If you really need high sensitivity, the optical mice will not measure up to the boomslang The thing is incredible -- you just rest the base of your hand on the mousepad, and move the mouse with your fingers.
Dust is not so much a problem, but the parts in the boomslang are pretty sensitive to stuff like hairs (it gets is high sensitivity by having a big ball but small rollers). I have had to clean it several times. Optical mice have their own share of glitches, too, though you can't clean them to fix it.;)
Also, the boomslang has a lower form factor and bigger buttons (and a nicer scroll wheel) than the optical mice I've used.
When I was 8, I used a mercury switch out of a thermostat and a smoke alarm to create a "security system" for my room. I bet you're looking for something more sophisticated, but mercury switches are pretty fucken cool and they will make you feel like Macgyver.
> He threw out good results as well as bad. If you were doing a titration and someone came > in the room and took a leak in the beaker (and you knew about it), I'd hope you'd throw > out the results of that one as well.
Yeah, it used to really piss off my chemistry teacher when I used to do that.
And why would I want to spend that much time to write a program just for my own pleasure of making free fonts? I should NOT have to go to that much trouble just to be safe from the law.
> Strange things happen when you only quote half a sentence: "No person shall be held to > answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime." "Congress shall make no law." "No > person shall be a Senator." "No money shall be drawn from the treasury."
Thanks. Getting this out into the typography community is much more important than getting it out to the slashdot community, since typographers are of course Monotype's target audience...
I thought about ex post facto, but their complaint is about my *current* distribution of the program. You might be able to make it fly if you could argue that "publication" occurred in 1997 and I haven't been "distributing" it since then (even though it's on my web page, I haven't touched that page in 5 years), but that might be a tough sell. I've got much stronger arguments...
Here's an interesting tidbit. As it turns out, fonts cannot be copyrighted in the US. Only the truetype "programs" that generate them can. (See comp.fonts FAQ.)
Therefore, it would almost certainly be legal to write a program that takes copyrighted truetype "programs" as input, and produces equivalent programs (that is, they generate the same typeface) that are not copyrighted. It would also need to change the names to avoid trademark infringement. If I did this, and also changed the embedding bit, would that not put me in the clear of any possible DMCA claim?
I don't mind. It's also in the public domain, so I can't stop you. But, it's important that you are not acting in concert with me -- your actions are independent. (That also of course makes it harder for them to use legal measures to get it taken down.)
Writing new programs that do the same thing would also make it quite annoying for them...
Probably not. A device has to be primarily designed for the purpose of circumvention, or marketed for circumvention.
Most importantly, though, "circumvention" only occurs if it is done without the authority of the copyright holder. If a format is open, and therefore many people (including the author of the program, perhaps) have reason to modify their works with the program, they of course have authority -- so it would be hard to argue that the device is designed "primarily" for circumvention. That's my main argument for this Embed thing.
In order for embed to be covered by the DMCA, the program has to be primarily designed for circumvention. Circumvention only occurs when the act is without the authority of the copyright holder. In this case, I am the copyright holder, so of course I grant myself authority to modify the bits!
(There are several other reasons why their argument doesn't hold that I give, but this is the strongest...) I think their legal argument is faulty.
Well, I didn't really want this to get onto slashdot unless they threatened me any more, but, I guess I can't control the internet.;)
Anyway, in case you're curious, I've been pushing their buttons a little bit, with the help of Dave Touretzky, and my current guess is that they have given up on me. (I haven't heard back since the letter I sent them that's on that page.) But I will be happy to go to court over this retarded case, and the EFF has informally offered to help if I do. (Donate!)
In case you're interested, my fonts, which I've been making since 1993 (and which are free for you to use for practically anything) are at fonts.tom7.com.
Slashdot Mirror
If your odds are worse than 50%, just stick a big fat 'not' in front of your oracle, and now they are better than 50%!
Not to mention that the poster doesn't read slashdot either, since this same story was already posted earlier today.
It's not a trackball, it's a "regular" mouse.
Yeah, but it's MY bacteria...
I had to clean my boomslang a few times, but it's been working great, and I've had it for two years.
If you really need high sensitivity, the optical mice will not measure up to the boomslang The thing is incredible -- you just rest the base of your hand on the mousepad, and move the mouse with your fingers.
