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The Nation of Macintosh?
Devon Avenger writes "A new short British film has been released according to this article at Wired depicting a cult of Macintosh fanatics who are organised in a manner reminiscent of the Nation of Islam."
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I just got a mental image of Steve Jobs as Louis Farrakhan.
I just don't think the bow tie would go with his black turtleneck.
This might be pretty cool....now if they just did a linux version of it. Perhaps just open source junkies :0
So it stars an "an original Macintosh, the 512K," huh? The original Mac had a big bad 128K of RAM. (and a 400K single sided 3.5" floppy)
I think that this group will be a welcome addition to the clics in HBO's "OZ." Now you have Skinheads, Black Muslims, Italians, and the ever-so-feared Macies.
is that ALL of us in this forum probably know at least one person like an iBrotha. They may or may not be Mac evangelists - very likely Linux promoters or advocates of some social cause [and I'm not debating the worthiness or unworthiness of *any* cause at this time] but we know a few. You or I might even be one.
I think with the interesting people, their lives can't possibly be wrapped up into a nice little package.
First thought: This is stupid, but lets keep reading.
So now I get to this little gem: It's about that whole religious fervor that grabs Mac users the way it doesn't with users of other platforms," said writer/director Jake Barnes, who described himself as a "recovering Mac addict."
Has Jake Barnes every met a linux user? Or a BSD user? Or a VMS user? Or hell, a BeOS or OS/2 user? He probably just looked at windows and thought "well 90% of the known universe uses it, so how excited can Hip Bob be when booting it up". He has failed to see the amount of umm... love some non-microsoft and non-apple people have for their computers. I mean come on... linux... what is there not to love. Hell even IBM spraypaints "Peace. Love. Linux." on stuff. Oh well... need coffee.
can't sleep slashdot will eat me
You can not stop us
We have this Unix
You reboot now
Are you afraid?
Death to Microsoft
Death to Sun
Steve is great
Wasting your time since 1997.
As a long time mac advocate, forced windows user and linux sysadmin . . . explain to me how mac advocates are significantly different than linux geeks who insist that Linux is the one true un*x, the one to rule them all . . .
Its not enough that Microsoft has the vast majority of the desktop.
Its not enough that the macintosh has been derided for the past 20 years as a toy, as inferior, and as the machine that is more style than substance.
Its not enough that we had a good solid ten years of the tech media announcing that apple was going out of business- never mind that when they first started making that claim, apple had more sales revenue than Microsoft!
Its not enough that most half educated self-styled geeks think macs are slow.
Or that theirs a cult of mac hatred, mac bashing, and downright viciousness directed at anyone who dares to buy the computer that is not the one ordained by the powers that be as the be all, end all, "how dare you want something else".
Its not enough that despite better economics of mac software, we've had 20 years of idiot marketing types canceling mac products to focus on windows (And then losing to microsoft in the end.)
Its not enough that bigotry and hatred towards mac users is wide spread among computer enthusiasts- and is not only tolerated but encouraged.
No, none of these are enough.
Now we need to start comparing mac users to terrorists?
Its continually amazing how threatened so many people are that some segment of the population buys the computer that works best for them.
How can you be so threatened at people thinking for themselves? Oh yeah, that's right, this is a nation that worships conformity.
This is a sad state of affairs. And some of you should be ashamed of yourselves.
Yeah, and you guys panned the ipod too: http://apple.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=01/10/23
Everyone in the movie is named Steve?
"And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the World"
1 John 4:14
An interesting documentary topic, who's timing couldn't be better in light of Apple's recent earnings news ... here's a snippet from the ElectronicNewsNet
...
Despite driving upgrades to its new Mac OS X 10.2 "Jaguar" operating system, Apple reported a US$45 million loss and flat year-on-year revenue for its fiscal 2002 fourth quarter.
Hopefully, this is just an issue of absorbing the R&D costs of their new O/S. I'm not a Mac user, but some of my best friends are
--- have you healed your church website?
These users is the reason to why Apple has been able to survive the late 80s and early 90s when the x86 ran away from then performance wise.
It is fun to notice all these little fanatic communities for all old computers: Atari, Amiga, ABC80, Spectrum, C64...
It is nice to see that some of us aren't here just for performance and the latest games!
It's been my experience that Mac zealots are the worst zealots, only rivaled my the old amiga users, although the Linux camp gave it a good run a few years ago.
I'm convinced the reason behind it is that the typical Mac user is someone who is not very technical and was perhaps intimidated by using a computer, so when they figured out how to use their Mac they get a certain sense of pride and accomplishment which they in turn morph into zealotry.
Thankfully this is changeing with more affluent Unix people migrating over to try OSX, but the core zealot remains the same.
The funny thing is that while I was working with the *BSD dev team to straighten out their internal shceduling problems with the threading code in the kernel I noticed that the dev guys were very calm and rational people, pretty much just the opposite of the Mac user. Interesting indeed.
Warmest regards,
--Jack
Wagner LLC Consulting Co. - Getting it right the first time
How's the movie end?
Woz: "Just trust me and insert the purple disk..."
- If we aren't supposed to eat animals, then why are they made out of meat? - Steven Wright
So how does the race/class metaphor work when you consider the basilisk emulator?
'What if Malcolm X evangelized Macs? Would he really?' Some think he would.
hell no. Malcolm X, who actually again changed his name to El Hajj Malik El Shabazz, because he wanted to leave behind the X moniker after leaving the Nation of Islam. Of course he was also subsequently assassinated by members of the Nation of Islam (in front of his family no less).
The movie is ok since it's something artistic, but to go further and use the memory of Malcolm X to sell computers is rather distasteful and disrespectful.
This is left as an exercise for the reader.
Why is it ANYONE who does not use Microsoft products is considered a religious zealout? I'm serious. This has been going on for over 13 years now.
