platypussrex - Slashdot User

Comment Re:Sure it will. (Score 2, Insightful) 469

by platypussrex on Tuesday April 21, 2009 @02:59PM (#27664969) Attached to: BYU Prof. Says University Classrooms Will Be "Irrelevant" By 2020

Do you have any idea how bogus the whole online diploma process already is? None of the major "all online" schools have any way to check who actually did the work. So student A signs up, and Student B does the work, but Student A gets the credit. As an employer, when I see a "degree" from one of this places, I just laugh.

Comment Re:Just use Ninnle! (Score 1) 993

by platypussrex on Thursday April 16, 2009 @10:02AM (#27597039) Attached to: "Apple Tax" Report Backfires On Microsoft

modding on parent brought to you by the humour impaired sheesh

Comment Re:sure it is (Score 1) 1079

by platypussrex on Tuesday April 14, 2009 @06:54PM (#27579139) Attached to: College Police Think Using Linux Is Suspicious Behavior

ah, but you forget that defamation (the term I used in my post) covers more than libel and slander. There are things such as public disclosure of private facts, false light, invasion of privacy, etc. that also fall under defamation and truth may not be an absolute defense at all in some of those cases.

Comment Re:sure it is (Score 1) 1079

by platypussrex on Tuesday April 14, 2009 @06:19PM (#27578567) Attached to: College Police Think Using Linux Is Suspicious Behavior

except they must have left out one important fact about this in your classes. "Publication" in the case of defamation has a very specific legal meaning, and it's not "being published in a newspaper" but rather refers to disseminating the information, via a number of possible routes. So it might well be possible to "publish" information by standing on a stage in a large auditorium full of people and saying it over the PA system.

Comment Re:sure it is (Score 2, Interesting) 1079

by platypussrex on Tuesday April 14, 2009 @05:21PM (#27577507) Attached to: College Police Think Using Linux Is Suspicious Behavior

The defamation part is in publishing information that might harm the person's character. Nothing there about truth. In some cases truth is a defense, sometimes not, but it's not part of the original tort. So yes, it's sometimes possible for a true statement to be defamatory.

Comment Re:sure it is (Score 1) 1079

by platypussrex on Tuesday April 14, 2009 @04:59PM (#27577079) Attached to: College Police Think Using Linux Is Suspicious Behavior

No, there is a different tort for written material. Slander must be spoken. An action might lie for libel, but not slander.

Comment sure it is (Score 5, Funny) 1079

by platypussrex on Tuesday April 14, 2009 @03:44PM (#27575545) Attached to: College Police Think Using Linux Is Suspicious Behavior

This would be funny except it's scary instead . . .

Comment Re:tinfoil is the answer (Score 4, Funny) 724

by platypussrex on Monday March 30, 2009 @02:04AM (#27384801) Attached to: Reliability of Computer Memory?

I have an even better idea. You know how water cooling makes your computer run better? Well my theory is that water cooling would work the same way for the OP. He needs to get a large tank, fill it with ice water, and be sure to keep his head fully submerged while doing all his computer work. I'm sure he'll be amazed at his increased productivity.

Comment Re:Food security is a measurable risk (Score 1) 361

by platypussrex on Friday March 27, 2009 @01:31PM (#27360111) Attached to: The Underappreciated Risks of Severe Space Weather

Read TFA, they say that bringing them back on line might take up to a year, because the transformers are custom made, and don't exist as readily available replacements. So yes, I'm sure it would be a priority, but how will those millions in NYC last the nine months or so it will take (according to TFA) to get them back on line?

Comment Re:Install Ubuntu (Score 1) 823

by platypussrex on Wednesday December 24, 2008 @11:36AM (#26223443) Attached to: Configuring a Windows PC For a Senior Citizen?

except that "easier" is contained in "no harder" so the parent was correct :-)

Comment Re:From the comments to TFA (Score 5, Informative) 648

by platypussrex on Tuesday December 23, 2008 @09:47AM (#26210847) Attached to: Psystar Claims Apple Forgot To Copyright Mac OS

Registration is not required to secure a copyright on a work. Copyright is secured automatically when the work is created. So the very fact that Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard exists is a copyright.

However, Apple must have registered their copyright on Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard before they can file suit for infringement on this copyright.

Read about all that at copyright.gov:
http://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ1.html

This would all seem to be moot though. According to copyright.gov, Apple registered their copyright on Mac OS X Leopard Version 10.5 on January 24, 2008, Registration Number: TX0006849489.

http://cocatalog.loc.gov/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?v1=4&ti=1,4&Search_Arg=Mac%20OS%20X%20Leopard&Search_Code=TALL&CNT=25&PID=-H_wcyyigtEZ3UT-QtRpXsTJUefv&SEQ=20081222171112&SID=1

I have no doubt that there is something we're missing here, as it seems unlikely that Psystar's Lawyers couldn't do a simple search at copyright.gov for "Mac OS X Leopard". But this article offers little more than an announcement that Psystar has responded to Apple's copyright suit.

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