My wife contributed to a felting book published by John Wiley. It took her TWO YEARS to paid by them. TWO FUCKING YEARS. These publishers don't give a shit about authors.
Anyone can go buy a DVD and lend it to friends. This is the first sale doctrine. Libraries don't need the "approval" from WB to lend out DVDs. WB can go eat a bowl of dicks.
> Buying used games for $20-30 and then turning around and
> selling them for $50+ certainly seems like a rip-off to me.
Use Kijiji and you can sell for $40.
Publishers having all this DLC will hurt GameStop because they have to lower their used game prices. Right now, their used games are $5 less than new games. But if the new game has DLC worth $10, they HAVE to price their used games at $15 less, and therefore pay $10 less for used games for the same margins. When they start offering people $10-20 for used games, everyone will flock to Kijiji (or Craigslist).
This is why I dislike unions; they poison the air with an "us" vs. "them" attitude. In Canada, Air Canada employees strike all the time. Heck, just last week, the police had to be called out to a managers house because some employee drove by his house with a gun. Westjet (our next biggest airline) never has these problems -- they aren't unionized.
A smart businesses know that having happy employees improves the bottom line. There is no need to have unions. At a minimum, we need to get rid of _mandatory_ collective bargaining.
There should be absolutely no problem judging which ones are copies and which ones are unique. It would be impossible for the shape and placement of the silhouette to be the same if they were created independently.
> the knock off money tends to stay outside of the tax
> regimes, it tends to become "black" money, moving quietly
> outside of the economy.
So you are saying that items that can't be "taxed" move out of the "economy"? I'd say "tax" is antithetical to "economy", and many involved in the underground economy (trades, used goods, etc.) would agree with me.
I've read what Mike said, what you said, and what wiki said, and they are all the same thing. Give your head a shake you intellectually dishonest douchebag.
> The deregulation of the US financial system ...
> along with the government refusing to regulate
> derivatives has had a tremendous impact on the rest of
> the world financially.
Part of the problem was regulation, like requiring that sellers of mortgage backed securities need to hire the rating agency ... idiotic! The free market works just fine, except for two things. First, the US controls interest rates, which means that credit doesn't respond to market forces. Thank Greenspan for keeping rates low too long and blowing the biggest credit bubble in history. Second, Bush and Obama bailed out banks. WTF. Let them fail. Allowing big corporations to fail teaches them disciple. Bailing them out is called "moral hazard". Yes, there would have been a lot of pain in the short term. But long term, you'd be better off and the public wouldn't be on the hook for all this "Quantitative Easing" bullsh!t.
> If I pay you, say, $40,000 a year that comes out to
> about $20 an hour,
Thats the wrong way to look at it. Salaries are expressed yearly precisely because they are _not_ hourly. If you want an hourly employee, hire them hourly (with the applicable overtime costs, etc.) Then if you find them goofing off, you can not pay them for that hour. But a salaried employee is expected to put in the hours to get the job done. A better way to evaluate an employee is not to micromanage his hours but to see if he's getting his work done.
> If a guy to repair you roof,
Most work like this is fixed price, so if he goofs off for an hour, it is on his dime, because he could be doing other jobs. If you are hiring a roofing guy hourly, you're doing it wrong.
> So someone on welfare can fuck over rights holders
> because they have no money?
Think about it, you idiot. If the person on welfare has "no money", how likely is it they were going to buy the CD in the first place? How does pirating something they were never going to buy "fuck over rights holders".
> when you buy the used game, you have not helped pay for
> the online part
WTF are you talking about!?! The original purchaser stops playing it after he sells it! Its not like he's giving you a copy. He's giving you the game. The stress on the servers is _exactly_ the same whether he keeps it or sells it.
> Gamestop is making a killing selling used games a few
> bucks off what the new game would cost.
This will have to change. Automatically, a used game is worth $10 less than a new game.
In the end, this will backfire. The only reason I'm okay with spending $60 on a game is the knowledge I can sell it for $40 after I'm done playing it. If publishers make my used game semi-worthless, I'm much less likely to pay full price.
> If you cannot see the difference between market sellers
> selling bootleg DVD's and ladies copying out some cooking
> tips then you do not understand the issues
> One of the key reasons why CAFC rejected the key claims
> was because they were merely "mental processes" that
> someone could do with a pencil and paper, and thus didn't
> require any actual machine.
