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Cool stuff this, but everyone seems to be caught up on the power density problems of batteries. Electric motors have efficiencies way beyond what ICE's (Internal Combustion Engines) can produce. The problem comes in feeding enough energy to the motor over a prolonged stretch of time.

This problem is pretty much moot if you consider fuel cells. Fuel cells come in a variety of types, but the most popular for vehicle applications run on Natural Gas or Methanol. Check out the efficiencies when compared to ICE's here.

These babies are the future. And if we go the methanol route, we can grow our own fuel stocks!

• S2105 would make it a crime to tamper with identification codes put in place by manufacturers. With a Pentium, this law would make it a crime to use the disable function. Probably end result: losses for Pentium and anyone else who uses ID codes.
• Online music laws humor:
  • We have to pay you?
  • And we can only play the song how often?
  • So you're limiting how much we can pay you?
  • And you encouraging us to play your competition?
  • Ok. Let's play some decent music, screw the labels.
• When I think of how much money the DVD industry has saved me, I can't thank them enough.
• The final result. There will, in my opinion, be three nets.
  • The first network is for those people who currently live off of and feed these corporations. The people who want their music fed to them. Hopefully they'll take over the new AOL.
  • The second network will be for the theives and pirates. Those who want what the megacorps put out and think they shouldn't have to pay. Unfortunately, I think they'll take Freenet as well.
  • The final net will be where it always was, out in the public and hard to find. It will be the college radio stations and the small bars like the old el&gee club I used to frequent. It will resemble the way things used to be here, where some .plan or .project pointed you to a cool gopher file somewhere.
  The truth is, the corporations can sue us only as long as we buy their stuff. Once we realize that it's just glitter without substance, we're free from them.

The Hall of Statuary

The Medusa Realm

Statuephiles

Studs in Stone

Maki's House of Petrification

ASFR Master List

Mannequin Lover's

Kimy's House of Living Mannequins

The Flat Philes

The Living Mannequin Circle

Alt.sex.fetish.robots

The Cobalt Jade Website

The Mad Scientists's Lair

Pop's Transformation Art

In Praise of Golder Women

Golder Women Yahoo Club

Frozen Statue Yahoo Club

The Hall of Statuary

The Medusa Realm

Statuephiles

Studs in Stone

Maki's House of Petrification

ASFR Master List

Mannequin Lover's

Kimy's House of Living Mannequins

The Flat Philes

The Living Mannequin Circle

Alt.sex.fetish.robots

The Cobalt Jade Website

The Mad Scientists's Lair

Pop's Transformation Art

In Praise of Golder Women

Golder Women Yahoo Club

Frozen Statue Yahoo Club

[ Reply to this | Parent ]

True. However, LDS folks also believe in upholding, honoring, and sustaining the law.Which means that when push came to shove and every appeal through the courts had been exhausted, the choice was given to the one person who had the authority to make the decision -- the president of the LDS church at that time -- a man named Wilford Woodruff. According to his journals, he saw in "a vision" what would happen if the church continued to follow and defend polygamy, vs. what would happen if the practice were abandoned. Hmm.. it took a vision from god to notice that when the government says 'Quit polygamy or we disband your religion' they mean what they say. Interesting. Also interesting is the fact that after polygamy was outlawed, and the church leaders forsook the practice in public, they themselves (including woodruf) continued to proactice it in secret. he was given knowledge by God, and the right to make the decision, which he did, ending the practice. He also stated that if God had said "continue", he would have obeyed God even knowing he was in violation of the law. Ahh, perhaps thats why he kept on doing it in secret. Thus, anybody attempting to perform a plural marriage after he said "stop" would be violating their sacred covenants. True, but those married to multiple wives beforehand were exempt apparently. This is all fact, its even in the church history, which the church has repeatedly censored and modified since its publication. Ever wonder why the church sealed up all its historical documents a few years back? The historians at BYU kept finding juicy tidbits like that, and others such as multiple versions of the first vision, correlations between josephs joining the Masons and the changes in the endowment ritual. Swearing to die by disembowlment, sliced throat, and something else (i forget at the time) if you broke the secret to the endowment? Oh, and dont forget that after the mormons were run out of missouri, the endowment contained an oath to 'swear vengance upon this nation and its leaders' until the blood of the saints was redeemed. Very interesing. No wonder the mormon church is one of the most censor happy instiutions.. Cant have stuff like that getting out.. Check the following for reference materials: http://members.aol.com/VeilW orker/endowment.index.html http://www.xmission.com/~count ry/reason/mormhist.htm http://www.irr.org/mit/default.html If I seem a little antagonistic, its because I was a mormon (born and raised) for many years, and then I find out about this stuff which the church so convieniantly hides and censors.

If the mormons are going to block sites that detail their religious cerimonies and truth about their history like:

http://members.aol.com/VeilW orker/endowment.index.html

http://www.irr.org/mit/default.html

or even:
http://www.utlm.org/

now that would be filtering...

;)

The CDROM's were usually document retrieval CD's full of sales lit for such large corporations as Tandem, Northern Telecom and FedEx. I couldn't really tell you which CD's got the GPL'ed code and which didn't; but because we tended to just reuse all the source to all the previous CD's on the next CD, the chance are pretty good that the graphics effects got rolled into an awful lot of programs even when it wasn't actually used.

They also did some consumer titles such as the 2Market Home Shopping catalog CD (with such catalogs as the sharper image with products on the CD) and the CD Version of Men are From Mars, Women are From Venus.

I was pretty angry about them using the GPL'ed code but I really wasn't in a position to do anything about it. It was during a pretty low time in my life and I just needed to keep working.

Medior is defunct now as an independent corporation, but it was purchased by a small networking outfit you may have heard of - America Online who renamed it AOL Productions. AOL inherited all the assets of the company, the source code, rights to everything, most of the engineers and executives. I left just before the buyout.

Eventually AOL Productions was shut down and sucked into AOL. But a lot of Medior people are still working for AOL, including former Medior President and Founder Barry Schuler who is now AOL's President of Interactive Services.

You might drop him a line and ask for the source code for all the CD's that included the GPL'ed graphics effects libraries.

Regards,

Mike Crawford
GoingWare - Expert Software Development and Consulting
http://www.goingware.com
crawford@goingware.com Tilting at Windmills for a Better Tomorrow

Some anonymous coward dun said:

Thanks for posting. Mixing Christian fundamentalism and politics is like mixing fertilizer and a Ryder truck. One can only imagine the Oklahoma City that these psychopaths have in mind for us if they ever get their way.

Trust me when I say you do not want to find out what they may have in mind. Almost everything points to it being very, very, very bad for the humans of this planet and for other living things...

Specifically, an awful lot of people in the Religious Right seem to think that a fair amount of stuff in Revelation (the Book of Apocalypse for you Catholic/Orthodox folks) points to a worldwide nuclear war. For years, the fundies have claimed Russia would be the one to start it--when this finally became completely untenable, they claimed it was Iraq. In any case, they're firmly convinced that SOMEONE is going to start some kind of nuclear conflict which will erupt worldwide.

