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High [sic] Definition Porn
YES!
oh, and Star Trek will look nice as well.

There are 2 unusual lessons from the development of digital video. The first lesson is that pornography is the driver of improvements in video equipment -- from VCRs to HDTVs. Adult video is something that you simply must see -- with the eyes. If the resolution improves by 50%, then the porn video becomes 50% better. Adult video is a multibillion industry if you measure all the videos produced in the world.

The second lesson is that there is simply no justification, whatsoever, for allowing H-1B workers to work in the United States of America (USA). Allow me to explain.

We are all familiar with the comparison between the UltraSPARC III and the SPARC64-V. The management of Sun Microsystems says that it absolutely must have H-1B employees in order to build the "best" microprocessor, the UltraSPARC III. By comparision, Fujitsu hires almost exclusively native employees (i. e. Japanese citizens) and used native employees (not foreign workers) to build the SPARC64-V. It implements the same insruction set that the UltraSPARC III implements but significantly outperforms the UltraSPARC III on 3 key benchmarks: SPECint2000, SPECfp2000, and TPC-C. Please verify the performance characteristics of the SPARC64-V at the web site for SPEC and the web site for TPC-C.

Another interesting example is high-definition television (HDTV) Please read "The History and Politics of DTV".

The typical foreigner claims that H-1B workers help to give American companies a technological edge to create whole new industries. The typical foreigner claims that foreign workers helped the Americans to leapfrog the Japanese in the area of HDTV. The Japanese had established an HDTV standard prior to 1989 and had begun broadcasting HDTV programs by 1989, but this standard was based on analog techniques. In the 1990s, the Americans developed an HDTV standard based on digital techniques. The foreigners claim that foreign brainpower helped the USA to leap ahead of Japan.

Not really. Once the HDTV standard based on digital techniques was established, the Japanese (and the Koreans) commercialized the technology. Most of the HDTV products that you see in the USA are manufactured in Japan (and Korea).

The lesson here is that, "even if" terminating H-1B employment may diminish American innovation and simultaneously increase innovation in India (for example), the Indians may not be able to effectively commercialize the technology. Given the superiority (e.g., low rate of software piracy) of Western society, the Americans would be able to out-commerialze any innovation that appears in India before the Indians achieve commercialization.

The phrase "even if" is used because there is simply no evidence to suggest that terminating H-1B employement will diminish American innovation. Innovation is a hard thing to predict -- for the very reason that creativity is hard to predict. For example, Japan was initially ahead in HDTV by using analog techniques in the 1980s; at the time, many "experts" predicted that the USA would fall permanently behind in HDTV technology. Nonetheless, the USA raced ahead in HDTV by using digital techniques. Now, Japan is ahead again by pushing the envelope of HDTV technology to create ultra HDTV.

... from the desk of the reporter

Like I said in prior similar topics, for intranets, businesses really want an HTTP-friendly GUI to avoid firewall hassles. Candidates include XWT, and SCGUI (my pet). I suppose XUL could also be included. HTML forms + JS + DOM is really a pain for GUI emulation.

And I do think PAL is superior to NTSC both in terms of resolution and color quality, but the 50Hz bothers me. I almost always see flickering on TVs when I go to PAL countries... but maybe I've only been seeing crap TVs :) (and it's been about 5 years since I last saw PAL... will be going overseas in November though, so perhaps I'll get to see some modern sets). I haven't seen a PAL 60 signal yet...

No, these are gay icons!

Here's a nice tribute to RMS and all the work he's done with the GNU project. Definitely it's worth a visit, but please try not to exceed the Geocities bandwidth limit on the site.

Is the search-engine business of sufficient size to support 8+ players? Given the fact that the search engines of several of the players are very similar, the answer is "probably not". The market for search engines will undergo consolidation, and the main survivor will probably be Microsoft. It has an R&D budget that none of the other competitors can match.

You can be sure that Google is rapidly working towards an initial public offering (IPO) while there is still a chance for an IPO.

... from the desk of the reporter

or maybe L. meyeri..

Specifically it must have beenL. olivacea which I guess means olive colored, since as in the photo it had no markings, it just looked like a beautiful hunk of chalky, greenish colored velvety living stone. Can't believe I found it. Some really bizarre, ugly, and beautiful pics on this page. Also more interesting photos here>/a> and here.

I also am thinking of throwing out the pencil plant (Euphorbia tirucalli) stem which will certainly take root by itself, but apparently causes cancer! I wouldn't want a cat to eat it.

Further, NTT joining the OSDL is extremely bad news for Sun Microsystems. NTT currently uses Solaris to run its group servers, but NTT is clearly committed to migrating all its servers from Solaris to Linux. NTT is the beginning of the Linux avalanche that will lock Sun computer systems out of the telecommunications market. (reference: " NTT Mulls Joining Global Consortium For Linux Development")

... from the desk of the reporter

The field of microprocessors has a similar controversy. Intel frequently portrays itself as the inventor of the microprocessor because, supposedly, Ted Hoff and Frederico Faggin invented it when they were Intel employees.

In 1978, the United States Patent Office (USPTO) granted Texas Instruments a patent for a version of a microprocessor developed by Gary Boone, an employee. He had filed the patent in 1971.

