"I looked 3 or 4 minutes into the video... honestly, what kind of credentials does this guy have?"
He pioneered a lot of guitar effects that people take for granted today. He was quite the hardware hacker, and did some thoroughly innovative things. He has never been especially famous in pop music circles, but he is nonetheless enormously influential. Without fully realizing who he was, I met Robert on a cruise ship in 1979. Basically all we talked about was how the Beach Boys didn't suck, when I'd pointed out that I prefer music with some complexity, over pop music dreck. Soon after that, I discovered King Crimson, and became aware that the rude English guitar player I met on the cruise was actually somebody famous.
Anyway, Fripp is a humble guy, and he is actually very easy to correspond with -- he answers his email, and he posts on guitar and electronic music forums. And he took a gig with Microsoft. I don't think there's any shame in that. The Left Hand of Microsoft that does this sort of creative part of the business is far, far away from the Right Hand of Microsoft that appeases the PRC.
From a Catholic school? I'd expect strict disciplinarians to be in charge. I'd expect arbitrary rules that were really and truly expected to be followed. A Jesuit school like Marquette, even more so.
"Rounding towards the nearest neighbour is the default and ubiquitously used rounding mode. "
And if a high proportion of the input data are at ".5", whether you round up or down, you've possibly got a big problem (I realize you know that obviously).
I love all the posts that claim to work strictly with integer arithmetic. That's wonderful until you have to deal with a fraction of your nice integer value, then you get to reinvent the floating point wheel:-)
I especially love decimal numbers that cannot be precisely represented in binary, although I've never been able to explain it very well. (I do understand sign/exp/mantissa binary floats.)
>In Casinos, when "counting" a change in a machine, they use rounding.
It is very hard to find a Las Vegas casino that still has any coin operated slot machines. This one thing has eliminated my gambling habit completely. I have relatives in Las Vegas and visit often. I typically take a few rolls of quarters, "slot machine money", for the sole purpose of throwing it away. Guess what? One trip, I showed up with my rolls of quarters -- AND THEY DON'T HAVE COIN OPERATED MACHINES ANYMORE!
I'll be damned if I'm going to go to the trouble of standing in line to buy a token card just for the privilege of throwing away my spare change.
"If IBM or Novell (or some trust composed of several heavy hitters) completely bought SCO out, all of this legal crap would go away."
Are you sure the new owners would not have to deal with legal ramifications of owning a company that has abused the court system? The government might still want a piece, even after the suit is dropped. People have lied to judges on behalf of SCO. Judges tend to take a dim view of that sort of thing, and they may want to hold the new owners responsible.
"I don't think that any software manufacturer would use an EULA that could be invalidated by a court order"
It would be remarkable to get a court order that expressly invalidates something in a contract which is not valid on its face. What's much more likely to happen, is that an invalid clause in a contract is never permitted to be considered as evidence. In other words, you will never get a court order on the basis of an invalid clause in a contract, as it will silently be ignored.
Is the EULA a contract at all? I never signed one. Anyone claiming that I did will have a tough time convincing a judge, empty handed as they are.
My mother, probably older than your grandma, uses a modified Knoppix, rather effectively I might add. She is *slightly* technically minded, being a retired surgical nurse, but I don't think that matters.
Linux may be hard to comprehend inside and out, and it may be difficult to install in some situations, but it's not inherently hard to use.
>Consider the two sentences below: > > * "Senator Smith has not yet released a statement concerning the >situation." > * "When asked about the situation, Senator Smith responded, "No comment." > >Which one makes Senator Smith out to be a sneaky crook, and which one merely >cautious?
You tell me! I think I understand the point you're trying to make, but the analogy doesn't work. I honestly don't know which statement you'd pick for which meaning.
"If passing a law meant risking the gallows, then not only would congress sit on its hands and do nothing, but no one would want to run for office in the first place."
They had hundreds of years to get it right. The idea that they need to make new laws either implies the old ones are flawed or else a requirement for them to look busy.
>Tried and failed. RICO requires violence or the threat thereof.
An allegation was made that they had hired people to impersonate police officers. That carries a strong implication of a threat of violence, if it's true. (If it is not true, making such claims only weakens any legitimate grievance against the organization.)
"Unfortunately, the letter of the law meant that even though I could drive and pay taxes, I couldn't watch a horror flick on the big screen."
The letter of the law? What law was that? The only law that applies to film ratings, is the one that permits a private property owner to refuse to allow you on his property for *any* reason. A valid reason is that the screening of a film is limited only to patrons over the age of 17 or whatever. But there was no *law* that said people under 17 cannot be admitted to an R-rated movie.
