Now, two boys have been found trying to hide the nearest galaxy by rubbing linseed oil into it. Now, some of you may feel that the nearest galaxy does not play an important part in the life of our own galaxy, but I would remind you that it was presented to us by the Corporation of the Andromeda Galaxy to commemorate Empire Day, when we try to remember the names of all those from the Andromeda Galaxy area who so gallantly gave their lives to keep China British. So, from now on, the nearest galaxy is strictly out of bounds! Oh, and Jenkins, apparently your mother died this morning.
However, research published in the journal Education 3 to 13 has found that pupils who use interactive programs cannot remember stories they have just read because they are distracted by cartoons and sound effects.
Perhaps that would explain all the dupes on slashdot. The editors are too busy looking at the shiny icons and banner ads, so they can't remember the stories they have just read.
OK... I gotta ask Do you think that the patent system is *not* so broken as to be obvious?
Do you think that the patent system is still achieving the goal set out for it in 1790?
or...
Do you think in order to point out that it broken or to propose a fix one must have an education in patent law?
Well, I would say that you do not need to have an education in patent law to understand that it is broken, but I would say that you at least need to have an in-depth understanding of both patent law and the patent examination process to be able to understand exactly what is wrong with the patent system. I've seen stupid slashbots quoting the title of the patent and chortling something along the lines of "see, patents suck!" without understanding at all what kind of protection is being granted to the patentee. The overall protection could simply be a small but non-obvious modification to a well-known system that makes it work a little better or do something different. The area of protection the patentee gets is small, but the patentee still winds up with an issued patent.
To give you what I think is an appropriate analogy: You don't need to have a detailed understanding of your automobile to realize that it is not working properly. That putterring or grinding or outright smoking is enough to show anyone with a little sense that something is wrong. However, to fix the automobile, you do need to have a detailed understanding of how an automobile works. You don't need to have gone to a specific technical training school to know how to fix it, but the detailed knowledge is still required.
or...
Are you complaining that when it comes to patent discussion the comments here on slashdot are even more uninformed, disingenuous, and sophomorically falsely cynical than they normal are. I have to admit this is something I find hard to believe.
Well, you may have a point there. But, at least with computer stuff, a lot of slashbots have some idea of what they are talking about. So long as you don't praise Microsoft (which I normally don't) or show any disrespect to Open Source Software (which I sometimes do), no one will mod you into oblivion.
And...
Why the attack on Zonk? We all know that while these guys are called "editors" what they are doing bears little resemblance to what most people mean by the word edit... they more are like gatekeepers who cut-n-paste...it even says so in the faq.
Oh, I was just being an ass. Zonk posted the article, so I thought I'd chide
him. That admittedly was rather childish on my part.
Ah yes, another stupid slashdot article about patents featuring an assload of imbecilic comments by a bunch of idiotic, midless slashbots who know as much about patents and patent law as a tea leaf knows about the history of the East India Company.
You know what this means, don't you? It means that university engineering schools are simply pirate training academies. All those universities are getting rich off of training pirates! I mean, it's not like engineers produce anything! Was Britney Spears an engineer? Was Ben Afleck? No, of course not! Then why do these "universities" think that they are training anyone of any worth? All they are doing is producing pirates who are destroying the financial standing of the RIAA and MPAA, whose products are as important as the air we breathe and the food we eat. Remember, when you rip a CD or DVD, you are aiding the terrorists and killing small adorable puppies.
Now, a university policy stating that all female students have to provide nude photos on demand would not be legal, even if it were in the university policy guide, since such a requirement would be against the law.
They sure can, if it's a private institution. Sex/race discrimination laws don't apply there. Case in point: the boy scouts won the case to fire gay scoutmasters.
I was thinking more in terms of forced prostitution, rather than discrimination. Forcing someone (male or female) to provide nude photos on demand would be akin to forced prostitution, which would certainly be illegal.
The college can hide a line in it's policy guide (who actually reads the whole thing) stating that all female students have to provide nude photos on demand. And it'd be perfectly legal.
(Obligatory IANALawyer) With the case of the blogger, I think it depends on what the university's actual rules and policies are. They cannot simply decide to throw someone out because he writes something they disagree with. If nothing else, it would be a breach of contract since he has essentially contracted to be able to attend the university and get an education, along with any degree he may earn, subject to the school provisions set forth. Otherwise, the school could simply decide not to give some random person a degree the day before graduation just because they don't feel like it. If, on the other hand, there was a specific university policy with regard to blogging that he broke, and that would be legal to have as a policy, then they can expel him or place him on probation.
Now, a university policy stating that all female students have to provide nude photos on demand would not be legal, even if it were in the university policy guide, since such a requirement would be against the law. Contracts and company/university policies do not override the law, despite what they will try to have you believe.
They'll charge you whatever they want, they'll penalize you whetever they want if you're late, and in my state they can just go in without prior notice and take it out of your bank account. I think those DMV people must assume that the unwashed hordes that they see their building every day is representative of the public at large (it's frightening to visit that place isn't it?), or maybe they just see us as one big bank account that can always be tapped for a little more.