There are actually a surprising number of books out in the fundamentalist circles regarding this...some of them even trying to reach out to popular culture (like Hal Linden's books).

The really scary thing about this is a) they are firmly convinced this is a Good Thing because b) they are also firmly convinced that before this happens they are going to be Raptured up and will get the enjoyment of seeing the sinners (and the entire planet) burn in nuclear hellfire from front-row seats in Heaven. (Yeah, there's a rather shocking amount of hate and resentment even in their stories of Eternal Reward. Sick, huh?).

I think I can truthfully say that little would scare me more than a leader of the Religious Right with his finger on The Button. And I can base that on how (before I walked away) I used to see the preacher and darn near the entire congregation nearly jizz themselves when the Cold War threatened to heat up...and later (after I'd walked away but was still forced to occasionally attend) when the Gulf War hit because they were utterly, completely convinced that this was going to be the Big One...and after THAT, Y2K (and in all three cases it was going to be Russia's Fault--these guys STILL aren't out of the Cold War mindset!)...I don't want these guys anywhere NEAR anything remotely resembling a nuclear weapon, thank you. :P

It is interesting you mention Oklahoma City, though. The perpetrators are suspected of being in with Christian Identity groups; Christian Identity is a really warped version of fundamentalism that claims that white folks are the "true Children of Israel" and that the Jews are actually the literal children of Satan--all the "brown" and "yellow" folks are apparently "mud people" in their eyes. In fact, the bombing is thought to have been done to parallel the plot of a book popular in Christian Identity and other racist circles called "The Turner Diaries" which basically depicts these groups committing various terrorist acts and eventually overthrowing the US Government.

Now, I'm sure most of you are wondering just why the hell I'm mentioning Christian Identity when we're talking about (presumably) relatively non-racist fundies. Well, it turns out the two do have some links, especially on the more radical sides of the Religious Right that they never want to show on TV...

First off, the US Taxpayer's Party (the second-largest fundamentalist party in the US [the first is that part of the Republican Party that the Religious Right has effectively hijacked]--it also may be now running under the name "Constitution Party")--which has explicit party platforms calling for the US to essentially establish a theocracy--has links to not only a veritable who's who of the Religious Right (among them--James Dobson of Focus on the Family [a branch group of FoF, Family Research Council, is heavily pushing the censorware drive in Holland] [info here], Senator Bob Smith [info here], Matt Trewhella [who has advocated stuf like bombing abortion clinics, is a Christian Reconstructionist, and his group Missionaries to the Preborn darn near makes Operation Rescue look pacifist in comparison; info here], Pat Buchanan [yes, as in the guy who's now going for the Reform Party nomination and who has almost singlehandedly succeeded in destroying that party--info here], the heads of Operation Rescue, and the Rev. Rushdoony [the "main guy" behind Christian Reconstructionism--the canard that the Founding Fathers somehow meant the US to be a theocracy]) but also a surprising number of links to militia groups and--here's the kicker--Christian Identity groups (info here and here (this one is especially good--it turns out the very leader of the US Taxpayers Party runs a militia and calls for churches to form "Christian Patriot" militias), here, here, here, and here; if memory serves, there's also reference in the ADL's report on militias).

There's some more info here on the politics of the US Taxpayers Party. Keep in mind that this party has gotten big support from the Religious Right and (should the Republican Party ever find its cojones again and tell the Religious Right exactly where to go) it's strongly thought that (at the least) the 35 states in which the GOP party apparatus has been hijacked by the Religious Right would go to the US Taxpayers Party, as well as the majority of the Religious Right supporters of the GOP now. As it is, the US Taxpayers Party got on the ballot in 40 states last Presidential election...which is damned scary enough.

For some more happy links between the "non-racist" bits of the Religious Right and the scary folks making fertiliser bombs...

1) The Arthur S. DeMoss Foundation (a big Religious Right think-tank/bankroller--these are the guys who have the adverts for adoption saying "Choose Life" and the guys who have Jeff Gordon and NFL stars and the lady from "Children of a Lesser God" hawking "Power for Living" on TV ["Power for Living", btw, is basically a guide on how to get involved in coercive fundy groups :P]...) has founded at least one Christian Identity group in past.

2) Larry Pratt, who has worked with Pat Buchanan (among others) has some rather extensive links to militia and outright racist groups (more info, including on links between the Religious Right and the far right, here).

3) It seems that the Coors family (major bankrollers of the Religious Right) and the Heritage Foundation may have links to racist groups (info here).

4) The Free Congress Foundation, a subsidary group of the Heritage Foundation, has links with many racist and fascist groups (info here).

5) Pat Robertson could actually be considered borderline between "non-racist" fundies and the scary guys on the far right. Many of his books have actually contained "code words" common in the racist community, and at times he's been outright overt about it...it's probably best that you look here (thank you, Google, for caching--surprisingly, this is actually a critique from a conservative viewpoint!) or here to hear the guy in his own words...

6) More info here on a funding-group active in California.

This is not to indicate fundamentalists are racists. Most aren't, and I suspect most would be shocked to find what their leaders support...but there ARE links there, sadly. I'd be remiss if I didn't point that out (and for youse in Holland--it turns out that Focus on the Family is the group most consistently associated with the US Taxpayers Party--you may be able to use this to your advantage, possibly).

Some anonymous coward dun said:

Thanks for posting. Mixing Christian fundamentalism and politics is like mixing fertilizer and a Ryder truck. One can only imagine the Oklahoma City that these psychopaths have in mind for us if they ever get their way.

Trust me when I say you do not want to find out what they may have in mind. Almost everything points to it being very, very, very bad for the humans of this planet and for other living things...

Specifically, an awful lot of people in the Religious Right seem to think that a fair amount of stuff in Revelation (the Book of Apocalypse for you Catholic/Orthodox folks) points to a worldwide nuclear war. For years, the fundies have claimed Russia would be the one to start it--when this finally became completely untenable, they claimed it was Iraq. In any case, they're firmly convinced that SOMEONE is going to start some kind of nuclear conflict which will erupt worldwide.

There are actually a surprising number of books out in the fundamentalist circles regarding this...some of them even trying to reach out to popular culture (like Hal Linden's books).

The really scary thing about this is a) they are firmly convinced this is a Good Thing because b) they are also firmly convinced that before this happens they are going to be Raptured up and will get the enjoyment of seeing the sinners (and the entire planet) burn in nuclear hellfire from front-row seats in Heaven. (Yeah, there's a rather shocking amount of hate and resentment even in their stories of Eternal Reward. Sick, huh?).

