Comment Re:Windows 7 (Score 1) 605
I use Vista at home, I use Vista at work. I have had absolutely no issue with it.
...and I use it on my new Dell XPS laptop, and it's NOT stable for me. Wireless is freaking awful too. Yay anecdotes?
Comment Re:paying the fps (Score 1) 655
Well yes. See this guy:
"Just about everyone can agree that if an increase in tax rates leads to a decrease in tax revenues, then taxes are too high. It is also generally agreed that at some level of taxation, revenues will turn down. Determining the level of taxation where revenues are maximized is more controversial."
Pecorino, Paul (1995), "Tax rates and tax revenues in a model of growth through human capital accumulation", Journal of Monetary Economics
My point is that the original post was assuming we're on the "high-tax" area of the laffer curve, which is what he hasn't provided any evidence for.
Comment Re:paying the fps (Score 1) 655
You're assuming elasticity of movement to tax rate is high. Can you cite some papers and experts who have validated this claim?
I could easily claim the opposite: lowering taxes will only attract companies in the long term, if at all, resulting in lower taxes in the short run and large budget deficits leading to financial distress due to lack of liquidity and even more costs. I'm not providing any evidence either, so who should people believe?
Comment Re:Who is this grrlscientist? (Score 5, Funny) 186
The Internet: where Men are Men, Women are Men, and 14 Year Old Girls are FBI Agents.
Comment Re:Brraaaains! (Score 1) 268
If we don't cough up, they are going to crawl out of their graves, and look for alternative income sources.
Starring in the next Evil Dead?
Comment Re:What's the difference here? (Score 1) 715
I agree. If you're about to buy a book, you're fixated on receiving the book now, not getting rid of it in the future. I believe that option to resell is more of an intrinsic value.
Submission + - Follow-up on EvE's Boot.ini Issue
Krinsath writes: CCP, publishers of Eve Online, have posted a Dev Blog detailing the circumstances leading up to the deletion of XP's boot.ini file, which was earlier covered on Slashdot. The blog is decently detailed about how the mistake occurred (a new installer from their normal one), how they responded and what CCP has learned from it. While fairly dry, it is to the company's credit that they're being open about one of the more serious bugs to crop up in gaming's recent history.
Submission + - Playing Bad Video Games for Charity (desertbus.org)
katicli writes: Desert Bus, the adventure of driving from Tuscan Arizona to Las Vegas real time by Penn and Teller, was designed to be absolutely horrible and painfully realistic. There are no other cars, no scenery aside from the occasional cactus, and no other passengers. Only an occasional slight list of the bus to the right breaks the monotony of the trip (which is approximately 8 hours each way). If the bus is crashed it will be towed back to the city of origin (real time). If the player completes the trip they are awarded a single point and invited to drive back. There is no pause button. Needless to say it exceeded its design goal of complete boringness and was never released.
Now the game is back, in its full Sega CD glory, for a second (first?) life as a charity event. Comedy group Loading Ready Run is playing the game to raise money for the Child's Play Charity (founded by Penny Arcade). Four members of the comedy group are playing the game non-stop for a sentence that increases by the amount of money that is donated (currently 104 hours and counting).
You can tune into the wonderful adventures of this virtual road trip by a live feed of the video game, a live IRC chat room with the drivers and fans, or a live video of the group playing the game. Residents of Victoria BC invited to stop by for the event and are encouraged to bring snacks. Donations are accepted on the DesertBus.org website.
Submission + - OiNK Shut Down
Hemogoblin writes: http://torrentfreak.com/oinkcd-servers-raided-admin-arrested/
From the link: "The servers of OiNK.cd — one of the most popular private BitTorrent trackers — are raided and the admin, a 24-year-old man from Middlesbrough, is arrested."
OiNK.cd now contains the following text: "This site has been closed as a result of a criminal investigation by IFPI, BPI, Cleveland Police and the Fiscal Investigation Unit of the Dutch Police (FIOD ECD) into suspected illegal music distribution. A criminal investigation continues into the identities and activities of the site's users"
From the link: "The servers of OiNK.cd — one of the most popular private BitTorrent trackers — are raided and the admin, a 24-year-old man from Middlesbrough, is arrested."