Way back when there WAS computer diversity, it was no different. If you used an Amiga, you were a zealot. If you liked OS/2, you were a zealot. But if you used Windows, you were the bastion of sanity and reason! (never mind the crashing, the unreliability, etc). And this was in an era when Windows did NOT have the majority (yet). And this was primarily a North American attitude, as well.
So now we have Mac users AGAIN being branded as fantics and zealots. What has changed? The smarmy attitude of Windows drones is more like a dominant religion, in my opinion. The Cult of Bill is far more repugnant than a few stalwarts who want to compute differently.
They should try Amiga users, they're several times worse Mac users. Really.
I have to say that I think that the Cult of Macintosh is pretty much dead.
Yeah, there are still Mac fanatics, but just like the suffragettes, the Cult of Macintosh faded when it won.
The Macintosh successfully delivered the GUI desktop paradigm to the masses. After that, well, anyone applauding Windows 95+ was also supporting the ideals that the Macintosh was successfully promoting into the marketplace - like it or not.
Sure, the Mac had some really really dark days... mostly in the late 80's, early 90's when that Pepsi guy was pretending to run the place.
But again Apple has taken the industry to a new level, with computers that push design and function, and with a real, extendable, fairly open, standards-friendly OS behind it.
In any case, the war is over. Maybe Apple didn't win all the love and money. But it propelled the industry forward on many, many fronts.
Thank goodness for comapies like Apple pushing innovation into the marketplace. Maybe someday Microsoft will be able to do the same.
Nah, they have no incentive to do that.
If only I could afford one, I'd join their little Mac cult for sure! Ooh, maybe they give ibooks to new members? Where's the signup sheet??
Learn to Play Go
How dare they misappropriate and misconstrue my life like this! they didn't get the names right, and I haven't seen a dime!
WHERE'S MY I.P. LAWYER?!?!
The banner above this article about 'Certified OS X Classes' LOL
"...who are organised in a manner reminiscent of the Nation of Islam."
I'm muslim, and I don't want to be associated with idiots who use the religion as a scapegoat, don't comment on the religion as a whole, that's a underhanded comment that shows your narrow mind, your lack of understanding is appauling, the religion is not far different from christianity or judaism (excuse the spelling), as it is a derivative of sorts (just like christianity being a derivative of judaism), we don't believe in ridiculous things as religious sucide giving you 6 virgins or some other shit, far from it, in fact according to our religion, suicide is one of the unforgiveable sins that damns you to an eternity in hell. I have to dispel these myths, and I hope you will get over the stereotype.
Is it coincidence that the "new religion" of Macintosh started in 1984?
Heroscape, it's like legos combined with anachronistic wargames.
I still haven't forgotten the day that the Wall Street Journal announced that Sun had bought Apple.
They never retracted that story, btw.
Yeah, and you guys panned the ipod too: http://apple.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=01/10/23
He was all about evangelizing the platform. His columns always had a amateurish, strange, almost irrational quality (he wrote for many Mac publications as iBrotha). It's hard to tell from the article - but it appears he was associated with the production (or at least inspired it).
I always thought he was a little macadamia nuts. You've done your damage, Rodney, rest in peace.
Cake or Death? Cake Please!
And what about all the idiots who queue for hours at night to be the first to get their hands on the latest Windows OS when a new one arrives? Oh but wait a second! Those people are not zealot! Just plain arsholes!
I'll do it for cheesy poofs.
The wired story says the film even stars a 512k, the original Mac. Don't those heathens know their macs? Everyone knows that the 128K came out before the 512K!
Next they'll be telling me that the Classic was the original mac like all those posers do on eBay.
Eight minutes is not a short film; it's more like a t-shirt slogan.
And what does this mean?
"It's a mark of respect and a way of showing we're not taking advantage of his infamous passing away."
Sounds to me like they _are_ taking advantage of this, dedication or not.
Actually the i-bowtie is a Steve Jobs Insanely Great trademark from the 80s.
Steve Jobs circa 1984
I still think Sculley looks scared to have Steve behind him.
Virtual PC is your friend, Grasshopper. Much as WINE-X/Crossover Office is your friend if you are trying to get non-ported games or Microsoft Office running on Linux. Yes, you will need a copy of Windows but the price of Virtual PC with Windows 2K is actually comparable to a copy of Windows 2K alone.
Knowledge is power. Knowledge shared is power multiplied.
I always thought of Malcolm X as a RISCOS guy myself. Hmm, I guess the X is pretty signifigant evidence against that.
If I visit the Apple site and see a Malcom X "Think Different" poster on the front, I'm gonna turn in my G4 for a SunBlade ....
Saturn and Saab owners are waging holy war against each other, and everyone hopes that the NASCAR fans will stay out of it...
Apple-am a-laikum, my iBrothers and iSisters. Would you like an MP3 copy of Steve's Final Call for your iPod? Can I interest you in an iBeanpie? We didn't tear down the gates -- Gates tore us down!
My name is Mac-colm X, and I will soon make my pilgrimage to Cupertino.
Visit me on the web at Permanent4.com.
... it's Malcom X 10.2!
I just upgraded to FC Pro so I could do some stuff with a project I can't do with iMovie. The elegance of the product is really astounding. It's well thought-out - it scales down to my incredible level of ignorance well, and it produces a beautiful product. When I wanted to make the movie, here's what I needed: Mac, FCPro, video cam w/ Firewire.
Now I suppose Adobe Premiere on a beefy Windows machine could do the same, but I'm getting nervous just thinking about it. I use Windows every day and consider myself a very proficient user. (blech)
So what do I need to do the same project? I suppose:
Premiere, Beefy Windows-based Machine (XP? 98? 2000?) - I'm guessing 2000, but that's just a guess - So I have to downgrade. And the right video card - Oh my gosh! Which one shall I get? Hmm.. And I forgot: I need a FIREWIRE card b/c they aren't standard on most PCs. Oh crap. Firewire drivers, Oh yeah - video card drivers. What, there's a conflict (IRQ?) between my add-on FW card and my add-on HD. CRAP! See what I mean?
