Even if Republicans take control of the Senate, it won't matter for ACTA. Intellectual property policy is one of the few truly bipartisan issues in Washington. ACTA is just not that big of a political issue for Republicans to want to halt for the purpose of obstructing Obama, and Republicans would have their own reasons for supporting it. There are only a couple of people who have been critical of ACTA in the Senate... Bernie Sanders, Sherrod Brown. Aside from that, not many other people are paying attention to it.
Another indication it's bipartisan - remember, ACTA talks were started under the Bush administration. Then they continued, pretty much without a hitch, under the new Obama administration. Honestly that's pretty impressive, there aren't too many issues where you get that kind of continuity with a party change.
The days of having hundreds to thousands of users with shell access on a university or public access machine are long gone.
What makes you say that? All of the three universities I've been at in the past eight years have provided shell access for all students and faculty to at least one cluster, and often more than one. The current university uses Solaris, so this particular issue isn't relevant, but I would be more surprised to hear of a university that doesn't offer shell access.
Here's an idea - WMATA should charge a $1 "special event" surcharge to all paper ticket holders entering/exiting at specified locations and times on days like today. That way the loads of angry tourists can personally contribute to fixing the budget of the "socialized" public transit system they are riding to get to the protest.
Too bad the gates probably need an upgrade to do that.
NOVA vs. ROVA, right? I had a perverse thought about going down to the mall wearing my fake keffiyeh and reading a copy of the Qur'an, but I figured the $4 metro fare and the possibility of being assaulted make it not worthwhile.
Facing the Capital? No, you're in the capital. You're facing the Capitol, aka, the giant boob. In any case, 300,000 conservatives standing on the left of the escalator will ensure I'm staying out of the District tomorrow.
Yeah, my last and current Sony Ericssons have both had FM receivers. It seems like the kind of thing you tend to see on non-smartphones more than smartphones.
I've used it a couple times, and there have been plenty of other times when I might have but couldn't, since I wasn't carrying around the wired headset you need to plug into it to act as an antenna.
Now I hardly use it at all, since someone gave me an iPod shuffle which is better for jogging and commuting (I probably wouldn't even get radio reception during the commute).
Most places have a cable franchise agreement. Depending on where you live, this could be done at the town, region, city, or even state level. There's likely a "cable advisory board" or something similar... I served on one when living in Connecticut. If you're a cable customer your bill should include information about that group. If not, maybe just browse your local government website looking for that sort of information.
Be aware, though, that even when you contact them there's probably nothing they can do. Franchise agreements only come up for renewal every so often. If you're still in that area when it's up for renewal you'll have more luck, but that might just mean you'll be dealing with a new provider, not an additional one.
That's effectively the same thing. Hang on to your driver's license, but if you flunk eyesight and reaction time tests, maybe you shouldn't be able to use it.
That's funny... All the people who've caused accidents I was involved in were young.
I could make a crack here about how maybe the problem is that you're old, and your perception of who is causing the accidents is incorrect...
In reality though, I see no reason why periodic re-examinations should not be implemented (and not just for driving, either). I'm pretty sure we don't let pilots just get their license after one exam and keep it forever. Doctors have to have continuing education. Why is that when it comes to a driver's license, it's enough to take one [sometimes very easy] exam when you're 16 years old, and then just pay a renewal fee forever?
Now for my own anecdotes: I've never been involved in an accident while I was driving. Out of the two accidents where I was a passenger, one was caused by an old person, and one by a young person.
They also have a big Polish "bomba" (Enigma decrypting device) IIRC. Also, when I went, the place was empty and one of the guys working there encouraged me and my friend to play with the Enigma machine, so that was pretty cool.
They have examples of phones that did voice encryption from the 1960s or 1970s... you can listen to decrypted audio and it's all garbled but still intelligible.
Neat little museum - not well known, but definitely worth checking out if you happen to be in that part of Maryland or you're in the DC metro area.
