Tulpa

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/earthquake-taiwan-tsunami-warnings/

Hope @OptOut and @fcgamer are okay.

1 hour ago, RH said:

Yeah, the last one in 2017, my family was ready with our glasses and we drove an hour and a half away to a town called Bravard, NC.  The skies were mostly clear and, I kid you not, about 1 minute before totality, a cloud covered the sun... and then about 2 minutes after the eclipse it passed by!

Asshole clouds.

I was planning on going to see it, but every place I could go that was reasonably priced was like, "Hyuck, overcast!"

Everyone got their eclipse glasses? If not, there's still a little time.

https://nso.edu/for-public/eclipse-map-2024/

Unfortunately, a lot of spots under totality are going to be facing overcast, but for those with clear or partly cloudy skies, it should be a good show.

Yeah, different people will have different answers, but the consensus seems to be around 1998-2002 or so.

9 hours ago, RH said:

Wow! This might even be a more spicier, hotter take around here than "Mario 2 is NOT a REAL Mario game!"

Plot twist: Skinny's only seen episodes made after 2010.

50 minutes ago, Estil said:

I sure hope you're wrong on that one.

I'm pretty good at knowing things about copyright, so...

50 minutes ago, Estil said:

 Maybe they need to set up shop at a neutral country like Switzerland or Sweden (?) where the US Copyright Nazis can't get them. 

Switzerland and Sweden are both signatories to the Berne Convention, as is the US (and most other countries), so they respect our copyright laws. Julian Assange wasn't doing copyright violations. The handful of countries that aren't Berne signatories are places like Western Sahara and Iraq. Not exactly great places to set up a server. Even Iran signed the Berne Convention.

It was at its peak when Conan was writing for them. I could usually tell when he wrote a bit.

I don't think I have seen a new episode all the way through since 2005 at the latest, and maybe even before that. If they do have a funny gag (like Bart and Lisa defending their cardboard fort from the UPS men), it'll end up on YouTube anyway and I'll see it there. Even that is like once every four or five years at best.

14 hours ago, Estil said:

I hope not...I mean what they're doing is no different than what a regular library would do and I hope they don't lose to the Copyright Nazis.  Their archive is far too valuable for historical preservation.

Unfortunately they aren't very good at making legal arguments (part of my job has me monitor and sit in on the court cases, virtually.)

Internet Archive shoots themselves in the foot a lot. Which is why their arguments are often losers. The other issue is that they just don't have the resources to fight a copyright fight long term, which they need to do but are not able to do so. If you're even using someone else's copyrighted material without permission, you have to be able to survive multiple lawsuits.

I would not count on them sticking around long term.

3 hours ago, AirVillain said:

I'm not into that at all.... Personally I've always watched it at home, so when I heard about that it really weirded me out. I still haven't done it in person because it gets in the way of the movie, for me, from the videos I've seen.

 

The only thing I can say is that if you're actually there in person it takes on a way different energy.

I can see how watching videos of the live audience can seem lame, but that's not the same thing as being in the auditorium and feeling the excitement of being there.

But I can respect enjoying the movie on its own merits. There's not much else like it out there.

*nervous eye twitch*

34 minutes ago, mbd39 said:

The original point of copyright is to compensate the creators. When a book is out of print it can only be purchased used and the creator (or their estate) isn't being compensated either way. The law makes no sense in this case.

 

Right, that's the doctrine of first sale, which means that the author doesn't get further compensation when a book is sold used.

However, copyright law allows the author and/or publisher to determine when a book goes in and out of print, and no further copies of the book may be made by anyone else whether it's in print or not (unless you want to get sued in federal court) until the book goes into the public domain. Then it can be copied without restriction.

I mean, you can disagree with it, but that's what the law is now.

edit: Plus, I don't think it would work to require it be in print for authors/publishers to keep their copyright. They'd just resort to things like how comic books do ashcan prints and stay within the letter of the law.

Just now, mbd39 said:

Maybe old books that aren't even in print anymore should be free. It's not like the original author will get paid when someone buys it used.

Well, copyright law protects the book whether it's in print or not. So unless Title 17 of the US code changes, it is what it is.

Internet Archive's stance is that they want to use the doctrine of first sale as a way of uploading books to the internet. They'll buy one copy, scan it, and then allow one user at a time to view it. And there is merit to that argument.

Unfortunately, they've been losing the court cases regarding this.

Just now, Tanooki said:

It's under Rovin, Jeff which you can search by whether he did it for making accounts or someone else.  The search i said isn't under his name at all, but it is under the title of the books and they're not locked.

Jeff Rovin didn't upload it. The staff of Internet Archive did. They scan and upload physical books themselves, not the authors.

Some of the listings are more complete than others, hence the discrepancy.

A lot of it is tied up in stuff between Internet Archive and various copyright holders. IA has been sued several times over the content, so some stuff is more restricted than others.

On 3/26/2024 at 4:38 PM, Estil said:

Whatever became of Jeff Rovin and what does he look like?  Quite the man of mystery for us retro gamers, no? 

No, his info is out there. He's still writing, fiction and nontiction. Hasn't done anything video game related in awhile, though.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeff_Rovin

This is what he looks like.

47 minutes ago, Tanooki said:

Just put in 'how to win at' in the search, they're all up there NOT on his account fully viewable.  Seems like a dumb move on his part unless he's hoping to catch those too lazy or dim to see the magnifying glass in the corner with the word search in the box.

What do you mean "his account"? The Internet Archive doesn't have accounts, it's all in one database.

1 hour ago, avatar! said:

Nah, that's nothing. Remember this --

 

That only mean you get the spot ahead of me.

I laughed, and then realized I just reserved my place in hell.

Be sure you have a nice soft cushion to throw your controller at when you do.  

On 3/24/2024 at 8:33 PM, Link said:

Too bad NES Open wouldn't play directly, but I can't fault him for finding a workaround by creating a pretty complex passthrough cable.

I was thinking of that, too. I bet you could run internal wires from all the traces on the ROM board to the connector, and rig up some kind of switching mechanism to go between NES Open and a different cartridge, but man, I have to think that'd be an enormous pain in the ass. 

On 3/25/2024 at 6:07 AM, GamerSmith548 said:

I think it is. I sure hope Bases Loaded 3 will be less time consuming than the first two.

On the plus side, it's one game vs an entire season, so if you master it, you should wrap it up. 

Dunno how hard it is to master. 

I remember the Roger Clemens one being a complete RNG crapshoot whether you hit the ball or not. 

On the plus side, no mice or rats.

3 hours ago, Dr. Morbis said:

Of course I agree with your post, but I just want to add that someone who is truly passionate about something in his heart is not going to up and quit just because someone he doesn't know from Adam was a dick to him; sure, he may go his own way and remove himself from the rest of the community, but if he actually loves NES (or whatever) he'll still be enjoying his hobby for years...

Sure, but we need to be welcoming to new members. Otherwise the community grows stagnant. I mean, you guys are great and all, but, you know.

Plus, maybe he's just got the spark and could turn it into a real passion, but some douchebag killed his spark early on. We don't suddenly develop a passion full blown from day one. Well, maybe you do, but you're a weird exception.

Craziest mod video I've seen in a while. Very entertaining, though.

Wasn't the third Bases Loaded (the Ryne Sandberg one) where you had to complete the perfect game instead of a season mode?