I have made CapsLock difficult but not impossible to use on all my keyboards. I just pop the key off, wrap a dental rubber band around the base of the key, and put the key back on. It then takes a significant amount of pressure to activate it so it almost never happens accidentally, but it's still thee when necessary. On this particular keyboard, I practically have to stand on CapsLock to toggle it, but I use it so infrequently that I've never bothered to swap the rubber band out for a shorter one.
I had one of those rubber-chiclet-keyboard Aquarius machines, as well as many add-ons. The expansion was not as bad as the "sidecar" models (PCjr and 99/4A), but it was still cartridge-based. This was fine if you only wanted one cartridge -- say, the 16k memory expansion -- but if you wanted more you needed an even bigger cartridge that allowed you to plug two cartridges into it (vertically). Ugly, ugly, ugly. The spreadsheet software came on a cartridge, so if you wanted to run that and have a reasonable amount of RAM (if you can call 20k reasonable), you HAD to use the expansion unit. This also is where you connected the Intellivision-style game controllers.
The printer was thermal and 40 columns, and it printed only in BLUE. Not black, blue. This made it absolutely useless for classwork.
I learned the rudiments of BASIC on this machine, and wrote a text-mode baseball game, but that's about all it was good for.
It is best to explore and deliberately push the boundaries of these craft. You never know when they might be required urgently for something like the Air France Flight 447 black box search, and it is best to break them when there is time to fix them, rather than when they just have to work.
For the "fine" motions, such as imparting "spin" to the tennis ball or trying to make a putt, the controller is Simply. Not. Sensitive. Enough.
The controller is not incredibly precise, but this does not have to be a huge hurdle in a game. The golf game in Wii Sports may not be very good for putting, but compare and contrast with Tiger Woods '08 (not '07 which is known to be flawed, and '09 which "fixed" something that was not broken), where putting is not hard to control at all. It has some issues getting the 3/4 swing to register properly, and there is a massive rendering error on the second hole of East Lake, but putting works quite well.
Most of the shortcomings of the Wii hardware can be overcome in software. That doesn't mean a controller upgrade would be a bad thing, but it does mean the existing hardware can often be used better than it currently is.
I have every keyboard (that I do not have to share) converted to Dvorak. Even the netbook is re-labeled. If keys cannot be moved (though I specifically buy keyboards where they can), a laser printer, some Avery labels, and some packing tape (as lamination) goes a long way.
On top of that, some times I have the mouse on the left side of the keyboard, and other times do not. It all depends which arm or shoulder is giving me trouble. If they're both OK, I usually leave the mouse on the right, but not always. I tend to use way too much internal tension left-handed, since that side is a little bit more "twitchy" than the right.
None of this is to inconvenience others, and I do not change other people's keyboard layouts when I have to use their machines (though I might switch the mouse). If they can't use my machine, that's just a side effect.
No problem, feel free to buy one and use it to the fullest, with the blessings of the rest of us. It's the high-end buyers and early adopters that subsidize the rest of us. Without them, there would be no sub-$100 cards that were worth a damn. They spend way too much for what they get, but the rest of us win.
I had a good friend who came from Iran. We took a trip to Mexico, and everywhere we went, people stared because he looked a whole lot like then-president Carlos Salinas. When we went to the jai alai games, people STOOD UP in nearby areas until they realized it was just a guy who LOOKED like their president.
So yes, I'd say there can sometimes be difficulty telling where a person came from. He was (and presumably still is) Iranian, and even Mexicans thought he was Mexican.
I was trying to say the Huffington Post was actually showing a shred of journalistic integrity by explicitly saying "this is not our opinion, it's Sony's". Whether you wish to dismiss the report as a consequence is up to you. I'm saying there is no point in complaining -- you have all the information you need to make an informed judgement.
I have no problem with any source publishing the views of Sony, as long as they are properly attributed. This appears to be the case. What is the problem?
Similarly, if you're in a band and need power, bring a power strip. It may turn out to be unnecessary, but life is really going to suck if EVERYONE left theirs at home. If you use several of those plugs, make sure the strip has a couple extra. If you use wallwarts, consider an extension cord (where you can splay the wallwarts out in every direction) in addition to the power strip.
