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Or venture to http://sub.salon.com/daypass.php? and get the fricking day-pass without all the adviewing.

Really, who built that system? :D

That was all pretentious crap he retconned to make his space opera more intellectually respectable. Obviously he just took elements from Dune, Barsoom, Leigh Brackett, Buck Rogers, etc. See Galactic Gasbag.

... the real roots of "Star Wars" are obvious to anyone not blinded by snobbery or the need for self-inflation. They lie not in "The Odyssey" or the "Upanishads," but 20th century science-fiction magazines such as Astounding, Amazing Stories and Galaxy. The "true theology" of "Star Wars" was written not by Virgil or Homer, but Isaac Asimov, Robert A. Heinlein, Frank Herbert, E.E. "Doc" Smith and a host of other S.F. writers.

But he's gone so far down market now that no one takes him seriously except as a seller of fast food tie ins. I really did enjoy Star Wars, but only the original one, the rest got more and more tedious.

2. pirating everything is what they generally do anyway... they are, after all, one of the world's most infamous pirate havens.

> Microsoft isn't technically a monopoly though.

Judge U.S. District Court Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson ruled that Microsoft had abused its monopoly power and was guilty of violating the Sherman Antitrust Act. It doesn't matter what *you* think, "technically" or otherwise. Like it or not the judge ruled Microsoft a monopoly.

Recalling from memory (appologies for the current lack of articles at hand), there was a strong influx of Canadian doctors in the US because of the nationalized system. Canadian patients are also hopping the border for health care because it will take less time to be seen by an American doctor than a Canadian one.

I am hearing horror stories still from Canadian friends who are waiting in lines to wait in further lines to sign forms before they are even seen by someone.

The US health care system is going down the toilet because of HMO regulations (my ghod! have you heard about the life threatening Kaiser is doing by not allowing particular early detection exams? I know three cases second hand (either friend or husband of the person at risk). This isn't going to be fixed by our over-charging, under budgeting, morally reprehensible government. I think that it is scary already the disservice to the medical sciences that Bush is pulling, among them, giving federal dollars to private religious groups for abstinence-only programs and dissallowing funding for programs that talk about condoms or contraception. I *so* hate that the republican party continuously sells its soul to the religious right.

I will see if I can find the articles I'm pulling from memory, but that means digging through old pre-med boxes that I'm not sure I brought with me in the last move.

If anything, you should be talking about Eidos.

Why do they have a picture of some bloke phoning a sex line next to the article.

If you buy a $15 CD about $1 (or less) of that goes to the artist. Another $3 or less goes to the cost of reproducing the thing. Let's say cost of production is $5.

Most musicians do not get even $1. A few big names will.

When was the last time you bought a CDR? CD stamping costs less than a CDR. It costs pennies to stamp the things out, pennies on the little booklet, and pennies for the case. Remember, all the production facilities are in east asia - so that's pennies too. Because they deal in bulk, shipping it around in containers for ship/train is going to be pennies also.

I would be surprised that when that thing hits the distributor's doorstep if altogether it costs more than $1 to make.

Don't believe me? Then explain to me the profusion of "hits of the eighties" or "the best of old time country music" that you can find in supermarkets new for anywhere from $3 to $7 dollars. Clearly they have a production cost also, but they have gone through the entire chain of production to store and the price is $5 and the supermarket is making a fair profit off it. Evidently enough of a profit that they are willing to give precious floor space to it.

But yet when I go to buy an old Fleetwood Mac album (as another posted noted), I have to spend $17-$20?

Some will say at this point that it costs a lot of money to promote the music. Yes it does cost money to promote new music. It's the band that covers the cost of promotion anyway. So that can not be a part of the final music price.

But after this music has had it's day in the sun, then what? Fleetwood Mac is still not incurring a promotion cost. But twenty five years later the album is costing the same (or more) than newer music.

And what about all the off-mainstream music (like instrumental, new age, jazz, etc.) that never gets promoted widely in the first place?

