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As usual, the matter is not all black and white:

But the various ORBS blacklists are raising the vocal ire of opponents such as Electronic Frontiers Foundation co-founder John Gilmore. Gilmore believes ORBS and its derivatives take a heavy-handed, meat cleaver approach to a problem that should be handled with a scalpel. [...] At present, Gilmore's attorneys are negotiating with his own Web-hosting company Verio, which has threatened to terminate Gilmore's website for refusing to close his open mail relay. [...] Gilmore believes spammers have a right to peddle their messages, and mail server operators have a right to forward mail if they want to. For Gilmore, spam blocking should occur at the recipient level, not at the level of self-appointed upstream censors. "

*sigh*

which is why I believe is licensing spam so that you, me, and the ISPs can bill the spammers, and we can send the FBI, the IRS, and other appropriate authorities after them.

This is the source of income that the government has been looking for.

A Spam Tax.

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Certainly it is very sad to see some assholes abusing the site

Remember that he is providing anonymous posting to USENET. He is not an ISP by himself.

Let us imagine that one or two percent of your usenet readership are fools and assholes.

One or two percent of a planet is an awful lot of fools and assholes. 100,000,000 people online = 1,000,000+ willing to make life unbearable for somebody else.

10,000,000 on USENET = 100,000+ dedicated jerks

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Mr Keogh said he patented the wheel to prove the innovation patent system was flawed because it did not need to be examined by the patent office, IP Australia. "The patent office would be required to issue a patent for anything," he said. "All they're doing is putting a rubber stamp on it."

And this differs substantially from the current system?

How?

Since Australian Government has been rather clueless of late (sorry lads!), as far as Technology stuff goes, it seems to be par for the course.

But I am glad to see that:

"[...] he has no immediate plans to patent fire, crop rotation or other fundamental advances in civilisation"

this reminds me of that classic article from the Onion:

Secret of Fire Falls into Russian Hands

Now we got to worry about the Aussies as well.

;-)

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iThe movie contained enough plot for approx. 15 minutes of lame TV crap. I feel as though 2.5 hours of my precious youth have been taken away forever!!

This is remarkably similar to some student comments I read in a college newspaper. The comments were about the movie 2001 when it first came out, and the newspaper was found in a box of old stuff. Fascinating how shallow that comment seems with 20/20 hindsight and the passage of a couple of decades.

It is always fascionating to go back through th old newspapers, and read what regular folks felt about stuff, and how the perception has changed.

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LOL!! That was one of my submissions to that page! I've got a couple more there, and some on techtales.com too. God, it happened about 3 or 4 years ago now. I wonder whatever happened to that dimwit...

With any luck he's a Microsoft programmer right about now.

Which would explain alot of stuff.

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Of course, there is the possibility that the user may be deficient in other areas as well

As seen on Computer Stupidities:

Student: "Hey, how do I lodge in to Hotmail?"
Me: "You've got to type in your username and password in those fields that say 'username' and 'password'."
Student: "I don't have one of those."
Me: "You need one to log in to Hotmail."
Student: "It's 'LODGE' in."
Me: "The term is 'log in,' and you can't log in without a username and password. I can help you create one if you'd like."
Student: "Um, excuse me, but I THINK I know what I'm talking about. It's LODGE in, and I don't want a username and password, I just want to get some email!"

I just went back to working after that, and he left complaining about how "crappy" the computers in the lab were, after trying to "lodge in" for ten more minutes.

Of course, there are hundreds of stories out there just like that one.

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I came across this bit, an archive of the Reaction of Douglas Adams to the advent of Windows. the best is the final sentence: 95:

"The idea that Bill Gates has appeared like a knight in shining armour to lead all customers out of a mire of technological chaos neatly ignores the fact that it was he, by peddling second-rate technology, who led them into it in the first place."

Things haven't changed much at all.

All things considered, I'd rather have Douglas Adams.

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Correct Link:

http://www.infosync.no/en/news/n/419.asp

The Pop up full size ad page is annoying.

