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!
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?
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
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.
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!
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."
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.
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."