Clearly this music sells, or it would not be given shelf space in the first place. While it may not generate a flash in the pan like a top-40 might, it still sells steadily.

But yet you walk in a store, and all music is priced the same $17 - $20

The math just does not work out.

To me, within reason is $10 - $20 U.S. dollars.

So where's your cost analysis for that justification? We know the artists aren't getting the money they record companies bilk from us. So the justification can't be due to the value the music had to your life since that money doesn't go to the people who expressed it. How do you justfify the outragous prices of the producer's salary? Where is the value in that?

a) Clear Channel alone controls 60% of Rock radio.

b) Clear Channel owns stations in 247 of the 250 major radio markets.

Check out this article for more information on Clear Channel's operations.

And thats not to mention the number of venues Clear Channel now controls.

(This message brought to you by a former employee of Clear Channel Chief Randy Michaels, from when he was just a station manager.)

Fine. I congratulate the German people on living under a democracy, and I do not seek to minimize the effort that must have taken, emerging from dictatorship, ruin, and division in 1945. (And to some extent I must also claim credit for my country and, specifically, the Marshall Fund and the US policies toward the BRD after the war.)

This is the efforts of the previous German and USA generation, and is of no credit to our generation. Just as it is unfair to blame the young Germans for what they grandfather did or did not do (many Germans fought Hitler), it is a bit fresh to take credit for the Marshal plan of our grandfather generation. I am proud that my grandfather fought in the war, but that is no proof that I would pass the test if I would end up in the hell war is (it can be an inspiration, but not an excuse for not taking responsibility in my own life). The concept of past greatness as proof of present superiority is what the nazis did to keep control of the German nation if you don't mind me reminding you.

Each generation have to be vigilant and protect democracy, liberty, and the other things we value for the next generation (our children). The mistake of Germany in the 1930's was to think that a country like theirs, a great and proud nation of Europe would always be at the hart of civilization. The shock for the world and most Germans was to discover after the war that Hitler had turned the cultural nation Germany into a barbaric slaughter house (remember, few in the west knew about the concentration camps in the early years of the war, and the presence of these camps was denied or kept secret until the war was over).

It is disingenuous to blame the parent post for emphasizing the need to protect democracy first and then to claim that Germans have not learned their lesson. First of all, it is our lesson, the whole God damn western world. It would be pure racism to suggest that the Germans are a murderous "race" (what does this word "race" really mean anyway) while the rest of the west (or at least the holly allies) has democracy in their genes.

Second, Hitler never won an election (the Nazis got at their peak below 30 % of the votes). Hitler did not believe in democracy, he just manipulated the process (and the voters insecurity) to get a foot hole and then he did a coup d'etat. This is why in Germany they have had difficult debates for the last decades what how to deal with parties that has at their core to get rid of democracy (is it democratic to ban anti-democratic parties?) and balance between free-speech and nazi propaganda (is it hate speech, speech having as a direct consequence violence and death?). It is similar to US discussion about how much protection the president should have compared to the right of protesters to be heard (the so-called free speech areas). Or if it helps the democratic process when democrats and republicans redraw districts to make elections a formality. Democracy is a process which has to constantly change to meet the constantly changing challenges that any nation have to deal with.

I'm not saying the current German government will abuse its iris-scanning. It probably will not. But how sure can you be -- especially in the face of German history -- that every future German government will resist the temptation to use these records in abusive ways? That's the lesson Germany needs to have learned from the Nazi era.

No, the lessons is ours to learn. And the current USA generation, since the USA is the leader of the free world with its huge military advantage, probably has the largest responsibility to learn this (responsability is tough, live with it). Remember that the iris scan tests in Germany -- whatever its merits -- follows directly

They take your fingerprint and make you take off your shoes and your pants. (Salon's premium article, but the choice bit is in the segment they allow you to read. I recommend the whole piece though.)

I think you take the poster too literally.