I remember the old Star Trek Tricorder that was sort of like a PDA with sensors, but was the size of a 5x8 book. (Book? what is this thing called a book?) What is funny, looking back, is that it was not believable that something would be highly functional, while being really thing (like a clipboard) That is more believable now.

I must say that certain form factors will tend to be used more often, just by being more traditional, such as a tablet, etc.

I like the attempt to get into more exotic form factors and display options

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Please Note:

Inebriety is cause for immediate and indefinite expulsion at the expelled person(s)'s cost!

Sort of takes the fun out of it, no?

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What was funny was that the ad I got on the O'Reilly web page was the IBM ad that says:

"We've discovered websphere developers write 80% less infrastructure code"

As far as the License itself goes, it looks like the Lawyers are still working on it.

"We don't actually have a license for you because they're lawyers," Stutz said. "If it was me, I'd have the license."

Pardon me if I don't hold my breath waiting.

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just because they request personal information, does not mean you have to be HONEST with your personal information.

I am tempted to fill in my home page info as that goat page.

In fact the idea of a having the Passport database filled with dummy accounts pointing to perverted sites, all in the name of mr gates amuses me. They have to be able to document more than one person with the same name, right?

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The point there is that ART encompasses many things.

Including programming, although this is admittedly adstract.

Take for example the Saga of Mel, as seen in the Jargon File. His was a level of skill that could not be appreciated, except by a select view.

I would argue that his work was certainly artistic.

And in the case of the Linux kernel. I would argue that the structural embody a set of selective choices that are to some extent artisitic.

The words that go to make up War and Piece do not physically look like Tolstoy, for example.

This ultimately goes back to the arguments of expression that make up the DeCSS legal cases.

Is Code Art? Is it Expressive?

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Art as an expression is the start of communication. even if it is failed, destroyed, successful or whatever. even it it is communication with your paint brush and canvas. If I write a letter, and it is destroyed in transit was it ever a letter? Of course it was.

Expression without communication is just like pissing in the wind. If you merely what to express yourself, go talk to a wall. Note I do note recommend this.

Expressionism as you have detailed here seems to examine the world of "we have a failure to communicate" as well as the attempts and struggles to communicate, and finally sanctifies the original impulse to say something, without seeing any interaction down the road.

Of course, the secret is, that it IS alright to communicate. Although, for some the jargon and jokes will be arcane, resting on a select vocabulary. NOTE: Interactivity is good, most of the time.

an Arcane artist vocabulary results in phenomena like learning to appreciate the poetry of a foreign language without ever learning the language or seeing a translation. You are left with the vocal patterns only. This can be fun, but you wind up missing stuff.

"Art" is one of those words that doesn't have a definition, yet people try so hard to give it one.

in this context, ART refers to a subtle experinece in the viewer, the receiver of the art. (which can also be the artist!) This experience is an interaction which brings together and evokes various emotions and thoughts in the viewer/listener/audience/etc. depending on the experience of the recipient and how this relates to the "art"

Example, most folks might relate to an abstract "Study in Green" as having to do with money, as one of many possible meanings. White is a wedding colour in the West, while in china, it as a funeral colour. rather different emotions, for the same colour, depending on context.

So art DOES have a definition. It is defined that thing that provides for a certain experience of reflection, that penetrates past the social veneer of a person.

But note that the definition you choose for yourself will colour what you create in your art.

Art as something you breath life into is a bit much for some folks.

I remember reading comments by a number of well known and successful artists and authors that the way people analyse stories and artwork in schools is NOT how they write or paint, etc. Really succesful authors, for example, consider that stuff pure comedy, pure BS for people like critics to indulge in, to fool the public with. An interesting experiment is to count the number of successful authors who went to university to learn to write.

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Art has several elements

1) Communication: Art is a form of communication. Therefore, does it reach the intended audience? via the medium that It is expressed in (rock music, sculpture in silly putty or stone, etc.

2) Technique: The quality of technique can have an impact completely aside from anything else.

