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Slashback: Wal-Modem, Culpability, Misquotes
There must be some mistake; this is what I wanted. Masem writes: "The review of the OS-less PCs sold through Wal-Mart brought out a lot of comments on the inclusion of a WinModem, effectively requiring Windows to make the computer work correctly. However, NewsForge reports that shortly after that posting, Microtel, the makers of these computers, wrote back to the reviewer and indicated that new versions of the systems will ship with Linux-friendly modems from now on. Nice to see a company that knows its target audience and how to make them happy."
Thanks, Microtel!
Next: ethernet cable manufacturers. cpt kangarooski writes: "For those tuning in late, Harlan Ellison sued AOL (among others) for having the temerity to permit users to upload copies of his copyrighted works across their networks on the Usenet. As it turns out, AOL was in the right, and got a summary judgment against Ellison.
The opinion by Judge Cooper is located here in PDF format Given his reputation, Ellison will likely appeal."
Welcome to Ix, please take off your shoes. cayle clark writes "A few months back I asked slashdot about shopping in the Akihabara, Tokyo's famous "electric town," and got lots of good advice. Well, now I been and went there, took some pictures, and posted an illustrated account here. Netting it out, it's a keen place to wander, and prices are in some (but only some) cases lower than in the USA."
Hacking at the ties that bind Following up on the new venture in wireless from the LinuxCare crew, Dave Sifry writes "802.11b Networking News wrote up a summary of the new Sputnik Gateway release today, codenamed Stagecoach. The Community Gateway code runs from CD and turns a computer with an ethernet card and Prism 802.11b card into a secure authenticating firewalled 802.11b Access Point. New features of this release include support for desktop cards, like the Linksys WMP11 PCI card, which means that you can turn your old 486 in a closet into a cheap secure wireless router."
I'd rather they save Futurama, but gift horse, teeth, etc. Remik writes "Yahoo News is carrying this story letting Simpsons creator Matt Groening set the record straight that the Simpsons isn't winding down and that it isn't on the ropes. He claims he was misquoted and misunderstood in a Financial Times of London article that came out earlier this week and that he does indeed has stories for years and years. What if Marge became a robot? Hmm..."
Has anyone detected the envelope with the winner's name yet? SoundGuy666 writes "Looks like SETI made it past that 500 million milestone - wonder who won the $500 prize..."
Funny, the episode last night showed a huge lack of imagination. The network may want to beat the horse for more cash, but that doesn't mean that it's not in deep trouble.
Here is your solution for a Windows-free PC. Although it can run Office if you really need it to.
(-1, Raw and Uncut is the only way to read)
I think this product is targeted towards the advanced users out there, as much of the "mainstream" users would at least think twice before buying a PC, then have to install an OS. However, most of the people I know who install and configure their own operating systems (whether windows or linux) tend to want to build their own systems themselves. Personally, I never purchase manufactured computers because I want to make sure I get "top quality" components, such as a versitile/highly configurable motherboard (like asus, i'm not endorsing). Especially when you install Linux, it's good to know exactly the hardware specs, and the easiest way to do that is to put it all together yourself.
Despite this, I feel Walmart & Microtel are doing a good job at showing that Windows isnt the only way to compute. The Microtel SYSMAR506 - Athlon 1.4 seems a good deal at around $500 for budget consious families who want to expose technology affordably to their children or for geeks who need a computer fast and cheap. It would be nice if they included both Windows and Linux drivers, but i know that 1.) Just the fact that it includes windows drivers is a much better improvement than Compaq's "recovery cd" that doesn't have drivers, and 2.) a lot of hardware is automatically detected under Linux, so it may not be necessary
$cat
In that case, the court said this: "The court does not find workable a theory of direct infringement that would hold the entire Internet liable for actions that cannot reasonably be deterred." The worst possible outcome from a Scientologist's perspective.
Judge Cooper upheld this precedent with her current summary judgement. Way cool.
Yet again, the Scientologists shoot themselves in the foot!
When I moderate, I only use "-1, Overrated". That way, I never get meta-moderated!
Since the simpsons is one of my hobbies and I spend lots of time talking about it (or spewing quotes) with my buddies at the bar, I'd like to offer my rebuttal to the argument that "The Simpsons jumped the shark long ago."
The important concept is to look at the Simpsons in phases. The Tracy Ulman shorts and season 1, and to a lesser extent season 2, was basically Groening getting his feet wet in the television medium. The plots were decent, and by the end of 2, the characters were pretty damn fleshed out. But most of the time the progress was slow, the voices (especially Azaria's) were crappy, and the jokes didn't punch.
Seasons 3 through 6,7, or 8 (depending on how much of a hardass you are) were the good years. The characters hit their prime, all the voices solidified, the animation went from "crappy" to "simple but elegant." The plots were tight, the jokes zinged. Basically every really classic episode was from this period. Flaming Moe's, Homer the Heretic, Last Temptation, Lemon of Troy... there are too many to mention.
