The Slashdot editors post this basically trivial story, but make no mention of the fact that AOL just patented instant messaging. What the hell??
all's i'm sayin' is, (crack) is somebody's been smokin' SUMTHIN'....
Re:Over 30 comments posted...
on
Web Zeitgeist
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· Score: 2
I submitted the same story to slashdot yesterday, but with the emphasis on Google Zeitgeist instead of Lycos (isn't Lycos dead yet?), and on Linux's high result. Linux beat out Microsoft, X-Box, and Dell in Google searches, finishing -- as you say -- at #4 in Technology searches on Google in 2002. That's pretty impressive, and after all the news stories about businesses, governments, schools, etc. switching and considering switching to Linux, I think it's an important landmark, reflecting Linux's rise to prominence, though not dominance, in the technologist's awareness.
So let me get this straight... a) Linux will never win, and b) Windows has already lost? There's something amiss......and don't start telling me about "third alternatives" (it's a Richard Bolt joke), because you, yourself, are making this a Windows-Linux competition. What gives?
"I couldn't believe it. A Chicago resident named Melvin Christmas had just ruined my Christmas. I was expecting William Faulkner to come popping out of the pantry at any moment and laugh at me."
"Mr. Christmas said he didn't even know what email was. Obviously a PC user."
This is an excellent point, and I think the parent should be modded up.
On that note, while you're correct that responsibility at different levels should be compatible -- i.e. if you leave open to "terrorists" (any malefactor, really) your resources, be they network or computer, you should be punished regardless of the type of system -- a more fundamental question is to what degree one *should* be held accountable for possessing open resources that could be abused. For instance, suppose you run back into the store to grab the bag of spinach you forgot, and leave your car running with the doors unlocked. A bystander sees the opportunity and drives off in your car, but in his hasty getaway he hits a pedestrian. This is analogous to either the WIFI case or the broken OS case, but perhaps makes the issue more apprehensible: should you be held criminally responsible for "abetting terrorism" because you "possessed an open system"?
The sad thing is that, since 9/11, a lot of people seem willing to forego their hard-won civil liberties for security (or at least the illusion of).
The sadder thing is, this war is purportedly being fought for our freedoms, and the government seems to think the best way to secure our (hard-won) civil liberties is to start by taking them away.
Although they have been pretty clever about it: a war against an invisible, intangible, unmeasurable "enemy" (terrorism) is an invisible, intagible, unmeasurable war -- in other words, there is never a time when they have to/can declare victory and drop the pretext of fighting terrorism, and thus there is never a time when they have to give up the gradual rescinding of our liberties "in order to guarantee our security." How is this fighting for freedom?
Of course, while it's clever, it's hardly original. Pretty reminiscent of the never-ending wars fought in 1984; Big Brother's rhetoric's not even far off from Bush's, and the declared purposes of the wars are likewise pretty similar.
It's neat, but at $70,000 a shot, that would pay for an awful lot of plane tickets for the guy to be actually there (as opposed to virtually there).
missing the point... the idea is that it's better in some circumstances to zoom over at the speed of I2, and get back home as soon as the visit's over. picture going to a friend in australia, then going for a quick visit to your cousins in Greece, then making a five way business call, then checking out some paintings in the Louvre, then taking a shower and having breakfast at your place.
and of course the $70k pricetag will diminish, as with any new technology, so no need to get upset!
what you pay for a cable or dsl internet hook-up, would pay for a TON of postage, but there are still reasons for getting a net connection.
Oddly, this will really, really increase sales of this particular CD, and the music industry will say it's because people can't pirate it. But they'll have it backwards.
Tons of us will race out and buy a Charlie Pride CD (even though we abhor country music) simply because we want to try to break it. We want to see whether or not it's really burnproof, and whether we can be the first to figure out the easy way around it.
The industry will hail the huge sales of this CD as demonstrable proof that non-copyable CD's enjoy higher revenues because us nasty mean hackers can't make copies of Charlie Pride's wonderful stuff, and thus we have to buy several copies for our car, our office, etc. They'll show this fact to other recording artists and say, "See, you too could be enjoying this kind of royalty," and the artists will lick their chops in anticipation. I guarantee they'll be a long line of artists willing to be the second burn-proof CD.
Most people aren't Slashdotters... the number of people who buy this CD to crack it will be negligible compared to the number who buy it for the music.
Slashdot Mirror
Who is John Galt? No, seriously, who is he?
bitch
I know, I know. Shameles plug. My site covers none of these pressing issues, but it's a helluva lot more fun :-)
Check it out:
"Features include shiny chrome, blue LED's a-plenty and a few seconds of a CGI'ed army of Terminators."
