I use Linux, but I do care what products best fit my needs. Typically this means that I also use a Mac.
I think that what is going on on Napster is illegal, some of it shouldn't be (I have no problems with mp3.com) but wrong is quite a stretch. I'm an artist but copyright infringement is not theft by any means.
BSD does allow more freedom, but then it's about as bad an idea in practical terms as allowing people the freedom to murder. GPL lets people do anything, but it only restricts in order to preserve other freedoms, and then, only slightly.
I think patents and copyrights are good ideas, but they're currently implemented like a screen door on a submarine.
I like the discussions, but I like honest debate. Linux news is fine, though I don't worry about too much of it; Editorials are great as long as they aren't disguised as objectivity (which doesn't mean that they can't coincide)
Don't sign or otherwise agree to a contract if you don't understand it or don't like its terms.
That's the real trick, isn't it? Apogee claims that merely by using their products you've already agreed to a contract which you have not seen at the time they claim you agree to it, and which they can change at any time and continue to bind you with.
Contracts that you don't get to read before agreeing to and which can be arbitrarily and unilaterally changed without notice strike me as a very bad idea.
If you don't agree, tough; by reading any part of this post, you are entering into a contract to agree with me, and gain the benefits of being one of my legions of yes-men (including but not limited to reading this post). If you do not wish to enter into this contract, do not read this post.;)
Re:Tenchi Muyo - it's never that simple...
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Yes but OTOH Pretty Sammy also has her fighting computer mogul and would-be world conquerer Billy Standards. Perhaps the best informed magical girl anime ever;)
Re:Of course. A few other suggestions...
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I'm not sure if Lain technically qualifies as a hacker. (Or a girl)
But as for computer-weilding anime chicks, there's always Nene from Bubblegum Crisis, Skuld from Oh! My Goddess!, Edward from Cowboy Bebop, and Washu from Tenchi Muyo!
now guess what all my computer partitions are named after;)
Yes yes. In Japanese IIRC Lupin can be pronounced Rupan. Which puns on 'wolf.'
But mostly it's because the original Lupin stories were copyrighted, and the Japanese were breaking copyright law by using the name! (another fine example of the need for copyright reform. Lupin III is *GOOD* and deserves to be shown)
In the american versions they didn't feel like tempting fate so Lupin's name and history were ignored altogether.
You will need a bit of back history though, since it's the 2nd movie of a long TV series.
Basically, due to global warming a giant dam is built around Tokyo Bay. Giant piloted robots called Labors are used to build it. Naturally there are those who use Labors for criminal purposes (e.g. ripping the roof off of a bank, walking away with the safe;) so the police get their own Labors. (PATrol LABORs)
But the animation for Patlabor 2 is by the same people that did GitS, it's serious where the original show was funny, and it's a great movie.
Then go see Cowboy Bebop (TV series), Evangelion (TV series) and Escaflowne (TV series)
Re:Anime as a way of learning Japanses
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It would make you a good anime Otaku. If you haven't seen it, go watch Otaku no Video, by Gainax. (same people that did Wings of Honneamise, Nadia, Evangelion)
The anime part is loosely based on Gainax (transparently so from time to time) the live action parts are hilarious and the English translation of a Japanese translation of spoken English is not even vaguely accurate.;)
If you truly love anime, you must watch this video! Tatakae! Otaking!
Re:More recomendations and Re:I can't believe this
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The Matrix is also, I hear, based partly on the old classic, Megazone 23. The first part is on DVD but hasn't aged well - the animation looks pretty cheesy. Parts 2 (meh) and 3 (good) are better in that respect.
I heard somewhere that they had _wanted_ to make the chase scene at the end (the Chinatown chase) a chase on Bahamodes, but that it was impractical. Oh well.
re: Escaflowne, if you analyze it a bit it's not difficult to see how Hitomi DOES have great power.
(SPOILER/hint: look at the origins of the Zaibach Emperor, the principles he'd use to make his machine work, and what happens whenever Hitomi tries to do stuff. there's a subtle but important connection. Needless to say, my jaw dropped when I figured it out but I dismissed it as too cool to be true for a few episodes until they confirmed it)
Guerilla warfare *is* feasable as long as the opposing side can't tell the difference between civilians and guerillas and doesn't want to kill off the civilians.
Vietnam and Afghanistan are rather good examples of successful guerilla war, though there were other forces at work as well (enemies of the would-be conquerer helping the conquered)
An oppressive government is more likely to want to rule the people who live there, rather than have to replace them with people from somewhere else.
Besides, even in 1776 hunting muskets were insufficient to fight the British. The Americans bought, stole and borrowed heavier armaments like cannon whenever they could.
