I disagree, somewhat. The US needs ANYONE to run against the two established parties ON ANY PLATFORM, and to WIN offices around the country.
Granted, if the Pirate Party came here, they wouldn't win seats in Congress and the Senate, they certainly wouldn't win the presidency. But, if (in states where judges are elected) we started seating judges, mayors, and state representatives, the two parties would take notice. And, it wouldn't take a lot of them, either. Our politicians may be crooked as all hell, but that doesn't make them stupid. They can read grass roots movements as well as anyone.
Aren't we all sick of the same old crap we get from the two inbred parties yet? If not - well - I've heard that people get the government that they deserve. Maybe that really is true.
Like copyright law, patent law was never meant to prevent the duplication of a product, process, or idea. It was only meant to prevent the duplication FOR PROFIT.
I personally met one individual who patented a method to modify carburetors to increase fuel mileage. He sold his patent to GM. The man still worked on cars, and modified those big Chevy Impalas to get 30+ MPG. If he worked on your car, he could not accept payment. Doing so would have put him in violation of patent law. But, doing the very same work for his own amusement was perfectly legal.
It's a shame GM wasn't putting that patent to use 40 years ago, when they bought it. They might not be bankrupt today.......
No. Going to a theater, or "going out" for anything, is a social event. Private entertainment, in your home, has little to do with social events.
Besides - people who really like theaters will go back and watch the same movie repeatedly. My wife does that.
Myself - if I've seen a movie once, I very rarely want to see it again. Unlike reading, where I might read the same boot two, three, or rarely even more times.
Where do I get a bumper sticker? There's no sign that the Pirates are coming to the US, but I can show my support and make a political statement anyway. How about a flag? I'll run it up right below the US flag, and above the Arkansas flag. THAT will make people wonder!!
Well - Eragon wasn't a complete ripoff of star wars, as some people claim. There are elements of a lot of things in Eragon, including Tolkein. I can't point to any single part of the book, and say that it's original - but all the parts are put together in an original and entertaining way.
I'm not rushing out to see the movies, but the books entertained me for several hours.;)
Yes, more and more people are getting a clue. Unfortunately, those more and more taken as a percentage of the population, is falling behind.
So long as kids run out to buy the latest Hannah Montana doo-diddy, so long as people are voting for an America's idol, the advertising companies know they are doing it right. Americans are suckers - you can sell anything to them with the right pitch. Canadians always seemed to be a little brighter, but maybe I was wrong. This corruption is going around the world and back again.
Heh. That is a lot like my own experience. They did three different background checks on me at different times during my service, to upgrade my security clearance. Although "I cannot confirm nor deny the presence of nuclear weapons aboard the USS blah blah blah" and I never actually SAW a nuclear weapon (I wasn't a missile tech or GMM to start with) I had to have the clearance because I had access to areas that may or may not contain such a weapon.
For all that I ever did, a confidential or just maybe a secret clearance was enough, but they insisted that I get Top Secret, then bumped me up again after that.
Crazy.
I suppose if everyone who really NEEDED a super duper ultra top secret clearance were killed, I might have been drafted into work that required such a clearance.
Hmmmm. If the authors producers directors and executive people actually use the "star wars" name in their work, then they have opened themselves up to litigation. Assuming, of course, that the copyright is still in effect when that happens.
Not actually using the name, but giving Lucas credit for ideas is more what I had in mind. They can make derivative works which are very obviously related to Lucas' universe, but they can't just lift characters, names, or the star wars brand. That, IMHO, would constitute infringement, unless they approached Lucas ahead of time, and got permission to use his characters etc in some particular manner. And, of course, just copying the plot and changing names etc won't work either.
It is not properly up to George Lucas to decide that people may or may not profit from such derivative works. All that is required, in a sane world, is that the author acknowledge Lucas as a source of ideas, that the author not plegiarize (copy Lucas' work, then claim to have authored it), and that the new work actually contain substantial new material. If the derivative work is any good, people will want it. If it is trash, people aren't going to bother with it.
Kinda funny how that works. I mean, how many people are going to watch a completely obvious Starwars ripoff that contributes little or nothing to the storyline of the universe? It would be a total financial loss for the idiot who tried it.
