The most important part is for the kids to get physically involved, no matter what you do. Start with folding paper airplanes -- show + have the kids do it themselves. Then take a piece of thin balsa wood 4" x 8" and cut a square out of one end. Trim the cut-out piece a bit, shape the other end into a point, put a rubber band across and wind the loose piece up in it to make a paddle-wheel boat for the sink or bathtub. Then let the kids make a flag or sail out of a toothpick and some paper. Then work up to the kits from Edmund's.
The door to the courthouse is open. The clerk will take lawsuit papers from anyone who pays the fee, even if the case is garbage.
Unfortunately, when a nutcase sues you, you've got to hire a lawyer, which costs a bundle and scares your publisher, even if the case is thrown out at the first step. That's the price we pay for having a free society.
I'm one of the few NY Times users who actually paid for extended access, yet on every every visit, the first story I click on (paid or not) stalls on the ad server. After 15 seconds or so, I close the tab and click on the link again, which immediately appears, presumably because the "viewed-ad" cookie is set.
IAAL
The Constitution requires that search warrants be issued only on "probable cause." This means giving a judge enough to show that you reasonably believe that something illegal is going on.
FISA uses a different, toothless version of "probable cause" -- simply a statement that "we want to find out about something."
That definition is unconstitutional for domestic use. That's why FISA is the FOREIGN Intelligence Security Act.
The administration's commitment to go to the FISA court for domestic investigations is STILL unconstitutional.
They didn't back down. They just threw up a smoke screen.
Good engineering writing is good writing. The problem with most writing by smart people is that they look for ways to "fill out the expression" -- to add words.
The most important rule in The Elements of Style is:
Omit needless words.
Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts. This requires not that the writer make all his sentences short, or that he avoid all detail and treat his subjects only in outline, but that every word tell.
Get the words on paper. Then go through testing adjectives and adverbs. If the meaning is the same without the extra word, take it out.
(1) Remember that Betamax failed, despite slightly better technology, because Sony kept it proprietary. To play or record Betamax tapes, until the very end you had to buy Sony hardware. That let the open VHS market develop commodity recorders and players that enormously outnumbered Sony and undercut it on price.
The market has room for many levels, from high-end to junk. Sony limited itself to good-to-excellent hardware, while most buyers wanted mid-to-low end. Sony got buried. True, it was mostly in manure, but the important thing is that it got buried.
If Blu-ray is kept proprietary, it's doomed, for exactly the same reasons.
(2) Also, the market will quickly want recordable HD. Blu-ray-R will need a major technology change. I don't know about HD-DVD-R, but it will at least have the head start that it can be read (and perhaps written) by red lasers and development of existing technology.
(3) IMHO, the entire market will be stillborn if copy protection is part of it. Regardless of what's legal, people buy recorders and blank disks to make copies, for the buyer at other locations, and for friends and Napster-type sharing. Comparatively few people will buy a disk simply to have a pre-recorded movie or game, without the ability to copy it. (Not to mention that any copy prevention system is a sitting target that can be quickly broken.)
Pre-recorded disks can't be written to. Therefore, any pre-recorded disk will have to install copy prevention software on the user's computer -- at least a counter, to permit the backup copy, and a copy-prevention system to prevent further copies. We've seen what happened when Sony tried to do this with its rootkit.
(4) Finally, HDTV sets are still uncommon and expensive. Cable broadcasters are sending out HDTV, but until home sets have good distribution, there's no market for either Blu-ray or HD-DVD players or recorders. HDTV seems to be ready for a surge, so I think we can look for an increasing demand for HD disks. We live in interesting times.
I doubt that switching from QWERTRY to Dvorak will help RSI much. The problem is hand and wrist position, not finger usage.
When I started to get RSI, I got a Kinesis keyboard and have never looked back. It's half the price of the Maltron, has keys for each had in a cub shape to match finger lengths and has a great key feel. The only thing lacking is a separate number pad, but it has one embedded. The key rows are vertical rather than diagonal, as on a standard keyboard, which takes a couple of weeks to get used to.
