If you study a bit of history you'll find that this is nothing new. Read about the financial dealings and political corruption that occured during the "railroad bubble" during 1840s.
Or just look at modern China, Russia, etc. I think the main thing the U.S. has going for us is that corruption is at a low enough level that it's worth it for us to support the system.
Also, region coding doesn't really have that much effect. In the U.S., 99+% of what people want is available here first. In the rest of the world, multi-region players are widely available.
So a few patriotic scientists realize they're research could be destructive to mankind...isn't this a good thing?
If you weren't a troll (argument by appealing to sci-fi movies should have its own moderation category) and had bothered to read the article, you would note that the research in question is directed at *detecting* bioagents, such as those a terrorist might spread. (The concern is that this might make it easier to generate of bioagents that don't trip the sensors.) No secrets Man Was Not Meant To Know are involved.
You need to be careful here. The law recognizes so-called "implicit contracts".
Yes, but all contract law centers around a "meeting of the minds":
Meeting of the minds
The first step in creating a contract is making sure that both parties are talking about the same deal, so that when they subsequently agree to enter into the contract they are both agreeing to the same thing. Seems obvious, right? Until you realize that the "vintage red car" you planned on buying from your brother-in-law isn't the Ferrari, it's his Pinto. Take the time to communicate your understanding of the deal to the other party, and listen carefully when he or she talks back.
What EULAs, contracts on boxes, etc. fail to do is ensure this meeting of the minds. If I walk into a store and pay for something, I assume that all I'm doing is paying for what's in the box, not agreeing to anything else. When more extensive considerations are involved, there's a contract stating them fully. EULAs et al violate this fundamental principle by trying to postpone the meeting of minds until after the contract has been agreed to. Given that the rest of human endeavor has managed to avoid having to do that, I see no reason to accept this for software. If you want software to work differently, present the contract up front, and don't allow me to buy it without full agreement.
And if you find that requirement of having a contract is too burdensome, tough noogies! Having it work otherwise is too burdensome on everyone else.
As always, IANAL, but I *am* a professional, proprietary content developer.
Well, according to everything I've been able to find, there's about a 50-50 split attributing it to either, although one Disraeli expert says that they can't source the quotation, and I can't seem to find footnotes for either.
It gets more complicated: according to one web page I found, Twain attributes the quote to Disraeli in his autobiography. So we can possibly blame Twain for the whole mix-up. Anyone have the Oxford Guide to Quotations?
Ignorance is never an excuse in the eyes of the law.
Almost never, actually. Linda Tripp could have been prosecuted for recording her phone conversations with Monica Lewinsky, except that the anti-recording law specifically states that you can't be prosecuted for it if you aren't aware that it's illegal.
Tell me what has Subversion got that CVS hasn't? (No this is not a flame, I'd like to know).
To go into a little more detail: The key difference (although there are many) is that you check in (or commit, or submit, or) a change, not a file. Thus all related changes are bound together. It makes it a lot easier to understand how the code is changing, the code should compile after each change (and if it doesn't, you can figure out whose fault it is), and you can get an older version based on its commit number. You can also do things like tying the commits to a verification system, and that system can report build failures, tag versions as being buildable, passing regression tests, etc.
Perforce (among others) is organized in this fashion, and it really makes a huge difference if you're working with lots of developers.
Can anyone hack a game that was originally just for a gaming console?
Given the various emulators on which you can play ROMs, I don't see why not. You would need to reverse engineer the ROM code, but then you could start hacking.
My son is playing Zelda: Ocarina of Time right now, and I'd love to see it hacked to anti-alias the textures better, if nothing else.
Not to mention, it's tagged as redundant, yet it was posted five minutes before the other MP quotes. Sunday morning moderators must have no sense of humor...