Wikipedia: "An algorithm is an effective method expressed as a finite list of well-defined instructions for calculating a function." ALL software is algorithms, and ALL algorithms can be done with a pencil and paper, given enough time. You can't patent math, even complicated math.
Furthermore, algorithms are tantamount to ideas, which aren't patentable. The actual code to do things is written in a software language. To get a patent on a manipulation of language is stupid. You can't "patent" stories. To say software code is patentable is like saying you can get a patent on something you created with Lego.
This issue is so ridiculous, I don't know how it got this far.
Its not the skilled workers we are concerned about...
I don't think anyone is seriously arguing against letting in skilled immigrants. What people argue against is unskilled immigrants who slip in illigally, come over on a boat (which has to be rescued after it starts to sink off our coast), or land here and claim they will be tortured so we shouldn't send them back. Further, once skilled workers come here, they bring their spouse, children, and parents over, which, more than likely, are unskilled.
You can have your middle class guilt. These punks deserve a rubber bullet to the teeth.
UK, and the rest of the world, is broke because idiot voters are bribed with their own money, politicians make promises our kids have to pay for, and Keynesian morons think the solution to spending too much money is spending more money. Next time, vote for the middle-of-the road guy who says, "I'm not going to war and I'm not supporting public unions. I'm going to give you reasonable services for the cheapest price possible."
On the post: Copyright Trolling For Dummies; Publisher John Wiley Sues 27 For Sharing 'For Dummies' Books
John Wiley sucks...
On the post: Warner Bros. Hates Libraries, Wants To Embargo DVD Sales To Libraries For A Month
Re:
What version is this? Most DVDs are about $20.
Anyone can go buy a DVD and lend it to friends. This is the first sale doctrine. Libraries don't need the "approval" from WB to lend out DVDs. WB can go eat a bowl of dicks.
On the post: Want Revenue From Used Games? Just Have GameStop Buy DLC Codes For The Customer
Re:
> selling them for $50+ certainly seems like a rip-off to me.
Use Kijiji and you can sell for $40.
Publishers having all this DLC will hurt GameStop because they have to lower their used game prices. Right now, their used games are $5 less than new games. But if the new game has DLC worth $10, they HAVE to price their used games at $15 less, and therefore pay $10 less for used games for the same margins. When they start offering people $10-20 for used games, everyone will flock to Kijiji (or Craigslist).
On the post: Teachers Union Thinks It Blocked Online Classes...But It Didn't
Re:
This is why I dislike unions; they poison the air with an "us" vs. "them" attitude. In Canada, Air Canada employees strike all the time. Heck, just last week, the police had to be called out to a managers house because some employee drove by his house with a gun. Westjet (our next biggest airline) never has these problems -- they aren't unionized.
A smart businesses know that having happy employees improves the bottom line. There is no need to have unions. At a minimum, we need to get rid of _mandatory_ collective bargaining.
On the post: Copyright Fight Brewing Over Who 'Owns' Steve Jobs Silhouette Inside The Apple Logo
Testing uniqueness
On the post: For All The Complaining About Chinese Counterfeits... China Is A Massive Growth Market For Luxury Goods
Re: Re: Re:
> regimes, it tends to become "black" money, moving quietly
> outside of the economy.
So you are saying that items that can't be "taxed" move out of the "economy"? I'd say "tax" is antithetical to "economy", and many involved in the underground economy (trades, used goods, etc.) would agree with me.
On the post: For All The Complaining About Chinese Counterfeits... China Is A Massive Growth Market For Luxury Goods
Re: Mike writes "various luxury goods brands": link states ONE.
How about somewhere far away from here.
On the post: Canadian Copyright Reform Authors Know The Law Outlaws Circumvention Even If No Infringement... But Don't Seem To Care
Re: Re: Re: Re:
http://web.archive.org/web/20050428082123/http://www.techdirt.com/
On the post: Did A Few Million Virtual Monkeys Randomly Recreate Shakespeare? Not Really
Re: Re: Re:
"Infinite squared" eh? Now I know you have zero understanding of mathematics!
On the post: Did A Few Million Virtual Monkeys Randomly Recreate Shakespeare? Not Really
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
On the post: Who Do You Believe? NYPD? Or Video Evidence Concerning Cop Pepper Spraying Women?
