Urg. Didn't read far enough back up the thread. Sorry!
On the subject of recent comics... Willingham's sequence Fables is really good.
Two jokes I've heard recently, which seem somewhat appropriate:
#1
Q: How is Iraq like Vietnam?
A: Dubya didn't fight in Vietnam either.
#2
A young Marine was lying in bed at Walter Reed when a cute nurse asked him how he'd been injured.
The man responded: "Well, I was leading my patrol down a street in Baghdad, when we saw a group of armed Iraqis coming up the other side of the street. Now, it's difficult over there to tell who's a friendly and who's an insurgent, so I shouted out 'Fuck Hussein!' And he shouted back, 'Fuck George Bush!'. We were shaking hands in the street when a car hit us."
Clifton @ previous:
I'm aware of the sorts of things hardcore gamers do. (I'm not hardcore myself, but I am extremely fond of my SNES emulator, for whatever that's worth.) And I basically agree with you that it's impossible to prevent everyone from using pirated games.
But there's a significant difference between installing some software that has DeCSS built in and soldering new components onto your Playstation's motherboard. Damn near anyone can do the former, and you have to be highly motivated to bother with the latter.
To me, that indicates that Sony, Nintendo, et al were reasonably successful; you have to go to some serious effort to play pirated games on up-to-date hardware. You can emulate the older stuff, but for most people it's easiest just to buy the games for the newest consoles.
But the people who wrote the DVD/CSS encryption weren't even trying... seriously, they used a 40 bit key! And the HD-DVD doesn't look terribly much more sophisticated.
Maybe you're right, and everyone involved is just a bunch of morons. I don't know. I'm not convinced that evil and stupid are mutually exclusive, in any case.
Jacob @ #51:
Right. One could rephrase part of your comment -- although hopefully without distorting your sentiments as -- "The DMCA's provisions aren't supported by any established legal principle."
As for Congress...well, I still find it depressing that the DMCA passed the Senate without a single dissenting vote. We're going to have to keep a close eye on the new Democratic majorities; they've been the primary sponsors of this garbage in the past.
People who are curious about what's been proposed recently should have a look at the Wikipedia page on pending IP legislation
Patrick @ 43,
Your analogy is broken. Hope you won't mind if I fix it.
We've been using that road across Mr. Banks' property to get the ocean for two generations. This means, under common and US law, that we possess of an easement, i.e. we do in fact have a legal right to continued access. Moreover, we have every right to get angry if Mr. Banks bribes the local cops to harass us when we exercise that right.
It's fun to joke about copyrighting numbers and patenting venerable and computationally useless algorithms. But more seriously, Greg London (#9 & #21) and DavidS (#14) are completely right. No one is actually trying to copyright numbers.
I don't agree with sburnap (#27) however. This is a copyright issue, in a larger sense. The question is what sort of restrictions are we as a society willing to tolerate in exchange for a steady supply of creative content. I don't object to limiting distribution for a period of some years; Tolkien was entitled to his royalties.
But what the movie industry is trying to do is a violation of the spirit of the copyright bargain. We've got a pretty clear standard for reasonable use for CDs, VCR tapes, and the like -- lending, making spare copies, and so forth harms no one -- and there's no reason we should mutely accept the content industry's attempt to unilaterally change the terms of our bargain. Especially not when they've chosen to do it by bribing legislators into crafting laws as full of mischief as the DMCA.
David @ 19,
Yes. That ratio is mine.
And while I'm at it, I should probably mention that I have a patent pending on Godel number encryption. Bruce is going to have to split those royalties.
Teresa (#6), you're welcome to most of those. However, I've owned 2, 5, 19, 12,043, 216,493, and a few others since early 1992.
Don't worry though about the 2 and the 5, though. I only intend to charge fees to sleazy licensing authorities.
Clifton @ 52:
I think Bruce Cohen StM @ 27 said better what I was aiming at. ML functions in part as a watering hole for a larger community. (I get in by bribing the doorman. :) That larger community, and the way we are enmeshed in it to various degrees, makes it that much harder to violate the norms our hosts have fostered.
On a tangent: I rather like the idea of Making Light as a neighborhood bar. Low roof, wood paneling, lots of plants, steady babble of conversation and laughter. You can tell who the regulars are, but they seem friendly enough.
The only peculiar thing is that -- perhaps it's the comment headers -- I'm imagining everyone wearing name-tags.
One reason (among many) that Making Light's comments work so well: People here know each other. I've never met TNH or PNH, but I know a few of the other commenters here personally.
I suspect this is true for a lot of the other folks who comment here. The community vibe is a lot stronger here than anywhere else I've seen. (Sci.physics.research used to come close.)
On the subject of that rap video... The fellow who did it, Brad Neely, is also the person who did Wizard People, Dear Readers.
If you haven't seen it, try the first chapter.
Since all of Hilzoy's examples seem to be drawn from recent history, I thought I'd throw out an older one: The French had a devil of a time getting a functioning democracy running after their Revolution. (Quite peculiar, no, that Napoleon's legacy ended up being a functioning legal code?)
Hey Tom at #57, congrats. (Was this the woman I saw you at the laundromat last week? ;)
Xopher, I recommend getting offensively drunk with rowdy friends in a romantic restaurant. It's worked for me!
Bob #1: With all due respect, I think it's an error to capitalize the words "Iraqi Resistance". There are dozens of factions in Iraq, and we do ourselves no favors by labeling them as a single entity, even casually.
Hell, it's probably a mistake to speak of Iraqis right now. There's not much in the way of national identity there there.
Grumble. Sorry for picking on you.
Bryan,
You may have to upgrade your socks. Fortunately, for you there appear to be a lot of sock experts here.
Bryan @ 14:
It's quite easy. Just reboot.
Wow. Place your bets now: How long till a callboy outs this nutjob?
I give him 3 years.
Product is provided "as is", without warranty of any kind whether express or implied. All implied warranties, including, without limitation, implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and non-infringement, are hereby expressly disclaimed.
| Year | Number of comments posted |
|---|---|
| 2008 | 1 |
| 2007 | 17 |
| 2006 | 7 |
Total: 25 comments. View all these comments on a single page.
The most recent 20 comments posted to Making Light by A.J.:
Show all comments by A.J..