So fortunately (another example of thinking ahead) the US military is sworn to uphold the Constitution and protect it from all enemies foreign and domestic. If the President ordered the army to kill everyone in Montana it's debatable what they would do. Most likely, in a situation in which the populace or a significant fraction therof rebelled, the military would be divided in their loyalties. We've already seen this during the Civil War.
So it still makes sense for people to have arms for the purpose of fighting against the government. But there is no explicit reason why people MUST bear arms - simply that if they want to be free they had better be willing to defend themselves, when necessary, from those who wish to infringe upon those freedoms.
To say that the 2nd Amendment is ONLY good in protecting the right to keep and bear arms in the defense of a free state is like saying that the freedom of speech only protects political speech. (which has been argued before) Neither is true.
People have a natural right to defend their freedom. Do you believe that this is not true - that people must always submit to those who want to rule them?
Freedom is dangerous bucko - free speech is objectionable, free religion is heretical, free assembly can lead to violence or conspiracy, privacy from the government can permit crime to occur. I'm willing to take those risks and be free. I'm not excusing criminal behavior, but I'm not going to give away the rights that I derive from my very existance for the 'safety' you would rather have.
Besides, we live in the real world - would you really be safe? No. People who want to kill will still do so. It's sad that accidents happen, but perhaps education would be better; it works for cars. I would have taken Firearms Ed in high school.
MUCH anime is TV episodes or multipart direct-to-video releases. Watching them in order is absolutely essential.
This is all good stuff, most of which is on DVD, so it's accessible. There are a lot of good series that aren't commercially available in the US though which can be obtained as fansubs (fan subtitled copies) or raw (sometimes with translated scripts that you can refer to;)
Vision of Escaflowne 1 part fantasy, 1 part mecha, 1 part brilliant music by Yoko Kanno (Japan's answer to John Williams), 1 part fun with physics and a dash of Bob Hope's nose. Excellent. On DVD in October.
Neon Genesis Evangelion Giant mecha and girls, but so much more. It gets heady with lots of religion and philosophy. Expect to watch it twice. It owes a lot to the old British Thunderbirds show, particularly in the realm of music. (sounds 50's and 60's) Excellent work by Gainax, as usual. Coming out on DVD now.
Castle of Cagliostro The best of the Lupin III films, largely because it's by Miyazaki (Nausicaa, Totoro, etc.) On DVD now, very good.
Serial Experiments Lain Weird and creepy. Good animation, gets hard to figure out what's happening towards the end. Which really just means that you should watch it again;) On DVD.
Macross Plus Top Gun, with mecha and computer generated idol singers. Good animation, great music (Yoko Kanno again) especially fun for fans of Macross or Robotech. On DVD now.
Bubblegum Crisis Animation quality is fairly poor until halfway through, but it's actually a good series. It was done in the late 80's, it's cyberpunk and it owes more than a little to Blade Runner. Worth seeing, if only because most big anime otaku have seen it and it's still popular. Not to be confused with Bubblegum Crash (the awful sequel) or Bubblegum Crisis: 2040 (the 90's remake). On DVD now.
Nausicaa and the Valley of the Wind, Kiki's Delivery Service, Princess Mononoke, Porco Rosso, Laputa Castle in the Sky, My Friend Totoro, everything else by Miyazaki Miyazaki is good. Disney got a lot of rights, but there are no DVDs yet of his Studio Ghibli stuff. Some of it is on tape. If you like Spielberg movies (good, sense of adventure, happy ending) you're going to like his films.
Cowboy Bebop Bounty hunters in a well-developed solar system. Can range from hilarious to gritty. Excellent characters, animation, Yoko Kanno music. A solid winner. Coming out on DVD now. A must-see.
Wings of Honneamise Rumored for DVD for some time now. Early space exploration in an alternate world where no one treats the space forces seriously. The first big thing from Gainax. Very good. You can see it on tape, at least.
Grave of the Fireflies Tragic story of a brother and sister at the end of WW2. Good but really sad.
Ghost in the Shell Really, the manga (comic) version is better. It's pretty deep for a cyberpunk special ops movie, but Shirow, the guy that does the manga (and another one, Appleseed) is like that. Sweet animation though. On DVD now.
Patlabor 2 The 2nd Patlabor movie. Since the backstory for the world relies on knowing more about Patlabor, it's a near future where labors (mecha) are used in construction of a global-warming-rising-seas-proof dam around Tokyo Bay. Naturally criminals start using the labors and so the police get a few PATrol LABORs of their own. Darker than the series, with conspiracies and terrorists. Same animation as Ghost in the Shell. Excellent movie. On DVD soon.
Record of Lodoss War A 13 part series based, it's said, on the D&D campaign of the creators. Really quite good if you're into fantasy. Even has elf babes.;) On DVD now. A sequel has come out recently on VHS, and will probably be on DVD soon.
