Fortunately for you, the patent was issued a long time ago. Unless you're using "SMS-speak", the patent period will have expired.... is that a blackberry in your hand? Heave to, and prepare to be litigated!
IANAL. However, I'd like to point out that the web page letter is not yet a court document. And in its current form, it is unlikely to ever be presented as a motion, reply, memorandum, or anything but an exhibit.
More, it does not constitute notice to the plaintiff in any fashion, as delivery cannot be assured.
One of the things about the Kaczynski thing that sticks with me to this day, was Daniel Schorr pontificating that "he intentionally withdrew from society and lived as a hermit in a shack, therefore he must be insane." I may have misunderstood what he actually said, but I recall my ire at his statement.
Insane != Anti-Social != Irrational. All three may occur at the same time, or they may be entirely separate.
Made me curious... I bet the military has some information - somewhere - on cell phone/laptop batteries rated for 120 degree environments. I couldn't find it in a trivial search, though.
You didn't quite explain the distinction... It's not the energy density that makes it an explosive, but the propagation properties. Explosives DO burn. They burn very rapidly (deflagration). High explosives burn so fast that it's the shock wave that ignites further material (detonation).
From your same explosive material link: "Explosives usually have less potential energy than petroleum fuels..."
Interesting that you should look to the unions as a panacea, too. Did the auto and airline unions jack fuel prices up? Did the teacher's unions set the curriculum requirements and funding levels?
I have to take issue with both of you for assuming a single factor would kill or cure an industry.
Trojan shows a case where even "standard" reactor technologies are deficient. In the case of Trojan, the steam system (generators and transport tubes alike) broke down long before the anticipated lifetime of either the plant or the specific items.
A more important objection to Nuclear power is waste disposal. If you think siting a plant meets objections, it ain't nothing to siting a disposal repository. Vitrification, while it holds promise, isn't there yet. Subduction disposal has higher-level objections: countries would have to collectively pull their heads out, over Law of the Sea objections.
In this case, attorneys for both sides have acted abnormally, and sometimes out of bounds of what is expected of the legal profession. Even a judge who starts a case unbiased against either side (or against the attorneys for either side) can become so watching this sort of thing go on.
"You two behave, or I'm going to pull these proceedings over and give you both spankings!"
On the general issue of "filming in the courtroom", there are Heisenbergian issues involved: Observation changing the observed.
Will any of the parties behave differently, with a public showing of the proceedings? How about the jury pool?
On another front, you can't simply open all sessions and records to the public without causing harm to a party. Say, tax records, trade secrets, or... private peccadilloes. How about social security numbers, put in evidence against a credit card fraudster. Be a great thing to have those simply out in the open for all the other fraud artists, wouldn't it?
But closed proceedings are not all sweetness and light, are they? For instance, the Telecom Immunity cases, Al-Haramain, and countless others.
His point was to see how people reacted to someone antisocial within that game environment, deliberately creating tensions to see how people responded.
To that extent, the fact that he was using the game environment in ways not intended by the designers (what the GP was saying) is irrelevant. He could have achieved the same results by gathering a group of other players (or simply by multi-boxing) and achieved much the same result.
Argument that he was "doing the point of the game" (by choosing a side and defeating the other side "by any means possible to the game") is also irrelevant. It wasn't the game he was interested in, it was the reactions of the other players.
An eyewitness earlier on this topic reported that he engaged in "non-mainstream behavior" socially in-game as well. In that respect, "Trolls MMO" in the title for this slashdot article is well earned. Not a lot different than trolling on a forum.
If you'd a correction to your counter-analogy, his tactics in-game would more resemble entrapment-and-reporting, rather than simple observing-and-reporting.
And you might also note that while City of Heroes/Villains has PvP elements in it (and those are what the researcher used), those elements are a very small portion of the game as a whole. Most of the game is PvE, and some elements promote cooperative play between the sides. Compare that to games such as Eve Online (almost exclusively PvP), WoW (selectively PvP), or, as you point out, Counterstrike (compulsorily PvP). As you yourself point out, the social environment that evolves in each is distinct. The researcher set out to see what happened when you behaved antisocially but within the rules of the game.
