FLAC is a loseless audio compression technology doing the rounds. Winamp and VLC support it out of the box. Sizes are reasonable: 40 to 50% bears out with experiences mein:
Roxanne Gould, Spokesweasel for the American Electronics Association says 'Our bottom line is we're opposed to anything that demonizes RFIDs'
Sounds crazy? In Australia kids doing advertising letter box drops (for below minimum wage*) have been fitted with GPS tracking devices, and the privatized Telstra teleco tracks employees time spent in the toilet or making coffee. RFID is the sort of thing these employers would love. Nice to see Government (well, at least one person in Government) being pro-active, as opposed to retro-active or more usually not doing anything at all.
* = below minimum, since they have to bag and rubber-band the advertising materials on their own spare time. News limited advertises "We even provide the bags and rubber bands for you!" like they're doing you a favor. They at least now advertise "No GPS tracking device required" because no one wanted to do it. Imagine that.
> Google is building a lobbying power house in Washington
Google is so rich they why don't they just buy Dick Chenney? They can afford him, and not like he's not for sale. He can also lend his expert skills to filling in that void left by the ever shrinking 'Don't do Evil' motto. You'll get FOXNews and the rebranded Wall Street Journal thrown in for free.
The result would be excellent PR: Within six months 56% of Americans will believe Microsoft was behind the 9-11 attacks. Look out for Photoshopped photos of Osama bin Laden swinging a chair.
> The company is now pleading with customers not to wait until the release of SP1
Who said anything about waiting until SP1?;-)
Slow: "Please wait. And I emphasize the 'Wait'"
Intrusive: "Vista has found a number of movies and MP3 recordings that you may not be licensed for. Please wait while Vista authorizes licenses for these."
Obnoxious: "You've positioned your coffee on the left side of your keyboard this morning instead of the right side. Please wait while Vista reauthorizes your license. Sorry we've screwed up a script on our website so we'll assume the worst and now run your PC in degraded mode."
Dilbertesque: "To help developers test their software under Vista, we won't let you test your software on a virtual machine. Go out and buy a new PC and test your software on there. This will make you more productive, or so the crack-smoking marketing executive who came up with the idea thought."
Tedious: "UAC: An Application is about to do something. Are you sure?"
A Bridge too far: "Congratulations for installing DirectX 10: Only available on Vista! As the 10th person to use DirectX 10 you qualify for a special prize. This will be a DirectX 10 game of your choice, when someone finally decides to write one. (We're hoping a Mac programmer will do it. They like to target obscure niche markets.)"
I want to see the names and photos of the people responsible.
What bites about this and so many other cases is we don't have the names of the people involved. In this case, losing the paperwork for a multi-million dollar purchase, at that, a contract, beggars belief. "Well, who did you see it with last?"
Whether it's the Costa School District, the RIAA, a retailer or your favorite Government Department, no one steps up to the plate and says "This was my call and if you have a beef with that, take it up with me!" No one pushes them either, since they're counting on similar support when they screw up. At best you'll see companies throwing some arrogant no-name lawyer to read a PR release, while the executives behind the decision drive home safe in the knowledge no one else knows the evil they do. (BTW the RIAA is really four record companies who use the RIAA moniker as their Mr. Hyde persona: EMI, Sony BMG, Universal, Warner. RIAA suing some kid isn't news. SONY suing them would be.
How about a web site listing unpopular, stupid or evil decisions along with the photos and names of the people responsible?
I asked Google about the McCoffee. And it told me 300 contradictory things, including that McCoffee was drunk by whoever was on the grassy knoll and if you look closely at footage of the moonlanding, you can see a McCoffee next to a "moonrock." Then Google showed me crotch shots of celebrities getting out of limmos holding McCoffee. In the corner, an Google ad appeared saying "Buy Hot McCoffee Lap from eBay!"
So I gave up on Google and asked Snopes.com. Snopes is the original urban legends guy from the days when Internet was e-mail and news groups. Think of him as Mythbusters long before beries became unfashionable again. Snopes pointed me at this, which he claims is an accurate summary of the incident:
As Snopes says, the details of that case were exaggerated, but there's still a strong case for tort reform. I suspect Judge "No Pants" Pearson will be on poster. For an encore Pearson should sue himself for emotional distress for making an ass (no pun intended) out of himself.
Is it any surprise the courts make these sort of decisions?