I switch easily between the Kinesis and a regular keyboard. I'm also a clarinetist, oboist and recorder player, and I switch among them easily. You already know the basic movements. You just plug into a different set of movements.
Dvorak sites say you don't forget QWERTY, and my experience is they're right. You learn a new set of similar responses. Switching back is easy.
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The most important part is for the kids to get physically involved, no matter what you do. Start with folding paper airplanes -- show + have the kids do it themselves. Then take a piece of thin balsa wood 4" x 8" and cut a square out of one end. Trim the cut-out piece a bit, shape the other end into a point, put a rubber band across and wind the loose piece up in it to make a paddle-wheel boat for the sink or bathtub. Then let the kids make a flag or sail out of a toothpick and some paper. Then work up to the kits from Edmund's.
Where can I get some of those cubical walls? To increase the space in my cubicle, of course.
The door to the courthouse is open. The clerk will take lawsuit papers from anyone who pays the fee, even if the case is garbage.
Unfortunately, when a nutcase sues you, you've got to hire a lawyer, which costs a bundle and scares your publisher, even if the case is thrown out at the first step. That's the price we pay for having a free society.
SPLTH#%@T to them.
IAAL The Constitution requires that search warrants be issued only on "probable cause." This means giving a judge enough to show that you reasonably believe that something illegal is going on. FISA uses a different, toothless version of "probable cause" -- simply a statement that "we want to find out about something." That definition is unconstitutional for domestic use. That's why FISA is the FOREIGN Intelligence Security Act. The administration's commitment to go to the FISA court for domestic investigations is STILL unconstitutional. They didn't back down. They just threw up a smoke screen.
The most important rule in The Elements of Style is:
Omit needless words.
Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts. This requires not that the writer make all his sentences short, or that he avoid all detail and treat his subjects only in outline, but that every word tell.
Get the words on paper. Then go through testing adjectives and adverbs. If the meaning is the same without the extra word, take it out.
The market has room for many levels, from high-end to junk. Sony limited itself to good-to-excellent hardware, while most buyers wanted mid-to-low end. Sony got buried. True, it was mostly in manure, but the important thing is that it got buried.
If Blu-ray is kept proprietary, it's doomed, for exactly the same reasons.
(2) Also, the market will quickly want recordable HD. Blu-ray-R will need a major technology change. I don't know about HD-DVD-R, but it will at least have the head start that it can be read (and perhaps written) by red lasers and development of existing technology.
(3) IMHO, the entire market will be stillborn if copy protection is part of it. Regardless of what's legal, people buy recorders and blank disks to make copies, for the buyer at other locations, and for friends and Napster-type sharing. Comparatively few people will buy a disk simply to have a pre-recorded movie or game, without the ability to copy it. (Not to mention that any copy prevention system is a sitting target that can be quickly broken.)
Pre-recorded disks can't be written to. Therefore, any pre-recorded disk will have to install copy prevention software on the user's computer -- at least a counter, to permit the backup copy, and a copy-prevention system to prevent further copies. We've seen what happened when Sony tried to do this with its rootkit. (4) Finally, HDTV sets are still uncommon and expensive. Cable broadcasters are sending out HDTV, but until home sets have good distribution, there's no market for either Blu-ray or HD-DVD players or recorders. HDTV seems to be ready for a surge, so I think we can look for an increasing demand for HD disks. We live in interesting times.
I doubt that switching from QWERTRY to Dvorak will help RSI much. The problem is hand and wrist position, not finger usage. When I started to get RSI, I got a Kinesis keyboard and have never looked back. It's half the price of the Maltron, has keys for each had in a cub shape to match finger lengths and has a great key feel. The only thing lacking is a separate number pad, but it has one embedded. The key rows are vertical rather than diagonal, as on a standard keyboard, which takes a couple of weeks to get used to. I switch easily between the Kinesis and a regular keyboard. I'm also a clarinetist, oboist and recorder player, and I switch among them easily. You already know the basic movements. You just plug into a different set of movements. Dvorak sites say you don't forget QWERTY, and my experience is they're right. You learn a new set of similar responses. Switching back is easy.