2011-03-03

No one has a "right" to other than liberty and the pursuit of happiness

No one has a right to a working car

By Gus in Denver March 3, 2011 - 4:12pm

Customers will have to demand cars that can be repaired. I recommend they do so. If they do not then they will get increasing IP laden cars with mystery functions. Cars seem to be moving away from the paradigm of the "Land Rover you can fix with bailing wire".
I will not buy a new car if it is full of restricted , mystery functions and fog lights that require removing the fender to change.

And ..... please for Zeus sakes..... DO NOT ask the government to get involved.

Best




Who Has a "Right to Repair?"

Automobile repair shops have a beef with auto manufacturers over who can repair vehicles. Many repair shops want to replace "programmable" components but the auto companies won't release the details of how to program these devices for fear of opening their intellectual property to all takers. A story in the 10 February 2011 Wall Street Journal explained that after a mechanic replaced a windshield-wiper switch in a 2004 Saab, the car wouldn't start. The switch needed an "initialization" at a Saab dealer.

Politicians have sponsored "Right to Repair" bills that would force auto manufacturers and their suppliers to give independent dealers and part manufacturers the programming instructions, fault codes, and other information that would let them repair vehicles and manufacture replacement parts. Of course, the auto manufacturers spend a lot of money to lobby against such legislation.

If auto vendors want to protect their products, they have the means now. Atmel's CryptoAuthentication devices, for example, provide an inexpensive way to add a serial number and 256-bit secret key to a product. If a system cannot find the serial number or the key, it can take action and alert users or service people to counterfeit components, boards, or subassemblies. The Atmel chips use the NIST SHA-256 standard, basically a hashing algorithm that meets the U.S. Government’s Federal Information Processing Standard. Third-party manufacturers of repair parts could incorporate such security devices in their electronic products and service companies could then authenticate the source and gain access to programming or configuration for the repair part.

I have said for some time that IC manufacturers should reveal the programming information for their devices so engineers, designers, and third-party suppliers could also produce emulator and programmer pods. Perhaps a "Right to Repair" bill would cover that type of information, too. Companies can protect their intellectual property without trying to exert complete control over markets.

The CamCost Paradigm

CC really seems dedicated to the continuation of slavery as an amusing way to organize a company. The Master/Slave concept is often seen in CC actions.

Casual Clothes Day ........
If CC forced a 24/7 dress code on it's employees , many of them would resolve the tension by believing that they wanted to dress like the dress code dictated. If you asked them , they would say " I like to dress this way .... it makes me feel [ professional , confident , powerful ....add an adjective ] . CC is too clever. By having "casual days" the masters living in carpetland remind the employees that they are slaves ; that the employees are subject to the whims of the masters.

Give a name to Goonie
CC has a contest to nickname a ( new ? ) master ......... why ? because CC can. Then to make the contest even more demeaning to the employees , the supervisors chose the content of the contest submissions. What slave doesn't get a kick out this fun ?

All hands meeting
CC announces "an all hands meeting" ....... It turns out that only supervisors are invited to the meeting. This means that the employees ( who actually do the work ) are ...... what ? No-handed ? Beneath notice ? Slaves ? <== my vote goes here

Contest that nobody wins
CC announces a contest where nobody wins ......... Employees are to that they can win an iSomething from Apple. It is not made clear how you could improve your chances of winning. In the end , it does not matter since a winner is never announced. It is likely that Goonie gets the iSomething.

Random , chaotic scheduling
CC carpetland masters have fun jerking the slaves around by changing the slave employee's work schedules at random intervals. They also change the rules at random. They also change the days that employees can expect to be available ( Saturday and Sunday suddenly disappear )

Supervising designed to create a mental implosion
CC supervisors ( under the direction of the masters ) give the employees advice and direction that would drive Gandhi mad.
== Satisfy customers by saying "have a good day" but don't actually solve their problem if it takes more than 3 minutes.
== We want you to be very skilled and knowledgeable .... please don't waste valuable time researching a technical issue.
== Customer satisfaction is very important ... please don't waste valuable time researching a customer's problem.

There is more .... I have to stop for now ..... My brain is shrinking........

Constructing a moderm model for government

I believe I am a rational anarchist. Big government has always failed. BG attracts people who are power mongers. Ideally the world could be organized to emphasize IPPs.* Smaller is better in this case. ( One world government would be a disaster ) Nations can gradually die away. The USA would be a better place if it evolved to a union of 50 states with no federal government. Some states are too large for their own good. ( California is the prime example )


IPP* Intelligent Puzzle Pieces see Donald Boudreaux