The Dead Collector: Bring out yer dead! [A man puts a body on the cart.] Large Man with Dead Body: Here's one. The Dead Collector: That'll be ninepence. The Dead Body That Claims It Isn't: I'm not dead! The Dead Collector: What? Large Man with Dead Body: Nothing. There's your ninepence. The Dead Body That Claims It Isn't: I'm not dead! The Dead Collector: 'Ere, he says he's not dead. Large Man with Dead Body: Yes he is. The Dead Body That Claims It Isn't: I'm not! The Dead Collector: He isn't. Large Man with Dead Body: Well, he will be soon, he's very ill. The Dead Body That Claims It Isn't: I'm getting better! Large Man with Dead Body: No you're not, you'll be stone dead in a moment. The Dead Collector: Well, I can't take him like that. It's against regulations. The Dead Body That Claims It Isn't: I don't want to go on the cart! Large Man with Dead Body: Oh, don't be such a baby. The Dead Collector: I can't take him. The Dead Body That Claims It Isn't: I feel fine! Large Man with Dead Body: Oh, do me a favor. The Dead Collector: I can't! Large Man with Dead Body: Well, can you hang around for a couple of minutes? He won't be long. The Dead Collector: I promised I'd be at the Robinsons'. They've lost nine today. Large Man with Dead Body: Well, when's your next round? The Dead Collector: Thursday. The Dead Body That Claims It Isn't: I think I'll go for a walk! Large Man with Dead Body: You're not fooling anyone, you know. Isn't there anything you could do? The Dead Body That Claims It Isn't: I feel happy! I feel happy! [The Dead Collector glances up and down the street furtively, then silences the Body with his a whack of his club.] Large Man with Dead Body: Ah, thank you very much. The Dead Collector: Not at all. See you on Thursday. Large Man with Dead Body: Right.
It doesn't work well enough. But if you read the article, there's no indication that they are necessarily going to start from scratch; it may be that the Chinese will make a fair bit of use of the Wine code.
Dr. Raymond Stantz: We mean real wrath-of-God type stuff. Plagues, darkness-- Winston Zeddemore: The dead rising from the grave! Dr. Egon Spengler: Forty years of darkness! Earthquakes, volcanoes-- Dr. Peter Venkman: Riots in the streets, dogs and cats living together, mass hysteria!
I have never heard this term 'crosshatch' in talking about LCDs. What does it mean?
Ya got me. My point was that display devices are all driven from external sources by a relatively few signal wires. The internal workings of LCDs really aren't important, so I assumed the other fella was right about that for the sake of argument.
The only way to fix these vulnerabilities is to remove the indredibly stupid "features" like having a mail reader be able to execute any program (signed or not), and remove javascript, ActiveX, and whatever other stupid 'extended scritping' nonsense IE is putting in their browser these days.
Or enhance your access control. My mail program should have access to my mail-related files, the ability to contact the mail server, and the ability to do various mail-window related display stuff (if graphical) or output text to the associated tty (if not.) Increase the scope of your access control so it doesn't just protect files; that's how you'll increase overall security.
Slashdot Mirror
US is the worst country to live in, except for all the others... :-)
I think you've been reading my other posts today...
If you study a bit of history you'll find that this is nothing new. Read about the financial dealings and political corruption that occured during the "railroad bubble" during 1840s.
Or just look at modern China, Russia, etc. I think the main thing the U.S. has going for us is that corruption is at a low enough level that it's worth it for us to support the system.
or when Clinton (one would think the president would be a role model to children - see sig.) was having an affair in office, and STILL stayed in term
I'd rather have a president screwing Monica Lewinsky than screwing all of us...
I have to wonder how long it will be until some advertiser simply completely funds a show with omnipresent product placement.
Already happened. You even got the show right: one ep of friends revolved around stuff from Pottery Barn, and was funded by them.
Also, region coding doesn't really have that much effect. In the U.S., 99+% of what people want is available here first. In the rest of the world, multi-region players are widely available.
But according to those numbers, this company is profitable.