And of course there are a zillion anime series of every genre and sub genre. There are just not so many DVDs and not enough commercial releases on disc or tape. For those of you wanting to find more, check out:
Gee, I never realized that there were bracketed clauses inserted into the 2nd Amendment. Funny how no one but you has noticed them for over 200 years.
_MY_ copy of the 2nd amendment reads: A well regulated Militia being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms shall not be infringed.
Now then. In 18th century English 'well regulated' roughly means 'well maintained' or 'competent.' Thus, a well-regulated militia means one that knows how to use their weapons, and/or where the weapons are in a state of good repair. It has nothing to do with a chain of command.
Militias are composed of any able-bodied person who can serve in them. Virtually everyone in the US is implicitly a member of their state's militia. The National Guard is not a replacement for this. It is more of a supplement on the one hand, but remember we're talking explicitly about STATE militias, and not the Federal military, so in that respect the National Guard doesn't count very much. (While organized by state, that means nothing. Until WW1 most army divisions were raised from states. Which is why in the Civil War you had units like the 12th Pennsylvania Cavalry, or whatnot.)
But here's where you make your biggest blunder. You assume, erroneously, that only militias, or the National Guard, or the Military have the right to bear arms. It very clearly states, 'the right of the people.'
The 2nd Amendment does NOT read: "The right of well-regulated Militias to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed."
It does NOT read: "The right of the Army and Navy to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed."
It does NOT read: "The right of the people to keep and bear arms shall be regulated."
You seem to find a million hidden meanings in a very simple 2 clause sentence. Perhaps you should work in the field of data compression. I'd like to be able to expand a single bit into the OED without needing to transfer anything else.
Have you considered the ultimate use of the 2nd Amendment? Let's go back to that 'defense of a free state' bit. The framers of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights did not trust their creation. They were human. They were fallible. The government they made was not perfect and they were well aware of it. But they did know that it is more important for people to be free than it is for the United States of America to exist. When these two conflict (and don't be a dope - we all know that we must make a sacrifice of the most miniscule parts of our freedom in order to continue to exercise the others) freedom must trump the government.
The people have arms, without being required to be in the militia, though they can call pretty much any organization they like a militia; without being required to be in the formal military; without having to be in favor with the government. Because just as the founders of this nation rebelled against THEIR government, so may the people one day have to rise up against the US Government.
Freedom is more important than the US. The US is just a name basically.
Now I hope to God that it never does come to this. The government serves the people, derives any claim to legitimacy it has from the consent of the people, and no government anywhere, ever has the right to infringe on the freedoms of the people any more than is absolutely necessary. Tyrants can disguise themselves as members of democracies, republics, monarchies, communes, etc. but their guise does not erase the need for the people under their thumb to be free.
I am 100% unwilling to bet my freedom and the freedom of countless generations after me on the continued good will of the government. This is one of the most important reasons (though not the only one) for which I support the 2nd Amendment. History shows us, sadly, that good governments do not last. Good governments may arise in the place where bad ones once stood, but you would have us foolishly throw away the means by which bad governments are felled to make room for good.
It must be nice to be a Pollyanna. I hope you enjoy it.
The US government got along great for a very long time supported almost entirely on import duties. During the Civil War, IIRC there was an income tax, but it was eliminated b/c it was only needed during the war.
Besides - everything is taxed nowadays. Gas is nearly at $2/gal although if you cut out the taxes it would be closer to half of that. It wouldn't be so bad if the taxes were clearly going to fund road repair/construction, but typically money ends up in general funds. This is begging for trouble.
The government rarely, if ever shows itself to be responsible with money, and since it can tax the people, it doesn't have to be. Determining accountability for misappropriated taxes is almost impossible as well, since it gets obfuscated by the government. (probably deliberately)
Here's a fun example: Here in sunny Seattle, we had a not-yet-paid-off domed stadium called the Kingdome. The baseball team and football team shared it, which was fine since their seasons don't overlap. Eventually both got it in their heads to build new stadia and tear down the Kingdome. Rather than pay for the rest of the Kingdome themselves and pay for their new stadia (which would be the best way to do it) they got the local government to foot the bill. Which means taxes.
The new baseball field was put to a vote and rejected by voters twice. But the local government ignored that and we paid for it anyway. Now they're working on the new football stadium. While Paul Allen, the other big MS billionaire is helping to pay for that one, I don't think that it's wise policy to rely on charity from convenient ultra-rich people.
So the problem Americans tend to have with paying taxes isn't taxes per se. The large majority of us realize that somewhere along the line taxes on something will have to be paid.
We all like roads, but taxes on roads should be related to usage. Lots of waste disposal is private anyway - mine is, and I pay for it myself. And no one thinks public education is working right; it needs to be fixed, the question presently is how.
