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Domain: terradot.org
Stories and comments across the archive that link to terradot.org.
Comments · 80
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Street Performer ProtocolTMBG, do you know about the Street Performer Protocol, and if so, what do you think of it? Do you think it is a viable business model for the production of art, and if not, what changes do you think need to be made?
Joshua
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Ah, Dragon World...I remember BBSes. Without them, I would have had no social life whatsoever from when I was 12 to when I was something like 18. I even ran a 24 line one for a while called Dragon World and we ran Trade Wars, although I never played it. I just sat in the tavern (teleconference) and eventually suggested a GT (get-together) to Denny's at some obscene hour of the evening. Slashdot is the closest thing I've found to that community feel since Dragon World.
*sigh* I miss the good ol' days sometimes...
Joshua
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Re:Some background infoWelcome to
A computer without an internet connection is like a body without a soul.
Joshua
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Re:Its always 'after dark' somewhere on the netHow about we let kids be? How about we tell kids that there is some weird stuff out there, but go and see what you can find and try to learn something, and if they have any questions, they can ask their damn parents! Nothing on the internet is going to really hurt or damage anyone! I know this is a hard concept for some people to understand, but if children occasionally see sex or violence, they will not instantly be destroyed for life. Just make sure kids know to be safe and not get themselves into any physically dangerous situations from the internet, which is fairly easily done.
Joshua
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right button menus
I use my right button menus all the time, and I think they are very intuitive, and a very good idea. I think the problem is that no one explains it to most people properly. The right button brings up a list of all the actions you can take upon whatever you've clicked the right button on, while the left button selects on the first click, and when you double click, it executes the default action (which is bold in your right button menu).
Now, obviously no one here really needed that explained to them, but I've done lots of teaching basic windoze, and I've found that is a rather good way to explain it to people. People use it if they're taught how.
Joshua
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Phones?Here's the real question. Are telephones really a technology we want to put more money and effort into changing when we have newer and in many cases better technologies on the uprise. I'd rather have a device with an IP and a permanent, high bandwidth internet connection, and make voice-over-ip calls to another machine of the same sort, then I could use nicknames of some sort (e-mail addresses, AIM handles, domains), and wouldn't need to remember any damn phone numbers. I've always been rather annoyed with phone numbers because I have trouble remembering them, but I don't really need to know my IP address (I do, actually) because I can reference it by a domain. I say let the internet encapsulate the phone system, don't pump more effort into changing the phone system.
Joshua
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AdvertisingYou know, I'm getting bloody well sick of this concept that any business model will work if I just stick advertising everywhere I can. I can't stand advertising, especially when it's overdone (I will admit,
Joshua
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Re:Is this not common?
Nope, to me it demonstrates that either a)You are the owner's kid, or b)That you are one badass businessman to become CEO of a successful company in the fascist business world with spiked purple hair. That's the main reason I haven't cut my hair short; its one hell of a litmus test, as any workplace that is so uptight as to not hire me for a technical position based on my personal appearance is not an environment that I want to be involved with. Of course, in this instance his being CEO wouldn't mean much, what with the other umpteen CEOs around.
Deo
Terradot.org: Growing Awareness -
Re:A dose of reality
I always love these analogies, I really do. I think its because so many will nod their heads and say, "well yeah, that's true," even though its completely irrelevant. Gee, you've only got herpes, sir; old Bob next door has cancer, so what are you bitching about? Shit; I was a janitor for a year but had to quit after I fucked my back; every day as I sit in my shitty cube and talk to people who have no clue as to what they are dealing with supporting a buggy product put out by a company about as informative as the CIA, I miss being a janitor. Before that, I was a mechanic in the Navy, where 16 hour days were the standard, I was effectivity a piece of property and something was ALWAYS broken. But I've got a family now, so I grind away, no damn time for happiness yet because I've got to buy bread and milk. I definitely have no regrets because I love my wife and daughter dearly, but the thought that some schmuck is heaving rocks in a coal mine somewhere just doesn't do a hell of a lot to make my job any better. But thanks for the story, regardless; I needed a smile.
