Slashdot Mirror

This post angers me somewhat since I've been urgently sending in submissions to post Michael Moore's plea to the 55% non-voting majority. If you want to hear someone other than JonKatz rant on the issue (even though he makes some solid points), I suggest checking out Michael Moore's contribution, it can be found on the front page of his site. For those who don't know, Moore is the creator of Roger & Me and the current show on Bravo, The Awful Truth.

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   My Vote's On This Doofus
   

First off, not every employee is going to know how to encrypt their messages so Malda's suggestion is hardly universal. But dealing with the issue, I am not necessarily opposed. While laws that regard penalties for anonymous posters (eh-hem) to be responsible for their posts are ridiculous, using your company's infrastructure to degrade it should not be permissable and oughtta come at some sort of risk.

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   My Vote's On This Doofus
   

Was the final question of the post rhetorical? He askes, Will future designs from AMD and other competitors be similar to Intel's innovative seventh generation core? I would think this would be a no-brainer...ABSOLUTELY, POSITIVELY, YES.

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   My Vote's On This Doofus
   

Now this may seem like a neat solution for the Russians to disolve this public embarassment they call a space program, but I, of Russian descent mind you, am not pleased about this decision. Remember people, you're not even allowed to bring FRUIT into a new country, let alone drop a space thingamabub that's covered in SPACE MOSS! Siz feet deep at last report. Who knows what interstellar goop that thing is carrying? At the very least they could Lysol the thing first. Hmmmm, good PR op for Lysol. Sorry folks, gotta go.

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   My Vote's On This Doofus
   

I would imagine that for the Slashdot collective, projects starting with gathering the requirements are definitely in the minority. It's unlikely for that to change due to the organic growth that most of these projects take on, where either the client or the developer don't really know what they want from the start, or that the idea simply has to be hammered out, sometimes in conjunction with, sometimes prior to, the requirement gathering. The other major consideration is, of course, the BOTTOM LINE. Nobody is going to pay you high hourly wages for gathering requirements if they can help it. Plus, it allows them an out when you mess up some aspect of the development. This is a bit of a sinister outlook, but probably one many have dealt with.

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   My Vote's On This Doofus
   

We've all heard these sort of claims before. There was a company called Verance, oh wait, they're still around, and even though they've moved to encryption et al services, there was a time when their executive was poised to do the exact same as the claim made in the post's article.

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   My Vote's On This Doofus
   

This is not just an Asian thang. In conjunction with Sun, there is a Vancouver based company (could be Victoria) that is quickly implementing smart card tech for the residents there, in the hopes that the health card system will be replaced with universal smart cards which apparently have tons of security encryption to prevent the copying the poster asked about (what that encryption is still seems to be a bit of a mystery with these particular cards). The first test is, oddly enough, being done on kids in sporting leagues who will use the smart cards to track, pay and interact with their leagues efficiently. Sorry, I can't remember the name off hand. I'm gonna go find the company name and then post it under this.

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   My Vote's On This Doofus
   

I've been waiting for a bill of this nature for some time now. I work with audio encryption technologies, mostly from a design standpoint, articulating the navigation and continuity of the programming. That said, I believe strongly in the basic tenets of artist's rights, owner/consumer privelege, and even the unpopular rights of the distributor and facilitator (ie. the labels).

It's about time something like this went through official channels. It is absolutely the right of the owner to disseminate their purchased material as they see fit, so long as it does not jeopardize the rest of the artist/audience relationship (ie. revenue losses, misrepresentation, doctoring of copyrighted materials). No musician under Universal or BMG was forced to sign with them - they chose to turn their expression into consumable product, so they shouldn't complain about everyone taking part in the exchange they chose as well.

If they wanted otherwise, they should have stayed in that garage.

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   Where Your Vote Should Go
   

I love that lame-duck expression that the universe was built through some sort of perfect ascension of perfectly ordered but perfectly random growth. Isn't it time we all gave in to the fact that the progression from the deep green sea to our living room sofas, or the process of giant space litter to a massive carbon and oxygen ball teeming with life, is just the result of chance. And by chance I mean Al Gore.