The problem is that tax money frequently gets spent on useless 'pork barrel' projects. Taxes are set, raised and allocated to things against the stated wishes of the voters. Taxes are frequently unrelated to the benefit from the tax, which opens the door to all kinds of problems like those above.
So if a government can tax and spend the taxes, it needs to be VERY restrained about what it does. For no small number of years now, our government has not shown itself to be responsible.
Some of us who are for Napster are not throwing the baby out with the bathwater here.
The very notion of 'Intellectual Property' (other than brains in jars) is offensive. It's not property. It's nothing like property. The rules governing it aren't like the rules for property.
Copyrights can be widely acceptable. Current copyright law is not.
If copyright laws were reformed so that their scopes were narrowed, durations were shorter, etc. we would probably *not* see these kinds of abuses.
But in the end copyright law is going to have serious problems. The only way to save it that does not conflict with the intent of copyright law (hint: it is not to let artists make money. that is only a handy side effect) is to make it more convenient for people to respect it than to break it.
To me, this means that prices must go down. Who hear would prefer to be respectable and buy songs for a dollar (or less) than copy them? Especially if the money really did go almost entirely to the artist.
The only other solution is to eliminate copyrights altogether, as an idea which is no longer feasible.
Strengthening copyrights and creating harsher punishments for those who infringe upon them is frequently unconstitutional. This may not prevent it from happening, but it will not be likely to stem piracy without inflicting grevious, possibly mortal harm upon other freedoms.
As for GPLed software, I suspect that if there were no copyright laws at all, RMS would take it in stride. After all, without copyrights, what incentive do programmers have to conceal source? It won't stop redistribution of the binaries.
In the US, the government swears up and down that it won't interfere with the freedom of speech (which rarely stops them from trying) but it does not grant that freedom. It only guarantees it.
People can speak freely without laws. The problem with a state of nature though, is that it gets messy. (people being free to infringe on people's rights...)
Besides, in US legal theory (AFAIK - IANAL, though I am interested in law) copyright and the first amendment are seen in opposition to each other.
Not that I'm knocking it, it's just a weird clustering. Of course, there's always the fun combination of the Outer Limits and Lizzy's.
The best, best kept secret in Boston is IMHO West Roxbury. Nice place, convenient to Dedham, Brookline, JP, 9, 1 and the rest of Boston. Driving 70mph on the VFW is fun too;)
(oh like who hasn't done that on Storrow? it's Boston, it's okay to drive like a maniac)
Of course it's a natural right to listen to other people's creations. You've got ears, I presume. Why would they suddenly stop working without laws?
Furthermore, it's a facet of the freedom of speech (another natural right) to be able to copy other people's creations. If I give a speech, there is no law of the universe that prohibits you from giving it again, no matter what I think about it.
OTOH, while I can accept some infringement on natural rights, it must always be strictly limited to only those infringements that prevent others from keeping me from exercising as many other rights as possible. Each and every infringement, even if long-established, must be carefully examined by every person, because dangers to our liberties are everywhere.
obCopyright: I actually don't mind copyrights AS AN INCENTIVE, but NOT AS AN END IN ITSELF. I'd be happy with 10 year copyrights, with very very limited extensions, deliberate registration of copyrights required, useful materials (like source code) deposited at the Library of Congress, and some significant part of the money charged to obtain a copyright used to create public domain works.
Miami has always seemed to me to be the east coast version of LA. Other than a few nice parts (like Miami Beach) it's solid urban sprawl. The same two convenience stores, 4 apartment complexes, sex store, florist and strip mall are on every other block.
And the city government is corrupt as hell.
Of course, I'm from Tallahassee (not a high-tech center but if you're going to live in the South it's not bad) so I wouldn't mind dividing FL just north of Orlando.
If you want a big city in FL, Tampa/St. Pete is probably better.
Meh. I live in Seattle where the local government has an annoying-as-hell habit of investing in a mass transit system and then changing their minds at great expense and at the loss of actually getting anything.
We used to have a fairly good streetcar system back in the day (most cities did) but this was all torn out. They built a monorail that's perfectly viable but only goes 1 mile from point A to point B. They built a tunnel under the city with tracks for streetcars (something like what they use in Portland, OR I suspect) but which could also be used for buses. Now they're planning to tear that out and put in bigger tracks for a real subway light rail system, at the expense of running buses underground.
Right now everything is buses, which is not the best way to do it.
However, even though I live in the burbs (within the minimum safe distance from MS) and need a car to go grocery shopping or anything practical there, I take the bus in. Why? Because otherwise I'd spend $30 a week on gas, $50 a week on parking and it would not save me any time at all. People who work in cities *need* mass transit to get there and move around through the city. Burbs need less transit (since it's more likely people can reasonably use cars) but they still need enough for people who live there to go to/from the city.