In 1990, the USPTO granted Gilbert Hyatt a patent on another version of a microprocessor; he had initially filed the patent in 1970. His work pre-dates the work by Hoff and Faggin.

In 1996, the USPTO rescinded the patent granted to Hyatt and designated Gary Boone as the official inventor of the microprocessor. In short, neither Hoff nor Faggin are the first inventors of the microprocessor, yet we in the Slashdot community have heaped undeserved praise on them.

For further information, please read "Micro, Micro: Who Made The Micro?", "1970s -- The Altair/Apple Era", and "Processor Talk".

... from the desk of the reporter

It has come to my attention that the entire Linux community is a hotbed of so called 'alternative sexuality,' which includes anything from hedonistic orgies to homosexuality to pedophilia.

What better way of demonstrating this than by looking at the hidden messages contained within the names of some of Linux's most outspoken advocates:

• Linus Torvalds is an anagram of slit anus or VD 'L,' clearly referring to himself by the first initial.
• Richard M. Stallman, spokespervert for the Gaysex's Not Unusual 'movement' is an anagram of mans cram thrill ad.
• Alan Cox is barely an anagram of anal cox which is just so filthy and unchristian it unnerves me.

I'm sure that Eric S. Raymond, composer of the satanic homosexual propaganda diatribe The Cathedral and the Bizarre, is probably an anagram of something queer, but we don't need to look that far as we know he's always shoving a gun up some poor little boy's rectum. Update: Eric S. Raymond is actually an anagram for secondary rim and cord in my arse. It just goes to show you that he is indeed queer.

Update the Second: It is also documented that Evil Sicko Gaymond is responsible for a nauseating piece of code called Fetchmail, which is obviously sinister sodomite slang for 'Felch Male' -- a disgusting practise. For those not in the know, 'felching' is the act performed by two perverts wherein one sucks their own post-coital ejaculate out of the other's rectum. In fact, it appears that the dirty Linux faggots set out to undermine the good Republican institution of e-mail, turning it into 'e-male.'

As far as Richard 'Master' Stallman goes, that filthy fudge-packer was actually quoted on leftist commie propaganda site Salon.com as saying the following: 'I've been resistant to the pressure to conform in any circumstance,' he says. 'It's about being able to question conventional wisdom,' he asserts. 'I believe in love, but not monogamy,' he says plainly.

And this isn't a made up troll bullshit either! He actually stated this tripe, which makes it obvious that he is trying to politely say that he's a flaming homo slut!

Speaking about 'flaming,' who better to point out as a filthy chutney ferret than Slashdot's very own self-confessed pederast Jon Katz. Although an obvious deviant anagram cannot be found from his name, he has already confessed, nay boasted of the homosexual perversion of corrupting the innocence of young children. To quote from the article linked:

'I've got a rare kidney disease,' I told her. 'I have to go to the bathroom a lot. You can come with me if you want, but it takes a while. Is that okay with you? Do you want a note from my doctor?'

Is this why you were touching your penis in the cinema, Jon? And letting the other boys touch it too?

We should also point out that Jon Katz refers to himself as 'Slashdot's resident Gasbag.' Is there any more doubt? For those fortunate few who aren't aware of the list of homosexual terminology found inside the Linux 'Sauce Code,' a 'Gasbag' is a pervert who gains sexual gratification from having a thin straw inserted into his urethra (or to use the common parlance, 'piss-pipe'), then his homosexual lover blows firmly down the straw to inflate his scrotum. This is, of course, when he's not busy violating the dignity and copyright of post

So everyone should be a rational economizer, busy calculating their individual costs and benefits, and acting accordingly. Right?

Wrong. Human economic motivation is driven by two principal impulses: selfishness and compassion. Still, there is considerable variation across societies.

First consider Western society. Capitalism and free markets are essentially driven by selfishness. Each consumer and producer wants to maximize her own gain, regardless of the outcome to other consumers and producers. Adam Smith claims that selfishness is the only driving force. Is he right? Of course, not. Western consumers frequently prefer to buy environmentally friendly products that are neither the cheapest nor the highest quality. When organizations like the Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition advertise that certain companies receive a failing grade on how they recycle used computers, those failing companies suffer a drop in sales. Furthermore, Western consumers frequently donate money and time to organizations like Amnesty International (AI) yet receive no product or service in return. So, clearly, compassion is a strong component of economic motivation.

However, the degree of selfishness and compassion varies across societies. Consider Taiwanese society. When Westerners like the Americans withheld investments from China after the brutal incident at Tienanmen Square in 1989 in order to force Beijing to change, the Taiwanese immediately seized this window of opportunity and poured money and technology into China, completely thwarting any American economic sanctions. (reference: "Reality of Taiwan") Note also that all the Taiwanese companies mentioned in the environmental study done by the Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition received failing grades. Why? Most Chinese in China (which includes Taiwan province and Hong Kong) simply do not care about the environment. They prefer to buy the cheapest product even if it damages the environment. Since the main customers of the Taiwanese companies do not care about the environment, those companies will do nothing to protect the environment. As for human-rights organizations like AI, most Chinese reject its principles. The Chinese are overrepresented in the business and engneering colleges of American universities but are underrepresented in meetings of AI. (You can verify this fact by just attending an AI meeting.) So, clearly, compassion is almost non-existent as a component of economic motivation in Chinese society.

