Comment Re:And? (Score 1) 543
I've never been able to make a collect call to a cell phone. I'm told that that is because cell phone providers block incoming collect calls.
davidh
I've never been able to make a collect call to a cell phone. I'm told that that is because cell phone providers block incoming collect calls.
davidh
"why is this coming up now?"
Because a recent novel trilogy—Crucible by David R. George, III—was based significantly on that episode (among others). The books came out in late 2006, and Harlan announced at that time that he was planning to sue Pocket Books/Paramount to either scrap the books or get gobs of money.
As for why it took two and a half years from "I'll sue!" to actually suing, I'd imagine that his lawyer(s) tried negotiating with Paramount/Pocket first.
davidh
"It changes how they define planets. They have created a new piece technical legal jargon, 'planet.' All this means is that when you are talking to the government, and in the far-fetched situation where the word 'planet' comes up, you and the government are speaking a different language."
Actually, it means that astronomers and the Illinois government are speaking a different language. People are free to use the word "planet" as it's defined in the English language, and don't have to use it in the way that a small group of scientists use it, nor in the way that a small group of politicians use it.
If the Illinois government used the word "planet" around me, they'd be using it the same way that I do.
davidh
It may just be a coincidence, but my Gmail account became "disabled" on January 1. When I tried to log in the evening of the 1st, it came back with the message "Sorry, your account has been disabled. [?]". The question mark was a link to instructions on how to re-enable it, but those instructions are apparently out of date. They say that if your account is disabled, you can enter your username and password, and you'll be presented with a CAPTCHA; if you enter that, you'll be allowed to log in. However, I was never presented with a CAPTCHA, so I can't complete the steps.
Has this Gmail outage affected anybody else? Is this a repeat of the December 6th outage, or is it just me?
davidh
It's a naive, domestic operating system without any breeding, but I think you'll be amused by its presumption.