Private vehicles are great - they just cost a hell of a lot when parking isn't free. I like spending less than $10 a week for my commute.
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You can still speak out against UCITA at the state level. If it's never implemented that's good too.
This is funny to me.
I'm not a programmer.
I use Linux, but I do care what products best fit my needs. Typically this means that I also use a Mac.
I think that what is going on on Napster is illegal, some of it shouldn't be (I have no problems with mp3.com) but wrong is quite a stretch. I'm an artist but copyright infringement is not theft by any means.
BSD does allow more freedom, but then it's about as bad an idea in practical terms as allowing people the freedom to murder. GPL lets people do anything, but it only restricts in order to preserve other freedoms, and then, only slightly.
I think patents and copyrights are good ideas, but they're currently implemented like a screen door on a submarine.
I like the discussions, but I like honest debate. Linux news is fine, though I don't worry about too much of it; Editorials are great as long as they aren't disguised as objectivity (which doesn't mean that they can't coincide)
Takes all kinds.
That's the real trick, isn't it? Apogee claims that merely by using their products you've already agreed to a contract which you have not seen at the time they claim you agree to it, and which they can change at any time and continue to bind you with.
Contracts that you don't get to read before agreeing to and which can be arbitrarily and unilaterally changed without notice strike me as a very bad idea.
If you don't agree, tough; by reading any part of this post, you are entering into a contract to agree with me, and gain the benefits of being one of my legions of yes-men (including but not limited to reading this post). If you do not wish to enter into this contract, do not read this post.
Yes but OTOH Pretty Sammy also has her fighting computer mogul and would-be world conquerer Billy Standards. Perhaps the best informed magical girl anime ever ;)
I'm not sure if Lain technically qualifies as a hacker. (Or a girl)
;)
But as for computer-weilding anime chicks, there's always Nene from Bubblegum Crisis, Skuld from Oh! My Goddess!, Edward from Cowboy Bebop, and Washu from Tenchi Muyo!
now guess what all my computer partitions are named after
Who hated the anime and refuses to let anyone make an anime of Alita again. ;)
Yes yes. In Japanese IIRC Lupin can be pronounced Rupan. Which puns on 'wolf.'
But mostly it's because the original Lupin stories were copyrighted, and the Japanese were breaking copyright law by using the name! (another fine example of the need for copyright reform. Lupin III is *GOOD* and deserves to be shown)
In the american versions they didn't feel like tempting fate so Lupin's name and history were ignored altogether.
Patlabor 2.
;) so the police get their own Labors. (PATrol LABORs)
You will need a bit of back history though, since it's the 2nd movie of a long TV series.
Basically, due to global warming a giant dam is built around Tokyo Bay. Giant piloted robots called Labors are used to build it. Naturally there are those who use Labors for criminal purposes (e.g. ripping the roof off of a bank, walking away with the safe
But the animation for Patlabor 2 is by the same people that did GitS, it's serious where the original show was funny, and it's a great movie.
Then go see Cowboy Bebop (TV series), Evangelion (TV series) and Escaflowne (TV series)
The anime part is loosely based on Gainax (transparently so from time to time) the live action parts are hilarious and the English translation of a Japanese translation of spoken English is not even vaguely accurate. ;)
If you truly love anime, you must watch this video! Tatakae! Otaking!
The Matrix is also, I hear, based partly on the old classic, Megazone 23. The first part is on DVD but hasn't aged well - the animation looks pretty cheesy. Parts 2 (meh) and 3 (good) are better in that respect.
I heard somewhere that they had _wanted_ to make the chase scene at the end (the Chinatown chase) a chase on Bahamodes, but that it was impractical. Oh well.
re: Escaflowne, if you analyze it a bit it's not difficult to see how Hitomi DOES have great power.
(SPOILER/hint: look at the origins of the Zaibach Emperor, the principles he'd use to make his machine work, and what happens whenever Hitomi tries to do stuff. there's a subtle but important connection. Needless to say, my jaw dropped when I figured it out but I dismissed it as too cool to be true for a few episodes until they confirmed it)
I thought it makes everyone look like Bob Hope. I almost hoped to see Bing Crosby and Dorthy Lamour show up ;)
What do you want us to use? Harsh language?
Guerilla warfare *is* feasable as long as the opposing side can't tell the difference between civilians and guerillas and doesn't want to kill off the civilians.
Vietnam and Afghanistan are rather good examples of successful guerilla war, though there were other forces at work as well (enemies of the would-be conquerer helping the conquered)
An oppressive government is more likely to want to rule the people who live there, rather than have to replace them with people from somewhere else.
Besides, even in 1776 hunting muskets were insufficient to fight the British. The Americans bought, stole and borrowed heavier armaments like cannon whenever they could.