;)
Dust is not so much a problem, but the parts in the boomslang are pretty sensitive to stuff like hairs (it gets is high sensitivity by having a big ball but small rollers). I have had to clean it several times. Optical mice have their own share of glitches, too, though you can't clean them to fix it.
Also, the boomslang has a lower form factor and bigger buttons (and a nicer scroll wheel) than the optical mice I've used.
Just use a 128-bit hash of the person. That way, user ids are unique, easy to calculate, but hard to guess.
Piss in the titration beaker.
When I was 8, I used a mercury switch out of a thermostat and a smoke alarm to create a "security system" for my room. I bet you're looking for something more sophisticated, but mercury switches are pretty fucken cool and they will make you feel like Macgyver.
> He threw out good results as well as bad. If you were doing a titration and someone came
> in the room and took a leak in the beaker (and you knew about it), I'd hope you'd throw
> out the results of that one as well.
Yeah, it used to really piss off my chemistry teacher when I used to do that.
I don't believe that it's being widely used to break the law. All the comments I've received have been from people using it for legitimate purposes.
And why would I want to spend that much time to write a program just for my own pleasure of making free fonts? I should NOT have to go to that much trouble just to be safe from the law.
Very interesting... thanks for that link.
... or you could just use my fonts, which are free and pro-freedom. ;)
> Strange things happen when you only quote half a sentence: "No person shall be held to
> answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime." "Congress shall make no law." "No
> person shall be a Senator." "No money shall be drawn from the treasury."
This post is genius. Kudos.
hehe. Thanks. Who is this?
SML RULEZ!
Thanks. Getting this out into the typography community is much more important than getting it out to the slashdot community, since typographers are of course Monotype's target audience...
I thought about ex post facto, but their complaint is about my *current* distribution of the program. You might be able to make it fly if you could argue that "publication" occurred in 1997 and I haven't been "distributing" it since then (even though it's on my web page, I haven't touched that page in 5 years), but that might be a tough sell. I've got much stronger arguments...
;)
PS. Lawyers don't read slashdot.
Here's an interesting tidbit. .)
As it turns out, fonts cannot be copyrighted in the US. Only the truetype "programs" that generate them can. (See comp.fonts FAQ
Therefore, it would almost certainly be legal to write a program that takes copyrighted truetype "programs" as input, and produces equivalent programs (that is, they generate the same typeface) that are not copyrighted. It would also need to change the names to avoid trademark infringement. If I did this, and also changed the embedding bit, would that not put me in the clear of any possible DMCA claim?
I don't mind. It's also in the public domain, so I can't stop you.
But, it's important that you are not acting in concert with me -- your actions are independent. (That also of course makes it harder for them to use legal measures to get it taken down.)
Writing new programs that do the same thing would also make it quite annoying for them...
Probably not. A device has to be primarily designed for the purpose of circumvention, or marketed for circumvention.
Most importantly, though, "circumvention" only occurs if it is done without the authority of the copyright holder. If a format is open, and therefore many people (including the author of the program, perhaps) have reason to modify their works with the program, they of course have authority -- so it would be hard to argue that the device is designed "primarily" for circumvention. That's my main argument for this Embed thing.
Perhaps that is the real downfall of the DMCA...?
Did you read my response?
In order for embed to be covered by the DMCA, the program has to be primarily designed for circumvention. Circumvention only occurs when the act is without the authority of the copyright holder. In this case, I am the copyright holder, so of course I grant myself authority to modify the bits!
(There are several other reasons why their argument doesn't hold that I give, but this is the strongest...) I think their legal argument is faulty.
Yes, I'm sure that Paul Stack (Stack & Filpi Chtd.) will love to hear about it, and maybe even you'll get your own Cease and Desist letter!
Anyway, in case you're curious, I've been pushing their buttons a little bit, with the help of Dave Touretzky , and my current guess is that they have given up on me. (I haven't heard back since the letter I sent them that's on that page.) But I will be happy to go to court over this retarded case, and the EFF has informally offered to help if I do. ( Donate! )
In case you're interested, my fonts, which I've been making since 1993 (and which are free for you to use for practically anything) are at fonts.tom7.com .
The plural of 'virus' is 'viruses'. Cut out the pseudo-intellectual shit.