Slashdot Mirror
Slashback: Bankruptcy, SUVdiving, Singalongs
Not like that un-American GPL. agentZ writes "The first Microsoft government customer to buy access to the Windows source code is Russia according to this CNet story. Interesting to note FAPSI, one of their intelligence agencies, authorized the purchase. Perhaps they're looking for vulnerabilities in the U.S. Government's dependence on Microsoft?"
The difference between Chapter 11 and The End. prostoalex writes "In regards to a recent heated discussion on whether tech companies can make it out of Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, XO Communications, the telecom company of the dot-com era, seems to be doing quite well after filing Chapter 11. The article on Internet.com also mentions another company, Covad Communications, picking up customers and more business after filing for Chapter 11."
There's hope in PCI Land. Regarding the Slashdot post of a few days ago about the PCI-SIG ("The End of the Free PCI Device List"), PCI-SIG Chairman Tony Pierce writes
"YourVote.com Supporters:Thank you for making us aware of your concerns regarding Jim Boemler's online Vendor and Device Lists for the PCI technology.
There has been a misunderstanding between PCI-SIG and Jim - PCI-SIG officers are currently working with Jim to resolve the issues as quickly as possible. We respect Jim Boemler's work and are committed to support the PCI specification efforts industry-wide. We are confident that we will come to an amicable resolution.
We are pleased to see the strong industry support for PCI technologies and value your response to the issues. We understand this site has been a very valuable tool and are working together to find a solution to make sure that the tool is available to the public in some way.
Thank you for your support over the years. We will be sure to keep you informed as we come to resolution in this situation."
This lowers Finland on my list of vacation spots. E-Tray writes "It seems that Finnish equivalents of American RIAA, Teosto, which represents songwriters and publishers, and Gramex, which represents music producers and artists, want to force Finnish day nurseries to pay royalties every time nursery staff sings along with kids. Previously Teosto enforced a law that taxi drivers have to pay royalties if they play music while a customer is in the backseat."
Would still rather see a statement signed in blood. Error27 writes "Earlier this week, Slashdot linked to a Maureen O'Gara article that claimed SCO was probably going to try charge Linux users $96 per CPU. More than one person thought SCO's denial was, "Awfully ambiguous". Hopefully this article clears up any doubts. Essentially, SCO will continue to charge IBM but not RedHat or SCO's UnitedLinux partners."
Perhaps I can volunteer my dad's Suburbans? Finally, joe jennings writes
"A few months ago you ran a story about the cars my team and I skydived with and crashed into the desert. This is a bit of an update.Next month, we're going to blow up my Nissan Pathfinder. Its twisted remains will be welded to a steel beam and planted on a plot of land in the mojave desert. We're starting "suv ranch," a tribute to gas guzzlers, a dying trend (we hope).
I intend to thoroughly document the project and will post images and quicktime videos on gaspig.com."
And one can't but wonder why it hasn't occured to them that the best way to do it is not to send a cease & decist letter in the first place... What a load of hogwash. The tool was already available to the public in some way untill they started interfering, and now they're looking for a way to make sure that... *sigh*
Install windows on my workstation? You crazy? Got any idea how much I paid for the damn thing?
Ok, I guess this was all mean to be lighthearted, but "allies" spy on each other all the time -- England, in fact, has been incredibly succesful and active in spying on the US, even as the US was entering WWII.
It'd be naive to assume that allies aren't busy spying on each other.
It's the sort of thing we find out way after the fact, of course, but sure, why not (it seems like a good idea to me!)
Normally, I would agree. But it's not just about the explosion. It's about getting front page on slashdot, and perhaps CNN. It's about supporting an anti-SUV movement. Then, as a footnote, at the end of a news broadcast, the program lists some statistic about the environmental impact of SUV's. Which might encourage someone not to buy/to get rid of an SUV.
