I posted it anony from work so my password would not get recorded there, plus a few other reasons.
I too feel i has been quite long enough (since, what, 1998, 1999) since IBM announced it would make a Linux port, then dithered that it was too complex, then I heard the REAL reason was that other parties with too much vested interest in deterring a renaissance of SmartSuite denied or threatened IBM out of the act. I suspect that too many stock-holding ms acolytes inside IBM are blurring the vision, muddying the waters, and stonewalling. But, I guess every company has such types, putting their personal agendas ahead of the potential greatness a company could offer.
It is such a tragedy that SmartSuite is in the bottom of the hopper. I dare say that SmartSuite alone, in it's 1998/2001 state has an 80% chance of being a SO/OOO killer if IBM dual-licensed it. It is not my INTENT to see SO/OOO die or lose steam, but they are doing such a fine job of mimicking the hell out of ms orifice that they cannot or dare not bother heisting the best features of SmartSuite:
-- Lotus WordPro, with WYSIWYG formatting and editing, even modeless/non-modal text attributes panels so you can test out fonts, colors, etc without painfully shifting into and out of modes like ms blurb and writer did or still demand.
-- Lotus Approach is awesome as an ad hoc tool. Since it works with many backends, if Approach could work natively in Linuxland, then many numbers-crunchers could do in a database front end the analyzing they ought do in Approach instead of 1-2-3 or hexed-cell or Calc.
What I cannot stand in Writer is the totally counterintuitive, neutered method of dealing with master documents. In WordPro, I can create a master file, then either link to or embed the contents of other disparate documents to form a new document without even OWNING or editing those other docs. Each section or division could retain individual formatting, page orientation, footers and headers properties and more, unLIKE Write, which INSISTS on hijacking the whole doc the last time I tested it and promptly shut it down in rage that they STILL don't "get it". But, if it's in their business model to take 25 years to get where WordPro is.....
I don't use Organizer or Freelance much or at all. Ever since I lost a password to a critical file in Organizer, I lost all interest in it. I do think SmartSuite needs new life, new features, but most of all, a new rebuild that takes the best existing features (1-2-3, Approach, and WordPro) and duplicates them (minus the bugs) as an example to contrast what others are doing that still don't seem 1/5 as compelling as SmartSuite is for me.
Well, **I** hope there are new discoveries (and SOON) that turn the bible UP_SIDE_DOWN! It would do this planet some good. Maybe make the sheeple start tearing heads of the corrupt, demanding MORE of their governments.
But, I suppose if there was life that could come here and do the bidding of the PUBLIC, we would be hanged for treason. I for would would CERTAINLY welcome nice compassionate ETs who would distribute food and taker power from those em-effers in every corrupt state/nation capitol.
There is ****NO***** doubt in my righteous mind that given an alien pistol and a shield of imperviousness I would start cleaning out corruption. No warnings for the incumbents, ONE warning (the example just made) for the incoming shopkeepers. If that is treason, then FUCK the ones in power, because I am right, and they are worng. I mean, WRONG...
I would undo those daily supertankers worth of oil plundered from the city-sized oil pumping stations in Iraq and wipe out the corrupt leadership that undersold their national treasures and cheapened the futures of their citizens who do NOT have much voice. (Maybe I would ask my new ET friends to give them some equivalents of dilithium and some power cells.)
What dog drives across the fish turtle pond, you say?
Friends among Hackers or Hens among FRACKERS? (that was a Spoonerism...)
They don't deserve HACKERS until the asshole businesses and advertiser learn to distinguish between HACKERS and CRACKERS and get over the "hidden" dislike of the second term. I'm sure if MOOKERS were the good guys and ROOKERS were the bad buys, the marketers and tech media would have NO problem whatsoever using "ROOKERS", despite the sexual connotation. But, the color connotation is too much for those marketing cowards to swallow. I only think race when I see the word shunned, but feel good when it is used in it's tech context.
If only the vapid reporters would try some social engineering: HACKERS hack apart to LEARN and to come up with GOOD things. CRACKERS are not Ritz Saltines, nor are they necessarily ALL Caucasian; rather, CRACKERS are the BAD HACKERS who want to CRACK and TRASH your boxen...
There, see, you spinless marketers/news reporters? Is THAT SO FRACKIN' PAINFUL??? The TECH reporters should be ostracized and lose marketing dollars for this egregious oversight in print.
It's shameful that the US makes it hard for people here with money to do business over there. I don't know that ALL Cubans are destitute, but if legal cashflow (hopefully Castro's regime won't TAKE it or TAKE it ALL) from the US could improve living conditions there. It's not as if Castro or Cuba could incite an insurrection in the US, but it is or seems all too regularly an agenda for the US to hold Cuba up as an evil regime, a rogue state, and backwards.
Well, we've got homophobia here; drug addictions fueled by those who want, transport, or allow them to get them here; we've got BAZILLIONS of dollars to spend making and fighting enemies that needn't exist, just to give those with power a pretext to kick ass or behave imperiously; we've got millions of homeless, 10's of millions of uninsured (I'm one of them, been uninsured since March 2001 when I lost the job that was paying my salary so I could pay my mortgage on a home the likes of which I'll NEVER, EVER be able to afford... while I was just a line item to the CEO's mandate...); we've got buildings and construction going on left and right, yet... well...
It's stupid, vengeful, idiotic and childish for economically (for now) militarily (for now), but morally and pilitically vapid presidencies (both parties are Hydras, so I won't vote until the assholes are revamped and augmented by up to 4 or 5 other power-sharing parties), most weak-willed (can't feed it's poor and clean up the streets for all the money we have... just walk around Tenderloin, SF... shit-smeared streets, homeless.. yet DHLS & other government employees and officials get new patrol SUVs, shiny equipment... office building upgrades) nation has to make it illegal to travel to Cuba. MAYYYYBE I could see SOME other countries, but what has Cuba got that is dangerous the US?
Hmmm. Oh, yeh: "DEFIANCE!". The ONE thing they have that is courageous and in short supply in OTHER countries: D-E-F-I-A-N-C-E (Say it like R-O-L-A-I-D-S). One day the arrogance to quash defiant, small countries will come back with an even BIGGER bite...
Anyway, what ELSE has Cuba got? A president who has outlived many of his US polit-level counterparts. Cigars so good the HAVE to be banned for the public, but smugglable by diplomats mules....
Meantime, anyone with a fat check and who loves ANY (but particularly THIS) administration will be quick to pounce me with flamebait, I am fair certain.
Just to be different, I hope Castro outlives the next TWO SEE-Lek-tehd US presidents. He needn't remain in power. Just outlive them. Must be something in the genes... staying power, longevity, hardiness, even at his age. OTOH, he might have a stroke in 6 months....
Well, if as in infidel you don't mind bringing fidelity to Fidel, now that he's back in power, you could move to Cuba and (assuming your existence doesn't threaten the/any High Tech Czar, you could make a killin', I think...
But, the IRS would probably want to be sure to tax the hell out of you under some new law made up to make you broker than hell...
Plus, when I ever have to Ctrl+Alt+Del my KDE session (more than once a month) it DOES restore, but to the last KNOWN GOOD session. Any work saved is fine, most icons recently added to the desktop are fine, but any work open does NOT get intercepted and saved. At least not like WP and LWP do when windoze 98 crapped/craps out on me.
