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It will be interesting to see how this legislation effects the standard (if under-the-table) practice of payola (where lablels pay stations to pay their artists' tracks.

1. 
   humor for the clinically insane
   

Not that I can figure why this is on Slashdot, but let's not worry about it for the moment. The bottom line is this: The Sixth Sense was a brilliantly woven film, a screenplay crafted over several years; a true masterwork. As a result, I went to see Unbreakable with an urgency similar to that of a drunkard needing to see a man about a horse. I should preface now by saying that I have a collection of some 5000 comics, ranging from #1 Daredevil to #2 Fantastic Four to #1 Amazing Spiderman to every Groo every drawn. This film was targeted to me. But it didn't make the grade. As a comic book loyalist, Shyamalan did a great job, but the script was filled with holes. Willis and Jackson gave solid performances but the ending left you in wanting (and not the good kind, merely a feeling of lacking). It dragged and steeped in parts, and the direction was heavy-handed at times. I recommend it, as it compares favorably to other Hollywood tripe, but don't expect the film JonKatz is leading you to believe it is. It is not.

And those are my six cents.

1. 
   humor for the clinically insane
   

That sounds pretty great. How much, who are the nearest competitors that are close to coming to market, and what is the potential for its video configuration? Please somebody!!

1. 
   humor for the clinically insane
   

Has anyone ever tried to figure out a "build-it-yourself" for one of the original upright games - a la Pole Position? I would love to put that together if anyone knows how

1. 
   humor for the clinically insane
   

The real crime is the 26 companies who presented watermark solutions to the SDMI that were ruled ineligible either because they didn't make their proposals in the bureaucratically approved format, or didn't get their proposal in on time (keeping in mind that the judging occurred over 3 months later than anticipated and that several "insider" companies were allowed to propose late because of their connections). The SDMI is surely representative of the ugly big five labels that founded it - they will never come up with a solution because it is time to phase them out.

1. 
   humor for the clinically insane
   

I've been using Elizabeth Castro's Peachpit Press published (that was a mouthful) PERL and CGI: For the World Wide Web and it has served me well. It really only takes you through a novice and intermediate level, other resources are helpful when you're a full-on pro, but it is a very well-crafted resource on the subject.

1. 
   humor for the clinically insane
   

This isn't really the major ICANN/.biz related problem. The real issue is that they've decided to charge a whopping 1500 dollars for it plus a one hundred dollar registration fee and government issued proof of corporate status. Ummm, I don't think that's going to provide equal playing ground with .com so how the heck do they expect .biz to take a bite out of .com's market share? The general public doesn't care how much you paid for your domain, they just know that zip codes like 90210 are more popular than 34546, and area codes like 212 are more popular than 618, and yes, TLDs like .com are way more popular than .biz.

1. 
   humor for the clinically insane
   

ICANN is a very backwards organization to say the least.

Between charging 1500 dollars plus raised registration fees for .biz, how do they figure it can compete with .com? And why didn't they launch .web, which has a small chance, instead launching .museum and .coop - names that are highly specialized and could not possibly be created to compete. Each new TLD has terrible flaws either in name itself, or in their new form of sale. ICANN is unfortunately not a well-put together enough board to even come up with a constitution, so I wouldn't hold my breath on that.

1. 
   humor for the clinically insane
   

Well with Microsoft's notorious reputation for responding to their own internal desperation with pillaging other company's technologies and advances, I have no doubt that even if they haven't rewritten code yet for Linux, they certainly have a Linux-related strategy brewing.

1. 
   humor for the clinically insane
   

It's enough already. I'm not trolling here or trying to be flamebait but it's enough. You've published three, count 'em - three - conflicting reports out of Tom's Hardware praising, then criticizing then fawning (you word) over the P4. Well which is it? Why does Slashdot insist on posting redundant and conflicting articles? Just for the sake of posting something? If that's the case then expand the subject matter please.

