I would think that anybody who's ever sent a text message from a cell phone would get the concept of "click twice slowly to do x, click twice fast to do y" pretty easily. Anybody who's getting all bent out of shape over a simple double click will have all kinds of fun times waiting for them in "Administrative Tools" after they study hard and master this difficult technique.
And all of us older people need to either learn the trick or hire a teenager to operate our computers and download our pr0n for us.
As I sit looking out my window across a lovely but frigid blanket of white to the filthy, freezing slush on the street and notice a pedestrian being blown off the sidewalk by an icy, knife-edged wind, I think of setting up a nice little pirate factory to legally crank out stuff that will drive the RIAA to frothing, incoherent rage on one of the nicer Caribbean islands.
And a drink. A drink with an umbrella in it. Could life be better?
If they manage to model a weasel's brain in a computer, I can predict the plot of the next Terminator movie. Arnold appears in California and becomes a politician. Oh, wait a minute...
I wish once in a while people would note, at least parenthetically, that the U.S. Patent Office has become something of a joke under Bush. It's even been known to ignore its own rules from time to time.
Could I be forgiven for wondering if this might explain Microsoft's preeminence?
Please allow me to offer the Geekaflop, which will be defined as the number of gigaflops per bag of Chitos, as determined by the weight loss of 10 MIT students pedaling flat-out for 10 minutes to keep the supercomputer powered up.
The new term would be abbreviated "HaM"(Hamster Megacycles), thereby incorporating the longstanding scientific truism "We stand on the shoulders of giants".
And to those who claim Vista has been treated unfairly at/. by a bunch of snobby, anti-Microsoft uber-nerds, there is is in black and white. One of Microsoft's major sources of free publicity has just offered to speak at the funeral.
It takes one back. The sneaky-peaky buzz about something called, gasp, "Longhorn". The breathless, it's almost-just-about-nearly-any-day-now blurbs.
And now, this. The honeymoon is truly over, and the groom is sporting a frying-pan-sized lump on his forehead.
This is a fascinating concept, and deserves further expansion.
Perhaps if public surveillance cameras of the kind used in London, England ever gain popularity in North America, the feeds should be broadcast uninterrupted on a portion of all that public bandwidth they're planning to sell off when television goes digital.
If there is no public record of an arrest on those cameras, then one must be made on a police camera that is surrendered to the arrested person's representative immediately. Otherwise, no charges. Period.
I understand the list creators are related in some hillbilly/illegal way to the marketing dickheads who try to convince you three months' salary is what you should spend on an engagement ring.
Now if only there was a way to get major news outlets to pay more attention to the chinks in the armour, we'd be building up a good lead on points. The media are great at picking up on boo-hoo stories, not so good at follow-up.
Thanks for an informative and interesting view on the matter. I'm Canadian, and we're struggling to stop our Bush-wannabe Prime Minister from selling us down the river with a copyright bill that's almost certainly written by the pricks in the industry. Your remarks on Oregon are extremely interesting in that context.
I think we're 100% in agreement about the RIAA and all the associated leeches. A minor difference might be in precisely how far up their bodies we'd like to kick their 'nads. It's the kind of thing I'd be willing to put in some serious training for. and it would be a win/win competition. And yes, steel-toed boots would be allowed.
I think you're missing the point. It's the RIAA that chooses these cases, and they're choosing them precisely because of the publicity they generate. They want the average, non-tech-oriented person to think, "My God, if they'll even take the rent money from a blind, crippled child, what would they do to me if it turns out they have some problem with those CD's I copied for the cottage? I know it's supposed to be legal for me to do that, but what if they come after me anyway? It will cost me a lot less than $3,000 to just buy more CD's, and maybe buy another set for the car, too." The RIAA needs you to police yourself, because that's their only hope of getting you and the millions like you back under their thumb.
It's also important for people who care about civil liberties to highlight these cases because in addition to their terror factor, they also point out very clearly that the RIAA may not be able to win a case on its merits. That could be an important thing for you to know if you're ever targeted by the pricks. You might decide that you won't meekly fork over the three grand, and if you're particularly bloody-minded, you might decide to force a case to its conclusion and put a really serious dent in their operations.
Let me put it this way: You don't judge the abilities of an average healthy adult antelope by looking at the one the wild dogs manage to pull down. That's the mistake the RIAA wants you to make.
Why is this even an issue? I thought this is why links and hypertext and the like were invented. You read the theorem. If you want more, you click on the funny blue writing that says something mystifying like "Proof". If you don't want to read more, you move on.
