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User: xyloplax

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  1. Copyright was meant to protect art and literature on How Not to Write a Cease-and-Desist Letter · · Score: 1

    Legal correspondence is neither art nor literature, though the US Copyright Office doesn't specifically prohibit it. I seriously doubt this would last 10 minutes in court. What Works Are Protected? Copyright protects "original works of authorship" that are fixed in a tangible form of expression. The fixation need not be directly perceptible so long as it may be communicated with the aid of a machine or device. Copyrightable works include the following categories: 1. literary works; 2. musical works, including any accompanying words 3. dramatic works, including any accompanying music 4. pantomimes and choreographic works 5. pictorial, graphic, and sculptural works 6. motion pictures and other audiovisual works 7. sound recordings 8. architectural works These categories should be viewed broadly. For example, computer programs and most "compilations" may be registered as "literary works"; maps and architectural plans may be registered as "pictorial, graphic, and sculptural works." What Is Not Protected by Copyright? Several categories of material are generally not eligible for federal copyright protection. These include among others: * Works that have not been fixed in a tangible form of expression (for example, choreographic works that have not been notated or recorded, or improvisational speeches or performances that have not been written or recorded) * Titles, names, short phrases, and slogans; familiar symbols or designs; mere variations of typographic ornamentation, lettering, or coloring; mere listings of ingredients or contents * Ideas, procedures, methods, systems, processes, concepts, principles, discoveries, or devices, as distinguished from a description, explanation, or illustration * Works consisting entirely of information that is common property and containing no original authorship (for example: standard calendars, height and weight charts, tape measures and rulers, and lists or tables taken from public documents or other common sources)

  2. Offsite tape storage policy at fault on Intern Loses 800,000 Social Security Numbers · · Score: 1

    We have Iron Mountain come and pick up our tapes. They put it in a locked box inside a locked truck and put it in secure facility. They are one of the big names in data storage. It should be mandatory for agencies such as this. In fact, you can contract to have YOUR guys put the tapes in the locked box so that they don't even have the key/they don't touch the tapes. Hell, take it a step further and have a video camera trained on the tape library as well. Plus, encrypt your tape backups.

  3. Re:Junk - is an inaccurate word on Human Genome More Like a Functional Network · · Score: 1

    Appendicitis is not prevalent enough for evolution to remove it. Evolutionary pressure needs to be pretty serious for evolution to kick in. Think of how Homo sapiens came about: population of hominids was in the low thousands, massive climate change was in effect, and competition for resources was severely high.

  4. No actual habits in the article on How To Adopt 10 'Good' Unix Habits · · Score: 5, Insightful
    Here are some more important general IT rules (Unix rules can easily be OS and version dependent and frequently come from usage in YOUR environment)
    • Copy before edit
    • Tape backup before delete/decommission
    • READ YOUR COMMAND before hitting return
    • Check where things are symlinked to
    • Echo in your scripts instead of destructive commands as a test run
    • Test your changes on a lesser-importance box
    • Use proper Change Control procedures
    • Cover your ass and capture your terminal output
    • When taking something out of service, turn it off for a few days/weeks before deleting/purging it
  5. What is *TRUTH*? on Kansas Challenges Definition of Science · · Score: 1

    While I agree with the rest of the post, Various theological systems cannot possibly provide the truth for anything at all. What specifically were you thinking of?

    If I say I have a conversation with God, is that truth? If so, then we better amend the Bible and include half the population in the mental ward in Bellevue. If a group of people in the ancient world say someone was inspired by God or talked to God, how can we possibly prove it to be true? They had little science, mathematics or mental health diagnosis so we cannot take something that we have not been able to reproduce or we witness as a part of our human experience at face value.

    I have a serious dislike for religion being based on the words of man describing things that no one seems to be able to prove or even experience and selling it as Truth.

    Why wasn't the Greek Pantheon the Truth? Actually, that's an easy one: Constantine I made Xtianity the official religion. Woe be to they who do not follow the Official Roman Religion...

  6. no Linux here on Midsize Businesses Not Considering Linux? · · Score: 1

    I work for a mid sized retailer and Linux was not chosen mainly because it's not the price of support but the quality of support that people seem to fear. We went with AIX, which I really like, but it's their loss if they don't want to save money with Linux.

  7. Re:Open it up to hackers on Interstellar Pioneers Facing Termination · · Score: 1

    Finally We can find a place to host SuprNova.org!

  8. Re:Calling all scientists on Titan's Alien Thunder · · Score: 1

    Venus has an atmosphere that is 80 times thicker than ours. You don't see us teaching Venusian women how to love.

  9. Re:"hot-rodding"? What decade is this? on Hot-Rodding A Bluetooth Adapter · · Score: 1

    I though coffee can tailpipes and Japanese characters gave me a 30% speed increase. I wish someone would have told me that a long time ago.

