Be careful what you wish for, you may get it. We've been in a drought situation for the past two years here in the American West, and everyone's been praying for rain. It looks like our prayers have been answered -- a little too well. As I type, there's a nasty thunderstorm brewing to the west of us. So far this year, we've seen more moisture in the past two months than we have in the past two *years*.
For those interested in weather, there are tons of resources online. Of course, most everyone knows about The Weather Channel's website, weather.com. Another good website, my personal favorite, is the National Weather Service's website at weather.gov. By clicking your stateon a map, you go directly to the site maintained by your closest NWS office. From there you can see the latest forcast, check the most recent satellite and doppler radar imagery, and get up to the minute weather statements, straight from the horses mouth.
And finally, my nomination for Asshats of the Month - from an article on the website for Britain's Channel 4 (via MetaFilter) -- British insurance company The Accident Group has laid off a large number of employees using a (IMHO) sneaky and underhanded tactic. Instead of sending letters or calling an all-hands meeting like most companies do, the assclowns at this organization fired their employees by sending them a text message via cellphone! They then proceed to inform those fired (and I paraphrase) "oh, and by the way, we aren't paying you for May, either".
Damn.
I thought that some of my former employers were cold-blooded. These blokes have it down to an artform.
Saturday, May 31, 2003
Monday, May 19, 2003
'This disc will self-destruct in 5 seconds...'
Whew... things are still a bit of a blur. Still trying to get our current house sold. It looks like we have a few prospective buyers interested. And just in time -- it looks like the builders will soon begin digging the foundation of the new house. I can't believe how quickly things are moving...
Well, it looks like Clue continues to spread. An editorial at CNNMoney (via Slashdot) talks about how proponents of 'digital rights management' should take a lesson from Intuit's faux pas with its activation scam^H^H^H^Hscheme for TurboTax. For those not familiar with the story, Intuit included copy protection code in the latest version of their tax preparation software. All fine and good, except for the fact that the copy protection included writing data to the boot sector of the user's hard disk. This is a cardinal no-no, as doing so can cause unrecoverable corruption of the data on the hard drive... which is exactly what happened in some cases. Add that to the fact that they didn't tell their customers what they were doing and you end up with a company in deep doodoo.
The consumer backlash that Intuit experienced is just what the RIAA and MPAA and their members are heading for. By creating CDs that won't play in some players to creating DVDs that self destruct, the **AAs are slowly but surely driving their customers away by assuming everyone wants to steal their product.
How would you feel if you bought a CD, then found out that you couldn't listen to it while you were working on your PC? And when you took it back to the store you're told 'What, you want to listen to that on your PC? What are you, some sort of thief?' Sure, there is a lot of online trading of music and other entertainment that violates copyright laws. Does that mean that everyone should be treated as a criminal because of what they might do?
Do corporations have the right to sell (IMHO) crippled products such as these? Sure they do. Do we, the consumer, have the right to invite them to collectively perform acts of self-copulation and include the horses they rode in on? You bet.
The best way to stop them is to not buy their defective products. Don't spend your hard-earned cash on CDs that only play on 'approved' players or on DVDs that quit working after two days. If it doesn't sell, they won't make it.
Once we get Corporate America to understand this, maybe Congress will get around to figuring it out...
Well, it looks like Clue continues to spread. An editorial at CNNMoney (via Slashdot) talks about how proponents of 'digital rights management' should take a lesson from Intuit's faux pas with its activation scam^H^H^H^Hscheme for TurboTax. For those not familiar with the story, Intuit included copy protection code in the latest version of their tax preparation software. All fine and good, except for the fact that the copy protection included writing data to the boot sector of the user's hard disk. This is a cardinal no-no, as doing so can cause unrecoverable corruption of the data on the hard drive... which is exactly what happened in some cases. Add that to the fact that they didn't tell their customers what they were doing and you end up with a company in deep doodoo.
The consumer backlash that Intuit experienced is just what the RIAA and MPAA and their members are heading for. By creating CDs that won't play in some players to creating DVDs that self destruct, the **AAs are slowly but surely driving their customers away by assuming everyone wants to steal their product.
How would you feel if you bought a CD, then found out that you couldn't listen to it while you were working on your PC? And when you took it back to the store you're told 'What, you want to listen to that on your PC? What are you, some sort of thief?' Sure, there is a lot of online trading of music and other entertainment that violates copyright laws. Does that mean that everyone should be treated as a criminal because of what they might do?
Do corporations have the right to sell (IMHO) crippled products such as these? Sure they do. Do we, the consumer, have the right to invite them to collectively perform acts of self-copulation and include the horses they rode in on? You bet.
The best way to stop them is to not buy their defective products. Don't spend your hard-earned cash on CDs that only play on 'approved' players or on DVDs that quit working after two days. If it doesn't sell, they won't make it.
Once we get Corporate America to understand this, maybe Congress will get around to figuring it out...
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