Chargone 's Techdirt Comments

Latest Comments (2064) comment rss

  • On the post: Google Asking For Trouble With Its New Privacy Policy; EU Official Questions Legality

    Chargone ( profile ), 02 Mar, 2012 @ 10:41am

    Re:

    poor shark. what did it ever do to them?

  • On the post: Google Asking For Trouble With Its New Privacy Policy; EU Official Questions Legality

    Chargone ( profile ), 02 Mar, 2012 @ 10:38am

    Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Masnick MUST serve his masters, the Goolag

    chrono-spheres, clearly.

  • On the post: Google Asking For Trouble With Its New Privacy Policy; EU Official Questions Legality

    Chargone ( profile ), 02 Mar, 2012 @ 10:37am

    Re: Masnick MUST serve his masters, the Goolag

    *facepalms*

  • On the post: One Cent Friends: Another Attempt To Quantify Social Media's Value

    Chargone ( profile ), 02 Mar, 2012 @ 10:35am

    Re:

    the way i see ads, is that they may convince me to buy something i already want from You... but they won't convince me to buy something i didn't already want. (they might move me from 'vague desire for something of that nature at some point' to 'less vague desire for that specific variety in the near future', but that is within the bounds of what i said, i think.)

    ... that said, my friends telling me about stuff has about as much chance of achieving the same results.

    mind you, Someone has to spend the money to justify all those infomercials for junk products on TV (or the very existence of some things that get advertised), so clearly there are people this doesn't apply to.

  • On the post: And This Little Piggy Went Viral

    Chargone ( profile ), 02 Mar, 2012 @ 10:21am

    Re: Re: Re:

    not really. it's a nursery rhyme, not a fairy tale. Compleatly different thing.

    heh.

  • On the post: WaPo's Kaplan Scolded For Demanding $300 From Student Trying To Sell One Of Its Books On eBay

    Chargone ( profile ), 02 Mar, 2012 @ 10:09am

    Re: Re: Re: Original Letter

    ... ya know, given that said merchandise was not, in fact, infringing upon anything, the correct response would be to send them an empty box. possibly including a note listing it's contents. :D

  • On the post: Yes, Online And Offline Rules Are Different… Because Online And Offline Are Different

    Chargone ( profile ), 02 Mar, 2012 @ 09:59am

    Re: Re:

    i suspect licensing fees of being a contributing factor.

    possibly also the shift to CDs.

    but i'm guessing.

  • On the post: Yes, Online And Offline Rules Are Different… Because Online And Offline Are Different

    Chargone ( profile ), 02 Mar, 2012 @ 09:53am

    Re: Re: Re: Re:

    so far as i can tell, here abouts if someone breaks into your house and is not armed, your best bet is to take pictures and report it to the police later. they'll actually catch the guy and you'll get your stuff back. convincing them to actually come and Actually arrest the guy at the time? good luck unless you're next door to the police station.

    if someone is being attacked in the street outside your house, you best bet is to get someone else in the house to call the cops while you grab an appropriate weapon (escalating is bad, which generally means a bat or piece of pipe or wood, if anything) and dealing with it yourself if you have the capacity to do so. you've got more hope of successfully making the self defense claim (or avoiding getting into trouble at all, if you're successful and don't cause too much damage) than you do of the cops showing up in time to do anything about it.

    obvious and potentually dangerous criminal activity happening down the street? ... call the cops and be prepared for them to tell you to take your cell phone and go observe the situation and report details to them rather than actually send anyone with training or skills to do it. (actually happened to someone i know.)

    someone trying to steal the tires off your car? run 'em off with a sword. you'll get more success and less hassle out of seeming homicidal enough to run the guy off and not actually doing anything than you will trying to get the cops to respond before said tires (and anything else of value) are long gone. (also happened to someone i knew. heh.)

    if there's a dude with a gun you call the cops though. they actually respond to that. sometimes with armoured military vehicles mounting autocannons, if the person in question has forted up somewhere.