3) Audience Response, also know as Participation of the Audience. It has to be interactive somehow on some level, emotional, philosophical, etc. This often means using the symbolism, etc of the culture and people your are intending to reach.

As an example, do a web search for the painting, the "Volga Boat Men". This was famous in pre-revolution Russia, to the extent that many revolutionaries made a pilgrimage to the painting and swore an oath on it. YOU look at it now, and the impact may be a bit less. It worked within that culture, probably less so for ours.

4)Social Agreements and the Opions of Experts - This is where a lot of bullshit lives. you often have a lot of arbitrary opinions, such as that art would have to involve a lot of hard work and effort. Therefore, something that a genius tossed off with minimum effort would be less artistic then something with alot of struggle. which is nonsense. Also, artistic expression can only be through familiar techniques. Which is another bit of junque.

For example, I consider Linux as an OS is a work of ART by Linus, which uses the bits of contributed code as the elements of the montage. It is a somewhat of a self potrait in that regard.

The important part is that familiar techniques usually communicate more easily than unfamiliar ones. 5) Art as a weapon: Comment: Art for Art's sake is nice, but tends to sabotage communication if carried to far. Because Art is also partly communication, you can use it to do something. You can use it as a weapon. Again, the Painting the "Volga Boat Men" was a weapon against the Russia of the Tsars.

Final Thought: Ultimately, Art is something that YOU breath life into. If it is not alive, it is not art. If it is alive, it will communicate, and it is ART. What kind of life it is it up to you.

and yes, in this regard a community or an OS or anything else can be a work of ART.

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This seems like another example of "big bucks" shoving their weight around.

In a similar, but not related story, The company that owns the trade mark for Barney the dinosaur has gone after a satire/parody site. Another example of a big bucks company going after a smaller concern.

But the reply is a hoot:

""It has come to the attention of Cybercheeze that you are operating an illegal scam called 'Strong Arm' under the guise of 'Intellectual Property'. We have reviewed your letter and found that it not only is about as intellectual as the purple quivering mass of gyrating goo you call Barney, but that it also is demeaning to everyone that visits our website and reads this worthless attempt and scare tactic."

spunky attitude. I like it. Gaim should set up a defense fund or something.

heck someone should set up an open source defense fund. but that would require folks to be orgainzed or something.

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They will be having a webcast about this; with on-demand replay available for 30 days. starting June 25 at 12:30 p.m. EDT

here's the link

http://webevents.broadcast.com/compaq/PressAnnounc ement

For those of us who are into hearing sales geeks talk.

[Note the space typo in the link is a slash problem/bug. I can see it spelled correctly in the comment box.]

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which let you control everything in a room from light bulbs (which have assigned URL's )

I can see toasters and coffepot weeb cams with IP numbers.

but light bulbs? Like we can't run out of IPV6 space fast enough already.

sheesh!

;-)

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huh?

The science fiction story angle on it is that eventually all black holes are computers.

Also, It is considered that all galaxies have black holes in the center.

So that galatic cores are data centers, among other things.

Bit of a stretch, but it would be a science fiction story any how.

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if most of the *BSDs and *nix distribs where able to support 64 bit sooner rather than later.

On the other hand, It would be nice if 32 bit *nix/*BSD distribs be out 64 bit MS product anyhow.

Not that this would be *that* hard to do, for those reasonably expert.

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This bit from towards the end of the original paper is interesting in this regard.

No information can escape from a classical black hole: what goes in does not come out. [...] Recent work in string theory suggests that black holes do not actually destroy the information about how they were formed, but instead process it and emit the processed information as part of the Hawking radition as they evaporate: what does in does come out, but in an altered form.

If the latter picture is correct, then black holes could in principle be `programmed': one forms a black hole whose initial conditions encode the information to be processed, lets that information be processed by the Planckian dynamics at the hole's horizon, and gets out the answer to the computation by examining the correlations in the Hawking radiation emitted when the hole evaporates. Despite our lack of knowledge of the precise details of what happens when a black hole forms and evaporates (a full account must await a more exact treatment using whatever theory of quantum gravity and matter turns out to be the correct one), we can still provide a rough estimate how much information is processed during this computation.