Frankly, the powers-that-be, who also decide how much gets spent on what kind of public education, don't particularly WANT the general public to be technically proficient in a general sense. Obviously specialists have to be good at their specialty, but beyond that there is little incentive to broaden scientific education.
If you know how to make fireworks without killing yourself, there's a significant chance you might do so. It's much easier to deal with the threat of pipe bombs if the number of people who know how to make them properly is kept to a minimum -- and those who do it on the sly are risking life and limb to do so. It blows up a few, but it dissuades many more.
Similarly, if you're afraid to mix chemicals for fear of what they might do, you're not going to be cooking up bathtub napalm. It's wise to remind people not to mix chlorine bleach with ammonia, but even then it's done in a way that implies it's not the only dangerous combination out there. Admittedly it ISN'T the only one, but the public perception is that you just don't mix cleaning chemicals. So much the better for the interests that don't want private individuals mixing their own brews AT ALL.
It's not to keep the number of knowledgeable people to zero -- we obviously need some to do the legitimate dirty work. Some of them take up "side jobs". But it's easier to find them if there are 30,000 possible (registered) suspects than it is if there are 300,000,000 (unregistered) people who might know how to do it.
I'm one of those who absolutely needs the VGA out on my Aspire One. I didn't think I needed it when I bought it, but I'm using it much more like a full-size notebook than I expected. It drove my (sadly broken) 20" 1600x1200 monitor without a hiccup, as well as the 23" widescreen (2048x1152) I replaced it with. It will do this in addition to running the built-in screen, which can be useful despite the vastly different pixel density. With a screen this large though, it's really not necessary. I will generally switch it to monitor-only, close the clamshell, and plug in a keyboard. It's really easy to forget it's an Atom-based netbook that cost $300, rather than an aging desktop. It seems like Acer skimped on the display and the trackpad, both of which are irrelevant at that point.
The display is dense, but it is still only 1024x600 and 16-bit color. Fortunately it still packs enough graphics muscle to accommodate a screen nearly four times the size (and 24-bit color). The keyboard is about as good as it could be for its size and does not feel cheap at all, so hooking up an external is not really necessary. The logical key layout was a considerable factor in my selection -- Ctrl and the arrow keys are where they should be, and the Shift keys are not compromised. Still, it's impossible to forget it's a netbook when using the keyboard.
In short, it's easy to forget the core is a netbook once all of the human I/O devices are replaced. To that end, a VGA out is necessary.:)
They tend to design things to outlast the competition. I don't know about that. 3 totally different forms of government in one century. They weren't designed to last.
Perhaps this has more to do with the state of social engineering than of mechanical engineering.
Their purpose is also to keep people from loitering needlessly (or worse) in the bathroom when others might need the facilities, and to call for cleanup when necessary. I typically see bathroom attendants in only two environments -- nightclubs and other entertainment venues, and convention facilities (including hotels with ballrooms).
At entertainment venues, most of them have items for sale, like gum, breath mints, hair spray, combs, condoms, aspirin, earplugs, and the like. Handing you a towel is a way to break the ice and hope you look at what they're offering rather than a direct solicitation of a tip. I'm sure they make good money off people passing through thinking "I wish I'd brought earplugs", or looking in the mirror and thinking "my hair got messed up, I should fix that". A lot of people are willing and able to pay a convenience fee when they fork out $2 for a 25 cent item they could have brought themselves (but didn't). In this manner the attendants are providing an optional service -- some find it valuable but if you do not, you are in no way obligated to pay.
In truly high-end places, where the attendants are regular employees, they hand you the towels so you don't mess up the tidy little stack they have to keep. Calling for immediate cleanup of "accidents" is also high on their job priority list, as is dissuading people from fucking in the stalls.
The reason I had the fees double was simple -- it's totally predictable, and will eventually lead to anything and everything getting released. I was thinking the fees would be more akin to voluntary taxes, rather than compensation. What you are proposing is to essentially hold a silent auction for the copyright every renewal. This is not a bad idea, but it does come with a lot of overhead, especially when the bids of thousands or millions of people must be consolidated. This would be a cost to the agency handling these bids, and the system could easily fall apart from underfunding. Even $100 should cover the cost of a file clerk reading a notarized request for renewal, entering it into a database, and mailing a renewal certificate back. Subsequent renewals would start to generate revenue.
