Okay I've been around long enough to hear this question come up time and again in one form or another, but I've rarely had a true-blue lawyer (who's head is apparently attached to his body, as is the case with our guest here, thankfully) convey the answer.
But the answer is, to me is kind of muddled. And I think it has primarily to do with the question. A *.jar is basically a zip file. Usually filled with compiled classes. My restatement of the question would be:
For any given language, I use compiled library X(a DSO, DLL, etc.). If the code, Y, which when compiled yields compiled library X, is released under the GPL, that forces my code Z to be GPLed as well?
In most simple terms, the license for my code is in part dictated by the libraries, packages, (sharable) objects, and classes I use in my code?
Let me say that I, for one, enjoyed the Rendezvous with Rama series far more than I have the 2001+ series by Clarke. However, I also feel that Gentry Lee's presence in the writing process both added to and took away from the series. The new-tradition of Arthur C. Clarke books are "don't fuck around and tell the story event to event". Its been his style all along but these days, it seems to me, he's become a lot more Spartan in his storytelling.
Gentry Lee's style added an additional human element to a lot of the sequels that were not to be found in the original. However, Lee also filled the books with a lot of bullshit that no one really found interesting, either.:) And the plot twists in the series (Rama II and on) were not to my liking (or many other people's liking). In my estimation, Lee took away more than he added to the mix.
That said, I realize they've only announced the first movie. It's a risk (it's not as popular as Clark's other movies and the last one--that I'm aware of, Deep Impact--based on Hammer of God was completely eclipsed by the inferior Armageddon), so the Movie Studios aren't going to risk a three or four movie deal and blow the first one to hell.
That said (if the first movie does well), Hollywood should do the following with the movies in order to have a most successful investment.
Hollywood needs to make the first movie true to the heart of the first book. The book is a classic. And it seems that they are off to one hell of a start with the cast. They need a true script and complete the arc of the story as much as possible with the first movie. Add a little crap-Hollywoodness to it, and they will have a successful start.
"The Ramans do everything in threes." That was the last thought that Clarke left us with the book. And then he forgot the whole damn thing until people started complaining that they weren't seeing sequels. And he came back to the table thinking, "Thats a hell of an idea!" So what's he do? Come out with three more books (not two, as it would suggest). So Hollywood should correct this grievous error and pull a LOTR-butchery.
Yes dammit, I think LOTR movies became butchered in the 2nd movie. However, some may argue that it was to the good of the whole. I disagree on it mostly. However...
It can only be to the benefit of a Rama series to order it logically in a 3-movie deal. Three visits by the alien ship, three movies. Three reactions. Three plots. The books are, to some extent, already charted out this way. Due to the fleshing out process of Lee's and Clarke's writing, they felt that their storylines were too large for two additional books, so they arrived to the conclusion of three. This worked out for the books just fine (though I don't like them as much), but the movies are going to cut out a lot of the bullshit anyway, and with some stealthy cutting in the script area, they can come together quite nicely in the trilogy vein.
Finally, they need continuity. Which destroys much if not all of the latter books. In the books, the first ship comes in the year X (can't remember offhand, and I ain't looking it up). The 2nd ship comes X+150 years later. Holy God. Buuuut, the 3rd ship comes only 30 years or so later. That continuity is crappy. It works for the books, but not for a movie. Unless you're working in the horror genre, and you're not. You're going to need repeat actors in order to mesh the movies together intelligently movie-style. This destroys much of the future storylines in the additional books, but people will think it sucks if not done this way.
Ah well... forgive my not-very-well-put-together rantings. I'm thrilled to death about the whole thing. I can't wait for it. Can't wait, can't wait, can't wait.
I'm so very glad someone gave the link to asciiartfarts!!! The site rocks. And if someone out there happens to enjoy the asciiartfart sense of humor as much as I do, then you guys will also enjoy jerkcity [jerkcity.com].
Jerkcity serves out black and white gif comic strips (thereby making this posting a bit off-topic, however given the context...). Hilarious if sometimes a bit hard to follow.
...this is as it should be every-damn-where in the world. Don't agree? Bite me.:)
I could say oh so much more about how many music files I have, how much money I've put into my collection, how much time I've put into it, and how much I thoroughly enjoy it all. And then I could describe in grand detail how I would feel to have some outside party tell me I'm wrong. However, it would all boil down to the above statement. Dag-nabbit.:)
I believe what Mr. Shatner was going for was a parody of the parody.
Mr. Shatner does Star Trek, it becomes a classic icon of America and American Sci-Fi sub-culture, being snipped apart, talked about, broken down, looked upon and regaled as, whether you like it or not, a Good Thing.