A few days ago we had an idiot judge (yes, a *judge*) suing cleaners $54M for the emotional stress of losing is pants http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/artic le/2007/06/12/AR2007061201667.html?hpid=moreheadli nes and hot on the heals of that we had an idiotic ruling by a U.S. Magistrate Judge Jacqueline Chooljian decreeing that RAM shall be archived. And we've got an Attorney General, the #1 lawyer in the country, who smirks "I don't recall" for hours of testimony, then goes back to work and it's business as usual.
The entire judicial legal system is an anachronism. As we've seen, it contains some very clueless (and sometimes downright stupid) people making important decisions. We've got patent law which is way out of control and anti-trust law which might as well not exist at all. The law is written for and sometimes even by corporations like the RIAA and Disney http://writ.news.findlaw.com/commentary/20020305_s prigman.html , in exchange for campaign donations http://consumerist.com/xml/comments/264638 . And lets not forget about hot cups of coffee. The entire legal system is a joke. The problem is people like Judge Pearson, Magistrate Chooljian and Attorney General Gonzales don't know it. They think they're important public officials part of a proud tradition who are loved and admired by the population they rule^H^H^H^Hserve. Suspect many people think otherwise.
Time to turf the whole thing out and start again. I mean, how much worse is this going to get?
At least Americans are lucky they don't like in the former British Empire where you get some senile git wearing a black cape and a powdered wig banging a hammer and glaring at you, and expecting to be taken seriously. "This is my court!" they thunder. If any other public servant did that in their workplace, they'd be taken away for psychiatric assessment.
> What exactly do you define as western? I know Finland has three strong parties, and, being in Europe, is usually considered western
You are lucky! Sorry was coming from an Anglo-saxon perspective: the US, Australia and Britain each have two major parties, so close it's hard to tell them apart. In their last two elections the Brits and the Americans got to choose between (1) Pro-War, (2) Pro-War.
WTF? They want to regulate games, while at the same time selling weapons willy nilly to anyone with the cash to pay for them (no questions asked)? The US and Russia leads the world arms trade, but runners up have suspiciously European-sounding country names:
You can make an equation that'll fit any known values. Trick is to apply her equations to a future war and see if her predictions measure up with reality. Iran. North Korea. Maybe China as she gets bigger and bolder, or Russia if Putin finds Yeltsin's Kremlin Vodka stash.
> Full elaboration of the forecasting methodology is laid out in a new paper (subscription required -- link goes to the abstract)
Too bad she's not smart enough to post to an Open Journal. More government-funded research being resold by private publishers (in this case $AGE Publications). "Published in association with Peace Science Society (International)". Explain to me how you guys benefit from fewer people reading your stuff?
> That's nothing! I can predict the outcome of a war with 100% accuracy when applied retrospectively
Every Western (and quite a few Eastern) Liberal Democracies has just two parties: Both so similar that it's hard to tell the difference. Come election power the opposition often tries to get elected by trying to look like the government: "Look! If you vote for us, and you'll hardly notice the difference!"
Come election time, there may be 30 or so issues, yet we have to narrow down our vote to two parties. My local member doesn't represent me. They made have made sense a few hundred years ago, but these days (good or bad I don't know) people are (albeit through the sometimes questionable media and bloggers) well informed. We don't need to go through an ex-union offical or greased up merchant banker to put our views to the vote. The perks these guys lay on themselves is outright obscene and shows a real contempt for the people they serve. Just one example: A merchant banker cum politician worth $100M who found a way to rort an extra $175 a night by sleeping in his wife's apartment and paying her 'rent' http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/turnbull-de fends-rent-payment-to-wife/2007/02/25/117233845296 4.html )
Some posters have pointed out minority parties. Problem is Joe Average is loathe to vote for them; "that'd be throwing away my vote." Even in Australia where preferential voting allows you to cast a protest vote without losing it, most people still dismiss the minor parties. Minor parties, knowing they're mostly unelectable and at best only bit players, have a problem attracting talent. Accordingly they attract some lacklustre candidates who figure they can be a big fish in a small pond. Our so-called 'talented candidates' (those ex-union officials and greased up merchant bankers) join the majors, because they know that's the gravy train (but will have to make so many promises on the way they'll be useless if they finally get to the top).
If people voted for minor parties, then they could attract better candidates who, without having to sell their soul, might be able to remain true to what they promise. If people keep voting for the major parties, and keep getting crap, and keep voting for them, then the people have the government they deserve.
