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Note that the nations who most supported him are the very ones that opposed the war.

More in the same vein

In any case, what to make of his plans to create a "Diagnostic Classification of the Emotions?" According to the site, the "DCE-I" "represents [each moral failing with] a 3-digit coding system in the vein of the DSM-IV and ICD-10 series." ("In the vein of" meaning "absolutely nothing like the clinical tradition that has held sway since DSM-III.") It makes things worse that he conflates all mental disorders into a single category -- evidently, to this ethicist, narcissistic personality disorder and disorganized schizophrenia belong in the same grouping.

It seems like this guy believes that ethics can be boiled down to a set of simple propositions that can be assessed in an ethical equivalent to the five-minute mini-mental state exam. The strangeness of that claim suggests that his patent, based on that assumption as it is, will have little use in practice.

Have you read this thing? This makes me think of the movies A Beautiful Mind and Dark City, where a raving lunatic covers his walls with all sorts of data and diagrams and schematics and stuff, that to him makes perfect sense... "I've almost figured it out, I'm so close toa breakthrough..." but to a sane person is just crazy talk written down and pasted to the wall.

I guess it's possible that his work makes sense to a duly trained professional but clearly the USPTO isn't qualified to judge that. I suspect that this is no different from a time machine patent that employs precise alignments of bottle caps and pop rocks to work.

This guy is a professional counselor with a MS in Biological Sciences and an MS in Counseling and yet he's coming up with detailed designs for ethical artificial intelligence systems. Have a look at this diagram from his site:
http://www.angelfire.com/rnb/fairhaven/Patent_fig1 .jpg
Yikes.

It's emotion number 566.

600 to 899 -- Not shown due to space constraints (Criminality, Hypercriminality, and Hyperviolence)

Blimey - just reading his specification, and he doesn't half go on.

He also seems to have the world's largest captive collection of abstract nouns. Here's a few from that spec document:

Nostalgia, Hero Worship, Glory, Prudence, Providence, Faith, Grace, Beauty, Tranquility, Ecstasy, Guilt, Blame, Honor, Justice, Liberty, Hope, Free Will, Truth, Equality, Bliss, Desire, Approval, Dignity, Temperance, Civility, Charity, Magnanimity, Goodness, Love, Joy, Worry, Concern, Integrity, Fortitude, Austerity, Decency, Equanimity, Wisdom, Peace, Harmony, Laziness, Treachery, Negligence, Vindictiveness, Infamy, Insurgency, Dishonor, Vengeance, Prodigality, Betrayal, Slavery, Despair, Wrath, Ugliness, Tyranny, Hypocrisy, Anger, Abomination, Prejudice, Perdition, Apathy, Spitefulness, Indifference, Malice, Foolishness, Gluttony, Caprice, Cowardice, Vulgarity, Avarice, Cruelty, Antagonism, Oppression, Evil, Persecution, Cunning, Hatred, Iniquity, Belligerence, Turpitude, Poignance, Adoration, Culpability, Censure, Exaltation, Circumspect, Uprightness, Equitableness, Bountifulness, Devotion, Freedom, Fairness, Blessings, Charm, Conscience, Credence, Serenity, Happiness, Brotherhood, Contentment, Passion, Admiration, Apprehension, Caring, Respect, Continence, Probity, Bravery, Courtesy, Kindness, Forbearance, Scruples, Graciousness, Benevolence, Patience, Shrewdness, Affection, Gladness, Amity, Concordance, Sloth, Mutiny, Carelessness, Retaliation, Notoriety, Rebellion, Ignominy, Retribution, Profligacy, Treason, Bondage, Desperation, Disgrace, Vileness, Subjugation, Mendacity, Fury, Abhorrence, Bigotry, Pernicity, Dispassion, Grudgingness, Callousness, Malevolence, Crassness, Lechery, Fickleness, Pusillanimity, Rudeness, Greed, Wantonness, Contentiousness, Brutality, Wickedness, Torment, Ruthlessness, Meanness, Depravity, Atrocity, Fiendishness.

These 'virtues and vices' seem to form the basis for his ethical AI system... able to detect 'wantonness' and respond with 'graciousness', perhaps. It's an intriguing approach to the problem, but it seems somehow hollow.

I've read many comments here and in other forums complaining about clients and bosses citing the SCO mess as a reason to put off Linux implementations/rollouts/development. All one needs to do is look through all the SCO articles posted in the past month or so.

