Comment Re:Death of Meaning (Score 1) 388
What you're describing is the use of implicit meaning in language in order to convince people of a point. Such a technique is known as rhetoric, and it's been around roughly as long as language itself.
What you're describing is the use of implicit meaning in language in order to convince people of a point. Such a technique is known as rhetoric, and it's been around roughly as long as language itself.
I disagree. A large part of the debate is about Snowden's conduct; whether it's right to share state secrets, given what the NSA is doing. Note that this is an issue not entirely dependent on whether the NSA is justified in their actions or not.
Focus in the message that is by far the important thing.
The message is extremely important, yes, but so is his conduct. That's what half the debate is about. He may be the mailman, but if he's opening the mail and delivering it deliberately to the wrong hands, the message itself is not the only relevant factor.
I wanted to dislike this movie
That's an odd attitude with which to approach a movie.
Actually come to think about it, I do have one concern, which is the problems it could create with third party upgrades. Something to keep an eye on, I guess.
This isn't like software where you're not shipping some bits, or even if you ship them and selectively enable or disable. These are physically manufactured components. The parts have to be physically manufactured and installed.
This reminds me of the furore there is every time a game company releases day 1 DLC, sometimes included on the physical media no less (Bioshock 2, IIRC). In the latter case, this is pretty much directly analogous.
Look, you have to remember that, in a capitalist system, the question of physical presence is hardly the point: they charge a price, you decide if it's fair. If the cost of the base model is inflated, compared to the competition, due to the extra hardware, then just buy the competition instead. If the price is comparable, then how exactly is it skin off your nose if they include disabled extras?
TFS takes the right attitude, IMHO. What I see here is a convenient and instantaneous way to deliver extras, with very low time and money costs, if it is indeed feasible. I don't see what there is to dislike.
I think one of the takeaways from the survey may be that formal intellectual property protection isn't always valuable to most businesses, even though intangible things like reputation may be very valuable.
You do realise that trademark protection exists with or without registration, right? Registration confers additional rights to your trademark, but even without registration, other businesses are not permitted to imitate you.
Therefore, even without taking the step of registration, there is still formal intellectual property protection, which the GP is correct in saying that businesses that trade on their reputation rely on. If a business wasn't able to have exclusivity over the name tied to their reputation, such a reputation would be very difficult to foster in the first place. It's easy to take things like the concept of a business's reputation for granted when we are so used to the idea of a trademark.
while the summary is laudatory, fawning, even, it is not central to the decision
Funny, I had the same reaction when I read it. He seemed like a salesman for Google or something.
I would like to retain your services in this matter. Please list your bank account information so that I may transfer a retainer payment to you. Thank you. Sincerely, Prince Bernard Koffi Austine Nigeria
Dear Prince Bernard,
If you're talking about my bank account, you're barking up the wrong tree
So, if this stands does this mean it's lawful for Google to make the full text available of these books, or not?
Fair use cases are very fact specific. If you start monkeying with the facts, Judge Chin might not feel the same way about it.
If google can legally copy books (even when profit is involved) then why can't I do the same?
Wouldn't I get hammered with copyright infringement problems if I scanned in books I did not author myself?
I don't know but please hire me as your lawyer when you do.
Suddenoutbreakofcommonsense
Thatswhatappealscourtsarefor
"Beware of programmers carrying screwdrivers." -- Chip Salzenberg