Winston's Churchill's quote "Democracy is the worst system of government, apart from all the other ones" is a huge cop out. Call it by it's real name at least: "A Corpocracy"
Never said it did! Was pointing out they have a bob each: take their media tax, then fine you if you try and use it. When you think about it, camcordered movies suck anyway. Bootleggers will move to hotels, so all the Mpaffia have done here is upped the quality of bootlegs. The penalties for non-commercial use are way too far. Two years? I could go downtown, punch an officer in the face and get no more a month's suspended sentence. Anyway, article was a good piece on how willing politicians are to prostitute themselves.
> [Harper]'s evil and he's right wing and he keeps a dragon in his shed (we've seen it - honest!) His comments on the peacekeepers deaths were very callous. However I didn't know about the dragon.:-)
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper? Isn't he the guy who, when IDF warplanes killed UN Canadian Peacekeepers said "Well, what were they doing there anyway?"
Wonder if he's going to give the Canadian people back their CD levies? ($0.29 per unit for Audio Cassette tape (40min or longer); $0.77 per unit for CD-R Audio, CD-RW-Audio & MiniDisc; $0.21 per unit for CD-R, CD-RW (non audio) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Private_copying_levy )
Stop voting for people like this. It only encourages them.
>... that China is right in their efforts to censor the Internet or stifle free speech, but did Yahoo! actually do anything legally wrong?
IBM didn't do anything wrong when they sold their Jew, Gay and Gypsy tracking services to the Nazis. Yes: Really! They even had IBM Customer Service Engineers on site at Concentration Camps running the tabulation equipment. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/03/27/print/ma in504730.shtml
Yahoo Jerry Wang's argument is that Yahoo should comply with the law of the countries they operate in. In 1939 IBM did the same thing. Today helping a facist regime that's murdered thousands track people who dare speak against them, even anonymously, is reprehensible. Only hope one day Jerry Wang gets to feel the misery he's inflicted on others.
Reverend Lovejoy said "When the Government legalizes something, it's no longer immoral." It was meant to be satire.
Seems if you want something not to be pirated in China, how about adding extras like the Dalai Lama, Falon Gong or Tiananmen Square? Software makers, be sure to feature a Falon Gong extra in the tutorials. Movie makers: How about a cameo by the Dalai Lama in the next Pirates of the Caribbean movie? Google Maps: when you zoom in on Tiananmen, show perspective mapped photos of what really happened.
If anyone ever tries to patent "Stupidity", the USPTO can itself show plenty of prior art.
Or as one poster suggested, "Corruption". This sham has been going on for years. Why haven't the fatcats in Congress done anything about it? Could corporate donations have anything to do it? Patents work in established big businesses favor. Witness Balmer's recent threats to us MS Patents to go after Linux customers. If big business whined about patents, you can bet their Congressmen on a string would change the law quick smart (as they did for the Mickey Mouse^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^HCopyright Extension act for Disney).
Do patents work in small businesses favor? In theory they can. "In theory". By the very act of writing software (which has an absurd number of stupid patents) Microsoft daily must infringe hundreds of patents every day. Not just big business with patent exchange agreements, but smaller ones without. When was the last time a small business took Microsoft to the cleaners over such a patent? Eolas came close... kind of. No one else by a long shot.
The problem isn't USPTO incompetence. It's Congressional Sloth and Greed. What can we do other than crying to the converted on Slashdot?
Where is nVidia's bug reporting mechanism BTW? I've never been able to find one. Their website says if you purchased your product directly from nVidia, fine, but otherwise talk to your OEM. They used to have a feedback form page that was always 'under construction'. They've removed that entirely now (although just noticed added a new one for developers): http://www.nvidia.com/page/support.html
The infinite loop bug is hellacious, but either you've got it or you don't.
> As for Intel, my desktop at work has an integrated Intel chip which doesn't seem to work properly with Xorg 7.2 Intel's integrated i9xx chipset has 3D built-in. I've got it on my lappie. It's not a bad implementation, but definitely lowest common denominator and won't play newer games. When they announced their re-entry to the 3D field, they got a lot of flack for this chipset. I'm hoping Intel's 3D team will feel the heat from that. (I'm naive, but occasionally good things happen .:-)
> The other thing is, when I have experienced problems with the nVidia drives and reported them, > I have always been contacted back by nVidia in an attempt to resolve the problem.
