It seems like libraries could be opening themselves up to some real PR (maybe even legal) trouble if they don't check that what comes back in that CD case is virus/worm/ trojan/goatse.cx-free.
Which is why the FA says they would only use pressed, not burned, CDs with distinctive labels.
...he even provides a sample CD cover insert (on the next-to-last page of the PDF file).
Since he'd gone to that much trouble, too bad he doesn't know the difference between hyphens and dashes. So much amateur typography from, well, amateurs, now.
It might even be possible to hack the ide-scsi module so as to make a CD-RW drive emulate a write-only device.
Seems like overkill. Why all this concern over access to a CD burner? They're standard with every PC now. If a CD is accessible or borrowable, it can be copied.
Just a simple menuing system to allow users to select an image to burn would be fine. If the librarian notices someone going there with a stack of CDs she can chuck them out.
XP is the first Windows OS to know what to do with zip files without the necessity of downloading and paying for (or stealing by cracking) WinZip, for instance.
There are lots of free zip utilities. A few: 7-zip, Aladdin's Expander (unzip only), infozip (command line). I gave up Winzip back in Win 3, it was just too bloated then. Personally I use Far, (an NC-style file organiser) which has archive support as virtual directories.
4) The PC must be connected to the internet at least once a month, and you must maintain an ISP dial-up account throughout the term of the agreement.
I don't see anything limiting me to installing my own OS. Sure, I'll copy over their monthly CD. It'll do nothing to my Gentoo install but so what?
It requires a monthly net connection, a phone-home function, or the reverse when it collects some key to keep the PC active for another month; also this will be somehow contingent on you actually consuming the ads. Maybe something like Wired's "look at the ad and click before seeing content". And that won't work if you're running BeOS, so they send the repo man around after a couple of months.
Obviously this will be hacked, even a closed architecture like XBox was hacked. But most of those who sign up will follow the instructions.
What this would be good for would be places like Internet cafes where you can let IBM pick up the support tab. They'll probably put somethng in the TOS to rule that out.
The Treasure of The Sierra Madre, ((C) 1935) by B. Traven
"Badges, to god-damned hell with badges! We have no badges. In fact, we don't need badges. I don't have to show you any stinking badges, you god-damned cabron and ching' tu madre!"
I'll bet it would be possible to use a spam-filter-esque system to compare the text of the articles....
I bet it would be possible to check the spelling of the articles posted using a "spell checker". I recall using one in the late 70s on my student Unix system.
Personally I think we need a secure way to vote from the comfort of our homes. Only then will the voter turn out be above the average 50-60%.
In Australia in 1924 a compulsory voting law was introduced. Since then voter turnout has been around 94-96%. Scoff if you like, but it makes a lot of apathy problems go away. If you're really apathetic, you can just spoil your vote or pay the small fine and stay home.
Following up my poorly proofread post: Methuselah's Children was RAH's 2nd published novel, in 1941. The grandfather poster was evidently thinking of Time Enough for Love, 1973, which also concerned Lazarus Long.
Methuselah's Children for the first time Heinlein reader? Ugh! Not unless you're fourteen and you think there's something naturally sexy about Ayn Rand in a commune. Not to mention it's like 800 pages long.
I don't know which novel you're thinking of, but it's not Methuselah's Children, which is about 160 page long. This introduces Lazarus Long who goes off on a space exploration trip when the government starts persecuting the long-lived Howard Foundation members. It's an easy read, and litel f any sex AFAIR.
In 1973, he gave a speech at the U.S. Naval Academy (his alma mater), in which he totally denounced rewriting.
In one of his collections, he had an article about how to be a writer. One commandment was "never rewrite UNLESS someone is paying you to". The intent was to discourage endless rewriting of the same work rather than doing something new.
Heinlein's health problems don't excuse his publisher from sloppy editing.
