So selling 72-ounce slurpees is fine, as long as you add a shot of vodka?

I have a rule for dealing with telemarketers - if they admit they're telemarketing right away, I'll nicely tell them I'm not interested. If they lie, then anything goes. Here's what happened to someone that called me from a "security company:"

Her: Is the business owner there?
Me: Are you telemarketing?
Her: No.
Me: Ok, this is the owner, how can I help you?
Her: Are you aware of the security threats faced by businesses that use the internet?
Me: Oh, yes, I'm well aware of threats. There are all sorts of threats when you're in business.
Her: Does your business use PCs?
Me: Security is a big problem, lawsuits.
Her: Ok, well, we offer a comprehensive...
Me: Because you know, you can be sued for all sorts of things. Employers can be sued by their employees. Business owners have to be very careful.
Her: (Trying to get back to her script) Yes, I'm aware of that. Well anyway, if your business is one of the millions...
Me: For instance, sexual harassment lawsuits, those are a huge concern if you're in business.
Her: I don't think that's ...
Me: Do you realize that people can sue their employer for harassment just because they receive unwanted sexual advances while at work?
Her: No, I didn't, but...
Me: (whispering) So... what are you wearing?

If they can't automatically filter the videos, how can they automatically detect them to calculate the "fixed fee each time the copyright-protected videos are watched?"

That's great, but I don't think he's suited to the line of work that he is in.

It would be like if my 300-pound chain smoking uncle decided to work as a personal trainer.

I'm interested in this. I'm in the process of launching a real-money gambling MMORPG, and gambling sites (well, so I've been told) tend to get extorted. I spoke to Prolexic today and was shocked at how expensive they are: $3000/month minimum, plus setup fees.

Have any fellow Slashdot readers tried running a gambling site without such protection? Is it reasonable to assume we'll be enough under-the-radar at first to avoid the attacks?

The meaning of the word "unreasonable" has become vague, at least in common use. From the oldest dictionary I could find (Oxford English Dictionary, first edition http://archive.org/stream/oedxaarch#page/n889/mode/2up), it is:
1: Not endowed with reason; irrational 2: Not acting in accordance with reason or good sense

IOW, Unreasonable means "without a reason." The government can not conduct a search without having a reason to do the search. This makes perfect sense: If an TV was stolen nearby and soon after an eyewitness says they saw you carrying a TV into your house, then the police have a reason to search your house: To see if the stolen TV is inside. On the other hand, if the TSA picks a person at random, then they don't have any reason to search him for bombs.

If I could mod you up to 10 I would. Well said.

Including Inspire magazine (Al Qaeda's English-language publication), the Ku Klux Klan and other white supremacist groups, and sites sympathetic to the Oklahoma city bombing.

I want to understand what motivates these people; I want to think about what sort of public policy creates the most freedom, prosperity, safety; I want to understand the enemy and figure out why they're the enemy in the first place.

So I guess I'd be put in jail for this if I lived in France. Is Sarkozy saying that only politicians are able to reason about such things? Hell of a job they've done so far.

I just need to not have a history of not being a suicide bomber?

Fuck Allah! Can I now be extradited to Saudi Arabia for violating Sharia Law?