Slashdot Mirror

Quoting the Internet circa 2001, the source of all truth:

ARMAGEDDON 2008

Would be the final battle between the UN World Army led by the Antichrist and most likely China.

This puts China's recent spacewalk into a whole new perspective, doesn't it...?

Check out the iPhone, scheduled for release in 2050 http://web.archive.org/web/20010207002902/www.uioa.com/productcatalog/ Among its features: 56K modem! w00t!

http://web.archive.org/web/20010720190756/www.woodstockinst.org/jcarletter.html

I wonder if this move by Obama & Co. was the beginning of the sub-prime loans bubble

Even better: "I am so sorry I'm such a weasel," she said.

http://web.archive.org/web/20010208163524/www.adn.com/elex/story/0,3109,204160,00.html

And "macbook" returns a web site on books. About Macs. Go figure. http://web.archive.org/web/20010518232134/www.macbook.com/

A search for "iPhone" turned this up: http://web.archive.org/web/20010207002902/www.uioa.com/productcatalog/

Here's the description:

"The revolutionary iPhone is a fully integrated telephone and Internet device with a built-in touch screen to bring the world of the Internet into your home or office with the touch of your finger. It includes exclusive services and all the most popular telephone features like caller ID and call blocking, along with an Internet dial-up using PPP and e-mail access with multi-user mailboxes.

What can you do with an iPhone?

• Send and receive e-mail
• Make phone calls
• Shop online
• Surf the Internet
• Read the news
• Check the weather
• Review sports statistics
• Access movie information
• Trade stocks
• Bank online

And all of this can be accessed with the touch of your finger, while talking on the iPhone."

Sound familiar? Apparently this was the 2001 iPhone.

This is really cute. A story about a "hempmobile" that is driven to Wasilla to convince Sarah Palin not to knock down a proposition legalizing pot. While Sarah is unimpressed, the article suggests she did admit to "inhaling" at some point in her youth. Who didn't? http://web.archive.org/web/20010208164916/www.adn.com/elex/story/0,3109,207133,00.html

brings up 294,000 results with "ZDNet: eWEEK: Is the Linux desktop DOA?" at the top.

Adding quotes around the term brings up one result: "News: Linux in 2001: The year of predicting dangerously?"

2001 is an accurate, but not a very optimistic year :(

brings up 294,000 results with "ZDNet: eWEEK: Is the Linux desktop DOA?" at the top.

Adding quotes around the term brings up one result: "News: Linux in 2001: The year of predicting dangerously?"

2001 is an accurate, but not a very optimistic year :(

http://web.archive.org/web/20011125183116/www.thebee.com/bweb/iinfo149.htm

A link describing an upcoming, clean & smart search engine... called Google.

One of the first things I searched for was "Warlords", a series of games that I used to play. I found a fansite that had recently died.

The administrator of that site had a list of the reasons he decided to close it down.

#2. This site is huge considering most websites only take a few megabytes, this one is over 70MB in size!

At times, I wish that were still the case. Personal websites of that time still had ways to be annoying, though... Embedded music and blink tags.

#3. Warlords III is starting to lose it's appeal to the players *snip* You can now find Warlords III in the discount bins at computer stores.

That's exactly where I found it (as well as a lot of other old gems like Seven Kingdoms). I remember being amazed at the detail the creators had put into the map... Every ruin and city had a human-written story, even the ones in scenarios that weren't part of the main game! I don't think I've seen that in any game I've played since...

And the third link has the following text:

Investigators in Yemen yesterday uncovered evidence suggesting the bomb attack on the warship USS Cole had been a meticulously organised conspiracy, which a leading US terrorism expert said may have been the first joint operation between Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein.

My what a difference 10 years make...

The Impossibility of a Soft-Landing
June 30, 2000

This acute supply and demand imbalance led to year over year price increases
of 29% in "wine country" and 34% in the Santa Clara region. Elsewhere, prices
surged 17% in Orange Country, 19% in Northern California, 21% in the San
Diego region, and 34% in Monterey. Clearly, this has developed into a
precarious statewide housing bubble. Amazingly, we hear not a word of
concern about what is a major systemic risk to the U.S. financial
system. And, importantly, the Fed's decision to let the party continue
allows the great California real estate bubble to run to even more
devastating extremes. Who is minding the store? Most unfortunately, this
is a replay of the 80's real estate fiasco but at a much grander scale -
actually the proverbial "mountain versus a molehill" applies. Yet,
amazingly, no one dare say "enough is enough," and instead the
dysfunctional marketplace continues to fund the boom despite the
obviousness of the unsound bubble. Massive credit excess feed asset
inflation and a major misallocation of resources, as the Fed tinkers
with rates. What a fiasco.'