Deo
Terradot.org: Growing Awareness -
Re:techncal job hunting
Java software engineers and QA engineers? Did you even read the fucking article? You have apparently never worked tech support in a call center; this isn't something that you do as an aspiration, its what you do because its the best paying job that you can get without a college degree or an assload of certs in the tech industry. Every fucking day I'd love to just say fuck it and never go into work, because it sucks the high, hard one, but what else am I going to do? Java software engineer?!? Get the fuck out of here; if I qualified for that position, I'd be long gone from call center support.
This is the McDonald's of the tech industry; its the place where those of us who can't afford to go to or haven't yet completed a college degree go to work because we're too fucking stupid to get over the computer addiction and find a halfway decent job outside of the industry. But fate cursed my stupid ass to be a computer geek instead so I deal with the whiny dickheads who drop three grand on a piece of equipment with more options than a DC-10 that they know jack shit about and expect to work like HAL 9000 while I beg, scrimp and steal any little piece of info from those on high that might help me and my fellow techs solve the myriad mysterious issues that always crop up with no reasonably obtained solutions.
That article was so right on that I damn near started crying when I saw my life written out in black and white like that. So I continue to go, day after shitty day, waiting for the day that my wife gets her degree so that she can go to work and make good money while I go to school and take care of my daughter. No offense to you, TWR, as you apparently aren't aware of just who is staffing the call centers, but seeing your disdain towards call center techs not being to find work and then saying how easy it is to find a job as an engineer was just patently ridiculous. Not all techies are six figure programmers; some of us are still making $20,000 a year doing support work and hoping for something better before we burn out.
Deo
Terradot.org: Growing Awareness -
Re:Start MenusA start menu has shortcuts on it for applications and whatnot, and you change it manually, or install/uninstall programs change it. A taskbar on the other hand lists all the programs that are currently running.
Joshua
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Start MenusI can't get over the fact that a start menu is just not a good way to launch applications on a palmtop. I like the idea of a desktop that you can get to with a single click, or perhaps a physical button with configurable icons on it, plus a task bar of some sort (a drop down taskbar would probably be best. Hell, I'm not sure that a start menu is even best for desktop GUI's.
Joshua
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Alpha Blending?For those of us who don't know, can someone explain what the hell Alpha Blending is? Everything I've read assumes that you already know this critial piece of info. I can get a general understanding from context, but a good definition would be lovely here.
Cheers, Joshua
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Re:So?Communism because it results in a lower standard of living for all
Huh? Communism (if actually implemented properly), would result in a lower standard of linving for some, in as much as no one gets the mansions, the limosine's and the caviar. Hell, I don't consider that a "higher" standard of living anyway, as I don't fancy any of those things, but that's what would go away. Communism would also increase the standard of living dramatically for those who under capitalism have the bottom end of the stick. All those people who don't have any houses at all to sleep in and no food at all to eat would have a drastic increase in standard of living. It would put people on a more level playing field.
Now, before you all get huffy and puffy about how this couldn't work, I did say that this would be the case if communism were implemented properly, and I will be the first to admit the difficulties involved in that.
Joshua
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Re:apt & lsb
Heh, I know you're just trolling, so its probably on purpose, but I couldn't help but get a chuckle from seeing the phrase, "rage with an identidy you coward," from someone going by the name "barneyfoo." Thanks for the chuckle; troll on, as you keep the bites chomping well.
Deo
Terradot.org: Growing Awareness -
Re:Copyright protection?
Does that mean I can leagally own lockpicking tools?
You certainly can! I took lockpicking up as a hobby a while ago. I ordered a book from Amazon and a pick set from J&L Self Defence Products. It's damn hard to do actually, and takes great skill, but I managed to get the basics down.
Joshua
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Re:Copyright protection?
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Re:The U.S. Constitution
Frankly, a global law on copyright is the only way to protect the interests of the artists. One that everyone agrees to, one that is enforced, one that is fair regardless of creed, colour or country. Copying material around the globe without paying for it is not 'free speech', nor is it 'free expression'. Its ripping people off.
