Slashback: Futurama, Shattering, Footage

Slashback items tonight include a hopeful picture of the Futurama future, good news for Ziff-Davis fans worried about bankruptcy, video-release updates for two films reviewed on Slashdot, and more -- read on for the details.

This would be reason enough to have cable. MrChubble writes: "Seems that futurama isn't as dead as previously believed. Here is a quote from a someone's experience at ComicCon: "Julie Schwartz Slide Oddball Comics Show (Hilarious as usual), and at the FUTURAMA panel they showed a preview of a forthcoming episode in which Fry, Leela and Bender become super-heroes. One thing they didn't mention at the panel, was the news that FUTURAMA would be joining Cartoon Network's ADULT SWIM in the near future." Is this too good to be true?"

We have semi-successfully identified a potential security problem ... Jim Driggers writes: "You guys recently had an article on how to escalate one's security status on a Win32 machine. The article included a link to a download called shatter.exe. My Norton antivirus says it contains the beavuh virus. I don't have IIS 5, so it is not a worry for me, but I thought you guys should know."

Actually, it shouldn't be a worry for anyone: apparently, the shatter.exe file triggers some anti-virus software, but according to several readers this is a false alarm.

How to win friends and influence people. In response to this posting ("Congress to Ashcroft: Go After Song Swappers"), Declan McCullagh writes: "FYI I've placed the congressional letter to Attorney General Ashcroft here: Also see this analysis from last summer on why P2P piracy violates the federal No Electronic Theft act: 'Duncan Frissell on why Napster users are federal felons'."

Up against the wall (of videos). An anonymous reader writes "Looks like the film Revolution OS finally makes it to a small screen near you. First copies available at HP booth at LinuxWorld, San Francisco.

It includes footage from LinuxWorld '99 in San Jose where Stallman accepts the "Linus Torvalds Award" from the hand of Linus and proceeds to talk about why Linux should be called GNU/Linux". This is a treasure."

In addition, for the skateboard-inclined, note that Dogtown and Z-Boys is finally out on DVD, too.

Slimmer and trimmer like I ought to be. prostoalex writes "The rumors of Ziff Davis filing for Chapter 11 can just stay rumors, as company claimed it achieved a compromise with bondholders on financial restructuring. Recently ZD has been shutting down a sleuth of print publications including Yahoo! Internet Life, Family PC, Expedia Travels, Interactive Week, eShopper and Smart Business. It is still a publisher of eWeek, PC Magazine, CIO Insight, ExtremeTech and other computer and gaming magazines."

Comments

SHOCKING! Nothing of interest in slashback again!

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Speaking of skateboards...

[wiredog]

The Washington Post Sunday Magazine has an article on the corporatization of boarding.

Re:Speaking of skateboards...

[Anonymous Coward]

Whee! I can't wait until the extreme-sports assholes unionize and go on strike like baseball!

If corporatization is starting, surely stuff like that can't be far behind. Can't wait to see how long it takes the "we just love to skate" crowd to go all hypocritical and start doing it purely for the Benjamins.

Re:Speaking of skateboards...

[Shant3030]

The picture in the article of the parents sitting down reading the paper, while the son is grinding on the homemade ramp is priceles...

Re:Speaking of skateboards...

[subgeek]

while the son is grinding on the homemade ramp

actually it looks like a blunt, not a grind.

silly as it is to respond ...

[timothy]

please note that you can a) block the topic from every appearing on your page, b) block all of my posts and c) if you'd like, submit things you'd rather see.

Yes, those are the three obvious answers I see, plus the fourth even-more-obvious one. A lot of random letters don't interest me very much, so I guess YMMV.

timothy

Re:silly as it is to respond ...

[Anonymous Coward]

lol

Re:silly as it is to respond ...

[Anonymous Coward]

wow! you got tr00lied by Timmay!

love,

handybundler

Re:silly as it is to respond ...

[quinto2000]

That has to be the most immature response that I've ever seen from an editor. No wonder Slashdot is going downhill. Show some self-respect man, don't forget that when you post in a thread, you represent more than your own narrow opinions. People expect editors to have objectivity, and certainly not to get involved in common flamewars.

I'm really surprised at this kind of behavior, I really am.

Re:silly as it is to respond ...

[Anonymous Coward]

Hah..stupid fuck, you even got yourself voted down. I wonder who has more trolls for staffers, Slashdot or Adequacy? At least the trolls at Adequacy don't act like a bunch of whimpering babies if people don't like their articles.

Fuck you!

[ManBeef]

You suck! Fucking asshole!

Someone please explain to me

[YourFavoriteBandSux]

What the appeal is of 'Futurama'? Besides Bender, this show is tough to watch. How does this show survive but Greg The Bunny and Undecided get cut? I know Fox owes a lot to Groening but 'Futurama' IMHO just isn't that good. I don't know if I'm alone on this I'll shut up.

Re:Someone please explain to me

[unicron]

No, you're quite alone on this one, Chester. In fact, you may have just sealed your fate.

Re:Someone please explain to me

[euxneks]

Greg the bunny? I sure hope you're being sarcastic.

Re:Someone please explain to me

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes, GtB was an excellent show. And cock tastes great. Some non-AC please rate the above (-1: Gay)

Re:Someone please explain to me

[YourFavoriteBandSux]

Thank you for reminding why I hate this fucking site. Expressing an honest opinion seals your fate? Oooh. What fate would that be? The fate of not getting the admiration of my fellow gearheads? Excuse me while I search for some kleenex.

Re:Someone please explain to me

[schwartzon]

Learn to spell. Undeclared. Outside of that, you seriously need to recheck your sence of humor. You enjoyed Greg the Bunny, and not Futurama. -Lou

Re:Someone please explain to me

[unicron]

Actually, it was a joke, llama. And you must have this site confused with your favorite Nascar site, because a gearhead typically refers to car enthusiast.

I'm going to give you a C- for that reply. You had heart kid, but your misuse of gearheads cost you big time. In the future, I suggest you check the URL bar in your browser to make sure where you are.

And maybe if you had used a sock instead, you would still have some kleenex.

Re:Someone please explain to me

[Anonymous Coward]

aside from my feeling that anyone liking 'greg the bunny' should be shot on site, futurama has the same sense of humor the simpsons does, it applies to almost everyone.

Re:Someone please explain to me

[YourFavoriteBandSux]

Gearheads wasn't misused. It's an old-school term for techies, usually applied to COBOL'ers but also to assembly-language guys. At any rate take yer C- and shove it up yer ass.

Re:Someone please explain to me

[unicron]

Take what you can get man, you might not see another passing grade for quite awhile. Remember, losers can't be beggars.

Re:Someone please explain to me

[Anonymous Coward]

Learn to spell 'sense' while you're at it.

Queer Europeans.

Re:Someone please explain to me

[Anonymous Coward]

But unicron can be lame in any forum. Go back to AOL, son.

Re:Someone please explain to me

[jcenters]

Um, have you watched Fox on Sunday nights the past two weeks? They moved King of the Hill to the slot after the Simpsons, and put Greg the Bunny in the old King of the Hill slot.

Futurama, of course, is still on at 6 central. Guess they want to squeeze the dying King of the Hill for all it's worth. Morons.

Re:Someone please explain to me

[Anonymous Coward]

Plenty of good shows die, while plenty of crappy ones stay on TV. Since it all depends on what the majority of people enjoy, you're always going to see shows that YOU like disappear while shows you dislike stay around. It's pretty damn difficult to be in the majority all the time, especially when it comes to what is popular on TV.

Re:Someone please explain to me

[edward.virtually@pob]

Oh, you're not alone. I think Futurama sucks. But then again, I think the Simpsons has been in STEEP decline for years and the current crop of "writers" should all be fired and then soundly beaten for disgracing the show. But as they've made clear in several episodes, they don't care what anyone who doesn't like their simple-minded drivel thinks. I'll be happy to see it (Futurama) go to cable, so I won't see it anymore. Now if they'd just bring back ST:TOS to broadcast.

Re:Someone please explain to me

[unicron]

...said the anonymous coward.