1. 
   humor for the clinically insane
   

I have led research development workgroups for Media Metrix (now merged with Jupiter Comm) for some time and the answer is: there is no current webposting of this nature that is reliable. It is something we have discussed posting before, a monitoring system for the major sites, but it has never come to fruition. I doubt at this point it would be reliable since sites like Yahoo! or Hotmail (the two most used and complained about) have so many regions within their networks, and the problems last for very brief periods, it is hard to imagine users would receive their caution info in time to be of service.

But if I am mistaken and someone has an idea, I'd be happy to pass it along to whomever I could (giving full credit of course :)

1. 
   humor for the clinically insane
   

That is just awesome. Great speed, good usability - I just have to say it on behalf of us all, some of whom have become bitter from the atrophy - Linux and all things Linux ROCK.

1. 
   humor for the clinically insane
   

I doubt this is related to the Heinlein piece, though I'm not sure, but wasn't there an adult book wriiten by Theodore Geisel (Dr. Seuss) of the same title. Was there any reference to this or the song title for that matter? Just curious. Let me know if anyone knows what they say they know.

1. 
   humor for the clinically insane
   

This is not just a problem for registering domains, though I have come under heavy fire after attempting (on several occasions) to purchase URLs that contained curse words from what I thought were registrars that I had relationships with. It is also a major problem with ISPs and their content filters. I've heard of Yahoo! terminating service to many of its Site.Yahoo users for using curse words - and they did it with no warning and no impunity. This story and others posted recently on /. illustrate the tremendous censorship issues that are going to arise with greater frequency with our new communication systems.

Confused about my title? It is a Yiddish term and not a curse word - but you know what? I couldn't register it because of those dirty little words.

1. 
   P 2 P___H U M O R
   

One of my closest colleagues is a high-ranking official from Doubleclick and we've discussed this situation to no end. It is a finer line than most media outlets report, most seeming to want to indulge in David vs. Goliath tales of evil advertising empires tracking innocent individuals. But the issue runs far deeper. Tracking a user's likes and dislikes is nothing new - online or off. The trouble is now we have to announce what we are doing, even if it damages our businesses and really comes at no actual cost to the individual. Unfortunately, most of this sentiment is fueled by the same anti-corporate notions that lingers in the mind of all, say, programmers or coders who don't want to be mainstream, don't want to lose their individuality, but can't wait to throw together some software package, grab a public shell and set sail down their own corporate stream. The issue here is less on privacy or invasion and more on theoretical control - we can't stand, in our personal lives or public ones - to be known. Mystery is fun for sure. But to sue every company that is aware you like pink cardigan sweaters who tells the pink cardigan sweater factory that information - that just makes us all a bunch of over-lawyering dodos.

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   P 2 P___H U M O R
   

Even from the minor details allowed here, this system will clearly not work. Spammers will quickly evolve past this. When Hotmail and a host of other web-email-providers instituted the "Bulk Mail" option, the press gave kudos and hailed it as a solid wall against spammers.

Um....maybe it's just me, but I haven't noticed any slow down from this type of refiling system, meant to filter unwanted spam. All I've noticed is an adaptation wherein the spam is more personal and harder to detect, thus making it more likely that I'll read one of these ridiculous suckers. Enough with the anti-spam....let's just spread the word that spamming causes impotence - that oughtta work.

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   P 2 P___H U M O R
   

A close colleague of mine is a behavioural scientist and doctoral neurologist. He puts forth an interesting theory, which was the basis of his doctorate: much like dietary specialists recommend a series of small meals when hungry throughout a day, is it possible that small amounts of sleep would bring about a similarly positive response in our physiology? Through his findings at Johns Hopkins (I will post the link to the research beneath this post if I can dig it up), it would appear the answer is a resounding YES. Napping when tired is the best way to conserve strength, be well rest, INCREASE memory "upload" and allow for a more positive control over emotions. Speaking of which, I'm gonna catch some zzzzz.

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   P 2 P___H U M O R
   

I have heard lots of potshots taken at Whistler, but the more I've observed of it, the more I think it's just anti-Big Giant sentiment. It looks pretty solid, and the better of the options here. I realize this is likely to be a sentiment that will face rapture from the moderators, but go lightly you army of independent thinkers(?).

