IF this goes through, I hope one of the justices grand children gets sued into the ground for selling their used stuff to a friend from school.
On a side note, if you aren't allowed to sell stuff, can you still give it away?
"I'd like to sell you this picture of a house that I drew myself. Only $200. And today only, I'm throwing in a free gift of a first gen iPad as a special thank you!"
You're missing something here, and that's different demographics.
For instance, a lot of people went out to buy Skyrim or Diablo 3 at full price ($60).
I have 2 kids and a third on the way. Between family, work, and just every day life, I have a few hours a week to play, and not a huge budget to spend.
I could set aside a little here or there to save up for New AAA Release 2012, but in reality I would be able to get one game a year. Maybe 2.
Or I can wait a year or two, read reviews and user experiences to see which ones are worth buying. Wait for all the patching and bug fixes, and then pick it up for $10 on a steam sale... That's OK with me, because I also pick up 6-8 other games, and have enough to last me a long time.
Thanks to sales and bundles I have 20+ games that I have yet to try, and at my pace it'll be a long time before I finish them all. And in the mean time, there will be more sales and bundles...
This is why it's smart to do these huge sales. Lots of people will still buy it at full price, and the people that never would can pick it up late at a discount, and not have to pirate it to be able to afford it.
I have to nitpick a little with your 4th point, mostly about the word meagerness.
I don't think that it's wrong for a Christian, even a minister, to be wealthy, or drive the vehicle that they want, or have a nice home, etc.
The big point, and the main problem with wealth, is when people start serving the wealth instead of using it to minister to other people.
I read a bio on J C Penny (the guy who started the store chain. I'm pretty sure it was him, though it was a long time ago that I read it), and I remember one of the interesting facts was that he and his wife decided to give away 90% of their income to ministry (help the poor, minister the gospel, etc) and the remaining 10% was enough to make them very well off.
That's the real "prosperity gospel". Show God that the more He blesses you, the more you'll help others, and you wont be able to give it away fast enough.
As soon as the money starts being more important than helping people, then it'll start drawing you away from what you're supposed to be doing, and that's serving mammon, and that's what gets you into trouble.
The bible does say that "A good man leaves an inheritance for his children's children," so it's not wrong to build up some capital.
When my pregnant wife went into the hospital to get an ultrasound, I wanted to film the process so we could show people the baby moving and stuff. So I asked the technician if I could record the little monitor with my cell phone camera. She said that because of liability the hospital policy said no cameras. They are so scared of lawsuits that you aren't allowed to film births anymore like you could when I was young, because if someone wanted to, they could take the recording out of context and sue the hospital.
It's probably the same thing for cops, even the honest ones.
If I saw you walking toward me with a camera or other recording device, it would make me think that you had an agenda, and recordings can be altered to show anything.
The solution? More cameras. Put a shoulder mounted camera on every cop, and don't allow them to be shut off. Record every second of every day that an officer is in uniform.
Stream the video live to recording units in each squad car, the police station, and some centralized state or federally controlled location.
Then any good cop will be able to know that if he/she acts within the law, then all will be well, and any doctored record that someone else makes will be thrown out.
And for the bad cops, if a camera gets shut off or otherwise disabled, then there is a suspension. It may get some of the good cops, but not as many.
As a judge, he's a public employee. We might hold him accountable for things that he does that go against the best interest of the public.
It only makes sense.
Actually sounds like a neat idea. I think the trick would be to split it up even more.
Have your disposable company be the "manufacturer" but put another layer on top with no liability, which would be the retail part. "We don't make the things, we just sell them."
Then add in multiple disposable companies as suppliers. If the reseller has 10-20 suppliers, and suppliers randomly go "bankrupt" making room for new suppliers in the market (kinda like a shell game), it seems like it would be really tough to take anyone to court.
With just in time manufacturing you don't need a warehouse.
There's a episode of How It's Made (its on Netflix) that shows the production of hearing aids, and they really aren't that complicated of devices.
