One recommendation: Wait until you get your thoughts together and make one top-level post (instead of the five you've made already). You would really be more effective at making your point that way (and there is a good point hidden in there somewhere).
And no shouting, please. Decibels just don't make it 'round here. -----
To all moderators: Unless a posting is out-and-out abuse, let the comment sit for an arbitrary length of time (30 minutes, for example). If the comment attracts good-quality responses, it's probably worth keeping. (Unless, of course, the whole thread is abuse heaped upon abuse.)
To all others: If a posting is not worth a rebuttal, don't post one. This will help the moderators sort the gold from the dreck. -----
Canby's job was to review the film as a film (and not as a link between SW and Jedi). And face it, Empire was just a link between SW and Jedi. Criminy, do you think that anybody's going to be 100% satisfied with a Star Wars movie if the rebels don't get to blow up the Death Star? 8-)
In the Star Wars series, Han Solo isn't supposed to grok what's going on. That, of course, plants Harrison Ford squarely in B-movie territory.
And Canby did say that Hamill may one day be a movie star. (He caught adamwestitis instead, but that's not such a bad thing either (unless you want to be a Shakespearean actor).) -----
In common technical usage "lossy" means that the image compression routine automatically throws out image quality (versus losing image quality by not supporting as many colors, or gamma, or whatever). This is a distinction worth preserving.
Sure if you convert a 24-bit image to 8-bits, you lose all those colors. However, if you had only 8-bits to begin with (such as with line art), you are not losing quality by saving to GIF. With GIF, whether or not you lose image quality depends on the image. With "lossy" formats like JPEG, you're losing image quality every time you save the file. -----
Insist that you put your screed on a web page instead of an x-hundred-page book. Your audience will get your ideas faster and cheaper, plus you can delete the stupid/embarassing parts later. -----
"Intellectual property" is a misnomer. In the U.S. in particular, patents and copyrights are authorized by the Constitution for the sole purpose of promoting "the Progress of Science and useful Arts" (Article I, Section 8). In other words, copyrights and patents are government grants meant to promote a social good (and certainly not an absolute property right in any meaningful sense). -----
He may be our asshole (and no worse than any other), but he's still an asshole. (See the Skeleton Closet for more info. I don't necessarily agree with them; they're just convenient.)
Chomsky's OK though (and he's right more often than we would want him to be).
Insofar as Microsoft and Intel have convinced a large number of Americans who would not otherwise buy a computer to buy one (and subsidize the rest of us), they have been responsible for the price drops. They've been handsomely compensated for their efforts, though.
The fact that the PC market is more price-competitive than the Apple market, the Sun market, etc., may have a little bit to do with it too.
When you get paid a salary (and not a wage), you should expect to agree to certain demands that may seem Orwellian but are actually quite reasonable (given the fact that you are paid a salary). For example, many companies forbid you to moonlight without your supervisor's approval. This allows the employer to screen out potential conflicts of interest (for example, a boss forcing underlings to become network marketing distributors).
However, there are (or should be) certain common-sense limitations to the rights of employers, no matter what you "agree" to in your employment contract. If you write the Great American Novel in your spare time while you are employed by a corporation, then would you say that the corporation is entitled to royalties? What about if you draw up plans for a tool shed in your spare time? (Key words being, "in your spare time.") DSC may have the legal right to steal Brown's ideas, but DSC and the state of Texas roundly deserve to be laughed at if DSC has that right.
Slashdot Mirror
One recommendation: Wait until you get your thoughts together and make one top-level post (instead of the five you've made already). You would really be more effective at making your point that way (and there is a good point hidden in there somewhere).
And no shouting, please. Decibels just don't make it 'round here.
-----
To all moderators:
Unless a posting is out-and-out abuse, let the comment sit for an arbitrary length of time (30 minutes, for example). If the comment attracts good-quality responses, it's probably worth keeping. (Unless, of course, the whole thread is abuse heaped upon abuse.)
To all others:
If a posting is not worth a rebuttal, don't post one. This will help the moderators sort the gold from the dreck.
-----
Canby's job was to review the film as a film (and not as a link between SW and Jedi). And face it, Empire was just a link between SW and Jedi. Criminy, do you think that anybody's going to be 100% satisfied with a Star Wars movie if the rebels don't get to blow up the Death Star? 8-)
In the Star Wars series, Han Solo isn't supposed to grok what's going on. That, of course, plants Harrison Ford squarely in B-movie territory.
And Canby did say that Hamill may one day be a movie star. (He caught adamwestitis instead, but that's not such a bad thing either (unless you want to be a Shakespearean actor).)
-----
In common technical usage "lossy" means that the image compression routine automatically throws out image quality (versus losing image quality by not supporting as many colors, or gamma, or whatever). This is a distinction worth preserving.
Sure if you convert a 24-bit image to 8-bits, you lose all those colors. However, if you had only 8-bits to begin with (such as with line art), you are not losing quality by saving to GIF. With GIF, whether or not you lose image quality depends on the image. With "lossy" formats like JPEG, you're losing image quality every time you save the file.
-----
The New York Times says, "ESR is much better than Katz! I'm going to read him again and again!"
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Insist that you put your screed on a web page instead of an x-hundred-page book. Your audience will get your ideas faster and cheaper, plus you can delete the stupid/embarassing parts later.
-----
who gets a third of whatever you get.
-----
"Intellectual property" is a misnomer. In the U.S. in particular, patents and copyrights are authorized by the Constitution for the sole purpose of promoting "the Progress of Science and useful Arts" (Article I, Section 8). In other words, copyrights and patents are government grants meant to promote a social good (and certainly not an absolute property right in any meaningful sense).
-----
We'll meet again
Don't know where
Don't know when
But I know we'll meet again
Some sunny day.....
(sung by Vera Lynn at the end of Dr. Strangelove, for those who didn't know already)
-----
Fortunately its very simple to do using solder and a piece of particle board. See this site for more information.
He may be our asshole (and no worse than any other), but he's still an asshole. (See the Skeleton Closet for more info. I don't necessarily agree with them; they're just convenient.)
Chomsky's OK though (and he's right more often than we would want him to be).
Insofar as Microsoft and Intel have convinced a large number of Americans who would not otherwise buy a computer to buy one (and subsidize the rest of us), they have been responsible for the price drops. They've been handsomely compensated for their efforts, though.
The fact that the PC market is more price-competitive than the Apple market, the Sun market, etc., may have a little bit to do with it too.
When you get paid a salary (and not a wage), you should expect to agree to certain demands that may seem Orwellian but are actually quite reasonable (given the fact that you are paid a salary). For example, many companies forbid you to moonlight without your supervisor's approval. This allows the employer to screen out potential conflicts of interest (for example, a boss forcing underlings to become network marketing distributors).
However, there are (or should be) certain common-sense limitations to the rights of employers, no matter what you "agree" to in your employment contract. If you write the Great American Novel in your spare time while you are employed by a corporation, then would you say that the corporation is entitled to royalties? What about if you draw up plans for a tool shed in your spare time? (Key words being, "in your spare time.") DSC may have the legal right to steal Brown's ideas, but DSC and the state of Texas roundly deserve to be laughed at if DSC has that right.