I'd call that a distinction without a difference. The Iron Man movies (especially the first two) were about as far on the "regular humans with advanced sci-if tech" side of the scale as you can get in comic book world. For all intents and purposes, Iron Man is sci-fi.
Even when you bring in the Avengers, the invasion force (evil space lizards) and most of the good guys could still qualify as science fiction. Stark, Banner, and Cap'n USA are the products of (super!) science. Hawkeye is apparently just a very well conditioned human. The SHIELD folks are just dudes with guns and a probably-close-to-possible-with-enough-money airship. And Black Widow is just a sexy ninja.
Now, Thor and Loki are supernatural god-beings, which is more comic than sci-fi. But then, so are Q from TNG and the evil force that kills Spock's brother at the end of Star Trek V. And so are Yoda and the Emperor and all the other Force-people, unless we're calling midichlorians science. Most of the rest of "soft" sci-fi has major supernatural or "comic book-y" elements as well.
My point is, distinguishing between "sci-fi" and "comic book" isn't particularly useful or instructive. Really, it's more the setting that defines this spectrum of fiction (e.g. in space vs in a castle vs on a mutant-filled Earth), not how "science-y" it is. I don't find Force Lightning or dilithium-crystal-fueled time travel any more consistent (internally or otherwise) or believable than a dude's eyes being a portal to a dimension of pure energy.
They were clearly trained by the forensics investigators from cop shows, who can also enlarge any photograph by a factor of 1000 with perfect detail.
"Hold on, go back to that photo they took with a point-and-shoot on the International Space Station.
Enlarge.
Enlarge.
Zoom in on that dot.
Magnify 1000x.... can you clean that up?"
[Exchanging knowing looks]
"We've got the son of a bitch now. Notice the rotation of the screws on the main shoulder plate? This is Iron Man right after he got clipped by a Navy fighter jet, clearly violating Newton's 2nd Law. He should have been turned into a reddish paste on the inside of that suit, but this photo clearly shows the only serious damage was to the realistic depiction of physics."
"And fachrissakes would someone tell me what the word 'shibboleth' means!?"
NEEDED: Project manager with 2+ years experience in mobile application development and 5+ years guiding psychedelic journeys. Strong Objective-C skills, CPR training, and soothing voice a plus. Job responsibilities include managing deadlines and freakouts. Applicants should include resume, cover letter, and a freehand sketch of a random design drawn while listening to a jam band.
Fortunately LSD has very little association with violent organized crime.
Wellllllllllll.... it may be apocryphal but I have heard that, at least through the early 2000's, almost all of the LSD in the US originated in a handful of biker gang labs.
True? Who knows. And even if so, bikers don't operate on the level of Mexican cartels or Triads. But still. It's been a long time since even the psychedelics were being produced by earnest travelers trying to expand people's consciousness.
No, US copyright law has an explicit exception for that.
Unless the progeny of MAI v. Peak have all been overturned while I wasn't looking, that is incorrect.
Copyright law requires fixation, and purely transitory phenomena won't qualify, but RAM copies can certainly exist for more than a transitory period. A couple minutes is enough. The subsequent carve out Congress enacted in the wake of Peak was specifically to protect computer repair activities, which may be the part of the law you were thinking of.
In the case at hand, the most likely way that Blizzard would make a copy would be to take the CD (or whatever) of source code they got from Apoc, pop it into a machine at BlizHQ, open up the files and start reading them. That means they'd be in RAM the whole time Blizzard people were looking through them, which is a process that would presumably take more than a few minutes, which is enough time for the files in RAM to be non-transitory (infringing) copies.
They also can't claim copyright infringement unless Blizzard actually uses their code.
Not quite true. They can pursue Blizzard for making unauthorized copies of the source code, which can include not only addition CD/hard drive copies, but perhaps even "copies" loaded into RAM.
Even assuming that Bossland could win that, it might be a Pyrrhic victory if they infringed Blizzard's code as Blizzard claims. (Side question for someone more informed than I: some German company got ahold of Blizzard's source code how?)