Other societies fall somewhere between the two extremes of Western society and Chinese (or Taiwanese) society.

... from the desk of the reporter

So everyone should be a rational economizer, busy calculating their individual costs and benefits, and acting accordingly. Right?

Wrong. Human economic motivation is driven by two principal impulses: selfishness and compassion. Still, there is considerable variation across societies.

First consider Western society. Capitalism and free markets are essentially driven by selfishness. Each consumer and producer wants to maximize her own gain, regardless of the outcome to other consumers and producers. Adam Smith claims that selfishness is the only driving force. Is he right? Of course, not. Western consumers frequently prefer to buy environmentally friendly products that are neither the cheapest nor the highest quality. When organizations like the Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition advertise that certain companies receive a failing grade on how they recycle used computers, those failing companies suffer a drop in sales. Furthermore, Western consumers frequently donate money and time to organizations like Amnesty International (AI) yet receive no product or service in return. So, clearly, compassion is a strong component of economic motivation.

However, the degree of selfishness and compassion varies across societies. Consider Taiwanese society. When Westerners like the Americans withheld investments from China after the brutal incident at Tienanmen Square in 1989 in order to force Beijing to change, the Taiwanese immediately seized this window of opportunity and poured money and technology into China, completely thwarting any American economic sanctions. (reference: "Reality of Taiwan") Note also that all the Taiwanese companies mentioned in the environmental study done by the Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition received failing grades. Why? Most Chinese in China (which includes Taiwan province and Hong Kong) simply do not care about the environment. They prefer to buy the cheapest product even if it damages the environment. Since the main customers of the Taiwanese companies do not care about the environment, those companies will do nothing to protect the environment. As for human-rights organizations like AI, most Chinese reject its principles. The Chinese are overrepresented in the business and engneering colleges of American universities but are underrepresented in meetings of AI. (You can verify this fact by just attending an AI meeting.) So, clearly, compassion is almost non-existent as a component of economic motivation in Chinese society.

Other societies fall somewhere between the two extremes of Western society and Chinese (or Taiwanese) society.

... from the desk of the reporter

Michael Robertson, in his usual marketing speak, compares this to adding "Fluoride in the water"

This is very funny. There is a long history of wackos equating floridation of drinking water with government mind control. Here is an example, which is very tame by the standards of the alternate-science crowd.

Gotta go, my alien gray masters are calling me by mind control satellite to their sub-antarctic base again!

...practically the day it was invented. Indeed, it can be argued that he started using one before it had been invented, or at least perfected.

Jack London began using a typewriter the very instant he could afford one. The one he could afford wasn't very good--a balky Blickensderfer that required great effort to operate, was badly aligned, and only typed in uppercase--and he switched to a better one as soon as he could afford that.

Here's a picture of the typewriter he used from 1904 on.

"Creative people" latched onto the Macintosh within months of its introduction.

AMD created the 3DNow! extensions to the 80x86 instruction set architecture (ISA), also known as IA-32. They were a significant improvement over the original set of MMX extensions. However, later, Intel created the SSE (and SSE2) extensions. Guess what? AMD was forced to incorporate them into its future chips in addition to the 3DNow! extensions. Ignoring the SSE extensions would have cost AMD dearly in terms of marketshare. The fact of the matter is that Intel sets the global standard for the IA-32 ISA.

Now, AMD has created its own x86-64 extensions to the IA-32. You can be sure that Intel has created a different set of 64-bit extensions (which we shall call "INTEL-64") to the IA-32. After all, why would Intel support AMD in any way? Once Intel activates the INTEL-64 extensions in the upcoming Prescott, AMD will be forced to go back to the drawing board to incorporate the INTEL-64 into all future chips. The current Athlon64 will be like the K-5 -- interesting but without a future.

AMD will probably take an additional 2 years to produce an INTEL-64-compatiable chip. By that time, Intel would have locked 90% of the 64-bit desktop market with Prescott.

The worst news is for Sun. With Prescott, Intel has a 64 bit chip that will be significantly faster than the UltraSPARC III/IV. Right now, the Pentium 4 crushes the UltraSPARC III in performance. Please review the performance characteristics of the Pentium 4 at the SPEC web site. Since Prescott (successor to the Pentium 4) will be faster than its predecessor, Prescott will clean UltraSPARC's clock. Moreover, the number of applications that will run on Prescott -- the heir to the software empire of the x86 -- far exceeds the number of applications that run on UltraSPARC III/IV. On the key TPC-C benchmark, Prescott will clearly deliver outstanding performance, compared to the UltraSPARC III/IV.

In short, when Intel activates the INTEL-64 extensions in Prescott, Intel will force (1) AMD back to its usual state of borderline bankruptcy and (2) Sun into being a software company.

... from the desk of the reporter

I prefer the Perl-like approach of having different operators for string or numbers. It reduces confusion, at least for me. Except, that in Perl you keep accidently using the number comparison out of habit. Thus, whatever is chosen for the operators, it should not too closely resemble the current common languages. When using PHP, I tend to make my own comparison functions. Besides, usually I want to trim spaces from the edges before comparing anyhow, so the functions serve 2 purposes. And, you can control type mismatch crash messages better.

