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Re:What is "Flamebait" ? by dbrown · 1999-11-08 03:29 · Score: 1 · on Mainstream Media on Slashdot and Microsoft

On being politically active by gregbaker · 1999-11-01 04:48 · Score: 1 · on Geeks, Silicon Valley, and Politics

...campaign donations are implicitly exchanged for influence over the political process.

Perhaps slightly off topic here, but in Canada, we frown on politicians accepting bribes. This applies to most other democratic countries too, I think.

This is the American definition of "politically active", is it? Campain donor? I've always been a bit confused by the way the U.S. has so much of this going on and nobody seems to want to do much to change it.

More practically, are there ways that American geeks (not all of us are, remember) can influence the political process with less of a go-home-and-shower feeling?

Greg

Re:A Good Thing (tm) by LocalYokel · 1999-10-30 09:42 · Score: 1 · on Guillemot Acquires Hercules

Am I daft, or just missing something?
Good Thing®
Good Thing©
Good Thing(tm)
etc...

I've seen the term here, in both the Jargon File and on Everything, but trademarks just don't seem to fit the term.

Censorship on Everything?
Fuck That .

Re:A Good Thing (tm) by LocalYokel · 1999-10-30 09:42 · Score: 1 · on Guillemot Acquires Hercules

Am I daft, or just missing something?
Good Thing®
Good Thing©
Good Thing(tm)
etc...

I've seen the term here, in both the Jargon File and on Everything, but trademarks just don't seem to fit the term.

Censorship on Everything?
Fuck That .

More on biochips by jw3 · 1999-10-26 23:18 · Score: 2 · on Biotech Makes the News

It happens that my working group at the Center for Molecular Biology, Heidelberg is exactly into this thing - microarrays, biochips & co. So I might tell you some words on how does it work and why I think this is not the best solution for MT diagnostics in Russia. First, the preliminaries (if you slept at your biology class, try looking at Everything :-). If you have a single stranded DNA sequence, then you can use it to fish out the so called complementary DNA sequence from a mixture of different molecules - the both single strands hybridize and make a double strang. It is easy to synthetise virtually any DNA sequence you need. Now, imagine that you want to detect whether in your mix there is a certain DNA species. What you do in the biochip technology is to bind your synthetized DNA on a glass plate (biochip) or nylon membrane (microarray) and label your unknown mixture of DNAs - say, a fluorescent molecule is attached to every DNA molecule in the mixture. Now, you wash the glass chip with the mixture: only the complementary DNA is specifically bound to the probe immobilized on the chip (or array). Now you wash with another solution - and what remains and can be detected by a fluorescence-detector will be the probe you are looking for.

The clue about this system is that you can bind to your glassware an immense number of different probes, and so probe for different genes or regions of the genome (in fact, we are using this system to detect mRNAs - to see how an organisms expresses its genes).

But this system has one major disadvantage: it is not nearly as sensitive as other methods - the PCR / RT-PCR, for example. That means, to identify the MT strain you have first to raise it on a culture medium, because direct patient isolates will not provide enough genetic material to acomplish the task. And rasing MT is not easy.

It seems to me, someone wants desperatly to make the news: biochips have made the news a couple of years ago; right now commercial systems for many different tasks are available since many years. Check an issue of "Nature" for advertisments :) you can have the whole yeast genome on a small piece of glass for a couple of $$.

What's more, the system described is very, very expensive, and I doubt that it is therefore suitable for diagnostics in Russia. PCR-based systems are much cheaper - though not allowing to check a couple of thousands genes with a single reaction - but much better suitable for cheap and quick MT diagnosis.

It is, of course, quite possible that the EETimes got everything wrong and it does make sense after all. Journalists ;-)

Regards,

January

linux borg by holloway · 1999-10-21 10:00 · Score: 1 · on Opening Amiga Source Proposed

Silly question, I know, still.

What parts of the AmigaOS are usefully salvageable for other OSs? File system, graphics, GUI?

I just can't see Amiga becoming anything more than a reminiscing toy (although that's quite a nice place to be in, really)

I had an Amiga. All I did all day was play Turrican2, maybe Swiv, and some games by Bullfrog. Also, I read Amiga Power but I rant about that in other places.