"Black Hole" computers sound like a little beyond the limits of the current technology. However, It sheds light on possibilities of the Galactic Structure.

;-)

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"not independantly."

It actually refers to a type of special magical charm

Inde =Azure, a bright blue color. Note the relation to the word "Indigo"

Pendant = a variety of common meanings, including an ornament worn on a necklace, etc.

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I am reminded of the Dead Media Project, which brings me to the speculation of what would the world be like the day the Internet is dead media?

This ties is well with Story of the Pnuematic tubes, a highly developed system that disappeared and became utterly forgotten because of other systems that were utterly superior to it. (Telephones. fax, etc.)

I also am fascinated by the Athenian "computer" that ran the old Athenian democracy. (see info here in 5 parts: 1,2,3,4,5) It was far more IT intensive than most folks realize.

So with these dead sites, etc the question comes to mind: What replaces the internet when it is over?

My vote is that the most likely course is the borgification of the world. Wireless, of course.

But of course, it could be something else as well.

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Just because it was made in the 60s, doesn't mean it was copyrighted.

In the USA, all artists, musicians, writers, etc. have instant copyright to their work. It is inherent in the act of creation. it is ALWAYS there. Thus you have to deal with legal nicities of works for hire, etc.

There is always a copyright. Always.

Who owns it is something else. When it expires is something else.

Right now, the drop dead date on copyright items like songs, etc is sometime just after World War ONE

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I didnt read the article

this is why you may be uninformed.

To recap for you:

1)Grace took a public database that was contributed to freely by thousands of people as a public cetral resource, and decided that this was theirs alone, and no one else could used it.
2)Roxio decided to use someone else's database
3)Grace sued Roxio , saying that they couldn't use someone else's database, because they had the copyright on all of the data, and to do so was to break copyright law because veryone else database had to be breaking the copyright law on this. Even if independantly compiled.
4)Roxio is now counter suing, asaying that Grace is trying to copyright public domain data.

I think I have it mostly right, but I am sure someone will correct me on the details.

it is sort of like suing someone for using a different dictionary or telephone book or whatever because you got a copyright on it.

Now Grace has got a problem, because I think Roxio was their biggest user, and Grace tried to muscle in with big ticket license fees. to which Roxio said "sphhhxxxt!"

I swear, when I set up my slash site, I'm am going to have a moderation item labeled "clueless"

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if mozilla did this but linked to everything2, the slashdot crowd would have a field day and claim how "innovative" and "clever" they were...

That presumes that MS is smarter than it has demonstrated via it's spokesmen.

The slashdotters, while often religiously fanatic and stubborn, are also notoriously independent.

I am sure that you could do an ultimate lightbulb joke about Slash.

(How many Slashdotters does it take to change a light bulb?)(Insert List answer here)

Where the canonical answer for Microsoft is that "Bill declares Dark the Standard".

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Some nifty bits, culled at random:

The operating system kernel (Linux) is the largest single component, at over 2.4 million lines of code (mostly in C); that compares to 1.5 million lines of code in Red Hat 6.2. Over 1,400,000 lines (57% of the Linux kernel) are in the ``drivers'' subdirectory, thus, the primary reason the kernel is so large is that it supports so many different kinds of peripherals. No other subdirectory comes close to this size - the second largest is the ``arch'' directory (at over 446,000 SLOC, 18% of the kernel), which contains the architecture-unique code for each CPU architecture.

Red Hat Linux 7.1 includes over 30 million physical source lines of code (SLOC), compared to well over 17 million SLOC in version 6.2 (which had been released about one year earlier). Using the COCOMO cost model, this system is estimated to have required about 8,000 person-years of development time (as compared to 4,500 person-years to develop version 6.2).