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   P 2 P___H U M O R
   

we do not learn about torture by keeping implements of torture in our homes. we learn of horrors through the expression of others, continually keeping their experiences and conclusions in our minds and hearts, so we may be wary and make educated decisions. knowledge of symbols is one thing, keeping nazi memorabilia atop your mantle is quite another.

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   P 2 P___H U M O R
   

I could see this story bringing out a ton of negative French sentiment, but rather than fostering hatred, why not observe the obvious - the same tactics are employed by America, the greatest of great democracies, um, right? My question in all this, is not whether of not Nazi memorabilia should be banned (the idiots buying and selling it should have their heads checked and possibly thumped), but whether a service should be liable for the content streaming over it when they open it up to anyone and everyone? What should Yahoo! or eBay, etc. be doing? Ruling out key words - people will just use codes. Should they be forced to keep responsible personal info on all sellers and buyers and inform them of the more than 10,000 French bylaws regarding merchants? Where is the solution?.....'cause it is not in simple widesweeping bans.

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   P 2 P___H U M O R
   

I have to agree with a sentiment posted above. The equation of hacker to open source programmer is ridiculous. To borrow a tired line, it's like apples and oranges. How could he make such confusion? And even more disturbing, how could he then be printed and hailed as a very smart man on the open source informal information network we all know and love? Where have you gone Slashdot?

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   P 2 P___H U M O R
   

BMG/EMI

1. Ahhh, the merger of European music giants. I would have figured this too get more coverage on the Dotted Slash, but I suppose we've heard this one before. This merger is really nothing new. This rumbling has risen twice before, in 1994 (when EMI was hungry to expand past just a few rock solid outputs, and was entertaining offers) and just recently after EMI added Priority Records in 1998, BMG looked towards EMI as possible apple to its eye. But now with Priority moving into swanky new L.A. digs (10 year lease signed this week) and Virgin slacking somewhat, EMI is looking to move. BMG would make sense, but for one other forgotten suitor.....

Warner/EMI

1. "Anyone remember me?" whispers Warner from atop its giant media babel-tower. What of Warner's attempted acquisition of EMI? Remember the one that was going to push them over the edge and have Sony, Universal & oh,
2. BMG screaming "bloody monopoly"? Well BMG/EMI would make it the largest music body in the world - they just don't have to worry about archaic American monoploy laws so they might just get away with it.

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   P 2 P___H U M O R
   

(AP News Wire - 11:01 EST)

MOSCOW - According to recent documents that have surfaced from within Russia's shielded space program braintrust, MIR OPERATIVE has unraveled to the point of the termination of the Mir program altogether. Disturbing allegations have risen from insiders, claiming that the satellite launch was merely an attempt to collect space moss and a lost rubber boot floating in the "garbage ring" around the earth. It seems that program chair, Boris Zyulin, lost a rubber boot and at least 100 rubels in change on his last minute, but gave up hope in finding the rubels after claiming, "I don't even remember which couch I was sitting on, so why bother." Zyulin did release a press release at 10:30 AM (Moscow time) this morning, detailing the parameters for the Mir launch and now recall, and apparently confirming that indeed the mission was to test the effects of space moss on dolphins, a stage which is to be finalized in February. In March, Russia will be launching the "Friends MIR" in an attempt to win a North American audience. It's mission will be to test the effects of space moss on Jennifer Aniston with and without Brad Pitt.

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   P 2 P___H U M O R
   

Important Issue

1. There is no question that the ICANN system is worth discussing, worth getting involved in, and even worth being somewhat paranoid about. Anyone who has ever registered a domain, transfered a URL, or visited a webpage oughtta look into this - how exactly do we resolve disputes over an issue that muddies jurisdiction? There is amazing potential for cross-border, legal unity here, but more dire, there are.....

Frightening Possibilities.