Intentional irony, perhaps? Eve, the game with PvP built in? The game of gate-camping and ganking?
Where in City of Heroes, it was Twixt succeeding against a mob of others, in Eve, the mob often plays the villain of the piece against the solo player. Complicated, of course, by the advantages a long time player has over one much newer to the game.
In the suits the RIAA brings, the plaintiffs are not the RIAA organization, but the various member organizations that the RIAA can identify as owners of infringed copyrights. I doubt you could prohibit "multiple companies as plaintiffs", without similarly prohibiting "multiple people as plaintiffs".
You might consider the effects of unions, and of class-action lawsuits. Forcing companies to act as independent entities would imply prohibiting those as well. The ACLU, the EFF, and other organizations would also fall under such a prohibition. How about ISO? It's a standards organization, but would it also be a "trade organization"?
Contrariwise, corporate umbrellas could well be the next strategy used by corporations were your restriction to be made. "No, no, honestly, we're one corporation!"
Bank statements do have transaction records on them. While many people (myself included) do not examine them regularly or carefully, there are still many who would.
You use the terms "virtual good" and "real good consisting of data" without drawing any solid distinction between them. What makes a digital good "Virtual" vs "Real"? Wikipedia has a definition we can start with, I guess.
Virtual goods are non-physical objects that are purchased and exchanged on the internet. A virtual product has no intrinsic value in the physical or real world and is by definition intangible.
Would a Second Life script be a virtual good, or a real one? It has a real world manifestation, much like a javascript file does. It can only manifest as the object it represents when applied within the Second Life environment, though.... does it become a virtual good if it is only linked to (or sold) within the game?... Is it both a virtual good and a real one?
Intrinsic value is also a shifty concept. If it takes me Y hours of play to earn X (insert game currency here), doesn't that imply that there is a labor value to the virtual currency? As a counter example, is there an intrinsic value to copyrights and patents (as opposed to specific items using the patent or copyright)? How about E-books?
Despite posting this on slashdot, I am interested in answers to these questions. Perhaps someone can forward me to where I can learn those answers.
I have nothing against Judasim, like I have nothing Islam, but you cannot critisize Iran for being a theology and defend Isreal.
Perhaps the word you are looking for is Theocracy.
While my country recognizes Isreal, I personally don't...
... and it shows. Your tirade was scored +4 insightful, yet I find it very trollish.
For instance, your comment comparing death rates. Did you also know that more people have died from second hand smoke in the US, in one year, than from being deployed in Iraq over the course of the occupation? That more french were killed by US munitions in WWII than by the Germans? That more people prefer Mindy's cheesecake to her strudel? (Don't believe me? Look them up! Do your own research for a change!)
But hey, this is slashdot. You get points for "a car analogy".
why didn't the Gypsies get a homeland
Did they ask for one? Did the Romani, who you are likely referring to? Again, it seems unlikely that you really want an answer, or you would do your own research.
And before you choose the option "live in a Warsaw ghetto before the gas chambers", you might also recall that the residents there didn't have the option to leave freely when the gas chambers came about. Since you're expressing an opinion knowing the historical outcome, I suggest you reconsider. Or find a counselor.
If someone sues you with malice, should you hate the lawyer they have hired, or the guy who is actually suing you and paying the lawyer to make your life hell?
The answer to that is "Yes".
The guy hiring the lawyer (and thus the person bringing the suit) is the moving force of the suit. But the lawyer has the option to work for the guy, or not. For a suit that is meritless, he'll get censured for bringing it to the court. You might also look up malicious prosecution while you're at it.
Slashdot Mirror
Fortunately for you, the patent was issued a long time ago. Unless you're using "SMS-speak", the patent period will have expired. ... is that a blackberry in your hand? Heave to, and prepare to be litigated!
I agree with your sentiments completely.
IANAL. However, I'd like to point out that the web page letter is not yet a court document. And in its current form, it is unlikely to ever be presented as a motion, reply, memorandum, or anything but an exhibit.
More, it does not constitute notice to the plaintiff in any fashion, as delivery cannot be assured.