Had this Linux distribution been developed by conventional proprietary means, it would have cost over $1.08 billion (1,000 million) to develop in the U.S. (in year 2000 dollars). Compare this to the $600 million estimate for version 6.2. Thus, Red Hat Linux 7.1 represents over a 60% increase in size, effort, and traditional development costs over Red Hat Linux 6.2. This is quite extraordinary, since this represents approximately one year.

This is interesting, since it makes the Linux effort competitive with Microsoft in hours and bucks alone. (note that the IBM contribution is not included here, and is likely spread over several years (?))

Now as far as the Talent goes ...

;-)

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Not quite Right.

As seen here:

http://www.robotech.com/news/viewarticle.php?id=27

The DVD's can be picked up at most major video stores around the US. They can also be bought online at many major shopping sites, at a manufacturer's suggested retail price of $14.98 or less for the individual DVD's, and $44.95 or less for the box sets.

Looks like you spotted the prices for different set:

Super Dimension Fortress: Macross - Complete Box Set This special Macross DVD box set includes the 36-episode Macross series in its original Japanese form, uncut and with remastered footage. In addition, fans who sign up for the preorder list now will enjoy a hefty discount of $110 off the retail price! IMPORTANT NOTE: This is the Japanese Macross series, not the Macross Saga of Robotech.

Don't Panic Yet!

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One UK university recently took lots of cash from a tobacco company. Amusingly a student who got a major prize from that department publicly turned it down at the prize giving.

Which is plain silly.

what the student should have done was donate the money to the arch foe of the tobacco company. Say a public action group, or something.

How many people here would take a grant from Microsoft, and donate it to the EFF, or what ever?

What a minute ...

never mind ...

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This event (Redhat in the Black) contrasts well with the recent statement of Gates, as noted in the previous Slash story:

The GPL, he continued, "breaks that cycle--that is, it makes it impossible for a commercial company to use any of that work or build on any of that work."

This, taken to the logical end, would make the success of Redhat impossible. All this means is that there is a subtle bug in his logic.

which is somehow appropriate.

It is my view that the MS proprietary accomplishes the exact thing that Gates accuses the GPL of. It makes it impossible for a commercial company to use any of that work or build on any of that work, except with the permission of Microsoft.

Redhat obviously does not have this as an issue, as they are continuing to grow nicely.

Congratulations, Redhat!

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Parisi owns about 700 domain names containing the word "sucks," including Microsoftsucks.com and Chinasucks.com. Typing in those Web addresses redirects surfers to the Sucks.com message board, where they can complain about a variety of organizations and people, including corporations, governments and CEOs, such as Michael Dell.

As much as I dislike this, I can see it as a business plan, to drive traffic to his "sucks" themed websites.

This must annoy the big players no end, so he gets bonus brownie points just for that.

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NetSlaves has an interesting take on the San Jose news story, called The Fear Has Arrived

In part (it is a long and thoughtful read):

In the story, a couple of consultants/network guys wound up in a shelter because they lost their jobs and couldn't pay their bills. One had a 100K a year job, the other a steady 60K consulting gig. These men caught the fear and it has swept them into the gutter. Is the idea of being young and homeless scary? Sure. But here are some factors people have to consider before embracing the fear. Why? Because the fear is a powerful thing. Once it has a hold of you, it owns you. You can't think, can't do anything but absorb the fear and let it control you. Why is the fear spreading so fast, based on ONE article? Because it could be anyone. It was as if everyone now had permission to be scared about their future and all of a sudden, all that liberterian thought they had sucked down was not working. The possibility of poverty, or a quick trip back to 1992 was not what they expected after the boom. And the fact that it's here scares people to the core. There's no work, there doesn't look like there's going to be any work, and people don't see a market for their skills. No more trips to Europe, no more unlimited futures, no more foosball in the office. No more office. But let's look at the circumstances of that article more closely: "

And it goes on.

a pretty good look at the psychology behind why the story struck a raw nerve in folks

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I have visions of geeks defecting to Canada, because of the opression inherent in the US. I mean, look at all of those broadband starved geeks.

