For merely MENTIONING that in an under-three-handed attempt to bush-whack the imperial galactic representative, it will be YOU undergoes the medical examination for trying to OUT his being an extra terrestrial (note two-word vs one-word). It will be YOU who cannot change the channels...
Disclaimer:
There is NO guarantee that during the process, you won't endure unimaginable, extensive, and irreparable, psychological and physical damage, including dementia, tissue necrosis, and neglect of your financial responsibilities. If/when released from examination, you MAY be able to walk -- if you cannot, a Captain Christopher Pike-type wheelchair will be provided, but the ADA does not applie if you are an alien we CHOOSED to release (since if you cannot communicate via blinking eye, utterance or finger tapping, and we shut down any telepathic/telekinesys capabilities, we might release you on your OWN O.R. (own recognizance) from OUR O.R. (operating room).
Also, all your worldly pozzesshuns are now blong to U.S.. Your off-worldly possession and claims thereto will transfer to U.S..
Here's an idea... make new patents probationary for their first few years of life, and at the end of that period automatically revoke the patent unless the holder has made a non-trivial *attempt* to develop a product. This would limit the lifespan of submarine patents, and likewise cut down on the number of idiots holding patents on things like "warp drive" and "time machine".
Will we get to the day when having to file for a patent will be redundant or non-mandatory?
Imagine this: A small inventor uses a piece of commercially-available software to create an application. The author/designer meticulously documents application, the use procedures, and more. BUT, intentionally, the person does NOT file for a patent, due to the costs and other factors.
Now, the author can easily -- through documentation and publication -- demonstrate he/she created the application, and therefore hold the copyrights. If the inventor/author/designer files them through his/her country's copyright office and there is no issue of national secrets and no issue of plagiarism or "obvious information", then the person could probably successfully sue for damages when someone blatantly rips off and commercializes the products.
Now, let's say you use OpenOffice.org to create an app, and you use some well-documented and community-supported macros, scripts, and such. Now let's say ms or some company comes along and cribs those formulas, macros, and scripts and then adjusts them for ms' code to obfuscate the fact they cribbed them. Should or should not the original user of the OO.o app be able to impose some legal sanction against them.
(Oh, let's assume the inventor is basically using OO.o to make a application, not attempt to subvert the freely-available macros. Reassembling macros would be HARD to obtain special protection for. But, certain macros and scripts and formulas chained in ways that did not get published and that nobody can prove they wrote and shared might deserve some special LIMITED duration protection, maybe "quasi-patent protection"..)
I do realize that there are cases that were fought and lost over the "look and feel/essence" of apps, i.e.. Lotus v ms with 1-2-3 being copied. Word processors, databases, and art digital canvas apps...
But, my main point is, why should a (small, poor) creator of a very clever, ingenious, not-yet-invented (supported by (hopefully truthful) absent cases of submarine patent infringements suits) application have to spend thousands of dollars JUST to GET the protections?
If copyright can serve as a basic protection, then it should be enforceable so as to de facto act as a patent protection, at least in the case of art, software, blueprints, and mechanical/small things that are not complicated (say, a new spoon is simple, as is a chair, or box; a heavy electronic device, crane or engine or cell or chemical process is very complicated and needs scientists, UL-type testing and more...).
It seems to me, too, that this new USPTO event is just likely to oppress small/poor inventors, since the cost category for small inventors is still to expensive for POOR inventors who have to seek a lawyer or patent expert who is NOT going to be under $500 to properly do the research, filing, and other related processes. As long as the USPTO search engine is *just* weak enough or obfuscated enough to leave doubts and fears in the mind of the person doing the search, the cost of going ahead to file is high for small inventors.
Maybe someone has an EXTREME will to fly. Taking this to its next logical step, to them, would be "improving the man-machine interface" and giving pilots the WILL to fly.
But, then in the case of the military pilots, I suppose these designers would run afoul of pilots who want to BE IN the action, not just see it on a screen as a remote operator of drones.
In the case of commercial pax transport, there's still that adage: "The Captain goes down with the ship." We wont have flight crew equipped with parchutes or jettisonable nose cones. And I am sure that for a remotely long time to come we won't have pilots who remotely fly their passenger.
But for flying by the seat of your pants, improved MMI might mean that anybody willing to jump into the cockpit might (security procedures aside) be able to tell the plane:
-- Take me to this point (assuming you know how to describe lat/long, or grid coordinates, or take me to the enemy code of the day), arm the weapons;
-- as appropriate go into evasive maneuvers but maintain contact with the hostile and suspicious craft; avoid shooting down friendlies or CommAir
-- if all hell breaks loose, PLEASE don't exceed 9.5 G's
-- please don't fly so fast and high or so fast and low as to get me killed
What you relate is very interesting. It reminds me of the books/magazines I had read which say, basically, "Your agent will work hard for you; if YOU don't get paid, your agent doesn't either..."
Well, in the case you mentioned it seems that either the agent threatened to not rep the artist, or convinced the artist it wasn't in the best interest of all concerned. Maybe that agent finds it "beneath dignity" to offer up the material for "please donate/pay if you liked the material" or something like that.