Not if taxes, interest, etc. exceed $6.5 million. Companies don't apply Chapter 11 on a whim.
So much for the market automatically doing what's best for everyone, eh?
Oh, the market is the worst economic system. Except for all the other ones.
But then wouldn't the interference pattern act just like a regular speaker?
My guess is that it is two beams projected from slightly different points, so the sound is only heard at the intersection point of the two beams.
So a few patriotic scientists realize they're research could be destructive to mankind...isn't this a good thing?
If you weren't a troll (argument by appealing to sci-fi movies should have its own moderation category) and had bothered to read the article, you would note that the research in question is directed at *detecting* bioagents, such as those a terrorist might spread. (The concern is that this might make it easier to generate of bioagents that don't trip the sensors.) No secrets Man Was Not Meant To Know are involved.
If I break my car, should I have to buy a new one?
Not if you can fix your old one. And if you can do so for a lot less than it costs to buy a new one, good for you!
You need to be careful here. The law recognizes so-called "implicit contracts".
Yes, but all contract law centers around a "meeting of the minds":
Meeting of the minds
The first step in creating a contract is making sure that both parties are talking about the same deal, so that when they subsequently agree to enter into the contract they are both agreeing to the same thing. Seems obvious, right? Until you realize that the "vintage red car" you planned on buying from your brother-in-law isn't the Ferrari, it's his Pinto. Take the time to communicate your understanding of the deal to the other party, and listen carefully when he or she talks back.
(From dummies.com)
What EULAs, contracts on boxes, etc. fail to do is ensure this meeting of the minds. If I walk into a store and pay for something, I assume that all I'm doing is paying for what's in the box, not agreeing to anything else. When more extensive considerations are involved, there's a contract stating them fully. EULAs et al violate this fundamental principle by trying to postpone the meeting of minds until after the contract has been agreed to. Given that the rest of human endeavor has managed to avoid having to do that, I see no reason to accept this for software. If you want software to work differently, present the contract up front, and don't allow me to buy it without full agreement.
And if you find that requirement of having a contract is too burdensome, tough noogies! Having it work otherwise is too burdensome on everyone else.
As always, IANAL, but I *am* a professional, proprietary content developer.
I'm betting that their 4MB database doesn't have all the stars in it yet.
Given that there's ~100 billion stars in the galaxy, it would indeed be pretty good compression to compress it to 4 MB...
Well, according to everything I've been able to find, there's about a 50-50 split attributing it to either, although one Disraeli expert says that they can't source the quotation, and I can't seem to find footnotes for either.
It gets more complicated: according to one web page I found, Twain attributes the quote to Disraeli in his autobiography. So we can possibly blame Twain for the whole mix-up. Anyone have the Oxford Guide to Quotations?
Ignorance is never an excuse in the eyes of the law.
Almost never, actually. Linda Tripp could have been prosecuted for recording her phone conversations with Monica Lewinsky, except that the anti-recording law specifically states that you can't be prosecuted for it if you aren't aware that it's illegal.
Tell me what has Subversion got that CVS hasn't? (No this is not a flame, I'd like to know).
To go into a little more detail:
The key difference (although there are many) is that you check in (or commit, or submit, or) a change, not a file. Thus all related changes are bound together. It makes it a lot easier to understand how the code is changing, the code should compile after each change (and if it doesn't, you can figure out whose fault it is), and you can get an older version based on its commit number. You can also do things like tying the commits to a verification system, and that system can report build failures, tag versions as being buildable, passing regression tests, etc.
Perforce (among others) is organized in this fashion, and it really makes a huge difference if you're working with lots of developers.
So when do we get to see former Worldcom employees bare all in Playboy?
After Dick Cheney offered to pose as part of Haliburton, they decided to end that little idea...
Can anyone hack a game that was originally just for a gaming console?
Given the various emulators on which you can play ROMs, I don't see why not. You would need to reverse engineer the ROM code, but then you could start hacking.