(On that note, WordPro and 1-2-3 in Lotus SmartSuite in win98 inside of Win4Lin STILL starts up 5x faster than Ooo.2 or lower. I have only 256 MB RAM, and while my system thrashes like hell, SmartSuite is (albeit on an older code and on a smaller footprint) is like lightning compared to the OOO Cessna. Too bad I cannot make it to the Linux Expo this year to show off what I can do in SmartSuite that I cannot do in OOO. At SOME point, I'll release my stuff under dual-licensing... less-featuredfree/open; heavily-featured for charge. Not sure if I'll "ask IBM" or if I'll approach Google. But, it'll be interesting to see what becomes of it.)
Um, this is what I mean. Here's a scenario:
User puts in ticket which requires a tech to log in. But, user is called to a meeting, or forgets to log out.
Typically, in windoze, trying to log of the logged on user generates a warning that all open work will be lost.
Torn, and depending on IT policy, some tech blow the work out, while some leave a note saying, sorry, we didn't want to risk blowing away your possibly-present work. As a courtesy, I REALLY hate assuming it's OK to boot them off unless they say "Go ahead even if I'm gone."
Now, what I would figure is that mshaft would have experienced a bazillion requests for such a feature. Only, the deprioritize it or suppress it so it never makes the cut. It seems so simple. A batch file notices the work is not saved, similar to when a user tries to close an app without first saving new or modified files. The user is prompted. I don't think I've seen this available in Linux, either, KDE, for certain. Now, the batch file could collect the app process info, name, and save-as a new version of the file. Any apps open would get similar treatment. The tech need not even know the contents of the work, just see a prompt that asks "Do you wish to abort the processes and not make any saves-as,or do you wish the elegant/courtesy boot-off with save-as steps?"Then, then the tech could respond and help IT look good when users tend to forget to log off. It also is good for cases when family or other members forget their passwords and no admin is around to force the log-off. Even if a normal attempt by a regular users generates a warning message, the save-as-for-new-logon process could spare people of grief.
I am sure there must be hundreds of thousands of regretted boot-offs a day, maybe a week.
As for the file system, it is just horrendous that, just today, I did a FRESH XP install on an NTFS partition, blown out and rewritten. With ONLY XP and orifice 2k3 and a FEW small apps, the filesystem was frackin' fragged as hell. Red vertical lines in Diskkeeper. The install was barely 20 minutes old. This is just HIDEOUS. I am sure Linux had better file contiguousness years ago. SO for 2K and XP it must not have even been possible for ms or they weren't willing to come up with a filesystem upgrade for existing or fresh installations.
So much for innovation. Seems more like enervation.
Now, I gotta gets some frackin' BSG DVD rerun time in. I wanna see Number 6 tell the newborn it won't have to worry about life problems, and see the blood-curdling screaming mother. And, I wanna seek Starbuck sock the shit out the drunkard XO.
And, the next time somebody at work sneezes, I am going to have to fight HARD not to say, "Lords of Kobol protect his/hear circulatory system."
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heheh this is just TOO funny.. when I posted my prev spiel, the image word was "incite"
Now, it is "sequel"... slash's tool is so funny often.
It's not just those government offices. It's also all those suck-up, KISS-ASS computer companies that have the VAPID, disGUSTING gall to slap on their hardware the stickers that say:
"(kiss-ass-hardware company) recommends microsoft windows XP home edition..."
"(kiss-ass-hardware company) recommends microsoft windows XP professional edition..."
"(kiss-ass-hardware company) recommends microsoft windows 2000 edition..."...
As IF the consumer (nevermind the wiser PROsumer...) has a frackin' choice. These snivelly-ass companies are accepting marketing dollars for ms and whoring their names on the labels, stickers, and box art. THERE ARE NO other choices coming from MOST manufacturers, and the prosumers and adventurous consumers are ate least trying out Linux/Debian.
It ought to be illegal the SHIT ms gets away with.
It's like recommending "Milk. It does YOUR body good". Then they dairy council gets sued, and they change to:
"Milk. It does A body good."
With all the virii and other bullshit incessantly bringing up the cost of ownership of ms windoze products, its amazing that the industry has not demanded more Linux-based native apps to get off windoze.
-- lame file system... STILL needs defragging in XP/2K. What will vista have?
-- an admin logging off users STILL blows out any work they may have open as drafts. If ms is SOOOOO innovative, then WHY in the hell in the past 6 years have they NOT rewritten windoze to save the endangered draft docs/files as "admin-shutdown-draft 2006-07-31-1422-wordfile.doc" or "sysadmin-shutdown-draft 2006-07-31-1422-outlook.olk"....
Even if security is a problem, the SYSADMIN on the machine should be able to save the file and do the work that the crappy design causes them to do in reboot or log-user-out mode.
Open Source Devs... I think Linux needs something to deal with my 2nd comment, for those systems where the admin needs to bring down a multi-user machine... (presume the kids/family/housemate users left home and left drafts open but their session locked/screen-saved...) for maintenance or hardware change. It would be a "nice to have to be nice and behave" feature...
Their 95% comes first because they cheaply got Kilgore's code. They slid one past IBM. They strong-armed the ass-kissing-for-survival hardware industry. The politicians had no balls to challenge mshaft way back when, and once many businesses saw electronic spreadsheets, they wanted them LIKE YESTERDAY.
It didn't help the losers that mshaft released retaliatory or pre-emptive "oh, WE will have those features and MORE by Q3", causing a massive ass vacuum loss of investor cash to companies that would surely lose SOLELY to ms lying-through-the-mouth marketing machine. AND, ms had MORE marketing dollars than ANYONE.
Had Lotus not dropped the ball, had IBM and numerous other vendors been able to stay ahead of dodgy shit from mshaft, so many other companies would have collectively kept ms at bay, but ONLY for a bit longer, since ms' insidious, insipid purchasing and quashing of its competitors did more damage than other companies that did or tried to do the same thing.
KNOW YOUR HISTORY! PONDER THE LITTLE GUY'S PLIGHT as one other little guy goes on the path of "megalomaniacal asshole of the industry".
BUT, ms LACKS, can't design an console (I call it "hexed-box) that is cracked but isn't all that it's cracked up to be, and is trying to BUY/CO-OPT class...
Vista will probably melt like the waxy Crayola crowns do in heat, then windoze will just glop like tender meat...
Hopefully the public sees past this wax horror show. Maybe if they put Vincent Price or Boris Karloff on the machines shells (we -- are -- here -- toooo -- skehhhhrrr -- yhou -- (hew-huu-hew)....)
Class is something ms will probably NEVER know.. but it's pr firm sure as hell can graft it onto them on TV... and grafts don't add up when the underlying tissue is so necrotized... so vapid...
I think I read in late 2004 or early 2005 about this being available in Japan at or before the time I had read about it.
They even have pay-for-train-ticket and pay-for-groceries-and-other-things by cell.
While not light years ahead in all areas, Japan trounces the USA in some interesting and invisible ways. I had an analog TV phone (with FM radio, 1.2 megapixel camera, tweaking ability of the hundreds of polyphonics tunes inside, removable SD card, JP/Eng interface, memo, cal, many alarms, and more.) there for ONE PENNY (One YEN) because by Dec 04 it was "obsolete", yet where in the USA is an analog (meaning your viewing habits are NOT trackable) phone available for such a humane price?
