This letter is to inform you of possible patent infringement of US Patent Number 442153, also known as the "3 step joke" patent. This patent, granted in 1976, gives user provigilman exclusive rights to the use or developement of that joke, and all variations of it. Please cease and desist your use of it immediately while we discuss how millions you will pay up in the settlement. Thank you for your cash....I mean time.
It's also fun just for it's own sake. I don't "compete" with my friends, or even try to keep up with general leaderboards. Unlocking achievements is, however, a fun little extra in games, and gives you some thing to look back through after you beat (and/or sell) a game.
With Oblivion, for example, I can look back over all the guild rankings I got and what not. Or in Mass Effect I can look back and see what abilities I unlocked. Or with Gears of War I can remember how hard it was to beat the Berserker on hard (plus, it's got an awesome name: "My love for you is like a truck...")
They can also give you fun objectives to try for in games. There's a great one called "Pacifist" in Geometry Wars. You get it by surviving for 60 seconds without firing a shot...very hard, but also a lot of fun to try and get it.:D
So, while you may find the competitive aspect of it stupid, there's plenty of other reasons that some of us enjoy racking up Gamerscore points and the associated achievements.
Funny...last I checked, Wiccans actually believed more in stuff like nature spirits and not demons and Satan. Now who's telling other people what to believe?
And actually, considering that the Bible says we're not to judge, a Christian shouldn't be judging those people anyway. They're free to espouse their beliefs and try to get them to see their way of thinking, just as the Wiccan is, but they're not supposed to judge them if they refuse those beliefs.
Just because you've met some judgemental Christians, doesn't mean they're representative of everyone.
Even worse though, Media Defender allegedly committed a crime in response to a perfectly legal activity. The only thing on that torrent tracker, prior to Media Defender injecting all sorts of nastiness into it, was just their own videos and podcasts. Basically, it's no different than an RSS feed you'd get from some place like/., they just used BitTorrent to do it.
So they asked you no questions at all, and the only interaction you had with the lawyers was that you asked for clarification on a law? Is that all that happened, or was there more?
Cuz with your contempt for the legal process and obvious disregard and disrespect for authority, I wouldn't want you on a jury either. You'd be someone I would worry about...maybe you'd try to go for jury nullification just to "spite the man", or you would refuse to really look at any of the evidence presented by the cops you say you would so willingly massacre.
But no, it's just easier to believe that it was some arbitrary comment you made that got you booted...
Seriously though, you just hit the nail on the head. Where are the Blu-Ray movies with multiple branching plots like House on Haunted Hill 2? Where are the players that are actually to play the $30+ movies I'll be buying? Why should I get anything but a PS3 as my media device?
IANAL, but I would believe that the line is drawn at intent and the dilberateness of the act. A sprinkler system going off on a timer while someone happens to be on your lawn is one thing, triggering a device to purposefully spray someone is an entirely different matter...whether or not the device is mobile.
I said he worked at the company for 29 years, he wasn't stealing from them for 29 years. He wouldn't have been in a position to for probably at least 10 of those years, until he moved up sufficiently that he got a company car and a company credit card.
And why can't they take his pension? What is a pension really, other than a reward from the company for years of good service to them. It's not like it was his 401k that he pays into. He lied to the company and stole from them, to the tune of at least $3000. Why should he be rewarded for that? That's like saying he should get unemployment from them as well.
Yeah, you know, as opposed to the guy spending $3K in fuel for his personal vehicle over a long period of time that comes right out of the department budget. Noo....couldn't have anything to do with that.:D
Same with AT&T. We have a department called "Asset Protection" that puts out a very Cops-like newsletter every quarter. Everytime there's some story about some guy with like 29 working here that gets fired after using his corporate card to pay for personal stuff. These guys lose their pensions, their benefits, everything... They take it very seriously.
What's really sad is that when we talk about the head of SCO or Microsoft, we require much more evil before we start throwing rocks than we do for Google or Wikipedia
What are you smoking, and can I have some??? This slashdot, the home of "M$". The mere mention of Microsoft or Bill Gates is enough evil for people around here to start slamming them.
Also, after RTFA, I found myself wondering why this woman had Jimmy's personal e-mail address two years before they started dating... Perhaps he doesn't consider affairs "dating"???
What could this anonymous person have done to him that could possibly be "unpleasant"?
RTFA dude...