I guess that goes to show you - 56.2% of all statistics are untrue.

you might want to have a look at AntiCrack which is a huge collection of tutorials cracking , reverse engineering, and programming. They also have a copy of the Old Fravia'Site, the new one being about searching).

There's a few games/challenges out there about reverse engineering, cracking, logic and programming. Give them a try if you wish (Arcanum is really nice):
AngularVision, Apotheosis, Arcanum, Aspect, Aspect2, C&CDisIncorporated, CyberArmy, Disavowed, Electrica, Escape, HackME, HackersGames, HackersLab, HackQuest, Hybrid, ICEFortress, Lamebulun, Mod-X, NetSplit, NGSEC'sSecurityGame, ProblemSetArchive, ReverserCourse, SlyFX, TheGame, and Try2hack.

have fun ;-)

but I haven't seen one even try to make a penguin cute yet.

Then you sure as hell haven't seen Chiyo-chan from Azumanga Daioh dressed up in a penguin costume... er.. or were you talking about _real girls_? =)

The same place I have proof the "xbox security expert" is genuine.

This kind of thing is typical M$. It's just another form of astroturf. When you do a thing again and again, you should not be surprised if people remember it.

I, too, can't read the name "Kovacs" without thinking of Watchmen.

I, too, can't read the name "Kovacs" without thinking of Watchmen.

• SCO says it's their code in the Linux Kernel
• They say it's IBM's fault.
• Not only that, but it's code written by IBM.
• SCO says they have the right to control release because it was once attached to an SYSV system
• They have also assured their (other) licensees that they stil own their code that they inserted into their versions of UNIX, it's just that SCO can stop them from distributing it.
• They say that the GNU license on the code is invalid because the GPL states that it can only be placed by the copyright owner
• But if IBM Still owns the code, and they're the ones who placed it, then the GPL is valid (It's just that SCO gets to sue IBM for releasing it withiout their say-so .. but subsequent users are still OK).
• SCO is still distributing Caldera Linux -- including kernel source.
• This means that they're distributing it under the GPL, with a GPL license on it and IBM (the owner of the code) has also explicitly released it... Seems like everybody in this loop has given their permission -- either explicit or implict.
• If their license is really this nasty (and they're ambushing customers with things like this), I expect that a lot of other businesses are going to abandon their Unix license as soon as they can.
• It's pretty unlikely that their long stretch claim to owing everything ever put into AIX is going to win.
• Some people now think that they're going to try and (essentially) blackmail people into paying them for any copies of Linux that didn't come direct from Caldera/SCO (even if it came indirectly from them).
• This whole mess places them in violation of the GPL and opens them up to some nasty copyright suits.
• Until this started, SCO looked like it was about to go bankrupt
• If this fails, not only will their old UNIX funding sources dry up, but nobody is going to want to buy Caldera, either. They could also end up with millions (billions) in legal bills.

If I knew when (not if) SCO's stock is going to tank, I'd issue a shell-sort order today.

Don't worry, though, because I'm pretty sure the Mensa member didn't know that either judging by her creative use of the English language.

Obligatory sound clip.

Incidently, here is some information on how to get SS1 working under WinXP.

Is it OK to stumble and fall face first, and say "I bent my Wookiee"!, or is this worn-out too?

Expert Quotations on TVs Cultural Impact

Destroy the conspiracy theories? I think not!

You guys just all wait untill the Bildeberg Group unleashes Space Gozilla to finally rid us of the Nazi UFO's! Then we will all know who killed JFK and you puny mortals will finally believe that the Moon Landings were all a hoax!

Give up on conspiracy theories? Yeah right!

"So the earth is flat?"

As another poster here on slashdot (I wish I could remember who, giving him/her the credits..) pointed out about half a year ago in a similiar discussion, there is nothing in the bible saying the earth is flat. The closest thing you can get to this is the mentioning of the sun going up and going down, but then, we all see the mentioning of the sun going up and down in the morning newspaper.

My apologies for going a bit off-topic. This isn't especially related to those corpses, said to have been dead for 150'000 years. Personally I'm a bit sceptic about the estimated age. For instance, living pengiuns have been dated dead since 8'000 years.

• myname@la.la.la would be a great address to give when I have to give one to tech support drones,
• my private streaming music server could be at falalalala.lala.la.la,
• I could start a fan site,
• 
  etc.