I think I can truthfully say that little would scare me more than a leader of the Religious Right with his finger on The Button. And I can base that on how (before I walked away) I used to see the preacher and darn near the entire congregation nearly jizz themselves when the Cold War threatened to heat up...and later (after I'd walked away but was still forced to occasionally attend) when the Gulf War hit because they were utterly, completely convinced that this was going to be the Big One...and after THAT, Y2K (and in all three cases it was going to be Russia's Fault--these guys STILL aren't out of the Cold War mindset!)...I don't want these guys anywhere NEAR anything remotely resembling a nuclear weapon, thank you. :P

It is interesting you mention Oklahoma City, though. The perpetrators are suspected of being in with Christian Identity groups; Christian Identity is a really warped version of fundamentalism that claims that white folks are the "true Children of Israel" and that the Jews are actually the literal children of Satan--all the "brown" and "yellow" folks are apparently "mud people" in their eyes. In fact, the bombing is thought to have been done to parallel the plot of a book popular in Christian Identity and other racist circles called "The Turner Diaries" which basically depicts these groups committing various terrorist acts and eventually overthrowing the US Government.

Now, I'm sure most of you are wondering just why the hell I'm mentioning Christian Identity when we're talking about (presumably) relatively non-racist fundies. Well, it turns out the two do have some links, especially on the more radical sides of the Religious Right that they never want to show on TV...

First off, the US Taxpayer's Party (the second-largest fundamentalist party in the US [the first is that part of the Republican Party that the Religious Right has effectively hijacked]--it also may be now running under the name "Constitution Party")--which has explicit party platforms calling for the US to essentially establish a theocracy--has links to not only a veritable who's who of the Religious Right (among them--James Dobson of Focus on the Family [a branch group of FoF, Family Research Council, is heavily pushing the censorware drive in Holland] [info here], Senator Bob Smith [info here], Matt Trewhella [who has advocated stuf like bombing abortion clinics, is a Christian Reconstructionist, and his group Missionaries to the Preborn darn near makes Operation Rescue look pacifist in comparison; info here], Pat Buchanan [yes, as in the guy who's now going for the Reform Party nomination and who has almost singlehandedly succeeded in destroying that party--info here], the heads of Operation Rescue, and the Rev. Rushdoony [the "main guy" behind Christian Reconstructionism--the canard that the Founding Fathers somehow meant the US to be a theocracy]) but also a surprising number of links to militia groups and--here's the kicker--Christian Identity groups (info here and here (this one is especially good--it turns out the very leader of the US Taxpayers Party runs a militia and calls for churches to form "Christian Patriot" militias), here, here, here, and here; if memory serves, there's also reference in the ADL's report on militias).

There's some more info here on the politics of the US Taxpayers Party. Keep in mind that this party has gotten big support from the Religious Right and (should the Republican Party ever find its cojones again and tell the Religious Right exactly where to go) it's strongly thought that (at the least) the 35 states in which the GOP party apparatus has been hijacked by the Religious Right would go to the US Taxpayers Party, as well as the majority of the Religious Right supporters of the GOP now. As it is, the US Taxpayers Party got on the ballot in 40 states last Presidential election...which is damned scary enough.

For some more happy links between the "non-racist" bits of the Religious Right and the scary folks making fertiliser bombs...

1) The Arthur S. DeMoss Foundation (a big Religious Right think-tank/bankroller--these are the guys who have the adverts for adoption saying "Choose Life" and the guys who have Jeff Gordon and NFL stars and the lady from "Children of a Lesser God" hawking "Power for Living" on TV ["Power for Living", btw, is basically a guide on how to get involved in coercive fundy groups :P]...) has founded at least one Christian Identity group in past.

2) Larry Pratt, who has worked with Pat Buchanan (among others) has some rather extensive links to militia and outright racist groups (more info, including on links between the Religious Right and the far right, here).

3) It seems that the Coors family (major bankrollers of the Religious Right) and the Heritage Foundation may have links to racist groups (info here).

4) The Free Congress Foundation, a subsidary group of the Heritage Foundation, has links with many racist and fascist groups (info here).

5) Pat Robertson could actually be considered borderline between "non-racist" fundies and the scary guys on the far right. Many of his books have actually contained "code words" common in the racist community, and at times he's been outright overt about it...it's probably best that you look here (thank you, Google, for caching--surprisingly, this is actually a critique from a conservative viewpoint!) or here to hear the guy in his own words...

6) More info here on a funding-group active in California.

This is not to indicate fundamentalists are racists. Most aren't, and I suspect most would be shocked to find what their leaders support...but there ARE links there, sadly. I'd be remiss if I didn't point that out (and for youse in Holland--it turns out that Focus on the Family is the group most consistently associated with the US Taxpayers Party--you may be able to use this to your advantage, possibly).

Some anonymous coward dun said:

Thanks for posting. Mixing Christian fundamentalism and politics is like mixing fertilizer and a Ryder truck. One can only imagine the Oklahoma City that these psychopaths have in mind for us if they ever get their way.

Trust me when I say you do not want to find out what they may have in mind. Almost everything points to it being very, very, very bad for the humans of this planet and for other living things...

Specifically, an awful lot of people in the Religious Right seem to think that a fair amount of stuff in Revelation (the Book of Apocalypse for you Catholic/Orthodox folks) points to a worldwide nuclear war. For years, the fundies have claimed Russia would be the one to start it--when this finally became completely untenable, they claimed it was Iraq. In any case, they're firmly convinced that SOMEONE is going to start some kind of nuclear conflict which will erupt worldwide.

There are actually a surprising number of books out in the fundamentalist circles regarding this...some of them even trying to reach out to popular culture (like Hal Linden's books).

The really scary thing about this is a) they are firmly convinced this is a Good Thing because b) they are also firmly convinced that before this happens they are going to be Raptured up and will get the enjoyment of seeing the sinners (and the entire planet) burn in nuclear hellfire from front-row seats in Heaven. (Yeah, there's a rather shocking amount of hate and resentment even in their stories of Eternal Reward. Sick, huh?).

I think I can truthfully say that little would scare me more than a leader of the Religious Right with his finger on The Button. And I can base that on how (before I walked away) I used to see the preacher and darn near the entire congregation nearly jizz themselves when the Cold War threatened to heat up...and later (after I'd walked away but was still forced to occasionally attend) when the Gulf War hit because they were utterly, completely convinced that this was going to be the Big One...and after THAT, Y2K (and in all three cases it was going to be Russia's Fault--these guys STILL aren't out of the Cold War mindset!)...I don't want these guys anywhere NEAR anything remotely resembling a nuclear weapon, thank you. :P

It is interesting you mention Oklahoma City, though. The perpetrators are suspected of being in with Christian Identity groups; Christian Identity is a really warped version of fundamentalism that claims that white folks are the "true Children of Israel" and that the Jews are actually the literal children of Satan--all the "brown" and "yellow" folks are apparently "mud people" in their eyes. In fact, the bombing is thought to have been done to parallel the plot of a book popular in Christian Identity and other racist circles called "The Turner Diaries" which basically depicts these groups committing various terrorist acts and eventually overthrowing the US Government.

Now, I'm sure most of you are wondering just why the hell I'm mentioning Christian Identity when we're talking about (presumably) relatively non-racist fundies. Well, it turns out the two do have some links, especially on the more radical sides of the Religious Right that they never want to show on TV...

