The only improvement over Doom was a real Z dimension, but it didn't make a whole lot of use of it. We played ROT at my workplace during breaktime for a few weeks, but got bored and went back to Doom. And the monsters weren't as interesting. And then, of course, we got ahold of Doom 2.
Actually, I haven't thought of ROT in about seven years.
For geeks of a certain age and background (myself included), the acronym "SPI" stood for Simulations Publications Inc., a fairly important wargame publisher whose prime was the 1980s. They concentrated on historical wargames, though I did once own their WWIII in Northern Europe game, The Next War, which was massive and retailed for $30-50 in 1980s money! They also had a D&D knockoff called DragonQuest, and a bi-monthly magazine, Strategy & Tactics, which included a complete wargame in every issue!
IIRC (and if not, this being Slashdot, I'm sure someone will correct me), they were bought out by Avalon Hill, which in turn was bought out by TSR, which in turn was bought out by Wizards of the Coast, which in turn was bought out by Hasbro.
Anyone who remembers the original SPI now has permission to feel very. very old...
So speaks a bitter proponent of the Buchanan Brigade. There was a reason Pat left the Republican Party: his increasingly paranoid views in favor of protectionism and against Israel took him out of the mainstream of the Republican Party (and American life). When you're reduced to taking over (and, as a result, destroying) something as puny as the Reform Party, your 15 minutes of fame are up.
For those out of the loop on conservative politics (probably most Slashdot readers), William F. Buckley's National Review is and has always been a paleo-conservative magazine, in favor of low taxes, limited governement, strong national defense (including a staunch anti-communist stance), free trade, and respect for traditional values (in no particular order). National Review has long had a streak of libertarianism running through it, as witness Buckley's very early opinions (the 1970s, IIRC) in favor of the decriminalization of marijuana.
Neoconservatism tends to be less enamoured of limited government and more in favor of "national greatness" conservatism, in favor of even stronger and more interventionist national defense, and is far more focused on supporting Israel (many of the most prominant neocons were Jewish intellectuals who broke with liberalism to become staunch anti-communists, with Norman Podhoretz as the classic example). The Weekly Standard is probably the most prominant neocon journal.
However, there are very few policy differences between real neo- and paleo-conservatives these days, especially after 9/11. The New American has always been off in John Bircher fringeland. The American Conservative is (surprise, surprise) Buchanan's new magazine. Chronicles was, last time I checked, a reasonably sane conservative magazine with a Catholic slant, mainly focusing on cultural issues. But none has the standard-bearing cachet among conservatives that National Review does.
Anyway, the above is greatly simplified, but is certainly a more accurate overview of the situation than Centinel's rather absurd Buchananite screed.
Lawrence Person (who has penned the occasional piece for National Review)
Here's a Slashback they just didn't think was important enough to post. Gee, you'd think a major follow-up to a person Katz posted an entire story on would make the cut...
"It is almost certain that stiffer penalties would not eliminate future crimes - when has it ever?"
How about: always. To list just one recent example: The murder rate in states that have reinstated the death penalty has decreased much faster than in states that haven't reinstated it. The effect is most pronounced in states that apply the death penalty most often. For example, in Texas the murder rate has fallen from 15.3 per 100,000 in 1990 to 6.1 per 100,000 in 1999.
In broader terms, it's not just stiffer penalties, but their enforcement that cuts the rate of crime. The dramatic drop in crime in the late 1980s and into the 1990s was largely attributable to the prison building programs of the 1980s. More prison cells=more repeat offenders (responsible for roughly 80 percent of violent crime) staying behind bars longer=general reduction in crime.
Conversly, much of Western Europe is experiencing much higher crime rates than the United States, despite those gun control laws. The rate of violent crime in London is now significantly higher than that of New York City (discounting September 11, of course). As to why that might be the case, I leave it as an execrise for the reader...
"Oh, no need to worry about that. Things are coming along fine."
"But it's March! Your class was scheduled to conclude in December, like all the other fall semester classes!"
"Well, Dean, you can't rush quality work."
"And speaking of quality, that's another thing! You syllabus stated that you would be covering ten programming modules, the final one of which was 'Creating a Game Engine,' but your students are still working on Module 2, 'Creating Cool Cinematic Cutscreens."
"Well, I felt spending extra time on cutscreens was the most important thing we could do to generate hype over the class and ensure funding for next year."
"And that's another issue! You were given a fixed budget of $500 for class supplies for the semester. So far you've spent $156,000!"
"Dean, you just can't put a price on quality."
"Actually, I can. As Dean, managing the budget is part of my job. Moreover, Professor Spector at UT Austin managed to finish his class on time, on budget, and with five times as many students as yours...."