Sub-Prime Industry Up in Arms Over Fannie Mae Announcement
December, 2002

Fannie Mae has a new program out for borrowers with lower credit
ratings and the sub-prime industry is taking exception.

The Executive Director of our industry association, NHEMA (link found
in our Resources section) was quoted in today's American Bankers as
saying "Fannie Mae is expanding its mission into areas where it has
virtually no experience, and taxpayers should be prepared for a
bailout that could rival our savings and loan experience," and that
the association predicts that the program will cost Fannie its biggest
losses ever, he said. The outcome, he said, will be that consumers
with credit problems will "be back where they were 25 years ago -- no
access to mortgages or loans at all, other than loan sharks."'

The Impossibility of a Soft-Landing
June 30, 2000

This acute supply and demand imbalance led to year over year price increases
of 29% in "wine country" and 34% in the Santa Clara region. Elsewhere, prices
surged 17% in Orange Country, 19% in Northern California, 21% in the San
Diego region, and 34% in Monterey. Clearly, this has developed into a
precarious statewide housing bubble. Amazingly, we hear not a word of
concern about what is a major systemic risk to the U.S. financial
system. And, importantly, the Fed's decision to let the party continue
allows the great California real estate bubble to run to even more
devastating extremes. Who is minding the store? Most unfortunately, this
is a replay of the 80's real estate fiasco but at a much grander scale -
actually the proverbial "mountain versus a molehill" applies. Yet,
amazingly, no one dare say "enough is enough," and instead the
dysfunctional marketplace continues to fund the boom despite the
obviousness of the unsound bubble. Massive credit excess feed asset
inflation and a major misallocation of resources, as the Fed tinkers
with rates. What a fiasco.'

Sub-Prime Industry Up in Arms Over Fannie Mae Announcement
December, 2002

Fannie Mae has a new program out for borrowers with lower credit
ratings and the sub-prime industry is taking exception.

The Executive Director of our industry association, NHEMA (link found
in our Resources section) was quoted in today's American Bankers as
saying "Fannie Mae is expanding its mission into areas where it has
virtually no experience, and taxpayers should be prepared for a
bailout that could rival our savings and loan experience," and that
the association predicts that the program will cost Fannie its biggest
losses ever, he said. The outcome, he said, will be that consumers
with credit problems will "be back where they were 25 years ago -- no
access to mortgages or loans at all, other than loan sharks."'

I thought I would check out where Slashdot was then... http://web.archive.org/web/20011105114617/slashdot.org/ a user posts a link to the guts of the gamecube exposed (while looking around for dreamcast controller hacks) and ohhh the wolfenstein II beta was released...

Speaking of mercs [Sandline International] [Sandline International] was still open at the time and running full operations around the world. Mr Spicer just had not changed over to blackwater international yet because of troubles in africa.

Google's only put up the January 2001 index because it happens to be the oldest one they have.

web.archive.org does have a result for Slashdot as it was in late 1998 though, so you don't have to stick to Slashdot in 2001!

Some pretty amazing stuff:

The first comment:

12/13/98 17:34:57 PST
To: vitolins

Don't believe everything this administration puts out. Right now more than ever, they need to scare people. Let's just pray they don't stoop so low as to blow up something themselves.

Mutant proto-truthers rule freerebublic.com.

This is so 2000:
http://web.archive.org/web/20010627062655/www.vrex.com/ipod/

Well thats why matt deamon hates palin from www.realchange.org/mccain.htm

Leonardo DiCaprio is "an androgynous wimp." -- McCain.

much nicer to find Michel Palin instead of the creationist nut job when searching for palin though

Duke Nukem Forever to appear shortly

http://web.archive.org/web/20010609195453/www.gamesdomain.com/gdreview/e398/dukef.html

Well, it has 6 more months of development to it at least, so where graphical enhancements are concerned, 3D Realms' have plenty of time. I dare say Duke Forever will be successful regardless, and I'm not prematurely stating my dislike for it - in truth, I'll probably find it as fun and entertaining as I did the original Duke3D. I mean, how can you not love the guy?

