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For reference, "much" means 1/3. Ethanol is 21MJ/L, vs. 32MJ/L for gas.

On a flex-fuel vehicle, such as those dominating the market in Brazil, one would expect to travel 2/3 as far on a tankfull of ethanol as on a tankfull of gas. To get equivalent mileage, one would need to store 50% more ethanol than gas. Considering all of the current infrastructure can be used as-is, that's really not such a big deal.

It's certainly less of a big deal than with hydrogen, which not only needs an entirely different infrastructure, but has only one quarter the energy content per litre that gas does, and that doesn't even count the volume, weight, and energy requirements of the cryogenic storage system needed to liquify it.

Biodiesel is a good option; however, the key advantage that ethanol has is that it can be used to replace gasoline in situ---the economy can go from 100% gasoline to 100% ethanol in tiny increments, and---provided new vehicles are flex-fuel (which are no more expensive than the 10%-max engines we use now)---there will be no shock or disruption of any kind. Changing all the vehicles and fuel stations over to diesel, on the other hand, would be a massive and disruptive undertaking.

In the first image linked it appears that you're wearing white socks (athletic "tube" socks??)...this is a no-no with tuxedos.

Chin pussy.

Uhm...it appears you have a pussy on your chin. There is an episode of South Park where Butters has a prosthetic scrotum on his chin. While funny that you have put a spin on this theme with your homage I do not find it appropriate for a wedding day.

I wish you luck in your attempt at happiness.

In the first image linked it appears that you're wearing white socks (athletic "tube" socks??)...this is a no-no with tuxedos.

Chin pussy.

Uhm...it appears you have a pussy on your chin. There is an episode of South Park where Butters has a prosthetic scrotum on his chin. While funny that you have put a spin on this theme with your homage I do not find it appropriate for a wedding day.

I wish you luck in your attempt at happiness.

and for your trolling pleasure, there is an actual picture here called "robdoeswaynenewton.jpg"

Please don't feed the trolls, rob

I have to ask why there is a camera inside the chapel. Is this supposed to curb alter boy molestations by catching them on tape? Or is this some new way for the church to make money by selling the security tapes of your wedding to you and your family?

rob does wayne newton.

"you can read BSI's press release..."

Perhaps I've wasted too much time here and at E2, but am I the only person that saw 'BSI', and though:

"What does Block Stackers Intergalactic have to do with this?

Followed by: "Hell, since when have they released press releases?!"

I guess I'm odd...

Here's to hoping that the inspiration isn't a flash in the pan. I've been musing lately about my recent experiences with quicken, as well as airlines.

in the grand tradition of one of my closest associates, nate oostendorp, i have elected to construct one of the easiest web pages on the planet. if you want neat, go to Rob's Page. or you can go to the main place i work on, the redoubtable slashdot.org (which we've sold to Andover.net, a great bunch of people). Of course, since I wrote that, we've merged with VA Linux Systems. Like before, it's a good bunch of people - which goes to show that people make work interesting. what else do i do? i work for blockstackers, a small firm that is basically an umbrella to all the things in life that we like to do. I also play computer games - most recently Baldur's Gate II, although some Diablo II, and SimCity 3000 Unlimited. I run Linux. I listen to a huge assortment of music as well, but particularly enjoy ambient music. I'm also very interested in nanotechnology. i like to read (and you can see what I'm reading right now) and not just on the computer screen. if you want to read, you should read things like Neil Gaiman, Terry Prachett, Robert Heinlein, Frank Herbert, William S. Burroughs, Kerouac, James Joyce, Shakespeare, Stephen Ambrose and Douglas Coupland. They've all got things to say, and say them well, and you should listen to them. But you should also listen to what you have to say. You should write that down, and keep that somewhere, because in seven hours, you aren't going to be able to recall this moment. That's one of the biggest lessons in life. why should you listen to me? well, no particular reason-other then i think i've learned a bunch of neat stuff about computers, but more to the point, how computers and people work together. because it doesn't matter how good computers can be-we have to use it. and we need to, because technology is only going to get cooler. i am eagerly awaiting the day for nanotech. my significant other thinks differently. but that's ok-because people need to think different things. besides, she brought her daught er into the world, who is the apple of my eye. on other occasions, i've taken the time to write things down. due to bad luck, as epitomized by a big house fire, i've lost much of my writing, but what i have...well.

and for those of you who wonder where the name hemos came from, perhaps an answer can be found. write this moment down