At the 1988 Armadillocon in Austin, Texas, William Gibson was on a panel where one of the other panelists (whose name I've lost in the dim mists of time) pulled out a newspaper article with the headline "Druglords Use AI," which he then proceded to read aloud. It talked about how cocaine traffickers were using AI to predict the safest smuggling routes into the U.S.
After the other guy had finished, the always laconic Gibson simply said "Told you so!";-)
When signing up for online registration for a site you don't wish to give real data to, you might consider doing the following:
For an e-mail address, use an abuse or technical contact for a spam domain which refuses to clean up its act (say, abuse@kornet.net), i.e. fight fire with fire. Be sure to check the box for e-mail updates!
For income, always choose the lowest income level. If they demand demographic data as the price for visiting their site, skew that data to make them less attractive to advertisers as a result.
Likewise, always choose the highest age bracket for the same reason.
If everyone did this, they might soon realize that such annoying requirements were counterproductive.
Joe Haledman's Forever Peace
on
GUIs for Robots
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· Score: 2
Though it's not a particularly good book, the first (and best) part of Joe Haldeman's Forever Peace features tele-operated U.S. combat robots in Central America being controlled by "Mechanics" back at a high tech base.
After that, alas, the book turns into an Idiot Plot with sadistic fundamentalists trying to blow up the world, the prevention of which requires that liberals have to peform brain surgery to mentally link everyone together and make them think right.
Ayn Rand propesed an alternative to federal regulation of the airwaves in (IIRC) Capitalism: The Unknown Idea: radio frequency "homesteading." The basic idea was to let anyone broaedcast anything on any unassigned frequency. The idea was that popular programming would live and thrive on their frequency whereas less popular comptetitors would wither away and die. After a certain amount of time (5 or 10 years), those who had successfully "homesteaded" that frequence would get a recognized "right" to continue using it. An interesting idea, and not all that different from what pirate radio stations are doing today, sans official recognition...
While I have heard good things about Crucial memory, I'm never, ever going to buy anything from them from now on. Why? They support gun control.
I wish I could provide more information, but the page where you could find out this information (put up by the gun grabbers themselves) is no longer up at:
http://www.progressivefunds.com/hci/
Nevertheless, while it WAS up, Crucial was one of several companies (along with Dell, McAfee, The Sharper Image, OfficeMax, and even Reader's Digest!) who you could signup with to donate part of your puchase to Handgun Control Inc.
Since I treat the Second Amendment with no less reverance than the first, I will never buy any products from any of these companies ever again.
Kit Pedler and Gerry Davis had a novel with this premise published all the way back in 1971: Mutant 59: The Plastic Eater. I have no idea how good it is, because I haven't read it, but copies are available online for the curious in the usual places.
Lets see, not even an article, but a speech, without any footnotes, with several gross technical errors (see above post), published on a left-wing website. Gee, pardon me if I find this less than convincing.
This sounds like the work of Silk, the sinister organization in Greg Bear's new novel Vitals which programs people's minds through bacteria. Naturally, they have to kill off a number of microbiologists who get too close to their secret, like the ones in the article. Especially the murder/suicide, which sounds like something Silk would do.
Of course, just keep telling yourself it's only a novel...;-)
Speaking of the Nebulas, science fiction writer George Alec Effinger, who won both the Hugo and Nebula Awards for "Schrodinger's Kitten, died Saturday, at age 55, way too young. Effinger was also known for a series of "Islamic cyberpunk" novels that started with When Gravity Fails (and which remained unfinished at the time of his death), and the humorous "Maureen Birnbaum" series of parodies. And my friend and fellow Turkey Citizen.
I was very happy to see this make the final ballot; much as I like MacLeod and Gaiman, Perdido Street Station is probably the most interesting fantasy novel of the last decade. A dense, detailed, and richly disturbing industrial fantasy who's invention never flags. Well worth seeking out, and it puts the vast majority of Extruded Fantasy Product crap to shame.
I think, if anything, the article understates the Asian Spam Problem. Over half of the Spam I get is from Korea, and 90% of that is Korean language spam. I have complained literally hundreds of times to the various Korean Spam domains involved (kornet.net is the worst, but hananet.net, thrunet.com, and dreamx.net aren't far behind), to every "official" e-mail address I could find or think of (see below), all to no avail. In fact, the amount of spam actually increased.
If any Slashdot readers actually speak Korean, you might send e-mail to the following addresses and let them know that their spam problem is so bad that rest of the Internet is in the process of blocking all e-mail from all of Korea in response to their sins.