Re:Someone please explain to me

[NiceGeek]

Might want to run a spell checker yourself.

Re:Someone please explain to me

[superpeach]

I thought the same thing first time I saw Futurama. It was nothing special, sometimes just boring, and Simpsons seemed so much better. I never watched Futurama after the first few episodes. Then, a few years later I saw it and watched it, and for some reason I found it very funny and have watched it whenever I had the chance. I have no idea why I changed my mind about Futurama, maybe it has something to do with Simpsons being on so-bloody-much now - we get episodes repeated within a week of each other sometimes!

Re: Someone please explain to me

[Black Parrot]

> I thought the same thing first time I saw Futurama. It was nothing special, sometimes just boring, and Simpsons seemed so much better. I never watched Futurama after the first few episodes. Then, a few years later I saw it and watched it, and for some reason I found it very funny and have watched it whenever I had the chance.

I guess I'm a sort of half convert. My initial reaction was the same as yours. I do watch it now and then now, but I would only rate it as "amusing" for most episodes, and I still find a few of them dull enough to turn off in the middle.

It's not bad considering the other crap that establishes par these days, but I can't see being a fan over it. The Jackie Chan Adventures cartoon series beats it hands down for humor, IMO.

Re:Someone please explain to me

[Anonymous Coward]

Why are you using your +1 bonus for this little bitch-fest?

Re:Someone please explain to me

[Anonymous Coward]

Futurama survives because it has the same sick, twisted humor that the Simpsons had before they became popular and sold out.

Serious. Check out the early season 1 and 2 simpson episodes. You will discover that as the years went on, the shows became more commercial and more about marketing that entertaining.

Kevin

Re:Someone please explain to me

[Yorrike]

I watched KotH way back when it first came out... when it was actually funny.

I'm not sure how American's perceive King now, but IMHO it's the most painful, unfunny cartoon to watch, ever. I'd rather be forced to watch 5 hours of that grindingly tedious Dr Katts than 30 minutes of KotH.

Mind you, I never found Beavis and Butthead funny either, so it could be Mike Judge failing at comedy through animation, yet again.

Futurama is fantastic, on-par with the Simpsons in many places. Family Guy is also extremely cool.

Re:Someone please explain to me

[Anonymous Coward]

Consistency has been an issue, but the saving grace is Zoidberg. There are not enough shows on television with large bipedal lobsters.

Re:Someone please explain to me

[Scrameustache]

I think Futurama sucks.
When people don't get the "in" jokes, they blame the show, not their ignorance ;- )

I'll be happy to see it (Futurama) go to cable, so I won't see it anymore.
What? And you're seeing it NOW? How do you do that? I try to watch futurama and I can't! It seems to be on a random time slot...once in a while I get it on sunday at 19:00, but never more than twice in a row.

I guess its like cats: They are naturally drawn to people who are allergic to cats...maybe if I pretend to hate futurama, it'll show up on tv...

Re:Someone please explain to me

[Dudio]

once in a while I get it on sunday at 19:00, but never more than twice in a row

Wait 'til football season starts. If I were Matt Groening, I'd be seriously pissed about being shoehorned into a time slot that invariably gets stepped on by the 4:00 game.

Always a shame to see magazines go.

[RumGunner]

I mean, having a computer in the bathroom, just ISN'T sanitary.

.

Re:Always a shame to see magazines go.

[RedElf]

Maybe not, but is it really that much different from sharing a computer at work with someone who doesn't wash after being in the bathroom?

Re:Always a shame to see magazines go.

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah, I don't want my computer to get "flagged" because then I won't be able to resell it.

Re:Always a shame to see magazines go.

[spike hay]

Hey! This computer is flagged! You just take your toilet-computer and get out of this store!

Re:Always a shame to see magazines go.

[SN74S181]

And you're saying that having, ummm... magazines in the bathroom is sanitary?

Better wipe that up there.

Re:Always a shame to see magazines go.

[ottawanker]

Having a computer in the bathroom isn't sanitary, that's what dumb terminals are for.

Re:Always a shame to see magazines go.

[Anonymous Coward]

Oh, you also use ZDnet print publications to wipe with?

Bleah

[TheDanish]

Futurama on Cartoon Network? My cable provider doesn't have cartoon network. They do for EVERY other district except this one.

*sigh* I guess I'll be stuck with The Simpsons forever...

So it's confirmed to be dead on Fox? Why? Why did that happen?

Re:Bleah

[ConceptJunkie]

Short answer:

Fox sucks.

Long answer:

It seems that they had it out for this show and were determined to kill it by giving it the crappiest time slot on their schedule (short of the middle of the night). When you are pre-empted by football through 80% of the season, people won't see you. Then they started showing it at different times... I got to the point where I didn't even know when it would be on next.

Meanwhile, they keep puking up more and more profoundly stupidly shows that last all of 6 episodes (if that) because anyone with a room temperature IQ (which doesn't seem to include Fox programmers) won't watch them.

To me, "Futurama" is "The Simpsons" freed from its format and need for consistency with 13+ years of history. There is much more room for experimentation and therefore, to me, the show seems fresher. Still, I enjoy both greatly, but obviously Fox wanted Futurama to fail. Otherwise why would they move it to 7 and keep firing crapppy show and after show at us at 8:30 (they got lucky with Malcolm, almost every other show that followed the Simpsons was pathetic (anyone remember "House of Buggin'"?).

So long answer:

Fox sucks.

Re:Bleah

[Anonymous Coward]

I feel your pain, brother. Growing up I had a somewhat deprived childhood due to the exact same issue. 50+ cable channels but NO Cartoon Network for us, even though every other cable district in the area had it!

Now that I no longer live in that god-fosaken town and get Cartoon Network, that's pretty much all I watch. I'm compensating for all those years of misery and suffering.

Re:Bleah

[glwtta]

anyone with a room temperature IQ (which doesn't seem to include Fox programmers) won't watch them.

Celcius of Farenheit?

Re:Bleah

[orkysoft]

First one, then the other :-P

Re:Bleah

[geekoid]

I read your post and thought, wow a bored of the rings quote, cool.

I don't think they want it to fail, if they didn't want it, they would just pull it. Thney don't really have to answer to anybody about whats on the schedule.

I think there to afraid to mess around with what they percieve to be there money makers. They know futurerama is a money maker, what they have forgottenm is that they need to bite the bullet and take some risj so they can invest in long term growth, instead of sudden success.
They used to know how to do that, but then they got big enough to get serious sports.
In conclusion, Fox Sucks Now.

Re:Bleah

[Xenographic]

Fox programmers? It has to be C ...

Re:Bleah

[hage]

I'm actually going to agree that someone up top must have had it in for the show. I never really watched it... but I do watch the NFL religiously every Sunday. I noticed that on the few occasions FOX didn't show a 4:30 game (usually when opposite my Dolphins), Futurama would come on at 7pm or so. I watched it a couple of times, and enjoyed it. The Simpsons is dreadfully awful now, but Futurama is sort of like Buck Rogers meets The Simpsons (when they were funny). It rocks.

And now it's been canceled; it's simply unbelievable. I don't even watch the news anymore, the only time I plug in my TV is during the football season. And finally, someone comes up with a show I'd actually watch... and they decide to put it in the timeslot from hell before canning it?

Horribly frustrating. I used to wonder how these fringe wackos got along without one, but now I'm starting to envy them.

Re:Bleah

[Stween]

lol, I only get that because I got Futurama season 1 on DVD a couple of weeks ago. Makes me laugh every time.

Re:Bleah

[JCholewa]

> Celcius of[sic] Farenheit?

Well, it sure as hell isn't in Kelvins.

-JC

Re:Bleah

[ConceptJunkie]

And definitely not Rankhine!!!

(spelling?)

FYI, Kelvin Celsius as Rankhine Farenheit

What!?

[ucblockhead]

You mean that the wild, unconfirmed rumors about Futurama were untrue!?

If we can't trust wild, unconfirmed rumors, what can we trust?

Re:What!?

[1010011010]

If we can't trust wild, unconfirmed rumors, what can we trust?

