I refuse to believe that he knew Vader would be Luke's father (come on "from a certain point of view"?!.
I dunno about this one. I distinctly remember reading an article in Starlog or another similar Science-Fiction oriented magazine around 1979 (Between Star Wars and Empire) that said:
Darth Vader was Luke's father,
Darth Vader wore the suit because he had been horribly disfigured and left for dead after a fight with Obi-Wan Kenobi which ended with Vader "falling into a volcano".
At the time, the comments supposedly came from someone close to the source who had seen Lucas's notes. They may have even mentioned the Luke-Leia sibling thing, but of that I am less certain.
"As the Mosquito emits a sound that's well out of his hearing range, he can't hear it, while most of the rest of the neighborhood is under 40 and can; at which point it's causing everyone a great deal of discomfort."
Perhaps the older folks are really unaware of how annoying the sound is. Construct a device that emits a similar noise, but at a lower frequency that everyone can hear - maybe 3000 hz to 5000 hz.
If you really want this to work, only turn it on when he turns his machine on - and KEEP YOUR BIG MOUTH SHUT! Then, either he will think his machine is no good and get rid of it -or- the entire neighborhood will go after HIM.
"MUCH easier to repair above-ground lines than below-ground lines"
Yes, but if the lines are underground, they do not need to be repaired nearly as often. All of the power lines in my 'burb are underground and they never seem to need repaired AND we never lose power.
"a moral duty to maximize proft for the owners of the corporation"
Gordon Gecko adds his contribution, I see.
"Every dollar paid to an employee is a dollar taken from the shareholders."
By that reasoning, if a corporation could get rid of all of its employees, then it would be truly profitable.
"If you imagine shareholders as widows and orphans it might temper your indignation"
Damn few widows and orphans are direct shareholders in major corporations. Most of them are too busy wondering where their next meal is coming from after being fired by corporate "greed-is-good" weasels.
"has asked its techies to train their Indian replacements or risk losing severance pay"
Then they should train their replacements - badly. They should leave out large chunks of absolutely vital information that their replacements need if they are to do the job.
Then they can spend their severance pay, secure in the knowledge that everyone has gotten exactly what they deserved.
"someone with a minute or two of access to a Diebold touch screen could load virtually any software into the machine and disable it, redistribute votes or alter its performance in myriad ways."
One could argue that it may have happened already...in 2004...in Ohio.
The most startling conclusion was that although the richest Americans were better off than the poorest Americans, they did no better (health-wise) than the poorest of the English.
Considering that the American media have spent the last 30 years belittling Britain's socialized health care program, this is good news indeed.
Apparently laughter really is the best medicine - particularly when it is the last laugh!
This problem won't be solved until Microsoft want to comply with the EC's ruling.
One way to insure this is to forbid the sale of Microsoft Windows in Europe until the EC certifies that Microsoft is in compliance with all EC rulings. The EC would have the documentation next week.
You could work on the patents and just not do a very good job. That could give us what we need most - a body of case law where the software patent holder lost.:+>
1) McCarthy was right - he did find a lot of communists,
No, Not really. He never even gave his list of "57 communists working in our government" to the FBI. Certainly, a few of the people he pursued were either communist or sympathizers - but he had to victimize 1000 innocent people for every "true commie" he chased.
What we do know is that he was a wholly unremarkable Senator who was facing poor polls less than two years before an election. Then suddenly he pulls a piece of paper out of his ass and claims that he has the name of 57 commies in our government and armed forces. But he would never show the list to anyone. This was enough to get him re-elected -- once.
He ruined thousands of lives, but he never convicted any communists.
2) What the hell is wrong with collecting documents and recordings of things that the profs themselves said?
When everything you say is scrutized, recorded, and checked for the slightest hint that you may be some evil lefty, people will be afraid to say anything other than what the political bosses consider appropriate. This is not free speech.
"A good way to get fired and perhaps arrested as well."
"Get arrested for gaining access to what you are already authorized?
Absolutely. And although the official reason would be "spoofing the security system" and the arrest would be for "possession and use of illegal access devices" the real reason would be what it always is: making your bosses look like idiots.
"Congress and the Senate might even use programs such as this to resolve conflicting bills."
Unless the robot lawyer/judge comes with a "Bribe" key, polititians and rich folks won't ever accept it. The very last thing they want is a system that decides issues based solely on their merits without regard to wealth or power.