"Give us your wretched, your tired, your huddled geeks yearning to surf free"

Brings a tear to the eye

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Almost everyone has been posting general sites. when the contest specifies exact news stories for most categories.

As a general site, I recommend Netslaves. They have a large number of articles by a number of talented writers, and so it is hard to recommend just one.

There is The Last Time I Ate Neuchatel By Heedless Housman; and many other similar observational pieces.

But the one I actually recommend is the "How To read a 10q" series of articles kicking apart the hard core financials of places like Juno, Salon, Razorfish, Yahoo, and many others. The explanation The Media, Money, and You by Steve Gilliard also should be included with it, as it explains what the series is about. The whole package is really worth looking at.

There is a menu box on the right side devoted just to this series, complete with the intro, etc. Definitely worth putting in for something.

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How many IT workers have another *really* saleable skill.

Very true, although you could have one of those guys who is (likely) a rocket scientist or a heart surgeon, along with being a expert classical musician (violin and piano), who then decided to have a computerized research center running the proverbial Beowulf cluster in an "out" building separate from the main house.

Sort of a modern day Doctor Frankenstein, I guess.

;-)

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I really dislike it if someone comes along and tries to piggy-pack on my work, good bad, or otherwise. If I donate my work to Open source, that is one thing. But straight ripoffs - ugh.

An example in point is the Darwin Awards. There is the Original Darwin Awards, done by a college student. This is the one that got the original fame. Then there is the copy cat Darwin Awards site who was better financed, and grabbed the URL first. So the college student sort of got plowed under.

Guess where my sympathy lies.

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They had a similar problem with the product name 'Internet Explorer"

You can still download the original Sprynet (Non-MS) Internet Explorer at the Evolt.org browser archive, here

I recall that MS also had to settle with Synet (not Sprynet) on the name Interner Explorer. The original company went under, but was kept alive long enough by lawyers for some sort of settlement from MS. That story you can read about here, with added info here.

Then, these are the people who insist that "BookShelf" is not a generic term.

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Microsoft provides a non-exploitive means of employment for thousands of people all across the world and in doing so fulfills a social contract that is very valuable indeed.

I know of a software shop where the NON-MS side of the house is maybe 5 people, and the MS side of the house is maybe 25 to 50. The usual thing databases, etc. Guess which side, which department ins more productive? hint, it is not the MS Side. The smaller department outright outproduces the MS department. And is the department that is keeping the company afloat. Of course, this is upsetting to the the MS crew who wants to phase out the NON-MS department.

What this says to me is that MS has been promoting widespread programmer incompetancy and inflated cost of ownership. How else to explain the above scenario? How else to explain the need for dozens of people in one scenario in one body of technology where the same thing is accomplished by a mere handful? If the personnel are legitamate experts, then that means that the technology itself is inherently flawed.

The only thing saving those MS geeks in that company is that the managers have bought the MS marketing line, despite the reality of accounting figures. When they get rid of the older system, they will likely kill the company.

the last paragraph of the WSJ Article says it best:

In its campaign against open-source, Microsoft has been unable to come up with examples of companies being harmed by it. One reason [...] is that virtually all the available evidence suggests that open source is "a huge advantage" to companies. "They are able to build on a common standard that is not owned by anyone," he said. "With Windows, Microsoft owns them."

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I remember someone did some statistical analysis on something just like this many years ago, as far as distribution of frequencies etc. The end result was that the distribution curve in the DNA matched that of large pieces of music, such as by Mozart, etc.

I wonder about 1) how albums by certain rock artists would match up in this regard; and 2) the algorthm for the original conversion of DNA to music. There are so many ways that it could be done. You could take the 21 amino acids and line them up on any number of scales: chromatic, wholetone, diatonic, etc. Some choices would generate more musical results than others.

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Here is a routine that I have used from time to time for those on the low end of the learning curve:

1) with Power off - have them find all of the keys on the keyboard (enter key, escape key, functions keys. etc) Make the push ther keys, which is why the power is off
2) With Power off - mouse drill, as above - pick up the muse find the ball, etc.
3) Power on and off drills - how to tell if it is on, sleeping. etc. How to turn on the computer, how to shut it off, correctly.
4) Following directions - do a simple installation of something with a professional manual.

