Zixar

Matt: Such as?

I've dabbled with screenwriting off and on (mostly off) for the past 3 years. I've started three different screenplays with what I thought were entertaining ideas, only to have inspiration flee when I actually got down to putting fingers to keyboard. Thank God there are actually people who are good at screenwriting. One of them is Terry Rossio, whom you've never heard of, but you're bound to have seen at least one of the movies that he and his partner, Ted Elliot, have cowritten--like Pirates of the Caribbean. Terry offers valuable advice to screenwriters on his website. Here's a column he wrote that doesn't just apply to screenwriters, it applies to us all. Give it a try, you might find it highly interesting. Never Wait, by Terry Rossio

Goey: With respect, I just don't see the same things you're seeing in Catcup's reply. Yes, she's a friend of mine, but you are too, and you're both too intelligent to let a misunderstanding go too far. I don't doubt what you said happened for a second, but look at it from her perspective--all she had to go on was what you had said earlier, and based on the Research Team, there were only two 6th Corps possibilities--John Schoenheit and her husband. I've never met Mr. Schoenheit, but I have met Research Geek, and if there's a more sincere person than he, I've never met him. It's perfectly understandable that Catcup would be emphatic in defense of her husband, but even what she did say wasn't all that accusatory towards you. The way I read it, it was more incredulity about the account than anger towards you. I may be butting in uninvited, but the last thing this thread needs is two friends diverging over a minor and correctable misunderstanding. Surely there's room for a peaceful resolution?

Well, Pat, I certainly hope I am wrong. Perhaps the judge will see it your way, maybe you can use the whole laches/estoppel thing to show that they knew about it and didn't do anything about it in a timely manner, I don't know. But just going on what you've presented here, I'm not optimistic. God bless, Zixar

Catcup's right, Goey. That was uncharacteristically snide for you. In order for her to know you had made a numbering mistake, she would have had to know exactly which person you were talking about in the first place.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, HOPE!!!!!!!!!!!! (((hugs always))) :)--> :)--> :)-->

Pat: This is what they'll nail you for bad faith on: 15 USC 1125.d.1.B.i.A.V: You knew "thewayinternational.com" incorporated their trademark. You might have survived a dilution claim with "The Way of Christ", but there's no way you can feign ignorance with "thewayinternational.com". You knew that you were not authorized by the mark holder to offer any bona fide services in their name. (that's in the next subsection, VI) The "news reporting" claim won't stand up when you've consistently editorialized your continued animosity towards TWI, even if it could possibly be construed to extend to cybersquatting on their domain name. The poll for discovery question "fishing" requests was incredibly stupid. They don't have to prove all the tests for bad faith, just one. For God's sake, Pat, settle this out of court before they wind up taking everything you've got. This isn't some TV show where the judge reads off a script. This is a Federal statute that's saying you are civilly liable for damages. Even if they go easy on you and just make you pay their legal fees if this goes to court, that's still going to be tens of thousands of dollars. It's just not worth it.

dmiller: This thread would have made a lot more sense (or less) a year ago. Guess you had to be there... ;)--> Uff da!

Pat only has one affirmative defense, it appears. If he can prove a "laches" case, that is, if he can show that TWI was negligent or untimely in exercising its legal rights to the name, he could still win. Unfortunately, he's butting up against the "bad faith" clause in the copyright and ACPA laws, so it's going to be tough. Especially after he all but wrote his bad faith here in 30-foot tall letters... The odds are not in his favor. Obligatory Note: I am not a lawyer, and I don't care whom that bothers.

Unless the question is deliberate, testing the applicant's ability to adapt to garbled information... ;)-->

Tom: Whether anyone was really interested in any more VPW teachings... Or if we'd finished the parody contest...

Did we ever decide on this one?