Re:Patent everything. by thogard · 1999-10-19 08:18 · Score: 1 · on Basic Patent Law for Programmers

Maybe the "Patent Everything" isn't such a bad idea. How about one big patent that has everything in it? Maybe we can have everything run a form to allow people to enter all their ideas. Once the patent office rejects the "Everything patent", then they have lots of prior art that they will have to check and can not ignore. Of course the title of the device will need to be a "device to dominate the world"

I wonder what getting a patent with several million claims would do to the patent office...it might wake them up but I don't think so.

Re:Open Source Encyclopedia by Anonymous Coward · 1999-10-19 07:06 · Score: 0 · on Encyclopedia Britannica Goes To The Free

everything.blockstackers.com? It doesn't contain a ton of useful information yet, but anyone can add to it.

It's about time by Enoch+Root · 1999-10-19 03:08 · Score: 5 · on Encyclopedia Britannica Goes To The Free

You know, I remember back when the first commercial websites were opening up, and everyone was hyped about the WWW being some sort of gigantic Web-based encyclopedia...

The first things I tried to do was: 1) Access the Encyclopaedia Britannica online (had to pay) and 2) visit the Louvres (had to pay too, at the time.) That was a major bummer.

So this is a nice change of pace, and it's about time it came about, too. The simple fact of the matter is, you can't compete against a clever search engine and a modicum of intelligence when it comes to looking for information on the Web.

EB is doing a smart move, and they probably realise they'll make much more money with well-targeted ads than by charging a membership fee. However, I'm not sure if it means the EB won't be obsolete. Its strong point is a variety of expert writeups and a central collection of articles. Its weak points? It's still a book trying to become an Internet knowledge database.

When will we see an "Encyclopaedia Interneta"? A knowledge-oriented, peer-reviewed compendium of human knowledge? How could such a process benefit from the Slashdot model, as seen in the Jane Cyberterrorism story?

I'm certain the key to storing and indexing knowledge is in there somewhere, but I don't think it's been done properly yet. (And I mean no disrespect to Everything. :) )

"There is no surer way to ruin a good discussion than to contaminate it with the facts."

Re:Britney! by holloway · 1999-10-16 16:31 · Score: 1 · on Ask Slashdot: What Music do you Code By?

I do believe they call that a Music Snob.

donate your bell bottoms by Money__ · 1999-10-15 21:31 · Score: 1 · on Hemos is Homeless

Here's an idea from everything about the homeless. Think about it... ok so it doesn't make sense but if you got some really big ass bell-bottoms you could fit a few bums under them and shelter them from the elements for a little while. Well that's what I get for trying to help my fellow man.

So /.ers...who has an old pair of bell bottoms to donate? :)

linkfest '99 by holloway · 1999-10-15 16:56 · Score: 1 · on Ask Slashdot: What Music do you Code By?

Mostly it's techno dub ambient (early sisters of mercy,nephlim,nin,vast,dead can dance,basement jaxx,aphex twin - some wholesome NZ goodness from Southern Tribe)

sitting in the sun with folkish thoughful Ani Difranco, dan bern (the namedropper), mobile stud unit.

Metally some nz shihad [2, loves ugly children, or overseas Deftones are mighty tasty (though what was with that drive video?).

Educators say how baroque music sets the mind into the right wave patterns, it's conducive to learning and recalling, but really, it just pissed me off.

....
remove pointy from the email to spam me

linkfest '99 by holloway · 1999-10-15 16:56 · Score: 1 · on Ask Slashdot: What Music do you Code By?

Mostly it's techno dub ambient (early sisters of mercy,nephlim,nin,vast,dead can dance,basement jaxx,aphex twin - some wholesome NZ goodness from Southern Tribe)

sitting in the sun with folkish thoughful Ani Difranco, dan bern (the namedropper), mobile stud unit.

Metally some nz shihad [2, loves ugly children, or overseas Deftones are mighty tasty (though what was with that drive video?).

Educators say how baroque music sets the mind into the right wave patterns, it's conducive to learning and recalling, but really, it just pissed me off.

....
remove pointy from the email to spam me

Re:CORBA, or any form of RPC can be bad by cabbey · 1999-10-13 10:07 · Score: 1 · on On Coding Multiplatform Distributed Systems...

wow.

long? yes. well tought out? yes.

I work in the guts of a distributed object infrastructure project, so this is the kind of discussion that my fellow geeks and I would spend HOURS on if management didn't walk by that offten. I think you clearly see the empty spot on the scatter diagram you drew out there, and are obviously on the right track to fill it in.

