Was that what that was? I always though my Amiga was doing a Stephen Hawkins impersonation....
But I'm still wondering why this is such a big deal, anyone else remember Speak-n-Spell and its derivatives? If thats not low powered speech I don't know what is.
Heh, you got me, my previous post does sound a tad paranoid but that wasn't the intent. I just thought it was a good example of where having some open policy would be a good thing. Not everything has to be completely free and open to be good.
As far as big brotherness, I'm not paranoid about it, but it does creep me out to think people could easily track me. I worked for a major debit card processor and in the course of researching a problem with someones card I noticed that they hit the same liquor store every day or two in the previous three weeks that they were having problems. I have nothing to hide but it did creep me out a bit wondering who knows I shop at spatulas-r-us once a week.
If the software was open (not even released opensource, just open) we would know for sure if dialing 911 is the only way to turn on the location automatically.
As cool as these kinds of displays are, how do you input data? I mean voice recognition is nice, but there is the problem of privacy, annoying other people and if I recall most people don't think as effectively while speaking outloud (heh kind of obvious).
Solve the man/machine interface and you won't need to make the displays.
Has anyone else noticed that there is no mention of launch tubes anywhere? I think that makes this just a missile base, not a silo.
Also, I believe this property was seized as part of a drug bust. Story goes that the previous owner/occupants were producing pounds of acid. I can't find the article to confirm if this is infact the site.
I'm not a lawyer but I used to date a girl in law school, so obviously I know what I'm talking about
But doesn't previous use negate copyright claims like these? For example a company that copyrights an integral part of another companies product that wasn't copyrighted. I believe that the copyright claim will fall apart (luckily) if the company that originally used it proves prior use.
I totally understand that this is an excercise in mocking the absurd state of copyright laws and use, but I think these are totally useless in a serious excercise of the absurd.
Several other people have stated that music is copyrighted based on the notes, pitch and tempo, so maybe a better example would be to copyright 100,000,000,000 combinations of notes (millions of monkies at millions of typewriters....). With that many your bound to find one or two that occur in works created after the copyright is obtained. If just 2 of the 100,000,000,000 combinations stand up to the interpretation of copyright laws you have a winning argument. Then again this is all contingent on luck and my first comment about previous use.
My six year old son spends a lot of time adding special equipment onto robots, planes, spaceships, cars, submarines, etc... An arm from a Bionicle makes a fine rocket engine. Did you know that if you put a propellor onto car, it can be a submarine, too?
I am not doubting in any way that Legos foster creative and technical thinking in wee ones because they make propellers, trees, satellite dishes etc (infact I agree its the opposite). I should have explained myself a little better. Look at the newer super car compared to the previous super car and the older auto chassis. The previous one (I believe set 8880 - the black diablo looking car) was almost entirely standard technic pieces and really was a beautiful and technical model. Recently lego has shifted to using more parts that are for show only, such as the side panels on the silver champion and the roll cage looking tubing to define the shape of the body on the new super car (set 8448).
I guess ultimately my complaint is not that they make specialized pieces, but that they are making specialized pieces for sets that aren't really needed. Check out the latest super car and the silver champion, you'll probably notice up the pieces I'm talking about that aren't really needed because their purpose in the model could be accomplished with more traditional technic bricks.
Personally I think the reason why Legos remain the king of building toys is because they appealed to both kids who enjoy technical stuff as well as kids who just want to play. Toys like connex, capsela, robotix and even erector sets always seemed to appeal to more technical kids (like myself), and Atollo seems to be stuck in that same market. These toys may require more technical thinking, or dexterity than the average child may have.
On a side note, is anyone else bothered by Lego's apparent need to make 200x the custom, one use only, decorative pieces? I bought the latest super car (8448) and have to order the silver champion only because I have an addiction, but I really don't like all these new pieces that are just for looks. It seems like their technic models are becoming less substantial.
Was that what that was? I always though my Amiga was doing a Stephen Hawkins impersonation....