1. The first is what is touched upon in most of these Slashdot posts, that being the elected versus non-elected nature of those who preside over these multi-jurisdictional matters. The first step that needs to be taken, is internet users, much like a populace as a whole, must vote to create a system of elected officials (Florida voters need not apply). The development of the system is far more concerning that nit-picking at the individuals currently on the board. Now if we focus on the process, then there are two other areas of great concern: 1) What can be done to copyright to allow it to fall under universal law? My feeling is that very little, and that we oughtta use Lessig's balance between over-governing and pantisocratic ideals. The fact that Madonna.com was turned over to the pop-star, and that several reverse-branding cases have been overturned, this is clearly the biggest grey area. 2) The second area of concern involves the rights of the domain holder. While everyone is screaming about their brand being attacked and their name compromised, very little effort is being put into the differences between, say, Penguin and Penguin.com. They are
2. not the same. This is a point we as an online community need to resolve post-haste. Deliberate attempts to compromise an offline brand (ie. someone launching a new publishing house on penguin.com) is definitely a wrongdoing, but using it so sell penguin stuffed animals is not, and from the verdicts reached of late - this is not being addressed.

1. 
   P2P_H U M O R
   

Good Idea.

1. After an election like the one we are - amazingly - still in the midst of nearly a week after the voting booths were closed up, their curtains at half-mast, it has never been so apparent that change to the election process is necessary. After focusing so much attention of the prior stages (ie. campaign reforms and campaigning tactics), it is now clear that the voting procedure must be updated as well. Certainly a system run electronically would be the way to go, but it will be.....

Tough to Implement

1. The real problem with instituting any e-ballot system is voter acceptance. Acceptance in security, reliability and usability. Every hacker in the country, nay, the world, would be trying to fester it up. Would we have to slowly merge technologies, such as smart cards that are being used in already in California voting procedures? But that didn't allow voters to vote from their abodes - which would truly allow for the
2. majority of Americans to vote. Michael Moore was right when he pointed out who the American voting majority is - the 55% non-voter. I am a Canadian, and we and the rest of world are looking at America's bizarre attempt at top-tier democracy with a bewildered look. You assassinate - or attempt to - more leaders than banana republics, several elections of the past half century have been riddled in controversy, and now, with the globe spinning on an electronic axis, it seems unlikely that America is prepared to put what is already a hazardous process into the hands of machines that still suffer from potential human error. But is the error real or is it perceived?

1. 
   O P E N___S O U R C E___H U M O R
   

An inspired article.

1. The story of the hacker-cum-zillionaire is still an interesting one, and even more when the hack involved decides to stretch his devout struggle versus holes and glitches to the rest of society. Jamie is a smart man. A talented man. His mentors are impressive, his actions and troubleshooting show tremendous leaps of logic, and his lack of culpability in Netscape's woes nearly believable. He is woven as a man of integrity, of passion, of diversity and potentially a brilliant influence on American culture. Maybe he is. I don't know him. But I read that article. Extremely promising eloquence, and yet...

A flawed conclusion.

1. We, the loyal to Slashdot and the ideals we structure ourselves in, choose to believe what we want. We are not subject to the same extent by generations of texts and ideals and beliefs stretching back to times unlike our own. Our sense of ourselves, our world and our ethic grows with us in a dramatic fashion unseen before. It is therefore easy to assume that a hacker could shape his world through small corrections and manipulations, as he might a line of code in a sea of a program, correcting and manipulating. But time looks to craft a different lesson. One of men and women who became wealthy
2. too fast, ones who yielded power too soon, and ones that were allowed to believe they had all the answers simply by being able to think dynamically within a certain context. If Jamie wanted to revolutionize culture or SanFran or the club industry or the bylaw regarding how late a club stays open, he would have pointed his passions there, but these are secondary concerns. He is obviously afraid to face what he really needs to tackle. The love that built him and shattered him: code. I hope he finds his way back and doesn't show the arrogant pride he seems capable of if and when his experiment fails. Remember Jamie, and all hackers, changing code is relatively new - social change is not. It's hard. More than 18 hours of staring at code hard. It's 18,000 years of human development hard. And we haven't even laid down a solid framework yet.

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   O P E N___S O U R C E___H U M O R
   

No question a change is coming. Clearly there must be a more "fool-proof" method in which to cast your vote, espeically in a time where more people are reaching towards the middle and it is less likely that any candidate will attract overwhelming majorities. However, I believe that any encryption model will not work just yet. The first move will still be to visit the polling station, but there it will be registered with a simple, straight-forward, computerized technique. Any thoughts?