Before you write "Dude, you're stupid" I'll concede the point. I'm stupid. You got me.
But I am smart enough to figure out how to run FC Pro in some fashion or another, produce multimedia, etc. etc.. and I'm pretty sure I'm smart enough to puzzle out all the Windows crap, BUT I DON'T WANT TO. I'm smart enough to get my work done, and that's all I care about. I don't like "computers" and I don't want to spend half my life figuring out why they don't work.
Yes, it's a blog. Sorry if that offends you.
There are Windows zealots, they're just lost in the crowd of point-and-drool Windows users that have no idea that "computer" doesn't necissarily mean "Wintel".
I mean, what about the scores of MCSE monkeys that think every other operating system outside of Windows is a toy? Isn't that a type of zealotry? They're not going out and actively preaching Windows but they're passively dissmissing any other platform. There's plenty of Kool-aid to be drunk that's coming out of Redmond.
If the movie's any good, they'll have a confrontation between a mac zealot and an MCSE monkey that tells him "Macs can't network." I'm picturing a Steve Martin type reaction from the movie "Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid" when somebody mentions "cleaning woman".
I was not even aware Rodney had passed away. Did Apple acknowledge it at any way when it happened? If I was Steve I would do something special in his memory, the least of which would begin by mentioning him at the next MacWorld.
Mac OS X and Windows XP working side by side to fight back the night.
I don't remember reading anything about terrorism in the article (unless you consider Malcolm X a terrorist). I think Fanatic fits the bill better.
It's not surprising that Mac is the platform of choice in this movie.. most serious independent film makers use the Mac platform, and it does have a near-religious fervor around it (having worked in a shop at a community college where the boss was a fervent Mac supporter). Mac just does better than any Intel platform I know of for video compression, editing, and rendering. Just like Linux is ideal for server-based apps, and Windows is ideal for crashing your box (^_^). It's nice to know that there is someone out there that can find the funny side of the fanaticism.
Damn -- This response made my whole friggin' morning! Now, it's time for me to go get laid off....
--Mid.
Mac or Linux following?
Slashdot spends *a lot* of time talking about Apple. I'm not entirely sure how Uncle Steve built his company to attact so much attention, but it just seems that we talk about it a lot.
:)
As far as the Cult of Steve, I am a member, having recently returned from exile in the PC wilderness. Ah, how nice it is to return to the warmth of the Reality Distortion Field, where all benchmarks are Photoshop and all the UI components are lickably delicious.
Macs aren't the only products that inspire fanatical devotion (see comments re Linux, BSD, etc.). Not even just computers (shocking, isn't it?). Have you ever met people who drive Saturns? We're rather fanatical about our friendly dealerships and polymer side panels (dent resistant *and* rust proof
Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend. Inside a dog, its too dark to read.
I think I'm missing something...where are we talking about religious suicide holy war? Not in the article we're not. We're talking about the Nation of Islam - as in the organization currently headed by Louis Farrakan - who's mission is (off the top of my head) a seperate all-black state, not the Nation of all Islamic people (as in the geopolitical sense). It's not a particularly Muslim organization; it's mostly about black empowrement.
I don't like stereotyping, but this is exactly what the above is: somone read it, saw the word 'Islam' and instantly thought "terrorism blaming! terrorism blaming!" without seeing the context.
More power to you for defending your faith. But try and read what the context and the article is before you go calling everyone racist. Unless you're actually Nation yourself, in which case you're allowed to be offended.
Cue The Sun...
I wonder if Steve Jobs will rename Apple HQ to Macca. Start praying, Mac people!
Yer, great, just great. mod it up, someone commites suicide, lets all have a good laugh
*sigh* disgusting.
Microsoft IIS is to webserving as KFC is to healthy eating
I think that is what Microsoft capitalizes upon is a sense of conformity and 'normalcy' as much as they can promote. Anything but safe Windows seems strange and unusual, making most uncomfortable at the prospect of adopting alternatives.
It keeps people in line by their own natural reaction to strange and unknown things.
Kalen D'arrie
I'd wager that most Windows users aren't that technical either. I think your logic is flawed.
Kalen D'arrie
Apple made huge amounts of money by appealing to non-technical people. Red Hat has not made enough money for a two-bit documentary to come along and call linux a religion.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Signature_bloc
Nation of Islam <> Islam
Parodies of Nation of Islam (the racist political organization) usually aren't saying much about Islam (the religion).
As a reprecentive on the Macintosh Liberation Front I hereby state our intention of eliminating all enemies of the Macintosh nation. This is not terrorism but rightful war against the terroists of the non-Macintosh world.
;)
(Yeah. I'm a mac user alright
I heard that some guy even did a TTY-compatible port of the thing with iBrotha script.
--- Jason Olshefsky
Karma: Poser (mostly affected by adding this line long after everyone else did)
You really think he was talking about a Macintosh? Try MAC-10.
Blar.
ChemDraw vs. ChemText. That's all you need to know to understand why there is a solid group of chemists who have always been fond of the Mac.
If Slashdot were chemistry it would look like this:Cadaverine
Who mod'ed this fuckwit up?
If Jesus wants me it knows where to find me.
Holy crap!! all this time i've been hauling old computers for trade between planets and i thought it was all just a game.
All bow down before the AmbrosiaSW oracles!!
~this is just the begining.
All hail postscript !!
All hail sexy Titanium !!!
All hail bad airport reception !!!
All hail translucent plasitc gizmos !!!
All hail Firewire and the iPod!!!!
All your bases are belong to us !!!!!!!!
Of course, the macsturbators would simply claim that the Windows users know their system is inferior and don't try to keep users from 'leaving'.
Blar.
I'm actually fairly new to the whole slashdot scene, but I implore you to keep posting.
You can change more with your voice, however modded-down that voice may be, than with your silence.