As far as the merits of strong typing versus "scripting" (dynamic typing), I think it is personal thing. What F's up person A may not F up person B nearly as much. I myself prefer dynamic typing, for static typing results in too much code. The errors caused by slogging through more code and formalism are greater than the errors caused by dynamic typing for me.

More on my dynamic typing opinions can be found here

no! cryptographic music!

Cyberdemon was the freakiest boss I ever ran into my gaming history.

1) He was HUGE for first perspective shooters.
2) He was ugly!
3) Crazy rockets!
4) Noisy!

What better way of demonstrating this than by looking at the hidden messages contained within the names of some of Linux's most outspoken advocates:

• Linus Torvalds [microsoft.com] is an anagram of slit anus or VD 'L,' clearly referring to himself by the first initial.
• Richard M. Stallman [geocities.com], spokespervert for the Gaysex's Not Unusual 'movement' is an anagram of mans cram thrill ad.
• Alan Cox [microsoft.com] is barely an anagram of anal cox which is just so filthy and unchristian it unnerves me.

I'm sure that Eric S. Raymond, composer of the satanic homosexual [goatse.cx] propaganda diatribe The Cathedral and the Bizarre, is probably an anagram of something queer, but we don't need to look that far as we know he's always shoving a gun up some poor little boy's rectum. Update: Eric S. Raymond is actually an anagram for secondary rim and cord in my arse. It just goes to show you that he is indeed queer.

Update the Second: It is also documented that Evil Sicko Gaymond is responsible for a nauseating piece of code called Fetchmail [microsoft.com], which is obviously sinister sodomite slang for 'Felch Male' -- a disgusting practise. For those not in the know, 'felching' is the act performed by two perverts wherein one sucks their own post-coital ejaculate out of the other's rectum. In fact, it appears that the dirty Linux faggots set out to undermine the good Republican institution of e-mail, turning it into 'e-male.'

As far as Richard 'Master' Stallman goes, that filthy fudge-packer was actually quoted [salon.com] on leftist commie propaganda site Salon.com as saying the following: 'I've been resistant to the pressure to conform in any circumstance,' he says. 'It's about being able to question conventional wisdom,' he asserts. 'I believe in love, but not monogamy,' he says plainly.

And this isn't a made up troll bullshit either! He actually stated this tripe, which makes it obvious that he is trying to politely say that he's a flaming homo [comp-u-geek.net] slut [rotten.com]!

Speaking about 'flaming,' who better to point out as a filthy chutney ferret than Slashdot's very own self-confessed pederast Jon Katz. Although an obvious deviant anagram cannot be found from his name, he has already confessed, nay boasted of the homosexual [goatse.cx] perversion of corrupting the innocence of young children [slashdot.org]. To quote from the article linked:

'I've got a rare kidney disease,' I told her. 'I have to go to the bathroom a lot. You can come with me if you want, but it takes a while. Is that okay with you? Do you want a note from my doctor?'

Is this why you were touching your penis [rotten.com] in the cinema, Jon? And letting the other boys touch it too?

We should also point out that Jon Katz refers to himself as 'Slashdot's resident Gasbag.' Is there any more doubt? For those fortunate few who aren't aware of the list of homosexual [goatse.cx] terminology found inside the Linux 'Sauce Code,' a 'Gasbag' is a pervert who gains sexual gratification from having a thin straw inserted into his urethra (or to use the common parlance, 'piss-pipe'), then his

According to "IBM steals server sales from Sun", IBM has been handily defeating Sun in its bread-and-butter market. As Sun's share of the UNIX server market shrinks, Sun itself shrinks. The worst is yet to come.

... from the desk of the reporter

Some of the folks in the forums over at Ars Technica has been using PS7Bench (a 21 filter test) on a 50 MB test file. Their results are summarized here.

It is interesting to note that the G5 performs significantly better on the first 12 tests than on the last 9. The tests it performs the worst on are NTSC Colors, Accented Edges, and Water Color.

I always though that simple sets would be the way to go. You create categories (as needed), and then assign books to as many or as few categories as are needed. A variation of this is weighted sets, where "membership" has a weighting factor between 0 and 1.

I have a few more details on these at:

http://www.geocities.com/tablizer/sets1.htm

"You have the ring, and I see your Schwartz is as big as mine...Now let's see how well you handle it."

- Dark Helmet

Audio here: [wav]

Update: "Fist Sport" explained. (05/17/01)

---

Paid for advertisement from the Michael Sims is a Treacherous Cunt society

Freedom
Is
Really
Something
That

Pisses
Off
Slashdot
Tyrants.

---

It has come to my attention that the entire Linux community is a hotbed of so called 'alternative sexuality,' which includes anything from hedonistic orgies to homosexuality to pedophilia.

What better way of demonstrating this than by looking at the hidden messages contained within the names of some of Linux's most outspoken advocates:

Linus Torvalds is an anagram of SLIT ANUS OR VD 'L,' clearly referring to himself by the first initial.