In case you're interested Not much different.

http://web.archive.org/web/20011130003737/www.m5industries.com/
http://web.archive.org/web/20010803003310/www.deadblow.net/Pages/360.html

http://web.archive.org/web/20011130003737/www.m5industries.com/
http://web.archive.org/web/20010803003310/www.deadblow.net/Pages/360.html

Google Jan 2001:
Results 1 - 10 of about 3,780,000 for google. (0.01 seconds)

Google today:
Results 1 - 10 of about 3,150,000,000 for google. (0.29 seconds)

Interesting find.
Tutorial, "Google - the BEST search engine (almost always)" from UC Berkeley - Teaching Library Internet Workshops:
http://web.archive.org/web/20011217070421/www.lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/Guides/Internet/Google.html

The only result I found was about how Sarah Palin was approached by hippies to try to get weed legalized (for both smoking and industrial use):
http://web.archive.org/web/20010208164916/www.adn.com/elex/story/0,3109,207133,00.html

The group had driven to Wasilla on hemp oil.

Don't worry, there were still plenty of information about reptiallian aliens.

Is kind of more interesting than it turned out to be.

How delightful. Sorry that's probably redundant but that had to be pointed out.

Awesome: "It was so Wasilla." Sarah Palin, Wasilla mayor, after officiating at a wedding at the local Wal-Mart store.

http://web.archive.org/web/20010306214613/www.alaskamagazine.com/stories/120199/ktob.html

That is not the fault of the teenagers. There are no 40 year careers anymore. IBM is not the last job you'll ever have. The average man has 7 careers in completely separate fields over his life, with 3-4 jobs in each career. What is studied in college now is little more than the justification for the first career, after that the degrees are negligible so long as you've got one.

That is the failing point people can not get past yet, that not every job requires a master degree, etc. 90% of the jobs Juan your gardener could do as well as anybody with these fancy degrees.

After firstly challenging you to support your statements with sources, I took the liberty to do your job for you: http://web.archive.org/web/20060830174456/http://nefs.dest.gov.au/transitions.htm . So what you claim is true according to the Australian government in 2006. My mistake: since /. is US-centric I tend to look for sources in the US departments. I'm sorry for that.

Well let's see. Here is the former board of AIG. This is going to be a quick Google of each one, and may not be correct or comprehensive.

M. Bernard Aidinoff: Democrat

Pei-yuan Chia: Democrat

Marshall A. Cohen: Can't tell. He appears to be Canadian, maybe he's not active here politically.

William S. Cohen: Democrat (2 out of 3 to Dems, also was Clinton's Sec of Defense)

Martin S. Feldstein: Republican

Ellen V. Futter: couldn't find any evidence.

Stephen L. Hammerman: Democrat (mixes it up some, likes Rudy as he was NYC police commissioner, but mostly Dems)

Carla A. Hills: mixed

Richard C Holbrooke: Democrat

Fred H. Langhammer: Republican (actually this is pretty mixed, but recently leans Republican)

George L. Miles, Jr: Republican

Morris W. Offit: Democrat

Martin J. Sullivan: Democrat

Michael H. Sutton: Democrat

Edmund S. W. Tse: Can't tell. Also not originally American.

Robert B. Willumstad: Can't tell.

Frank G. Zarb: Democrat

I believe that's 9 Democrats, 3 Republicans, and 5 unknown. I don't have time to do WaMu at the moment, but you're welcome to.

I have no life...

http://web.archive.org/web/20020802035601/http://www.eternalambition.com/

The last email is seriously old news; it's been circulating since at least 2002: see here and here.

@yg

The last email is seriously old news; it's been circulating since at least 2002: see here and here.