Probably not. I think that comment was a gratuitous bash (the news is about wines, not about movies), but I think it's clear that the poster wanted to make a joke.

I was going for "funny" moderation, not "insightful", actually.

P.S. Like you, I wish that the original, unmodified movies were available on DVD. Just wait; someday they will release a new mega-deluxe box set with the new versions, the original versions, three making-of disks, and a mynock in a pear tree. If they have learned anything from watching the Lord of the Rings box sets, they will go through at least three or four box sets along the way. Plenty of Star Wars fans will buy each box set as it comes out!

Heck, there are fans out there who would buy a DVD of the Star Wars Christmas special if that ever came out! [...shudder...]

steveha

Yeah, all those "successful" SDI tests, right? Now the problem becomes convincing any potential adversaries that they need to tell us when and where they plan to attack, and, oh yes.... would they mind terribly putting a radar beacon on any incoming warheads?

First of all it was not a radar beacon, and it wasn't tracked by the interceptor, it was used to supplement the remote tracking part of the system (which was not finished yet).

In another post I linked to this article. Do some extra research if you like.

Tracking a missile is not nearly as hard as controlling an interceptor - that was the part the system did not "cheat" at.

I would suggest that you check up on the science behind these tests... I cannot believe the ignorance that is being modded up on slashdot (not that it is your fault, this was not given a lot of coverage).

Cheers,
Justin

1. The GPS beacon did not give them any information that would not have during normal circumstances through radar etc (that part of the system wasn't built yet).
2. The kill vehicle couldn't home in on the signal, it only used externally supplied data, as in a real situation.
3. The GPS beacon was necesssary for the tracking of the results of the test. The beacon provided confirmation of the kill.

THE TESTS WERE FAKED! Jesus, doesn't anyone read the fucking news anymore?!

Actually, if you remember the tests that were done a few years ago on the new SDI missiles were largely faked. Turns out the engineers just strapped a GPS locator onto the missile, and a GPS beacon onto the target. The funny thing is that it still only hit 1 or 2 out of the 3 missiles. Maybe it will eventually work, maybe it won't. But it sure as hell won't protect a damn thing in this country against a nukular missile attack for at least a decade if not a century.

On #3: My bad... it was the CIA they invited in:

NYTimes article excerpt:
FOREIGN DESK | November 6, 2003, Thursday
THE STRUGGLE FOR IRAQ: DIPLOMACY; Iraq Said to Have Tried to Reach Last-Minute Deal to Avert War

By JAMES RISEN (NYT) 2649 words Late Edition - Final , Section A , Page 1 , Column 1 DISPLAYING FIRST 50 OF 2649 WORDS - As American soldiers massed on the Iraqi border in March and diplomats argued about war, an influential adviser to the Pentagon received a secret message from a Lebanese-American businessman: Saddam Hussein wanted to make a ... Iraqi officials, including the chief of the Iraqi Intelligence Service, had told the businessman...

The Modern Tribune Article
Salon Coverage
USA Today Coverage
Google Search to more information

because we pretend there aren't humans making these things, but faceless monikers ("MPAA," "RIAA"...never mind that these organizations merely represent the people making the content that otheres are ripping off).

It's more likely that people just aren't too happy about forking over cash to these organizations which "represent" the artists, because the organisations rip off the people who actually make the "content". There is an interesting article here which outlines exactly how recording artists are ripped off by the very organisations that are supposed to represent them.

Is there really any reason to believe that the RIAA represents anything more than its shareholders' profits(even at the expense of the artists who supply the "content" that they need to survive)? They just want a monopoly on ripping off artists.

The Bush administration has exactly what effect on state government, again?

A local government can just say that protestors are terrorists, and the feds will give them a load of cash to spend on shiny new cops and stuff.

So, if one were to define Tax Cheats as cousin to Osama, then BushCo will give money to help create your very own Total Information Awareness centre to fight the "'war' on terror."