Somebody correct me if I'm wrong (I can certainly count on that around here...) but I thought it was pretty widely accepted that the Dvorak keyboard being faster or better is a myth.

...

Alright, a quick Google reveals that this is not commonly accepted. The defense is pretty shaky thought ("the Navy wouldn't do that.")

Anyways, repetitive movements are what cause the (quetionable) RSI condition, and I don't see how changing the keyboard layout would help, short of something more radical like one of those Logitech/MS 'natural' keyboards... and I don't believe Dvorak is inherently any faster than Qwerty; when comparing two people who know both very well, the typing speeds are probably the same.

You'd do much better to lower your keyboard to take the strain off your wrists. Most people keep their keyboards too high.

BTW, there is a start of a pac-man tutorial on the site that we never finished. This is as far as we got.

Anyhow, back to the present...

Some kid found my 3D asteriods game on the internet and asked me if I could teach him how to program. Note that he lives in another state, and I've never met him in person.

He was 12 at the time and struck me as being bright. I had him download the free Java stuff from Sun and we developed a video game applet together. We discussed what kind of game to make, how it would work, and the logic behind it. We decided on a simple game and then added features as we went along, rather than trying to implement his initial vision all at once. This let him see that progress was being made.

We didn't get into any OO stuff. In fact the structure of the game is more similar to C than to traditional Java code, but it was stuff he could understand. He wrote some of it and modified much of what I wrote.

You can check out the result here

Here is what I learned from the project:

• Free (as in beer) development kits are nice. The kid didn't have money to buy Visual Studio.
• Free documentation is important as well. Sun has some nice stuff on the web and there are lots of java game tutorials out there.
• AIM is incredibly useful for something like this.
• The web is a great tool for letting kids share their accomplishments with others. This kid gave the URL to others at his Jr. High and they could see the game he made.
• This sort of thing take a long time and lots of patience, especially remotely. It would be nice to have been able to have worked in the same room on occasion.

Customer Support for Gnome? It has lots of help files, and configuration areas. True, fvwm has no customer support, and in my mind, is for tinkerers like myself. Right now, I am running evilwm (I call it that when I try and grab the tiny border to resize MozillaFirebird, etc. Can be done, but the "evil" part of the name seems appropriate. I love FVWM2, however, and have one of my favorite .fvwm2rc files here:
Version 3
It works on a Mandrake 8 pc, and has my dial and hangup scripts from:
Linux Files Page

Paintball guns have gone through an evolution from the old 9gram powered single shot w/ 10-shot magazine handgun to electric pneumatic guns like The Angel or realistic looking equipment like the TS1. I'm sure paintball can at least attempt if not closely match the gameplay in CS. The Airsoft stuff look interesting though, thanks for the links! :)

I use fvwm, and have some of my fvwm2rc's here: for the root user
and here:
for a user account Now, for my problem with evilwm: I cannot determine if it uses a "evilwmrc" file, or what. I have set up my xinitrc file to boot it, but can only get a clock and a cursor, and set the background color. I need some examples of setups for evilwm, and how to get them to run.

I use fvwm, and have some of my fvwm2rc's here: for the root user
and here:
for a user account Now, for my problem with evilwm: I cannot determine if it uses a "evilwmrc" file, or what. I have set up my xinitrc file to boot it, but can only get a clock and a cursor, and set the background color. I need some examples of setups for evilwm, and how to get them to run.

No need to pretend that "graduate students" are paying $$ to get to rewrite fvwm. There's plenty of folks like me out there that enjoy writing .fvwm2rc's anyway, and pretending that we are doing something wonderful. Here's my latest one, that uses FvwmButtons for the pager!
(work in progress, but tested on Mandrake 8)
I have tried to comment this file for fvwm fans, hope you enjoy it.

Here's the one I'm using right now:
my .fvwm2rc file
Here is a screenshot:
screenshot for above fvwm2rc
Here's a neat trick: Put that .png image in Opera 6.12, and press the "F11" key for fullscreen. On a 14" monitor, it will appear as if you are actually running fvwm, with this file, and you can say "Hey, I formatted your HDD, put Mandrake on it!" Only thing, none of the buttons work, so the joke comes to a quick end for the observant.
Like most folks that post their .fvwm2rc on the internet, I have to say that this is not my latest .fvwm2rc, as working on these is somewhat of a hobby and I'm always trying to improve it.
Here is a .fvwm2rc for a user account:
click here
That one gives an entirely different-looking setup, designed for those who do not have root access. As you can see, I like what fvwm can do, and try to learn more about it when I can. Examples posted on the internet help a lot.