I've enjoyed your posts, I think you're right, and I think you're getting modded not for content but for delivery. You only get away with major vitriol on Slashdot if you're really going with the popular opinion, I've noticed. Otherwise people basically label you a spaz.
I don't know if it'll change, but I'd rather some of the dissenters like you didn't fuck off for all time. It keeps things interesting in here.
If Jesus wants me it knows where to find me.
All non-windows users are not considered zealot. Perhaps you should look up the definition of the word. If you use a Mac and like, good for you, you're a computer user. If you use a Mac and take every opportunity to point ot aupposed flaws in my system of choice and to bray about your system of choice, you are a Zealot.
I see the Macsterbators have lots of moderator points today!
Blar.
Why do I have this sick sinking feeling that we are going to hear from a bunch of activists that have, too much free time and too much tax payer money in their pockets,as they start berating this movie. I wonder how long it will take before someone starts a litigation against the makers of this little Indie 8 min wonder. Mark my words we'll hear, "How Dare You" and things like "The Comparision is unjust and denegrating". I can hear the liberal mass of low self-esteem activists sharpening their attourney auto-dial buttons as they foam at the mouth of this "almost as bad a Hitler" movie. I can feel the oxygen being drawn out as millions of liberal activists begin huffing and gasping at this horribly racist, denegrating, non-politically correct (Aww hell lets call a spade a spade, Socialist-Correct) film diminishing Malcom-X's role in history. Why can we see this film for what is really is? BECAUSE THE REST OF US WORKING ADULTS GREW UP AND DEVELOPED A SENSE OF HUMOR AND GREW OUT OF OUT OVER-SENSITIVE CHILDHOOD!!
Beware, I think I heard one of them dial already... I thought they'd wait till the movie made some money...
NEWS AT 11: Gnostic religious groups file a lawsuit against the makers of The Matrix for mis-representing the concept of the DemiUrge. Catholics groan as they thought they stomped out the Gnostics after the Nicean Council. Constantine rolls over in grave!!
-=[ Who Is John Galt? ]=-
When I used to work at the apple store, one of my friends came in to visit. He walked in to a group of about 6 employees standing around. All wearing the black apple shirt with the white apple on the front and wearing kaki's. He was spooked and asked me if apple was a cult. I told him yes ;)
I can hear it now!!
I got so much trouble on my mind
I refuse to lose
Here's your ticket
Hear the drummer get wicked
The crew to you to push the back to Black
Attack so I sat and japped
Then slapped the Mac(Intosh)
Now I'm ready to mike it
(You know I like it)
It's written exactly like that in the liner notes too.
FWIW, Chuck D has gone around helping indie rapper set up Mac-based ProTools studios for quite some time.
It doesn't mean much now, it's built for the future.
The comparison isn't being made to Islamist terrorists at all. The Nation of Islam is a black-power movement following Louis Farrakan. Malcolm X was one its most influential evangelizers.
I doubt the Nation of Islam is capable of any such terrorism. The original post should be modded Offtopic, not Troll.
Finally something I can safely comment on.
From the Public Enemy website:
Welcome To The Terrordome
Shocklee - Sadler - Ridenhour
I got so much trouble on my mind
I refuse to lose
Here's your ticket
Hear the drummer get wicked
The crew to you to push the back to Black
Attack so I sat and japped
Then slapped the Mac(Intosh)
Now I'm ready to mike it
(You know I like it) huh...
...compared to certain radical Muslim factions, we're rather peaceful.
/will/ laugh, though, when Windows bombs itself.
For example, we don't bomb things.
We
± 29 dB
(a little old skool Violent Femmes for ya)
Yeah man, I'm with you. On all fronts. I frequently am upset at the moderation (hey, they're monkeys on a keyboard.)
Its to the point where I know that If I say something pithy I'll get modded up to +5 funny, however if I try to bring real depth I'm redundant, troll, flamebait, etc.
I'm also with you cuz I have a powermac 7200 dual booting into linux.
but the conclusion? You find a web of people who have something to say- you click 'em as yr friend (little green ball/blue ball) and you establish your own meta-slashdot. And you read their journals.
The rest of this slashdot is idiots who don't read the article and post simply to see their posts in a public forum, first posts with goatse links, and player-haters.
Slashdot sucks. make your own slashdot.
In the future, I would want to not be isolated from my friends in the Space Station.
No more blue screens of de-eath.
Off the pigs!
Revolution has co-ome.
Make the switch!
[Note to mods: if you were born after 196x, you may not get the reference. Mod accordingly.]
"What is the sound of one belly slapping?"
The followers of the Nation Of Islam believe in (all quotes taken from their homepage or their publications): ...one God (Allah) and that Allah (God) appeared in the Person of Master W.Fard Muhammad, July, 1930; the long awaited 'Messiah' of the Christians and the 'Mahdi' of the Muslims...
... ". And according to a hadith narrated by Masruq, in Sahih Bukhari, 'Aisha said, "If anyone tells you that Muhammad has seen his Lord, he is a liar, for Allah says (in 6:103), 'No vision can grasp Him.'...".
...the blackman is god and his proper name is ALLAH. Arm, Leg, Leg, Arm, Head.
However, the Qur`an states in chapter 4, verse 36, "Serve Allah, and join not Any partners with Him;
The followers of the Nation Of Islam further believe "in the resurrection of the dead--not in physical resurrection--but in mental resurrection. We also believe that the so-called Negroes are most in need of mental resurrection; therefore, they will be resurrected first." But the Qur`an states in chapter 20, verse 55, "From the earth did We Create you, and into it Shall We return you, and from it shall We bring you out once again." Even more pointedly, the Qur'an also states in 64:7,
The Unbelievers think that they will not be raised up (for Judgement). Say: "Yea, by my Lord, Ye shall surely be Raised up: then shall ye Be told (the truth) of All that ye did. And that is easy for Allah."
Besides the above two differences, the followers of the Nation of Islam also believe in other things contrary to Islam as defined in the Qur'an and Sunnah, such as:
*
[We, the Black Muslims, believe] "in the truth of the Bible, but we believe that it has been tampered with and must be reinterpreted so that mankind will not be snared by the falsehoods that have been added to it".
