You know, if they are taking in user submissions for this series...
Maybe there are details that I missed on the source of the "accepting script submissions" rumor, but it seems rather unlikely. Very few TV producers will accept and read unsolicited scripts or treatments, because it creates a lot of legal complications if they do.
Let's say that unknown writer X submits a script, which is rejected. Some time later, an episode is produced (written entirely by staff writer Y), which happens to follow the same basic plot, or incorporates elements used in writer X's script.
Writer X then sues, claiming that they're stealing his material, and the burden falls on the producers to prove that writer Y came up with this idea independently of writer X. The producers will probably win, but they spend time and money on the lawsuit.
Note that writers X and Y probably did come up with the same idea independently -- but because there's a limited number of elements to work with in a TV series (characters, basic setting, etc.), overlap between people's ideas is almost inevitable.
Life is much easier for the producers if they can simply say "all unsolicited scripts and treatments are returned to the sender unread" and let it end there.
They don't really lose much by doing so: the bulk of such submissions are unuseable freakish fan scripts, and the rest require work from their regular writers, anyway; producers hire a staff of writers in order to have enough good ideas to get them through the season.
I'm not counting my checkens yet. 'Stupid portalness' seems to be a disease that comes with age. AltaVista used to be pure, then went the portal route. The same goes for Lycos, Inktomi, and Infoseek.
But there is reason for some optimism -- all the companies you mention went the portal route during those dark days of the late '90s when everyone on the Web suddenly wanted to be a portal-type-thing -- anyone with friends in marketing remember the brief flowering of the "vortal" idea?
I think that we might finally be past that particular nightmarish carnival of terror.
Any disabled person could have sue you since 197X under the ADA and force you to be accessible, you should have been thinking about this all along.
In many situations, partial compliance with the ADA is considered acceptable, as long as you have a documented plan for bringing yourself into full compliance, and can demonstrate that you are making progress on that plan.
I spent several years working for a company that performed ADA evaluations, and I've seen an incredible amount money wasted on "fix it now but do it half-assed" solutions -- and those quick fixes often aren't even worth anything if you're sued, because they aren't in compliance with the applicable guidelines/regulations.
Contact a couple of the bigger advocacy groups for information; my experience has been that they have better information, and are far more helpful than the government. They'll help you understand what you really need to do, and can point you to other resources as well.
The most important thing is to do this right. You're not doing anybody any favors if you get your project done badly, but on schedule.
If they're not smart enough to check up on your work, they really do deserve what they get.
...or to put it another way, "the only crime is getting caught." Lovely sentiment.
I've been on both the consulting and the managing side of this sort of arrangement, and it really bothers me to feel like either:
(A) I've hired somebody who isn't going to do what they said they would unless I waste all of my time prodding them about it. (B) My employer doesn't trust me, my judgement, or my skills, and is constantly "checking up" on my work for no real reason.
LaTeX is an excellent tool, but it's a tool to organize information into platform-independent documents. These documents are set up using pre-defined types (this is an article, a book, etc.), and then organized following the established structure for that document type. LaTeX then provides a variety of tools to simplify cross-referencing, indexing, and otherwise making logincal use of that information.
Using LaTeX to provide greater control over the layout of information on the Web seems like it would be falling into the same trap that ate HTML -- if you remember, HTML was originally intended to organize information in a logical hierarchy, not make pretty pictures.
The paragraph of links: At least one other person has already pointed to TeX 2 HTML and LaTeX 2 HTML, so I'll just add that if you're interested in well structured documents on the Web, it is actually true that XML has a lot to offer. And as long as I'm listing sites off like a madman, let's not forget the good old W3C.
In the context of the NetBSD/OpenBSD fork, an earlier poster asked "do you see any chance for greater cooperation in the future, or do you see more forking and division as inevitable?"
Others have asked about the possiblity of making OpenBSD more desktop-friendly.
My question, then, is this...
Do you think that the increasing mainstream awareness of *NIX is pushing developers towards:
Building a single "one size fits all" *NIX OS?
