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Oil Slick Threatens African Penguins
An oil slick in South Africa is threatening the third-largest colony of Jackass penguins, which are about to enter their breeding season. This is the second major oil pollution disaster to hit Cape Town's penguins. Sanccob is leading the rescue effort. Donations can be sent here.
Will this delay the 2.4.0 kernel release?
I just found a new nickname for the clueless Linux Zealots at work...cool!
So my question is: how appropriate is it for people to use their website as a medium to raise consciousness and solicit donations for whatever cause they are currently supporting?
Follow-up: does it matter if the purpose of the website typically excludes stories about that particular topic, moving though they may be?
And another one: are there some issues which are so important that they should headline any/all forms of media, regardless of the subject matter usually addressed by that media? If so, is this one of those topics?
I ask only because I'm willing to look like a nitpicking, heartless jerk in order to satisfy my curiosity.
Any sufficiently well-organized community is indistinguishable from Government.
Penguins in trouble
Slashdot readers quick response
Kills the webserver
Hmmm... Symbol of the Democratic Party (US), symbol of the Linux movement. Coincidence? The Truth is Out There.
For all intensive purposes, "whom" is no longer a word. That begs the question, "who cares"?
Must be a new Microsoft tactic... I suppose they chose the "linux" topic because there is no "penguins" topic. Or "enviro" topic -- which would be nice, btw.
The world is filled with good causes... thousands of them. There are hundreds of endangered species, people dying of diseases and starving in almost every part of the world, and we are destroying our environment in so many different ways. It would be impossible -- even in a community the size of Slashdot -- to even begin to address these problems. We can, however, do our small part to help with one of them. The penguin is our mascot, and that makes it as good a cause as any to get behind.
Even if you don't help save the penguins, you can give a dollar to a homeless guy, or buy an acre of land in the rainforest, or give to the American (or Canadian) Cancer Society. The point is, do something. As a collection of individuals with above average intelligence, we have a responsibility to this world to do something, anything, to make it just a little bit better.
Reality has a liberal bias
You know, this kind of stuff would have never had this kind of attention paid to it had it not been for the linux use of the penguin logo. Oil slicks suck, and yet we still demand cheap gas prices. Here in the Midwest, people are bitching about how they are getting screwed by the gas companies, so corners are cut and accidents such as this are more likely to occur.
<rant>
And of course there are already those posters complaining that this is not News for Nerds or that kind of ranting. Come on, this seems to be Sengan's second post, and this kind of news interested him. If you were also an author, you would have a right to complain.
</rant>
A site showing pictures of the penguins before the slick can be found here, and the google cached link of the slashdotted link is right here. CNN is also covering the story.
So the next time that you pump your gas or drive down the freeway to work, ask yourself whether you really need to do this. Public transportation is usually powered by much safer power sources, so maybe these kind of accidents won't happen anymore.
-zavyman
Every time I read of a story like this, I feel sick. Literally. Just another reason we should be using alternative energy sources and all ships should be required to have double hulls *and Linux). This is the 21st century. Why is everything still so backwards?
As a species, we are such failures in protecting our own planet...
Long live the penguins!!!!
..I prefer my penguin baked rather than deep fried in oil. Whatever, as long as some Africans get food.
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+&x
i'm not going to bother defending my post to you - since you obviously didn't get the point of it in the first place!
Why don't you defend your post to me? I have karma to burn, I got the point of it, and I, quite frankly, thought your post was tasteless, irrelevant, and a waste of bandwidth and hard drive space.
-- iCEBaLM
"Hi, I'm Linus Torvalds and this is my friend, Tux."
[ Adorable little penguin waddles over and lays a flipper against Linus' leg, snuggling up against him. ]
"Oil slicks can be a messy, dangerous and often deadly disaster. Just a couple years ago, my friend Tux here was near death due to the after-effects of just such a slick, but thanks to caring contributions from people just like you, Tux is alive and well today [ Tux smiles, sweetly at the camera ]."
[ Shot widens to show Linus standing in front of a virtual sea of oily penguins. ]
"Right now, there are hundreds of penguins -- just like Tux -- who need your help. Won't you find it in your heart to share your good fortune with those less fortunate than yourself? Please contribute to the United Penguin Care Coalition. Little lives, like Tux's, depend on it."
* United Penguin Care Coalition substitued for the South African National Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds. Why? Duh, that would have sounded too fruity in the commercial.
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seumas.com
I would be much more likely to donate to the cause if they took credit cards online. Can't they appeal to some large, greedy oil company looking to do community service by donating a server, SSL, and a Merchant Account (say maybe someone who could symphathize... like maybe Exxon??)
I was thinking - yeah I might chip in some cash for this - I like penguins, hate oil slicks - what the hell?