Richard M. Stallman , spokespervert for the Gaysex is Not Unusual 'movement' is an anagram of MANS CRAM THRILL AD.

Alan Cox is barely an anagram of ANAL COX which is just so filthy and unchristian it unnerves me.

I'm sure that Eric S. Raymond, composer of the satanic homosexual propaganda diatribe The Cathedral and the Bizarre, [Buy At Amazon] is probably an anagram of something queer, but we don't need to look that far as we know he's always shoving a gun up some poor little boy's rectum. Update: Eric S. Raymond is actually an anagram for SECONDARY RIM and CORD IN MY ARSE. It just goes to show you that he is indeed queer.

Update the Second: It is also documented that Evil Sicko Gaymond is responsible for a nauseating piece of code called Fetchmail, which is obviously sinister sodomite slang for "Felch Male" - a disgusting practise. For those not in the know, "felching" is the act performed by two perverts wherein one sucks their own post-coital ejaculate out of the other's rectum. In fact, it appears that the dirty Linux faggots set out to undermine the good Republican institution of e-mail, turning it into "e-male."

As far as Richard "(cock)Master" Stallman goes, that filthy fudge-packer was actually quoted on leftist commie propaganda site Salon.com as saying the following:

RMS: "I've been resistant to the pressure to conform in any circumstance," he says. "It's about being able to question conventional wisdom," he asserts. "I believe in love, but not monogamy," he says plainly.

And this isn't a made up troll bullshit either! He actually stated this tripe, which makes it obvious that he is trying to politely say that he's a flaming homo slut!

Speaking about "flaming," who better to point out as a filthy chutney ferret than Slashdot's very own self-confessed pederast Jon Katz. Although an obvious deviant anagram cannot be found from his name, he has already confessed, nay boasted of the homosexual perversion of corrupting the innocence of young children. To quote from the article linked:

"I've got a rare kidney disease,' I told her. 'I have to go to the bathroom a lot. You can come with me if you want, but it takes a while. Is that okay with you? Do you want a note from my doctor?'

Is this why you were touching your penis in

Now, times are different. Companies like Yahoo and especially Microsoft are aggressively investing in building the kinds of complex yet user-friendly search capabilities that Google has. Microsoft will soon have a search engine that rivals or exceeds the capabilities of Google's search engine. Google is doomed.

Internet-search tools is not the only market with a low barrier to entry. Another such market is the market for virtual machines. Consider the virtual machine monitor (VMM) sold by VM Ware. It did excellent marketing of a very simple idea -- and a very old idea. VMM was invented by IBM and has been around since the 1960s. The theory of VMM has been well documented and understood in the scientific literature. VMWare took the idea of VMM and simply applied it to the x86 chips. VMWare's genius is in marketing its product as though it were a revolutionary breakthrough. Most of its customers bought the marketing campaign with hook, line, and sinker.

Microsoft is now investing millions of dollars in VMMs and purchased the key VMM technologies from Connectix. Microsoft has succeeded in creating a VMM that rivals or exceeds the capabilities of the VMM sold by VMWare. VMWare is doomed.

Unlike both Google and VMWare, Microsoft has an R&D budget of billions of dollars. Microsoft can defeat both Google and VMWare in their respective markets. Despite public declarations to the contrary, both Google and VMWare are warily aware of Microsoft's R&D might and are working quickly towards an IPO while there is still chance for an IPO. If you buy stock in either Google or VMWare, you might as well just burn the money. It will be worthless.

... from the desk of the reporter

Lucas' stroytelling prowess seems to have diminished with the ensuing decades after Jedi, but have they diminished this much?

The legions of fans of "Indiana Jones" would disagree. George Lucas co-created "Indiana Jones", and its stories exceed the quality of the stories of "Star Wars". The former has less sci-fi gadgetry and more human quality than the latter. The exception might be Star Wars IV.

... from the desk of the reporter

here is a quick taste of what the story for episode III might be like (either taken from Lucas' journal in 1983, or just a fake from an insider way back then)."

Hmmm...Where have I known that taste before? Ah yes! The well familiar taste of bullshit! And when this guy was done writing "Ep III" he might well have tried his hand at another brand of fan fiction.

Lucas' stroytelling prowess seems to have diminished with the ensuing decades after Jedi, but have they diminished this much? I sincerely doubt it. Even taking Ep I into consideration.

Face it folks. We're waiting until the release date.

AS much as my enjoyment of the franchise has diminished with age (damn you adulthood!!!) I am intrigued to see how the movie franchise will end.

Until Lucas changes his mind and decides once more to make the last trilogy

here is a quick taste of what the story for episode III might be like (either taken from Lucas' journal in 1983, or just a fake from an insider way back then)."

Hmmm...Where have I known that taste before? Ah yes! The well familiar taste of bullshit! And when this guy was done writing "Ep III" he might well have tried his hand at another brand of fan fiction.

Lucas' stroytelling prowess seems to have diminished with the ensuing decades after Jedi, but have they diminished this much? I sincerely doubt it. Even taking Ep I into consideration.

Face it folks. We're waiting until the release date.

AS much as my enjoyment of the franchise has diminished with age (damn you adulthood!!!) I am intrigued to see how the movie franchise will end.