At the same time, the doubling fees start low so the small business or individual does not get excessively squeezed. If the cost of maintaining control is $100, or $200, or $400, and there is some hope that the work might generate sufficient income to justify the cost, I would imagine that bands, authors, and the like would do it. If they haven't made $700 off the work in the first 25 years, they can opt to let it go rather than paying the $800 fee for years 25-30. If it's still bringing in a small but steady stream of revenue, they'll renew.
All copyrights should eventually end. In your silent auction system, this is not assured to take place (though more provisions could be added). In a system where the cost of renewal increases geometrically, nothing remains sacred forever.
I bought a Radeon HD 3850 and a 10 foot dual-link DVI cable, and it turns out THE PROBLEM WAS THE ORIGINAL CABLE -- one of the pins was pressed back into the connector. The GeForce 6200 actually DOES have dual-link DVI (though just one of them) and it was not necessary to replace the video card. However, the video upgrade has seriously improved the stuttering problems I was having with Milkdrop, so it's a keeper anyhow. I needed an AGP card for another build so I'll put the 6200 in there.
I just wanted to clear this up for anyone who might have gotten the idea the 6200 was somehow incapable. It was underpowered, but that's a completely different problem.:)
Here's my copyright reform idea, for balancing the needs of creators with the rights of the public:
Copyright terms are ten years, repeatedly renewable for five years. The initial term is free and does not require registration with the copyright office. The fee for renewal will be minimal at first (perhaps $100), but will double at each renewal.
Basically it then becomes an economic decision whether or not it is worth it to keep renewing. If you didn't sell $100 worth in the first ten years, it's probably not worth it to renew. If you didn't make $400 between years 15 and 20, it's probably not worth it to renew for years 20-25. You can if you want to, you have every right to run a loss, but at some point, even Disney has to answer to the stockholders. Would they agree with a decision to renew a copyright on Steamboat Willie if it costs $25,600 for years 50 to 55? Probably. What about when it costs $16,384,000 for years 80 to 85? That would have to be seriously considered by management. Eventually all the money on the planet won't pay for a renewal.
If you think $100 for the first renewal is too onerous, make it $50 or $25. That will only delay the expiration of Steamboat Willie by two more doublings, or ten years, and that may be a reasonable price to pay to keep the little guy from getting squeezed. 95 years of protection is excessive (even at a cost of $16 million), but it should only happen in edge cases. The vast majority of material would simply not be worth covering that long.
Only one renewal can be pending for a single work or item at any given time, but there is no other restriction on when a renewal request can be made. Renewal requests for multiple items can be batched to keep paperwork to a minimum, though a separate fee applies to each request. A renewal is good for five years from the end of the current term, regardless of when the request is made.
There is no penalty for filing as early as possible. It is in the public's best interest to know whether or not copyright will be renewed, so penalizing early notice would be counterproductive. If someone wants to pony up $100 for years 11-15 the day they create something, they would have the right to do so, and we'd all be able to determine the copyright status that much sooner. They would NOT be able to buy years 16-20 until the beginning of year 11, however.
One of the original creator(s) may request a renewal whether work or item is still available or not, so long as they remain a copyright holder.
You can sit on your own work as long as you like, if you're willing to pay. The creator(s) must be declared when the work is registered, or at first renewal if it was not initially registered, and a reasonable maximum number of creators does need to be established and defined. I'm thinking three, but it's certainly a debatable point.
Otherwise, the item copyrighted must be published, sold, available for viewing, or otherwise not an abandoned work at the time of renewal.
This keeps things from getting locked up forever, so long as there is at least one surviving copy that is not under the direct control of the copyright holder. (If the copyright holder had all the copies, they could claim trade secrets protection anyhow.)
Re-workings, re-masterings, and the like are grounds for fresh copyright protection. However, if an older version is no longer under protection and infringement is claimed, the burden is on the claimant to demonstrate that the infringing material came from the new version and not one for which it has lapsed.
