timwiseman

6 ms·

1.
by timwiseman 11y ago
Generally, the DMCA could limit a copyright holder's claims against a website for user generated content to the takedown notice. But the person who posted it can still be fully liable under copyright law. The DMCA does not provide pr
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by timwiseman 14y ago
I think it is very rarely possible to blame anyone for the suicide of another. Aaron's death was tragic, but it was not the prosecutor's fault. With that said, if this event is something that causes society to carefully evaluate things lik
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by timwiseman 14y ago
"The law should be the same for everybody and should NOT be applied selectively." It depends on how the selection is done. If a prosecutor declines to prosecute because the law breaker is of a particular race, rich, politically powerful, e
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“Aaron's law,” Congressional investigation in wake of Swartz suicide(arstechnica.com)
1 points by timwiseman 14y ago|0 comments
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by timwiseman 14y ago
Solving your own problems can be a great source of inspiration. But if your goal is get your project widely used, you need to make sure others share that problem. Sometimes asking around about pain points in other peoples lives/businesses
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by timwiseman 14y ago
A beautiful comment and I think you add a lot of good thoughts. I must respectfully disagree with one point though: "my job is not programming. My job is delivering value using programming. Semantics." I'm not sure. More than once I have
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by timwiseman 14y ago
I prefer to lean towards overcommenting, and I prefer that developers whose code I will have to work with later do the same. But as you say, they need to be good comments, and comments that either describe intention or explain something in
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by timwiseman 14y ago
It depends on what you mean. I am a law student now, and while my perspective may shift when I graduate, I have had some tangential involvement in projects that that help people, that is extremely rewarding. Financially, the market as a wh
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by timwiseman 14y ago
It seems there is a disagreement as to what constitutes depth. If you want a "Sandbox" then most old-school RPGs will feel very shallow. You have numerous choices, but exploration and interaction outside those choices is limited. On the o
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by timwiseman 14y ago
I am not a lawyer, but my understanding is the courts would see a distinction. Kickstarter goes out of its way to try to make sure people understand that it is not a preorder service, and many projects include a "risks" section specifically
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by timwiseman 14y ago
This is an insightful comparison, but its significant to know that it is not actually a preorder. When you preorder you are entitled to demand the product or your money back, but with kickstarter if it fails after a good faith effort you pr
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by timwiseman 14y ago
This is true to a degree, but there are ways you can use multiple tools mixed and matched. For a simple example, I might write my prototype in Python. After profiling I might decide to rewrite a couple of inner loops in C (or Cython). I m
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by timwiseman 14y ago
Entirely fix it? It can't. Limit it? Certainly. When they have a law that seems on first reading to say what the employer says it does, then the employer can show it to the employee to gain credence and the law itself will confuse any em
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by timwiseman 14y ago
As always you bring great insight into this, but what your reply does not mention is that the average laymen knows none of this. Having such a law on the books means that a boss, computer service provider, etc. could show a laymen this law,
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by timwiseman 14y ago
I do not believe we want such a system even if it were possible. Many things involve context (it is illegal to murder someone, but a killing in the context of self-defense is often not murder). Even where context is not explicitly recogniz
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by timwiseman 14y ago
I agree with your core points: Passwords are not enough for accounts that need to be secure. But one thing that a lot of this glosses over is that different accounts need different levels of protection. I really want things like my bank ac
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by timwiseman 14y ago
You make an excellent point, but when working in Python there are advantages to tying in to tools that are also written in Python. They will tend to be easier to integrate into your project than non-Python code[1] and more than that will g
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How Being Very Transparent May Have Saved A 'Failed' Kickstarter Project(techdirt.com)
1 points by timwiseman 14y ago|0 comments
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by timwiseman 14y ago
Well said. I make use of social networks to stay in touch with old friends and extended family that I would have difficulty staying in touch with otherwise. This is indeed shallow in comparison with my relationship with my immediate family
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by timwiseman 14y ago
I got my degree in math and learned to program mostly on my own (1 introductory CS class in highschool and another in college). The degree has served me well both in terms of having it on resumes and in terms of the skills that I developpe
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by timwiseman 14y ago
Google has historically both been reliant on fair use and the public domain and has defended such in court. I'm not saying they did it out of altruism, but substantial precedents that help solidify fair use come out of Google's activities
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by timwiseman 14y ago
I apologize if it wasn't clear: He could offer a percentage of profits to his employees/contract coders that work on making this in addition to their salaries/contract pay. He could not offer financial returns to the kickstarter backers. T
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by timwiseman 14y ago
Same. I have many ideas for interesting products. These ideas are not of value in themselves and I'll happily hand most of them off for the asking (I would in fact back in kickstarter if anyone seems able to execute.) Now, an idea + somet
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by timwiseman 14y ago
I'd have been worried about any in which the project's owner and visionary isn't a coder himself I'm of mixed feelings. As a programmer and DBA myself, I would certainly find it good for the project lead to at least have programming expe
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by timwiseman 14y ago
You have a point, but remember that he had substantial work on the game finished before he turned to kickstarter, so he wasn't trying to make a whole game on $28K. Also, unless somehow agreed otherwise the creators still keep copyright in t
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by timwiseman 14y ago
I see Masklinn's point, but I also agree with you. Fundamentally, kickstarter is much like patronage. You may wind up getting something fantastic by backing, but you are taking on a high level of risk of getting either nothing or something
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by timwiseman 14y ago
Not every decision has a moral component. Deciding whether to have cucumbers in my salad today at lunch does not have a moral components (its mostly about how fresh they look that day.) Here, I see how you could say they made a moral decis
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by timwiseman 14y ago
I agree with your basic point, but for clarity we as a society hand a fair bit of discretion to cops and even more to prosecutors and judges. In at least some instances we want them to make moral judgements, so long as thos moral judgement
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by timwiseman 14y ago
I like this point. In one company I was told a couple of times that things I suggested couldn't be done. I got a raise by going off and making a proof of concept that it could be done. With that said, identifying challenges that need to b
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by timwiseman 14y ago
You make great points, and I agree with everything except: systematically eliminate your weak spots. Sometimes that is what you need to do. But sometimes you are better off further enhancing your strengths to real excellence rather than

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