I also think you're reinventing the wheel. (don't we all at some point? ;)

What you've described is the message passing protocols that existed before IPC. This is the style of programming that was taught by having to "run" your programs by carrying a shoe box of punched cards to the window by the machine room and giving it to an operator who would run it and give you back a stack of cards. This stack of cards of course might itself be a program which could then be fed back to the operator in one or more additional shoe boxes and the cycle began again.... I still write scripts that end by enqueing several more scripts for batch processing - and I WASN'T actively part of that era of computing. This style of communications is also still the big winner in the mainframe world of Transaction Monitors, ERPs, etc . . . look at IBM's hugely successful MQ Series for example. (here is a better read for the un-initiated.)

There are several implementations of frameworks for messaging protocols out there. One of my favorites in uni was the Paralell Virtual Machine architecture. Another was the Message Passing Interface. Many forms of paralell computation use the messaging model.

Messaging is also being brought into the Java world with JMS (no, not the great maker) the Java Messaging System.

wow. This is the kind of discusion that makes me proud to login to /. why can't there be more? Why aren't there? hrmm.

What Stephenson says by mattdm · 1999-10-06 22:05 · Score: 2 · on The Big U

I talked to Stephenson while he was here in Boston promoting Cryptonomicon. He said that, contrary to rumor, he doesn't hate The Big U -- he just doesn't want it confused with his current writing. He said he feels it's an okay book, but people are foolish to pay so much for it and he hates to see that happen. For that reason, he's open to doing a reprint, but he wants to find a way that won't mislead people into thinking that it's something new he's writen. If suddenly a new book appears in stores, people may to be confused: "It seems like his writing has regressed about twenty years in this new book. Maybe Stephenson is losing it".

PS: Interlibrary loan is your friend.

--

Re:Oh my, where to start by cabbey · 1999-10-04 11:44 · Score: 1 · on Road To Linux -- Made It!

No, the fight has been over the fact that Jon is first of all a relatively poor writer. Suffering through some of his muddle-mind and meandering posts has truly be a harrowing experience at times.

I'm ever so glad someone else got here first with that comment... No offense Jon, but I couldn't agree more.

Writers are imprecise, uncertain and backwards-looking.

Good ones aren't. Take a look at J . Michael Straczynski. He is one of the best in the genre; he is very precise, seems fairly certain of him self and is forward thinking enough to know the last scene of a five years story arch before begining production of day one... not to mention I think he said details 15 years in each direction and generalitiles thousands of years in each direction. Now it's true that he's a fiction writer, and I'm sure you meant non-fiction... but there isn't a difference when it comes down to good writing. The Marine Corps 7Ps come in handy: Proper Prior Planning Prevents Piss-Poor Performance.

Their relationship with technology is uncertain, a means, never an end.

There is nothing uncertain about it. Computer technology is a tool (a means as you call it). Nothing more. Nothing less. It is a tool on par with the pencil and paper, or the quill, parchment and ink pot.

Advertisements on the Moon? by Ptolemarch · 1999-10-01 03:31 · Score: 2 · on Pizza Hut Pays $2.5e6 for Rocket Advertising

I am personally going to resolve, right now, to permanently boycott any company that has the audacity to paint its own image on the Moon.

Thank God[?] that Pizza Hut didn't go through with those plans.

Re:towel not included by Saige · 1999-09-21 21:51 · Score: 1 · on The HitchHiker's Guide in Your Pocket

if they decide to make it serious - they should make it like Everything. Except a little more moderated. "Field Agents" could write in with their entries, and it would be looked over and possibly submitted by volunteers over the network.

Well, Everything is definately a better choice to base it off of them h2g2. I've played with them both, and h2g2 got boring. However, I've spent more than my share of time on Everything.

We've already mentioned the idea of The Handheld Everything on there, so it's not like the idea is anything new.

Everything is starting to show that a large community-maintaned database is not necessarily a bad thing, because of collaborative filtering and all. Everything 2 should give an even better demonstration as to how well it works, as it starts to become the ultimate reference guide.
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Re:towel not included by Saige · 1999-09-21 21:51 · Score: 1 · on The HitchHiker's Guide in Your Pocket

if they decide to make it serious - they should make it like Everything. Except a little more moderated. "Field Agents" could write in with their entries, and it would be looked over and possibly submitted by volunteers over the network.