Hell, many of the cell phones have PS2 console interfaces so up to 4 or more bored friends can hook up to a large flatscreen and play games designed for the phones.
I used to taunt the local (SF/SJ) cell stores with it, but Karma caught up with me and I ended up having to lose it. I was devastated.
I wouldn't be surprised if like so much we learn about ("our") 'Merkun culture Farragut's successes were inflated or even mythical. Really, if a crew mutinies, then something went seriously wrong. I can imagine the crew suffering from scurvy or lack of food or extremely harsh and brutal treatment. Hell the vaunted USN had RACE RIOTS in the 1970's until Admiral Elmo Zumwalt stepped in and restored order. I can imagine "Admiral" Farragut having been less worn out and having more energy to take over command. He probably was just more charismatic enough to have been (well) liked, or enough to not be slain where he stood. Age 12. I, too, think he was the exception.
It makes me wonder about older Commodores such as Perry and his escapades/letter delivering to a certain country oh say around 1850's. Even back then, I think it is not an even comparison to try to match Farragut at 12 in the 1812's and Perry at his age. In either case, it DID take hearty individuals to survive at sea in those days.
Anyway, it's early and I'm not all that collected yet.
But, parents need education before becoming parents or before being ALLOWED to become parents. If children are like assets of a company or organization, then allowing them to succumb to mass-marketing that induces them to eat and beg to be allowed to eat junkfood out of control is like allowing company employees or assets to be wooed, pilfered or abused by competitors or unauthorized pillagers. It's tantamount to recklessness.
It's why a few years ago Los Angeles had to terminate early a number of soda vending machine contracts after kids were suffering vision problems and becoming abnormally obese, hyperactive (or is it hypoactive?), and losing concentration. And the soda companies had the gall to bitch about it. Now, they are selling overpriced water, juices and other drinks as a substitute. It would have been more honorable or respectful if they had taken the moral high ground FIRST rather than having been greedy and forced by outraged parents and district administration officials who had a clearer vision. This is not to say the admins resolved all their problems, however. There will always be many more to come. When money talks...
These kinds of problems (and my disinterest in bells and whistles and disdain for being FORCED to turn on Java Script to read a frackin' web page) are why I want to yell, "turn that shit off!"
So, I ONLY activate JavaScript in Konqueror on a page-by-page basis. I have it AND Java turned off by default. When the page is done, I destroy the history folder and sometimes nuke the cookies. I also in my firewall at the eth device and LAN device, as well as in the ports and as well as in Konqueror's cookies manager manually and malevolently blacklist or forbid connections to OR from all sorts of shit, from akamai, to double-dick to anything that is spawning the bazillions of port requests. This shit just annoys me that when I want a quick read, I have to witness umpteen connections due to all those adverts, king wizard page gimmicks and such. (I think I have over 200 sites blacklisted in the inbound and LAN portions of my firewall.)
I'm at the point where if a site asks for many cookies, I just ban the whole site and try to remember that its slow loading is because I banned my computer from letting me see it.
(I guess I'm overreacting, but it's as frackin' annoying as noise pollution by firetrucks blaring at 200 decibels moving at 5 miles per hour. I don't know who to curse: them for not turning the thing down or pausing it, or the idiot drivers in front who are oblivious to the truck. Dumbasses with their CDs up loud or who just don't check the rearview are why I advocate giving police cars and emergency response vehicles the ability to white noise certain automobile audio devices so lame-ass driver get the hint: the FRAKIN' ROAD is NOT all about YOU.)
But, I suppose we're going to see exploits that circumvent the turn-java-script-off setting. Or, it could just force web developers to change for the better for site visitors. I am of the feeling there is a LOT of shit we don't need on web pages, but some people want to show off their prowess, their calling card, and overcomplicate the visit. Either that, or they have WAYYYY too much information their company is trying to present and are being too cutting edge about it.
"The Eagle and the Rising Sun" by Alan Schom, 2004, $17.95, ISBN 0-393-32628-4
and
"Clash: US-Japan Relations Throughout History", by Walter LeFeber, 1997, $17.95, ISBN 0-393-31837-0
you might want to read them.
My own starting point about when US attacked Japan is where the US attacked JAPAN in the 1850-s timeframe when on more than 27 or so occasions the US beat down Japan's door demanding access to land sailors for relief, fuel, supplies, etc. and demanded Japan give to all nations the same services it was GOING to give the US. Japan was a contented, feudal/shogunate in-warring, economic basket case of sorts that very rarely peeked outside (not ignoring that Japan invaded Korea in 1592 with 158,700 soldiers., but the embarrassing walloping issued by Corea caused Japan to withdraw into an enforced isolation, which the Americans disastrously meddled with and precipitated the Japanese march upon and destruction around the area thatt that ruined many lives in Asia).
It seems you (DCAM) know a lot of what happened, but as one poster said how we get the 2-liner 100 years later and we "Americans" learn very little of the facts until much later, many readers will be shocked to fathom the idea, the fact, that every nation outside of Asia that either infused China with Opium, or set out to carve up oil fields that by geography ALONE ought be the sole exploit interest of local Asian nations. That said, FACE, PATIENCE and evasive, non-committal answering are EVERYthing to most Asians, where as Westerners come in like gangbusters, football players and strategists who won't take no for an answer. Japan's responses were regarded as contemptuous and as weakness..
The Koreans were a bit more "recalcitrant" in warding of most of the imperial invaders from Europe and the US, and when one too many a ship tried to kick in Korea's door, Korea promptly blasted the hell out of and I think sank the ship. The world today might be vastly different if China had not suffered the Opium Wars and had not Macau, Hong Kong and other parts of China been imperiously wrested from them. Had China's own navy not been dismantled by their mandarins after 1492, China could probably have fended for herself and told invaders where they could promptly go. (Aside from Admiral Yi (of Corea using only a dozen ships and wrecking or demolishing over 300 Japanese ship.)
Korea had the world's first ironclad ships, and were great defenders/warriors. It is most unfortunate that Japan had internal unrest, many jobless people, many millions who died in famines and then the American imperious visits which, along with Russian Admiral Putyatin' ship (the Diana?) it is no wonder Japan (after numerous students/offices/spies) schooled in and studied the US industries decided to malevolently seize all of Asia FOR Asian before any more Opium-laced China and fallen Koreas would happen to Japan.
So, really, if we go far back enough (and this is, to me, not nearly as complicated and unraveling the Middle East/Israel/Palestine/Jerusalem/Iran/Iraq/Emirates creations and debacles and eons-winding travails) we can see that external European meddling to carve up China-Persia-Korea-Japan Asian market activities (spices, tea, emeralds, jade, and so on), maybe, just maybe Japan would NOT have had a drive to bomb Pearl.
But, it was not a complete surprise, either, as the US had broken the code and knew there WOULD be an attack, and on 3 occasions even USN carrier squadrons "raided" Pearl Harbor in 3 different years prior to Dec 7, successfully. It's just that Roosevelt wanted to let Japan throw the first punch. The attack/raid was a surprise inasmuch as it caught sailors resting or going to church and such, but after reading Eagle/Sun, it can be seen that a mind-boggling series of blunders and recoveries on each side was down to luck, weather, comms intercepts, and so on. A US destroyer had even sank a Japanese sub IN the harbor area HOURS before the planes arrived, and y
"But, they apparently can conceive of a situation where a ship design is a COPYRIGHTED blueprint of a fictional ship, AND simultaneously the design can be a REGISTERED VESSEL DESIGN because the details are so insanely numerous as to be a buildable ship. What REALLY hung them up was that I wanted to also register the design, as Copyright and Registry are two beasts, and I wanted dual protection. They then started saying that since this is a SHIP, it should be registered, since it will sit in water, and they don't like seeing REAL ships as copyright but not registered. I told them the ship could be a MOCKUP for a movie set, or a floating barge not going to sea if no engines were installed, but things got really confusing and I didn't finish the paperwork."