It is hard to put one's finger on exactly what Whedon changed, but he changed the focus somehow so that we get a clearer image of the totally settled central worlds (Alliance) surrounded by the outer worlds and moons where the law isn't quite so respected and people build their lives using equipment that was probably salvaged from the central worlds' junkyards. But everyone is much more free.
All things considered, Whedon has very successfully recreated the American South and West during the post-Civil War reconstruction (for which this series is a space age allegory).
Although I was lukewarm on the series, I found it compelling. The movie - on the other hand - kicks ass!
Although the space elevator (or "beanstalk") would be a magnificent accomplishment, unfortunately it would be too big - too flashy - too much a symbol of the modern western technical world.
Overnight it would become the primary world terrorist target.
"The long-lived mice in the new experiments tend to be less fertile. And the gene may also predispose people to diabetes. The trick for researchers will be to find ways of getting the life-enhancing results of Klotho while avoiding the drawbacks"
I've had all the kids that I am going to have, and I already have diabetes. Just tell me how to stimulate the damned gene already!
The riots at the G8 previously were started by plainclothes officers.
I can't tell if you are joking or serious. But the fact that I am seriously considering both options shows just how much governments have lost my trust in the last 15 years.
________
"We don't have a credibility gap. You only have a credibility gap if you don't know if the goverment is lying. There isn't really any doubt here."
Since when are riots considered peaceable assembly?
They mostly start out peaceful - except, of course, for G8 protests - but rapidly escalate. A row of police standing between the protestors and their target becomes a noisy protest with much fist shaking and placard waving. Pushing and shoving from both sides occur as the protestors attempt to petition the government for a redress of grievances. Then something gets thrown or someone gets hit - not seriously, but enough to inflame passions. After that everything gets thrown and everyone gets hit.
I still remember Kent State. This will be used. Then it will be abused.
I did a quick check at the Patent [and Trademarks] Office http://www.uspto.gov/ for all trademarks containing the word "stealth". There are 201 "live" stealth trademarks, issued to people all over the world - but none listed for "stealth mall"
Does this guy really own anything but a bunch of really lame WordArt?
So we'll assume that the warrant is looking for evidence of unamerican activity. Fred's cache also contains a slashdot discussion wherein is used the tagline "If you can't say 'Fuck' then you can't say 'Fuck the Government'". They took this to be evidence of a festering subversive and have duly entered it into Fred's secret dossier. The kiddyporn, however, was found during the search and - thus - is still admissable.
At least the precedence of the law is on our side for holding people accountable for their possessions.
Quite so. And I agree - NO ONE accidently looks at 150 kiddy porn images in one night. But the question being raised is whether or not the images in question can truly be said to be under his control as defined by law. He didn't attempt to store the images for his later use.
The only reason they were still on his machine
was that he was too clueless to clear the cache - a trait that he shares in common with 90 percent of computer users.
I would hate to see this guy get off entirely, but if there is another - lesser - penalty for viewing/seeking out kiddy porn (but not keeping it), then it is possible that that is the more appropriate penalty.
Consider: A Hypothetical "Fred SundaySchoolTeacher" receives a dozen unsolicited emails to his yahoo account. He opens each email in turn to discover - to his disgust - that each one contains an image of a naked child engaged in sexual activity. He has been spammed by KiddyPornRUs.com who got his email address off of a church website.
Fred promptly deletes the emails and blocks the sender's email address. But that is not enough. That night his machine is mirrored by the Homeland Security Gestapo in Patriot Act Sneak-and-Peak acting on reports that he is a religious fanatic and possibly a terrorist. They don't find any evidence of terrorism, but in the course of their investigations they discover 12 Kiddy porn pics in his cache. They turn these over to state law enforcement authorities for further action.
Under the present interpretation of the law, Fred is in the pokey for 20 years.
It is important to note that this sunset provision excludes investigations that began before the expiration date. Those investigations may continue with the original PATRIOT Act's full powers."
Oh, Joy. This, of course, means that any time the FBI, Homeland Security, or some other State Security Police want to violate the hell out of our rights for the next twenty years, they will simply claim that the investigation started before December 31, 2005. Who can prove them wrong?
It may be too late for Lightning UK, but we need to develop strategies that will prevent the sourcecode of other great - but controversial - pieces of software from disappearing.
The issue is control. How can an author maintain control over their program if they release the sourcecode? On the other hand, how can they get the sourcecode out after they receive a C&D Nastygram?
