The difference here is that the total purpose of the Pokemon cards is to play a game--a gambling game, while the baseball cards are mainly there to collect.
So long as they say "collectable," they're okay. But with the Pokemon cards, they're for a game, which makes it gambling.
Honestly, the defense for this is the exact same as the one against gun control. The argument is that you're purchasing them for a different purpose, or that they're designed for a different purpose. While the physical consequences of card misuse aren't quite so severe as gun misuse, there are still psychological ramifications to consider.
Personally I think the courts will agree with you that it's ridiculous. We're talking about a country that insists guns don't kill people, people kill people.
But just because they think it's ridiculous doesn't mean the parents don't have a point. I mean, those Barbies, Tamagotchis, etc. are collectible too, but you don't see little kids trying to cheat eachother out of a rare one on the playground, do you?
Maybe I'm just forgetful, but I don't remember anyone ever gambling over a Tickle-Me-Elmo..
I can see the media calling right now to congratulate him..
"Hello! Way to go, Linus! (Can I call you Linus?) Hey, I've always wanted to say this, so.. [ahem]... What's up, doc? Heh, get it? Get it? What's up...--anyways, just called to get another quote for my article, and.." *CLICK* "..hello? Hello..?... Aw man, not again.."
Poor Mr. Torvalds.. It's a good thing they're blocking his calls for him at work..
The main reason that Corel's slapped on this extra licence is because they're including their Wordperfect (Office?) for Linux with their Corel Linux distribution. The problem is that they wanted to do a test of what it'd be like in the final copy.
The problem they ran into was that they didn't want people redistributing their Corel Wordperfect along with their Corel Linux distribution. Also, technically speaking, their installer and KDE apps are also their own intellectual property. Now, even if they could seperate Corel Wordperfect onto a seperate disc, so that it could be redistributed seperately, how do you seperate the installer?
Personally, I agree; they definitely got the wording wrong on the licencing agreement. However, so long as the GPLed software that they're redistributing is available elsewhere, the community isn't really being harmed. You could say that the spirit of the licence hasn't been violated.
That being said, it really sucks that they've (potentially) violated the wording of the licence..
This is a bit of a turn-around from the article just previous to it on Slashdot, don't you think? What I mean to say is, is Sun having a good Samba port a good thing for the Linux community?
I've given the Ottawa office of Corel a call, and was transferred to their legal department. I got no answer whatsoever, so I left a short message. If I get a callback, I'll let everyone know what's going on. Until then, here's prayin' that their voicemail system's in good shape..
Nowhere does the article say that the computer entry uses a fed plot-structure. Just that it's incapable of plot-structures as complex as human ones. We don't know for sure exactly what kind of plot-generation scheme is used here. It could very well be, as you said, pre-composed. But it could also be "invented."
I don't think this would be the main limiting factor, though, in the system's writing capability. There are other, more pressing, difficulties I could see arising from the system; for instance, it would probably be unable to handle humour very well, or science fiction/fantasy. This is because it would be incapable of free thought and intuition/insight. Sure, it could probably come up with some sort of unusual idea that could probably be mistaken for a joke--if told right. The problem here is, what part do you reveal first, and what do you leave out until the end, to deliver as a punch line?
Likewise, with the science fiction/fantasy example, it could probably construct a universe on it's own, where all vehicles look like elongated icecream cones, or where all travel is done using some pseudo matter-shifting technology or something, but the big problem is, again, how would the writer understand how to relate it to the reader?
You see, human authors know how low-level they have to go with a concept in order to relate a new idea to someone else. This low level is called common knowledge. How do you relate this common knowledge to the computer system?
The big underlying problem is that we still haven't figured out how to get a computer to understand ideas and abstract theories. Until the system is capable of storing these theories, or more accurately, converting these theories into 'understanding' and storing that understanding, (Understanding being like an executable version of that theory or idea. (Perhaps we could refer to this process as "compiling?" It's theoretically a lot like compiling source code..)) we'll never have a system capable of invention or insight. Just an infinite number of monkeys on an infinite number of typewriters.