I really, really wish the artists will start to band together and survive/make a good living on THEIR terms, not the stifling industry terms. Sure, SOME people (maybe a LOT?) will need an "enforcer"/agent, but I agree with you, and others: the material has to be read/seen/heard in order to garner sales potential. I guess they don't want to market (oops, which is what III need to learn to do...)
INT WTF????!!!! "Your comment has too few characters per line (currently 13.6....) SHEESHHHH!!!!! (IRRITATE me into burning some KARMA?)
Sorry I had to insert readability-destroying " padding is needed here, really" stuff
Well, on my 900MHz Celery, with 256 MB RAM, Rhythmbox eats a LOT of RAM. Besides that, I include some representative samples running alongside.... But, I've got 104 process running, too.
And, it's really NICE now that I've u/g to Mdrva 2006 LE with KDE 4.1, Rhythmbox preempts windoze 98 from playing audio, preempts Ymessenger (it's funny tho, after I pause R/B, ymessenger will ding 20-40 times, or however many times IMs flew back and forth...)
not picking on Rhythmbox, but does it REALLYYYY need that much of my system's resources? Maybe it's cuz I have a 7 audio files ranging from 0 MB to 727.80 MB, or about 17 hours 39 min only 5 files open in R/B?
PID: 4579 padding is needed here, really Name: rhythmbox padding is needed here, really State: S padding is needed here, really %CPU: 1.2 padding is needed here, really Size: 101M padding is needed here, really RSS: 10036K padding is needed here, really Nice: 0 padding is needed here, really Pri: 15 padding is needed here, really
PID: 11128 padding is needed here, really Name: konqueror padding is needed here, really State: S padding is needed here, really %CPU: 5.0 padding is needed here, really Size: 99M padding is needed here, really RSS: 55488K padding is needed here, really Nice: 0 padding is needed here, really Pri: 15 padding is needed here, really
PID: 3841 padding is needed here, really Name: X padding is needed here, really %CPU: 10.3 padding is needed here, really Size: 62204K padding is needed here, really RSS: 30244K padding is needed here, really Nice: 0 padding is needed here, really Pri: 15 padding is needed here, really
PID: 9678 padding is needed here, really Name: doxexec (win4lin) padding is needed here, really State: R (yep, "R") padding is needed here, really %CPU: 46.3 padding is needed here, really Size: 164M padding is needed here, really RSS: 35144K padding is needed here, really Nice: 0 padding is needed here, really Pri: 25 padding is needed here, really
PID: 9680 padding is needed here, really Name: xcrt padding is needed here, really State: S padding is needed here, really %CPU: 0.1 padding is needed here, really Size: 100M padding is needed here, really RSS: 2088K padding is needed here, really Nice: 0 padding is needed here, really Pri: 15 padding is needed here, really
PID: 9679 padding is needed here, really Name: auserver padding is needed here, really State: S padding is needed here, really %CPU: 0.0 padding is needed here, really Size: 96084K padding is needed here, really RSS 784K padding is needed here, really Nice: 0 padding is needed here, really Pri: 15 padding is needed here, really
PID: 11254 padding is needed here, really Name: artsd padding is needed here, really State: S padding is needed here, really %CPU: 0.3 padding is needed here, really Size: 20988K padding is needed here, really RSS: 7140K padding is needed here, really Nice: 0 padding is needed here, really Pri: 15 padding is needed here, really
What about self-publishers. Where would they stand in this scheme?
If self-publishers shun DRM, then where would THEY stand, too?
It's kinda scary when the most advanced governments can show just how much of a repressive regime they can be. I imagine the US will be on THAT list, too, for oppressive regimes.
Segue: The US already is on the list for the number of prisoners PER CAPITA and per number, around 600 per 100,000 incarcerated, and over 2 MILLION out of the whole pop.
Anyway, just look at how many books sit in the megastores. Periodically, you'll see them relabeling shelves, in prep for a mass redecoration or "change our look". Sometimes it only takes a number (how many, I don't know) of book sales or drops from a category, or a need to make space for new titles and the whole damn floor of a Borders or B&N seems to change. One only need not go there for maybe 6 weeks or so, and things aren't where they used to be. Same as SF's main library... after a month of having not been there, I couldn't find something by foot and eye-- I had to troll the aisles and got lucky because I barely remembered part of the Dewey number, and I was reluctant to mess with the paper catalog and didn't want to wait for a computer, much less touch them.
Another segue: Yeh, you can pick up hep B from all sorts of sources if following someone by a matter of minutes). Sure, I touch things around me, shake hands with some people on occasion, but I make SURE to go wash my hands at intervals and often right after any contact. Having seen that so many people sneeze, hack, use nasty-ass hanky's, and then touch books and mags makes me very careful as to what I tend to touch. But, I'm not a total hand-wash freak, either...
But, at some point, when I get around to starting and then releasing a few stories here and there, I want wide dissemination. Even if I make a name for myself, I would rather the stories circulate, as I am NOT big on big business, not aiming for "big bucks", and morally will gun down (metaphorically) and maul anyone who tries to push me higher up the food chain than I am comfortable.
But, people like myself will at some point cause governments to "nationalize the works" to "keep them from being so free."
