Posts by Charles 9 16605 publicly visible posts • joined 10 Jun 2009
"So you want to spend an extra £1,600 on a phone to avoid a, what, £30 carry on charge?"
Yes, because I'm not paying for it. hint, hint
"Do what you do now and live without the tablet."
The tablet is required for the worksite. Most tablets these days are deployed for WORK applications.
Interstate Commerce Clause, which is in the original document. And since airliners at altitude are a pressure vessel (meaning there are safety issues inherent to them), regulating what's allowed inside them can fall within federal permit. While the MythBusters have shown a bullet hole in an airplane wouldn't cause explosive decompression, it would still constitute a compromise of the airplane's integrity (a la Qantas Flight 30 and the exploding oxygen tank) and force a diversion.
Put it this way. The First Amendment doesn't list any exceptions to the freedom of speech, yet the Supreme Court was able to legally justify one in the Schenck decision (the "fire in a crowded theater" argument: doing so on false pretense compromises others' rights).
Too risky. First, the recliner systems are mechanical: no electrics. Second, forcing a seat up can cause Bad Things to happen. Bad Things = Lawsuits since there will certainly be a law out there to counter any law you try to apply as a protection. Thus why I mentioned the ADA: that requires any business to accommodate recognized handicaps (and BTW, putting them in an exit row isn't an option since only physically-fit people can sit there in case of evacuations).
"It would be cleaner to do that, but it's not supported by the constitution."
What about the 14th Amendment and the Supremacy Clause combined with the original document's mandate over interstate commerce (the flight was interstate)? Could these be combined to assert that interstate flights default to federal jurisdiction?
DOES it? That's why I'm looking for the actual Act or Order that specifically says the Fed holds overriding jurisdiction over aircraft and/or any other interstate personnel transit vehicle (like trains). Otherwise, wouldn't the courts have already cited them to invoke the Supremacy Clause?
But the ICJ doesn't apply here. It's a US-flagged domestic flight completely within US-controlled skies. In which case, the individual states can assert jurisdiction unless there's a standing US law that overrides them re: jurisdiction on board an interstate transit vehicle.
Resolution DOES matter to certain groups of gamers: particularly shooters where higher resolution equals more detail equals better ability to pick out enemies at a distance equals more sniper hits etc. and thus more wins. Is it any wonder high-end gamers were among the first to adopt 4K resolutions and so on before 4K was even a thing?
" I have only ever had iPhone cases that fully cover the phone's back, and I did not have to do anything unusual to obtain them."
I'd like to know how you obtained them, then. Because EVERY iDevice I see has the Apple logo plain as day somewhere. The one time I saw an iPad with its back completely covered (due to it being mounted on an articulated frame), a large Apple logo was affixed to a corner on the FRONT side of the framework holding the iPad. And this wasn't a consumer device but a device used for taking online orders in a kitchen, so there could be no possible reason to stick a piece of decor to a business device unless they were forced to do so.
Fake cars in non-live media isn't an issue. They can imagine almost any car they want and get away with it. The trick is when they need an actual, working car for use in a live-action show. Then it becomes cheaper to buy an actual car than to make one from scratch.
As for product placement, it all comes down to the terms of the sponsorship. Product placement was still there before it really took off in the late 80's. It was just more subtle ("Vehicles provided by Dodge" in the credits, for example), and manufacturers accepted this as a plug. Then things went overboard when outside or competing firms started ragging trademarks ("Energizer Bunny" lawsuits). Since under USPTO rules trademarks need to be used and defended to remain valid, companies started to get a bit touchier on the use of their products.
"I'll add, part of the problem is the voters. They (we?)) have become more narrow and more politicized also. FB, et al, plays a big part as does the mainstream media with "10 second sound bites" (a long running problem)."
Is it the media affecting the public or the public losing patience and demanding simple solutions to complex problems? No one's got time to think the long game anymore; you snooze, you lose. Plus there's been a lot of backlash against "old boys' networks" as of late, which as some analysts have noted actually had a calming influence on politics but got swept away due to its main drawback of disenfranchisement.
You have to wonder if it's less that and more they don't want to piss off their bases, which are becoming more energized these days and can threaten incumbents without a general election (via primaries). And these bases are so diametrically opposed they think the other side isn't human. To them, compromise is a dirty word; they want conquest.
