...And that is called paying the Dane-geld;
But we've proved it again and again, That if once you have paid him the Dane-geld
You never get rid of the Dane.
It is wrong to put temptation in the path of any nation,
For fear they should succumb and go astray; So when you are requested to pay up or be molested,
You will find it better policy to say: --
"We never pay any-one Dane-geld,
No matter how trifling the cost; For the end of that game is oppression and shame,
And the nation that pays it is lost!"
Depends on what you're doing. For what Yahoo! does, I think PHP is probably the ticket. There are quite a few things that I use PHP for.
For business apps, which tend to be fairly complex with lots of business logic, I think Java brings more to the table. Yes, there's a performance cost in the VM layer. The tradeoff is better tools (look at all that Jakarta offers, as a starting point), a more robust language, and a more featurefull environment (servlet container).
This is, as the articles say, much wider in application than just airline passengers.
"Security" is the justification we are given for this system. As you (and others) point out, it provides litte if any.
On the other hand, what a marvelous tool for enforcing conformity (obediance) while conditioning us to accept more surveillance and more control.
Once the system is fielded and tested and we're used to it, it will expand again and again. It will be tied to our de facto National ID Cards, whatever form they end up taking. You will not be able to legally work, travel, buy, or sell without the approval of the State.
We have perhaps five years left as a nominally free country.
The collected laws, regulations, edicts, etc. would fill several shelf-feet. It is impossible to know what all the laws are, and thus whether we are in compliance.
"There's no way to rule innocent men. The only power any government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren't enough criminals, one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws. Who wants a nation of law-abiding citizens? What's there in that for anyone? But just pass the kind of laws that can neither be observed nor enforced nor objectively interpreted--and you create a nation of law-breakers--and then you cash in on the guilt." -- Ayn Rand, "Atlas Shrugged"
That's what we're facing today--a crazy quilt of random, conflicting, arbitrary, subjective laws.
Total surveillance is unlikely to lead to total enforcement because that might stampede the sheep. Rather, it will be used to cull the rams from the flock.
Do you know every single law, statute, ordinance, regulation, and edict? It is no longer possible to. Add to that the fact that there are no longer effective limits on the power of government to make or change laws at whim.
Still sure you're not doing anything "wrong"?
Want to bet your life, liberty, and property on it?
We're exporting the technology, know-how, and capital for everything else to them already. There won't be anything (except lawyers) we'll have that they don't already make for themselves.
To add it to a moving train requires adding considerable weight, which reduces the revenue-generating tonnage, more than offsetting the gained energy.
When a train goes down a grade, the locomotives go into what is called "dynamic braking", where the electric motors (there's one per axle) become generators, and the electricity generated by them is routed through banks of resistors and bled off as heat. This helps to slow the train (the mechanical resistance of the motors/generators).
Trouble is, hauling along any means of storing or using that waste heat is what would make the system as a whole horribly inefficient.
Yeah, I think it's pretty funny. Mind you, the first few times I saw it I thought "What on Earth is this?", but catching the tail end several times before "As Time Goes By", soon got me hooked.
It's more of a "chuckle" show rather than a "laugh out loud so milk spurts out your nose" show.
I ran Xenix for years, on the 386, 486, and Pentium. It wasn't bloated, it was rock-solid reliable. Xenix not only survived the introduction of the 386, it thrived. Many vertical applications (doctors' offices, etc) are still running these systems. By my lights, it was a very good Unix (though not fully SVID-compliant). I learned a lot and made a lot of money with Xenix.
SCO's move from Xenix to Unix coincided with their less developer-friendly, more grab-the-cash mentality (adding RAM to your box? That's an additional license fee, please.) as Doug Micheals took over from his dad (Larry), and played a large role in SCO's decline and eventual purchase by Caldera.
I'll always have fond memories of my years with Xenix, though. Even though my video card has more RAM than any of my Xenix boxes ever had -- hell my Palm IIIxe as as much.
In several areas here, they are multiplexing the phone lines so badly that one can only get 28.8K on dialup. DSL is not available (oh, sure, they advertise it, just try to order it...). The "solution" pushed by the telco (Verizon)? I$DN. 56K at ~$300/mo.
Which would you rather sell? 56K at $300 or 600+K at $75 or so?
