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User: cpt+kangarooski

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  1. Re:Fairness on Dr. Dre Might Sue Napster Users? · · Score: 1

    Actually I hope my generation will be remembered for significantly reforming the copyright laws in such a way that they shrink in scope and duration and applicability.

    But that's a smaller aspect of what I'd really like us to be remembered for, which is to break the back of corporate control of people and government. We are surpassing the excesses of the late 19th century and it's time to get business back in line as a useful tool of society and not ends in and of themselves.

  2. Re:Ummm on Dr. Dre Might Sue Napster Users? · · Score: 1

    What license?

    When I buy CDs I haven't seen any license at all. And if there were, it's debatable whether or not it would hold up in court (it probably wouldn't, though IANAL)

    As for Napster, I suspect that it's license disclaims responsibility. (which will also probably not hold up in court)

    So I don't see what the hell you're talking about.

    OTOH, illegally copying copyrighted material (it's not stealing, and it's not property) violates copyright law. No license need be involved. In fact, if you reject the GPL, you're still allowed to use it - you're just bound by copyright law, which is more restrictive than the GPL is.

    Besides, the worthiness and constitutionality of present US copyright law is _very_ debatable. And don't forget that copyrights are not inherent in the human condition, nor are they consistant (or even exist) in all parts of the world. IMHO we've gone very far in the wrong direction.

  3. Yaright on Dr. Dre Might Sue Napster Users? · · Score: 2

    It's highly unlikely that this will ever happen - certainly on any kind of large scale. Lawyers don't usually care too much for tort cases in which there is not the potential for a big payback.

    So while Dr. Dre might make an example of a few people in an attempt to scare the others (which is pretty similar to how the govt. prosecutes hackers/crackers) but most of these people could never pay the damages. So why bother?

    So everyone can keep on goin' like they're goin' and the odds are on their side. 'Course, I'd still much rather have the law on my side, and we should continue to work on that.

  4. Re:MS?? on What Is Important In A User Interface? · · Score: 1

    Mac specific -

    1) Seems like a personal preference issue to me. I hate using GUIs which operate the other way around - I can't throw the pointer to right field and keep on working in the front window - which (because I can only type in one thing at a time) is usually the only one I want to look at.

    2) Get a multibutton mouse. Then bind those commands to the buttons. Surely you don't believe that one size fits all? I'd like a 5 button mouse, myself, but I like the iPuck too much to consider getting anything else. Also what Mac programs don't use Cmd Z, X C and V? Many even bind F1-4 to those, since they never get used otherwise.

    3) Well, OTOH this lets you drag from any side, which is convenient at times. There are the ocassional 3rd party plugins that provide Windows/X style resize frames on the windows. Haven't used them in years though, so I can't say much about them.

    4) In the application menu you'll find that the first item is 'Hide [application]' Very useful. The Mac has a taskbar-esque palette that can be accessed by tearing off that menu - you can reduce it to be 16x16 icons, which will probably do what you want.

  5. Re:Easy question on What Is Important In A User Interface? · · Score: 1

    No, steep learning curves *are* best. If the amount of stuff you've learned how to do is on the Y axis and time is, as always, on the X axis, a steep curve indicates very rapid learning.

    I suspect that the reason people get this backwards all the time is b/c they think of climbing a hill: a steep one is harder, and a gentle one is easier. Of course, if you plotted them in altitude over time, you'd get a gentle curve and a steep curve, respectively.

  6. Re:bandwidth, I want more bandwidth! on What Is Important In A User Interface? · · Score: 1

    This may be true - BUT, it's very confusing when the keys are always labeled the same, but have different functions.

    So for this to really work, the keyboard needs to acquire elements of the screen. Rather than reading F1, F2, F3... the keys need to change their labels to say 'Undo' 'Cut' 'Copy'... or 'Help' 'Preferences' 'Quit'... or whatever, depending on the software.

    Not likely to happen anytime soon, but it would be very useful.

  7. Re:Bias in Classification on AOL Protects Kids From Liberals · · Score: 1

    aw, that's okay. I call them dumb-asses. (although this may not be an error in classification....)

