If you're watching local TV through your cable connection, then TW could indeed refuse to carry local stations that run ads for competing ISPs, although I don't allege that this is occurring. It's possible, though.
Part of the 1996 Telcommunications Act requires cable operators to carry local networks. My memory is fuzzy on some of the specifics, but they might have the option of carrying non-local networks.
You make a good point about local ads, but AOL/Time-Warner owns several magazines. For example, "Time" leaps to mind. The only other one I can think of is "Entertainment Weekly", but there are plenty of others.
Think of it in terms of setting precedent. If some other professor wants to turn DeCSS into a research paper, the MPAA will be unable to prevent its publication (in theory).
My bad. As I stated before, "as soon as someone said 'no infinite resources', I knew someone was going to retort 'infinite universe'." My zeal to pounce on this minor quibble overcame my basic reading skills (I now see the words "looks to be" in front of "infinite"). I apologize. The subtler aspects of Economics continue to elude me, and I wanted to feel like I could contribute somehow (no life, I know). I hope you don't mind a follow-up question.
You assume the universe is closed.... Latest evidence is for an open universe,...
It was my (amateur) understanding that the closed vs. open debate revolved around whether the universe will eventually collapse upon itself or expand forever, respectively. I understand the latter suggests that the universe will have infinite volume eventually (after a literal eternity, I assume), but it's still finite today, isn't it? Or is this yet another subject that has managed to elude me?
It isn't. You're confusing "infinite" with "unbounded". If you were a small two-dimensional being living on the surface of a large sphere, you'd conclude that your "universe" has no edge; but it would be wrong to say it had an infinite area.
Sorry to be nitpicky, but as soon as someone said "no infinite resources", I knew someone was going to retort "infinite universe".
The convention organizers want people to pay for the privilege of passing out free stuff.
I read the article several hours ago, so my memory may fail me, but didn't the SLUGs have a convention elsewhere in the same building? Wouldn't that mean they've paid for the privilege of giving out free stuff?
Actually, what generally happens is the outer layers are melted by friction in the atmosphere and blown off by the same. That's not really the same thing as burning.
Even if [anything living] was inside something and not directly in contact with the atmosphere, and that object was large enough to hit the ground and not completely burn up, anything inside would be cooked to an enormous temperature.
That depends on what you mean by "enormous". Certainly it gets pretty hot inside the meteor, but not nearly so hot as it does on the outside. If it did, it wouldn't reach the ground at all. I suggest reading the addendum of this page. Actually, I recommend reading the whole site, as it's both informative and amusing.
Redistribution and use in source and binary forms are permitted... DOES NOT IMPLY... derivitive or modified works are not permitted without the author's prior consent.
In the U.S., the right to redistribute a copyrighted work is distinct from the right to create a derivative of that work. Further, they are rights reserved by the author by default. If Mr. Reed does not expressly grant permission to others to create derivative works, then only he has that right.
You fallaciously assume that this hypothetical million need to be watched continuously, 24x7, by real people. On the contrary, the beauty (or terror) of today's fully-automated surveillance combined with ultra-cheap long-term storage is that zero people are needed to track a populace indefinitely. Why pay a person $15/hr to (for example) scour months of video from hidden cameras when face recognition software can do it for pennies a day and "good enough" for most purposes?
Your statements seem to indicate you have no idea what's going on in the UK these days wrt privacy and long-term surveillance.
...in many ways the government has made easier to work with the credit card than with anonymous cash.
"Anonymous" being the operative word here. The government is no more a fan of privacy than corporations (the better to police you with, my dear). So, naturally, the government is fully behind the "cashless economy".
Maybe it was because his was pre-release, but when I opened the CD case on my copy, two things fell out: disk 2 and an installation guide. Besides, what's to know about installing? Put the CD in, if autorun works, click "install". If not, go to the CD drive in Explorer and select "Autoplay".
That said, he raised a lot of good points about hardware problems with the game, and I'd like to applaud him for being so harsh about it, even though I haven't had any problems myself.
Actually, I've had a complete lack of problems solving the game, too. The original Zork trilogy presented more of a challenge. Zork had a much better story-line, too.
