But you could easily do your own recordings. I've played with electret mics and they go even *below* 1 Hz. I remember being able to see the pressure change in the room caused by someone opening/closing the door. Sure most people (and studios) filter out anything below ~20 Hz, but any 1$ electret microphone is still able to pick that up.
That was exactly my thought. Given the fact that the "accepted" frequency threshold of hearing is considered to be around 20 Hz, I don't see any real non-weapon use for this. I would definitely not like to be around that thing. Sometimes you never know when some circuit/system will become unstable and start to oscilate.
Say, if Americans were going to build the world's biggest telescope, the title would not read "Americans Plan to Build World's Biggest Telescope", it would read "World's Biggest Telescope to be Built".
Yeah, but that's just because Americans don't tell the difference between "world" and "U.S.". I guess the story should be titled: "Rest-of-the-World Plans to Build World's Biggest Telescope". But I guess it still wouldn't make sense!:-)
A significant part of Free Software is the avoidance of vendor lock-in. If you write software for Windows, using Windows APIs, then it is not really Free, because you can't use it without using non-Free software. You are still locked in.
That's actually an interesting point. Is it even legal to redistribute (L)GPL software that's linked against the stuff like MFC or DirectX? I would think that anyone porting a Linux app to Windows using closed Win32-specific libraries and distributing executables could (technically) be sued by the original author of the GPL software. No?
I don't think they have any hope of passing this. The main idea is probably to propose something completely insane like this and then say: "OK, because we are reasonnable people, we agree to drop this bit if we can get the rest to pass". In other words, if you want an inch, ask for a foot.
it's a mistake to rely on any one source of news, any one perspective
Sure but not all news source have the same value either. Something like the BBC is "worth" a lot more than CNN/Fox and many others combined....and no I'm not british.
OK, I'm not a biologist, but wouldn't virus and bacteria evolution be a testable facet of evolution. For example, scientists are saying that it is likely that the avian flu will evolve to be transmit with human-human contact. Isn't that a prediction based on theory of evolution. I guess the Intelligent Design prediction would sound like "God created this brand new virus that transmits from human to human", which is a bit silly.
If everyone somehow thinks VOIP on the internet is some magicly secure channel, they'll use it carelessly and lots of security problems will occur.
Actually, while it's not "magically" secure, it would be possible to make VoIP a lot more secure than about any other communication system. Just think encryption, plus the fact that you can say the key fingerprint out loud so that a "man in the middle" would actually need to imitate your voice in real-time in order to gain access. Of course, you're still vulnerable to mics in your own house...
Big corps are stealing our money, locking away our technology, and basically planning on destroying our country for a gigantic payoff. In this sense, patents are nothing but a single front, a symptom of the underlying problem.
Wait, it gets even better when you consider that many are partly owned by you (as one of many shareholders) and/or your retirement fund. In that case, you are in some sense involved in an act of self-destruction. Yes, that's where we're all going.
No, if it's not patented it'll never be mass-produced. Testing four of five different applications of a medical device costs over a billion dollars to ensure the minimum safety and efffectiveness for mass production: if there's no guaranteed return then no one will do it.
So by this reasonning, you would think that Dr.Evil should research all possible cures for [cancer,aids,whatever] and make sure they're not patented. That way, [cancer,aids,whatever] will never be cured. Right?
Depends on how you see it. The Internet is based on a collaboration between everyone. If the collaboration "falls apart" because of a disagreement, then the Internet "falls appart".
Unless someone can find a good reason to give the US to make ICANN turn things over, there's not anything that can be done.
Yes, and that good reason could be: "We are taking control of all DNS (no need to actually design something else) outside the US. Feel free to join us". I don't see that happening in the short term, but I wouldn't be surprised if it came to that eventually (or the US backing down under the threat of this happening).
This data is the health insurance companies wet dream
Sometimes I wonder wether it really is. In the short term, it might, but thing about it in the long term. If you knew exactly what what's going to happen to your health, why take an insurance? If you know you're in very good shape, you probably won't take a medical insurance (or at least insist on a very low price). Insurances make money on incertainty. The less incertainty there is, the less clients they have.
I don't see "For the generation of ad revenue for Google" as fitting any of those Fair Use exemptions.
What? Because they generate revenues it's no longer legal. So my book review site (that cites a sentence or two) is no longer legal if I add ads? Funny how you know better than all the Google lawyers that were surely consulted over this. I'm not saying that what Google does it legal or illegal, just that the legality isn't obvious.
The authors want to be consulted on how their copyrighted text is used. And that is absolutely their right.
No. They have to be consulted only for some uses specified by the law. If I want to distribute an author's book I need to ask permission. If I want to quote a sentence from his book, I don't need permission. If I want to burn his book, I don't need permission either. I'm not a lawyer so I don't know in what category Google Print falls, but it's certainly not obvious.
Nah, running Linux is the best way to avoid Sparkle. With a bit of luck, MS will prevent you from disabling it while (of course) not releasing it for Linux, so switching to Linux will be the only way to avoid some spam/malware!
Slashdot Mirror
But you could easily do your own recordings. I've played with electret mics and they go even *below* 1 Hz. I remember being able to see the pressure change in the room caused by someone opening/closing the door. Sure most people (and studios) filter out anything below ~20 Hz, but any 1$ electret microphone is still able to pick that up.
That was exactly my thought. Given the fact that the "accepted" frequency threshold of hearing is considered to be around 20 Hz, I don't see any real non-weapon use for this. I would definitely not like to be around that thing. Sometimes you never know when some circuit/system will become unstable and start to oscilate.
