Slashdot Mirror
Slashback: Speed, Reprieves, Geometry
Legislators cut down crack intake, film at 11. In this article about strange privacy-invading provisions of H.R. 2987, the Bankruptcy Reform Act of 2000; you'll be pleased to note that many of its more odious portions have been erased. From the article: "[P]roponents of the bill -- known as the Methamphetamine Anti-Proliferation Act, (HR 2987) -- have steadily dropped some of its most controversial pieces, including a provision that would have made it illegal for news Web sites to link to Webpages about topics like medical marijuana. ... Another provision that was removed would have forced Internet Service Providers to remove users' Web pages without due process on the basis of mere allegations by the government." Hmmm -- laws and sausages.
Letting sleeping white elephants lie, or something. cetan writes "The Chicago Sun Times is reporting that "Motorola's request [to pull the plug on Iridium] follows a determination by Castle Harlan Inc., the New York investment bank that planned to buy Iridium's assets for just $50 million, that the business is too weak to save." Who knows though, maybe the system will get a last-minute breath of life yet..." The pool of possible saviors is pretty small now, eh?
A serious-stuff-only-station. gfxnrrd writes: "I just heard a talk by a researcher from Sony KARC about the GS cube. recently exhibited at SIGGRAPH. The cube contains 16 upgraded PS/2 chipsets; that is, 16 Emotion Engines (with 128 MB of main memory, instead of the measly 64 that the PS/2 has) and 16 Graphics Synthesizers with 32 MB of DRAM each, up from 4 from the PS/2). It can sustain 2024x1028 frames (in 32 bit color, natch) at 60 frames per second. It's connected to the world via a Linux box, which is responsible for both network and controller I/O. On the down side, the processors (at least in this prototype) are connected only via the bus, so no hypercube MP architecture or anything.
I should also mention that the earlier Slashdot article about the GS cube was misleading, in that Sony has no plans to sell this box (for any purpose) any time in the near future. It's not a "graphics workstation" nor can it be unless some radical changes are made (like adding a disk drive, to name only one thing). It's purely a research prototype at this point."
Speaking of cubes, MattTC writes: "These guys have some neat ideas on using the Mac Cube as a rackmountable server." It's also cool to see the G4 Cube without its clothes on.
First-class mail? navindra writes: "The legions of KMail fans may be interested in this progress review by Don Sanders. The last stable release of KMail was way back in September 1999 but development has far from halted." It may not look as slick as Evolution 0.3 does, but it sure looks like a nice clean mail experience!
Almost...the next step is for the bill to go to a conference committee where the differences between the House and Senate bills will either be worked out or if the committee can't come to an agreement, the bill dies. The House and Senate must approve the committee report for the bill to land on Clinton's desk.
Here's a good link for political newbies.
I always knew that political science degree of mine would come in handy someday. ;-)
This is another view of the world.
A court ruling in Ontario, Canada has struck down the law that make possession of marijuana illegal. While the case in question involved medical use, the law, which makes no distinction between medical and recreational usage, was struck down in its entirety as unconstitutional.
However, it isn't time to spark up on Parliament Hill just yet, apparently the old law remains in force for a period of one year, during which time the government must replace it with a constitutionally correct version, or much more unlikely, let it slide.
OK, that said, Canada obviously has a much more liberal and, I dare say, level-headed approach to the dreaded killer weed. Given that America's English-speaking allies across the border have free reign to publish info on hemp horticulture, and other issues regarding recreational, medicinal and industrial uses of that Evil Plant.. what can the American government do?
Will Canada be cut off? Will American ISPs be forced not to filter out requests for certain IP addresses? Is this bankruptcy act thingie indeed even more lame than it looks, given the international nature of the internet?
some good sites and thoughts on drug reform in general...
NORML
smokedot
Students for a sensible drug policy
Gov. Gary Johnson of New Mexico
just to get started at least -- have fun.
It used to be that Japan is where all the cheap electric guitar knockoffs were made... but Japan has been making some good stuff for years now. Then Mexico inherited the *knockoff* slot. Even their stuff has been improving. Nevertheless, I'd still stick with something made in the USA... like a PRS with the quilted finish, custom pickups, and a tentop. Woof! :)
Oh yeah, I've a 1992 Mazda MX3 I wouldn't mind seeing launced into orbit (and burn up on reentry). Maybe I could trade that for Iridium (hey, that was almost on topic!).