This means old copies can eventually be legally ripped, re-mastered, remixed, and redistributed by the public, even if Disney released a remastered "Steamboat Willie 2K9" of their own to avoid the ever-doubling renewal costs. If they wanted to make a stink about someone distributing it, it would be Disney's responsibility to show that the claimed infringing copy comes from the 2009 release, and not the original copyright
I bought the GeForce 6200 in August of 2008, so I'd have to say yes, there are still cards out there with single-link DVI. It was not something I was worried about at the time as I never expected I'd trash my 20" monitor (1600x1200 works on a single link) and be unable to afford an exact replacement.
Imagine the electricity that could be saved using these to automatically FIRST POST to every story... we could have races with no actual humans involved! Of course they'd be off-topic but who would notice the difference.
If it makes stupid memes a little bit greener, I'm all for it.
This setup is performing adequately with a 6 foot extension, so I'm not saying analog is intolerable. I just see the pulsing of waves in what should be pure black, and just enough horizontal smearing to annoy me. It's good enough that I'd rather run analog at native resolution than DVI at non-native resolution. Still, $99 for a recent Radeon, plus the cost of a new extension cable (or just one long one, no daisy-chain), is not at all unreasonable and leaves open the option of a second 23" Samsung 2343BWX. At less than $200 refurbished, it's a hell of a lot of monitor for the money.
I don't really care if it improves on the GPU speed, I just need dual-link DVI to properly drive a resolution of 2048x1152. Analog is annoying, though surprisingly adequate given the six foot extension cable in the signal path. It's slightly worse than it was without the extension, but it was worth it to exile the computer to another room (and keep all the goodies in here).
Whether a card's DVI links are single or double is something that generally is omitted from reviews, much to my consternation.
This makes me wonder -- is the data truly lost, or is there just a copy of it floating around in locations unknown? If that drive was used to back up something else, it probably isn't the only copy they have left, thus no data was lost. Inappropriately shared, certainly, but not lost. There appear to be files of a sensitive nature that shouldn't be out in the wild, but this is not losing data, rather it is losing control over the distribution of data.
Slashdot Mirror
I have made CapsLock difficult but not impossible to use on all my keyboards. I just pop the key off, wrap a dental rubber band around the base of the key, and put the key back on. It then takes a significant amount of pressure to activate it so it almost never happens accidentally, but it's still thee when necessary. On this particular keyboard, I practically have to stand on CapsLock to toggle it, but I use it so infrequently that I've never bothered to swap the rubber band out for a shorter one.
Mal-2
I had one of those rubber-chiclet-keyboard Aquarius machines, as well as many add-ons. The expansion was not as bad as the "sidecar" models (PCjr and 99/4A), but it was still cartridge-based. This was fine if you only wanted one cartridge -- say, the 16k memory expansion -- but if you wanted more you needed an even bigger cartridge that allowed you to plug two cartridges into it (vertically). Ugly, ugly, ugly. The spreadsheet software came on a cartridge, so if you wanted to run that and have a reasonable amount of RAM (if you can call 20k reasonable), you HAD to use the expansion unit. This also is where you connected the Intellivision-style game controllers.
The printer was thermal and 40 columns, and it printed only in BLUE. Not black, blue. This made it absolutely useless for classwork.
I learned the rudiments of BASIC on this machine, and wrote a text-mode baseball game, but that's about all it was good for.
Mal-2
How about some ocean bottom Extreme Ironing?
Mal-2
It is best to explore and deliberately push the boundaries of these craft. You never know when they might be required urgently for something like the Air France Flight 447 black box search, and it is best to break them when there is time to fix them, rather than when they just have to work.
Mal-2
The controller is not incredibly precise, but this does not have to be a huge hurdle in a game. The golf game in Wii Sports may not be very good for putting, but compare and contrast with Tiger Woods '08 (not '07 which is known to be flawed, and '09 which "fixed" something that was not broken), where putting is not hard to control at all. It has some issues getting the 3/4 swing to register properly, and there is a massive rendering error on the second hole of East Lake, but putting works quite well.
Most of the shortcomings of the Wii hardware can be overcome in software. That doesn't mean a controller upgrade would be a bad thing, but it does mean the existing hardware can often be used better than it currently is.
Mal-2
The gods are pissed off and now someone must pay!
Oedipus Tex could use a pair of these... you may have heard of his brother Rex.
