Typically graphics, for example, had to be represented by a block that contained a filename: yep, graphics, sound, anything more complicated than a word or a number had to be put in a separate file.
Clever post, and I hate to bust a fan's chops, but look into base64 and uuencode.
Have you paused to consider that it might only be devilishly complicated to someone who is looking for any excuse to do what he wants regardless of what the document says?
To quote myself: "[The preamble] states what the government is supposed to do. The remainder of the Constitution states how the government is to do it."
You really should read the Constitution. Allow me to dissect your argument.
First of all, the government is supposed to serve the common good.
That's a lovely sentiment. The actual law says:
We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
That states what the government is supposed to do. The remainder of the Constitution states how the government is to do it.
Its power is limited by the constitution, but not the exact things it does.
Please read the 10th amendment:
Amendment X
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.
I'm anxious to hear any evidence you have that the government isn't meant to be constrained to exactly what the Constitution says.
I doubt that the people who wrote the constitution believed they could predict the future to such an extent that they could describe everything the government has to do ever.
Indeed they did not. That's why they build an amendment process into the Constitution:
Article. V.
The Congress, whenever two thirds of both Houses shall deem it necessary, shall propose Amendments to this Constitution, or, on the Application of the Legislatures of two thirds of the several States, shall call a Convention for proposing Amendments, which, in either Case, shall be valid to all Intents and Purposes, as Part of this Constitution, when ratified by the Legislatures of three fourths of the several States, or by Conventions in three fourths thereof, as the one or the other Mode of Ratification may be proposed by the Congress; Provided that no Amendment which may be made prior to the Year One thousand eight hundred and eight shall in any Manner affect the first and fourth Clauses in the Ninth Section of the first Article; and that no State, without its Consent, shall be deprived of its equal Suffrage in the Senate.
Also, the constitution allows congress to grant patents in order to promote usefull [sic] inventions, but does not say that it is the only thing they can do, nor that it has to do it.
True and true. But we have established that it falls to the people or the States to do anything not expressly assigned to the Union government.
Rather, it gives a guideline to how such a promotion of usefull [sic] inventions should work if implemented.
Once again I must cite the 10th amendment. The Constitution isn't a handy guidebook to running a government, it is the very charter of the Union government. It spells out what they are to do. Period.
Second, science is about doing discoveries, not inventions. The patent system has nothing to do with science, it has to do with inventing. Science is often needed for inventing, but it is not the same thing.
My point wasn't that patents=Science. It was that the only authority the Union has on this topic is patent authority. They have no authority to fund research of any kind.
In any case, patents have become involved in Science whether they should be or not. Are you aware that discovered (not invented) gene sequences have been patented?
I really think you should read the Constitution and Bill of Rights. I think you'll find it a real eye-opener.
This article seems to be predicated on the notion that Science is the purview of the government.
As I read the constitution the government is 1. only supposed to do things that the constitution explicitly states it is supposed to do and 2. is supposed to encourage useful invention with the patent system.
The article states:
[T]he Bush administration [readily] manipulate[s] and suppress[es] scientific findings - manifestly to appease industrial interests and religious constituencies.
I don't know what sort of warped and unrealistic idea of how politics work would cause a person to be surprised by this.
In summary, nobody likes how the government spends money. Only a person suffering brain damage would imagine that giving them more would improve the situation.
-Peter
PS: Poo poo on the person who wrote this article, and on G.W. Bush. And Mrs. Cartman.
A new company plans to unveil new high-tech tombstones with embedded flat screen monitors [. ..]. Joe Joachim, who says he wants to be the Walt Disney of the funeral business [. ..]
Better idea, an animatronic me standing over my own grave! It's creepy and retro! It's creeptro.
Ah, that would be a perfect company name. The Creeptro Inc. Animitronic Interment Marker.
I highly recommend the Franklin system. I suggest you do the paper planner for a year, then decide if you want to keep up with that or switch to their PalmOS package.
I'm not affiliated with them in any way, but I am a happy customer of fifteen years.
If the company doesn't feel okay about GPLing this piece of software, but doesn't really care about hanging on to it you might be able to talk them into simply disclaiming copyrights over it. One imagines that copyrights would then devolve to you, and you could GPL it.
Outside of that check out ESR's various works for "business minded" reasons to go "open source". He has particularly compelling arguments for just the sort of thing you've written.
If I'm subscribing to their service, they already know what I'm watching because they're pushing it through the wire!
DVB is Digital Video Broadcasting.
If you have cable your provider might know what you're watching, but satellite is strictly unidirectional (until you add a backchannel like a phone line).
End users don't "subscribe" to OpenTV. OpenTV provides middleware and interactive apps to cable and satellite providers.
