The "vaccinations are western plots" nutjob theories have a long and inglorious history around the world actually. This is nothing new. I agree that while the CIA may have been stupid enough to slightly confirm the paranoia, that paranoia has been around a long long long time. Hell, vaccines, condoms, AIDS medication, it's all western plot to subvert and control pretty every nation not American/European for a large portion of the world.
This is a complete misapplication of logic. If you want to reduce the impact that money can have in politics, politicians need to have less POWER (and this goes across the board, legislative, executive, ESPECIALLY regulatory). The less they can do, the less they are worth.
Ah Prenda, the gift that keeps on giving. I am definitely going to listen to that hearing, I have a feeling it may be just as entertaining as the season 4 premier of Game of Thrones.
I remember all of this hoopla about Dungeons and Dragons, and got to experience some of it myself.
Many, many years ago, I learned to play Dungeons and Dragons while hanging out with a new kid that moved into the neighborhood. My mother went damn-near apoplectic when she found out. I was forced to watch this ridiculous movie called Mazes and Monsters (kid goes batshit nuts winds up in psych ward). I was also excoriated for playing an "evil and satanic game". My dad called the sourcebooks "smut", and had understanding of it beyond the book titles and some bad headlines in the news.
This was an interesting experience in the end, as it was actually my parents who came around to my point of view after YEARS of arguments. See, as a kid, I was stubborn as hell, and I was going to do it anyway. The longer I played without turning into a schizoid freak (regardless of their rules), the more they came around to understanding that they massively over-reacted. Nowadays, each time there's a new moral panic around, they are extremely skeptical about it and generally ignore it.
“The headline should not read that the City Council capped anything,” Harrell said. “It should read that it allowed the ride-shares to come into the industry.”
The blatant ridiculous condescending entitled arrogance of that statement cannot be over-emphasized. This is an elected representative of the city flat-out stating that it is the prerogative of the city council to pick and choose what businesses are allowed to operate. He's not speaking of industry (e.g. fast food, big box store, etc), he's specifically referring to competition within an already legitimate, legally operating industry (paid rides, i.e. cabs). THAT is what should piss people off the most about this.
Fucking morons. These assholes need to just stop. These arrogant crack-smoking elected douchebags need to stop. The level of egotism and arrogance it takes to proudly stand as a member of congressional committee and tell a company that essentially INVENTED modern search technology, how it should work, when a) Your claim to any authority is winning a popularity contest in a nation that watches shit like Here Comes Honey Boo Boo (BIIIG success there) and b) You level of familiarity, let ALONE expertise, in technology ends at Windows 95, is FREAKING AMAZING.
What a class of techno-illiterate fuckwads we have trying to regulate something. These assholes for the most part can't regulate their own sex-drives or drug habits. Probably not a one of these grand-standing luddites has ever done a search by themselves for anything on Google. They need to shut the fuck up, RIGHT NOW.
Re: Re: Blame the advertisers and the hackers, not users
I am in complete agreement here. The trust of those who use tools like NoScript, FlashBlock, AdBlock, etc has very likely been violated at least once, or the trust of someone they know. My going to your site indicates that I am trusting that the stuff you're instructing my browser to download is safe and what I've requested. The blatantly obnoxious shockwave ads with audio are the ABSOLUTE WORST.
The malware bit is particularly critical. Flash-based advertisements are routinely used as vectors of malware delivery. We have no control over which ad network a particular site decides to use to feed us their ads. Therefore the only method of protecting ourselves is block damn near everything.
Not only that, but I'm tracked 90 ways from sunday already, I'd really prefer to minimize the crap built up about me in advertiser's systems. The places online where I ACTUALLY buy stuff, I'm good with them recommending things based on what I've actually purchased in the past.
Add to all that, the sheer absolute wastefulness of bandwidth so much of this crap entails. If some of these ISPs pushing for bandwidth caps get their way, you can say adios to a shitload more advertising revenue, because a lot more people will want to block downloading crap they don't want, in favor of crap they do want.
I will concede one point, there is potential for service based sharing and whatnot on some level. However, expecting a large customer base to accept this large of a paradigm shift all at once is sheer stupidity. Not only that, but to let a rumor mill sit and spin the horror story for months with no walk-back or explanation was truly an idiotic thing to do.
If they had been straight about it from the get go, then maybe they could have garnered some acceptance. If they had tried to dip a toe in the water (perhaps starting with only the digital download games and the "sharing plan" for that), instead of diving headfirst into an icy lake of customer backlash, they might have seen some acceptance.
What pisses me off the most though, is there sheer, unadulterated ASSHOLENESS of the entire discussion of it. Absolutely no thought was given to conceding to the gaming community at large their concerns (the "Deal with it" tweet anyone?), it was presented as hey, we're going to do this, even though for the last 9 months everyone has been talking about how they don't want it, but we're doing it anyway and you're going to like it, we promise.
This shows a complete and total ineptitude and straight out disconnect from their customers. When you get your head shoved so far up your own ass you can't see this issue coming like a freight train, it's time to fire not only your PR department, you need to take a serious look at the fucking asshole that came up with idea, and the 10 or 12 morons that sat there and agreed with him that it was a great idea, and bash him over the head and leave him in a ditch.
