Odd Lots

[jeff_duntemann]

• I've installed Lazarus 1.0 without mayhem, and have created a few simple programs with it. So far, no glitches. My recommendation is still cautious. Nonetheless, I'd be interested in hearing other people's experiences with the new release.
• Carmine Gallo wonders why more people aren't doing image-rich PowerPoint presentations. Um...it's because

Comments

“Tom Swift & His Legal Loophole”

[baron_waste]

Dear Sir:

As you ARE mentioned on the Wikipedia entry - and that was how we became acquainted - I don't know anyone better suited to cast some light on this vexatious question: Why d' ye suppose 'Tom Swift and the Electronic Hydrolung' and 'Tom Swift and the Visitor From Planet X' are now in the public domain? T S JUNIOR, mind you. All the original series are, of course, but none of the 1950s' version… save those two. Yet, there they are. I'm curious as to what this does to “intellectual property” arguments!

[Specifically, obviously, I'm thinking of the legality of 'unauthorized' works, aka fanfic. People can play with the works of Jane Austen or Mark Twain; they could, in theory, do the same with the original Tom Swift. But… why this odd hole in the copyright? And what does it imply? We wonderss, yesss, precious, we wonderrssss…]

Re: “Tom Swift & His Legal Loophole”

[jeff_duntemann]

Probably just a clerical error. Works published between 1923 and 1963 (which included the first 20-odd TSJR books) had to be specifically re-registered to remain in copyright. A huge number of books in that period fell out of copyright for that simple reason: Nobody took the time to push the paper. This is the reason that Little Fuzzy and many of the Doc Smith adventures are now in the public domain

[baron_waste]

Yes, thank you - that was very much what I was looking for!

As a practical matter I doubt that anyone would care (or even notice) if, say, something appeared on Fanfiction.net. I imagine it would only become an issue if money became involved - that's so often true!

It might be interesting to concoct a new version of Stratemeyer fare. I recall it was once attempted, in a consciously archaized setting - call it the pre-1965 Solar System. The two problems it faced were the concept itself - it's no good pretending that Mars is just high-sierra country, and all you need is a parka and an air tank; even today's high schools still teach this much, that kids know better - and the symbol of the series, which was a sunburst… with a cross on it. Oh yah. A built-in limiting factor, what I mean to say. (And there's not even a guaranteed core audience, either