Slashdot Mirror

If you're interested in dying languages, there's a great article in this week's New York Times Magazine (sign over soul, etc.) about how and why languages die, and what can sometimes be done to save them.

The court upheld other rules requiring the former Bell companies to allow providers of high-speed DSL Internet service to use their copper wires, but not upgraded fiber optic or fiber-copper lines. The FCC said requiring the companies to provide access to the upgraded lines would deter the former Bells from making better systems.

At least for now...

Or the same link with partner=SLASHDOT instead of partner=GOOGLE. It still works, though I'm sure some of the other get-variables identify Google numerically.

What would it take to get /. the ability to have its own Google-style links?

*cough* Printer-Friendly Format (read: full width with no ads) link*cough*

*cough*google link*cough*

Dude, it's spelled "TEMPER TANTRUM".

In other news, gay marriages are legal in Oregon now, starting tomorrow at 10am.

Hooray!

Yahoo to Charge for Guaranteeing a Spot on Its Index

While I don't know about this particular case, and haven't researched it, I can say that Safire really lacks credibility.

For the most public example, he published a column where he took Bush to task for not returning directly to the White House on September 11th. Obviously, the administration put pressure on him, and he published a follow-up column where he claimed to have been shown "conclusive" evidence that the terrorists had special codes that indicated they knew where Air Force 1 was (see this teaser. Regardless of the wisdom of Bush going directly back to the White House that day, I don't believe for a minute that al Queda had transponder frequencies to contact AF1.

So you might ask yourself why Safire is talking about how glorious and clever the CIA was "back in the day," particularly when the administration is claiming that the agency is responsible for the whole Iraq mess...

If anyone wants a link to the original New York Times (#include "free_reg") article by William Safire about this incident, here it is. Now you don't have to hunt down the dupe to read it.

HALP! I've been kidnapped by the NAZI Bush regime!!!! -- Jean-Bertrand Aristide, Lawful President of the Soverign nation of Hati

LINK Thanks! Good post.

For similar arguements, check out a recent op-ed by economist Paul Krugman and a recent article on outsourcing in the Economist.

Yes, I referenced an article from the Economist. I realize that makes me a f#$%'n prick.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/01/technology/01bil l.html?ex=1078722000&en=31d099587f6b4293&ei=5062&p artner=GOOGLE

Apparently fewer students are pursuing EE/CS as a career. Supposedly down 33% over the last two years at MIT, 23% in the country as a whole this year. Potential gradual students are opting for Wall Street instead. See an article in today's NYT

Hemos - Ultimately, free trade works out well
John Maynard Keynes - In the long run, we are all dead.

1. Why do economists get off so easy ? What is "ultimately" ? What happens in the short term ??

2. My friends and colleagues have been laid off due to outsourcing to India. People writing code are becoming handymen, plumbers, delivering pizza. Nothing against those "careers", but they didn't spend 4 years of school getting CS degrees to end up delivering pizza now, did they ?

3. The same New York Times ( 30 little turles - Feb 29 edition link here) has a long op-ed by Friedman where he argues thus - Be glad that Indians are writing code & not becoming suicide bombers like the Arabs. Friedman contends that America is secure because Indians are writing code & not blowing themselves up! How ridiculous is that ?!

The Ney York times just called Peter Jackson an Australian!!!! What Morons!! Ny Times

We ALL know Peter is a New Zealander (like me)

The "Patriot" Act was passed without some Congressmen and women even reading it. It was named that to intimidate members of Congress. Vote against this bill and you will be against patriotism!

The "Patriot" Act was supposed to protect us against people who want to destroy our entire society. Now its being used to harass citizens who do something stupid, and have no political motive. If they get away with this, you will see more and more extensions of government police power. History has shown that, even if they don't get away with it, they will try again.

More and more we are seeing examples of prosecutors who don't want sensible justice, but who just want other people to hurt, because of their own personal mental issues. Last week the Oprah Winfrey show provided another example: An 18-year-old man had sex with a 16-year-old woman at his school. (Big surprise, there.) Later she accused him of rape, and he was found NOT guilty. But he was put into prison for 10 years anyway. The prosecutor said that was entirely justified, and that he had no problems with the punishment.

The U.S. government is rapidly becoming more corrupt. Here are just a few examples:

Killing people and destroying their property:
N.Y. Times editorial
"... Americans paid Ahmad Chalabi to gull them into a war that is costing them a billion a week and a precious human cost."