The Office of Homeland Security!

</not>

Re:What!?

[RedElf]

If we can't trust wild, unconfirmed rumors, what can we trust?

Why Microsoft's passport service!

Re:What!?

[Anonymous Coward]

You mean that the wild, unconfirmed rumors about Futurama were untrue!?

Er, what part?

The part that Fox cancelled the show? (Psst. Adult Swim isn't Fox)

Futurama on Adult Swim?

[LeeBarnes]

I gotta say, that would be interesting. But I wonder if they would just pick it up for syndication or would they take the production over? I'm not sure how good an idea it would be.

Visions of painted swim suits on Leela entice me. ^_^

Futurama

[frovingslosh]

/. seems to have completely overlooked this, but Futurama showed up on Fox's Fall schedule a couple of months ago.

Re:Futurama

[jra101]

Yes, afaik they bought enough episodes to last through the 2003-2004 season, but no more after that.

Re:Futurama

[Flynnhustler]

Futurama has stopped production, but thanks to constant pre-empting they have an entire season worth of episodes in the can.

Think of Futurama as a dead star, whose light is still reaching us across the vast reaches of space.
-g

Re:Futurama

[orkysoft]

Why does the lobsterman not just eat the humans? :-P

Re:Futurama

[hklingon]

Why does the larger friend not eat the other four friends? eh, this is a joey heavy episode anyway.

Re:Futurama

[orkysoft]

You got my reference :-)

Re:FUTURAMA

[Winterblink]

"too old"? Dude, my grandmother loves Futurama, no kidding. I showed her the episode about the Professor being sent off to the Sunset Planet, where old people get sent when they reach 160. She was laughing so hard I was getting worried. :)

Thank {insert deity of choice} for Cartoon Network

[blackcoot]

I don't usually usually go around invoking any powers-that-bes' names (well, unless I'm debugging, but that's a different story ;-)), but yet again, CN has won my devotion --- I mean, Dexter, PPG, Samurai Jack, and now Futurama *bliss* The only thing that could make this any better is if I could figure out how to get the sattelite feed into my WinTV card so I can watch while I'm "working". Hrm... sounds like an Ask /. question....

TIMMY TIMMY TIMMY TIMMY!!!!

[Anonymous Coward]

Timmy timmy timmy timmy!!!

Futurama RERUNs

[jimmcq]

Apparently Cartoon Network said that there are negotiations going on between Fox and Cartoon Network for the reruns of Futurama, not new episodes. We can hope that if the reruns do well, that they might produce new episodes, but that is not what they are currently talking about.

Re:Futurama RERUNs

[demaria]

I don't think CN has enough ratings & money to justify the expense of producing a full Futurama episode. Those are expensive - it isn't like making a powerpuff girls or aqua teens episode. :)

Re:Futurama RERUNs

[Anonymous Coward]

Oh c'mon! Just getting Schooly D to do the theme song alone must have cost a fortune! (Actually, I hope he got something for it because it totally rules...)

totally off topic...

[SweetAndSourJesus]

but I thought you all might like to know that after that informative article on linux installation, I've decided to switch to linux, as soon as they port vim to it.

Re:totally off topic...

[kyras]

I've decided to switch to linux, as soon as they port vim to it.

What are you talking about? vim works just fine on linux. Either grab the src and compile it yourself or if you use redhat/debian get the .rpm/.deb. Read the download page under "Unix" on vim.org.

Futurama rumors

[anotherone]

Not a chance... in TV guide a while ago it said that the cartoon costs Fox around $1,000,000 an episode. And Cartoon Network recently shitcanned Mission Hill due to $400,000 an ep figures. They like cheap shows like Sealab and Aqua Teen Hunger Force (two of the best shows on TV right now IMHO) better.

Rumors are usually just that, rumors... remember that Invader Zim/Hot Topic thing a while back? More bullshit. Why does /. even publish this stuff, I'm thinking that a single email would clear it up.

Re:Futurama rumors

[Masem]

With Mission Hill, the 19 episodes were already in the can before it was cancelled off UPN and before CN got it. Same with Baby Blues (recently pushed off ASwim, but all 13 eps shown a few times each before).

In addition, the use of Home Movies on ASwim got the show revived, and new eps are showing now; these aren't as cheap as ATHF, Sealab, or the others, but not overly expensive either (as I understand it, they're using Flash as their animation medium, thus cutting out a lot of tweening work. However, I've not been able to confirm this).

Mind you, if the team has sufficiently dispersed by then, it may be hard to put it back together (see how Ren and Stimpy died after John K. was ousted). But, I'd rather see CN do a much better job of handling reruns than FOX seems to be doing right now. (Hint: you'll be missing much of Futurama until Feb if you live on the East Coast).

Re:Futurama rumors

[x136]

And Cartoon Network recently shitcanned Mission Hill due to $400,000 an ep figures.

What?! god damnit. Mission Hill is one of the few reasons I have for turning on my TV anymore. The rest of Cartoon Network's Sunday Adult Swim lineup is great, but Mission Hill is easily my favorite.

I really need to stop liking shows. They keep getting cancelled. Argh.

Re:Futurama rumors

[kaphka]

Not a chance... in TV guide a while ago it said that the cartoon costs Fox around $1,000,000 an episode. And Cartoon Network recently shitcanned Mission Hill due to $400,000 an ep figures.

Actually, to me, that sounds very encouraging. I thought the difference would be much greater.

I don't know much about the TV business, but I'm sure that "Futurama" is much more marketable and mainstream than "Mission Hill". I'm also sure that the "Futurama" people could shave quite a bit off that budget, if they're willing. (Groening calls "Futurama" a "gift to animators"... You can tell just by looking at it that it's a flashy show, but they could cut 80% of the flash, and the average viewer wouldn't even notice.)

IMO, CN should pony up the money to start making new episodes on a more reasonable budget, and make it the anchor of their whole Adult Swim block. It would be the best decision for all parties concerned. (Except maybe Fox, but screw 'em.)

Re:Futurama rumors

[Phosphor3k]

To quote Brak:

"You have a beautiful man-voice."

Re:Futurama rumors

[geekoid]

depends on how much they make, not how much it costs.

Re:Futurama rumors

[Fred Ferrigno]

I'm gonna go ahead and say that Fox makes more selling advertising than Cartoon Network. If Futurama's ratings can't bring in the advertising dollar to justify new episodes on Fox, I don't think they'll do it on Cartoon Network. What does make money on Cartoon Network, however, are reruns. They're cheap and they bring in ratings that are excellent for cable.

Even cheaply made shows like ATHF only warrant a handful of episodes a year. You just can't cut Futurama to ATHF's level. And if Fox couldn't make it profitable, why can CN?

Re:Futurama rumors

[Kredal]

rEN adn STIMPIE are teh sux0r!!!11

Oh, you said John K, not Jeff K. Sorry.

Re:Futurama rumors

[reflector]

Yeah, Sealab 2021, Aqua Teen Hunger Force, The Brak Show, and Harvey Birdman Attorney at Law, are my 4 favorite shows on TV now. Incidentally, I am sharing .avis of all the episodes of all 4 shows on Gnutella. You can find the links for them here: ATHF, HBAL, SL21, and BRAK. But don't tell Ashcroft!

Re:Futurama rumors

[JimPooley]

Why does /. even publish this stuff, I'm thinking that a single email would clear it up.

Are you suggesting that Slashdot should show some sense of journalistic knowhow and actually - *gasp* - check up on a story before publishing??!
I mean, it's on the internet, it must be true...

Re:Futurama rumors

[Anonymous Coward]

Well, they employ John Katz ( I think - i have him filtered out). So anything is possible. Just unlikely.

FUTURAMA!!!!!

[quasi_steller]

Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes!!!!

"Good news everyone. I logged on to AOL two years ago, and it just went through!" --famous Professor quote.

DivX?

[peterdaly]

I hate to promote this, but I live in Upstate New York (like in the state, not the city.) Revolution OS will be coming to my city...errr...well...probably never.

So, how 'bout someone posting a link to a Divx version of it?