Thad
The Bolachek Journals
Hello Iridium Satellite. Hello Iridium Satellite. Have you heard about the website called slashdot.org? No. I learned that most Satellites burn up in the Earth's atmosphere. Ahhhh! The Atmosphere! Ahhhh!! Ahhhhhhh! The Atmosphere!
Am I the only one who gets the wrong idea when people talk about a PS/2?
I can't wait until the release of the new Dungeons and Dragons logic peripheral, the TSR-80!
Kevin Fox
Kevin Fox
A chewed up bic pen
A gutted SGI Indigo R3k case with XS24 logos
Fundamentals of Database Systems
A 1989 Sharp 20" TV
A Fender Mexican Standard Strat
A Goldstar 14" Monitor
An empty 2 liter of Diet Coke
Perl CD Bookshelf
Pioneer VSX-305 reciever with broken input selector
One New Balance 712 Sneaker
Pair of dried up contact lenses
1gig Seagate Medalist 3600rpm with bad sectors
$2
Shine on, you crazy diamond.
Why are slashdotters so anxious to save this thing? It serverly hampers radio astronomy so that Joe and Mary Consumer can feel good about having a cell phone that works anywhere on the globe.
The sad part is that, by spending so much money on a stupid idea, inventor money is no longer available for actual good ideas. Iridium was based on how corporate executives see themselves, rather than on the reality of life as a corporate executive:
...the sad truth being that corporate executives spend virtually all their time in offices, airports, in airplanes or at other people's offices. All of which are serviced just fine by cel phones.
But since Iridium peed in the water, nobody will want to swim. And actual good ideas, like Angel Halo have a much harder time of it.
"How perfectly Goddamn delightful it all is, to be sure" Charles Crumb
> of the measely 64 that the PS/2 has)
Err... The consumer PS2 has 32 MB of DRAM, and an additional 4 MB of embedded VRAM.
> On the down side, the processors
> (at least in this prototype) are
> connected only via the bus,
Yeah - right now, apparently syncronization is interrupt based in the GSCube. Ouch!
Notice they said "no pictures" on the floor, but we were all snapping away anyways? :)
Has anyone been able to dig up more info? The guys on the floor were technically inept to answer serious questions.
Why does anyone vote for Feinstein? It seems like every time I read about some whacko bill to gut civil liberties, her name is on it. This is the same woman who had the only concealed carry permit in San Francisco, while she was busy trying to disarm honest citizens.
Mea navis aericumbens anguillis abundat
PLEASE DO NOT VOTE FOR FEINSTEIN!!! Here is an entire website devoted to why you should not vote for her. She's anti-civil rights, anti-Internet, anti-just about everything. I'm not a republican but I'm definitely voting for Tom Campbell, who doesn't support the war on drugs and is pro-choice. Here is Tom Campbell's voting record, and the one on his web site.
I think we should pass a law prohibiting politicians and members of the government from discussing or promoting laws which contradict, restrict, or attempt to invalidate constitutional rights. Try to restrict free speech? Get tossed. Get fined. I'd love to see Orrin Hatch on trial for "attempting to violate the inalienable rights of constituents". Hah!
1) Well, there is always Ebay guys... I can see it now.. system of barely used LEO satellites... going out of business, everything must go....
2) If they have any sort of manuveurability, I mean, hell, if you work for them you are obviously going to be out of work soon, so you could, you know, aim at stuff when you "de-orbit" couldn't you?
DrLunch.com The site that tells you what's for lunch!
Just looking around my cube, I am prepared to offer:
17 empty altoids containers
1 broken Palm III hot sync base
The O'Reilly Java in a Nutshell, Java Enterprise in a Nutshell, and Java Examples in a Nutshell books
A really nice slick PT Cruiser ad
A worn out ping pong paddle
A slightly stained coffee mug
And $32.67...
That should make me the high bidder... Let me know if you are interested guys...
DrLunch.com The site that tells you what's for lunch!