I meant to say:
"But, they apparently CAN'T conceive of situation (mine) where a ship design is a COPYRIGHTED blueprint of a fictional ship, AND simultaneously the design can be a REGISTERED VESSEL DESIGN" because when ship or boat or vessel designs are presented I think they expect that copyright will be for land-locked things like buildings, cars, homes, computers... essentially things that are fixed to or used on land. I don't remember how they deal with aircraft designs beyond copyright itself.
But, since I have SHIP designs, and they see ships as being in WATER and SAILING then they should be registered (which is MUCH more costlier). Apparently, they didn't see my idea as movie set or museum, and even if they do, it's a lot of work for THEM in this category.
Interestingly, when I showed them to a major shipbuilder in Japan, one of the two company men sent to receive me must have suspected me for being a competitor, a mole, or a tool to set them up for lawsuits, particularly since I committed the grave error of not having business cards. Terrible omission on my part. The senior of the two kept saying "national secrets"... to which I politely differed, stating I learned as a teenager in 1980 how to do this stuff by taking drafting classes, going to the library, and constantly reading stuff published by the US Naval Institute Proceedings, Sea Power, AD Baker's stuff, and innumerable other sources. Moreover, the US government allows you to purchase or license build stuff that is widely known in the US, and it is not regarded as "secrets", particularly since an FBI interview with me in 2003 (over an unrelated matter in my neighborhood to which they felt I would have vital information) did not result in my arrest, questioning or the like even though I thoroughly explained to them my attitude, my hobby, what the implications were, and that the best policy response is probably to dismiss me as a weirdo hobbyist with some heretical but as-yet-not-actionable ideas."
I showed them at a museum and one ship history librarian was impressed and so since he was the ONE Japanese person in Japan who showed (or could feel comfortable in allowing himself to show) a heart-felt interest in, appreciation for, and excitement with my drawings, I could not help but give him a copy. (The shipyard guys were polite, but were understandably wary of me, and they were the commercial shipping guys, not the actual naval ship guy, since the receptionist couldn't tell a naval ship from a container ship.)
Anyway, even were I to disappear, what I did is not impossible nor illegal (unless some vapid administration officials decree otherwise just to be like the cops nailing the guy with the camera phone... if they were in uniform, it's not then as if he blew the identities of undercover operatives, and any cop valuable enough to be undercover should not be in uniform and in ready sight of a camera, and such officers should be in deep cover and hand over their handiwork to officers who have no covers to worry about protecting... at least that my line of thinking...)
(SEVERAL URLS are in this posting... scan further (~ 3/4) down for details about my own designs I am discussing)
Since the discussion has wended and meandered into copyright, police, government and commercial buildings, this presented one of the very rare opportunities for me to mention my own copyright works without being blatantly off topic.
For fun and hopefully someday to make money, I design naval ships (cruisers, but no destroyers... "destroyer" is too evil/bombastic/outmoded a word -- and internationally, several nations feel the same way). I've shown them to LOTS of people here and overseas. I've given away hard copies of my design in the URL below. People see them on paper and think I'm an engineer, asking me what CAD system I used. I reply: "Mark ONE, Mod-OH eyeball, pencil, straight edge, and paper and lots of reading." Some even thing I heisted REAL government/ship designs. But, I made sure the USN public affairs office in 2003 knew what I was doing so I don't get some capricious, reactionary government warrant or possible shipyard complaints delivered to me. Filing for my first copyright was interesting, though not expensive. Registering them would be even MORE expensive, since mine are not the typical 8.5" x 11" questionable originality boat and dinghy and small craft designs sent to the US Library of Congress.
Copyright on boats/ships/vessels is or seems to be notoriously fraught with issues. If you look at:
Copyrights stylized boat The Vessel Hull Design Protection Act, Title 17, Chapter 13 of the United States Code, was signed into law on October 28, 1998, providing for... www.uspto.gov/main/profiles/copyright.htm
you may scratch your head.
When I filed for copyright in 2003 for one design, the US LIB CONG/ Copyright Office sent back the form for clarification. I could COPYRIGHT my designs as BLUEPRINTS, but since they look VERY REAL as ship plans, I could also register them as "REGISTERED VESSEL DESIGNS". At one point, their processing fees were lower than posted. I think once they got two copies of my originals at 24" by 46" or so, and saw that 5 sheets comprised the set for a particular ship, and that there were many decks, numerous details, and an 80+ page/two-sides printed book (badly edited on my part) they must have realized that if others started registering ships it would cost them an arm and a leg to process such stuff.
But, they apparently can conceive of a situation where a ship design is a COPYRIGHTED blueprint of a fictional ship, AND simultaneously the design can be a REGISTERED VESSEL DESIGN because the details are so insanely numerous as to be a buildable ship. What REALLY hung them up was that I wanted to also register the design, as Copyright and Registry are two beasts, and I wanted dual protection. They then started saying that since this is a SHIP, it should be registered, since it will sit in water, and they don't like seeing REAL ships as copyright but not registered. I told them the ship could be a MOCKUP for a movie set, or a floating barge not going to sea if no engines were installed, but things got really confusing and I didn't finish the paperwork.
However, technically, legally, the work is mine. It's just that without registry or copyright, what I could claim in damages would be limited by any lack of copyright filing or registry.
you an for free download.tif copies of my first design (it has some intentional/and erroneous external alternations which don't negate the value of the effort; besides, if any real navy wanted to build a copy of my plans, they'd STILL spend years ruminating the best permutations and equipment to personnel ratio among many over va
Is it illegal to be "fucking Irish"? (I mean, if he's in Texas, and they catch him, he's in deep shit. But if they went someplace else...)
Oh, wait, you REALLY meant, "He is a fucking Irishman". In that case, should they do remakes of Irish Spring soap and after shave commercials with him doing product placements.
(Whistling the old Irish Spring jingle...)
But, for a twist, they could smash together Irish Spring and Brut... with the canoe and the schooner... and make a new bad-ass deodor-shave called "Irish Brut"
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I posted it anony from work so my password would not get recorded there, plus a few other reasons.
I too feel i has been quite long enough (since, what, 1998, 1999) since IBM announced it would make a Linux port, then dithered that it was too complex, then I heard the REAL reason was that other parties with too much vested interest in deterring a renaissance of SmartSuite denied or threatened IBM out of the act. I suspect that too many stock-holding ms acolytes inside IBM are blurring the vision, muddying the waters, and stonewalling. But, I guess every company has such types, putting their personal agendas ahead of the potential greatness a company could offer.