The point of this is to get used to the manual, how to figure things out, and how to know when to quite because you are over your head.

Do not explain the directions to them! Ask them to read the directions, system requirements, etc. on each individual bit, ask them the vital question. "what does that mean to you?" "Read it again" etc.

Example:

"Okay, read the first line" - 'requires windows 2000'
Okay! "What does that mean to you?" - 'it needs windows'
"right! what kind of windows does your computer have?" - 'I don't know'
Okay! What did it say when it started?" - 'I don't remember'
"Well, let's look" - 'Okay'
"Good. let's shut down the Computer" - (student does so, because you already taught this)
"good, now turn it on" - (Student does so, because you already taught this)
"excellent, - What does it say you have?" - 'Redhat Linux' -
"alright, let's read that first line" - 'requires Windows 2000'
"Right. And what kind of windows do you have?" - 'Redhat Linux
"good. Now is that windows 2000?" - Nope.'
"Right! so can you use this on this computer?" - 'Nope'
"Right. - Is that Windows at all?" - I guess not"
"Right. Now what about that computer there?" - 'yes it is, I see the logo'

ETC. through reading the instructions. This obviously needs alot of patience, but gets the basics covered quickly.

handle questions by having them look.

('Will this run on my machine?' - "What does it say?")

If you keep focussing on people looking and learning and doing it themselves and getting more familiar, that will handle things thoroughly.

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Sharing at gunpoint isn't sharing, it's theft.

This is different from the MS Marketing Virus how?

An old spanish proverb goes (roughly) "A thief thinks everyone is a thief"

In other words a thief will see all attempts to be trustworthy and develop trust, to develop a flourishing society, etc ; he/she/it will see all of these as a threat to their own (immoral) activities, and think that some one else is trying to steal from them.

Only a thief would see a gun in every out-stretched, helping hand.

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This was Reported earleir (12 june 2001 on the Register here under the title "WinXP IE6 spells death for Doubleclick - and a boost for MSN?"

There was an interesting follow up the following day, see here, under the Title "IE6 will not monster our cookies, says Doubleclick"

The gist of the second story:

Doubleclick cookies may be entirely blocked by the current beta versions of IE6, but DoubleClick insists that this won't be the case by the time the finished version of IE6 ships, this August. The company has a machine readable P3P policy in preparation, and this will allow Doubleclick cookies to be accepted by IE6 at the default privacy settings.

And there is this tidbit

That's just a snapshot of the way Redmond is currently embracing independent Internet standards. By keeping ahead of the curve, putting them in place first, Microsoft can call the shots as regards how they're put in place.

Lovely, simply lovely.

To get off on arguing about Double click misses the main point entirely. MS is there first with the most money in the next generation of privacy control, via IE6.

Time to play connect the dots.

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And I thought lag on my cable modem was bad.
I would assume some system would be incorporated to have it auto-navigate.
if(mountain) turn left;

You need some Artificial Intelligence stuff. Since Titan is one of the better candidates for native life in the solar system, it is always nice to have the "Run Away!" option.

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For example, radio and television were unknown at the time the First Amendment was drafted. But that amendment clearly means that Congress shall not muck about with free speech on radio or television, just as they shall not in newspapers. (In practice, we have let them get by with fudging somewhat for broadcasters, on the theory that the airwaves are a public resource. Shame on us.)

In a similar fashion, this should include other free spreech issues on the web, and the use of copyright law to limit speech.

But that might be asking too much.

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These guys are being controlled telepathically by the Martians.

They are doing this to send out a large amount of genetic material out to the Martian/Jovial joint cloning program. They can then clone large amounts of people to smuggle back into the planet so that they can take over the planetary government by infiltrration without bothering to send a space fleet.

