You once wrote that "Environmentalism has replaced socialism as the leading secular religion". I originally resisted this notion, but I've come to think that you are correct. Where did you first hear about this idea? (I've since noticed that there are whole books on the subject, say by Robert Nelson.) Does this help explain why skepticism is such a heresy? After all, one of the biggest religious sins is the sin of disbelief.
While it's rather funny that a marker could be considered a circumvention device under the DMCA, I believe the logic is completely flawed. The pen is just a *tool* to create a particular *type* of circumvention device (in this case a mark on the CD). For example, with DeCSS, your text editor (where you edit the C code) or compiler are not circumvention devices, they are tools which allow you to create the device ( source code or executable code -- these both seem to be considered circumvention devices.)
An illustration: one could imagine a product which consisted of a mostly clear, CD-sized sleeve with a small sliver of black on it which would do the same thing as this mark on the pen. It would be this sleeve -- which one inserts the CD in -- that would be illegal, and not the materials that it was made out of. To conclude, the resultant ink mark is the actual circumvention device, not the marker.
While I do like the joke of the marker being used to circumvent the DMCA, I believe the analogy is completely flawed. The pen is just a *tool* to create a particular *type* of circumvention device (in this case a mark on the CD). For example, with DeCSS, your text editor (where you edit the C code) or compiler are not circumvention devices, they are tools which allow you to create the device ( source code or executable code -- these both seem to be considered circumvention devices.)
An illustration: one could imagine a product which consisted of a mostly clear, CD-sized sleeve with a small sliver of black on it which would do the same thing as this mark on the pen. It would be this sleeve -- which one inserts the CD in -- that would be illegal, and not the materials that it was made out of. To conclude, the resultant ink mark is the actual circumvention device, not the marker.
If you decide to get a telescope, don't get
one of those no-name brands at Sears, JCPenney
etc! The optics aren't good but the mainly
the tripods are horrible. Get a good brand
like Meade or Celestron. (See Astronomics.com)
The ETX series by Meade is good. (I actually
saw these on sale at Walmart...wow. That's
like finding a Trek bicycle instead of
an overweight, gaudy Huffy.)
Also, don't forget about a good pair of binoculars. For the moon, they're great.
As a former grad. student in physics, I
never had anybody say my work was
the property of the university. Of course, none
of my research had any immediate application
in industry (maybe in 10 years). I have gladly
given my code to anybody who wishes it, along
with my thesis (ps/pdf/tex). It would be sad to
think that I could not do this, given my feeling
that the sharing of information fosters
a more robust pure research environment.
One other point: could you imagine a scientific publication
that gave the results of a long complicated
derivation without the derivation? The same
holds true for my computational physics model.
Sure I outlined the basics steps in Physical
Review, but pouring over the code is more
like thoroughly checking a derivation, IMO.
Keeping the code under lock and key would
be a travesty, and it would slow the evolution
of scientific research as well. (There has
already been 1 grad student to graduate who expanded my
theory and used my code, and two more
should graduate in the next year. It probably
would have taken them another 6 months to
graduate if they had to start from scratch.)
Do you know if OLGA's still growing or if it's
just static? I added some songs many years ago
and I would do so again. I didn't see any
obvious links at the activeguitar.com
or renegadeolga that said that they were
taking more contributions.
I wonder how well some of these lecture notes
correlate to the text book. Heck, I had
a few profs who almost read from the book.
(This was the minority, however.)
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You once wrote that "Environmentalism has replaced socialism as the leading secular religion". I originally resisted this notion, but I've come to think that you are correct. Where did you first hear about this idea? (I've since noticed that there are whole books on the subject, say by Robert Nelson.) Does this help explain why skepticism is such a heresy? After all, one of the biggest religious sins is the sin of disbelief.
While it's rather funny that a marker could be considered a circumvention device under the DMCA, I believe the logic is completely flawed. The pen is just a *tool* to create a particular *type* of circumvention device (in
this case a mark on the CD). For example, with DeCSS, your text editor (where you edit the C code)
or compiler are not circumvention devices, they are tools which allow you to create the device (
source code or executable code -- these both seem to be considered circumvention devices.)
An illustration: one could imagine a product which consisted of a mostly clear, CD-sized sleeve with a small
sliver of black on it which would do the same thing as this mark on the pen. It would be this sleeve -- which
one inserts the CD in -- that would be illegal, and not the materials that it was made out of. To conclude,
the resultant ink mark is the actual circumvention device, not the marker.
While I do like the joke of the marker being used to circumvent the DMCA, I believe the
analogy is completely flawed. The pen is just a *tool* to create a particular *type* of circumvention device (in
this case a mark on the CD). For example, with DeCSS, your text editor (where you edit the C code)
or compiler are not circumvention devices, they are tools which allow you to create the device (
source code or executable code -- these both seem to be considered circumvention devices.)
An illustration: one could imagine a product which consisted of a mostly clear, CD-sized sleeve with a small
sliver of black on it which would do the same thing as this mark on the pen. It would be this sleeve -- which
one inserts the CD in -- that would be illegal, and not the materials that it was made out of. To conclude,
the resultant ink mark is the actual circumvention device, not the marker.
If you decide to get a telescope, don't get one of those no-name brands at Sears, JCPenney etc! The optics aren't good but the mainly the tripods are horrible. Get a good brand like Meade or Celestron. (See Astronomics.com) The ETX series by Meade is good. (I actually saw these on sale at Walmart...wow. That's like finding a Trek bicycle instead of an overweight, gaudy Huffy.) Also, don't forget about a good pair of binoculars. For the moon, they're great.
As a former grad. student in physics, I never had anybody say my work was the property of the university. Of course, none of my research had any immediate application in industry (maybe in 10 years). I have gladly given my code to anybody who wishes it, along with my thesis (ps/pdf/tex). It would be sad to think that I could not do this, given my feeling that the sharing of information fosters a more robust pure research environment. One other point: could you imagine a scientific publication that gave the results of a long complicated derivation without the derivation? The same holds true for my computational physics model. Sure I outlined the basics steps in Physical Review, but pouring over the code is more like thoroughly checking a derivation, IMO. Keeping the code under lock and key would be a travesty, and it would slow the evolution of scientific research as well. (There has already been 1 grad student to graduate who expanded my theory and used my code, and two more should graduate in the next year. It probably would have taken them another 6 months to graduate if they had to start from scratch.)
Do you know if OLGA's still growing or if it's just static? I added some songs many years ago and I would do so again. I didn't see any obvious links at the activeguitar.com or renegadeolga that said that they were taking more contributions.
I wonder how well some of these lecture notes correlate to the text book. Heck, I had a few profs who almost read from the book. (This was the minority, however.)