Here's to hoping that the inspiration isn't a flash in the pan. I've been musing lately about my recent experiences with quicken, as well as airlines.

in the grand tradition of one of my closest associates, nate oostendorp, i have elected to construct one of the easiest web pages on the planet. if you want neat, go to Rob's Page. or you can go to the main place i work on, the redoubtable slashdot.org (which we've sold to Andover.net, a great bunch of people). Of course, since I wrote that, we've merged with VA Linux Systems. Like before, it's a good bunch of people - which goes to show that people make work interesting. what else do i do? i work for blockstackers, a small firm that is basically an umbrella to all the things in life that we like to do. I also play computer games - most recently Baldur's Gate II, although some Diablo II, and SimCity 3000 Unlimited. I run Linux. I listen to a huge assortment of music as well, but particularly enjoy ambient music. I'm also very interested in nanotechnology. i like to read (and you can see what I'm reading right now) and not just on the computer screen. if you want to read, you should read things like Neil Gaiman, Terry Prachett, Robert Heinlein, Frank Herbert, William S. Burroughs, Kerouac, James Joyce, Shakespeare, Stephen Ambrose and Douglas Coupland. They've all got things to say, and say them well, and you should listen to them. But you should also listen to what you have to say. You should write that down, and keep that somewhere, because in seven hours, you aren't going to be able to recall this moment. That's one of the biggest lessons in life. why should you listen to me? well, no particular reason-other then i think i've learned a bunch of neat stuff about computers, but more to the point, how computers and people work together. because it doesn't matter how good computers can be-we have to use it. and we need to, because technology is only going to get cooler. i am eagerly awaiting the day for nanotech. my significant other thinks differently. but that's ok-because people need to think different things. besides, she brought her daught er into the world, who is the apple of my eye. on other occasions, i've taken the time to write things down. due to bad luck, as epitomized by a big house fire, i've lost much of my writing, but what i have...well.

and for those of you who wonder where the name hemos came from, perhaps an answer can be found. write this moment down

if I start a corporation by the name Slashdot tomorrow, then can I sue to get this site down?

No. SLASHDOT is a registered trademark of Blockstackers (CmdrTaco's former company and parent of Everything Development Company), licensed to OSDN.

[The last time I checked] Slashdot was a bunch of Linux hackers in Holland, Michigan, not cnn.com! ...It's [CmdrTaco's] website!

He's only a figurehead now. On June 28, 1999, Andover.Net bought Slashdot and all of Malda's "Blockstackers" company for $1.5 million. Malda is now Andover.Net's employee.

GNUPedia looks a bit like Everything. Everything is a flexible web database run by the people who used to run Slashdot and written and edited by the world. (Ever wonder what those [?]s are on /. articles? That's E2.) Copyright doesn't stop people from adding song lyrics to the database.

All information generated outside of the free software community is under perpetual copyright anyway.

-- flossie
http telnet

Had you posted this on Everything2 (another fine BSI site), you would have got a C! for that write-up.

Slashdot doesn't show DoubleClick ads; Andover/OSDN (a division of VA Linux systems) does. IIRC, when Slashdot was blockstackers's baby, it used Adfu and no DoubleClick.

I've seen a lot of systems popping up on the web over the last few years to allow dynamic additions of content to an information system. Things that allow commentary to be added to webpages, which others can then view; sites like Everything or Everything2.

Why not such a system for documenting code? I know that systems for publishing and linking code to itself exists (like LXR). How about such a system that would allow links to be placed in the text to user-contributed documentation? Said documentation could be anything from "this statement is doing such-and-such" to an overview of an entire module.

This documentation would be user-contributed and, of course, user edited. Editing would need to be done based on a voting system... just saying whether a given bit of doc is useful ought to be enough. Attribution is easily done, as well.

The hardest bit would probably be telling the system where you want to place a link. Do you want to doc the line? The function definition? That word? These 3 functions? That bit of code and that one over there in a different file that happen to work together? Where does the link go?

Anyone have an idea on how to do that? I know I'm up for contributing to the development of such a system (playing with Zope has gotten me interested in dynamic web stuff).
---

Rember that Rob CmdrTaco Malda dosn't spell very well.
So let me (The deity of typographical errors) translate... http://cassady.blockstackers.com/pics/navi/
:)

Thanks. So who the hell is Neal L. Cassady?? Look at the "Can you pass the acid test?" picture. It looks a bit like him on CowboyNeal.org (without the glasses). Maybe it's a character from a book (hence the quote) or a name he made up. Ah, who cares. I'll bet the Slashdot admins didn't mean for us to look at that stuff, anyway...