Actual competition would be nice, but our local cable (Comcast) offers quite spotty service. At least the dialup (I still get ~45-52K) is reliable, that's why I've stuck with it.
I'm having problems not only with the 18GB Netfinity (10K RPM UW SCSI) drives, but having to fight IBM "Customer Service" every time. For the money (and warranty) we have on these servers, the only acceptable answer from them is "Sorry, Sir, we'll have a new drive in your hands first thing in the morning." Instead, it takes days to get the replacement parts. I once had our main production server completely down for 5 days waiting for them.
I think the problem goes way beyond a batch or line of sketchy drives. It's the whole slapdash approach to customer service.
My policy with new servers is to buy an extra drive for every ten to keep on the shelf handy for the inevitable failures. This has saved me a *lot* of aggravation. Yeah, you could say I'm giving up on getting the service I've paid for, but there's only so much a person can take.
If I could find just *one* reliable vendor who delivers products and services as promised, on time and to spec, they'd have my loyalty and I'd sing their praises. Instead, I find I find a bunch of whores who make big promises, take my money, and then just phone it in. Bah.
Gordon.
You are absolutely wrong
on
SSSCA Hearing
·
· Score: 1
So you advocate negotiation while starting from the position that you will lose. In other words, you're simply negotiating over how long it will be before all your rights are gone.
Imagine that a thug breaks into your house one night with the intent to rape your wife and daughters. By your argument above, you are completely ruling out stopping him. Instead you will negotiate and compromise.
You: Tell ya what, how about you go ahead and rape my wife, but leave my daughters alone?
Thug: Ok.
Thug enjoys wife.
Thug: Now I want this one. points to one of the daughters
You: But we had a deal!
Thug: Then I'll have them all. waves knife under your nose
You: Well, ok, let's compromise, then. You can have Nancy. peels daughter's nightie off and pushes her toward thug
Thug: Yeah, that's the stuff...
Thug enjoys daughter
Scene repeats until all have been raped
That is what you are advocating. Slow, steady movement toward complete surrender. Every "deal" you make will merely become the starting point of the next negotiation.
The policy of appeasement has a long history. Learn from it. At some point, we have to stand up and say "no", and do whatever it takes to make it stick. The alternative is abject surrender.
What do you think the Wars on Drugs, Money Laundering (via the UN), and now Terrorism are about? It's about the establishment of Empire.
Did you know that if you leave the country, the IRS deems you to be leaving for tax reasons and you are still liable for income tax? Yup.
So, while you're sitting in your jungle with your open source software on your non-crippled PC, know that the Empire will consider you a tax evader and a terrorist (but I repeat myself). You'll have an A-Team in your backyard and that will be that. Forget about any "popular uprising", too. The sheeple will watch the evening news report about a tax-evading, child-porn-distributing, movie/music-pirating tango in EBF getting taken out and nod in approval.
No, it won't be fun at all
on
SSSCA Hearing
·
· Score: 1
This is another step down the road to consolidating the power of the Police State.
"There's no way to rule innocent men. The only power any government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren't enough criminals, one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws. Who wants a nation of law-abiding citizens? What's there in that for anyone? But just pass the kind of laws that can neither be observed nor enforced nor objectively interpreted--and you create a nation of law-breakers--and then you cash in on the guilt." -- Ayn Rand, "Atlas Shrugged"
This is the nature of the police state, that anyone, any time, is in violation of some law. Thinking that only "the other guy" will get nailed is foolish. The entire purpose of these "laws" is to give the State the power to arrest and prosecute anyone they choose at any time they choose.
Tick off your local politico? Not show proper deference to the local enforcer? Have something the local thugs want (car, bike, girlfriend)? These "laws" give them cover to "teach you a lesson" and "put you in your place".
But of course it can't happen here. I'm just a paranoiac in a tin foil hat.
Slashdot Mirror
...And that is called paying the Dane-geld;
But we've proved it again and again,
That if once you have paid him the Dane-geld
You never get rid of the Dane.
It is wrong to put temptation in the path of any nation,
For fear they should succumb and go astray;
So when you are requested to pay up or be molested,
You will find it better policy to say: --
"We never pay any-one Dane-geld,
No matter how trifling the cost;
For the end of that game is oppression and shame,
And the nation that pays it is lost!"
Gordon.
wrote an excellent novel, "The Two Faces of Tomorrow" about just this subject.
I won't spoil it for you...