Here, verbatim, are the comments I e-mailed in on the proposed settlement. They go quite a bit beyond even Judge Jackson's proposals...
To all it may concern,
I believe that the proposed Microsoft settlement is a bad deal for computer users, for the computer industry, and for the nation as a whole. It does nothing to address Microsoft's predatory and monopolistic tactics, nothing to address the fact that it's blithely broken previous consent decrees and defied court orders, and nothing to provide relief for companies and consumers who have been harmed by these practices. It should be rejected and far more stringent financial and structural penalties imposed.
Despite their slogan, Microsoft has achieved it's current position not by "innovation" or hard work so much as by imitation (Apple) or outright theft (Stack Technologies) of the innovations of others. It used strong-arm tactics, sharp practice and predatory pricing to establish it's monopoly in operating systems, then illegally used that same monopoly to grab equally compelling strangleholds on other areas of the software industry. At best Microsoft is a sandlot bully, threatening others with its monopoly power to get its own way. At worse it's a third world dictator, knowing it's above the law (witness its boldfaced violation of its first consent decree, and how it lied, repeatedly, in court) with the firm knowledge that it's too powerful to be punished.
A company truly dedicated to innovation would not wait two years to address the myriad security vulnerabilities of Windows and Outlook. If a different component on Ford trucks were to blow up and be recalled every week, Ford would be out of business very quickly indeed. If Microsoft did not wield such monopoly power, it would not be able to get away with selling such defective products.
Microsoft has proven again and again that consent decrees are entirely inadequate to stop its predatory practices. Only harsh, structural and lasting penalties will be able break it's monopoly power and return real competition to the markets it illegally dominates.
For penalties which would truly address Microsoft's monopoly power, punish it for past transgressions, and provide real relief to the victims of it's illegal actions, I propose the following:
1. Microsoft should be levied a $10 billion fine. Half of this money should be earmarked for the DOJ and state attorneys general to pay for the cost of prosecuting Microsoft, and to pay the cost of future oversight and enforcement, and half should be returned to the consumers and companies harmed by Microsoft's predatory practices.
2. The source code for all Microsoft products released through 1999 should be released in their entirety and made available to the public to be used by anyone to create their own versions of Windows, Office, etc. without paying royalties to Microsoft. This would also provide relief from Microsoft's monopolistic practice of using "embrace and extend," i.e., making it's products intentionally incompatible with established computing standards for the sole purpose of using it's illegal monopoly to erect barriers to competition. With the source code readily available, it would be a simple matter both to engineer compatibility to Microsoft's "enhancements," and to recompile Microsoft programs to adhere to open computing standards.
3. All the Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) to all shipping Microsoft products should be published and made freely available. This would prevent Microsoft's anti-competitive tactic of leveraging it's Windows monopoly through the use "secret" APIs in Windows that only Microsoft programmers can use to enhance their other product lines.
4. Microsoft should be split into no less than four separate companies: One responsible for Windows, a second for Office, a third for Internet Explorer, Back Office, Outlook, and all it's other Internet-related software, and a fourth for everything else (X-Box, WebTV, etc.). However, source code for all of Microsoft's currently shipping products should be distributed to each of these companies, with each having the ability to reuse or sublicense such code. This would create many competing products in segments of the market previously dominated by Microsoft, to the great benefit of consumers. These companies would also be barred from merging with each other or sharing directors for at least ten years.
5. The above companies would have one year to plug all known security holes in Windows and Outlook. After that period, they would be made financially liable for any economic damage such vulnerabilities in their software cost customers who had all current security patches installed but were still victimized by hackers or viruses.
6. The MS Office spinoff would be required to produce simultaneous versions of Office for the most recent release of Mac OS and Linux, at price parity with the Windows version, for a period of five years.
7. A government oversight board would be created with the authority to unilaterally impose fines, order remedies, change contracts, and release source code in order to implement the judgement.
This is a very radical remedy, and one I do not suggest lightly. In fact, I consider myself to be a Libertarian, one who believe that government should remain small and interfere in the free market only under the direst circumstances. However, one fundamental precondition for a free market is that those competing in it must obey the rule of law. Microsoft has shown, again and again, that it is willing to break and flout the law for it's own benefit, and to maintain it's illegal monopoly power. If Microsoft's earlier predatory practices had been curbed or punished when the first occurred, the government would not be faced with these vexing antitrust issues. But now that it has reached this point, serious structural remedies are the only solution. Microsoft has proven time and time again that it will not stop abusing it's monopoly power. It's now up to the courts eliminate that monopoly.