Until Lucas changes his mind and decides once more to make the last trilogy

Atari was first with the tablet PC too (called the STylus)

Yes, another real 'innovation' by microsoft.

Car companies don't disguise their prototypes.

Sure they do. And just as with computer-related rumors, there are folks out there who follow and report on new developments and publish photos of suspected prototypes.

Yes, auto makers will show you their 'concept cars' as a way to generate interest. And they'll sometimes show actual prototypes as well, particularly when the prototype is close to what they expect to produce. But when GM or Ford are testing out a new engine, for example, they'll put it in a car with an existing body style. Or if they're trying out a whole new car, they'll cover the body panels with tape, or leather masking, or whatever.

Heck, I can even think of at least a couple TV spots where the manufacturers use this idea to make their new model seem more desireable. There's one, for example, where some alleged engineers are testing out a white car (Nissan Altima, maybe?) somewhere in the desert. A bunch of planes, helicopters, cars, etc. show up trying to get a look at the car, and the engineers then hide the car under a tent so that the others (press? competition?) can't see it.

So yeah, car companies do disguise their prototypes, and for the same reasons: they want to surprise the buying public and the competition with a cool new product at the introduction, and they don't want to hurt the market for the existing model until that time.

This "extreme" version of the chip has to be aimed at a very niche market, at least for the next couple of years until more processor intensive software catches up.

The processor-intensive software is already here. It is called HSpice, Verilog, fluid-dynamics simulation, etc. The Pentium 4 has done nicely in the engineering workstation market, and the "Extreme Edition" should do even better.

Please check the SPEC web site for a performance evaluation of the Pentium 4's floating-point (FP) performance. In particular, it outperforms the UltraSPARC III even though the latter has a 2-to-1 advantage in the width of its databus -- 64 bits versus 32 bits.

What changed the x86 chips from also-ran losers in FP performance to the kings of the hill? SSE.

The SSE extension to the x86 instruction set architecture (ISA) opened up a whole new world of applications for the Pentium III and successors. Older Pentiums were saddled with a FP stack that hurt their performance. The SSE extension established a directly addressable bank of 8 128-bit registers or 32 32-bit registers for FP operations. As a result, the Pentium 4 outperforms the UltraSPARC III on video applications.

At 3.2 GHz, the "Extreme Edition" of the Pentium 4 should help the Pentium 4 to capture even more of the engineering workstation market. Nowadays, the first-choice workstation among engineers in Silicon Valley and Boston's Route 128 is Linux running on a fast Pentium/Athlon, not Solaris lumbering on a slow UltraSPARC III.

... from the desk of the reporter

There is the distinct possibility that Linux will be stopped dead in its tracks in England. Then, of course, the only market where Sun and its Solaris operating system can earn money is England since Linux would be nonexistant there.

... from the desk of the reporter

Update: "Fist Sport" explained. (05/17/01)

---

Paid for advertisement from the Michael Sims is a Treacherous Cunt society

Freedom
Is
Really
Something
That

Pisses
Off
Slashdot
Tyrants.

---

It has come to my attention that the entire Linux community is a hotbed of so called 'alternative sexuality,' which includes anything from hedonistic orgies to homosexuality to pedophilia.

What better way of demonstrating this than by looking at the hidden messages contained within the names of some of Linux's most outspoken advocates:

Linus Torvalds is an anagram of SLIT ANUS OR VD 'L,' clearly referring to himself by the first initial.

Richard M. Stallman , spokespervert for the Gaysex is Not Unusual 'movement' is an anagram of MANS CRAM THRILL AD.

Alan Cox is barely an anagram of ANAL COX which is just so filthy and unchristian it unnerves me.

I'm sure that Eric S. Raymond, composer of the satanic homosexual propaganda diatribe The Cathedral and the Bizarre, [Buy At Amazon] is probably an anagram of something queer, but we don't need to look that far as we know he's always shoving a gun up some poor little boy's rectum. Update: Eric S. Raymond is actually an anagram for SECONDARY RIM and CORD IN MY ARSE. It just goes to show you that he is indeed queer.

Update the Second: It is also documented that Evil Sicko Gaymond is responsible for a nauseating piece of code called Fetchmail, which is obviously sinister sodomite slang for "Felch Male" - a disgusting practise. For those not in the know, "felching" is the act performed by two perverts wherein one sucks their own post-coital ejaculate out of the other's rectum. In fact, it appears that the dirty Linux faggots set out to undermine the good Republican institution of e-mail, turning it into "e-male."

As far as Richard "(cock)Master" Stallman goes, that filthy fudge-packer was actually quoted on leftist commie propaganda site Salon.com as saying the following:

RMS: "I've been resistant to the pressure to conform in any circumstance," he says. "It's about being able to question conventional wisdom," he asserts. "I believe in love, but not monogamy," he says plainly.

And this isn't a made up troll bullshit either! He actually stated this tripe, which makes it obvious that he is trying to politely say that he's a flaming homo slut!

Speaking about "flaming," who better to point out as a filthy chutney ferret than Slashdot's very own self-confessed pederast Jon Katz. Although an obvious deviant anagram cannot be found from his name, he has already confessed, nay boasted of the homosexual perversion of corrupting the innocence of young children. To quote from the article linked:

"I've got a rare kidney disease,' I told her. 'I have to go to the bathroom a lot. You can come with me if you want, but it takes a while. Is that okay with you? Do you want a note from my doctor?'