Lying about scientific facts:
"The Bush administration has deliberately and systematically distorted scientific fact in the service of policy goals..."
N.Y. Times
The Guardian
Wired News
Union of Concerned Scientists

The present terrorism against the U.S. people is partly the result of the U.S. government's secret violence:
About a year ago, I hastily put together a short, incomplete history that shows what has happened: History surrounding the U.S. war with Iraq: Four short stories.

The "Patriot" Act was passed without some Congressmen and women even reading it. It was named that to intimidate members of Congress. Vote against this bill and you will be against patriotism!

The "Patriot" Act was supposed to protect us against people who want to destroy our entire society. Now its being used to harass citizens who do something stupid, and have no political motive. If they get away with this, you will see more and more extensions of government police power. History has shown that, even if they don't get away with it, they will try again.

More and more we are seeing examples of prosecutors who don't want sensible justice, but who just want other people to hurt, because of their own personal mental issues. Last week the Oprah Winfrey show provided another example: An 18-year-old man had sex with a 16-year-old woman at his school. (Big surprise, there.) Later she accused him of rape, and he was found NOT guilty. But he was put into prison for 10 years anyway. The prosecutor said that was entirely justified, and that he had no problems with the punishment.

The U.S. government is rapidly becoming more corrupt. Here are just a few examples:

Killing people and destroying their property:
N.Y. Times editorial
"... Americans paid Ahmad Chalabi to gull them into a war that is costing them a billion a week and a precious human cost."

Lying about scientific facts:
"The Bush administration has deliberately and systematically distorted scientific fact in the service of policy goals..."
N.Y. Times
The Guardian
Wired News
Union of Concerned Scientists

The present terrorism against the U.S. people is partly the result of the U.S. government's secret violence:
About a year ago, I hastily put together a short, incomplete history that shows what has happened: History surrounding the U.S. war with Iraq: Four short stories.

A related NY Times article is here.

Rental car agencies are already exploiting GPS tracking devices for uncapped profit (eg. bouncing a $250 rental fee to $3.4k). I wonder how long it will take them to exploit this one so they can charge penalties for ... oh ... not using your blinker, leaving the dome light on when the car is off, and perhaps even for not flipping down the sun visors. Y'know, 5 minutes of harsh sunlight can really wreak havoc on unprotected automotive uphostlery, and possibly increase the maintenance cost for a vehicle by a full $0.000000005!!

These claims would be from the same Iraqi opposition groups that claimed that Iraq was far along in developing all sorts of weapons of mass destruction, right?

News flash: people lie. And these ones have been proved outright liars WRT to Saddam Hussein, saying anything to get him overthrown. If they said tomorrow was February 28th, I'd recheck my calendar.

You want an article showing the opposite? Here goes. If you don't want to register, here's the beginning:

Hussein Warned Iraqis to Beware Outside Fighters, Document Says
By JAMES RISEN

Published: January 14, 2004

ASHINGTON, Jan. 13 -- Saddam Hussein warned his Iraqi supporters to be wary of joining forces with foreign Arab fighters entering Iraq to battle American troops, according to a document found with the former Iraqi leader when he was captured, Bush administration officials said Tuesday.

The document appears to be a directive, written after he lost power, from Mr. Hussein to leaders of the Iraqi resistance, counseling caution against getting too close to Islamic jihadists and other foreign Arabs coming into occupied Iraq, according to American officials.

It provides a second piece of evidence challenging the Bush administration contention of close cooperation between Mr. Hussein's government and terrorists from Al Qaeda. C.I.A. interrogators have already elicited from the top Qaeda officials in custody that, before the American-led invasion, Osama bin Laden had rejected entreaties from some of his lieutenants to work jointly with Mr. Hussein.

Officials said Mr. Hussein apparently believed that the foreign Arabs, eager for a holy war against the West, had a different agenda from the Baathists, who were eager for their own return to power in Baghdad. As a result, he wanted his supporters to be careful about becoming close allies with the jihadists, officials familiar with the document said.

---

If you're still wondering about which is right, consider this: why the frell would these Al Queda be in northern Iraq, an area largely controlled by the Kurds? You know, those people Hussein gassed a while back?

P.S. Correct my last message to read "But there's no evidence he was promoting terrorism beyond that.

Reg Free

British people are having problems with their teeth again.

Someone please help them.

here

After TiVo, Radio Rewound

An interesting piece about politicians grades in the New York Times, gives a rare acknowledgement to Dan Quayle since Dan actually had a C+ average while Bush only managed a straight C. But the one everyone forgets about is Cheney who flunked out of Yale twice. I wonder if Cheney manages to spell potatoe.

He's proud of his anti-war activism, but "Hanoi Jane's" actions are in a whole different category. Lots of people who respect and agree with his anti-war position still label her a traitor.