Specialized distributions that are developed in cooperation, with an eye to working and playing well together?
Since you seem to have some familiarity, could you recommend one in particular? I don't need an industrial strength DTP package - it's just a small monthly newsletter - but something a little nicer than Publisher would be most welcome. And not tooooo expensive.
Hmmmm...thanks to the (sometimes unwitting) generosity of employers, my DTP experience has been pretty much exclusively PageMaker and QuarkExpress, both of which fail the "expensive" test. I think that Adobe offers a discount for registered MS Publisher users, but the discounted price tag remains in the $300 range.
Is Framemaker a word processor or more of a desktop publishing package? The reson I ask is that I'm trying to wean myself off of Windows entirely and there are currenly only 2 apps that I have to have Windows for: Publisher & Quicken.
Both and neither, really; FrameMaker is designed to create large, complex documents that are intended for distribution in a variety of formats.
I've done quite a bit of documentation work, and FrameMaker is the best tool that I've found for creating documentation on a large scale -- where clear, consistent structure and formatting are essential to creating useful (useable) documents.
I would choose PageMaker to create a small newsletter (where high-level structure isn't usually too important), and FrameMaker to create tech or user docs (where we're talking about hundreds of pages, and organizing the information is at least half the battle).
Ahem.
I would use PageMaker, FrameMaker, QuarkExpress, UltraEdit, BBEdit, or four crayons and a piece of corrugated cardboard before I would use MS Publisher for any project ever again.
It's almost entirely Windows on the desktop at my company, and Publisher was installed on my machine when I got here. Being an open-minded sort of guy, I tried it out for a couple of projects.
I found that it usually took two or three actions to complete a single simple task, the program doesn't import images well (except.wmf images), it hates exporting to any other format (and can't even export directly to.pdf), it's painfully slow to complete most tasks, it creates monstrously huge files, and it's a memory HOG.
I hope that I don't offend, but I found using MS Publisher to be a nightmarish carnival of terror.
It's really, really worth taking a look at the other tools that are out there.
Absolutely check out the Linux beta of Framemaker...and if you're running Windows anyway, see if you can track down some other DTP packages to play with. You'll probably be pleasantly surprised.
Millions of Americans will gain access to e-mail as a result, and you're pointing out security flaws in a system that does not yet exist.
I don't understand how this would provide millions of Americans with access to e-mail. The USPS isn't providing free computers or becoming a no-cost ISP -- they're just leaping boldly into a market thatss already oversaturated...take a look at Yahoo's listings for "free email forwarding" and "free email."
As for pointing out security flaws in a system that doesn't yet exist, sad experience has taught me that when it comes to security issues, better to hear someone say "do you really think that I'm stupid enough to do that" than "wow...I really shouldn't have done that."
Re:Blame Fonts (side note on e.e. cummings)
on
Fake PayPal Site
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· Score: 2
Not really a new issue, though -- many typewriters did without a 1 (numeric one) key for years: if you needed a 1 (numeric one) you typed l (alpha lower-case L).
Side note: knowing this adds an interesting element to the following e.e. cummings poem:
l(a
le af fa
ll
s) one l
iness
Note the interesting ambiguity created by the character that may be either alpha or numeric.
Should free citizens in a democratic society have to spend money for "nyms" to preserve the privacy they ought to be -- and once were -- accorded in law?
Hmmm...let's take a little stroll down a listing of (partial) files released by the FBI under the Freedom of Information act...
I have the sneaking suspicion that most of the privacy that we, as "free citizens in a democratic society," may once have been accorded was due to the relative difficulty of violating that privacy...
As technological developments eliminate that difficulty, we find that privacy dissolving. Now do we think that the issue is the technology or our commitment to the rights of the individual?
As I was waking up this morning, I *think* that my radio told me that the first sounds from the probe would be the voices of MS engineers -- they did a test (here on earth) and then didn't delete.