There will be limited capability to play PS3 games via Gaikai streaming service. There's almost no detail about it yet apparently, but it was discussed. Whether it will be available for PS1 or PS2 games, and how many games will available at all is still very much in question.
But no true backwards compatibility no, moving from the Cell processor to an Intel processor makes that difficult if not impossible purely based on the architecture difference.
In the WP article, at the very end, you'll find these statements:
Thomas said officials need to strike a balance between the needs of law enforcement and those of the technology companies.
“You want to give law enforcement the ability to have the data they’re legally entitled to get, at the same time not burdening industry and not opening up security holes,” he said.
I bolded the part that I shouldn't be sickened by, but am. I want to yell at this fucker and tell him he's leaving out a really big critically important part of the balancing, and that's the GODDAMNED PRIVACY OF CITIZENS. It's really disgusting that this gets so fucking lost.
I want some damned statistics that show how many crimes they solve prevent SOLELY because of all this data that they gather. The assumption that I currently run with is pretty close to fucking zero (except where they exploit people and push them into crimes they would never commit on their own). It sure seems like most crimes nowadays are still solved the old-fashioned way. WORKING IT.
However, like Righthaven before, I suspect another group is forming to do something similar as we speak. There is no shortage of fraudsters and con artists.
As with CISPA and SOPA however, it is the duty of the public to keep themselves as aware as possible about these issues, and ensure they are handled appropriately. Public engagement in these things hopefully will help begin to swing the pendulum the other way.
I don't see a conspiracy here beyond the Prenda group yet. As I'm sure everyone on the internet believes, sheer, rampant, complete stupidity knows no bounds.
As a dis-corporeal entity, he was only required to be present in spirit. If you attended the same law schools as Steel & Hansmeier, this would be as obvious to you as it was to them. Indeed, I'm starting to think THEY don't actually exist either.
Honestly, how good is the law school that Steele went to? I mean, most of my pot-addled friends could tell you that leaving threatening voice mails is a sure-fire way to seriously screw over any remaining goodwill a judge may have for you. For an ATTORNEY to do that, displays not only incompetence, but a complete and total absence of intellect and tact (not that we had much evidence of either to be sure).
I think that this will figure fairly prominently in the coming decision, and I eagerly anticipate it.
I think the bench warrant threat was specific only to attorney Gibbs. I do not think however that the judge was that surprised, and to be honest, the more they screw up, the better for the rest of us. Better entertainment, better precedent.
Eh, I already used Schadenfreude this last weekend expressing myself over the Simcity 2013 launch fail. You're point is well taken though. It is extremely pleasing to finally see ONE of these trolls taken to task.
Admittedly it is probably the group currently the most incompetent and public, but I hope to see others scared off because of this.
your penis with a app on a device called Palm? Since when did anyone need to pay anything to use their Palm on their penis? What makes Chubby think checking your penis with your palm is something that he should be paid for? Usually the payment goes the other way.
On the post: You Can Thank The CIA For The Return Of Polio, Even Though The Media Conveniently Ignores This
Re: Probably not a result of the CIA
On the post: Larry Lessig's Anti-SuperPAC SuperPAC Already Halfway To $1 Million Initial Target
No, no, no, no, no
On the post: Appeals Court Not At All Impressed By Prenda's Appeal
Love it
On the post: A Lesson in Stupid Moral Panics: The History Of Dungeons And Dragons Bans
Memories
Many, many years ago, I learned to play Dungeons and Dragons while hanging out with a new kid that moved into the neighborhood. My mother went damn-near apoplectic when she found out. I was forced to watch this ridiculous movie called Mazes and Monsters (kid goes batshit nuts winds up in psych ward). I was also excoriated for playing an "evil and satanic game". My dad called the sourcebooks "smut", and had understanding of it beyond the book titles and some bad headlines in the news.
This was an interesting experience in the end, as it was actually my parents who came around to my point of view after YEARS of arguments. See, as a kid, I was stubborn as hell, and I was going to do it anyway. The longer I played without turning into a schizoid freak (regardless of their rules), the more they came around to understanding that they massively over-reacted. Nowadays, each time there's a new moral panic around, they are extremely skeptical about it and generally ignore it.
On the post: Corruption Index Indicator: Cities That Ban Ride Sharing To Protect Taxi Incumbents
Sheer fucking arrogance
“The headline should not read that the City Council capped anything,” Harrell said. “It should read that it allowed the ride-shares to come into the industry.”
The blatant ridiculous condescending entitled arrogance of that statement cannot be over-emphasized. This is an elected representative of the city flat-out stating that it is the prerogative of the city council to pick and choose what businesses are allowed to operate. He's not speaking of industry (e.g. fast food, big box store, etc), he's specifically referring to competition within an already legitimate, legally operating industry (paid rides, i.e. cabs). THAT is what should piss people off the most about this.
On the post: Someone Please Tell Congress That 'Free' Is Not Illegal & Not To Lie About Bogus Search Results
Elected Morons
What a class of techno-illiterate fuckwads we have trying to regulate something. These assholes for the most part can't regulate their own sex-drives or drug habits. Probably not a one of these grand-standing luddites has ever done a search by themselves for anything on Google. They need to shut the fuck up, RIGHT NOW.