- Lawrence Person, Austin, Texas; Science Fiction Writer
I both buy and sell first edition science fiction, fantasy, horror and slipstream on both www.abebooks.com (as Lame Excuse Books) and occasionally on eBay (as lawrenceperson). With something like 8,500 other dealers on ABE, it's quite easy to find bargins, since you can compare by price. For reading copies of bestsellers, you can find many things at quarter-price or less. For really desirable first editions, the price of course will be higher, but 99% of the time you can usually find a rare book in nice condition for less than it would cost you at a local bookshop, assuming you can find it at all. (For a couple of random examples, there are currently five copies of H. P. Lovecraft's The Outsider and Others (the first Arkham House book) listed there, as well as eight hardback copies of Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash.)
eBay, on the other hand, is an entirely different can of worms. Buyers (and, alas, sellers) range from the very knowledgeable to the completely ignorant. For science fiction first editions, most of the people I know on there will open another window and search for a particularly interesting item on ABE before bidding on eBay. But there are many people who will bid several times what an item is listed for on ABE just because they don't know about the latter.
This is not to say that ABE has completely replaced the local speciality bookseller. For example, I still buy quite a few things at Adventures in Crime and Space, Austin's local SF shop, because I know the owners, its convienant, and many times you see things browsing that you wouldn't know to look for. But many speciality shops are themselves on ABE, especially given the tough post 9/11 business climate.
A free bookbuying tip: Many times, the exact same copy of a used book listed on ABE will show up on Barnes & Noble or Amazon.com, but at 2-5 times the price listed on ABE. That's because ABE has "affiliate" programs that allow such books to be listed on those services, but B&N and Amazon always jack the price up to give themselves a hefty profit margin.
As for conclusions beyond the world of books: Whenever possible, use search engines that give you listings from many different dealers. (It also helps if you have a service like ABE that kicks dealers off if they receive too many complaints.)
Forever War is Good, Forever Peace Really Sucks
on
The Forever War
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· Score: 2, Flamebait
Certainly The Forever War has its virtues, even if it remains very much an artifact of its time, and the first section of the book is the best.
But unfortunately, despite winning the Hugo and Nebula, Forever Peace (a thematic rather than literal sequel) is a remarkably bad novel. Again the first parts of the book, depicting telepresence-operated military robots fighting a war in Central America, are the best, even if the "Central America as Vietnam War" analog was done much better by Lucuis Shepard back in the 1980s. But after that it gets just plain awful, with paper-depth, sadistic idiot villians intent on literally destroying the world taking over the plot. In fact, the villians are such cliches that they accomplish the rare feat of making Ayn Rand's villians look subtle in comparison. Also, some would say that the ultimate message of the novel is rather revealing of late-20th century liberal thought. "Oh, if we could only cut open everyone's brain, force them to become a hive mind and make them think good thoughts, we could make the world a paradise!" Avoid.
Finally, Haldeman has stated that Heinlein's Starship Troopers was the primary influence on The Forever War, so you can stop debating that question already.
Korea Hosts More Spam Domains Than Other Nations
on
Crazy Stats on Spam
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· Score: 2
Korean domains are far and away the number one source of spam in my mailbox. Does anyone know EFFECTIVE contract addresses for:
Kornet.net?
Thrunet.net?
Dreamx.net?
Hananet.net?
I've SpamCoped everyone of these, complained to every address I could think of (abuse@, root@, help@, etc.), all to no avail. If I have to carbon copy 5000 e-mail addresses at kornet.net on each spam complaint to get them to stop spamming, I'm willing to do it...
Slashdot Mirror
The only improvement over Doom was a real Z dimension, but it didn't make a whole lot of use of it. We played ROT at my workplace during breaktime for a few weeks, but got bored and went back to Doom. And the monsters weren't as interesting. And then, of course, we got ahold of Doom 2.
Actually, I haven't thought of ROT in about seven years.
According to my calculations, if you were to port Unreal Tournament to this machine, you would be able to get 1 frame every ten days!
"Oh my God! Davis just lost his arm in the laser printer!"
For geeks of a certain age and background (myself included), the acronym "SPI" stood for Simulations Publications Inc., a fairly important wargame publisher whose prime was the 1980s. They concentrated on historical wargames, though I did once own their WWIII in Northern Europe game, The Next War, which was massive and retailed for $30-50 in 1980s money! They also had a D&D knockoff called DragonQuest, and a bi-monthly magazine, Strategy & Tactics, which included a complete wargame in every issue!
IIRC (and if not, this being Slashdot, I'm sure someone will correct me), they were bought out by Avalon Hill, which in turn was bought out by TSR, which in turn was bought out by Wizards of the Coast, which in turn was bought out by Hasbro.