Re: Re: Re:
> along with the government refusing to regulate
> derivatives has had a tremendous impact on the rest of
> the world financially.
Part of the problem was regulation, like requiring that sellers of mortgage backed securities need to hire the rating agency ... idiotic! The free market works just fine, except for two things. First, the US controls interest rates, which means that credit doesn't respond to market forces. Thank Greenspan for keeping rates low too long and blowing the biggest credit bubble in history. Second, Bush and Obama bailed out banks. WTF. Let them fail. Allowing big corporations to fail teaches them disciple. Bailing them out is called "moral hazard". Yes, there would have been a lot of pain in the short term. But long term, you'd be better off and the public wouldn't be on the hook for all this "Quantitative Easing" bullsh!t.
On the post: No, Angry Birds Is Not Costing $1.5 Billion In Lost Productivity
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Igor, throw the lever!
> about $20 an hour,
Thats the wrong way to look at it. Salaries are expressed yearly precisely because they are _not_ hourly. If you want an hourly employee, hire them hourly (with the applicable overtime costs, etc.) Then if you find them goofing off, you can not pay them for that hour. But a salaried employee is expected to put in the hours to get the job done. A better way to evaluate an employee is not to micromanage his hours but to see if he's getting his work done.
> If a guy to repair you roof,
Most work like this is fixed price, so if he goofs off for an hour, it is on his dime, because he could be doing other jobs. If you are hiring a roofing guy hourly, you're doing it wrong.
On the post: Do The Statutory Damages Rates For Copyright Infringement Violate The Eighth Amendment?
Re: Re: Fines
> because they have no money?
Think about it, you idiot. If the person on welfare has "no money", how likely is it they were going to buy the CD in the first place? How does pirating something they were never going to buy "fuck over rights holders".
On the post: Printing Error Shows Flaw In 'Lock-It-Up' Video Game Business Model
Re:
> the online part
WTF are you talking about!?! The original purchaser stops playing it after he sells it! Its not like he's giving you a copy. He's giving you the game. The stress on the servers is _exactly_ the same whether he keeps it or sells it.
On the post: Printing Error Shows Flaw In 'Lock-It-Up' Video Game Business Model
Re: Re:
> bucks off what the new game would cost.
This will have to change. Automatically, a used game is worth $10 less than a new game.
In the end, this will backfire. The only reason I'm okay with spending $60 on a game is the knowledge I can sell it for $40 after I'm done playing it. If publishers make my used game semi-worthless, I'm much less likely to pay full price.
On the post: RealNetworks Destroying Dutch Webmaster's Life Because He Linked To A Reverse Engineered Alternative
Re:
You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.
On the post: Stop The Scourge Of Illegal 'Downwriting'
Re: fair use.
> If you cannot see the difference between market sellers
> selling bootleg DVD's and ladies copying out some cooking
> tips then you do not understand the issues
Private copying for personal use is OKAY! -darryl
On the post: 'What Idiot Wrote The Patent That Might Invalidate Software Patents? Oh, Wait, That Was Me'
Algorithm
> was because they were merely "mental processes" that
> someone could do with a pencil and paper, and thus didn't
> require any actual machine.
Wikipedia: "An algorithm is an effective method expressed as a finite list of well-defined instructions for calculating a function." ALL software is algorithms, and ALL algorithms can be done with a pencil and paper, given enough time. You can't patent math, even complicated math.
Furthermore, algorithms are tantamount to ideas, which aren't patentable. The actual code to do things is written in a software language. To get a patent on a manipulation of language is stupid. You can't "patent" stories. To say software code is patentable is like saying you can get a patent on something you created with Lego.
This issue is so ridiculous, I don't know how it got this far.
On the post: Study Shows Bringing In Skilled Immigrants Does Not Hurt Americans; May Increase Innovation
Its not the skilled workers we are concerned about...
That is the problem.
On the post: British MP Calls On RIM To Shut Down Messenger Services To Stop Riots; Because Pissing Off Rioters Calms Them Down?
Re: happened before
UK, and the rest of the world, is broke because idiot voters are bribed with their own money, politicians make promises our kids have to pay for, and Keynesian morons think the solution to spending too much money is spending more money. Next time, vote for the middle-of-the road guy who says, "I'm not going to war and I'm not supporting public unions. I'm going to give you reasonable services for the cheapest price possible."
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