On the post: The Escapist Website Still Blames Users For Its Business Model, Won't Let Them Even Mention AdBlock
Re: Re: Blame the advertisers and the hackers, not users
The malware bit is particularly critical. Flash-based advertisements are routinely used as vectors of malware delivery. We have no control over which ad network a particular site decides to use to feed us their ads. Therefore the only method of protecting ourselves is block damn near everything.
Not only that, but I'm tracked 90 ways from sunday already, I'd really prefer to minimize the crap built up about me in advertiser's systems. The places online where I ACTUALLY buy stuff, I'm good with them recommending things based on what I've actually purchased in the past.
Add to all that, the sheer absolute wastefulness of bandwidth so much of this crap entails. If some of these ISPs pushing for bandwidth caps get their way, you can say adios to a shitload more advertising revenue, because a lot more people will want to block downloading crap they don't want, in favor of crap they do want.
/rant off
On the post: Microsoft Capitulates, Removes Online DRM From Xbox One
Listening to us?
If they had been straight about it from the get go, then maybe they could have garnered some acceptance. If they had tried to dip a toe in the water (perhaps starting with only the digital download games and the "sharing plan" for that), instead of diving headfirst into an icy lake of customer backlash, they might have seen some acceptance.
What pisses me off the most though, is there sheer, unadulterated ASSHOLENESS of the entire discussion of it. Absolutely no thought was given to conceding to the gaming community at large their concerns (the "Deal with it" tweet anyone?), it was presented as hey, we're going to do this, even though for the last 9 months everyone has been talking about how they don't want it, but we're doing it anyway and you're going to like it, we promise.
This shows a complete and total ineptitude and straight out disconnect from their customers. When you get your head shoved so far up your own ass you can't see this issue coming like a freight train, it's time to fire not only your PR department, you need to take a serious look at the fucking asshole that came up with idea, and the 10 or 12 morons that sat there and agreed with him that it was a great idea, and bash him over the head and leave him in a ditch.
On the post: Microsoft Capitulates, Removes Online DRM From Xbox One
Re: Re:
There will be limited capability to play PS3 games via Gaikai streaming service. There's almost no detail about it yet apparently, but it was discussed. Whether it will be available for PS1 or PS2 games, and how many games will available at all is still very much in question.
But no true backwards compatibility no, moving from the Cell processor to an Intel processor makes that difficult if not impossible purely based on the architecture difference.
On the post: DOJ Wants To Be Able To Fine Tech Companies Who Don't Let It Wiretap Your Communications
I bolded the part that I shouldn't be sickened by, but am. I want to yell at this fucker and tell him he's leaving out a really big critically important part of the balancing, and that's the GODDAMNED PRIVACY OF CITIZENS. It's really disgusting that this gets so fucking lost.
I want some damned statistics that show how many crimes they solve prevent SOLELY because of all this data that they gather. The assumption that I currently run with is pretty close to fucking zero (except where they exploit people and push them into crimes they would never commit on their own). It sure seems like most crimes nowadays are still solved the old-fashioned way. WORKING IT.
On the post: Deep Dive Analysis: Brett Gibbs Gets His Day In Court -- But Prenda Law Is The Star
Re:
On the post: Deep Dive Analysis: Brett Gibbs Gets His Day In Court -- But Prenda Law Is The Star
Re: Re: Re: Re: Been waiting all day...
As with CISPA and SOPA however, it is the duty of the public to keep themselves as aware as possible about these issues, and ensure they are handled appropriately. Public engagement in these things hopefully will help begin to swing the pendulum the other way.
On the post: Deep Dive Analysis: Brett Gibbs Gets His Day In Court -- But Prenda Law Is The Star
Re: Re: Time to come clean
On the post: Deep Dive Analysis: Brett Gibbs Gets His Day In Court -- But Prenda Law Is The Star
Re: What did CEO-Cooper say?
On the post: Deep Dive Analysis: Brett Gibbs Gets His Day In Court -- But Prenda Law Is The Star
Sheer, complete idiocy
I think that this will figure fairly prominently in the coming decision, and I eagerly anticipate it.
On the post: Deep Dive Analysis: Brett Gibbs Gets His Day In Court -- But Prenda Law Is The Star
Re:
On the post: Deep Dive Analysis: Brett Gibbs Gets His Day In Court -- But Prenda Law Is The Star
Re: Re: Been waiting all day...
Admittedly it is probably the group currently the most incompetent and public, but I hope to see others scared off because of this.
On the post: Deep Dive Analysis: Brett Gibbs Gets His Day In Court -- But Prenda Law Is The Star
Been waiting all day...
As a side note, anyone else think this is like lawyer porn? You know someone is going to get completely and ruthlessly fucked in this case.
On the post: Chubby Checker Sues Two Companies For $500 Million Over Wang-Measuring App Downloaded 84 Times
Measuring...
On the post: HOA President Receives Public Criticism; Responds With Baseless Claims And Empty Legal Threats
Three words
Next >>