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That's something i have no experience with. can you (or someone else) briefly explain the perjury laws, as they would apply in this case?

The short non-technical answer:
Everything offered as evidence, unless both sides otherwise agree (if the court lets them), has to have a live person testifying about it, to vouch for its accuracy and authenticity. Physical evidence found at the crime scene? The cop who bagged it testifies as to where and when he found it, the condition it was in, etc. Surveilance video or audio tape? Someone has to testify as to how and when it was made, how accurate the process is, etc. Those witnesses, of course, are subject to cross-examination, and are subject to the laws against perjury.
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I cannot count the number of newbies that kill their windows partition by installing linux!

Is this a bug, or a feature?


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Starlitz has long been a favorite of mine, and for years I've been saying that "Hollywood Kremlin" could be turned into a terrific screenplay. (Mr. Sterling, are you listening? Is your agent?)


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The CPU power in the newer Palms will probably (I don't have any good insider information) go towards tasks to make it a better organizer. For example, speech to text notetaking.

Now that would be the Killer App to finally get me to buy a handheld computer. I have boxes and boxes of microcassettes filed with random notes about anything and everything. But in order to find anything more than a week old, I still have to hunt through my hand-written diaries to figure out when something happened, and then hunt through tapes until I find the notes I need.

A pocket device that could turn spoken notes into GREP-able text would be sweet indeed.
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My understanding is that the first ep wasn't included in the original Japanese TV run because the plot involves drug trafficking -- a very sensitive subject in Japan, but no problem for most American prime-time dramas.
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b) You would have a tough time proving that it is actually stolen code. (Companies releasing closed source code? I don't think so.)

That's what discovery procedures in litigation are for.

The question is - why keep pitchers at all? When society realized that it was better to plow with a tractor than a bunch of oxen, we got rid of the oxen. When we realized that it was better to manufacture and box crayons with robotics than with third-world child labor, we did that, too.

The purpose of plowing with oxen was to hget the plowing done, not to exercise the oxen. The purpose of manufacturing and boxing crayons is to have boxes of crayons to sell. The purpose of Paul Bunyan's lumberjacking was to get trees cut down so they could be used as wood. Etcetera.

The purpose of baseball isn't to get pitches thrown, or to get home runs hit. The world has no independent need for well-thrown pitches or home runs, outside the context of baseball. (When we do need similar activities performed outside of baseball, we already do use machines -- see, for example, the grenade launcher.)

The purpose of baseball, if it has one, is to experience and observe competition among teams of human beings. Therefore, replacing the human beings with robots necessarily undermines the point of the activity.

I'd be delighted to see a seprate league for robot-vs-robot baseball games, but it doesn't make sense to replace human athletes because the machines perform the tasks "better." By that standard, the dawn of auto racing should have meant the end of track & field sports. After all, cars are "better" than runners at getting from Point A to Point B quickly, aren't they?

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Well, have you ever watched StarGate SG1? Do you know of anyone who yells "McGyver!" every time Colonel O'Neal is on the screen?

No, but I did think "It's Mrs. Columbo!" half the time I saw Janeway on Voyager.


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It never ceases to amaze me that M$ proclaims that the GPL is "viral". Consider what kind of virus would attach to an open source developer, if he/she were ever to get a gander at some of M$'s "shared source" code?

That developer would effectively be forever forbidden from working on public project. The burden of proving that he didn't use any of M$'s code would fall on him/her. With M$'s history, if that developer's company had an license, even though he/she didn't look at the code, the developer would probably forever have to prove that he didn't look at the code!

But if MS tried to sue someone over this, then the MS might have to disclose its source code to the defendant as part of the litigation discovery. I don't think they'd like that!


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The MPAA does mean "commercial." As in, "You have no choice but the watch the commercials."



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Because most of Western society loves machines, but fears chemistry and biology?


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Folks, I'm sorry to moderate the enthusiasm of all the fans, but Iron Chef is a dramatically stupid and mediocre show. Culinary speaking, it's nothing more than a mix of mediocrity, ignorance, and sensationalism.

