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Slashback: Decade, Fragmentation, RDRAM
A screenplay written by Jack Valenti? cc_pirate writes: "Apparently Sen. Fritz Hollings (D - Disney, er - SC) completed his hearings today on how the media needs to have content protection included in computers. Intel and other high tech companies resist and are chastized by Hollings."
Penguins are the new Turtles. Gerein writes "After many months of extreme lobbying, personal attacks, public petitions and surveys, the war over the future OS of the Bundestag (German parliament) is finally over (previous /. stories). As heise reports (in german, use the fish) Linux won't make it to the desktops (they're going with XP) but will take over the 150 servers. The last critical question over the directory service has finally been decided in favor to OpenLDAP instead of Active Directory. It's not the complete victory for Linux, many had hoped for, but it's a start for more Open Source in the German government."
Full disclosure seems like a nice idea. Merlynnus writes: "Yahoo! is running a story, Copy-protected CD makers lose battle, in which Music City Records, Fahrenheit Entertainment and digital rights management company Sunncomm have 'agreed' to stop collecting personal info, and to label copy-protected CDs as defective, er, play-challenged in certain devices. The agreement came as the result of court action by a Cali resident, Karen DeLise, over the Charlie Pride CD, 'Charley Pride: A Tribute to Jim Reeves.' Did that CD really need copy-protecting?"
This should have been transparent. Metrollica writes: "It turns out the transparent aluminium article at Spiegel was misunderstood. Sci-fighter published a correction. The transparent substance was not aluminium but alumina, shorthand for aluminium oxide. Slashdot reported on transparent aluminium here."
Odds are, somebody's written a thesis on it ... and here one is. Whether in response to this Ask Slashdot question or just a lucky guesser, Cine writes: "The standard filesystem benchmarking tools such as Bonnie++, Postmark , Mongo and others all test the optimum case for the block layouting algorithm. But in practice one also is interested to know how a filesystem performs when it is or was heavily used over a longer period (e.g. months and years).So Constantin Loizides has written a Master Thesis about the performance of filesystems under the influence of fragmentation."
Intel-Rambus break not as simple as portrayed.
Controlio writes: "Tom's Hardware Guide has posted a clarification regarding the EBN story with the sensational headline, 'Intel to drop support of Rambus in new CPU products'. The article was also posted on Slashdot. Tom reports:
EBN had the sensational headline Intel to drop support of Rambus in new CPU products, but the story goes on to say, "Intel will continue using Direct Rambus memory with its network processors. Also, although not new products, the next iterations of its 850 and 860 chipsets, supporting a 533MHz front-side, will support RDRAM when they arrive, probably in the second half of this year." A little misleading, wouldn't you say? Hard to tell, but you read it for yourself, and make your own call.Great. More sensational journalism. Maybe someone should submit Jack Robertson's resume to Fox News."
Finally, some congratulations are in order. danny writes (does he ever): "February 28th marks the 10th anniversary of my first book review; there are now over six hundred. I have written an account of ten years writing book reviews, which illustrates something of how online publication has changed over the years."
I don't think the article originally claimed it was actually alumnium...certainly someone here on /. pointed out that it was not.
--Dave Storrs
A screenplay written by Jack Valenti?
More information can be found from the SJ Mercury article from today's paper, although it was written Dan Gillmore, who tends to be quite sensationalist in style but is consistently pro-consumer and anti-DMCA.
The future isn't what it used to be.
"big" artificial rubies have been around a long time, at least 40 years. The first lasers were built around artificial ruby rods that were about 1" diameter and 4" long. (That's 25mm diameter and 100mm long, for people who are able to understand non-moronic measurement units).
Doctor Fun has been published on the Internet since 19930924. For that matter Where The Buffalo Roam has been on the 'net via USENET since 1991, but Dr. Fun was Internet-only. ;)
o/~ Join us now and share the software
Yes, that is a quote directly from Senator Fritz Hollings. It is portrayed in Frank Zappa's song Porn Wars which can be found on the album Frank Zappa Meets The Mothers of Prevention. For those old enough to remember, this is a harkening back to the PMRC (an attempt to force the listing of song lyrics on album jackets). The hearing is a matter of public record, and is out on the web somewhere ... unfortunately I don't have a link to provide, so you'll just have to take my word for it.
The most interesting thing about the hearing IMO is when Mr. Zappa simply keeps asking "Okay, so who's going to pay for it?". I just think it's funny to see how 20 years later these guys are still trying to take away as many freedoms as possible.
For what it's worth, the only artists from the music industry that showed up to testify at the PMRC hearings were Frank Zappa and John Denver. Of course both of them are dead now.
RFC2119
As mentioned in the Douglas Adams work "Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency," Edison invented the Dog Door. It was brilliant really. A door within a door. Electricity was already there, he merely discoverred it. The dog door idea he came up with himself.
People in Soviet Russia, however, appear to be afflicted with amusing juxtapositions of the aforementioned situation
Thanks for the link, as I have no life, I read the submitted testimony (both panels). I think the best part involved Jack Valenti and Disney. The first is the "horrified they couldn't control the number of people watching" quote referring to Disney and video tape. The second thing was ressurecting Valenti's tape-worm comment, again, implying VCRs were going to ruin Hollywood.
Luddites are alive and well.
Leave the gun, take the cannoli -- Clemenza, The Godfather
Fox TV is indeed tabloid GOP-TV.
CNN, and all the others you list, are moderate to conservative entities, if they can be characterized at all. Besides, "liberalism" is defined as open-mindedness, fairness, and the ability to see all sides of a story. Any TV network should be proud to be called such.
But they are not "liberal". CNN is changing its lineup to suck up to the FOX crowd. ABC, and most certainly NBC are owned by extremely conservative corporations, Disney and GE respectively. The bosses of those Republican companies are influencing hiring and firing of upper and middle level management, causing a tilt towards the right that is becoming discernible even to a casual viewer.
FOX is not in the fairness business. It follows the meme, a wrong one, that all who do not agree with their views are Liberal, and part of a Liberal powerbase that they are in biz to negate.
FOX is Murdoch's wet dream. He wants a no-apologies propoganda machine for deregulation, insulting Clinton, religion, slandering Clinton, corporate welfare kings, removing Clinton, military buildups, destroying Clinton, and destroying any damned body that gets in his way to enormous wealth and power for himself and all of his ideological stripe.
No, I'm not going to cite sources. I 'm not going to exhaust myself proving water is wet for the millionth time. And anyway, it is the hallmark of conservatism that they can NEVER be wrong, and that the other side IS. And immoral and evil and godless and...
Liberalism's hallmark, and the hallmark of good journalism as well, is the ability to see all sides of an argument, and to doubt and question deeply held beliefs. FOX fails this test, and is not a journalistic network. It is an attack vehicle for a narrow slice of American life -- angry white suburban USAian men who think that blacks have more rights than they, that all their money is being shipped overseas, that women are too damned uppity, and that their religion is the right and only one. And like lots of guns in case the Guvmint needs overthrowing, or blacks leave the cities and attack their suburban strongholds... believe me, I grew up reading the pamphets spread by milita, Birchers and similar. I'm not exaggerating.
Anyhow, to sum up: Murdoch is a right Uberwinger who created the FOX NEWS network to destroy the influence of anyone who does not support his ideology. FOX exists to demonize its opponents and slavishly promote its politicians.
"Liberals" (anyone not a Murdochian) have no such parallel network of ruthless lying attack dogs. By "Liberals" I mean the 75% of the USA that are not conservatives.
"Troll" indeed.