[quote=Uncwilly;175983]Young Albert, stop poking Wallace with your stick![/quote]

Bad ol' putty tat!
[[I]Hits him in the head[/I]]

You fwighten me!
[[I]Sprays seltzer in his face[/I]]

You make my widdle heart qwiver!
[[I]xilman wears a helmet this time. As he rockets down, he sticks his tongue out at __HRB__[/I]]

[[I]the next time he comes up, __HRB__ puts a stick of dynamite into the helmet, which explodes offscreen[/I]]

Bad ol' putty tat!

[QUOTE=__HRB__;175991]Bad ol' putty tat![/QUOTE]That wan't intended for you, it was for all of the limeys, the Brits, subjects of the Crown, etc. Xilman may not be old enough to get it. But, I think that he is well seasoned enough to.

"Tu'pence per person per trip."

[quote=Uncwilly;175996]That wan't intended for you, it was for all of the limeys, the Brits, subjects of the Crown, etc. Xilman may not be old enough to get it. But, I think that he is well seasoned enough to.

"Tu'pence per person per trip."[/quote]

You mean I'm the lion in the story? No fair. But I'll agree to be Aslan if you [URL="http://www.southparkstudios.com/clips/103478"]pull my thorn[/URL]...

[QUOTE=Uncwilly;175996]That wan't intended for you, it was for all of the limeys, the Brits, subjects of the Crown, etc. Xilman may not be old enough to get it. But, I think that he is well seasoned enough to.

"Tu'pence per person per trip."[/QUOTE]I'm certainly old enough to get it. I've heard it performed live on several occasions.


Paul

[QUOTE=__HRB__;175936]If my thesis isn't published, you'd have to steal the physical medium from me (regular property rights cover that)[/QUOTE][b]You are wrong.[/b]

Again, IANAL and especially not one well versed in US law. However, in UK law theft is defined as "taking with intent to deprive". If I were to visit the place where your unpublished thesis was stored (possibly by gaining control of a computer holding an electronic version) and then take a copy of it, leaving you with an undamaged original, I would [b]not[/b] have stolen anything.

That's not to say I wouldn't have committed acts which constitute a criminal offen{c,s}e in one or more jurisdictions.

Paul

[quote=xilman;176043][B]You are wrong.[/B]

Again, IANAL and especially not one well versed in US law. However, in UK law theft is defined as "taking with intent to deprive". If I were to visit the place where your unpublished thesis was stored (possibly by gaining control of a computer holding an electronic version) and then take a copy of it, leaving you with an undamaged original, I would [B]not[/B] have stolen anything.

That's not to say I wouldn't have committed acts which constitute a criminal offen{c,s}e in one or more jurisdictions.

Paul[/quote]

I have no idea what the NSA actually does, but I'm sure, that making sure that the details of how to make thermonuclear bombs have a valid copyright notice on them, complete with the warning that the FBI will make sure that you get a fine of at least $50.000, isn't top priority.

If it is important to you to keep people from copying your PINs and personal data, then don't store them in places that are easy for them to access.

[QUOTE=__HRB__;175926]Most Englishmen I know aren't too thrilled when I ask them:

"You're from England? The island off the coast of France, with the lousy food and the crappy weather?"[/QUOTE]I suspect that they are too taken aback by the phenomenon of an American who appears to have at least a tentative grasp of geography.

We'll discuss the weather on another occasion, perhaps.


Paul

[quote=xilman;176054]I suspect that they are too taken aback by the phenomenon of an American who appears to have at least a tentative grasp of geography.[/quote]

I'm also part Kraut (or [I]Hun[/I] to you, [I]Tommy[/I]) - my dad thought all Americans were rich Oil-barons, and my mom thought all Germans were brilliant rocket-scientist. I'm still hoping some day someone will show up at my door and tell me I was adopted or at least that I was an aborted lab experiment.

[quote=xilman;176054]We'll discuss the weather on another occasion, perhaps.[/quote]

Yeah, let's stay off-topic. 's more fun.

[QUOTE=__HRB__;175949]What? I don't even get the drink-the-hemlock option for corrupting the youth and disbelieving in your gods? Bummer.[/QUOTE]Oh, you have the option.

Do you intend to take it?


Paul

[quote=xilman;176063]Oh, you have the option.

Do you intend to take it?


Paul[/quote]

Of course! Did you think I'd want to be confused with Andrei Sakharow?

It's important for real social Gadflies to take the poison as a lesson to society.

"[I]If you kill a man like me, you will injure yourselves more than you will injure me,[/I]" because his role was that of a gadfly, "[I]to sting people and whip them into a fury, all in the service of truth[/I]."

Now, all we need is a fair mock trail, a bunch of outraged monkeys to represent the elite of mankind, and we're ready to rock.

[QUOTE=__HRB__;176053]I have no idea what the NSA actually does, but I'm sure, that making sure that the details of how to make thermonuclear bombs have a valid copyright notice on them, complete with the warning that the FBI will make sure that you get a fine of at least $50.000, isn't top priority.[/QUOTE]

Of course not, the US government's work on thermonuclear warhead design isn't copyrighted.