First off, the US Taxpayer's Party (the second-largest fundamentalist party in the US [the first is that part of the Republican Party that the Religious Right has effectively hijacked]--it also may be now running under the name "Constitution Party")--which has explicit party platforms calling for the US to essentially establish a theocracy--has links to not only a veritable who's who of the Religious Right (among them--James Dobson of Focus on the Family [a branch group of FoF, Family Research Council, is heavily pushing the censorware drive in Holland] [info here], Senator Bob Smith [info here], Matt Trewhella [who has advocated stuf like bombing abortion clinics, is a Christian Reconstructionist, and his group Missionaries to the Preborn darn near makes Operation Rescue look pacifist in comparison; info here], Pat Buchanan [yes, as in the guy who's now going for the Reform Party nomination and who has almost singlehandedly succeeded in destroying that party--info here], the heads of Operation Rescue, and the Rev. Rushdoony [the "main guy" behind Christian Reconstructionism--the canard that the Founding Fathers somehow meant the US to be a theocracy]) but also a surprising number of links to militia groups and--here's the kicker--Christian Identity groups (info here and here (this one is especially good--it turns out the very leader of the US Taxpayers Party runs a militia and calls for churches to form "Christian Patriot" militias), here, here, here, and here; if memory serves, there's also reference in the ADL's report on militias).

There's some more info here on the politics of the US Taxpayers Party. Keep in mind that this party has gotten big support from the Religious Right and (should the Republican Party ever find its cojones again and tell the Religious Right exactly where to go) it's strongly thought that (at the least) the 35 states in which the GOP party apparatus has been hijacked by the Religious Right would go to the US Taxpayers Party, as well as the majority of the Religious Right supporters of the GOP now. As it is, the US Taxpayers Party got on the ballot in 40 states last Presidential election...which is damned scary enough.

For some more happy links between the "non-racist" bits of the Religious Right and the scary folks making fertiliser bombs...

1) The Arthur S. DeMoss Foundation (a big Religious Right think-tank/bankroller--these are the guys who have the adverts for adoption saying "Choose Life" and the guys who have Jeff Gordon and NFL stars and the lady from "Children of a Lesser God" hawking "Power for Living" on TV ["Power for Living", btw, is basically a guide on how to get involved in coercive fundy groups :P]...) has founded at least one Christian Identity group in past.

2) Larry Pratt, who has worked with Pat Buchanan (among others) has some rather extensive links to militia and outright racist groups (more info, including on links between the Religious Right and the far right, here).

3) It seems that the Coors family (major bankrollers of the Religious Right) and the Heritage Foundation may have links to racist groups (info here).

4) The Free Congress Foundation, a subsidary group of the Heritage Foundation, has links with many racist and fascist groups (info here).

5) Pat Robertson could actually be considered borderline between "non-racist" fundies and the scary guys on the far right. Many of his books have actually contained "code words" common in the racist community, and at times he's been outright overt about it...it's probably best that you look here (thank you, Google, for caching--surprisingly, this is actually a critique from a conservative viewpoint!) or here to hear the guy in his own words...

6) More info here on a funding-group active in California.

This is not to indicate fundamentalists are racists. Most aren't, and I suspect most would be shocked to find what their leaders support...but there ARE links there, sadly. I'd be remiss if I didn't point that out (and for youse in Holland--it turns out that Focus on the Family is the group most consistently associated with the US Taxpayers Party--you may be able to use this to your advantage, possibly).

I'm a member of the Virginia Piedmont Technology Council, a group of tech business owners interested in making an impact on law and business methods in Central Virginia and Virginia as a whole. There's something like half a dozen other tech councils in the state.

You'd think that an organization like the VPTC would be all about fighting a law like UCITA. Lots of small companies, like mine, have no reason to be for UCITA. And the VPTC is made up primarily of small companies.

But, nope. The VPTC has made no moves to oppose UCITA and, in fact, I've been told that the tech council is in favour of it. But no official stance has been made.

Naturally, the other tech councils, from northern Virginia, are all for UCITA. (Their members include AOL & such.)

So, why isn't VPTC yelling like crazy? Because it's a social game. Why would VPTC oppose a law that, in their (our?) eyes, will almost certainly pass? Then they'd alienate the other tech councils, and be looked down upon by them. Also, VA's Secretary of Technology (the only position like it in the US) is all for UCITA, naturally, because he probably gets political donations for his party (read as: kickbacks), which primarily come from big companies like UUNet and AOL.

So, yeah, it'll pass. Because only the consumers are willing to make a big deal about this. But the people that we have to make a big deal at just aren't interested in hearing about it.

Yep, it's lame. And I intend to let the VPTC know about how I feel. (I'd be surprised if anybody on the board reads /.) But that's politics.

Ugly, huh?

I don't know much about the Senate bill, but the sponsors of House Bill 19 are the members of the House leadership. Few of them know much about the bill yet. There are a few exceptions: Delegate Sandy Rosenberg and Delegate Nancy Kopp are both members of the House leadership who did not sign on to the bill -- they apparently have some vague idea of some disconcerting going on.

Bob Kopp
(Yes, I am related to one of the above.)

OGRs have practical applications in designing more efficent antennas and also in X-Ray crystalography, among other things.

See http://members.aol.com/golomb20/intro.htm for more information.

--

Ok. Let's compare these mugs: Patrick Warburton vs. Bruce Campbell. (sorry, Bruce-Campbell.com was down as I wrote this.)

I call for a re-cast! All in Favor? SPOON! All opposed? not in the face! not in the face!. The Spoons have it!

-----

Just to pick nits...

There are plenty of things made of paired quarks, they just don't last for long. (No relativity jokes please...oops!). For example: down and anti-up combine to form the pi-negative meson.

(If my naming is archane, I apologize. This is not my forte. I'm stuck in Maxwellian times. ;-)

Also, there's more than one periodic table. The one to which is referred in jd's post is the one of elements. There's also the one of nuclides. Changes in the nucleic structure probably wouldn't change much on the elemental level, at least no much more than isotopic nuclei do. What's interesting is what you can do besides atomic chemistry. Nuclear stability is hardly dependent on electric charge, it's not strong enough. ;-)

(Hmm... Some might argue than protons and neutrons are not comprised of triplets of quarks, but that they are particular triplets; proton = uud, neutron = udd.)

Learn to pick nits! And why! Visit The Underground Grammarian. (Check out the license too!)

Forget about naked and petrified, I want them inflated .

He quit Usenet and now he's Swingin' the Alphabet.

RELATED SITES: AOL

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-----

I have installed the AOL 5.0 software and the following is what occurs to "take over" your hard drive:

Message box pops up asking if you'd like to 1. Use AOL for EVERYTHING (ie. mailto: http: ftp: news: urls ..etc..) 2. No Changes 3. Further customize these settings.

When option 3 is selected, another box pops up allowing the User to CHOOSE what protocols are assigned to the AOL software. I have been using AOL for a few years now (don't ask why ;) and their software doesn't provide the greatest interface, particularly to ftp:// and news:// .. when in Windows I use WS_FTP-LE for ftp and Netscape or MS Outlook for reading my mail and checking my news. For those of you who haven't used aol's Mail tool, it is VERY restrictive. You must experience it to know how bad it really is.. hey, and they give you a free month to decide -- just install windows .. http://www.aol.com/

i remember when i was in the 1st grade, and went to take the test for the "gifted program", an advanced placement system of my public school district. one of the tests that was not written, but rather one on one involved the usage and organization of legos. here is something about it so, some people have some faith in legos. although... it is an aol site...

