sponsorship (i.e., oil companies and global warming, eco-leftists and global warming, RIAA and Piracy, etc).
I think the manufacturers have been very negligent in providing products that are completely insecure by default and not making it clear that this could be a problem.
I know everybody wants stuff to "just work", but in any given residential section you can find as many as a dozen unsecured wireless networks... and I'm betting that 95% of those users have no idea what they are allowing, especially when their local networks and/or machines are also unsecured (I've seen that before).
However, like most things, this shouldn't be solved by a law because laws are usually poorly thought-out, overly broadly written and invariably have unintended consequences even if they do accomplish what they are created for, and that's not even a given.
I used to use the metaphor or "Is it OK to fill up a bucket if your neighbor leaves his hose running in the street?" A more accurate metaphor would be "Is it OK to fill up a bucket if your neighbor leaves his hose running _in your kitchen sink_?"
Mac users are still jealous that Apple's marketshare is still in the single digit percentage range. I can understand... they're right, it's not fair, but I still want to poke 'em in the eye.
Bah! It's not worth suing unless you go for the deep pockets. I suggest Microsoft, Sony and Google. There's not a jury in the world that wouldn't deliver some serious kaching! to you. This is America, land of the lawsuit lottery.
On the post: Oh For Shame! Our Children Can't Write Cursive!
I found something better...
On the post: Buying Content To Free It Is Not The Answer
Because the media companies will spend a billion dollars to re-educate people. Then what?
Freeing $100 million worth of books, movies, music, whatever is probably the best thing you can do with the money. Microsoft gave away its browser free, how long did it take the other browsers to follow suit? If you're lucky, you will set an example that companies can follow... those materials that aren't financially feasible to sell should just be released, and maybe someone will do it.
Of course, nothing will happen until we get IP reform, but I expect IP law to get a whole lot worse before it gets better because of the people who can afford to buy it.
On the post: Without Copyright Extension, The Beatles Will Never Have Incentive To Write Another Song
Well, here's the thing...
The only problem with the system is that corporations can't vote, they are stuck with having to buy the legislation they want. I feel sorry for them.
Orrin Hatch, call your office.
On the post: Can E-Voting Be Fixed? And, If So, Why Isn't Anyone Doing It?
Re:
Stop being so partisan and admit that both sides are corrupt. It's the only conclusion that makes sense.
On the post: Can E-Voting Be Fixed? And, If So, Why Isn't Anyone Doing It?
Re: Hackproof == No vote privacy
Let's say you are a registered Republican and want to vote for a Democrat this fall. Would you want the Republicans knowing that and spamming or Karl Rove calling you wanting to know why you betrayed them, and how by voting Democrats, you are contributing to making cannibalism legal and asking you if you are strapping explosives to yourself? I know I wouldn't.
Similarly, if you voted Republican in a very close race that kept the Democrats from taking the House this fall, would you want Howard Dean calling you and screaming, or reprimanding you for voting to make rape legal and contributing to the torture of Barbra Streisand in Guantanamo. (Well, OK, I would like that, but assume it's someone who didn't deserve it.)
That there would be repercussions from knowing who you voted for doesn't mean there's something wrong with the system or the country. And to top it off, there is lots wrong with the system and the country.
Verifying who voted for whom isn't necessary, but a paper trail is and the electronic voting drive is contributing to an increasing level of distrust in the election system which, to me, is far more dangerous than Republicans robbing us of our rights or Democrats selling us out to terrorists or the French.
It was said that Nixon chose not to contest the 1960 election because of the unrest it would cause and that it would damage people's trust in the system. While I don't know if that's true or not, I could believe that politicians from 40 or 50 years ago would make that decision. Nowadays, either party would gleefully jeopardize the whole system to gain an advantage over the other. The NY Times is already predicting mass chaos in those states that are implementing e-Voting, and while it might be the NYT just fomenting unrest, or trying to hedge the Democrats' bets, or that they really believe this will happen, either possibility is equally bad. Both parties are doing everything they can to give people the feeling their votes don't count. I can imagine that if recent national elections had gone differently, the parties' roles would have been completely reversed, and while I believe that the Rule of Law ultimately won in Florida in 2000, it wasn't because the Republicans were pure of heart and the Democrats were trying to steal the election (or the other way around), but merely that by following the poorly-thought-out but established rules, the Republicans won and it was to their advantage to argue that way.
On the post: In Hollywood Not Even Computers Know Anything
Yet another excuse...
I wouldn't take offense at this except for the fact that they still consider themselves "artists".