This story reminds me of Adam Smith's reasoning of why properties in his time should have been taxed based on the number of windows, rather than hearths: both for privacy reasons (you can count windows from the outside, whereas hearths require entering the home) and to make evasion harder. When tax assessment time came around, people would brick up their hearths. Sure, you could brick up windows, but since they could be observed any time without you knowing, it makes it much harder to do.
But yeah, maybe we have a problem with the fact that the pool requires a permit, but that's a different issue. Hopefully sitting in an office using Google Earth means they're not driving around wasting gas, or hiring a plane as you mentioned.
Um, that's just not true. The federal government is indeed able to receive and possess copyrights. 17 USC Sec. 105:
Copyright protection under this title is not available for any work of the United States Government, but the United States Government is not precluded from receiving and holding copyrights transferred to it by assignment, bequest, or otherwise.
I don't know who told you that, but they don't know what they're talking about.
Also, this story probably shouldn't be tagged copyright. Assuming the seal was designed by the FBI itself, it's ineligible for copyright as a work of the federal government. (I guess in theory they could have purchased the design and copyright from a third party, but that seems unlikely). If there's a real law at stake, it's not copyright law, probably something to do with impersonating an official, etc.
Next up, the FBI will be suing Lostpedia for its relationship to Wikileaks (using wiki software) and its name that sounds suspiciously similar to "pedophilia."
Wrong? Probably. Infantile? Absolutely. Legal? Absolutely not. It's called vandalism which is still illegal.
What if someone fingerpaints an image of a phallus and sets that as the iPhone's background?*
Wrong? Probably. Infantile? Absolutely. Vandalism? Maybe, but honestly, it's a display model, there's a reason they have to sell them at discounts, if at all.
*Disclaimer: I don't own an iPhone, maybe it's not possible to change the background. (I'm kidding, I hope)
You're correct. Trademarks need to be actively defended, lest, among other things, they become genericized. This is absolutely not the case with copyrights, which can be selectively enforced.
On the other hand, laches could apply to copyright under certain circumstances (see this example), but that's a different story.
Recently I was doing some research for a paper and ended up looking up a bunch of news stories about counterfeiting. Not all of the Times' coverage of counterfeiting has been so negative. This one in particular is worth a read.
You realize that almost half of this country pays no income tax whatsoever, right? It seems silly to think that the upper-brackets are getting the sweetheart deal when nearly half of the working population pays nothing.
They pay no income tax, they pay plenty of other taxes: sales taxes, excise taxes on fuel, etc. And those make up a much larger percentage of their income than for wealthy people. And when you're talking about very high income individuals, they are earning more through capital gains and other sources taxed at lower rates than the upper income tax brackets anyway, than through income subject to the income tax (and FICA tax for that matter).
Where I live both Verizon and Comcast's default network setups use WEP keys, and Verizon uses the default "password1" deal. I think Comcast also uses a default password, too. Why on earth they choose WEP is beyond me. I think maybe they claim it's about compatibility, but on many of the networks I've seen it's just a single modern computer connecting to the router.
Is anyone able to comment on what the browsing functionality actually does for them? Is there news that you actually digest in a productive fashion? Certain news sites that work flawlessly? Blog technologies (like Wordpress or something) that always work? And how is the 3G coverage and reliability? I have so many questions about these devices and can find so little on reviewing this web browser functionality on the Kindle.
I can't speak to the new one (or even the software upgrade, since I haven't used it extensively since it was installed), but I had the original Kindle DX for over a year. Critical new features in the software upgrade include "collections" (a way to organize documents you've loaded onto the Kindle, which was probably the number one feature request and something I can't believe they didn't originally include) and improved PDF handling (basic zoom/pan ability - before your only option was to flip the device to get a larger view).