I have near-complete objection to DRM in any works I will create and distribute. As an aspiring naval fiction author, I intend to make sure than NO firm dealing in DRM will be related to any of my work. Even if they offer me a tempting amount of money just for limited distribution rights, they will still not be allowed to impose DRM.
That's how **I** feel...
That is the order of things... as the Gem H'dar would say... (spelling?)
OK. I defer. I've only been to TWO of them, and was only there barely 3 months. I wish I could have had more time and money and a European/Asian passport of preference so I could stay AND work **180** days instead of 90 and NO working. Damned politicians.
Also, yeh, they do tend to favor 8-12 word descriptions for some things, huh.
Boy, I'd love to revisit Funenokagakukan a 3rd, 4th, and 5th time...
Actually, I think I barely thought about it after I wrote my piece. However, I think I was chafing over having spent almost 3 hours on the web. Seems this thing is as addictive today as it was years ago. I must've just wanted to say a few things and get out. I tend to post some mind-numbingly long, terse, or inciteful stuff at times.
But, thanks for pointing out the areas III should have covered but which I didn't.
IIRC the Germans also came up with the teardrop hull, something which the US gained SIGNIFICANT advantages from during the cold war. I think batteries and other stuff was part of the "booty" or "luckybag" heisted/prized from Germany. I can't remember the other stuff that came out of Japan right after the war.
BTW, China seems to have obtained a LOT of nuke-related material from the US via espionage (but, think The Outer Limits: "The Equation MUST Be Balanced"...), but how many people know that Japan was WELL on her way to building NUKES just before the US bombed her. I think the US bombed her NOT just to save 'merkun lives and not just to have "live field data vs samples and theories", but I think it was to prevent Japan from gaining ground on use of Nukes. I read somewhere that either Japan or the US hacked up the critical pieces and them dumped them in the Pacific, in DEEEEEEP water. Saw this somewhere in Barnes & Noble, around 2001 or 2003...
I had to use the toilet in one (in Japan, in English, one asks for "the toilet", not the "bathroom") and there were all sorts of meticulous posters explaining not to shower in the toilet room. Instead, rent the shower...
I think the shower was priced around Y300 or Y500 (roughly US$3.30 or US $5.50 at the time. For that, and a $10 movie, though, about every 2 hours, it could be pricey. So, I think some people just used the desk area, where some "overnight" spaces were dedicated. I don't think overnighters had a "cubicle" or "pod" in which to sleep. There were resting areas. In the open. At least in the one in Shibuya I went to.
But, it could get pricey, tho one still could save Y300 to Y2000 per day on travel costs. Just buy some undies and socks and toss out the soiled/used stuff or recycle it. Even THAT can get pricey, too. But, time being very priceless probably is a strong motivator for some to say in town and not worry about missing the last train, only to be able to have 5 hours of sleep and home and turn around and sleep an hour on the train on the way back to work-- if waking is not a problem when having to transfer to another train.
It's MORE than a Manga Cafe. I've been to TWO of them. They also have Play Station, I think X box IIRC, and VCR/DVD combos. If you go in there with the right gear, you could **probably** bootleg the hell out of DVDs and other media. Not that I support/condone that.
But, if those existed in the US, you'd have some form of illegal sex, human fluids, spilt drinks, and maybe even drug activity. But, aside from THAT, the MPAA? and RIAA and BSA would demand copying of license or IDs and installation of anti-piracy tools.
The anti-porn legislation types would demand installation of video cameras to deter sex and abuse of children.
Cities hard up for tax revenues would impose harsh and draconian "arcade" permit requirement upon each machine. I suppose Internet cafes already pay these. IN Stockton, California, any such business would have to pay these arcade fees via the police department.
They places would lose money, and go out of business. All because of church groups, drug dealers, sex addicts, and the RIAA/others complaining about piracy and loss of revenues.
But, yeh, most of all, here in the US, we don't have the "crowd effect" of 10 million to 20 million (I forget the exact number, but the pop and density are high...) people in the size of Tokyo pushing to get out of the house and stay out as long as possible. The main Shinjuku station probably moves more people in a week than NYC might in a month or two. The per-square foot of utilization by shops, eateries, jewelers, and more is mind-boggling. Not a space is wasted, and most of the shops and such all seem new, abuzz, and entrepreneurial, tho there are some larger chains or big-budget stores present. There is a certain "energy" in the air I felt in Tokyo, and I NEVER feel that here in the US except on occasions of HUGE parades, shows or concerts., and THAT is mostly all due to "herd mentality", not a daily occurrence.
How can both of these be 5 and informative? One says there are no memory leaks, just a feature with intense memory consumption. The other says s/he used a tool and FOUND leaks when closing tabs. (Reminds me of someone who peed in bed, and when confronted, said "THAT'S NOT PEE! THAT'S NOT PEE! I SWEAT A **LOT**! But, pee or sweat, both have salt and ammonia and other byproducts from eating and breathing and being active life forms...)
Who's right? Do we fire Apollo? Do we fry Bacon's Bits?
And, what about the US? V-2 rockets. German adaptation of the Dutch schnorkel? US seizure of German submarines because Germany lost the war. There's a LOT of shit (technology) THIS country acquired merely through the advantage of having "won" the war. Moreover, the US is NOT innocent of industrial espionage.
