IANAL, so take with a heaping dose of salt, but from what I understand, the big problem with creating archival copies of DVDs is the CSS encryption. While the DMCA allows for fair use -- meaning that it is perfectly legal under the DMCA to create archival copies to protect against loss of the media -- it also prohibits breaking or attempting to break any encryption scheme that is used to protect the media.
So, as long as your DVD doesn't use CSS to encrypt the media on the disk, you are correct. However, if you attempt to defeat the encryption on the DVD, then you have violated the DMCA, whether or not you provided the tool you used to anyone else.
If anyone else has a better understanding of fair use and breaking encryption schemes under the DMCA, please correct anything I said above.
Scratches aren't the only problem with CD/DVD/Blu-Ray media. I've busted multiple CDs over the years; it's really not that hard to do, especially if your CD/DVD/whatever is in one of those cheap paper sleeves rather than a plastic case.
Using google to find answers is efficient and is "smart" in a way, but doesn't make you knowledgeable in a field...
I think I see what you are saying, and I think that you are probably on the right track, but I'm not quite sure that I completely agree with you. Here's my quibble. As the world we live in grows more and more complex and as it changes more and more rapidly, it will become impossible for us to keep pace with all of the changes around us. I would argue that that point in time has already come and gone. I think it was in the 1700s where the educated elite pretty much gave up on being completely literate in all fields of study (math, science, philosophy, politics, etc.). Since then, we have become specialized, i.e., there are no more people along the lines of Ben Franklin -- people who are statesmen and inventors and scientists and philosophers and....
Because of the overwhelming wealth of information in the modern world, it is less important to "know everything" than it is to be able to figure out what you need to know when you need to know it.
And unlike 9% of America right now be happy you have a position instead of a cardboard box.
Bovine scatology.
As my economics instructor used to say, "Unemployment in a world of unmet want is a crock." Do you have everything you want? Neither does anyone else. Therefore, the want/demand exists. If you are unemployed while there are things that people want, then either you don't have the skills that are in demand (which can be remedied with education and/or training) or you simply find it more profitable to remain unemployed.
If you are in a job that royally sucks, no, don't just accept it because "at least you have a job." Leave and get a better job, or develop your skills so that you are in a position to leave and get a better job. In either case, you are only a victim of "the way things are" so long as you allow yourself to be. And yes, I've been there and done that, so don't reply that it's easy for me to say when I'm already in a good job. How do you think I got here?
My reply to that would be, "Okay. If I'm always on the clock, then you owe me (how many years I've worked there) X ((16 hours per day X five days per week X 52 weeks per year) + (24 hours per day X 2 weekend days per week X 52 weeks per year)) hours of back pay, plus interest. I'll send you a bill."
I know a guy (honest!) who has used that explanation successfully in the past: "look, I'm on my third^wfifth beer at the moment. Do you really want me working on the server or driving in to the office right now? 'Kay, didn't think so. See you Monday."
But what ticks me off is when I roll into work 30 minutes "late" the next day and it's like "Oh look, weave is rolling in late again."
Been there, done that and decided that if it ever happens somewhere I work, I will be sure to take the boss aside and let him know that if (s)he expects me to take that kind of crap, we'll be talking a big increase in my pay. In my case, I was at work from 8:00 a.m. until 2:00 a.m. the next morning fixing a broken database. When I rolled into work around 8:30 (instead of 8:00), my boss commented to me that "five minutes early was right on time."
I made it a point to sit in my car in the parking lot until 7:59:45 every morning for the next two weeks, but I've since decided that I will never, ever just suck it up and say nothing again.
That's true. And for binaries, well, if it's a binary, it's a binary from the developer (i.e. firefox-bin or openoffice-bin), so I still don't have to compile the program.
I think the mod who moderated him "flamebait" must be the ONE Windows user who actually liked Windows ME. What are the odds that that one person would be reading this thread? Go figure...
It's obviously a character flaw of mine, but every time someone makes a statement, my first reaction is to find a counterexample. So, in reply to...:
No matter how simple your code is, it will never be perfect.
...I humbly submit:
int main(void);
int main(void)
{
//This code performs no useful function, and is intended solely as an
//example of how simple C code can truly be.
return(0);
}
'We reject the view that copyright owners and their licensees are required to provide consumers with perpetual access to creative works.'
Fair enough. And likewise, I reject DRM'd works. I'll buy DRM-free MP3s from Amazon over iTunes. I won't buy DRM'd BluRay disks. If you want to provide a "defective by design" product, then keep it. I'm not interested.
Yeah, that's great when that's an option, but IME, that's rarely when the problem occurs. IIt seems to happen most often to me when I am stuck behind traffic ahead, but traffic on the right is backed up and going even slower, so there is nowhere in the right lane for me to go. In that case, the tailgater is only making a bad situation worse.