Somewhat ironic that they put all that time and effort building anti-piracy measures into Vista, and now nobody wants it. And then the final, delicious twist: the anti-piracy crap will sometimes shut down a legitimate installation. I bet that makes the user feel all warm and cuddly.
As long as nobody makes any snide remarks if the girlfriend and I sneak the odd pitcher of chocolate syrup out of the place instead of using it on our ice cream.
I'm no lawyer, and I don't know the details, but I seem to remember reading that these creeps have to make some use of the name, they can't just scoop it up and squat on it forever. I'm sure somebody here can give you chapter and verse on this.
You aren't going to believe this, but I swear to it by everything I hold sacred: Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle were at that conference and I got to hang out with them a fair bit. As a matter of fact, Pournelle directed me to a session I otherwise would have missed where several scientists presented papers that exposed Reagan's Star Wars initiative for the multi-billion dollar cash grab it was. The little university newsletter I was writing for got to be one of the first publications in print to use that term.
I've still got one of Niven's business cards. A gate-fold model (like a double card folded in half) with a graphic of the Ringworld on it.
I don't see what all the fuss is about. When your only choice is between the Democrats and the Republicans, who gives a crap whether the machine you vote on is rigged? It's like being offered a choice of getting thrown in a shark tank or a piranha tank.
No, just cashing in on the joke. I've actually been following Cassini from the get-go, and I'm fascinated by what's turned up.
A century or two ago, my school sent me to the last AAAS meeting in Toronto and I got to see the live data feed from the JPL when Voyager sent back those "braided" ring pictures. Right in the room, almost as fast as they arrived, two or three scientists figured out that a pair of shepherding moons might be responsible for the braiding. They were right, as it turned out.
There was more amazing science on display at that conference than I've ever seen in my life.
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I would think that anybody who's ever sent a text message from a cell phone would get the concept of "click twice slowly to do x, click twice fast to do y" pretty easily. Anybody who's getting all bent out of shape over a simple double click will have all kinds of fun times waiting for them in "Administrative Tools" after they study hard and master this difficult technique.
And all of us older people need to either learn the trick or hire a teenager to operate our computers and download our pr0n for us.
As I sit looking out my window across a lovely but frigid blanket of white to the filthy, freezing slush on the street and notice a pedestrian being blown off the sidewalk by an icy, knife-edged wind, I think of setting up a nice little pirate factory to legally crank out stuff that will drive the RIAA to frothing, incoherent rage on one of the nicer Caribbean islands.
And a drink. A drink with an umbrella in it. Could life be better?
As somebody with a pair of velcro trainers, I deeply resent your comparison.
If they manage to model a weasel's brain in a computer, I can predict the plot of the next Terminator movie. Arnold appears in California and becomes a politician. Oh, wait a minute...
Well, not for the reasons described, but my PDA likes Opera, so it makes sense to have it on my PC, too.
Good God! You mean there's a Hot Lesbian Action gene??? I gotta get out more.
Sorry, I'll try to be more grown-up in the future.
I wish once in a while people would note, at least parenthetically, that the U.S. Patent Office has become something of a joke under Bush. It's even been known to ignore its own rules from time to time.
Could I be forgiven for wondering if this might explain Microsoft's preeminence?
Please allow me to offer the Geekaflop, which will be defined as the number of gigaflops per bag of Chitos, as determined by the weight loss of 10 MIT students pedaling flat-out for 10 minutes to keep the supercomputer powered up.
The new term would be abbreviated "HaM"(Hamster Megacycles), thereby incorporating the longstanding scientific truism "We stand on the shoulders of giants".
And to those who claim Vista has been treated unfairly at /. by a bunch of snobby, anti-Microsoft uber-nerds, there is is in black and white. One of Microsoft's major sources of free publicity has just offered to speak at the funeral.
It takes one back. The sneaky-peaky buzz about something called, gasp, "Longhorn". The breathless, it's almost-just-about-nearly-any-day-now blurbs.
And now, this. The honeymoon is truly over, and the groom is sporting a frying-pan-sized lump on his forehead.
The U.S. isn't doomed, but there is certainly a huge, deep pile of shit to be shoveled if it's going to get back to what it was.
This is a fascinating concept, and deserves further expansion.
Perhaps if public surveillance cameras of the kind used in London, England ever gain popularity in North America, the feeds should be broadcast uninterrupted on a portion of all that public bandwidth they're planning to sell off when television goes digital.