Wow -- Iron Chef isn't about real haute cuisine? Thanks for the news flash. Next you'll inform us that The Lone Gunmen wasn't about real computer hacking and investigative journalism.

Iron Chef is an entertaining program. If you're sharp enough not to take it too seriously.



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You're both right; you're talking about 2 different lines, Ota's and Kaga's.
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but where does *education of children* fit into this discussion of intellectual property? lego has done something good, in my opinion - they've created something at least *vaguely* culturally accurate to portray a Maori or Polynesian group.

Pretty darn "vague," if you ask me. Unless the Maori really are bignasty elemental-robotic dudes who come from meteorites?

My son got a Lego "Bionicle" comic recently, and I read it. It was clear to me that they took some words and "sounds" from Polynesian languages and maybe some cultural ideas such as the power and importance of masks, but all in all Bionicle is an all-out science fiction/fantasy. It's about as closely connected with Polynesian culture as Star Wars is with Medieval Europe or Taoism. I wouldn't call this any sort of portrayal of Maori or Polynesian culture.


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Yep, it was indeed a blatant ripoff of your sig

Which in turn appears to be an unattributed quote from Hunter S. Thompson...
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If you're including Clamp School Detectives in this, then you're a lot better at finding depth than I am...

But seriously: CLAMP does rock, but so I think does Eva. Even if your summary of Eva were accurate, I could write an equally dismissive plot summary of Hamlet, Don Quixote, or any great work you care to mention.

Plots are useful, but the magic of a story is in the telling.


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Good list. Here's another entry:

6. I have been into anime so much longer than any of you, and I know sixteen whole phrases in Japanese, so I think you're all clueless idiots who are ruining it for us Real Fans.

I don't yet have a good response to those kinds of posts, but I sure am tired of them.

(And though I don't want to sound like the kind of jerk I'm talking about above, you might be interested to know that "otaku" is more of a general term for any kind of obsessive geek. In addition to anime otaku, there are video game otaku, military hardware otaku, idol singer otaku, tropical fish otaku...and, of course, computer otaku. Like folks who are up at 2am posting to Slashdot...)


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Neon Genesis Evangelion (or, properly, Shinseiki Evangelion)

"properly"?

If by "properly" you mean "to those who are desperate to retain a sense of coolness now that anime is growing popular," I guess you're right. We're all so impressed that you know the Japanese title.

Gainax seems fine with the title translation Neon Genesis Evangelion, so that seems "proper" enough for me. In English, at least. Which, near as I can tell, is the language of this conversation.

It's pretty late, and maybe I'm just cranky, but I have little patience for those who insist on belittling every fan who's gotten into anime recently. Hey, I've been an anime fan for many years too. If I feel the need, I'll pat myself on the back for being at the head of the wave. But mostly I'll just enjoy the fact that more fans means that more anime makes its way to the US.


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BTW, if you liked "Luminous" (that's the one about the aquatic culture, isn't it?) then you should run out right now and buy his short story collection "Axiomatic".

You may be thinking of his story "Oceanic." "Luminous" featured a computer made of light, but was really "about" mathematics itself.


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For the girls, there'd be Dream Date Linus in a tuxedo with his pet penguin, Tux, on a leash.

This sounds like a sure-fire-hit shoujo manga. Then comes the anime series, and all the merchandising that goes with it. Action figures are just the beginning!


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If you want someone to protect you, and make your decisions for you, I'm sure you can find someone willing. And you could probably afford it, without an income tax.

But why should I be forced to pay for "protections" such as a system which ensures that the only drugs made available are those that can be patented, to recoup the staggering cost of the FDA approval process?


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You're assuming the generals would pass that order along, and the troops would follow it.

I doubt that either is true.

Well said. Everyone in the chain, from the President down to the grunt with the trigger finger, takes an oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States, and therefore has a moral obligation to recognize and refuse orders which would violate this oath.


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I never pictured Harkonen as a fat, crazy King Herod knockoff, as both the movie and miniseries directors seem to do. I saw him as a cunning, smart, ambitions political and military Player. One who happened to be very obese and maybe a little crazy, sure, but not to the extent that those traits defined him.

