I wrote to the address in the GPLv2 license notice (2022) • Hacker News Board

Re: I wrote to the address in the GPLv2 license notice (2022)

#581

Post by Alex-Programs » Mon, Apr 28, 2025, 11:21 AM UTC

richardfontana wrote: post #474

Alex-Programs wrote: post #248

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a Brit, the concept of "My lawyer" is slightly unfamiliar. The average Brit doesn't "have a lawyer"; they would only find a lawyer if they had a specific need, eg being accused of a crime or wanting to write a contract etc. And yet as far as I can tell, most middle class Americans seem to refer to "their lawyer". Do you pay a monthly fee? Are they a criminal defence lawyer, or something broader? How often do you t…

The average American does not have a "my lawyer" either. Not sure where you're getting "most middle class Americans" from unless you're extrapolating from pop culture. I think it's common in movies and TV dramas for characters to refer to "my lawyer" in situations in which there is contact with law enforcement.

Right, I think I'm extrapolating from pop culture and a distorted lens on the internet.

Re: I wrote to the address in the GPLv2 license notice (2022)

#582

Post by lproven » Mon, Apr 28, 2025, 9:28 PM UTC

coldpie wrote: post #557

lproven wrote: post #524

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> All the systems are fine This is not true and that's trivially verifiable. No calculator, no references, no Google: How many inches are in 5 and three-quarter miles? How much does 5 & 3/4 gallons of water weigh?

In what scenarios would I need to know the answers to those questions?

That's not the point.

The point is that it is easy to interconvert units in the metric system: they're all interrelated and all of them can be expressed in terms of other units.

A litre is the volume of a cube that is 10x10x10cm. A cubic cm of water weighs a gram. Therefore, 10 cubic cm of water weighs 1kg. In other words, a kilo is the weight of a litre of water.

It takes 1 calorie of energy to heat 1g of water by 1ºC. So to heat a litre by one degree takes 1000 calories, or 1 kilocalorie. To boil it, you need to raise its temperature to 100 degrees, because that's the boiling point of water. From room temperature of say 20º that means

100-20 = 80 80 x 1000 = 80,000 80 kcal

This is useful. You can work out how much energy you need, using a pencil and paper.

This makes it easy to convert. Units that are easier to convert are more useful.

Whereas, as Josh Bazell put it:

« Whereas in the American system, the answer to ‘How much energy does it take to boil a room-temperature gallon of water?’ is ‘Go fuck yourself,’ because you can’t directly relate any of those quantities. »

That's stupid. They can easily be related, but the people who devised this batshit set of scaled random numbers a few centuries ago didn't think of it.

It's not "what you're used to is better".

It's "one system is easier to work with than the other, and lets you do things the other system does not permit you to do."

Metric is objectively, demonstrably better than imperial.

And the common response of "oh but my system is what people feel" is also total bullshit, because that is 100% what you're used to.

A warmish day is feels like 20º to me. A hot day feels like 30º. A burning can't think straight day is 40º. Below freezing is below zero: it's simple and intuitive.

Re: I wrote to the address in the GPLv2 license notice (2022)

#583

Post by terinjokes » Tue, Apr 29, 2025, 12:39 PM UTC

relistan wrote: post #499

terinjokes wrote: post #41

A few countries I'll be visiting this summer still sell International Reply Coupons. It might be interesting to pick some up and see how difficult it is to exchange them. Would a PostNL point even know what to do with one?

As a ham radio operator who still likes paper QSL cards, I’ve bought international reply coupons from Swiss Post because they still sell them and you can order them online (I live in Ireland but here they no longer sell them). Any postal service that is a member of the Universal Postal Union (nearly all of them are AFAICT) is obliged to accept them. They work in most places.

Hey, I'm KG8ORS. It's been aong time since I've sent a QSL card (and I've never received one), but it's where I first heard about IRCs.

I agree that UPU members are required to accept them. PostNL closed all of their post offices a few years ago in favor of contracting out to businesses, who may not be familiar with them.

It looks like Omniva (aka/fka Eesti Post) also ships worldwide and charges in Euro.

Re: I wrote to the address in the GPLv2 license notice (2022)

#584

Post by genewitch » Wed, Apr 30, 2025, 12:02 PM UTC

genewitch wrote: post #264

processunknown wrote: post #259

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 3. I didn't have a 2D printer at home, tried to 3D print the shipping label This sentence really captures the absurdity of this story.

Could have 3D printed a pen holder for the 3D printer and then used the 3D printer as a plotter to write the address on a sticker or the envelope itself. Right?

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3712501

Re: I wrote to the address in the GPLv2 license notice (2022)

#585

Post by foxglacier » Wed, Apr 30, 2025, 10:10 PM UTC

adastra22 wrote: post #540

foxglacier wrote: post #492

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I offer GPL source via physical address because I don't want to distribute it with the software and I think the GPL said you have to do it that way. I also provide an email address for convenience but without it being the official way so I don't really have to respond to those. In 10 years, I've had zero requests either way.

Why do you distribute under GPL if you don’t want to distribute the source?

It's a 3rd part GPL program that I've modified and distribute with my proprietary software. The not wanting to is just because it's a bit of hassle putting together the files and information on how to compile it in a polished way. If nobody requests it, I can defer that work forever.