So fortunately (another example of thinking ahead) the US military is sworn to uphold the Constitution and protect it from all enemies foreign and domestic. If the President ordered the army to kill everyone in Montana it's debatable what they would do. Most likely, in a situation in which the populace or a significant fraction therof rebelled, the military would be divided in their loyalties. We've already seen this during the Civil War.
So it still makes sense for people to have arms for the purpose of fighting against the government. But there is no explicit reason why people MUST bear arms - simply that if they want to be free they had better be willing to defend themselves, when necessary, from those who wish to infringe upon those freedoms.
To say that the 2nd Amendment is ONLY good in protecting the right to keep and bear arms in the defense of a free state is like saying that the freedom of speech only protects political speech. (which has been argued before) Neither is true.
People have a natural right to defend their freedom. Do you believe that this is not true - that people must always submit to those who want to rule them?
Freedom is dangerous bucko - free speech is objectionable, free religion is heretical, free assembly can lead to violence or conspiracy, privacy from the government can permit crime to occur. I'm willing to take those risks and be free. I'm not excusing criminal behavior, but I'm not going to give away the rights that I derive from my very existance for the 'safety' you would rather have.
Besides, we live in the real world - would you really be safe? No. People who want to kill will still do so. It's sad that accidents happen, but perhaps education would be better; it works for cars. I would have taken Firearms Ed in high school.
This is all good stuff, most of which is on DVD, so it's accessible. There are a lot of good series that aren't commercially available in the US though which can be obtained as fansubs (fan subtitled copies) or raw (sometimes with translated scripts that you can refer to ;)
1 part fantasy, 1 part mecha, 1 part brilliant music by Yoko Kanno (Japan's answer to John Williams), 1 part fun with physics and a dash of Bob Hope's nose. Excellent. On DVD in October.
Giant mecha and girls, but so much more. It gets heady with lots of religion and philosophy. Expect to watch it twice. It owes a lot to the old British Thunderbirds show, particularly in the realm of music. (sounds 50's and 60's) Excellent work by Gainax, as usual. Coming out on DVD now.
The best of the Lupin III films, largely because it's by Miyazaki (Nausicaa, Totoro, etc.) On DVD now, very good.
Weird and creepy. Good animation, gets hard to figure out what's happening towards the end. Which really just means that you should watch it again
Top Gun, with mecha and computer generated idol singers. Good animation, great music (Yoko Kanno again) especially fun for fans of Macross or Robotech. On DVD now.
Animation quality is fairly poor until halfway through, but it's actually a good series. It was done in the late 80's, it's cyberpunk and it owes more than a little to Blade Runner. Worth seeing, if only because most big anime otaku have seen it and it's still popular. Not to be confused with Bubblegum Crash (the awful sequel) or Bubblegum Crisis: 2040 (the 90's remake). On DVD now.
Miyazaki is good. Disney got a lot of rights, but there are no DVDs yet of his Studio Ghibli stuff. Some of it is on tape. If you like Spielberg movies (good, sense of adventure, happy ending) you're going to like his films.
Bounty hunters in a well-developed solar system. Can range from hilarious to gritty. Excellent characters, animation, Yoko Kanno music. A solid winner. Coming out on DVD now. A must-see.
Rumored for DVD for some time now. Early space exploration in an alternate world where no one treats the space forces seriously. The first big thing from Gainax. Very good. You can see it on tape, at least.
Tragic story of a brother and sister at the end of WW2. Good but really sad.
Really, the manga (comic) version is better. It's pretty deep for a cyberpunk special ops movie, but Shirow, the guy that does the manga (and another one, Appleseed) is like that. Sweet animation though. On DVD now.
The 2nd Patlabor movie. Since the backstory for the world relies on knowing more about Patlabor, it's a near future where labors (mecha) are used in construction of a global-warming-rising-seas-proof dam around Tokyo Bay. Naturally criminals start using the labors and so the police get a few PATrol LABORs of their own. Darker than the series, with conspiracies and terrorists. Same animation as Ghost in the Shell. Excellent movie. On DVD soon.
A 13 part series based, it's said, on the D&D campaign of the creators. Really quite good if you're into fantasy. Even has elf babes.
And of course there are a zillion anime series of every genre and sub genre. There are just not so many DVDs and not enough commercial releases on disc or tape. For those of you wanting to find more, check out:
Between all of these, you're sure to find some good stuff, and more information.
HP invented the technology that MS uses for their new optical mouse.
MS appears to have developed the shiny case (ooh! shiny!)
Gee, I never realized that there were bracketed clauses inserted into the 2nd Amendment. Funny how no one but you has noticed them for over 200 years.
_MY_ copy of the 2nd amendment reads: A well regulated Militia being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms shall not be infringed.
