Real life fear/horror/madness

[HuManBing]

Here are several crucial sites that are down right now because of the protest against SOPA and PIPA:

Wikipedia
Steve Jackson Games store and forums
Reddit

Here are the sites where I can go to surf while working:

Fraternity of Shadows
Tvtropes
Imdb

It is a dark day for the Internet.

Things have gotten so desperate that I've even taken to bringing along "magazines" and "books", and then "opening" them in order to, like, "read"them, and stuff.

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

glad to be of service. I think maybe we should have gone dark too, but I didn't find out about this stuff until today. (these bills could potential hurt us too. If you're a U.S. citizen, write your congressman!)

But c'mon, tvtropes alone should get you through most of the day...

[HuManBing]

The plumber came over to fix our faucets in the main bathroom. They had been leaking. To do this, he had to get to the cabinet behind the faucets.

In that cabinet, I store my laundry basket, which he politely moved to one side and replaced when he was done. Likewise with my toiletry bag and soaps and shampoos.

However, I had also thrown in my wig, dress, necklace, shawl, and bra on one shelf.

I know the plumber moved them and I know he had replaced them because they were all folded and stuff when I looked in this morning.

'–_–

[HuManBing]

I'm sitting at my computer, with my headphones on, multitasking like a boss.

You know, drafting emails to work, listening to music, making phone calls on Skype, etc.

At one point, "Don't Stop Me Now" by Queen comes up. I start singing along.

Something comes up, and I pause the MP3. After a few seconds, I realize I'm still on the phone to my bank, and the bank call receptionist heard everything from "I'm burning through the sky" to "I am a satellite, I'm out of control".

...

:sheepishgrin:

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

I think someone in the next cubicle heard me singing along with "Evenflow" at work last week. D'oh! Some songs are just so good, you can't help but sing!

[Zettaijin]

One of my 12 year old JHS students smelled me the other day. She put her nose against my arm and smelled my hoodie.

Something about missing my gaijin smell or something.

So yeah... fear, horror or madness check r all of the above?

[HuManBing]

I'm reading through an international trade legal brief. There are many new terms which I'm only just getting familiar with.

One entity involved in the suit is something called "GOC". I have no idea about this. What is it? What does it do? Where is it from? What does it make? etc. No clue.

Anyway I read through to the end of the very thick case file, and there is a glossary. GOC, apparently, stands for "Government of China".

A fairly large client, then. Located in Beijing. World's largest exporter of Chinese people.

...

I decide to go back and read things more thoroughly. >_>

[HuManBing]

All names have been changed for legal reasons.

At a recent legal social event, I met a fetching Chinese woman. The wine and talk flowed freely and I got the distinct impression that she wasn't just interested in discussing law with me.

"What's your name?" I asked.

"I'm Xiaochun," she said.

Talk continued. I found out she lives very close to me, she likes the same stuff I like, she was born and raised in China, and she'd be up for getting together for beers sometime at any of the nearby pubs and bars.

I then make the mistake of asking her name again.

"Xiaochun," she says again. "Xiaochun McSweeney."

WHAT?

"Xiaochun McSweeney."


ಠ_ಠ

In conclusion, I wish married people would wear their damn wedding rings more reliably.

[Zilfer]

^I didn't get that one at first, and then realized the last name wasn't chinese!

[HuManBing]

You know you're growing out of one Age of Man and into another, when you immediately look at a woman's wedding ring finger before any other body part.


Edit: Also, when adult actresses of the same age as you are retiring from the industry and becoming real estate agents and talk show guests.

[Ronin Lore]

A couple of years back, I was curious as to when the works of H.P. Lovecraft would become public domain. This was just before the passage of the “Mickey Mouse Protection Act,” and the limit was 75 years after the publication of the work. Lovecraft died in 1937 so the conservative estimate would be 75 years after the death of the author. 75 years after 1937 is 2012.

The things that make you go hmm.

On a related story, someone fixed the dates of the Zodiac some that they would correlate with procession. Does this mean that the “Stars Are Right?’

[HuManBing]

TL;DR - Copyright laws are overly complicated and the legislation on them is a joke. Copyright on Lovecraft's works would have expired by 2007 at the very latest; it likely expired long before then. Trademarks still last, though, and the "Call of Cthulhu" brand name is still protected for Chaosium.


Copyright laws are hell. I'm glad you brought up this topic in this thread because it really does trigger madness checks for IP lawyers.

Here is a helpful (ha!) graphic showing the sort of bullcrap copyright lawyers have to put up with:

VIEW CONTENT:

In the U.S., copyright terms are life plus 70 years, not 75. (For a corporation, it's 95 years after publication or 120 years after creation, whichever is lesser.) Lovecraft's works would have become public domain in 2007 if they'd been renewed in time.

At the time Lovecraft was born, copyright terms were only for 14 years after publication, and they were renewable once, for a second term of 14 years. That meant they could enter the public domain no longer than 28 years after publication - while the author was still alive. By the time he died, the 1909 Act had doubled the relevant durations, but an affirmative renewal was still required.

The assumption was that you, the author, had to take steps to register your work so it would be protected, and then you, the author, had to renew copyright and could only do that once.