The only specialized part is getting the mold of the patients ear. Since they are custom fit for the patient, you could just make them in bulk in China or wherever. However, you could get the core electronics in bulk, and design a fitting process around those cores that would remove a lot of the complication.
So the retail portion would take a mold, send it to whichever supplier was the "it" one that week, and the supplier to cast around a core, and then ship it back.
If the investors also happened to pick up a out of business strip mall or something, it would be a really handy location to put a handful of suppliers at really high rental rates. That would really effect the suppliers profits.
While I do think that there are people who deserve this a lot more, and that the punishment didn't really fit the crime, and I would even go so far as to say that the punishment itself was probably useless since a single year is probably not that big of a deterrent.
However, this guy knew the possible consequences. He had been caught before and didn't learn his lesson.
If I was a movie studio exec, I probably would have done the same thing. "Hey, what you did probably helped us in the long run, but that doesn't change the fact that you did it again after we warned you last time, and we don't want just anyone to think that they can do this."
Also, if I were in charge, I would probably find ways to experiment with this effect. I don't think you can do a double blind experiment with movies, since it's hard to qualify exactly what makes one movie succeed and another bomb, but I'd try to figure out something.
Maybe take a mid level movie, do only minor advertising, and release a real low quality version to see if it could work as super cheap advertising.
The internet is like a hammer. It can be a weapon or a tool, and it all depends on how you use it. They should be brainstorming ways to make it work for them, instead of trying to push it back.
I haven't purchased a game at full price since Civ4 came out, and I'm pretty sure that one was some kind of a sale, now that I think about it.
I have just about perfected delayed gratification when it comes to entertainment. All the games I have gotten in the last couple years either came from a HIB, Steam holiday sale, or used. I don't think I've paid much more than $5 for a single title in a long time.
Through this method I have a library of 30 games I haven't had the time to play yet, none pirated.
I look forward to playing Skyrim, in a year or two, when I can pick it up in a Steam Christmas sale for $5. I might go as high as $10.
Edit: Actually, when we bought our Kinect for the 360 we also picked up an extra game so we would have more than the bundled game to play on it.
If the EFF is the only reason you aren't buying it, buy it anyway, setting the price what you would have paid (x) minus the cut that would have gone to the EFF (y). Then take that difference (x - y = z) and donate that amount (z) directly to EFF. They do have a donate page. In this way you get some fun games, you get to reward some developers, donate to childsplay and the red cross (both good causes), still help the EFF, and as an added bonus the EFF donation will be tax deductible, when it normally wouldn't if going through HIB. Win win win win.
I just have to say, you must have freakishly long arms.
Not that I'm a wiz a converting meters to yards.
But as as estimate, a meter is slightly longer than a yard.
I'm roughly average sized, but my arms are not close to a yard long.
I just hope that the Samsung lawyer got his perscription checked. Yes they are a slightly similar shape, but there are a lot of differences. Most obvious being the home button.
The judge should hold up a vision chart at right about the same distance. That seems only right. You have to establish all baseline parameters before a true scientific test.
that he made was being a nice guy about it. The arrogance, ignorance, and overall attitude that this company displayed is nothing short of criminal.
As soon as he found the flaw he should have called, closed his account, then taken them to court for allowing his personal information to be accessed by criminal elements though a ridiculous lack of security.
Doesn't matter that he doesn't know if some criminal had ever looked at his information. It was made available to anyone by a company that was tasked with protecting it.
I have a suggestion for a new poster...
Take the fascism poster, put a big black square over the guy on the ground, with the words "Censored. Move along citizen, nothing to see here."
Can also black over the word death...
I saw the episode that Fox showed first, and it didn't confuse me really. My problem with the show is that they kept changing the show time, or at least it seems that way. I'd set the VCR to record, and it would be something else instead.
I dunno. When dealing with cases like this, I think they should use the same logic as they do with shooting someone.