Judging by, among others, these articles in Slate (here and here); these articles regarding an Eisner biography (here and here); this little gossipy titbit; and this critical letter of resignation from Roy E. Disney, the dissatisfaction with Eisner seems to have been brewing for quite some time.

Just to totally miss your point...
This is what I wrote re: the McVeigh excecution:

Salon article: Judge rules no webcast of McVeigh's execution. Now I'm against the death penalty. But if you're going to go for it, you should really go for it. Don't try to pretend there's some kind of dignity here. Go full tilt for the bread and circuses. If the people demand revenge in cold blood, give it to them! In full color! And Dolby Stereo! On national tv! Really get that "deterence" message out there!

Space is infinitely big, right? Well, wrap me up and punt me out there! Surely over infinite time travelling through infinite space, the chances of an alien or future lifeform finding my bits are finite.

The little green men could restore my body from its DNA and using technologies our sci-fi writers haven't even yet come up with, they could search through spacetime and match it up to the stream of consciousness, which corresponds to my own when I was alive.

OK so it's not likely. But then again nor is the prospect of a benevolent future human resurrecting you from your frozen head.

I think the conclusion that we should draw from this is that quite simply the universe doesn't want us to be immortal. The old versions of its component modules need to be deleted and replaced by new releases regularly or it stagnates. But the universe also wants us to want immortality too - that way we strive to achieve the most amazing things within our lifetimes. This, after all, is the only option left to us if we wish to be remembered and therefore achieve the closest thing we can to true immortality.

I know, I know - the topic is space burial not immortality but let's face it - most of the egomaniac /. readers (myself included naturally) interested in space burial are a hop, skip and a jump away from admitting their craving for eternal life. Actually I think I just want to live to around 25,000 years old so I can see the conclusion of that Microsoft anti-trust story.

Check out last week's article from Salon.

You mean these guys?

Yup, TSR went bankrupt.
Here's an old salon.com article which, interestingly, comes to the conclusion that TSR failed because it behaved like the Microsoft of RPG publishers: closed source and a lot of law suites. WotC published the rules for the new D&D under the so-called OGL (open gaming license), which has similarities to open source. Now everybody can write and even sell games using the D&D rules set. You just can't call it D&D.

Thanks to Salon.com we know that interference is a myth, founded upon bad science.

You can't plan to live at the level of your total family income in this wonderful, dynamic economy. Most family bankruptcies today occur when one parent has to go unemployed for a few months. Realistically, a family must be able to meet expenses (food, school supplies, mortgage, auto repairs, insurance, etc) using the lowest of their two incomes for several months. The other income goes towards college funds, retirement, and luxuries like cell phones and vacations.

These days, $45K isn't enough to keep a middle-class family going for that long without going into some serious debt. And once that happens, it's nearly impossible to claw your way back out these days.

Good article explaining this by a Harvard economist:

http://www.salon.com/tech/feature/2003/10/13/bankr upt_parents/

The trilogy, featuring the classic franchise films "Star Wars," "The Empire Strikes Back" and "Return of the Jedi," will be released on three DVD discs, with a fourth disc likely to hold a newly made documentary about the "Star Wars" franchise and never-before-seen footage, among several other bonus materials, said Jim Ward, Lucasfilm's VP of marketing and distribution and the DVD trilogy's executive producer.

Oh please let the bonus materials be a digitally restored copy of the Star Wars Holiday Special!

Imagine the marketing possibilities! You could promote the touching "Life Day" celebration! Multicultural wookie Goodness!

If you haven't seen it, go here. You really need to.

Have a Very Wookie Christmas! I know if I get this I will!

Chewy eventually shows up back at home. Han greets the family: "Malla. Lumpy. Itchy." Han scruffs the little one's head, saying, "Look at Lumpy, he's all grown up. I think his voice is changing." Then Han hugs all four fur balls and pauses meaningfully at the door: "All of you are an important part of my life."