"The (relatively insignificant) state taxes are an entirely different issue. 9 states have none."
That's because seven of them don't charge personal income tax: Alaska, Florida, Nevada, South Dakota, Texas, Washington, and Wyoming. Most of them raise their revenues either through property taxes (better suited for sparsely-populated states like Alaska or Wyoming) or sales taxes (Florida and Nevada are tourist-heavy; sales taxes are better suited to capturing revenues from out-of-state visitors).
"Absolutely silly I have to either transcribe to paper for free or pay a tax prep firm for the privilege of performing data entry for them in order to file online...when the state & federal revenue agencies already have the paperwork covering what I need to report."
As I recall, it's a double-entry check-and-balance against underreporting income and the taxes associated with it. If you contract or self-operate a business, it gets much more complicated very quickly because now you have to declare and pay those taxes yourself (plus you lack the benefit of the 50/50 split).
Federal PDF forms for years have actually included form blanks meaning a compatible PDF reader would allow you to fill them out on your computer, print them out all nice and neat, and mail them off yourself. That's how I've been doing my taxes for the last several years. Check to see if your state has form-fielded PDF tax forms as well (I know Virginia's PDF are form-fielded).
But how do you ensure that? How do you keep things independent and not subject to corruption from within or without. Based on our experience with the human condition, nothing made by man really lasts long-term, and since checks and balances have to themselves be checked and balanced, eventually the bad guys find a way in spite of God, Man, or the Devil.
"It is even worse than that and I have always said there should be a 'none of the above' option which, if it receives the highest number of votes, means that constituency does not return an MP to parliament."
So if something unpopular is voted in the meantime, we just throw up our hands?
"The case law is settled. The government wins, if they play by the rules."
No it's not. Cases are still ongoing, and the highest ruling to date (Riley v. California) says a warrant is required for any kind of detainment, but the "border search exception" has not yet been put to the Riley test. Cases concerning this combination are still running through the courts, and SCOTUS has yet to rule specifically on electronic devices at the border.
"(I hear there will soon be a wall to enforce this anyway.)"
I would love to see how a country will be able to place a wall across its entire Pacific, Atlantic, AND Golf coastline, seeing as how traveling by boat is already a notorious route for those seeking ill gain.
Somewhat limited? The US faces two oceans and its east coast curves around to extend westward, too. All in all, the US has over 5,000 miles of coastline just in the lower 48 states (Alaska with its jagged coastline and Aleutian archipelago can double that total by itself, while Hawaii can tack on about another 750). It actually cracks the top 10 in terms of total coastline. Archipelagos like the Philippines and Indonesia rank higher, but the real kings are the Arctic countries where their coastlines are especially ragged (Russia, Greenland, Norway, and Canada are in the top 10, Canada is #1). Antarctica does rank in at #10, but that's the only Antarctic landmass to speak of.
But not ALL the media. All the other side has to do is get THEIR media to say some things about the other side (including squelching their side's First Amendment Freedom of the Press or by saying it's The Man that's harboring kiddie-screwing terrorist creeps ready to go MAD) and now you have a media vs. media war, making it a wash. After incidents like Waco, many Americans tend to have a soft spot for the little man versus The Man.
They don't have to in this day and age. The scandal alone would seriously mar one's reputation. Proof is irrelevant if a hostile state is involved: they can fabricate anything they wish, and because it's a hostile state, they can protect themselves with their own sovereignty.
It would be interesting to see such a lawsuit actually go through the courts: a selection that is racially biased on meritocratic grounds. There could be an argument that the protected class is not doing itself any favors if they and only they have been categorically shown to be the only ones misbehaving. Sorta like how one side says that the police are unfairly targeting black neighborhoods and the other counters that most of the calls they get come from those same neighborhoods. Kinda creates a Morton's Fork where the only way to be effective is to appear unfair.
Relevant to the discussion, it seems that the US Department of Housing and Urban Development is suing Facebook over discriminatory advertising, particularly "back door" discrimination by optimizing for factors that just happen to reject protected classes without overtly saying so.
The Register 
Biting the hand that feeds IT
Copyright. All rights reserved © 1998–2024