This is more along the lines of those who link the Bush family to Hitler.

Not only does India need this to bring itself into a greater position in the internation scientific community, but the rest of the world needs it to encourage them to try as well

It just happened I wrote yesterday about the usages of VR to treat fears. A company named Virtually Better, based in Georgia, creates virtual environments mixing video images and computer-generated ones to help people deal with their fears and anxieties. In this article, the New York Times (free registration) writes this costs only 10 percent more than conventional therapy. The newspaper adds that therapists using this system claim a success rate exceeding 90 percent. Virtually Better "has created scenes of a glass elevator and a bridge to address fear of height, an airplane cabin for those who fear flying and a thunderstorm to diminish fear of bad weather." Other environments address the treatment of substance addiction or of post-traumatic stress. A (Virtual) Therapist's Dream contains selected excerpts. It also includes images on the virtual airplane environment.

ender's game is also about child psychology in a very very dysfunctional society. in fact I think the main focus of the novel is growth and understanding of Other and self, not war itself, (card isn't a war/hard-sci-fi writer)...and Ender is traumatized for millenia (if i remember correctly) for his participation in the xenocide. As to self-defense, that's a standard claim, one that ignores the history of US agression, the US supporting the violation of human rights. We would not 'NEED' this system if we weren't already at war for profit over people. Read the times op-ed today by Noam Chomsky, not something u see every day... "It is a virtual reflex for governments to plead security concerns when they undertake any controversial action, often as a pretext for something else. " i wholeheartedly agree.

Point taken. They're even buying Office-branded ads on the New York Times article discussing this issue... (at least, it's what I saw on the NYT site a few minutes ago)

Point taken. They're even buying Office-branded ads on the New York Times article discussing this issue... (at least, it's what I saw on the NYT site a few minutes ago)

Link

You may laugh at the prospect of police underreporting crime rates, but as the citizens of Atlanta discovered it happens.

From the article:
Several police officers told auditors that during the selection process for the 1996 Olympics "a concerted effort" was made to improve Atlanta's chances for selection by underreporting crime to the point of discarding incident reports and improperly closing cases. Their claims have not been verified.

Violent crime that Atlanta reported for F.B.I. national statistics in 2002 was 6.8 percent lower than it should have been, the report found, while the F.B.I.'s margin of error is two percentage points. Reports for 22,000 responses to 911 calls in 2002 cannot be found in department files.

While this article is dated today (2/22/04) in the guardian, it appeared at least a couple of other places a couple of weeks earlier:

And in the NY Times 2/8/04 ($ required):

Mark

Here's a link to the first paragraph.

Is this a copyright violation ?

Here ya go. (The same article is also available in The Ledger)

The terrorists have won.

It will never haul as many people as the A380. It will never have shops, real beds or things like that

Come back to me after the A380 has a proven safety record and actually makes money. Boeing still owns the mid-size aircraft market (does Airbus have an answer to the 767 or 777 yet?) and they will come out with something that blows the A380 out of the water. I'd stack American innovation against Europe any day of the week. We invented the airplane you know.

NY - LA in 2 hours for 10000$? You'd better order a dozen Concorde, they will always be full. By the way Concorde Paris - NY was always full and the companies were actually refusing customers.

I still maintain it wouldn't be economically feasible. Economics killed Concorde. Nothing else. This is an interesting article about the economics of the Concorde. Let me quote the most interesting section:

The governments of England and France underwrote the costs of building the 14 Concordes, which were then turned over to the two national airlines.

Here's another story that says pretty much the same thing:

The Concorde was designed when there was cheap fuel, 11 or 12 cents a gallon. Just after it started flying the early-70's OPEC crisis hit, and the economics never really worked after that," airline economics analyst Jim Craun of Eclat Consulting said. "It might have been profitable for a period, but it was only in the late 90s when everything was booming.

Branson originally had proposed buying the jets from BA for 1 each, the same price BA paid the British government for the jets originally.

Maybe your taxes wouldn't be so high if your governments didn't subsidize failed projects like the Concorde. They got to buy the planes for one pound? Must be nice. Maybe we should subsidize Delta, United, and American Airlines like that. Then again I suppose most of you have the luxury of doing that since you don't have to pay your full share of your own national defense like most countries do.

By the way your still ignoring the whole sonic boom problem. Would you be happy if you were woken up in the middle of the night by sonic booms? If it's such a good idea why aren't they using it for transcontinental flights over Europe? I'd be really interested to actually hear an answer on this problem other then you pointing the finger at me and saying "You banned it to kill Concorde".