This is for the nVidia Linux driver? I haven't been able to find anyone who got a response from nVidia about anything, let alone the infinite loop bug. The problem doesn't have to be the bug per se, but the fact they won't fix it or even acknowledge its existence.
> I curse the drivers for my ATI card daily at work.
Ouch. As someone in the nVidia paddock, the grass isn't any better here!
Well Intel have announced they're re-entering the 3D Graphics field. Their original 3D card was a rock-solid effort: It never crashed, not once, and they provided drivers years after it had been withdrawn from market. Hopefully Intel will come and give nVidia and ATI the butt kickings they so richly deserve. Welcome back, Intel!!!
Slashdot Mirror
> Microsoft Corp. is giving computer users up to 500 megabytes of online storage
;)
... of companies doing exactly what someone else has already done. Oooh look! Someone's written a web browser!
500Mb is not enough. It should be at least enough to store an upload of a Vista DVD.
> This move is the latest in a series
FLAC is a loseless audio compression technology doing the rounds. Winamp and VLC support it out of the box. Sizes are reasonable: 40 to 50% bears out with experiences mein:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FLAC
Microsoft Media Player doesn't support it, but who uses that anyway (besides ET and n00bz)?
Roxanne Gould, Spokesweasel for the American Electronics Association says 'Our bottom line is we're opposed to anything that demonizes RFIDs'
0 54.htms pyinthesky/2006/05/22/1148150175310.html
Sounds crazy? In Australia kids doing advertising letter box drops (for below minimum wage*) have been fitted with GPS tracking devices, and the privatized Telstra teleco tracks employees time spent in the toilet or making coffee. RFID is the sort of thing these employers would love. Nice to see Government (well, at least one person in Government) being pro-active, as opposed to retro-active or more usually not doing anything at all.
http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/content/2007/s1952
http://www.smh.com.au/news/technology/junk-mails-
* = below minimum, since they have to bag and rubber-band the advertising materials on their own spare time. News limited advertises "We even provide the bags and rubber bands for you!" like they're doing you a favor. They at least now advertise "No GPS tracking device required" because no one wanted to do it. Imagine that.
Try this Firefox plug-in. Never look at eBay's stupid ads again:
= customizegoogle&status=4
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/search?q
http://www.customizegoogle.com/
> Proposed Amendment Would Ban All DVD Copying
This is a great idea. They should also add an amendment banning the brewing, consumption and sale of alcoholic beverages.
> Google is building a lobbying power house in Washington
Google is so rich they why don't they just buy Dick Chenney? They can afford him, and not like he's not for sale. He can also lend his expert skills to filling in that void left by the ever shrinking 'Don't do Evil' motto. You'll get FOXNews and the rebranded Wall Street Journal thrown in for free.
The result would be excellent PR: Within six months 56% of Americans will believe Microsoft was behind the 9-11 attacks. Look out for Photoshopped photos of Osama bin Laden swinging a chair.
> The company is now pleading with customers not to wait until the release of SP1
;-)
Who said anything about waiting until SP1?
Slow: "Please wait. And I emphasize the 'Wait'"
Intrusive: "Vista has found a number of movies and MP3 recordings that you may not be licensed for. Please wait while Vista authorizes licenses for these."
Obnoxious: "You've positioned your coffee on the left side of your keyboard this morning instead of the right side. Please wait while Vista reauthorizes your license. Sorry we've screwed up a script on our website so we'll assume the worst and now run your PC in degraded mode."
Dilbertesque: "To help developers test their software under Vista, we won't let you test your software on a virtual machine. Go out and buy a new PC and test your software on there. This will make you more productive, or so the crack-smoking marketing executive who came up with the idea thought."
Tedious: "UAC: An Application is about to do something. Are you sure?"
A Bridge too far: "Congratulations for installing DirectX 10: Only available on Vista! As the 10th person to use DirectX 10 you qualify for a special prize. This will be a DirectX 10 game of your choice, when someone finally decides to write one. (We're hoping a Mac programmer will do it. They like to target obscure niche markets.)"
Mod parent informative.
i ndex.asp
Good to have a name! Anyone have a photo? Did some googling. Lots of photos here, but not sure if that's another Walter Marks? http://www.collegeofthedesert.edu/Visitors/Marks/
Heh. Apparently Marks bought the IBM's Salesman's "Business Partner" sales pitch.
I'd suggest a web site, brief blurb, photos, blogger comments all paid for by Google Ads.