There is no conflict of interest here. I'm sure that Microsoft has instructed Mr. Wallis as to exactly what his interests should be. Besides, it's not like this is news or anything. ;-)

How long do you think it would take Disney to setup a Pixar knock-off?

Much longer than they'd be comfortable with. Disney's seen this coming for a LONG time. They bought out DreamQuest back in 1999 for their Secret Lab computer FX unit, and put the animators to work on Dinosaur to capitalize on the 3D trend. Much of that unit was laid off in 2001.

Interestingly enough, there were charges, even then, that Disney was attempting to circumvent the Animator's Union (formerly the Motion Pictures Screen Cartoonists Local 839) by classifying the 3D animators working on Dinosaur as special effect computer operators - who got paid less, and who weren't covered under the union contract.

Basically, Disney's problem isn't technology, or even the quality of animation. Disney's problem is producing stories that will get people to plunk down $9 to go see a movie - REPEATEDLY. That's the definition of a blockbuster in the movie business today, and ain't what Disney's been delivering.

You're right: what's the point of ridding a country from a vicious dictator who brutalizes his own population, destroys the environment, instigates war and supports terrorism unless you actually get some financial benefit from it?!?

No, you are right, we should do it because it is the right thing to do. So, when does the war against Bush begin?

Joking aside, most of the people who criticize Bush and the war are making just your point, though you seem to have missed it: We belive they started the war for their own financial benifit, not because of the goodness of their hearts. After all, they don't mind vicious dictators anywhere else.

Try reading the whole AP article on which it's based.

The chair of an ABA section isn't all that powerful -- that is, she can't decide ABA "policy" on anything. ABA policies and recommendations are committee-driven things, and the Antitrust section is especially highly organized; there are many subcommittees based on subject, and each subcommittee has a chair (or two). Becoming the chair of an ABA section is really 1) a prestige thing, meaning that the chair is widely respected as a top-flight attorney or legal mind in the area the section covers, and 2) an organizational thing.

The ABA sections have varying levels of influence in legislation; arguably, the antitrust section is quite influential. But there are many reasons that Microsoft will really have no sway, either at the ABA level or the legislation level.

In any case, a conflict of interest MIGHT occur if the ABA were supposed to decide something important or instrumental to the Microsoft antitrust cases. But the ABA most certainly isn't, because that's not the ABA's job.

Sweet... 0wnz0r3d is up for best novelette.

Highly cool, Cory Doctorow is bloody brilliant. If you haven't read 0wnz0red yet, go do it.

Sweet... 0wnz0r3d is up for best novelette.

Highly cool, Cory Doctorow is bloody brilliant. If you haven't read 0wnz0red yet, go do it.

No doubt. I mean, Muhammad Ali is The Greatest and all, but he is a terrible spokesman. (Remember when Gil Amelio rolled him out at Macworld, just before he was fired?) Get someone who is intelligible and we might have something.

The report does not find that the highest officials of the state conspired to disenfranchise voters. Moreover, even if it was foreseeable that certain actions by officials led to voter disenfranchisement, this alone does not mean that intentional discrimination occurred.

(e) Upon hearing evidence at the hearing, the supervisor of elections must determine whether there is sufficient evidence to strike the persons name from the registration books. If the supervisor determines that there is sufficient evidence, he or she must strike the name.

You are wrong on so many counts that it is hard to know where to start.

the head of the Bush campaign in Florida also happened to be the person in charge of Florida elections

I assume you are talking about Secretary of State Katherine Harris. I guess you don't realize that the Department of State is not "in charge of Florida elections". Elections are the responsibility of the ... Department of Elections! Funny how that works.

worked with a Republican headed company and George Bush's brother Jeb

Bzzzt. Wrong again. ChoicePoint was hired by Ethel Baxtor (D - Florida Director of Elections), before Harris or Bush were elected to Florida office.

to have ~51,000 people wrongfully taken off the voter rolls who where later found to 90% Democrat

Strike Three! 51,000 people were not "wrongfully taken off the voter rolls". 51,000 (actually it was 56,000) people were included in a list of voters who would possibly not be allowed to vote because their name produced a match in the ChoicePoint database as a convicted felon without their voting rights restored. According to Florida Law (section 98.0977 - Page 15), the only people with authority to remove a voter from the registration rolls are the county election supervisors from one of the 67 counties in Florida (not Katherine Harris or Jeb Bush).