One of the things that bothers me a lot about the process is the fact that AOS's are handled at a local level, and not done centrally.

This gives you variations in processing time as shown here -- something that takes 30-60 days in Honolulu can take up to *1800* days in Sacramento.

And that's assuming that you included your "long form" birth certificate, a list of all of the places that your spouse has lived since they were 16, or any of the other little details that can get your application sent back.

Why do I have to keep repeating myself?


It's different for every person, of course. But here are a few sites to check out:


The Hall of Statuary


The Medusa Realm


Statuephiles


Studs in Stone


Often on the message boards at some of these sites, or on the newsgroup, or in the IRC channel, someone will ask "Why do YOU like the idea of people being turned to stone?"


Here's what I wrote in response to someone recently wrote to such a question. It's not an essay or anything, just a free flow of thoughts, but I think it explains things pretty well.


I would appreciate feedback on this.


*BEGIN PREVIOUSLY-WRITTEN TEXT*


After years of wondering, I think I've figured it out.


But it's rather hard to explain.


I've been meaning to try to write it out in an essay form that actually
make sense, but I'll try to sketch it out here.


For me, it's about glorification of the (female) human spirit. The spirit
is a beautiful thing. It fascinates me. And as with other non-physical
things, such as God, we can see it in the clearest and purest sense when
we are NOT seeing evidence of it, but simply know that it's there.


What is a person? Look at a female. She's many things. She's every emotion
she's ever felt, everything she's ever done, everything she has the
POTENTIAL to do and feel and accomplish. She is every facial expression
she has ever made, every time she's ever cried, everything she's ever
seen, everything she's ever experienced. She is what she is, what she has
been, and what she has the potenial to be.


But, look at what we have. People, who are so much more than what we
see, are running around in bipedal bags of goop & blood & guts called
a physical body. They're running to and fro and living hectic lives and
chasing after their goals and dreams. The spirit guides the body, the
spirit is reflected on the face of the body, and in the body's actions,
and because of the interlink between the body and the spirit, it's
hard to tell where the body ends and the spirit begins, or where the
spirit ends, and the body begins. In this active state, it's hard to
see someone as a complete person, a single person, a sum of all that they
are. We see what she's doing now, but we don't know what she was doing
yesterday, we see what sort of mood she's in, but we don't know the
bredth of her mind. Being forced to interact with the world, she's not
able to be her entire self. She's not able to spend all of her time
just being happy of who she is, or on an even lower level, being happy
JUST EXISTING.


I consider it wrong that women have to live this way. They should be
able to be who they are, all of who they are. I consider actually
being alive in an animate body to be the REAL bondage, the real captivity.
It's sad that women must grow old, visit Wal-mart to purchase
feminine hygeine products, pay taxes, etc. (but usually not in that
order). By extending themselves into the world rather than into
themselves, they're robbing both themselves and the world of their full
potential. They are changing too fast to truly observe the beauty of
their souls as it was meant to be observed.


Enter a way of quantifying the spirit. Quantifying isn't the word I'm
looking for, because quantifying implies numbering, grading, or
labeling. But I can't think of any better word no matter how hard I try.
When a woman is turned to stone, she is no longer reacting to the
world except within herself. Instead of DOING, she IS. She exists in a
more pure form.


So why do I like turning women to stone? Simply because inside the
statue exists the entirity of the woman. Her entire spirit, her
entire mind, her entire potential, her entire being, exists within a
single, static container. And that's the key. We see the statue. That
is the body, one expression of her being. But I know that SHE is within
the statue, in a state of completeness, free to be who she wants and
think what she wants. And knowing this, I can truly see the beauty of her
spirit. The world is a better place because a complete person exists
within it. A person who is as free as any person in this physical world
can ever be.


(And then I touch her butt.)


Did that make any sense at all to anyone? At all? I figure I'm
completely out in left field here. But if anybody could manage a
"yeah, maybe that kinda makes sense," I'd really appreciate it.


*END PREVIOUSLY WRITTEN TEXT*


Have a great day!

Hello, I'm the person who started the "naked and petrified" trend on Segfault, and helped it grow and mature on Slashdot. I've been nurturing its tender spirit for more than half a year now, and it's been incredibly rewarding, not just to myself, but to the millions of fans. I'm glad also that so many other people have taken it up and copycatted it. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

Anyway, I've never petrified anyone in real life. I know, like any sensible person, that it's not possible in real life. But it's possible in Greek mythology, and in Hollywood movies, and in science fiction! And most importantly of all, in our fantasies! And that's what really matters. I know I'll never actually have a cute little petrified girl to call my own, and that makes me sad, so sad that I've actually been tempted several times to settle for a non-petrified girl, but I've resisted that temptation.

I also wrote the "Tatoo the DeCSS Source on Natalie Portman's Ass" thing, by the way. I'm glad you enjoyed it! It's fan like you that motivate me to continue!

Anyway, if you want to know where it comes from for me, here's an explanation.

****

It's different for every person, of course. But here are a few sites to check out:

The Hall of Statuary

The Medusa Realm

Statuephiles

Studs in Stone

Often on the message boards at some of these sites, or on the newsgroup, or in the IRC channel, someone will ask "Why do YOU like the idea of people being turned to stone?"

Here's what I wrote in response to someone recently wrote to such a question. It's not an essay or anything, just a free flow of thoughts, but I think it explains things pretty well.

I would appreciate feedback on this.

*BEGIN PREVIOUSLY-WRITTEN TEXT*

After years of wondering, I think I've figured it out.

But it's rather hard to explain.

I've been meaning to try to write it out in an essay form that actually make sense, but I'll try to sketch it out here.

For me, it's about glorification of the (female) human spirit. The spirit is a beautiful thing. It fascinates me. And as with other non-physical things, such as God, we can see it in the clearest and purest sense when we are NOT seeing evidence of it, but simply know that it's there.

What is a person? Look at a female. She's many things. She's every emotion she's ever felt, everything she's ever done, everything she has the POTENTIAL to do and feel and accomplish. She is every facial expression she has ever made, every time she's ever cried, everything she's ever seen, everything she's ever experienced. She is what she is, what she has been, and what she has the potenial to be.

But, look at what we have. People, who are so much more than what we see, are running around in bipedal bags of goop & blood & guts called a physical body. They're running to and fro and living hectic lives and chasing after their goals and dreams. The spirit guides the body, the spirit is reflected on the face of the body, and in the body's actions, and because of the interlink between the body and the spirit, it's hard to tell where the body ends and the spirit begins, or where the spirit ends, and the body begins. In this active state, it's hard to see someone as a complete person, a single person, a sum of all that they are. We see what she's doing now, but we don't know what she was doing yesterday, we see what sort of mood she's in, but we don't know the bredth of her mind. Being forced to interact with the world, she's not able to be her entire self. She's not able to spend all of her time just being happy of who she is, or on an even lower level, being happy JUST EXISTING.

