I'd like 2600 to win this as much as anyone else on here, but just bear in mind what happens if they don't and they run out of places to appeal to:
- DeCSS is ruled a device, not speech.
- This sets the precedent that all software is a device, not speech.
- Copyright law no longer applies to software, and everyone straps on their eye-patches and sets about merrily pirating anything they like.
- M$ doesn't like this, rounds up some other industry folk and goes head to head with the new ruling!
Eventually we get a battle of the titans, with MPAA saying software isn't speech and M$ saying it is. I don't like the way that we'd have to get there, but that would be one hell of a court case to watch! And I reckon that in the end Bill would win it. See, you've just got to twist the system until it works for you.
I think we all know what's really wrong with the arm; Bill Shepherd used some "packing material" from it to construct a kitchen table : )
Best get him on the next shuttle up there to fix it with parts from an old bicycle, a VW engine and whatever other stuff the Scrapheap Challenge/Junkyard Wars folk can spare.
No, not just more Linux advocation. My old K6-2 550 runs Win 98 faster than machines almost twice that speed here at work. Why? Because I installed it myself, leaving out the rubbish (speaking relatively, of course : ) instead of going with the pre-installed version (plus I wanted to partition so's I could stick Mandrake on there).
Point is, that older machines could run significantly faster if they were just set up right. I've seen this sort of speed increase again and again on machines from various manufacturers (Dell, Compaq, HP, Time, to name a few) - why doesn't someone take some care when they produce the factory default? Then maybe we'd see those landfill sites filling up a little slower.
Also, it might be worth bearing in mind that anyone who comes into contact with such material should be properly quarantined, to guard against the possibility of aliens bursting from their chest and going on a rampage that only Sigourney Weaver can prevent : )
Anyone got any idea what's in this for the card providers? I assume they're planning on taking a cut of any transactions made or charging an extra Mark or something on each card, but I couldn't find any info about this.
Whilst I can see the appeal for people who're unwilling to give out their CC, I'm wondering how much of a profit they think can be made off such a venture before people stop buying the cards.
Um, is it just me, or does this just seem like Jon is making a fairly tenuous link here? Sure, big businesses have similar business models. We all knew that though. But this essay is far more about how Katz doesn't like McDonalds than it is about specifically nerd-related matters (this is news for nerds after all).
Anyone know how much these cables cost compared to an equivalent length of regular cables? At what point will it be cost-effective to use cables that are more expensive to produce (i.e. what length of cable or how many years would you have to use the HTSC cables before the savings outweighed the additional investment)?
BTW, sorry if it actually has this info in the article - I don't speak Danish, my connection is really slow, and I'm just too lazy to use The Fish or whatever.
OK, so this may not take off in a major way in the US since the shows are only getting out a few days before they're scheduled, but what about those of us who don't live in the US?
Sky in the UK is basically Fox + 6 months, and I guess it must be the same elsewhere too. I already know how cool it is to have seen the lastest movie (on holiday in the US) a few months before anyone else, so I figure there's going to be a greater demand for the latest Ally McBeal episode too.
This happened with Star Wars: Episode 1 - I knew loads of people who'd seen it before it was released because it didn't come out until the middle of the summer here. People like to think they're in some sort of exclusive preview club.
Now, if only BT would hurry up and unbundle the local loop so's I can get DSL....
How do we know that the 1% of data that's not been processed didn't contain proof of ET? We don't. And you know why? It's a government conspiracy, that's why! And they're out to get anyone who lets the secret out!
[sniff, sniff]Hey, what's that funny smell? Urrrggh, eyelids....heavy....soooo sleeepyyyy.....
Hmm, fair point, but I doubt very much that most of the people in my class remember much about the subject either. In fact, since I got more info than they did, I'd bet that I can actually remember more than any of the ones who didn't go on to study Chem at university.
I'm not sure exactly how you'd classify real research work, but I'm pretty sure the people who went to libraries weren't memorising the contents of the books either. I know my friends attitude to such projects was simply to dig up as much info as possible and put it together to fulfill the criteria of the project. If you asked them to recall stuff then I expect they'd be better at remembering which book to look it up in, than recalling the details.
I appreciate your point that the ease of finding information makes the process of actually remembering it redundant, but is this a bad thing? Wouldn't it be better to teach kids how to find information, derive equations, and form opinions rather than stuffing them with facts that they'll probably have little use for in later life?
Not trying to flame; just playing Devil's advocate
I was fortunate to be the first person in my school to turn in a project with URLs in the reference section.
