Slashdot Mirror
Slashback: Blender, Pictures, Servitude
Is your Blender still under warranty? Myriad writes: "NaN, the publishers of the free cross-platform 3D modeling and rendering package Blender, may not be as dead as was previously reported here on Slashdot. While Blender remains unavailable for download, some of the websites functionality has returned along with the notice "NaN is currently undergoing a re-organization of the company...and are working to restore wider operations as soon as possible." Hopefully they will manage to bring back Blender!"
"I only read Computerra for the pictures." Natalie Shahova writes: "As the translator of Just for Fun, I had to contact Linus by email in order to clarify some issues. This way we got virtually acquainted, and Linus agreed to give me an interview. Its Russian version was published in Computerra on March 26, but the original is - as you might guess - in English. As far as I know, Linus Torvalds has never given an interview to a Russian journalist before. Knowing from Just for Fun that Linus is tired of questions about Linux and open source, I chose some other subjects that interest me as a professional translator: languages, emigration, fiction, etc." A fun interview, with some amusing pictures, too (only in the Russian version). Thanks, Natalie!
Wasn't Windows NT 'More UNIX than UNIX'? thelizman writes: "C|Net is reporting that the joint Microsoft and Unisys website attacking Unix has been experiencing problems all day. Now, normally I would venture an evil laugh, but in light of yesterdays revelation here on /. about the site being FreeBSD powered, could this merely reinforce Microsoft's point? Not likely, since it was quickly switched over to IIS running on Windows 2000, and that's when the problem seems to have started."
What time is it when an elephant dances on your computer? Tom Veil writes: "Minor editorial changes have been made on the article "When Elephants Dance" (referenced earlier by Slashdot). The most interesting change adds one more step to the solution, suggesting that the DMCA must be repealed. A comment is also made as to how fair use is already protected, and thus 'there is no need for additional action in this area.'"
And thanks for flying Air Canada -- Have a nice day. steveha writes: "Linux Journal has more on cyborg Steve Mann's troubles with Air Canada. Over $100,000 in equipment damage, and possible... brain damage?!? Not good."
the site still allows you to download the /bin/ls program, which indicates it is running *nix or bsd (on an improperly configured server).
Someone pointed this out in a previous discussion on the matter.
Try the following URL:
www.wehavethewayout.com/index.html
The 404 message coming back is the standard IIS one, and it is even labelled as IIS.
1. Unisys and MS start a $25+ mil PR campaign against Unix and set up a web site as a part of this wehavethewayout.com.
2. The website is running on Apache and FreeBSD and the campaign receives criticism.
3. Next day they move the hosting of the above to MS' domain and the server's IP address changes and software seems to be Win2k/IIS 5.
4. In no time after this move, the Win2k server gets cracked and started serving an empty HTML page and then getting 403 errors, campaign gets more bad PR.
Just a curious question. How in the hell are they spending this $25+ mil that has so far not gotten any positive coverage and only generated bad PR? Funny that the FreeBSD site seems to be still up and running at http://198.63.57.204/
Actually, since he has worked with this equipment for 20+ years, his actual train of thought might be screwed up. I remember something from when the original story was posted that talked about how, without his vision equipment, he was disillusioned and had a hard time using his natural senses.
His dependency on the equipment makes him a true cyborg, I suppose..
-kwishot
The only way he could be damaged is if his VR stuff caused some kind of permanent change to his brain by replacing part of its normal function, sort of like (imagine) if you lived in a weightless environment for long enough, you might lose your ability to walk in normal gravity. That change of course would be a very slow, gradual process that came from wearing the electronics for years.
The electronics are bound to fail sooner or later. If they were really causing some physical change in him, then if they ran for a few more years before failing, the change would have progressed that much further and the damage would have been worse. So if removing the stuff caused damage, it's good that he found out about it now while the effects aren't as bad.
But I agree with the Linuxjournal comment from the guy claiming to be a doctor, saying Mann is probably just looking for an excuse to sue. If that VR removal really caused brain damage, two things should happen:
>is
>their FreeBSD web server process be able to read
>files in
Yes!
I have become extremely accustomed to my sense of sight. Am I brain-damaged in the dark? Would I be brain-damage if I were permanently blinded?
I really sympathize for the guy (there was no reason for the airline to do what they did) but as an ignorant outsider, I find the whole brain damage thing to be implausible.
As copyright owner of this comment, I authorize everyone to defeat any technological measure which limits access to it.
Steve Mann could see perfectly well with no glasses of any kind when I met him. Sounds like a stunt to promote his book. Perhaps he should lean to unplug his toys for a while and learn to enjoy not being on a electronic leash.
Just because he is a mad visionary doesn't mean we need to tolerate his stupidity. He can't be the one deciding when he should or should not be following the rules the rest of us have to follow. He basically chopped up a laptop in such a way as to make it wearable. If the pieces are hiding in various parts of his clothing then that is his problem not that of the security staff. In fact his home made jury-rigged devices are likely far more dangerous in terms of radio interference than a laptop that follows standards.
His mind may operate at a visionary level but that doesn't excuse the fact that he is lying about being handicapped and that he knew perfectly well that his gear should be treated as a laptop. Guess he wants to re-define society in his image. Fine line between being a visionary and being insane.
What? I will not remove my 'Wearable Gun' it is attached to my heart monitoring device! I'm handicapped, as I suffer from a fear complex. I need the cold blue steel against my chest in order to feel comfortable and have self-esteem.
Given M$ recently delared push to fix the security of their OS, this makes a fiendishly clever move. The single most valuable resource for fixing security problems is to know EVERY exploit currently in use.
Try this for a plan... So they get the security problems fixed, kinda sorta they think. The truly evil plan would be to TROLL the entire net. With some sort of nasty unfounded lie about UNIX. It would generate millions of hits, and have every cracker, script kiddie and real Security Geek on the planet spend the next few days trying to take down that system. Log it. M$ would now have a comprehensive database of every known method for breaking windows because thousands of enemies just showed them their favorite exploits!
From now on, we can assume that M$ actually has the most knowledge about methods of cracking windoze. Here is the ultimate panic point. Now that M$ has this information, it is quite possible that they WILL soon have the most secure system. With this quality of information about holes, and legions of code drones spending ALL of their time fixing them, they just might actually fix them ALL. What happens to *NIX if M$ really does end up with the most secure system?
Well someone hasn't been to the rock recently ;)
...
... the difference is probably less than 200$... well worth it to avoid the inevitable holdups when dealing with the weather, marine atlantic and newfoundland driving in March.
It's 3 days of hard driving from St. John's to TO (I'm talking 12 hours per day here) plus your choice of a 6 or 14 hour ferry ride (depending on where you get it from) through Newfoundland waters.... in the middle of march
On a windy day that kinda punishment can make an air canada strip search look pretty attractive in comparison.
As to cost
Canadians, particularly those of us down east where Air Canada is pretty much the only game in town, are very well aware of the problems at that airline. However, it seems to me that Mr. Mann must not have been completely co-operative with security personnel in St. John's. I find it hard to believe that they would have gone to these lengths without some kind of a reason.
This is a good point. And even conforming laptops are supposed to remain off during portions of the flight. I wonder if Mr. Mann follows regulations then, and what kind of "disorientation" he gets, then? Or does he blithely put all of his fellow passengers at potential risk by not following FCC regulations?
Get off my launchpad!