If Lovecraft or his heirs and assigns did not register the copyright, or if they botched the renewal, then no copyright exists. The latest date possible for renewal would have been 28 years after the publication - and given that Lovecraft died in 1937, the latest date would have been 1965. If it was renewed at that point, then it would have lasted until 1993.

Later, in 1978, ALL then-valid copyrights were extended to life of the author plus 70 years. But this did not include works already in the public domain.

Were Lovecraft's works protected?

Only if the following applied:
1. Lovecraft registered his works pre-1978.
2. Lovecraft (or his heirs) then renewed the copyright pre-1978.
3. The copyright renewal must have taken place after 1950. If it took place before 1950 then it would still have been exhausted by the time the 1978 law came about.

So, any work published before 1922 would assuredly have been public domain. Any work published after 1922 MIGHT BE copyrighted, if Lovecraft went through the convoluted steps above.

Separate from copyright law, the common law doctrine of equitable estoppel would very likely bar any copyright claims concerning Lovecraft's work. During his life he was an enthusiastic supporter of other authors borrowing from his ideas and writing supplementary stories about the Cthulhu mythos. Equitable estoppel is the common law doctrine that effectively states "if you let somebody know that action A is fine by you, you cannot later sue them for taking action A against you".

In any case, Lovecraft himself died in 1937, and even with the most favorable reading of the 1978 law, his copyright would have expired in 2007.


Finally, note that copyright law is not the same as trademark law. Trademarks last indefinitely, with the only stipulation being continued use in business. So the "Call of Cthulhu" trademark for games, which is owned by Chaosium, is still valid and enforceable. This is not the same as copyright law, which protects the text and characters and plots of the novels by Lovecraft himself.

[Zilfer]

Which means you could copy and distrubt his books if you had the time and money to do so? <.< or something like that?

[HuManBing]

I frankly don't see how Lovecraft's works published during his life could still be protected by copyright. The numbers just don't add up.

[HuManBing]

Today has been a comedy of errors.

1. The TV.

Six years ago, ExGirlfriend bought a condo and needed help installing stuff. One thing she installed was a gigantic flat screen TV. I helped her, on the one condition that the giant TV was NOT allowed to play "Sex & the City" first. Instead, I demanded that the gigantic TV play "The Empire Strikes Back" instead.

She could not mount the TV on the wall without my help. Accordingly, we watched "The Empire Strikes Back".

Today, ExGirlfriend bought a second condo and I helped her move her stuff out. I walk in the door and she's watching "Sex & the City 2" just to spite me. The scamp.

We start looking for ways to dismount the TV. There is a bracket holding it to the wall, and we see screws in the bracket. But the space is too small to fit a normal screwdriver. I tell her all this, and ExGirlfriend starts cracking up and making all sorts of bawdy jokes about rigid objects not fitting in the allotted spaces, etc.

After she's done with this highly inappropriate display of jejune humor, I decide to use a changeable screwdriver bit instead. (An inch-long piece of metal.) I use a wrench to grip this laterally, and rotate it a few degrees each stroke. It's slow, maddening, infuriating work, and it takes us about an hour.

Finally finished, we carefully take the TV down from the bracket.

Then I make an devastatingly embarrassing discovery.

THE BRACKETS COULD HAVE BEEN LIFTED STRAIGHT UP OFF THE WALL WITHOUT ANY IMPEDIMENT.

WORSE STILL, WE WERE THE ONES WHO MOUNTED IT ON THE WALL IN THE FIRST PLACE AND WE SHOULD HAVE KNOWN THIS INHERENTLY.

...

My thoughts on the matter at this point were largely: "Balls. Balls, I say!"



2. The Date Lunch

After ExGirlfriend and I have finished filling the air with expletives and unflattering commentary on each other's intellectual capabilities, we head out for lunch, where ExGirlfriend has arranged for one of her single friends (Sorta) to meet me and see if there's any romantic interest.

Lunch is delicious, and Sorta is decent company. I'm definitely open to seeing her again, and Sorta also seems receptive to hanging out with me later. Obviously, the best thing to do is think of some excuse to see her again - possibly hanging it off of some pertinent piece of conversation.

Conversation, at that time, was about durian fruits. ExGirlfriend is a fan, I love them, and Sorta has never tried them. "Oh, no worries," I say grandiloquently, "Give me a call some time and I'll procure this delicious delicacy and we can see if you like it!"

It's not till I'm heading back to ExGirlfriend's place that I realize what's just happened. I've based the entirety of my second meeting with Sorta on DURIAN TASTING.

...

Anybody who knows durians will know of their fearsome reputation for being extremely smelly fruits. They frankly smell like farmyard animal dung. But they taste amazingly good.

>_>

Frankly, this is not the most romantic idea I've ever had for a second date.




3. Christening the Condo

ExGirlfriend had to stop at a hardware store to pick up a piece of equipment. She needed an electric tool to help her find the studs of wood behind her walls, so she could mount her TV on the walls without fear of accidentally drilling through wires.

She was fine until she realized that "stud finder" contained an apparently hilarious pun and she started singing out happily that she needed a stud finder to help her locate studs and fill a crack in her bedroom.

After she was done with this highly inappropriate display of jejune humor, I returned to her new condo alone and took a shower.

I also spent half an hour consecrating her new bathroom while reading the Economist on the toilet. This was surprisingly enjoyable and I feel like it was the highlight of my day.

Nothing quite like a job done well.