As for web browsing... it's always been slow and unimpressive. My expectations aren't even that high, since I don't have a data service for my phone or anything like that. On the other hand, it came in handy when I was visiting my parents out in the boonies... jumping on the Kindle to check Wikipedia was faster than dialup. Sometimes I had to go outside to get a good signal, but we have to do that with cell phones anyway. Specific mobile sites I've bookmarked, like mobile New York Times, are fine... for me, though, it makes more sense to use an application like Calibre that will automatically download all the news you want in the morning and sync with the Kindle, rather than just relying on the 3G. I've used the web browser to get on Facebook and Slashdot from trains... again, better than nothing, but not exactly pleasant. I've gotten a few things directly from Project Gutenberg as well.
One great thing is that I've written up some scripts that use the command-line version of Calibre to watch a directory on my home server. Instead of having to e-mail documents to Amazon and pay for conversion (or carry around a sync cable and software capable of converting), I just e-mail my documents to a special address. The scripts check the e-mail, download the document, convert it, and upload it to a web server. A few minutes after sending it, I log into the web server from the Kindle and download the converted document. This is actually what I probably use the web browser for the most.
For reading text... IMO it kicks ass and bests any other style of device (netbook, tablet, etc.) currently available. But I also always carry about my 9" netbook with Ubuntu.
I have only limited experience with R, but FWIW, R contains some basic data importation routines for standard things like CSV or tab delineated data. There are also libraries that let you import files from other statistical packages like Stata, SPSS, etc. I imagine you could directly import XLS with a library, though I've never had to.
I would hazard a guess and say that if you had to massage your data into a more machine-readable format, it'd be easier to do it in Perl, then load the result up into R, since Perl is so good at text-processing. On the other hand, if your data is already readable, you can write short (or long) programs entirely in R, which is fairly handy. I started using it because I liked the fact that it wasn't a stand-alone statistics package, but a full-fledged language.
Slashdot Mirror
Even if Republicans take control of the Senate, it won't matter for ACTA. Intellectual property policy is one of the few truly bipartisan issues in Washington. ACTA is just not that big of a political issue for Republicans to want to halt for the purpose of obstructing Obama, and Republicans would have their own reasons for supporting it. There are only a couple of people who have been critical of ACTA in the Senate... Bernie Sanders, Sherrod Brown. Aside from that, not many other people are paying attention to it.
Another indication it's bipartisan - remember, ACTA talks were started under the Bush administration. Then they continued, pretty much without a hitch, under the new Obama administration. Honestly that's pretty impressive, there aren't too many issues where you get that kind of continuity with a party change.
Joke's on you, Canon! I print out all my important documents in Wingdings...
The days of having hundreds to thousands of users with shell access on a university or public access machine are long gone.
What makes you say that? All of the three universities I've been at in the past eight years have provided shell access for all students and faculty to at least one cluster, and often more than one. The current university uses Solaris, so this particular issue isn't relevant, but I would be more surprised to hear of a university that doesn't offer shell access.
After all, holograms can be faked, but groveling cannot.
Also, according to the article, holograms can be easily peeled off by the police when they raid you.
Here's an idea - WMATA should charge a $1 "special event" surcharge to all paper ticket holders entering/exiting at specified locations and times on days like today. That way the loads of angry tourists can personally contribute to fixing the budget of the "socialized" public transit system they are riding to get to the protest.
Too bad the gates probably need an upgrade to do that.
NOVA vs. ROVA, right? I had a perverse thought about going down to the mall wearing my fake keffiyeh and reading a copy of the Qur'an, but I figured the $4 metro fare and the possibility of being assaulted make it not worthwhile.
Facing the Capital? No, you're in the capital. You're facing the Capitol, aka, the giant boob. In any case, 300,000 conservatives standing on the left of the escalator will ensure I'm staying out of the District tomorrow.
Yeah, my last and current Sony Ericssons have both had FM receivers. It seems like the kind of thing you tend to see on non-smartphones more than smartphones.
I've used it a couple times, and there have been plenty of other times when I might have but couldn't, since I wasn't carrying around the wired headset you need to plug into it to act as an antenna.