Then there's that whole thing where Bush Jr. got appointed President by the people his daddy appointed into office

The USSC ruling agreed with all three of the completed vote counts and recounts in the state (including the count that was certified by the Secretary of State on the 7th day after the election, as required by Florida Law), and simply stated that the standards of vote counting and recounting could not be changed after the election was over (which was exactly what Al Gore was trying to do).

Because it's in the NYT, of course!

• Google Philanthropists
• Microsoft Philanthropists

I quit reading the Economist article after the first paragraph gushed about how Bill Gates, "combines knightly philanthropy on an unprecedented scale with a long and impressive combat record." It's hard to admire someone who's broken the law so many times to rob everyone. The best article on Bill's charity was done by Salon years ago. Since then, much of his giving has been suspiciously close to countries considering free software. There have been and are today much better examples of philanthropy than Bill Gates. The hero worship sickens me.

There was no attempt made to change the 'electoral process', only to cause it to adhere to its principles

Florida law has provisions requiring an automatic recount in the event of a close election. Florida law also requires that the election results be certified at 5PM on the 7th day after the election. After the initial recount was finished (with Bush still in the lead), this deadline passed and the results were certified. Gore then sued to force a selective recount in counties where he stood to gain the most votes after the deadline for certification, effectively changing the existing Florida election law.

It's simple to make unfounded assertions.... You gave no information that suggested anything other than Mr. Palast belives that George Bush is a Bad Guy, not that there was any vested interest in that position for him.

Mr. Palast is an expert at making unfounded assertions. Lets start at page 1 of his book:

Here's how it worked: Mostly, the disks contain data on Florida citizens - 57,700 of them. In the months leading up to the November 2000 balloting, Florida Secretary of State Harris, in coordination with Governor Jeb Bush, ordered local elections supervisors to purge these 57,700 from voter registries. In Harris's computers, they are named as felons who have no right to vote in Florida.

Mrs. Harris and Gov. Bush didn't "order local elections supervisors" to purge votor registries - they didn't even have the authority to do that. This came from the Florida Legislature, because in the US the Legislature writes the laws, not the Executive branch (which most people should have learned in 5th grade US Government, but apparently not Mr. Palast - maybe thats why he moved out of the country). In fact, the Florida Legislature passed this requirement in 1997, before Harris or Bush were elected to office in Florida (see this Salon.com correction from when they published the original Palast article), and this list was compiled at the direction of Ethel Baxter, the Democrat Florida Director of Elections. In addition, this law in no way forced local election officials to purge anybody off the voter registries. In fact, there were several counties that scrapped the entire list without using a single name. You see, county election officials control county election rolls, not the Department of State or the Governor. This means that any voter disenfranchising in heavily democratic, minority counties was done by county election officials, who happen to be Democrat minorities in such counties.

Explain to me what Mr. Palast's 'vested interest' is ... in this issue?

If you can't see how he doesn't profit from three high-on-emotion, low-on-fact-but-we-hate-republicans books on this very subject, then maybe you don't understand what a vested interest is.

for instance, Cheney's Vested Interest in the Iraq war is that he will profit from the assignment of Halliburton as the primary contractor - that is a 'vested interest'

Ah, yes, the left wings favorite whipping boy. You do realize that Dick Cheney divested himself of all financial ties to Halliburton (with the exception of an insured retirement annuity, which doesn't change no matter how much or how little money Halliburton makes)? I guess you also realize that Halliburton has been working almost exclusively on Government contracts for the last 60 years, not just from when Dick Cheney became associated with them. And I guess you would also know that most of the so-called "no-bid" contracts that Halliburton has been awarded in Iraq were because Halliburton is the only company that does what the contractors were looking for. After all, how many companies out there have the oil fire expertise of Kellogg Brown & Root? Never mind all of these facts, lets just complain about the rich white guy!