Say, if Americans were going to build the world's biggest telescope, the title would not read "Americans Plan to Build World's Biggest Telescope", it would read "World's Biggest Telescope to be Built".
:-)
Yeah, but that's just because Americans don't tell the difference between "world" and "U.S.". I guess the story should be titled: "Rest-of-the-World Plans to Build World's Biggest Telescope". But I guess it still wouldn't make sense!
You're right. Yet another detail I overlooked in the GPL.
A significant part of Free Software is the avoidance of vendor lock-in. If you write software for Windows, using Windows APIs, then it is not really Free, because you can't use it without using non-Free software. You are still locked in.
That's actually an interesting point. Is it even legal to redistribute (L)GPL software that's linked against the stuff like MFC or DirectX? I would think that anyone porting a Linux app to Windows using closed Win32-specific libraries and distributing executables could (technically) be sued by the original author of the GPL software. No?
I don't think they have any hope of passing this. The main idea is probably to propose something completely insane like this and then say: "OK, because we are reasonnable people, we agree to drop this bit if we can get the rest to pass". In other words, if you want an inch, ask for a foot.
it's a mistake to rely on any one source of news, any one perspective
...and no I'm not british.
Sure but not all news source have the same value either. Something like the BBC is "worth" a lot more than CNN/Fox and many others combined.
OK, I'm not a biologist, but wouldn't virus and bacteria evolution be a testable facet of evolution. For example, scientists are saying that it is likely that the avian flu will evolve to be transmit with human-human contact. Isn't that a prediction based on theory of evolution. I guess the Intelligent Design prediction would sound like "God created this brand new virus that transmits from human to human", which is a bit silly.
If everyone somehow thinks VOIP on the internet is some magicly secure channel, they'll use it carelessly and lots of security problems will occur.
Actually, while it's not "magically" secure, it would be possible to make VoIP a lot more secure than about any other communication system. Just think encryption, plus the fact that you can say the key fingerprint out loud so that a "man in the middle" would actually need to imitate your voice in real-time in order to gain access. Of course, you're still vulnerable to mics in your own house...
Big corps are stealing our money, locking away our technology, and basically planning on destroying our country for a gigantic payoff. In this sense, patents are nothing but a single front, a symptom of the underlying problem.
Wait, it gets even better when you consider that many are partly owned by you (as one of many shareholders) and/or your retirement fund. In that case, you are in some sense involved in an act of self-destruction. Yes, that's where we're all going.
No, if it's not patented it'll never be mass-produced. Testing four of five different applications of a medical device costs over a billion dollars to ensure the minimum safety and efffectiveness for mass production: if there's no guaranteed return then no one will do it.
So by this reasonning, you would think that Dr.Evil should research all possible cures for [cancer,aids,whatever] and make sure they're not patented. That way, [cancer,aids,whatever] will never be cured. Right?
Such a device if patented, tested and mass produced could end up doing a lot of good.
Does that mean if not patented it's not going to do any good?
Sure, the actual "quote" is made up, but there seems to be a part of truth in there.
...who cares where they come down? That's not my department. -- Wernher von Braun
If we make money off it, who cares some will suffer? -- Corporate world
Depends on how you see it. The Internet is based on a collaboration between everyone. If the collaboration "falls apart" because of a disagreement, then the Internet "falls appart".
Unless someone can find a good reason to give the US to make ICANN turn things over, there's not anything that can be done.
Yes, and that good reason could be: "We are taking control of all DNS (no need to actually design something else) outside the US. Feel free to join us". I don't see that happening in the short term, but I wouldn't be surprised if it came to that eventually (or the US backing down under the threat of this happening).
Sure, but my point was that the statement about that plane doing Tokyo-NY in 6 hours meant it was the same speed as Condorde, not twice as fast.
...flying from Tokyo to New York in just under six hours - less than half the current time of a Concorde.
Something's wrong here. Flying from Tokyo to NY on a 747 takes about 12-13 hours. I expect a Concorde would do it in about 6 hours too.
...replacing "copyright infringement" with "theft". In this case they become quite different.
Of course it's the same. After all, if people copy 100 billion CDs, then it really does cost the RIAA one trillion dollars.
This data is the health insurance companies wet dream
Sometimes I wonder wether it really is. In the short term, it might, but thing about it in the long term. If you knew exactly what what's going to happen to your health, why take an insurance? If you know you're in very good shape, you probably won't take a medical insurance (or at least insist on a very low price). Insurances make money on incertainty. The less incertainty there is, the less clients they have.
Sorry, I meant reproducing+distributing.
I don't see "For the generation of ad revenue for Google" as fitting any of those Fair Use exemptions.
What? Because they generate revenues it's no longer legal. So my book review site (that cites a sentence or two) is no longer legal if I add ads? Funny how you know better than all the Google lawyers that were surely consulted over this. I'm not saying that what Google does it legal or illegal, just that the legality isn't obvious.
The authors want to be consulted on how their copyrighted text is used. And that is absolutely their right.
No. They have to be consulted only for some uses specified by the law. If I want to distribute an author's book I need to ask permission. If I want to quote a sentence from his book, I don't need permission. If I want to burn his book, I don't need permission either. I'm not a lawyer so I don't know in what category Google Print falls, but it's certainly not obvious.
Nah, running Linux is the best way to avoid Sparkle. With a bit of luck, MS will prevent you from disabling it while (of course) not releasing it for Linux, so switching to Linux will be the only way to avoid some spam/malware!
But does it support my RME Hammerfall soundcard? I doubt it.