Mal-2
I have every keyboard (that I do not have to share) converted to Dvorak. Even the netbook is re-labeled. If keys cannot be moved (though I specifically buy keyboards where they can), a laser printer, some Avery labels, and some packing tape (as lamination) goes a long way.
On top of that, some times I have the mouse on the left side of the keyboard, and other times do not. It all depends which arm or shoulder is giving me trouble. If they're both OK, I usually leave the mouse on the right, but not always. I tend to use way too much internal tension left-handed, since that side is a little bit more "twitchy" than the right.
None of this is to inconvenience others, and I do not change other people's keyboard layouts when I have to use their machines (though I might switch the mouse). If they can't use my machine, that's just a side effect.
Mal-2
No problem, feel free to buy one and use it to the fullest, with the blessings of the rest of us. It's the high-end buyers and early adopters that subsidize the rest of us. Without them, there would be no sub-$100 cards that were worth a damn. They spend way too much for what they get, but the rest of us win.
Mal-2
I had a good friend who came from Iran. We took a trip to Mexico, and everywhere we went, people stared because he looked a whole lot like then-president Carlos Salinas. When we went to the jai alai games, people STOOD UP in nearby areas until they realized it was just a guy who LOOKED like their president.
So yes, I'd say there can sometimes be difficulty telling where a person came from. He was (and presumably still is) Iranian, and even Mexicans thought he was Mexican.
Mal-2
I was trying to say the Huffington Post was actually showing a shred of journalistic integrity by explicitly saying "this is not our opinion, it's Sony's". Whether you wish to dismiss the report as a consequence is up to you. I'm saying there is no point in complaining -- you have all the information you need to make an informed judgement.
Mal-2
I have no problem with any source publishing the views of Sony, as long as they are properly attributed. This appears to be the case. What is the problem?
Mal-2
Similarly, if you're in a band and need power, bring a power strip. It may turn out to be unnecessary, but life is really going to suck if EVERYONE left theirs at home. If you use several of those plugs, make sure the strip has a couple extra. If you use wallwarts, consider an extension cord (where you can splay the wallwarts out in every direction) in addition to the power strip.
Mal-2
Frankly, the powers-that-be, who also decide how much gets spent on what kind of public education, don't particularly WANT the general public to be technically proficient in a general sense. Obviously specialists have to be good at their specialty, but beyond that there is little incentive to broaden scientific education.
If you know how to make fireworks without killing yourself, there's a significant chance you might do so. It's much easier to deal with the threat of pipe bombs if the number of people who know how to make them properly is kept to a minimum -- and those who do it on the sly are risking life and limb to do so. It blows up a few, but it dissuades many more.
Similarly, if you're afraid to mix chemicals for fear of what they might do, you're not going to be cooking up bathtub napalm. It's wise to remind people not to mix chlorine bleach with ammonia, but even then it's done in a way that implies it's not the only dangerous combination out there. Admittedly it ISN'T the only one, but the public perception is that you just don't mix cleaning chemicals. So much the better for the interests that don't want private individuals mixing their own brews AT ALL.
It's not to keep the number of knowledgeable people to zero -- we obviously need some to do the legitimate dirty work. Some of them take up "side jobs". But it's easier to find them if there are 30,000 possible (registered) suspects than it is if there are 300,000,000 (unregistered) people who might know how to do it.
Mal-2
I'm one of those who absolutely needs the VGA out on my Aspire One. I didn't think I needed it when I bought it, but I'm using it much more like a full-size notebook than I expected. It drove my (sadly broken) 20" 1600x1200 monitor without a hiccup, as well as the 23" widescreen (2048x1152) I replaced it with. It will do this in addition to running the built-in screen, which can be useful despite the vastly different pixel density. With a screen this large though, it's really not necessary. I will generally switch it to monitor-only, close the clamshell, and plug in a keyboard. It's really easy to forget it's an Atom-based netbook that cost $300, rather than an aging desktop. It seems like Acer skimped on the display and the trackpad, both of which are irrelevant at that point.
The display is dense, but it is still only 1024x600 and 16-bit color. Fortunately it still packs enough graphics muscle to accommodate a screen nearly four times the size (and 24-bit color). The keyboard is about as good as it could be for its size and does not feel cheap at all, so hooking up an external is not really necessary. The logical key layout was a considerable factor in my selection -- Ctrl and the arrow keys are where they should be, and the Shift keys are not compromised. Still, it's impossible to forget it's a netbook when using the keyboard.