The problem with this belief: The true Prophet of Islam ordered Muslims to neither accept the Bible nor reject it - certainly there was no mention of reinterpretation.
*
"That we who declare ourselves to be righteous Muslims, should not participate in wars which take the lives of humans. We do not believe this nation should force us to take part in such wars, for we have nothing to gain from it unless America agrees to give us the necessary territory wherein we may have something to fight for".
The problem with this belief: The Qur'an and Sunnah are crystal clear on the necessity of going to war when the situation demands it.
The Nation of Gods and Earths (5% Nation of Islam) is apparently an offshoot of the so-called Nation of Islam. Like its parent, this group's beliefs clearly identify it as being fundamentally outside the pale of Islam. Specifically, and we quote (from their homepage):
The original man is the Asiatic Blackman, the maker, the owner, the cream of the planet Earth, father of civilization, God of the Universe.
This is in clear contradiction with one of the essential axioms of Islam, namely that Allah (God) is Creator and all else (including men - asiatic blacks or otherwise) is created. In chapter 25, verse 54 of the Qur'an, Allah says that He has created man, therefore it is logically impossible for man to be Allah.
The second quote above is a prime example of a tendency of the "Nation of Gods and Earths" to conjure up beliefs that are, to a large extent, highly confused. Some examples of these beliefs that have nothing to do with Islam are "supreme mathematics and alphabet", an evil person named Yacob, a prophet named W. D. Fard, and a belief that black people are superior in some way.
The true Prophet of Islam refuted this last racist belief in his Farewell Address,
O people! Verily your Lord is one and your father is one. All of you belong to one ancestry of Adam and Adam was created out of clay. There is no superiority for an Arab over a non-Arab and for a non-Arab over an Arab; nor for white over the black nor for the black over the white except in piety. Verily the noblest among you is he who is the most pious.
For a deeper expose of this group and its parent (the Nation of Islam), the interested reader might wish to examine the autobiography of the late Malik Al-Shabaz (Malcolm X).
And thus, I leave slashdot.
You need to get out of the house more, kid. I'm sick and tired of hearing the incessant bitching and whining about the slashdot moderation system. This is slashdot - your comments and views are being thrown into the mix with 12 year olds, the janitor from Radio Shack, legit geeks, and bored out of work guys.
By looking at your profile, you've been around long enough and certainly posted more than enough to be an occasional moderator yourself. Put up or shut up - the only worthwhile thing you can do is moderate responsibly. Whining about it is a waste of your time, my time, and any other poor schmuck who bothered to read your post.
If someone mods you down, remember, this is just slashdot! I swear some people need to go into therapy just because their shitty post got modded down by a thirteen year old.
"My mother never saw the irony in calling me a son-of-a-bitch." - Jack Nicholson
... you've been using a computer operating system that crashes all of the time, destroys your data, gets infected with virii, acts as a Graphical User In-Your-Face, getting in your way and making you stumble and thrash around, then finding out there is a better way that works for you!
I think using Windows is like running with cement blocks on my feet! It gets in my way and slows me down. After purchasing and using a Mac for a few weeks, I've really started to notice how badly Windows is slowing me down in my daily tasks. In particular, the multi-tasking on Windows seems extremely sluggish now, whereas I very rarely even see the "Beach Ball" on Jaguar.
Someone above mentioned that it isn't just Mac fans who can get fanatical, but also Linux, Be/OS, Amiga, OS/2, etc. And that is because they see so many folks who think that computers are supposed to be big, bulky albatrosses tied around our necks instead of productivity tools. I hate to see people who think they are stupid just because Windows crashes or gives them trouble, and they don't understand why! I always want to try and help those people see that there are better O/S's out there that they could use.
However, to be labeled a fanatic nowadays, all you have to do is try to explain to someone stuck in the herd that there might be a different, better way.
dochood
Well I was a Amiga Fanatic and for a long time I held out hope, against all odds, that it would be revived somehow. I have never been happy with any machine since until I purchased my Dual G4 running Mac OS X.
I used to be a Mac bigot with my bigest complaint being their total lack of a shell. I mean come on even windblows has DOS right? But now we have the hands down winner GUI (OS X) combined with the hands down winner CLI (UNIX). How can it be wrong.
Plus I get the same kind of feeling working with my Mac that I did with the Amiga. So, I like to think in a way that part of Amiga lives on in Mac. But that's just my experience.
Nick Powers
Encryption: I may not agree with what you say, but I will defend your right to encrypt it...
But I couldn't afford it. They tend to use proprietary robes and shoes. Man that stuff is expensive! They tell me it is better than the stuff I would buy at any other cult though, and it looks cooler. It is just sad that you don't have any real selection.
So I then went to join this cult of Micro$oft. They informed me that I misspelled their name and it doesn't have a $ in it. They seemed rather angered about this, but I explained that I have never seen it spelled any other way. Their cult seemed great on the surface, but I realized that I ownly rented their robes, I would have to pay them every three years for new ones if I needed them or not, and that the new robes generally had many problems with them to boot!
I then went to join this penguin cult. Man, they are a friendly bunch, but they seem to be divied in to a bunch of sub cults that hate each other with a passion, but not quite as much as they hate the Micro$oft cult. I kinda liked the Red Top Penguin cult, but everyone kept telling me how much they are becomming the Micro$oft of the penguin cults. They also did something to anger the other cults by standardising on their robes. I then left this cult.
I then tried a cult of the Bee. I found that this cult recently died and so I left.
The more I learn about science, the more my faith in God increases.
We didn't land on Aqua! Aqua landed on us!
So... is this film being classified as drama, comedy, or documentary? I know, it was intended to be a horror flick.
