Life is crazy...

I've been way too busy lately post anything of substance. The only thing I've even seen lately has been the inside of my physics book. Will be back as soon as things calm down!

Fraudulent email: "JOB OFFER"

I received this email on one of my junk accounts the other day. Can you imagine actually falling for this kind of thing?

----- Forwarded Message ----
From: DAVID MOORE
Sent: Thursday, December 27, 2007 10:54:42 AM
Subject: JOB OFFER

Dear Sir/Madam,

Would u like to work online from Home/Temporarily and get paid weekly?

We are glad to offer you a job position at our company, HERITAGE
TEXTILES AND FABRICS. We need someone to work for the company as a
Representative/Book keeper in the USA AND CANADA. This is as a result
of not having an office presently in the U.S.A.AND CANADA You dont
need to have an Office and this certainly wont disturb any form of
work you have going at the moment.

The Company produces the following varieties of clothing materials:-
batiks, assorted fabrics for interior decor, silk and traditional
costumes which we have clients we supply weekly in the USA.

the fact is we plan on moving over to the u.s.a and to have our
permanent office .but in the meantime,we are expected to finish every
paper work we have with the U.S internal revenue which is basically
taking us some time and other paper work that is being required of us.

We have decided to open this new job position for solving this
problem. Our integrated yarn and fabric manufacturing operations use
state-of-the-art textile equipment from the world's leading suppliers.
Order processing, production monitoring and process flow is seamlessly
integrated through a company-wide computer network.

* The average monthly income is about $4,000.00 USD.
* No form of investments from you.
* This job takes only 1-3 hours per day

About The Job:
We have sales representatives all over the world to distribute our
products.
You know, that it's not easy to start a business in a new market being
the US). There are hundreds of competitors, close direct contacts
between suppliers and customers and other difficulties, which impede
our sales promotion.
We have decided to deliver the products upfront, it's very risky but it
should push up sales on 25 percent.

Thus we need to get payments for our products as soon as it possible.
Unfortunately we are unable to open Bank Accounts in the United US
without first registering the company name and preparing logistics for
warehousing and integrated shipment.

Presently with the amount of Orders we have, we cannot put them on
hold. For fear of loosing the customers out rightly. Secondly we
cannot cash these payments from the US soon enough, as international
Checks take about 14 working days for cash to be made available.

We lose about 75,000 USD of net income each month because we have money
transfer delays*

Your task is to coordinate payments from customers and help us with the
payment process. You are not involved in any sales. Once orders are
received and sorted we deliver the product to a customer (usually
through (FEDEX).

About 90 percent of our customers prefer to pay through Certified
Checks and Money orders based on the amount involved.while some prefer
to pay through direct deposit or wire into your provided account

Your tasks are;
1. Receive payment from Customers
2. Cash Payments at your Bank
3. Deduct 10% which will be your percentage/pay on Payment processed
4. Forward balance after deduction of percentage/pay to any of the
offices you will be contacted to send payment to.
(Payment is to forwarded either by Money Gram or Western Union Money
Transfer).

www.westernunion.com
www.moneygram.com

Local Money transfers take barely hours, so it will give us a
possibility to get customer's payment almost immediately.
For example you've got 3000.00US You take your income: 300.00 USD
Send to us: 2700.00 USD

First month you will have 15-20 transactions on 3000.00-4000.00 USD So
you may calculate your income.

For example 18 transactions on 3000.00 USD gives you 5400.00 USD Plus
your basis monthly salary is 1000.00 USD Total: 6400.00 USD per month

After establishing a close co-operation with us you'll be able to
operate with larger orders and you'll be able to earn more.

Our payments will be issued out in your name and you can have them
cashed in your bank or other Cashing Services.
Deduct your weekly salary and forward the balance to the company via
western union money transfer or money gram money transfer.

We understand that this is an incredible job position. This job
takes only 3-7 hours per week. You'll have a lot of free time doing
another job, you'll get good income and regular job. But this job is
very challenging and you should understand its requirements. We are
looking only for the worker who satisfy our requirements and will be a
serious assistant.

We are glad to offer this job position to you. If you feel that you
are a serious worker and you want to work for HERITAGE Textiles
Company Kindly indicate interest by replying this mail. You will then
be furnished with the necessary materials to commence operations.

YOU can CALL ME ON THIS NUMBER +447024078081

ONLY SERIOUS AND INTERESTED APPLICANTS/WORKERS SHOULD PLEASE REPLY
N.B..reply along with your informations so as to commence at work
position immediately.

NAME..................................

ADDRESS...............................

PHONE ................................

CELL .................................

EMAIL ADDRESS.........................

AGE ..................................

GENDER................................

M.STATUS..............................

COUNTRY...............................

STATE ................................

CITY..................................

ZIPCODE...............................

My Contact Address
HERITAGE Textiles Company
111 Trinity Lane, Waltham Cross,
Herts, EN8 7EW United Kingdom
Telephone +447024078081


YOURS FAITHFULLY
Mr David Moore

Questions about copyright law

I have been reading Lawrence Lessig's Free Culture lately, after a friend recommended it. It's very interesting. Right now I'm in chapter 4. (I wish I had more time to read!)

