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Comment Ok..on to Rand Paul for 2016! (Score 1, Insightful) 745

by demonic-halo (#39999653) Attached to: Ron Paul Effectively Ending Presidential Campaign
I think most centralist will side with Paul on many issues. Who wants the leader of the free world to look like a Treasure troll who's losing his hair right? But since the invention of TV, the prettier candidate has always won since JFK. Gore vs. Bush was probably the only exception. But who knows what really happened with Florida right?

I think Rand Paul will be a serious contender for the GOP ticket in 2016. He'll have many of the views that make Ron popular, but better looking and be serious considered for the ticket.

Comment It's much more complicated that than. (Score 2, Interesting) 203

by demonic-halo (#18906749) Attached to: Jobs Says People Don't Want to 'Rent' Music
Ok.. so you got the major record labels together.. how do you agree to split the revenue fairly?

You'll have to work out a system probably based on who ever gets the most plays, which song is most popular, etc... And of course not all artists are worth the same, correct? You got songs many years old, competing against songs that are just released. Then how do you factor in the appreciation premiums? I'm sure a Antoni Bachelli is worth much more in the eyes of the people than a Britney Spears.

Then you'll get a system where the independent artists will get totally screwed. Their play percentage is much lower than the big record labels and of course they don't have the big wigs and high price lawyers on their side. At least with song purchase models it's easy to map where that 99 cents should go to.

YouTube Used for Whistleblowing 407

Posted by ScuttleMonkey from the when-they-don't-listen-find-a-bigger-megaphone dept.
fightmaster writes "A Lockheed Martin engineer with concerns about the safety and security flaws in a fleet of refurbished Coast Guard patrol boats turned to YouTube in order to publicize concerns he felt were being ignored by his employer and the government. From the article: 'The 41-year-old Lockheed Martin engineer had complained to his bosses. He had told his story to government investigators. He had called congressmen. But when no one seemed to be stepping up to correct what he saw as critical security flaws in a fleet of refurbished Coast Guard patrol boats, De Kort did just about the only thing left he could think of to get action: He made a video and posted it on YouTube.com.'"

Judge Bans Thompson from LA Videogame Case 81

Posted by Zonk from the no-friend-of-this-court dept.
BluePariah writes "The ever-vigilant folks at Game Politics are reporting that Federal District Court Judge James Brady has refused Jack Thompson's request to file an amicus curiae brief in the lawsuit over Louisiana's videogame law." From the article: "Thompson, of course, was heavily involved in the Louisiana statute, helping Rep. Roy Burrell (D) draft the underlying legislation, HB 1381. The anti-game attorney claimed in his request to the court that Louisiana Attorney General Charles Foti, a named defendant in the case, approved of Thompson's amicus motion. As previously reported here on GamePolitics, Thompson's request to file an amicus brief - if granted - would have permitted the long-time video game industry nemesis to provide information to the court even though he is not a party to the lawsuit."

How Much Should Broadband Cost? 378

Posted by Zonk from the a-penny-per-bit dept.
An anonymous reader writes "The difference in cost between broadband options seems to be the primary motivator for consumer spending, reports News.com. Frugal consumers are opting for the lower-priced DSL options, while those with more money to spend on services are opting for cable modems." From the article: "A year-and-a-half ago, pricing of DSL and cable modem service was roughly the same. But over the past year, the phone companies have launched an aggressive assault by dropping prices. At the end of 2005, the average price of DSL service was about $32 per month, roughly $9 less than cable, according to research firm IDC. AT&T has twice lowered the price of its DSL service and now offers its 1.5Mbps service for $12.99 for the first year."

Jack Thompson's Violent Game Bill Signed Into Law 368

Posted by Zonk from the happy-day-for-media-savvy-lawyers dept.
simoniker writes "Louisiana Democratic Representative Roy Burrell's HB1381 bill, covering violent videogames, has been signed into law by Governor Kathleen Blanco. The law takes effect immediately, the latest in a very long line of video game-related bills specific to one U.S. State. The measure proposed by HB 1381, which was drafted with the help of controversial Florida attorney and anti-game activist Jack Thompson, allows a judge to rule on whether or not a videogame meets established criteria for being inappropriate for minors and be subsequently pulled from store shelves. A person found guilty of selling such a game to a minor would face fines ranging from $100 to $2,000, plus a prison term of up to one year. Needless to say, the ESA will likely be mounting a legal challenge to this bill in the very near future."

More Warnings Against Oversharing on MySpace 383

Posted by Zonk from the internet-never-forgets dept.
Skapare writes "Your next prospective employer might be watching your MySpace page, according to a story at the New York Times. And if you think Facebook is more private, maybe not if that prospective employer has an intern from the same school checking up on you." From the article: "Students may not know when they have been passed up for an interview or a job offer because of something a recruiter saw on the Internet. But more than a dozen college career counselors said recruiters had been telling them since last fall about incidents in which students' online writing or photographs had raised serious questions about their judgment, eliminating them as job candidates."

Wormbot Crawls Through Your Intestines 169

Posted by ScuttleMonkey from the quite-a-case-of-the-runs dept.
holy_calamity writes "NewScientist is reporting on a new robot modeled on a worm to crawl through your intestines made by European researchers. The plan is to replace endoscopes, but from the look of the videos these things are too scary to ever be allowed into hospitals."

New Personal Mono-Wing 263

Posted by ScuttleMonkey from the gi-joe-fueling-future-defense-research dept.
geekRECON writes to tell us that a new lightweight mono-wing is being tested by special forces as an aid to parachute deployment. From the article: "Fitted with oxygen supply, stabilization and navigation aides, troops wearing the wings will jump from a high-altitude transport aircraft which can stay far away from enemy territory - or on secret peacetime missions could avoid detection or suspicion by staying close to commercial airliner flight paths."

ESRB Our Last Defense Against Game Censorship? 246

Posted by Zonk from the don't-fail-us-now dept.
1up is running a piece looking at the ESRB, and its role in politics. They assert the organization may be gaming's last defense against politicians seeking to censor games to increase their own political capital. The article discusses the Hays Code governing movies, and the limits on speech the comic book industry placed on itself as the result of similar pressures. From the article: "Ultimately, the best way to prevent the demise of gaming is to make use of the democratic process. Despite what the Internet would like to believe, mere emails and forum posts don't have much clout. Rather, posted letters to representatives (written on actual paper) are the best way to let politicians know your opinion -- the beliefs that they've been elected to represent."

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