...most courts will side with the intent of the author,...
Actually, in contract disputes where only one side wrote the document, the disputed points are usually construed against the author, unless there's hard evidence to the contrary.
Bizzare... it's like reading a post by my döppelgänger. Personally, I think driving would be a lot safer if it were harder to get a license. In Michigan, for example, getting a license only requires passing a written test (seeing as the state's economy benefits by having more motorists, I'm not too surprised). In my case, the test involved a literal spin around the block. I realize it's a bureaucratic and financial nightmare, but making people take serious driving tests every time they renewed their license would make things a lot safer.
Somehow, I don't think the authors of the first amendment had porn on their short list of forms of expression that needed protection.
Somehow, I don't think the authors of the second amendment had semi-automatic assault weapons on their short list of arms that needed bearing.
That people living two centuries ago couldn't envision the technology and social climate of today is no argument for what we should do in the here and now.
Software costs ridiculous amounts of money to make...
No, programmers charge ridiculous amounts of money for their time. A lot of good Free/Open Source programs were written at no cost by programmers in their spare time.
The incompatibility between business and the GPL only arises when you try to market a generic product. The notion of general purpose software is fairly recent. I'll admit it was a stroke of genius to switch from selling the exact right thing to 1000 people/corps to selling something "good enough" to a million of them. Trying to go into that particular market, though, armed only with the GPL is the problem, since the GPL seeks to eliminate that market.
The best way to accomplish this is patience and time. All hardware eventually fails; new hardware can simply refuse to accept certain known formats (MP3). Corporations and governments are effectively immortal; they can afford to wait.
Slashdot Mirror
If you're watching local TV through your cable connection, then TW could indeed refuse to carry local stations that run ads for competing ISPs, although I don't allege that this is occurring. It's possible, though.
Part of the 1996 Telcommunications Act requires cable operators to carry local networks. My memory is fuzzy on some of the specifics, but they might have the option of carrying non-local networks.
For sure they're not controlling... magazines... .
You make a good point about local ads, but AOL/Time-Warner owns several magazines. For example, "Time" leaps to mind. The only other one I can think of is "Entertainment Weekly", but there are plenty of others.
Think of it in terms of setting precedent. If some other professor wants to turn DeCSS into a research paper, the MPAA will be unable to prevent its publication (in theory).
The worst part is that most of [the pro-Microsoft astroturf] is probably not even paid.
Then it isn't astroturf, Dumbass.
When are we going to see the first big adopter of Ogg Vorbis?
Not before it gets out of beta.
My bad. As I stated before, "as soon as someone said 'no infinite resources', I knew someone was going to retort 'infinite universe'." My zeal to pounce on this minor quibble overcame my basic reading skills (I now see the words "looks to be" in front of "infinite"). I apologize. The subtler aspects of Economics continue to elude me, and I wanted to feel like I could contribute somehow (no life, I know). I hope you don't mind a follow-up question.
You assume the universe is closed. ... Latest evidence is for an open universe,...
It was my (amateur) understanding that the closed vs. open debate revolved around whether the universe will eventually collapse upon itself or expand forever, respectively. I understand the latter suggests that the universe will have infinite volume eventually (after a literal eternity, I assume), but it's still finite today, isn't it? Or is this yet another subject that has managed to elude me?
Again, I'm sorry I jumped the gun.
The universe itself looks to be fairly infinite.
It isn't. You're confusing "infinite" with "unbounded". If you were a small two-dimensional being living on the surface of a large sphere, you'd conclude that your "universe" has no edge; but it would be wrong to say it had an infinite area.
Sorry to be nitpicky, but as soon as someone said "no infinite resources", I knew someone was going to retort "infinite universe".
The convention organizers want people to pay for the privilege of passing out free stuff.
I read the article several hours ago, so my memory may fail me, but didn't the SLUGs have a convention elsewhere in the same building? Wouldn't that mean they've paid for the privilege of giving out free stuff?
[L]ast I checked IRON burns up in our atmosphere.
Actually, what generally happens is the outer layers are melted by friction in the atmosphere and blown off by the same. That's not really the same thing as burning.