It's not immediately clear from the short search I did, but I'm working on the assumption that Apoc was sued in a US court (and that the legal proceedings between Bossland and Blizzard have been in German courts).
If that's the case, Apoc and Bossland screwed the pooch on this. Because Bossland (and its IP) is the real party in interest in the Apoc case, they had a right to intervene in the Apoc case. The argument boils down to "Hey you can't sue $randomGuy seeking $myStuff without me being involved; I have a right to fight this even though I'm not the original defendant." And likewise, Apoc had the right to try and rope in Bossland, on the flip side argument, "Whoa, I'm not the droid you're after, and what you're asking for isn't even mine."
It would seem that either:
-Bossland didnt know (that a freelancer possessing their entire code base was being sued by the object of all their bot programs??), or
-Bossland didn't want to cede personal jurisdiction in the US (very complex and nuanced, and there are plenty of creative arguments Blizzard could have used to get what it wanted, esp. with the source code stored by Apoc in the US), or, most likely,
-Apoc just freaked out and (too) quickly said "Blaaaaaughhh here take the source code go away!"
In any case, Bossland's claim of copyright infringement seems tenuous against Blizzard. If anyone, it was Apoc who infringed (and maybe broke non-disclosure) by distributing a copy of the code to Blizzard. But there's little point in Bossland suing its freelancer. Blizzard did probably make copies of their own, and so there's an interesting question as to whether Bossland could get them for infringement there.
Also, contrary to TFS, settlements may set behavioral precedents, but they don't set legal precedents.
Even more true in the context of this "dramatic advance" in curling tech. Unless I'm grossly misunderstanding TFA, it sounds like they literally flipped the broom pad over, which apparently enables godlike control over the frosty rock.
This isn't nanolaser-propelled unobtainium bike tires, it's reversing the grip tape on your baseball bat or taking the foam off your ping pong paddle. Again, corrections welcome if I misread it.
On a somewhat tangential note, I've always thought baseball would be more interesting with both steroids and deadly obstacles.
Even for the most ambivalent of moral relativists, it should not be too difficult to call out as evil mass beheading, forced sexual slavery, and simultaneous murder-by-explosives/demolition-of-antiquity.
[STX]
Did you implement all of ASCII in your barcode scanner?
[ACK]
Did you think to scrub out control characters?
[NAK]
Do you know what that means?
[ENQ]
I'll ask the questions, bub.
[BS][BS][BS]
Don't try to BS me.
[SI][SO][ESC]
Where are you going? You can't leave!
[NUL] . . . [DC1]
[BEL][BEL][BEL] Correct. Hackers have control of your device. Now go fix your shit.
[ETX]
Agree. Even further on that point, I think Schneier's statement at the end of TFS is wishful thinking.
He says: "In the end, doxing is a tactic that the powerless can effectively use against the powerful."
But in fact it's more likely that doxing (as with other political takedown tactics) will be a tactic that the already powerful can effectively use against the the newly, moderately, or inconveniently powerful.
So it is indeed a bad time to be a good person running for office, especially if you're also trying to shake things up and actually do some good.
This is The Year of Linus app, suggested for your convenience directly into C:/Program Files (x86). Download it today by not clicking cancel 3 seconds ago!
The Year of Linus adds in the frequently requested functionality of replacing the standard Windows calendar with 365 days of Met Life advertisements featuring beloved Peanuts character Linus.
Slashdot Mirror
I'd call that a distinction without a difference. The Iron Man movies (especially the first two) were about as far on the "regular humans with advanced sci-if tech" side of the scale as you can get in comic book world. For all intents and purposes, Iron Man is sci-fi.
Even when you bring in the Avengers, the invasion force (evil space lizards) and most of the good guys could still qualify as science fiction. Stark, Banner, and Cap'n USA are the products of (super!) science. Hawkeye is apparently just a very well conditioned human. The SHIELD folks are just dudes with guns and a probably-close-to-possible-with-enough-money airship. And Black Widow is just a sexy ninja.