I'm not so much into music, as I am into books. Over several years, I read almost all of Marion Zimmer Bradley's books. I'm sure I missed some, but I read a LOT. Bradley's Darkover books, especially, inspired a huge fan club. Not only did Bradley tolerate, but she ENCOURAGED new authors to explore her Darkover universe. I would hate to count, but there are probably 5 or more published books about Bradley's Darkover than she ever published.
If I recall correctly, all of those derivative works pay tribute to Bradley, somewhere within the pages. To my knowledge, Bradley never was paid a cent on any of those derivative works. Bradley DID BENEFIT from them, in that they expanded her sphere of admirers, who in turn bought more of her original works.
This is the correct and proper way for copyright to work, regarding derivative works. Pay homage to the master who showed you the way, but you really owe him nothing more. Just like education - teachers teach to earn a living, but they HOPE that one or more of their students surpasses them. If/when a student does surpass his/her teachers, he isn't required to come back and pay them again for teaching him so well.
They could have used some old laws to punish the woman. Contributing to the delinquency of a minor might have fit. Causing mental distress of a minor. There are many laws to protect children from predatory behaviour. They might even have charged the trio of conspirators under sexual predator laws - they were obviously "getting off" on their actions.
The whole problem was, the internet was used to harass the girl, so all the idiots in the world wanted a "technical" charge to stick. Hell, we don't need to be "technical" or "hi tech" to recognize predatory behaviour.
Now, it goes to civil court, where it should have been all along. Contributing to, or causing a wrongful death of a child. Somewhere, there is a lawyer capable of putting that into legal language. All the morons who staged the circus in California should have been that capable.
I'm sure he DOES have malware on his system. It's probably called "Windows".
You don't want to accept his word about what happened, cool. Don't. You won't believe me, either, I'm sure. And, I'm damned sure not going to provide any proof to a man who doesn't want to believe.
But, my search engine has been changed by Microsoft products 5 time or more in the last two months. When I install anything, I always look at the options lists, and I always uncheck Yahoo search, Microsoft search, and any others that are offered. Even so, something sneaks in afterward, and tries to change my default from Google to Microsoft.
Yes, it pisses me off. If I have to use Bing or MSN search, or any of the rest, I'll just not install messanger, or whatever else I thought I might want.
"A business is run PRIMARILY for the benefit of its shareholders", with the approval of government and society at large.
All business in America is licensed. Every single business you pass by or do business with. A restaurant, doctor, auto shop, landscaping, you name it. They all have a corporate charter, mission statement, or something. Even street vendors have to be licensed, or the cops can take them to jail for soliciting. If you can't convince someone that your business is going to be good for the commnity, you won't get your license, whether it be in a small town, or in Delaware. Your shop will have to be able to withstand inspections and audits from SOME governing body - as well as the IRS.
Nahhh. You don't just start a company for the purpose of making money. Not even if you're a preacher who wants to marry young girls. There is always some government body that has a mission to oversee what you are doing, and when they feel that you offer no benefit to society, they can and will do away with you.
Greenspan is pretty damned smart - but he isn't quite as smart as he thinks he is.
As already has been noted in this thread, any company that grows so large that it's failure threatens the economic well being of the nation, something is SERIOUSLY wrong. Getting away from Wall Street, GM and Chrysler should never have made all the "acquisitions" they have made in the last 4 or maybe even 5 decades. The economic well being of this nation certainly didn't benefit from it.
That said - DOJ may very well decide that Google is a monopoly, and impose sanctions. But, if they do, they had most certainly better go after Microsoft again. On a scale of 1 to 10, if Google ranks 6 as a monopoly, MS is 10 for certain. MS has spent two decades crafting locks on the market that no other business enjoys.
Yeah, let's go after all the multi-billion dollar corporations, break them up, and put enterprise into the hands of small business, enterpreneurs, and small investors. That is, after all, what built America to start with.
It really doesn't MATTER why he's trying to do it. He's "pushing the envelope" and Microsoft doesn't like it. Just who the fuck is Microsoft to say "NO!" anyway?