Anyway, maybe this is where they record Geeks In Space. The Geek Compound is Rob's house, right? They said they record Geeks In Space in a spare bedroom at Rob's place. (Sometimes they record it in the basement, too, but it can't be too hard to move the essential equipment needed to record the show from one room to another.) Well, the Geek Compound has two storeys and dormer windows on its upper floor, and bedrooms are usually on the upper floor of a two-storey house. The "sound lab" has a dormer window, too (notice the sloping wall except where the window is). There are just three problems -- the Geek Compound's second-floor windows have a vertical bar in the middle bisecting the window pane, and that should show up as a shadow in the window of the "sound lab" picture; there are no microphones for the geeks to record their voices with (though they might be stowed somewhere); the electronic keyboard there is not a '303.

Anyway, I think looking at those pictures made me jealous or something. Nice car, CowboyNeal. That sound equipment looks pretty expensive, too. Didn't CowboyNeal say he was married in this week's show? Rob has a girlfriend... Damn, you lucky bastards have money and love.

I'd better stop now... I'm sounding like a bitter young man...

Thanks. So who the hell is Neal L. Cassady?? Look at the "Can you pass the acid test?" picture. It looks a bit like him on CowboyNeal.org (without the glasses). Maybe it's a character from a book (hence the quote) or a name he made up. Ah, who cares. I'll bet the Slashdot admins didn't mean for us to look at that stuff, anyway...

Anyway, maybe this is where they record Geeks In Space. The Geek Compound is Rob's house, right? They said they record Geeks In Space in a spare bedroom at Rob's place. (Sometimes they record it in the basement, too, but it can't be too hard to move the essential equipment needed to record the show from one room to another.) Well, the Geek Compound has two storeys and dormer windows on its upper floor, and bedrooms are usually on the upper floor of a two-storey house. The "sound lab" has a dormer window, too (notice the sloping wall except where the window is). There are just three problems -- the Geek Compound's second-floor windows have a vertical bar in the middle bisecting the window pane, and that should show up as a shadow in the window of the "sound lab" picture; there are no microphones for the geeks to record their voices with (though they might be stowed somewhere); the electronic keyboard there is not a '303.

Anyway, I think looking at those pictures made me jealous or something. Nice car, CowboyNeal. That sound equipment looks pretty expensive, too. Didn't CowboyNeal say he was married in this week's show? Rob has a girlfriend... Damn, you lucky bastards have money and love.

I'd better stop now... I'm sounding like a bitter young man...

Thanks. So who the hell is Neal L. Cassady?? Look at the "Can you pass the acid test?" picture. It looks a bit like him on CowboyNeal.org (without the glasses). Maybe it's a character from a book (hence the quote) or a name he made up. Ah, who cares. I'll bet the Slashdot admins didn't mean for us to look at that stuff, anyway...

Anyway, maybe this is where they record Geeks In Space. The Geek Compound is Rob's house, right? They said they record Geeks In Space in a spare bedroom at Rob's place. (Sometimes they record it in the basement, too, but it can't be too hard to move the essential equipment needed to record the show from one room to another.) Well, the Geek Compound has two storeys and dormer windows on its upper floor, and bedrooms are usually on the upper floor of a two-storey house. The "sound lab" has a dormer window, too (notice the sloping wall except where the window is). There are just three problems -- the Geek Compound's second-floor windows have a vertical bar in the middle bisecting the window pane, and that should show up as a shadow in the window of the "sound lab" picture; there are no microphones for the geeks to record their voices with (though they might be stowed somewhere); the electronic keyboard there is not a '303.

Anyway, I think looking at those pictures made me jealous or something. Nice car, CowboyNeal. That sound equipment looks pretty expensive, too. Didn't CowboyNeal say he was married in this week's show? Rob has a girlfriend... Damn, you lucky bastards have money and love.

I'd better stop now... I'm sounding like a bitter young man...

Thanks. So who the hell is Neal L. Cassady?? Look at the "Can you pass the acid test?" picture. It looks a bit like him on CowboyNeal.org (without the glasses). Maybe it's a character from a book (hence the quote) or a name he made up. Ah, who cares. I'll bet the Slashdot admins didn't mean for us to look at that stuff, anyway...