From the Article:
Facing an e-mailed threat of being named, Richard Frenkel, a director in Cisco Systems' intellectual property group, identified himself on Saturday as the author of Patent Troll Tracker
Someone probably found out who he was, and may have even been trying to extort money...something like "I'll get 15K for saying who you are, you pay me 5K and I'll keep quiet."
At the very least though, he basically got an e-mail saying "Richard, I know who you are...come clean, or I WILL".
Well if you're playing WoW naked then it isn't a problem, is it? I mean....not that, you know...I do, or anything....it was just a suggestion...if you're into that..... *runs*
Yes, but it reacts to the UV light...so all you have to do is replace your normal closet bulb with a bright UV lamp and then hang your clothes up for the night with the light on!
Obviously, this guy has never me at a Halo party... I don't go into "Zen" when I die, I just do a lot of cursing.
For example, spawning on a grendade that kills you about 0.5 seconds after you come back usually elicits the following response: "&%#! you mother #@%!$&, that was bull$&#!"
I think by "fact", he meant "law". We have very few laws in science, almost everything is a theory. For example, with gravity, what causes it? We know that mass has something to do with it, but how does it affect gravitational pull? Are there gravitons? Etc..
The ability to "read your dreams" would likely fall under the 5th ammendment though. The reason that physical evidence is not covered is that it's not really testimony. You're not being asked to cause yourself to present evidence against yourself.
In the case of dreams though they're created by your own subconscious mind, so they would be, in effect, a form of testimony against yourself. They're essentially asking your subconscious mind what you're thinking about.
Synchronous rotation would probably destroy our chances of finding life on it, but it might still be usable to us. The regions near the terminus should be more moderate in climate, provided the temperature and pressure differential doesn't create a lot of adverse weather conditions. Not ideal for us, but certainly more habitable than some gas giant closer than Mercury's orbit.
As you said though, it's also possible that there's nothing because the gas giants disrupted planetary formation. Even if that's what eventually find though, we at least have more data that shows another solar system like ours is a bit more possible. Afterall, the gas giants here are roughly the size of ours, so if you just increase the size of the star and the orbital distances then you'll still have a nearly scale model of Sol.
A PC and a watch aren't very similar, but a PC and a laptop are, even if they're different scales. One could also assume, from knowing that they're somewhat similar, that the laptop might contain some of the same components such as an HDD, RAM and a modem/ethernet/wifi device.
The same applies here. We're seeing a sun that's roughly half the size of our Sun with at least two planets roughly the size of some our gas giants that are orbiting it at half the distance. Since previously we've only seen stuff that would be impossible in our solar system, this is the closest we've come to it.
Now, no one is saying it's identical. The two large planets could be the only things in the system, or there could be some small rocky worlds closer in that we can't see yet. The fact that two planets that we can detect are similar in scale to two of ours could infer that there are other planets similar in scale to our own in orbits similar to our own.
There could be a Mars-size planet in orbit more like that of Venus, but because the sun is smaller and cooler it might actually be temperate like Earth. Out of what we've seen so far, this is the best hope for finding Earth-like life, or a possible colonization opportunity for humans.
Slashdot Mirror
This letter is to inform you of possible patent infringement of US Patent Number 442153, also known as the "3 step joke" patent. This patent, granted in 1976, gives user provigilman exclusive rights to the use or developement of that joke, and all variations of it. Please cease and desist your use of it immediately while we discuss how millions you will pay up in the settlement. Thank you for your cash....I mean time.
With Oblivion, for example, I can look back over all the guild rankings I got and what not. Or in Mass Effect I can look back and see what abilities I unlocked. Or with Gears of War I can remember how hard it was to beat the Berserker on hard (plus, it's got an awesome name: "My love for you is like a truck...")
They can also give you fun objectives to try for in games. There's a great one called "Pacifist" in Geometry Wars. You get it by surviving for 60 seconds without firing a shot...very hard, but also a lot of fun to try and get it. :D
So, while you may find the competitive aspect of it stupid, there's plenty of other reasons that some of us enjoy racking up Gamerscore points and the associated achievements.
And actually, considering that the Bible says we're not to judge, a Christian shouldn't be judging those people anyway. They're free to espouse their beliefs and try to get them to see their way of thinking, just as the Wiccan is, but they're not supposed to judge them if they refuse those beliefs.
Just because you've met some judgemental Christians, doesn't mean they're representative of everyone.
As opposed to all the atheist nutjobs who tell me what to believe?
Even worse though, Media Defender allegedly committed a crime in response to a perfectly legal activity. The only thing on that torrent tracker, prior to Media Defender injecting all sorts of nastiness into it, was just their own videos and podcasts. Basically, it's no different than an RSS feed you'd get from some place like /., they just used BitTorrent to do it.