I don't believe you're really being fair; after all, we humans get fed plot structure, etc. in school. Why shouldn't the computer be allowed to have the same?
I personally dislike South Park, so I avoid it. My opinion on this woman is that she shouldn't have let her kid watch the show. If the trauma her son experienced was at school from classmates, sue them.
Incidentally, anyone know exactly why this show is so bloody popular..? All it is is american toilet humour, with gimmicky animation..
Actually, we won't need to; the current trade agreements between US and Canada mean that US agreements are honoured by Canada automatically. (At least it's that way with encryption..) Which really sucks, imo. Us Canadians don't have a flickin' say in it at all.
On a side note, I guess we all know what that Microsoft Back-Oriface rip-off was for. I'll bet they were in on this legislation..
But could it be used in a projector without cooking it..? You'd have a pretty powerful light going through it; that's gotta have some effect on the LCD display, right?
Also, for all of you out there gung-ho for contact lens versions, you might want to notice that this baby still needs a bit of a cable; I doubt you want to be blinking with that thing in your way.
Personally, I can't wait for when they actually get these things working practically and all. I'd love to be able to put a pair on, and read my e-mail. I just think it's kind of funny, though, how it'll look typing out replies on the bus with an entirely miniaturized system--except for the keyboard.:)
Maybe it's time to go back to that old Commodore design, eh? Albeit a bit thinner. You could fit all of the basic computer parts into about that area, with a low-end CPU. Just add a network port.. or even just a regular serial port.. then you could get your e-mail or whatever through it, and have it communicate back and forth with another computer. (or let it use a modem)
As for power consumption.. well..
..okay, here's the idea. If we're going to have people this plugged in and all, why don't we go all the way? I think it'd be neat if you could get on a bus where-ever, and just pop a cord into a socket at your seat, connecting both your power supply and low-bandwidth internet access. The initial communication between your gear and the bus would establish your identity, and if it's a pay-system, setup power/internet costs and what credit card or debit card's going to be used. Then, it'd ask what was your stop, and would activate an alarm to automatically warn you one stop before yours that your stop's coming up. Then--net access.:)
SB128 drivers my ass. These drivers suck. Thanks to OSS' restriction to have only 3 line mixers, I can't use my video in/CD in 2 line on my SB128. I doubt they'll fix that little "oops" any time soon, either.
Heck, forget the video card audio line.. give me CD audio. That line mixer doesn't work either. (And believe me, I've tried.. Red Hat 5.2 didn't let me mix it, and neither did kernel 2.2.6..)
I don't see what the big deal is. I had the main page cached, so when I loaded it up, I didn't get a view at the cease and desist letter. Interestingly enough, all the links still work, so if you know one of 'em, you can still read 'em.
For example:
http://thump.rotten.com/dilbert-hole/d013.html
It's not worth reading, anyways, though, so.. [shrug]..
Red Hat's in the US, right? And you can't export strong encryption from the US. So is it possible for Red Hat to include this with a release, or could the gov't come down on them for it..?
> I have never seen a porn site that didn't require a credit card number for a membership. > They may exist, I don't personally spend a great deal of time searching for them. > However, if these "violent sex acts" that this kid was able to witness came from porn > sites, how did he get access without his own credit card? Either he stole his parents card > to get access or his parents allowed him to have access. In any event, I don't see how > sex acts compelled him to gun down his friends... (were they his friends? maybe he had > other reasons)
Um.. just a note about what you said..
Free pr0n is easy to find. Way too easy. All they need is one URL, and the rest is linked to from there: http://www.persiankitty.com There are similar free sites all over the web.
(If you really want to find them [snort], do a search for warez...)
I think it's not so much a matter of whether or not it's worth it or not for computer geeks, as much as it is a question of whether or not colleges and universities are starting off their entry-level people at the right course level.
I just finished a three-hour C++ exam this morning in under an hour. I think the course was effectively a waste of my time, since I already knew C++. The one thing I still needed to learn about C++, OOP, was never taught in the course. We only learned C/C++ fundamentals. Yuck.
