Consider some of the possible reasons those ballots were provisional in the first place. a) People thought they were registered but actually weren't. b) They tried to vote in the wrong location. c) There was a typo on the registration form, and the election judge didn't find your name. d) Pages were left out of the registration book by mistake (or for fraudulent purposes).
In case a), if you're not registered, then your vote should definitely not be counted. (If a state has same-day registration, then this one would not be an issue; in Illinois, you have to be registered (I think) 30 days before the election.)
In case b), a different precinct may have different local races on the ballot. For example, there may be multiple city council seats representing various neighborhoods on the ballot, and by voting in a different precinct, you'd be voting for the wrong candidates. Perhaps if would be okay for your national office votes to count and not the local ones, but I imagine that implementing that would be tricky, so not counting the ballot at all seems an appropriate response to the voter's error.
In case c), when officials check your registration and find it to be in order, your vote will be counted.
In case d), when officials check the master records and find that you are registered, your vote will be counted.
In a perfectly-implemented system, only actual invalid ballots would be given provisional status, which would mean that, after review, 100% of provisional ballots would not be counted. So I think an important question would be why were those votes made provisional? Was there attempted fraud on the part of election officials? Were mistakes made by precinct workers? Find the problems and fix them, so that next time, all valid ballots will be counted regularly, and only invalid ballots will be made provisional.
Judges are only supposed to rule on the evidence brought before them. If neither Paramount nor the Wellses introduced evidence that says TWOTW is in the public domain, then the judge is not supposed to consider that when rendering a decision.
In fact, it would be in the interest of neither party to assert in the case that the book has fallen out of copyright protection, because arguing that would indicate that (for Paramount) there can be no exclusive rights, so Paramount can no longer claim them, or (for the Wellses) future filmmakers do not need to pay the family for any rights for the book, because those rights have expired.
The case in question dealt only with the issue of how the contract should be interpreted.
If the book is entirely in the public domain, then a filmmaker should be able to produce a series based on the book without consulting either Paramount or the Wellses.
>> Now, I don't know about some third world countries, but isn't there a treaty that says something like "If a law is illegal in our country, your 'citizen' can't do it in our country.["]
> That should be news for all the people that come from places where gambling is illegal, vacationing in Las Vegas, Atlantic City, etc.
Other way around. That should be news for all the people that come from places where gambling is legal, vacationing in places where it's not.
Someone who lives in Las Vegas can't gamble when they're in Nogamblingsville, because gambling is illegal in Nogamblingsville. But someone from Nogamblingsville *can* gamble when they're in Las Vegas, because it's legal in Las Vegas.
Likewise, someone from the UK can't junk-fax when they're in the United States, because junk-faxing is illegal in the United States.
The question remains, however, whether somebody using a telephone in the UK could legally be considered "in" the US, for the sake of the junk-fax law, when they call a US phone. I would guess probably not, though perhaps they can.
> Just because you are a "salaried employee" does not mean you are exempt from overtime regulation. Salaried employees have an hourly rate - it's determined by dividing the "salary" by the number of hours worked each week.
So if your salary for the week is $1000, and you work 40 hours, then your hourly rate is $25. But if you work only 32 hours one week, then your hourly rate goes up to $31.25.
And if you work 80 hours and get time-and-a-half for the second forty hours, then your hourly rate is down to $10. Calculate that out... ($10/hr)*(100hr) = $1000. So your salary for that week is $1000. Look at that... it still works out!
I've watched my little brothers put together newer lego sets where most of the pieces are designed to fit together in ONE SPECIFIC WAY. Everything is already planned out, and you are supposed to follow the directions (like a some-assembly-required toy).
Many of the sets I've gotten recently have come with the instructions to put together the building (vehicle, location, whatever) shown on the box, but the last few pages of the instruction booklet show a few ideas for other things that you could build with the same pieces. Those last few pages have inspired me to take apart some of my finished models (for which I followed the instructions) and try to build some of the other items without instructions, or just to start building something brand new.
To this viewer, the resolution was implied in The Two Towers: The Ents came smashing in, destroying everything around him, and during that battle, he met a squishy end. I didn't need to see it to understand what was going on; it was very fitting that he was destroyed by the Ents, when he had destroyed so much of the forest.
Therefore, I was quite surprised when I first heard that Saruman was going to be in the third movie--that meant somehow he had escaped the poetic fate that seemed so obvious. And now that he's gone again, I don't see a problem with the removal of those scenes.
You have a "proposed" fine when you get a speeding ticket. When a police officer proposes that you have a fine, you can either accept or challenge that proposition.
If you accept the proposition, then you pay the police officer. In this situation, the fine is no longer merely a "proposed" fine, it's an actual fine.