Here are some of the questions the book has raised:

• What is the extent of our right to ownership of private property?
• What is "property"?
• What does it mean to take away our right to property? (This is important. Does it just mean depriving the owner of gain, financial or otherwise? Or does it include any use of another person's property?)
  

I have not come to any conclusions yet about what copyright law should be.

Funny letter

I got a hilarious piece of mail yesterday!  It was addressed to  Mr. Marissa R. King.  The letter began, "Dear Mr. King,..."

Katrina and I laughed so hard!

Implications of the end of government

The end of government is the preservation of our rights. Some people agree with this, but argue that the government may take action or pass laws for the purpose of "benefitting society" also. They would say that the public school system, for example, is legitimate because education "benefits society."

The problem with this is that every time the government passes laws that are not to secure our rights, but simply to benefit society, our rights are infringed. In the example of the public school system, the government imposes a heavy tax to fund the schools. This abridges our right to the ownership of property - the government is taking our money without our consent. Rather than fulfilling its purpose of the preservation of our rights, the government is taking away our rights.

The government should stay strictly within its purpose. Therefore, the preservation of our rights - and not societal benefits - should back every law the government makes.

Note that when the government acts according to its purpose, society is benefitted. For example, the government has rightly passed laws banning murder, because murder deprives the victim of his right to life. Banning murder certainly benefits society; however, societal benefits are not and should be the sole backing behind this ban.

The U. S. Constitution

When I was 12 or 13, I read the U. S. Constitution for the first time. I thought I understood it. After all, it seemed pretty straightforward. Since then, however, I've discovered that I actually understood very little of what I had read.

Here are a few of my childish misunderstandings:

• I thought that Congress had only a few, clearly defined powers. (Article I, Section 8)
  
• I thought that the states had the majority of the power, since they had all the power not explicitly granted to Congress. (Amendment 10, 1791)
• I thought that "cruel and unusual punishment" just meant that torture is illegal. (Amendment 8, 1791)
• I thought that the Ninth Amendment meant that all of our rights can't possibly be listed, and that just because they weren't listed in the Bill of Rights doesn't mean that they don't exist.
• I thought that the Fourteenth Amendment clarified the implications of U. S. citizenship, specifically for former slaves.
  
• I thought that the job of the Supreme Court was to decide who is innocent and who is guilty of a certain crime. (Article III, Section 2)
• I thought that the way to learn more about the Constitution and law in this country is to read the Constitution.
  
• I thought that the Constitution is a legally binding document that the federal government simply obeys (Article VII), and that the way to change it is to amend it (Article V).
  

Since then,

• I've learned that Congress's power to "make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers" means that Congress has the authority to make any and every law. (See Article I, Section 8)
• I've learned that the 10th Amendment is "but a truism" (e.g. see this commentary), because the federal government has all the power it wants.
• I've learned that "cruel and unusual punishment" describes any kind of punishment imaginable.
• I've learned that the Ninth Amendment guarantees rights to homosexuals and other groups not mentioned elsewhere in the Constitution.
  
• I've learned that the Fourteenth Amendment provides for affirmative action, abortion, and just about anything one can think of.
  
• I've learned that the job of the Supreme Court is to decide which laws are "constitutional."
• I've learned that the way to learn more about the Constitution and law in this country is to read Supreme Court precedents, so I'll understand what the Constitution is really saying.
  
• I've learned that the Constitution is a "living" document and that the way to change it is to "interpret" it.

Why is this? Our country is drifting away from our "rule of law" to "rule by men" - exactly what the Founding Fathers fled. We should not need to appeal to what the Supreme Court says the Constitution says; we should appeal to what the Constitution says. Otherwise, we have made the Supreme Court not just the highest court in the land, but the highest law in the land.

(For more on this topic, see John Whitehead's Second American Revolution - a book that I really will get around to finishing someday!)

Copyright law, version 2

Note: this is simply an edited version of the previous post.

I think we all agree; copyright law can be pretty ridiculous. Exhibit A: It's actually against the law for us to make recordings of copyrighted music and give them to our friends and family without permission from the publisher. So every year, Dad spends hours emailing dozens of publishers so we can make CDs for Christmas gifts. Most of the publishers give him permission, but we've had to exclude several pieces from our recordings because we couldn't get permission, because getting permission was too difficult, or because we couldn't get permission without paying a fee. In fact, there are entire publishers that we don't even bother emailing.

This area of copyright law strikes me as unbelievably stupid. Here's why: first, our recordings do not deprive the publishers of business, and second, our recordings actually promote the publishers' products.

Imagine this scene: My friend gives me a recording of her playing Mr. Smith's arrangement of Hymn X. I really like Mr. Smith's arrangement. What goes through my mind? "Well, I already have this recording. Guess I don't need to buy the sheet music from the publisher!" Of course not! My friend's recording certainly does not obviate the need for the publisher's product.

In fact, I'm far more likely to buy the sheet music for Mr. Smith's arrangement after hearing my friend's recording than I would be if I'd never heard the piece before. If anything, publishers should support the recording of their sheet music as free advertisement!

Our recordings are not just unharmful to the publishers; they're actively beneficial. And they would be even if we sell them.

But we're not selling them. We're giving them as Christmas gifts to our friends and family! That we should need permission to do so is simply ridiculous.