But I'm still wondering why this is such a big deal, anyone else remember Speak-n-Spell and its derivatives? If thats not low powered speech I don't know what is.
Heh, you got me, my previous post does sound a tad paranoid but that wasn't the intent. I just thought it was a good example of where having some open policy would be a good thing. Not everything has to be completely free and open to be good.
As far as big brotherness, I'm not paranoid about it, but it does creep me out to think people could easily track me. I worked for a major debit card processor and in the course of researching a problem with someones card I noticed that they hit the same liquor store every day or two in the previous three weeks that they were having problems. I have nothing to hide but it did creep me out a bit wondering who knows I shop at spatulas-r-us once a week.
If the software was open (not even released opensource, just open) we would know for sure if dialing 911 is the only way to turn on the location automatically.
As cool as these kinds of displays are, how do you input data? I mean voice recognition is nice, but there is the problem of privacy, annoying other people and if I recall most people don't think as effectively while speaking outloud (heh kind of obvious).
Solve the man/machine interface and you won't need to make the displays.
Ooops, found the article via moreover.
. shtml. It was used to produce LSD a few years back.
Attack spurs interest in missile site - http://www.themercury.com/stories/04/story.attack
Has anyone else noticed that there is no mention of launch tubes anywhere? I think that makes this just a missile base, not a silo.
Also, I believe this property was seized as part of a drug bust. Story goes that the previous owner/occupants were producing pounds of acid. I can't find the article to confirm if this is infact the site.
I'm not a lawyer but I used to date a girl in law school, so obviously I know what I'm talking about
But doesn't previous use negate copyright claims like these? For example a company that copyrights an integral part of another companies product that wasn't copyrighted. I believe that the copyright claim will fall apart (luckily) if the company that originally used it proves prior use.
I totally understand that this is an excercise in mocking the absurd state of copyright laws and use, but I think these are totally useless in a serious excercise of the absurd.
Several other people have stated that music is copyrighted based on the notes, pitch and tempo, so maybe a better example would be to copyright 100,000,000,000 combinations of notes (millions of monkies at millions of typewriters....). With that many your bound to find one or two that occur in works created after the copyright is obtained. If just 2 of the 100,000,000,000 combinations stand up to the interpretation of copyright laws you have a winning argument. Then again this is all contingent on luck and my first comment about previous use.
My six year old son spends a lot of time adding special equipment onto robots, planes, spaceships, cars, submarines, etc... An arm from a Bionicle makes a fine rocket engine. Did you know that if you put a propellor onto car, it can be a submarine, too?
I am not doubting in any way that Legos foster creative and technical thinking in wee ones because they make propellers, trees, satellite dishes etc (infact I agree its the opposite). I should have explained myself a little better. Look at the newer super car compared to the previous super car and the older auto chassis. The previous one (I believe set 8880 - the black diablo looking car) was almost entirely standard technic pieces and really was a beautiful and technical model. Recently lego has shifted to using more parts that are for show only, such as the side panels on the silver champion and the roll cage looking tubing to define the shape of the body on the new super car (set 8448).
I guess ultimately my complaint is not that they make specialized pieces, but that they are making specialized pieces for sets that aren't really needed. Check out the latest super car and the silver champion, you'll probably notice up the pieces I'm talking about that aren't really needed because their purpose in the model could be accomplished with more traditional technic bricks.
Personally I think the reason why Legos remain the king of building toys is because they appealed to both kids who enjoy technical stuff as well as kids who just want to play. Toys like connex, capsela, robotix and even erector sets always seemed to appeal to more technical kids (like myself), and Atollo seems to be stuck in that same market. These toys may require more technical thinking, or dexterity than the average child may have. On a side note, is anyone else bothered by Lego's apparent need to make 200x the custom, one use only, decorative pieces? I bought the latest super car (8448) and have to order the silver champion only because I have an addiction, but I really don't like all these new pieces that are just for looks. It seems like their technic models are becoming less substantial.