Yet you have no problem with the karma joke in your sig?
As it says in my sig, I really was the first to put my "obfuscated" karma in my sig. Initially I had it tracking my real karma (though it was pretty consistently "Excellent"), then for a short time I had a joke, and then when I noticed how popular Karma: sigs had become, I decided to claim my rightful place as the inventor.
The thing is, Explorer's no "worse" than anything else out there. It's just incredibly more popular, and not just because it comes with Windows, as IE is the leader on the Mac as well. It's the same phenomenon we see with Windows virii: people who write spyware and virii target the most popular platforms. If >90% of Internet users ran Mozilla then we'd see the same things written for that browser. It's not due to any special vulnerability in the browser. Getting people to switch to something else is only a temporary solution, a band-aid that doesn't treat the underlying illness. The BBC should instead be educating people as to what is safe web behavior, as that transcends issues of operating system and browser.
I just scanned through the discussion...every comment is either a dumb joke (sorry, I don't think talking about "Linux 3.11" is very clevar) or flamebait/trolling.
What has happened to all of the serious users? Let's talk. I'm most interested in what the new kernel will be doing for next generation hardware (FireWire 2 and USB2, not to mention BlueTooth), the new VM, and improvements in latency a la the preemptible kernel patch.
Also, the 2.4 series kernels already have so many configuration options that compiling the right kernel often takes several attempts. Anyone know how 2.6/3.0 (they are the same, right?) is going to manage kernel config as the number of modules skyrockets? Has Linus considered moving away from a monolithic kernel, or should we all just switch to HURD?
This is pretty heinous, if you ask me. Any time a business takes your money in exchange for some service and then doesn't follow through, an injustice is done. While this doesn't compare to that crematorium owner in Georgia who just dumped bodies in the woods, it is something to be upset over.
It's a great irony, though, that what is eventually done with these recycled computers is much "greener" than actually recycling them would be. Computer equipment is made from minerals and rare Earth metals such as silicon, glass, and copper, not to mention metal for cases. Recycling them involves separating and molding them into new shapes, which is an involved and energy-demanding process that necessarily creates pollution. The raw materials to build these goods from scratch, however, are often mined from the ground, and if the used products are placed in landfills, that's exactly to where they'll return.
While it's atrocious that companies should mislead their customers like this, I'm thankful that in this case the Earth is the greatest beneficiary.
I'm surprised to see such outpouring of emotion over this event. The first story had hundreds of comments, and this one looks like it's headed the same way. Frankly, I'm saddened. Granted, fires are scary things, and shouldn't be taken lightly. But come on...no one died, and a single building of computers burnt down. Considering the violence and tragedy that occurs around the world every day, is the loss of a couple thousand dollars of (insured) plastic, metal and silicon really cause for such dramatics? I know this is "News for Nerds," but nerds are people too. Or so I thought. Sometimes I wonder if there's any humanity left on Slashdot...
Yeah, I meant the Italian Renaissance. Also known as "The Renaissance." Just like "Renaissance England" means "England during the [Italian] Renaissance." Dumbass.
I am fairly anti-copyright and pro-freedom. I use only Free Software such as Linux and KDE, I only listen to music from independent labels or that I can get on mp3, and I refuse to even think about buying region-coded DVDs, though I will on occaision rent them.
There are a lot of good arguments against copyright law, including that it impedes the free exchange of ideas, adds to corporate exploitation of the working class, and contributes to intellectual, industrial, and artistic stagnation in general. It's pretty easy to see the difference between the Rennaisance (pre-copyright) and the 2001 MTV Video Music Awards (post-copyright). We're not even in the same league anymore, and it's easy to see why.
The argument in the article, though, is that copyright law, as originally intended, was designed to protect the rights of media consumers, not media producers. That's all well and good, but it's to some extent a non-sequitor. I mean, we're not living in 1776 and we're not delegates of the Colonial Congress: it's 2002 and we're Linux geeks on Slashdot. Media and copyright have both evolved so incredibly since those bygone days that who's to say *what* the Founding Fathers would think of "ripping" a "mix CD" of "n*Sync?" Look at how difficult it is for the Supreme Court to understand the First and Second Amendments, which are pretty freaking straightforward in comparison; do you really think we have a *prayer* of understanding the original copyright laws?