Now then. In 18th century English 'well regulated' roughly means 'well maintained' or 'competent.' Thus, a well-regulated militia means one that knows how to use their weapons, and/or where the weapons are in a state of good repair. It has nothing to do with a chain of command.
Militias are composed of any able-bodied person who can serve in them. Virtually everyone in the US is implicitly a member of their state's militia. The National Guard is not a replacement for this. It is more of a supplement on the one hand, but remember we're talking explicitly about STATE militias, and not the Federal military, so in that respect the National Guard doesn't count very much. (While organized by state, that means nothing. Until WW1 most army divisions were raised from states. Which is why in the Civil War you had units like the 12th Pennsylvania Cavalry, or whatnot.)
But here's where you make your biggest blunder. You assume, erroneously, that only militias, or the National Guard, or the Military have the right to bear arms. It very clearly states, 'the right of the people.'
The 2nd Amendment does NOT read: "The right of well-regulated Militias to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed."
It does NOT read: "The right of the Army and Navy to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed."
It does NOT read: "The right of the people to keep and bear arms shall be regulated."
You seem to find a million hidden meanings in a very simple 2 clause sentence. Perhaps you should work in the field of data compression. I'd like to be able to expand a single bit into the OED without needing to transfer anything else.
Have you considered the ultimate use of the 2nd Amendment? Let's go back to that 'defense of a free state' bit. The framers of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights did not trust their creation. They were human. They were fallible. The government they made was not perfect and they were well aware of it. But they did know that it is more important for people to be free than it is for the United States of America to exist. When these two conflict (and don't be a dope - we all know that we must make a sacrifice of the most miniscule parts of our freedom in order to continue to exercise the others) freedom must trump the government.
The people have arms, without being required to be in the militia, though they can call pretty much any organization they like a militia; without being required to be in the formal military; without having to be in favor with the government. Because just as the founders of this nation rebelled against THEIR government, so may the people one day have to rise up against the US Government.
Freedom is more important than the US. The US is just a name basically.
Now I hope to God that it never does come to this. The government serves the people, derives any claim to legitimacy it has from the consent of the people, and no government anywhere, ever has the right to infringe on the freedoms of the people any more than is absolutely necessary. Tyrants can disguise themselves as members of democracies, republics, monarchies, communes, etc. but their guise does not erase the need for the people under their thumb to be free.
I am 100% unwilling to bet my freedom and the freedom of countless generations after me on the continued good will of the government. This is one of the most important reasons (though not the only one) for which I support the 2nd Amendment. History shows us, sadly, that good governments do not last. Good governments may arise in the place where bad ones once stood, but you would have us foolishly throw away the means by which bad governments are felled to make room for good.
It must be nice to be a Pollyanna. I hope you enjoy it.
The US government got along great for a very long time supported almost entirely on import duties. During the Civil War, IIRC there was an income tax, but it was eliminated b/c it was only needed during the war.
Besides - everything is taxed nowadays. Gas is nearly at $2/gal although if you cut out the taxes it would be closer to half of that. It wouldn't be so bad if the taxes were clearly going to fund road repair/construction, but typically money ends up in general funds. This is begging for trouble.
The government rarely, if ever shows itself to be responsible with money, and since it can tax the people, it doesn't have to be. Determining accountability for misappropriated taxes is almost impossible as well, since it gets obfuscated by the government. (probably deliberately)
Here's a fun example:
Here in sunny Seattle, we had a not-yet-paid-off domed stadium called the Kingdome. The baseball team and football team shared it, which was fine since their seasons don't overlap. Eventually both got it in their heads to build new stadia and tear down the Kingdome. Rather than pay for the rest of the Kingdome themselves and pay for their new stadia (which would be the best way to do it) they got the local government to foot the bill. Which means taxes.
The new baseball field was put to a vote and rejected by voters twice. But the local government ignored that and we paid for it anyway. Now they're working on the new football stadium. While Paul Allen, the other big MS billionaire is helping to pay for that one, I don't think that it's wise policy to rely on charity from convenient ultra-rich people.
So the problem Americans tend to have with paying taxes isn't taxes per se. The large majority of us realize that somewhere along the line taxes on something will have to be paid.
We all like roads, but taxes on roads should be related to usage. Lots of waste disposal is private anyway - mine is, and I pay for it myself. And no one thinks public education is working right; it needs to be fixed, the question presently is how.
The problem is that tax money frequently gets spent on useless 'pork barrel' projects. Taxes are set, raised and allocated to things against the stated wishes of the voters. Taxes are frequently unrelated to the benefit from the tax, which opens the door to all kinds of problems like those above.
So if a government can tax and spend the taxes, it needs to be VERY restrained about what it does. For no small number of years now, our government has not shown itself to be responsible.