    they're also good at catching drunk drivers (if said driver is dim enough to go through one of their temporary breath testing checkpoints), murderers and rapists (long after the fact, and if the court doesn't seem to be agreeing with their conclusions odd things have been known to happen that lead to witnesses and evidence saying different things to correct that. it's fairly rare. just frequent enough to be worrying.) car thieves (usually after finding the totaled car)... i'm sure you can see the pattern here.

    most of it is Not the fault of (most of) the individual officers, i might add. though if it were you'd have a hell of a time doing anything about it, there's a tendency to close ranks rather than fix things.

    so... yeah, you call the cops if your life's in (immediate and obvious) danger or if you can afford to wait for a resolution.

    and if it's a corporation that's the issue you don't even bother. you find out where they've got ties and then pick whichever of the following they Don't have links to: the media, your local MP, or the Inland Revenue Department (if it applies to taxes).

    sounds pretty dreadful, huh?

    it's not actually That bad, the cops just don't have the resources to be reliable. they do actually catch up with criminals and justice is generally done. they're just no help at all when you have a problem Right Now that doesn't look likely to shape up to be a shooting spree.

    so, no, you don't call the police every time someone breaks into your house.

    you also don't shoot them. that way lies a manslaughter charge, minimum.

  • On the post: Yes, Online And Offline Rules Are Different… Because Online And Offline Are Different

    Chargone ( profile ), 02 Mar, 2012 @ 09:33am

    Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:

    the number of ways this is stupid and backwards is astounding.

    out of curiosity, does it make any difference if you use a melee weapon instead of a gun?

  • On the post: Yes, Online And Offline Rules Are Different… Because Online And Offline Are Different

    Chargone ( profile ), 02 Mar, 2012 @ 09:29am

    Re: Re: Re:

    i want to laugh, but that's depressingly accurate.

  • On the post: Yes, Online And Offline Rules Are Different… Because Online And Offline Are Different

    Chargone ( profile ), 02 Mar, 2012 @ 09:25am

    Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:

    ... you know the fun part?

    sounds like he's providing better customer service than most legal outlets.

    (seriously, where do they get off with 'we sell you the game in a sealed packet. the specs on the packet in no way relate to reality. if you OPEN the packet you cannot return the goods.' that's the situation here. to the point where any shop that does second hand sales is quite likely to buy the thing back for somewhere around 90% of what they sold it to you for (well, in the first week or so after it came out. after that A: it's less viable financially and B: you really should have checked out reviews and stuff before buying) to compensate for it. (they can still legally do that. so far.) movies and music are the same. the shops CANNOT give you anything if you return the product after opening the packet, unless the PHYSICAL product (the disk) is damaged, and even then can only replace it with a (theoretically non-defective) copy of the same product.

    which is why standard EULAs on these things cannot be enforceable, btw. because they take your money, you cannot get your money back, you cannot return the product, and you cannot USE it without agreeing to their 'agreement'. i'd call that duress, personally.)

    blargh. tangental rant. whoops.

  • On the post: Yes, Online And Offline Rules Are Different… Because Online And Offline Are Different

    Chargone ( profile ), 02 Mar, 2012 @ 09:18am

    Re: Re: Re: Re:

    parts of asia, mostly, i believe.

  • On the post: Yes, Online And Offline Rules Are Different… Because Online And Offline Are Different

    Chargone ( profile ), 02 Mar, 2012 @ 09:15am

    Re: Re: Re:

    *thinks* or possibly something that's only fairly new HERE because until recently all the book shops were either physically small shops that didn't have room for such in small to midsize towns, or large chain stores that did not in any way shape or form subscribe to the relevant logic. (... actually, for all that they have tons of stuff on their shelves, if you want anything other than the latest pointless fad book from an author no one's heard of before on a subject that's of no use to anyone, you have to actually order it and come back when they get it in. most seem to basically be set up for this and selling stationary to be their main way of doing things, actually.)