The web site for the movie has a dedication to the original iBrotha, Rodney O. Lain. Anybody who read his stuff (variously on MacAddict, The Mac Observer, and a ton of other mac sites) will definitely see the parallels. He was a good journalist, always trying to incite the crowd with controversial topics like "The Macintosh is the nigger of the PeeCee world". He committed suicide in June. I think his site is still up at http://www.ibrotha.com.
Kip Hawley is an idiot.
Careful, or steve jobs will put out a fatwa on Jake Barnes, the writer/director of the film. Then all true apple fanatics will be required to try and kill him by whipping their ipods at him.
The problem isn't wanting to be different. The problem is some Mac users (and you are one of them) seem to think they are superior to everyone else. It gets even more pedantic and more ridiculous when you start talking about things you don't understand (such as hardware architecture) and caliming that somehow a Mac is faster than, say, an Athlon XP 2600+, or a Pentium 4 @ 2.8GHz, when all evidence in the real world (both real software benchmarks and actual computer use) shows the exact opposite. So when the facts are against you, you (I mean you personally) play the victim.
Macs are home computers. They have an historical presence in some areas (sound editing, design) but that presence is diminishing every day. Just like most people don't ride horses anymore.
Even Apple admits that all they do is think different(ly). They don't say they're better or faster or cheaper. They're not. Better is a subjective concept, and Macs are slower than more epxensive than PCs. For some people, the benefits make up for those factors.
It doesn't mean intelligent people can't like Macs, but it doesn't mean everyone who likes Macs is intelligent. And you are a very good example of that.
Why did they need to make a fictional film? At the least it could have been "based on a true story". Just toss in some fruit carts and exploding cars and you've got a hit on your hands.
--- What?
It's back up to five. I see only rare examples of good on-topic posts that stay down for long, even if they go to -1.
People who complain about the moderation here have too small a sample rate.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
God is not a machintosh.
--- You make things foolproof, and they'll find you a damn fool.
I'm convinced the reason behind it is that the typical Mac user is someone who is not very technical and was perhaps intimidated by using a computer, so when they figured out how to use their Mac they get a certain sense of pride and accomplishment which they in turn morph into zealotry.
Speaking as a Mac-zealot myself I can affirm that this is pretty much true. My only nit-pick is that the zeolotry doesn't have to do with any kind of *personal* pride of accomplishment - It is not that I feel proud that that *I* am somehow smart enough to figure out the computer. It is that the computer is smart enough that I don't have to - and given my experience with other computers I am profoundly grateful.
I would also suggest that MacUsers, at least the "Mac Pros" ARE often quite technically proficient, just that their proficiency is in fields other than computing. And they (I) would argue that is as it SHOULD be. A computer is a tool, a means to an end. The purpose of all computers in the end is NOT "computing" there is some end result that the computing is FOR. Some end result that the computer is completely irrelevant to. The mac was a good tool in that it allowed you to focus on end rather than the means. A designer could design, a musician could compose, an accountant could count all without becoming mired in learning the irrelevant (and to them profoundly uninteresting) intricacies of a complex tool.
Zeolotry on the part of mac users has diminished as wintel caught up in terms of usability. The Mac itself hasn't "won" but the "mac way" has. But back in the days of DOS and then Windows 3.x Apple had *earned* it's users enthusiasm. Much of the zeolotry came from seeing an "insanely great" (and it really was) computer struggling against a vastly inferior brand-name competitor. Imagine the zeolotry of Linux users if they had not only a technically superior but a MUCH more polished and useable desktop solution that was still ignored because it wasn't the right brand name.
I was always zealous about the Mac because it pretty much worked as advertised. If that ain't the kinda shit you preach from the mountain tops, I don't know what is.
:-)
It's disturbing that the computer industry seems to have convinced most people that working as advertised is exceptionally good. For most products, working as advertised is merely acceptable.
Then again, I suppose MS and Apple both advertise their OS as easy to use, and Apple is just the one that can back it up with actual usability
[ObDisclaimer: I'm not a Mac user, I use Debian and Windows]
And thus, I leave slashdot.
Report back to us about what a life is like.
" It also stars an original Macintosh, the 512K. "
wasn't the 512k the second mac? AFAIK the first one was called "macintosh" and was later renamed "128K"
We all know documentaries never make any money. Now if the filmakers had produced something *fictional* then it would have a chance.
"dope will get you through times of no money better than money will get you through times of no dope"
>Linux is the one true un*x, the one to rule them all
...and in the darkness bind them.
The difference is that Mac zealots are all about ruling, but they draw the line at bondage in dark rooms.
Ergonomica Auctorita Illico!
I think its great that Wired runs a lot of mac articles, but in the past issues you would think that Macs have a 50% marketshare or something. IMHO, they give way too much press to any mac users who do something "unusual. " I think Apple makes good hardware, but that doesn't mean I'm going to worship a company. Not only do many mac users worship Apple, but it seems that Wired does as well.
Here and here I got modded -1 troll because I don't kiss Steve Jobs ass.
Sheesh, good riddance. Bad moderators are annoying, but whiners are far worse.
I twenty-second the motion: get a life.
Here's a free clue: IT'S NOT THAT IMPORTANT THAT PEOPLE READ WHAT YOU WRITE. Get over yourself.
Sometimes it's best to just let stupid people be stupid.
*snicker*
slashdot: where everyone yells sarcastic metaphors to themselves to understand the issue
Look around, I think it's not hard to see these devices in action in highly moderated posts.
At least, that's what this /. poll says as of 12:57 EST on 17 October 2002.
Sure, the poll is not scientific, but even its fuzzy numbers (Bushism disavowed) tell us something, and that something is that a full 15% of the ultra-geek crowd totes Apple hardware, and this not even 2 years into Apple's targeting that crowd with OS X
Complain all you want about "small" market share, but my sense is that this is not the last you'll see of this turning tide.
Apple have *always* offered better consumer machines (if you don't count 1995-1997) and now that they have the OS of OS's to boot, the geeks are noticing. The Reality Distortion Field works two ways, it can prevent you from seeing reality and it can also change your reality.