Oh... but you got to fax your credit card number or send them a *snail mail* with your info... sorry but you lost me there. Make it easy to donate online and maybe more people would give.
Slashdot has always been Geek news, and it's always seemed to me fairly activist.
I would like to suggest we keep in mind the original promise of the computer...paperless. Indeed Enviromentalism is an *excelent* geek thing to engage in. Biology rocks in a completely egg-based geek way, and it's really really interesting. Us boffins are the future, and if we don't use our ,often, priveleged positions to fight for stuff that really matters than were all doomed
Case in point in Australia is SIMCOA's use of Old Growth Jarrah woodchips in the silicone smeltering process. Jarrah is one of the largest trees in the world, and it also produces fan-bloody-tastic furniture. It's endangered too. Currently SOTICO, the logging company is selling this priceless wood as woodchips at $14 a tonne. There are many enviro-friendly alternatives for it. As end users we should be complaining bitterly that our comps are trashing forrests unneccesarrily. Put preasure if you want to on intel/amd/motorolla etc to use enviro friendly processing methods.
Either way. It's verry geek. Let's do something for those penguins. It's important. Tux'd agree too methinx.
Excuse the Unicode crap in my posts. That's an apostrophe, and slashdot is busted.
if you get the point...then how could it possibly be irrelevant?
there's something inordinately mundane about posting "jeepers. that penguin article just doesn't seem to have anything to do with the subject matter of slashdot."
but, then again, you already knew that.
FluX
After 16 years, MTV has finally completed its deevolution into the shiny things network
"It is seldom that liberty of any kind is lost all at once." -David Hume
So the next time that you pump your gas or drive down the freeway to work, ask yourself whether you really need to do this. Public transportation is usually powered by much safer power sources, so maybe these kind of accidents won't happen anymore.
I agree that humans and their feigned needs for fossil fuels at low costs led to this sort of tragedy. I don't agree that public transportation uses safer power sources. They use either (1) electricity created at central fossil-fuel burning facilities, or (2) fossil-fuels in other forms.
Not to mention the mode of transportation itself. Cars crashing on the highway are the number one dangerous mode. But think of the number of San Francisco Muni bus accidents, New York subway derailments, airline disasters, AMTRACK derailments, freight trains with toxic chemicals spilling, train derailments in Turkey and Germany and everywhere else.
Diesel smoke from public buses also cause more pollution per person, in areas where ridership is too low to amortize the damage. Sure, if the route runs half-full, then say thirty people use twenty times the fuel of cars. During off-peak and mis-arranged routes, then four people use fifteen times the fuel.
Diesel truck lobbying groups and the engine producers don't let you into the dirty secrets: tests are rigged to measure idle-power emissions instead of typical loads. Diesel engine improvements far outweigh the efficiencies demanded by the solo car driver; a car in 1998 emitted 4% of the toxins that a car in 1978 did, while diesel has hardly budged.
Yep, people's priorities are skewed pretty badly.
Rainforests burn daily for farming acreage, eradicating dozens of species of primates, countless other animal and vegetation species, and we devote to the cause of some penguins caught in a one-time disaster.
More money was spent on the making of Jurassic Park than had ever been spent in the history of dinosaur paleontological research. The USPTO has a few hundred million dollars siphoned off in appropriations committees, since they don't really need those patent fee proceeds; announced the same day that NASDAQ:MSFT nears its 52week low, representing a drop of over a hundred billion equity because of uncertainty in a single massive litigation.
And while I'm off-topic,
When is O'Reilly going to create a wildlife fund for all the cute animals featured on the covers of *nix utility references?
[
Coming from South Africa, I have a tendency to actually read some of the stuff that pops up about it. I read this and I realized that is serious. Most of you played this off as something which should not be posted on Slashdot, even kindof flaming them for daring to put it on the site. Like it or not, our mascot is a penguin and any pengiuns should be close to our hearts.
Lets be hypothetical a little... would you say that a Swedish hacker is less of hacker than an American hacker? They are both hackers and from what I have seen on the newsgroups some of them make the news with more pizaz than many others ;-)
Back to being a bit more serious. EVERY nut in the world knows that the conservation of a species is VERY important, since the loss of a species has several impacts on the environment that are only fully realized years after it has happened. These pengiuns off the South African coast are part of a penguin species that do not exist anywhere else in the world. Apart from the fact that the oil spill arrived during their breeding season, the impact of the oil spill will only be seen next year when hundreds, if not thousands of penguins are lost.
So, be serious for a moment and realize that if oil spills happen a few more places in the world, and not just in SA, the pengiun mascot we have may be the only living pengiun in the world by 2020.