  8. Re:The following quote is chilling on AOL Protects Kids From Liberals · · Score: 1

    Well I'm from the country (and the South, so I get it coming and going) and I can see where you're coming from. However on some issues I think that there is more danger coming from commercial interests that couldn't care less about us than the actual people involved.

    Wal-Mart, for instance, loves to build their stores in wetlands - the EPA has half-joked that they find wetlands by looking for Wal-Marts. Given that this sort of thing has a significant impact on the rural people who live near the frickin' things (besides the general economic blight that they cause) why shouldn't they be aware of the dangers? They need only force Wal-Mart to move to some other location in town that won't have such adverse effects on THE PEOPLE IN THE TOWN.

    Obviously this is only one example, but it's important to be aware that some of the seemingly stupid ideas that are forced on us are in our best interests, even if the method of proposing them is totally wrong-headed.

    'Course there's no justification for any gun-control legislation I've heard recently. Why not dump the funding into gun safety classes for kids in public school? Probably work out better.

  9. Re:The following quote is chilling on AOL Protects Kids From Liberals · · Score: 1

    I disagree.

    First, your solution is only valid in a world where criminals (who are very likely to break laws restricting gun ownership) also do not have guns. This is terribly unrealistic. Even in countries today which generally prohibit guns, criminals still acquire them.

    Second, guns do have a useful function as a leveller. Let us imagine that Alice is being attacked by Bob, a rapist. If neither has a gun, Bob is very likely to have the advantage since men typically have more raw strength than women. This'll turn out useful if he attacks her with some melee weapon ranging from his fists to a knife.

    Should Alice have a gun, even if Bob also has one, they are capable of inflicting roughly the same amount of damage to each other. This tends to give the advantage to Alice, as many criminals are unwilling to act unless the odds are overwelmingly in their favor - how many people rob banks as opposed to unoccupied houses?

    And of course, you forget that the ultimate and perhaps most important use of guns is in armed rebellion against the government. I'd rather have something to fall back on if my government - which is entirely fallible - should become tyrannical. Sure it's not a frequent occurance, but once is too many times for me.

    I suspect that if more people knew more about guns and how to use them there would be less crime involving them because the odds are so lousy for all involved. There haven't been many nuclear wars lately either, thanks to the knowledge of how disasterous it would be. Before that knowledge was ingrained the US military was considering using them all the time. They didn't realize the danger yet.

  10. Re:Oh Protect us.. on AOL Protects Kids From Liberals · · Score: 1

    So you prefer it when people are totally clueless about the safe ways in which to handle, store and use firearms?

    I bet you didn't like Driver's Ed either.

  11. Re:who would have EVER thought... on AOL Protects Kids From Liberals · · Score: 1

    why can't they both be dangerous monopolies? that's my opinion anyway.

  12. Re:Did they ever get home? on 'Dungeons and Dragons' Returns! · · Score: 1

    Meh. ADV needs to release it on DVD if they want me to buy it. (I do buy fansubs on tape, but I'll only buy commercial DVDs.)

    And they _really_ need to not go around calling commercial tapes Fansubs, when they're NOT. It's confusing as hell. Call 'em Subs for Fans, if they really have to be distinguished at all.

  13. Re:Children's rights on COPA Worse Than Censorware? · · Score: 1

    Yeah, I don't drink either and I think it's stupid. If it makes you feel any better, blame the Feds, not the state. Most states had their age limits set at 18, but were forced to change it b/c the Feds hold the pursestrings.

  14. Re:Crappy office suite? on ABCNews:Potential Recommended MS Break-Up · · Score: 1

    Naw. Word came out for the Mac first, and very rapidly. (although IIRC, MS bought it from someone else while it was still in development)

    MacWrite was popular only because it was bundled with the Mac for a couple of years, to jump start sales (this was in the day when there was virtually no Mac software to be had at all)

    Word was very popular. v3 had more bugs than the American embassy in Moscow, but v4 was brilliant. Wish I still had it.

  15. Re:If a breakup is not the solution, what is? on ABCNews:Potential Recommended MS Break-Up · · Score: 1

    No thanks. I'm generally opposed to MS given how they have behaved in the past (not to mention that they can't innovate to save their lives) but I also live within the Minimum Safe Distance from MS.