Even if [anything living] was inside something and not directly in contact with the atmosphere, and that object was large enough to hit the ground and not completely burn up, anything inside would be cooked to an enormous temperature.
That depends on what you mean by "enormous". Certainly it gets pretty hot inside the meteor, but not nearly so hot as it does on the outside. If it did, it wouldn't reach the ground at all. I suggest reading the addendum of this page. Actually, I recommend reading the whole site, as it's both informative and amusing.
Wouldn't it be more accurate to call it a dense N2 atmosphere?
Redistribution and use in source and binary forms are permitted... DOES NOT IMPLY... derivitive or modified works are not permitted without the author's prior consent.
In the U.S., the right to redistribute a copyrighted work is distinct from the right to create a derivative of that work. Further, they are rights reserved by the author by default. If Mr. Reed does not expressly grant permission to others to create derivative works, then only he has that right.
I can remember one game that had a list of 'cons' a mile long and the 'pros' section said "it came in a nice glossy box."
My favorite was:
Pro: The uninstaller works correctly.
Con: When smashed into pieces, the CD has many sharp edges.
You fallaciously assume that this hypothetical million need to be watched continuously, 24x7, by real people. On the contrary, the beauty (or terror) of today's fully-automated surveillance combined with ultra-cheap long-term storage is that zero people are needed to track a populace indefinitely. Why pay a person $15/hr to (for example) scour months of video from hidden cameras when face recognition software can do it for pennies a day and "good enough" for most purposes?
Your statements seem to indicate you have no idea what's going on in the UK these days wrt privacy and long-term surveillance.
"Anonymous" being the operative word here. The government is no more a fan of privacy than corporations (the better to police you with, my dear). So, naturally, the government is fully behind the "cashless economy".
It was Mussolini who didn't really make the trains run on time. Get your propaganda straight.
Maybe it was because his was pre-release, but when I opened the CD case on my copy, two things fell out: disk 2 and an installation guide. Besides, what's to know about installing? Put the CD in, if autorun works, click "install". If not, go to the CD drive in Explorer and select "Autoplay".
That said, he raised a lot of good points about hardware problems with the game, and I'd like to applaud him for being so harsh about it, even though I haven't had any problems myself.
Actually, I've had a complete lack of problems solving the game, too. The original Zork trilogy presented more of a challenge. Zork had a much better story-line, too.
Actually, in contract disputes where only one side wrote the document, the disputed points are usually construed against the author, unless there's hard evidence to the contrary.
Bizzare... it's like reading a post by my döppelgänger. Personally, I think driving would be a lot safer if it were harder to get a license. In Michigan, for example, getting a license only requires passing a written test (seeing as the state's economy benefits by having more motorists, I'm not too surprised). In my case, the test involved a literal spin around the block. I realize it's a bureaucratic and financial nightmare, but making people take serious driving tests every time they renewed their license would make things a lot safer.
Somehow, I don't think the authors of the first amendment had porn on their short list of forms of expression that needed protection.
Somehow, I don't think the authors of the second amendment had semi-automatic assault weapons on their short list of arms that needed bearing.
That people living two centuries ago couldn't envision the technology and social climate of today is no argument for what we should do in the here and now.
So, the poorest among us can be held accountable for laws they can't afford to read?
remember this series' time is before even Kirk's era
Does that mean they'll go back to the old-style Klingons?
Software costs ridiculous amounts of money to make...
No, programmers charge ridiculous amounts of money for their time. A lot of good Free/Open Source programs were written at no cost by programmers in their spare time.
The incompatibility between business and the GPL only arises when you try to market a generic product. The notion of general purpose software is fairly recent. I'll admit it was a stroke of genius to switch from selling the exact right thing to 1000 people/corps to selling something "good enough" to a million of them. Trying to go into that particular market, though, armed only with the GPL is the problem, since the GPL seeks to eliminate that market.
Not to nitpick, but hurd is a different kernel, not a hardware platform.
The best way to accomplish this is patience and time. All hardware eventually fails; new hardware can simply refuse to accept certain known formats (MP3). Corporations and governments are effectively immortal; they can afford to wait.
These saneer countries also... include charging a fee for every CD-R you buy,...
And this differs from the U.S. how?