I think that the judge does a have a good point here. The pledge has to be taken by itself (apart from other government documents) and as it stands in it's current form (post 1950) when deciding how to handle it. Removing the phrase is a decidedly anti-religious decision, so yes the "believers" will be upset. By removing the phrase, the government is taking a stand on this issue.
Another mistake you make, and I've seen made in countless other posts here is that you pit athesits and other faiths against believers in God. By definition, anyone who is an not an atheist is either a believer or an agnostic (which you could hardly call a faith).
... the paranoid delusions of many Christians in this country that they are somehow a persecuted minority squaring off with an evil govenrment committed to state-enforced atheism.
First off, I don't think/.ers should point and laugh at paranoid delusionists. Second, it seems to me very easy to make the argument that there is definetly a feeling of state-enforced agnosticism. This legal judegment is a perfect example of that. Third, why do you expect religious people who feel the pledge should not be changed to stand back and not fight over this. You can't say on one hand "We don't like this and we won't stop until it's changed because it's our right to gripe!" and with the other hand tell those "crazy Christians" that they have to shut up and take it. Religious people have just as much right to fight for what they believe in as do the atheists.
I believe that God is a much more generic term than Allah. I'm not up on my Islam, but Isn't Allah the name of the Islam God? The word God does not have anything distinctly Christian about it when compared to other religions. To Islamics God is Allah, to the Jews it is Yawhe, to Christians, it is a tri-un God made up of God the father, Jesus and the Holy Spirit.
5. Don't bother with store loyalty cards. I mean, are you really bothered about 5p off a product?
I'm not sure what 5p is unless your not a USian, but on my typical grocery bill I save somethinhg like $5-$7. That's at least every other week. Minimally, we're talking $130 in a year! That's a little too much for me to drop on the floor.
Someone else mentioned it, but I think it's worth another post. How does this differ from fingerprints? I'm not saying you should get over it because fingerprint information is already some common. I'm saying that we don't have to wait before biometric data becomes common enough to worry about. It has been a common means of identification for hundreds of years. It's only recently however, that the methods used to store, catalog, and compare fingerprints has advanced enough to make it a concern to large groups of normally law abiding citizens. So, let's put aside the "We'll deal with that when it gets here" attitude and let's discusss the problem that we have already.
This is a prime example why the OS portion of MS should be broken off as a seperate company. If the people who control this process are selling software that needs to have permissions enabled in order to run, and they are competing with others, there is a clear conflict of interest. If we create two companies, let's say Windows and Microsoft, then there is more ensured fairness. The windows company will ensure that the largest number of people have access to the approval process in order to please their stockholders. As it stands now, keeping compteitors to all of the MS products out of the loop has a very nice ring to it.
Correct me if I'm wrong here, but how can a system propose to supply DRM and privacy. The key to effective DRM is knowing who has a certain piece of something and how they are allowed to use it. This of course requires identity. Privacy on the other hand has the main goal of avoiding knowledge of who you are and what you are doing. That lack of identification is what allows services like Limewire, Kaazza, and others to thrive (well maybe not thrive but you understand). I don't see how one system can proport to support both of these goals at the same time and accomplish both.
Oh, I don't know. I do some of my best thinking in there. You certainly know you won't be bothered by kids barging in. A connection in there would be great!
I'm really not sure what you mean by IE style layers. Can you point me to an example? Divs are the standard that I've seen used by most people and they work quite well in both browsers, are not hard to implement and fit well into the DOM of both browsers. I'd like to hear about the IE layers to see what they are and what the advantages are.
Here is the real problem coming from this story. When a cost of doing business rises, it is immediatly passed on to the customer. If cable prices had gone up, you bet we would have seen an increase in leasing prices and overall. When the reverse is true, we don't see the change. We should lobby AT&T to pass their modem saving on to us.
Does Verisign control the WHOIS database? Since they are a US company, is that what gives the US the right to patrol that database? If not Verisign, who? Will the US rules be applied to other countries? This is legislation that will not be enforcable!
Well they may, but it won't be voluntary. As porus as the "security" network between here and China is, you can count on the Chinese using any and all US plans for such a base.
Can you guys not use your own search engine before posting an article. Hell, all of my original submissions have been rejected, maybe I should try a duplicate story!
I've become seriously hooked on Age of Empires II. Does anyone know an alternative that can let me break out of the MS control, even if it's something on Windows?
The point is though that OpenSource is not just for geeks/nerds/computer intelligencia/readers of slashdot. It's for everyone. So the title should shift the focus away from readers of slashdot and onto the average joe. That could even include Niggas.
I can think of two arguments against this. I'm not sure of the merits of either.
