You have to realize that COPYRIGHT is and always has been CENSORSHIP. Censorship has always been about POWER and CONTROL and finally Power and Control is a means of getting MONEY.

So yeah, the case is about money, power and control, just your usual trait that resides in us humans.

Regards Slashdotgirl

I do want to complain. Yes there are lots of famous robots and I know they cannot not all be included in such a short voting list. A comprehensive list of robots can be found here Famous Robots. You could have at least consulted some famous robot lists that abound on the Internet. Some missing robots for example:

1. HAL, 2001 Space Odessy
2. K9, Dr Who
3. Andrew, Bi Centennial Man, Issac Asimov

It would be appreciated that when you do polls in the future that a little bit more effort is used when constructing them.

Regards
Slashdotgirl

Please do not forget that Pluto has been and always will be a planet and yes I'm aware of the current definition.

Regards
Slashdotgirl

NO, But I want to know everything about you.

Regards
Slashdotgirl

Reverse engineering is the process of discovering how a system, through analysis allows one to determine how the system functions or operates. Therefore software engineers can analyse busybox code and create a technical specification of the system at a higher level of abstraction. This specification can then be handed over to another group of programmers who can then write code according to the specification written.

Under Sec. 103(f) of the DMCA (17 U.S.C. 1201 (f)) says that if you legally obtain a program that is protected, you are allowed to reverse-engineer and circumvent the protection to achieve interoperability between computer programs. The underlying question is, how protected is the busybox's code is?. In the USA courts have found contractual prohibitions (EULA) to override the copyright law see Bowers v. Baystate Technologies. To what extent cases like this can used is questionable and in Europe, Article 6 of the 1991 EU Computer Programs Directive allows reverse engineering for the purposes of interoperability.

The web site http://digital-law-online.info/lpdi1.0/treatise22.html provides further cases that make for interesting reading.

As mentioned in the OP, "just let the violation go and get on with developing better code.'", seems to me the best way to go.

Regards
Slashdotgirl

Unfortunately this is not totally correct. I live in Australia and if I have my cookies cleared (in firefox) and I type in www.yahoo.com/ncr I get redirected to an error page then finally to http://au.yahoo.com/?p=us. So currently I'm using http://72.30.2.43/. The website tv.com used to be easy then they implemented regional redirection. Suffice to say I was mildly pissed off.

I want to go where I want to go, when I want to and no I do not want you to tell me what I should and should not do. So I got around that by using http://us.tv.com./ After reading this particular article I tried http://us.tv.com/ and it did not work. I even used there American IP adddress but no luck there so I just used Tor, stuff them. As John Gilmore said, "The Net interprets censorship as damage and routes around it."

What Blogspot, Yahoo and TV.com have done and others is censorship at its worse and greed a close second if not a tie with censorship. Because, to impose any form of censorship a government must have the ability to monitor and therefore restrict communication. Therefore local laws are what are influencing these companies so they can continue to operate in those countries.

Kind regards
Slashdotgirl

I predict that all 'psychics' who say, "Apollo 16 Astronauts Found Alien Ship" are delusional. No sorry, ignore the last sentence and remember this, 'all psychics are delusional'.

Kind regards
Slashdotgirl

Consider that a laptop can be brought for under a $1000 dollars or even a very powerful computer for $3000. Then consider the amount of electronics and materials that are contained in both. Then compare these items with a pair of hearing aids. This is not taking into account that hearing aids may have to be individually fitted and those associated costs with doing so. Starting to get the picture? Regardless of what medical system that is being used either social, or capitalism, the price of hearing aids is just not price gouging, it is not just an exorbitant price for them, but just plain EXTORTION.

Yes, destroy this over inflated bubble once and for all and of course tear it to shreds so that it never grows again.

Kind regards
Slashdotgirl

Windows Explorer Ribbon is reported to be the next best thing since sliced bread. Yeah right, show me the research that justifies that statement and of course I assume it was independently peer reviewed?. Until then, its what I want not what you want. I want my vertical space on my screens, I want my taskbar on the bottom and I decided what icons or panels reside on my desk space!

One classic example is the difference between the Qwerty and the Dvorak keyboards, yes the Dvorak keyboard is supposedly more efficient and can be implemented easily on modern computer systems. The Dvorak keyboard never over took the Qwerty keyboard which reigns supreme. However, what has evolved is that we have a choice of what type of keyboard we want to use. So if you do not like the Ribbon versions then get a replacement.
.
Alternatives to Windows Explorer.
.