While I can well imagine that being woken up by the FBI knocking down your door can throw your whole day off, I don't really have any sympathy for them. They were breaking the law, probably in more ways than one. From the fact that we know they were stealing bandwidth, we can assume that a) they were all pretty computer-savvy and b) they were transferring large amounts of data. Sounds to me like they were pirates and hackers, trading in illicit files, virii, mp3s, and hacking tools like BackOffice and PacketSniffer. Hopefully they've learned their lesson and this will serve as a warning to other criminals. The Internet is better off without them.
Well, data protection is sort of an interesting topic, so I'm glad this story is running. I'm interested in what strategies people have to defend against Murphy.;)
I am, however, a little curious as to what is so important on a home network that offsite backups and a fireproof safe (!!) would be considered. In the grand scheme of things, are your pornography collection and your high score in Lemmings really that important?
You want to put some money on whether analog TV will be around in four years? Don't hold your breath. Even if it were feasible from a manufacturing and economic point of view, the disposal of hundreds of millions of analog TV sets would spell ecological disaster.
I love headlines like these: "Congress Declares Digital Cable For All!" "President Demands Pollution-Free Energy!" Right.
Reality check: you can't legislate technology into existence. It takes time, energy, a bunch of smart people, and a ton of money. These guys think they can just write up laws and somehow, through some sort of magic, companies will do as they're told. And if they don't what happens? They're penalized with higher taxes, of course, making them even less likely to innovate, and in some cases putting them out of business altogether.
If you look at it this way, it suddenly becomes less surprising that most of the innovative companies like Sun, Microsoft, and Linux do most of their R&D outside the US, in countries like Finland, Pakistan, and Europe that have lower taxes. If we want to revive the foundering American economy, we need to stop coming up with voodoo feel-good laws like this one and start cutting taxes for the companies that generate wealth.
Ah, the bastards. I graduated a while ago, and I guess they finally got around to removing my web space. I'll get the page up on a new account sometime soon. Thanks for the heads-up, AC.
Well, I guess I have to support the use of Linux for any sort of serious application. No such thing as bad publicity and all that. Plus, Linux is a perfect match in this case, since they can't afford anything non-free, and at the moment Linux is the best free OS (some would say it's the best OS period, but I'm not looking for a flamewar) out there. So that's good.
One thing I've thought about a lot is the image that Linux has, in both the media and business worlds. It goes without saying that gaining a foothold in American industry is vital to the long-term success of Linux. But many corporations have been reluctant to switch to Linux due to its image as an OS used by outcasts, hippies, pirates, and hackers. We seem to be making some progress away from this, what with products like Lindows getting some press, but we have a long way to go.
Now this comes along, and it's like we're being attacked from a whole new side. If Linux takes off in India, then we risk being associated with overpopulation, disease, tainted water supplies, and nucular warfare. What American company will consider using Linux after that? I wish there was a way to have it both ways, but I feel like the best thing for the Linux community to do at this point is to try to get India to switch to FreeBSD.
This is exciting technology. Every couple of months, it seems like we're moving closer to the day when I can carry a computer around with me wherever I go. In the long run, especially as it is portrayed in the many science fiction novels I read, humanity has nothing to lose and everything to gain from making computers more ubiquitous.
Something that occurs to me is that making decisions based on long term outcome can have unforseen, or undesirable, effects in the short term. Industrialization has been beneficial to everyone, but a few generations lived in filth and poverty when it was first introduced. Which doesn't mean that we shouldn't have industrialized in the early 19th century, just that maybe we should have thought about it a little more beforehand. Yeah, I know, 20/20 hindsight and all that.
I don't think there's really any danger to the people of India from this device. I do, however, fear that we may be putting ourselves at risk by permitting them to use this technology. India has always been unstable, and with both it and Pakistan in possession of nucular weapons, it might be better to keep powerful computers out of their hands. They shouldn't be denied access to them, but that access should probably be better monitored by the international community. For all intensive purposes, they pose a threat to our very nation. We need to make sure we don't allow the events of 911 to transpire again.