I want to see the names and photos of the people responsible.
What bites about this and so many other cases is we don't have the names of the people involved. In this case, losing the paperwork for a multi-million dollar purchase, at that, a contract, beggars belief. "Well, who did you see it with last?"
Whether it's the Costa School District, the RIAA, a retailer or your favorite Government Department, no one steps up to the plate and says "This was my call and if you have a beef with that, take it up with me!" No one pushes them either, since they're counting on similar support when they screw up. At best you'll see companies throwing some arrogant no-name lawyer to read a PR release, while the executives behind the decision drive home safe in the knowledge no one else knows the evil they do. (BTW the RIAA is really four record companies who use the RIAA moniker as their Mr. Hyde persona: EMI, Sony BMG, Universal, Warner. RIAA suing some kid isn't news. SONY suing them would be.
How about a web site listing unpopular, stupid or evil decisions along with the photos and names of the people responsible?
> ... human colonization of other star systems is impossible. ... ... Hawking has said, vital for the survival of the species. ...
>
> So, who's right -- Hawking or Stross?"
These statements are not contradictory.
mod parent informative
g =facts
I asked Google about the McCoffee. And it told me 300 contradictory things, including that McCoffee was drunk by whoever was on the grassy knoll and if you look closely at footage of the moonlanding, you can see a McCoffee next to a "moonrock." Then Google showed me crotch shots of celebrities getting out of limmos holding McCoffee. In the corner, an Google ad appeared saying "Buy Hot McCoffee Lap from eBay!"
So I gave up on Google and asked Snopes.com. Snopes is the original urban legends guy from the days when Internet was e-mail and news groups. Think of him as Mythbusters long before beries became unfashionable again. Snopes pointed me at this, which he claims is an accurate summary of the incident:
http://www.caoc.com/CA/index.cfm?event=showPage&p
As Snopes says, the details of that case were exaggerated, but there's still a strong case for tort reform. I suspect Judge "No Pants" Pearson will be on poster. For an encore Pearson should sue himself for emotional distress for making an ass (no pun intended) out of himself.
http://www.snopes.com/legal/lawsuits.asp
Is it any surprise the courts make these sort of decisions?
c le/2007/06/12/AR2007061201667.html?hpid=moreheadli nes
s prigman.html , in exchange for campaign donations http://consumerist.com/xml/comments/264638 . And lets not forget about hot cups of coffee. The entire legal system is a joke. The problem is people like Judge Pearson, Magistrate Chooljian and Attorney General Gonzales don't know it. They think they're important public officials part of a proud tradition who are loved and admired by the population they rule^H^H^H^Hserve. Suspect many people think otherwise.
A few days ago we had an idiot judge (yes, a *judge*) suing cleaners $54M for the emotional stress of losing is pants http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/arti
and hot on the heals of that we had an idiotic ruling by a U.S. Magistrate Judge Jacqueline Chooljian decreeing that RAM shall be archived. And we've got an Attorney General, the #1 lawyer in the country, who smirks "I don't recall" for hours of testimony, then goes back to work and it's business as usual.
The entire judicial legal system is an anachronism. As we've seen, it contains some very clueless (and sometimes downright stupid) people making important decisions. We've got patent law which is way out of control and anti-trust law which might as well not exist at all. The law is written for and sometimes even by corporations like the RIAA and Disney http://writ.news.findlaw.com/commentary/20020305_
Time to turf the whole thing out and start again. I mean, how much worse is this going to get?
At least Americans are lucky they don't like in the former British Empire where you get some senile git wearing a black cape and a powdered wig banging a hammer and glaring at you, and expecting to be taken seriously. "This is my court!" they thunder. If any other public servant did that in their workplace, they'd be taken away for psychiatric assessment.
> What exactly do you define as western? I know Finland has three strong parties, and, being in Europe, is usually considered western
You are lucky! Sorry was coming from an Anglo-saxon perspective: the US, Australia and Britain each have two major parties, so close it's hard to tell them apart. In their last two elections the Brits and the Americans got to choose between (1) Pro-War, (2) Pro-War.
