Comment Re:US: Welcome to the present (Score 1) 449
Since I get, at minimum, 2.2% cash back on everything I spend on my credit cards, yes, rewards.
Since I get, at minimum, 2.2% cash back on everything I spend on my credit cards, yes, rewards.
They don't even need to do that. If the alleged infringement took place in the district (i.e. if Samsung sold a product that allegedly infringed in East Texas), that's enough. Tivo (Cali-based) sued Dish (Denver-based) in the Eastern District.
It's a famous "rocket docket" (i.e. cases can proceed rapidly there), and it's known for having plaintiff friendly juries in patent cases, so there's a lot of venue shopping going on.
Nice way to ignore the point. Go do your own research if you don't believe me: The supplements/herbal remedy industry has been under fire for a long time now by the pharmaceutical industry, which would rather all those profits be theirs, too. Or continue being ignorant, IDGAF.
On that note, go continue taking your daily dose of woo, it's your money, IDGAF.
Hence, my note.
You don't want to live in a world where you can't even buy name-brand multivitamins unless your doctor gives you a prescription, do you? That's the world they'd like us to be living in: Where ALL dietary supplements are regulated substances that have to be prescribed by a doctor.
Yeah, because there are no over the counter pharmaceuticals, it all comes with a prescription.
For stuff like this, I hear you, but for actual medications, store brand is absolutely the way to go. Same level of regulation as the name brand, and a huge amount cheaper. Pharmacists and doctors are much more likely to buy the generic version of an over the counter medication than the population as a whole is...
What's the big deal? Instead of getting "Useless Compound X," buyers were getting "Useless Compound Y."
Note: Yes, I'm partially kidding. People are entitled to get the woo they've been promised, and I suppose there are allergy issues involved.
Congress and the President did. It's Title VI, Subtitle D of the "Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012."
Broadly, it is general revenue to the treasury. In this case, a chunk of it was allocated ahead of time. Congress passed (and the President signed) the "Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012." That legislation instructed the FCC to find spectrum in this set of bands to auction off, and allocated a portion of the proceeds to (a) defray the cost of moving the existing users of the spectrum and (b) building a public safety wireless network.
So, the FCC, while it conducts the auction, does so at the request of, and on the behalf of, Congress.
In this case, yes. But, in general, someone with an important call might not be calling from a cellphone, and hence not have the opportunity to send an SMS.
Assuming they're calling from a cellphone.
Oh, and by the way, their competitors are already "allowed" access. Cable companies don't overbuild each other because it's a great way to lose money.
Revoking their franchise IS shutting down cable. The system belongs to the operator. You can revoke their franchise, but then you have to either build out a new system, from scratch (figure $800 per home passed, or $150M for a city like Minneapolis, and that's just for the outside network), or get another company to come in and put up the money, even though you've just kicked out a cable company (not exactly an enticing proposition).
I suppose you could try to eminent domain the system, rather than building it out yourself, but that's a couple of years of litigation. Meanwhile (i.e. absolute minimum a year, probably 2-3), your constituents are without cable TV or internet service.
Part of the merger should be the requirement that franchise fees across the country need to be made illegal. They are only used to limit competition in a legal form.
The franchise agreement in my town states that no other cable company can sell services here. That's wrong.
That franchise arrangement is already illegal. The text of the document may say that, but it's unenforceable (unless your town is actually some sort of private development, and even then, it's probably unenforceable).
"Your mother was a hamster, and your father smelt of elderberrys!" -- Monty Python and the Holy Grail