  10. "hot-rodding"? What decade is this? on Hot-Rodding A Bluetooth Adapter · · Score: 1
    It's called "ricing." And I don't see any neon stripes or spinning mags, so I don't think either designation applies.

    /now I want spinning mags on my USB ports.

  11. Re:Color Fidelity on Make Your Own Digital Camera ISO Test Target · · Score: 1
    You still need to target the output for your printer's white point and black point.

    This link has instructions on how to do this.

  12. Love it on Rio Karma User Review · · Score: 4, Informative

    I love my Karma. Would I trade it for an IPod? You betcha. But I am a technology whore, so discount that.

    Pros:
    Good sound. Nice equalizer function. Easy to use PC GUI. It fits great in my hand. The controls are very easy to use. It's cheaper than an IPod. Jog dial makes life easy. Big, easy to read screen. Long battery life.

    Cons:
    Can hang or crash on occasion if you put it in your pocket and you walk fast like me. Battery is non-replaceable. Faint, slight hiss in the background (regardless of format). No random per band or per album. Flaky ethernet port.

    I do not regret my purchase. I can live with the cons.

  13. Slurm! on Coffee is Addictive · · Score: 2, Funny

    It's highly addictive!

  14. But did he forget Poland? on Green Party Candidate David Cobb Answers Your Questions · · Score: 1

    Just wondering.

  15. This was not a 5mW laser pointer! on Laser Injures Delta Pilot's Eye · · Score: 1

    Laser pointers are class 3A (1 to 5 mW) and are required to carry a warning cautioning users to avoid shining a laser pointer beam into anyone's eye. But class 3A lasers are less dangerous than most people think. The most well-supported risk estimate suggests that the retina can theoretically be damaged if someone were to stare into the beam for 10 seconds (Ophthalmology 1997; 104:1213).

  16. Spikes on Amec Working on Long-Term Nuclear Waste Solution · · Score: 1

    The spikes are for humans x thousand years from now to discover. Personally, I prefer human heads on poles, but that's just me.

  17. Not AMD on Solaris vs Linux Continues · · Score: 1

    Sun's new Opteron servers are hot property.

  18. Negative news on Asteroid 4179 Toutatis Will Miss Earth, This Time · · Score: 1

    Today, I determined that I would not get hit by the Q32 bus and it would miss me by a full block and half. I am studying it's path to see if future drive bys will result in me getting run over.

    News has gotten boring, they have to report what doesn't happen.

  19. Re:From a conservative on Submit and Moderate Questions for Bush and Kerry · · Score: 1

    1) So the ends justify the means? Suppose 5000 were terrorists? Then that leaves 5000 innocents. That's a lot more than 9/11. I wonder how the families of the dead "collateral" feel. I wonder how many relatives of those 5000 innocents become terrorists as a result?

    2) We can judge ourselves anytime we want. It's how we better ourselves as a nation. How dare you say I can't. What is wrong with critcizing some of the morons^H^H^H^H^H^Hgood citizens of this country? Guess what? That makes me MORE patriotic than you. I want this country to improve, and a large number of stupid people are preventing it from happening.

    3) So it's one or the other? How about this: Americans have done more for freedom than any other country AND has commited crimes against humanity (I used to think the whole Native American Indian holocaust thing was bullshit until I started listening to some tell me the stories from their forebears.). We can't say "we have helped the world" and then go out and bomb weddings because they were firing bullets in the air (stupid, yes, terrorists, no). Two rights don't mean you can do a wrong.

  20. Re:From a conservative on Submit and Moderate Questions for Bush and Kerry · · Score: 1

    So it's ok then, right? Tell that to the mother of some Iraqi who happened to be standing next to some "known hideout" during an airstrike. According to America's Role in "Nation-Building: From Germany to Iraq", a new study by former Ambassador James Dobbins, who had a lead role in the Somalia, Haiti, Bosnia, and Kosovo reconstruction efforts, and a team of RAND Corporation researchers, the total number of post-conflict American combat casualties in Germany -- and Japan, Haiti, and the two Balkan cases -- was zero.

  21. Porn is appropriate for this discussion on iMac G5 Porn Roundup · · Score: 1

    Those Macs look like impaled breast implants.

  22. yes I would... on Would You Hire A Hacker? · · Score: 1

    Hire myself.

  23. I'll use a Taos instead on Mouse May be Replaced by "Nouse" · · Score: 1

    I could use a vacation.

  24. Re:Cthulu/Voldemort 2004 on Dave Barry on Electronic Voting · · Score: 1

    Originally, Cthulu picked Galactus, but he's not evil; just hungry. Plus he might eat the Earth he's trying to rule. Sauron has a bad war record and Lex Luther has no hair, so he went with Voldemort because of the whole "no muggles" vision thing. Read Call of Cthulu by H.P. Lovecraft. Good short story; it really captures the "awakened ancient evil" feeling quite well.

  25. Cthulu/Voldermort 2004 on Dave Barry on Electronic Voting · · Score: 5, Funny

    Why settle for the lesser of two evils?