It is such a tragedy that SmartSuite is in the bottom of the hopper. I dare say that SmartSuite alone, in it's 1998/2001 state has an 80% chance of being a SO/OOO killer if IBM dual-licensed it. It is not my INTENT to see SO/OOO die or lose steam, but they are doing such a fine job of mimicking the hell out of ms orifice that they cannot or dare not bother heisting the best features of SmartSuite:
-- Lotus WordPro, with WYSIWYG formatting and editing, even modeless/non-modal text attributes panels so you can test out fonts, colors, etc without painfully shifting into and out of modes like ms blurb and writer did or still demand.
-- Lotus Approach is awesome as an ad hoc tool. Since it works with many backends, if Approach could work natively in Linuxland, then many numbers-crunchers could do in a database front end the analyzing they ought do in Approach instead of 1-2-3 or hexed-cell or Calc.
What I cannot stand in Writer is the totally counterintuitive, neutered method of dealing with master documents. In WordPro, I can create a master file, then either link to or embed the contents of other disparate documents to form a new document without even OWNING or editing those other docs. Each section or division could retain individual formatting, page orientation, footers and headers properties and more, unLIKE Write, which INSISTS on hijacking the whole doc the last time I tested it and promptly shut it down in rage that they STILL don't "get it". But, if it's in their business model to take 25 years to get where WordPro is.....
I don't use Organizer or Freelance much or at all. Ever since I lost a password to a critical file in Organizer, I lost all interest in it. I do think SmartSuite needs new life, new features, but most of all, a new rebuild that takes the best existing features (1-2-3, Approach, and WordPro) and duplicates them (minus the bugs) as an example to contrast what others are doing that still don't seem 1/5 as compelling as SmartSuite is for me.
Is that the version localized for:
Vunavutu?
Tuvalu?
Fiji?
Esperant Plus?
Dammit man, we wanna KNOW!
Well, **I** hope there are new discoveries (and SOON) that turn the bible UP_SIDE_DOWN! It would do this planet some good. Maybe make the sheeple start tearing heads of the corrupt, demanding MORE of their governments.
But, I suppose if there was life that could come here and do the bidding of the PUBLIC, we would be hanged for treason. I for would would CERTAINLY welcome nice compassionate ETs who would distribute food and taker power from those em-effers in every corrupt state/nation capitol.
There is ****NO***** doubt in my righteous mind that given an alien pistol and a shield of imperviousness I would start cleaning out corruption. No warnings for the incumbents, ONE warning (the example just made) for the incoming shopkeepers. If that is treason, then FUCK the ones in power, because I am right, and they are worng. I mean, WRONG...
I would undo those daily supertankers worth of oil plundered from the city-sized oil pumping stations in Iraq and wipe out the corrupt leadership that undersold their national treasures and cheapened the futures of their citizens who do NOT have much voice. (Maybe I would ask my new ET friends to give them some equivalents of dilithium and some power cells.)
(Chases UFO to escape being hanged.)
Slash image word: aggrieve....
slash is so funny sometimes...
Such a good feeling, it thinks.
What dog drives across the fish turtle pond, you say?
Friends among Hackers or Hens among FRACKERS? (that was a Spoonerism...)
They don't deserve HACKERS until the asshole businesses and advertiser learn to distinguish between HACKERS and CRACKERS and get over the "hidden" dislike of the second term. I'm sure if MOOKERS were the good guys and ROOKERS were the bad buys, the marketers and tech media would have NO problem whatsoever using "ROOKERS", despite the sexual connotation. But, the color connotation is too much for those marketing cowards to swallow. I only think race when I see the word shunned, but feel good when it is used in it's tech context.
If only the vapid reporters would try some social engineering: HACKERS hack apart to LEARN and to come up with GOOD things. CRACKERS are not Ritz Saltines, nor are they necessarily ALL Caucasian; rather, CRACKERS are the BAD HACKERS who want to CRACK and TRASH your boxen...
There, see, you spinless marketers/news reporters? Is THAT SO FRACKIN' PAINFUL??? The TECH reporters should be ostracized and lose marketing dollars for this egregious oversight in print.
"MOONING" da HOEs (Humans on Earth)
It's shameful that the US makes it hard for people here with money to do business over there. I don't know that ALL Cubans are destitute, but if legal cashflow (hopefully Castro's regime won't TAKE it or TAKE it ALL) from the US could improve living conditions there. It's not as if Castro or Cuba could incite an insurrection in the US, but it is or seems all too regularly an agenda for the US to hold Cuba up as an evil regime, a rogue state, and backwards.
Well, we've got homophobia here; drug addictions fueled by those who want, transport, or allow them to get them here; we've got BAZILLIONS of dollars to spend making and fighting enemies that needn't exist, just to give those with power a pretext to kick ass or behave imperiously; we've got millions of homeless, 10's of millions of uninsured (I'm one of them, been uninsured since March 2001 when I lost the job that was paying my salary so I could pay my mortgage on a home the likes of which I'll NEVER, EVER be able to afford... while I was just a line item to the CEO's mandate...); we've got buildings and construction going on left and right, yet... well...
It's stupid, vengeful, idiotic and childish for economically (for now) militarily (for now), but morally and pilitically vapid presidencies (both parties are Hydras, so I won't vote until the assholes are revamped and augmented by up to 4 or 5 other power-sharing parties), most weak-willed (can't feed it's poor and clean up the streets for all the money we have... just walk around Tenderloin, SF... shit-smeared streets, homeless.. yet DHLS & other government employees and officials get new patrol SUVs, shiny equipment... office building upgrades) nation has to make it illegal to travel to Cuba. MAYYYYBE I could see SOME other countries, but what has Cuba got that is dangerous the US?
Hmmm. Oh, yeh: "DEFIANCE!". The ONE thing they have that is courageous and in short supply in OTHER countries: D-E-F-I-A-N-C-E (Say it like R-O-L-A-I-D-S). One day the arrogance to quash defiant, small countries will come back with an even BIGGER bite...
Anyway, what ELSE has Cuba got? A president who has outlived many of his US polit-level counterparts. Cigars so good the HAVE to be banned for the public, but smugglable by diplomats mules....
Meantime, anyone with a fat check and who loves ANY (but particularly THIS) administration will be quick to pounce me with flamebait, I am fair certain.
Just to be different, I hope Castro outlives the next TWO SEE-Lek-tehd US presidents. He needn't remain in power. Just outlive them. Must be something in the genes... staying power, longevity, hardiness, even at his age. OTOH, he might have a stroke in 6 months....
temblor or (building collapse?)... happened at at 808 PM PST...
So, did the RAM get busted, or did the BUS get RAMMED? I wonder if their MiRAMba rights were segfa, err, umm, violated.
Well, if as in infidel you don't mind bringing fidelity to Fidel, now that he's back in power, you could move to Cuba and (assuming your existence doesn't threaten the/any High Tech Czar, you could make a killin', I think...
But, the IRS would probably want to be sure to tax the hell out of you under some new law made up to make you broker than hell...
I'd rather look on Kobol.... and get BOOMIN'!
But, it could be the dimmer switch, or the swimmer ditch for them...
I could be mistaken, but I don't think so.
Plus, when I ever have to Ctrl+Alt+Del my KDE session (more than once a month) it DOES restore, but to the last KNOWN GOOD session. Any work saved is fine, most icons recently added to the desktop are fine, but any work open does NOT get intercepted and saved. At least not like WP and LWP do when windoze 98 crapped/craps out on me.