Until universities/colleges start customizing their programs for different entry-levels, we're going to have to put up with the redundant nature of early university/college year education. Which means that more and more students will continue to make the sad decision to end their studies early. I don't know; the way things are now, I suspect they may very well have made the better choice.
I know people have mentioned how this is a stupid thing for 3DFX to do, cracking down on these coders. I definitely agree with this line of thinking, but not for the same reason.
I think that emulators are a great way for people to get a good look at something they don't normally have access to. People with high-end Voodoo-equivalent cards wouldn't buy a brand new video card anyways, and people with low-end cards get to see what these GLide-programs look like, which gives 3DFX some easy exposure. None of the wrappers are production-quality enough to really give the real thing a run for it's money.
In summary, the people at 3DFX are probably going to get more negative publicity than positive publicity by this move from their prospective consumers. Their hardcore gamer audience probably won't notice the difference. And anyone with an interest in shooting 3DFX down, or keeping the video card people on equal ground, is gonna badmouth them well into the year 2000.
ATi hardware has an OpenGL ICD available for the Rage Pro. Even though it's still a beta version, I've been using it since before January, with no ill effects.
http://www.atitech.com/betadrv/index.html
Also, ATi's Rage Pro has broken DirectX support, as any DirectX author will tell you. If you've ever played Shogo on a Rage Pro-equipped card, you can tell this right away. (Ditto Grim Fandango, where the Z-buffering doesn't work correctly.)
I was just looking over some of the spec sheets found on the ATi Chipset Docs page over at ati.veiled.net, and something neat caught my eye. In the specsheet for the Philips FM1246 (Desktop video & FM radio module system CCIR I), I noticed that this particular component of the tuner is capable of handling regular FM radio broadcasts as well.
Does this mean that it could very well be possible for my ATi TV Tuner to function as a regular FM Stereo, in conjunction with my sound card? Or did ATi decide not to install the requisite crystals that would be needed to support this feature..?
I can't speak for all the other Linux newbies out there, but I can tell you a bit about my personal experience with linux.
I'm not going to go into a long story about what I was having trouble with. Suffice it to say that it was a very simple problem, with a very simple answer. But when I went on an IRC channel to ask what I should do, I got the infamous RTFM. (man pages)
So I did. And I learned something. The man pages have got to be the _worst_ thing you can tell a newbie to start with. Of all the stupid things you can tell a newbie to do, reading the man pages has got to be the worst. The archaic format of them was not at all similar to anything I'd ever seen before; it took me four hours alone to decipher the format of the entry on ls.
I still don't understand most of what's written there.
In the end, I just gave up, and ended up typing "ls --help" as a joke, and much to my surprise, ended up actually finding something intelligible.
Look, I'm not saying that the man pages are a bad idea or anything. I'm just saying that their format's more than a bit different from the norm. They're difficult for a newbie to understand. And if you send a newbie straight to the man pages, you're really just telling them to abandon all hope now.
(Incidentally, has anyone written a HOW-TO on deciphering those things yet..?)
I don't see what some peoples' problem is with talking about Bill Gates in a candid way. This review was well thought out, and makes several good points about the book.
True, if you look at just the form of the review, a good majority of the paragraphs start with "Gates.." or "He..," but for good reason. The book is about HIS vision. You can't seperate the man from the book. This is his book about his ideas, and if the ideas just aren't there, then where is the man?
If you stopped nitpicking, and actually read the review through, you'd notice that Mr. Katz makes several good points. True enough, there is some Gates-bashing, if you want to call it that. But you have to say something about the man who wrote the book. Especially if this is his vision..
Heaven forbid you want Mr. Katz to write a review that mimicks the review in Time.
Slashdot Mirror
The difference here is that the total purpose of the Pokemon cards is to play a game--a gambling game, while the baseball cards are mainly there to collect.
So long as they say "collectable," they're okay. But with the Pokemon cards, they're for a game, which makes it gambling.
Honestly, the defense for this is the exact same as the one against gun control. The argument is that you're purchasing them for a different purpose, or that they're designed for a different purpose. While the physical consequences of card misuse aren't quite so severe as gun misuse, there are still psychological ramifications to consider.