Now I hardly use it at all, since someone gave me an iPod shuffle which is better for jogging and commuting (I probably wouldn't even get radio reception during the commute).
Most places have a cable franchise agreement. Depending on where you live, this could be done at the town, region, city, or even state level. There's likely a "cable advisory board" or something similar... I served on one when living in Connecticut. If you're a cable customer your bill should include information about that group. If not, maybe just browse your local government website looking for that sort of information.
Be aware, though, that even when you contact them there's probably nothing they can do. Franchise agreements only come up for renewal every so often. If you're still in that area when it's up for renewal you'll have more luck, but that might just mean you'll be dealing with a new provider, not an additional one.
That's effectively the same thing. Hang on to your driver's license, but if you flunk eyesight and reaction time tests, maybe you shouldn't be able to use it.
Significant digits are for science teachers and marriage counselors!
Ok, what am I missing here?
That's funny... All the people who've caused accidents I was involved in were young.
I could make a crack here about how maybe the problem is that you're old, and your perception of who is causing the accidents is incorrect...
In reality though, I see no reason why periodic re-examinations should not be implemented (and not just for driving, either). I'm pretty sure we don't let pilots just get their license after one exam and keep it forever. Doctors have to have continuing education. Why is that when it comes to a driver's license, it's enough to take one [sometimes very easy] exam when you're 16 years old, and then just pay a renewal fee forever?
Now for my own anecdotes: I've never been involved in an accident while I was driving. Out of the two accidents where I was a passenger, one was caused by an old person, and one by a young person.
They also have a big Polish "bomba" (Enigma decrypting device) IIRC. Also, when I went, the place was empty and one of the guys working there encouraged me and my friend to play with the Enigma machine, so that was pretty cool.
They have examples of phones that did voice encryption from the 1960s or 1970s... you can listen to decrypted audio and it's all garbled but still intelligible.
Neat little museum - not well known, but definitely worth checking out if you happen to be in that part of Maryland or you're in the DC metro area.
This story reminds me of Adam Smith's reasoning of why properties in his time should have been taxed based on the number of windows, rather than hearths: both for privacy reasons (you can count windows from the outside, whereas hearths require entering the home) and to make evasion harder. When tax assessment time came around, people would brick up their hearths. Sure, you could brick up windows, but since they could be observed any time without you knowing, it makes it much harder to do.
But yeah, maybe we have a problem with the fact that the pool requires a permit, but that's a different issue. Hopefully sitting in an office using Google Earth means they're not driving around wasting gas, or hiring a plane as you mentioned.
Um, that's just not true. The federal government is indeed able to receive and possess copyrights. 17 USC Sec. 105:
Copyright protection under this title is not available for any work of the United States Government, but the United States Government is not precluded from receiving and holding copyrights transferred to it by assignment, bequest, or otherwise.
I don't know who told you that, but they don't know what they're talking about.
Also, this story probably shouldn't be tagged copyright. Assuming the seal was designed by the FBI itself, it's ineligible for copyright as a work of the federal government. (I guess in theory they could have purchased the design and copyright from a third party, but that seems unlikely). If there's a real law at stake, it's not copyright law, probably something to do with impersonating an official, etc.
Next up, the FBI will be suing Lostpedia for its relationship to Wikileaks (using wiki software) and its name that sounds suspiciously similar to "pedophilia."
Wrong? Probably. Infantile? Absolutely. Legal? Absolutely not. It's called vandalism which is still illegal.
What if someone fingerpaints an image of a phallus and sets that as the iPhone's background?*
Wrong? Probably. Infantile? Absolutely. Vandalism? Maybe, but honestly, it's a display model, there's a reason they have to sell them at discounts, if at all.
*Disclaimer: I don't own an iPhone, maybe it's not possible to change the background. (I'm kidding, I hope)
You're correct. Trademarks need to be actively defended, lest, among other things, they become genericized. This is absolutely not the case with copyrights, which can be selectively enforced.