The topic was Buckminster Fullerenes, and with it being a fairly new subject (this was early '96) the school library was pretty short on info. The more enthusiastic students were arranging to visit local universities to use their libraries, but I just sat at home and did a few searches on Lycos.
The difference was significant - I could produce totally up to date info, and include screenshots of 3D graphics people had rendered of the molecules, where other people were hand-drawing stuff. Hell, I could even have given my Chem teacher's Harry Kroto's (who was largely involved in their discovery) phone number at Sussex Uni. In all, I put in about 8 hours research, had the best-presented project, and got the highest grade in the class (plus the teachers hadn't seen a URL in a bibliography before, so they were very impressed).
My point is; you can't just bury your head in the sand, because although there may be negative side-effects to kids spending way too much time on computers, those who are familiar with computers will have an advantage over other kids when it comes to education.
Keeping your kids away from the net might make it more difficult for them to get pr0n and lessen the chances of them becoming a 1337 h4X0r d00d, but it'll also affect their grades when kids like me screw up the curve.
Alternatively, the context that she was using the words in could have been in a good enough pattern to tip off the system. Or whatever system was being used to monitor emails wasn't based on the same principles as Echelon (which is entirely possible if it's just a local authority employing a basic filter checking for keywords and skin-tones [pr0n]). Then again, these are just wild speculations and I could be talking out of my @$$....
I read on The Register that keywords don't work - they do n-gram comparisons to look for key patterns, which would ignore the above message. If you somehow managed to fit a bunch of those words into a couple of paragraphs about how you were going to do some terrorism then you might show up on their radar.
Well, it's a little while since I studied this, but I understood that one of the ways to get a fibre-optic network interconnected is to have a big piece of cable that several little pieces of cable are spliced onto. Then all the seperate lines can see the data for all the other lines and pick out the info for them using spectral analysis or something.
Surely the NSA could just splice in one of these, leaving all the data still going through, but giving them a copy too. Course, quite how they'd manage something so complicated without tipping anyone off is beyond me.
For a better discussion of this see Computer Networking by Andrew Tannenbaum - the chapter on the physical layer I think. Sorry - I would have got my facts straight, but I'm at work and the book is back home.
He said it was feasible that a court could order that all DVD players sold here have a multi-zone capability.
Sold! I'm sure a hell of a lot of people (myself included) would be willing to pay for shipping of a product like this. And it's not just a case of wanting to see the films first - Region 1 DVDs frequently have way more features than we get here in Region 2, and I'm sure this is the case for the other regions as well. I can understand why Hollywood likes to stagger the opening of movies so they've got a chance to make some money back before the hype starts elsewhere, but I think they're fighting a losing battle with media like DVDs in an increasingly global marketplace.
On top of the other points already raised there's the following quote:
"An entire CD can be ripped and stored in about five minutes."
Now Joe Public, who doesn't know much about PCs, and has no idea how to rip a CD or download stuff from Gnutella or wherever, will be perfectly able to rip his CD collection w/o learning anything more complicated than his VCR. A Good Thing, to be sure, but I doubt our friends at RIAA will see it that way.
So that explains why I keep trying to make with the funnies in the hope of scoring another 5.
"your real friends will start to avoid talking to you at parties when they find that you keep steering the conversation back to the exploits of your 43rd-level Necromancer, because that's all you have going on in your life to talk about anymore"
It's true, so true, but I don't even have a Necromancer (actually, that sounds quite cool, but RPGs aren't my thing) - I'm reduced to talking about posts, then explaining the scoring system, then explaining Slashdot, then wondering where everyone's gone.
1)Someone will have tried to start an argument with the Germans.
2)Someone will have vomited something even more unpleasant than normal vomit. And possibly tried to drink it again.
3)All Brits will be horribly sunburnt.
And before you all start criticising me for xenophobia; I'm British, and I've seen the above done far too many times on holiday.
Also, thank God for dictionary.com for help with spelling xenophobia!
Just thought I'd chip in with a little extra info about the European phone scene. Here in the UK if you don't have a mobile phone you're now in a minority - >50% of the population has had them since about this time last year.
It's particularly prevalent among young people; I graduated from Uni last summer, and I'd guess about 80% of students had phones. My course was Elec & Comp Eng, and I was one of about 10 people (out of ~ 250) in my year who didn't have one (I've got one now I've got a job).