Do let us know when the MPAA is a government agency that makes and enforces laws. The MPAA's authority extends to the voluntary consent of its members, and its ability to make a persuasive argument that individuals will accept. Film ratings are NOT law.
>There is a HUGE difference between a state saying "No sales to those under 18" >and a state saying "No sales". As long as those over 18 can buy it, it should be > legal.
Is there? I know of at least one state that completely bans alcohol sales, and even posession, everywhere, except for special reduced-alcohol versions of "beer" and "wine".
Even when successful, they are free to mingle in society, and able to run for office again. What about the concept that a violation of the peoples' rights by a lawmaker or official would make that official risk death, life in prison, forfeiture of assets, that sort of thing?
>I'd like to see Legislators prorate taxes for Gay couples.
I'd prefer to see NO tax implications associated with marriage, at all.
Let existing laws govern property and child custody, and don't let marriage be an institution of the state, period.
The whole concept of marriage favors the "normal", the attractive, the wealthy, and the religious, and brutally excludes others. I would challenge the state sponsorship of marriage on equal protection grounds.
"RIAA has in the past employed people to pretend to be police officers to "raid" flea market booths."
A felony that can get you 20 years! And if an organization establishes this as a policy, RICO statutes can put the people who knew, or *should have known* in prison for life. Since the PATRIOT Act, surely impersonating a police officer anywhere has even more serious consequences than before!
"I used to work for one of the major record labels. The lawyers that were on staff..."
It says enough about an organization that needs *lawyers* routinely embedded in the regular staff. I've worked for *law firms* that didn't have lawyers mingling with administrative and IT staff and so on. Maybe I misunderstood and you worked in a legal department at WB or Atlantic or something.
"It's nice of you to come out of your cave. Now let me introduce you to cnn, fauxnews, msn, and countless other news sources where you can catch up on everything that has gone on since September 11, 2001"
Slashdot Mirror
This law has what to do, exactly, with paying for the military?
"In the 60s, when I was growing up, only real bad offenses were deemed felonies. Murder, Rape, Arson, Armed Robbery and other stuff like that."
Posession of cigarettes that didn't have a tax stamp?
Posession of a deck of playing cards in a tavern?
Both felonies in my home state, and I know people who were arrested for each, in the 60s.
"I looked 3 or 4 minutes into the video... honestly, what kind of credentials does this guy have?"
He pioneered a lot of guitar effects that people take for granted today. He was quite the hardware hacker, and did some thoroughly innovative things. He has never been especially famous in pop music circles, but he is nonetheless enormously influential. Without fully realizing who he was, I met Robert on a cruise ship in 1979. Basically all we talked about was how the Beach Boys didn't suck, when I'd pointed out that I prefer music with some complexity, over pop music dreck. Soon after that, I discovered King Crimson, and became aware that the rude English guitar player I met on the cruise was actually somebody famous.
Anyway, Fripp is a humble guy, and he is actually very easy to correspond with -- he answers his email, and he posts on guitar and electronic music forums. And he took a gig with Microsoft. I don't think there's any shame in that. The Left Hand of Microsoft that does this sort of creative part of the business is far, far away from the Right Hand of Microsoft that appeases the PRC.
>...so what would you expect?
From a Catholic school? I'd expect strict disciplinarians to be in charge. I'd expect arbitrary rules that were really and truly expected to be followed. A Jesuit school like Marquette, even more so.
"Rounding towards the nearest neighbour is the default and ubiquitously used rounding mode. "
And if a high proportion of the input data are at ".5", whether you round up or down, you've possibly got a big problem (I realize you know that obviously).
I love all the posts that claim to work strictly with integer arithmetic. That's wonderful until you have to deal with a fraction of your nice integer value, then you get to reinvent the floating point wheel
I especially love decimal numbers that cannot be precisely represented in binary, although I've never been able to explain it very well. (I do understand sign/exp/mantissa binary floats.)
>In Casinos, when "counting" a change in a machine, they use rounding.
It is very hard to find a Las Vegas casino that still has any coin operated slot machines. This one thing has eliminated my gambling habit completely. I have relatives in Las Vegas and visit often. I typically take a few rolls of quarters, "slot machine money", for the sole purpose of throwing it away. Guess what? One trip, I showed up with my rolls of quarters -- AND THEY DON'T HAVE COIN OPERATED MACHINES ANYMORE!
I'll be damned if I'm going to go to the trouble of standing in line to buy a token card just for the privilege of throwing away my spare change.
>Agreed, how a day in a federal pen for every email sent.
Food and lodging is so much better in Federal. Make it an hour in county. THAT would be a deterrent.
"If IBM or Novell (or some trust composed of several heavy hitters) completely bought SCO out, all of this legal crap would go away."