On the other hand, laches could apply to copyright under certain circumstances (see this example), but that's a different story.
Recently I was doing some research for a paper and ended up looking up a bunch of news stories about counterfeiting. Not all of the Times' coverage of counterfeiting has been so negative. This one in particular is worth a read.
You realize that almost half of this country pays no income tax whatsoever, right? It seems silly to think that the upper-brackets are getting the sweetheart deal when nearly half of the working population pays nothing.
They pay no income tax, they pay plenty of other taxes: sales taxes, excise taxes on fuel, etc. And those make up a much larger percentage of their income than for wealthy people. And when you're talking about very high income individuals, they are earning more through capital gains and other sources taxed at lower rates than the upper income tax brackets anyway, than through income subject to the income tax (and FICA tax for that matter).
Where I live both Verizon and Comcast's default network setups use WEP keys, and Verizon uses the default "password1" deal. I think Comcast also uses a default password, too. Why on earth they choose WEP is beyond me. I think maybe they claim it's about compatibility, but on many of the networks I've seen it's just a single modern computer connecting to the router.
Is anyone able to comment on what the browsing functionality actually does for them? Is there news that you actually digest in a productive fashion? Certain news sites that work flawlessly? Blog technologies (like Wordpress or something) that always work? And how is the 3G coverage and reliability? I have so many questions about these devices and can find so little on reviewing this web browser functionality on the Kindle.
I can't speak to the new one (or even the software upgrade, since I haven't used it extensively since it was installed), but I had the original Kindle DX for over a year. Critical new features in the software upgrade include "collections" (a way to organize documents you've loaded onto the Kindle, which was probably the number one feature request and something I can't believe they didn't originally include) and improved PDF handling (basic zoom/pan ability - before your only option was to flip the device to get a larger view).
As for web browsing... it's always been slow and unimpressive. My expectations aren't even that high, since I don't have a data service for my phone or anything like that. On the other hand, it came in handy when I was visiting my parents out in the boonies... jumping on the Kindle to check Wikipedia was faster than dialup. Sometimes I had to go outside to get a good signal, but we have to do that with cell phones anyway. Specific mobile sites I've bookmarked, like mobile New York Times, are fine... for me, though, it makes more sense to use an application like Calibre that will automatically download all the news you want in the morning and sync with the Kindle, rather than just relying on the 3G. I've used the web browser to get on Facebook and Slashdot from trains... again, better than nothing, but not exactly pleasant. I've gotten a few things directly from Project Gutenberg as well.
One great thing is that I've written up some scripts that use the command-line version of Calibre to watch a directory on my home server. Instead of having to e-mail documents to Amazon and pay for conversion (or carry around a sync cable and software capable of converting), I just e-mail my documents to a special address. The scripts check the e-mail, download the document, convert it, and upload it to a web server. A few minutes after sending it, I log into the web server from the Kindle and download the converted document. This is actually what I probably use the web browser for the most.
For reading text... IMO it kicks ass and bests any other style of device (netbook, tablet, etc.) currently available. But I also always carry about my 9" netbook with Ubuntu.
You could make them different form factors so that the shells aren't able to swapped without cutting off critical parts of the calculator :-)
Syndicate was one of my favorite isometric games back in the day... I must have brought those five floppy disks to so many friends' houses.
I have only limited experience with R, but FWIW, R contains some basic data importation routines for standard things like CSV or tab delineated data. There are also libraries that let you import files from other statistical packages like Stata, SPSS, etc. I imagine you could directly import XLS with a library, though I've never had to.
I would hazard a guess and say that if you had to massage your data into a more machine-readable format, it'd be easier to do it in Perl, then load the result up into R, since Perl is so good at text-processing. On the other hand, if your data is already readable, you can write short (or long) programs entirely in R, which is fairly handy. I started using it because I liked the fact that it wasn't a stand-alone statistics package, but a full-fledged language.