When you have a best-selling author who refuses to be edited, it's hard to insist. He can just walk. Inflated ego is a disease that afflicts many bestselling authors (many lesser selling ones too, but they just lose their contracts if they get stroppy). Blame the public who buy crap books just because of a familiar name in big letters on the cover (Clancy, etc).
Around ten "new" novels resulted, some of which were obviously very rough early drafts of novels that he actually did publish while still alive.
Rather worse is what happened to Robert E Howard. Afer he died in 1936 at the age of 36 after a brief 6-year career, there was a ton of fragments and such left, as well as many stories published in the pulps. Decades later, he was rediscovered (probbaly as part of the Tolkien-led fantast revival of the 60s) and his Conan (as in Schwarzenegger) stories became bestsellers. His executors took every fragment and had writers "finish" them, changing details at will to make them Conan stories, and ther are well over a dozen books now. What's lost is much sense of what Howard actually was as a writer.
If you want to be safe, use a word processor on a computer that never connects to a network (could recover data on the network), restrict your copies to removable disk to those you would be happy being published or are able to destroy, and at some stage physically destroy the hard drive beyond any possible recovery.
A local author with a book contract lost his iBook with the only copy of his ms. He's posted a reward of $7000. This is a far more common disaster than having some work in progress published after your death. MAKE BACKUPS. MAKE LOTS OF BACKUPS.
If you don't want stuff published, make a will, appointing a literary executor, and give explicit instructions about what can and can't be published.
I read a biography of one of my favourite authors, Mary Renault, (best known for her ancient Greek novels). When she died there was a first draft of a novel (about the Knights Templar) that was destroyed by her executor (and girlfriend) on her instructions, as her perfectionism wouldn't allow anything less than a perfectly finished book out. A great loss, IMHO, but her privilege.
For the time being the Americans are giving him food and a couch in the refuelling shed to sleep on, but no fuel.
JON JOHANSON: I guess officialdom are afraid to be seen to be helping in case the hordes come down and invade and I can understand their decisions, I really can and I don't, I haven't asked for their help. All I would like to do is make a commercial transaction of fuel.
AN Australian pilot remains stranded in the Antarctic after his government today failed to sway two of its greatest allies to sell him 400 litres of fuel....Mr Johanson needs 400 litres of fuel to return to New Zealand, but both US and NZ authorities have refused to supply it under a policy to discourage tourists to the base.
Well I would argue that copyright laws are examples of "limited" laws. The copyright only last for so long. Where I see the most room for improving copyright laws is to adjust this "limit".
Well, as often stated, copyright in the US is limited theoretically, but practically it's unlimited, as it's extended every few years.
Aside from expiring copyright after a (shorter) set or variable period, (personally, I think 7-14 years after the creator's death) other limits on its scope include "fair use" and "compulsory licensing", both standard concepts that the RIAA seems set to exterminate, which would allow ideas to become part of our common heritage and still reward the creators.
consider the laws governing driving. Who can say that they always keep to the speed limit? These laws are broken repeatedly by an overwhelming majority of motorists. Do they have to be changed since the majority do not comply with them anyway? I don't think the justice system or society has been corrupted by motorists who habitually go 10% over the speed limit.
Okay, I could limit my terms a bit. I was referring to absolute prohibions, as in the cases I mentioned. When you have a "limit" it becomes greyer (how much over before action is taken?) But wasn't the national 55 mph limit repealed because of this?
And actually, in many countries, there are very strict road laws that are ignored except when the police need some pocket money.
But just because it has now become childs play to participate in copyright violations does not mean we have to change copyright laws.
Considering the alternative, it might be. Recall Prohibition. Laws that are broken by a large proportion, or even a majority, of the population lead to corruption of the justice system and society itself. More recently the "war on drugs" with similar or worse effects -- locally and globally (recall the Afghan Taleban and the Burmese junta both used opium/heroin profits to buy arms).
Note that "change copyright laws" does not mean "repeal all copyright". There are many ways besides the RIAA's to pay artists.
