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Comment You're either (Score 5, Insightful) 196

For free speech or for brand-safe speech. There really isn't much middle ground. Any brand manager at almost any company that advertises will fight like a cornered animal to keep their brand from being associated with anything deemed controversial, unless they happen to be some sort of outlier supporter of your site's general cause, if it has one. But most of the time, once you go down the brand-safe road, you lose.

Comment "Talent" (Score 1) 136

Governments never seem to be able to attract good talent no matter how much money they are required to spend on it. Government simply does not attract the best and brightest most of the time. I'm also sure that there is nothing buried in here about "information sharing" between state and federal agencies.

Comment Indie music, indie platforms. (Score 4, Informative) 160

I've been getting way more into indie music genres, and by far my most used purchasing platform is now Bandcamp. DRM-free downloads, the ability to preview the entire track or album before buying, stream the purchased music on their mobile app, and the ability to download high-quality AIFF, WAV, FLAC, etc. formats for archivists and packrats like me. Any time I find a piece of music I want to buy, I always check Bandcamp first. iTunes is now my last resort for digital purchase.

Comment Grants May Have Agendas (Score 4, Interesting) 119

I may be dead wrong on this, but it seems like many of the studies and papers put out today are funded by grants from organizations which often have a (even if subtle) political or ideological agenda. And if the studies they fund support their position, they hand out more grants. If the studies go against it, that university sees its grants from that organization reduced. Perhaps this has an effect on the results of the studies? I'd like to hope not but it seems like anything we think is right is upside down anymore. I haven't looked into this very closely to see if my anecdotal data point is valid, but I'd like to see if anyone can validate it.

Comment Not News (Score 5, Interesting) 734

I am a professional engineer licensed in Oregon. This is very typical for OSBEELS to do. The term "engineer" has very specific legal meaning, and in most states it implies registration and license as a professional engineer. The reason that Oregon and other states vigorously pursue people who claim to be engineers without licensure is to protect the public from those who claim to be engineers but do not have the education or experience to be admitted to the profession. Oregon happens to pursue these types of issues more vigorously than other states I have been licensed in, but this is nothing new. The claim that his first amendment rights are being violated is laughable (but IANAL). He is free to make his case, but he cannot call himself an "engineer" without being licensed.

Comment In the pacific northwest, Verizon. (Score 5, Informative) 208

I've been with AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile in the pacific northwest (Washington, Oregon mostly) for the last several years. During that time I have traveled both to the more metropolitan western Oregon and Washington, as well as the more rural eastern sides of the states. AT&T is pretty good around major metros and most semi-rural areas. T-mobile is very spotty outside of the metros and most major interstates, and many rural areas of eastern Washington and Oregon they have zero coverage at all. I've never used Sprint in this area but I don't know anyone who even has Sprint so that should tell you something. Verizon seems to have the best overall coverage in the pacific northwest, especially the more rural areas. Even when really out in the middle of nowhere they always seem to have some coverage to at least get a call out if nothing else. I can't speak for Idaho as I have not traveled in that area in several years. All of the major companies are awful in terms of pricing and customer service when you have a problem, but the best of all of the evils seems to be Verizon in my experience in this region of the US.

Comment Is it even worth it? (Score 1) 393

We already know that the NSA flags encrypted traffic as suspicious and keeps it forever. If we assume they have enough computing power to target on a particularly interesting set of data (based on headers and routing info which can't be encrypted or it doesn't work), then how is it much better than having them store your data in the clear?

Comment Re:BLOOAATT (Score 1) 488

Yes, way back when I installed Hardy Heron I believe it was, on an older machine, I downloaded an ISO that I burned to a CD, booted up from that, and after a bit of network config, it grabbed all the packages from the internet and installed them. I can't seem to find such an option anymore that is comparable. The closest thing I can find is Netboot install from the internet, which I do not believe is the same.
Idle

Submission + - Guitar Makers and Owners Under The Gun. (wsj.com)

tetrahedrassface writes: According to the Wall Street Journal, Federal agents again raided guitar maker Gibson this past week seizing several pallets of wood and computer documents. At heart of the issue is the wood that is being used in guitars and whether or not it comes from sustainable sources. The company insists it is being harassed and made to 'cry uncle' to the governments enforcement laws. While, as the article notes, wonderful woods like Madagascar Ebony, Brazilian Rosewood and other fret and tone woods are protected in order to prevent the equivalent of 'blood diamond like trade' in sought after tone woods, the ramafications now extend to guitar sowners. Owners and players are next in sights of this enforcement. If you play a vintage guitar, or a hand built guitar made of old stock woods that were legally obtained years ago, but only recently crafted into an ax, you best not fly with it. John Thomas, a law professor at Quinnipiac University and a blues and ragtime guitarist, says "there's a lot of anxiety, and it's well justified." Once upon a time, he would have taken one of his vintage guitars on his travels. Now, "I don't go out of the country with a wooden guitar." That's right. Recent revisions to various laws and the Lacey Act mean if you carry your guitar across the border and don't have your paperwork and certification in hand, they will seize the guitar and fine you 250.00. So if your planning that dream vacation to France and want to play your acoustic in the air of France (or anywhere else) be forewarned. They are gunning for you.

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