Jeffrey Nonken 's Techdirt Comments
Latest Comments (31)
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On the post: New York Politicians Think About Repealing Amazon Tax, But Let It Drop
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On the post: DRM Company Releases One-Sided Study On DVD Copying
Jeffrey Nonken ( profile ), 14 Jul, 2008 @ 03:15pmRe: Stupid movie companies
I copy my purchased DVDs for two reasons.
One you've just said -- get rid of all the stupid advertisements.
The other is so that my autistic daughter can watch the movie over and over without worrying about how badly she treats it. If she trashes a DVD, hey, I can just make another copy from the original.
Of course, the MPAA would rather I kept buying new copies. But, guess what? I can't afford to. Sorry, forcing me to keep replacing those wouldn't make me buy more. Can't squeeze blood etc.
BTW, most of the DVDs will let you either FF or skip through, or use one of the menu buttons. Try all of them before you give up.
The long drawn-out main menus are oh so clever and all, but it gets really tedious going waiting through that every time you want to watch Harry Potter. I've seen it, just let me get to the freaking movie!
(Sometimes the menu buttons can bypass that too. Sometimes it just makes things worse. *sigh*) -
On the post: Theaters Working To Make Even The Pre-Show Ads More Entertaining
Jeffrey Nonken ( profile ), 05 Jul, 2008 @ 01:26pmI remember...
"I remember when they showed just two or three trailers, a quick reminder to turn off your cell phones, and then movie started."
I remember when they used to play cartoons before the main event.
They didn't remind anybody to turn off their cell phones, but then, cell phones hadn't been invented yet. :) -
On the post: Everyone Be Afraid! Predators Move To Game Consoles
Jeffrey Nonken ( profile ), 05 Jul, 2008 @ 10:07amRe: Re: Re: TFA - HTML lesson
"Halo 3 in my eyes - needs to be rated <M. And games such as Grand theft auto, need to be rated >M."
How's that? ;)
It doesn't take much, just learn a few simple codes:
< = <
> = >
& = &
... assuming I didn't screw that up. The preview replaces the HTML so I'm reluctant to preview to make sure. :) -
On the post: No, Grand Theft Auto Isn't To Blame For Dumb Teens Getting Violent
Jeffrey Nonken ( profile ), 28 Jun, 2008 @ 08:13pmIf that doesn't work, try more of the same
It's always easier to blame:
- Communists
- Blacks
- Chinese
- Japanese
- Women (should never have been allowed to vote)
- Russians
- Polish
- Irish
- Terrorists
- Arabs
- Iranians
- Immigrants
- Illegal immigrants
- Drug users
- Drugs
- Koreans
- Jews
- Satanists
- Homosexuals
- Bisexuals
- Indians
- Indians
- Lovers of kink
- Anybody who enjoys sex in any form
- Anybody who has sex in any form
- Pagans
- TV shows
- Violent games
- Dancing
- Music
- Lyrics
- Movies
- Teachers
- Drivers
- Pedestrians
- The French
- Egyptians
- Men
- Pedophiles
- People who practice bad spelling, grammar, or punctuation
- People who make lists
- Anybody who uses 1337
- Anybody who is erudite
- Anybody with a funny accent
- Tall people
- Short people
- Anybody who weighs more than 99 lbs soaking wet
- Pro-choicers
- Pro-lifers
- Wal-mart
- The rich
- The poor
- The middle class (all three of them -- don't worry, they'll be poor soon)
- Evangelists
- Dogs
- Cats
- Redheads
- Doctors
- Actors
- Baseball players who make millions of dollars
- Paris Hilton
... than it is to take responsibility for ourselves and our actions. Easier to cast blame than it is to make an effort to actually discover root causes and work on solving them.
I realize that you can't draw a curve from a single point, but I'm one of those who plays violent games (in my case, online first-person shooters) and AFAIK have not killed or maimed anybody lately. My girlfriend says I'm one of the most considerate people she knows. My daughters are doing well in school and do not get into trouble.
Once when she was very young I sat my older daughter down and explained the nature of swearing, why people did it, why it was questionable socially, why it was socially unacceptable for her to do, and added that if she started using swear words inappropriately people would be very upset at her and she could get into trouble. I very deliberately did NOT specifically threaten her with any punishment. But once I told her all that, we started letting her watch movies with swear words, and we never, ever had a problem with her. Never a single complaint, and even now (she's 15) we rarely if ever hear her swearing, even though we occasionally swear in front of her.
That's called Good Parenting. I won't claim I'm a Good Parent, certainly I make my share of mistakes, but that day I did Good Parenting.
If tomorrow she asks for a copy of GTA IV, well, I won't say no because of the violence. I may for other reasons, but I'm not worried she'll turn into a violent teenager and start killing people because she played a video game.
I haven't talked much of my other daughter because she's autistic and it's much more difficult to communicate with her. But even there we let her watch cartoon violence and movie violence, and she's not been a problem.
Among the things that have not turned her into a raging homicidal maniac are:
- Classic Warner Bros. cartoons
- T2
- X-men
- Spiderman
- Harry Potter
- Lord of the Rings
- Batman and Robin
- Narnia
- Deputy Dawg
- classic Underdog cartoons
... and so on.
My wife takes martial arts. They do not make her violent.
I watch porn. It hasn't turned me into a rapist.
I'm of the opinion that, generally, these serve as outlets for our tendencies and emotional issues, rather than causing them. This has been my personal experience and observation on my part.