You're right. But. A) you're repeating what the editor already said, and B) you are overstating your case a bit for the following reasons:

In fairness, the poster on the blog was Cory Doctorow, who is a long time, well-known net-citizen and isn't exactly some random guy, although you may not know him. For a sample of his work, see this piece in Salon which mentions that he won the John W. Campbell Award for best new science fiction writer at the 2000 Hugo Awards. He's not a journalist, he's a blogger, but it's an interesting tidbit nonetheless...

And even if he was a random blogger, his credentials are much less important than the core concept he's disclosing: that someone seeking to generate email accounts (or open bank accounts or whatever) could have porn-seeking humans workaround the turing-ish test security measures. The story is less that someone is doing it, than that someone could be doing it. At least to me.

Plus this is a hacker-type story... I wouldn't expect Reuters, etc. to carry it first.

I actually was glad to see the Slashdot editor point out the "someone told me" caveat... it's a sign to me that the editors here are getting better. They're warning us about the weaknesses in the story, not just slapping stuff up here without a care.

--LP

You see, the Skull & Bones (*cough* Kerry *cough*) is not the only secret society in the world of this type...blood oaths, etc. Word has it that Oxford's Rhodes Scholars (*cough* Clinton *cough*) have a similar org...something about 'New World Order' but I can't remember the club's name. Google it.

No tinfoil here, just knowing that anyone in power as is Blair has close ties with the CIA type agencies that exist there. Kelly was a liability, especially if grilled about his "leak". Do they make Kevlar Wristbands?

In summary, I don't believe either Hatfield or Kelly killed themselves. Oh yeah, and don't do anything that might mar the image of someone powerful, especially if it's telling the truth!

(In addition to not being as slow as dirt, I mean.)

One of the obvious and natural things for a site like this is to try and link people together via shared interests, quirks, ideals, memberships, and so on.

Friendster lets you list these things, but has a terrible search interface -- if you like the band Poster Children, you can say so, but then trying to find other people with the same interet will reveal everyone who mentions either "poster" or "children". Basically, broken.

People try to work around this by creating fake "people" for abstract ideas -- there's a whole article about it at Salon. But the Friendster site people, instead of capitalizing on this, decided t hat this "subversion" is a plague trying to destroy their system. And, this work-around does make the social network part less useful -- having no way of distinguishing links between real people from those via Mickey Mouse is a problem.

Instead of trying to kick every abstract concept, cartoon character, university mascot, and geek web site logo off of the network, these things should be *encouaged*, but defined as separate from real people. It's both more fun *and* more useful. And it's exactly what Orkut does -- in addition to your own entry, anyone can create a "Community", and join as many such communities as they like.

So, Orkut is cooler because they have this feature -- but even more because they understand *why* to have it.

This is an older article but sheds some light on how Gates got started in philanthropy.

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

Maybe Amazon will start selling all the 'Yeah' speech remixes.

Then Amazon could link to other stuff too. Dean had a bit role in the K Street TV series. Sadly IMDB removed the link between Dean and a Ninja movie.

"They're welcome to think anything they want," he said. "As has been demonstrated, I don't reveal my sources."

At least he's consistent in enabling criminals.

Is a printed out list of file names and an ip address enough evidence to award thousands or even the millions of dollars the RIAA was shooting for? Anyone who has ever used a P2P application knows for a fact there are tons of fake material floating around. In fact some sources (here,here, and here indicate RIAA represented companies were behind some of the fakes. Don't forget the people that were sued previously that had nothing illegal. The RIAA's tactics of carpet bombing is not an exact science.