My pay-plan has no line rental charges, most calls only cost 15p (about 25c) for the first 5 mins each day, then 5p after that with no peak rates, so it's actually cheaper than using a payphone, and I'm not bothered about spending a while chatting. I live in a fairly rural area, but reception's always good (plus it's digital, so it's nice and clear) and my fairly unreliable battery typically lasts a week. The phone cost me £20 (about $30), although it is about a year old.
The UK isn't the biggest user of mobiles though - Scandanavian countries love them. With a sparse population and rugged landscape it's way cheaper having a mobile. That's why there's so many phone manufacturers from that area of the world (Nokia, Ericcsson etc.).
We're not quite the early adopters that Japan are, but the EU does pretty good. Another possible reason is that we all adopted the GSM standard, including the frequency (900 MHz and 1800 MHz I think, though that could be KHz), so our phones work all over the world, except the US (the band was already allocated to something important) and Japan (I think. Um, OK, that shoots a hole in my theory) and a handful of other places.
Slashdot Mirror
Eventually we get a battle of the titans, with MPAA saying software isn't speech and M$ saying it is. I don't like the way that we'd have to get there, but that would be one hell of a court case to watch! And I reckon that in the end Bill would win it. See, you've just got to twist the system until it works for you.
Best get him on the next shuttle up there to fix it with parts from an old bicycle, a VW engine and whatever other stuff the Scrapheap Challenge/Junkyard Wars folk can spare.
PHB: Wait, passwords? What if my phone is being monitored? I'd better encrypt this...
Tech:Wait! Those phones are way too expensive and I don't have one to decrypt yours!
PHB: [crackle, hiss, crackle, etc]
Point is, that older machines could run significantly faster if they were just set up right. I've seen this sort of speed increase again and again on machines from various manufacturers (Dell, Compaq, HP, Time, to name a few) - why doesn't someone take some care when they produce the factory default? Then maybe we'd see those landfill sites filling up a little slower.
Hey; bloody good point! Someone mod this up please.
Also, it might be worth bearing in mind that anyone who comes into contact with such material should be properly quarantined, to guard against the possibility of aliens bursting from their chest and going on a rampage that only Sigourney Weaver can prevent : )
Whilst I can see the appeal for people who're unwilling to give out their CC, I'm wondering how much of a profit they think can be made off such a venture before people stop buying the cards.
homicide(Dave);
(sorry, don't know BASIC : )
After this, and that previous unsubstantiated story about the Matrox cards I'm wondering if the next version of Slashcode should include the ability to moderate topics as well as posts.
N.B. I'm not a Katz-hater, but this is far from his best work. Go ahead, mod me down if you must.
BTW, sorry if it actually has this info in the article - I don't speak Danish, my connection is really slow, and I'm just too lazy to use The Fish or whatever.
4 episodes that you've already seen 6 times as well : )
Sky in the UK is basically Fox + 6 months, and I guess it must be the same elsewhere too. I already know how cool it is to have seen the lastest movie (on holiday in the US) a few months before anyone else, so I figure there's going to be a greater demand for the latest Ally McBeal episode too.
This happened with Star Wars: Episode 1 - I knew loads of people who'd seen it before it was released because it didn't come out until the middle of the summer here. People like to think they're in some sort of exclusive preview club.
Now, if only BT would hurry up and unbundle the local loop so's I can get DSL....
[sniff, sniff]Hey, what's that funny smell? Urrrggh, eyelids....heavy....soooo sleeepyyyy.....
I'm not sure exactly how you'd classify real research work, but I'm pretty sure the people who went to libraries weren't memorising the contents of the books either. I know my friends attitude to such projects was simply to dig up as much info as possible and put it together to fulfill the criteria of the project. If you asked them to recall stuff then I expect they'd be better at remembering which book to look it up in, than recalling the details.
I appreciate your point that the ease of finding information makes the process of actually remembering it redundant, but is this a bad thing? Wouldn't it be better to teach kids how to find information, derive equations, and form opinions rather than stuffing them with facts that they'll probably have little use for in later life?
Not trying to flame; just playing Devil's advocate
The topic was Buckminster Fullerenes, and with it being a fairly new subject (this was early '96) the school library was pretty short on info. The more enthusiastic students were arranging to visit local universities to use their libraries, but I just sat at home and did a few searches on Lycos.