Anyone who remembers the original SPI now has permission to feel very. very old...
So speaks a bitter proponent of the Buchanan Brigade. There was a reason Pat left the Republican Party: his increasingly paranoid views in favor of protectionism and against Israel took him out of the mainstream of the Republican Party (and American life). When you're reduced to taking over (and, as a result, destroying) something as puny as the Reform Party, your 15 minutes of fame are up.
For those out of the loop on conservative politics (probably most Slashdot readers), William F. Buckley's National Review is and has always been a paleo-conservative magazine, in favor of low taxes, limited governement, strong national defense (including a staunch anti-communist stance), free trade, and respect for traditional values (in no particular order). National Review has long had a streak of libertarianism running through it, as witness Buckley's very early opinions (the 1970s, IIRC) in favor of the decriminalization of marijuana.
Neoconservatism tends to be less enamoured of limited government and more in favor of "national greatness" conservatism, in favor of even stronger and more interventionist national defense, and is far more focused on supporting Israel (many of the most prominant neocons were Jewish intellectuals who broke with liberalism to become staunch anti-communists, with Norman Podhoretz as the classic example). The Weekly Standard is probably the most prominant neocon journal.
However, there are very few policy differences between real neo- and paleo-conservatives these days, especially after 9/11. The New American has always been off in John Bircher fringeland. The American Conservative is (surprise, surprise) Buchanan's new magazine. Chronicles was, last time I checked, a reasonably sane conservative magazine with a Catholic slant, mainly focusing on cultural issues. But none has the standard-bearing cachet among conservatives that National Review does.
Anyway, the above is greatly simplified, but is certainly a more accurate overview of the situation than Centinel's rather absurd Buchananite screed.
Lawrence Person (who has penned the occasional piece for National Review)
Here's a Slashback they just didn't think was important enough to post. Gee, you'd think a major follow-up to a person Katz posted an entire story on would make the cut...
Remember Jose Bove, the anti-globalist French terrorist Jon Katz offered up fulsome praise to a few July 4ths ago? Well, France's highest court just ordered him to "serve 14 months in prison for destroying two fields of genetically modified crops." Yep, Katz picks his "heroes" with the same insight and forethought he brings to his "writing"...
How about: always. To list just one recent example: The murder rate in states that have reinstated the death penalty has decreased much faster than in states that haven't reinstated it. The effect is most pronounced in states that apply the death penalty most often. For example, in Texas the murder rate has fallen from 15.3 per 100,000 in 1990 to 6.1 per 100,000 in 1999.
In broader terms, it's not just stiffer penalties, but their enforcement that cuts the rate of crime. The dramatic drop in crime in the late 1980s and into the 1990s was largely attributable to the prison building programs of the 1980s. More prison cells=more repeat offenders (responsible for roughly 80 percent of violent crime) staying behind bars longer=general reduction in crime.
Conversly, much of Western Europe is experiencing much higher crime rates than the United States, despite those gun control laws. The rate of violent crime in London is now significantly higher than that of New York City (discounting September 11, of course). As to why that might be the case, I leave it as an execrise for the reader...
"Oh, no need to worry about that. Things are coming along fine."
"But it's March! Your class was scheduled to conclude in December, like all the other fall semester classes!"
"Well, Dean, you can't rush quality work."
"And speaking of quality, that's another thing! You syllabus stated that you would be covering ten programming modules, the final one of which was 'Creating a Game Engine,' but your students are still working on Module 2, 'Creating Cool Cinematic Cutscreens."
"Well, I felt spending extra time on cutscreens was the most important thing we could do to generate hype over the class and ensure funding for next year."
"And that's another issue! You were given a fixed budget of $500 for class supplies for the semester. So far you've spent $156,000!"
"Dean, you just can't put a price on quality."
"Actually, I can. As Dean, managing the budget is part of my job. Moreover, Professor Spector at UT Austin managed to finish his class on time, on budget, and with five times as many students as yours...."
After the other guy had finished, the always laconic Gibson simply said "Told you so!"
If everyone did this, they might soon realize that such annoying requirements were counterproductive.
After that, alas, the book turns into an Idiot Plot with sadistic fundamentalists trying to blow up the world, the prevention of which requires that liberals have to peform brain surgery to mentally link everyone together and make them think right.
I wish I could provide more information, but the page where you could find out this information (put up by the gun grabbers themselves) is no longer up at:
http://www.progressivefunds.com/hci/
Nevertheless, while it WAS up, Crucial was one of several companies (along with Dell, McAfee, The Sharper Image, OfficeMax, and even Reader's Digest!) who you could signup with to donate part of your puchase to Handgun Control Inc.