I consider it wrong that women have to live this way. They should be able to be who they are, all of who they are. I consider actually being alive in an animate body to be the REAL bondage, the real captivity. It's sad that women must grow old, visit Wal-mart to purchase feminine hygeine products, pay taxes, etc. (but usually not in that order). By extending themselves into the world rather than into themselves, they're robbing both themselves and the world of their full potential. They are changing too fast to truly observe the beauty of their souls as it was meant to be observed.

Enter a way of quantifying the spirit. Quantifying isn't the word I'm looking for, because quantifying implies numbering, grading, or labeling. But I can't think of any better word no matter how hard I try. When a woman is turned to stone, she is no longer reacting to the world except within herself. Instead of DOING, she IS. She exists in a more pure form.

So why do I like turning women to stone? Simply because inside the statue exists the entirity of the woman. Her entire spirit, her entire mind, her entire potential, her entire being, exists within a single, static container. And that's the key. We see the statue. That is the body, one expression of her being. But I know that SHE is within the statue, in a state of completeness, free to be who she wants and think what she wants. And knowing this, I can truly see the beauty of her spirit. The world is a better place because a complete person exists within it. A person who is as free as any person in this physical world can ever be.

(And then I touch her butt.)

Did that make any sense at all to anyone? At all? I figure I'm completely out in left field here. But if anybody could manage a "yeah, maybe that kinda makes sense," I'd really appreciate it.

*END PREVIOUSLY WRITTEN TEXT*

Have a great day!

It's different for every person, of course. But here are a few sites to check out:

The Hall of Statuary

The Medusa Realm

Statuephiles

Studs in Stone

Often on the message boards at some of these sites, or on the newsgroup, or in the IRC channel, someone will ask "Why do YOU like the idea of people being turned to stone?"

Here's what I wrote in response to someone recently wrote to such a question. It's not an essay or anything, just a free flow of thoughts, but I think it explains things pretty well.

I would appreciate feedback on this.

*BEGIN PREVIOUSLY-WRITTEN TEXT*

After years of wondering, I think I've figured it out.

But it's rather hard to explain.

I've been meaning to try to write it out in an essay form that actually make sense, but I'll try to sketch it out here.

For me, it's about glorification of the (female) human spirit. The spirit is a beautiful thing. It fascinates me. And as with other non-physical things, such as God, we can see it in the clearest and purest sense when we are NOT seeing evidence of it, but simply know that it's there.

What is a person? Look at a female. She's many things. She's every emotion she's ever felt, everything she's ever done, everything she has the POTENTIAL to do and feel and accomplish. She is every facial expression she has ever made, every time she's ever cried, everything she's ever seen, everything she's ever experienced. She is what she is, what she has been, and what she has the potenial to be.

But, look at what we have. People, who are so much more than what we see, are running around in bipedal bags of goop & blood & guts called a physical body. They're running to and fro and living hectic lives and chasing after their goals and dreams. The spirit guides the body, the spirit is reflected on the face of the body, and in the body's actions, and because of the interlink between the body and the spirit, it's hard to tell where the body ends and the spirit begins, or where the spirit ends, and the body begins. In this active state, it's hard to see someone as a complete person, a single person, a sum of all that they are. We see what she's doing now, but we don't know what she was doing yesterday, we see what sort of mood she's in, but we don't know the bredth of her mind. Being forced to interact with the world, she's not able to be her entire self. She's not able to spend all of her time just being happy of who she is, or on an even lower level, being happy JUST EXISTING.

I consider it wrong that women have to live this way. They should be able to be who they are, all of who they are. I consider actually being alive in an animate body to be the REAL bondage, the real captivity. It's sad that women must grow old, visit Wal-mart to purchase feminine hygeine products, pay taxes, etc. (but usually not in that order). By extending themselves into the world rather than into themselves, they're robbing both themselves and the world of their full potential. They are changing too fast to truly observe the beauty of their souls as it was meant to be observed.

Enter a way of quantifying the spirit. Quantifying isn't the word I'm looking for, because quantifying implies numbering, grading, or labeling. But I can't think of any better word no matter how hard I try. When a woman is turned to stone, she is no longer reacting to the world except within herself. Instead of DOING, she IS. She exists in a more pure form.

So why do I like turning women to stone? Simply because inside the statue exists the entirity of the woman. Her entire spirit, her entire mind, her entire potential, her entire being, exists within a single, static container. And that's the key. We see the statue. That is the body, one expression of her being. But I know that SHE is within the statue, in a state of completeness, free to be who she wants and think what she wants. And knowing this, I can truly see the beauty of her spirit. The world is a better place because a complete person exists within it. A person who is as free as any person in this physical world can ever be.

(And then I touch her butt.)

Did that make any sense at all to anyone? At all? I figure I'm completely out in left field here. But if anybody could manage a "yeah, maybe that kinda makes sense," I'd really appreciate it.

*END PREVIOUSLY WRITTEN TEXT*

Have a great day!

This is your brain ...

Case in point: OGR

d.net has effectively halted the original distributed OGR project with their promises of a beta test in April of 1999, which still hasn't materialized.

-- sYk0

Here's a list of links to online books:

Books On-line, Listed by Title

Free Books from Samizdat Press

Free Online Books At The Free Well

Hard Sci-Fi Stories

ITLibrary

Philip and Alex's Guide to Web Publishing

PROJECT GUTENBERG - ETEXT LISTINGS

The On-Line Books Page

The page with these links is:
http://members.axion.net/~enrique/book.html
and if anyone would like to add links to that list, please email me at:
perez_enrique@yahoo.com

For most people, it's NOT a control issue. But no two people are the same. Some of us think it's SELFISH to partake of fleshy, mobile females, and think that the females would be happier and more content as immortal statues, able to engage in their intellectual and philosophical pursuits freely, without being forced to interact with the material world.

See these sites for more info.

The Hall of Statuary

The Medusa Realm

Studs in Stone -- See, we're not sexist

The alt.sex.fetish.robots homepage

The alt.sex.fetish.robots newsgroup

Statuephiles

Kimy's House of Living Mannequins

Happy petrification!

Haddock, Salmon, Pike, Bass, Cod, Tuna

I knew this kid named Jimmy when I was growing up. Jimmy was, how shold I put it... "Special". Jimmy loved to eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. That's why I think pb & j is the appropriate smell for these guys

Nervous sweat is the smell for these guys and these guys too

For these guys it's obvious, rocket fuel.

And in the same spirit, that vomitey, greasy, sugarey, metallic smell you find near big rollercoasters for them

And the muddy, porcine smell you'd find around that prize-winning heiffer that just keeps eating and getting bigger for these freaks. Of course you know that animal is the main ingredient for the spiced ham smell that you'd find here

I can't remember where I read this, but this is how it goes... AOL 4.0 Can run on windows 2000, although it may warn you when you run it, it still should run fine. On the other hand, AOL 5.0 does not work with windows 2000, since it is insecure. AOL is working on it... and they have a website for it... here, but i haven't seen any changes in the past few months.

