This article (and the comment madness) reminds me of my favorite short story, Leinigen Versus the Ants. Absolutely wonderful story.

http://www.amlit.com/Stephenson/SS/LeiningenVersustheAnts.html

PS: After Antinous' post, Unicorn chaser, so I CAN SLEEP AGAIN.

So I am wondering about solutions to this. What if you, say, took your pics to photoshop, and added a .1 or something smart blur. Think that would solve it? Get rid of the nasty little pixel sigs?

I 100% agree with John's article. They are snobs, and douchey, and perhaps full of even a bit of twatitry.

This comment thread blows my mind. People are talking about what the hell boing boing is in essence, and whether 'douche' is a sexist slang? WHAT THE FUCK? It's so laughable. I'm lol. that's a slang for laughing out loud in case any of you douc... sophisticated internet socialites missed that.

And for the record... a lot of hipsters smoke, MortalKombatUltra... OOOO!!!!!

(Troll feeding nomnomnom)

anyone up for making this a super long thread? Just argue. You know how.

------

WABBIT SEASON!

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA my mind. what is it the kids always say... something about unicorns chasing...

Yeah he actually did illicit a reaction from the officer - the middle finger.

He didn't have to be such a dick, but the something to think about - if he wouldn't have garnered the reaction from the retiree, we wouldn't be informing people that it's perfectly legal to film on public property.

Also, wasn't that a diner that the cop was in? I doubt that was official police business. Unless you consider NOM NOM NOM offishul p'lice bizniss.

japanse.

This thread is AWESOME.

Last 3 posts = great.

#53 - I should have posted it 'could be' as opposed to it's a 'FACT', because it can be situationally dependant. USC kids can't do squat with their stuff online, for example, but UF kids apparently can with Documentary works. Good point.

I agree NickD - the prof selling the notes from his class isn't very classy. Textbook yes, notes no. Weird. He should just include the outline, like so many are mentioning here.

What's sort of odd to me is the amount of people here going after the prof.
As I understand it:
1.) The students are selling stenographer-ish copies of his lectures through a third party, not the university or any university sponsored organizations.
2.) The prof wants that to stop.

He may be going about it the wrong way, and should, as suggested, use the bootlegging statute. But I am all behind him doing SOMETHING to draw attention to this, and get it to stop. I think this is about education AND money, #24.

My stance is that the 3rd party selling the distributed notes, taken by paying students of the university, is ethically wrong. I also believe it may still be legally wrong, #5, because universities own the copyright to works created within their walls. I know this is a FACT when it comes to student film. I wonder if this is applicable to the prof's lectures. Or (this is a stretch) if the performance of the lecture is copyright-able.
http://www.copyright.gov/title17/92chap1.html#110
See section 110 on performances... I'm not sure if that helps my performance point or not, but I want to get to the bottom of it either way. :)

What if they were selling the audio recordings of his lectures? Would it be okay then? I would highly doubt that these notes are being sold as paraphrased. Is the medium of text stenography less of an offense than a recording? Is the intonation of his voice the key deciding factor here?

If so, why not create a 3rd party business that buys tape-recorded lectures from poor students looking to make a quick buck? Stream them. #17 Ben had that point earlier.

Yes, I know recording on university property without permission is against the law unless in public areas. And it's very illegal to use people's closeup images (or voice) for profit without a release. So is it illegal to sell a transcript that has been written verbatim from a professor, when the universitiy's profit is derived from them essentially giving their take on a subject via lecture?

After typing this out... I think it should be the university going after the 3rd party, not the textbook company. Still... SOMEBODY go after that bs 3rd party company that is implying that class isn't important.

Since this is an educated thread, my citations :).

