Posts by Dillon Pyron 852 publicly visible posts • joined 15 Feb 2007
From time to time, magazines and newspapers publish infringing articles. It happens, despite the research they perform. What do they do? They publish retractions. Can't take the material down once it's printed. At least You Tube can (and apparently does) do that. Magazines and newspapers have ads all over the place. They're profiting from the publication of this infringing material. If You Tube/Google wants to win, they need to use this argument.
And how much does it cost to leave all the bloody lights on in the usual office building. During the "energy crisis", lots of offices turned off their lights. Now you can see entire buildings glowing at night. Even with florescent lights, that's still a lot of money. Then there are the billboards lit up at 2am. Haven't they ever heard of Dark Skys? Then there are all the street lights. No wonder the "developed" world glows on the night images.
We give too much credit to our spook's abilities to spy on us. Yes, my phone alarms even when powered off, but I've never detected it radiating. If the "New World Order" conspiracy secret government were to get all mobile manufactures to embed a backdoor into our phones, do you think they would make it very easy for anybody else to gain access to it?
As far as GPS being required in the US, most 911 dispatch centers aren't equipped to handle anything like that. Only about 75% are e911 ready. It takes a call to the service provider (they can get the server info pretty easily) to triangulate.
Interesting sidenote. A while back there was a shooting in my neighborhood (neighbor shot at his wife and then went in the backyard and shot himself, apparently early Alzheimer's). The cops wanted permission to recover a projectile from my window sill. So they called my mobile. How'd they get it? "We have access to things you don't".
Nah, this is a problem inherent in our government procurement system, regardless of party.
As far as illegals are concerned, most get paid substandard wages, which drives down the wages for all the low skill jobs. There are roofers in town getting paid $5/hr. How many people are going to take those jobs? Autoworkers are getting paid $27/hr to start, and most of those involve plenty of OJT.
Were employers be required to pay decent wages, more citizens would take those positions. Yes, costs would go up. But with the illegals being granted amnesty and now reporting their wages, costs are going to go up anyways. Unless employers fire them and hire the new wave of illegals.
Open Source is collaborative. That means that some ideas will be questioned and some ideas will be merged with other ideas to create a synergistic solution. If this is viewed as "confrontational" then we do have a real problem. I've personally never experienced what I would call a real confrontation. There are assholes out there who will pick a fight for fighting's sake, but they are quickly shut off by the rest of the community.
Open source involves creativeness. There are specs that everyone codes to, but the developers come up with these specs. As a starter, the Asian coders could be best utilized in this role, but they will find themselves shutout from the creative process unless they adapt themselves. OSS is too big to change its ways.
Yes, every provider charges one. Call it "profit".
I'm paying AT&T $39.95 a month for my first line and $19.95 for the second. 450 minutes a month and we're not using all of that. No media plan, so we pay for our text messages.
Oh yeah, that $60 a month we're paying? Round that off at about $105 a month after taxes and fees.
Let's remember that after the incident involving the US spy plane and the Chinese fighter that patriotic Chinese hackers launched attacks against a wide variety of US sites. And patriotic American hackers retaliated. Governments didn't have to get involved. The "Italian Mafia" (note the quotes) are among some of the most loyal Americans. They may deal in prostitution, drugs, gambling and other nefarious dealings, but God Bless America, nobody else can mess with us. The same may be said for many members of 2600.
First, below about 4-5 feet, the pressure will seal all but the most busted cases. Second, below about 30 feet you'll almost certainly need a flash. And below about 75 feet you'll need an external flash. Thirdly, NO VIEWFINDER? Using an optical viewfinder really steadys the hand. This is a well established fact.
Let's see, Rockwell automation is software is used by how many people? I can still get W2K OEM, all I have to do is buy a DIMM that may or may not work. There's certainly a lot of pirated MS software on eBay. Are they next in line?
I wonder if there will become a "standard" court for software piracy, just like there is for patent disputes.
Austin has received more rain in the month of June than we do in June, July and August. We are up considerably over average and hugely up over last year. The lakes are above flood pool (which has nothing to do with flooding). Today it will probably hit 83, the normal is about 95. We've only had one 100 degree day this year.