Gordon.
Hear! Hear!
I took January off and spent it visiting various family members. Didn't take the laptop. Did take the digital piano and an amp.
Best, most relaxing vacation I've ever had.
Hell, I'm ready to do it again...
Gordon.
Which doesn't mean they won't do it anyway. Or put you into a cell with Bubba and friends and let them do it (and worse).
If you believe that the State cares about anything other than its own power, I have a bridge to sell you. Cheap.
Depends on what you're doing. For what Yahoo! does, I think PHP is probably the ticket. There are quite a few things that I use PHP for.
For business apps, which tend to be fairly complex with lots of business logic, I think Java brings more to the table. Yes, there's a performance cost in the VM layer. The tradeoff is better tools (look at all that Jakarta offers, as a starting point), a more robust language, and a more featurefull environment (servlet container).
Actually, having done app development with both PHP and the Jakarta tools, I'd say you can't beat Jakarta and PostgreSQL as an application platform.
This is, as the articles say, much wider in application than just airline passengers.
"Security" is the justification we are given for this system. As you (and others) point out, it provides litte if any.
On the other hand, what a marvelous tool for enforcing conformity (obediance) while conditioning us to accept more surveillance and more control.
Once the system is fielded and tested and we're used to it, it will expand again and again. It will be tied to our de facto National ID Cards, whatever form they end up taking. You will not be able to legally work, travel, buy, or sell without the approval of the State.
We have perhaps five years left as a nominally free country.
The sheduled release of "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" is now June, 2003, per an article on bn.com (go to the J. K. Rowling page).
The collected laws, regulations, edicts, etc. would fill several shelf-feet. It is impossible to know what all the laws are, and thus whether we are in compliance.
"There's no way to rule innocent men. The only power any government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren't enough criminals, one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws. Who wants a nation of law-abiding citizens? What's there in that for anyone? But just pass the kind of laws that can neither be observed nor enforced nor objectively interpreted--and you create a nation of law-breakers--and then you cash in on the guilt." -- Ayn Rand, "Atlas Shrugged"
That's what we're facing today--a crazy quilt of random, conflicting, arbitrary, subjective laws.
Total surveillance is unlikely to lead to total enforcement because that might stampede the sheep. Rather, it will be used to cull the rams from the flock.
Gordon.
Do you know every single law, statute, ordinance, regulation, and edict? It is no longer possible to. Add to that the fact that there are no longer effective limits on the power of government to make or change laws at whim.
Still sure you're not doing anything "wrong"?
Want to bet your life, liberty, and property on it?
Gordon.
Lawyers?
We're exporting the technology, know-how, and capital for everything else to them already. There won't be anything (except lawyers) we'll have that they don't already make for themselves.
Gordon.
He got better...
In a stationary system, yes, that makes sense.
To add it to a moving train requires adding considerable weight, which reduces the revenue-generating tonnage, more than offsetting the gained energy.
When a train goes down a grade, the locomotives go into what is called "dynamic braking", where the electric motors (there's one per axle) become generators, and the electricity generated by them is routed through banks of resistors and bled off as heat. This helps to slow the train (the mechanical resistance of the motors/generators).
Trouble is, hauling along any means of storing or using that waste heat is what would make the system as a whole horribly inefficient.
Gordon.
In 2.96 they're not standard, and some things, like width(), don't appear to work on strings...
G.
Yeah, I think it's pretty funny. Mind you, the first few times I saw it I thought "What on Earth is this?", but catching the tail end several times before "As Time Goes By", soon got me hooked.
It's more of a "chuckle" show rather than a "laugh out loud so milk spurts out your nose" show.
Gordon.
That lucky LUCKY bastard!
Which is probably where they got the idea...
Gordon.
I ran Xenix for years, on the 386, 486, and Pentium. It wasn't bloated, it was rock-solid reliable. Xenix not only survived the introduction of the 386, it thrived. Many vertical applications (doctors' offices, etc) are still running these systems. By my lights, it was a very good Unix (though not fully SVID-compliant). I learned a lot and made a lot of money with Xenix.
SCO's move from Xenix to Unix coincided with their less developer-friendly, more grab-the-cash mentality (adding RAM to your box? That's an additional license fee, please.) as Doug Micheals took over from his dad (Larry), and played a large role in SCO's decline and eventual purchase by Caldera.