-Pete

Re:DivX?

[damiam]

I don't have that much bandwidth, so no link, but I'me currently downloading a 600MB divx of it off of the giFT (GNU Internet File Transfer) p2p network.

Is Slashdot a homosexual haven?

[Anonymous Coward]

This is a serious question. This is NOT a troll.

I'm puzzled by all the homosexual references in the posts at Slashdot such as male on male anal sex, the goatse guy, the giver. Why is there such an obsession with homosexual sex here on Slashdot? I dare you to find *one* story that doesn't have several comment posts mentioning something about male on male anal sex. Maybe it's time for Slashdot to create a subdomain where these homosexual topics can be discussed. I'm serious. I think it would cut down on the noise level under the main stories.

Re:Is Slashdot a homosexual haven?

[Anonymous Coward]

goatse.slashdot.org

Ahh.. Happy Ending for Futurama

[finny]

I think that Dr. Zoidberg said it best when he emoted:

"As the candy hearts poured into the fiery quasar, a wonderous thing happened, why not? They vaporized into a mystical love radiation that spread across the universe, destroying many, many planets - including two gangster planets and a cowboy world. But one planet was exactly the right distance to see the romantic rays, but not be destroyed by them - Earth. So all over the world, couples stood together in joy. And me, Zoidberg! And no one could've been happier, unless it would've also been Valentine's Day. What? It was? Hooray!"

ACK! Glad I don't do napster (et al)...

[killthiskid]

Taken from http://www.politechbot.com/p-02305.html, posted there by Duncan Frissell.

The $1K limit applies to the retail value of the product. Let's apply the law to Napster as an over reaching prosecutor might.

1. The average CD costs $12 and contains 18 songs (assumed for illustrative purposes). Each song is therefore worth $0.66.
2. One thousand dollars divided by sixty-six cents equals 1515 songs.
3. If one values songs by the price of CD singles, it takes even fewer songs (500) since those go for about $2/song.
4. So any Napster user who made 1515 (or perhaps fewer) songs available was knowingly infringing copyright law and trafficking in copyrighted materials with a retail value of more than 1000. As the US argued in its AMICUS CURIAE in A&M v. Napster "When a Napster user makes the music files on his or her hard drive available for downloading by other Napster users, he or she is distributing the files to the public at large." See http://www.loc.gov/copyright/docs/napsteramicus.ht ml
5. Likewise, a Napster user who just downloads songs is arguably "distributing" copyrighted works (to himself) since it is his command, generated by his computer, that grabs the song. So once he passes 1515 songs in 180 days, he's (arguably) a felon.

Time for a new slashdot poll: How many slashdotters are fedral felons due to their file sharing activities? The person closest to guessing the correct quantity without going over wins a get out of jail free card, curtousy of John Ashcroft! Yeah!

Fans?

[ABetterRoss]

I am pretty scared that anyone would call themself a fan of Ziff-Davis. Futurama, maybe.

Re:ACK! Glad I don't do napster (et al)...

[anotherone]

I don't think that it's quite the same. Since the user isn't charging anything for the songs, he'll never actually sell $1,000 worth of songs.

Re:Thank {insert deity of choice} for Cartoon Netw

[Artifex]

The only thing that could make this any better is if I could figure out how to get the sattelite feed into my WinTV card so I can watch while I'm "working"

You can buy one of those cablebox/satellite remote-control adapters for your system, like the ones that snapstream (www.snapstream.com) offers to go with their scheduled recording software.

Also, it would be TONS better if TOON would pick up Invader Zim and made new episodes. Except I don't want to see little retarded "guest appearances" on Space Ghost or whatever. I hate it when they do that.

Futurama not cancelled?

[JoeShmoe]

Oh please. This is been non-news for anyone who bothered to check out FOX's lineup for the coming Fall season:

http://www.fox.com/schedule/schedule_2002.htm

BUT! You'll notice Family Guy is conspicuously absent from that lineup. And they didn't even bother to leave us with a finale! Just sort of vanished halfway through last spring.

Time to fire up the ol' useless web petition.

- JoeShmoe

.

Re:Futurama not cancelled?

[Anonymous Coward]

notice that family guy no longer shows up under the shows list on fox's website. i don't think it's ever coming back. sad, because it was much much funnier than anything else on fox. fr has its moments but in laughs per episode it falls a distant second to fg.

on the other hand, http://www.fox.com/familyguy still apears to work, and its only as outdated as it was when the show was airing regularly.

Re:Futurama not cancelled?

[handsomepete]

This is news. If you consider the fact that Futurama *is* cancelled (hasn't been renewed to be super accurate), but had 1 - 1.5 seasons worth of episodes to show before they're done. Fox has also stated their intentions of not renewing the show and this has been doubly confirmed by Groening and Cohen in interviews. Absolutely.

Moreover, it is definitely news that they could be joining Adult Swim, which is fast becoming a big part of my Sunday night viewing diet.

Re:Futurama not cancelled?

[GoldMace]

According to that website, Futurama is still on at 7PM on Fox on Sundays in Fall 2003.

It also says Family Guy is not renewed if you click on FAQ #3 on http://www.fox.com/community/askfox/

Re:Futurama not cancelled?

[Anonymous Coward]

Would be an interesting publicity thing, start rumours of a popular show being cancelled resulting in people howling its name loudly for free. Perhaps they're smarter than we give them credit for?

copyright == 5% of GDP

[tato (and tato only)]

The letter to Ashcroft states that '[t]he copyright industries account for 5% of our gross domestic product.' Anyone have any thoughts on where this figure might have come from? My BS detecter is beeping.

Re:copyright == 5% of GDP

[ALoverOfPeace]

First you take the sum of the money made by the copyright industries. Once you have determined that number, you divide it by our gross domestic product. Then, you realize that number is much too low and instead lie and say it is 5%.

Re:copyright == 5% of GDP

[Anonymous Coward]

If anything, it sounds low to me. Movies, music and software... they ain't small potatoes.

Of course, even if it were 50% of GDP, that still wouldn't justify draconian copyright enforcement.

I'm afraid...

[cachorro]

The OS Revolution will not be televised.

Re:I'm afraid...

[idontneedanickname]

But they'll bring out a DVD version for reatil sale by middle of September. Plus, HP will be giving them away at the show so... couple weeks (after the show) it'll be online.
The latest by the time you can buy it.

Re:ACK! Glad I don't do napster (et al)...

[killthiskid]

True, $1000 is exactly changing hands, but if you read the page I linked to:

Duncan Frissell (who is a lawyer and longtime Politechnical) offers one analysis of the No Electronic Theft Act. Let me add another: Financial gain is defined in the NET Act as "receipt, or expectation of receipt, of anything of value, including the receipt of other copyrighted works."

So even though there is no 'charging' going on, the value of the product still changes hands. I'm not advocating this, I'm just quoting their analysis of the situation.

sat tv into win tv card

[Anonymous Coward]

duh... coaxial output from sat reciever... but i don't know if that's how the minidishes work

but according to several readers...

[cornice]

but according to several readers this is a false alarm.

Well, I'll just start running this right now then.

Re: cock jism gobble

[Anonymous Coward]

King of the Hill rules. I think so, Middle America agrees.

The anti-virus alarm

[hayden]

Is triggered because it does contain the virus code (or enough of it for the scanner to recognise it). You have to inject code into the other programs address space and the virus code does something useful. On *nix you would use something that opened up a shell (which would now have root priveleges) but under Windows a shell is about as useful as a one legged man in an arse kicking competition so he used something else.

<bitch>
Of course if you'd read the article (specifically the only bit in red, I know it's hard to miss) you'd know this.
</bitch>

Re:The anti-virus alarm

[prostoalex]

Yep, in addition to what's been said above, here's full scoop from the original paper.

PLEASE NOTE: Some virus scanners are alerting people to the presence of a "Win32/Beavuh" virus within the sploit.bin file in the Shatter zipfile. This is not a virus. The scanner is correct in flagging it - the code in this file is designed to open a command shell and bind it to a network socket. This is a bad thing to do in general, so the scanner is correct in generating an alert. This code is designed to be malicious in terms of its functionality, but the scanner is incorrect when labelling it as a virus.