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   Where Your Vote Should Go
   

In the subtext to the post, the Slashdot helmer complains that very few Bush supporters are coming forward to make posts (other than the AnonCow posts to the Bush HQ site). But why would a supporter of Bush - even if he was misdirected to Slashdot - come out of hiding to admit that their candidate of choice doesn't even own a computer?

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   Where Your Vote Should Go
   

Just curious, where is a good place to go if you are currently developing or interested in collaborating in Linux-based game development?

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   Where Your Vote Should Go
   

I'm waiting for the expanded Sally Struther parody, where Archie bunker champions segregating site content, Meathead leads the leftist open source movement, and Edith pretends she doesn't know what's going on but meanwhile runs the whole thing cooking with Cisco in the kitchen.

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   Where Your Vote Should Go
   

I like a good hack/crack session as good as the next troll, but some of the comments beneath this post are WAY too supportive of the process. The mainstream has a rational right to associate hacking/cracking with criminal behavior, because often that's exactly what it is. Saying, sniffers are extremely useful networking tools does not allow for some sort of indemnity from very real and true accusations when those tools are misused. If you want to do something that circumvents the mainstream...that's your decision, but don't expect rulings to go your way.

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   Where Your Vote Should Go
   

A university that truly captured the spirit of the open source revolution would be one that allowed the students to dictate and expand the curriculum in an organic, ever-growing environment. Not just by incorporating some RedHat doodads into traditional environs.

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   Where Your Vote Should Go
   

The only thing that got me excited in his letter was his mention of Spock vs. Darth, and that the thought that he might begin speaking of which he knows. Articulating thoughts well does not make them right, and his meandering ramblings leave no Slashdotter closer to any political epiphany.

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   Where Your Vote Should Go
   

i posted this as a joke last time, Calmtext Markup Language, the language for ridalin coders - but it looks like someone's already got to it. Un-freakin-believable.

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   Where Your Vote Should Go
   

When will the lawmakers learn....anonymity is the cornerstone of the open source generation. It's like the verbal equal to the hit-and-run. Removing our right to anonymity is like making us all meet face to face....and let's own up to it - most of us would be wallflowers at that dance.

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   Where Your Vote Should Go
   

As true socialism differs from the communism we have seen in parts of Asia, Europe, etc, there seems to be an unreasonable intolerance of it in the United States, whereby the populace tends to be unable to refocus from the communist dictatorships that have salted the wounds of socialist ideals. Socialism, a system truly built FOR the people, BY the people, is as close to open source politics as we know. Will you then make it part of your mandate to open source Washington?

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   Where Your Vote Should Go
   

It's easy to get upset over the SPAM issues, and even easier to swear vengeance with hot air lawsuits and scare-tactic emails, but really there is no heft, no clout, no MEAT to the attempt. We know it and they know it. So how does one get even with the would-be SPAMMERS? There are several methods, but my personal favorite was inadvertantly popularized on an episode of Seinfeld (where Elaine switches her phone number and gets one with the new 646 area code). This only works for those SPAMMERS (such as Sandbox) that have a phone number accessible to you. Take the number and find an adfaxing service that is local to their number or sends to 800 numbers (there are ones in most major American centers). Give the service their number. The service is free for the subscriber. Ask the service for the high volume/hevy flow distribution. That should account for at least 25 fax calls to their 800 number (or often basement apartment number). That's one method. More available, but I'll just spam you guys the rest.

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   Where Your Vote Should Go
   

my understanding was that they wanted to attempt the same configuration on MIR, but the spacemoss got in the way (as you can see, i never tire of mentioning mir's spacemoss woes - heehee)

i know, i know, and it's love a technologically confused rooskie week too (hey i can get away with that, i'm belarussian)

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   Where Your Vote Should Go
   

Well what do you know...Slashdot wants to open source another field. In this case, though, they are absolutely right. So long as a system of checks and balances is erected (for gov't contracts, school board programs, etc.) then open source is a logical step forward. Somehow I don't see that happening until we have an open sourcer at a high level of office. I'd vote for Commander Taco but he might not get the vote, him being a minority leader and all.