Anyway, maybe this is where they record Geeks In Space. The Geek Compound is Rob's house, right? They said they record Geeks In Space in a spare bedroom at Rob's place. (Sometimes they record it in the basement, too, but it can't be too hard to move the essential equipment needed to record the show from one room to another.) Well, the Geek Compound has two storeys and dormer windows on its upper floor, and bedrooms are usually on the upper floor of a two-storey house. The "sound lab" has a dormer window, too (notice the sloping wall except where the window is). There are just three problems -- the Geek Compound's second-floor windows have a vertical bar in the middle bisecting the window pane, and that should show up as a shadow in the window of the "sound lab" picture; there are no microphones for the geeks to record their voices with (though they might be stowed somewhere); the electronic keyboard there is not a '303.

Anyway, I think looking at those pictures made me jealous or something. Nice car, CowboyNeal. That sound equipment looks pretty expensive, too. Didn't CowboyNeal say he was married in this week's show? Rob has a girlfriend... Damn, you lucky bastards have money and love.

I'd better stop now... I'm sounding like a bitter young man...

Thanks. So who the hell is Neal L. Cassady?? Look at the "Can you pass the acid test?" picture. It looks a bit like him on CowboyNeal.org (without the glasses). Maybe it's a character from a book (hence the quote) or a name he made up. Ah, who cares. I'll bet the Slashdot admins didn't mean for us to look at that stuff, anyway...

Anyway, maybe this is where they record Geeks In Space. The Geek Compound is Rob's house, right? They said they record Geeks In Space in a spare bedroom at Rob's place. (Sometimes they record it in the basement, too, but it can't be too hard to move the essential equipment needed to record the show from one room to another.) Well, the Geek Compound has two storeys and dormer windows on its upper floor, and bedrooms are usually on the upper floor of a two-storey house. The "sound lab" has a dormer window, too (notice the sloping wall except where the window is). There are just three problems -- the Geek Compound's second-floor windows have a vertical bar in the middle bisecting the window pane, and that should show up as a shadow in the window of the "sound lab" picture; there are no microphones for the geeks to record their voices with (though they might be stowed somewhere); the electronic keyboard there is not a '303.

Anyway, I think looking at those pictures made me jealous or something. Nice car, CowboyNeal. That sound equipment looks pretty expensive, too. Didn't CowboyNeal say he was married in this week's show? Rob has a girlfriend... Damn, you lucky bastards have money and love.

I'd better stop now... I'm sounding like a bitter young man...

Thanks, Penguin_99. I got a little bored, so I started looking at the other stuff on the server.

You've got a cute dog, CowboyNeal. Is this where you record Geeks In Space? No, wait, it can't be; you do that at Rob's house.

So, CowboyNeal's last name is "Cassady" -- with an 'a'. And his first name is "Neal". So where does "Pater" (which is pronouced like "potter") come from? I looked at his website, but I couldn't get much insight there. It sounds more like a last or middle name than a nick.

<TIRED OFFTOPIC RANT>
By the way, am I the only one who's gotten tired of that damn "caffeine sampler" ad from ThinkGeek? "Feed the need"? I think my body has developed either a resistance to or a dependancy on caffeine. Those damn "Enhydra" ads from Lutris are pretty stupid too. What the hell is that animal supposed to be?
</TIRED OFFTOPIC RANT>

Thanks, Penguin_99. I got a little bored, so I started looking at the other stuff on the server.

You've got a cute dog, CowboyNeal. Is this where you record Geeks In Space? No, wait, it can't be; you do that at Rob's house.

So, CowboyNeal's last name is "Cassady" -- with an 'a'. And his first name is "Neal". So where does "Pater" (which is pronouced like "potter") come from? I looked at his website, but I couldn't get much insight there. It sounds more like a last or middle name than a nick.

<TIRED OFFTOPIC RANT>
By the way, am I the only one who's gotten tired of that damn "caffeine sampler" ad from ThinkGeek? "Feed the need"? I think my body has developed either a resistance to or a dependancy on caffeine. Those damn "Enhydra" ads from Lutris are pretty stupid too. What the hell is that animal supposed to be?
</TIRED OFFTOPIC RANT>

Thanks, Penguin_99. I got a little bored, so I started looking at the other stuff on the server.

You've got a cute dog, CowboyNeal. Is this where you record Geeks In Space? No, wait, it can't be; you do that at Rob's house.