Basically, they are trying to circumvent every part of the process except the part where they get money, and wonder why their popularity and success continues to dwindle.
On the post: The Media Possibilities Are Infinite, But People's Time Isn't
The average radio station...
I've heard the average radio station has a playlist of 400 songs and frequently interrupts them with 5-6 minute stretches of annoying ads.
My 80GB Neuros has almost 13000 songs, random access and no commercials.
Now to be honest, I do listen to one radio station: C-Span.
On the post: Latest McDonald's Giveaway Prize: Spyware
I'm glad I finally figured out years ago that McDonald's sucks all the joy out of their food and sells it to places like Wendy's on the side. I'm no food snob, but the last time I ate a Big Mac (in the mid 90's), I felt afterwards like I had eaten something, and I remembered the act of eating, but no sensation of taste or enjoyment remained in my mind.
I'm no food snob, but that was horrible. That McDonald's has to resort to all these giveaways to entice customers is no surprise to anyone. If they would get back to selling food people want, maybe they could give their hyperactive marketing department a little breather.
On the post: Diebold Machine Didn't Count Votes, But Diebold Says Not To Worry: They Can Tell You The Actual Vote Totals
Re: I Don't Get It
This whole Diebold situation smacks of grotesque corruption, but I cannot understand what our elected officials from either party hope to gain by undermining our whole election system.
It's frightening, and I think it's long time for state to fight back (like Maryland is trying to do.)
Here in Virginia, the ballot system we use seems to be the perfect situation for anyone except the visually impaired (for whom accomodations would be required):
We are given a very simple sheet with the candidates for each position clearly spelled out with little circles to fill in. The voter fills in the circles and feeds the ballot into a machine. The ballots are optically counted by machines, but there is obviously a hard-copy backup, the ballots themselves. This system cannot be any simpler, and I imagine its costs are an order of magnitude less than these ridiculous Diebold machines.
How long would an ATM from Diebold go unchallenged if it was divulged that there were security issues. Do you think the banks would stand for it? Well, they why do the politicians, and more importantly the Federal Election Commission?
Sometimes I don't even recognize this country any more.
On the post: Why Trademark Law Needs To Be Re-Visited By A Moron In A Hurry
The biggest problem is the law itself...
The extent to which trademarks are covered is pretty clear, but given the way IP rights are being totally abused by corporations (with the facilitation of Congress), I'm not surprised that companies are all gung-ho with the C&D letters. Nowadays a C&D letters is what a polite "How ya doin'?" to a stranger on the sidewalk was in the past... just a custom, practically a reflex.
It seems to onus is entirely on the receivee of such a letter. He can probably ignore it, but entirely at his own risk. Sending out the letter, much like spam, costs little and carries no risk, and causes a lot of unsuspecting or unwary people to do what you want even if it's not in their best interest.
On the post: Band Just Notices That Run DMC Sampled Their Song Twenty Years Ago; Files Lawsuit
Re:
On the post: How Not To Get Kids To Read Magazines
Re: It's more than just thinking outside the box
I think I fall in the same category as you... I want to _READ_ something. Pictures are great... and very important for many topics. However, the meat, the content, is in the copy.
I guess we are a vanishing breed.
On the post: In Russia, Driving Distractions F**k You
Re: One big issue...
On the post: Be Doubly Afraid Of Cell Phones Lost In Airports
Re: beauty of free market
Oh, you mean _excuse_ for government intervention.
On the post: Microsoft Wants A Patent For Conjugating Verbs
Re:
On the post: California Taking Steps To Outlaw WiFi Piggybacking?
Good idea... stupid law
I know everybody wants stuff to "just work", but in any given residential section you can find as many as a dozen unsecured wireless networks... and I'm betting that 95% of those users have no idea what they are allowing, especially when their local networks and/or machines are also unsecured (I've seen that before).
However, like most things, this shouldn't be solved by a law because laws are usually poorly thought-out, overly broadly written and invariably have unintended consequences even if they do accomplish what they are created for, and that's not even a given.
I used to use the metaphor or "Is it OK to fill up a bucket if your neighbor leaves his hose running in the street?" A more accurate metaphor would be "Is it OK to fill up a bucket if your neighbor leaves his hose running _in your kitchen sink_?"
On the post: Smug Mac User: 1, Hackers: 0
On the post: Ignoring Obsolete Analog Technology Is Now Considered Circumventing Copy Protection?
Re: Wow...
Well, you can't slap your hos around too much or they'll leave.
On the post: I Screwed Up: Comments Deleted
Re:
On the post: Call 911, He Stole My Magic Sword
Re: RE: Cyber Crime
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