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   Where Your Vote Should Go
   

introducing the new

1. page middle key!
   
   for all of us who've wanted to arbitrarily be pointed to the middle of your browser or processing page - now you can! minutes of fun with this dandy device. (unfortunately, you will have to give up your "up arrow" key, but we have a patent pending for merging the two functions into one key!)

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   The Meaning of Life
   

Calmtext Markup Language

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   The Meaning of Life
   

mojo nation, which has been blatantly advertised on this space before, is not the coolest filesharing around. bigredh, known more commonly as hotline is far better as are several of the gnutella-spawned children. mojo nation has to prove some profitability and pass some accessibility and traffic tests before it can rank up there with the big guys.

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   The Meaning of Life
   

Apparently Ross Perot was actually the "P" in that plan. He still supports it and hopes to make it one of his major platforms (in his fourth party quest for the title).

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   The Meaning of Life
   

i'm not sure who modded this as insightful, but it is actually shortsighted. on one hand there is the human comparison where we should say to let the old and infirmed die when they are "supposed to" on the basis of your reasoning. in keeping with the human leaning, i would be interested to see if this viewpoint be be reflected if you could clone a human, long dead, that could allow us some insight into our current selves.

sticking to similar circumstances, there are the matters of understanding our environment, potentially curing our ailments (many human innovations in disease-fighting have come from our study of animals), and of course, pretty, pretty animals in our zoos.

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   The Meaning of Life
   

as a biologist and biological anthropologist, my focus has largely been in human and societal studies. however, in studying various areas of the americas and west africa, i developed a minor passion in the infamous dodo bird. related to this post, the dodo bird is on tap to be one of the first species (extinct species) to be cloned from their fossilized genetic code. i realize they are not alive to be preserved, but it should be interesting (a little jurassic park action for yeah).

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   The Meaning of Life
   

i agree with some of the commentary here. this isn't a terribly crucial exchange. there oughtta be full disclosure to those whose responsibilities lie in the correcting of bugs in software, but joe schmoe public needn't have access to the info. until they allow full disclosure (at least in part to some relevant group) there's not much to discuss here.

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   The Meaning of Life
   

i'm waiting for nokia to sponsor someone to climb k2 or everest and make a call off a satellite phone at the top. just wait - it'll happen.

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   The Meaning of Life
   

that is very strange indeed that DELL would say such things. of note: an associate of mine was just hired for Dell's new publication which will be similar to Yahoo! Internet Life, though not a consumer mag; rather, it is for the millions of Dell product owners (similar to Sympatico NetLife, etc.). anyway, the relevance to the story here is that my associate, who was just hired on as editor-in-chief, mentions that one particular focus of the publication is to stress the importance of the Linux apps that they denegrate in the lead column. this post threw me for a loop and i'm not sure what to make of the whole situation.

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   The Meaning of Life
   

i ran a "research company" for several years selling original essays and compiling lecture notes. this legislation is a joke. it is a total violation of free speech. besides, what about the student's rights, the student who pays for their education, to share the information they pay to acquire, with whomever they choose? i don't remember signing an NDA before gym class!

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   The Meaning of Life
   

i find it amusing that a penguin is a representative symbol for linux. tux the linux penguin. hee hee. only, haven't penguins been used for generations by expressly non-open source type companies? i know up here in canada, conglomerates such as canada dry (part of pepsico i believe) and several major dry cleaning corporations (sketchley's, etc.) have used penguins as a symbol of restrictive order, some teamwork, but mostly droned out animals. similar to the old joke about women dressing their men up in tuxedos cuz they're all the same anyway - that's an old joke but it has a kernel of truth, yes?

the penguin hardly symbolizes the open source movement as one of teamwork, progress and widescope. it has become a symbol of similarity and loss of identity which hopefully open source does not promote.

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   The Meaning of Life
   

right on. is there any word as to whether this will extend past iPaq?

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   The Meaning of Life
   

why was this modded down? i know it was no leap of logic, but considering that the topic was a two-liner about mir staying in orbit - and no elaboration - why not drop a funny one about mir? you mod asses - take this one down too - you guys ecchh this place up.