In short, it's easy to forget the core is a netbook once all of the human I/O devices are replaced. To that end, a VGA out is necessary. :)
They tend to design things to outlast the competition.
I don't know about that. 3 totally different forms of government in one century. They weren't designed to last.
Perhaps this has more to do with the state of social engineering than of mechanical engineering.
Mal-2
Their purpose is also to keep people from loitering needlessly (or worse) in the bathroom when others might need the facilities, and to call for cleanup when necessary. I typically see bathroom attendants in only two environments -- nightclubs and other entertainment venues, and convention facilities (including hotels with ballrooms).
At entertainment venues, most of them have items for sale, like gum, breath mints, hair spray, combs, condoms, aspirin, earplugs, and the like. Handing you a towel is a way to break the ice and hope you look at what they're offering rather than a direct solicitation of a tip. I'm sure they make good money off people passing through thinking "I wish I'd brought earplugs", or looking in the mirror and thinking "my hair got messed up, I should fix that". A lot of people are willing and able to pay a convenience fee when they fork out $2 for a 25 cent item they could have brought themselves (but didn't). In this manner the attendants are providing an optional service -- some find it valuable but if you do not, you are in no way obligated to pay.
In truly high-end places, where the attendants are regular employees, they hand you the towels so you don't mess up the tidy little stack they have to keep. Calling for immediate cleanup of "accidents" is also high on their job priority list, as is dissuading people from fucking in the stalls.
Mal-2
The reason I had the fees double was simple -- it's totally predictable, and will eventually lead to anything and everything getting released. I was thinking the fees would be more akin to voluntary taxes, rather than compensation. What you are proposing is to essentially hold a silent auction for the copyright every renewal. This is not a bad idea, but it does come with a lot of overhead, especially when the bids of thousands or millions of people must be consolidated. This would be a cost to the agency handling these bids, and the system could easily fall apart from underfunding. Even $100 should cover the cost of a file clerk reading a notarized request for renewal, entering it into a database, and mailing a renewal certificate back. Subsequent renewals would start to generate revenue.
At the same time, the doubling fees start low so the small business or individual does not get excessively squeezed. If the cost of maintaining control is $100, or $200, or $400, and there is some hope that the work might generate sufficient income to justify the cost, I would imagine that bands, authors, and the like would do it. If they haven't made $700 off the work in the first 25 years, they can opt to let it go rather than paying the $800 fee for years 25-30. If it's still bringing in a small but steady stream of revenue, they'll renew.
All copyrights should eventually end. In your silent auction system, this is not assured to take place (though more provisions could be added). In a system where the cost of renewal increases geometrically, nothing remains sacred forever.
Mal-2
I bought a Radeon HD 3850 and a 10 foot dual-link DVI cable, and it turns out THE PROBLEM WAS THE ORIGINAL CABLE -- one of the pins was pressed back into the connector. The GeForce 6200 actually DOES have dual-link DVI (though just one of them) and it was not necessary to replace the video card. However, the video upgrade has seriously improved the stuttering problems I was having with Milkdrop, so it's a keeper anyhow. I needed an AGP card for another build so I'll put the 6200 in there.
I just wanted to clear this up for anyone who might have gotten the idea the 6200 was somehow incapable. It was underpowered, but that's a completely different problem. :)
Mal-2
Here's my copyright reform idea, for balancing the needs of creators with the rights of the public:
Copyright terms are ten years, repeatedly renewable for five years.
The initial term is free and does not require registration with the copyright office.
The fee for renewal will be minimal at first (perhaps $100), but will double at each renewal.
Basically it then becomes an economic decision whether or not it is worth it to keep renewing. If you didn't sell $100 worth in the first ten years, it's probably not worth it to renew. If you didn't make $400 between years 15 and 20, it's probably not worth it to renew for years 20-25. You can if you want to, you have every right to run a loss, but at some point, even Disney has to answer to the stockholders. Would they agree with a decision to renew a copyright on Steamboat Willie if it costs $25,600 for years 50 to 55? Probably. What about when it costs $16,384,000 for years 80 to 85? That would have to be seriously considered by management. Eventually all the money on the planet won't pay for a renewal.