1) The won't remove the caps for non-peak hours because it will be exploited by DSL and other broadband competitors. You've already seen the ads where they talk about people getting up during the middle of the night just to get a decent connection. It would only be worse for the cable companies if they themselves made it easier to get online late at night. Another example is the cell phone company, I think it's voicestream?, who lords thier "no peak hours" policy over other cell companies. Establishing peak and non-peak times is admitting the fact that they can't handle the desired bandwidth. By having one cap, they can claim that the cap is perfectly fine for any _reasonable_ user.
2) The other thing I could see is that if you uncap the service between 2 and 5 AM say, then your system suddenly becomes overloaded during those hours. You haven't fixed the problem, you just shifted it. I'm not nearly as confident in this argument, but maybe it has some merit.
Re:Linux doesn't HAVE to be targeted towards anyon
on
The Stallman Factor
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· Score: 2
That's my point exactly. The original post limited Linux users to 2 camps. I only added 1 more, which in my opinion has the ability to take Linux the farthest into the main stream. But you've added 4 more. My point is that saying Linux users fall into 2 camps is insane! Linux IS what you want it to be.
Re:What I found most interesting...
on
The Stallman Factor
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· Score: 5, Insightful
I think there is a group that fits in between somehow. The group that uses it because it is free (as in beer) and because it does what they need as well as Windows. This is the typical business person, someone weighing the costs and benefits of each decision. Like it or not, that is the person that Linux, and OpenSource in general must be targeted toward. If we keep this "two camps" mentality, we will alienate the middle group and drive away potential users. We must avoid polarizing the OpenSource community.
I think that many of the strongest supporters fall into the zealot category. Zealots, by definition, are opinionated and tend towards tirades. I think what OpenSource needs is a more legitimate and level headed person to raise the OS flag. We might begin to see this as people like IBM and Sun start to embrace OS. The problem is that OS has grown from that zealot enthusiasm and if leveler heads prevail, some of the energy of the OS community will be lost and many of the people who join looking for a cause will pass us by. We need to find a way to present a coherent and rational view to people not ready to accept OS while still giving the fiery retoric to the ones who have already taken the Kool-Aid.
I like that better, but really it should be 'The Politics of People Using Computers to do Everyday Things Without Bowing to Redmond'. But I guess that could be seen as extremist too.
If you are looking to send the message that OpenSource is for everyone, I really don't think that including Nerd in the title is a good idea. Why not something that lets non-nerds know that OpenSource is for them. Like 'Open Your Mind' or 'Open Politics' or something else, your the producer. I would just want to shy away from titles that make OpenSource a nerd exclusive realm.
Sounds more like a small footprint iMac. I don't think that I'd be able to work with this thing on my lap with a keyboard attached. I certainly see it as a portable somthing, and I guess now-a-days portable == laptop, but it is certainly not a replacment for your typical laptop.
Slashdot Mirror
I think that the judge does a have a good point here. The pledge has to be taken by itself (apart from other government documents) and as it stands in it's current form (post 1950) when deciding how to handle it. Removing the phrase is a decidedly anti-religious decision, so yes the "believers" will be upset. By removing the phrase, the government is taking a stand on this issue.
Another mistake you make, and I've seen made in countless other posts here is that you pit athesits and other faiths against believers in God. By definition, anyone who is an not an atheist is either a believer or an agnostic (which you could hardly call a faith).
First off, I don't think
I believe that God is a much more generic term than Allah. I'm not up on my Islam, but Isn't Allah the name of the Islam God? The word God does not have anything distinctly Christian about it when compared to other religions. To Islamics God is Allah, to the Jews it is Yawhe, to Christians, it is a tri-un God made up of God the father, Jesus and the Holy Spirit.
5. Don't bother with store loyalty cards. I mean, are you really bothered about 5p off a product?
I'm not sure what 5p is unless your not a USian, but on my typical grocery bill I save somethinhg like $5-$7. That's at least every other week. Minimally, we're talking $130 in a year! That's a little too much for me to drop on the floor.
Someone else mentioned it, but I think it's worth another post. How does this differ from fingerprints? I'm not saying you should get over it because fingerprint information is already some common. I'm saying that we don't have to wait before biometric data becomes common enough to worry about. It has been a common means of identification for hundreds of years. It's only recently however, that the methods used to store, catalog, and compare fingerprints has advanced enough to make it a concern to large groups of normally law abiding citizens. So, let's put aside the "We'll deal with that when it gets here" attitude and let's discusss the problem that we have already.
This is a prime example why the OS portion of MS should be broken off as a seperate company. If the people who control this process are selling software that needs to have permissions enabled in order to run, and they are competing with others, there is a clear conflict of interest. If we create two companies, let's say Windows and Microsoft, then there is more ensured fairness. The windows company will ensure that the largest number of people have access to the approval process in order to please their stockholders. As it stands now, keeping compteitors to all of the MS products out of the loop has a very nice ring to it.