Lots of legislators throw up 'trial balloons', partly to impress the home electorate and partly to see what will fly. Many of the more odious things we here about early on are shot down as part of the normal process of making laws. It's no surprise that the anti-linking provisions were pulled - somebody had a rush of brains to the head and talked the sponsors into dropping it. Sometimes the system does work.
...phil
...phil
"For a list of the ways which technology has failed to improve our quality of life, press 3."
No. A vote for Lightfoot is a vote for Lightfoot. Only a vote for Feinstein is a vote for Feinstein.
A single vote for either of the main parties is unlikely to change the results of that election.
Each vote for a Libertarian candidate is useful, in that it shows there is one more voter who is fed up with the status quo, who agrees with the Libertarian platform, and who is willing to put aside the fear, uncertainty and doubt spouted by the main parties and wrok on what they believe in.
Just because the bill has been revised doesn't mean that we are no longer in danger of the threats it poses to our rights. Because the version passed by the House differs from the one which passed the Senate, Congress must again decide which version to pass. And even if the House's version passes, that probably won't be enough to stop Senator Feinstein, who will likely beat her opponent, Tom Campbell, in the next elections.
Congress will supposedly convene Tuesday, and when that happens you can read about it on their web site. In the meantime, you can read more coverage on this bill here.
Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT) wrote the bill. I don't recall who endorsed it.
Slashdot social engineering at it's finest
An Ontario court just ruled that current marijuana laws are unconstitutional. A victory for us canucks, anyway.
His basic premise was that, if smoking marijuana enhances the quality of life of people with certain illnesses, then it is completely absurd to deny them the privelege.
The article, as well as other sources, confirm that the changes were made to the original anti free-speech bill, the Methamphetamine Anti-Proliferation Act. As far as I know, the Bankrupcy Reform Bill remains evil. Note that it doesn't make drug-use information illegal, so sites on needle exchange and such would theoretically be okay, but manufacture is still on the death list.
- Michael Cohn
-----
Go ahead, blame me... I voted for Nader!
Anyone in California should keep this in mind in November:
Diane Feinstein was a sponser of the anti meth bill.
Tom Campbell recently said that the drug war has failed, and we need get rid of it.
Any fanatic libertarians out there should keep this in mind: a vote for Lightfoot is a vote for Feinstein.
It's always "nice" to see Congress hand a big present to the vicious credit industry and banks via the bankruptcy "reform" (nee hard-nosed squeezing of consumers who run into bad financial times largely due to extremely high credit card interest rates and creditors extending waaaay too much credit to those who can't handle it, but I digress).
But the idea of extending the anti-human war on drugs in any way defies rationality. The fact of multitudes of otherwise innocent people in prison simply due to drug possession should make any decent person sick to their stomach, esp. those who have known people to have suffered in jail or prison (just because someone is convicted of a crime doesn't always make them a bad person or someone who actually committed a crime...there are many people who are framed, in many cases by prosecutors, but again, I digress). Also consider how blacks are especially picked on by the narcs and imprisoned in high proportion to non-blacks, as if blacks are using/dealing drugs *that* much more than non-blacks (get real!).
Big surprise, but I support the full legalization of marijuana and the decriminalization of using other "illicit" drugs. And guess what? I've never used any of these drugs. I could give a laundry list of reasons for my position (like "treatment works", "saving people's lives from the hard time of prison" and "using hemp will save trees"), but I'll just say this: I dare say that anyone who open-mindedly examines the "war on drugs" closely enough for a good period of time will come to the same conclusions.
The war on drugs is an evil scourge and must be ended. For more info on drug policy reform, go here.
Steve Magruder
Steve Magruder, Metro Foodist
What I don't get (and this is NOT a troll!) is why the knee jerk reaction to every bad law is "It's the Republican's fault!" WTF? Last I knew, it was the Dem's in Hollywood's pocket, the people that brought you RIAA and MPIAA and all the other AA's that are out there, as well as the DeCSS lawsuit.
Yeah, the Republican's brought us the War on Drugs. So what? Yeah, they wanted the death penalty. SO WHAT? (Name me a single criminal that committed a crime AFTER his execution! I don't think you can, can you?)