That's why.
Well duh. Go to Space Exxon. You get a glass with every fill-up. ;)
Some of us who are for Napster are not throwing the baby out with the bathwater here.
The very notion of 'Intellectual Property' (other than brains in jars) is offensive. It's not property. It's nothing like property. The rules governing it aren't like the rules for property.
Copyrights can be widely acceptable. Current copyright law is not.
If copyright laws were reformed so that their scopes were narrowed, durations were shorter, etc. we would probably *not* see these kinds of abuses.
But in the end copyright law is going to have serious problems. The only way to save it that does not conflict with the intent of copyright law (hint: it is not to let artists make money. that is only a handy side effect) is to make it more convenient for people to respect it than to break it.
To me, this means that prices must go down. Who hear would prefer to be respectable and buy songs for a dollar (or less) than copy them? Especially if the money really did go almost entirely to the artist.
The only other solution is to eliminate copyrights altogether, as an idea which is no longer feasible.
Strengthening copyrights and creating harsher punishments for those who infringe upon them is frequently unconstitutional. This may not prevent it from happening, but it will not be likely to stem piracy without inflicting grevious, possibly mortal harm upon other freedoms.
As for GPLed software, I suspect that if there were no copyright laws at all, RMS would take it in stride. After all, without copyrights, what incentive do programmers have to conceal source? It won't stop redistribution of the binaries.
In the US, the government swears up and down that it won't interfere with the freedom of speech (which rarely stops them from trying) but it does not grant that freedom. It only guarantees it.
People can speak freely without laws. The problem with a state of nature though, is that it gets messy. (people being free to infringe on people's rights...)
Besides, in US legal theory (AFAIK - IANAL, though I am interested in law) copyright and the first amendment are seen in opposition to each other.
19 of which are Indian resturants.
;)
Not that I'm knocking it, it's just a weird clustering. Of course, there's always the fun combination of the Outer Limits and Lizzy's.
The best, best kept secret in Boston is IMHO West Roxbury. Nice place, convenient to Dedham, Brookline, JP, 9, 1 and the rest of Boston. Driving 70mph on the VFW is fun too
(oh like who hasn't done that on Storrow? it's Boston, it's okay to drive like a maniac)
Of course it's a natural right to listen to other people's creations. You've got ears, I presume. Why would they suddenly stop working without laws?
Furthermore, it's a facet of the freedom of speech (another natural right) to be able to copy other people's creations. If I give a speech, there is no law of the universe that prohibits you from giving it again, no matter what I think about it.
OTOH, while I can accept some infringement on natural rights, it must always be strictly limited to only those infringements that prevent others from keeping me from exercising as many other rights as possible. Each and every infringement, even if long-established, must be carefully examined by every person, because dangers to our liberties are everywhere.
obCopyright: I actually don't mind copyrights AS AN INCENTIVE, but NOT AS AN END IN ITSELF. I'd be happy with 10 year copyrights, with very very limited extensions, deliberate registration of copyrights required, useful materials (like source code) deposited at the Library of Congress, and some significant part of the money charged to obtain a copyright used to create public domain works.
Wrong != Illegal
It may be the latter. It's difficult to say if it's the former.
Brrrr... Miami.
Miami has always seemed to me to be the east coast version of LA. Other than a few nice parts (like Miami Beach) it's solid urban sprawl. The same two convenience stores, 4 apartment complexes, sex store, florist and strip mall are on every other block.
And the city government is corrupt as hell.
Of course, I'm from Tallahassee (not a high-tech center but if you're going to live in the South it's not bad) so I wouldn't mind dividing FL just north of Orlando.
If you want a big city in FL, Tampa/St. Pete is probably better.
Meh.
I live in Seattle where the local government has an annoying-as-hell habit of investing in a mass transit system and then changing their minds at great expense and at the loss of actually getting anything.
We used to have a fairly good streetcar system back in the day (most cities did) but this was all torn out. They built a monorail that's perfectly viable but only goes 1 mile from point A to point B. They built a tunnel under the city with tracks for streetcars (something like what they use in Portland, OR I suspect) but which could also be used for buses. Now they're planning to tear that out and put in bigger tracks for a real subway light rail system, at the expense of running buses underground.
Right now everything is buses, which is not the best way to do it.
However, even though I live in the burbs (within the minimum safe distance from MS) and need a car to go grocery shopping or anything practical there, I take the bus in. Why? Because otherwise I'd spend $30 a week on gas, $50 a week on parking and it would not save me any time at all. People who work in cities *need* mass transit to get there and move around through the city. Burbs need less transit (since it's more likely people can reasonably use cars) but they still need enough for people who live there to go to/from the city.
Private vehicles are great - they just cost a hell of a lot when parking isn't free. I like spending less than $10 a week for my commute.