Slashdot Mirror
Maybe there are details that I missed on the source of the "accepting script submissions" rumor, but it seems rather unlikely. Very few TV producers will accept and read unsolicited scripts or treatments, because it creates a lot of legal complications if they do.
Let's say that unknown writer X submits a script, which is rejected. Some time later, an episode is produced (written entirely by staff writer Y), which happens to follow the same basic plot, or incorporates elements used in writer X's script.
Writer X then sues, claiming that they're stealing his material, and the burden falls on the producers to prove that writer Y came up with this idea independently of writer X. The producers will probably win, but they spend time and money on the lawsuit.
Note that writers X and Y probably did come up with the same idea independently -- but because there's a limited number of elements to work with in a TV series (characters, basic setting, etc.), overlap between people's ideas is almost inevitable.
Life is much easier for the producers if they can simply say "all unsolicited scripts and treatments are returned to the sender unread" and let it end there.
They don't really lose much by doing so: the bulk of such submissions are unuseable freakish fan scripts, and the rest require work from their regular writers, anyway; producers hire a staff of writers in order to have enough good ideas to get them through the season.
But there is reason for some optimism -- all the companies you mention went the portal route during those dark days of the late '90s when everyone on the Web suddenly wanted to be a portal-type-thing -- anyone with friends in marketing remember the brief flowering of the "vortal" idea?
I think that we might finally be past that particular nightmarish carnival of terror.
In many situations, partial compliance with the ADA is considered acceptable, as long as you have a documented plan for bringing yourself into full compliance, and can demonstrate that you are making progress on that plan.
I spent several years working for a company that performed ADA evaluations, and I've seen an incredible amount money wasted on "fix it now but do it half-assed" solutions -- and those quick fixes often aren't even worth anything if you're sued, because they aren't in compliance with the applicable guidelines/regulations.
Contact a couple of the bigger advocacy groups for information; my experience has been that they have better information, and are far more helpful than the government. They'll help you understand what you really need to do, and can point you to other resources as well.
The most important thing is to do this right. You're not doing anybody any favors if you get your project done badly, but on schedule.
If they're not smart enough to check up on your work, they really do deserve what they get.
I've been on both the consulting and the managing side of this sort of arrangement, and it really bothers me to feel like either:
(A) I've hired somebody who isn't going to do what they said they would unless I waste all of my time prodding them about it.
(B) My employer doesn't trust me, my judgement, or my skills, and is constantly "checking up" on my work for no real reason.
Now that you are much older than you ever were when you guys started out, what would you have changed about your gig, with the benefit of hindsight?
"I held on to my pride
But I was young and foolish then
I feel old and foolish now..."
--
LaTeX is an excellent tool, but it's a tool to organize information into platform-independent documents. These documents are set up using pre-defined types (this is an article, a book, etc.), and then organized following the established structure for that document type. LaTeX then provides a variety of tools to simplify cross-referencing, indexing, and otherwise making logincal use of that information.
Using LaTeX to provide greater control over the layout of information on the Web seems like it would be falling into the same trap that ate HTML -- if you remember, HTML was originally intended to organize information in a logical hierarchy, not make pretty pictures.
The paragraph of links:
At least one other person has already pointed to TeX 2 HTML and LaTeX 2 HTML, so I'll just add that if you're interested in well structured documents on the Web, it is actually true that XML has a lot to offer. And as long as I'm listing sites off like a madman, let's not forget the good old W3C.
Oh, yeah...http://www.latex-project.org...
Coke Is It (1982)
In the context of the NetBSD/OpenBSD fork, an earlier poster asked "do you see any chance for greater cooperation in the future, or do you see more forking and division as inevitable?"
Others have asked about the possiblity of making OpenBSD more desktop-friendly.
My question, then, is this...
Do you think that the increasing mainstream awareness of *NIX is pushing developers towards:
Coke Is It (1982)
Hmmmm...thanks to the (sometimes unwitting) generosity of employers, my DTP experience has been pretty much exclusively PageMaker and QuarkExpress, both of which fail the "expensive" test. I think that Adobe offers a discount for registered MS Publisher users, but the discounted price tag remains in the $300 range.