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   O P E N___S O U R C E___H U M O R
   

Well in a round about way I suppose it helps Napster and filesharers but I'm not impressed with the ruling either. I believe that eBay has a certain responsibility to the marketplace to which it caters. There oughtta be a screening process, particularly if we're supposed to declare our purchases alongside our income tax and so on. We have to co-operate legally in the marketplace, shouldn't our content, product and service providers?

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   O P E N___S O U R C E___H U M O R
   

There is an almost pompous distinction made often by Slashdot and its audience that the music industry (ie. the 5, eh-hem, 4 majors) have no idea what's going on with this crazy new internet thing and that these albeit dinosaur companies haven't learned anything in the past few years. Well sorry to inform you - they have.

The idea that..."...what's going on here is that the music industry establishment are absolutely terrified of the internet...and are trying to force things to continue to be done as if turn-of-the-century technology was all we had to work with...." is absolute garbage. Any business enjoys when their task of promotion, distribution and production is simplified. The music industry is licking their lips when it comes to the "new" technologies; it is the ignorant or egotistical audience member that believes their dinky mynameiswhatever.com streaming audio has a chance to foil Universal or Sony.

If you look at the breakdown of how a record company makes it's living, singles do not even make the radar. Napster is the greatest promotional tool and the labels are starting to realize it. Trouble is, they can't say they realize or else it opens the floodgates for everyone to accept pirated, viral transmissions of their audio content as the norm, even though it is not and will not make a dent in their own sales. Even the thought of encryption hackers making the world's produced music free for all of us no matter what legislation comes down...well since when is the music industry the one we all want to injure? It certainly isn't a great one, it's full of horrible top-heavy leadership and tons of manipulated, exploited, abused artists but at least it's people pushing art, expressing themselves and so on. I personally know the CEO of one of the largest hip-hop labels (Priority) that was bought by EMI, and he is not a cool guy. I don't really like knowing him in fact. But even in his arrogance, he still finds some time to enjoy the music, and I'm not sure he's the first crooked CEO I feel like attacking. What about guns? Where are all the discussions of new "smart-gun" technologies that are actually more dangerous? What about the real crippling topics other than our snide, sarcastic feel that WE Slasdotters and techies and filesharers (oh my!) are toppling the hated industry? I'd rather topple Brown & Williamson before BMG any day.

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   O P E N___S O U R C E___H U M O R
   

As a young father and a tech professional, daycare on the job is important to me, but rarely even an option. My feeling is that the lack of daycare is directly due to the lack of corporate loyalty among the tech industry. Most of us are essentially hired guns; freelancers who are loyal to our community and our focus, but rarely to our company. Thus, due to high turnover and an unreasonable focus on providing $200 gadgets to people earning six figure salaries (as a means of luring them), there is little focus on the elemental pillars of life (ie. techie's with family responsibilities, personal necessities, physical abnormalities, etc.). The real question is this.....while we bicker about whether there is such a thing as a virtual community, can anyone even explain to me whether there is a REAL, non-abstracted techie community?

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   O P E N___S O U R C E___H U M O R
   

It's true, all in one devices do tend to stink but this one has the makings of an exception to the rule. If we could figure out a way to gain remote access then we'd be sailing. Also, is their a way to hook up a longer corded controller to the main box? One of the troubles I've had with nearly every game system is the lack of length to the cords. They always get pulled taut and wind up knocking the bong off the table.

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   O P E N___S O U R C E___H U M O R
   

This is definitely a topic long since covered on Slashdot. I'm not sure about the info listed in the article though. Kinda sketchy. Can anyone elaborate on this?

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   O P E N___S O U R C E___H U M O R
   

George Doubleyou has not heard of Slashdot. I have been lambasted in the past for mentioning that his laptop is actually a portable aquarium, but on this one I'm sure: George doesn't have a clue as to what this exchange is all about. And evidently neither does his press secretary (or the Natural Law Party man, who I believe has chosen to vote Libertarian anyways). It was hard to even take a crack at this irrelevant yarn, what with this, George's opening rant on drugs in America: "...if elected president I pledge a renewed commitment to fight the war on drugs.