So, CowboyNeal's last name is "Cassady" -- with an 'a'. And his first name is "Neal". So where does "Pater" (which is pronouced like "potter") come from? I looked at his website, but I couldn't get much insight there. It sounds more like a last or middle name than a nick.

<TIRED OFFTOPIC RANT>
By the way, am I the only one who's gotten tired of that damn "caffeine sampler" ad from ThinkGeek? "Feed the need"? I think my body has developed either a resistance to or a dependancy on caffeine. Those damn "Enhydra" ads from Lutris are pretty stupid too. What the hell is that animal supposed to be?
</TIRED OFFTOPIC RANT>

I wrote to CowboyNeal and got the URL for the Slashdot summit pics. For all of those who are interested click here. Let it be known that CowboyNeal wrote back to me very quickly (within minutes). By the way, it's 'cassady'.

Try this

http://scuttle.blockstackers.com/cam.html

I basicly just did a whois on cmdrtaco on slashnet for fun, and saw an ip of scuttle.blockstackers.com and thought "what the hell..." and followed the link to the cam. Could anyone confirm to me that this is the webcam that the mentioned or did not mention? I might just be crazy and hearing things.

Slashdot reports the stories about the RIAA, MPAA, DoubleClick, Amazon, whatever. They make comments about them. But I don't recall any of the Slashdot editors ever stating that they would boycott the MPAA or anyone else. They said it sucks, and that was about it. Same with DoubleClick. And Amazon. Both suck, but they're still supporting both of them. I would truly applaud Slashdot if one day they said "We cannot condone the actions of DoubleClick, and will no longer be clients of theirs until they straighten out." But that day will never come. And that is truly sad. But Andover is a business, and they have to make money. What I don't understand is why they are using doubleclick if CmdrTaco invented his own banner serving software, adfu. I guess we should just be grateful they report these stories at all despite the conflict of interest. I wonder, is Slashdot one of the sites that was going to use DoubleClick's offline database? Would they tell us if they were?

everything.blockstackers.com ? why not everything2.com ?

We're working on just this at Boston University. Our original plan, as reflected on the BU Linux web site was to base our distro on Bastille Linux -- that was back when Bastille was in super-early development and was planned as an actual distribution. They've gone the route of a hardening script, something we'd like to avoid. (We'd like all of our changes to be to RPMs, rather than pasted on afterward, for better system upgradability and managability.)

So, we're starting work on a distro of our own, integrating ideas from Bastille with Red Hat, and adding things we need like Kerberos IV, AFS (Arla, probably), Amanda, etc. If this sounds like what you're doing, please contact me at mattdm@bu.edu . It seems worthwhile to at least share ideas, even if we don't end up combining our work.

--

But does slashdot still control the ad process? (this isn't a flame, i'm genuinely asking).

An open bidding, ALA Ebay would be about the only was of pleasing those who suspect - what say you, cmdrtaco?

Nose chip? Well, its not quite my dream ass chip yet, but dangnabbit is cience isn't getting closer -- just at the wrong end of the body. >

"This post was pointless. If this post has had a point, it would have stood up and waved a little blue flag that says 'hey, I have a point here.'"

Has BSI been bought by Andover or has just /. been purchased? I guess my main question is, does Andover own Everything and Everything 2?

---

Has BSI been bought by Andover or has just /. been purchased? I guess my main question is, does Andover own Everything and Everything 2?

---

From the headline, I thought this article was going to be about RAID disks[?] !!!!

donfede

Yes, I believe i saw the fact that he has a girlfriend on Everything

I know you're both nominally involved with Blockstackers and the Everything project. My question is, to what extent? Are you funding this, or letting your more involved roommates slide on the rent, or are you actively involved in the design, testing, and coding?

--

Everybody hates something. Even if only 0.001% of the computing population hates User Friendly, Dilbert or whatever it adds up. Do the math:

0.001% x really large number of people = not insignificant number of Haters

It's the cost of fame, realizing some people will hate you no matter what. Everything offends someone - including *the* Everything. Even being completely Politically Correct offends people.

Don't feel sorry for Illiad, I'm sure he likes what he does and realizes the Haters are in the minority. Feel sorry for the people that need to hate.

UF is hillarious to me. Do I care what Scott Kurtz of PvP thinks of UF? Hell no.

Usually, the problem is that people don't read the instructions and the first thing they do is complain. This is where newbies cross the line into lamerness (hmm... everything.blockstackers.com doesn't have a node for this. I'm too lazy). In these cases RTFM would be the best solution.