Personally I think the courts will agree with you that it's ridiculous. We're talking about a country that insists guns don't kill people, people kill people.
But just because they think it's ridiculous doesn't mean the parents don't have a point. I mean, those Barbies, Tamagotchis, etc. are collectible too, but you don't see little kids trying to cheat eachother out of a rare one on the playground, do you?
Maybe I'm just forgetful, but I don't remember anyone ever gambling over a Tickle-Me-Elmo..
James
I can see the media calling right now to congratulate him..
... What's up, doc? Heh, get it? Get it? What's up...--anyways, just called to get another quote for my article, and.." *CLICK* "..hello? Hello..? ... Aw man, not again.."
"Hello! Way to go, Linus! (Can I call you Linus?) Hey, I've always wanted to say this, so.. [ahem]
Poor Mr. Torvalds.. It's a good thing they're blocking his calls for him at work..
James
FYI, that was Wordperfect, not Wordperfect Office. WP Office is commercial software.
Either way, though, there are restrictions in the Wordperfect licence preventing redistribution, IIRC.
James
The main reason that Corel's slapped on this extra licence is because they're including their Wordperfect (Office?) for Linux with their Corel Linux distribution. The problem is that they wanted to do a test of what it'd be like in the final copy.
The problem they ran into was that they didn't want people redistributing their Corel Wordperfect along with their Corel Linux distribution. Also, technically speaking, their installer and KDE apps are also their own intellectual property. Now, even if they could seperate Corel Wordperfect onto a seperate disc, so that it could be redistributed seperately, how do you seperate the installer?
Personally, I agree; they definitely got the wording wrong on the licencing agreement. However, so long as the GPLed software that they're redistributing is available elsewhere, the community isn't really being harmed. You could say that the spirit of the licence hasn't been violated.
That being said, it really sucks that they've (potentially) violated the wording of the licence..
James
This is a bit of a turn-around from the article just previous to it on Slashdot, don't you think? What I mean to say is, is Sun having a good Samba port a good thing for the Linux community?
Yo moron, read the article before you post. Using it to sweep for mines is one of the ideas he was planning on using it for.
I've given the Ottawa office of Corel a call, and was transferred to their legal department. I got no answer whatsoever, so I left a short message. If I get a callback, I'll let everyone know what's going on. Until then, here's prayin' that their voicemail system's in good shape..
James
Nowhere does the article say that the computer entry uses a fed plot-structure. Just that it's incapable of plot-structures as complex as human ones. We don't know for sure exactly what kind of plot-generation scheme is used here. It could very well be, as you said, pre-composed. But it could also be "invented."
I don't think this would be the main limiting factor, though, in the system's writing capability. There are other, more pressing, difficulties I could see arising from the system; for instance, it would probably be unable to handle humour very well, or science fiction/fantasy. This is because it would be incapable of free thought and intuition/insight. Sure, it could probably come up with some sort of unusual idea that could probably be mistaken for a joke--if told right. The problem here is, what part do you reveal first, and what do you leave out until the end, to deliver as a punch line?
Likewise, with the science fiction/fantasy example, it could probably construct a universe on it's own, where all vehicles look like elongated icecream cones, or where all travel is done using some pseudo matter-shifting technology or something, but the big problem is, again, how would the writer understand how to relate it to the reader?
You see, human authors know how low-level they have to go with a concept in order to relate a new idea to someone else. This low level is called common knowledge. How do you relate this common knowledge to the computer system?
The big underlying problem is that we still haven't figured out how to get a computer to understand ideas and abstract theories. Until the system is capable of storing these theories, or more accurately, converting these theories into 'understanding' and storing that understanding, (Understanding being like an executable version of that theory or idea. (Perhaps we could refer to this process as "compiling?" It's theoretically a lot like compiling source code..)) we'll never have a system capable of invention or insight. Just an infinite number of monkeys on an infinite number of typewriters.
James
I don't believe you're really being fair; after all, we humans get fed plot structure, etc. in school. Why shouldn't the computer be allowed to have the same?