Re:The anti-virus alarm

[Amizell]

under Windows a shell is about as useful as a one legged man in an arse kicking competition so he used something else.

Actually the included 'spoit did kick off a command shell, directed to a TCP port for easy access from a remote computer. And this is useful for several reasons, not the least of which would be to create a user, set a password and join the admin group - pretty much the same as on a unix box. Too bad the user has to be running VirusScan or some other badly coded service for it to work. Funny how clueless nix users can be about their "enemy".

alex

Re:The anti-virus alarm

[SnowZero]

Too bad the user has to be running VirusScan or some other badly coded service for it to work. Funny how clueless nix users can be about their "enemy".

You seem to have missed the *whole point* of the original article. Go read it, and you'll find out any program with a text box will do. Poor coding has nothing to do with it, the bugs are in the Win32 API itself.

Re:The anti-virus alarm

[Amizell]

Dumbass. Not only did I read it, I went and DID it to see if it works.

Go read it, and you'll find out any program with a text box will do

You've got to be trolling... NO, not "any program with a text box" will do. The only susceptible text boxes belong to services running with privileged access, which generally aren't coded to HAVE text boxes, since that would be unsecure. I can't believe you told me to read it again when you get the facts so very wrong in only a couple sentences... Way to give me a perfect example of the cluelessness I was speaking of...

alex

About Invader Zim

[Anonymous Coward]

Does anyone know what's going on with Invader Zim?
If anything, I wish Cartoon Network would take a look at acquiring it from Nickelodeon.

Re:About Invader Zim

[Anonymous Coward]

Invader ZIM is dead.

The crew is disbanded. The last episode, The Most Horrible Christmas Ever, will be aired towards the end of the year. Nick is supposed to start airing new episodes again in September, after them dorking around with the schedule as usual.

It will not come back. The creator Jhonen Vasquez doesnt ever want to do a cartoon again and has returned to comics.

Cartoon Network cannot afford the show. They like low production budgets, like an earlier poster stated. Also Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon have different parent companies and there is no way that Nick will sell the rights to Cartoon Network even if they were interested. Nickelodeon screwed up royal when they sold the rights to Doug to Disney and they wont make the same mistake twice. It is possible that it could move to one of the other Viacom stations, MTV VH1 etc, but dont expect any new episodes.

RIP Invader ZIM the BEST AMERICAN CARTOON EVER!!!!!

Re: cock jism gobble

[Anonymous Coward]

Middle America can suck my donkey. Wajo!

Re:Thank {insert deity of choice} for Cartoon Netw

[Vladimus]

Don't worry. One day, Cartoon Network, too, shall suck. Such is the fate of all cable networks.

Slew of sloppy sleuths

[Sanga]

... shutting down a sleuth of print publications


Don't you mean slew ... editors: earn your pay and correct this :-)

Huh?

[Anonymous Coward]

"Julie Schwartz Slide Oddball Comics Show..."

Proper noun, proper noun, verb, adjective, noun, noun...

What the FUCK would this be in English?

Re:Huh?

[Maxwell'sSilverLART]

What the FUCK would this be in English?

You're asking on Slashdot...why?

Re:Huh?

[Anonymous Coward]

"Julie Schwartz Slide Oddball Comics Show..."

Proper noun, proper noun, verb, adjective, noun, noun...

What the FUCK would this be in English?

Julie: proper noun

Schwartz" proper noun

Slide: noun, adjective, verb

Oddball: noun, adjective

Show: noun, adjective, verb

The joy of English is that any word can be almost anything!

$%*@ FBI. I be the cop!

[evacuate_the_bull]

"If you don't accept testimonials as proofs, you won't accept any proof as proof. - the one, and only Alex Chiu http://interviews.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=01/0 6/07/1421238&mode=thread&tid=95

giFT

[Robotech_Master]

You can probably find it on the giFT internet File Transfer (OpenFT) network.

You can also find the made-for-Finnish-TV-yet-almost-entirely-in-English Linux documentary The Code (for which I tried to submit a review to Slashdot, only to have it rejected) floating around on it. (Ironically, at least a couple of dozen people on giFT have The Code--but absolutely nobody has it on KaZaa itself!)

Undergrads

[Anonymous Coward]

Hooray for futurama... Now if only undergrads comes out with another season :)

This makes Linux World all worth it.

[Invictus2.0]

An anonymous reader writes "Looks like the film Revolution OS finally makes it to a small screen near you. First copies available at HP booth at LinuxWorld, San Francisco. Hey, just when I thought that my first Linux World would be the first one not worth going to, I hear this. Great news. I'm still physched as hell to be going (great keynotes, potentially), but no BSI booth makes me sad panda.

Are you being dumb on purpose?

[Anonymous Coward]

If you had ANY idea how hard it is to get a show put together, not to mention how competititive the television business is, you would not accuse FOX of deliberately sabotaging a show any more than you would Linux of deliberately torpedoing his kernel.

I know. I've pitched shows at Fox as well as the other networks.

Of the dozens of scripts that are written and pitched to a network, a tiny sliver of them are actually produced as pilots. Of those, only a few ever make it on the air-- of those few, very few find an audience.

With the tremendous amount of energy a network puts into cultivating a show and trying to help it find an audience, to think they'd be intentionally trying to make one of their own shows fail is utter insanity.

When a network has to kill a show, it's because they've tried their hardest to get the show to gain traction with an audience. If they've moved around your beloved Futurama (or Star Trek or My So Called Life or Freaks and Geeks or whatever) it's because they think it'll do better somewhere else or because another show might be able to attract a larger audience in that time slot.

You can blame Fox for their lack of skill in marketing or programming "Futurama" but to say they are trying to kill their own show makes no sense. They want as many hits as they can get.

Saying Fox sucks, incidentally, is smearing the network that gave you the Simpsons. That alone is heresy in my book.

Re:Are you being dumb on purpose?

[interstellar_donkey]

To the casual observer, it's difficult to tell the difference between gross incompetence and internal sabotage.

I'm not sure which one it is. The decisions made by Fox's programming efforts seem to point to the fact that they were making a conscious effort to kill the show. As I'm sure you well know, those Hollywood types are often more concerned with their egos then anything else. Groening (sp?) may have just pissed off the wrong executive.

Or, you're right; they could have made the programming decisions because they are morons. I'm not a big time network executive, but I know that if a show is good you probably want to get people to watch it. After all, it worked for the Simpsons.

Re:Are you being dumb on purpose?

[Jason Scott]

There's a little difference between a show being pitched to a Network from the street, and the know-it-all guys who run your most consistently top-rated show for the last decade saying "So, we feel like making another show. Push over."

We don't know the relationship between the Simpsons people and FOX: It could be hostile, it could be friendly. Remember what Fox's solution was when the actors wanted more pay (after a decade of being on the show): Fire them all and bring in replacements.

I think you're glossing over things here.

Re:Are you being dumb on purpose?

[stickb0y]

When a network has to kill a show, it's because they've tried their hardest to get the show to gain traction with an audience.

How hard can a network be trying to build an audience when they bounce it around from timeslot to timeslot?

Let's also not forget that Fox killed Family Guy.

but to say they are trying to kill their own show makes no sense. They want as many hits as they can get.

It makes sense if the show they'll replace it with costs less to produce and ultimately can get bigger profits.

Re:Are you being dumb on purpose?

[ethereal]

I'm pretty sure that Futurama would have done just fine where it was (leading off a decent Sunday evening of TV (really the only good TV on Sunday nights usually)) if it was actually run at that time, rather than some damn football game being on almost every weekend. Here's a hint, FOX programming folks: if football runs late every weekend, then it's going to run late this weekend too. Plan for it, OK? Past a certain point, even gross incompetence counts as malice.

Dammit, I still miss My So-Called Life too :) Mmmmm, Claire Danes...

Re:Are you being dumb on purpose?