#13 jennifer: for making good points, "stenography"
#3 nickD: for making sense throughout, post # 33 not selling notes
#24 Dmaze: 'money NOT education' point.
#5 larissa: "bootlegging statute", and for good copyright facts that I concur with, and for giving me an avenue for arguement :) needs to be more students like you.
#27, antinous: for, with nickD, mentioning ethics and "seediness".
#17 ben: point about making a website in lieu of going to class.
http://www.copyright.gov/title17/92chap1.html#110

Oh crap this is a long comment... sorry.

Conspiracy theories aside, as they should be, it would simply appear there needs to be some good-guy hackers out there willing to safeguard websites. This anon and scientology talk is so ridiculous... I bet we're talking about one bored, probably pre-pubescent hacker here.

I just thought of another mindhack that would be funny and do no real harm:
Hack a PMS forum with the Koolaid man crashing through. OH YEAAAAAAAAH!!!!

I know I'm just one guy, but I use wireless mics professionally on a regular basis, and you definitely do get the interference. I've had to troubleshoot the hell out of it. I really hope Shure and others win... else it'll just be making it harder to create the very content people want to transmit in the whitespace.

So the moral of the story? Don't bootleg CD's... OR THE MAN WILL KILL YOU!!

I hope she gets one BILLION dollars.

Agreed Jeff.

(comment threadjack)
Question regarding FISA: where's the best place online to keep up with all those shinanigans. I'm very interested (as we all should be) to see how that turns out. (/threadjack)

Nice one.

#4 I agree, but I think I may sink through it just the same before starting the Dark Tower books. Sort of get back into reading novel mode.

I know a man that already knew fungi could help save the world...

... that man is Mario.

Nah, probably just a pirate of 'Unbreakable'. :-D

How much you wanna bet that it was blu-ray? XD

No, no, Tom beat the paradox. The end.

agreed #7

Called all the congressmen in my state to fight this thing. They all wanted my address. Looking forward to some snailspam I guess. But I feel really good about myself for doing that - for telling those Republican fuckers (they're not all fuckers but they are if they walk out ala this link - http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/news/politics/blog/2008/02/fisa_faceoff_republicans_walk.html), to quit being so damn evil. And yes I was nicer than that. Also sorry Republicans for calling names, some of you just make me mad sometimes.

PS: That link is a pretty big addition to this topic, methinks.

Seriously, this guy rocks for traveling back in time from 2996.

... DAMN YOU WOOLIE FOR BEATING ME TO IT!

This picture needs a 'FAIL.' caption.

GREAT job. I call bs on the 3 hour edit, though.

#7, digging the use of $ for the S. Will do from now on.

>#46 posted by nzruss , February 7, 2008 2:03 PM
>Many laptops have webcams. Set it to record (as a hidden process) when a certain >user is logged in. Record the Customs agent and all he says, and post it on Youtube.

Problem is, in most jurisdictions this is a crime.

-------------

Actually kenmce, it's not. I agree with about all your retorts, be they a bit cynical, but this one is incorrect. Perfectly legal, as airports are public places, and you can film in a public place anywhere under the law, sans use of a telephoto lens or something that films into the private property (land) of another. And remember that chick that had on the short skirt that made all the big news channels? Yeah, this would be great fodder for a slow news day.

My 2 cents: Go to the fucking media. We have a 4th arm of the government for a reason. Oh, and viva la revolucion.

@#6...Talia

my photoshop for the day. good idea.

http://www.benjamindewhurst.com/godzilla_kills_internet.jpg

I love originality in names. Way to name. : ) AND CONGRATS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

AHHHH THE GOVERNMENT HAS THEIR HANDS ON THAT ONE ROBOT THAT ROBOCOP FOUGHT!!! (also nuclear weapons)

But seriously, why don't we have gently cornered paper? : )

Workaround thread, ala Creative Cow:

http://forums.creativecow.net/thread/2/925464#925464

This is by far the most ridiculous bullshit ever. This literally cost me money. I've been an apple fan for a bit, but I had no idea they deleted support threads. That sorta makes me want to fight that somehow... spam 'go to this REAL help site' on the very same forums. Course that's not very nice, I know...

