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Domain: the-funneled-web.com

Stories and comments across the archive that link to the-funneled-web.com.

Comments · 7

  1. Re:Precedent existed, all right. by rkent · · Score: 1 · on Supreme Court Rules against Grokster
    When a court cites "common law", they're saying that the principle is so well defined that they won't bother listing the case that set it, or in fact, that the origin is lost in antiquity.

    Sometimes, but not in this case. They made a citation so prominent that it was included in the squib (where citations are usually omitted): Sony v. Universal City Studios, 464 U.S. at 486, which reads in part:
    It is well established that liability for copyright infringement can be imposed on persons other than those who actually carry out the infringing activity. Kalem Co. v. Harper Brothers, 222 U.S. 55, 62-63, 32 S.Ct. 20, 21-22, 56 L.Ed. 92 (1911); 3 M. Nimmer, Copyright 12.04[A] (1982); see Twentieth Century Music Corp. v. Aiken, 422 U.S. 151, 160, n. 11, 95 S.Ct. 2040, 2046, n. 11, 45 L.Ed.2d 84 (1975); Buck v. Jewell-LaSalle Realty Co., 283 U.S. 191, 198, 51 S.Ct. 410, 411, 75 L.Ed. 971 (1931). Although the liability provision of the 1976 Act provides simply that "[a]nyone who violates any of the exclusive rights of the copyright owner ... is an infringer of the copyright," 17 U.S.C. 501(a), the House and Senate Reports demonstrate that Congress intended to retain judicial doctrines of contributory infringement. 1975 Senate Report 57; 1976 House Report 61.


    So, there's the common law they're talking about. Now if you want to say, where is the support for those cases, my response is, it's turtles all the way down.
  2. Re:Obligatory question by aceat64 · · Score: 1 · on Simulating the Whole Universe

    Nothing quite like an anecdote from Stephen Hawking.

  3. It'll be recursive by mangu · · Score: 1 · on Smart Systems Threaten More Jobs Than Outsourcing

    Well, I suppose maintenance will be done by turtles.

  4. Re:Easy Answer by missing000 · · Score: 3, Informative · on Magnifying by Powers of Ten

    Just Turtles.

    It's from "A Brief History Of Time" (Stephen Hawking)

    From http://www.the-funneled-web.com/hawking.htm:

    A well-known scientist (some say it was Bertrand Russell) once gave a public lecture on astronomy. He described how the earth orbits around the sun and how the sun, in turn, orbits around the centre of a vast collection of stars called our galaxy.

    At the end of the lecture, a little old lady at the back of the room got up and said: "What you have told us is rubbish.
    The world is really a flat plate supported on the back of a giant tortoise."

    The scientist gave a superior smile before replying, "What is the tortoise standing on?"

    "You're very clever, young man, very clever," said the old lady. "But it's turtles all the way down."

  5. Re:What about the Firewalls? by UrgleHoth · · Score: 1 · on Gates: 'You don't need perfect code' for Security

    Yep, then it is turtles all the way down.

  6. It's specialists, all the way down[*] by Thud457 · · Score: 1 · on Growth Job Sector: Freelance Technical Support
    "Oh, boo-hoo. If they can't fix their own damned problems, they are obviously inferior to me. I don't treat cockroaches or leeches with the same respect I treat people. And these 'People' only make it in a biological sense.

    They don't deserve my time or respect. That's why they have to pay to talk to me. "

    I sure hope your doctor doesn't have that attitude. Or maybe I do...

    ([*] cite for It's turtles, all the way down)

  7. Re:Degrading Orbit by sublimusasterisk · · Score: 1 · on Using Sling Shot Power to Hurl Into Orbit


    Haha! So we have turtles all the way down and slings all the way up, eh? I like it.