Attack of the Clones? Clone of Attack of the Clones? Attack of the Clone of the Attack of the Clones?
all's i'm sayin' is, (crack) is somebody's been smokin' SUMTHIN'....
I submitted the same story to slashdot yesterday, but with the emphasis on Google Zeitgeist instead of Lycos (isn't Lycos dead yet?), and on Linux's high result. Linux beat out Microsoft, X-Box, and Dell in Google searches, finishing -- as you say -- at #4 in Technology searches on Google in 2002. That's pretty impressive, and after all the news stories about businesses, governments, schools, etc. switching and considering switching to Linux, I think it's an important landmark, reflecting Linux's rise to prominence, though not dominance, in the technologist's awareness.
;)
Not to grouse, or anything
Does this herald the end of an era? Hardly...
Is it even news?
So let me get this straight... a) Linux will never win, and b) Windows has already lost? There's something amiss... ...and don't start telling me about "third alternatives" (it's a Richard Bolt joke), because you, yourself, are making this a Windows-Linux competition. What gives?
"I couldn't believe it. A Chicago resident named Melvin Christmas had just ruined my Christmas. I was expecting William Faulkner to come popping out of the pantry at any moment and laugh at me."
"Mr. Christmas said he didn't even know what email was. Obviously a PC user."
Hint: Try not splittig your infinitives, you sound like a moron.
which would have served TV and music
Oh no! Now I won't get my Britney and Natalie Portman fix! Chalk one great loss down to the scientific community...
The article touches on the fact that their annual funding is about 309 million versus the U.S. budget of 15 billion.
Also considered a contributing factor, the Russians' budget was in Roubles, the Americans' in US Dollars.
If anybody else wants to get married online (you must bn an American), we will soon be posting a proposition form on geek.is-a-geek (see sig for URL).
How come when I registered a second-level domain name it never made it to slashdot?!
(expiration.ca and makingthecut.ca, for the curious)
--
A geek is a geek is a geek. I'd know.
This is an excellent point, and I think the parent should be modded up.
On that note, while you're correct that responsibility at different levels should be compatible -- i.e. if you leave open to "terrorists" (any malefactor, really) your resources, be they network or computer, you should be punished regardless of the type of system -- a more fundamental question is to what degree one *should* be held accountable for possessing open resources that could be abused. For instance, suppose you run back into the store to grab the bag of spinach you forgot, and leave your car running with the doors unlocked. A bystander sees the opportunity and drives off in your car, but in his hasty getaway he hits a pedestrian. This is analogous to either the WIFI case or the broken OS case, but perhaps makes the issue more apprehensible: should you be held criminally responsible for "abetting terrorism" because you "possessed an open system"?
--
A geek is a geek is a geek. See what I mean.
Oops, you a verb.
I don't know whether to prefer the content or the presentation!
(p.s. it's funny)
Please slashdot keep up with the news flow.
P.S. this Mudge guy seems to me a bit of a poser
A nice, and a propos story by RMS, called The Right to Read, can be found here. Definitely worth the read.
The sadder thing is, this war is purportedly being fought for our freedoms, and the government seems to think the best way to secure our (hard-won) civil liberties is to start by taking them away.
Although they have been pretty clever about it: a war against an invisible, intangible, unmeasurable "enemy" (terrorism) is an invisible, intagible, unmeasurable war -- in other words, there is never a time when they have to/can declare victory and drop the pretext of fighting terrorism, and thus there is never a time when they have to give up the gradual rescinding of our liberties "in order to guarantee our security." How is this fighting for freedom?
Of course, while it's clever, it's hardly original. Pretty reminiscent of the never-ending wars fought in 1984; Big Brother's rhetoric's not even far off from Bush's, and the declared purposes of the wars are likewise pretty similar.
Oh well.
Last post, and on top of that, the first last post. Huzzah!
Under "Home and Office":
2005: 3D fax
...
2020: 3D home printers
While Ian Pearson waits 15 years for his 3D home printers, I think I'll just hack together a usable machine from the fax parts.
missing the point... the idea is that it's better in some circumstances to zoom over at the speed of I2, and get back home as soon as the visit's over. picture going to a friend in australia, then going for a quick visit to your cousins in Greece, then making a five way business call, then checking out some paintings in the Louvre, then taking a shower and having breakfast at your place.
and of course the $70k pricetag will diminish, as with any new technology, so no need to get upset!
what you pay for a cable or dsl internet hook-up, would pay for a TON of postage, but there are still reasons for getting a net connection.
Most people aren't Slashdotters... the number of people who buy this CD to crack it will be negligible compared to the number who buy it for the music.