In the case of a certain unnamed ICQ compatible instant messaging clone project for *nix boxes that utilizes qt2.0, the instructions for average newbie installation were scattered across four outdated documents in obscure locations. This is such a program that lamers would LOVE to use, as this is all they do under their Mic rosoft environment. Thus this would be very necessary for their conversion to Linux (the light side of the force) to be complete.

Unfortunately, if we as the Linux community plan on winning this war of market share, we will have to make things easier for the average lamer (who doesn't RTFM - i.e. the average American). This is the "dumbing down" of Linux that many people fear. Developers can't expect the average lamer to search through four documents and problem solve in order to get an ICQ clone to work. The average lamer would say "Screw it. I'm going back to Windows. (cl ick)"

Lamer Linux(tm) is going to be tough, but I submit that it will be necessary if we are ever to ultimately succeed.

Usually, the problem is that people don't read the instructions and the first thing they do is complain. This is where newbies cross the line into lamerness (hmm... everything.blockstackers.com doesn't have a node for this. I'm too lazy). In these cases RTFM would be the best solution.

In the case of a certain unnamed ICQ compatible instant messaging clone project for *nix boxes that utilizes qt2.0, the instructions for average newbie installation were scattered across four outdated documents in obscure locations. This is such a program that lamers would LOVE to use, as this is all they do under their Mic rosoft environment. Thus this would be very necessary for their conversion to Linux (the light side of the force) to be complete.

Unfortunately, if we as the Linux community plan on winning this war of market share, we will have to make things easier for the average lamer (who doesn't RTFM - i.e. the average American). This is the "dumbing down" of Linux that many people fear. Developers can't expect the average lamer to search through four documents and problem solve in order to get an ICQ clone to work. The average lamer would say "Screw it. I'm going back to Windows. (cl ick)"

Lamer Linux(tm) is going to be tough, but I submit that it will be necessary if we are ever to ultimately succeed.

You also make a good point about the cameras vs. the old guy in a uniform watching the door; it's true that there's not as much of a difference as people sometimes make it sound. But the old man in the uniform is a human being with human judgement. To my way of thinking, there's a difference between that, and omnipresent cameras that record your actions.

I'm reminded of the case in (IIRC) New York State, where the roads authority implemented an automatic electronic toll-collection system, with the promise that records would be kept only long enough for billing purposes, and they would never use it to monitor the comings and goings of people. Well, only months after they introduced it, a fellow wanted for some crime or other was caught because his passage of a tollgate was flagged by the system and passed on to the police. People feel that they have a right to travel without the knowledge of the state, and although I admit I can't provide a logically rigorous proof of why they should have it, I am sympathetic. There's already a great power dichotomy between the citizen and the state, and people are (IMHO, rightfully) leery of anything that suggests that that power balance will be tipped further in favor of the state.

You say that the police prevent crime; you should know that there is a theory which holds that the police create crime. (Check "police create crime" on Everything.) Probably the individual policeman is not interested in creating crime, sure, but the legal system as a whole actually thrives on crime - remember, crime is the very reason it exists, and why would anyone destroy the very thing that feeds his family? Possibly a saint. But most people aren't saints, and certainly most people in the justice system aren't, not when there are so many incentives to be otherwise.

Is most crime really committed by opportunists? It may depend on the definition of "crime". I'd guess that most real crime (ie, malum in se crime) is indeed committed by hardened criminals - robberies, rapes, murders... But there are huge categories of "crime" (the malum prohibitum) which generate huge numbers of casual "criminals". Don't sell a bottle of your homebrewed beer to your neighbor, brother, or else you're a criminal now! Remember the theory that the legal system creates crime in order to feed itself? The real fear may be that the system will criminalize so many things that you can't make it through the day without breaking the law, and ubiquitous monitoring will make it possible to catch all (or almost all) lawbreakers. The state won't arrest everyone - it can't, for purely practical reasons anyway - but it now has the authority and the power to arrest anyone at any time, and at that point the state's right to arrest people can be used in a purely subjective matter to threaten the undesirable.

You also make a good point about the cameras vs. the old guy in a uniform watching the door; it's true that there's not as much of a difference as people sometimes make it sound. But the old man in the uniform is a human being with human judgement. To my way of thinking, there's a difference between that, and omnipresent cameras that record your actions.

