Crashoverride 's Techdirt Comments

Latest Comments (64)

• On the post: Constitutional Scholar Who Taught Obama Comes Out Against Bradley Manning Trial

  

  Crashoverride ( profile ), 03 Jun, 2013 @ 03:06pm

  I also heard they found a Google Map printout which showed where in New York the Twin Towers where.... Which begs the obvious question where does the line of something that Bin Laden reads while sitting on the toilet end and actually aiding him/terrorists begin???

• On the post: Restaurant's Facebook Goes Nuclear Over Reviews & Gordon Ramsay; Owners Cry Hack

  

  Crashoverride ( profile ), 15 May, 2013 @ 06:41pm

  the money laundering comments are unwarranted and have no basis in reality anyone can take a lot of money and pour it into a restaurant as long as they want to keep losing the money. there has never been a debate about how he made his money.
  
  What is interesting though is Amy was sentenced to 14 months in jail for apparently taking out a corporate credit card in the amount of $15k in someone elses name.
  
  
  Gordon Ramsey can come across as really harsh... I didn't like that he always yelled until i learned why. He has figured out that the owners typically have given up they know better but let place become filthy the quality of the food fail and service to no longer become a reality. thus he typically gets in the owners face trying to piss them off.... once they show their anger he is able to use that and shape it into caring about making the business succeed.
  
  
  The Restaurant Makeovers on the BBC are by far his best and aren't over dramatized often he spends a week onsite with the family that owns the typical pub or small family restaurant.

• On the post: DOJ Unconcerned About The Constitution, Obtained AP Reporters' Phone Records

  

  Crashoverride ( profile ), 13 May, 2013 @ 05:50pm

  I was actually going to submit this story but for a differing reason... the reason the Justice department was so upset with the AP was it revealed yet one more US Government would be bomber... as in the bomber was actually a good guy the whole time planted by the US.
  
  
  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/13/ap-phone-records-doj-leaks_n_3268932.html
  "It was later revealed that the "would-be bomber" was actually a U.S. spy planted in the Yemen-based group Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. On May 18, U.S. and allied officials suggested to Reuters that the leak to the AP had forced the end of an "operation which they hoped could have continued for weeks or longer."

• On the post: Attention Game Developers And Console Manufacturers: 'Always On' Is NOT The Same As 'Always Connectable'

  

  Crashoverride ( profile ), 19 Apr, 2013 @ 10:42am

  How long was The Sony Playstation Network down??? Wasn't it something like weeks.
  
  How about all those people stuck at home during hurricane Katrina but still had power but no Internet.

• On the post: Sorry, Having IMDB Accurately List Your Age Doesn't Entitle You To A Million Dollars

  

  Crashoverride ( profile ), 15 Apr, 2013 @ 08:10am

  I thought it was interesting that she spent almost as much as she made on things like makeup and shoes.... Acting sounds more like a hobby than a career.
  
  Kind of hard to sue for damages when when she couldn't show she was making much if anything prior to the real age issue.

• On the post: When You Sign Away Your Copyright To A Publisher, What If They Hold You Hostage Over It?

  

  Crashoverride ( profile ), 12 Apr, 2013 @ 09:59am

  Sounds like there is a strong case for breach of contract. With accounting errors and royalties not being paid.
  
  
  http://www.sfwa.org/tag/night-shade-books/
  
  As many of you are aware, on July 8, 2010 the SFWA board of directors voted unanimously to place Night Shade Books on probation for a period of one year, following concerns about contractual issues with their authors.
  
  As part of the process, SFWA asked Night Shade to meet a series of benchmarks as a measure of a good faith effort to return to a solid standing. After a review of Night Shade Books and after requesting information from our members about the publisher?s activities during the period of probation, based upon the information currently available, the board believes that Night Shade has met the following conditions for it to remain on the qualifying list after its probation period:
  
  a. That it examined its catalogue to ensure it is no longer offering fiction in formats for which it has no rights, and makes whole those authors whose rights it has violated;
  b. That it instituted procedures and hired sufficient staff to ensure accurate record keeping for contracts and payments, both for previously published and future authors;
  c. That there are no instances of contractual violations on the part of Night Shade Books against authors signed to publishing deals after the start of the probationary period.
  d. Night Shade Books fulfills its contractual and financial obligations to the authors it has already published, including full and accurate accounting of royalties per contract, with payment of any royalties outstanding.
  Therefore, the term of probation for Night Shade is lifted. Fiction contracted during that term is acceptable for qualification for SFWA membership. It may remain on the list so long as it continues to fulfill its contractual obligations to its authors and meets SFWA?s qualifying market standards. SFWA remains interested in the health of Night Shade books and will act at any time to deal with a member complaint against Night Shade.