Given time and research, some knucklehead may find that Microsoft actually runs better on an Ext3 partition. Not likely, I'll admit - but, what if? Microsoft has the right to block such experimentation?
Unrelated. Unrelated rant, he says. Perhaps the man doesn't comprehend the English language. I realize that scores of people who belong to slashdot are from outside the US. Possibly hundreds.
In fairness, I'll explain simply how and why the "rant" is related. People are running around, shouting "The carbon is increasing, the carbon is increasing." I tell Chicken Little and friends that they should plant a tree. Chicken Little fails to understand that deforestation not only releases carbon into the atmosphere, but also takes away a huge carbon sink, into which we could otherwise store huge amounts of carbon. Deforestation has continued at a pretty steady pace for the last 100 years.
While Chicken Little blathers about creating carbon credits, he fails to actually create carbon sinks. With nowhere to store carbon, all the carbon credits in the world are meaningless nonsense. It's wonderful that the consensus people and the politicians can make some political capital on their carbon credit scheme - but they are solving NOTHING. Alarmist attitudes can line pockets, but they don't do anything about existing carbon.
Now, go back and re-read my posts. Read the article I linked to again (assuming you read it the first time). THEN come back here and tell us all about unrelated rants.
Then, go plant some trees, stop using paper, and never leave another block of lumber out in the rain to rot. Conservation will go a long way toward solving this contrived man-made climate crisis. Stop wasting stuff. Start with gasoline, then your electricity, then start recycling your trash. Waste not, want not. Plant a tree. Do something more useful than blowing hot air to support a political position.
The discovery channel has had their share of the global warming kool-aid, and they no longer present completely unbiased articles. But, read the article anyway.
Want to save the earth? Plant some trees. Deforestation is more at fault for any man made climate change than even our ignorant wasteful use of fossil fuels. Instead of buying carbon credits, go CREATE some carbon credits. Plant a dozen trees, wherever you live. One pin oak can sequester 5 tons of carbon, in time. Some few varieties of pine can come close to that. Avoid the genetically engineered varieties that are used to make paper. Smaller, more attractive shade trees, such as magnolias and dogwoods will store less carbon, but every ton helps.
Science most definitely has found a correlation between temperature increase, and atmospheric carbon increases. Most certainly.
But, to claim that science has established a cause and effect is either ignorant, or dishonest. Ignorance can be cured, though.
The zealots have proclaimed the cause and effect that you just referred to. Scientist on the other hand, have not made such a proclamation. Look more closely at those charts that the zealots like to refer to. Look very closely at the timelines. It looks like temperature increase often precedes carbon increase. Temp increases often occur simultaneously with carbon increase. None of the charts can put carbon increase ahead of temperature increase. This looks like a case of getting the cart before the horse.
I strongly suspect that you are one of those worthless sacks of hydrocarbons. Judging by the tone of your post, I also suspect that your particular breed of hydrocarbons comes from that barbaric planet, "Earth". You people just aren't very bright, are you?
Not embarassing at all - to Microsoft, at least. They just don't care. So long as they have the lion's share of the market, they are perfectly happy with any sad performance that people are willing to settle for.
Spread the word far and wide. Tell your family, tell your freind, tell your enemies, IE sucks. When they stop using it, everyone will benefit, including MS. If MS wants to keep market share, they'll invest time and money into making a better browser. If they don't want to keep market share, they'll just drop IE into the deep hole they dredged it out of.
Slashdot Mirror
I disagree, somewhat. The US needs ANYONE to run against the two established parties ON ANY PLATFORM, and to WIN offices around the country.
Granted, if the Pirate Party came here, they wouldn't win seats in Congress and the Senate, they certainly wouldn't win the presidency. But, if (in states where judges are elected) we started seating judges, mayors, and state representatives, the two parties would take notice. And, it wouldn't take a lot of them, either. Our politicians may be crooked as all hell, but that doesn't make them stupid. They can read grass roots movements as well as anyone.
Aren't we all sick of the same old crap we get from the two inbred parties yet? If not - well - I've heard that people get the government that they deserve. Maybe that really is true.