It's not about destroying one SUV. It's about encouraging the prevention of pollution from larger numbers of SUV's through the media and public attention and education. It's the same reason why peaceful demonstrations turn to riots. To get on TV. Right or wrong, this is the fact of the matter.
Since when has this country used intellectual elite as a pejorative term?
The SUV is simply the icon of the overconsumerist society that we've become.
Consume, consume, consume and fuck the rest of the world. That seems to be the American way these days.
Damn sheeple...
.02
cLive ;-)
-- Trinity in high heels carrying a whip: The donimatrix - there is no spoonerism
Uh, keep in mind, this is /., and the quote you're whining about comes from one of the /. editors, which means it has just about zero credibility.
If you'd actually read the article, you'd see that this is all in reference to some old compatibility libraries that aren't included with your typical Linux distro. It goes on to say, "SCO is exploring the options of getting intellectual property payments from companies that use SCO licensed libraries [...] without paying for them," and goes on to say, "[c]ompanies like IBM have been, and are continuing to pay, SCO for the use of these and other licenses." (Emhasis mine.)
As a lot of us expected, this whole thing really does seem to be a tempest in a teapot.
Well when I was that age we got,
'Oh Christmas tree'
'Ride a cock horse'
'here we go round the mulbry bush'
Who are they paying royalties too, anon?
thank God the internet isn't a human right.
Also in my experience, sarcastic ad hominem attacks are the last vestiges of a defeated argument.
"You get what you pay for after all." --
I think they're talking about stuff that would still be in copyright, like the Barney "I love you" song or TeleTubbies, or whatever they have in Finland. They are in fact profiting from the songwriter's work, since by singing the song with the children it keeps them busy and happy, and so they are more a more attractive and profitable nursery than the nursery where they can't come up with anything better than Old MacDonald.
And pollution is just one of the arguments against SUVs.
The pollution problem is a cumulative effect. The most effective way to cut pollution is to pollute less on our twice daily commutes by driving more efficient vehicles more often. It's not by out and out banning any one type of vehicle. California made great progress over the last 10 years, and their system should be copied. However, it's clear that it was only a first step, and it now needs to be taken farther through more widespread adoption, and more stringent efficiency regulations.
You get 9 GPH and 145 MPH and 55 percent power out of a Warrior? Is this a pick any two? Could you teach me your leaning procedure?
Just in case anyone DIDNT know, one of the major reasons Americans *BUY* SUVs in the first place is because they can then buy a Luxury Vehicle and get a tax break .
Interesting statement, since I own a large SUV, and had no idea such a tax law existed.
I bought my Suburban because I do a lot of volunteer work for a couple of animal rescues, and need a vehicle that can transport several large dogs, plus any equipment/supplies I need for awareness events etc... plus tow a large trailer. I've had as many as six greyhounds plus supplies in the truck for a single run. For my part, I keep it in as good of tune as possible, and only drive it when there's no better choice.
Personally, I'm getting pretty pissed off at every bleeding heart that gives me a dirty look for having it. Or better yet, those who harangue me into defending my need for it. More and more I don't bother to explain, I just tell 'em to f-off.
As for these whack-jobs dropping vehicles into the desert, they should be prosecuted for environmental crimes. I live in the desert, it's a highly fragile ecosystem that just doesn't need any more abuse by mental midgets with weak justifications for blowing up things. The desert's already littered with tens of thousands of things that people took out to shoot up or blow up. Plus, you're just not going to get me to believe that they completely sanitized these vehicles by removing every last millileter of fuel, oil, transmission fluid, power steering fluid, engine coolant, freon, etc from the vehicle. I won't even get into the by-products from burning the vehicle that will saturate the ground for a couple hundred feet around the burn site.
Oh come now. The Humvee may be bad compared to a Metro, but I bet it still gets better gas mileage and lower emissions out of the Chevy 350 it has under the hood than any of the millions of 60's,70's and early 80's vehicles on the road. Cripes, there are probably a thousand times as many high-school and college student tweaked Camaros and Mustangs on the road than Hummers, each getting much worse mileage and belching emissions like a nut, not to mention the fact they all leak something.