The Windows system Registry is a database of program information that your computer consults whenever it's unsure about which programs depend on which system libraries and whatnot. A registry key is simply an entry in that database. Ordinarily, unless you really know what you are doing, you should not touch the registry with RegEdit. You can completely kill your computer if you delete or change the wrong key. Fortunately, there are several programs available to keep the registry safely swept up, from Microsoft's RegClean to AdAware. If the program gives you an option to back up the registry before you run it--DO IT. You don't want to have to reinstall all your software in case of a glitch.

Now that it's out on DVD, I finally got a chance to see KBv1. I had read the bootleg of the original script a couple of years ago, and didn't think QT could pull it off successfully. Depends on how you define "successfully". If you're a Hong Kong action flick/Japanese anime aficionado, this is a four-star picture. You'll catch all the little in-jokes, from the "ShawScope" intro to the Fist-of-the-North-Star blood geysers that accompany every severed appendage. If you just grew up in the 70s, you'll catch all the little culture jokes, like the "Ironside" theme whenever The Bride is about to unload on one of the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad, and the irony of "Kaboom" breakfast cereal. (an actual product way back when...) If you like Quentin Tarantino movies, this has all the standard too-cool-by-half dialogue, although he does go over the top in Lucy Liu's speech to the Yakuza clan leaders. If you like Uma Thurman, you'll be pleasantly surprised at how tough she can be. She's come a long way since Pulp Fiction. If none of that appeals to you, you'll hate this film. It's ultra-violent, presented out of sequence again (like Pulp Fiction), and hard to follow at points.

Well, thanks for stopping by to b*tch at the rest of us, then. -->

sadie: Because two wrongs don't make a right? Regardless of what TWI did, Pat registered their name in bad faith.

ALP: You do the same things on a 'Moom as you do on a 'Moon, except you can go backwards as well as forwards for the same net effect. ;)-->

It's just a scam to get you to look at their website. Any email address they can get from anywhere on the net gets sent the same email, "Someone's researching/looking for you" or similar. Notice it never says who. Of course this makes most folks curious, so off they go to the site. As soon as you get there, though, they know your email address was an actual working one, so you automatically go on their "spam-again" lists. Don't sweat it, and never EVER click on those "opt-out" links. As soon as you do that, most of these spammers will flag your address as a "live" one and sell it to their buddies. You may not get any more spam from site "A", but you'll get a bunch of NEW spam from "B", "C", "D", etc., etc. :)-->

P-Mosh: The Tejano captain's name was Juan Seguin. And I'll agree that Billy Bob's performance was the best in the film. Still, it left me amazingly underwhelmed for a $100 million budget.

Tom: Exactly. Santa Anna is portrayed as a bloodthirsty fiend while all the Texans have little halos...figuratively speaking. Hellboy is a good way to kill an afternoon, though.

I wonder if this was a new version of the ASVAB (Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery)? I made the mistake of taking it in high school since all my ROTC buddies were doing it. I got the 99th percentile on every single section and recruiters were calling me for over a YEAR... -->

The Alamo: Apart from making you want to run right out and kill Mexicans, there's not much memorable about this film unless you're from Texas. Uninspired. * out of four. Hellboy: Part comic book, part Call of Cthulhu. If you know what that last sentence means, you'll like this movie. Otherwise, it will probably seem like a cross between Men In Black and League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen. Still, there is some above-average characterization here, above your normal cardboard cutouts in superhero flicks. Ron Perlman does a good job with the title character. Good SFX, several jokes. Worth full price for comic fans, a matinee if you're bored, but otherwise wait for cable. ** out of four, with another half-star if you're a fan.

That's probably a misspelling of "fractal geometry" which is sufficiently advanced that the average Army recruit would never come in contact with it. There was absolutely no mention of "fractoral" on Wolfram's Math World site, and they should know. Wolfram makes Mathematica, one of the most sophisticated pieces of mathematical software on the market. I'd go with factorial. It's the only thing that makes sense.

Odds are the teacher meant the factorial of 5, which is 120. (5!=1x2x3x4x5=120.)

Here's another angle on the homosexual marriage question, addressing the "fairness" argument. Orson Scott Card, On Fairness and Families