2017-07-21 00:30![[personal profile]](http://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
james_davis_nicoll
james_davis_nicollI just got to a series of posts from 2014 Wiscon harassment meltdown. Ah, memory lane.
2017-07-20 16:28james_davis_nicoll
james_davis_nicollPrevious models set first occupation significantly later. Much earlier and the first humans on the path to Australia would have left footprints in the still-cooling ashes of the Toba eruption.
2017-07-20 15:34siderea
sidereaCan somebody update me on the present legal status in the US of graphical user interfaces as intellectual property? Am I correct in believing they can't be patented (though the code can be copyrighted)?
What I really want to know: Can I rip off GVoice's old/retired web interface legally? Or more accurately, can I pay somebody else to do it for me with reasonable ability to assure them they won't go to jail or get sued into oblivion for doing it?
To be clear, there are some nifty functional subtleties I'd want to make off with, which I wouldn't even want to bother pretending I came up with on my own. For instance, there's some interesting algorithm for how texts are batched into threads which I haven't entirely reversed engineered, but make a huge difference in readability.
What I really want to know: Can I rip off GVoice's old/retired web interface legally? Or more accurately, can I pay somebody else to do it for me with reasonable ability to assure them they won't go to jail or get sued into oblivion for doing it?
To be clear, there are some nifty functional subtleties I'd want to make off with, which I wouldn't even want to bother pretending I came up with on my own. For instance, there's some interesting algorithm for how texts are batched into threads which I haven't entirely reversed engineered, but make a huge difference in readability.
2017-07-19 17:46dewline
dewline...and had an encounter with a grasshopper - has to have been at least a month since the last time I saw one in the neighbourhood! - and three bunnies. "Bunnies" as in "actual very young rabbits". If those three almost had heart attacks running away from me and my lawn mower, I can confirm that they were not alone in that. Seeing them running away...?
Yike.
Yike.
2017-07-19 10:00james_davis_nicoll
james_davis_nicollIt turns out you can connect Calibre directly to Project Gutenberg.
Having downloaded a bunch of public domain books, I then went looking for the proper cover art. Interestingly, although I am convinced I owned mid-1970s editions of both Blackman's Burden and Border, Breed nor Birth, I can find no evidence those editions actually existed.
Another interesting thing. This is the list of science fiction books on PG and this is the list of science fiction works by women on PG.
Having downloaded a bunch of public domain books, I then went looking for the proper cover art. Interestingly, although I am convinced I owned mid-1970s editions of both Blackman's Burden and Border, Breed nor Birth, I can find no evidence those editions actually existed.
Another interesting thing. This is the list of science fiction books on PG and this is the list of science fiction works by women on PG.
2017-07-18 18:07james_davis_nicoll
james_davis_nicollThings that do not inspire Fig to go into hunting mode:
A baby rabbit
Things that do inspire Fig to go into hunting mode:
A robin
A 50 kilogram dog
A baby rabbit
Things that do inspire Fig to go into hunting mode:
A robin
A 50 kilogram dog