.sig: Now legally binding!
Linux is more secure because all the "evil" hackers have access to the source and we Russians have sacrificed a lot to become a democratic free market economy. While our "regions" are still backward Moscow is now the most expensive city on earth to live in and speaking as a Russian who make 100k a year in St. Petersburg life in Russia is not as bad as the West says it is. We are a European nation with all the good and bad that means. No Russian today can honestly tell you that they arent free to do whatever they like and while our government still needs work things are getting better everyday corruption is down and the only people being oppressed are the Chechen swine who would rather kill us than make peace. I have no sympathy for them we through a 100 millon dollars a year into the void that is Chechnya and get nothing but death in return. If it wasnt for Russian food they would all starve to death.
Well he most probably at least drove it off the lot where he bought it, and there is only a slight chance that he lives less than a mile from that place and the ramp of the cargo plane, so it's pretty save to say he drove more than zero miles with it...
But for the rest: Yes it is speculation how much he drove in it. And that's just what I'm saying. Driving 20k miles per year in a civic uses much more gasoline than driving 12k miles in a escape.
It's speculation to equate 'SUV' to 'high volume gasoline waster' when many non SUVs get worse milage than many compact SUVs. And it is also indifferent to condemn SUVs without looking at people's driving habits. I feel a "How long is your commute" bumper sticker coming up.
Perhaps he should blow up a car that he pulled by donkey from the local automobile graveyard. Otherwise it's like a murderer preaching the fifth commandment to his victim-to-be 'thou shalt not kill' (hypocrisy), or possible like a rear bumpersticker that says 'You are speeding' (sarcasm).
--- Hindsight is 20/20, but walking backwards is not the answer.
That may be true for the smaller SUVs, but not when it comes to mid- or full-size SUVs. Most of the larger SUVs (which are also the vehicles I have problems with, since the smaller SUVs are more nimble and usually less likely to roll, and also built more like a car with properly placed bumpers and crumple zones) are based on full-size truck platforms. In otherwords, that Ford Explorer you just bought is nothing more than a fancy shell on an F-150, with all the issues and limitations of a truck (poor emissions, shit for handling, high bumpers causing the vehicle to ram into the passenger compartment of low-slung vehicles rather than some stronger structural point) and more because the SUV shell changes the vehicle's center of mass, making it more prone to rolling over.
Everyone always has a reason why they need an SUV. "I have to tow horses" or "I need to go into the mountains" or "I carry food and blankets for the poor homeless people".
But you know, 90% of the time, I see one person in a 3 ton vehicle, commuting 30miles, or driving over speed bumps in the mall. And I bet that most people could RENT one for those occasions where an SUV was really needed. But that's not the American way.
And SUVs are light trucks, so they don't have the same emissions requirements as cars. They aren't safer, either.
Last, I don't EVER want to hear anyone driving a fat gas hog complaining about gasoline prices.
No, I don't trust in god. He'll have to pay up front, like everybody else.
one man's "art form" is most everyone else's smoking heap of shit.
What they propose to do is protest environmental damage done by SUVs by making their own environmental damage.
Glorious.
-- Don't call me "Sir," I increase entropy for a living!
Say the Russians buy the source, or view it, or whatever. Now the US has to buy it to check for backdoors that Microsoft might have missed but the Russians know about! The US Gov't is running all these computers and Rusia has the source, but the US doesn't! HA HA HA! In [post-]Soviet Russia, all your source are belong to us!
As soon as the Israelis get it, the Palestinians need it. As soon as the Pakistanis get it, the Indians need it! Soon, everyone needs to see this source code!
(Mabye)
There are no trolls. There are no trees out here.
One man's "art form" is another man's "darwin award" in-progress.
... just let me know where and when they plan to drop these, and let's hope it isn't on top of Burning Man.