I'm reminded of the case in (IIRC) New York State, where the roads authority implemented an automatic electronic toll-collection system, with the promise that records would be kept only long enough for billing purposes, and they would never use it to monitor the comings and goings of people. Well, only months after they introduced it, a fellow wanted for some crime or other was caught because his passage of a tollgate was flagged by the system and passed on to the police. People feel that they have a right to travel without the knowledge of the state, and although I admit I can't provide a logically rigorous proof of why they should have it, I am sympathetic. There's already a great power dichotomy between the citizen and the state, and people are (IMHO, rightfully) leery of anything that suggests that that power balance will be tipped further in favor of the state.

You say that the police prevent crime; you should know that there is a theory which holds that the police create crime. (Check "police create crime" on Everything.) Probably the individual policeman is not interested in creating crime, sure, but the legal system as a whole actually thrives on crime - remember, crime is the very reason it exists, and why would anyone destroy the very thing that feeds his family? Possibly a saint. But most people aren't saints, and certainly most people in the justice system aren't, not when there are so many incentives to be otherwise.

Is most crime really committed by opportunists? It may depend on the definition of "crime". I'd guess that most real crime (ie, malum in se crime) is indeed committed by hardened criminals - robberies, rapes, murders... But there are huge categories of "crime" (the malum prohibitum) which generate huge numbers of casual "criminals". Don't sell a bottle of your homebrewed beer to your neighbor, brother, or else you're a criminal now! Remember the theory that the legal system creates crime in order to feed itself? The real fear may be that the system will criminalize so many things that you can't make it through the day without breaking the law, and ubiquitous monitoring will make it possible to catch all (or almost all) lawbreakers. The state won't arrest everyone - it can't, for purely practical reasons anyway - but it now has the authority and the power to arrest anyone at any time, and at that point the state's right to arrest people can be used in a purely subjective matter to threaten the undesirable.

I trust my eye chip to Linux, as well as my ass chip.

The last bit should have read:

Maybe we can get the DOC to point ds.internic.net at Everything. < G >

One of the provisions in the agreement with ICANN and the Dept. of Commerce is that NSI will give up all rights to the InterNIC trademark and domain names. The internic.net domains will then become home to the root-server whois info for all the gTLD registrars, with a pointer to the original registrar for the organizational and contact records. As someone pointed out, though, the internic.tld domains are currently back to pointing to NSI. Maybe we can get the DOC to point ds.internic.net at Everything.

So what's the moral of the story? Find yourself a medium that you control, don't depend on renting space from other companies. How you do that is up to you.

So what do you do when all mediums are controlled by large corporations?

You see, people always think that government is the sole threat to free speech on the Internet, and it is a threat, but it's not the only one. Industry could, conceivably and very possibly, create a barrier-to-entry so high (the reason the internet is so free and inspiring is that the barrier to entry is so low) that the few who can afford to run a website are the ones who control the majority opinion.

You've already seen that happen with television, radio, and newspapers. They're all controlled by conglomerates who create economic barriers to competition. And since it's usually an oligopoly, and not a monopoly, and since it's not technically holding people back (by force of law) from free press, people claim that this is still a free country.

I say, stop bothering to get up and arms when the government claims it can censor or control the internet. They can't, they don't know how. But industry does, because they've been censoring and controlling mediums for years. It's nothing new to them. It's not oppression, they say, it's economics. But whatever they call it, the end result is the same.

So how do we combat this? We need to do all we can to keep the cost of the Internet down. At times like this, Free Beer can equal Free Speech. Linux, and the cooperative in San Francisco which sells T1 lines at cost is a fantastic example, and I wish I could see more situations like this crop up. It would also be nice to see the computer industry unionise but that's a whole different post.

In the end, if you don't want to see the Internet get gobbled up into the stomachs of the bloated plutocrats, it is up to you to make sure it doesn't happen. Keep the internet cheap and open to anybody, and you'll insure that the internet will be cheap and open for your own needs.

Michael Chisari

Perhaps everybody has seen The Brain which has an interesting visualization system, to say the least. I would love to see a more integrated solution under linux, with Web Browsing and Searching, plus link managment/browsing using something like DaVinci , which has an excellent (soon to be improved) API which could create/browse highly structured document links.

This would make an excellent concept like Everything useful for everyone...

It's simply that Linux is good enough if you're not feeding several T1 circuits to a single server. Particularly if you know what "BSOD " means.

Everything's definition

Greg