Since most of the DMV worker are a part of the unwashed horde, I think they just see us as one big bank account. The individual workers themselves probably get their jollies off of screwing with people's lives.
BTW, can they really access your bank account like that? I would have my doubts about it since I think under federal laws (which supercede state laws) they would need a court order (IANALawyer). If it is true, what state do you live in (so I can avoid it)?
Hmm... That's a very good point. I hadn't thought of it that way. I would think with advancing computer technology both Windows and Linux would have room for improvement, but we seem to be reaching a point of diminishing returns with that. If all you do is word processing, making presentation slides, and watching videos, how fast of a computer and how complicated of an operating system do you really need? We seem to have about peaked at that. I know other people do much more complicated things, like computational methods and parallel processing, but that is more about hardware than software (at least in terms of underlying support). Computational stuff is usually run on the command line anyway, just to keep the OS overhead to a minimum.
Um, Microsoft Windows is not for free. Linux is. Therefore, Microsoft needs to have operating system software that is a lot *better* than Linux. Otherwise, people will not see any reason to pay money for an operating system that is not any better than the free operating system. It's a rather simple concept, really. Take water as another example. Water from your tap is incredibly cheap. Perrier is not. Perrier still makes a good profit. Figure it out...
Well, that's the point. Blogs cover many different types of subjects. But the BBC apparently prefers to ask Chinese bloggers about censorship instead of the subjects of their blogs, such as (for example) the rapid industrialization in China, which affects people's everyday lives, or about Chinese historical and cultural preservation, which is of intense interest to certain segments of the population. In other words, the BBC only seems to care about one specific political football rather than about China itself.
Seriously though, the BBC is a major news site. Censorship in China is a major issue. What other issue measures equal in magnitude to prompt the BBC to interview a Chinese blogger?
Let's see... industrial pollution, government corruption (which Chinese can protest, BTW, just not basic goverment policy), environmental impact of rapid industrialization, Chinese historical and cultural preservation, the recent toxic slick in Harbin. But that's just off the top of my head. I think the problem is that most British journalists are about as ignorant, incompetent and sensationalistic as their American counterparts.
Or, to put it another way, if the for-profit software/IP companies can't even compete with something that is free, then they are really screwing something up somewhere!
how about something akin to a reputation system, where certain users are given weight for correctly identifying copyrighted works and gain, for example, download credit for doing so?
You mean something like the slashdot mod system? Surely you can't be serious!
I certainly agree. I mean, the RIAA and MPAA go through all that trouble and expense of drafting the legislation, making sure it is everything they wanted and more, and bribing^H^H^H^H^H^H^Hcontributing to the campaigns and special luxuries of our esteemed and irreproachable congressbeings to get the DMCA passed through our pristine halls of legislation. So shouldn't they be allowed, nay expected, to use it as much as they wish? This is America, damnit! We believe in private property here, and if a man can't use his own bought and paid for law as much as he wants, well then we're just heading for Communism, forced gay sex, bestiality, witchcraft and Gigli 2.
BTW, whatever robot modded parent down needs to have his humor circuit replaced.
Slashdot Mirror
Now, two boys have been found trying to hide the nearest galaxy by rubbing linseed oil into it. Now, some of you may feel that the nearest galaxy does not play an important part in the life of our own galaxy, but I would remind you that it was presented to us by the Corporation of the Andromeda Galaxy to commemorate Empire Day, when we try to remember the names of all those from the Andromeda Galaxy area who so gallantly gave their lives to keep China British. So, from now on, the nearest galaxy is strictly out of bounds! Oh, and Jenkins, apparently your mother died this morning.
Perhaps that would explain all the dupes on slashdot. The editors are too busy looking at the shiny icons and banner ads, so they can't remember the stories they have just read.
Better than that. The calls have already been transcribed
So that's why he never reads his Presidential Daily Briefings! He's too busy reading our phone calls.
Do you think that the patent system is still achieving the goal set out for it in 1790?
or...
Do you think in order to point out that it broken or to propose a fix one must have an education in patent law?
Well, I would say that you do not need to have an education in patent law to understand that it is broken, but I would say that you at least need to have an in-depth understanding of both patent law and the patent examination process to be able to understand exactly what is wrong with the patent system. I've seen stupid slashbots quoting the title of the patent and chortling something along the lines of "see, patents suck!" without understanding at all what kind of protection is being granted to the patentee. The overall protection could simply be a small but non-obvious modification to a well-known system that makes it work a little better or do something different. The area of protection the patentee gets is small, but the patentee still winds up with an issued patent.
To give you what I think is an appropriate analogy: You don't need to have a detailed understanding of your automobile to realize that it is not working properly. That putterring or grinding or outright smoking is enough to show anyone with a little sense that something is wrong. However, to fix the automobile, you do need to have a detailed understanding of how an automobile works. You don't need to have gone to a specific technical training school to know how to fix it, but the detailed knowledge is still required.
or...
Are you complaining that when it comes to patent discussion the comments here on slashdot are even more uninformed, disingenuous, and sophomorically falsely cynical than they normal are. I have to admit this is something I find hard to believe.