The problem is not simply that SUV's guzzle gas. My friend has a F350 extended cab which, although get's better mileage than many SUV's, is still quite a guzzler compared to my Honda. However, he's constantly moving TONS of stuff around for his business. The problem with SUV's is that people use them for commuting to and from work, the store, and their friends house - all activities which could be done by burning a lot less fuel, taking less space on the road, and making the roads safer for all by driving a small to midsize car.
So no, the one time (or even occasional) use of an airplane for recreational purposes is not hypocrital. Not all of us who are anti-SUV's drive hybrid's either. It's just that SUV's are generally such an extreme waste that something needs to be said.
There is no longer anything that can be done with computers that is nontrivial and clearly legal. -- Paul Phillips
I wouldn't mind anyone's SUV if they were just a fashion statement, but they degrade my quality of life. I have to breathe in more fumes every day just because someone needs a huge mechanical toy to feel attractive.
If you use yours for carpooling or work, excuse me. But if it's just because your ass is too large or your penis too small, don't complain for being pathetic. It just makes you a little more so.
Day care is paid for by taxpayer money here (there's a reason why the taxation here is so fscking high) so they're all pretty much of the same (quite high) standard anyway so people usually just pick the nursery which is closest to home/work so that taking their kids there and picking them up is as convenient as possible. Thus, songs they sing don't affect profitability...
Karma. Moderation. Is my
can you imagine living in europe and paying 70 euros for 60 liters of gas? you get 400km max. and pay around 70$... wouldn't it change the public oppinion about these vehicles?
i have a friend, who drives one of these. a nissan pathfinder. everyone he ever took with him for a longer ride did say the same: your tank is on EMPTY already? i am sooo happy with my small car!
the computer is online
i am not at it
what a waste of ressources
The SUV is simply the icon of the overconsumerist society that we've become.
Consume, consume, consume and fuck the rest of the world. That seems to be the American way these days.
Damn sheeple...
Wow. That's deep. What incredible insight. It's ironic you use the word "sheeple" and then proceed to proclaim the same crap I've heard from the nearly every-joe/jane SUV protester/Iraq war protestor in the past N weeks.
My Gosh. I hear comments similar to this post at least 3 times a day. Here's a thought: Instead of spewing out the same claims over and over and over again like a freaking cultist, why not actually try to approach the problem in a way that does not alienate SUV drivers and damage your credibility as a person willing to reason.
I bet that as much as it comforts you to distance yourself from the average American hyper-consumer sheep with your pointy commentary, you still sit awake at night thinking about how Americans "fuck the rest of the world," don't you? Feel guilty when you see all the garbage sitting out by the curb on trash day? Feel ashamed to be an American when you experience first-hand the national obesity problem or hear commercials with idiots in the background yelling "more, more!" in unison? Lack of wisdom and compassion in the world make you ashamed to be human?
I bet these feelings are pretty common. (If not, I probably need therapy.) If you have the wisdom and compassion to be able to recognize the "problems of today" that make you feel the way you do, then you have the shared responsibility of finding a solution to these problems.
With such a sizable burden, ranting about how others are "fucking up your world" is a waste of time. It's not that the mega-consumer-society doesn't hear you. It simply shuts its ears to insults and cheap shots. Your "sheeple" remark is a cheap-shot, aimed at averyone who is not like you- everyone who thinks or prioritizes differently than you do.
I suspect that it is the "fuck you, I'm better" attitude similar to that embedded in your remark that is the root problem with American society. Honor, humility, and respect are alarmingly absent.
I apologize if I've been overly aggressive. But I honestly have a problem with people (like you) who claim people are like sheep, or drones, (or lemmings?) and them "damn them" for all the problems they cause-(or kinda' sit back and let them destroy themselves). You show no compassion towards the people, who you already know have problems. You seem fixated only on how they have ruined YOUR vision of the world and jepardized YOUR interests.