Since I treat the Second Amendment with no less reverance than the first, I will never buy any products from any of these companies ever again.
(Of course, you'd still need the armed guard standing behind Jon Katz and forcing him to use his, but progress comes in small steps...)
Man, there's not even as much documentation on this as there is on Arkansas Sudden Death Syndrome. And here's another site on the same subject.
An as long as I'm posting, here's a nice statistical roundup of the Clinton Administration in gener.
If you're going to spout absurd conspiracy theories, it's nice to have at least some documentation for some of your claims...
Of course, just keep telling yourself it's only a novel... ;-)
Though Slashdot didn't feel a need to post the obituary, you can find my remembrance of him here: http://www.sfwa.org/news/effinger.htm.
Indeed.
The sad truth is, in the imposter derby, The Rock is a better at pretending to be an actor than Jon Katz is at pretending to be a writer...
Kornet.net (the biggest offender)
abuse@kornet.net, ip@ns.kornet.net, ip@ns.kornet21.net, domain@NS.KORNET.NET, donghk@soback.kornet.net, ever@kt.co.kr, jeonnam3@soback.kornet.net, jeon@kornet.net, jeonbuk3@kornet.net, koreatelecom@KORNET.NET, gfd5246@soback.kornet.net, gspark@kornet.net, help@KORNET.NET, helpdesk@KORNET.NET, haewha1@soback.kornet.net, heyeunmi@kornet.net, kmhno1@soback.kornet.net, hopewon3@soback.kornet.net, kgromc@soback.kornet21.net, kmhno1@soback.kornet.net, legal@KORNET.NET, network@kornet.net, packet@soback.kornet.net, postmaster@kornet.net, postmaster@soback.kornet.net, postmaster@ns.kornet.net, postmaster@soback.kornet.net, pusanpub@soback.kornet.net, root@soback.kornet.net, root@kt.co.kr, service@kornet.net, support@kornet.net, system@kornet.net, yjjeon61@kornet.net, abuse@ns.kornet21.net, domain@ns.kornet21.net, network@ns.kornet21.net, postmaster@ns.kornet21.net, resume@kornet.net, root@ns.kornet21.net, service@ns.kornet21.net, support@ns.kornet21.net, system@ns.kornet21.net, wong@kornet.net, abuse@ASADAL.NET, postmaster@ASADAL.NET,
Itnsoft.com (the #1 spamvertised Korean domain)
abuse@itnsoft.com, help@itnsoft.com, ip@ns.kornet.net, hostmaster@nic.or.kr, marom@itnsoft.com, postmaster@itnsoft.com, root@itnsoft.com, eglee@yesnic.com, info@yesnic.com, hostmaster@yesnic.com, postmaster@yesnic.com, eglee@whois.co.kr, postmaster@whois.co.kr, whois@whois.co.kr, brkim@INWANG.NOWCOM.CO.KR, domain@NOWNURI.NET, busisik@nownuri.net, kbr@nownuri.net, memory@nownuri.net, abuse@nownuri.net, postmaster@nownuri.net,
DreamX.net (Korean porn spam, mostly)
abuse@dreamx.net, abuse@cjdream.net, abuse@todream.net, admin@dreamx.net, admin@cjdream.net, administration@dreamx.net, administration@cjdream.net, billing@DREAMX.NET, billing@cjdream.net, brkim@cjdream.com, dns@dreamx.net, dns@cjdream.net, dnsadmin@dreamx.net, dnsadmin@cjdream.net, domain@DREAMX.NET, domain@todream.net, domains@DREAMX.NET, domain@todream.net, feedback@DREAMX.NET, feedback@cjdream.net, help@DREAMX.NET, help@cjdream.net, helpdesk@DREAMX.NET, helpdesk@cjdream.net, hostmaster@dreamx.net, hostmaster@cjdream.net, inhanna@cjdream.net, info@dreamx.net, info@cjdream.net, jyan@dreamx.net, jyan@cjdream.net, ley319@dreamx.net, loveabuse@dreamx.net, loveabuse@cjdream.net, mail@dreamx.net, mail@cjdream.net, mgr@cjdream.com, news@dreamx.net, news@cjdream.net, newsabuse@dreamx.net, newsabuse@cjdream.net, postmaster@dreamx.net, postmaster@todream.net, raven3@dreamx.net, raven3@empal.com, root@dreamx.net, root@cjdream.net, soip@cjdream.com, sales@dreamx.net, sales@cjdream.net, sbkim091@dreamx.net, sbkim091@cjdream.net, service@DREAMX.NET, service@cjdream.net, solhan@cjdream.net, spam@DREAMX.NET, spam@cjdream.net, support@cjdream.net, support@dreamx.net, sysop@DREAMX.NET, sysop@cjdream.net, sysop@todream.net, tech@dreamx.net, tech@cjdream.net, technical@dreamx.net, technical@cjdream.net, technicalsupport@dreamx.net, technicalsupport@cjdream.net, system@cjdream.net, system@dreamx.net, sysop@todream.net, ykshin@cjdream.net, ykshin@dreamx.net, eglee@yesnic.com, info@yesnic.com, hostmaster@yesnic.com, eglee@whois.co.kr, brkim@INWANG.NOWCOM.CO.KR, domain@NOWNURI.NET, kbr@nownuri.net, memory@nownuri.net, busisik@nownuri.net, abuse@nownuri.net, postmaster@nownuri.net, inhanna@sysone.co.kr,
Thrunet.com