You Europeans can be such fucking hypocrites it's disgusting. The German Green party opposes any use of nuclear power what so ever on the grounds that it's bad for the environment (hint: one coal power plant releases more radioactive fallout into the atmosphere then any hundred properly run nuclear plants do) but if we ban the usage of highly polluting supersonic airliners over our airspace because we don't want to deal with the noise pollution we're doing it just to kill the Concorde. Next you'll say that the CIA caused the Concorde crash in Paris.

Wrong, it's the US.

Oh take your anti-Americanism and shove it up the highest part of your Eurotrash ass. You'd be speaking German or Russian if it weren't for us. Your conveniently ignoring the fact that the Concorde was a wasteful polluting ozone-destroying piece of Government cheese and landing a cheap shot against the United States while you are it. What fantasy World do you live in?

P.S.: To any Eurotrash with mod points -- go ahead and mod me down. At least I have the guts to post this as non-AC -- more then I can say for 90% of the people that bash the US. Besides my fellow Americans will mod it back up. Bring it on I say!

P.P.S.: Here's a handy list of French military defeats going back to the time of Julius Ceaser.

Maybe if the Europeans didn't keep selling nuclear technology to nutjobs the US wouldn't feel the need to develop counter measures.

1) That's interesting info and very relevant...

2) But i wouldn't put much faith in anything FreeRepublic.com put out about John Edwards. (Incidentally, why did you work so hard to hide the site name by using its IP address instead of its name and by not actually providing a link? They are proud of their bias, why aren't you?) They got the story from CNSNews.com They claim CNS stands for Cybercast News Service (Cybercast News Service News.com? Brilliant.) but a quick scan of their supporters (Rush Limbaugh, Newt Gingrich, the FRC...) points more towards Conservative News Service as the real acronym.

At any rate, a quick search would've turned up a much more in-depth and balanced article on the subject in the New York Times. They don't clear Edwards of wrongdoing, but they also can't be accused of glossing over the story just to trash Edwards.

Trying to obscure your source and using a blatantly biased source when a less biased one is available weakens your argument, which at its heart is valid.

Add to this that Russia sucessfully tested a balistic missile that can manuver in flight to dodge missile defense sheilds yesterday.

You mean this ballistic missile test? According to the article, the missile crashed 98 seconds after take-off. Doesn't sound so successful to me.

Here is some already formatted HTML you can copy into your email client (preferably Mozilla). Remember to remove the blank spaces Slashdot puts in URLs.

U.S. government corruption: Two Stories

Killing and destroying property
N.Y. Times editorial:
"... Americans paid Ahmad Chalabi to gull them into a war that is costing them a billion a week and a precious human cost."
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/15/opinion/15DOWD.h tml?ex=1077956111&ei=1&en=a6370df01dc83363

Lying about scientific facts
"The Bush administration has deliberately and systematically distorted scientific fact in the service of policy goals..."
N.Y. Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/18/science/18CND-RE SE.html?ex=1077771600&en=fe9176d8d470477b&ei=5062& partner=GOOGLE
The Guardian:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,115118 7,00.html
Wired News:
http://www.wired.com/news/medtech/0,1286,62339,00. html
Union of Concerned Scientists:
http://www.ucsusa.org/global_environment/rsi/rsire lease.html

Here is some already formatted HTML you can copy into your email client (preferably Mozilla). Remember to remove the blank spaces Slashdot puts in URLs.

U.S. government corruption: Two Stories

Killing and destroying property
N.Y. Times editorial:
"... Americans paid Ahmad Chalabi to gull them into a war that is costing them a billion a week and a precious human cost."
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/15/opinion/15DOWD.h tml?ex=1077956111&ei=1&en=a6370df01dc83363

Lying about scientific facts
"The Bush administration has deliberately and systematically distorted scientific fact in the service of policy goals..."
N.Y. Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/18/science/18CND-RE SE.html?ex=1077771600&en=fe9176d8d470477b&ei=5062& partner=GOOGLE
The Guardian:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,115118 7,00.html
Wired News:
http://www.wired.com/news/medtech/0,1286,62339,00. html
Union of Concerned Scientists:
http://www.ucsusa.org/global_environment/rsi/rsire lease.html

BTW, here is the Google link to the article.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/19/technology/circu its/19remo.html">free link to article.

and the even funnier thing is that Your Mother's partner link works as well.

The Goatse partner link works well too. It's my preference.

The funny thing is that the Slashdot parter link seems to work as well. The question now is: why don't the editors use it? :-)

With the recent trend of article mirror trolls, I don't trust the first poster's text.

Now Preening on the Coffee Table: The TiVo Remote Control