We got problems

;-)

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Most real estate sales want to get you in the door, to do a face to face where you can get smoozed. They also have this thing about not giving information to their competition. And so it is going to be difficult to find something comprehensive.

sort of like Arpa Net when it was started. No university wanted to share their servers. (but they did government mandate. everyone had to be part of the network)

Here people focus more on the liabilities of putting stuff up on the net, vs the benefits.

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If you were having problems with past versions, this [upgrade] may be your best bet. Still, if you're at XFree86 3.3.6 and you're using an obscure graphics card, I'd suggest doing a little checking to see if your video card is supported. Some cards are still supported best in version 3.3.x. This is, quite obviously, one of the biggest concerns of most users. Although, as far as I know, no cards' support was broken in the upgrade from 4.0.3 to 4.1.0.

This is the major point for me. Especially since I sometimes throw together frankenboxen with a wide variety of obscure parts. [I obviously need the education]

Still looks very promising. Tbe proverbial step in the right direction.

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Let's face it - If I had the big bucks, then 100k+ for a system might be pocket change.

but if it was an obsession, taking up substantial portions of my income to a destructive level, then there is a problem.

A human can be obsessed with anything. Take the previously discussed example of hypnotism. Now if you have people in a chronic hypnotic state, such as via you favorite recreational chemicals, or what ever, - well I imagine that advertising might be much more effective.

heck, any positive feedback loop can be addictive. Maybe we should just make sure that only negative feedback loops are legal?

sounds like a plan to me.

My point is that Positive feedback loops are destructive if there is not a limiter on them. The word Addiction is used too broadly to cover things and classify positive things as negative.

"He was addicted to life. But we cured him"

;-)

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I am sure there will be a market for a video recording software that will fake this service out, and allow you to record it all to your hard drive. Especially since the size of hardrives are pushing past the 100 gig range, etc. let's face it, for most of what I want to do, analog output is fine.

Art level stuff I would probably go out and buy the DVD or something.

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I like the reaction at the end:

But once I sat back and reflected on how awfully, horribly wrong ZD's print publications have gone in trying to address the enthusiast community, I felt a little better. A lot better, actually. Which leads me to my message to ZD and the other big media companies who want to play on our turf:

Welcome to our house. Better learn how to graph.

Although it seems like they may be playing more to the Mass market than to the specialty areas and experts. Which means that they will be somewhat successful, and will continue to have no influence on knowledgable experienced folks.

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Some years ago, I came across a book called "Faces of The Enemy" It is an excellent book, and was also a nova special of PBS back in the 80s. I have a tape of the show and I own the book.

Basically it goes into the profound similarity between in cultural situations where group X says Group Y is horrible, evil, etc. It is a revelation to recognize it as a profound group psychosis. It has nothing to do with politics or religion in the common sense of the word. It is a revelation to see it in oneself and to overcome it.

I have lived over seas, and I have also seen it in the middle east. The fact of the hate itself I consider a psychosis. Two psychotics do not make either side a saint.

I have seen a man reading the bible, interjecting racist remarks into the plain text, convinced that what he was saying was in fact in the text. When it wasn't there at all.

Fundamentally, I throw out and throw away anything that walks down the road of foam at the mouth these guys or those guys or them guys over there are PURE evil.

One of the things that Wiesenthall (a WWII deathcamp survivor and famed Nazi hunter) said about the Nazis was the sheer shock that he discovered that they were human, too. Simply human. That there was no more monster there then there was in anyone else.

All too much of this takes the witch hunt attitude of "we will search for evidence of evil"; it becomes a self fulfilling prophecy, and down the toilet you go. I have seen some of the stuff you are talking about, and the wacko gleam in the eye obsession is there in an awful lot of the writing.

I am sorry. I reject that obsession with hate and the urge to detroy. I have lost family due to such hate (I am not jewish)

I may despise MS, for example, for their software and marketing practices. But ultimately, they too are human.

Go ahead. Hate them. Hate them. Hate them more thoroughly, despise them as completely as possible, until there is no room in your soul for anything else. Forever.

And see where it leaves you.

It is not a place I recommend. But you can live there if you want.

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