But the seeds of crappery were also sewed during this period. Not 1 but 2 clipshows, the spinoff showcase, and guest episodes like the johny cash and X-files episodes. I bring up those last 2 for a reason: one of the central complaints about the later seasons is all the random guest voices, but those 2 above are two of my all time FAVORITES. Which brings me, I guess, to my central point: one man's meat is another's poison. Yes, the X-files episode was a pastiche attempt to gain ratings, but it was done in a freakin' hilarious way.
Most of the seasons after 9 typify this later approach: garish, sometimes slapdash, and always ridiculous ratings-fodder. Bart's a Jockey! Britney spears reads 2 lines! "It's N-Synch!" I would basically agree that the show had said everything meaningful it was going to say by the end of season 8 or so. And so it turned its energies outward: the long-loved and well-developed characters took on archtypal roles in critiques of pop culture.
Homer devolved from a dumb but lovable working class chump, to an archie bunker/fred flintstone obnoxious bastard. Lisa went from vulnerable geek to elitist snob. The thing is, these changes had a point: it's the way everyone ELSE was being, and now we're commenting on that, see? In fact, I would argue that the original Homer was a counterpoint to optimistic fans of "reaganomics" in the 80s, and the later Lisa similarly responded to the 90s' rising tide of "tree-hugging liberals" aloof from traditional democratic issues. The characters simply tracked what was going on in life and responded as necessary.
The Simpsons always had a healthy dose of biting critique, but in the end it had nothing but that. Even if it took the form of doing a totally asinine show and saying, "but you're still watching, eh?" Like the poochy episode or this most recent clip show. Basically, I commend the show for having the audacity, over the last few years, to flaunt and mock its own devolution. The fact that even this "smart" show is ultimately all about profit, and transitively, so must the rest of TV be. Not that we didn't know that, but... we're still watching, right? Granted, it's a different point than they started off trying to make in 1990, but their original idea got done to death. So they moved on. Let's, too.
He is also notorious for having compiled, edited and released two seminal SF anthologies, Dangerous Visions and Again Dangerous Visions.
I've been waiting for Last Dangerous Visions for over 25 years, but Harlan has never released it, for reasons that he has never explained.
Ellison's has insisted for over 25 years that it will be completed, but it remains one of the most famous ever not-published books. Christopher Priest wrote about it amusingly in The Last Deadloss Visions, but, at Christopher's request, that e-text has been withdrawn from the Internet.
And, no, it wasn't withdrawn due to censorship or Harlan's bullying, but for more commercial reasons: you can now order it in book form from Amazon as The Book on the Edge of Forever : An Enquiry into the Non-Appearance of Harlan Ellison's the Last Dangerous Visions.
Sadly, I haven't read it for years, so I can't recount the details here.
Neopets - the best free game on the Int
Lest Slashdot readers be tempted to dismiss Harlan Ellison as a technophobic crank, be aware that he is one of the most financially successful writers working in Hollywood today. He got that way by fighting the studios who tried to rip him off.
Hollywood operates in large part on reputation fraud and misappropriation of other people's work, particularly screenwriters. Plot ideas and outlines are co-opted left and right. Writers in Hollywood do indeed work like dogs and end up getting treated about as well. Ellison stepped into these shark-infested waters many decades ago and has consistently and resolutely refused to allow himself to be fscked by the studios.
Ellison is widely recognized as one of the most litigious writers out there, suing studios when they misappropriate his work. What's more, Harlan wins these suits almost all the time. Writing is his vocation and his passion, and he stands among some of the first names in science fiction. But he has seen too many of his friends and colleagues screwed by the studio system, doing lame knock-offs of their work and making millions while the writer goes hungry. Most creative types -- me included -- would just roll over and go, "Oh, well, what can I do about it?"
Not Harlan. He bitch-slaps these creeps up Sunset Blvd. and back until they get the clue: You don't take a writer's work without paying for it.
Where Harlan has gone wrong, IMHO, is that he has misconceptualized the nature of the "wrong" against him. Ellison's entire experience of having his work copied has been in the context of Hollywood studios and publishers. Studios copy Harlan's work, and make money off it. So Harlan sues the studio. Then he sees copies of his work are, "all over AOL," and AOL's making money off it. Ergo, the same solution applies.
Except it doesn't.
I hope someone can explain this to Ellison. His stock and trade is science fiction. We need the imaginations of men like him to provide the ideas and invent a future where copying is ubiquitous and unconstrained, and artists still get handsomely remunerated.
Schwab
Editor, A1-AAA AmeriCaptions
Maybe some winmodems are supported, but THIS ONE ISN'T. So in this case, the inclusion of this winmodem means that Windows is required to take full advantage of the hardware.
Read the article. They talk about how some winmodems are supported, but not this one.
And, like the other people said, I'd rather see an open-source driver.