A buddy who has had to take a lot of gun classes for his security job told me that if someone breaks into my home and I shoot him, I would face a lot less severe judgement than if someone broke into his house and he shot them.
That's because he has a lot of training, and so is held to a higher accountability level than I would be, since I haven't taken any classes.
Cops should know the law, and so should be held to a much higher standard than your average citizen when it comes to cases like this.
Thats easy, the police already have dash cams in their cars. Just put a shoulder mounted web cam on every officer. The web cam would store several hours of video, but also beam it to a backup recorder in the car, and/or send it wirelessly back to the station house. When an officer gets back to the station he would just pop the camera onto a recharger that would copy off the data, and also the copy that's in the cars storage.
Then, to make sure there isn't tampering, instantly send a copy to a state level backup center.
Also, if an officer has gaps in his video, or something, then there would be some disciplinary action because it could mean he was doing something wrong.
If I was a cop, I would want something like this, so that if someone brought some doctored video, or video out of context (the part where the perp shoots first gets cut out to make it look like the cop shot first).
#1. Get Italian Government Officials Addresses
#2. Report infringement against the person at the beginning, continue on until the end
#3. ???
#4. profit
Isn't this called Stockholm Syndrome?
Identifying with and then defending those that are hurting you?
The trick is to beat the subject pretty bad, then start showing mercy a little bit at a time. This will cause the subject to be super grateful when they aren't being beaten.
Or possibly an abused spouse. "We'll, yeah he hit me, but he could have hit me a lot more, and harder. He just has a good heart."
Just wanted to point out that Warren Buffet will definitely pay way more than his cleaning lady this year, even if the percentage that he pays is less.
I would rather have 1% of $1,000,000,000 than 90% of $100.
And if his 27% (or whatever) is $47,000,000 then he'll be paying a lot more than 37% of his cleaning lady's $36,000 a year (or whatever, the numbers were made up to make a point).
On the post: Why The Supreme Court Needs To Make Sure That Selling A Used iPad Isn't A Copyright Violation
Until it happens to you, and a workaround?
On a side note, if you aren't allowed to sell stuff, can you still give it away?
"I'd like to sell you this picture of a house that I drew myself. Only $200. And today only, I'm throwing in a free gift of a first gen iPad as a special thank you!"
On the post: EA Believes That Making A Lot Of Money Is Less Important Than Keeping Games Expensive
Re:
For instance, a lot of people went out to buy Skyrim or Diablo 3 at full price ($60).
I have 2 kids and a third on the way. Between family, work, and just every day life, I have a few hours a week to play, and not a huge budget to spend.
I could set aside a little here or there to save up for New AAA Release 2012, but in reality I would be able to get one game a year. Maybe 2.
Or I can wait a year or two, read reviews and user experiences to see which ones are worth buying. Wait for all the patching and bug fixes, and then pick it up for $10 on a steam sale... That's OK with me, because I also pick up 6-8 other games, and have enough to last me a long time.
Thanks to sales and bundles I have 20+ games that I have yet to try, and at my pace it'll be a long time before I finish them all. And in the mean time, there will be more sales and bundles...
This is why it's smart to do these huge sales. Lots of people will still buy it at full price, and the people that never would can pick it up late at a discount, and not have to pirate it to be able to afford it.
On the post: US Government Gets 10% Royalty On 'Passion Of The Christ' Prequel In Plea Deal With Mexican Drug Cartel Money Launderer
Re: Re: Re: Question:
I don't think that it's wrong for a Christian, even a minister, to be wealthy, or drive the vehicle that they want, or have a nice home, etc.
The big point, and the main problem with wealth, is when people start serving the wealth instead of using it to minister to other people.
I read a bio on J C Penny (the guy who started the store chain. I'm pretty sure it was him, though it was a long time ago that I read it), and I remember one of the interesting facts was that he and his wife decided to give away 90% of their income to ministry (help the poor, minister the gospel, etc) and the remaining 10% was enough to make them very well off.
That's the real "prosperity gospel". Show God that the more He blesses you, the more you'll help others, and you wont be able to give it away fast enough.