Did you know that decades ago many high-level businessmen who travelled over seas were debriefed byteh CIA sand other US-government agencies ast to what tech they gleaned in Japan, Europe and other places?
Doesn't matter that it wasn't patented; IP was taken from Germany, Japan, and other countries, even from UK and other allies. The US is NOT so pristine and squeaky clean as many would like to posit.
I know of someone who on various planes and with various airliners ran a Sony camcorder during takeoff AND during landing. The plane didn't crash. The pilot never announced any dangers. The plane didn't weave or bob or sideslip any of the runways. Nothing of significance came about. No flight attendants perused the aisles. We all know someone who gets on the phone as SOON as the plane lands, or someone who is texting or trying to talk or play a handheld game until the LAST minute. I don't really worry. I say if commercial electronics that sprung out of a lot of military research and commercial competitive and dense FCC spectrum allocations can't take off or land in the same or general signals that are present in every major city (TV, Radio, emergency, construction, walkie-talkie, cellular, CB, Ham and other radio signals, the phooey on THEM for not shielding the wiring harnesses and control signals... What the hell would the pilots do if some hobbyist set off an intense electromagnetic burst near their local airport and a plane were landing? Sure, the FCC MIGHT localize and find it, but from general EM sources, NO plane should be crashing short of a cosmic or nuke EMP burst!
I once went to the cockpit before takeoff and asked the pilots (back in 1995 or 1996) about how high over San Jose, or at least how many seconds after wheels depart the ground I needed to wait to use my own camcorder after takeoff. He said about 45 seconds, and then after some right-bank we make, we're clear. I eagerly and carefully counted the seconds. I got my footage, or at least shot footage.
Now, I've become quite cynical in life and am not afraid to say what's on my mind. I have a friend who is a co-pilot of a Japanese airline. I asked him about some stuff. He's had a few close calls in the air, but not related to passenger personal electronic equipment in the cabin. I myself feel the planes are already sufficiently hardened from errant commercial gear. I don't buy the line that electronics can crash the plane or interfere with the landing aides signals the plane relies upon during automatic/autopilot landings and other events.
So, I told my friend what I think. The airlines just don't want passengers shooting film and video during critical evolutions: landings and takeoffs. IF the plane crashes in those regimes, it's possible the recorders they don't OWN will get into the hands of someone who might give it to the NEWS. The airlines control the black boxes, and I gather (from watching shows and reading things) they are encrypted and require special devices to pull out the information. But, a HandyCam with spectacular crash footage, yelling, moaning, crying, kicking with all their might the seats in front of them, pounding the armrests in futility, whimpering and simpering, and cussing and shitl flying about before g-forces takes over would NOT be what ANY airline or traffic safety board wants in the hands of the public. He mildly laughed, but kinda, sorta emoted in body language "Yeh, they wouldn't want that footage in public..."
But, my feeling is: we go when we go. I want to SEE such footage if it exists. We see all kinds of rapes, eviscerations, beheadings, and more in Hollywood, but for some reason, the plight of REAL people is regarded as so reverent they grieving survivors of the crash victims "deserve" some privacy and respect. Well, I buy a part of that, but I don't give a rat about the possiblity of air travel dollars being lost because genuine footage got to the public. If they are so concerned, they should just ban the presence of such equipment IN THE CABIN and do something about the lousy and persistent theft or pilfering or excessive invasion of luggage that is checked into the lower compartment.
Things that I DID experience as frightening (but, still kind of puts a smile on my face, so much so that I have had to hide my face betewen the cabin and the seat in front, are:
-high g-turns after takeoff-- I just wish we'd turn HARDER sometimes, but that would upset many PAX, and might spill or
I thought it was more like a sieve-like tourniquet for a missing limb...
It's about time though. I had for years had this idea:
Treat the already-fucked/exposed SSNs akin to a "public key" of sorts. Everybody either has or CAN get access to it. So, delink it from retirement, government, payroll and educational accounts. Create a NEW number which is SUPPOSED TO BE private. It lines to the above-restricted accounts. It's is solely an INPUT mechanism as retirement goes. But, for education, payroll, and law enforcement purposes, it would be tightly controlled and kept out of the hands of greedy fucking corporations-- ESPECIALLY those asses in the credit reporting entities where rampant laziness or abuse of time and profit keeps many people on the fix-my-report treadmill.
The public side of the existing SSN would be useful for those who want to make legal or authorized deposits into your account. The friendly depositor would not need your bank account number. So, anyone wanting to donate to you COULD, and it would be traceable for tax purposes, unless you opt to NOT allow anonymous or other deposits to your public SSN this way.
I suppose the goddam lobbyists and reporting agencies, tho, would fight this tooth and nail (and, hire a $50 hit man to kill my ass on any future overseas trips)...
That's part of why I told some federal officials who once contacted me (in 2003), "this kind of stuff is putting a BULLSEYE on MY BACK! If *I* travel to the wrong country, I could have my head blown off just for having a US passport..."
Hey, suppose Silicon Graphics goes under then emerges as "Silicon Glyphics", as in Silicon Hieroglyphics. I would immediately wonder if they'd gotten an NSA contract and a new lease on life....
(recoats tinfoil hat with cesium barium-strontide layer...)