It disturbs me to see "brainy" geeks be so unbelievably STUPID as to play off the importance of a species being in trouble. Drop that arrogant shithead approace to life and be better people. Perhaps you might even be a real software engineer then, and not just a hopeless script kiddie.
That is my two cents worth ...
Life's like that
there's something inordinately mundane about posting "jeepers. that penguin article just doesn't seem to have anything to do with the subject matter of slashdot."
And just who do you think you are dictating what the subject matter of slashdot is? Do you write the articles? Do you do site maintenance? Do you pay for the sites bandwidth or colo space at exodus? Do you have anything remotely to do with the site other than being a reader posting stupid comments wasting everyones time? Whats that? No?
-- iCEBaLM
So my question is: how appropriate is it for people to use their website as a medium to raise consciousness and solicit donations for whatever cause they are currently supporting?
.. that is, if it's all right with you.
The two key words in the above sentence are:
"their website"
This is not your Web site, nor is it mine. It is the Slashdot crew's Web site, and the last time I checked, it is both legal and appropriate for them to post material as they see fit. If they post something that you find to be objectionable, you are under no obligation to either read or respond to any of it. You do not have a service agreement with Andover or Rob or any of the crew, nor do you pay them a plugged nickel for the use of their resources. Therefore, you do not have a leg to stand on when you complain about the material that they decide to post, particularly when you can simply ignore it completely.
The Slash code is publicly available; if you wish to start up a Web site where solicitations of any kind are not posted, then you have more than enough tools to get you on your way. Until then, I would encourage you to keep reading and contributing to Slashdot, but ignore that which bores or offends you.
That said, I am going to add some DeCSS-related material to my home page
:-)
We're going down, in a spiral to the ground
And just who do you think you are dictating what the subject matter of slashdot is?
/.'s colocation facilities, bandwidth, et. al.
i, sir, am the consumer. If slashdot wants to turn itself into a nature-conservatory, or what have you...that's all well and good. That is their perogative. I didn't email anyone about it. i didnt call Hemos at his honeymoon hideout and bitch at him for allowing one of his co-workers to post the story. I simply stated that i felt it was an off-topic story in a publicly accessible forum.
If the guys at slashdot want to turn it into a generic news source for any and all news-worthy articles, e.g. Elian, Gore, and whatever else passes for news these days, that's fine with me. I'll take my readership elsewhere - as will a signifigant portion of slashdot's user base. Then we'll see if Andover, or VA, or whoever else, wants to pay for
Sorry, but Hemos, CmdrTaco, and the rest aren't my fearless leaders. I don't hang on every word the say, or post as the case may be. And i'm certainly not 'unquestioningly loyal' like some of the people i've seen posting. This is my tech source, when it ceases to be that, i'll go elsewhere.
I eagerly await your "well why don't you go elsewhere NOW! asshole" reply.
FluX
After 16 years, MTV has finally completed its deevolution into the shiny things network
"It is seldom that liberty of any kind is lost all at once." -David Hume
I eagerly await your "well why don't you go elsewhere NOW! asshole" reply.
Consider this to be it.
i, sir, am the consumer. If slashdot wants to turn itself into a nature-conservatory, or what have you...that's all well and good. That is their perogative. I didn't email anyone about it. i didnt call Hemos at his honeymoon hideout and bitch at him for allowing one of his co-workers to post the story. I simply stated that i felt it was an off-topic story in a publicly accessible forum.
You stated nothing of the sort, you wrote a useless mock story about Linus taking a dump. It wasn't even half funny, it was an absolutely retarded thing to do. If you had simply stated your opinion about it being an off-topic story (which, by definition is an impossibility here anyways, as the authors make the topics) then I wouldn't have even wasted my time replying as I already brought up my thoughts about it elsewhere in the comments.
Sorry, but Hemos, CmdrTaco, and the rest aren't my fearless leaders. I don't hang on every word the say, or post as the case may be. And i'm certainly not 'unquestioningly loyal' like some of the people i've seen posting. This is my tech source, when it ceases to be that, i'll go elsewhere.
They aren't my "fearless leaders" either, I don't even like Rob from my dealings with him, I'm definately not loyal to them, but to even suggest that a story they post on their website is somehow off-topic is simply ludicrous. It's "News for Nerds, Stuff that Matters", it's NOT simply tech news, it's NOT simply what YOU want it to be. I quite think the story is very much on-topic, as it shows us just how careless we are with the environment, we need to change or we're all going to suffer the consequences like some poor penguins off the coast of south africa. If you somehow think this isn't "Stuff that Matters" then "well why don't you go elsewhere NOW! asshole"?
-- iCEBaLM
Apparently, one way to send money from the United States to South Africa is through an International Postal Money Order. They can be purchased at U.S. post offices.