@yg

Back in '99, Google's Alpha==Beta
WayBackMachine

It sucks that they were bought out by some company that made them clean up their homepage. Here's an excerpt from http://web.archive.org/web/20030417233012/http://www.illfuckinghostit.com/

"HEY KIDS! Are YOU homeless?? Do you need a place to stay here on the INTERNET INFORMATION SUPERDUPER HIGHWAY? WELL YOU'RE IN LUCK KIDDO! Motherfucking illfuckinghostit.com has got all the goods for you to have a good time and SAVE MONEY! Shit dawg for $0.00 a month we can get you set up with just about anything your ass is looking for! Thats right! I SAID FREE! but only for a limited time, so GET YOUR MOTHERFUCKIN SHIT TOGETHER AND SIGN UP! (due to our infancy here at illfuckinghostit.com free registrations only include a website that points to http://yourusername.illfuckinghostit.com/ anything more you must first sign up then ask services@illfuckinghostit.com to set it up for you.) You need web space? I'LL FUCKING HOST IT! You need email? I'LL FUCKING HOST IT! You need dns services? I'LL FUCKING HOST IT! You need a whole fucking bunch of shit for a buisness internet site? shit dawg, I'LL FUCKING HOST IT! ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS SIGN THE FUCK UP!"

Frog Blast the Ventcore, indeed.

Want some inspiration and satisfaction? Look in the internet archive, say March 2003, for marathon.com

Tagged bitch. We were bungie fans. Posterity.

It was either that or make it flash 'no blood for oil' every 100th visit... ;)

From the summary: A federal judge has ruled that a school district didn't violate a student's free speech rights when it suspended her for a parody MySpace page she created calling her principal a sex addict who "hits on students".

The act in question may have occurred off campus property - however, it is within jurisdiction of the school since it targets the principal within his official capacity, and is likely provided to other members within the campus. Also, accusations like that are extremely damaging to the institution, and as a result they may take necessary steps to prevent said damage (see laws concerning slander/libel in the appropriate state for more information.)

The summary also mentions that it's a "parody Myspace" page. Depending on how it's done (e.g. an earlier version of http://weeklyradioaddress.com/, which copied the layout of the original site), it may appear to be directly from the principal or campus. In those cases, it's automatically their jurisdiction since it's pretends to be campus-related.

By the way - did you see the MySpace page in question? It didn't appear linked on a quick glance, and as such there's a lot of context missing.

Just because it was about the principle of their school, and identified him as such, doesn't make it school business. You're also taking my comment out of context as I was addressing the original statement saying that this was similar to students breaking a school "code of conduct". You are also correct that there's a lot of context missing, so it's unclear on whether this represents a case of libel or not. If it does, then it's the responsibility of the principle to take the student to court for libel and let the court decide if it constitutes libel or not. If it isn't then the student is within her rights under the first amendment. In either case the school has no part to play in this.

A page like that is evidence of libel - it shows the act of libel itself. Unless the student has something that wasn't published, it's also done without intent of checking accuracy - possibly out of malice. Given the few first paragraphs of the article, it appears the student was claiming it was "off-campus" rather than it not happening or that it was someone else.

First, as you admit, the page isn't linked so everything must be based on the snippets available in the article. Second, the snippets provided are evidence that there might be libel, but a lot of that hinges on whether or not the page was setup in such a way that a reasonable person would believe it had actually been written by the person in question. Based on the limited snippets and the description as a parody page (parody is explicitly exempted from libel laws) it doesn't seem likely anyone would mistake the page in question for a non-parody page.

So do adults. In this case, the principal has the right not to be cruelly and unusually punished when knee-jerk reactionists throw him in jail and put him on a sex-offender list. There's already more than enough stories where students accuse principals for shits and giggles, while remaining immune to any real punishment, and neither the campus nor the principal want another story added to the growing list.

You're correct, but in the first instance it's the knee-jerk reactionists that are in the wrong, and the proper thing is to punish people for making knee-jerk reactions, and in the second instance that's an entirely different situation. There's a major difference between creating a parody page in which you make fun of your principle, and accusing him in court or to police of molesting yourself or other children. It's apples and oranges. One is potentially libel, and the other is making false accusations. It's the difference between making jokes about OJ Simpson getting off with murder, and calling the police to claim you have a video of him doing it (not that it matters in this case as even if you did he's already been found innocent).

First, students cannot be punished for failing to abide by any "code of conduct" while off campus.