> EU Considering Regulating Sale of Violent Games
0 0.html
i pridata.html
/ 13/us_is_top_purveyor_on_weapons_sales_list/
WTF? They want to regulate games, while at the same time selling weapons willy nilly to anyone with the cash to pay for them (no questions asked)? The US and Russia leads the world arms trade, but runners up have suspiciously European-sounding country names:
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,2605823,
I think this is what we call a Cluster of Clusterbombers:
http://apps.sipri.org/milap/world_aprod_map.html
http://www.sipri.org/contents/milap/milex/aprod/s
Some of these sales are self-defense, but a lot of it feeds third-world conflicts:
http://www.boston.com/news/world/articles/2006/11
Dude, Condi Rice called and wants your phone number.
You can make an equation that'll fit any known values. Trick is to apply her equations to a future war and see if her predictions measure up with reality. Iran. North Korea. Maybe China as she gets bigger and bolder, or Russia if Putin finds Yeltsin's Kremlin Vodka stash.
:-)
> Full elaboration of the forecasting methodology is laid out in a new paper (subscription required -- link goes to the abstract)
Too bad she's not smart enough to post to an Open Journal. More government-funded research being resold by private publishers (in this case $AGE Publications). "Published in association with Peace Science Society (International)". Explain to me how you guys benefit from fewer people reading your stuff?
> That's nothing! I can predict the outcome of a war with 100% accuracy when applied retrospectively
Hey Hillary is posting to Slashdot!
Every Western (and quite a few Eastern) Liberal Democracies has just two parties: Both so similar that it's hard to tell the difference. Come election power the opposition often tries to get elected by trying to look like the government: "Look! If you vote for us, and you'll hardly notice the difference!"
e fends-rent-payment-to-wife/2007/02/25/117233845296 4.html )
Come election time, there may be 30 or so issues, yet we have to narrow down our vote to two parties. My local member doesn't represent me. They made have made sense a few hundred years ago, but these days (good or bad I don't know) people are (albeit through the sometimes questionable media and bloggers) well informed. We don't need to go through an ex-union offical or greased up merchant banker to put our views to the vote. The perks these guys lay on themselves is outright obscene and shows a real contempt for the people they serve. Just one example: A merchant banker cum politician worth $100M who found a way to rort an extra $175 a night by sleeping in his wife's apartment and paying her 'rent' http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/turnbull-d
Some posters have pointed out minority parties. Problem is Joe Average is loathe to vote for them; "that'd be throwing away my vote." Even in Australia where preferential voting allows you to cast a protest vote without losing it, most people still dismiss the minor parties. Minor parties, knowing they're mostly unelectable and at best only bit players, have a problem attracting talent. Accordingly they attract some lacklustre candidates who figure they can be a big fish in a small pond. Our so-called 'talented candidates' (those ex-union officials and greased up merchant bankers) join the majors, because they know that's the gravy train (but will have to make so many promises on the way they'll be useless if they finally get to the top).
If people voted for minor parties, then they could attract better candidates who, without having to sell their soul, might be able to remain true to what they promise. If people keep voting for the major parties, and keep getting crap, and keep voting for them, then the people have the government they deserve.
Winston's Churchill's quote "Democracy is the worst system of government, apart from all the other ones" is a huge cop out. Call it by it's real name at least: "A Corpocracy"
Never said it did! Was pointing out they have a bob each: take their media tax, then fine you if you try and use it. When you think about it, camcordered movies suck anyway. Bootleggers will move to hotels, so all the Mpaffia have done here is upped the quality of bootlegs. The penalties for non-commercial use are way too far. Two years? I could go downtown, punch an officer in the face and get no more a month's suspended sentence. Anyway, article was a good piece on how willing politicians are to prostitute themselves.
:-)
> [Harper]'s evil and he's right wing and he keeps a dragon in his shed (we've seen it - honest!)
His comments on the peacekeepers deaths were very callous. However I didn't know about the dragon.
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper? Isn't he the guy who, when IDF warplanes killed UN Canadian Peacekeepers said "Well, what were they doing there anyway?"
Wonder if he's going to give the Canadian people back their CD levies? ($0.29 per unit for Audio Cassette tape (40min or longer); $0.77 per unit for CD-R Audio, CD-RW-Audio & MiniDisc; $0.21 per unit for CD-R, CD-RW (non audio) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Private_copying_levy )
Stop voting for people like this. It only encourages them.