If there is no public record of an arrest on those cameras, then one must be made on a police camera that is surrendered to the arrested person's representative immediately. Otherwise, no charges. Period.
I understand the list creators are related in some hillbilly/illegal way to the marketing dickheads who try to convince you three months' salary is what you should spend on an engagement ring.
Now if only there was a way to get major news outlets to pay more attention to the chinks in the armour, we'd be building up a good lead on points. The media are great at picking up on boo-hoo stories, not so good at follow-up.
Thanks for an informative and interesting view on the matter. I'm Canadian, and we're struggling to stop our Bush-wannabe Prime Minister from selling us down the river with a copyright bill that's almost certainly written by the pricks in the industry. Your remarks on Oregon are extremely interesting in that context.
I think we're 100% in agreement about the RIAA and all the associated leeches. A minor difference might be in precisely how far up their bodies we'd like to kick their 'nads. It's the kind of thing I'd be willing to put in some serious training for. and it would be a win/win competition. And yes, steel-toed boots would be allowed.
I think you're missing the point. It's the RIAA that chooses these cases, and they're choosing them precisely because of the publicity they generate. They want the average, non-tech-oriented person to think, "My God, if they'll even take the rent money from a blind, crippled child, what would they do to me if it turns out they have some problem with those CD's I copied for the cottage? I know it's supposed to be legal for me to do that, but what if they come after me anyway? It will cost me a lot less than $3,000 to just buy more CD's, and maybe buy another set for the car, too." The RIAA needs you to police yourself, because that's their only hope of getting you and the millions like you back under their thumb.
It's also important for people who care about civil liberties to highlight these cases because in addition to their terror factor, they also point out very clearly that the RIAA may not be able to win a case on its merits. That could be an important thing for you to know if you're ever targeted by the pricks. You might decide that you won't meekly fork over the three grand, and if you're particularly bloody-minded, you might decide to force a case to its conclusion and put a really serious dent in their operations.
Let me put it this way: You don't judge the abilities of an average healthy adult antelope by looking at the one the wild dogs manage to pull down. That's the mistake the RIAA wants you to make.
For more demanding applications, wouldn't bandwidth be an issue?
Why is this even an issue? I thought this is why links and hypertext and the like were invented. You read the theorem. If you want more, you click on the funny blue writing that says something mystifying like "Proof". If you don't want to read more, you move on.
Are they running out of space on the shelves?
Somewhat ironic that they put all that time and effort building anti-piracy measures into Vista, and now nobody wants it. And then the final, delicious twist: the anti-piracy crap will sometimes shut down a legitimate installation. I bet that makes the user feel all warm and cuddly.
As long as nobody makes any snide remarks if the girlfriend and I sneak the odd pitcher of chocolate syrup out of the place instead of using it on our ice cream.
!Thanks.
That sucks. Can we just take a couple of these leeches out an stake 'em to an anthill or something?
You might notice that I posted basically the same feline reference twice a day ago under "Light-based Quantum Circuit Does Basic Maths".
Please apply one here, along with any obscure reference to quantum physics and/or time you may think appropriate.
I'm no lawyer, and I don't know the details, but I seem to remember reading that these creeps have to make some use of the name, they can't just scoop it up and squat on it forever. I'm sure somebody here can give you chapter and verse on this.
Good one.
You aren't going to believe this, but I swear to it by everything I hold sacred: Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle were at that conference and I got to hang out with them a fair bit. As a matter of fact, Pournelle directed me to a session I otherwise would have missed where several scientists presented papers that exposed Reagan's Star Wars initiative for the multi-billion dollar cash grab it was. The little university newsletter I was writing for got to be one of the first publications in print to use that term.
I've still got one of Niven's business cards. A gate-fold model (like a double card folded in half) with a graphic of the Ringworld on it.
I don't see what all the fuss is about. When your only choice is between the Democrats and the Republicans, who gives a crap whether the machine you vote on is rigged? It's like being offered a choice of getting thrown in a shark tank or a piranha tank.
No, just cashing in on the joke. I've actually been following Cassini from the get-go, and I'm fascinated by what's turned up.
A century or two ago, my school sent me to the last AAAS meeting in Toronto and I got to see the live data feed from the JPL when Voyager sent back those "braided" ring pictures. Right in the room, almost as fast as they arrived, two or three scientists figured out that a pair of shepherding moons might be responsible for the braiding. They were right, as it turned out.
There was more amazing science on display at that conference than I've ever seen in my life.