Doesn't he know we don't fight wars anymore? We play Space Invaders now thank you.

"...I have a plan that includes $2.767 billion in new initiatives to help parents, teachers, and faith-based leaders influence children to steer clear of the evils of the drug culture.

George, you're not fooling any of us. You haven't the foggiest clue what culture or community is all about with your segregationist meanderings and your public cowtowing. What you're thinking of is a conglomeration of folks who live on the same street, send their kids to the same schools, but don't even say hello when they bring their traszh to the stoop. That's the American way. Why don't you put that money into tracking down deadbeat dads, giving our nation's high school teacher's some oratorial lessons and doing whatever you GOD-well can to keep faith out of the domain of authority.

I'd go on, but why bother? George's nose, er face, is red already.

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   O P E N___S O U R C E___H U M O R
   

I'm familiar with XML certainly, but most decidedly not with SOAP. That link didn't provide me with wanted I needed to know either. Can anyone give me the real lowdown?

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   O P E N___S O U R C E___H U M O R
   

Just a thought for the rumored convergence happening in the gaming industry. It seems to me that if "Sega is announcing that they will be licensing the Dreamcast hardware design and shift their focus to software development" then the rumors of a potential Nintendo/Sega merger seem a little more likely to me. Plus, any mention of Sega planning "to provide game software for rival makers' consoles" is as much as I need to hear to realize that they've reached a fiscal low point of such potential danger that it may just be time for the merger. Anyone hear anything new on this front? Or should I just wait for Roblimo to send a query to Sega HQ and see if a press secretary's secretary will respond with a form letter regarding a completely different subject which he will post for us, kind man that he is.

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   O P E N___S O U R C E___H U M O R
   

This is ridiculous. At least it's better than a socialist and a libertarian, but it's still a pretty weak post. As much as I'm sure all Slashdotters are deeply concerned about the thoughts and devotions of Ralph's press secretary (or more likely the press secretary's secretary), this is a load of election-trail gobbledegook that no one with any kind of authority sanctioned. I'm starting to wish Ross Perot was back in the third party saddle.

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   O P E N___S O U R C E___H U M O R
   

It's nice to see that Slashdot has grown rampant with a series of mindless political postings. The "consensual hallucination" discussed in this story is just hogwash. The making of an issue such as technology to be on par with, say, medicare, is just the collective Slashdot ego massaging itself. I would rather hear how Slashdotters with reinvent the system rather than just bitch about it.

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   O P E N___S O U R C E___H U M O R
   

It was inevitable that Napster would cut deals with the 5 (eh-hem 4) majors, Universal, EMI, BMG, Sony and Warner. As it has come under heavy fire, it is its only chance for survival. But what of Apple Soup? It was supposed to be the great new filesharing device from the "makers of Napster"? Anybody know if this is anything more than smoke and mirrors?

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   O P E N___S O U R C E___H U M O R
   

Could someone explain to me Slashdot's obsession with the CueCat? Since when is bar code tech the most important thing going? It isn't and won't take off, and I challenge one Slashdotter to give me a decent indication that there is any chance for this ridiculous system. Now meta-fingerprinting...there's a tech that should be discussed. But I guess none of the editorial staff has shared in the MIT audio encryption tech. Well at least for now.

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   O P E N___S O U R C E___H U M O R
   

I'm not sure what the benefit of open-sourcing this one is anyways. It doesn't seem to be clearly explained in the summation either. Can someone dumb it down for me? I understand that using the policy language, an administrator can define certain precepts/rules as pertain to directories, etc., but what are the actual benefits to open-sourcing this. Do you think they might have done it just to get on Slashdot?

1. 
   the man who put the BOP in the BOP-SHIBOP-SHIBOP
   

I'm not sure where the relation is (perhaps someone could tell me how Black Star comes to Perl), but I'm fairly pleased to see Damian Conway be sponsored to pursue cool Perl projects. But how about those that are unsponsored? Anyone have a cool one in need of collaborators (eh-hem) or funding?