I personally dislike South Park, so I avoid it. My opinion on this woman is that she shouldn't have let her kid watch the show. If the trauma her son experienced was at school from classmates, sue them.
Incidentally, anyone know exactly why this show is so bloody popular..? All it is is american toilet humour, with gimmicky animation..
Wonder how long it'll be before they have Stef eating ant colonies.. :)
..sounds like a Microslothized language.
I like this idea. I hope they televise it, if they screw up.
First post..?
Actually, we won't need to; the current trade agreements between US and Canada mean that US agreements are honoured by Canada automatically. (At least it's that way with encryption..) Which really sucks, imo. Us Canadians don't have a flickin' say in it at all.
On a side note, I guess we all know what that Microsoft Back-Oriface rip-off was for. I'll bet they were in on this legislation..
Fork
But could it be used in a projector without cooking it..? You'd have a pretty powerful light going through it; that's gotta have some effect on the LCD display, right?
:)
:)
Also, for all of you out there gung-ho for contact lens versions, you might want to notice that this baby still needs a bit of a cable; I doubt you want to be blinking with that thing in your way.
Personally, I can't wait for when they actually get these things working practically and all. I'd love to be able to put a pair on, and read my e-mail. I just think it's kind of funny, though, how it'll look typing out replies on the bus with an entirely miniaturized system--except for the keyboard.
Maybe it's time to go back to that old Commodore design, eh? Albeit a bit thinner. You could fit all of the basic computer parts into about that area, with a low-end CPU. Just add a network port.. or even just a regular serial port.. then you could get your e-mail or whatever through it, and have it communicate back and forth with another computer. (or let it use a modem)
As for power consumption.. well..
..okay, here's the idea. If we're going to have people this plugged in and all, why don't we go all the way? I think it'd be neat if you could get on a bus where-ever, and just pop a cord into a socket at your seat, connecting both your power supply and low-bandwidth internet access. The initial communication between your gear and the bus would establish your identity, and if it's a pay-system, setup power/internet costs and what credit card or debit card's going to be used. Then, it'd ask what was your stop, and would activate an alarm to automatically warn you one stop before yours that your stop's coming up. Then--net access.
...
Ah well; a guy can dream, right?
Fork
SB128 drivers my ass. These drivers suck. Thanks to OSS' restriction to have only 3 line mixers, I can't use my video in/CD in 2 line on my SB128. I doubt they'll fix that little "oops" any time soon, either.
Heck, forget the video card audio line.. give me CD audio. That line mixer doesn't work either. (And believe me, I've tried.. Red Hat 5.2 didn't let me mix it, and neither did kernel 2.2.6..)
[grumble]
Fork
I don't see what the big deal is.
I had the main page cached, so when I loaded it up, I didn't get a view at the cease and desist letter. Interestingly enough, all the links still work, so if you know one of 'em, you can still read 'em.
For example:
http://thump.rotten.com/dilbert-hole/d013.html
It's not worth reading, anyways, though, so.. [shrug]..
Fork
Red Hat's in the US, right? And you can't export strong encryption from the US. So is it possible for Red Hat to include this with a release, or could the gov't come down on them for it..?
> I have never seen a porn site that didn't require a credit card number for a membership.
> They may exist, I don't personally spend a great deal of time searching for them.
> However, if these "violent sex acts" that this kid was able to witness came from porn
> sites, how did he get access without his own credit card? Either he stole his parents card
> to get access or his parents allowed him to have access. In any event, I don't see how
> sex acts compelled him to gun down his friends... (were they his friends? maybe he had
> other reasons)
Um.. just a note about what you said..
Free pr0n is easy to find. Way too easy. All they need is one URL, and the rest is linked to from there: http://www.persiankitty.com There are similar free sites all over the web.
(If you really want to find them [snort], do a search for warez...)
Fork
I think it's not so much a matter of whether or not it's worth it or not for computer geeks, as much as it is a question of whether or not colleges and universities are starting off their entry-level people at the right course level.