Like copyright law, patent law was never meant to prevent the duplication of a product, process, or idea. It was only meant to prevent the duplication FOR PROFIT.
I personally met one individual who patented a method to modify carburetors to increase fuel mileage. He sold his patent to GM. The man still worked on cars, and modified those big Chevy Impalas to get 30+ MPG. If he worked on your car, he could not accept payment. Doing so would have put him in violation of patent law. But, doing the very same work for his own amusement was perfectly legal.
It's a shame GM wasn't putting that patent to use 40 years ago, when they bought it. They might not be bankrupt today.......
No. Going to a theater, or "going out" for anything, is a social event. Private entertainment, in your home, has little to do with social events.
Besides - people who really like theaters will go back and watch the same movie repeatedly. My wife does that.
Myself - if I've seen a movie once, I very rarely want to see it again. Unlike reading, where I might read the same boot two, three, or rarely even more times.
Where do I get a bumper sticker? There's no sign that the Pirates are coming to the US, but I can show my support and make a political statement anyway. How about a flag? I'll run it up right below the US flag, and above the Arkansas flag. THAT will make people wonder!!
There must be a reason that Compuserve's home page looks a lot like those AOL disks I used to get in the mail.
The disks got to be to expensive? Or the postage?
http://cgi.ebay.com/12X-PREMIUM-SCREEN-PROTECTOR-FOR-PALM-TUNGSTEN-TX-T5-E2_W0QQitemZ260398398657QQcmdZViewItemQQptZPDA_Accessories?hash=item3ca0f43cc1&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=65%3A15|66%3A2|39%3A1|293%3A5|294%3A50
All I can say is "WOW"
Well - Eragon wasn't a complete ripoff of star wars, as some people claim. There are elements of a lot of things in Eragon, including Tolkein. I can't point to any single part of the book, and say that it's original - but all the parts are put together in an original and entertaining way.
I'm not rushing out to see the movies, but the books entertained me for several hours. ;)
Yes, more and more people are getting a clue. Unfortunately, those more and more taken as a percentage of the population, is falling behind.
So long as kids run out to buy the latest Hannah Montana doo-diddy, so long as people are voting for an America's idol, the advertising companies know they are doing it right. Americans are suckers - you can sell anything to them with the right pitch. Canadians always seemed to be a little brighter, but maybe I was wrong. This corruption is going around the world and back again.
People are dumber than rocks.
Wow. You must really be something. Better than Mother Theresa, Ghandi, and Gunga Dhin all wrapped up into one. A first cousin to Jesus Christ, maybe?
NO ONE helps 80 people out of poverty in 8 hours. Some very few people might manage to do so in 8 years of work. Very few.
Heh. That is a lot like my own experience. They did three different background checks on me at different times during my service, to upgrade my security clearance. Although "I cannot confirm nor deny the presence of nuclear weapons aboard the USS blah blah blah" and I never actually SAW a nuclear weapon (I wasn't a missile tech or GMM to start with) I had to have the clearance because I had access to areas that may or may not contain such a weapon.
For all that I ever did, a confidential or just maybe a secret clearance was enough, but they insisted that I get Top Secret, then bumped me up again after that.
Crazy.
I suppose if everyone who really NEEDED a super duper ultra top secret clearance were killed, I might have been drafted into work that required such a clearance.
Just crazy. But, that's the Navy!!
Hmmmm. If the authors producers directors and executive people actually use the "star wars" name in their work, then they have opened themselves up to litigation. Assuming, of course, that the copyright is still in effect when that happens.
Not actually using the name, but giving Lucas credit for ideas is more what I had in mind. They can make derivative works which are very obviously related to Lucas' universe, but they can't just lift characters, names, or the star wars brand. That, IMHO, would constitute infringement, unless they approached Lucas ahead of time, and got permission to use his characters etc in some particular manner. And, of course, just copying the plot and changing names etc won't work either.
Yeah. Next time some ass gives me a hard time on a private forum, I'll just post their address here. THAT will teach them!!