There are still some artists who produce albums as an artistic whole, not just a bunch of singles, but as a complete artistic statement. The fear is that if the per song market becomes dominent, that the art of albums will consequently suffer.
The "single song" market has always dominated the market. With the demise of vinyl, it just became hard to buy single songs, as the music companies only offered most music as part of a bundle, i.e. an album padded out with what have been B-sides.
The "concept album", (complete artistic statement) is a relatively recent format (except for classical music, of course). Up to the LP, most music was produced in singles, 10" 78 rpm, that lasted about 4 minutes, a single song per side. The 33rpm 12" LP "album", total about 45 mins, as its name suggests, was simply a compilation of singles. As by then radio was hugely important in the promotion of music there was little interest in extending the units pop music was produced in beyond the 3-4 minutes radio was used to. And the 45rpm single reinforced that.
It seems to me that turning off the cameras would be a pretty difficult task, wouldn't it? I mean there are many different types of cameras that they would have to block. Would this be something that physically disables the camera or a signal that tells the cell phone to disable the camera or something else?
Prior art: Thunderbirds' camera detector. I always wonderd how that was supposedd to work -- detecting a film exposed by opeing a shutter remotely seems rather difficult, but if in 2065 only digital camera are commonly available.
Slashdot Mirror
Which is why the FA says they would only use pressed, not burned, CDs with distinctive labels.
Since he'd gone to that much trouble, too bad he doesn't know the difference between hyphens and dashes. So much amateur typography from, well, amateurs, now.
Seems like overkill. Why all this concern over access to a CD burner? They're standard with every PC now. If a CD is accessible or borrowable, it can be copied.
Just a simple menuing system to allow users to select an image to burn would be fine. If the librarian notices someone going there with a stack of CDs she can chuck them out.
There are lots of free zip utilities. A few: 7-zip, Aladdin's Expander (unzip only), infozip (command line). I gave up Winzip back in Win 3, it was just too bloated then. Personally I use Far, (an NC-style file organiser) which has archive support as virtual directories.
Even if true, how are operators supposed to test and set up their equipment, train, or enjoy the hobbyist part of being a ham?
I don't see anything limiting me to installing my own OS. Sure, I'll copy over their monthly CD. It'll do nothing to my Gentoo install but so what?
It requires a monthly net connection, a phone-home function, or the reverse when it collects some key to keep the PC active for another month; also this will be somehow contingent on you actually consuming the ads. Maybe something like Wired's "look at the ad and click before seeing content". And that won't work if you're running BeOS, so they send the repo man around after a couple of months.
Obviously this will be hacked, even a closed architecture like XBox was hacked. But most of those who sign up will follow the instructions.
What this would be good for would be places like Internet cafes where you can let IBM pick up the support tab. They'll probably put somethng in the TOS to rule that out.
I, for one, am getting fed up aboot the continued mispelling in this famous quote. It's "steenking".
From the Stinking Badges home page:
There's a sound clip from the 1948 movie on that page, and that doesn't sound like "steenking" either.I bet it would be possible to check the spelling of the articles posted using a "spell checker". I recall using one in the late 70s on my student Unix system.
In Australia in 1924 a compulsory voting law was introduced. Since then voter turnout has been around 94-96%. Scoff if you like, but it makes a lot of apathy problems go away. If you're really apathetic, you can just spoil your vote or pay the small fine and stay home.
Follow the link in the guy's sig. He posts trolls as "research".
Following up my poorly proofread post: Methuselah's Children was RAH's 2nd published novel, in 1941. The grandfather poster was evidently thinking of Time Enough for Love, 1973, which also concerned Lazarus Long.
I don't know which novel you're thinking of, but it's not Methuselah's Children, which is about 160 page long. This introduces Lazarus Long who goes off on a space exploration trip when the government starts persecuting the long-lived Howard Foundation members. It's an easy read, and litel f any sex AFAIR.