Okay, I'm a n00b on my motorcycle, since I've only had my license for something like three weeks now, but I'm nowhere near confident enough in my skills to want to ride in the two or three feet between cars at anything faster than a very slow walk. I'll pull between my car and my wife's car in the driveway to get to the garage, but that's about it. In traffic, where someone may drift near the centerline because they didn't see you in their blind spot and/or they weren't paying attention to traffic around them? No thanks...
Ummm...I know you are j/k, but if the rude driver isn't worried about the rules of the road that caused them to lose their license in the first place, what makes you think (s)he will worry about the rule that prohibits them from driving once the license has been taken away?
The result is that the most basic physics are unknown to most drivers.
When I was learning to fly, I was greatly annoyed that even the FAA publications on the physics of flight misrepresented the dv/dt that GPP mentioned. I had to grit my teeth every time I read an FAA "knowledge" test question that started, "If you are in a straight-and-level, unaccelerated turn..." Grrr...You CAN'T have an "unaccelerated turn" because by definition, a turn is an acceleration!!!
If even the FAA's engineers can't correctly explain the physics of a turn, how do you expect Ms. Suburban Soccer Mom to get it right?
I don't know how people justify speeding for any reason other than in a critical situation.
Are you always this self-righteous?
Justification #1: sometimes the speed limit is just completely insane. I once saw a speed limit sign for 7 (!)MPH. Yes, I ignored it and drove about 15 because I wasn't going to thrash my clutch while searching for a parking spot in a car that wouldn't do less than 15 without slipping the clutch. I'll gladly accept the 0.00001% increase in risk that my additional 8MPH earned.
Justification #2: because sometimes the people behind you are being completely stupid, and your best bet is to get as far away from them as quickly as possible. I once had a very, very young driver in a huge shiny H2 try to turn my motorcycle into a hood ornament. He was looking right at me as he pulled out of the side street into my lane of traffic. I braked, swerved and hit my horn, he pulled over onto the shoulder to let me by, and I continued on my merry way. Shortly afterwards, I noticed the Hummer getting closer and closer in my rear view, and finally noticed the kid was riding my butt. Sorry, but a 3+ ton Hummer tailgating my 460 pound motorcycle -- especially after almost running me over once -- was all the justification I needed to open her up and get the flock out of Dodge.
Justification #3: I have sometimes exceeded the speed limit while passing people in a passing lane because they were either completely ignorant or just complete buttheads. When on a two-lane road in the mountains, some people seem to feel the need to drive at 35 MPH, even though the posted speed limit is 55-65MPH (and completely controllable at that speed). Okay, no problem -- if you don't feel like you can handle 55-65 MPH on the twisties, don't do 55-65 MPH on the twisties. But don't accelerate once you hit the passing lane so as to prevent the 2 miles of traffic backed up behind you from getting around you once it's safe to do so. Hang back a little until people have gotten around you. If you are going to be a butt about it, yes, I will exceed the speed limit a little bit to get around you when it's safe to do so, so that I can drive at a reasonable speed in the curvy sections of the road.
ROFL. I think you meant "reckless" driver. When my insurance company labeled my household as "wreckless" drivers many years ago, they gave us a reduction on our insurance rates:D
If someone is passsing you on the right, that should be a major wakeup call to you: you're causing other people to do dangerous things.
We'll ignore the obvious "I live in (England|Japan|wherever else they drive on the wrong side of the road) you insensitive clod!" comments for now, and cut to the chase: this is a generalization, and like all generalizations* it's not always true.
Case in point, yesterday, I was on my motorcycle in the rain. I had just driven up an on-ramp onto a highway, and because of the rain, I was accelerating at a rate somewhat less than typical for me. I had pulled out of the merge lane into the main flow of traffic because I was already at highway speed (65MPH), and was getting ready to pass the SUV ahead of me who was doing somewhat less than the speed limit, when I noticed a complete flaming idiot (I'm being generous) in the merge lane blowing past me at about 20MPH over the speed limit. Did I mention that this was in the rain? With the end of the merge lane shortly ahead? With an SUV going even slower than me blocking the idiot's access to the right lane of the highway ahead of me? And with the left lane of the highway completely frikken empty? Yeah, he cut (and pissed...) me off before passing the traffic ahead on the left.
Neither I nor the slow SUV ahead caused this moron to pass everyone on the right in the merge lane. That was a blatantly stupid choice when a much better alternative existed. Believe me, there is no end to the idiocy that some people exhibit, and sometimes people do stupid things just because they are stupid, not because you gave them no alternative.
Slashdot Mirror
I'm in. Anyone else?
I've busted plastic cases, too. I suppose I could carry them in armored, solid steel cases, but that kind of defeats the purpose of portable media.