From the summary: A federal judge has ruled that a school district didn't violate a student's free speech rights when it suspended her for a parody MySpace page she created calling her principal a sex addict who "hits on students".

The act in question may have occurred off campus property - however, it is within jurisdiction of the school since it targets the principal within his official capacity, and is likely provided to other members within the campus. Also, accusations like that are extremely damaging to the institution, and as a result they may take necessary steps to prevent said damage (see laws concerning slander/libel in the appropriate state for more information.)

The summary also mentions that it's a "parody Myspace" page. Depending on how it's done (e.g. an earlier version of http://weeklyradioaddress.com/, which copied the layout of the original site), it may appear to be directly from the principal or campus. In those cases, it's automatically their jurisdiction since it's pretends to be campus-related.

By the way - did you see the MySpace page in question? It didn't appear linked on a quick glance, and as such there's a lot of context missing.

Second, it's not clear whether there was sufficient evidence of libel in this case or not, and even if there was, being a minor the punishment would probably not be particularly severe.

A page like that is evidence of libel - it shows the act of libel itself. Unless the student has something that wasn't published, it's also done without intent of checking accuracy - possibly out of malice. Given the few first paragraphs of the article, it appears the student was claiming it was "off-campus" rather than it not happening or that it was someone else.

Third, minors do have full constitutional rights,

So do adults. In this case, the principal has the right not to be cruelly and unusually punished when knee-jerk reactionists throw him in jail and put him on a sex-offender list. There's already more than enough stories where students accuse principals for shits and giggles, while remaining immune to any real punishment, and neither the campus nor the principal want another story added to the growing list.

try http://web.archive.org/web/20060719070245/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gay_Nigger_Association_of_America

wayback machine always wins.

Even in cases that are deemed to be of imminent need to gain access for wire tapping a field warrant must be submitted and reviewed by a judge to ensure the process followed standards set in place for proceeding with such action.

What standards? FISA? If they were all just "doin' their jobs," why was it necessary to amend it and provide immunity for the telcoms? An amendment I might add, considered unconstitutional by many, something that hasn't yet been determined by the courts. You're just telling me here what's supposed to happen. That would be great, but it falls somewhat short of reality:

Domestic spying widespread

F.B.I. Data Mining Reached Beyond Initial Targets

Wiretap Whistle-Blower's Account

NSA's Domestic Spying Grows As Agency Sweeps Up Data

Yes, there is an approval procedure, too bad the Bush administration saw fit to bypass it (something they only admitted to doing after being caught at it, BTW). Constitutional lawyer Glenn Greenwald states it thus:

Congress passed a law in 1978 making it a criminal offense to eavesdrop on Americans without judicial oversight. Nobody of any significance ever claimed that that law was unconstitutional. The Administration not only never claimed it was unconstitutional, but Bush expressly asked for changes to the law in the aftermath of 9/11, thereafter praised the law, and misled Congress and the American people into believing that they were complying with the law. In reality, the Administration was secretly breaking the law, and then pleaded with The New York Times not to reveal this. Once caught, the Administration claimed it has the right to break the law and will continue to do so.

_
_
_

(back to your regularly scheduled response:)

Guantanamo is no different than any other prison run by the military in a time of war. As a matter of fact, prisoners held in American military prisons are treated better than those held by any other country in the world. The majority of the people there were actually captured on the battlefield actively trying to kill our soldiers. Several who have been released were subsequently killed or recaptured on the battlefields of Iraq or Afghanistan.

Oh, I'm sure the camp is very nice. Of course, the "war" we are referring to here, is a never ending war on a methodology, rather than one on a nation that could actually come to an "end" at some point. So presumably, these guys are going to be there until they die. And since even some who are tried, don't get released because of a "security threat," one ponders the actual relevance of trials in the process. If some of these detainees were not actually involved in terrorist or violent acts against our soldiers, how would they prove it? Perhaps you would like to cite Hamdan vs Rumsfeld as an example of how the "system works," because subsequently Hamdan and Khadr were released?

And, there's the distinct possibility that some who have been released have been inspired to subsequently join our opposition because of the way they were treated by the US in the process. Find it hard to buy that? Now you know how I feel about your claim that Saddam "might" have buried some WMDs or passed them to Syria. (Why do you think they call it apologetics?)