(On that note, WordPro and 1-2-3 in Lotus SmartSuite in win98 inside of Win4Lin STILL starts up 5x faster than Ooo.2 or lower. I have only 256 MB RAM, and while my system thrashes like hell, SmartSuite is (albeit on an older code and on a smaller footprint) is like lightning compared to the OOO Cessna. Too bad I cannot make it to the Linux Expo this year to show off what I can do in SmartSuite that I cannot do in OOO. At SOME point, I'll release my stuff under dual-licensing... less-featuredfree/open; heavily-featured for charge. Not sure if I'll "ask IBM" or if I'll approach Google. But, it'll be interesting to see what becomes of it.)
Um, this is what I mean. Here's a scenario:
User puts in ticket which requires a tech to log in. But, user is called to a meeting, or forgets to log out.
Typically, in windoze, trying to log of the logged on user generates a warning that all open work will be lost.
Torn, and depending on IT policy, some tech blow the work out, while some leave a note saying, sorry, we didn't want to risk blowing away your possibly-present work. As a courtesy, I REALLY hate assuming it's OK to boot them off unless they say "Go ahead even if I'm gone."
Now, what I would figure is that mshaft would have experienced a bazillion requests for such a feature. Only, the deprioritize it or suppress it so it never makes the cut. It seems so simple. A batch file notices the work is not saved, similar to when a user tries to close an app without first saving new or modified files. The user is prompted. I don't think I've seen this available in Linux, either, KDE, for certain. Now, the batch file could collect the app process info, name, and save-as a new version of the file. Any apps open would get similar treatment. The tech need not even know the contents of the work, just see a prompt that asks "Do you wish to abort the processes and not make any saves-as,or do you wish the elegant/courtesy boot-off with save-as steps?"Then, then the tech could respond and help IT look good when users tend to forget to log off. It also is good for cases when family or other members forget their passwords and no admin is around to force the log-off. Even if a normal attempt by a regular users generates a warning message, the save-as-for-new-logon process could spare people of grief.
I am sure there must be hundreds of thousands of regretted boot-offs a day, maybe a week.
As for the file system, it is just horrendous that, just today, I did a FRESH XP install on an NTFS partition, blown out and rewritten. With ONLY XP and orifice 2k3 and a FEW small apps, the filesystem was frackin' fragged as hell. Red vertical lines in Diskkeeper. The install was barely 20 minutes old. This is just HIDEOUS. I am sure Linux had better file contiguousness years ago. SO for 2K and XP it must not have even been possible for ms or they weren't willing to come up with a filesystem upgrade for existing or fresh installations.
So much for innovation. Seems more like enervation.
Now, I gotta gets some frackin' BSG DVD rerun time in. I wanna see Number 6 tell the newborn it won't have to worry about life problems, and see the blood-curdling screaming mother. And, I wanna seek Starbuck sock the shit out the drunkard XO.
And, the next time somebody at work sneezes, I am going to have to fight HARD not to say, "Lords of Kobol protect his/hear circulatory system."
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heheh this is just TOO funny.. when I posted my prev spiel, the image word was "incite"
Now, it is "sequel"... slash's tool is so funny often.
It's not just those government offices. It's also all those suck-up, KISS-ASS computer companies that have the VAPID, disGUSTING gall to slap on their hardware the stickers that say:
...
"(kiss-ass-hardware company) recommends microsoft windows XP home edition..."
"(kiss-ass-hardware company) recommends microsoft windows XP professional edition..."
"(kiss-ass-hardware company) recommends microsoft windows 2000 edition..."
As IF the consumer (nevermind the wiser PROsumer...) has a frackin' choice. These snivelly-ass companies are accepting marketing dollars for ms and whoring their names on the labels, stickers, and box art. THERE ARE NO other choices coming from MOST manufacturers, and the prosumers and adventurous consumers are ate least trying out Linux/Debian.
It ought to be illegal the SHIT ms gets away with.
It's like recommending "Milk. It does YOUR body good". Then they dairy council gets sued, and they change to:
"Milk. It does A body good."
With all the virii and other bullshit incessantly bringing up the cost of ownership of ms windoze products, its amazing that the industry has not demanded more Linux-based native apps to get off windoze.
-- lame file system... STILL needs defragging in XP/2K. What will vista have?
-- an admin logging off users STILL blows out any work they may have open as drafts. If ms is SOOOOO innovative, then WHY in the hell in the past 6 years have they NOT rewritten windoze to save the endangered draft docs/files as "admin-shutdown-draft 2006-07-31-1422-wordfile.doc" or "sysadmin-shutdown-draft 2006-07-31-1422-outlook.olk"....
Even if security is a problem, the SYSADMIN on the machine should be able to save the file and do the work that the crappy design causes them to do in reboot or log-user-out mode.
Open Source Devs... I think Linux needs something to deal with my 2nd comment, for those systems where the admin needs to bring down a multi-user machine... (presume the kids/family/housemate users left home and left drafts open but their session locked/screen-saved...) for maintenance or hardware change. It would be a "nice to have to be nice and behave" feature...
Hmmm.. I think ms wouldn't know INNOvation if it came up and bit them in the ass twice.
Come to think of it, I don't think they'd now ENERvation if it bit them in the ass THRICE.
Non sequitur...
Their 95% comes first because they cheaply got Kilgore's code. They slid one past IBM. They strong-armed the ass-kissing-for-survival hardware industry. The politicians had no balls to challenge mshaft way back when, and once many businesses saw electronic spreadsheets, they wanted them LIKE YESTERDAY.
It didn't help the losers that mshaft released retaliatory or pre-emptive "oh, WE will have those features and MORE by Q3", causing a massive ass vacuum loss of investor cash to companies that would surely lose SOLELY to ms lying-through-the-mouth marketing machine. AND, ms had MORE marketing dollars than ANYONE.
Had Lotus not dropped the ball, had IBM and numerous other vendors been able to stay ahead of dodgy shit from mshaft, so many other companies would have collectively kept ms at bay, but ONLY for a bit longer, since ms' insidious, insipid purchasing and quashing of its competitors did more damage than other companies that did or tried to do the same thing.
KNOW YOUR HISTORY! PONDER THE LITTLE GUY'S PLIGHT as one other little guy goes on the path of "megalomaniacal asshole of the industry".
class... and has hardware AND OS's.
BUT, ms LACKS, can't design an console (I call it "hexed-box) that is cracked but isn't all that it's cracked up to be, and is trying to BUY/CO-OPT class...
Vista will probably melt like the waxy Crayola crowns do in heat, then windoze will just glop like tender meat...
Hopefully the public sees past this wax horror show. Maybe if they put Vincent Price or Boris Karloff on the machines shells (we -- are -- here -- toooo -- skehhhhrrr -- yhou -- (hew-huu-hew)....)
Class is something ms will probably NEVER know.. but it's pr firm sure as hell can graft it onto them on TV... and grafts don't add up when the underlying tissue is so necrotized... so vapid...
I think I read in late 2004 or early 2005 about this being available in Japan at or before the time I had read about it.
2 sh/index.html
They even have pay-for-train-ticket and pay-for-groceries-and-other-things by cell.
While not light years ahead in all areas, Japan trounces the USA in some interesting and invisible ways. I had an analog TV phone (with FM radio, 1.2 megapixel camera, tweaking ability of the hundreds of polyphonics tunes inside, removable SD card, JP/Eng interface, memo, cal, many alarms, and more.) there for ONE PENNY (One YEN) because by Dec 04 it was "obsolete", yet where in the USA is an analog (meaning your viewing habits are NOT trackable) phone available for such a humane price?