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   I LOVE YOU
   

that mir situation just gets sillier by the day. i must say the fungus is simply the best. a foot worth of spacemoss coating the outer portion? i would hate to think what was really going on with that russian sub - somebody needs to remind that country that sometimes even world powers need to rest and recuperate.

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   I LOVE YOU
   

i'm fairly sure that you can't opt out of this, though i'm not sure if the same is true with replaytv. there are a bunch of oddities in terms of privacy and info-sharing when it comes to tivo. i'm surprised that the advertising/sponsoring communities haven't gone crazy over this one since the darn thing is 90% useful just for cutting out the ads that pay for the programming!

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   I LOVE YOU
   

the only validation i can see for "privatizing" karma is to make moderators in general into little gods who dance in and out of our comments and can injure or promote without us ever noticing. knowing your karma definitely affects how some users utilize the system. if you've posted ridiculous piece after horrendous criticism, perhaps you're looking for the cosmic negative rating to end all cosmic negative ratings. the reverse is true as well (except that it takes a brain to compete on the plus side). keep the karma known to the user - it's some good clean obvious fun in this messy coded (almost) world.

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   I LOVE YOU
   

i question the value of this project. whenever i hear terms like "supercomputer" i become quite skeptical; similar to when i hear people still refer to the net as "the information superhighway". there doesn't seem to be a whole lot that's new in the piece, nor anything terribly relevant to current hardware development. sounds like a lame duck to me.

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   I LOVE YOU
   

since the blurb mentioned the STAR WARS chess game i thought i'd bring up another looming technology - the optochip. anyone know where that's at in development. it would apparently allow for the R2D2 style hologram to be a thing of the real. and all out of your wireless device.

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   I LOVE YOU
   

is this supposed to be like a good will hunting thing? the prof leaves the question on the board outside of class and we all fumble around with the answer?

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   I LOVE YOU
   

he's a fantastic composer and i'm glad to see him get mentioned on /.

the soundtrack for Parsec is particularly cool - sort of like a techno jungle thang with a moody groove. great stuff.

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   I LOVE YOU
   

my focus is not on isolating yourself; rather it is in the net's ability to redefine yourself by the information you are privy to. it is the focus on the latter in the equation, be it many to many, one to many, or many to one, that is key to me. the individual has a unique opportunity to affect and be affected by many people in a way that puts the focus on the individual interpretation more than the community. the community is vital, but it is not what i believe affords the new opportunities and promise of the net. it is the power of one.

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as a canadian who consults to american companies, the increase in visas is helpful, particularly since green card lotteries have been eliminated for us icebacks.

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   I LOVE YOU
   

i'd like to see a color scheme that borrows from the original apple, but with liquid-style themes on the spectrum colors - optional per user

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.xxx, .sex - seriously people, there is only one reasonable selection

.cum

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pardon my ignorance, but what is wikiwikiweb?

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i am constantly at odds with friends who believe that community is the killer app of the net. frankly, i tend to disagree. they look at the many to many principle as being a major pioneering move of the internet generation, while i feel it is simply a fixed-up partyline; hardly the app i believe the history books will speak of.

although more compelling than one to many communications (ie. television, radio, etc.), the killer apps of the net lie not in the expediency of communication or even in the newfound routes or options, but in the shared concept of information - that is - that no idea ever dies in our whirlwind. we have afforded ourselves the ability to communicate from the many to the one, and to actually have the receiver be the principle of that equation. YOU are your own community, and any virtual community is merely a part of your individualistic outlook, communication and information circle. the focus is on the individual in our new world, and i say this feeling very lonely in this basement office on this cold fall day.

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russian-loving, plastic eating space fungus.

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it is absolutely bad for napster, gnutella and all the rest that don't have the giant public profiles. but napster will be sunk long before it needs to worry about this.

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   INTERACTIVE
   1. ENTERTAINMENT
      
      

well it's nice to see that they're making something useful out of the palms. why not take the claudia schiffer models and make tiny aerobots that look good in bikinis and talk in shrill german accents? can you believe they made a Claudia Palm? how does anyone respect that company anymore?

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   INTERACTIVE
   1. ENTERTAINMENT