I believe a bigger problem is the fact that the average American almost worships his Constitution. Rather than asking if a given law is good or bad, he asks if it follows the original intentions of the Founding Fathers, which gets in the way of any rational debate. Please remember that, living in the XVIIIth century, the Founding Fathers were obviously out of touch with what is happening (what was will happen? what would happen? I hate tenses) in the XXIst.
I find it somewhat amusing that you would post that in a thread debating a blatantly un-constitutional law that was just passed in NY. I wish these representatives "worshiped" the constitution, or at the very least, followed their oath to obey it.
I don't see how this law restricts that freedom. It's an idiotic law, certainly, but people aren't stopped from creating games directly because of it. It's maybe when they try to sell their creation that they might find difficulties.
How is a government mandated age limit not a restriction?
That is a good one. It reminds me of Logitech's web site. If for some reason you need to re-install your mouse driver because it is not working you can conveniently download it from their web site.
After the 30 minutes it takes to navigate the site using the tab key (since your mouse is not working) you get to their friendly download link, which uses some javascript or something to make a download button that can only be clicked on by a mouse. Brilliant!
OLPC and this are feel good ideas when too much of this world does have clean drinking water and adequate medicine or food for the day.
So lets not work on anything else until these issues are solved. What are you doing posting on slashdot, you should be out feeding poor children.
What do you say, you have more experience working with computers and would rather work on something you will be more efficient at than food provider. Tough, can't go educating people until everyone on the planet has food.
Well, I think what uspets people is that they don't hear condemnation of this kind of thing *from Muslims*. If next month Christian suicide bombers in ten separate incidents killed a lot of non-Christians, I can 100% guarantee you Jerry Falwell would be denouncing them.
Others have pointed out that Falwell is dead, but this is what he said about Sept 11. Hardly a denouncement.
On Sept. 11: "The abortionists have got to bear some burden for this because God will not be mocked. And when we destroy 40 million little innocent babies, we make God mad. I really believe that the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People for the American Way--all of them who have tried to secularize America--I point the finger in their face and say 'you helped this happen.' "
Sorry, the only food and starvation problems today are Government made. And no, I DO NOT mean some "evil corporation in their corporation offices being all corporaty" causing the problem. That reason is a smokescreen.
While I do agree that there is plenty of food on this planet to feed everyone and the issue is mainly infrastructure/transportation. "Being all corporaty" I would interpret as acting in a capitalistic manner.
You have to admit that there is not a whole lot of profit to be made delivering food to poor people at prices they can afford.
And even more telling, the approval rating for Congress is even lower. The new, Democrat controlled Congress.
From your article:
Although ratings are quite low, Americans have been more positive in their assessments of Congress this year than last year, when an average of just 25% approved of Congress.
And...
Approval ratings of Congress are higher among Democrats than Republicans,
Global warming is a hysteria similar to the Y2K hysteria, it is propaganda that is created for the same reason: money. How much money was made on the believe of the world that the civilization will be destroyed because in the 2000 due to the computer bugs?
So, an obvious bug with very real consequences was identified ahead of time and through the hard work of millions of coders catastrophe was prevented. We should hope for a similar result with global warming.
The crux of these sorts of arguments seems to be that after your suggested 15 years JK Rowling should just be told that anyone can publish as many copies of Harry Potter book 1 as they like so long as they put her name under it (no payment necessary, meaning no incentive to pay her) because it "benefits culture" as a whole.
This is roughly equivalent to saying "you have the exclusive right to whatever you buy for 15 years, but from then on anyone can use it."
Congratulations, you just figured out what the words "limited time" mean.
To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited
Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings
and Discoveries;
Microsoft doesn't have a "Monopoly" in any sense of the word. They have a complete vertical market solution, which is not the same as monopoly. You are free to choose other market options that are reasonably close facsimile of what Microsoft produces, but you'll be giving up the virtually seamless integration by doing so.
Microsoft's Internet Explorer, MS Offfice and Windows handle many INDUSTRY standards, and ONE proprietary data format (*.doc).
I never got the gripe of you Anti-Microsoft whiners. Go, use Apple, or Linux, or whatever else is out there for operating your computer, nobody is holding a gun to your head. Go, Use Firefox, Open Office and any other source for editing documents and surfing the web. Hopefully you don't have to be a technical genius to get it all to work right, because if you do, then you're obviously missing the point of Windows, IE, Office and the whole integration thing. It Just Works (TM).