Not that I want to run it, but other users do...

I find that http://www.aol.com reminds me of opening the trunk of my car and discovering some gym clothes I exercised in last month.

Some random dude's take on Libya's Resources on the Internet (scroll down to get real info)

Isn't South Africa another country that doesn't care about copyrights, or is it patents?

http://www.multimania.com/sxpert/decss/

http://www.posexperts.com.pl/peopl e/wrobell/css/

http://www.koek.net/dvd

http://logical-solutions.com.au/DeCSS.zip

http://www.sarahandcasey.com/decss/

http://www.fsp.com

http://www.warren-wilson.edu/~echerry/dvd

http://people.mn.mediaone.net/bojay/s lashdot/

http://www.mafkees.com/dvd

http://members.tripod.com/donotsueme/

http://donotsueme.homepage.com

http://donotsueme.freeservers.com/

http://www.rz.uni-frankfurt.de/~marsie/

http://dB.org/dvd/

http://dcwi.com/~wench/decss

http://www.capital.net/~mazzic

http://dvdcss.newmail.ru

http://www.subcor.com

http://www.frankw.net/decss

http://danger-island.com/~dav/any.lawyer.who [...]

http://www.fortunecity.com/vi ctorian/parkwood/95/DVD/

http://www.asleep.net/dvd

http://members.xoom.com/NiKeX

http://www.geocit ies.com/ResearchTriangle/Station/2819/index.html

http://www.execpc.com/~unicorn/dvdmirr or.htm

http://members.xoom.com/chapter3/Mamma No.htm

http://www.twistedlogic.com/archive/dvd

http://wiw.org/~drz/css/

http://merlinjim.freeservers.com/dvd/

http://www.visi.com/~adept/liberty

http://mikedotd.penguinpowered.com/deccs

http://www.ct2600.org/2600-DVD.html

http://magic.hurrah.com/~fireball/dvd/

http://homepages.together.net/~ib nzahid/DeCSS.zip

http://www.save2600.8m.com

http://people.ne.mediaone.net/dantepsn/

http://mikedotd.penguinpowered.com/decss

http://members.xoom.com/mxpxguy/dvd/

http://decss.fall0ut.com

http://vedaa.tripod.com/decss.html

http://members.xoom.com/iox

http://www.hackunlimited.com/dvd/

http://hem.fyristorg.com/police/css.htm

http://elknews.netpedia.net/dvd/

http://www.idrive.com/decss/web

http://www.chello.nl/~f.vanwaveren

http://quintessenz.at/q

http://www.clug.com/~vodak/dvd/

http://www.nacs.net/~vodak/dvd/

http://ny2600.iwarp.com

http://www.wpi.edu/~nassar/dvd/

http://www.glue.umd.edu/~castongj

http://www.geocities.com/cold_dvd/

http://www.projectgamma.com/deccs/

http://members.xoom.com/mogreen/decss/

http://thrash.webjump.com/decss.zip

http://www.angelfire.com/de2/decss/dec ss.htm

http://www.krackdown.com/decss

http://www.ithink.org/dvd/

http://www.fortunecit y.com/skyscraper/motorola/1415/decss.htm

http://chaz.fsgs.com/misc/DvD/

http://www.linuxstart.com/~kv ance/projects/decss.html

http://www.darkkingz.com/DeCSS.zip

http://come.to/intelex

http://ebmedia.net/dvd/

http://www.geocities.com/decss_forever/

http://revolution.3-cities.com/~spack/dv d/

http://www.geocities.com/Sili conValley/Software/8762/

http://members.xoom.com/s_o_sam/help.html

http://www.vexed.net/CSS/

http://smokering.org

http://www.sent.freeserve.co.uk/css -auth.tar.gz

http://home.rmci.net/bert/fuckthelawyers

http://dlsf.org

http://home.rmci.net/bert/dvd

http://thrash.webjump.com/decss.zip

http://linux.uci.agh.edu.pl/~outlaw/ decss.html

http://debian.mps.krakow.pl/mirror/css/

http://www.mindspring.com/~stonethrower

http://www.geocitie s.com/SiliconValley/Hardware/6188/index.html

http://matt.frogspace.net/css/

ftp://www.spamshack.net/pub/dcss/

http://werewolf12.cjb.net

http://isupport2600.8m.com

http://imezok.tripod.com/Untitled.txt

http://warpedreality.members.easyspace. com/

http://w1.1634.telia.com/~u163400190 /DeCSS.zip

http://ts1.online.fr/dvd/

http://homepages.go.com/homepage s/4/0/3/403_error/

http://members.xoom.com/maud123/Home/C SS.htm

http://xtreme2k.8k.com/DeCSS

http://hackingdvd.homestead.com

http://www.geocities.com/soho /studios/6752/index.html

http://www.geocities.com/corporatemin dcontrol

http://darklord.darkthrone.com/user s/smith/dvd/

http://thrash.webjump.com/decss.zip

http://www.twistedlogic.com/archive/dvd

http://www.image.dk/~mbp

http://www.divisionbyzero.com/decss/

http://decss.cx

http://kevins.ne.mediaone.net/~kevins/dv d/

http://friko6.onet.pl/war/mkochano/

http://planeta.clix.pt/DJ_AmAzInG/DVD/

http://noc.res.cmu.edu

http://www.kiss.uni-lj.si/~k4ef1890/css/

http://hackingdvd.homestead.com

http://www.uwm.edu/~zachkarp/index.html

http://st-bart.net

http://decss_files.tripod.com

http://wakeupthe.net/dvd/

http://www.angelfire.com/punk/freedom/

http://www.corova.com/dvd/

http://2600.dk/mirrors/css/

http://dvdcrack.homepage.com

http://www.copkiller.org

http://www.worldcity.nl/~frank/dvd

http://members.xoom.com/iamkeenan/master/

http://www.adulation.net/css/

http://homepage.interacces s.com/~mycroft/decss/DeCSS.zip

http://underground.pl/dvd/

http://members.xoom.com/nyc2600

http://zerosoft.hypermart.net/warez/ DVDcrK.txt

http://www.deforest.org/CSS

http://members.xoom.com/freedvdinfo/

http://www.geocities.com/Sili conValley/Software/3971/

http://24.114.168.235/public/css.htm

http://fairuse.freeservers.com/

http://jupiter.spaceports.com/~decss

http://www.c0ke.com/DVD

http://2600.bigfuc.com

http://www.crosswinds.net/oakland/~ahrendt/Lawyers _are_scu m-sucking_pigs [...]