Cuz with your contempt for the legal process and obvious disregard and disrespect for authority, I wouldn't want you on a jury either. You'd be someone I would worry about...maybe you'd try to go for jury nullification just to "spite the man", or you would refuse to really look at any of the evidence presented by the cops you say you would so willingly massacre.
But no, it's just easier to believe that it was some arbitrary comment you made that got you booted...
How about a moment of silence next time you use that cell phone that bounces a signal off the satellites that he envisioned? =)
Seriously though, you just hit the nail on the head. Where are the Blu-Ray movies with multiple branching plots like House on Haunted Hill 2? Where are the players that are actually to play the $30+ movies I'll be buying? Why should I get anything but a PS3 as my media device?
IANAL, but I would believe that the line is drawn at intent and the dilberateness of the act. A sprinkler system going off on a timer while someone happens to be on your lawn is one thing, triggering a device to purposefully spray someone is an entirely different matter...whether or not the device is mobile.
And why can't they take his pension? What is a pension really, other than a reward from the company for years of good service to them. It's not like it was his 401k that he pays into. He lied to the company and stole from them, to the tune of at least $3000. Why should he be rewarded for that? That's like saying he should get unemployment from them as well.
Yeah, you know, as opposed to the guy spending $3K in fuel for his personal vehicle over a long period of time that comes right out of the department budget. Noo....couldn't have anything to do with that. :D
Same with AT&T. We have a department called "Asset Protection" that puts out a very Cops-like newsletter every quarter. Everytime there's some story about some guy with like 29 working here that gets fired after using his corporate card to pay for personal stuff. These guys lose their pensions, their benefits, everything... They take it very seriously.
What are you smoking, and can I have some??? This slashdot, the home of "M$". The mere mention of Microsoft or Bill Gates is enough evil for people around here to start slamming them.
Also, after RTFA, I found myself wondering why this woman had Jimmy's personal e-mail address two years before they started dating... Perhaps he doesn't consider affairs "dating"???
RTFA dude...
From the Article:
Someone probably found out who he was, and may have even been trying to extort money...something like "I'll get 15K for saying who you are, you pay me 5K and I'll keep quiet."
At the very least though, he basically got an e-mail saying "Richard, I know who you are...come clean, or I WILL".
You forgot the MAFIAA.
Well if you're playing WoW naked then it isn't a problem, is it? I mean....not that, you know...I do, or anything....it was just a suggestion...if you're into that..... *runs*
Yes, but it reacts to the UV light...so all you have to do is replace your normal closet bulb with a bright UV lamp and then hang your clothes up for the night with the light on!
For example, spawning on a grendade that kills you about 0.5 seconds after you come back usually elicits the following response: "&%#! you mother #@%!$&, that was bull$&#!"
Oh great, now us guys will never be able to find them!
Well, that, and VHS had porn.
They should probably just make it "G-Fi" (pronounced as 'gee-fi') in order to avoid that confusion.
I think by "fact", he meant "law". We have very few laws in science, almost everything is a theory. For example, with gravity, what causes it? We know that mass has something to do with it, but how does it affect gravitational pull? Are there gravitons? Etc..
In the case of dreams though they're created by your own subconscious mind, so they would be, in effect, a form of testimony against yourself. They're essentially asking your subconscious mind what you're thinking about.
As you said though, it's also possible that there's nothing because the gas giants disrupted planetary formation. Even if that's what eventually find though, we at least have more data that shows another solar system like ours is a bit more possible. Afterall, the gas giants here are roughly the size of ours, so if you just increase the size of the star and the orbital distances then you'll still have a nearly scale model of Sol.
The same applies here. We're seeing a sun that's roughly half the size of our Sun with at least two planets roughly the size of some our gas giants that are orbiting it at half the distance. Since previously we've only seen stuff that would be impossible in our solar system, this is the closest we've come to it.
Now, no one is saying it's identical. The two large planets could be the only things in the system, or there could be some small rocky worlds closer in that we can't see yet. The fact that two planets that we can detect are similar in scale to two of ours could infer that there are other planets similar in scale to our own in orbits similar to our own.
There could be a Mars-size planet in orbit more like that of Venus, but because the sun is smaller and cooler it might actually be temperate like Earth. Out of what we've seen so far, this is the best hope for finding Earth-like life, or a possible colonization opportunity for humans.