Here's the one I'm using right now:
my .fvwm2rc file
Here is a screenshot:
screenshot for above fvwm2rc
Here's a neat trick: Put that .png image in Opera 6.12, and press the "F11" key for fullscreen. On a 14" monitor, it will appear as if you are actually running fvwm, with this file, and you can say "Hey, I formatted your HDD, put Mandrake on it!" Only thing, none of the buttons work, so the joke comes to a quick end for the observant.
Like most folks that post their .fvwm2rc on the internet, I have to say that this is not my latest .fvwm2rc, as working on these is somewhat of a hobby and I'm always trying to improve it.
Here is a .fvwm2rc for a user account:
click here
That one gives an entirely different-looking setup, designed for those who do not have root access. As you can see, I like what fvwm can do, and try to learn more about it when I can. Examples posted on the internet help a lot.

So his statement has no more weight than Prince Philip saying modern English Architecture sucks

Or, as Phil would put it,

"Looks like it was put in by an Indian."

The Space Studies Institute has plenty of studies and reports on the benefits we could receive from power from space - solar satellites, Lunar Solar Power, etc.. There is no basic technology mystery there (unlike, say, fusion), the hardest pieces are some development bits relating to large-scale construction in space and use of resources on the Moon. But there's no public political interest in this for some reason, and the NASA budget category for this has been basically zeroed out for years (I believe the total spent has been about $50 million, with only $2 million spent looking at lunar options).

Why aren't we at least spending more money on research in this area? So many billions are spent on nuclear power, but space-based solar power is the ONLY way we'll ever move beyond Kardashev leve 0.7!

What kind of an incompetent idiot is going to try to attack a woman with other witnesses around?

Ask Kitty Genovese. She might have something to say about the frequency with which incompetent idiots attack a woman with 38 witnesses around.

Shin Seiki Evangelion took over my life for a good year-and-a-half...until the long-delayed release of The End of Evangelion in the US finally brought sweet release. NOW THIS? Please, Gainax...I want my life back.

PS - evaotaku.com

Oh, wait, it's been done... it's called Project Orion .

Or we could do something even more efficient... throw stuff out the back at high speed and let the reaction provide propulsion. Hell, if you can throw it fast enough, it doesn't have to be heavy...

Oh, wait... that's been done, too. It's called a rocket.

Seriously, though, why do you say a rocket is "flawed and wasteful"? What makes you think that throwing rocks at a spacecraft would work better (or at all)? Have you done any math to substantiate it? Is it, just maybe, possible that all those rocket scientists might know what they're doing?

"It appears that Chong might not be returning due to contract negotiations over salary."

here.

I saw the original Metal Gear on the 8-bit NES.

How did you manage that feat? Someone create an MSX emulator for NES?! The original Metal Gear was a MSX game before it was ported to the NES. :P

I can't believe that no one has mentioned Dave Seigel's nine act structure or Joseph Vogler's adaptation of Joseph Cambell's work, the Hero's Journey

Filmmakers and producers have been using these for years (the more you know about them, the more depressing it is to watch stuff like the Matrix), and this isn't much that's new (look at MGM's formula films in the 30's).

One thing that is worth noting is that it's still *difficult* to write a movie that perfectly utilizes these ratios, while making it "different" enough to fool the audiences.

Also worth noting is the fact that, while the best-selling cars are a rather generic ratio of certain features - power, luxury, price, safety, etc., the cars that people often really like are the ones that go out on some extreme (WCM Ultralite anyone?).

I caught a blurb-mercial on TNN last week featuring two mock 'TNN suits' video-conferencing with Kricfalusi through a 60's TV set.

Not only are they bringing back Ren and Stimpy but the 6 brand-new episodes are purported to be more adult-oriented than the originals. Good. Fucking. God.

"I'll just give myself one of these *ka-chunk*"

script (far down)

As with most student projects, it seems to assume that you have a pretty fast machine. I have a machine that can run Q3A reasonably and this little Zaxxon game gets 12fps on it. They didn't spend much time optimizing or testing on slow machines. Even at 320x240 (windowed) it runs like a dog. Also, the ship goes out of control after a while, with the point of view switching jerkily from one side to the other.