Well, Everything is definately a better choice to base it off of them h2g2. I've played with them both, and h2g2 got boring. However, I've spent more than my share of time on Everything.

We've already mentioned the idea of The Handheld Everything on there, so it's not like the idea is anything new.

Everything is starting to show that a large community-maintaned database is not necessarily a bad thing, because of collaborative filtering and all. Everything 2 should give an even better demonstration as to how well it works, as it starts to become the ultimate reference guide.
---

Re:towel not included by Saige · 1999-09-21 21:51 · Score: 1 · on The HitchHiker's Guide in Your Pocket

if they decide to make it serious - they should make it like Everything. Except a little more moderated. "Field Agents" could write in with their entries, and it would be looked over and possibly submitted by volunteers over the network.

Well, Everything is definately a better choice to base it off of them h2g2. I've played with them both, and h2g2 got boring. However, I've spent more than my share of time on Everything.

We've already mentioned the idea of The Handheld Everything on there, so it's not like the idea is anything new.

Everything is starting to show that a large community-maintaned database is not necessarily a bad thing, because of collaborative filtering and all. Everything 2 should give an even better demonstration as to how well it works, as it starts to become the ultimate reference guide.
---

Re:towel not included by Saige · 1999-09-21 21:51 · Score: 1 · on The HitchHiker's Guide in Your Pocket

if they decide to make it serious - they should make it like Everything. Except a little more moderated. "Field Agents" could write in with their entries, and it would be looked over and possibly submitted by volunteers over the network.

Well, Everything is definately a better choice to base it off of them h2g2. I've played with them both, and h2g2 got boring. However, I've spent more than my share of time on Everything.

We've already mentioned the idea of The Handheld Everything on there, so it's not like the idea is anything new.

Everything is starting to show that a large community-maintaned database is not necessarily a bad thing, because of collaborative filtering and all. Everything 2 should give an even better demonstration as to how well it works, as it starts to become the ultimate reference guide.
---

towel not included by Bookem+Danno · 1999-09-21 21:03 · Score: 2 · on The HitchHiker's Guide in Your Pocket

if they decide to make it serious - they should make it like Everything. Except a little more moderated. "Field Agents" could write in with their entries, and it would be looked over and possibly submitted by volunteers over the network.

now we just have devise a means for interstellar space travel.

---

Skycar by Mazzella! · 1999-09-16 04:36 · Score: 3 · on One-person Air Scooters

Moller International of Davis California has a full blown Skycar It uses 8 Wankel Rotary Engines(? ) (ala Mazda RX-7) the M400 gets 15 MPG (like the RX-7 too) and top speed of 390 mph (uh, not like the RX-7). The M150 gets 45 MPG and a top speed of 375 MPH. Cnet did a write-up of it a few weeks ago (that I sent into /. but was never posted), and can be found on the Rotary News site

Kelly Browne by holloway · 1999-09-14 08:28 · Score: 1 · on Amiga Executive Update

Excellent! My amiga of youth will soon be back and widespread in power and versitility running the god of OS's, Linux, and take over those bitches that work at microsoft.

Of course, i'm only joshing.

Still, it does fell like Amiga was a slut all along, eh lads?

For new readers by Anonymous Coward · 1999-09-09 20:30 · Score: 3 · on Phrack 55 released

For new readers the Phrack 55 is a

1) Cloned Goat
2) New name for Windows 5.0
3) Beats the hell out of me
4) Maybe Found Here

Pathetic In Moderation by Seumas · 1999-09-05 04:05 · Score: 1 · on Ask Slashdot: Internet Voting?

Since when are we moderating based on degree of agreement? If the parent of this post is flamebait, I'm a Snork.

Maybe this is an unusual example of the pitfalls of online-voting?

Sorry to make this second post, but I put a good deal of time into backing up my statements, providing links to my sources and illustrating my points in that post and to have it ticked-down to 'flamebait' is insulting.

I'm no Jon Katz, Alan Cox, or Rob Malda, but I have a damned good record of comments being marked-up since moderation began and if I have to worry that some trigger-happy-kid with five moderation points to squander is going to paint my post with white-out without cause, then I may think two or three times before bothering to participate in discussions here.

Save your moderation points for me too, first post and what does this have to do with Unix posts and real flamebait/trolls.
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