Slashdot Mirror
For merely MENTIONING that in an under-three-handed attempt to bush-whack the imperial galactic representative, it will be YOU undergoes the medical examination for trying to OUT his being an extra terrestrial (note two-word vs one-word). It will be YOU who cannot change the channels...
Disclaimer:
There is NO guarantee that during the process, you won't endure unimaginable, extensive, and irreparable, psychological and physical damage, including dementia, tissue necrosis, and neglect of your financial responsibilities. If/when released from examination, you MAY be able to walk -- if you cannot, a Captain Christopher Pike-type wheelchair will be provided, but the ADA does not applie if you are an alien we CHOOSED to release (since if you cannot communicate via blinking eye, utterance or finger tapping, and we shut down any telepathic/telekinesys capabilities, we might release you on your OWN O.R. (own recognizance) from OUR O.R. (operating room).
Also, all your worldly pozzesshuns are now blong to U.S.. Your off-worldly possession and claims thereto will transfer to U.S..
Stand by; we are coming...
Somebody please mod this up for the paragraph:
Here's an idea... make new patents probationary for their first few years of life, and at the end of that period automatically revoke the patent unless the holder has made a non-trivial *attempt* to develop a product. This would limit the lifespan of submarine patents, and likewise cut down on the number of idiots holding patents on things like "warp drive" and "time machine".
Will we get to the day when having to file for a patent will be redundant or non-mandatory?
Imagine this: A small inventor uses a piece of commercially-available software to create an application. The author/designer meticulously documents application, the use procedures, and more. BUT, intentionally, the person does NOT file for a patent, due to the costs and other factors.
Now, the author can easily -- through documentation and publication -- demonstrate he/she created the application, and therefore hold the copyrights. If the inventor/author/designer files them through his/her country's copyright office and there is no issue of national secrets and no issue of plagiarism or "obvious information", then the person could probably successfully sue for damages when someone blatantly rips off and commercializes the products.
Now, let's say you use OpenOffice.org to create an app, and you use some well-documented and community-supported macros, scripts, and such. Now let's say ms or some company comes along and cribs those formulas, macros, and scripts and then adjusts them for ms' code to obfuscate the fact they cribbed them. Should or should not the original user of the OO.o app be able to impose some legal sanction against them.
(Oh, let's assume the inventor is basically using OO.o to make a application, not attempt to subvert the freely-available macros. Reassembling macros would be HARD to obtain special protection for. But, certain macros and scripts and formulas chained in ways that did not get published and that nobody can prove they wrote and shared might deserve some special LIMITED duration protection, maybe "quasi-patent protection"..)
I do realize that there are cases that were fought and lost over the "look and feel/essence" of apps, i.e.. Lotus v ms with 1-2-3 being copied. Word processors, databases, and art digital canvas apps...
But, my main point is, why should a (small, poor) creator of a very clever, ingenious, not-yet-invented (supported by (hopefully truthful) absent cases of submarine patent infringements suits) application have to spend thousands of dollars JUST to GET the protections?
If copyright can serve as a basic protection, then it should be enforceable so as to de facto act as a patent protection, at least in the case of art, software, blueprints, and mechanical/small things that are not complicated (say, a new spoon is simple, as is a chair, or box; a heavy electronic device, crane or engine or cell or chemical process is very complicated and needs scientists, UL-type testing and more...).
It seems to me, too, that this new USPTO event is just likely to oppress small/poor inventors, since the cost category for small inventors is still to expensive for POOR inventors who have to seek a lawyer or patent expert who is NOT going to be under $500 to properly do the research, filing, and other related processes. As long as the USPTO search engine is *just* weak enough or obfuscated enough to leave doubts and fears in the mind of the person doing the search, the cost of going ahead to file is high for small inventors.
Maybe someone has an EXTREME will to fly. Taking this to its next logical step, to them, would be "improving the man-machine interface" and giving pilots the WILL to fly.
But, then in the case of the military pilots, I suppose these designers would run afoul of pilots who want to BE IN the action, not just see it on a screen as a remote operator of drones.
In the case of commercial pax transport, there's still that adage: "The Captain goes down with the ship." We wont have flight crew equipped with parchutes or jettisonable nose cones. And I am sure that for a remotely long time to come we won't have pilots who remotely fly their passenger.
But for flying by the seat of your pants, improved MMI might mean that anybody willing to jump into the cockpit might (security procedures aside) be able to tell the plane:
-- Take me to this point (assuming you know how to describe lat/long, or grid coordinates, or take me to the enemy code of the day), arm the weapons;
-- as appropriate go into evasive maneuvers but maintain contact with the hostile and suspicious craft; avoid shooting down friendlies or CommAir
-- if all hell breaks loose, PLEASE don't exceed 9.5 G's
-- please don't fly so fast and high or so fast and low as to get me killed
It's just a helluv-a-lofty idea...
Yeh, but the Anti-Troj could be:
"Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord"
It's better to come in peace then go in pieces...
(Adjust spelling to suit your circumstances).
So, if Skype is an NSA project...
and if Slash is a DARPA project...
then... hmm, where can I go with this.... anyone?
What you relate is very interesting. It reminds me of the books/magazines I had read which say, basically, "Your agent will work hard for you; if YOU don't get paid, your agent doesn't either..."