As soon as the money starts being more important than helping people, then it'll start drawing you away from what you're supposed to be doing, and that's serving mammon, and that's what gets you into trouble.
The bible does say that "A good man leaves an inheritance for his children's children," so it's not wrong to build up some capital.
On the post: Federal Appeals Court Rejects Illinois' Eavesdropping Law As Likely Violating The First Amendment
Re: Re: Re: In case you'd like to know, the IL Attorney General is a She...
That's how I read it anyway, since he's also the one using the law in a very vindictive manner.
On the post: Federal Appeals Court Rejects Illinois' Eavesdropping Law As Likely Violating The First Amendment
The real problem
It's probably the same thing for cops, even the honest ones.
If I saw you walking toward me with a camera or other recording device, it would make me think that you had an agenda, and recordings can be altered to show anything.
The solution? More cameras. Put a shoulder mounted camera on every cop, and don't allow them to be shut off. Record every second of every day that an officer is in uniform.
Stream the video live to recording units in each squad car, the police station, and some centralized state or federally controlled location.
Then any good cop will be able to know that if he/she acts within the law, then all will be well, and any doctored record that someone else makes will be thrown out.
And for the bad cops, if a camera gets shut off or otherwise disabled, then there is a suspension. It may get some of the good cops, but not as many.
On the post: Federal Appeals Court Rejects Illinois' Eavesdropping Law As Likely Violating The First Amendment
Re:
It only makes sense.
On the post: Hearing Aids, Monopolies, And Why The Health Industry Is Ripe For Disruption
Re: business model-- made of balsa and pasteboard
Have your disposable company be the "manufacturer" but put another layer on top with no liability, which would be the retail part. "We don't make the things, we just sell them."
Then add in multiple disposable companies as suppliers. If the reseller has 10-20 suppliers, and suppliers randomly go "bankrupt" making room for new suppliers in the market (kinda like a shell game), it seems like it would be really tough to take anyone to court.
With just in time manufacturing you don't need a warehouse.
There's a episode of How It's Made (its on Netflix) that shows the production of hearing aids, and they really aren't that complicated of devices.
The only specialized part is getting the mold of the patients ear. Since they are custom fit for the patient, you could just make them in bulk in China or wherever. However, you could get the core electronics in bulk, and design a fitting process around those cores that would remove a lot of the complication.
So the retail portion would take a mold, send it to whichever supplier was the "it" one that week, and the supplier to cast around a core, and then ship it back.
If the investors also happened to pick up a out of business strip mall or something, it would be a really handy location to put a handful of suppliers at really high rental rates. That would really effect the suppliers profits.
On the post: Guy Who Uploaded Early Version Of Wolverine, Which Appears Not To Have Hurt Movie At All, Gets 1 Year In Jail
However, this guy knew the possible consequences. He had been caught before and didn't learn his lesson.
If I was a movie studio exec, I probably would have done the same thing. "Hey, what you did probably helped us in the long run, but that doesn't change the fact that you did it again after we warned you last time, and we don't want just anyone to think that they can do this."
Also, if I were in charge, I would probably find ways to experiment with this effect. I don't think you can do a double blind experiment with movies, since it's hard to qualify exactly what makes one movie succeed and another bomb, but I'd try to figure out something.
Maybe take a mid level movie, do only minor advertising, and release a real low quality version to see if it could work as super cheap advertising.
The internet is like a hammer. It can be a weapon or a tool, and it all depends on how you use it. They should be brainstorming ways to make it work for them, instead of trying to push it back.
Something kind of internet judo.
On the post: Humble Indie Bundle Well On Its Way To Break Sales Record
Why pay full price?
I have just about perfected delayed gratification when it comes to entertainment. All the games I have gotten in the last couple years either came from a HIB, Steam holiday sale, or used. I don't think I've paid much more than $5 for a single title in a long time.
Through this method I have a library of 30 games I haven't had the time to play yet, none pirated.