It is not properly up to George Lucas to decide that people may or may not profit from such derivative works. All that is required, in a sane world, is that the author acknowledge Lucas as a source of ideas, that the author not plegiarize (copy Lucas' work, then claim to have authored it), and that the new work actually contain substantial new material. If the derivative work is any good, people will want it. If it is trash, people aren't going to bother with it.
Kinda funny how that works. I mean, how many people are going to watch a completely obvious Starwars ripoff that contributes little or nothing to the storyline of the universe? It would be a total financial loss for the idiot who tried it.
I'm not so much into music, as I am into books. Over several years, I read almost all of Marion Zimmer Bradley's books. I'm sure I missed some, but I read a LOT. Bradley's Darkover books, especially, inspired a huge fan club. Not only did Bradley tolerate, but she ENCOURAGED new authors to explore her Darkover universe. I would hate to count, but there are probably 5 or more published books about Bradley's Darkover than she ever published.
If I recall correctly, all of those derivative works pay tribute to Bradley, somewhere within the pages. To my knowledge, Bradley never was paid a cent on any of those derivative works. Bradley DID BENEFIT from them, in that they expanded her sphere of admirers, who in turn bought more of her original works.
This is the correct and proper way for copyright to work, regarding derivative works. Pay homage to the master who showed you the way, but you really owe him nothing more. Just like education - teachers teach to earn a living, but they HOPE that one or more of their students surpasses them. If/when a student does surpass his/her teachers, he isn't required to come back and pay them again for teaching him so well.
They could have used some old laws to punish the woman. Contributing to the delinquency of a minor might have fit. Causing mental distress of a minor. There are many laws to protect children from predatory behaviour. They might even have charged the trio of conspirators under sexual predator laws - they were obviously "getting off" on their actions.
The whole problem was, the internet was used to harass the girl, so all the idiots in the world wanted a "technical" charge to stick. Hell, we don't need to be "technical" or "hi tech" to recognize predatory behaviour.
Now, it goes to civil court, where it should have been all along. Contributing to, or causing a wrongful death of a child. Somewhere, there is a lawyer capable of putting that into legal language. All the morons who staged the circus in California should have been that capable.
I'm sure he DOES have malware on his system. It's probably called "Windows".
You don't want to accept his word about what happened, cool. Don't. You won't believe me, either, I'm sure. And, I'm damned sure not going to provide any proof to a man who doesn't want to believe.
But, my search engine has been changed by Microsoft products 5 time or more in the last two months. When I install anything, I always look at the options lists, and I always uncheck Yahoo search, Microsoft search, and any others that are offered. Even so, something sneaks in afterward, and tries to change my default from Google to Microsoft.
Yes, it pisses me off. If I have to use Bing or MSN search, or any of the rest, I'll just not install messanger, or whatever else I thought I might want.
"A business is run PRIMARILY for the benefit of its shareholders", with the approval of government and society at large.
All business in America is licensed. Every single business you pass by or do business with. A restaurant, doctor, auto shop, landscaping, you name it. They all have a corporate charter, mission statement, or something. Even street vendors have to be licensed, or the cops can take them to jail for soliciting. If you can't convince someone that your business is going to be good for the commnity, you won't get your license, whether it be in a small town, or in Delaware. Your shop will have to be able to withstand inspections and audits from SOME governing body - as well as the IRS.
Nahhh. You don't just start a company for the purpose of making money. Not even if you're a preacher who wants to marry young girls. There is always some government body that has a mission to oversee what you are doing, and when they feel that you offer no benefit to society, they can and will do away with you.
Greenspan is pretty damned smart - but he isn't quite as smart as he thinks he is.
As already has been noted in this thread, any company that grows so large that it's failure threatens the economic well being of the nation, something is SERIOUSLY wrong. Getting away from Wall Street, GM and Chrysler should never have made all the "acquisitions" they have made in the last 4 or maybe even 5 decades. The economic well being of this nation certainly didn't benefit from it.
That said - DOJ may very well decide that Google is a monopoly, and impose sanctions. But, if they do, they had most certainly better go after Microsoft again. On a scale of 1 to 10, if Google ranks 6 as a monopoly, MS is 10 for certain. MS has spent two decades crafting locks on the market that no other business enjoys.