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hananet.net
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KIDC.NET
abuse@KIDC.NET, billing@KIDC.NET, dnsadm@KIDC.NET, domain@KIDC.NET, guard@kidc.net, helpdesk@KIDC.NET, hostmaster@KIDC.NET, hostmast@KIDC.NET, hjryu@kidc.net, ishan96@kidc.net, postmaster@KIDC.NET, root@KIDC.NET, security@kidc.net, support@KIDC.NET, abuse@BORA.NET, anti1473@bora.net, b4012391@users.bora.net, badmail@bora.net, billing@BORA.NET, dnsadm@BORA.NET, domain@BORA.NET, help@BORA.NET, ipadm@bora.net, ipadm@nic.bora.net, hostmast@BORA.NET, lyt082@bora.net, news@BORA.NET, postmaster@BORA.NET, root@BORA.NET, security@BORA.NET, sysop@BORA.NET, ysjeon7@bora.net, sexxkorea@hanmail.net, abuse@hanmail.net, postmaster@hanmail.net, hostmaster@hanmail.net, abuse@chollian.net, muscle73@chollian.net, zcedomain@chollian.net, znotice5@chollian.net, abuse@kr.iasiaworks.com, postmaster@kr.iasiaworks.com, webmaster@kr.iasiaworks.com, 1004@domain1004.com, I@i1004.com,
Here, verbatim, are the comments I e-mailed in on the proposed settlement. They go quite a bit beyond even Judge Jackson's proposals...
To all it may concern,
I believe that the proposed Microsoft settlement is a bad deal for computer users, for the computer industry, and for the nation as a whole. It does nothing to address Microsoft's predatory and monopolistic tactics, nothing to address the fact that it's blithely broken previous consent decrees and defied court orders, and nothing to provide relief for companies and consumers who have been harmed by these practices. It should be rejected and far more stringent financial and structural penalties imposed.
Despite their slogan, Microsoft has achieved it's current position not by "innovation" or hard work so much as by imitation (Apple) or outright theft (Stack Technologies) of the innovations of others. It used strong-arm tactics, sharp practice and predatory pricing to establish it's monopoly in operating systems, then illegally used that same monopoly to grab equally compelling strangleholds on other areas of the software industry. At best Microsoft is a sandlot bully, threatening others with its monopoly power to get its own way. At worse it's a third world dictator, knowing it's above the law (witness its boldfaced violation of its first consent decree, and how it lied, repeatedly, in court) with the firm knowledge that it's too powerful to be punished.
A company truly dedicated to innovation would not wait two years to address the myriad security vulnerabilities of Windows and Outlook. If a different component on Ford trucks were to blow up and be recalled every week, Ford would be out of business very quickly indeed. If Microsoft did not wield such monopoly power, it would not be able to get away with selling such defective products.
Microsoft has proven again and again that consent decrees are entirely inadequate to stop its predatory practices. Only harsh, structural and lasting penalties will be able break it's monopoly power and return real competition to the markets it illegally dominates.
For penalties which would truly address Microsoft's monopoly power, punish it for past transgressions, and provide real relief to the victims of it's illegal actions, I propose the following:
1. Microsoft should be levied a $10 billion fine. Half of this money should be earmarked for the DOJ and state attorneys general to pay for the cost of prosecuting Microsoft, and to pay the cost of future oversight and enforcement, and half should be returned to the consumers and companies harmed by Microsoft's predatory practices.
2. The source code for all Microsoft products released through 1999 should be released in their entirety and made available to the public to be used by anyone to create their own versions of Windows, Office, etc. without paying royalties to Microsoft. This would also provide relief from Microsoft's monopolistic practice of using "embrace and extend," i.e., making it's products intentionally incompatible with established computing standards for the sole purpose of using it's illegal monopoly to erect barriers to competition. With the source code readily available, it would be a simple matter both to engineer compatibility to Microsoft's "enhancements," and to recompile Microsoft programs to adhere to open computing standards.