No, I disagree thoroughly. The last thing we need is more laws that we can't enforce. The point is that you can't enforce copyright on the internet! There simply isn't a way! If I can play it, I can record it and copy it to a friend, or to everyone on the planet. The business models under which music is created will have to change to acomodate that fact. Artists, IMHO, don't have some god-given right to get paid indefinetly (or even for a long time) for something they did. There are lots of artists who will not be hurt by the disapearance of copyright, and those will be the best artists anyway. Certainly, Britney Spears and S Club 7 will suffer from this, but Phish and DMB won't much be affected, infact, I think it'll improve that quality of music that this wee rock produces. Copying music is not ripping anyone off, you can't own data. Joshua
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step backwards
This is a big step backwards! My machine already has a number to get to the web, and so does every other one. Mine is 64.188.195.210, but it has a name too, because that number is bloody hard to remember! I'm bad with numbers, and have a terrible time remembering phone numbers. I look forward to a time when I can use people's names to contact them (e-mail, instant messages, irc, etc.), instead of these daft numbers. I suspect this company will do rather badly
Joshua
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Re:Obligatory ".org" reference here...
I agree, but I think that each country should have a domain, but it should be only for governmental bodiea websites. I mean, do away with
Joshua
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Re:Allow me to rant a little bit about DNS
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my two centsLet me start out by saying that this is indeed my favorite book, and has been since I first picked it up. I will, however, be the first to admit that Heinlein holds some beliefs that I do not agree with, as well as some that I wholeheartedly hope are truth. I read that book when I was 15, by a strange set of coincidences (We didn't start the fire, anyone?), and it taught me that I love to read, and I started reading other Heinlein (To Sail Beyond the Sunset, Time Enough for Love, The Cat Who Walks Through Walls, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, Methuselah's Children, Starship Troopers, etc.), and I enjoyed them all.
The purpose of SIASL was to question the very foundations of our culture. Heinlein looked at the world, he looked at our judeo-christian taboos of modesty and monogomy, he looked at how we villify sex and use words to describe it like "dirty". He looked at our constant jealousy and fear and unhappiness and he questioned whether we needed to be so sad, and more than that he proposed new ideas, new concepts of family, as well as many other new ideas and concepts. They may not all be correct, or ideal, but he was at least questioning the culture we live in, which most of us don't do nearly enough. Also, I think it should be considered that what Heinlein actually felt, and what he thought he should feel were two different things. He's often said (through his characters) things like "You can take the boy out of the bible belt, but you can't take the bible belt out of the boy." He had some prejudices he grew up with (such as his sexism, and attitudes towards women in general) that he thought were flawed, and try as he did, he couldn't break them in himself, so he created fictional characters to do so, but he always put himself in the book (or at least who he wanted to be, ie, Jubal). Jubal thought Mike's ideas and ideals were beautiful and lovely, but felt it was too late for him, as I feel it is for many people, but just because some people can't accept ideals doesn't mean we should abandon them, but it means we should try harder to not let our prejudices effect us, and instill in our children better set of ideals than we were brought up in.
I have long and hard considered many of the things Heinlein said, mostly in Stranger, and have come to the conclusion that about many things, I agree with him. I think that monogomy is a flawed concept (whoa, will I get flamed for this or what?), and I think his proposal (repeatedly, in lots of books) of a kind of group marriage is a much better ideal that we should strive for. I feel very lucky in that I read this book (and many others that have shaped my ideals including B.F. Skinner and Herbert M. Shelton), and that I have the strength to choose not to accept the ideals of our society, but form my own, which admittedly, bare a resembalance to Heinlein's ideals. I also feel very lucky to have met a girl who feels the same way I do, who was fortunate enough to question our culture at a young enough age to form opinions that are at odds with the accepted. She and I are a family, in Heinlein's sense of the word, and we even use the term brothers (it's as good as any other, ain't it?) and I hope that our family will grow, in something of the way Mike's did. My ideals are not set in stone of course, but constantly evolving, hopefully for the better. I will try to live in this world in the most idealistic way I can, and choose what I think is good, not simply what is accepted. We may fail of course, but we will bloody well try.
Flame on, brothers!