If you think $100 for the first renewal is too onerous, make it $50 or $25. That will only delay the expiration of Steamboat Willie by two more doublings, or ten years, and that may be a reasonable price to pay to keep the little guy from getting squeezed. 95 years of protection is excessive (even at a cost of $16 million), but it should only happen in edge cases. The vast majority of material would simply not be worth covering that long.
Only one renewal can be pending for a single work or item at any given time, but there is no other restriction on when a renewal request can be made. Renewal requests for multiple items can be batched to keep paperwork to a minimum, though a separate fee applies to each request. A renewal is good for five years from the end of the current term, regardless of when the request is made.
There is no penalty for filing as early as possible. It is in the public's best interest to know whether or not copyright will be renewed, so penalizing early notice would be counterproductive. If someone wants to pony up $100 for years 11-15 the day they create something, they would have the right to do so, and we'd all be able to determine the copyright status that much sooner. They would NOT be able to buy years 16-20 until the beginning of year 11, however.
One of the original creator(s) may request a renewal whether work or item is still available or not, so long as they remain a copyright holder.
You can sit on your own work as long as you like, if you're willing to pay. The creator(s) must be declared when the work is registered, or at first renewal if it was not initially registered, and a reasonable maximum number of creators does need to be established and defined. I'm thinking three, but it's certainly a debatable point.
Otherwise, the item copyrighted must be published, sold, available for viewing, or otherwise not an abandoned work at the time of renewal.
This keeps things from getting locked up forever, so long as there is at least one surviving copy that is not under the direct control of the copyright holder. (If the copyright holder had all the copies, they could claim trade secrets protection anyhow.)
Re-workings, re-masterings, and the like are grounds for fresh copyright protection. However, if an older version is no longer under protection and infringement is claimed, the burden is on the claimant to demonstrate that the infringing material came from the new version and not one for which it has lapsed.
This means old copies can eventually be legally ripped, re-mastered, remixed, and redistributed by the public, even if Disney released a remastered "Steamboat Willie 2K9" of their own to avoid the ever-doubling renewal costs. If they wanted to make a stink about someone distributing it, it would be Disney's responsibility to show that the claimed infringing copy comes from the 2009 release, and not the original copyright
I bought the GeForce 6200 in August of 2008, so I'd have to say yes, there are still cards out there with single-link DVI. It was not something I was worried about at the time as I never expected I'd trash my 20" monitor (1600x1200 works on a single link) and be unable to afford an exact replacement.
Mal-2
Imagine the electricity that could be saved using these to automatically FIRST POST to every story... we could have races with no actual humans involved! Of course they'd be off-topic but who would notice the difference.
If it makes stupid memes a little bit greener, I'm all for it.
FIRST POST! Frosty piss too.
Mal-2
This setup is performing adequately with a 6 foot extension, so I'm not saying analog is intolerable. I just see the pulsing of waves in what should be pure black, and just enough horizontal smearing to annoy me. It's good enough that I'd rather run analog at native resolution than DVI at non-native resolution. Still, $99 for a recent Radeon, plus the cost of a new extension cable (or just one long one, no daisy-chain), is not at all unreasonable and leaves open the option of a second 23" Samsung 2343BWX. At less than $200 refurbished, it's a hell of a lot of monitor for the money.
Mal-2
Thank you, that was exceptionally helpful, especially as your links clearly state dual-link DVI.
Mal-2
I don't really care if it improves on the GPU speed, I just need dual-link DVI to properly drive a resolution of 2048x1152. Analog is annoying, though surprisingly adequate given the six foot extension cable in the signal path. It's slightly worse than it was without the extension, but it was worth it to exile the computer to another room (and keep all the goodies in here).
Whether a card's DVI links are single or double is something that generally is omitted from reviews, much to my consternation.
Mal-2
This makes me wonder -- is the data truly lost, or is there just a copy of it floating around in locations unknown? If that drive was used to back up something else, it probably isn't the only copy they have left, thus no data was lost. Inappropriately shared, certainly, but not lost. There appear to be files of a sensitive nature that shouldn't be out in the wild, but this is not losing data, rather it is losing control over the distribution of data.
Mal-2