3. All the Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) to all shipping Microsoft products should be published and made freely available. This would prevent Microsoft's anti-competitive tactic of leveraging it's Windows monopoly through the use "secret" APIs in Windows that only Microsoft programmers can use to enhance their other product lines.
4. Microsoft should be split into no less than four separate companies: One responsible for Windows, a second for Office, a third for Internet Explorer, Back Office, Outlook, and all it's other Internet-related software, and a fourth for everything else (X-Box, WebTV, etc.). However, source code for all of Microsoft's currently shipping products should be distributed to each of these companies, with each having the ability to reuse or sublicense such code. This would create many competing products in segments of the market previously dominated by Microsoft, to the great benefit of consumers. These companies would also be barred from merging with each other or sharing directors for at least ten years.
5. The above companies would have one year to plug all known security holes in Windows and Outlook. After that period, they would be made financially liable for any economic damage such vulnerabilities in their software cost customers who had all current security patches installed but were still victimized by hackers or viruses.
6. The MS Office spinoff would be required to produce simultaneous versions of Office for the most recent release of Mac OS and Linux, at price parity with the Windows version, for a period of five years.
7. A government oversight board would be created with the authority to unilaterally impose fines, order remedies, change contracts, and release source code in order to implement the judgement.
This is a very radical remedy, and one I do not suggest lightly. In fact, I consider myself to be a Libertarian, one who believe that government should remain small and interfere in the free market only under the direst circumstances. However, one fundamental precondition for a free market is that those competing in it must obey the rule of law. Microsoft has shown, again and again, that it is willing to break and flout the law for it's own benefit, and to maintain it's illegal monopoly power. If Microsoft's earlier predatory practices had been curbed or punished when the first occurred, the government would not be faced with these vexing antitrust issues. But now that it has reached this point, serious structural remedies are the only solution. Microsoft has proven time and time again that it will not stop abusing it's monopoly power. It's now up to the courts eliminate that monopoly.
- Lawrence Person, Austin, Texas; Science Fiction Writer
eBay, on the other hand, is an entirely different can of worms. Buyers (and, alas, sellers) range from the very knowledgeable to the completely ignorant. For science fiction first editions, most of the people I know on there will open another window and search for a particularly interesting item on ABE before bidding on eBay. But there are many people who will bid several times what an item is listed for on ABE just because they don't know about the latter.
This is not to say that ABE has completely replaced the local speciality bookseller. For example, I still buy quite a few things at Adventures in Crime and Space, Austin's local SF shop, because I know the owners, its convienant, and many times you see things browsing that you wouldn't know to look for. But many speciality shops are themselves on ABE, especially given the tough post 9/11 business climate.
A free bookbuying tip: Many times, the exact same copy of a used book listed on ABE will show up on Barnes & Noble or Amazon.com, but at 2-5 times the price listed on ABE. That's because ABE has "affiliate" programs that allow such books to be listed on those services, but B&N and Amazon always jack the price up to give themselves a hefty profit margin.
As for conclusions beyond the world of books: Whenever possible, use search engines that give you listings from many different dealers. (It also helps if you have a service like ABE that kicks dealers off if they receive too many complaints.)
But unfortunately, despite winning the Hugo and Nebula, Forever Peace (a thematic rather than literal sequel) is a remarkably bad novel. Again the first parts of the book, depicting telepresence-operated military robots fighting a war in Central America, are the best, even if the "Central America as Vietnam War" analog was done much better by Lucuis Shepard back in the 1980s. But after that it gets just plain awful, with paper-depth, sadistic idiot villians intent on literally destroying the world taking over the plot. In fact, the villians are such cliches that they accomplish the rare feat of making Ayn Rand's villians look subtle in comparison. Also, some would say that the ultimate message of the novel is rather revealing of late-20th century liberal thought. "Oh, if we could only cut open everyone's brain, force them to become a hive mind and make them think good thoughts, we could make the world a paradise!" Avoid.
Finally, Haldeman has stated that Heinlein's Starship Troopers was the primary influence on The Forever War, so you can stop debating that question already.
Kornet.net?
Thrunet.net?
Dreamx.net?
Hananet.net?
I've SpamCoped everyone of these, complained to every address I could think of (abuse@, root@, help@, etc.), all to no avail. If I have to carbon copy 5000 e-mail addresses at kornet.net on each spam complaint to get them to stop spamming, I'm willing to do it...