One of the things about the Kaczynski thing that sticks with me to this day, was Daniel Schorr pontificating that "he intentionally withdrew from society and lived as a hermit in a shack, therefore he must be insane." I may have misunderstood what he actually said, but I recall my ire at his statement.
Insane != Anti-Social != Irrational. All three may occur at the same time, or they may be entirely separate.
So you could get in trouble if the raid cheers when you defeat Yogg-Saron?
Good thing that you can't actually connect to the WoW servers from underwater, then!
Made me curious... I bet the military has some information - somewhere - on cell phone/laptop batteries rated for 120 degree environments. I couldn't find it in a trivial search, though.
You didn't quite explain the distinction... It's not the energy density that makes it an explosive, but the propagation properties. Explosives DO burn. They burn very rapidly (deflagration). High explosives burn so fast that it's the shock wave that ignites further material (detonation).
From your same explosive material link: "Explosives usually have less potential energy than petroleum fuels..."
Interesting that you should look to the unions as a panacea, too. Did the auto and airline unions jack fuel prices up? Did the teacher's unions set the curriculum requirements and funding levels?
I have to take issue with both of you for assuming a single factor would kill or cure an industry.
Naw, don't be fucking religion, it'll give ya a nasty rash.
I'd take time to respond to you more, but I'm late for my Phrenotherapy session.
(+5 insightful) Not +5 Funny?
Just shows that /. readers have difficulty distinguishing "psychobabble as humor" from "psychobabble as therapy".
Much the same as psychoanalysts, I imagine.
Trojan shows a case where even "standard" reactor technologies are deficient. In the case of Trojan, the steam system (generators and transport tubes alike) broke down long before the anticipated lifetime of either the plant or the specific items.
A more important objection to Nuclear power is waste disposal. If you think siting a plant meets objections, it ain't nothing to siting a disposal repository. Vitrification, while it holds promise, isn't there yet. Subduction disposal has higher-level objections: countries would have to collectively pull their heads out, over Law of the Sea objections.
In this case, attorneys for both sides have acted abnormally, and sometimes out of bounds of what is expected of the legal profession. Even a judge who starts a case unbiased against either side (or against the attorneys for either side) can become so watching this sort of thing go on.
"You two behave, or I'm going to pull these proceedings over and give you both spankings!"
On the general issue of "filming in the courtroom", there are Heisenbergian issues involved: Observation changing the observed.
Will any of the parties behave differently, with a public showing of the proceedings? How about the jury pool?
On another front, you can't simply open all sessions and records to the public without causing harm to a party. Say, tax records, trade secrets, or ... private peccadilloes. How about social security numbers, put in evidence against a credit card fraudster. Be a great thing to have those simply out in the open for all the other fraud artists, wouldn't it?
But closed proceedings are not all sweetness and light, are they? For instance, the Telecom Immunity cases, Al-Haramain, and countless others.
His point was to see how people reacted to someone antisocial within that game environment, deliberately creating tensions to see how people responded.
To that extent, the fact that he was using the game environment in ways not intended by the designers (what the GP was saying) is irrelevant. He could have achieved the same results by gathering a group of other players (or simply by multi-boxing) and achieved much the same result.
Argument that he was "doing the point of the game" (by choosing a side and defeating the other side "by any means possible to the game") is also irrelevant. It wasn't the game he was interested in, it was the reactions of the other players.
An eyewitness earlier on this topic reported that he engaged in "non-mainstream behavior" socially in-game as well. In that respect, "Trolls MMO" in the title for this slashdot article is well earned. Not a lot different than trolling on a forum.
If you'd a correction to your counter-analogy, his tactics in-game would more resemble entrapment-and-reporting, rather than simple observing-and-reporting.
And you might also note that while City of Heroes/Villains has PvP elements in it (and those are what the researcher used), those elements are a very small portion of the game as a whole. Most of the game is PvE, and some elements promote cooperative play between the sides. Compare that to games such as Eve Online (almost exclusively PvP), WoW (selectively PvP), or, as you point out, Counterstrike (compulsorily PvP). As you yourself point out, the social environment that evolves in each is distinct. The researcher set out to see what happened when you behaved antisocially but within the rules of the game.