    So let's not go overboard. ;)

  16. Re:I'm 33 years old and I still watch Cartoons Dam on 'Dungeons and Dragons' Returns! · · Score: 1

    eh, Danger Mouse was superior to Count Duckula in so many ways though. I still can't help but smile when I think of "The Bad Luck Eye of the Little Yellow God"

  17. Re:Cartoons like THESE? on 'Dungeons and Dragons' Returns! · · Score: 1

    Now what's really sad is that the later episodes of "Gummi Bears" were very good - the whole quest for the lost Gummi civilization thing.

    I have no idea, but I suspect that a fair number of the writers went on to do Gargoyles.

  18. Re:Did they ever get home? on 'Dungeons and Dragons' Returns! · · Score: 1

    That would be Ganiax's "Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water" which _is_ incredibly good, though I honestly don't recall the whole series being translated and easily available in the US. Streamline was doing it half-heartedly at about the time that they went to hell.

    It's kind of similar to their later series, "Neon Genesis Evangelion" but not so exceptionally strange.

    Now, does anyone remember a French cartoon that was on Nickelodeon years ago, called "Spartacus and the Sun Beneath the Sea"?

  19. Re:Why is D&D coming back? Answer on 'Dungeons and Dragons' Returns! · · Score: 1

    Heh. If you like Gundam Wing, you should seriously look at some other anime series. Evangelion and Escaflowne for starters. Maybe Lain as well, though it's kind of wierd and creepy.

    As for good American shows, Gargoyles (well, for a year or two), Batman and while it's Canadian, ReBoot (particularly seasons 2 and 3).

  20. Re:I want both on Are Printed Manuals Dead? · · Score: 1

    What I mean is, I want a professionally set up and printed manual. I don't want to print it myself. Sure, TeX is fine for typesetting in the computer, and it (and PDF and HTML and ASCII) are all perfectly good for lookin' at stuff on screen.

    But I don't like any of them for output, at least when I'm printing something out that's rather like a book. When I want a book, I'll take something that was printed on an offset press, cut and bound.

    And what I meant by double-sided was that relatively few people have printers capable of outputting double-sided pages without going through a lot more work yourself. Duplex printing is usually reserved for multi-thousand-dollar office printers.

    So just realize that what I'm complaining about is that home printing technology is nowhere near as good as it needs to be for me to seriously consider printing up documentation from electronic files. I still want electronic files, sure, but I also want a manual that was printed professionally.

    (besides, I do layout for a living, so it helps out my profession ;)

  21. Re:Apple has tm on translucent plastic? on Apple Possibly Pursuing Another iMac-look Clone · · Score: 1

    No IIRC that came out _after_ the iMac. And N64s come out in different colors now too... gee, I wonder where they got that idea from.

  22. Re:Apple's a wee touch oversensative? on Apple Possibly Pursuing Another iMac-look Clone · · Score: 1

    Speak for yourself. I _love_ the round mouse. It's much more comfortable to me than larger mice, esp. as it fits in my rather large hands very easily.

    of course if you don't like it, it's not frickin' bolted on you know. you can get a different mouse. no one size ever fits all. had it come with an MS-type mouse, I'd've chucked it in the trash and bought something else. I sure did with the stupid keyboard Apple's using now.

  23. Re:Yes ..... but on Apple Possibly Pursuing Another iMac-look Clone · · Score: 1

    And of course, a lot of the work was done by Jef Raskin who had been working on this project for a _long_ time, prior to coming to Apple at all. He was already familiar with Xerox too.

    Basically the only purpose of the Xerox trip was to convince people that this was a cool idea, by showing off a system already implementing it. I kind of wish they had ripped off Xerox. Then we would have had ethernet and laser printers earlier, and let's not forget smalltalk.

  24. Re:Physics on Limited Edition Terminus For Order · · Score: 1

    It's Newtonian physics, not Einsteinian. You'll percieve time as moving at the same rate no matter what speed you're going at - unlike the real world. I suppose this opens the doors for a lot of FTL too... (just go real fast - nothin' special ;)

  25. Re:Paperless is the way to go. on Are Printed Manuals Dead? · · Score: 1

    I think that he meant that you must have some other bathroom reading material other than the manual.

    God, just imagine how well a cheap, waterproof xterm would sell for bathroom computer geeks. But barring that, I keep books in there too.