If this is global warming, I'm buying a Hummer. :-)
http://www.oakhillweather.com An excellent site that shows the weather about a half mile from my house. Run by a neighbor from a weather station at his house.
Time Warner's newest DVRs support an eSATA drive. I can get an enclosure from Fry's for about $30. With a 1TB drive, I may never delete a show again. OTOH it will be hell to find what I'm looking for. But I can go on vacation for two weeks and know I won't run out of space.
1TB NAS devices are now selling for around $600 for a two 500 GB drive configuration.
Provenances have been faked in the art and antique worlds for years. I wonder how soon it is before a website pops up selling them. Let's see, my host says it takes two days to get everything configured, so I figure by sometime Wednesday evening, CDT. I wonder just what they'll accept as a document of "proof".
Is PETA in the EU?
Let's see, in the US the TVs and phones (local calls) are free in most hospitals. But we paid a $2000 deductible for a lumpectomy ($19,000 charged to insurance, they paid something like $12,500 in negotiated fees). In the UK, it's "free", but you pay for phones and TVs. Sounds like we're all getting screwed, just in different ways. But I'll bet you don't run up $2000 in phone and TV bills. If you did, PatientLine shouldn't be in any trouble.
Right now the per capita release of carbon still has the US in the lead. But even we (finally) are reducing our carbon output. It'll be a while before we line up with Europe, but meanwhile the Chinese have rejected any concept of reducing carbon emissions, saying that it would affect their ability to compete. The prediction is that within two years, China will pass the US in total carbon output. And that that output will steadily increase. To the point where the reductions by Europe and the US will be insufficient to keep up.
"...and the whole Intelligent Design thing disapears recursively up its own fundament."
Do not confuse science with belief. Science is provable (or disprovable). Belief is just that. It is because it is.
After years of asserting his theory on black holes, Stephen Hawking has changed his mind and positted a new theory. That's science in action.
At home, we've been buying nothing but notebooks since 2002. Hook up a monitor, keyboard and mouse. Buy a second power supply and put it in the backpack and we're ready to go. The only problem is I'm gigabit enabled at home, but the notebooks only do 100Base-T. I guess by the time 10 gig hits the home, we'll have 1 gig on the notebooks and standard on most desktops.
Facebook, MySpace, Friendster. Bah humbug. I'm not posting anything about myself on any of these sites. Too many prospective employers Google me. I'd rather they found my papers and professional organizations.
The only "social" site I belong to is LinkedIn. But, again, that's more of a professional site.
Me?
SMS, Bluetooth (Texas came very close to passing a "hands free" law), a reliable network.
Web browsing? Haven't used it in the two and a half years I've had the phone.
The phone manufactorers and service providers have jammed features that I really don't need and the simple phones I want are getting harder and harder to find.
Germany's ahead of the US? Who'd a thunk it?
If it's of any value, I encrypt it. If I don't want anyone to see it, I encrypt it.
I hope the next thing they outlaw is being a zombie, since that's where most of the spam comes from. Did anyone tell the Bundestag this little tid bit?
Another reason not to use the Google apps.
Yes Anahata, the government can get a search warrant and seize records from your safe deposit box. They, to the best of my recollection (but consult a lawyer), cannot subpoena anything in your safe deposit box from the bank but must approach you directly. As far as your will is concerned, it's work product and is protected. UNLESS, as is required in Texas, your will is registered with the county. Then it's a public record. There have been attempts in the past to limit this ability, but anti-privacy advocates (Tom Craddick) have blocked most attempts at protecting public data. Even my carry license is public record, but, as of Sep 1, you can only get that information if you ask for it by name, you can't do a fishing expedition.
If you don't collect statistics, there's no way of proving how many listeners you have, am I not correct? If I don't sell any advertising, and thus have no revenue, would I owe anything under the proposed model?
The $500 goes straight into the pocket of the company collecting the fee. In addition, they collect a portion of the fee. It's in the financial interest of them to keep the fee as high as possible.