I look forward to playing Skyrim, in a year or two, when I can pick it up in a Steam Christmas sale for $5. I might go as high as $10.
Edit: Actually, when we bought our Kinect for the 360 we also picked up an extra game so we would have more than the bundled game to play on it.
On the post: Humble Indie Bundle Well On Its Way To Break Sales Record
Re:
On the post: Steve Jobs Was Willing To 'Rip Off' Everyone Else... But Was Pissed About Android Copying iPhone?
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: ugh please
Not that I'm a wiz a converting meters to yards.
But as as estimate, a meter is slightly longer than a yard.
I'm roughly average sized, but my arms are not close to a yard long.
I just hope that the Samsung lawyer got his perscription checked. Yes they are a slightly similar shape, but there are a lot of differences. Most obvious being the home button.
The judge should hold up a vision chart at right about the same distance. That seems only right. You have to establish all baseline parameters before a true scientific test.
On the post: 'British Cinema's Golden Age Is Now': So Where's The 'Serious Problem' Of Copyright Infringement?
But movies almost never make a profit
Pirates are to blame I say.
That they just all happen to work inside of the accounting department is beside the point...
On the post: Company Thanks Guy Who Alerted Them To Big Security Flaw By Sending The Cops... And The Bill
The real mistake...
As soon as he found the flaw he should have called, closed his account, then taken them to court for allowing his personal information to be accessed by criminal elements though a ridiculous lack of security.
Doesn't matter that he doesn't know if some criminal had ever looked at his information. It was made available to anyone by a company that was tasked with protecting it.
On the post: University Police & Administration Freak Out Over Nathan Fillion Firefly Poster; Censor, Threaten Professor
New poster
Take the fascism poster, put a big black square over the guy on the ground, with the words "Censored. Move along citizen, nothing to see here."
Can also black over the word death...
On the post: University Police & Administration Freak Out Over Nathan Fillion Firefly Poster; Censor, Threaten Professor
Re: Re:
On the post: Another Day, Another Story Of Police Lying... Only To Be Found Out Due To Video Of The Incident
A higher standard
A buddy who has had to take a lot of gun classes for his security job told me that if someone breaks into my home and I shoot him, I would face a lot less severe judgement than if someone broke into his house and he shot them.
That's because he has a lot of training, and so is held to a higher accountability level than I would be, since I haven't taken any classes.
Cops should know the law, and so should be held to a much higher standard than your average citizen when it comes to cases like this.
On the post: Forget Being Arrested For Filming The Police, Now They're Arresting People For Sitting
Re: Well, now wait...
Then, to make sure there isn't tampering, instantly send a copy to a state level backup center.
Also, if an officer has gaps in his video, or something, then there would be some disciplinary action because it could mean he was doing something wrong.
If I was a cop, I would want something like this, so that if someone brought some doctored video, or video out of context (the part where the perp shoots first gets cut out to make it look like the cop shot first).
On the post: EU Parliament Member Asks EU Commission What It Will Do If Italy Approves One Strike Copyright Law
Re: Phonebook
#2. Report infringement against the person at the beginning, continue on until the end
#3. ???
#4. profit
There, FTFY
On the post: Debate Time: Ubisoft Says DRM Is Needed, Valve Says No It Isn't.
Re: Re:
Identifying with and then defending those that are hurting you?
The trick is to beat the subject pretty bad, then start showing mercy a little bit at a time. This will cause the subject to be super grateful when they aren't being beaten.
Or possibly an abused spouse. "We'll, yeah he hit me, but he could have hit me a lot more, and harder. He just has a good heart."
On the post: Rep. Conyers Wants To Clarify Termination Rights Under Copyright Law
Re: Re:
I would rather have 1% of $1,000,000,000 than 90% of $100.
And if his 27% (or whatever) is $47,000,000 then he'll be paying a lot more than 37% of his cleaning lady's $36,000 a year (or whatever, the numbers were made up to make a point).
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