When reading the novel, I pictured the Baron as Orson Wells, in his wine-commercial days, walking around with an unnaturally light step in phenominally expensive suits.

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'Punishing people for creating wealth' is missing the point by a huge margin. People are being punished for _breaking the law_. If they don't like the law, they can fuck off to some other country that has laws they do like.

Your argument shows that you should read a little more carefully. I specifically limited my comment about "punishing people for creating wealth" to the context of setting tax rates -- not setting criminal fines.


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Actually, I believe that kind of calculation can enter into the award in a wrongful death suit.


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There are many that are for a "flat" tax and our current "flat" fine system. Unfortunatly, flat mean regressive. What a progressive tax and fine system does is make the actual cost incurred by the person equal across economic classes.

I guess any idea can seem reasonable and fair if you get to redefine the word "actual."

To me, it seems that $100 actually equals $100. So $100 paid by Bill Gates is equal to $100 paid by me. The fact that it hurts me more than him doesn't change that.

"Progressive," in the context of setting tax rates, sounds to me like punishing people for creating wealth. If that's what you want to do, at least be clear about it.

The situation is a bit different for fines, since one of the goals is to deter crime, but I am still concerned about the idea. If you accept that punishment should be designed to "hurt" everyone to the same degree, then why not apply this to prison sentences as well? Should someone who doesn't have much of a worthwhile life outside prison have to stay in jail longer than someone with a job and a family?

Oh, wait, that's right -- the US already does something like this, with higher mandatory minimum sentences for poor people's cocaine (crack) than for rich peoples' cocaine (powder).


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The most this could do is bring our court system to a crashing halt, as thousands of lawsuits are brought to determine which sites are "obscene" and which are not. Pornography is not necessarily obscene, and if not obscene it's not illegal.

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However, I like the fact that Hagelin is a scientist.

I think Feynman had a good point when he said that a scientist looking at a non-scientific problem was as stupid as anyone else.


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Enjoy Anime Expo, Taco -- and if you feel like a trip to Colorado, next year's Nan Desu Kan is scheduled for September 21-23, 2001. Registration info is here.


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The biggest reaction I have to some of these stories about kids caught up in the Columbine aftermath is, Where are the parents of these students who are being treated unfairly by school administrators?

I'm a parent, with a child in elementary school, but I still sympathize with and understand the "geek kids" in these stories far more than I understand many of the ignorant and fearful adults out there. And if some principal ever gave my kid a choice like "give up D&D or be expelled," he'd have just a short time to either reverse that decision or be on the wrong end of a highly public lawsuit.


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If you really "want to talk about life, psychology, why we do the things we do, where we are all going," why do you seem to have such contempt for the everyday events that are important to many people? Maybe Michelle driving the tractor for the first time meant a lot to her. Maybe deer hunting is important to Uncle Buddy. Is it really that hard to ask a polite question, listen attentively, and generally act like a decent human being? You just might learn something about "life, psychology, why we do the things we do, where we are all going."


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Here's a site devoted to news & discussion of Linux and Open Source medical software:

LinuxMedNews


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This is as close as we have gotten, so far, to Anime on the big screen.

Go rent The Iron Giant. Now. I mean it. Right now. Don't keep reading this -- go watch that movie. Best American animated feature in gopod knows how long. Stands up against anything out of Japan -- and I'm a rabid Japanese anime fan.
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Try www.2600.middle-island.ny.us. Same site, but some filters don't bother blocking it.


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Possibly OT, I have to say how bewildered I am at the way American fans proudly use the term "otaku" in describing their Anime fandom. Do you have any idea of the connotations this word has in Japan?

Using "otaku" in the name of an animation con is like a target-shooting team calling themselves the "Shifty, Dangerous Paranoids Rifle Society."

I know of at least one college anime club that eventually wised up and took "otaku" out of their name, because it was scaring away the Japanese students they had hoped would join.