Well, in the case you mentioned it seems that either the agent threatened to not rep the artist, or convinced the artist it wasn't in the best interest of all concerned. Maybe that agent finds it "beneath dignity" to offer up the material for "please donate/pay if you liked the material" or something like that.
I really, really wish the artists will start to band together and survive/make a good living on THEIR terms, not the stifling industry terms. Sure, SOME people (maybe a LOT?) will need an "enforcer"/agent, but I agree with you, and others: the material has to be read/seen/heard in order to garner sales potential. I guess they don't want to market (oops, which is what III need to learn to do...)
INT WTF????!!!! "Your comment has too few characters per line (currently 13.6....) SHEESHHHH!!!!! (IRRITATE me into burning some KARMA?)
Sorry I had to insert readability-destroying " padding is needed here, really" stuff
Well, on my 900MHz Celery, with 256 MB RAM, Rhythmbox eats a LOT of RAM. Besides that, I include some representative samples running alongside.... But, I've got 104 process running, too.
And, it's really NICE now that I've u/g to Mdrva 2006 LE with KDE 4.1, Rhythmbox preempts windoze 98 from playing audio, preempts Ymessenger (it's funny tho, after I pause R/B, ymessenger will ding 20-40 times, or however many times IMs flew back and forth...)
not picking on Rhythmbox, but does it REALLYYYY need that much of my system's resources? Maybe it's cuz I have a 7 audio files ranging from 0 MB to 727.80 MB, or about 17 hours 39 min only 5 files open in R/B?
PID: 4579 padding is needed here, really
Name: rhythmbox padding is needed here, really
State: S padding is needed here, really
%CPU: 1.2 padding is needed here, really
Size: 101M padding is needed here, really
RSS: 10036K padding is needed here, really
Nice: 0 padding is needed here, really
Pri: 15 padding is needed here, really
PID: 11128 padding is needed here, really
Name: konqueror padding is needed here, really
State: S padding is needed here, really
%CPU: 5.0 padding is needed here, really
Size: 99M padding is needed here, really
RSS: 55488K padding is needed here, really
Nice: 0 padding is needed here, really
Pri: 15 padding is needed here, really
PID: 3841 padding is needed here, really
Name: X padding is needed here, really
%CPU: 10.3 padding is needed here, really
Size: 62204K padding is needed here, really
RSS: 30244K padding is needed here, really
Nice: 0 padding is needed here, really
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(At the risk of losing some Karma...and I'll post this without any karma points, too...)
GUYS, WHERE's the sense of HUMOUR???!!! Of or ON topic, it is still funny.
(Leaks? It leaks PUS, that's what it's leaking.)
What about self-publishers. Where would they stand in this scheme?
If self-publishers shun DRM, then where would THEY stand, too?
It's kinda scary when the most advanced governments can show just how much of a repressive regime they can be. I imagine the US will be on THAT list, too, for oppressive regimes.
Segue: The US already is on the list for the number of prisoners PER CAPITA and per number, around 600 per 100,000 incarcerated, and over 2 MILLION out of the whole pop.
Anyway, just look at how many books sit in the megastores. Periodically, you'll see them relabeling shelves, in prep for a mass redecoration or "change our look". Sometimes it only takes a number (how many, I don't know) of book sales or drops from a category, or a need to make space for new titles and the whole damn floor of a Borders or B&N seems to change. One only need not go there for maybe 6 weeks or so, and things aren't where they used to be. Same as SF's main library... after a month of having not been there, I couldn't find something by foot and eye-- I had to troll the aisles and got lucky because I barely remembered part of the Dewey number, and I was reluctant to mess with the paper catalog and didn't want to wait for a computer, much less touch them.
Another segue: Yeh, you can pick up hep B from all sorts of sources if following someone by a matter of minutes). Sure, I touch things around me, shake hands with some people on occasion, but I make SURE to go wash my hands at intervals and often right after any contact. Having seen that so many people sneeze, hack, use nasty-ass hanky's, and then touch books and mags makes me very careful as to what I tend to touch. But, I'm not a total hand-wash freak, either...
But, at some point, when I get around to starting and then releasing a few stories here and there, I want wide dissemination. Even if I make a name for myself, I would rather the stories circulate, as I am NOT big on big business, not aiming for "big bucks", and morally will gun down (metaphorically) and maul anyone who tries to push me higher up the food chain than I am comfortable.
But, people like myself will at some point cause governments to "nationalize the works" to "keep them from being so free."
Oh, wait.... that... already.. happens.
I have near-complete objection to DRM in any works I will create and distribute. As an aspiring naval fiction author, I intend to make sure than NO firm dealing in DRM will be related to any of my work. Even if they offer me a tempting amount of money just for limited distribution rights, they will still not be allowed to impose DRM.
That's how **I** feel...
That is the order of things... as the Gem H'dar would say... (spelling?)
OK. I defer. I've only been to TWO of them, and was only there barely 3 months. I wish I could have had more time and money and a European/Asian passport of preference so I could stay AND work **180** days instead of 90 and NO working. Damned politicians.
Also, yeh, they do tend to favor 8-12 word descriptions for some things, huh.