Are you sure the new owners would not have to deal with legal ramifications of owning a company that has abused the court system? The government might still want a piece, even after the suit is dropped. People have lied to judges on behalf of SCO. Judges tend to take a dim view of that sort of thing, and they may want to hold the new owners responsible.
"I don't think that any software manufacturer would use an EULA that could be invalidated by a court order"
It would be remarkable to get a court order that expressly invalidates something in a contract which is not valid on its face. What's much more likely to happen, is that an invalid clause in a contract is never permitted to be considered as evidence. In other words, you will never get a court order on the basis of an invalid clause in a contract, as it will silently be ignored.
Is the EULA a contract at all? I never signed one. Anyone claiming that I did will have a tough time convincing a judge, empty handed as they are.
My mother, probably older than your grandma, uses a modified Knoppix, rather effectively I might add. She is *slightly* technically minded, being a retired surgical nurse, but I don't think that matters.
Linux may be hard to comprehend inside and out, and it may be difficult to install in some situations, but it's not inherently hard to use.
>Consider the two sentences below:
>
> * "Senator Smith has not yet released a statement concerning the
>situation."
> * "When asked about the situation, Senator Smith responded, "No comment."
>
>Which one makes Senator Smith out to be a sneaky crook, and which one merely
>cautious?
You tell me! I think I understand the point you're trying to make, but the analogy doesn't work. I honestly don't know which statement you'd pick for which meaning.
"Are you implying that the music you are playing form isn't copyright by an RIAA member?"
I'm stating it outright. My music is original, and I'm certainly not an RIAA member.
"If passing a law meant risking the gallows, then not only would congress sit on its hands and do nothing, but no one would want to run for office in the first place."
They had hundreds of years to get it right. The idea that they need to make new laws either implies the old ones are flawed or else a requirement for them to look busy.
>Tried and failed. RICO requires violence or the threat thereof.
An allegation was made that they had hired people to impersonate police officers. That carries a strong implication of a threat of violence, if it's true. (If it is not true, making such claims only weakens any legitimate grievance against the organization.)
"In fact, I'll be given a nice break on my taxes this April since I exercised some stock options this year."
How does THAT work? Every time I make money on a stock option exercise, I pay taxes out every orifice for my troubles.
"Unfortunately, the letter of the law meant that even though I could drive and pay taxes, I couldn't watch a horror flick on the big screen."
The letter of the law? What law was that? The only law that applies to film ratings, is the one that permits a private property owner to refuse to allow you on his property for *any* reason. A valid reason is that the screening of a film is limited only to patrons over the age of 17 or whatever. But there was no *law* that said people under 17 cannot be admitted to an R-rated movie.
>What MPAA ratings?
Do let us know when the MPAA is a government agency that makes and enforces laws.
The MPAA's authority extends to the voluntary consent of its members, and its ability to make a persuasive argument that individuals will accept. Film ratings are NOT law.
>There is a HUGE difference between a state saying "No sales to those under 18"
>and a state saying "No sales". As long as those over 18 can buy it, it should be
> legal.
Is there? I know of at least one state that completely bans alcohol sales, and even posession, everywhere, except for special reduced-alcohol versions of "beer" and "wine".
"They can, its called election day."
Even when successful, they are free to mingle in society, and able to run for office again. What about the concept that a violation of the peoples' rights by a lawmaker or official would make that official risk death, life in prison, forfeiture of assets, that sort of thing?
>I'd like to see Legislators prorate taxes for Gay couples.
I'd prefer to see NO tax implications associated with marriage, at all.
Let existing laws govern property and child custody, and don't let marriage be an institution of the state, period.
The whole concept of marriage favors the "normal", the attractive, the wealthy, and the religious, and brutally excludes others. I would challenge the state sponsorship of marriage on equal protection grounds.
"RIAA has in the past employed people to pretend to be police officers to "raid" flea market booths."
A felony that can get you 20 years! And if an organization establishes this as a policy, RICO statutes can put the people who knew, or *should have known* in prison for life. Since the PATRIOT Act, surely impersonating a police officer anywhere has even more serious consequences than before!
"I used to work for one of the major record labels. The lawyers that were on staff..."
It says enough about an organization that needs *lawyers* routinely embedded in the regular staff. I've worked for *law firms* that didn't have lawyers mingling with administrative and IT staff and so on. Maybe I misunderstood and you worked in a legal department at WB or Atlantic or something.
>So you have no existing music now?
I have a piano. Most of my peers spend more time making their own music than they do listening to music recorded by others.
Guy Fawlkes' day?
"It's nice of you to come out of your cave. Now let me introduce you to cnn, fauxnews, msn, and countless other news sources where you can catch up on everything that has gone on since September 11, 2001"
Translation: I cannot provide a single quote.