What I propose is this: We all know that software can be released under multiple licenses (eg Proprietary and OpenSource) simultaneously. Suppose an Author releases his program under both licenses simultaneously - but only gives the opensource version to 2 or 3 trusted individuals (Who have agreed NOT to further distribute the program until the Author ceases development)?
In this way, the Author would retain his control, but when he quits developing the program for any reason, it would be free for others to develop.
This is somewhat akin to what the American press is fond of calling the "Nuclear Option", because forcing a developer to give up his program would become the very worst thing a media company could possibly do. In fact, I suspect that the simple announcement that a project is released under simultaneous Proprietary and Open Source (escrow) licenses would be enough to stop a media company dead in its tracks.
Even the dumbest hunting dog won't attack a skunk twice.
Slashdot Mirror
I refuse to believe that he knew Vader would be Luke's father (come on "from a certain point of view"?!.
I dunno about this one. I distinctly remember reading an article in Starlog or another similar Science-Fiction oriented magazine around 1979 (Between Star Wars and Empire) that said:
At the time, the comments supposedly came from someone close to the source who had seen Lucas's notes. They may have even mentioned the Luke-Leia sibling thing, but of that I am less certain.
"As the Mosquito emits a sound that's well out of his hearing range, he can't hear it, while most of the rest of the neighborhood is under 40 and can; at which point it's causing everyone a great deal of discomfort."
Perhaps the older folks are really unaware of how annoying the sound is. Construct a device that emits a similar noise, but at a lower frequency that everyone can hear - maybe 3000 hz to 5000 hz.
If you really want this to work, only turn it on when he turns his machine on - and KEEP YOUR BIG MOUTH SHUT! Then, either he will think his machine is no good and get rid of it -or- the entire neighborhood will go after HIM.
"MUCH easier to repair above-ground lines than below-ground lines"
Yes, but if the lines are underground, they do not need to be repaired nearly as often. All of the power lines in my 'burb are underground and they never seem to need repaired AND we never lose power.
"a moral duty to maximize proft for the owners of the corporation"
Gordon Gecko adds his contribution, I see.
"Every dollar paid to an employee is a dollar taken from the shareholders."
By that reasoning, if a corporation could get rid of all of its employees, then it would be truly profitable.
"If you imagine shareholders as widows and orphans it might temper your indignation"
Damn few widows and orphans are direct shareholders in major corporations. Most of them are too busy wondering where their next meal is coming from after being fired by corporate "greed-is-good" weasels.
"has asked its techies to train their Indian replacements or risk losing severance pay"
Then they should train their replacements - badly. They should leave out large chunks of absolutely vital information that their replacements need if they are to do the job.
Then they can spend their severance pay, secure in the knowledge that everyone has gotten exactly what they deserved.
One could argue that it may have happened already...in 2004...in Ohio.
Yeah, yeah, I know.... So it's a troll.
Considering that the American media have spent the last 30 years belittling Britain's socialized health care program, this is good news indeed.
Apparently laughter really is the best medicine - particularly when it is the last laugh!
One way to insure this is to forbid the sale of Microsoft Windows in Europe until the EC certifies that Microsoft is in compliance with all EC rulings. The EC would have the documentation next week.
You could work on the patents and just not do a very good job. That could give us what we need most - a body of case law where the software patent holder lost. :+>
No, Not really. He never even gave his list of "57 communists working in our government" to the FBI. Certainly, a few of the people he pursued were either communist or sympathizers - but he had to victimize 1000 innocent people for every "true commie" he chased.
What we do know is that he was a wholly unremarkable Senator who was facing poor polls less than two years before an election. Then suddenly he pulls a piece of paper out of his ass and claims that he has the name of 57 commies in our government and armed forces. But he would never show the list to anyone. This was enough to get him re-elected -- once.
He ruined thousands of lives, but he never convicted any communists.
2) What the hell is wrong with collecting documents and recordings of things that the profs themselves said?
When everything you say is scrutized, recorded, and checked for the slightest hint that you may be some evil lefty, people will be afraid to say anything other than what the political bosses consider appropriate. This is not free speech.
This guy is recruiting Brownshirts.
"Get arrested for gaining access to what you are already authorized?
Absolutely. And although the official reason would be "spoofing the security system" and the arrest would be for "possession and use of illegal access devices" the real reason would be what it always is: making your bosses look like idiots.
Unless the robot lawyer/judge comes with a "Bribe" key, polititians and rich folks won't ever accept it. The very last thing they want is a system that decides issues based solely on their merits without regard to wealth or power.
I have seen it. It is better.