If you challenge the proposition, then you go to traffic court. If the judge finds you not guilty, then the proposition is dropped and there is no fine. On the other hand, if the judge finds you guilty, then the once-proposed fine becomes an actual fine, and you have to pay it. However, the judge may impose a lesser sentence depending on the exact circumstances of the case. (I think it's unlikely he could impose a greater sentence, but maybe that's possible?)
"The appelate court just admitted to discriminating in favor of the previous court."
This is the stance that the appellate court is supposed to take in every case. Their job is not to re-try the case, but rather to see if there was an error in how the trial was conducted. A vertict is only supposed to be overturned, remanded, etc. if even in the light most favorable to the verdict, a rational trier of fact could not have found the elements of the offense beyond a reasonable doubt.
In the trial court, the burden of proof is on the state to prove beyond a resonable doubt that the accused is guilty. In the appellate court, "innocent until proven guilty" applies: no longer innocent because they have been proven guilty. Now the burden of proof to show that there was an error at the trial court falls on the defendant's shoulders.
I don't see anybody linking to the 5th District Court of Appeals's opinion yet, so rather than relying on the biased CBLDF perspective on what the ruling means, why not read the Court's opinion and get it straight from the source?
The Majority Opinion is from two of the three judges, and the Dissenting Opinion is from the other.
davidh
That doesn't always work. When I was a kid, an older person once tried to show me how the age protection thing on LSL worked... when the questions popped up, I knew the answers to all of them when the person I was with didn't know two of them. Certainly not foolproof if a younger person just happens to know the answer to the particular trivia question asked.
The wrong word has been capitalized. According to the "Definitions" section, "blank audio recording medium" means: "(a) a recording medium, regardless of its material form, onto which a sound recording may be reproduced, that is of a kind ordinarily used by individual consumers and on which no sounds have ever been fixed" (emphasis added).
Wouldn't a simple solution be to include one small sound file on all otherwise blank audio recording media?
Caveat: That's just part (a) of the definition. Part (b), which includes "any medium prescribed by regulations pursuant to sections 79 and 87 of the Act", may floccinaucinihilipilificate my simple solution above. But according to my interpretation of the Copyright Act, sections 79 and 87, I think the solution may still work.
Slashdot Mirror
Great googly moogly!
davidh
Consider some of the possible reasons those ballots were provisional in the first place. a) People thought they were registered but actually weren't. b) They tried to vote in the wrong location. c) There was a typo on the registration form, and the election judge didn't find your name. d) Pages were left out of the registration book by mistake (or for fraudulent purposes).
In case a), if you're not registered, then your vote should definitely not be counted. (If a state has same-day registration, then this one would not be an issue; in Illinois, you have to be registered (I think) 30 days before the election.)
In case b), a different precinct may have different local races on the ballot. For example, there may be multiple city council seats representing various neighborhoods on the ballot, and by voting in a different precinct, you'd be voting for the wrong candidates. Perhaps if would be okay for your national office votes to count and not the local ones, but I imagine that implementing that would be tricky, so not counting the ballot at all seems an appropriate response to the voter's error.
In case c), when officials check your registration and find it to be in order, your vote will be counted.
In case d), when officials check the master records and find that you are registered, your vote will be counted.
In a perfectly-implemented system, only actual invalid ballots would be given provisional status, which would mean that, after review, 100% of provisional ballots would not be counted. So I think an important question would be why were those votes made provisional? Was there attempted fraud on the part of election officials? Were mistakes made by precinct workers? Find the problems and fix them, so that next time, all valid ballots will be counted regularly, and only invalid ballots will be made provisional.
davidh
My thoughts on the matter...
Judges are only supposed to rule on the evidence brought before them. If neither Paramount nor the Wellses introduced evidence that says TWOTW is in the public domain, then the judge is not supposed to consider that when rendering a decision.
In fact, it would be in the interest of neither party to assert in the case that the book has fallen out of copyright protection, because arguing that would indicate that (for Paramount) there can be no exclusive rights, so Paramount can no longer claim them, or (for the Wellses) future filmmakers do not need to pay the family for any rights for the book, because those rights have expired.
The case in question dealt only with the issue of how the contract should be interpreted.
If the book is entirely in the public domain, then a filmmaker should be able to produce a series based on the book without consulting either Paramount or the Wellses.
davidh
>> Now, I don't know about some third world countries, but isn't there a treaty that says something like "If a law is illegal in our country, your 'citizen' can't do it in our country.["]
> That should be news for all the people that come from places where gambling is illegal, vacationing in Las Vegas, Atlantic City, etc.
Other way around. That should be news for all the people that come from places where gambling is legal, vacationing in places where it's not.