Reality used to be an all-Windows world. Well, it still sort of is, but not where it counts, deep down inside, among some of us nerds and artists and . . . well, some of us.
blog
Well, that and the fact that the MS "switch" article was complete fucking astroturfing...
By submitting to ridiculous constraints on their lifestyle by licensing and functionality; repeated quality of life issues imposed by frequent crashes, inexplicable freezes and limited capabilities; and ultimately staying doggedly committed to continuing in their plight notwithstanding any reasoned arguments to the contrary, comforted with the sense that all is right because their colleagues are also suffering, it is the Windowites who, to me, most resemble the cult.
People don't "love" Linux or Mac OS or OS/2. They think they do, and they like them, but they don't "love" them. They just bitterly hate being forced to pay large sums of money to use the sluggish, buggy, oddly not-fun Windows.
I realized this after I'd used a number of non-Windows operating systems and realized that I actually enjoyed using them -- the operating system itself, not the games or whatever written for the OS. All of them. Mac OS was elegant and had some amazing concepts. Lots of people doing binary hacks for it, and tons of good spirit and fun among the community. Linux is the same way, but with source instead of binary hacks, and a more techie community.
Windows has this bland feeling to it. You'd use it for work, but simply using and poking at the machine isn't really enjoyable.
Oh, and you can get *annoyed* with a non-Windows operating system -- like not having the GNU utils on Solaris...but I wouldn't really call that the same thing. There's no fundamental dislike in place.
May we never see th
for instance on my box, I've got /Developer/Applications/Extras/BombApp.app
but don't worry, The system and other applications have not been affected.
Your mind is squeezed by a blast of pain!
Oh, crap, better tell Google that their latest web use stats showing an increase in Mac use are wrong!
"Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former."
Now we need to start comparing mac users to terrorists?
That's "Nation of Islam," as in the African-American Malcolm X. Not "national religion of Islam," as in Iraq and Iran. You're following the entirely wrong train of thought.
Report back to us about what a life is like.
The moderators suck there too.
You think this shit is whack? Take a look at the cycling world. I know people who won't ride bikes because of the material the frame is made out of. "Steel is the only material for a frame," or "I won't ever buy a bike that's not titanium."
Everyone has their toys. Some people need to think they have the best toys, tho.
I am a believer of momentum and curves.
These back and forths are tiresome. If you have the energy to have someone try something different, go for it. Too much time has been spent on this reflection of humantiy.
And, as with humanity (in concept), interoperability is the ONLY thing that matters. You wanna futz around on your Win Box? Good. You wanna build your linux box? Good. You want your Mac box? Fine.
Just make sure they can work together, and build the interoperability into the O/S for crying out loud.
Let's keep ourselves to standards. But if we can't, let's make it work for everyone. Market share will be fought over by marketing departments, people will still be pawns.
They can all exist, and should all exist. I want a choice (Own a Mac & PC, PC dual-boots windows and linux).
Or he considered the ammount of tape he had and decided it would be too costly |-p
>80 column hard wrapped e-mail is not a sign of intelligent
>life
I declare jihad.
-Bill
SlashSig Karma: Excellent (mostly affected by moderatio
I used to be an Amiga lover back in the day. I even wrote a couple of games in 68000 Assembler: "Dino Wars" and "Bill 'n' Ted' Excellent Adventure" for the Amiga platform. When my Amiga died I got a Mac and never looked back. Now I can run Amiga programs using Ubiquitous Amiga Emulator (UAE) on my Mac, and everything is right with the world again!
-- thinkyhead software and media
just to learn... DigiDesign now offers free versions of the Pro Tools software. it offers up to 12 tracks, and no expiration date.
.... at the time he had not jumped to new B&W G3's because they didn't have enough PCI slots...
for a cheap expansion you can get a protools card for $400 and throw it in an 8600 and start doing recording. the card had a pair of RCA line in and line outs that can also be used as 4 line ins... and it has coax digital output.
a full on Pro Tools setup costs as much as you have to spend, but it's cheap to get started.
on a side note. Ice T is a big Mac fan too..... there was some interview with him and they wandered into his studio that was rigged out with PowerMac 9600's
This film just shows how effective Apple's branding campaign is. It used to be that people wanted to be identified by the car they drove, the clothes they wore and the material possessions they had. Apple effectively extended it to the computer (and OS, I guess) they use. Apple has one of the strongest brands around, independent of product sector.
What I can't figure out is why anyone cares what computer/OS another person is using. I don't care if someone's using Windows, Linux or OSX. It doesn't make them smarter, it doesn't make them cooler. If you like what you use, it's right for you. Simple.
If you think the OS/Computer you use makes you a better person, you've got something to learn about life. Tell me that you did a good deed today, or volunteered/donated time or money to charity, and then maybe I'll be impressed. It's what you do, not what you have or use that matters.
your comments and views are being thrown into the mix with 12 year olds, the janitor from Radio Shack, legit geeks, and bored out of work guys
As a legit geek, I'd rather spend my time talking to other legit geeks. I don't mind that they are in the minority if I'm allowed to speak. but when I'm getting modded down by 12 year olds, and there is no useful communication with other legit geeks, then it becomes something that is not worth my time.
I did get to moderate in the past, but now I've been banned from moderation, apparently, because my sig talks about moderation and I've talked about moderation in the forums. I used to moderate regularly, but for a couple months now, not at all.
Another way of putting my point is there are too many 12 year olds to wade thru to get to the legit geeks posts.
Yeah, and you guys panned the ipod too: http://apple.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=01/10/23
I thought that comment was really funny! Thanks.
Yeah, and you guys panned the ipod too: http://apple.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=01/10/23
Oh, you're real tough there, AC.
It is quite unfortunate that most people are so completely ignorant or processor design. That is one of my sticking points.
Yeah, and you guys panned the ipod too: http://apple.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=01/10/23
When I first heard of the movie iBrother, I thought that they were going to spoof the one, original iBrother, the late Rodney O'Lain.