• On the post: When You Sign Away Your Copyright To A Publisher, What If They Hold You Hostage Over It?

  

  Crashoverride ( profile ), 12 Apr, 2013 @ 09:56am

  The story is actually much worse...
  
  http://www.the-digital-reader.com/2013/04/08/night-shade-books-puts-assets-up-for-sale-to-avoid-bankruptcy-offers-authors-a-deal-that-rates-a-full-wtf/
  
  
  
  But as bad as that sounds, this story gets worse.
  
  Night Shade Books has also decided to sell the print and ebook rights separately. The print rights would go to Skyhorse Publishing, a small publisher that specializes in nonfiction. As strange as it may sound for a nonfiction publisher to suddenly develop an interest in SF and Fantasy, the ebook situation is even crazier.
  
  At this point I hope you?re sitting down.
  
  Night Shade Books wants to sell the ebook rights contracts to Start Publishing LLC. Start Publishing is a relatively unknown firm with obscure ownership, at least one division run by a literary agent, and questionable experience in publishing ebooks. In fact, Start Publishing?s total current catalog consists of some hundreds of public domain titles.
  
  But wait, there?s more.
  
  Jarred Weisfeld, the literary agent in question, is a principle agent at Objective Entertainment. That agency has in the past rejected authors while suggesting that the authors consider self-pubbing with AuthorHouse (now a part of Author Solutions). Why did Objective do this? Because they got a commission from AuthorHouse. Here?s more about that story:
  
  But Objective isn?t just suggesting that rejected clients check out a self-publishing service?it?s encouraging them to do so in a wholly misleading manner. Not only is AuthorHouse described as a ?publisher? they ?trust,? it?s described as ?our Publisher? and an ?amazing opportunity for you.?
  
  So Night Shade Books wants to sell the ebook rights to a sleazy literary agent with questionable ethics and no real experience in publishing. Yeah, I?m sure that?s going to go well.

• On the post: NATO 'Cyberwar' Manual Says Hacktivists Must Wear A Uniform

  

  Crashoverride ( profile ), 01 Apr, 2013 @ 02:49pm

  This sounds like the Red Coats who lined up on the battlefield who got their asses handed to them when the Americans said screw this lining up and get killed part.... lets just fight these guys anyway we can

• On the post: No, Freak Gross Injuries Shouldn't Mean Media Outlets Can't Show Them

  

  Crashoverride ( profile ), 01 Apr, 2013 @ 02:34pm

  Gorey spoiler alert here is what happened on live National TV:
  
  
  His bone snapped in half and six inches of the bone was visible protruding through the skin.
  
  Many of his teammates almost lost there lunch they wanted to halt the game and were visibly distraught with tears.

• On the post: No, Freak Gross Injuries Shouldn't Mean Media Outlets Can't Show Them

  

  Crashoverride ( profile ), 01 Apr, 2013 @ 02:30pm

  I think CBS should be commended for not going for the ratings and showing through replays or such the injury. They handled it very well.

• On the post: DailyDirt: The Quest For The Perfect Sugar Substitute

  

  Crashoverride ( profile ), 30 Mar, 2013 @ 01:36pm

  The Tagatose article is a bit old and prior to the first company and time it was introduced.... eventually a commercial failure and is now being relaunched... More details here:
  
  
  http://www.foodnavigator-usa.com/Market/Could-it-be-second-time-lucky-for-low-cal-bulk-sweetener-Tagatose

• On the post: People Who Have Actually Heard of the Supreme Court Don't Like It Very Much

  

  Crashoverride ( profile ), 30 Mar, 2013 @ 01:31pm

  You can always pick out the FOX viewer(s) even in anonymous polls

• On the post: Lawyer Suggests That Prenda Law May Have Only 'Released' Movies It Sued Over As A Honeypot For Lawsuits

  

  Crashoverride ( profile ), 22 Mar, 2013 @ 02:31pm

  If the owner is the seeder and the seeder is the owner. Did a crime occur.