Someone who lives in Las Vegas can't gamble when they're in Nogamblingsville, because gambling is illegal in Nogamblingsville. But someone from Nogamblingsville *can* gamble when they're in Las Vegas, because it's legal in Las Vegas.
Likewise, someone from the UK can't junk-fax when they're in the United States, because junk-faxing is illegal in the United States.
The question remains, however, whether somebody using a telephone in the UK could legally be considered "in" the US, for the sake of the junk-fax law, when they call a US phone. I would guess probably not, though perhaps they can.
davidh
> Just because you are a "salaried employee" does not mean you are exempt from overtime regulation. Salaried employees have an hourly rate - it's determined by dividing the "salary" by the number of hours worked each week.
So if your salary for the week is $1000, and you work 40 hours, then your hourly rate is $25. But if you work only 32 hours one week, then your hourly rate goes up to $31.25.
And if you work 80 hours and get time-and-a-half for the second forty hours, then your hourly rate is down to $10. Calculate that out... ($10/hr)*(100hr) = $1000. So your salary for that week is $1000. Look at that... it still works out!
davidh
I've watched my little brothers put together newer lego sets where most of the pieces are designed to fit together in ONE SPECIFIC WAY. Everything is already planned out, and you are supposed to follow the directions (like a some-assembly-required toy).
Many of the sets I've gotten recently have come with the instructions to put together the building (vehicle, location, whatever) shown on the box, but the last few pages of the instruction booklet show a few ideas for other things that you could build with the same pieces. Those last few pages have inspired me to take apart some of my finished models (for which I followed the instructions) and try to build some of the other items without instructions, or just to start building something brand new.
davidh
To this viewer, the resolution was implied in The Two Towers: The Ents came smashing in, destroying everything around him, and during that battle, he met a squishy end. I didn't need to see it to understand what was going on; it was very fitting that he was destroyed by the Ents, when he had destroyed so much of the forest.
Therefore, I was quite surprised when I first heard that Saruman was going to be in the third movie--that meant somehow he had escaped the poetic fate that seemed so obvious. And now that he's gone again, I don't see a problem with the removal of those scenes.
davidh
You have a "proposed" fine when you get a speeding ticket. When a police officer proposes that you have a fine, you can either accept or challenge that proposition.
If you accept the proposition, then you pay the police officer. In this situation, the fine is no longer merely a "proposed" fine, it's an actual fine.
If you challenge the proposition, then you go to traffic court. If the judge finds you not guilty, then the proposition is dropped and there is no fine. On the other hand, if the judge finds you guilty, then the once-proposed fine becomes an actual fine, and you have to pay it. However, the judge may impose a lesser sentence depending on the exact circumstances of the case. (I think it's unlikely he could impose a greater sentence, but maybe that's possible?)
davidh
"The appelate court just admitted to discriminating in favor of the previous court."
This is the stance that the appellate court is supposed to take in every case. Their job is not to re-try the case, but rather to see if there was an error in how the trial was conducted. A vertict is only supposed to be overturned, remanded, etc. if even in the light most favorable to the verdict, a rational trier of fact could not have found the elements of the offense beyond a reasonable doubt.
In the trial court, the burden of proof is on the state to prove beyond a resonable doubt that the accused is guilty. In the appellate court, "innocent until proven guilty" applies: no longer innocent because they have been proven guilty. Now the burden of proof to show that there was an error at the trial court falls on the defendant's shoulders.
davidh
I don't see anybody linking to the 5th District Court of Appeals's opinion yet, so rather than relying on the biased CBLDF perspective on what the ruling means, why not read the Court's opinion and get it straight from the source? The Majority Opinion is from two of the three judges, and the Dissenting Opinion is from the other. davidh
That doesn't always work. When I was a kid, an older person once tried to show me how the age protection thing on LSL worked... when the questions popped up, I knew the answers to all of them when the person I was with didn't know two of them. Certainly not foolproof if a younger person just happens to know the answer to the particular trivia question asked.
davidh
The wrong word has been capitalized. According to the "Definitions" section, "blank audio recording medium" means: "(a) a recording medium, regardless of its material form, onto which a sound recording may be reproduced, that is of a kind ordinarily used by individual consumers and on which no sounds have ever been fixed" (emphasis added).
Wouldn't a simple solution be to include one small sound file on all otherwise blank audio recording media?
Caveat: That's just part (a) of the definition. Part (b), which includes "any medium prescribed by regulations pursuant to sections 79 and 87 of the Act", may floccinaucinihilipilificate my simple solution above. But according to my interpretation of the Copyright Act, sections 79 and 87, I think the solution may still work.
davidh