it’s only Illegal to take something that you reverse engineer… put some of that whatever.. into your own product and sell it.

To reverse engineer it is legal.. why is it such a bad couple of words?

it amused me so much that I’m copying and pasting it here

Here is the link

http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/geekend/?p=5136#comments

Growing up with two older half brothers I believe that I had a definite advantage over other kids. One of my half brothers was still living at home during my formative years, and he was a perfect example of how to screw up in every imaginable way.

For instance, I learned at an early age that babysitting a younger sibling doesn’t mean borrowing your friend’s handcuffs, handcuffing the younger sibling’s left wrist and right ankle, turning the television on, and going out to play with your friends. Not only did I figure out this was a good way to get grounded until you’re 26, but I also discovered that mom knew where to find the bolt cutters and the replacement value of handcuffs.

When I became a father, I looked for a role model who could serve me as well as my half brother. I spoke with friends, I read, and I watched television, all in an attempt to find a father figure that I could use as a role model. After much searching it finally struck me that, with an upbringing like mine, Darth Vader is the perfect father role model. (Photo of Darth Vader’s armor courtesy of Thais M.)

You probably think that I’ve lost it, but give me a chance to explain. Yeah, Darth Vader has a borderline personality disorder according to French researchers, but considering that I was looking for examples of what I should and should not do, Darth Vader fits the bill. Think about it — Darth Vader provides a wealth of examples of what not to do when you’re a father.

For starters, Darth Vader wasn’t around for Luke or Leia; in fact, he didn’t acknowledge either child. Darth Vader never changed a diaper, never clean up kids’ messes, and never read Harold and the Purple Crayon to his children. I’m also willing to bet that there wasn’t even an order for support. This proves two things: He was truly evil and that the Empire doesn’t watch Judge Judy.

In addition, Darth Vader imprisoned Leia in the original Death Star. She was only released through the actions of her brother, Luke, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Han Solo, Chewbacca, R2-D2, and C-3PO. Later, Darth Vader even went so far as to have Lea’s boyfriend, Han Solo, frozen in carbonite! Now that I think about it, maybe that isn’t a bad idea for dealing with my daughter’s boyfriends.

And, of course, Darth Vader tried to kill Luke; he actually shot at Luke in Star Wars: A New Hope. How low can a man sink? Whenever I play the Star Wars games with my children, I don’t shoot at them, especially since they learned how to deflect the shots back at me using their lightsabers. Ouch!

In the end, Darth Vader recognizes the importance of family. He even goes so far as to quit his job by throwing his boss down a cooling shaft just so he can spend a little quality time with Luke. Unfortunately, it’s only about five minutes of quality time.

In the end, I feel that Darth Vader can serve as an example to fathers everywhere of what not to do. Do you agree? If not, who are your parenthood role models?

Personally, I find I post in any of these media types more often when I’m depressed, or life is getting hard. Otherwise I post less often. When life is happy, I don’t share it as openly. This being the case, I’ve noticed a disturbing trend that I partake in. I asked 5-6 people around here about their facebook accounts, and the people that they “hide” in their friends list. The question was why hide them. The biggest answers I got were “drama”, “negative”, “too much political crap”

As for these answer I’ve done it myself. I actually remove people who go ape shit on the political agenda. I don’t care to hear about the tea party and its blanket hate statements. For me people who are habitually negative, and create lots of drama get hidden. It’s my belief that if you surround yourself with negativity you become negative yourself. This is because of its influence. Negative is a very strong influence, and it’s an easy thing to do. It seems easier to be hateful than happy, to me It’s truly a choice to be negative. I feel that I was raised in a household where my mom, and the small city I grew up in was largely negative. And they are negative purely by choice. People complained about the local political agenda, they complained about the lack of water, and the heat. (you are farming in the desert, lack of water is given) And how much more expensive things are. People seem to have a very difficult time finding reasons to be happy. They can however, find a lot of reasons to be unhappy. The term “misery loves company” Seems to be pretty accurate in this regard. It took me a very long time to find reasons to be happy, and the more I do it. The easier it is to do.

So it seems, we need to be less social on facebook, and more social in person. Facebook is a medium, not the only available route. We should all spend less time at our PC’s and more time face to face.

http://improveverywhere.com/2010/07/14/star-wars-subway-car/

in short 5 people got dressed up. Leia, stormtroopers and vader entered a subway train car and then proceeded to play out the capture scene in A New hope.

Nathaera posted a notice from the co-founder of Blizzard officially changing their tune. The word is that Blizzard isn’t going to force players to use their real names but instead use battle.net names with a number value that will remain static.

Full post is listed here. I’ve posted it below for people who do not have access to blizzard forums while at work.

Hello everyone,

Mike Morhaime
CEO & Cofounder
Blizzard Entertainment

Clearly they did listen. A thread that goes 2,600+ pages of outcry is hard to ignore. Blizzard made a terrible PR move even considering this. I’m glad to see it change.

My personal grips were more than just my public name. It’s that they always said that usage of the forums were optional, however I cannot count the number of times I was told that I’d need to Take my issue to the forums Which makes my usage of the forums not-so-much-optional anymore.

Yesterday, Blizzard announced that everyone on the forums is going to be forced to use their Real ID. When this goes live all 11 million players now have their Identities just hanging out there. The reason?

The Trolls. Forums Trolls. There are lots of people who log into the forums to mock, make fun of and otherwise tear down people. If people are held accountable then the theory is that it will stop. This is an interesting Idea in practice but in actually implementation it’s a nightmare.

Currently, there are companies that when they start doing interview request your facebook/myspace account. They want to know what you do on your off times. I know people personally who have lost job opportunities because they play games. Because the supervisors view games as if they are “for children”. Not realizing that it’s an escape for many people from their real lives. It’s a mini vacation every single day.

The amount of damage that can be done by your own name if someone steals your ID information is absurd.
I’ve been playing wow for years, and this may be the final straw. If I ever find that I have to use the forums for any reason at all, I’ll just cancel. My privacy is more important than blizzard trying to get their out of control trolling issues under control. They would be better off re-establishing guidelines making them more strict then start banning people left and right for 3 days at a time

OR.. here’s an EASY TO DO thought for you blizzard. FORCE people to use 1 name. no more hopping characters. While it’s not their real name they will be quickly discounted as being a troll and people will stop reacting to them.

Either way, this is a stupid move Blizzard.

In the meantime enjoy this. Today is the day that Marty McFly Appeared in our time.

Damnit.. Where’s my hover board…?

Wow.. pushing for advertising much?