[Chemical]

Really, you can blame Fox. They don't care about you, your family, the loyal viewers, or anyone else. They care about one thing: selling advertising. The more people watching, the more they can sell advertising time for. Football probably gets higer ratings than anything else they show, and also has way more opertunities for advertising. If football runs late, of course they are going to pre-empt regular programming. However if they "planned for it" like you said, and football ended "early", then they would have to fill that dead air with a post-game show or some crap that no one would watch.

Or something like that. I'm sure they have a team of experts working around the clock to figure out how to squeeze in the most advertising and how to sell it for the most money.

Re:Are you being dumb on purpose?

[Scrameustache]

They care about one thing: selling advertising [...] Or something like that. I'm sure they have a team of experts working around the clock to figure out how to squeeze in the most advertising and how to sell it for the most money.

Yeah, probably the same geniuses that came up with the idea for pop-ups ads...

Re:Are you being dumb on purpose?

[Ziviyr]

Saying Fox sucks, incidentally, is smearing the network that gave you the Simpsons. That alone is heresy in my book.

Simpsons has knocked Fox on a few occasions. :-)

Re:Are you being dumb on purpose?

[Anonymous Coward]

Murdoch: 10 thousand dollars?!! You've saved my network!

Bart: Wouldn't be the first time!

Re:Are you being dumb on purpose?

[Anonymous Coward]

Er, you do remember they moved the Simpsons to Thursdays starting in season 2, right?

Simpsons went from a top-10 spot on Sunday nights to a 50-something-ranking on Thursday. And it stayed at that spot for years.

Network programming execs are morons.

Re:Are you being dumb on purpose?

[ConceptJunkie]

Do you actually watch anything on Fox? 90% of what they put on is pure tripe! Sure, they have had a few good, intelligent shows, but were it not for the Simpsons, Fox wouldn't even exist, not the the other way around.

I stand by "Fox sucks" and I think you give way too much credit to Hollywood in general. If they were really trying to get people to watch the show, they wouldn't pre-empt it 6 months out of the year.

It may (and I'm sure it does) take a tremendous amount of energy to cultivate a successful TV show, but that doesn't imply that it requires a tremendous amount of intelligence.

Fox would rather shovel heaps of crap into the 8:30 time slot ("Malcolm" excepted, I find it intelligent and funny) rather than have a guaranteed lock of Groening-show fans by leaving Futurama in its original time slot where it belonged. Does anyone else remember in years past, a spin-off of a successful show would follow the original, sometimes for years. The kind of thinking that moves low-rated shows around the schedule pretty much guarantees that it will lose even more viewers (They even _know_ this and yet they still do it.)

I can't speak about what it's like in the world of network TV, nor do I really care, but as a paying customer (everyone pays through slightly higher prices due to advertising, blah, blah, blah), I find their actions highly illogical and their intelligence suspect.

Fox sucks... how many times has "The Simpsons" itself said the same thing?

Homer: Undo! Undo!

Why would that be?

[BlackTriangle]

Undergrads : Piss poor animators and writers vaguely remembering their University years, throw in a bunch of stock characters that are "weird," and wait for pathetic losers just like you to swallow it whole. What's the matter sonny boy, never been to University?

Re:Why would that be?

[Anonymous Coward]

Heheh. It's been 15 years since university for me. I find Undergrads hilarious! Maybe if you're fresh out of school, it's not so funny reliving recent goofiness. But give an old guy like me a frat-boy beer and boobies joke and I'll eat it up.

Slashback

[Anonymous Coward]

forgive me for asking the stupid question, but what exactly is slashback?

Re:Slashback

[LPetrazickis]

marketroid(Slashdot + Feedback) == Slashback;

Re:ACK! Glad I don't do napster (et al)...

[John Hasler]

So even though there is no 'charging' going on,
the value of the product still changes hands.

While someone who distributes unauthorized copies of copyrighted works over a P2P network _might_ download copyrighted works of similar value, it is perfectly ok to take and never give, or to give and never take. There is no contract or bargain, which is what the law is clearly aimed at. Only on a P2P network with some sort of BBS-style "upload quotas" would the NET law apply.

Are you sure it's not a virus?

[Anonymous Coward]

Actually, it shouldn't be a worry for anyone: apparently, the shatter.exe file triggers some anti-virus software, but according to several readers this is a false alarm.

Several readers say that Norton is falsing on that file, so /. declares it's okay to run something called shatter.exe?! I'm not necessarily doubting that Norton is falsing, but in a security-paranoid, MS-virally-aware forum such as /., you'd think there would be more proof offerred before declaring it's not a worry for anyone.

Guilty until proven innocent. Compile from source.

Re:Thank {insert deity of choice} for Cartoon Netw

[Anonymous Coward]

One day? I think you missed the day when they started showing 3 hours of Dragonball/DBZ and decided to dump all of the other anime which they had been showing. They made amends with Adult Swim, but their policies concerning anime are bewildering at best and abso-fucking-lutely infuriating at worst. I've gone from watching CN every day to watching only on Saturdays. Once the new/good anime was gone from the daily schedule, there simply wasn't enough incentive to get me to tune in.

Re:ACK! Glad I don't do napster (et al)...

[j3110]

I think they'll have to deal with two points though, as this isn't like stealing a car. Who's copying the files, the man with them or the man downloading them? If you say the man sharing them, then you have to prove that he intended for people to download them that didn't own the CD. What if you don't get all the file from one person? Point 2 is the backup factor. You are entitled one backup copy, and they will have to PROVE that you don't own them before they can get a warrent. There is no method of proving that you do or don't if you claim you are using your backup copy because you lost the original in a fire.

The "problem" with Futurama

[geekoid]

is that it is subtle, very subtle. I'm surprised at the number of post that don't find it funny.

It is completly nerdsville, and I love.
they make programming reference, engineering references, sci-fi references, and modern culture references.
How many people would have the guts to put this on the air:
"that happened in 2506...just after the second coming of christ"?
I paraphrased the year.
in the last episod I saw it had:
A marriage between Iron chef and Soylent green.
A styx reference(group not river)
Homophobic reference from a robot.
Wraith of Kahn joke.
poisoning
revenge
a frame up
destruction of a ship(in a bottle)
secret code(granted, they're in every episode)
Its one of the few shows that I don't understand why it is NOT 'embraced' by slashdot, yet Buffy is.

I suspect its because the first generation gamers/video game players/star wars people are getting old, and this generation is trying to glom onto anything they can call a product of there generation.

I guess I'll have to start all my conversations with "Back in my day..." ;)

Re:The "problem" with Futurama

[cluke]

Are you joking? Underappreciated in Slashdot? Half the posts for this article are Futurama quotes.

Anyhow, the real problem with Futurama is that after an incredible start it has undergone the "Simpon's effect" so quickly - recent episodes have been diabolically bad (how's about that second Santa robot one? Yikes! Made me want to cry instead of laugh) Looks like they have run clean out of ideas, so maybe best that it is put to pasture while they still have some dignity.

Re:The "problem" with Futurama

[crapulent]

Its one of the few shows that I don't understand why it is NOT 'embraced' by slashdot, yet Buffy is.

How do you come to that conclusion? I get the impression that most slashbots are huge Futurama fans.

Oh, and in case there's any doubt as to whether CmdrTaco / jamie / the-slascode-team are fans, have a look at the http headers of this site some time...

Re:The "problem" with Futurama

[Citizen of Earth]

Its one of the few shows that I don't understand why it is NOT 'embraced' by slashdot, yet Buffy is.

% lynx -head -dump http://slashdot.org/
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Date: Wed, 14 Aug 2002 09:06:47 GMT
Server: Apache/1.3.26 (Unix) mod_gzip/1.3.19.1a mod_perl/1.27 mod_ssl/2.8.10 Op
enSSL/0.9.6e
SLASH_LOG_DATA: shtml
X-Powered-By: Slash 2.003000
X-Fry: Well, thanks to the Internet I'm now bored with sex. Is there a place o
n the web that panders to my lust for violence?
Cache-Control: private
Pragma: private
Connection: close
Content-Type: text/html

'Nuff said.