Intentional irony, perhaps? Eve, the game with PvP built in? The game of gate-camping and ganking?
Where in City of Heroes, it was Twixt succeeding against a mob of others, in Eve, the mob often plays the villain of the piece against the solo player. Complicated, of course, by the advantages a long time player has over one much newer to the game.
> Two wings for propulsion and control, nothing else.
(emphasis mine)
Even hummingbirds have tails. A bee might be a better example, but they have four wings, as do butterflies.
Realizing they couldn't win on that issue, the music industry also invented the Blank media tax. They still get that, even today.
In the suits the RIAA brings, the plaintiffs are not the RIAA organization, but the various member organizations that the RIAA can identify as owners of infringed copyrights. I doubt you could prohibit "multiple companies as plaintiffs", without similarly prohibiting "multiple people as plaintiffs".
You might consider the effects of unions, and of class-action lawsuits. Forcing companies to act as independent entities would imply prohibiting those as well. The ACLU, the EFF, and other organizations would also fall under such a prohibition. How about ISO? It's a standards organization, but would it also be a "trade organization"?
Contrariwise, corporate umbrellas could well be the next strategy used by corporations were your restriction to be made. "No, no, honestly, we're one corporation!"
Bank statements do have transaction records on them. While many people (myself included) do not examine them regularly or carefully, there are still many who would.
You use the terms "virtual good" and "real good consisting of data" without drawing any solid distinction between them. What makes a digital good "Virtual" vs "Real"? Wikipedia has a definition we can start with, I guess.
Virtual goods are non-physical objects that are purchased and exchanged on the internet. A virtual product has no intrinsic value in the physical or real world and is by definition intangible.
Would a Second Life script be a virtual good, or a real one? It has a real world manifestation, much like a javascript file does. It can only manifest as the object it represents when applied within the Second Life environment, though. ... does it become a virtual good if it is only linked to (or sold) within the game? ... Is it both a virtual good and a real one?
Intrinsic value is also a shifty concept. If it takes me Y hours of play to earn X (insert game currency here), doesn't that imply that there is a labor value to the virtual currency? As a counter example, is there an intrinsic value to copyrights and patents (as opposed to specific items using the patent or copyright)? How about E-books?
Despite posting this on slashdot, I am interested in answers to these questions. Perhaps someone can forward me to where I can learn those answers.
I have nothing against Judasim, like I have nothing Islam, but you cannot critisize Iran for being a theology and defend Isreal.
Perhaps the word you are looking for is Theocracy.
While my country recognizes Isreal, I personally don't...
... and it shows. Your tirade was scored +4 insightful, yet I find it very trollish.
For instance, your comment comparing death rates. Did you also know that more people have died from second hand smoke in the US, in one year, than from being deployed in Iraq over the course of the occupation? That more french were killed by US munitions in WWII than by the Germans? That more people prefer Mindy's cheesecake to her strudel? (Don't believe me? Look them up! Do your own research for a change!)
But hey, this is slashdot. You get points for "a car analogy".
why didn't the Gypsies get a homeland
Did they ask for one? Did the Romani, who you are likely referring to? Again, it seems unlikely that you really want an answer, or you would do your own research.
And before you choose the option "live in a Warsaw ghetto before the gas chambers", you might also recall that the residents there didn't have the option to leave freely when the gas chambers came about. Since you're expressing an opinion knowing the historical outcome, I suggest you reconsider. Or find a counselor.
It sounds like the world turned upside down, and you were searching for loose changes.
If someone sues you with malice, should you hate the lawyer they have hired, or the guy who is actually suing you and paying the lawyer to make your life hell?
The answer to that is "Yes".
The guy hiring the lawyer (and thus the person bringing the suit) is the moving force of the suit. But the lawyer has the option to work for the guy, or not. For a suit that is meritless, he'll get censured for bringing it to the court. You might also look up malicious prosecution while you're at it.
I think Alphonse Karr might have a word to say to your lawyers...
What, you don't recognize a troll when you see one? :)
Add to the "we decide what you can use" list toner cartridges and camera batteries.
You could even include things like proprietary power cords for unreasonable lock-in.