Oh, but wait, they're all RICH Texan Oilmen... See, it's OK to say that because you're not talking about RICH Tennessee Oilmen, who made their millions through Occidental Petroleum in shady deals.
The Dem's sell out just as regularly as everyone else. As for the Wrong Reverend Jesse Jackson, maybe when he gets off his duff and starts talking about the slavery and exploitation going on in Sudan, I'll give him a pat on the back. Until then, he gets nothing. He sure can dummy up quick when opening his mouth goes against the party line, can't he?
Carnivore is being pushed by the Clinton (Democratic) FBI. They also fought long and hard against encryption, and only gave up when even THEIR thick skulls figured out it wasn't a battle they could win.
If you want to protest, do it at the DNC convention. Isn't it kind of funny that the Republicans are holding their convention at the City of Brotherly Love while the Dem's are holding theirs in LA. Which one is that again? Sodom or Gomorrah? Although I personally wouldn't have minded an invite to the Playboy Mansion for the Dem. fundraiser... Not that you would see AlGore and the rest there... They'll take the money, but they don't want to be SEEN socializing with "those types" of people.
Bah... What a waste... I just KNOW this will be mod'd down. After all, it's a diatribe against everything I'm against. Following the crowd instead of following the issues.
- No matter how subtle the wizard, a knife between the shoulder blades really cramps his style.
Generally a good thing, IMO.
Well, it's nice to know we got something from all that other than a legacy of fear.
The plane has flown already, and flew from the US to the Paris Air Show (an 11 hour flight). The idea is that a set of 3 planes can service a metropoliton area in shifts. They fly far above the commercial flight paths, and have enough range that they can use smaller airports on the outskirts of a city. In that, it helps that this plane has been designed by Burt Rutan, the man who designed the first non-stop around the world plane...he knows a few things about saving fuel.
Well, compared to the expense and hassles of a huge number of rocket launches, sending up one airplane at a time above a major US city is hardly difficult or expensive.
The main advantages of this system compared to LEO:
The principle advantage of LEO sats over Angel Halo have not proven to be all that valuable - global coverage. Global in this case means "the 30 or so most heavily populated cities". That is enough for anyone who needs to pop open a laptop and get 2.5 megabit internet access. Because they are most likely to do so in some airport lounge or in an office in some large city.
Iridium failed because some doofus forgot to look at a globe and notice that the Earth is mostly covered with water, and most of the land is empty. Humans are generally huddled in small areas, and fish and penguins don't really need phone service.
"How perfectly Goddamn delightful it all is, to be sure" Charles Crumb
I'm in the Philadelphia area, and the Republican National Convention is in town (gak). I was wondering if there are any groups protesting issues such as the mentioned act which would prohibit information on drugs, as well as things like FBI's carnivore which are violating our rights. I know some guys from the ACLU were down there today, but I don't know what they were marching for offhand.
Shine on, you crazy diamond.
Har har!
I'm not sure how this communication system benefits future military work. Raytheon is involved because they want to sell a whole bunch of electronics packages. I can't blame them for wanting to do so.
Neither is the existing cellphone system. I like it because it's a phone system that operates at 1.5 to 45 megabits, is available where the largest number of users are, and is a very clever use of solid technology.
Possibly the UN should buy the Iridium network if it has that much impact on world peace. Or George Soros. But scattered aid workers are not a big enough market to make it viable as a business. The cost of sending up replacement sats and maintaining the entire system is not worth it to the aid agencies. I'd imagine they'd rather spend that kind of money on people, food and equipment. So it remains a white elephant. I'm sorry for your friends, but it makes more sense to use the comsat system until either one of the other LEO systems comes on-line (which will then fail for the exact same reasons) or one of the other flying communication systems happens.
"How perfectly Goddamn delightful it all is, to be sure" Charles Crumb
Some bill with a drug rider passes, someone posts instructions for making methamphetamine to Slashdot (as though we couldn't find them anyway at, for example, Tower Records), and at my next visit, I get a happy 404 File Not Found message.
What a fantastic law!! What I really want to know, and didn't pick up from the article, is this: which senator(s) or representative(s) (is|are) responsible??
"Beware he who would deny you access to information, for in his heart he deems himself your master."