Slashdot Mirror
Clever post, and I hate to bust a fan's chops, but look into base64 and uuencode.
This will get you started.
-Peter
By community you mean redistribution of wealth under threat of loss of liberty?
That's not what I thought it meant at all!
-Peter
And 50% of Zonk's posts are dupes.
(Yes, it's a dupe. Both stories are about the same study by John P. A. Ioannidis, MD.)
-Peter
Great! This way historians 50,000 years from now will know that the most common names 50,000 years ago were "Bart Simpson" and "Mike Hunt".
-Peter
The point of certs is to put them on your resume, which gets you interviews.
That's all, really.
-Peter
Pirate?
(Reference)
-Peter
True. No. Yes.
The fact that the framers left the composition of the courts undefined has always puzzled me.
-Peter
I think you missed it. They only let you go if they think you're going to stop paying your bill whether they terminate your account or not.
-Peter
Have you paused to consider that it might only be devilishly complicated to someone who is looking for any excuse to do what he wants regardless of what the document says?
-Peter
No wonder I couldn't find it.
The old memory, she ain't what she used to be.
Thanks!
-Peter
To quote myself: "[The preamble] states what the government is supposed to do. The remainder of the Constitution states how the government is to do it."
You seem to have missed that bit.
-Peter
How about the fact that there was a bug that made it impossible to exceed 30 days uptime that wasn't discovered until three years later?
(Can't find a link, but I very clearly remember this bug.)
-Peter
That's a lovely sentiment. The actual law says:
That states what the government is supposed to do. The remainder of the Constitution states how the government is to do it.
Please read the 10th amendment:
I'm anxious to hear any evidence you have that the government isn't meant to be constrained to exactly what the Constitution says.
Indeed they did not. That's why they build an amendment process into the Constitution:
True and true. But we have established that it falls to the people or the States to do anything not expressly assigned to the Union government.
Once again I must cite the 10th amendment. The Constitution isn't a handy guidebook to running a government, it is the very charter of the Union government. It spells out what they are to do. Period.
My point wasn't that patents=Science. It was that the only authority the Union has on this topic is patent authority. They have no authority to fund research of any kind.
In any case, patents have become involved in Science whether they should be or not. Are you aware that discovered (not invented) gene sequences have been patented?
I really think you should read the Constitution and Bill of Rights. I think you'll find it a real eye-opener.
-Peter
As I read the constitution the government is 1. only supposed to do things that the constitution explicitly states it is supposed to do and 2. is supposed to encourage useful invention with the patent system.
The article states:
I don't know what sort of warped and unrealistic idea of how politics work would cause a person to be surprised by this.
In summary, nobody likes how the government spends money. Only a person suffering brain damage would imagine that giving them more would improve the situation.
-Peter
PS: Poo poo on the person who wrote this article, and on G.W. Bush. And Mrs. Cartman.
-P
Doesn't matter if it means anything.
-Peter
SERVICE UNAVAILABLE
Better idea, an animatronic me standing over my own grave! It's creepy and retro! It's creeptro.
Ah, that would be a perfect company name. The Creeptro Inc. Animitronic Interment Marker.
I'm gonna make millions!
-Peter
*Hug*
I don't know how I ended up on your foes list. I couldn't agree with your post more.
-Peter
One more link for you.
Ideology aside, scumbag is universal.
-Peter
I don't know if it was 10 times better in every way, but it certainly had infinitely more Richard O'Brien in it.
(I was listening to the RHPS soundtrack when I saw your post. Couldn't resist!)
-Peter
I highly recommend the Franklin system. I suggest you do the paper planner for a year, then decide if you want to keep up with that or switch to their PalmOS package.
I'm not affiliated with them in any way, but I am a happy customer of fifteen years.
-Peter
Scalable Vector Graphics. It's open vector graphic in XML.
Maybe. Yes and no. It's a W3C thang. They'll try, and these chicken entrails indicate they'll fail.
Hope this helps.
If the company doesn't feel okay about GPLing this piece of software, but doesn't really care about hanging on to it you might be able to talk them into simply disclaiming copyrights over it. One imagines that copyrights would then devolve to you, and you could GPL it.
Outside of that check out ESR's various works for "business minded" reasons to go "open source". He has particularly compelling arguments for just the sort of thing you've written.
-Peter
A "globe of the United States"? I must have one!
-Peter
DVB is Digital Video Broadcasting.
If you have cable your provider might know what you're watching, but satellite is strictly unidirectional (until you add a backchannel like a phone line).
End users don't "subscribe" to OpenTV. OpenTV provides middleware and interactive apps to cable and satellite providers.
-Peter