Hell, many of the cell phones have PS2 console interfaces so up to 4 or more bored friends can hook up to a large flatscreen and play games designed for the phones.
I used to taunt the local (SF/SJ) cell stores with it, but Karma caught up with me and I ended up having to lose it. I was devastated.
See:
http://www.vodafone.jp/english/products/kisyu/v40
Big Brother, Little Sister...
Big Mother...
Where's Little Father?
Will we have Fat Auntie and Skinny Uncle?
I wouldn't be surprised if like so much we learn about ("our") 'Merkun culture Farragut's successes were inflated or even mythical. Really, if a crew mutinies, then something went seriously wrong. I can imagine the crew suffering from scurvy or lack of food or extremely harsh and brutal treatment. Hell the vaunted USN had RACE RIOTS in the 1970's until Admiral Elmo Zumwalt stepped in and restored order. I can imagine "Admiral" Farragut having been less worn out and having more energy to take over command. He probably was just more charismatic enough to have been (well) liked, or enough to not be slain where he stood. Age 12. I, too, think he was the exception.
It makes me wonder about older Commodores such as Perry and his escapades/letter delivering to a certain country oh say around 1850's. Even back then, I think it is not an even comparison to try to match Farragut at 12 in the 1812's and Perry at his age. In either case, it DID take hearty individuals to survive at sea in those days.
Anyway, it's early and I'm not all that collected yet.
But, parents need education before becoming parents or before being ALLOWED to become parents. If children are like assets of a company or organization, then allowing them to succumb to mass-marketing that induces them to eat and beg to be allowed to eat junkfood out of control is like allowing company employees or assets to be wooed, pilfered or abused by competitors or unauthorized pillagers. It's tantamount to recklessness.
It's why a few years ago Los Angeles had to terminate early a number of soda vending machine contracts after kids were suffering vision problems and becoming abnormally obese, hyperactive (or is it hypoactive?), and losing concentration. And the soda companies had the gall to bitch about it. Now, they are selling overpriced water, juices and other drinks as a substitute. It would have been more honorable or respectful if they had taken the moral high ground FIRST rather than having been greedy and forced by outraged parents and district administration officials who had a clearer vision. This is not to say the admins resolved all their problems, however. There will always be many more to come. When money talks...
computer RPG to a whole new.. umm. "level"...
But, I like the part about a secret base in the Everglades.
What would be cool is faking a database of chupacabra-human mutagenics data claiming the efficacy of a new breed of supersoldier.
These kinds of problems (and my disinterest in bells and whistles and disdain for being FORCED to turn on Java Script to read a frackin' web page) are why I want to yell, "turn that shit off!"
So, I ONLY activate JavaScript in Konqueror on a page-by-page basis. I have it AND Java turned off by default. When the page is done, I destroy the history folder and sometimes nuke the cookies. I also in my firewall at the eth device and LAN device, as well as in the ports and as well as in Konqueror's cookies manager manually and malevolently blacklist or forbid connections to OR from all sorts of shit, from akamai, to double-dick to anything that is spawning the bazillions of port requests. This shit just annoys me that when I want a quick read, I have to witness umpteen connections due to all those adverts, king wizard page gimmicks and such. (I think I have over 200 sites blacklisted in the inbound and LAN portions of my firewall.)
I'm at the point where if a site asks for many cookies, I just ban the whole site and try to remember that its slow loading is because I banned my computer from letting me see it.
(I guess I'm overreacting, but it's as frackin' annoying as noise pollution by firetrucks blaring at 200 decibels moving at 5 miles per hour. I don't know who to curse: them for not turning the thing down or pausing it, or the idiot drivers in front who are oblivious to the truck. Dumbasses with their CDs up loud or who just don't check the rearview are why I advocate giving police cars and emergency response vehicles the ability to white noise certain automobile audio devices so lame-ass driver get the hint: the FRAKIN' ROAD is NOT all about YOU.)
But, I suppose we're going to see exploits that circumvent the turn-java-script-off setting. Or, it could just force web developers to change for the better for site visitors. I am of the feeling there is a LOT of shit we don't need on web pages, but some people want to show off their prowess, their calling card, and overcomplicate the visit. Either that, or they have WAYYYY too much information their company is trying to present and are being too cutting edge about it.
Dcam, if you haven't seen these:
"The Eagle and the Rising Sun" by Alan Schom, 2004, $17.95, ISBN 0-393-32628-4
and
"Clash: US-Japan Relations Throughout History", by Walter LeFeber, 1997, $17.95, ISBN 0-393-31837-0
you might want to read them.
My own starting point about when US attacked Japan is where the US attacked JAPAN in the 1850-s timeframe when on more than 27 or so occasions the US beat down Japan's door demanding access to land sailors for relief, fuel, supplies, etc. and demanded Japan give to all nations the same services it was GOING to give the US. Japan was a contented, feudal/shogunate in-warring, economic basket case of sorts that very rarely peeked outside (not ignoring that Japan invaded Korea in 1592 with 158,700 soldiers., but the embarrassing walloping issued by Corea caused Japan to withdraw into an enforced isolation, which the Americans disastrously meddled with and precipitated the Japanese march upon and destruction around the area thatt that ruined many lives in Asia).
It seems you (DCAM) know a lot of what happened, but as one poster said how we get the 2-liner 100 years later and we "Americans" learn very little of the facts until much later, many readers will be shocked to fathom the idea, the fact, that every nation outside of Asia that either infused China with Opium, or set out to carve up oil fields that by geography ALONE ought be the sole exploit interest of local Asian nations. That said, FACE, PATIENCE and evasive, non-committal answering are EVERYthing to most Asians, where as Westerners come in like gangbusters, football players and strategists who won't take no for an answer. Japan's responses were regarded as contemptuous and as weakness..
The Koreans were a bit more "recalcitrant" in warding of most of the imperial invaders from Europe and the US, and when one too many a ship tried to kick in Korea's door, Korea promptly blasted the hell out of and I think sank the ship. The world today might be vastly different if China had not suffered the Opium Wars and had not Macau, Hong Kong and other parts of China been imperiously wrested from them. Had China's own navy not been dismantled by their mandarins after 1492, China could probably have fended for herself and told invaders where they could promptly go. (Aside from Admiral Yi (of Corea using only a dozen ships and wrecking or demolishing over 300 Japanese ship.)
Korea had the world's first ironclad ships, and were great defenders/warriors. It is most unfortunate that Japan had internal unrest, many jobless people, many millions who died in famines and then the American imperious visits which, along with Russian Admiral Putyatin' ship (the Diana?) it is no wonder Japan (after numerous students/offices/spies) schooled in and studied the US industries decided to malevolently seize all of Asia FOR Asian before any more Opium-laced China and fallen Koreas would happen to Japan.
So, really, if we go far back enough (and this is, to me, not nearly as complicated and unraveling the Middle East/Israel/Palestine/Jerusalem/Iran/Iraq/Emirates creations and debacles and eons-winding travails) we can see that external European meddling to carve up China-Persia-Korea-Japan Asian market activities (spices, tea, emeralds, jade, and so on), maybe, just maybe Japan would NOT have had a drive to bomb Pearl.