• On the post: SimCity Always-Online DRM Lets Hackers Play Godzilla With Anyone's Cities

  

  Crashoverride ( profile ), 18 Mar, 2013 @ 02:10pm

  Don't forget that once you do get logged in the game doesn't deliver as promised
  
  http://kotaku.com/5991077/your-complete-guide-to-the-simcity-disaster?utm_source=gawker.com&utm_medium=recirculation&utm_campaign=recirculation
  
  As one EA forum member points out, SimCity's sim-people use the same sort of AI-handling "agent system" that traffic and sewage and power uses. The results are not pretty.
  
  The problem is that, just as power can sometimes take a ridiculously long time to fill the entire map (because the "power agents" just randomly move about with no sense) traffic and workers can do the same thing. Workers leave their homes as "people agents." These agents go to the nearest open job, not caring at all where they worked yesterday. They fill the job, and the next worker goes to the next building and fills that job, and so it goes until all the jobs are "filled." So, when you have all your "worker" sims leaving their houses for work in the morning, they all cluster together like some kind of "tourist pack" until they have all been sucked into "jobs." They don't seem to care if the job is Commercial or Industrial, only that it's a job.
  
  "Scholars" are handled exactly the same way. As are school busses and mass-transit agents. This is why you see the "trains" of busses roaming through your city, and why entire sections of town may never see a school bus, despite having plenty of stops... Once all the busses are full, they return to school and stay there until school is done for the day.
  
  Now, here is where it gets really good... In the evening, when work and school lets out, they all leave and proceed to the absolute closest "open" house. They don't "own" their houses. The "people" you see are actually just mindless agents (much like the utilities agents, as I said earlier) making the whole idea of "being able to follow a 'Sim' through their entire day" utterly POINTLESS!!"
  
  
  
  -Instead of returning to their own homes, individual Sims would drive into the nearest home available.
  
  
  -Instead of driving on empty roads, Sims would take the shortest path available, even if that led straight into congestion.

• On the post: Warner Bros. Lets Veronica Mars Crew Prove Demand For A Movie Via Kickstarter

  

  Crashoverride ( profile ), 13 Mar, 2013 @ 02:34pm

  I imagine that many of the harder more sought after things like a day on the set went to ticket like scalpers Hollywood adventure re-sellers. Knowing someones rich daddy would pay double.

• On the post: Case Study: Band Embraces Grooveshark And Catapults Its Career

  

  Crashoverride ( profile ), 12 Mar, 2013 @ 04:23pm

  Kind of shows why all the big studios and media companies want all forms of data pipes and means for artists to promote themselves shutdown. Even if it hurts their own artists... Removing as many options as possible locks up the distribution, promotion and control in to the few legacy players.
  
  After all big business contrary to popular thinking isn't about selling more of anything be it widgets or songs... They are in the stock selling business. Selling the press release saying X artist will sell like gangbusters is more profitable to a CEO than actual sales.

• On the post: The Government Might Want To Legalize Phone Unlocking, But Unfortunately It Signed Away That Right

  

  Crashoverride ( profile ), 12 Mar, 2013 @ 02:02pm

  Kind of like how Washington and Colorado Marijuana legalization laws are illegal under Federal and International UN treaties.
  
  http://seattletimes.com/html/localnews/2020487915_apcolegalizingmarijuanaun2ndldwritethru.html
  
  This appears to be the setting up for a major test of states rights.

• On the post: DailyDirt: Do Not Pass Go, Do Not Collect $200…

  

  Crashoverride ( profile ), 06 Mar, 2013 @ 03:44pm

  The seven page article on Diamonds was amazingly detailed. Even more fascinating was the fact that the article was written thirty years ago.... making all the more interesting the fact that a thirty year old article got posted to the internet.

• On the post: What Happens To Drones When They Fall Out Of The Skies?

  

  Crashoverride ( profile ), 06 Mar, 2013 @ 02:48pm

  If there is no identifying marks are you now obligated to research and discover who parked their drone on your deck? Is there a certain amount of time the finder or losee must in good faith search for/attempt to reunite? Does good faith such as posting photos of lost drone for x time make it yours?
  
  Must compensation be made for the parking or hard work in reuniting losee with item that was left literally on your doorstep?

• On the post: What To Expect When You're Expecting Prenda Law To Get A Judicial Beat Down

  

  Crashoverride ( profile ), 06 Mar, 2013 @ 02:30pm

  Why doesn't the judge just order the so called Alan Cooper to appear in court.... after all it's being argued that it's under his direction and orders to pursue a legal recourse. So this so called Alan Cooper has a vested interest in the lawsuit proceeding... if he really exists.
  
  Seriously just order the guy to appear. I don't see why he cannot be compelled or even subpoenaed???

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