> ... that China is right in their efforts to censor the Internet or stifle free speech, but did Yahoo! actually do anything legally wrong?
a in504730.shtml
IBM didn't do anything wrong when they sold their Jew, Gay and Gypsy tracking services to the Nazis. Yes: Really! They even had IBM Customer Service Engineers on site at Concentration Camps running the tabulation equipment. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/03/27/print/m
Yahoo Jerry Wang's argument is that Yahoo should comply with the law of the countries they operate in. In 1939 IBM did the same thing. Today helping a facist regime that's murdered thousands track people who dare speak against them, even anonymously, is reprehensible. Only hope one day Jerry Wang gets to feel the misery he's inflicted on others.
Reverend Lovejoy said "When the Government legalizes something, it's no longer immoral." It was meant to be satire.
Seems if you want something not to be pirated in China, how about adding extras like the Dalai Lama, Falon Gong or Tiananmen Square? Software makers, be sure to feature a Falon Gong extra in the tutorials. Movie makers: How about a cameo by the Dalai Lama in the next Pirates of the Caribbean movie? Google Maps: when you zoom in on Tiananmen, show perspective mapped photos of what really happened.
5 .htm http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/21/world/asia/21cnd -china.html?ex=1337400000&en=578ee101ec63e955&ei=5 090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss
Seriously: I have a friend who just got back from a visit in China. He said the Communist Party is very scared about losing its grip on society. They've very, very worried about losing control. Something you haven't heard in the mainstream media: Chinese, particularly the poorer ones, are really sick of the rich getting richer. When the Chinese Government wants to build a road, they pick a poor area, flatten it and kick the poor locals out. Increasingly, people are getting sick of it and the government is worried: This is why they're banning things left, right and center: http://www.indiadaily.com/editorial/2275.asp http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/PEK16528
> Try and organize a revolution.
1. I thought that was what Slashdot is for?
2. Try not. Do or do not. There is no try.
3. Ok, but only if I get a T-shirt like Che.
"Sometimes I think the world is going mad. Then I think, 'Ahh, Who Cares?' Then I think, 'Hey, I wonder what's for Dinner?'" - Jack Handey
If anyone ever tries to patent "Stupidity", the USPTO can itself show plenty of prior art.
Or as one poster suggested, "Corruption". This sham has been going on for years. Why haven't the fatcats in Congress done anything about it? Could corporate donations have anything to do it? Patents work in established big businesses favor. Witness Balmer's recent threats to us MS Patents to go after Linux customers. If big business whined about patents, you can bet their Congressmen on a string would change the law quick smart (as they did for the Mickey Mouse^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^HCopyright Extension act for Disney).
Do patents work in small businesses favor? In theory they can. "In theory". By the very act of writing software (which has an absurd number of stupid patents) Microsoft daily must infringe hundreds of patents every day. Not just big business with patent exchange agreements, but smaller ones without. When was the last time a small business took Microsoft to the cleaners over such a patent? Eolas came close... kind of. No one else by a long shot.
The problem isn't USPTO incompetence. It's Congressional Sloth and Greed. What can we do other than crying to the converted on Slashdot?
Where is nVidia's bug reporting mechanism BTW? I've never been able to find one. Their website says if you purchased your product directly from nVidia, fine, but otherwise talk to your OEM. They used to have a feedback form page that was always 'under construction'. They've removed that entirely now (although just noticed added a new one for developers): http://www.nvidia.com/page/support.html
:-)
The infinite loop bug is hellacious, but either you've got it or you don't.
> As for Intel, my desktop at work has an integrated Intel chip which doesn't seem to work properly with Xorg 7.2
Intel's integrated i9xx chipset has 3D built-in. I've got it on my lappie. It's not a bad implementation, but definitely lowest common denominator and won't play newer games. When they announced their re-entry to the 3D field, they got a lot of flack for this chipset. I'm hoping Intel's 3D team will feel the heat from that. (I'm naive, but occasionally good things happen .
> The other thing is, when I have experienced problems with the nVidia drives and reported them,
> I have always been contacted back by nVidia in an attempt to resolve the problem.
This is for the nVidia Linux driver? I haven't been able to find anyone who got a response from nVidia about anything, let alone the infinite loop bug. The problem doesn't have to be the bug per se, but the fact they won't fix it or even acknowledge its existence.
> I curse the drivers for my ATI card daily at work.
Ouch. As someone in the nVidia paddock, the grass isn't any better here!
Well Intel have announced they're re-entering the 3D Graphics field. Their original 3D card was a rock-solid effort: It never crashed, not once, and they provided drivers years after it had been withdrawn from market. Hopefully Intel will come and give nVidia and ATI the butt kickings they so richly deserve. Welcome back, Intel!!!