Jrosen 's Techdirt Comments

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  • On the post: Doctor Who Uploaded Rorschach Images Now Being Investigated

    Jrosen ( profile ), 25 Aug, 2009 @ 12:54pm

    And the disease

    known as IDIOCY apparently can afflict even supposedly intelligent medical professionals.

    Yes, there is a science behind Psychology. But it's more of a 'soft' science. While the brain can work like a computer, it is not a purely empirical manifestation that is identical in all ways to every other person's brain. Genetics has something to do with it, environment has an effect, what schooling the person has done, has an effect. In many ways it works on a simple cause-effect. If something scares you bad enough, you will tend to fear it in the future. If certain patterns work every time you use them. It's a learned skill, knowledge, etc.
    Doctors fear the general public knowing more about Psychology because it can suddenly invalidate the ridiculous amounts of money they pay for their schooling, as well as the insurance payments that keep so many medical costs ridiculously high.
    Much as Hypnosis is feared by so many medical practitioners, even though they USE the base idea of the 'skill'. Anyone ever heard of a placebo? There's hypnosis right there in short. The power of suggestion. 'yes, this pill will make you feel better'.

  • On the post: Boston Public Transit Does It Right: Opens Scheduling Data

    Jrosen ( profile ), 20 Aug, 2009 @ 07:45am

    Re:

    Oh give me a break. I lived in the Boston area (Somerville to be exact) during 9/11. Outside of some scares and overreactions nothing happened in Boston that I can remember.

    To go with the rather cliche saying now... To not do things (especially useful ones like, help commuters and tourists get where they need to go) because of the 'threat' of terrorism, then the terrorists have already won. We are FAR from being the only country that has to deal with that threat, and hardly even in the top five of ones that deal with the reality on a regular basis.

  • On the post: Judge Throws Out Red Light Camera Tickets As Program Declared Illegal And Void

    Jrosen ( profile ), 12 Aug, 2009 @ 09:43am

    Kudos

    To the judge for actually having a brain with at least a few ounces of common sense, and two brain-cells to rub together.

  • On the post: Wal-Mart Abusing Trademark Law To Try To Shut Down Union Website

    Jrosen ( profile ), 11 Aug, 2009 @ 09:50am

    A few words

    Watch 'Penn & Teller's BULLSHIT!' episode about Wal-Mart and open your damned eyes.
    As for Wal-Mart against unions, kudos to them. Unions are part of the problem behind America's problems and why so many jobs and other things are going out of the US, and why there's such an abundance of immigrants 'taking jobs away from Americans'.

    As to the article itself. Yes, Wal-Mart did a dumb thing. Plain and simple.

  • On the post: EU Antitrust Regulator Scolded For Simply Ignoring Evidence In Intel's Favor

    Jrosen ( profile ), 11 Aug, 2009 @ 09:14am

    intel better than AMD? In what world?

    I think with the last 3 or 4 computers I've purchased I've used AMD every time, and with benchmarks, AMD has always performed better. Just bought a machine less than two weeks ago. Guess what. AMD again.
    While I'm not so sure I'd agree with the EU board saying Intel is a monopoly, the Dell bit is a joke either way, obviously paid-off.

  • On the post: Musician: Any Aspiring Musician Should Download As Much Music As He Can

    Jrosen ( profile ), 11 Aug, 2009 @ 08:35am

    Excellent`

    @Alan Gerow "I have never paid for music in my life. I have spent thousands of dollars on magnetic tape and plastic discs to temporarily gain access to music."

    Exquisitely said!

    re: you are not a musician.

    I rarely listen to the radio anymore. I haven't for years now. 99% of the music I listen to, will NEVER be on the radio stations in the USA, unless it might be a small college-run type. I listen to mostly foreign music. And no, these days 'Latin' music really doesn't count anymore for that. (Here in Texas there's almost as many Latin music stations as English it seems). I have French rap, lots of Chinese and Japanese pop/hip-pop/rock/etc. I have reggae music from India. By and large all of what I listen to is simply more interesting than the vast bulk of American music, despite that I cannot understand most of the lyrics.

  • On the post: Southeastern Conference Wants To 'Control Memories' Of Sporting Events; Limits Reporters & Fans

    Jrosen ( profile ), 11 Aug, 2009 @ 08:09am

    So apparently idiocy IS a transmittable disease

  • On the post: Fox The Latest Studio To Declare War On Redbox

    Jrosen ( profile ), 07 Aug, 2009 @ 11:35am

    Gotta wonder

    If they ever test the higher-ups in these corporations for drugs. Seems like most of them would have to be continually high to come up with the shit they do, and actually believe it

  • On the post: Why Should You Need A Special License To Run An Arcade?

    Jrosen ( profile ), 07 Aug, 2009 @ 09:36am

    Hell....

    I'd love to have an actual freaking arcade somewhere near me. I THINK there's a chuck e cheese somewhere within about 20 miles. There's a Dave & Buster's nearby-ish. But I can recall where I could bike 10 minutes to Fun and Games or any number of other arcades which had an office-building floor worth of games and space. Not a restaurant/bar/dance-floor/gods knows whatever else.
    Yes, I'm sure that all the console games have pulled people (mainly kids likely) from the actual arcades. But it's morons like this town that have hurt places as well (we don't want kids/certain/those people hanging out here) and all that bs.