Is this why you were touching your penis in

Update: "Fist Sport" explained. (05/17/01)

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It has come to my attention that the entire Linux community is a hotbed of so called 'alternative sexuality,' which includes anything from hedonistic orgies to homosexuality to pedophilia.

What better way of demonstrating this than by looking at the hidden messages contained within the names of some of Linux's most outspoken advocates:

Linus Torvalds is an anagram of SLIT ANUS OR VD 'L,' clearly referring to himself by the first initial.

Richard M. Stallman , spokespervert for the Gaysex is Not Unusual 'movement' is an anagram of MANS CRAM THRILL AD.

Alan Cox is barely an anagram of ANAL COX which is just so filthy and unchristian it unnerves me.

I'm sure that Eric S. Raymond, composer of the satanic homosexual propaganda diatribe The Cathedral and the Bizarre, [Buy At Amazon] is probably an anagram of something queer, but we don't need to look that far as we know he's always shoving a gun up some poor little boy's rectum. Update: Eric S. Raymond is actually an anagram for SECONDARY RIM and CORD IN MY ARSE. It just goes to show you that he is indeed queer.

Update the Second: It is also documented that Evil Sicko Gaymond is responsible for a nauseating piece of code called Fetchmail, which is obviously sinister sodomite slang for "Felch Male" - a disgusting practise. For those not in the know, "felching" is the act performed by two perverts wherein one sucks their own post-coital ejaculate out of the other's rectum. In fact, it appears that the dirty Linux faggots set out to undermine the good Republican institution of e-mail, turning it into "e-male."

As far as Richard "(cock)Master" Stallman goes, that filthy fudge-packer was actually quoted on leftist commie propaganda site Salon.com as saying the following:

RMS: "I've been resistant to the pressure to conform in any circumstance," he says. "It's about being able to question conventional wisdom," he asserts. "I believe in love, but not monogamy," he says plainly.

And this isn't a made up troll bullshit either! He actually stated this tripe, which makes it obvious that he is trying to politely say that he's a flaming homo slut!

Speaking about "flaming," who better to point out as a filthy chutney ferret than Slashdot's very own self-confessed pederast Jon Katz. Although an obvious deviant anagram cannot be found from his name, he has already confessed, nay boasted of the homosexual perversion of corrupting the innocence of young children. To quote from the article linked:

"I've got a rare kidney disease,' I told her. 'I have to go to the bathroom a lot. You can come with me if you want, but it takes a while. Is that okay with you? Do you want a note from my doctor?'

Is this why you were touching your penis in

Most Web servers run Apache. You can get a more expensive web server from Sun, but does it have a significant advantage over Apache?

... from the desk of the reporter

The reality of Taiwan is vastly different from the image that Taiwanese nationals present to the Western public. They deliberately omit curious facts like the Taiwanese education system teaching children that Tibet is "rightfully" part of "One China". The real Taiwan is a threat to Western security and Western culture.

Actually, this has been done in a way with the International Phonetic Alphabet and one specifically just for English

I have some sad, if belated, news to report: Wesley Willis died several weeks ago at the age of 40 from Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia. He battled schizophrenia all his life and never gave up any of his dreams. He drew and wrote such songs as "Cut the Mullet," a song that brought an end to that dastardly haircut. One song includes the lyrics "McDonald's hamburgers are the worst/they are much worse than Burger King.../they serve Quarter Pounders/they will put pounds on you." Other songs include "Casper the Homosexual Friendly Ghost" and "Suck My Dog's Dick". Even if you aren't familiar with his works, you can't deny his contribution to the world. Truly an American icon to be missed.

Rock over London.
Rock on Chicago.

Signing out, yo.

How? First, please visit the web site that explains "H-1B Myths". Professor Matloff, who teaches computer science at a top-notch university, has campaigned tirelessly to terminate the H-1B program.

Anyhow, we have only 2 choices.

1. H-1B employment but no outsourcing.
2. Outsourcing but no H-1B employment.

The second choice is best and will result in the long-term gain of jobs for Americans. The United States of America (USA) is a big market, and companies will set up shop in the USA once their share of the market reaches a certain critical size. As well, domestic content laws facilitate this trend. Toyota and Honda are excellent examples; they have built huge manufacturing and design facilities in the USA.

Further, by terminating H-1B employment, you ensure that American jobs stay with Americans.

The second choice also directly deals with the strongest bogus argument by unethical American companies like Intel and possibly Google. Even when Silicon Valley has 8% unemployment, they insist that cannot find American workers for critical jobs and that they must hire H-1Bs. We in the Slashdot community should say, "Fine. Go set up shop overseas. There is plenty of labor there."

... from the desk of the reporter

Their The Great Depression page has an interesting notion called The Grimes Labor equalization Surcharge.

The Department of Labor would disagree. If the issue of "qualified" were entirely up to the subjective judgment of the employer, then any high-school graduate can see that the H-1B laws allow any unethical American company at any time to access the world's labor market. The article "Experience with H-1B's?" describes a violation of the H-1B laws, or the H-1B laws are broken. The Department of Labor will say that "Experience with H-1B's?" describes a violation of the H-1B laws.