Well, you may have a point there. But, at least with computer stuff, a lot of slashbots have some idea of what they are talking about. So long as you don't praise Microsoft (which I normally don't) or show any disrespect to Open Source Software (which I sometimes do), no one will mod you into oblivion.
And...
Why the attack on Zonk? We all know that while these guys are called "editors" what they are doing bears little resemblance to what most people mean by the word edit... they more are like gatekeepers who cut-n-paste...it even says so in the faq.
Oh, I was just being an ass. Zonk posted the article, so I thought I'd chide him. That admittedly was rather childish on my part.
BTW, Zonk, you suck balls.
An unbeliever! Kill the heretic! Kill the heretic!
You know what this means, don't you? It means that university engineering schools are simply pirate training academies. All those universities are getting rich off of training pirates! I mean, it's not like engineers produce anything! Was Britney Spears an engineer? Was Ben Afleck? No, of course not! Then why do these "universities" think that they are training anyone of any worth? All they are doing is producing pirates who are destroying the financial standing of the RIAA and MPAA, whose products are as important as the air we breathe and the food we eat. Remember, when you rip a CD or DVD, you are aiding the terrorists and killing small adorable puppies.
But, on the other hand, the food pellets they give out at work are quite tasty.
And now for penance, all the Sony executives must pray one Our Father, three Hail Marys and then stay the hell away from the music industry.
Learn
To use
Paragraphs
And line breaks
Or else!
They sure can, if it's a private institution. Sex/race discrimination laws don't apply there. Case in point: the boy scouts won the case to fire gay scoutmasters.
I was thinking more in terms of forced prostitution, rather than discrimination. Forcing someone (male or female) to provide nude photos on demand would be akin to forced prostitution, which would certainly be illegal.
(Obligatory IANALawyer) With the case of the blogger, I think it depends on what the university's actual rules and policies are. They cannot simply decide to throw someone out because he writes something they disagree with. If nothing else, it would be a breach of contract since he has essentially contracted to be able to attend the university and get an education, along with any degree he may earn, subject to the school provisions set forth. Otherwise, the school could simply decide not to give some random person a degree the day before graduation just because they don't feel like it. If, on the other hand, there was a specific university policy with regard to blogging that he broke, and that would be legal to have as a policy, then they can expel him or place him on probation.
Now, a university policy stating that all female students have to provide nude photos on demand would not be legal, even if it were in the university policy guide, since such a requirement would be against the law. Contracts and company/university policies do not override the law, despite what they will try to have you believe.
Since most of the DMV worker are a part of the unwashed horde, I think they just see us as one big bank account. The individual workers themselves probably get their jollies off of screwing with people's lives.
BTW, can they really access your bank account like that? I would have my doubts about it since I think under federal laws (which supercede state laws) they would need a court order (IANALawyer). If it is true, what state do you live in (so I can avoid it)?
No, we're not supposed to say "dike". We're not even supposed to say "lesbian". It's "women in comfortable shoes".
by Anonymous Coward on 2005.11.28 14:22 (#14131359)
More Slashdot masturbation material.
No, that would be Open Office, not Word!
Oh, don't tell Rush Limbaugh that. He's liable to take even more drugs.
That's why you should not only give your kids tin foil hats, but tin foil arm bands as well.
And for those of you who will get the Simpsons reference: The Tivo, The!
Hmm... That's a very good point. I hadn't thought of it that way. I would think with advancing computer technology both Windows and Linux would have room for improvement, but we seem to be reaching a point of diminishing returns with that. If all you do is word processing, making presentation slides, and watching videos, how fast of a computer and how complicated of an operating system do you really need? We seem to have about peaked at that. I know other people do much more complicated things, like computational methods and parallel processing, but that is more about hardware than software (at least in terms of underlying support). Computational stuff is usually run on the command line anyway, just to keep the OS overhead to a minimum.
Um, Microsoft Windows is not for free. Linux is. Therefore, Microsoft needs to have operating system software that is a lot *better* than Linux. Otherwise, people will not see any reason to pay money for an operating system that is not any better than the free operating system. It's a rather simple concept, really. Take water as another example. Water from your tap is incredibly cheap. Perrier is not. Perrier still makes a good profit. Figure it out...
Well, that's the point. Blogs cover many different types of subjects. But the BBC apparently prefers to ask Chinese bloggers about censorship instead of the subjects of their blogs, such as (for example) the rapid industrialization in China, which affects people's everyday lives, or about Chinese historical and cultural preservation, which is of intense interest to certain segments of the population. In other words, the BBC only seems to care about one specific political football rather than about China itself.
Let's see... industrial pollution, government corruption (which Chinese can protest, BTW, just not basic goverment policy), environmental impact of rapid industrialization, Chinese historical and cultural preservation, the recent toxic slick in Harbin. But that's just off the top of my head. I think the problem is that most British journalists are about as ignorant, incompetent and sensationalistic as their American counterparts.
Or, to put it another way, if the for-profit software/IP companies can't even compete with something that is free, then they are really screwing something up somewhere!
You mean something like the slashdot mod system? Surely you can't be serious!
BTW, whatever robot modded parent down needs to have his humor circuit replaced.