A quick search found http://desktoppublishing.com/layoutappsinexp.html, which has a listing of some lower-cost options (mostly Windows and Mac), but I haven't used any of them myself.
Could be that someone else has more experience and opinions to offer.
Coke Is It (1982)
Both and neither, really; FrameMaker is designed to create large, complex documents that are intended for distribution in a variety of formats.
I've done quite a bit of documentation work, and FrameMaker is the best tool that I've found for creating documentation on a large scale -- where clear, consistent structure and formatting are essential to creating useful (useable) documents.
I would choose PageMaker to create a small newsletter (where high-level structure isn't usually too important), and FrameMaker to create tech or user docs (where we're talking about hundreds of pages, and organizing the information is at least half the battle).
Ahem.
I would use PageMaker, FrameMaker, QuarkExpress, UltraEdit, BBEdit, or four crayons and a piece of corrugated cardboard before I would use MS Publisher for any project ever again.
It's almost entirely Windows on the desktop at my company, and Publisher was installed on my machine when I got here. Being an open-minded sort of guy, I tried it out for a couple of projects.
I found that it usually took two or three actions to complete a single simple task, the program doesn't import images well (except .wmf images), it hates exporting to any other format (and can't even export directly to .pdf), it's painfully slow to complete most tasks, it creates monstrously huge files, and it's a memory HOG.
I hope that I don't offend, but I found using MS Publisher to be a nightmarish carnival of terror.
It's really, really worth taking a look at the other tools that are out there.
Absolutely check out the Linux beta of Framemaker...and if you're running Windows anyway, see if you can track down some other DTP packages to play with. You'll probably be pleasantly surprised.
Coke Is It (1982)
Millions of Americans will gain access to e-mail as a result, and you're pointing out security flaws in a system that does not yet exist.
I don't understand how this would provide millions of Americans with access to e-mail. The USPS isn't providing free computers or becoming a no-cost ISP -- they're just leaping boldly into a market thatss already oversaturated...take a look at Yahoo's listings for "free email forwarding" and "free email."
As for pointing out security flaws in a system that doesn't yet exist, sad experience has taught me that when it comes to security issues, better to hear someone say "do you really think that I'm stupid enough to do that" than "wow...I really shouldn't have done that."
Not really a new issue, though -- many typewriters did without a 1 (numeric one) key for years: if you needed a 1 (numeric one) you typed l (alpha lower-case L).
Side note: knowing this adds an interesting element to the following e.e. cummings poem:
l(a
le
af
fa
ll
s)
one
l
iness
Note the interesting ambiguity created by the character that may be either alpha or numeric.
Pretty cool.
Should free citizens in a democratic society have to spend money for "nyms" to preserve the privacy they ought to be -- and once were -- accorded in law?
Hmmm...let's take a little stroll down a listing of (partial) files released by the FBI under the Freedom of Information act...
Black Panther Party-Winston Salem, NC
Brecht, Bertolt
Chavez, Cesar and United Farm Workers
Clergy and Laity Concerned about Vietnam DuBois, W. E. B.
Einstein, Albert
Gay Activists Alliance
I have the sneaking suspicion that most of the privacy that we, as "free citizens in a democratic society," may once have been accorded was due to the relative difficulty of violating that privacy...
As technological developments eliminate that difficulty, we find that privacy dissolving. Now do we think that the issue is the technology or our commitment to the rights of the individual?
Hmmm...
Never a bad idea to contact your senator when you feel strongly about an issue of this sort.
It's actually a really good idea, assuming that you communicate those feelings in a calm and polite manner...
Yep -- see The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Robert Heinlein
Another mic question:
As I was waking up this morning, I *think* that my radio told me that the first sounds from the probe would be the voices of MS engineers -- they did a test (here on earth) and then didn't delete.
Anyone else hear this, or was I dreaming?