I'll always have fond memories of my years with Xenix, though. Even though my video card has more RAM than any of my Xenix boxes ever had -- hell my Palm IIIxe as as much.
We run Tomcat 4.0.3 in production, and have found it to be more than adequate. Like most Open Source tools, it's growing into larger and larger roles.
In several areas here, they are multiplexing the phone lines so badly that one can only get 28.8K on dialup. DSL is not available (oh, sure, they advertise it, just try to order it...). The "solution" pushed by the telco (Verizon)? I$DN. 56K at ~$300/mo.
Which would you rather sell? 56K at $300 or 600+K at $75 or so?
Actual competition would be nice, but our local cable (Comcast) offers quite spotty service. At least the dialup (I still get ~45-52K) is reliable, that's why I've stuck with it.
I'm having problems not only with the 18GB Netfinity (10K RPM UW SCSI) drives, but having to fight IBM "Customer Service" every time. For the money (and warranty) we have on these servers, the only acceptable answer from them is "Sorry, Sir, we'll have a new drive in your hands first thing in the morning." Instead, it takes days to get the replacement parts. I once had our main production server completely down for 5 days waiting for them.
I think the problem goes way beyond a batch or line of sketchy drives. It's the whole slapdash approach to customer service.
My policy with new servers is to buy an extra drive for every ten to keep on the shelf handy for the inevitable failures. This has saved me a *lot* of aggravation. Yeah, you could say I'm giving up on getting the service I've paid for, but there's only so much a person can take.
If I could find just *one* reliable vendor who delivers products and services as promised, on time and to spec, they'd have my loyalty and I'd sing their praises. Instead, I find I find a bunch of whores who make big promises, take my money, and then just phone it in. Bah.
Gordon.
So you advocate negotiation while starting from the position that you will lose. In other words, you're simply negotiating over how long it will be before all your rights are gone.
Imagine that a thug breaks into your house one night with the intent to rape your wife and daughters. By your argument above, you are completely ruling out stopping him. Instead you will negotiate and compromise.
You: Tell ya what, how about you go ahead and rape my wife, but leave my daughters alone?
Thug: Ok.
Thug enjoys wife.
Thug: Now I want this one. points to one of the daughters
You: But we had a deal!
Thug: Then I'll have them all. waves knife under your nose
You: Well, ok, let's compromise, then. You can have Nancy. peels daughter's nightie off and pushes her toward thug
Thug: Yeah, that's the stuff...
Thug enjoys daughter
Scene repeats until all have been raped
That is what you are advocating. Slow, steady movement toward complete surrender. Every "deal" you make will merely become the starting point of the next negotiation.
The policy of appeasement has a long history. Learn from it. At some point, we have to stand up and say "no", and do whatever it takes to make it stick. The alternative is abject surrender.
"I'm prepared to support this if Disney, et al, cross my palm with some cold, hard cash. Otherwise I'm not sure I can get on board."
That is what he's saying. Don't fool yourself into thinking he's not a whore because he makes cooing noises in your ear tonight.
What do you think the Wars on Drugs, Money Laundering (via the UN), and now Terrorism are about? It's about the establishment of Empire.
Did you know that if you leave the country, the IRS deems you to be leaving for tax reasons and you are still liable for income tax? Yup.
So, while you're sitting in your jungle with your open source software on your non-crippled PC, know that the Empire will consider you a tax evader and a terrorist (but I repeat myself). You'll have an A-Team in your backyard and that will be that. Forget about any "popular uprising", too. The sheeple will watch the evening news report about a tax-evading, child-porn-distributing, movie/music-pirating tango in EBF getting taken out and nod in approval.
This is another step down the road to consolidating the power of the Police State.
This is the nature of the police state, that anyone, any time, is in violation of some law. Thinking that only "the other guy" will get nailed is foolish. The entire purpose of these "laws" is to give the State the power to arrest and prosecute anyone they choose at any time they choose.
Tick off your local politico? Not show proper deference to the local enforcer? Have something the local thugs want (car, bike, girlfriend)? These "laws" give them cover to "teach you a lesson" and "put you in your place".
But of course it can't happen here. I'm just a paranoiac in a tin foil hat.
Riiight.
Or "rent-seeking" as it is known in more polite circles.
I think our "rulers" have long ago figured out how to play groups against one another and collect protection money from both.
Gordon.