  • On the post: Radiohead's Thom Yorke Explains How Recording Industry Milked CD Business

    Jrosen ( profile ), 07 Aug, 2009 @ 09:13am

    Dying and/or Dead

    Yes, back in the 80's the music industry was dying, and YES it's there again, or close.

    Note I say the INDUSTRY, not music itself in any way. I purchase perhaps one cd a year, if that. At least from AMERICAN music companies. There's very little I want to hear from what they produce. Too much 'mainstream' music has gone from full songs to 2-minute soundbites with one verse (two if we're lucky) and endless inane choruses. Kudos to the rare few that are continually innovative.

    MTV DID help back in the 80's, but they're a bad excuse for a poor joke these days. I've been fortunate to find a lot of stuff I enjoy through file-sharing sites in the past, and youtube, dailymotion, imeem, and the like nowadays. These days I listen to FAR more foreign-made than American-made music. Suddenly I'm back to 4-7 minute songs with multiple verses. Enjoyable collaborations between artists/singers. Hell, even if I don't understand the lyrics, the music is fun to listen to. It's pitiful also how the large corporations (SONY) who have such global coverage, still entrap good->amazing artists into shitty regional limitations. (I find it hard-enough to pay $20 for 2 songs off a cd to begin with. But when I find a group I like overseas, it's a freaking $60 for import.)

    The internet has opened up things all over the world. Get out there and explore, and help put the nails in the coffin of the music INDUSTRY, so it can be dead and buried where it belongs!

  • On the post: The Death Of Paid WiFi

    Jrosen ( profile ), 05 Aug, 2009 @ 09:07am

    Overall I'd have to agree, that on the whole fee-based wi-fi is a joke and is fading out. And should fade out. Most places that offer wi-fi, aren't paying anything extra to actually offer it (outside of a transmitter or two when they first set it up. Their internet is already paid for, and their basic business model obviously makes them enough money to keep opening stores and the like. Now a (buy something and get the password) does make sense, so that someone doesn't just come in, take up space and do nothing to actually 'help' the location where they're using the wi-fi.

  • On the post: Twitter, WordPress, Ning & GoDaddy All Sued In Mistargeted Lawsuit Over Defamation

    Jrosen ( profile ), 05 Aug, 2009 @ 08:50am

    And the idiocy continues

    I really have to wonder, day after day... just how the hell our country is even still here with all of the idiocy and lack of basic common-sense of purportedly intelligent people. WHO can think that suing the site something is posted on is legal and worth anything? We take offense too easily, act far too irrationally, and just seem to have stopped having a clue as a nation. I know there are intelligent people out there. But sometimes it seems like a Sisyphus-ian task to actually find them.

  • On the post: Don Bartlett Explains How Joe Pug Gave Away Free CDs To Connect With Fans

    Jrosen ( profile ), 04 Aug, 2009 @ 09:09am

    Re: Re: Re:

    LMAO!!! Actually, yes I can just see it. Nicely summed up there Hephaestus.

  • On the post: Entitlement Society: Grad Can't Find Job, Sues Her College For Tuition Back

    Jrosen ( profile ), 03 Aug, 2009 @ 11:08am

    Notice......

    Notice that there's no mention of what this person's Major/Degree was in. If it's dead languages of Mesopotamia, or something equally useless. Employment problems are on the rise, and I've never seen a truly good college-placement/employment-help program, unless it's a 'good old boy' type, say with an Ivy-League type.

    I'd hope she loses the lawsuit. I'd almost say the college should sue-back, but likely she's so broke it's not worth the effort.

  • On the post: Zookz! Misinterpreting The WTO To Annoy The RIAA

    Jrosen ( profile ), 15 Jul, 2009 @ 11:32am

    Three cheers!!!!

    Way to go Zookz and Antigua. I'll have to check this out myself later tonight. About time that the US got it's comeuppance in the BS it brings. And yes, I live here in the US. Tired of all the crap corps can do without fear of any real reprisal.

  • On the post: Why Should A TV Show Need Permission To Include A University Logo?

    Jrosen ( profile ), 10 Jul, 2009 @ 06:56am

    Hooray

    And hooray again for an over-anal lawsuit-happy society.

    It's really as simple as that. Too many people going overboard for minor s***. With all the movies, shows, etc about some kid getting into XYZ college/university, I've NEVER assumed that the institution was 'supporting' the show. Most of them I'm sure are happy for the 'plug' because someone might go 'y'know, I never considered that place as an option'... So christ, get over yourselves that it's a 'controversial' show. Besides, if I recall correctly, this one's been going on for 3-5 seasons now (I don't bother with premium channels so never watched it), which means there's enough people who like it, that U of U has a higher chance of pissing people off about it, and making their attendance perhaps a little worse.

  • On the post: Will Bogus Patent Lawsuits Lead Entrepreneurs To Leave The US?

    Jrosen ( profile ), 23 Jun, 2009 @ 07:23am

    RE: Easy answer

    Mike42:

    Great point, and there ARE ways to do it. If you go to pro-artist sites (good ones that are set up properly) there are quite commonly VERY hard to edit-out watermarks or the like that make it obvious who did the initial work, etc.

    However, yes, a large part of the problem is also the lawsuit-happy nature of corporate and private companies and PEOPLE who don't have enough common sense to fill a thimble.