IANAL, so take with a heaping dose of salt, but from what I understand, the big problem with creating archival copies of DVDs is the CSS encryption. While the DMCA allows for fair use -- meaning that it is perfectly legal under the DMCA to create archival copies to protect against loss of the media -- it also prohibits breaking or attempting to break any encryption scheme that is used to protect the media.
So, as long as your DVD doesn't use CSS to encrypt the media on the disk, you are correct. However, if you attempt to defeat the encryption on the DVD, then you have violated the DMCA, whether or not you provided the tool you used to anyone else.
If anyone else has a better understanding of fair use and breaking encryption schemes under the DMCA, please correct anything I said above.
Unless it is a DVD that you hate, in which case it will then last forever.
Scratches aren't the only problem with CD/DVD/Blu-Ray media. I've busted multiple CDs over the years; it's really not that hard to do, especially if your CD/DVD/whatever is in one of those cheap paper sleeves rather than a plastic case.
Well said -- we're on the same page. Understanding what you "know" is far more important than simply being able to regurgitate facts on demand.
Using google to find answers is efficient and is "smart" in a way, but doesn't make you knowledgeable in a field...
I think I see what you are saying, and I think that you are probably on the right track, but I'm not quite sure that I completely agree with you. Here's my quibble. As the world we live in grows more and more complex and as it changes more and more rapidly, it will become impossible for us to keep pace with all of the changes around us. I would argue that that point in time has already come and gone. I think it was in the 1700s where the educated elite pretty much gave up on being completely literate in all fields of study (math, science, philosophy, politics, etc.). Since then, we have become specialized, i.e., there are no more people along the lines of Ben Franklin -- people who are statesmen and inventors and scientists and philosophers and....
Because of the overwhelming wealth of information in the modern world, it is less important to "know everything" than it is to be able to figure out what you need to know when you need to know it.
And unlike 9% of America right now be happy you have a position instead of a cardboard box.
Bovine scatology.
As my economics instructor used to say, "Unemployment in a world of unmet want is a crock." Do you have everything you want? Neither does anyone else. Therefore, the want/demand exists. If you are unemployed while there are things that people want, then either you don't have the skills that are in demand (which can be remedied with education and/or training) or you simply find it more profitable to remain unemployed.
If you are in a job that royally sucks, no, don't just accept it because "at least you have a job." Leave and get a better job, or develop your skills so that you are in a position to leave and get a better job. In either case, you are only a victim of "the way things are" so long as you allow yourself to be. And yes, I've been there and done that, so don't reply that it's easy for me to say when I'm already in a good job. How do you think I got here?
My reply to that would be, "Okay. If I'm always on the clock, then you owe me (how many years I've worked there) X ((16 hours per day X five days per week X 52 weeks per year) + (24 hours per day X 2 weekend days per week X 52 weeks per year)) hours of back pay, plus interest. I'll send you a bill."
I know a guy (honest!) who has used that explanation successfully in the past: "look, I'm on my third^wfifth beer at the moment. Do you really want me working on the server or driving in to the office right now? 'Kay, didn't think so. See you Monday."
Maybe I'm just overly optimistic, but I think ArsonSmith simply forgot the "" tag at the end of his post.
But what ticks me off is when I roll into work 30 minutes "late" the next day and it's like "Oh look, weave is rolling in late again."
Been there, done that and decided that if it ever happens somewhere I work, I will be sure to take the boss aside and let him know that if (s)he expects me to take that kind of crap, we'll be talking a big increase in my pay. In my case, I was at work from 8:00 a.m. until 2:00 a.m. the next morning fixing a broken database. When I rolled into work around 8:30 (instead of 8:00), my boss commented to me that "five minutes early was right on time."
I made it a point to sit in my car in the parking lot until 7:59:45 every morning for the next two weeks, but I've since decided that I will never, ever just suck it up and say nothing again.
That's true. And for binaries, well, if it's a binary, it's a binary from the developer (i.e. firefox-bin or openoffice-bin), so I still don't have to compile the program.
So unless you literally roll your own of everything a simple update should suffice.
I'm a Gentoo user, you insensitive clod!
I figured there had to be something I wasn't thinking of -- there's a reason I'm a network admin and not a dev :)
I think the mod who moderated him "flamebait" must be the ONE Windows user who actually liked Windows ME. What are the odds that that one person would be reading this thread? Go figure...
No matter how simple your code is, it will never be perfect.
int main(void);
int main(void)
{
return(0);
}
Suggestions from the better C coders out there?
'We reject the view that copyright owners and their licensees are required to provide consumers with perpetual access to creative works.'
Fair enough. And likewise, I reject DRM'd works. I'll buy DRM-free MP3s from Amazon over iTunes. I won't buy DRM'd BluRay disks. If you want to provide a "defective by design" product, then keep it. I'm not interested.