The difference was significant - I could produce totally up to date info, and include screenshots of 3D graphics people had rendered of the molecules, where other people were hand-drawing stuff. Hell, I could even have given my Chem teacher's Harry Kroto's (who was largely involved in their discovery) phone number at Sussex Uni. In all, I put in about 8 hours research, had the best-presented project, and got the highest grade in the class (plus the teachers hadn't seen a URL in a bibliography before, so they were very impressed).
My point is; you can't just bury your head in the sand, because although there may be negative side-effects to kids spending way too much time on computers, those who are familiar with computers will have an advantage over other kids when it comes to education.
Keeping your kids away from the net might make it more difficult for them to get pr0n and lessen the chances of them becoming a 1337 h4X0r d00d, but it'll also affect their grades when kids like me screw up the curve.
Alternatively, the context that she was using the words in could have been in a good enough pattern to tip off the system. Or whatever system was being used to monitor emails wasn't based on the same principles as Echelon (which is entirely possible if it's just a local authority employing a basic filter checking for keywords and skin-tones [pr0n]). Then again, these are just wild speculations and I could be talking out of my @$$....
I read on The Register that keywords don't work - they do n-gram comparisons to look for key patterns, which would ignore the above message. If you somehow managed to fit a bunch of those words into a couple of paragraphs about how you were going to do some terrorism then you might show up on their radar.
Surely the NSA could just splice in one of these, leaving all the data still going through, but giving them a copy too. Course, quite how they'd manage something so complicated without tipping anyone off is beyond me.
For a better discussion of this see Computer Networking by Andrew Tannenbaum - the chapter on the physical layer I think. Sorry - I would have got my facts straight, but I'm at work and the book is back home.
He said it was feasible that a court could order that all DVD players sold here have a multi-zone capability.
Sold! I'm sure a hell of a lot of people (myself included) would be willing to pay for shipping of a product like this. And it's not just a case of wanting to see the films first - Region 1 DVDs frequently have way more features than we get here in Region 2, and I'm sure this is the case for the other regions as well. I can understand why Hollywood likes to stagger the opening of movies so they've got a chance to make some money back before the hype starts elsewhere, but I think they're fighting a losing battle with media like DVDs in an increasingly global marketplace.
"An entire CD can be ripped and stored in about five minutes."
Now Joe Public, who doesn't know much about PCs, and has no idea how to rip a CD or download stuff from Gnutella or wherever, will be perfectly able to rip his CD collection w/o learning anything more complicated than his VCR. A Good Thing, to be sure, but I doubt our friends at RIAA will see it that way.
"your real friends will start to avoid talking to you at parties when they find that you keep steering the conversation back to the exploits of your 43rd-level Necromancer, because that's all you have going on in your life to talk about anymore"
It's true, so true, but I don't even have a Necromancer (actually, that sounds quite cool, but RPGs aren't my thing) - I'm reduced to talking about posts, then explaining the scoring system, then explaining Slashdot, then wondering where everyone's gone.
Are there any support groups for this?
2)Someone will have vomited something even more unpleasant than normal vomit. And possibly tried to drink it again.
3)All Brits will be horribly sunburnt.
And before you all start criticising me for xenophobia; I'm British, and I've seen the above done far too many times on holiday.
Also, thank God for dictionary.com for help with spelling xenophobia!
They'd just need to let go and drop off the bottom of the Earth. Genius!
Let's not forget that TR also encourages shooting up endangered species : )
It's particularly prevalent among young people; I graduated from Uni last summer, and I'd guess about 80% of students had phones. My course was Elec & Comp Eng, and I was one of about 10 people (out of ~ 250) in my year who didn't have one (I've got one now I've got a job).
My pay-plan has no line rental charges, most calls only cost 15p (about 25c) for the first 5 mins each day, then 5p after that with no peak rates, so it's actually cheaper than using a payphone, and I'm not bothered about spending a while chatting. I live in a fairly rural area, but reception's always good (plus it's digital, so it's nice and clear) and my fairly unreliable battery typically lasts a week. The phone cost me £20 (about $30), although it is about a year old.
The UK isn't the biggest user of mobiles though - Scandanavian countries love them. With a sparse population and rugged landscape it's way cheaper having a mobile. That's why there's so many phone manufacturers from that area of the world (Nokia, Ericcsson etc.).
We're not quite the early adopters that Japan are, but the EU does pretty good. Another possible reason is that we all adopted the GSM standard, including the frequency (900 MHz and 1800 MHz I think, though that could be KHz), so our phones work all over the world, except the US (the band was already allocated to something important) and Japan (I think. Um, OK, that shoots a hole in my theory) and a handful of other places.