Mr. Shatner does the SNL skit in question, and it, in turn, though to a slightly lesser extent, become a classic icon of American parody an American sense-of-humor, and becomes snipped apart, talked about, broken down, looked upon, and regaled, being resold (like Star Trek) in SNL box sets and played every 5 years on SNL reunions.
I'd imagine he gets asked about the SNL skit on a proportionally similar scale as he gets asked about Star Trek. And as a result, after hearing all the questions and comments, what would you do besides make fun of that.
Creatively, too. He's in a similar forum, answering similar questions, and that one pops up. What else to do but torch the skit the way he torched Star Trek? To me, it was probably the best answer of all 10.:)
And a joke for the geeks...
on
Science Askew
·
· Score: 1
...that isn't directed to geeks.
A man in a Ferarri drives along a country road and finds a considerably older man on the side. Stopping, the Ferrari Man jumps out and says, "Excuse me, if I simply observe you for a moment, I can tell exactly what you do. And if I guess correctly, you have to give me something of yours."
Intrigued, the older man agrees, and in a moment the first man says, "You're a sheepherder!"
The older man, nonplussed, says, "You're right, you can have anything of mine."
The first man announces that he will take a sheep, and grabs the first animal he sees and hauls it to the Ferarri.
"How did you know?" the sheepherder asked.
"I noticed how you looked at the animals in the field as though you knew them all individually," the younger man said, "That and the staff gave you away."
The sheepherder smiled and said, "Well, if I guess what your job is, can I have my animal back?"
The young man, sensing a challenge, smiled and agreed.
Without hesitation, the sheepherder said, "You're a consultant."
Shocked, the young man asked as he watched the sheepherder relieve him of his newly-won property, "How did you know that?"
The sheepherder smiled in reply, "You council me without my asking. You told me things I already know. You demanded payment for nothing, and above all," the old man smiled, "you don't know a damn thing about what I do because you just tried to take my dog!"
...the only times that I've had any difficulties working on an open-source solution is when I've had to add a closed-source solution in with it. And I'm a one-man IT staff where I work and by far, not a genius. That's my $0.02. End of story.
while certain corporations and **AA associations would like us to think otherwise is not stealing intellectual property . ..
Heh.
It's either *AA or ??AA. **AA is completely redundant.:)
I can also tell you why bash is better, vi is the one true god, and how you can avoid the useless uses of cat.
/me suddenly hears moans, distant screaming, and more heads slamming against keyboards everywhere...
Not necessarily. Working, as I do, as a government contractor, the government is just like any other (large) customer. There are, of course, (a lot of) extra hoops that you have to jump through, but it seems to me generally that if you create a program under the government's eye, what part of the code that is revealing or indicative of government operations is theirs entirely. But, what part of it that is general and can be reused in another application is yours.
Slashdot Mirror
But the answer is, to me is kind of muddled. And I think it has primarily to do with the question. A *.jar is basically a zip file. Usually filled with compiled classes. My restatement of the question would be:
For any given language, I use compiled library X(a DSO, DLL, etc.). If the code, Y, which when compiled yields compiled library X, is released under the GPL, that forces my code Z to be GPLed as well?
In most simple terms, the license for my code is in part dictated by the libraries, packages, (sharable) objects, and classes I use in my code?
Gentry Lee's style added an additional human element to a lot of the sequels that were not to be found in the original. However, Lee also filled the books with a lot of bullshit that no one really found interesting, either. :) And the plot twists in the series (Rama II and on) were not to my liking (or many other people's liking). In my estimation, Lee took away more than he added to the mix.
That said, I realize they've only announced the first movie. It's a risk (it's not as popular as Clark's other movies and the last one--that I'm aware of, Deep Impact--based on Hammer of God was completely eclipsed by the inferior Armageddon), so the Movie Studios aren't going to risk a three or four movie deal and blow the first one to hell.
That said (if the first movie does well), Hollywood should do the following with the movies in order to have a most successful investment.
- Hollywood needs to make the first movie true to the heart of the first book. The book is a classic. And it seems that they are off to one hell of a start with the cast. They need a true script and complete the arc of the story as much as possible with the first movie. Add a little crap-Hollywoodness to it, and they will have a successful start.
- "The Ramans do everything in threes." That was the last thought that Clarke left us with the book. And then he forgot the whole damn thing until people started complaining that they weren't seeing sequels. And he came back to the table thinking, "Thats a hell of an idea!" So what's he do? Come out with three more books (not two, as it would suggest). So Hollywood should correct this grievous error and pull a LOTR-butchery.
- Yes dammit, I think LOTR movies became butchered in the 2nd movie. However, some may argue that it was to the good of the whole. I disagree on it mostly. However...