Many people turn to Slashdot for reliable goatse links, and most of them never have a need to change this behavior. 99% of the time, Slashdot gets you where you need to go with a simple click of your mouse.
But what happens when Slashdot fails to deliver? Then, my friend, it's time to plunge into the depths of HTML and "roll your own."
Now you're probably thinking, "I could never do that...I'm just a stupid slashbot! Shouldn't I leave this to the professionals?" And I'm here to tell you that you can make your own goatse links for half the price of the ones you get here on Slashdot and at other premium websites.
Here's what you do.
Go to any story on Slashdot, and click the "Reply" button.
Type your comment into the box as usual, but don't submit yet!
Locate the phrase that you wish to goatsify; it can be someone's name (Linus Torvalds), the name of a website or company (Apple Computer), an apt phrase from the story (black hole), or really anything else...let your imagination run wild!
Now that you know where you want to put the goatse link, you just need to paste in some HTML. This is easier than it sounds.
Position your cursor directly before the first character in the phrase you want to link to goatse, and type or paste "<a href=http://goatse.cx>" (without the quotes.
Now move your cursor to just after the last character in the phrase, and type or paste "</a>".
Click "Submit."
If all went as planned, you should see your now-posted comment, complete with functional goatse link. You know where to click.
So if there is no one there, why doesn't the Open Source community embrace the opportunity to set up some booths? With less competition from successful companies, Linux should be able to get a strong foothold (or is that a foot stronghold?) and finally get some press. It's because we don't sieze opportunities like this that Linux continues to languish as an also-ran in the enterprise server market.
I happened to have seen both of your Twilight Zone episodes (the famous "something on the wing of the airplane" one and the less-famous-but-no-less-interesting one where you are obsessed with a prophecy-dispensing toy in a diner) recently. I have to say that in both episodes I was taken aback at the unexpected quality of your portrayal. Even though everyone associates your face with Captain Kirk, the characters in the TZ episodes came through loud and clear, drowning out my preconceptions.
For this reason, I'd like to ask what you think of your humorous reputation for bad acting. Would you blame some of the egregious hamminess of some of ST on the perception that TV (or SF) wasn't "real" acting or was it directing? Or some other thing?
He's the guy who said that objects move in straight lines on Earth. He'd therefore obviously never seen a long jump, so I wouldn't place too much faith in his reasoning.
Slashdot Mirror
What'll that be, some sort of dodecahedron? How many sides in an enix again?
Yet you have no problem with the karma joke in your sig?
As it says in my sig, I really was the first to put my "obfuscated" karma in my sig. Initially I had it tracking my real karma (though it was pretty consistently "Excellent"), then for a short time I had a joke, and then when I noticed how popular Karma: sigs had become, I decided to claim my rightful place as the inventor.
The thing is, Explorer's no "worse" than anything else out there. It's just incredibly more popular, and not just because it comes with Windows, as IE is the leader on the Mac as well. It's the same phenomenon we see with Windows virii: people who write spyware and virii target the most popular platforms. If >90% of Internet users ran Mozilla then we'd see the same things written for that browser. It's not due to any special vulnerability in the browser. Getting people to switch to something else is only a temporary solution, a band-aid that doesn't treat the underlying illness. The BBC should instead be educating people as to what is safe web behavior, as that transcends issues of operating system and browser.
I just scanned through the discussion...every comment is either a dumb joke (sorry, I don't think talking about "Linux 3.11" is very clevar) or flamebait/trolling.
What has happened to all of the serious users? Let's talk. I'm most interested in what the new kernel will be doing for next generation hardware (FireWire 2 and USB2, not to mention BlueTooth), the new VM, and improvements in latency a la the preemptible kernel patch.
Also, the 2.4 series kernels already have so many configuration options that compiling the right kernel often takes several attempts. Anyone know how 2.6/3.0 (they are the same, right?) is going to manage kernel config as the number of modules skyrockets? Has Linus considered moving away from a monolithic kernel, or should we all just switch to HURD?
This is pretty heinous, if you ask me. Any time a business takes your money in exchange for some service and then doesn't follow through, an injustice is done. While this doesn't compare to that crematorium owner in Georgia who just dumped bodies in the woods, it is something to be upset over.