My son is playing Zelda: Ocarina of Time right now, and I'd love to see it hacked to anti-alias the textures better, if nothing else.
Not to mention, it's tagged as redundant, yet it was posted five minutes before the other MP quotes. Sunday morning moderators must have no sense of humor...
The Dead Collector: Bring out yer dead!
[A man puts a body on the cart.]
Large Man with Dead Body: Here's one.
The Dead Collector: That'll be ninepence.
The Dead Body That Claims It Isn't: I'm not dead!
The Dead Collector: What?
Large Man with Dead Body: Nothing. There's your ninepence.
The Dead Body That Claims It Isn't: I'm not dead!
The Dead Collector: 'Ere, he says he's not dead.
Large Man with Dead Body: Yes he is.
The Dead Body That Claims It Isn't: I'm not!
The Dead Collector: He isn't.
Large Man with Dead Body: Well, he will be soon, he's very ill.
The Dead Body That Claims It Isn't: I'm getting better!
Large Man with Dead Body: No you're not, you'll be stone dead in a moment.
The Dead Collector: Well, I can't take him like that. It's against regulations.
The Dead Body That Claims It Isn't: I don't want to go on the cart!
Large Man with Dead Body: Oh, don't be such a baby.
The Dead Collector: I can't take him.
The Dead Body That Claims It Isn't: I feel fine!
Large Man with Dead Body: Oh, do me a favor.
The Dead Collector: I can't!
Large Man with Dead Body: Well, can you hang around for a couple of minutes? He won't be long.
The Dead Collector: I promised I'd be at the Robinsons'. They've lost nine today.
Large Man with Dead Body: Well, when's your next round?
The Dead Collector: Thursday.
The Dead Body That Claims It Isn't: I think I'll go for a walk!
Large Man with Dead Body: You're not fooling anyone, you know. Isn't there anything you could do?
The Dead Body That Claims It Isn't: I feel happy! I feel happy!
[The Dead Collector glances up and down the street furtively, then silences the Body with his a whack of his club.]
Large Man with Dead Body: Ah, thank you very much.
The Dead Collector: Not at all. See you on Thursday.
Large Man with Dead Body: Right.
Sounds like they want to be paid by MS for NOT using pirate copies and put that money into development of a MS OS replacement.... win-win for them :)
Wouldn't that be a "not Win"/"not Win" for them?
Uhhhh, what's wrong with WINE?
It doesn't work well enough. But if you read the article, there's no indication that they are necessarily going to start from scratch; it may be that the Chinese will make a fair bit of use of the Wine code.
Dr. Raymond Stantz: We mean real wrath-of-God type stuff. Plagues, darkness--
Winston Zeddemore: The dead rising from the grave!
Dr. Egon Spengler: Forty years of darkness! Earthquakes, volcanoes--
Dr. Peter Venkman: Riots in the streets, dogs and cats living together, mass hysteria!
I doubt that emusic.com will switch to a new format any time soon
They wouldn't have to; just offer both formats. I doubt their storage bill would be that much higher as a percentage of total expenses.
I can't do that!
I'd starve to death!
If you do it and it works, I promise I'll buy you multiple lunches.
I have never heard this term 'crosshatch' in talking about LCDs. What does it mean?
Ya got me. My point was that display devices are all driven from external sources by a relatively few signal wires. The internal workings of LCDs really aren't important, so I assumed the other fella was right about that for the sake of argument.
The only way to fix these vulnerabilities is to remove the indredibly stupid "features" like having a mail reader be able to execute any program (signed or not), and remove javascript, ActiveX, and whatever other stupid 'extended scritping' nonsense IE is putting in their browser these days.
Or enhance your access control. My mail program should have access to my mail-related files, the ability to contact the mail server, and the ability to do various mail-window related display stuff (if graphical) or output text to the associated tty (if not.) Increase the scope of your access control so it doesn't just protect files; that's how you'll increase overall security.