I gave my wife Windows last year for her birthday, she didn't even know what it was! The she picked up and used it, and started Surfing the web and editing documents right away. It just works for her, and it is "easy" for her. Which is the whole point, isn't it?
We got it hooked into the Media Center in the kitchen, the Main Whole House Stereo system, because "It Just Works(TM)".
If you want to call that a Monopoly, fine, go ahead. I call it building a better mousetrap, and Microsoft has done a great job in making an Operating System Experience that is pleasant. Sorry if it doesn't support Ogg or Linux or whatever else you think it ought to. It does support MP3 and ACC, both open formats, and can rip, burn CDs quickly and easily, and support from many third party add-ons, and IE and Office works both on Mac and Windows.
So, I don't know what the beef is all about. It isn't the monopoly you think it is.
All debates now require that news programs compare every candidate's makeup to Richard Nixon in 1960. WTF? CCGIGO. Creative-commons garbage in...
Hmm, I have an idea. Maybe we could release these debates under some sort of "free" license. Then, politically motivated people such as youself could remove the annoying commentary. Since the debates would not be copyrighted in the traditional sense this improved version could then be distributed.
Other countries, including Canada and Italy, have also used a clause in World Trade Organization rules to flout drug patents in the name of public health.
Under WTO rules, countries can issue a "compulsory license" to manufacture or buy generic versions of patented drugs deemed critical to public health.
Slashdot Mirror
Heh, hang in there Brian. I bet you didn't have to defend your previous two articles nearly as much did you?
I believe a bigger problem is the fact that the average American almost worships his Constitution. Rather than asking if a given law is good or bad, he asks if it follows the original intentions of the Founding Fathers, which gets in the way of any rational debate. Please remember that, living in the XVIIIth century, the Founding Fathers were obviously out of touch with what is happening (what was will happen? what would happen? I hate tenses) in the XXIst.
I find it somewhat amusing that you would post that in a thread debating a blatantly un-constitutional law that was just passed in NY. I wish these representatives "worshiped" the constitution, or at the very least, followed their oath to obey it.
I don't see how this law restricts that freedom. It's an idiotic law, certainly, but people aren't stopped from creating games directly because of it. It's maybe when they try to sell their creation that they might find difficulties.
How is a government mandated age limit not a restriction?
So, I have to ask - what rights are being taken away here?
Freedom of expression and speech. Google 2600 and DECSS for a good example.
That is a good one. It reminds me of Logitech's web site. If for some reason you need to re-install your mouse driver because it is not working you can conveniently download it from their web site.
After the 30 minutes it takes to navigate the site using the tab key (since your mouse is not working) you get to their friendly download link, which uses some javascript or something to make a download button that can only be clicked on by a mouse. Brilliant!
OLPC and this are feel good ideas when too much of this world does have clean drinking water and adequate medicine or food for the day.
So lets not work on anything else until these issues are solved. What are you doing posting on slashdot, you should be out feeding poor children.
What do you say, you have more experience working with computers and would rather work on something you will be more efficient at than food provider. Tough, can't go educating people until everyone on the planet has food.
Well, I think what uspets people is that they don't hear condemnation of this kind of thing *from Muslims*. If next month Christian suicide bombers in ten separate incidents killed a lot of non-Christians, I can 100% guarantee you Jerry Falwell would be denouncing them.
Others have pointed out that Falwell is dead, but this is what he said about Sept 11. Hardly a denouncement.
On Sept. 11: "The abortionists have got to bear some burden for this because God will not be mocked. And when we destroy 40 million little innocent babies, we make God mad. I really believe that the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People for the American Way--all of them who have tried to secularize America--I point the finger in their face and say 'you helped this happen.' "
Sorry, the only food and starvation problems today are Government made. And no, I DO NOT mean some "evil corporation in their corporation offices being all corporaty" causing the problem. That reason is a smokescreen.
While I do agree that there is plenty of food on this planet to feed everyone and the issue is mainly infrastructure/transportation. "Being all corporaty" I would interpret as acting in a capitalistic manner.
You have to admit that there is not a whole lot of profit to be made delivering food to poor people at prices they can afford.
And even more telling, the approval rating for Congress is even lower. The new, Democrat controlled Congress.
From your article:
Although ratings are quite low, Americans have been more positive in their assessments of Congress this year than last year, when an average of just 25% approved of Congress.
And...
