Copyright doesn't restrict the spread of knowledge. Knowledge can't be copyrighted, and isn't present in most of works pirated anyway. But any information in a copyrighted work can be shared, just not the verbatim content.

Patents also can't prevent the spread of knowledge, but only temporarily prevent it's commercialization by third parties. They actually help to open it up and limit trade secrets.

The party is not "also of the opinion that non-commercial file-sharing of copyrighted works should be legalized" in a way that is "secondary". That is the point. It is called the Pirate Party, not the free speech party. No one cares about wiretaps, etc. They care about free stuff.

And no, it doesn't take a totalitarian state to enforce a ban on piracy. I mean, yes, it takes a totalitarian state to actually 100% enforce any law (and even that won't work), but that's not really point. You don't even need to go after the downloaders. Just take down pirate bay, and a few other big torrent sites and it will go down a lot.

Or even better, don't really do anything about it, but don't pretend it's important or form some imbecilic party to defend it.

What is this nonsense about being against free culture? What do you mean by free culture? Being able to hear a song or watch a movie for free, regardless of the desires of the moviemaker, is not free culture, it's free stuff. Especially since the prices are quite reasonable.

Also, what is with the mantra crap?

There's plenty of free media, and you can make more. You and your Pirate buddies can go enjoy free culture all you want.

But that's not it. You just want free stuff.

The difference being that the Socialist parties, at least in parts of Europe, have real positions on issues that actually matter and have drawn honest support outside of a bizarre, fleeting subculture.

While many may just want to live off the system for free, it's not entirely a platform of "gimme gimme" like this stupid Pirate Party.

I don't agree with them, but there are real Socialist parties. The Pirate Party is a fake party.

It's still a fake party. That is not a well developed platform (copyright and patent just aren't all that important, especially with such an asinine stance and name), and intentionally joke parties have gotten more votes.

It's just a bunch of people who want to download movies and music for free, regardless of any other consequences, and despite the fact that they can already do so, they are still complaining because they want everyone to acknowledge and lend great important to this privilege.

If you just want a phone for a phone, obviously it doesn't matter if it's open source or what operating system it runs.

The problem was there was no effort to build any interest in it, and it was an clunky, terrible device. People obviously like phones with a lot of programmability, like the iPhone and G1, because they can get innovative apps (and not just overpriced junk like the phone companies offer), and being open source can help with that, but just being open source doesn't mean anything.

Then it only takes 11 percent to block a bill (by not attending).

They need to get rid of Fringe. It is one of the most awful television shows I have ever seen. It's just completely unwatchable. I watched the pilot and the plot was incredibly stupid, and the characters were ridiculously fake and uninteresting. The dialogue went beyond vapidity. The sci-fi element was also crappy. They just threw out random nonsense.

It even manages to be worse than Psych.

Even stupid reality shows are much better than Fringe. One is kind of boring and asinine, the other is painful. Fringe might be preferable to celebrity nonsense, I guess.

They still have some electronic components like that. In my experience it's been in a metal cabinet thing in one of the isles in back.

The Microcenters I've been in seem like dingy stores. A lot of their display products were damaged and it was kind of hard to find things.

I like Frys.

$100 isn't really that impressive, though its still obviously ridiculous, but 30 days in jail seems incredibly harsh.

They are also extremely expensive and use expensive esoteric batteries.

I like Fenix flashlights. They sell a lot that use normal AA and AAA batteries. They're also suprisingly bright and they don't lose brightness as battery voltage goes down with charge until the battery is almost done.

Yes, it is engine braking, and it is good. The same thing happens in a manual, but in a manual you have more flexibility in downshifting (which means you can use more engine breaking, but when done excessively you cause excessive wear).

The engine is meant to slow down the car (and ideally, but in many scenarios not realistically, do most of the slowing down). It is not meant to do it very fast (or come to a complete stop). That's what brakes are for, rather than excessive downshifting.