In one of his collections, he had an article about how to be a writer. One commandment was "never rewrite UNLESS someone is paying you to". The intent was to discourage endless rewriting of the same work rather than doing something new.
When you have a best-selling author who refuses to be edited, it's hard to insist. He can just walk. Inflated ego is a disease that afflicts many bestselling authors (many lesser selling ones too, but they just lose their contracts if they get stroppy). Blame the public who buy crap books just because of a familiar name in big letters on the cover (Clancy, etc).
Rather worse is what happened to Robert E Howard. Afer he died in 1936 at the age of 36 after a brief 6-year career, there was a ton of fragments and such left, as well as many stories published in the pulps. Decades later, he was rediscovered (probbaly as part of the Tolkien-led fantast revival of the 60s) and his Conan (as in Schwarzenegger) stories became bestsellers. His executors took every fragment and had writers "finish" them, changing details at will to make them Conan stories, and ther are well over a dozen books now. What's lost is much sense of what Howard actually was as a writer.
A local author with a book contract lost his iBook with the only copy of his ms. He's posted a reward of $7000. This is a far more common disaster than having some work in progress published after your death. MAKE BACKUPS. MAKE LOTS OF BACKUPS.
If you don't want stuff published, make a will, appointing a literary executor, and give explicit instructions about what can and can't be published.
I read a biography of one of my favourite authors, Mary Renault, (best known for her ancient Greek novels). When she died there was a first draft of a novel (about the Knights Templar) that was destroyed by her executor (and girlfriend) on her instructions, as her perfectionism wouldn't allow anything less than a perfectly finished book out. A great loss, IMHO, but her privilege.
Why the hell is there a "Science" logo next to this story? It already has the SF and movies ones, what does this fairy story have to do with science?
I'd take care, myself, considering what else might be under the ice.
He's not on a highway. The idea is that Antarctica NOT become a highway.
abc.net.au:
Well, as often stated, copyright in the US is limited theoretically, but practically it's unlimited, as it's extended every few years.
Aside from expiring copyright after a (shorter) set or variable period, (personally, I think 7-14 years after the creator's death) other limits on its scope include "fair use" and "compulsory licensing", both standard concepts that the RIAA seems set to exterminate, which would allow ideas to become part of our common heritage and still reward the creators.
Okay, I could limit my terms a bit. I was referring to absolute prohibions, as in the cases I mentioned. When you have a "limit" it becomes greyer (how much over before action is taken?) But wasn't the national 55 mph limit repealed because of this?
And actually, in many countries, there are very strict road laws that are ignored except when the police need some pocket money.
Considering the alternative, it might be. Recall Prohibition. Laws that are broken by a large proportion, or even a majority, of the population lead to corruption of the justice system and society itself. More recently the "war on drugs" with similar or worse effects -- locally and globally (recall the Afghan Taleban and the Burmese junta both used opium/heroin profits to buy arms).
Note that "change copyright laws" does not mean "repeal all copyright". There are many ways besides the RIAA's to pay artists.
The "single song" market has always dominated the market. With the demise of vinyl, it just became hard to buy single songs, as the music companies only offered most music as part of a bundle, i.e. an album padded out with what have been B-sides.
The "concept album", (complete artistic statement) is a relatively recent format (except for classical music, of course). Up to the LP, most music was produced in singles, 10" 78 rpm, that lasted about 4 minutes, a single song per side. The 33rpm 12" LP "album", total about 45 mins, as its name suggests, was simply a compilation of singles. As by then radio was hugely important in the promotion of music there was little interest in extending the units pop music was produced in beyond the 3-4 minutes radio was used to. And the 45rpm single reinforced that.
Prior art: Thunderbirds' camera detector. I always wonderd how that was supposedd to work -- detecting a film exposed by opeing a shutter remotely seems rather difficult, but if in 2065 only digital camera are commonly available.