Boy, I'd love to revisit Funenokagakukan a 3rd, 4th, and 5th time...
Someone mod this guy up...
Actually, I think I barely thought about it after I wrote my piece. However, I think I was chafing over having spent almost 3 hours on the web. Seems this thing is as addictive today as it was years ago. I must've just wanted to say a few things and get out. I tend to post some mind-numbingly long, terse, or inciteful stuff at times.
But, thanks for pointing out the areas III should have covered but which I didn't.
IIRC the Germans also came up with the teardrop hull, something which the US gained SIGNIFICANT advantages from during the cold war. I think batteries and other stuff was part of the "booty" or "luckybag" heisted/prized from Germany. I can't remember the other stuff that came out of Japan right after the war.
BTW, China seems to have obtained a LOT of nuke-related material from the US via espionage (but, think The Outer Limits: "The Equation MUST Be Balanced"...), but how many people know that Japan was WELL on her way to building NUKES just before the US bombed her. I think the US bombed her NOT just to save 'merkun lives and not just to have "live field data vs samples and theories", but I think it was to prevent Japan from gaining ground on use of Nukes. I read somewhere that either Japan or the US hacked up the critical pieces and them dumped them in the Pacific, in DEEEEEEP water. Saw this somewhere in Barnes & Noble, around 2001 or 2003...
INDEED!
I had to use the toilet in one (in Japan, in English, one asks for "the toilet", not the "bathroom") and there were all sorts of meticulous posters explaining not to shower in the toilet room. Instead, rent the shower...
I think the shower was priced around Y300 or Y500 (roughly US$3.30 or US $5.50 at the time. For that, and a $10 movie, though, about every 2 hours, it could be pricey. So, I think some people just used the desk area, where some "overnight" spaces were dedicated. I don't think overnighters had a "cubicle" or "pod" in which to sleep. There were resting areas. In the open. At least in the one in Shibuya I went to.
But, it could get pricey, tho one still could save Y300 to Y2000 per day on travel costs. Just buy some undies and socks and toss out the soiled/used stuff or recycle it. Even THAT can get pricey, too. But, time being very priceless probably is a strong motivator for some to say in town and not worry about missing the last train, only to be able to have 5 hours of sleep and home and turn around and sleep an hour on the train on the way back to work-- if waking is not a problem when having to transfer to another train.
It's MORE than a Manga Cafe. I've been to TWO of them. They also have Play Station, I think X box IIRC, and VCR/DVD combos. If you go in there with the right gear, you could **probably** bootleg the hell out of DVDs and other media. Not that I support/condone that.
But, if those existed in the US, you'd have some form of illegal sex, human fluids, spilt drinks, and maybe even drug activity. But, aside from THAT, the MPAA? and RIAA and BSA would demand copying of license or IDs and installation of anti-piracy tools.
The anti-porn legislation types would demand installation of video cameras to deter sex and abuse of children.
Cities hard up for tax revenues would impose harsh and draconian "arcade" permit requirement upon each machine. I suppose Internet cafes already pay these. IN Stockton, California, any such business would have to pay these arcade fees via the police department.
They places would lose money, and go out of business. All because of church groups, drug dealers, sex addicts, and the RIAA/others complaining about piracy and loss of revenues.
But, yeh, most of all, here in the US, we don't have the "crowd effect" of 10 million to 20 million (I forget the exact number, but the pop and density are high...) people in the size of Tokyo pushing to get out of the house and stay out as long as possible. The main Shinjuku station probably moves more people in a week than NYC might in a month or two. The per-square foot of utilization by shops, eateries, jewelers, and more is mind-boggling. Not a space is wasted, and most of the shops and such all seem new, abuzz, and entrepreneurial, tho there are some larger chains or big-budget stores present. There is a certain "energy" in the air I felt in Tokyo, and I NEVER feel that here in the US except on occasions of HUGE parades, shows or concerts., and THAT is mostly all due to "herd mentality", not a daily occurrence.
How can both of these be 5 and informative? One says there are no memory leaks, just a feature with intense memory consumption. The other says s/he used a tool and FOUND leaks when closing tabs. (Reminds me of someone who peed in bed, and when confronted, said "THAT'S NOT PEE! THAT'S NOT PEE! I SWEAT A **LOT**! But, pee or sweat, both have salt and ammonia and other byproducts from eating and breathing and being active life forms...)
Who's right? Do we fire Apollo? Do we fry Bacon's Bits?
And, what about the US? V-2 rockets. German adaptation of the Dutch schnorkel? US seizure of German submarines because Germany lost the war. There's a LOT of shit (technology) THIS country acquired merely through the advantage of having "won" the war. Moreover, the US is NOT innocent of industrial espionage.
Did you know that decades ago many high-level businessmen who travelled over seas were debriefed byteh CIA sand other US-government agencies ast to what tech they gleaned in Japan, Europe and other places?
Doesn't matter that it wasn't patented; IP was taken from Germany, Japan, and other countries, even from UK and other allies. The US is NOT so pristine and squeaky clean as many would like to posit.
No country/nation/power/peoples left behind...