I saw Groening speak 3 weeks ago...

[TheTomcat]

Matt Groening spoke in Montreal a few weeks ago, and he specifically stated that Futurama has "at least one more season" he was hoping for more, and that he also "has a few projects up [his] sleeve"

I'm looking forward to said sleeve-projects.

S

Re:I saw Groening speak 3 weeks ago...

[Scrameustache]

Well, if he had not phrased it in a way to give people hope, he would have been lynched.
And he knew it ;- )

But the thing is, once you've laid-off all your talented people, they'll find new jobs, and won't be available to come back if you try to recussitate the show, and the then it'll suck, and people will say "see, it sucks now, they were right to cancell it". : (

Revolution OS on DVD

[MsGeek]

My question: will it be encrypted with CSS? Will it also have region coding or will it be a region-free DVD?

Time to walk the talk. Make Revolution OS a truly OPEN DVD. Do the right thing.

Re:Revolution OS on DVD

[ahaning]

I wouldn't worry (though, it would be sad if constraints are placed on the DVD), I'm sure that a truly open DVD is on the way.

Unless, of course, Goldstein uses the release of their DVD as a chance to give a big FUCK YOU! to the DVDCCA/MPAA and makes it CSS-encrypted and in region 5 (or whatever). However, given his stance on sharing ("We want to get the information out there. Don't ask if you can share, DO IT!" Paraphrasing, of course.) I don't see why he would want to do that to his viewers.

The Revolution will be Boring.

[Anonymous Coward]

Wow! This Revolution OS movie looks absurdly boring. Where did they get the overacting narrator from?

Music, Movies, Microcode, and

[billstewart]

High-velocity pizza delivery... Is Snow Crash really ten years old? While we really need to have Uncle Enzo arrange to have somebody take care of Ashcroft, if you count software, movies, music, Muzak, videos, books, web pages, and anything else that involves people writing or performing text or songs or other things with original thought, or anybody taking those things and packaging and marketing them, it sounds like it could easily be 5% of the GNP. Ignore whether copyright is actually relevant to the business models (Ashcroft probably does) - since the US joined the Berne Convention, just about anything is born copyrighted.

Re:ACK! Glad I don't do napster (et al)...

[Lordfly]

Wouldn't the value of the product continue to be diminished, though? As you can freely duplicate the product (a file) with little effort, it would only be a matter of time before it's perceived "value" would diminish, simply by sheer volume.

Pardon the possible ignorance, it just seems like supply and demand to me... the reason Gold is so expensive is because there's relatively little of it to go around (compared to, say, copper).

Lordfly

Consistency??

[freeweed]

To me, "Futurama" is "The Simpsons" freed from its format and need for consistency with 13+ years of history.

If anything, the Simpsons is pretty far from consistent. Watch the earlier seasons and compare them to now - characters completely changed, gone, etc. Never mind the fact that the characters haven't aged one day in 13 years on the air - I don't think continuity issues are terribly important (hell, just last week Homer pointed out that he's had something like 75 different jobs :)

I don't catch as much Futurama as I'd like, but have they ever done anything remotely CLOSE to the 'Treehouse of Horror' episodes?

Re:Consistency??

[The_dev0]

I don't catch as much Futurama as I'd like, but have they ever done anything remotely CLOSE to the 'Treehouse of Horror' episodes?

Yes, they made the "Anthology of Interest" episodes, short stories ala "Treehouse of Horror". (Episodes 2-20 and 4-03)

Re:Consistency??

[DrMaurer]

Re: Treehouse of Horror:

Their Anthology of Interests are similar, but less holiday orientedness.

The funniest one, IMO, is the one where "life is like a video game."

But that's just me.

shatter.exe does trigger the antivirus warning...

[Anonymous Coward]

... because it does contain the same malicious code as the virus being sought.

But it is not infected with any virus!

Please, folks, RTF[readme]. The author understands that antivirus software alerts on the shatter.exe file because it contains a fragment very similar to a virus. It can send a message to any window on your system, and that is something that most programs do not do. Antivirus programs that detect this code as "malicious" are correct in doing so.

I do believe the author is illustrating a very important idea, and not trying to infect Win32-based systems!

Homeland Security

[Nishi-no-wan]

Why is it that the name "Homeland Security" gives me images of Nazis? That name really bothers me.

Re:Homeland Security

[Scrameustache]

Homeland, fatherland...its all the same.

Re:Homeland Security

[Lars T.]

Fatherland is a translation of the greek word patris, which is the root of patriotism.

Re:Homeland Security

[Anonymous Coward]

So Nazis were patriots. I'm sure 2 million+ jews are breathing a sigh of relief now. Er, well... they're not breathing... at all...

The difference between fascism and patriotism is a thin, but important, line.

Re:Homeland Security

[Scrameustache]

Oh thank you so much, we had ALL forgotten about that, really.

And oh, by all means, do NOT mention the gypsies, the faggots, or any other group the nazis had fun exterminating...because THEY don't count, right?

Yes, the Nazis were patriots, in their own way.

Re:Homeland Security

[Anonymous Coward]

Well... not to be nit-picky... but -most- of the people from that era, Jew or non-Jew, aren't breathing anymore. Mortality is funny in that way.

Re:Homeland Security

[jibs]

Hitler was also very religious. Just goes to show ya how dangerous the cult of religion can be.

Re:Homeland Security

[Lars T.]

Maybe. And maybe, just maybe, all "patriots" are Nazis. Think about it.

That episode...

[djward]

...I believe is called "30% Iron Chef", and to further your point, also contains a reference to old depression-era cartoons and the "Hobo-Lifting Aroma".

One has to have an appreciation of culture and history and science to appreciate these sorts of things, and unfortunately many TV viewers these days don't. So network execs drop such things in favor of more lowest-common-denominator appeal. The Simpsons is lucky - it has many of these references, too, but fortunately there's enough Homer-Beer humor for stupid people to watch it too.

To sloppily paraphrase Fry in "When Aliens Attack": "You can't do anything original or unexpected on TV, because this confuses and frightens people."

The writers knew their own show's situation, to put that line in.

One of the smartest, most original shows on TV, IMO.

Re:That episode...

[Anonymous Coward]

And the winner for most ridiculously snobbish nonsense on the Internet:

"One has to have an appreciation of culture and history and science to appreciate these sorts of things"

Oh, please. I have enjoyed every episode of Futurama, but not because I am some low-self-esteem type who has to make myself feel superior to others. This is as idiotic as beer snobbery, wine snobbery, coffee snobbery, OS snobbery, you name it. Don't all these losers know their attitudes just make them look ridiculous to anyone with an ounce of common sense?

DVD

[Anonymous Coward]

I'll just wait for Futurama to come out on DVD, then I can watch them whenever. Screw FOX.

Simpsons season 2 just out!!!

Lessons to be learned from ZD

[wackybrit]

ZD are definitely doing this the right way. Other companies could learn from their actions if they near bankruptcy.

If McDonald's starts to go under.. it can close all of its outlets and stop buying supplies! No more costs, the business can get back on its feet.

If Walmart starts to go under.. it can just close all of its stores. No more stock to buy, no staff to employ, costs will be through the floor, with profits sure to rebound.

Really, I'm thinking the best way for a multi-billion dollar company to make money these days is to shut down its main operation, accumulate the billions in a high interest bank account, and then dabble in risky investments.

Antivirus alarm

[codexus]

Yeah, this is like this anti-klez someone was kind enough to send me by email. As it said in the email, it triggered the anti-virus, but that's OK, I could safely ignore it cause the email told me to.

Re:Antivirus alarm

[morgajel]

hey mister, this is slashdot! we won't put up with yer attitude! These are top notch editors with an eye for detail.

of COURSE taco could never make an eror.

Some Futurama Clarifications

[Anonymous Coward]

We've had some news entries about the Cartoon Network thing a week ago or so. Some things in regards to our current understanding of Futurama's of state:

• CN seems to be negotiating for reruns only for now
  
• Nothing is confirmed by "the heads" as of now
  
• Futurama is out of production this year, the episodes that are shown from 11-11-02 on are left overs from Season 3 and 4. No production run 5. Quite some if not most of the artists and writers had to switch to other productions (like back to the Simpsons)

Many get confused by the fact that Futurama is both "on TV" and "out of production".

