Comments for shutdown now

Comment on government sponsored monopolies by Ryan

Ryan — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 16:49:13 +0000

I agree 100%. The problem is that it’s not an issue enough voters care about, but it’s an issue that deep-pocketed copyright holders care about very much (i.e. spend money on). I would rather see copyright return to the original 14 years. I think the Statute of Anne got it right way back in 1709. That being said, I would be willing to compromise and settle for reducing copyright terms to something like 40 years for “works for hire” and the life of the author for non “works for hire”.

Comment on nintendo and … by Dough

Dough — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 01:50:27 +0000

That’s odd, I usually focus on getting it looking right in Firefox; are you using an older version of Firefox (though I’m using the beta, so it could be my fault)?

Comment on nintendo and … by how to repair a wii

how to repair a wii — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 05:13:36 +0000

Hi, I thought I’d post a comment and let you know your page layout is really messed up on the Firefox browser. Seems to work ok in IE though. Anyways keep up the great work.

Comment on eulas, oh my! by Dough

Dough — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 07:29:05 +0000

Bah, I just found out the frog analogy is useless: http://www.snopes.com/critters/wild/frogboil.asp and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boiling_frog. But it still doesn’t change how many IP advocates are trying to make it possible to own ideas forever. They’ve already convinced the general public that “if I made it, I own it, it’s mine!”

Comment on eulas, oh my! by Jeff Grandinetti

Jeff Grandinetti — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 21:26:45 +0000

I wonder if sunkist would want their oranges returned after your body has ‘processed’ them ;D

Comment on eulas, oh my! by Dough

Dough — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 03:11:41 +0000

I’m really hoping that people are actually smarter than the frogs from the frog analogy:

If you place a frog in a pot of hot water, it will immediately hop out. But if you place a frog in a pot of comfortable water, then slowly increase the temperature, it will stay in the water until it’s dead.

That is, even though our consumer/end user rights are slowly being taken away, hopefully it doesn’t get bad enough before we still have the ability to take them back. I just hope that consumers eventually wise up and start using their dollars to support non-EULA alternatives when possible; or, at the very least, EULAs without unconscionable terms. I’ll post an entry on an idea I’ve got later.

Comment on eulas, oh my! by Jared

Jared — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 01:28:32 +0000

…it’s only a matter of time until your Sunkist nightmares are true. (:

Comment on why are you hitting yourself? by Jared

Jared — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 06:50:39 +0000

Loved…that…show. Loved the book when I was a kid.

Comment on pretentiousness and profanity by Dough

Dough — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 02:37:43 +0000

Wow, got comments more quickly than usual. :) And I’m completely surprised to see someone I don’t know actually reading this crap.

Two things: they probably have more effect simply because of their label; and even though they do have more effect, it still doesn’t make them worse.

Going off what Jared said — isn’t it actually more intelligent to be able to quickly and effectively communicate your point with fewer words? Why use 50 words to communicate your anger, surprise, or excitement when just a couple will do?

Comment on pretentiousness and profanity by Jared

Jared — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 18:01:20 +0000

I’ve long thought the same thing: swear words are arbitrary. Interestingly enough the quote from the Ensign is quite literal. I like etymology and my sparse research has shown me exactly this: most “swear words” of today are simply the “slang of the poor” from centuries past. Fornicate was F@&# in the old world and S@#$ was used rather than defecate. As people could simply not be seen as “low class,” they would refrain from using such words. Hence, the reason they became “bad.”

Interestingly, you’ll find the same thing among different linguistic cultures. Did you ever wonder when watching a sub-titled movie if, say, portuguese really has a literal f-word?

Having said all of this, I pretty much have always ignored social customs regarding this. Of course, I know how to speak around who, but anymore, I could simply care less. Unlike many others, I grew up hearing “bad words” all the time and have pretty much always used them. It’s just part of who I am and the people who accept this in me are the one around whom I feel most comfortable.

PS, I always get a kick out of the “low intelligence” argument. Some of the smartest people I know, swear the most. I could certainly choose other words to express myself, but there’s something about the simplicity of using one word as a noun/pronoun/verb/adjective that makes my day. Oh, and sometimes I love shocking people. (: Whodda thunk?