Yeah, let's go after all the multi-billion dollar corporations, break them up, and put enterprise into the hands of small business, enterpreneurs, and small investors. That is, after all, what built America to start with.
It really doesn't MATTER why he's trying to do it. He's "pushing the envelope" and Microsoft doesn't like it. Just who the fuck is Microsoft to say "NO!" anyway?
Given time and research, some knucklehead may find that Microsoft actually runs better on an Ext3 partition. Not likely, I'll admit - but, what if? Microsoft has the right to block such experimentation?
http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi1665335321/
You should have watched the movie. Around 47 seconds in, you'll see that the little bastards are far more deadly than the big bastard ever was!!
DO NOT CRUSH OR BREAK THE BIG BASTARD!!
Unrelated. Unrelated rant, he says. Perhaps the man doesn't comprehend the English language. I realize that scores of people who belong to slashdot are from outside the US. Possibly hundreds.
In fairness, I'll explain simply how and why the "rant" is related. People are running around, shouting "The carbon is increasing, the carbon is increasing." I tell Chicken Little and friends that they should plant a tree. Chicken Little fails to understand that deforestation not only releases carbon into the atmosphere, but also takes away a huge carbon sink, into which we could otherwise store huge amounts of carbon. Deforestation has continued at a pretty steady pace for the last 100 years.
While Chicken Little blathers about creating carbon credits, he fails to actually create carbon sinks. With nowhere to store carbon, all the carbon credits in the world are meaningless nonsense. It's wonderful that the consensus people and the politicians can make some political capital on their carbon credit scheme - but they are solving NOTHING. Alarmist attitudes can line pockets, but they don't do anything about existing carbon.
Now, go back and re-read my posts. Read the article I linked to again (assuming you read it the first time). THEN come back here and tell us all about unrelated rants.
Then, go plant some trees, stop using paper, and never leave another block of lumber out in the rain to rot. Conservation will go a long way toward solving this contrived man-made climate crisis. Stop wasting stuff. Start with gasoline, then your electricity, then start recycling your trash. Waste not, want not. Plant a tree. Do something more useful than blowing hot air to support a political position.
Carbon credits my ass.
Hard core scientists aren't out making the pitch for carbon credits, my friend. Those people are still researching, studying, and hypothesizing.
http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2009/07/01/trees-earth-freeze.html
The discovery channel has had their share of the global warming kool-aid, and they no longer present completely unbiased articles. But, read the article anyway.
Want to save the earth? Plant some trees. Deforestation is more at fault for any man made climate change than even our ignorant wasteful use of fossil fuels. Instead of buying carbon credits, go CREATE some carbon credits. Plant a dozen trees, wherever you live. One pin oak can sequester 5 tons of carbon, in time. Some few varieties of pine can come close to that. Avoid the genetically engineered varieties that are used to make paper. Smaller, more attractive shade trees, such as magnolias and dogwoods will store less carbon, but every ton helps.
Science most definitely has found a correlation between temperature increase, and atmospheric carbon increases. Most certainly.
But, to claim that science has established a cause and effect is either ignorant, or dishonest. Ignorance can be cured, though.
The zealots have proclaimed the cause and effect that you just referred to. Scientist on the other hand, have not made such a proclamation. Look more closely at those charts that the zealots like to refer to. Look very closely at the timelines. It looks like temperature increase often precedes carbon increase. Temp increases often occur simultaneously with carbon increase. None of the charts can put carbon increase ahead of temperature increase. This looks like a case of getting the cart before the horse.
I strongly suspect that you are one of those worthless sacks of hydrocarbons. Judging by the tone of your post, I also suspect that your particular breed of hydrocarbons comes from that barbaric planet, "Earth". You people just aren't very bright, are you?
Not embarassing at all - to Microsoft, at least. They just don't care. So long as they have the lion's share of the market, they are perfectly happy with any sad performance that people are willing to settle for.
Spread the word far and wide. Tell your family, tell your freind, tell your enemies, IE sucks. When they stop using it, everyone will benefit, including MS. If MS wants to keep market share, they'll invest time and money into making a better browser. If they don't want to keep market share, they'll just drop IE into the deep hole they dredged it out of.