As I understand it, you fill out a form including how much (in USD) you want to send, pay for the amount of the money order, plus a fee of $8.50 USD, and then mail the form to a processing center. Eventually the U.S. Postal Service sends the info to the foreign country's post office, and the foreign post office sends the money order to the recipient. The recipient can then cash the money order at local exchange rates.
Does anyone have any experience with this? Is using an International Postal Money Order preferable to simply sending a personal check? Do the exchange fees make this method not worthwhile? Obtaining and sending drafts in foreign currencies seems so difficult.
Ben
It wasn't even half funny, it was an absolutely retarded thing to do
you realize you flamed me because you didn't think i was funny. i think that makes you the retarded one. or at least the intolerant one. oh well...i guess i'll just thank god that i'm only subjected to your opinions on a relatively obscure environmentalist-geek website.
btw - as far as 'on-topic' is concerned. if i go to hear a person speak at a convention on linux...and they start to digress about how they hate cheeseburgers or some such gobledeegook, is that not 'off-topic'? even if they organized and funded the convention? - you can approve of whatever they do at slashdot. - that's your right....just fucking admit the story was digressionary. Maybe if sengan had actually posted more than 2 stories in the long history of slashdot you'd have a leg to stand on with that 'it's whatever they want the topic to be' argument.
FluX
After 16 years, MTV has finally completed its deevolution into the shiny things network
"It is seldom that liberty of any kind is lost all at once." -David Hume
you realize you flamed me because you didn't think i was funny. i think that makes you the retarded one. or at least the intolerant one. oh well...i guess i'll just thank god that i'm only subjected to your opinions on a relatively obscure environmentalist-geek website.
Actually, I flamed you because I, quite frankly, thought your post was tasteless, irrelevant, and a waste of bandwidth and hard drive space. Does this make me intolerant? Perhaps. Maybe I'm justified in my intolerance however as you seem to be lowering the median IQ of the human race I belong to.
btw - as far as 'on-topic' is concerned. if i go to hear a person speak at a convention on linux...and they start to digress about how they hate cheeseburgers or some such gobledeegook, is that not 'off-topic'? even if they organized and funded the convention?
These are not quite parallel. The only thing slashdot claims to be is "News for Nerds, Stuff the Matters." and I find it rather insulting that us "nerds" would not think the environment matters.
you can approve of whatever they do at slashdot. - that's your right....just fucking admit the story was digressionary.
I admit no such thing. I suppose if the only thing you want to read about on slashdot is the latest release of KDE, maybe you need to start going to freshmeat.
Maybe if sengan had actually posted more than 2 stories in the long history of slashdot you'd have a leg to stand on with that 'it's whatever they want the topic to be' argument.
I really don't see how that hinders my argument, whether it's hemos, emmett, cliff, or sengan posting the penguin article, whats the difference?
-- iCEBaLM
Actually, I flamed you because I, quite frankly, thought your post was tasteless, irrelevant, and a waste of bandwidth and hard drive space. Does this make me intolerant? Perhaps. Maybe I'm justified in my intolerance however as you seem to be lowering the median IQ of the human race I belong to.
i'm glad you're of the opinion that because i don't have specifically the same taste in humor, food, or whatever else we would most likely disagree on, that i am A)Dumber than you are, B)Not qualified to share my views with whomever i wish.
i shudder at the thought that there are others as intolerant as you allowed to freely roam this planet. THAT my friend is something that scares me more than oil spills!
and with that. I give this thread to you. You have won. I am beaten. Now let's both shut up!
FluX
After 16 years, MTV has finally completed its deevolution into the shiny things network
"It is seldom that liberty of any kind is lost all at once." -David Hume
Or if not over sea, there are many people in the US that need help.
While I'm not saying "dont' help the penguins", I am saying that it disturbs me that people are very frequently more interested in "save the whales" or "save the penguins" as is the case here, than helping fellow humans.
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CAIMLAS
~/ssh slashdot.org ssh: connect to host slashdot.org port 22: too many beers
Will the Jackass penguin be the logo for Microsoft's Linux distribution?
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Slashdot has no qualms about posting stuff to save peguins from an oily drowning death but I think they would hestitate if demons were being hunted down and destroyed by the Vatican!
Could this be yet another Linux vs BSD Slashdot issue? Kind of makes you think. ^_^
ps. What the heck is that cute demon called anyways?
South African Rand (ZAR)
Currently
1 US$ = 6.87 ZAR
1 UK£ = 10.33 ZAR
1 Euro = 6.44 ZAR
SA's international telephone/fax code is +27, and add "South Africa" to the postal address.
CowboyNeal for president!
"Hit any user to continue."