I guess if they're going to use his moniker, there still might be a chance that they will dedicate the film to him. It would be super appropriate.
--Richard
"It's about that whole religious fervor that grabs Mac users the way it doesn't with users of other platforms"
Pardon him. He hasn't visited Slashdot.
Any sufficiently simple magic can be passed off as mere advanced technology.
Well, it was only under certain circumstances, and it's really ancient history in the computer world - back around System 6 (and rarely under System 7.)
Still, the point is, we were rather ineffective suicider bombers in those days. When we figured out that those techniques did absolutely nothing to the opposition (those infidels!) we resorted to more peaceful measures...
± 29 dB
I'd always been a Windows man, then a couple of years ago I started with Linux, and since then have always kept a distro installed for day to day use and switching to windows for mainly gaming. Then my girlfriend says she wants a laptop for work. Not wanting to spend hours comforting her after she loses weeks of work with a windows crash I recommend she looks at an iBook, nice and simple and user friendly. The iBook 466 Firewire she gets may be a bit bulky but it is a fantastic bit of kit. Since then I've used it more than her, and even gone as far as buying myself an old 5500 all in one unit to play with. So the monitor is tiny and it only runs os8.5 (Could be 9.0), but this thing is superb. It's in jet black a comes with built in TV/FM radio, 100Mbps ethernet, 56k Modem and av input. It runs so well considering it only has an old 275mhz 603ev chip. I can feel a twinge of Macfanatic coming over me, won't be long, especially if windows continues to eat Mhz as they develop it! General apps open quicker on the Mac from 1997 than my AMD 1900+ with winXP running!
The fact that lots of games, apps, etc are available for Dimdows doesn't make it a better product, it just makes it a monopoly.
As for its stability, we'll take it on your terms, pre-XP (suits me fine as I haven't had that much experience with XP) and I can tell you I do a hell of a lot more tech support for my wintel using friends/family than I do for those who use other platforms. With those who use linux, unix, etc admittedly it's simply because they're comfortable with and know enough about their 'puters to fix it themselves. With those who use the mac (disclaimer I do) and many of them refuse to upgrade to the Unixy-goodness of OS X, it's because their systems don't crash. Your point is taken of course that windows may not crash as much as some people *imply* (rarely directly claim) but it's relative.
Pessimism of the intellect, optimism of the will! - Antonio Gramsci.
I forgot to add a response to your dig at macs at the bottom. Your rant about 'proprietary hardware' has been discussed in several other threads on /., I suggest you check them out, because it's *totally* unjustified when you look at the new macs.
Pretty translucent cases? Oh I'm sorry, do good taste and aesthetics get in the way of your computing experience? Seriously this is the dumbest complaint I hear about macs: "They're just too... nice looking. People would think I had you know, taste. I might get envious glances from girls and a raised eyebrow or two instead of sneers and jeers... I just... wouldn't know how to deal with it"
As for the video card, check out the g4 towers, easiest and most customisable computer I can see around in terms of the way the case is built. And essentially a variation on the old blue & white G3 towers, which were *way* ahead of their time for design (in so many ways).
Pessimism of the intellect, optimism of the will! - Antonio Gramsci.
Show for me a platform with out rabid support and I'll show you an os that sucks.
Microsofts PR department dosen't count.
I don't actually exist.
I said "major" OSes, not "minor" OSes or "better" OSes. Neither OS/2 nor BeOS was ever successful in the market place, so I wouldn't draw a lot of conclusions from that.
I don't get your point about Unix. No matter how many Unix knock-offs there are, it still remains true that it wasn't created using an open or free development model.
It is true that as a technology is showing its age, people are less likely to pay good money for it so they might prefer BSD and Linux for that reason.
Picture a plain white cap with faded horizontal gray stripes going around, and the Aqua X at the forehead.
ourpla.net is your planet
In order to unify the disparate tribes Muhammad created these doctrines and founded the religion. The religion is fast-growing. These are very troubling times because the dangerous factions are also growing.
Actually, I've got my scoring so that anything marked troll, flamebait, or offtopic gets a +1, while Insightful, Interesting, and (perhaps the most consistently wrong) Funny gets marked -6.
Occasionally, the moderators are right, but typically intelligent comments generate intelligent replies, and so I'll read those instead.
But one thing I'm *guaranteed* is that I'll never have to read the tedious drivel from the karma whores.
Why no Quicken for Mac in the UK? I've had Quicken 2002 for over a year, and there's a 2003 version out. Though my mouse's scroll wheel doesn't work in the '02 version, and I've heard mixed reviews of '03's performance, they do work. Unless it has to be localized for pounds, and they haven't done so.
"Common Sense Ain't" -Unknown
Exactly. It's not just the currency - that would be fairly trivial I imagine. It's more all the tax rules that go with it. I use Quicken to run both home accounts and my small business, so tax rules are vital to me.
Still, as far as I'm aware it's just data and not code. I really don't see why Intuit don't do it - they localise the PC version, so why not the Mac?
Cheers,
Ian
iKnow the Mac (praise the Lord) is better than the PC that the heretics use, 'cos Steve told me so in my dream.
You call me a fanatic, and iKill you!
PS. Do iMacs dream of iSheep?
If all else fails, pull the plug and get out...
The Life is out there...
It was Rodney O'Lain, whose online moniker was iBrotha, that is no longer with us after taking his own life.
I wish very much he was around now to see this and give guidance.
He will be added to the production crew as spiritual leader (or root). I'm going to make sure IMDB put him down. His family have been notified and our best wishes passed on.
To paraphrase Malcolm, an iBrotha is a terrible thing to waste.
Jake.
Just a thought, and I'm glad you put the "should" rather than the "do." That's being honest with yourself.
c.
I'm actually fairly new to the whole slashdot scene, but I implore you to keep posting.
The two facts are obviously related.
RMN
~~~