But I would be willing to accept that Guantanamo is "no different than any other prison run by the military in a time of war." One thing that is different though is the amount of visibility such things have in the modern information age, which in my opinion, is a good thing. It's harder to keep abuses hidden now, th

The Google Cache is different, at least for now. The key difference: The words "Nielson DMA#."

The Internet Archive also has older versions.

I can't open the wayback machine link from a child of that posting in Firefox 3.0:

Content Encoding Error

The page you are trying to view cannot be shown because it uses an invalid or unsupported form of compression.

http://web.archive.org/web/20001015070054/http://www.qnx.com/~glen/deadbeef/2764.html

Although Pandora is often seen as the little guy fighting the big bad music industry, Pandora just repackages the output of that industry, so it's feeding the monster and helping to ensure that the money-grabbing evil continues. If we want the monster to die, we need to stop feeding it. Pandora doesn't want the monster to die, it merely wants it to eat less.

So it's make-your-mind-up time, if you want to influence the evolution of music.

If you really want a sea change to occur, try listening to Creative Commons music instead of commercial output. The immense repositories at Jamendo (11,955 albums) and at Archive.org (53,088 concerts, 310,685 recordings) should be enough to keep you busy for the rest of your life, but there's lots more out there.

It's hard work, because there is nobody around to tell you what you must like, as the industry has been doing to us through radio and TV all these years. The diversity and sheer scale of Commons music is astounding, and exploring its uncharted vastness isn't quick nor easy, but ultimately your voyage will be very rewarding. Mine has been.

But you have to take that first step yourself, nobody can help you, short of handing you a few links.

The future really is in your hands. If everyone were to stop buying label output today, the Big 4 and the RIAA would disappear as soon as their coffers dry up, and the small labels would adapt perfectly happily because they're agile. You *can* drop your favourite chart bands if you try --- the discomfort doesn't last long, because there is no shortage of very high quality replacements. The Commons is vast, and the creativity amazing.

The future really is in your hands.

This is kind of like saying that, on the balance of probabilities, George Bush was surprised by the capture of Saddam Hussein.

No it isn't, because the use of the word 'surprised' in that context was an ironic reworking (to opposite intent) of OPs expression that Bin Landen may have been surprised that the towers collapsed.

Yes, he probably was. That doesn't mean he didn't order, authorize and finance it.

Apparently I didn't make myself clear. So allow me to reformulate. I'm pursuaded, on the balance of probabilities, that Bin Laden did not plan, order, authorise, or finance the 9/11 attacks.

But bin Laden clearly knew about the plan, clearly approved it (admitting as much in the video we all saw), and it was his money that financed it.

Are you taking about the 'admission' made in the English translation to the 2001 tape, which later scrutiny revealed was not contained in the Arabic original? Here in an extremely interesting analysis of the translation (you need to be able to read German). The only direct evidence of Goldstein's involvement would seem to be derived from propagada.

If instead you are talking about the, (what would in any case be self-serving), statments contained in tapes revealed during the 2004 American presidential campaign, I find these even more problematic.

Please note, I have no particular desire to exonerate the man. I'm merely sceptical about most of what we are told in relation to these matters and study the evidence with the critical eye of both of an historian and a lawyer (which are in fact two of my qualifications). And finally whether or not Bin Laden bears any personal culpability, it does not detract from, nor add to, the monstrosity of what was done that day.

Personally, I think there should be a number of world wide repositories for all papers. The cost of each country/corporation hosting one would be minimal.

Try here and for a nice talk describing the goals and ideals of the IA go here.

Finding life on an extrasolar planet would be irrelevant - significant, but irrelevant. Scroll through the solar system using your mouse wheel. That'll give you a good idea of how big the solar system is. Now, scroll through that 7200 times, and you'd just be at the closest star. Double that distance if you want to get to the nearest known extrasolar planet.

Unless we develop some sort of warp drive (which seems to violate the laws of physics as we know them now), we are stuck with either a generation ship, or a cryo-sleep ship and crossing that distance would take centuries, if not millenia.

We're stuck here, with nothing to look at but rocks and craters.

Nope.. nowadays, internet helps you make your life easy.