It's a great irony, though, that what is eventually done with these recycled computers is much "greener" than actually recycling them would be. Computer equipment is made from minerals and rare Earth metals such as silicon, glass, and copper, not to mention metal for cases. Recycling them involves separating and molding them into new shapes, which is an involved and energy-demanding process that necessarily creates pollution. The raw materials to build these goods from scratch, however, are often mined from the ground, and if the used products are placed in landfills, that's exactly to where they'll return.
While it's atrocious that companies should mislead their customers like this, I'm thankful that in this case the Earth is the greatest beneficiary.
I'm surprised to see such outpouring of emotion over this event. The first story had hundreds of comments, and this one looks like it's headed the same way. Frankly, I'm saddened. Granted, fires are scary things, and shouldn't be taken lightly. But come on...no one died, and a single building of computers burnt down. Considering the violence and tragedy that occurs around the world every day, is the loss of a couple thousand dollars of (insured) plastic, metal and silicon really cause for such dramatics? I know this is "News for Nerds," but nerds are people too. Or so I thought. Sometimes I wonder if there's any humanity left on Slashdot...
you carry porn channels. The rest will follow.
Sounds like a job for young Bilbo Baggins and his faithful Elven blade, Sting!
Yeah, I meant the Italian Renaissance. Also known as "The Renaissance." Just like "Renaissance England" means "England during the [Italian] Renaissance." Dumbass.
I am fairly anti-copyright and pro-freedom. I use only Free Software such as Linux and KDE, I only listen to music from independent labels or that I can get on mp3, and I refuse to even think about buying region-coded DVDs, though I will on occaision rent them.
There are a lot of good arguments against copyright law, including that it impedes the free exchange of ideas, adds to corporate exploitation of the working class, and contributes to intellectual, industrial, and artistic stagnation in general. It's pretty easy to see the difference between the Rennaisance (pre-copyright) and the 2001 MTV Video Music Awards (post-copyright). We're not even in the same league anymore, and it's easy to see why.
The argument in the article, though, is that copyright law, as originally intended, was designed to protect the rights of media consumers, not media producers. That's all well and good, but it's to some extent a non-sequitor. I mean, we're not living in 1776 and we're not delegates of the Colonial Congress: it's 2002 and we're Linux geeks on Slashdot. Media and copyright have both evolved so incredibly since those bygone days that who's to say *what* the Founding Fathers would think of "ripping" a "mix CD" of "n*Sync?" Look at how difficult it is for the Supreme Court to understand the First and Second Amendments, which are pretty freaking straightforward in comparison; do you really think we have a *prayer* of understanding the original copyright laws?
While I can well imagine that being woken up by the FBI knocking down your door can throw your whole day off, I don't really have any sympathy for them. They were breaking the law, probably in more ways than one. From the fact that we know they were stealing bandwidth, we can assume that a) they were all pretty computer-savvy and b) they were transferring large amounts of data. Sounds to me like they were pirates and hackers, trading in illicit files, virii, mp3s, and hacking tools like BackOffice and PacketSniffer. Hopefully they've learned their lesson and this will serve as a warning to other criminals. The Internet is better off without them.
Well, data protection is sort of an interesting topic, so I'm glad this story is running. I'm interested in what strategies people have to defend against Murphy. ;)
I am, however, a little curious as to what is so important on a home network that offsite backups and a fireproof safe (!!) would be considered. In the grand scheme of things, are your pornography collection and your high score in Lemmings really that important?
You want to put some money on whether analog TV will be around in four years? Don't hold your breath. Even if it were feasible from a manufacturing and economic point of view, the disposal of hundreds of millions of analog TV sets would spell ecological disaster.
I love headlines like these: "Congress Declares Digital Cable For All!" "President Demands Pollution-Free Energy!" Right.
Reality check: you can't legislate technology into existence. It takes time, energy, a bunch of smart people, and a ton of money. These guys think they can just write up laws and somehow, through some sort of magic, companies will do as they're told. And if they don't what happens? They're penalized with higher taxes, of course, making them even less likely to innovate, and in some cases putting them out of business altogether.