Our news in text-only format:

Futurama Syndication?

More information from source

-- [-mArc-] of Can't get enough Futurama

Crappy schedule abroad too

[vidnet]

A norwegian channel started sending Futurama. It lasted for about 1.5 seasons. Time slot? Five minutes to midnight (plus minus 45 minutes).

I struggled like a drowning cat to catch them all, but to little avail. It was taken off due to low ratings.

Re:Crappy schedule abroad too

[GutBomb]

same here in sweden. they showed it at 11:30 PM Mondays on TV4 Then they moved it to Mondays at 4:30 in the afternoon. Suddenly it took off! It got pretty popular at that time slot. Now it is on hiatus because they shoed the whole first season. It should be back in a couple months with season 2 (in sweden during the off season they don't show reruns. they just have a different show on. usually there are 2 tv seasons every year the fall-winter and spring-summer seasons, each season with thier own shows) One bad thing about tv in sweden is that they always move the shows around. Star trek voyager is usually on at 10:30 PM sundays, but sometimes it starts at 11:00, or sometimes at 10:25, or even worse, it starts at 10:00, so when i turn it on at the normal 10:30, i have already missed most of it (it's only a 45 minute show because the channel it is on here in sweden does not have commercials) Anyway, here in sweden anyway they are selling Region 2 DVDs of Season 1 of Futurama, and since the commercials for that DVD are on alot, I imagine it is selling pretty well. on the screen is the TV4 logo, so i think it is sponsored by TV4. If the new episodes are going to be shown on cartoon network, I hope TV4 will grab those too, since cartoon network in sweden is all dubbed instead of subtitled :(

Re:Thank {insert deity of choice} for Cartoon Netw

[Ella the Cat]

feed into my WinTV card

I use a Philips VL1200 (UK, PAL, dunno about rest of world outside EU) to connect downstairs video to upstairs PC WinTV card via its 2.4 GHz wireless link. The signal survives despite the EM noise from the ~1.3 GHz PC, VL1200 only gets huffy if we turn on the 19 year old microwave oven in the kitchen (gulp), or (and this is speculation) when the sodium vapour street lights turn on.

don't divide, multiply!

[Unordained]

for every copy, it's not that the value diminishes ... nono, the total value increases! (perpetual motion)

see, if you divided, then you'd be attributing to each copy its own local value. that's bad. if you had A, and made two copies of it, B and C, then copied C into D and E ... the B and D would have different values. but we can't have that, since it's a copyrighted work -- all copies should be treated the same (which, by the way, reminds me ... if you copyright a painting, ... the copies, vs. the original ... have different values. what's the original worth with music, etc.? books?)

so, if the government seizes computers with copies of copyrighted works on them ... what do they do with the data? can they resell it? do they burn it like they do drugs (well, we think they do) or do they return each and every copy to the original copyright holder? if they can freely destroy the data, without worrying about it ... isn't that destruction of valuables? if not, how can they claim worth?

the reason these items are worth anything is that the copyright holder has the government-given right to charge for copies, made at the publisher's discretion, of the copyrighted works. the worth is ... whatever they intended to sell it for. market price, you say? well, if you consider napster ... the things are worthless. isn't that how insurance companies calculate worth? cost of replacement? value if sold? but the value of an item that can be reproduced for pratically no cost at all ...

i'm just waiting for us to explore the world of star-trek inspired physics: reproducing random items (physical) at will, for the cost of electricity (lots of it, admittedly, by einstein's e=mcc) ... copyright the car?

You did mean to say ...

[Anonymous Coward]

"No one expects The American Inquisition!", didn't you?

I'm hoping for a high voter turn-out (well, except for in Florida).

Once it comes time to vote for a new President , I might just vote for almost any opposing party, if it means getting Dubya out of office.

If Charleton Heston were to throw his hat in the ring, I'd vote for him. He can't do any worse than Reagan did...

Just my two cents as to the current State of the Union.

Are you?

[Happy Monkey]

However if they "planned for it" like you said, and football ended "early", then they would have to fill that dead air with a post-game show or some crap that no one would watch.

"Planning for it" means scheduling a "Simpsons" rerun after the game rather than a new episode of Futurama, and giving Futurama a timeslot that isn't trampled. Like, for example, that same timeslot outside of football season.

Esp. if it's Futurama on a Sunday night...

[Insightfill]

"after" football.

Seriously, I love(d) the show, but finding and watching it became a game of "Where's Waldo?"

FUTURAMA

[X-Nc]

One thing they didn't mention at the panel, was the news that FUTURAMA would be joining Cartoon Network's ADULT SWIM in the near future."Is this too good to be true?"

It would be if only FUTURAMA was remotely funny. Maybe I'm just getting to damned old but the quality of humor that exists today just seems to be so, well, not funny.

Oh well...

Gratuitous kick-em-while-they're-down post.

[Captain_Stupendous]

Well I guess it makes sense for them to stop publishing a magazine called "Smart Business".

Where are the binaries?

[yerricde]

You can probably find it on the giFT internet File Transfer (OpenFT) network.

Most users behind a Windows operating system are not able to follow installation steps that start with the following: "Because giFT/OpenFT has not yet been released, you must retrieve the sources via CVS to use the program."

Re:Where are the binaries?

[Robotech_Master]

I'm aware of that...but don't see that there's an awful lot I can do about it. I'm only able to use giFT when I'm booted into Linux, myself. Kind of wish it were available for Windows, just so there'd be more people I could DL from. Oh well, sooner or later it'll come out of CVS and into beta.

He-Man

[godscent]

Don't forget He-Man.

Which Zim rumor?

[Watts]

What Invader Zim\Hot Topic rumor are you talking about? All I ever heard was that they were going to start carrying Zim merchandise (t-shirts, etc.) which they, in fact, now do. Either that or I keep hallucinating my friend's "Ride the Pig" t-shirt.

Re:Which Zim rumor?

[anotherone]

http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=02/02/17/221241 &mode=nested&tid=167

One of the last stories.

Felons? More likely multiple felons

[bee]

It's been a while since I've looked up the stats, but the dollar value for felony copyright violations of software is something insanely low. And of course they use the full retail price for determining value (kind of like how game shows do it), so simply pirating some high-cost software like Photoshop or Office can get you near if not over the dollar limit all by themselves. I know that technically I was a felon back in the late 1980s thanks to all those PC games I copied using CopyIIPC-- but then again so was everyone I knew, and computer stuff was way under the national radar back then.

Value of originals vs. value of copies

[yerricde]

if you copyright a painting, ... the copies, vs. the original ... have different values. what's the original worth with music, etc.? books?

If a work can be reduced to a sequence of discrete symbols such as bits, it can be copied. Music is a sequence of notes, which can be reduced to bits in the MIDI standard. A recording is generally distributed to end users as a sequence of bits that represent audio waveform samples. The text of books is a sequence of characters, which can be reduced to bits in the Unicode standard. However, current technology cannot reduce the texture of an original painting to bits; thus, it has a greater value than any copy.

copyright the car

This is why we need shorter copyright terms on creative works. Copyrights on such works last effectively forever because the EU Parliament, the US Congress, and The Walt Disney Company have an unwritten agreement to enact copyright extensions. On the other hand, "copyrights" on inventions such as parts of cars, and on original designs such as their bodies, fall under patent law and last for only 20 years after the invention is filed in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

It's Overrated

[Anonymous Coward]

I finally saw "Revolution OS" when it came to the Independent Film Channel recently. While I enjoyed seeing, for the first time, some famous folk I knew only from their writing, I was disappointed in the overall thrust of the film. There was a lot of nonsense about stock prices and such, and the film even concluded with that -- almost as if to say "the revolution is over now." The filmmakers missed the point in a BIG way.

No Yahoo Internet Life?!

[hazyshadeofwinter]

Now what will I sneer at?