Some of you will say that I need a new machine, which is true, but for what this game is it could run a lot faster.

When I was in school we had an assignment to make an asteroids game. Most of the projects were barely playable they were so slow. There were only a few each quarter that were worth playing. Yet using the same computers my group made a 3d space fighter game in which you pilot a ship through an asteroid field instead of the usual top-down 2d asteroids. Not only was it more ambitious than the normal games, it ran faster too, because we cared about efficiency from the start and made sure it was playable. You can download the Windows port here. It isn't nearly as polished as the Zaxxon game, but it was a 2 week project, and was playable on a 60 MHz Mac Performa with no 3d acceleration.

every once in a while I'll boot up my Apple ][e, plug in the joystick, and fire up Rescue Raiders. The game was fun in and of itself, but I think the real reason I enjoyed it was because it belonged to my dad and he wouldn't let me play it...
The other games I played were this series of text adventure games, written by Scott Adams (maybe of Dilbert fame, we could never find out). There were nine of em, 3 to a disk, and arranged from easiest to hardest. Couldn't beat any of em. heh. They were fun though, especially the second (treasure island) and the third (some mission impossible-type thing where you had a limited number of turns before a bomb went off).
We had em in elementary school, where the teachers let us play games like Oregon Trail; this one where you're a fish and have to eat other fish, and avoid the otter or something; and there was one where you were a geologist and had to identify rare gems by their color, hardness, etc. Anyone remember this game? Everyone I ask about em just kind of look at me.
But besides games, I learned to program on that computer; there were BASIC programs in the back of some kids' magazine I subscribed to, 3-2-1-Contact or something, that taught you about control flow, strings, stuff like that. I remember this one where you ran a zoo with panda bears that kept dying every time you looked at em the wrong way.

man, thanks for the trip back in time there...

Having a system where everybody is a criminal and anybody can be arrested whenever the government want to is scary beyond imagination.

Ayn Rand said it far better than I could, here:

"Did you really think that we want those laws to be observed?" said Dr. Ferris. "We want them broken. You'd better get it straight that it's not a bunch of boy scouts you're up against - then you'll know that this is not the age for beautiful gestures. We're after power and we mean it. You fellows were pikers, but we know the real trick, and you'd better get wise to it. There's no way to rule innocent men. The only power any government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren't enough criminals, one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws. Who wants a nation of law-abiding citizens? What's there in that for anyone? But just pass the kind of laws that can neither be observed nor enforced nor objectively interpreted - and you create a nation of law-breakers - and then you cash in on guilt. Now, that's the system, Mr. Rearden, that's the game, and once you understand it, you'll be much easier to deal with."

Nothing says "it's over" like the crew encountering an alien race that requres a threesome in order to reproduce.

They stole that from Alien Nation ("Three to Tango") anyway.

If there is anyone out there like me who was curious about what the pokemon that looks like Uri Geller was, here's a link to the pic of "kadabra" the character he claimed imitated him.

His name is Robert Paulsen

Dylanbase
Bob Dylan Boot Database
BobsBoots
# The Bob Dylan CD Field Recordings Review Page Of William J. Clinton

Couldn't resist this as a follow-up to anything posted by "Dylan Zimmerman" :-D

Now, if ClearChannel would maybe put Love And Theft on their rotation...

Actually, it's more of a Gnostic theme than a Orthodox Christianity theme. He's not Yeshua per say, but a normal human who have achieved gnosis via death and then rebirth (when he realizes he didn't really die, because it wasn't real in the first place). Jesus didn't really achieve gnosis in that way, it was a pre-planned end-run around the Blind One by Sophia. He achieved it when he was baptized (i.e. the "dove" descending on him). If you notice, he didn't start his major teachings until after that.

The Matrix also closely follows Philip K. Dick's VALIS. Read that book if you find the ideas in the Matrix interesting...it has much more "source" material (like where various ideas in the book actually come from in antiquity), and it's parallels to The Matrix are rather obvious.

If you find it REALLY interesting, check out sites like The Odyssey of Gnosis and so on.

Have they included Spaceball One ? Can't see it, the site is /.ed.

FYI. The Twin Pines Mall (name replaced Puente Hills Mall), in the first movie of Back to the Future Trilogy, is located in this area.

You can see photographs and information here and here.