- It can only be to the benefit of a Rama series to order it logically in a 3-movie deal. Three visits by the alien ship, three movies. Three reactions. Three plots. The books are, to some extent, already charted out this way. Due to the fleshing out process of Lee's and Clarke's writing, they felt that their storylines were too large for two additional books, so they arrived to the conclusion of three. This worked out for the books just fine (though I don't like them as much), but the movies are going to cut out a lot of the bullshit anyway, and with some stealthy cutting in the script area, they can come together quite nicely in the trilogy vein.
- Finally, they need continuity. Which destroys much if not all of the latter books. In the books, the first ship comes in the year X (can't remember offhand, and I ain't looking it up). The 2nd ship comes X+150 years later. Holy God. Buuuut, the 3rd ship comes only 30 years or so later. That continuity is crappy. It works for the books, but not for a movie. Unless you're working in the horror genre, and you're not. You're going to need repeat actors in order to mesh the movies together intelligently movie-style. This destroys much of the future storylines in the additional books, but people will think it sucks if not done this way.
Ah well... forgive my not-very-well-put-together rantings. I'm thrilled to death about the whole thing. I can't wait for it. Can't wait, can't wait, can't wait.Jerkcity serves out black and white gif comic strips (thereby making this posting a bit off-topic, however given the context...). Hilarious if sometimes a bit hard to follow.
I could say oh so much more about how many music files I have, how much money I've put into my collection, how much time I've put into it, and how much I thoroughly enjoy it all. And then I could describe in grand detail how I would feel to have some outside party tell me I'm wrong. However, it would all boil down to the above statement. Dag-nabbit. :)
Mr. Shatner does Star Trek, it becomes a classic icon of America and American Sci-Fi sub-culture, being snipped apart, talked about, broken down, looked upon and regaled as, whether you like it or not, a Good Thing.
Mr. Shatner does the SNL skit in question, and it, in turn, though to a slightly lesser extent, become a classic icon of American parody an American sense-of-humor, and becomes snipped apart, talked about, broken down, looked upon, and regaled, being resold (like Star Trek) in SNL box sets and played every 5 years on SNL reunions.
I'd imagine he gets asked about the SNL skit on a proportionally similar scale as he gets asked about Star Trek. And as a result, after hearing all the questions and comments, what would you do besides make fun of that.
Creatively, too. He's in a similar forum, answering similar questions, and that one pops up. What else to do but torch the skit the way he torched Star Trek? To me, it was probably the best answer of all 10. :)
A man in a Ferarri drives along a country road and finds a considerably older man on the side. Stopping, the Ferrari Man jumps out and says, "Excuse me, if I simply observe you for a moment, I can tell exactly what you do. And if I guess correctly, you have to give me something of yours."
Intrigued, the older man agrees, and in a moment the first man says, "You're a sheepherder!"
The older man, nonplussed, says, "You're right, you can have anything of mine."
The first man announces that he will take a sheep, and grabs the first animal he sees and hauls it to the Ferarri.
"How did you know?" the sheepherder asked.
"I noticed how you looked at the animals in the field as though you knew them all individually," the younger man said, "That and the staff gave you away."
The sheepherder smiled and said, "Well, if I guess what your job is, can I have my animal back?"
The young man, sensing a challenge, smiled and agreed.
Without hesitation, the sheepherder said, "You're a consultant."
Shocked, the young man asked as he watched the sheepherder relieve him of his newly-won property, "How did you know that?"
The sheepherder smiled in reply, "You council me without my asking. You told me things I already know. You demanded payment for nothing, and above all," the old man smiled, "you don't know a damn thing about what I do because you just tried to take my dog!"
I guess that's kinda how that joke goes. ;)
...the only times that I've had any difficulties working on an open-source solution is when I've had to add a closed-source solution in with it. And I'm a one-man IT staff where I work and by far, not a genius. That's my $0.02. End of story.
If the EU sticks it to M$ and none of the natural citizens of the continent mind my American sickness, I _will_ move. ;)
Heh.
It's either *AA or ??AA. **AA is completely redundant. :)
I can also tell you why bash is better, vi is the one true god, and how you can avoid the useless uses of cat.
Not necessarily. Working, as I do, as a government contractor, the government is just like any other (large) customer. There are, of course, (a lot of) extra hoops that you have to jump through, but it seems to me generally that if you create a program under the government's eye, what part of the code that is revealing or indicative of government operations is theirs entirely. But, what part of it that is general and can be reused in another application is yours.
Stay the hell out of the industry so that _I_ can find a job! ;)
Packet sniffers are only worthwhile on hubs.