http://sdf.lonestar.org/~egg/

http://cssalgorithm.8m.com

http://www.duffbrew.com/decss/

http://heavymusic.8m.com

http://www.oblivion.net/~amar/css

http://www.charm.net/~dutch

http://members.tripod.com/ny2600/

http://www.angelfire.com/ny3/ny2600/

go.to/nairos

http://www.angelfire.com/electronic/decs s/

http://www.csd.net/~cgadd/dvd.htm

http://theannux.homestead.com/decss.html

http://members.aol.com/elktonstalkers/CS S/

http://pages.hotbot.com/edu/silex/mir ror.html

http://budsmoker.com/sites/decss/

http://www.geocities.com/watice2/

http://home.att.net /~phreakonaleash/ccs_mirror--screw_the_feds/

http://DECSS-Baby.tripod.com/

http://decss.cyvoid.net

http://www.azillionmonkeys.c om/qed/recess_for_css.html

http://www.reapers.org

http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/DeCSS

http://www.halma.nl/~bb

http://supportyourlocal2600.homestead.co m/

http://www.angelfire.com/pe/sh3/deccs/

http://www.angelfire.com/el ectronic/icebandits/dvd.html

http://killer.radom.net/~shoggoth/dvd.ht ml

http://www3.50megs.com/dvd4free/

http://www.angelfire.com/ak2/a ntigovernment/css.html

http://dbzauctions.tripod.com/decss.zip

>>this dang web browser mega-bug I can't turn off
as opposed to Nutscrape which as everyone knows never crashes, has a much cleaner interface, and is not owned by a monolithic money hungry company.

I'd like to see a movie based on Marc Miller's Traveller RPG, 'specially during the rebellion period. The special effects would cull out the sheep from their homes and all the sci-fi junkies too.

(for those who don't know, Traveller was probably the first ever sci-fi RPG...)

I'd like to see a movie based on Marc Miller's Traveller RPG, 'specially during the rebellion period. The special effects would cull out the sheep from their homes and all the sci-fi junkies too.

(for those who don't know, Traveller was probably the first ever sci-fi RPG...)

AOL/TW and Microsoft will keep each other in check. Internet standards will have to remain open in order for the Big Two to try to cross-lure each other's users.

With open standards, anyone with a server can continue to be a 'netcaster'. To put it in non-Internet terminology: AOL/TW, Microsoft, MCI/WorldCom, etc. are the big newspapers, while sites like Slashdot, UNCENSORED!, and The Onion are the 'zines.

The holdings of the combined companies will be, (assuming that nothing is sold off):
Time-Warner + AOL

What I find to be the more worrying is that Dr. Thomas Middelhoff, chairman of Bertelsmann AG (the company who wants to bring you a self "self-regulating" internet), sits on the board of AOL. Further, Bertelsmann is a major minority owner of AOL. This means that they will have a significant say in the direction of AOL-Time-Warner. So although they may not hold all the keys to all the media outlets in the US, the combined Bertelsmann-AOL-Time-Warner will hold enough of the outlets in in Hungary and elsewhere that they have the potential to set policy. Further, Bertelsmann will have more of a platform to launch its net censorship policies from ( wait for Time magazine to write "How the evil internet is poisining our youth and what we can do about").

You forgot to read the press release.

From the AOL press release:

The companies also said, with respect to broadband access, that AOL Time Warner will be committed to ensuring consumer choice of ISPs and content and that they hope this merger will persuade all companies operating broadband platforms to provide consumers with real choice.

Looks good to me.

I've been listening to the analyst's conference call for the past half hour and I have to say the thing that struck me the most was AOL COO Bob Pittman's comments about how this new company will allow for "Maximum promotion of our combined products" and then went out to outline how they will have multiple revenue streams from every household (Internet access, cable subscription, movie buying, magazines to name a few) and the cross-advertising possibilities. Financial analysts will eat this up, but what's it mean for you and me?

Read every throbbing gristle of the Genesis P-Orridge interview here.

And then there's the correlation between hackers and adherents of fringe subcultures and interests. The Church of the SubGenius draws a sizeable percentage of its base from computer people (this is evident in SubGenius references in things such as Slackware).
Quite a few computer people are into psychoceramics, following crackpots and lunatics and collecting fringe theories and beliefs. (This also ties into the affinity for unconventional thinking.) Askew visionaries, from Ed Wood to Harry Stephen Keeler get a lot of their fan base from computer "geeks". And need I say anything about Kibo, arguably the first genuine Internet personality?

1. Being able to differentiate between the mouse, the keyboard, the case, and the monitor.
2. Being able to assemble the necessary parts of the computer into a working form.
3. Being able to use the input devices. (Mouse and Keyboard)
4. Knowing how to turn the computer on.
5. Having a general knowlege as to the nature of electrical appliances and the dos and donts that apply.

distributed.net announcements don't kill other projects. It's too bad that the existing OGR project decided to pack their bags... but laying blame on someone else?

I'd think slashdotters are used to holding strong to an underdog. Like someone's just going to quit working on some app for Linux just because some other company announces they are going to make it for Windows?

You get the anology.

Secondly, distributed.net supports distributed computing efforts as a whole, not just their own. See their Mission Statement where they say "...we will advocate distributed computing..." implying as a whole, not just themselves. Their mission is to do things "...in the advancement of distributed computing..." not just distributed.net.

Thirdly, distributed.net even credits the Origional Effort on their OGR Page... and in no way told the origional effort to stop what they were doing.

-Saxton


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distributed.net has an Optimal Goulomb Ruler (OGR) project. It hasn't started yet, and there are no prizes, but the results of this project could actually be useful. See this page for an introduction ("Golomb rulers refer to a spacing technique that is used in a variety of areas such as astronomy (placement of antennas), xray sensing devices (placement of sensors), and myriad other fields such as data encryption.").

Second, this really great quote from Richard Buetow, the Director of Corporate Quality at Motorola:

"With ISO 9000 you can still have terrible processes and products. You can certify a manufacturer that makes life jackets from concrete, as long as those jackets are made according to the documented procedures and the company provides the next of kin with instructions on how to complain about defects."

I nominate the great but unknown inventor Reginald Fessenden, 18xx-19xx. Perhaps his greatest contribution was the invention of amplitude modulation, which made it possible to transmit voice over radio. All Marconi accomplished was the transmission Morse code over the airwaves. Fessenden made the first radio broadcast on December 24, 1906 (see http://members.aol.com/jeff560/chrono1.htm for more information about this broadcast.)

Reginald Fessenden also invented SONAR for "seeing" objects underwater.

Orwell never pretended to be writing predictions about the future of technology and civilisation: he was writing allegory about the betrayal of the Revolution by Stalin and his cronies. 1984 is an anagram for 1948 the year in which the events that most disturbed Orwell took place.

By the same token, Wells' time machine was, as Katz notes, "a blistering attack on class structure." It wasn't about predicting the future at all, it was about using the future as a setting for a burleque that lampooned the social order of the day.

Disney, on the other hand, has always taken the tack that they are predicting the future (in fact, this is an occupational hazard of dark-rides and themeparks going back to the Futurama at the 1939 World's Fair).

The disconnect that Katz sees between Wells' novels and Disney's interpretations can be explained by this key difference: prediction is an inevitably goofy exercise that lays bare the predictor's agenda, while allegory is a subtler undertaking.

Like a man once said, "Reading science fiction to learn about science is like reading romance novels to learn about love."