I just finished a three-hour C++ exam this morning in under an hour. I think the course was effectively a waste of my time, since I already knew C++. The one thing I still needed to learn about C++, OOP, was never taught in the course. We only learned C/C++ fundamentals. Yuck.
Until universities/colleges start customizing their programs for different entry-levels, we're going to have to put up with the redundant nature of early university/college year education. Which means that more and more students will continue to make the sad decision to end their studies early. I don't know; the way things are now, I suspect they may very well have made the better choice.
Fork
I know people have mentioned how this is a stupid thing for 3DFX to do, cracking down on these coders. I definitely agree with this line of thinking, but not for the same reason.
I think that emulators are a great way for people to get a good look at something they don't normally have access to. People with high-end Voodoo-equivalent cards wouldn't buy a brand new video card anyways, and people with low-end cards get to see what these GLide-programs look like, which gives 3DFX some easy exposure. None of the wrappers are production-quality enough to really give the real thing a run for it's money.
In summary, the people at 3DFX are probably going to get more negative publicity than positive publicity by this move from their prospective consumers. Their hardcore gamer audience probably won't notice the difference. And anyone with an interest in shooting 3DFX down, or keeping the video card people on equal ground, is gonna badmouth them well into the year 2000.
Fork
ATi hardware has an OpenGL ICD available for the Rage Pro. Even though it's still a beta version, I've been using it since before January, with no ill effects.
http://www.atitech.com/betadrv/index.html
Also, ATi's Rage Pro has broken DirectX support, as any DirectX author will tell you. If you've ever played Shogo on a Rage Pro-equipped card, you can tell this right away. (Ditto Grim Fandango, where the Z-buffering doesn't work correctly.)
I don't know about the ATi Rage 128, though.
Fork
I was just looking over some of the spec sheets found on the ATi Chipset Docs page over at ati.veiled.net, and something neat caught my eye. In the specsheet for the Philips FM1246 (Desktop video & FM radio module system CCIR I), I noticed that this particular component of the tuner is capable of handling regular FM radio broadcasts as well.
Does this mean that it could very well be possible for my ATi TV Tuner to function as a regular FM Stereo, in conjunction with my sound card? Or did ATi decide not to install the requisite crystals that would be needed to support this feature..?
Thanks..
I can't speak for all the other Linux newbies out there, but I can tell you a bit about my personal experience with linux.
I'm not going to go into a long story about what I was having trouble with. Suffice it to say that it was a very simple problem, with a very simple answer. But when I went on an IRC channel to ask what I should do, I got the infamous RTFM. (man pages)
So I did. And I learned something. The man pages have got to be the _worst_ thing you can tell a newbie to start with. Of all the stupid things you can tell a newbie to do, reading the man pages has got to be the worst. The archaic format of them was not at all similar to anything I'd ever seen before; it took me four hours alone to decipher the format of the entry on ls.
I still don't understand most of what's written there.
In the end, I just gave up, and ended up typing "ls --help" as a joke, and much to my surprise, ended up actually finding something intelligible.
Look, I'm not saying that the man pages are a bad idea or anything. I'm just saying that their format's more than a bit different from the norm. They're difficult for a newbie to understand. And if you send a newbie straight to the man pages, you're really just telling them to abandon all hope now.
(Incidentally, has anyone written a HOW-TO on deciphering those things yet..?)
Fork
ROTFLMAO! :)
Moderators, bump that one up a few notches.
I read Mr. Katz' whole review.
I don't see what some peoples' problem is with talking about Bill Gates in a candid way. This review was well thought out, and makes several good points about the book.
True, if you look at just the form of the review, a good majority of the paragraphs start with "Gates.." or "He..," but for good reason. The book is about HIS vision. You can't seperate the man from the book. This is his book about his ideas, and if the ideas just aren't there, then where is the man?
If you stopped nitpicking, and actually read the review through, you'd notice that Mr. Katz makes several good points. True enough, there is some Gates-bashing, if you want to call it that. But you have to say something about the man who wrote the book. Especially if this is his vision..
Heaven forbid you want Mr. Katz to write a review that mimicks the review in Time.
Just my $0.02.
Fork