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What you've heard in J-pop probably was the English word "love," which often shows up in Japanese pop culture. I don't know of any Japanese word for "love" that sounds much like the word "love." The most commonly Japanese word work with a sort-of-similar meaning is "suki."
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He played the football coach-turned-alien-parasite-host in The Faculty.


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Well put.

I think this also goes for more "abstract" moral/ethical behavior (i.e., how one treats oneself and others), and as a result I strongly disagree with people who think that children should be kept away from all ideas involving sexuality, prejudice, etcetera. With no exposure to difficult issues, how can children ever learn to deal wiuth them in a mature way?

I've sometimes used this analogy: If you live on a small island, you can do two things to help keep your children safe from drowning: you can keep them far away from the water, and pretend it doesn't exist. Or, you can teach them to swim. Which is better in the long run?

Me, I'm trying to teach my son to "swim" -- i.e., to make good decisions in a dangerous and complicated world.

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Sounds to me like your brother has an older family member who respects him and spends time with him.

That's probably the most necessary thing for growing up stable and sane. It certainly seems to matter more than what video games a kid plays!

Kudos!
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Lawd, get this Pac some soul, clarify what's what!
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Yep. Me, I'm just a lacto-ovo-carno vegitarian.

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If a company is able to arbitrarily go against their posted privacy policy, then consumers should be able to do the same in reverse for any other similar type of contract. IE, I should be able to click on one of Microsoft's "I Agree" buttons on one of their click-through licenses, and then feel free to go against it at a whim. They are both equally valid contracts, [ ... ]

The ad you see in the paper for a hard disk at Fry's is not a contract; the vendor has not entered into a binding agreement to sell you the item at the advertised price.

Good point, but the situation with Toysmart seems to be more complicated than a simple truth-in-advertising case. With Toysmart, people (including me) took affirmative action -- i.e., giving over personal information -- in reliance upon Toysmart's representations about its privacy policy.

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DISCLAIMER: I am a lawyer, but this post is not legal advice. If you think you may need legal advice, consult an attorney licensed to practice in your jurisdiction.

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Another reason not to invoke the First Amendment:

It's distressing, how often this has to be pointed out, but various comments here suggest that it's time to do so again:

The First Amendment has no bearing on dealings between private entities. The First Amendment, like the rest of the Bill of Rights and the U.S. Constitution, concerns the power of government. A private corporation's actions might be wrong, or illegal, but they simply can't be "unconstitutional."

Citing the First Amendment regarding dealings between private, non-governmental parties is like citing the rules of baseball in a hockey game. They just don't apply.

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This could also support the Jar Jar Binks = J. R. "Bob" Dobbs theory.

Watch that Luck Plane slant, man!


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Good points, and I agree with you, but the MP3-linking is made a little more complicated because by the fact that the proscribed "object" in question is information. It makes the line a bit fuzzy.

(But I believe there is a line, and that you've got a good sense of where it is.)
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The article seems to recognize this with Option 1, "try to handle the matter amicably and directly with the registrant," and I think that "find another domain name" is also something that should be considered. Choosing a different domain doesn't sound like a very "techie" solution to me; rather, it seems like a possible option that a lawyer should bring to a client's attention.

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Note: I am a lawyer, but this post does not constitute legal advice. If you think you need legal advice, contact an attorney licensed to practice in your jurisdiction.
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Apparantly there is a terrible amount of legislation, along with the wasted expense and time, necessary to make the Internet "kid friendly," so why not just cut the crap and make the smart decision: Ban kids from using the Internet.

And can you imagine the intrusive measures that would be required to ensure no kids were on the net? They'd make the worst of today's governmental restrictions & privacy threats seem like total freedom.

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But I am really interested, what is the Gibson dream that we are moving towards?

C'mon, you know. The one where we all get to be security guards and hang out with stylish Japanese academics and cute bike messengers with tight bods.

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A new mantra for Linux missionaries?

WWWD?
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Seymour Cray is there, and so is William Burroughs! No, not *that* William Burroughs. (-;

The two Burroughs are related -- tha inventor is the great-grandfather (or is it grandfather?) of the writer.

For some reason, the world made more sense to me when I learned that.


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