Now, Thor and Loki are supernatural god-beings, which is more comic than sci-fi. But then, so are Q from TNG and the evil force that kills Spock's brother at the end of Star Trek V. And so are Yoda and the Emperor and all the other Force-people, unless we're calling midichlorians science. Most of the rest of "soft" sci-fi has major supernatural or "comic book-y" elements as well.
My point is, distinguishing between "sci-fi" and "comic book" isn't particularly useful or instructive. Really, it's more the setting that defines this spectrum of fiction (e.g. in space vs in a castle vs on a mutant-filled Earth), not how "science-y" it is. I don't find Force Lightning or dilithium-crystal-fueled time travel any more consistent (internally or otherwise) or believable than a dude's eyes being a portal to a dimension of pure energy.
They were clearly trained by the forensics investigators from cop shows, who can also enlarge any photograph by a factor of 1000 with perfect detail.
"Hold on, go back to that photo they took with a point-and-shoot on the International Space Station.
Enlarge.
Enlarge.
Zoom in on that dot.
Magnify 1000x.... can you clean that up?"
[Exchanging knowing looks]
"We've got the son of a bitch now. Notice the rotation of the screws on the main shoulder plate? This is Iron Man right after he got clipped by a Navy fighter jet, clearly violating Newton's 2nd Law. He should have been turned into a reddish paste on the inside of that suit, but this photo clearly shows the only serious damage was to the realistic depiction of physics."
"And fachrissakes would someone tell me what the word 'shibboleth' means!?"
It's hard to concisely explain their business model anymore which is usually a bad sign for a company.
Their business model is evidently asshattery indistinguishable from malware, which is an even worse sign for a company.
I think e^{pi}-{pi} is the test you're looking for...
Without risk of scorn? I got downmodded twice! I might as well be wandering around here with a toilet seat around my neck. ::sobs ruefully::
Well then. Apocryphal it is; I stand corrected.
That is why you need a good project manager.
NEEDED: Project manager with 2+ years experience in mobile application development and 5+ years guiding psychedelic journeys. Strong Objective-C skills, CPR training, and soothing voice a plus. Job responsibilities include managing deadlines and freakouts. Applicants should include resume, cover letter, and a freehand sketch of a random design drawn while listening to a jam band.
What is this double porn you speak of, and how can I get two of it!?
Fortunately LSD has very little association with violent organized crime.
Wellllllllllll.... it may be apocryphal but I have heard that, at least through the early 2000's, almost all of the LSD in the US originated in a handful of biker gang labs.
True? Who knows. And even if so, bikers don't operate on the level of Mexican cartels or Triads. But still. It's been a long time since even the psychedelics were being produced by earnest travelers trying to expand people's consciousness.
'scuse me while I kiss this guy.
If you know that it was really "Kiss the sky" would you like the song less or more?
If "The Sky" is an air marshal that fancies himself a superhero, then exactly the same amount.
C is a high level coding language now?
I write all my malware in assembly, you insensitive clod!
I'm an IP attorney, so I try to shed some light on these topics when I get the chance.
No, US copyright law has an explicit exception for that.
Unless the progeny of MAI v. Peak have all been overturned while I wasn't looking, that is incorrect.
Copyright law requires fixation, and purely transitory phenomena won't qualify, but RAM copies can certainly exist for more than a transitory period. A couple minutes is enough. The subsequent carve out Congress enacted in the wake of Peak was specifically to protect computer repair activities, which may be the part of the law you were thinking of.
In the case at hand, the most likely way that Blizzard would make a copy would be to take the CD (or whatever) of source code they got from Apoc, pop it into a machine at BlizHQ, open up the files and start reading them. That means they'd be in RAM the whole time Blizzard people were looking through them, which is a process that would presumably take more than a few minutes, which is enough time for the files in RAM to be non-transitory (infringing) copies.
They also can't claim copyright infringement unless Blizzard actually uses their code.