Come on, folks. Forward a copy of "Experience with H-1B's?" to the Department of Labor. Check its contact information.

While you are on-line, please visit the web site called "H-1B Myths". Professor Norman Matloff is a professor at a top-notch university in computer science and has testified in Congress. He has claimed repeatedly that there is no labor shortage in computer science and that companies like Google hire only a tiny percentage of qualified applicants. The article "Experience with H-1B's?" confirms what Professor Matloff says and provides enough information to investigate a violation of the H-1B laws. The article claims that companies like Google and IBM want "star" programmers instead of merely "good" programmers.

... from the desk of the reporter.

-FL

-FL

The article, "Experience with H-1Bs?", actually describes a violation of the H-1B laws. Please join with me to contact the Department of Labor. It has a web site with contact information. Please forward the article to the Department of Labor.

What violation is described in the article? Well, the intent of the H-1B laws is to allow companies to hire foreign workers when they cannot find American workers with the right skills. For example, suppose that a job requires a person who can wrote C-language code. If the American company cannot find an American who can write C-language code, then the American company may hire a foreign worker via an H-1B visa.

However, the H-1B laws do not allow the following situation. Suppose that the American company actually finds an American who can write C-language code. Yet, the company knows of a foreign worker who can write even better C-language code. So, the company then hires the foreign worker.

Unethical American companies exploit the H-1B laws in order to give them access to the entire world's labor market -- from the very beginning of the hiring cycle. Then, these unethical American companies proceed to hire the best talent in the world's labor market. Do the H-1B laws allow this kind of exploitation. No. Absolutely not.

The H-1B laws require American companies to access only the American labor market. If, at the end of the hiring cycle, they cannot find someone with the needed skills, then they can access the world's labor market.

Please join with me to report possible labor violations at Google and IBM to the Department of Labor. If the author of the article is telling the truth, then we must also report this story to IBM's department of human resources. IBM will likely fire the person who was author's manager when the author was employed at IBM. IBM discourages the use of H-1B workers unless the position requires a Ph.D.

... from the desk of the reporter

Here is another example. Remember the SPARC64 by Fujitsu? It too beats the pants off the UltraSPARC III. Yet, in Japan, Fujitsu generally does not hire the equivalent of H-1Bs. The SPARC64 was built largely by native labor.

That destroys 1 bogus claim.

Here is another bogus claim. The supporters of H-1Bs are mostly foreigners who want desparately to come into the USA. They claim that you need H-1Bs in order to keep wages and, hence, prices in check. In short, in their view of the world, the world can function properly if and only if there are impoverished people who are desparate to get out of their homelands. Yet, isn't the goal of the United Nations to bring everyone to prosperity?

Let's face the matter directly. Shut off the H-1B faucet. The economy always heals itself of any shortage. Read any economics book. When there is a shortage, the economy self-heals. In the case of engineers, if there were a shortage, then wages would rise. Higher wages attract more engineers. Will the price of new products rise? Probably. However, after they become commoditized, then their prices will fall. The economy is really a cycle.

Anyhow, the H-1B program is unnecessary. In fact, it is detrimental to American society. Please. Do somethng about the problem. Most of us in the Slashdot community oppose the H-1B program. Let us work together to petition the government to terminate both the L-1 program and the H-1B program. Do not wait of the guy sitting at the next computer to do your civic responsibility . Move your ass. Do your job.

... from the desk of the reporter

We've got the No. 1 64-bit computing architecture out there.

Perhaps, McNealy is referring to #1 in the sense of #1 performance. Again, the #1 in performance is the triad: Power architecture (with implementations being Power4, Power4+, Power5), the Itanium architecture (with implementations being Itanium 2, 3, etc.), and the x86 architecture (with implementations being the Pentium 4, etc.). A quick review of the performance stats at SPEC should clarify any confusion. The SPARC is among the worst processors in terms of performance.

Below is the second key quote.

Shouldn't India be a little upset that we have most of their software programmers here?

Compared to IBM, Sun is #1 -- in the sense that Sun has more H-1B employees. IBM, as a matter of corporate policy, refuses to hire any H-1B workers unless they are applying for a job that requires a Ph.D. The Power4, which handily beats the UltraSPARC III in performance, was built almost exclusively by American citizens or permanent residents. No H-1Bs.

Perhaps, McNealy was referring to the number of H-1Bs when he was talking about the SPARC being the supposed #1 computing architecture.

... from the desk of the reporter

Don't believe me, have a look at these pictures:

He's one showing that bigfoot is a big Linux user.

Here's one that clearly shows bigfoot and his wife marge.

Here's proof that the government thinks bigfoot is real

Do you need more than three independent sources?;-)

Robinson asks: 'Why are our imaginations retreating from science and space, and into fantasy?'"

Spider Robinson can answer his own question by flipping the channel of his television set to watch "Enterprise" on the local UPN station. This spinoff of the original "Star Trek" series is probably the worst piece of science fiction that anyone in the Slashdot community has ever seen.

... from the desk of the reporter

Not if he's dressed like this