But, it was not a complete surprise, either, as the US had broken the code and knew there WOULD be an attack, and on 3 occasions even USN carrier squadrons "raided" Pearl Harbor in 3 different years prior to Dec 7, successfully. It's just that Roosevelt wanted to let Japan throw the first punch. The attack/raid was a surprise inasmuch as it caught sailors resting or going to church and such, but after reading Eagle/Sun, it can be seen that a mind-boggling series of blunders and recoveries on each side was down to luck, weather, comms intercepts, and so on. A US destroyer had even sank a Japanese sub IN the harbor area HOURS before the planes arrived, and y
erros in:
"But, they apparently can conceive of a situation where a ship design is a COPYRIGHTED blueprint of a fictional ship, AND simultaneously the design can be a REGISTERED VESSEL DESIGN because the details are so insanely numerous as to be a buildable ship. What REALLY hung them up was that I wanted to also register the design, as Copyright and Registry are two beasts, and I wanted dual protection. They then started saying that since this is a SHIP, it should be registered, since it will sit in water, and they don't like seeing REAL ships as copyright but not registered. I told them the ship could be a MOCKUP for a movie set, or a floating barge not going to sea if no engines were installed, but things got really confusing and I didn't finish the paperwork."
I meant to say:
"But, they apparently CAN'T conceive of situation (mine) where a ship design is a COPYRIGHTED blueprint of a fictional ship, AND simultaneously the design can be a REGISTERED VESSEL DESIGN" because when ship or boat or vessel designs are presented I think they expect that copyright will be for land-locked things like buildings, cars, homes, computers... essentially things that are fixed to or used on land. I don't remember how they deal with aircraft designs beyond copyright itself.
But, since I have SHIP designs, and they see ships as being in WATER and SAILING then they should be registered (which is MUCH more costlier). Apparently, they didn't see my idea as movie set or museum, and even if they do, it's a lot of work for THEM in this category.
Interestingly, when I showed them to a major shipbuilder in Japan, one of the two company men sent to receive me must have suspected me for being a competitor, a mole, or a tool to set them up for lawsuits, particularly since I committed the grave error of not having business cards. Terrible omission on my part. The senior of the two kept saying "national secrets"... to which I politely differed, stating I learned as a teenager in 1980 how to do this stuff by taking drafting classes, going to the library, and constantly reading stuff published by the US Naval Institute Proceedings, Sea Power, AD Baker's stuff, and innumerable other sources. Moreover, the US government allows you to purchase or license build stuff that is widely known in the US, and it is not regarded as "secrets", particularly since an FBI interview with me in 2003 (over an unrelated matter in my neighborhood to which they felt I would have vital information) did not result in my arrest, questioning or the like even though I thoroughly explained to them my attitude, my hobby, what the implications were, and that the best policy response is probably to dismiss me as a weirdo hobbyist with some heretical but as-yet-not-actionable ideas."
I showed them at a museum and one ship history librarian was impressed and so since he was the ONE Japanese person in Japan who showed (or could feel comfortable in allowing himself to show) a heart-felt interest in, appreciation for, and excitement with my drawings, I could not help but give him a copy. (The shipyard guys were polite, but were understandably wary of me, and they were the commercial shipping guys, not the actual naval ship guy, since the receptionist couldn't tell a naval ship from a container ship.)
Anyway, even were I to disappear, what I did is not impossible nor illegal (unless some vapid administration officials decree otherwise just to be like the cops nailing the guy with the camera phone... if they were in uniform, it's not then as if he blew the identities of undercover operatives, and any cop valuable enough to be undercover should not be in uniform and in ready sight of a camera, and such officers should be in deep cover and hand over their handiwork to officers who have no covers to worry about protecting... at least that my line of thinking...)
(SEVERAL URLS are in this posting... scan further (~ 3/4) down for details about my own designs I am discussing)
...
.tif copies of my first design (it has some intentional/and erroneous external alternations which don't negate the value of the effort; besides, if any real navy wanted to build a copy of my plans, they'd STILL spend years ruminating the best permutations and equipment to personnel ratio among many over va
Since the discussion has wended and meandered into copyright, police, government and commercial buildings, this presented one of the very rare opportunities for me to mention my own copyright works without being blatantly off topic.
For fun and hopefully someday to make money, I design naval ships (cruisers, but no destroyers... "destroyer" is too evil/bombastic/outmoded a word -- and internationally, several nations feel the same way). I've shown them to LOTS of people here and overseas. I've given away hard copies of my design in the URL below. People see them on paper and think I'm an engineer, asking me what CAD system I used. I reply: "Mark ONE, Mod-OH eyeball, pencil, straight edge, and paper and lots of reading." Some even thing I heisted REAL government/ship designs. But, I made sure the USN public affairs office in 2003 knew what I was doing so I don't get some capricious, reactionary government warrant or possible shipyard complaints delivered to me. Filing for my first copyright was interesting, though not expensive. Registering them would be even MORE expensive, since mine are not the typical 8.5" x 11" questionable originality boat and dinghy and small craft designs sent to the US Library of Congress.
Copyright on boats/ships/vessels is or seems to be notoriously fraught with issues. If you look at:
US Copyright Office - Registration of Vessel Hull Designs
http://www.copyright.gov/vessels/
and:
Copyrights
stylized boat The Vessel Hull Design Protection Act, Title 17, Chapter 13 of the United States Code, was signed into law on October 28, 1998, providing for
www.uspto.gov/main/profiles/copyright.htm
you may scratch your head.
When I filed for copyright in 2003 for one design, the US LIB CONG/ Copyright Office sent back the form for clarification. I could COPYRIGHT my designs as BLUEPRINTS, but since they look VERY REAL as ship plans, I could also register them as "REGISTERED VESSEL DESIGNS". At one point, their processing fees were lower than posted. I think once they got two copies of my originals at 24" by 46" or so, and saw that 5 sheets comprised the set for a particular ship, and that there were many decks, numerous details, and an 80+ page/two-sides printed book (badly edited on my part) they must have realized that if others started registering ships it would cost them an arm and a leg to process such stuff.
But, they apparently can conceive of a situation where a ship design is a COPYRIGHTED blueprint of a fictional ship, AND simultaneously the design can be a REGISTERED VESSEL DESIGN because the details are so insanely numerous as to be a buildable ship. What REALLY hung them up was that I wanted to also register the design, as Copyright and Registry are two beasts, and I wanted dual protection. They then started saying that since this is a SHIP, it should be registered, since it will sit in water, and they don't like seeing REAL ships as copyright but not registered. I told them the ship could be a MOCKUP for a movie set, or a floating barge not going to sea if no engines were installed, but things got really confusing and I didn't finish the paperwork.
However, technically, legally, the work is mine. It's just that without registry or copyright, what I could claim in damages would be limited by any lack of copyright filing or registry.
You can see them at:
www.dreadyachts.com
but at:
http://www.dreadyacht.com/4.html
you an for free download
Is it illegal to be "fucking Irish"? (I mean, if he's in Texas, and they catch him, he's in deep shit. But if they went someplace else...)
Oh, wait, you REALLY meant, "He is a fucking Irishman". In that case, should they do remakes of Irish Spring soap and after shave commercials with him doing product placements.
(Whistling the old Irish Spring jingle...)
But, for a twist, they could smash together Irish Spring and Brut... with the canoe and the schooner... and make a new bad-ass deodor-shave called "Irish Brut"