  • On the post: Yes, Online And Offline Rules Are Different… Because Online And Offline Are Different

    Chargone ( profile ), 02 Mar, 2012 @ 09:11am

    Re: Re:

    ... that's a surprisingly recent thing.

    or possibly an old thing that's only recently made a come back.

    my only problem with it is the tendency for said shops to smell of coffee. (well, that, and i tend to buy my books online due to health issues. but meh *shrugs*)

  • On the post: 'We, The Web Kids': Manifesto For An Anti-ACTA Generation

    Chargone ( profile ), 02 Mar, 2012 @ 08:46am

    Re: Re: Oh for crying out loud. How convenient! "We're smart without having to be, you know, smart!"

    there's a reason for that:

    it's exactly the same damn thing.

    (save, perhaps, that writing alone may slightly encourage accepting the author as an authority, while the internet would tend to discourage this tendancy a bit. not enough to affect most people's natural inclination, but i think it's there for those few who fall into border zones on this sort of thing.)

  • On the post: 'We, The Web Kids': Manifesto For An Anti-ACTA Generation

    Chargone ( profile ), 02 Mar, 2012 @ 08:42am

    Re: Re: Re:

    *briefly considers the fact that his maths classes always assumed you had a calculator when it came to trigonometry or long division and that they were required equipment for some assesments*

    mark me down as one of those intelligent people with a terrible memory. (i have had untold tests at various points tell me the former and the latter is simply a fact of my life).

    i have a whole host of other contributing issues, of course, but this one is one of the more noticeable reasons i never did end up going to university. (also, good luck getting anywhere in this country's education system if your learning style isn't geared towards lectures or text books. at least if you're more academically inclined. (also, level of education seems to have less and less to do with whether one can find a job or not as time goes on, though there are fields where this does not hold.))

  • On the post: 'We, The Web Kids': Manifesto For An Anti-ACTA Generation

    Chargone ( profile ), 02 Mar, 2012 @ 08:33am

    Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: A possible companion piece?

    among other things, check out the price of silver.

    in the last 5 or so decades the price has skyrocketed.

    Some of that is from more uses for it being found.

    most is from financial dicking around crashing the value of various currencies.

    (it's actually got to the point where, if you buy silver and wait five to ten years, you'll actually come out Ahead on the whole inflation thing... depending on the tax structure in your locality, of course. on the other hand there's Very little point in long term saving with banks, as unless you're already earning enough as to render it irrelevant your savings get eaten by inflation as well. investing, maybe, or buying a safe and some silver, but not saving cash at banks. (also, a lot of setups where you buy various valuable things don't actually give you the thing, just a theoretical share of ownership of the quantity Supposedly sitting in a bank vault somewhere)

    and it only gets more complicated from there.

  • On the post: 'We, The Web Kids': Manifesto For An Anti-ACTA Generation

    Chargone ( profile ), 02 Mar, 2012 @ 08:28am

    Re: Re: Re: Re: A possible companion piece?

    for now, at least, even with 3D printing, we still do not have atomic or molecular transfiguration as a valid consumer technology. as such, for now at least, raw materials are still a big deal.

    also food.

    there's also a fair bit of ....err.... occupation? to be had .... occupying... the masses. heh.

  • On the post: 'We, The Web Kids': Manifesto For An Anti-ACTA Generation

    Chargone ( profile ), 02 Mar, 2012 @ 08:25am

    Re:

    ehh, doesn't really annoy me, but i do pick up on that sort of thing easily.

    though apparently not this particular example. seems weird to talk about the physical as 'analog' because to my mind analog is related to analogy, one thing is representative of the other... and the physical world, as a rule, isn't, if you get my meaning. on the other hand i somehow have no problem with the non-physical (virtual? or is that also misapplied?) being termed 'digital'... perhaps because it is built rather directly out of numbers? then again, so is the physical world if you break it down far enough. i dunno.

  • On the post: 'We, The Web Kids': Manifesto For An Anti-ACTA Generation

    Chargone ( profile ), 02 Mar, 2012 @ 08:14am

    Re: Re:

    ... i'm sure i've seen that term used, frequently, not just as a non-reason for jerkarsery, but also for other things done for no other reason than that the person doing so found it amusing or entertaining in and of itself.

    i could be wrong, mind you.

Next >>