Joshua
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Re:rot13.net
Goddamn, I'm glad I took a second to actually think about that for a second, as I was about to blow it off. That is actually pretty fucking brilliant; if you can convince the developers of lynx, Mozilla and other browsers to implement this functionality, perhaps as a somewhat obscure switch in the preferences with a keyboard shortcut to make it convenient for those who would actually use it, then there would be a completely open list of domain names to choose from that wouldn't be flooded by commercial interests for quite a long while due to its obscure nature. Hopefully, by the time it does happen, we will have found a better method. Gonna have to get IPv6 off its ass to make it work, though. Ah well, a pipe dream perhaps, but so was the Internet at one point, so who knows?
Deo
Terradot.org: Growing Awareness -
Re:One that won't get registered
Startin Up a Posse by Anthrax, off of Attack of the Killer Bees. Great band, great song, great album, although I would highly recommend checking out the album Spreading the Disease as well. Actually, any old Anthrax is great; their new stuff with the new lead singer is decent, but it sounds a bit forced, while classic Anthrax is just metal thrashin' fun.
Deo
Terradot.org: Growing Awareness -
Re:Gopher = content over glitz
I've been seeing a LOT of posts that support Gopher because of the lack of support for images and whatnot, but that seems rather silly to me. What exactly is it that keeps an HTTP page from presenting just text? I've been on many different websites that were text only, such as mailing list digests. So what exactly does Gopher provide that makes it superior in this regard? The comments here are highly misdirected, as it isn't in a matter of technology but of design that the problem lies. The only way that switching to Gopher would solve that problem is if Gopher replaced the entire Internet. To be honest, I would rather just let the "Lookee! Its my puppy!" pages remain and have the option of placing diagrams, links and other useful tools within a document.
Deo
Terradot.org: Growing Awareness -
Unenforcable laws
This seems to be a rather alarming trend between this, the DMCA, UCITA, DeCSS, etc. developing of governments (US being the worst) enacting laws about the internet that are totally and wholly unenforcable. Let me say that again incase anyone missed it. DeCSS cannot be stopped no matter how many lawyers you throw at it, Information cannot be contained in such a connected world. It doesn't matter whether it's "right" or "wrong" or "legal" or "illegal". If it cannot be enforced (Can you say drug war, kiddies?), then making a law is wasted effort. I mean, hell! Don't the people behind SDMI have a single consultant among them who is rational enough to realize that if you can play music, you can copy it.
Joshua
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Giving things away for free
Those foes say that if UCITA is modified to require warranties, there had better be an exception for open-source efforts, whose software developers earn no money.
Indeed! the alternative sounds rather like trying to ban the concept of giving things away for free.
Joshua
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Re:I don't see this lastingThe difference here though, is that the only people in the system are those who chose to be in it. That's what makes it nothing whatsoever like communism or any other choice-free authoritarian system.
This is about _choosing_ to do whats good for everyone, much like I do already in my spare time with open source software, and so do many others.
Communism on the other hand is about forcing others to do things for the good of others whether they like it or not.
In one system, you can be a hero and be happy to think you made good choices. In the other you are a slave and you get no choice at all.
Now what was that? Communism is about forcing people? Communism is people living together and declaring that they are co-owners of everything. Communism also does not need to be implemented on a large scale. Small-scale communes and communisms are just as real, and no one is "forced" to do anything. Communism has become a dirty word in this country, but it is a very noble, and idealistic concept worthy of thought, IMHO. Just because it's been implemented in authoritarian ways in the past does not mean that this is the only possible implementation of such a beautiful concept. Freedom is not possibly only under capitalism.
Joshua
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AuthorityThere are a whole lot of people out there who simply don't agree with the medical industry of today. Look at Stop Eating and Chet Day and sites like Living and Raw Foods. There are lots of health philosophies that don't match the one that the WHO would condone. That doesn't necessarily make them less acurate, just a different point of view. I think that anything that causes these ides to be taken less seriously is a bad idea. I would have no problem with a
Joshua
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More sex...We don't need less sex in the world today, we need more of it. We have lots and lots of very frustrated indivisuals who just aren't having enough sex, and they're getting upset, and having lots of stress in their lives. Some of them are even getting violent about it and forcing people to have sex with them, which is a horrible, terrible thing. We need to overcome our rediculous sexual taboos, not yell and scream in CAPITAL LETTERS about common sense, which obviously you have none of. Technology that makes sex safer can only be a good thing. Go get laid and try to relax.
Joshua