1. 
   the man who put the BOP in the BOP-SHIBOP-SHIBOP
   

Well I was pleasantly surprised to see this post on Slashdot. I have worked on behalf of D.A.R.E. (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) in SouthWestern Ontario for some time, and in fact did some tutorial efforts in SouthCentral Los Angeles for the two years I spent there. I think it's a great program, in intention, but it is also incredibly flawed. I personally have not noticed any drop-off in binge drinking and more prevalent still, in dangerous second-tier experimentation (the chronically addictive tier of narcotics). The real question I have with federal elections upcoming in both Canada and the United States is: when will a candidate step forward with the courage to match the growing public conviction that narcotics need to be decriminalized (but still regulated)?

1. 
   My Second Vote Was For Gore
   

You are absolutely right. Novell is quickly turning itself into: Novellty.

1. 
   My Second Vote Was For Gore
   

As a Canadian, I was wondering if anyone knew about patent laws up here, and whether much precedent had been set regarding Canadian open-source projects (or North American, etc. projects that could be used as benchmarks/precedent if one were to apply for a patent).

1. 
   My Second Vote Was For Gore
   

Quite a bit of coverage on this device...if it wasn't Slashdot I would assume a lack of editorial integrity (perhaps these are advertorials).
My concerns voiced, on with the focus of this post. I live in Canada, Toronto specifically, and the PS2 launch is huge here too. With Christmas consumerist madness well on its way, I too have been swept up in the hype. London, Ontaio, roughly 2 hours west from Toronto, has long been considered the ultimate test market in North America. It supposedly makes for a wonderful sample market and every kind of company from fast food companies testing new products (ie. McDonald's delivery) to banks testing new services (ie. drive-thru banking) were first launched there. The PS2 is no different. Consoles have been popping up there. I'm not sure if any media coverage has been done but two associates of mine who live there have been involved in the test sample, so it's for real.

1. 
   My Second Vote Was For Gore
   

As I scanned over this post, my eyes began to glaze. Another few random candidates with randome candidate slogans and messages. Not having a mission for the country, not trying to herd us like the big 2+1, thinking drugs should be decriminalized, so on and so forth. But Browne's parting words woke me up (here they are in case you didn't make it to the end):

"...(Government) doesn't aid progress, it hinders it. Government is politics, not progress. Government is bureaucracy, inefficiency, and brute force. It is the least desirable, least effective and least likely to succeed means of getting anything accomplished."

Just brilliant Mr. Browne. Only one question: Then why the heck are you in politics?

1. 
   My Second Vote Was For Gore
   

Just thought I would mention that I just walked in from the Toronto Maple Leaf trouncing of the expansion Minnesota Wild and, like the geek I am, surfed on to Slashdot immediately. Lo and behold, my night has been centered around PS2. I think it was the major sponsor at the game tonight, pushing its new titles - Tony Hawk is still the best - and then some. Anyway, it actually crossed my mind that PS2 could go in a similar direction as Beta has so I wanted to share my enthusiasm with you folk. What's your favorite title by the by?

1. 
   My Second Vote Was For Gore
   

Where is the listing of the year's best games? This post was definitely not newsworthy enough to warrant only the negative side. Slashdotters need to learn to give praise as well. Yes, Daikatana was the worst game in gaming history. But what about Tony Hawk for Playstation? I think that game has the best continuity and feel of any sports game I've ever played. What else have the makers of that game put out?

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   My Vote's On This Doofus
   

I've heard similar reports but I tend to among the doubtful. First off, I'm not even sure how one would go about "open-sourcing" Java since that would be blurring the line of specs and programs, and there really doesn't seem to be much argument there. That said, if the specs were modifiable, there would be some use to the ballyhoo. The second point to be made is related to Sun itself, and the high level of unlikeliness in that company releasing the entire source code. Any thoughts?

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   My Vote's On This Doofus
   

Zixmail, now affiliated with Yahoo!, provides encrypted mailing and seems to be picking up steam. They're a public company from Texas I think and I have yet to hear anything bad about their services.

1. 
   My Vote's On This Doofus