Anybody who claims that this benefits the performers hasn't been around the music industry for very long. Even bands who get paid a portion of the gate (the vast majority of bands) only get a small fraction. Meanwhile, the bars and clubs where they are performing sell gallons of booze at outrageous prices. The whole music industry is rigged so that everybody BUT the performers make any money. Even bands with recording contracts sometimes starve.
Get the lady in, where, Philly?, to print up 25 of her million dollar bills. That should be easy to move.
I can only think of three casinos in Las Vegas that might have the wherewithal to move that kind of money. Not the big ones like Ceasar's or the Wynn. Smaller, "family" run establishment. I won't name any, but one has its namesake in France along the Med and another is named after the edge of America in the 1800s.
The US is the sole remaining super power. Whatever we say goes. If we say somebody in Australia broke a US law and should be tried in the US, then that's the way it is. We're a super power, tough patooties. Ask Noriega. If you don't like it, hang around until we install a government that does.
He should be glad he didn't die of a "heart attack".
</sarcasm>
Almost every right wing "moralist" I know of twists things to fight his/her particular view of "morality". Right to life. Prevention of death with dignity. Capital punishment.
Amazingly, the God Fearing people of Texas voted to amend the Constitution (which has been amended almost 300 times in the past 160 years) to permit the lottery (to support schools) and then parimutual betting on horseracing. And the busses to Louisiana casinos are packed. But the Baptists preach about the evils of gambling. And I book about a dozen trips a week to Vegas. But they're only going for the shows. The midnight shows, I'm sure.
I've seen some video. It does a nice shuffle, but could never get around a real construction site, with lumber all over the floor. Or walk on a roof, or across beams. The hands are too big and clumsy to install a door or window. Like other "revolutionary" robots, it's nowhere near ready for prime time. It's not even ready for Saturday morning cartoons.
And where are the naughty bits needed to make it a successful sex-bot?
What credit card company was that (you can see how well it stuck) that ran the ID theft ads where they had a theft victim talking, but the voice was that of the criminals?
Black lady sitting under the dryer at the salon : "... and ten thousand dollars to finish my robot. My girl robot. This is going to be the best prom ever."
I can imagine a time in the not too distant future when RS will "discover" a "break in" and all the code for MH2 to have been "copied". Next thing we know, black market copies will be sold from websites in countries with lax game laws. Or countries who don't care who you sell it to as long as it isn't Chinese, erh, their citizens.
If they produced it for PCs, I'd sell it. If you happened to be in the UK, I'd set up a card processing site in the UK, too. You'd have to pay duty on "computer software" or "computer game" (whichever is less). After all, this model has worked for years with XXX movies.
I must have some pretty good filters. I've received none of these, just like they filtered out all the garbled image spam. Eudora plus Spamnix.
I did an analysis of pump&dump spam last year. In October, 60% of those were for Chinese firms sold on Chinese pink sheets. Less than five per cent were on US pink sheets. About 5-7% of the total spam I received was via fax, which accounted for about 30% of my total junk faxes. I've got lots more vacation offers.
Given the state of affairs in Ohio IT, it probably means a 9-track and a computer that can deal in EBCDIC.
Every organization I've dealt with over the last 20 years, public and private, has used a trusted storage vendor for back ups. When I was at AMD, Iron Mountain came by twice a week to pick up our backups. We had a quarter's worth of weeklies and dailies and a years worth of monthlies there. Even the State of Texas has a secure storage methodology that they seem to follow. You would think that as much money as Ohio collects from its taxpayers that they could afford some secure storage.
Most of these sites also try to load trojans. I use a sacrificial machine to visit them and you'd be surprised, no, shocked, at the amount of software some of these sites try to load. I went to one site that had apparently become 0wn3d by someone else, as it had two trojans and two smtip servers and two comms tools, all going to radically different locations. The hackers who attacked the criminals weren't smart enough to clean things up. What a bunch of t00ls.
It's also fun to watch these sites break when I visit on a Linux box or, even better, my HP-UX box. Some of these sites are so poorly designed that they fall over.
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