I like the juxtaposition of this and the 'is cheap food over with' post.

So I was a month OVER WARRANTY, and they replaced my power supply (had the first run of iMacs that had the prob waybackwhen). Got it back in less than a week. Apple is king of computery-repair-happy.

Akatsuki nailed it. It's a toy.. let's make a really thin macbook, weeee...

MKULTRA has a point, but still it is good you feel the guilty little 'f this is hurting the Earth' we all feel from time to time. As a blogger reaching bunches of readers, why not mix two things you think about?
Two ideas for you:
1.) Use your gadgety talents to have a week about gadgets that help the environment in some way. (Electric cars? What's the word on the best of the best of those nowadays?)
2.) Replace the 'owning objects' week idea with 'pwning objects' week. IE the most wasteful & why, and fun ways to reinvent or simply destroy (recycle? steampunk? DYI?) gadgetry.
3.) Actually, do both.

This reminds me of that one article that had something to do with Schrodinger's cat and saying we are destroying the universe by observing black matter. If we figure out the computer... will it get mad? All your metaphysics are belong to us...

So... Idea. Okay so the note guy should have went out to a store, got himself a cheap can of spray mold killer like Lysol, and essentially SPRAY PAINTED THE NOTE ON THE WALL INTO THE MOLD. Like 'This is black mold. Buy more Lysol.' I guess that wouldn't have helped though...

"So I hear Santa's coming this year."

"BLASPHEMY! HAIL THE SNOWMISER!!"

I fear a unicorn chaser. :_ (

Who's not sleeping well tonight? This guy.

I am thrilled that these little helicopters are out. I just caught the train to helicoptery fun. Good go at internelevision Joel. Good use of jump cuts w/ helicopters.

INFINITY SAMMACHES

There needs to be a new tag on BB gadgets;

"Stuff that will make it easier for you to be Batman."

HA HA HA, I MADE ANOTHER FUNNY!!

(anyone)

I agree with the second block quote thing. Can get confusing. This is the internet... THERE'S ALWAYS A WAY!

Great visual with the article btw.

"The sound isn't rattling your skull, it's not penetrating you, it's not doing anything nefarious at all. It's just like having a flashlight vs. a light bulb," Evil Genius Creator Guy said.

I want to jump to saying that it's okay for me to sit atop a building with a spotlight on people walking by because it is only affecting them. It's incredibly nefarious, are you kidding me? The difference between this and visual street advertisements: you can choose whether to look or not.

What is next, a taste-laser? A... taser?!?

NOM NOM NOM

Let's get a bunch of these to Atlanta. ... and for fun make them Star Wars.

Western Digital:

hard drives
now suck ass

we can not buy from them

*sob sob sob*

i guess if you want something done right, make your own hard drives from scratch. Preach it, Father.

I despise the beacon thing with Facebook. I've never felt so used by a website. It's just so damn ... sneaky...

Bruce Willis, 1 Gramma, and 1 Cup of Dark Energy

Reaction vid = most uproarious laughter I've experienced this week. That poor, hilarious gramma.

C'moooon... all he had to say was 'don't tase me, bro.' XD

I think it's hilarious you even mentioned it. XD

Yeah. Better lock that down.

There's no need for fire-setting. There's no need for legal blablabla. It sounds like the Kirlins just need to punch the other people in the face. AMERICA!!!

Speaking of America... I guess this is how we justify stealing the land from the Native Americans. OOOOH SNAP NEW CAN OF WORMS!!!!

And what's with all this 'IANAL' stuff. I anal... inial... ?

Down with your fayce lizardman. Long live apple knowitalls... if only for the comedic value. And how can you not like Apples? EAT MORE FRUIT!!

I kind of want a pair just because... also, if I run, I feel like I would fly.

Case law as it should be - readable.

This is a wonderful example of the web & film coming together. And to think there's a writer's strike going on...