Declaration of Independence

[kazbates]

Originally Posted by pshrynk

No, but people from Chicago get called FISHTABs all the time.

(F*** Idiot with a Summer Home, Towing A Boat)

By the way, Cincinatti is playing Green Bay in week 2 (Sunday, September 20, 2009 at Green Bay) of the regular season. I just thought you would like to know so that you can get your grumbling ready.

[pshrynk]

I'm pretty certain that I'll be grumbling prior to that. After all, Cincinatti is the only team to ever get mathmatically eliminated in the pre-season...

[kazbates]

Originally Posted by pshrynk

I'm pretty certain that I'll be grumbling prior to that. After all, Cincinatti is the only team to ever get mathmatically eliminated in the pre-season...

Too, too true! :shakesheadinsadness:

[benham]

Only Upper Peninsula people are called Yoopers. People from Chicago are called Flatlanders (not by me, of course). They didn't like that so they started calling us cheeseheads, which in turn spawned an entire industry of foam apperal! We will be in Alaska the next 2 weeks so will miss the Packer games.

[Red Alert]

Well its obvious that the Aussie, bill the smith, and Fana are jealous of American achievements and their acceptance world-wide. They don't care for the trade and rights pacts we've negotiated to preserve them either.

So I've a suggestion to you: "Get off your duffs and invent and/or create something. Market it, lets see if you have the same viewpoint when some other person, company or country pirates the design/product. Of course you would lose profits rightfully yours and be hoisted on your own petard by the pirates." Just deserts.

[Red Alert]

deleted because it was a duplicate post..

[Argel]

Originally Posted by Red Alert

So I've a suggestion to you: "Get off your duffs and invent and/or create something. Market it, lets see if you have the same viewpoint when some other person, company or country pirates the design/product. Of course you would lose profits rightfully yours and be hoisted on your own petard by the pirates."

Well we invented America and ended up with nothing but trouble.

[Over]

Originally Posted by bill the smith

10. "Warez" or "pirate sites” that make ebooks available to all – books for every person in every country for free.

Is anyone else on board?

I guess you're not planning to be an author/editor/publisher/whatever, because you wouldn't be able to make a living by working for free.

Originally Posted by HarryT

Absolutely right. It's like companies who illegally produce unlicenced versions of drugs. A drug might only cost pennies to manufacture, but it can cost hundreds of millions of $ to come up with in the first place. Unless the legal framework allows that money to be recouped, the result will inevitably be "no more new drugs". That is patent law, not copyright, but the principle is the same.

Bad example. It's true they spend millions, in a drug that takes years to be ready for the public... But then they gain billions back. And don't change the prices. It's always for profit. The price is artificial, making it impossible for many people to take care of their health and well being, just because of money (or taking care and see themselves immersed in debts for life).

Fortunately, in my country, the State helps to pay the medicine (which means we are all filling the pockets of the farmaceutical with our taxes). But the State is trying to privatize everything in the health area, so I guess one day we'll end up with a system like in USA or Japan, where only who has money has quality health service.

[Sweetpea]

Originally Posted by Argel

Well we invented America and ended up with nothing but trouble.

We should never have traded Nieuw Amsterdam ...

[kazbates]

Originally Posted by Argel

Well we invented America and ended up with nothing but trouble.

So instead of everyone griping about the US, they should be griping at you for letting it all happen. I like that scenario!

"Don't blame US, blame them!"

[calvin-c]

Originally Posted by bill the smith

@HarryT
The patented drugs is a poor example - as we are seeing in Third World countries where large numbers die because they country cannot afford to pay the US for drugs.
We are seeing examples of poor countries making their own version of US patented drugs and to hell with the US.
Knowledge is the same.
Everybody in the world has access to a limitless amount of information on the Internet.
Countries which are prohibited by book publishers from reading the latest literature should be able to read pirated copies. Particularly poor countries. If you stand back and look at it, international copyright is about preventing access by developing countries to knowledge and books. Piracy is a liberating force.
Why should the US dictate what I read? Screw them.
Obama should be looking after his relatives in Kenya by making literature (and medicine) available to them for free - not blocking it by US laws.

The amount of knowledge on the Internet is not limitless. It's growing all the time-and the reason it's growing is because *somebody* pays researchers to perform their experiments & publish their results. Just as *somebody* pays authors to write their books. If nobody pays (because 'knowledge' is free) then all we'll ever has is the knowledge we have now-and that is *definitely* not limitless.

Grow or die. That's a law of nature. Whether it's new drugs or new books, discovery/creation will stop if nobody pays for them. And then we all die.

Now if you want to advocate that the government pay for the research (or pay the authors who write the books) then I'd say you have a valid argument. Not that I think it would be practical, but I'd at least listen to the details. Your current argument I won't even listen to the details-it's based on deadly self-interest.

(I have no idea what you do for a living, but I *seriously* doubt it involves creating anything new. You might do that as a hobby, but if you do it for a living then you'd know that giving your work away means taking away your living. And then you die.)

[JimC]

Originally Posted by pshrynk

After all, Cincinatti is the only team to ever get mathmatically eliminated in the pre-season...

Ha ha, pretty funny.

[thirdnostril]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Absolutely right. It's like companies who illegally produce unlicenced versions of drugs. A drug might only cost pennies to manufacture, but it can cost hundreds of millions of $ to come up with in the first place. Unless the legal framework allows that money to be recouped, the result will inevitably be "no more new drugs". That is patent law, not copyright, but the principle is the same.

Pennicillin, aspirin, interferon...all discovered without Big Pharma "R&D."

I think we can do without more drugs for "Restless Leg Syndrome." Big Pharma hasn't cured a disease in decades. It's not profitable, and Regan's de-regulation of the FDA meant they were no longer legally obligated to.

[thirdnostril]

"Grow or die. That's a law of nature."

No, no it's not.

[Skydog]

Originally Posted by bill the smith

Why should the US dictate what I read? Screw them.

What a ridiculous statement. You are free to read what you like. The U.S. does not dictate what anyone, anywhere can or cannot read. Perhaps your frustration would be better directed at your own government. Viva the free market and capitalism.