• Free Commander
• Cubic Explorer
• Explorer++
• Xplorer2
• Explorer XP
• NexusFile
• Q-Dir
• QMMander
• Total Commander

At least one of the above is open source. As for replacements for Microsoft Office and its ribbon interface, Google is your friend if you want to find proprietary or free version and if you are really lazy then I will list two open source alternatives for Office suites.

• Open Office
• Libre Office

For the record I use Microsoft Office, because where I teach that is the default software, however, I install open office and now libre office on my family's and friends computers. You should see there eyes when I tell them its free.

For the record I use opens source software and operating systems and if something gets up my nose like the current Gnome 3 issue then I just change.

Kind regards
Slashdotgirl

Just one of Lucy's Diamonds in the sky.

Kind regards
Slashdotgirl
PS Apologies to Lennon and McCartney

10 Pan Galactic Gargle Blasters.

Kind regards
Slashdotgirl

This is not surprising because in mathematics there is a law called Benford’s law after one of its main founders, Frank Benford, who discovered it in 1935 as a physicist at General Electric. The law tells how often each number (from 1 to 9) appears as the first significant digit in a very diverse range of data sets.

So in other words there is nothing unusual about this because the four digit pin number is just a another data set. This law tends to be more accurate when values are distributed across multiple orders of magnitude. Because the 4 digit pin number spans several orders of magnitude, the 4 digit pin number is therefore following Benford's law.

Warm regards
Slashdotgirl

Tie a yellow ribbon 'round the old olde document
It's been a long time with me
Do you still want me?
If I don't see a yellow ribbon round the old olde document
I'll stay on the net
Forget about OO
Put the blame on MS
If I don't see a yellow ribbon round the olde document

Regards
Slashdotgirl

The following are just some of the programs, which provide a level of both encryption and anonymous communication for Internet usage:

• Tor: Onion-based routing that acts as a proxy layer between the client computer and the Tor network. http://tor.eff.org/
• I2P: Also known as the Invisible Internet Project. The network is regarded as a message based system. http://www.i2p.net/
• FreeNet: is a distributed information and storage retrieval system designed to address the concerns of privacy. Freenet is designed to be anonymous and totally peer to peer. http://freenetproject.org/
• GNUnet: is a P2P network that can support many different forms of peer-to-peer applications. http://gnunet.org/
• Open VPN: is where one can use software that encrypts your traffic on a server created in another country instead of the one you are in. http://openvpn.net/

There are other programs and if you do not want others knowing what "traffic" you carry then you would be wise to use them.

Put up or Shutup. Ok I will bite. No they are NOT, in agreement, never have been and never will. The article you point to is a News Article.

Summary: The News Article you linked to, is Biased.

Problems with this News Article are, but not limited to:

1. The percentage total of the various groups (geophysics, geochemistry, etc) only adds to 50%. What happened to the other 50%?
2. The survey was only sent out to Mainly Earth Scientists, what about meteorologists, climate statisticians, physicists and mathematicians. This is first major bias of the News Article.
3. The analysis states that 90% of the survey respondents were Americans. What about other institutions around the world and was the questionnaire written in just English or did it have the option for other languages. This is the second major bias of the News Article.
4. The News Article places emphasis on two primary questions the first is, When compared with pre-1800s levels, do you think that mean global temperatures have generally risen, fallen, or remained relatively constant? This is a leading question (or unremarkable one) because relative to the Little Ice age (1700s and to the early 1800s) the Earth has been warming and the Scientists who were surveyed would know that the temperature has been rising to present day levels. I am surprised that it was not 99.99% instead of 90% as stated in the News Article. This is the third major bias of the News Article.
5. The second primary question, Do you think human activity is a significant contributing factor in changing mean global temperatures? The first critical part of this question is; what is meant by human activities? Is it deforestation, carbon emissions of all forms or some other type? How did the respondents interpret Human Activity and what was their understanding of human activities? The second critical part of the question is, what is meant by significant contributing factor? What is its metric and what guidance, instructions or information was supplied for the respondents to gauge how significant the various human activities are to the alleged global warming crisis as compared to the natural contributions to global climate. This is the fourth major bias of the News Article.

I want to see research papers that have been conducted using Double Blind Studies, why? Because of the constant, he said, she said, they said, we said. In addition to statements like, you are being paid by, an individual, corporation or even government body so you must be beholding to your masters, so therefore you must be corrupt or biased.

Until Double Blinded Studies are carried I will remain highly skeptical of any article or even peer reviewed articles. One last point, did I mention that this is just an outline of what can and probably will be done (rebuttal, critique or constructive criticism) of the real submitted paper when it does appear.

Regards Slashdotgirl