PFunked

Intellectual Property is a Lie

Anytime someone uses the term "Intellectual Property" they are either lying to you or completely confused about the topic.

First, the term is used to combine Copyrights, Patents, and Trademarks. All of these are very different with their own set of rules. Combining them muddies the waters.

Second, by implying that copyrights are property, they add lies by using the terms "stealing" and "piracy". Stealing implies the original owner is deprived of some physical object (property). A copyrightable work is easily duplicated without the owner being deprived of the original. Thus, copyright infringement is not stealing, even though lobbyists use the term "stealing" to push for harsher infringement penalties.

The natural right is the right to copy.

The natural right is the right to copy!

We set aside our natural right to copy for a short time to allow the creator to profit. After the copyright term is up, the work becomes Public Domain and our natural right to copy resumes.

I bring this up because there's a bill called "Pro-IP" making its way through the House Judiciary Committee. You, my astute reader, should take caution just from it's name. The business interests behind the act are lying to us, and the lawmakers are simply confused beyond remedy.

Interview Tidbit

My interview on Wednesday went extremely well.

One note from the interview that I thought was amusing. Those of you with whom I worked at Entergy will recall us using MediaWiki to take the Digital Roadmap to the next (usable) level. Turns out that this crew I'm interviewing with landed on the exact same solution. I looked at one of their server wiki pages, and it could have been a copy and paste from the old Roadmap. Very fun.

Boo HP, Yah Ubuntu

My desktop computer has an HP DVD630 internal burner.

I threw away the install disc because it's 2008.

I can't burn DVDs with it in XP. I looked for a driver, and the only one available from HP is a disc they will mail you for $10. No option to download anywhere.

I search through my gear for a solution. If I could transfer the files to my laptop I could burn it that way, but it's too much hassle. Then I remember: I have an Ubuntu 7.10 disc.

I boot into Ubuntu straight from the CD. With zero hassle, it sees both my hard drive data and my DVD630 drive. The DVD burns, no problem.

So a $10 CD from HP contains the driver for one device. And the Ubuntu CD contains untold thousands of drivers for free.

So What's New

- Moving to Auburn
- Job Interview soon
- Turning 28
- Finished Phantom Hourglass
- Epic Flying Mount
- Too much Popeye's (j/k, never too much)

Colloquialisms

Ran across this survey on colloquialisms. Here are my results. Answers in parenthesis are the terms I used when I was younger, but rarely use now.

1. A body of water, smaller than a river, contained within relatively narrow banks.
bayou

2. What the thing you push around the grocery store is called.
cart (buggy)

3. A metal container to carry a meal in.
lunchbox

4. The thing that you cook bacon and eggs in.
skillet (frying pan)

5. The piece of furniture that seats three people.
sofa or couch

6. The device on the outside of the house that carries rain off the roof.
gutter (drain pipe)

7. The covered area outside a house where people sit in the evening.
porch

8. Carbonated, sweetened, non-alcoholic beverages.
soda (coke)

9. A flat, round breakfast food served with syrup.
pancake

10. A long sandwich designed to be a whole meal in itself.
po-boy

11. The piece of clothing worn by men at the beach.
bathing suit

12. Shoes worn for sports
tennis-shoes

13. Putting a room in order.
cleaning up

14. A flying insect that glows in the dark.
lightning bug

15. The little insect that curls up into a ball.
roly-poly

16. The children's playground equipment where one kid sits on one side and goes up while the other sits on the other side and goes down.
see-saw

17. How do you eat your pizza?
??? seems out of place

18. What's it called when private citizens put up signs and sell their used stuff?
garage sale

19. What's the evening meal?
dinner or supper

20. The thing under a house where the furnace and perhaps a rec room are?
basement

21. What do you call the thing that you can get water out of to drink in public places?
water fountain