Not quite true. They can pursue Blizzard for making unauthorized copies of the source code, which can include not only addition CD/hard drive copies, but perhaps even "copies" loaded into RAM.
Even assuming that Bossland could win that, it might be a Pyrrhic victory if they infringed Blizzard's code as Blizzard claims. (Side question for someone more informed than I: some German company got ahold of Blizzard's source code how?)
It's not immediately clear from the short search I did, but I'm working on the assumption that Apoc was sued in a US court (and that the legal proceedings between Bossland and Blizzard have been in German courts).
If that's the case, Apoc and Bossland screwed the pooch on this. Because Bossland (and its IP) is the real party in interest in the Apoc case, they had a right to intervene in the Apoc case. The argument boils down to "Hey you can't sue $randomGuy seeking $myStuff without me being involved; I have a right to fight this even though I'm not the original defendant." And likewise, Apoc had the right to try and rope in Bossland, on the flip side argument, "Whoa, I'm not the droid you're after, and what you're asking for isn't even mine."
It would seem that either:
-Bossland didnt know (that a freelancer possessing their entire code base was being sued by the object of all their bot programs??), or
-Bossland didn't want to cede personal jurisdiction in the US (very complex and nuanced, and there are plenty of creative arguments Blizzard could have used to get what it wanted, esp. with the source code stored by Apoc in the US), or, most likely,
-Apoc just freaked out and (too) quickly said "Blaaaaaughhh here take the source code go away!"
In any case, Bossland's claim of copyright infringement seems tenuous against Blizzard. If anyone, it was Apoc who infringed (and maybe broke non-disclosure) by distributing a copy of the code to Blizzard. But there's little point in Bossland suing its freelancer. Blizzard did probably make copies of their own, and so there's an interesting question as to whether Bossland could get them for infringement there.
Also, contrary to TFS, settlements may set behavioral precedents, but they don't set legal precedents.
Even more true in the context of this "dramatic advance" in curling tech. Unless I'm grossly misunderstanding TFA, it sounds like they literally flipped the broom pad over, which apparently enables godlike control over the frosty rock.
This isn't nanolaser-propelled unobtainium bike tires, it's reversing the grip tape on your baseball bat or taking the foam off your ping pong paddle. Again, corrections welcome if I misread it.
On a somewhat tangential note, I've always thought baseball would be more interesting with both steroids and deadly obstacles.
+1 Effective Rebuttal.
Even for the most ambivalent of moral relativists, it should not be too difficult to call out as evil mass beheading, forced sexual slavery, and simultaneous murder-by-explosives/demolition-of-antiquity.
[STX]
Did you implement all of ASCII in your barcode scanner?
[ACK]
Did you think to scrub out control characters?
[NAK]
Do you know what that means?
[ENQ]
I'll ask the questions, bub.
[BS][BS][BS]
Don't try to BS me.
[SI][SO][ESC]
Where are you going? You can't leave!
[NUL] . . . [DC1]
[BEL][BEL][BEL] Correct. Hackers have control of your device. Now go fix your shit.
[ETX]
+1 funny xkcd ref
Agree. Even further on that point, I think Schneier's statement at the end of TFS is wishful thinking.
He says: "In the end, doxing is a tactic that the powerless can effectively use against the powerful."
But in fact it's more likely that doxing (as with other political takedown tactics) will be a tactic that the already powerful can effectively use against the the newly, moderately, or inconveniently powerful.
So it is indeed a bad time to be a good person running for office, especially if you're also trying to shake things up and actually do some good.
Whoops, backslash fail. I blame mobile symbol keyboards or Obama.
Think you're right about both but can't confirm.
This is The Year of Linus app, suggested for your convenience directly into C:/Program Files (x86). Download it today by not clicking cancel 3 seconds ago!
The Year of Linus adds in the frequently requested functionality of replacing the standard Windows calendar with 365 days of Met Life advertisements featuring beloved Peanuts character Linus.
You're welcome. Love,
Microsoft
+1 informative, AC
"If you have to ask how much my Dyson sphere cost, you can't afford it."