Approval ratings of Congress are higher among Democrats than Republicans,
Global warming is a hysteria similar to the Y2K hysteria, it is propaganda that is created for the same reason: money. How much money was made on the believe of the world that the civilization will be destroyed because in the 2000 due to the computer bugs?
So, an obvious bug with very real consequences was identified ahead of time and through the hard work of millions of coders catastrophe was prevented. We should hope for a similar result with global warming.
Tag it as both of those, and don't forget "FUD".
Is it just me or have some of those terms been blacklisted? This one actually deserves it if anyone is listening.
Zombie patent trolls. When brains just aren't enough.
Is telling someone the correct way to the red light district also illegal then ?
Not in the states at least. Telling someone how to descrable CSS is though.
Further, global warming, whether true or not,...
Global warming may or may not happen...
How did this get modded up? Global warming IS happening! Measuring global average temperature is a solved problem. The only issue still up for debate is how much humans are affecting it.
Seriously, take a look at the graph in the link.
How about Personal Choice Enablement?
I have a better one yet. How about we call non-commercial copyright infringement "Fair Use."
Has a nice ring to it, no?
It takes ages and it's a PITA.
br Benjcurry was going to say Windows, but you beat him to it.
Learn it.
Within the first week of a film's release, you can almost be certain that somewhere out there a Canadian copy will show up.
Come, my fellow Americans, we can do this! We have a week to get our copy of Oceans Thirteen up! FTW!!
The crux of these sorts of arguments seems to be that after your suggested 15 years JK Rowling should just be told that anyone can publish as many copies of Harry Potter book 1 as they like so long as they put her name under it (no payment necessary, meaning no incentive to pay her) because it "benefits culture" as a whole.
This is roughly equivalent to saying "you have the exclusive right to whatever you buy for 15 years, but from then on anyone can use it."
Congratulations, you just figured out what the words "limited time" mean.
To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries;
Microsoft doesn't have a "Monopoly" in any sense of the word. They have a complete vertical market solution, which is not the same as monopoly. You are free to choose other market options that are reasonably close facsimile of what Microsoft produces, but you'll be giving up the virtually seamless integration by doing so.
Microsoft's Internet Explorer, MS Offfice and Windows handle many INDUSTRY standards, and ONE proprietary data format (*.doc).
I never got the gripe of you Anti-Microsoft whiners. Go, use Apple, or Linux, or whatever else is out there for operating your computer, nobody is holding a gun to your head. Go, Use Firefox, Open Office and any other source for editing documents and surfing the web. Hopefully you don't have to be a technical genius to get it all to work right, because if you do, then you're obviously missing the point of Windows, IE, Office and the whole integration thing. It Just Works (TM).
I gave my wife Windows last year for her birthday, she didn't even know what it was! The she picked up and used it, and started Surfing the web and editing documents right away. It just works for her, and it is "easy" for her. Which is the whole point, isn't it?
We got it hooked into the Media Center in the kitchen, the Main Whole House Stereo system, because "It Just Works(TM)".
If you want to call that a Monopoly, fine, go ahead. I call it building a better mousetrap, and Microsoft has done a great job in making an Operating System Experience that is pleasant. Sorry if it doesn't support Ogg or Linux or whatever else you think it ought to. It does support MP3 and ACC, both open formats, and can rip, burn CDs quickly and easily, and support from many third party add-ons, and IE and Office works both on Mac and Windows.
So, I don't know what the beef is all about. It isn't the monopoly you think it is.
The difference here, is that the US pressured every trading partner to make their absurd DMCA law apply to everyone else on the planet.
So they should probably prosecute the Australian in an Australian court under the Australian version of the DMCA then huh?
Well, if Australians can be charged with breaking the DMCA then Americans should be able to be charged with breaking lese majeste.
All debates now require that news programs compare every candidate's makeup to Richard Nixon in 1960. WTF? CCGIGO. Creative-commons garbage in...
Hmm, I have an idea. Maybe we could release these debates under some sort of "free" license. Then, politically motivated people such as youself could remove the annoying commentary. Since the debates would not be copyrighted in the traditional sense this improved version could then be distributed.
If stuff accelerating towards nothing is not extraordinary evidence, I don't know what is.
From the Article:
Other countries, including Canada and Italy, have also used a clause in World Trade Organization rules to flout drug patents in the name of public health.
Under WTO rules, countries can issue a "compulsory license" to manufacture or buy generic versions of patented drugs deemed critical to public health.