If you look at it this way, it suddenly becomes less surprising that most of the innovative companies like Sun, Microsoft, and Linux do most of their R&D outside the US, in countries like Finland, Pakistan, and Europe that have lower taxes. If we want to revive the foundering American economy, we need to stop coming up with voodoo feel-good laws like this one and start cutting taxes for the companies that generate wealth.
Ah, the bastards. I graduated a while ago, and I guess they finally got around to removing my web space. I'll get the page up on a new account sometime soon. Thanks for the heads-up, AC.
Well, I guess I have to support the use of Linux for any sort of serious application. No such thing as bad publicity and all that. Plus, Linux is a perfect match in this case, since they can't afford anything non-free, and at the moment Linux is the best free OS (some would say it's the best OS period, but I'm not looking for a flamewar) out there. So that's good.
One thing I've thought about a lot is the image that Linux has, in both the media and business worlds. It goes without saying that gaining a foothold in American industry is vital to the long-term success of Linux. But many corporations have been reluctant to switch to Linux due to its image as an OS used by outcasts, hippies, pirates, and hackers. We seem to be making some progress away from this, what with products like Lindows getting some press, but we have a long way to go.
Now this comes along, and it's like we're being attacked from a whole new side. If Linux takes off in India, then we risk being associated with overpopulation, disease, tainted water supplies, and nucular warfare. What American company will consider using Linux after that? I wish there was a way to have it both ways, but I feel like the best thing for the Linux community to do at this point is to try to get India to switch to FreeBSD.
This is exciting technology. Every couple of months, it seems like we're moving closer to the day when I can carry a computer around with me wherever I go. In the long run, especially as it is portrayed in the many science fiction novels I read, humanity has nothing to lose and everything to gain from making computers more ubiquitous.
Something that occurs to me is that making decisions based on long term outcome can have unforseen, or undesirable, effects in the short term. Industrialization has been beneficial to everyone, but a few generations lived in filth and poverty when it was first introduced. Which doesn't mean that we shouldn't have industrialized in the early 19th century, just that maybe we should have thought about it a little more beforehand. Yeah, I know, 20/20 hindsight and all that.
I don't think there's really any danger to the people of India from this device. I do, however, fear that we may be putting ourselves at risk by permitting them to use this technology. India has always been unstable, and with both it and Pakistan in possession of nucular weapons, it might be better to keep powerful computers out of their hands. They shouldn't be denied access to them, but that access should probably be better monitored by the international community. For all intensive purposes, they pose a threat to our very nation. We need to make sure we don't allow the events of 911 to transpire again.
But what happens when Slashdot fails to deliver? Then, my friend, it's time to plunge into the depths of HTML and "roll your own."
Now you're probably thinking, "I could never do that...I'm just a stupid slashbot! Shouldn't I leave this to the professionals?" And I'm here to tell you that you can make your own goatse links for half the price of the ones you get here on Slashdot and at other premium websites.
Here's what you do.
So if there is no one there, why doesn't the Open Source community embrace the opportunity to set up some booths? With less competition from successful companies, Linux should be able to get a strong foothold (or is that a foot stronghold?) and finally get some press. It's because we don't sieze opportunities like this that Linux continues to languish as an also-ran in the enterprise server market.
It's also the most overhyped and overpriced toy ever, and I'm kicking myself for posting it since that just contributes to the problem.
Why the sudden change in policy? Or is Segway just not paying you?
I happened to have seen both of your Twilight Zone episodes (the famous "something on the wing of the airplane" one and the less-famous-but-no-less-interesting one where you are obsessed with a prophecy-dispensing toy in a diner) recently. I have to say that in both episodes I was taken aback at the unexpected quality of your portrayal. Even though everyone associates your face with Captain Kirk, the characters in the TZ episodes came through loud and clear, drowning out my preconceptions.
For this reason, I'd like to ask what you think of your humorous reputation for bad acting. Would you blame some of the egregious hamminess of some of ST on the perception that TV (or SF) wasn't "real" acting or was it directing? Or some other thing?
for me to peon.
it tends to be of lesser quality than the stuff you can find on the Web
I didn't know such a thing existed.
He's the guy who said that objects move in straight lines on Earth. He'd therefore obviously never seen a long jump, so I wouldn't place too much faith in his reasoning.
Linux is the biggest POS of an OS I've seen, so it should be just what you're looking for.