Yeah, that's great when that's an option, but IME, that's rarely when the problem occurs. IIt seems to happen most often to me when I am stuck behind traffic ahead, but traffic on the right is backed up and going even slower, so there is nowhere in the right lane for me to go. In that case, the tailgater is only making a bad situation worse.
Okay, I'm a n00b on my motorcycle, since I've only had my license for something like three weeks now, but I'm nowhere near confident enough in my skills to want to ride in the two or three feet between cars at anything faster than a very slow walk. I'll pull between my car and my wife's car in the driveway to get to the garage, but that's about it. In traffic, where someone may drift near the centerline because they didn't see you in their blind spot and/or they weren't paying attention to traffic around them? No thanks...
Ummm...I know you are j/k, but if the rude driver isn't worried about the rules of the road that caused them to lose their license in the first place, what makes you think (s)he will worry about the rule that prohibits them from driving once the license has been taken away?
The result is that the most basic physics are unknown to most drivers.
When I was learning to fly, I was greatly annoyed that even the FAA publications on the physics of flight misrepresented the dv/dt that GPP mentioned. I had to grit my teeth every time I read an FAA "knowledge" test question that started, "If you are in a straight-and-level, unaccelerated turn..." Grrr...You CAN'T have an "unaccelerated turn" because by definition, a turn is an acceleration!!!
If even the FAA's engineers can't correctly explain the physics of a turn, how do you expect Ms. Suburban Soccer Mom to get it right?
I don't know how people justify speeding for any reason other than in a critical situation.
Are you always this self-righteous?
Justification #1: sometimes the speed limit is just completely insane. I once saw a speed limit sign for 7 (!)MPH. Yes, I ignored it and drove about 15 because I wasn't going to thrash my clutch while searching for a parking spot in a car that wouldn't do less than 15 without slipping the clutch. I'll gladly accept the 0.00001% increase in risk that my additional 8MPH earned.
Justification #2: because sometimes the people behind you are being completely stupid, and your best bet is to get as far away from them as quickly as possible. I once had a very, very young driver in a huge shiny H2 try to turn my motorcycle into a hood ornament. He was looking right at me as he pulled out of the side street into my lane of traffic. I braked, swerved and hit my horn, he pulled over onto the shoulder to let me by, and I continued on my merry way. Shortly afterwards, I noticed the Hummer getting closer and closer in my rear view, and finally noticed the kid was riding my butt. Sorry, but a 3+ ton Hummer tailgating my 460 pound motorcycle -- especially after almost running me over once -- was all the justification I needed to open her up and get the flock out of Dodge.
Justification #3: I have sometimes exceeded the speed limit while passing people in a passing lane because they were either completely ignorant or just complete buttheads. When on a two-lane road in the mountains, some people seem to feel the need to drive at 35 MPH, even though the posted speed limit is 55-65MPH (and completely controllable at that speed). Okay, no problem -- if you don't feel like you can handle 55-65 MPH on the twisties, don't do 55-65 MPH on the twisties. But don't accelerate once you hit the passing lane so as to prevent the 2 miles of traffic backed up behind you from getting around you once it's safe to do so. Hang back a little until people have gotten around you. If you are going to be a butt about it, yes, I will exceed the speed limit a little bit to get around you when it's safe to do so, so that I can drive at a reasonable speed in the curvy sections of the road.
I could go on, but I'm sure you get the idea.
ROFL. I think you meant "reckless" driver. When my insurance company labeled my household as "wreckless" drivers many years ago, they gave us a reduction on our insurance rates :D
If someone is passsing you on the right, that should be a major wakeup call to you: you're causing other people to do dangerous things.
We'll ignore the obvious "I live in (England|Japan|wherever else they drive on the wrong side of the road) you insensitive clod!" comments for now, and cut to the chase: this is a generalization, and like all generalizations* it's not always true.
Case in point, yesterday, I was on my motorcycle in the rain. I had just driven up an on-ramp onto a highway, and because of the rain, I was accelerating at a rate somewhat less than typical for me. I had pulled out of the merge lane into the main flow of traffic because I was already at highway speed (65MPH), and was getting ready to pass the SUV ahead of me who was doing somewhat less than the speed limit, when I noticed a complete flaming idiot (I'm being generous) in the merge lane blowing past me at about 20MPH over the speed limit. Did I mention that this was in the rain? With the end of the merge lane shortly ahead? With an SUV going even slower than me blocking the idiot's access to the right lane of the highway ahead of me? And with the left lane of the highway completely frikken empty? Yeah, he cut (and pissed...) me off before passing the traffic ahead on the left.
Neither I nor the slow SUV ahead caused this moron to pass everyone on the right in the merge lane. That was a blatantly stupid choice when a much better alternative existed. Believe me, there is no end to the idiocy that some people exhibit, and sometimes people do stupid things just because they are stupid, not because you gave them no alternative.
* yes, I see what I did there