Blaming GTA is stupid and short-sighted. You're not doing anybody any favors by trying to ban it. You're just being lazy.
MHO. -
On the post: How The Digital TV Transition Will Accidentally Help HDTV Sales
Jeffrey Nonken ( profile ), 12 Jun, 2008 @ 10:59ambah
@Quantity Surveyor Man:
Heh, you've got the right idea!
@Thom:
Yeah. Once those families have spent all that money on their TV and service upgrades, they won't be able to afford a radio to get those inclement weather reports. And they'll have to cancel their Internet service. And won't be able to get to a newspaper stand. Or knock on a neighbor's door. God knows TV is the only way to keep up with events! -
On the post: Woman Sues Google Because Of Scammy Advertiser
Jeffrey Nonken ( profile ), 05 Jun, 2008 @ 09:19amHot coffee
Nikita: I can see you did a lot of research before you stuck your foot into your mouth.
1) She wasn't driving the car. Her grandson was driving the car.
2) The car wasn't moving. Her grandson pulled over in the parking lot so she could pull the cover off the coffee to add cream and sugar.
The rest of you:
Some of you are missing the point. The coffee was at an unsafe temperature. It was hot enough to strip flesh from bone, literally. The question isn't how stupid she was to try to open a coffee container, and not expect the coffee to be hot. The question is: HOW HOT DOES THE COFFEE NEED TO BE? Should it really be hot enough to strip flesh from bone? We're not talking about a scald here, we're talking about 3rd degree burns over 6 percent of her body. Pain and trauma and hospitalization and skin grafts.
People expect to be able to drink the coffee. Why was it being kept too hot to drink? This wasn't either the first nor the only incident, either. There was one, for example, where the lid came off as the clerk was handing it out the drive-through window. McDonalds had been paying off customers for years (in discovery they produced documents showing over 700 incidents similar to Stella's).
If customers are expecting near-boiling liquid and it's being properly contained, sure, that's one thing. But that wasn't the case here. McDonalds knew their coffee was too hot, but refused to do anything about it. All she was trying to do was get her medical bills covered and get McDonalds to lower the temperature of their coffee to something safer. McDonalds ran their spin machine and convinced you that they weren't being negligent by blaming the victim.
Hey. Did you know the word "gullible" isn't in the dictionary? Go ahead, look it up for yourself!
Know the Facts: The McDonalds Coffee Case
This case and Google's have nothing whatsoever to do with each other.
OK, I know I'm gonna get flamed for this one. Excuse me while I put on my asbestos underwear. -
On the post: 'Give It Away And Pray' Isn't A Business Model… But It Doesn't Mean That 'Free' Doesn't Work
Jeffrey Nonken ( profile ), 26 May, 2008 @ 12:21pmFree as a promotional model
In answer to a number of arguments here, I once again plug Baen Free Library, which shows how giving electronic books away can increase sales of dead trees. Take a look. Read Eric's introduction, read the Prime Palavers. Read the figures, see how older titles have had an unprecedented increase in sales.
Enjoy. -
On the post: BSA Releases Latest Stats; Stands By Same Old Story
Jeffrey Nonken ( profile ), 15 May, 2008 @ 03:51pmOops
Heh, wrong Flint. That's Eric, not Larry.
:) -
On the post: BSA Releases Latest Stats; Stands By Same Old Story
Jeffrey Nonken ( profile ), 15 May, 2008 @ 03:39pmAnother view on IP piracy
Go to Baen Free Library and read Larry Flint's introduction. Then go read the Prime Palaver. The last, number 17, is particularly good -- it's written by Janis Ian who is in both the music and writing industries.
Of course, that site is mostly about books, not software. Nevertheless it's an interesting counter-view of piracy.
The rumour is that Microsoft, far from being upset about piracy of Windows and Office, is rather pleased. Every stolen copy of Microsoft software that's being used is one copy of some other brand that isn't.
Here's an interesting economic model for you. The local video rental store will (for its older videos) charge a discount if you rent 5 at once. The discount brings the total down to a few cents more than renting 3, and less than renting 4. And the clerks will tell you this if you walk up to the counter with 3 or 4 videos, it's not something they hope you don't notice. So... what does it gain them to charge the same for you to rent 5 as for 3? Don't they lose money?
Whomever gets the right answer gets to stay late and clean the erasers! ... Oh wait, schools don't use chalk boards any more. Oh well. -
On the post: Older Gas Pumps Don't Go Above $4; But Don't Expect To Get Cheap Gas Out Of Them
Jeffrey Nonken ( profile ), 05 May, 2008 @ 03:43pmRe: Wow... and the last time I remember too....
"It was okay to wait in lines for the gas back then, the Exxon Stations were always giving away cool promo stuff with that cool very Kellogg-like Tiger on them... "
Ah yes, the Esso tiger. Put a tiger in your tank!
They were called Esso back then. Changed the name to Exxon after they got rid of the tiger.
I LIKED the tiger. Always regretted them getting rid of him.
@Bryan Henderson Re: Anti-Bundling Bill
"This case shows that we don't need an anti-bundling bill, because a legislator can always just introduce another bill to undo a single component of a prior bundled bill."
Ummm, no. It's almost always much harder to repeal a law than it is to pass one in the first place.
In this case, somebody apparently went out of their way to sneak it through. I wouldn't want to depend on that to work every time.
"Laws are like sausages -- it's best not to see them made."