It is hard to put one's finger on exactly what Whedon changed, but he changed the focus somehow so that we get a clearer image of the totally settled central worlds (Alliance) surrounded by the outer worlds and moons where the law isn't quite so respected and people build their lives using equipment that was probably salvaged from the central worlds' junkyards. But everyone is much more free.
All things considered, Whedon has very successfully recreated the American South and West during the post-Civil War reconstruction (for which this series is a space age allegory).
Although I was lukewarm on the series, I found it compelling. The movie - on the other hand - kicks ass!
Overnight it would become the primary world terrorist target.
I've had all the kids that I am going to have, and I already have diabetes. Just tell me how to stimulate the damned gene already!
"was found to have secretly run unproven genetic tests on workers suffering Carpal Tunnel Syndrome." LAWSUIT!!!!
Did you ever put tinfoil in the microwave?
I can't tell if you are joking or serious. But the fact that I am seriously considering both options shows just how much governments have lost my trust in the last 15 years.
________
"We don't have a credibility gap. You only have a credibility gap if you don't know if the goverment is lying. There isn't really any doubt here."
Pat Paulsen, former presidential candidate
They mostly start out peaceful - except, of course, for G8 protests - but rapidly escalate. A row of police standing between the protestors and their target becomes a noisy protest with much fist shaking and placard waving. Pushing and shoving from both sides occur as the protestors attempt to petition the government for a redress of grievances. Then something gets thrown or someone gets hit - not seriously, but enough to inflame passions. After that everything gets thrown and everyone gets hit.
I still remember Kent State. This will be used. Then it will be abused.
What's the number of the trademark? I tried the link, and it just gets me an expired session.
Does this guy really own anything but a bunch of really lame WordArt?
So we'll assume that the warrant is looking for evidence of unamerican activity. Fred's cache also contains a slashdot discussion wherein is used the tagline "If you can't say 'Fuck' then you can't say 'Fuck the Government'". They took this to be evidence of a festering subversive and have duly entered it into Fred's secret dossier. The kiddyporn, however, was found during the search and - thus - is still admissable.
Quite so. And I agree - NO ONE accidently looks at 150 kiddy porn images in one night. But the question being raised is whether or not the images in question can truly be said to be under his control as defined by law. He didn't attempt to store the images for his later use.
The only reason they were still on his machine was that he was too clueless to clear the cache - a trait that he shares in common with 90 percent of computer users.
I would hate to see this guy get off entirely, but if there is another - lesser - penalty for viewing/seeking out kiddy porn (but not keeping it), then it is possible that that is the more appropriate penalty.
Consider: A Hypothetical "Fred SundaySchoolTeacher" receives a dozen unsolicited emails to his yahoo account. He opens each email in turn to discover - to his disgust - that each one contains an image of a naked child engaged in sexual activity. He has been spammed by KiddyPornRUs.com who got his email address off of a church website.
Fred promptly deletes the emails and blocks the sender's email address. But that is not enough. That night his machine is mirrored by the Homeland Security Gestapo in Patriot Act Sneak-and-Peak acting on reports that he is a religious fanatic and possibly a terrorist. They don't find any evidence of terrorism, but in the course of their investigations they discover 12 Kiddy porn pics in his cache. They turn these over to state law enforcement authorities for further action.
Under the present interpretation of the law, Fred is in the pokey for 20 years.
But it ain't justice.
Oh, Joy. This, of course, means that any time the FBI, Homeland Security, or some other State Security Police want to violate the hell out of our rights for the next twenty years, they will simply claim that the investigation started before December 31, 2005. Who can prove them wrong?
The issue is control. How can an author maintain control over their program if they release the sourcecode? On the other hand, how can they get the sourcecode out after they receive a C&D Nastygram?
What I propose is this: We all know that software can be released under multiple licenses (eg Proprietary and OpenSource) simultaneously. Suppose an Author releases his program under both licenses simultaneously - but only gives the opensource version to 2 or 3 trusted individuals (Who have agreed NOT to further distribute the program until the Author ceases development)?
In this way, the Author would retain his control, but when he quits developing the program for any reason, it would be free for others to develop.
This is somewhat akin to what the American press is fond of calling the "Nuclear Option", because forcing a developer to give up his program would become the very worst thing a media company could possibly do. In fact, I suspect that the simple announcement that a project is released under simultaneous Proprietary and Open Source (escrow) licenses would be enough to stop a media company dead in its tracks.
Even the dumbest hunting dog won't attack a skunk twice.