Correct me if I'm wrong here, but how can a system propose to supply DRM and privacy. The key to effective DRM is knowing who has a certain piece of something and how they are allowed to use it. This of course requires identity. Privacy on the other hand has the main goal of avoiding knowledge of who you are and what you are doing. That lack of identification is what allows services like Limewire, Kaazza, and others to thrive (well maybe not thrive but you understand). I don't see how one system can proport to support both of these goals at the same time and accomplish both.
Oh, I don't know. I do some of my best thinking in there. You certainly know you won't be bothered by kids barging in. A connection in there would be great!
I'm really not sure what you mean by IE style layers. Can you point me to an example? Divs are the standard that I've seen used by most people and they work quite well in both browsers, are not hard to implement and fit well into the DOM of both browsers. I'd like to hear about the IE layers to see what they are and what the advantages are.
Here is the real problem coming from this story. When a cost of doing business rises, it is immediatly passed on to the customer. If cable prices had gone up, you bet we would have seen an increase in leasing prices and overall. When the reverse is true, we don't see the change. We should lobby AT&T to pass their modem saving on to us.
Does Verisign control the WHOIS database? Since they are a US company, is that what gives the US the right to patrol that database? If not Verisign, who? Will the US rules be applied to other countries? This is legislation that will not be enforcable!
Well they may, but it won't be voluntary. As porus as the "security" network between here and China is, you can count on the Chinese using any and all US plans for such a base.
Can you guys not use your own search engine before posting an article. Hell, all of my original submissions have been rejected, maybe I should try a duplicate story!
I've become seriously hooked on Age of Empires II. Does anyone know an alternative that can let me break out of the MS control, even if it's something on Windows?
The point is though that OpenSource is not just for geeks/nerds/computer intelligencia/readers of slashdot. It's for everyone. So the title should shift the focus away from readers of slashdot and onto the average joe. That could even include Niggas.
I can think of two arguments against this. I'm not sure of the merits of either.
1) The won't remove the caps for non-peak hours because it will be exploited by DSL and other broadband competitors. You've already seen the ads where they talk about people getting up during the middle of the night just to get a decent connection. It would only be worse for the cable companies if they themselves made it easier to get online late at night. Another example is the cell phone company, I think it's voicestream?, who lords thier "no peak hours" policy over other cell companies. Establishing peak and non-peak times is admitting the fact that they can't handle the desired bandwidth. By having one cap, they can claim that the cap is perfectly fine for any _reasonable_ user.
2) The other thing I could see is that if you uncap the service between 2 and 5 AM say, then your system suddenly becomes overloaded during those hours. You haven't fixed the problem, you just shifted it. I'm not nearly as confident in this argument, but maybe it has some merit.
That's my point exactly. The original post limited Linux users to 2 camps. I only added 1 more, which in my opinion has the ability to take Linux the farthest into the main stream. But you've added 4 more. My point is that saying Linux users fall into 2 camps is insane! Linux IS what you want it to be.
I think there is a group that fits in between somehow. The group that uses it because it is free (as in beer) and because it does what they need as well as Windows. This is the typical business person, someone weighing the costs and benefits of each decision. Like it or not, that is the person that Linux, and OpenSource in general must be targeted toward. If we keep this "two camps" mentality, we will alienate the middle group and drive away potential users. We must avoid polarizing the OpenSource community.
Excellent! I love it!
I think that many of the strongest supporters fall into the zealot category. Zealots, by definition, are opinionated and tend towards tirades. I think what OpenSource needs is a more legitimate and level headed person to raise the OS flag. We might begin to see this as people like IBM and Sun start to embrace OS. The problem is that OS has grown from that zealot enthusiasm and if leveler heads prevail, some of the energy of the OS community will be lost and many of the people who join looking for a cause will pass us by. We need to find a way to present a coherent and rational view to people not ready to accept OS while still giving the fiery retoric to the ones who have already taken the Kool-Aid.
I like that better, but really it should be 'The Politics of People Using Computers to do Everyday Things Without Bowing to Redmond'. But I guess that could be seen as extremist too.
The Politics of Nerd.
If you are looking to send the message that OpenSource is for everyone, I really don't think that including Nerd in the title is a good idea. Why not something that lets non-nerds know that OpenSource is for them. Like 'Open Your Mind' or 'Open Politics' or something else, your the producer. I would just want to shy away from titles that make OpenSource a nerd exclusive realm.
...if they inserted an image inside a table using a floating picture allignment layout, or some other stupid lazy usagage of Word...
Just because something is easy to do, doesn't make it stupid or the doer lazy. Software is supposed to make things easier for the user.
Sounds more like a small footprint iMac. I don't think that I'd be able to work with this thing on my lap with a keyboard attached. I certainly see it as a portable somthing, and I guess now-a-days portable == laptop, but it is certainly not a replacment for your typical laptop.
Was that Bill Nye talking on the laptop thingy?