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Comment: Disney PR opportunity. (Score 1) 155

by Loether (#43840225) Attached to: <em>Star Wars</em> Episode 4 To Be Dubbed In Navajo

I think it's a great idea, although I would have chosen Empire. But after seeing and hearing the bluray quality of the remastered ep4 I hope they use the new remastered bluray audio. Heck I know every line from that movie backwards and forward from my misspent youth, I could probably still enjoy the film in Navaho. I sometimes enjoy watching it in foreign languages. If you watch the bluray in a non English language the initial crawl text is in that language, not just subtitled, but the actual crawl is in the foreign language. It would be good publicity for Lucasfilm / Disney to take the Navaho text and run it through their crawl macro for free. Lucasfilm used to be super touchy about this sort of thing, maybe Disney could be more magnanimous.

Comment: Re:Don't hate the player. (Score 1) 716

by Loether (#43787377) Attached to: Web of Tax Shelters Saved Apple Billions, Inquiry Finds

As another user replied to me, I was wrong when I asserted the first line about "companies legally and ethical responsibility". However I still think my conclusion stands that any company should do what it can under the law to not pay taxes it doesn't owe.

I know if i have a deduction that I can legally take on my own taxes I don't even consider for a second whether or not it's a good deduction for the country, I just say the law says I can take it, so I take it. I don't feel good or bad about it, I didn't write the law.

Today congress said Apple had broken no law and under oath Tim Cook said he believed Apple acted ethically.

>What about legal and ethical responsibilities to employees, customers, community, and environment?
Companies are there to make money. Full stop. Those other things only come into it when it's in the company's best interest, (Which I think it often is.) Charities are there to help with those other things, and for there selflessness, they don't have to pay federal tax.

Comment: Re:Don't hate the player. (Score 1) 716

by Loether (#43787173) Attached to: Web of Tax Shelters Saved Apple Billions, Inquiry Finds

Japan's economy also has some really horrific problems when downturns happen the 90s and the 00s. In the US we lay people off quickly and the economy tends to recover much quicker vs japan. Our workforce is mobile and often times moves from a part of the country with no jobs to an area with more jobs. In Japan as you point out the companies tend to keep the people employed longer and drag the whole economy down for decades at a time.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lost_Decade_(Japan)

I would argue the differences in the US and Japanese economy are due to a multitude of factors the least of which is the country's tax policy and the corporations methods to reduce that liability.

The best solution in my mind is not to blame company's following the law but instead blame our government for the poor tax laws and loopholes. It is not hard to write laws without loopholes, a simpler tax code could give all companies an equal footing and reduce these types of issues. Unfortunately *Passing* such tax reform into law doesn't seem to be coming anytime soon.

Comment: Don't hate the player. (Score 2) 716

by Loether (#43781153) Attached to: Web of Tax Shelters Saved Apple Billions, Inquiry Finds

Agreed, Companies are legally and ethically responsible to their shareholders to maximize the bottom line. If any company does not do everything they can to minimize their tax liability "legally" then, not only are they are at a distinct disadvantage to other companies, they are also not taking care of their (owners/shareholders). Even if the shareholders don't have the board of directors ousted, in the long run, they will lose out to competition, and eventually go under, or get bought out by a company with a better tax team.

Comment: Re:Happens All the Time (Score 4, Informative) 182

by Loether (#43720943) Attached to: World Press Photo Winner Accused of Photoshopping

In my mind, the question is, did he use more than one negative to create the image, or cloning or additions? I agree, the simplest way to put the discussion to bed is for him to produce the original raw file. He claims he used one negative and no cloning. He is either telling the truth or he is lying. The practice he *claims* to have done is valid and accepted by all photojornalist and more importantly the awards rules. FWIW, As an amateur photographer myself, I would not consider what he *claims* to have done to be wrong.

The photojornalist's claim:

"In the post-process toning and balancing of the uneven light in the alleyway, I developed the raw file with different density to use the natural light instead of dodging and burning. In effect to recreate what the eye sees and get a larger dynamic range."

Read more: http://www.news.com.au/technology/photographer-says-his-2013-world-press-photo-of-the-year-is-not-a-fake/story-e6frfro0-1226642304141#ixzz2THb8ihps

If I were him I would post the original, and the post-production images side by side. It would be very easy for him to do.

Comment: Re:Happens All the Time (Score 3, Interesting) 182

by Loether (#43719545) Attached to: World Press Photo Winner Accused of Photoshopping

I take your point, However, I don't see a better alternative. Without photojournalists showing the horrors of tragic events what does that leave, Only writers are allowed to tell the story's without photos? Or, perhaps discussing tragedies in any form is bad? I personally think we need more photo journalist willing to go to the battlefields and in the case of the photo Gaza city so that more civilized people like you and me can sit at our computers and have a debate about whether or not what they are doing (taking photos of emotional, bloody events) is worthy or not. That way I don't have to get physically dirty.

Comment: Re:Third-party nominations? (Score 1) 355

by Loether (#43666847) Attached to: Mars One Has 78,000 Applicants

First to mars or last, I'd still love to go. I love travel and it's been a dream of mine for as long as I can remember to go to space. I can't think of a more exciting place to travel than Mars. Even if I was not the first person to set foot on Mars. Just for the ability to see Earth from orbit, I'd go all the way to Mars. After seeing Earth from orbit, the rest is just gravy. Sure you might never make it back, but most people never have a chance to complete a lifelong crazy dream. Sign me up! So long cruel world.

Comment: Re:why did sensitive networks get connected at all (Score 2) 151

by Loether (#43656867) Attached to: Pentagon Ups Hacking Accusations Against China

True, the user is always the weakest link.

  "Oh I just found a shiny thumb drive in the parking lot... I know, I'll plug it in to the PC I use to monitor the centrifuges."

It's not hard to envision a government employee/military worker/civilian contractor here doing the same thing.

Comment: Re:creatative professionals != gimp coders. (Score 1) 658

by Loether (#43647003) Attached to: Adobe Creative Suite Going Subscription-Only

Point taken. Most of them are probably happy to continue to use Photoshop and let their company pay for the license.

I've used Photoshop for years and CS6 now (work paid for it) and I've tried gimp several times. I'm not primarily a graphics person, but, IMHO Photoshop is superior to the point where gimp isn't even close. As far as open source graphics, I much prefer paint.net over gimp and even over photoshop for most simple tasks.

If I had to subscribe to it for $50/month and pay the bill myself, I'd try to figure out how to deal without Photoshop. I'd like to see gimp developed to the point that it would be able to better compete with photoshop. For me the biggest drawbacks are the UI and the speed. I don't think either one of those would be super easy to "fix".

Comment: creatative professionals != gimp coders. (Score 2) 658

by Loether (#43646725) Attached to: Adobe Creative Suite Going Subscription-Only

creatative professionals != gimp coders.

Graphics people could decide to contribute money to the project and feature requests but coding, don't hold your breath. All of the best graphics people I know couldn't code there way out of a paper bag, no offense to paper bags, some of my best friends are paper bags.

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