OiNK.cd now contains the following text: "This site has been closed as a result of a criminal investigation by IFPI, BPI, Cleveland Police and the Fiscal Investigation Unit of the Dutch Police (FIOD ECD) into suspected illegal music distribution. A criminal investigation continues into the identities and activities of the site's users"
Submission + - Chair of BU Computer Science Dept Fights RIAA
NewYorkCountryLawyer writes: "Two expert witnesses, one the Chairman of Boston University's Computer Science Department, have submitted declarations supporting the motion of a Boston University student trying to vacate the RIAA's ex parte discovery order in Arista v. Does 1-21. Prof. Bestavros stated that some of Linares's factual statements were "not possible" (pdf), while Jesse Stengel stated that some of Mr. Linares's contentions were "not true" (pdf). These declarations, attacking the underpinnings of the RIAA case set out in the declaration of Carlos Linares, were referred to in Arista v. Does 1-11, the Oklahoma case in which several Oklahoma State University students have attacked the order which had been granted ex parte permitting the RIAA to subpoena their names and addresses from the university.
These filings come on the heels of rulings in New Mexico and Virginia denying the RIAA's ex parte discovery motions."
Submission + - When IP Protection Incites Consumer Rage
An anonymous reader writes: How many industries of late have managed to generate such genuine consumer hatred over the last several years? says Richard Menta about the record industry. He was refering to that industry's aggressive activities to control its content in the digital age and he makes a solid argument that these efforts, including oppressive DRM tactics and legal actions, have alienated the consumer to the point where it is a key contributor to decreasing CD revenues. This quarter alone EMI saw a 20% drop in CD sales, while Warners 3rd quarter loss widened. The article lays out 17 events including the Sony rootkit scandal and the payola scandal that have tarnished the industry's public image and undermined its credibility with the average record buyer.
Submission + - Google Filters Torrents From Search Results (torrentfreak.com) 1
HiddenL writes: According to TorrentFreak.com:
Google has been filtering its search results for years. That's proven very useful for the Chinese government, and of course content owner representatives like the MPAA and RIAA. According to Google, the filtering of torrents from the search results is a response to the DMCA complaints they receive.
The owner of SumoTorrent told TorrentFreak that he discovered that A search on Google for sumotorrent now triggers the following message at the bottom of the results page:
Apparently "Do No Evil" includes mass filtering of legitimate content.In response to a complaint we received under the US Digital Millennium Copyright Act, we have removed 1 result(s) from this page. If you wish, you may read the DMCA complaint that caused the removal(s) at ChillingEffects.org.
A search for other BitTorrent sites like Torrentspy and Torrentreactor comes up with the same message (note. the sites are still indexed but some results are removed).
Submission + - CAN-SPAM Plaintiff Ordered to Pay $111,000 (spamnotes.com)
Eric Goldman writes: "Everyone hates spam, but that doesn't mean every anti-spam lawsuit is meritorious. In a recent ruling, a federal court in Washington state ordered James Gordon, a notorious anti-spam plaintiff, to pay the defendants $111,000 for attorneys' fees and costs incurred defending Gordon's lawsuit. The court says "Plaintiffs' instant lawsuit is an excellent example of the ill-motivated, unreasonable, and frivolous type of lawsuit that justifies an award of attorneys' fees to Defendants.""
Submission + - IP rights? Server hosting site hijacks content (therangerstation.org)
blanchae writes: "Over at The Ranger Station (www.therangerstation.com), there is a battle over who owns the rights to the Ranger Station's online forum. The Ranger Station owner was unhappy with the service of OnlineSolutions.org and changed server hosting. Online Solutions have hijacked The Ranger Station's forums stating that they own the databases and content and started their own Ranger Station forum under www.therangerstation.org. This doesn't seem right to me and I want to know who owns the content on a hosted server?"
Submission + - Senate website withholding wiretap law roll call (pressesc.com)
amigoro writes: "The US Senate website is not publishing the roll call of votes by Senators on the bill to amend the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act making President George W. Bush's illegal wiretapping order retroactively legal."