I know of someone who on various planes and with various airliners ran a Sony camcorder during takeoff AND during landing. The plane didn't crash. The pilot never announced any dangers. The plane didn't weave or bob or sideslip any of the runways. Nothing of significance came about. No flight attendants perused the aisles. We all know someone who gets on the phone as SOON as the plane lands, or someone who is texting or trying to talk or play a handheld game until the LAST minute. I don't really worry. I say if commercial electronics that sprung out of a lot of military research and commercial competitive and dense FCC spectrum allocations can't take off or land in the same or general signals that are present in every major city (TV, Radio, emergency, construction, walkie-talkie, cellular, CB, Ham and other radio signals, the phooey on THEM for not shielding the wiring harnesses and control signals... What the hell would the pilots do if some hobbyist set off an intense electromagnetic burst near their local airport and a plane were landing? Sure, the FCC MIGHT localize and find it, but from general EM sources, NO plane should be crashing short of a cosmic or nuke EMP burst!
I once went to the cockpit before takeoff and asked the pilots (back in 1995 or 1996) about how high over San Jose, or at least how many seconds after wheels depart the ground I needed to wait to use my own camcorder after takeoff. He said about 45 seconds, and then after some right-bank we make, we're clear. I eagerly and carefully counted the seconds. I got my footage, or at least shot footage.
Now, I've become quite cynical in life and am not afraid to say what's on my mind. I have a friend who is a co-pilot of a Japanese airline. I asked him about some stuff. He's had a few close calls in the air, but not related to passenger personal electronic equipment in the cabin. I myself feel the planes are already sufficiently hardened from errant commercial gear. I don't buy the line that electronics can crash the plane or interfere with the landing aides signals the plane relies upon during automatic/autopilot landings and other events.
So, I told my friend what I think. The airlines just don't want passengers shooting film and video during critical evolutions: landings and takeoffs. IF the plane crashes in those regimes, it's possible the recorders they don't OWN will get into the hands of someone who might give it to the NEWS. The airlines control the black boxes, and I gather (from watching shows and reading things) they are encrypted and require special devices to pull out the information. But, a HandyCam with spectacular crash footage, yelling, moaning, crying, kicking with all their might the seats in front of them, pounding the armrests in futility, whimpering and simpering, and cussing and shitl flying about before g-forces takes over would NOT be what ANY airline or traffic safety board wants in the hands of the public. He mildly laughed, but kinda, sorta emoted in body language "Yeh, they wouldn't want that footage in public..."
But, my feeling is: we go when we go. I want to SEE such footage if it exists. We see all kinds of rapes, eviscerations, beheadings, and more in Hollywood, but for some reason, the plight of REAL people is regarded as so reverent they grieving survivors of the crash victims "deserve" some privacy and respect. Well, I buy a part of that, but I don't give a rat about the possiblity of air travel dollars being lost because genuine footage got to the public. If they are so concerned, they should just ban the presence of such equipment IN THE CABIN and do something about the lousy and persistent theft or pilfering or excessive invasion of luggage that is checked into the lower compartment.
Things that I DID experience as frightening (but, still kind of puts a smile on my face, so much so that I have had to hide my face betewen the cabin and the seat in front, are:
-high g-turns after takeoff-- I just wish we'd turn HARDER sometimes, but that would upset many PAX, and might spill or
I thought it was more like a sieve-like tourniquet for a missing limb...
It's about time though. I had for years had this idea:
Treat the already-fucked/exposed SSNs akin to a "public key" of sorts. Everybody either has or CAN get access to it. So, delink it from retirement, government, payroll and educational accounts. Create a NEW number which is SUPPOSED TO BE private. It lines to the above-restricted accounts. It's is solely an INPUT mechanism as retirement goes. But, for education, payroll, and law enforcement purposes, it would be tightly controlled and kept out of the hands of greedy fucking corporations-- ESPECIALLY those asses in the credit reporting entities where rampant laziness or abuse of time and profit keeps many people on the fix-my-report treadmill.
The public side of the existing SSN would be useful for those who want to make legal or authorized deposits into your account. The friendly depositor would not need your bank account number. So, anyone wanting to donate to you COULD, and it would be traceable for tax purposes, unless you opt to NOT allow anonymous or other deposits to your public SSN this way.
I suppose the goddam lobbyists and reporting agencies, tho, would fight this tooth and nail (and, hire a $50 hit man to kill my ass on any future overseas trips)...
Well, if he goes to the local Fernch resutoran he ca use their oil and make it smell like crapes. Oui Oui, or wee, wee?
(Sorry, I was DRIVEN to do that hit-and-run on your comment...)
FINALLY! I can be PROUD of a car that runs like shit... or that runs shitty.
A WHOLE new revival for "shitty shitty bang bang", especially if the car backfires. W WHOLE new meaning for "backfire"...
So, what happens if you get kicked where the sun DOES shine?
That's part of why I told some federal officials who once contacted me (in 2003), "this kind of stuff is putting a BULLSEYE on MY BACK! If *I* travel to the wrong country, I could have my head blown off just for having a US passport..."
They didn't comment on that part, IIRC...
Hey, suppose Silicon Graphics goes under then emerges as "Silicon Glyphics", as in Silicon Hieroglyphics. I would immediately wonder if they'd gotten an NSA contract and a new lease on life....
(recoats tinfoil hat with cesium barium-strontide layer...)