The only logical way to answer Hasbro is to hurt them financially. Don't buy Scrabble products. Don't participate in officially sanctioned Scrabble activities. If you are a member of the NSA (the National Scrabble Association, not the spooks), resign in protest.
There are all sorts of interesting alternative anagramming word games out there -- Perquackey is a good example. And, for that matter, why not invent a superior anagramming board game, one with more scope for strategy. A game with more of that ineffable quality of "beauty" that Scrabble so sorely lacks.
NASA solicited volunteers for this same experiment back in 1970 at the Safford, Ariz. Federal Prison Camp. Only, they didn't offer monetary compensation to the inmates who volunteered; it just counted as time served on their sentences.
IIRC, that time the testing was conducted at the Presidio, in SF, CA....
Maybe NASA figures they can do it right this time.
MSFT's cybernetic teddy bear is remiscent of another teddy bear -- from Ted Sturgeon's classic horror tale, "The Professor's Teddy Bear."
In that one, an alien intelligence embodied in a young child's furry toy lends the kid strange powers, powers that let him transform and destroy other people. . . . Just like MSFT is doing, actually.
Yes, and for all the billions that MSFT has thrown into "research" they've come up with surprisingly trivial results. . . . They labored mightily, and delivered a mouse (the famous MSFT mouse).
Back in early 2003, Microsoft helped keep the SCO Group afloat by purchasing a UNIX IP "license." Along with Sun's license purchase at about the same time, this enabled SCOG to proceed with its lawsuit against IBM and the Linux community. And, later in the year, Mike Anderer apparently brokered a deal that involved Microsoft, to enable the PIPE financing of SCOG by BayStar.
Mr. Taylor, do you feel that these moves by Microsoft are permissable competitive tactics?
This is an indication that Microsoft is having trouble bringing in complex projects. It hints at deep organizational problems, and maybe basic flaws in the factory assembly line approach to developing software.
And why have so many smart people left MSFT? Nathan Myrhvold, Rob Glaser, Charles Simonyi, Rick Belluzo, and others . . . Maybe it's just not a good environment for nurturing talent.
And Dave Cutler, Bill's star project leader, the guy who brought in NT ten years back -- Cutler looks like he's burned out.
Yes, MSFT is definitely on the downward trajectory.
The SCO Group can revoke Unix licenses only with the approval of Novell. This is why the AIX "revocation" was invalid. This is why the threat to revoke SGI's IRIX license is nothing more than a PR ploy, an attempt to pump the stock price.
CONFIDENTIAL BUSINESS PROPOSAL
on
Latest SCO News
·
· Score: 2, Funny
confidential business proposal
i am barrister david boies and i am represtenting a nigerian firm in the matter of the transfer of a large sum of moneys. this sum, $1,000,000,000 (one billion u.s.) is from the estate of a mr. thomas watson, deceased ceo of the u.s. firm of ibm. our client, the lagos cruise operation (lco) of lagos, nigeria, is a locally chartered cruise ship operator. we are suing ibm on behalf of our client to recover the moneys from the aforesaid estate which was promised to us in a contract with ibm giving ibm the rights to develop and market eunuchs african tours. the management of ibm reneged on the agreement by stealing our intelligent properties and we are understandably annoyed over this but are responding by making threats and filing frivolous lawsuits at the high court in lagos, nigeria.
kindly provide us with a bank account where we can transfer the moneys gained from our frivolous litigation. for your services we can promise you 28.8 million as a transfer fee.
strict confidentiality is necessary to evade the clutches of an international consporacy known as "linux" which seeks to deprive our client of its fair share of the proceeds.
Back almost a half century ago, when I was in the fifth grade, I remember something very much like this.
One of the school bullies would come over to me and say, "See them guys over there? If you give me half your lunch money, I'll protect you from them. Otherwise, they'll take *all* your lunch money, and kick your butt on top of that."
It could have been worse. Imagine a law to permit the music and movie industry to deputize a posse to go after and lynch persons they suspect of trading copyrighted materials. "We'll give you a fair trial, then hang you."
I would like to commend and congratulate you on your co-sponsorship of the SSSCA. If it had been up to me, I would have named it something totally stupid, such as "MCPPA" (Media Cartel Profit Protection Act). The SSSCA nomenclature is pure genius, but I guess that's why you're a senator and I'm still a lowly peon.
Yes, indeed the time has come for the Government to require that digital rights management be embedded in all electronic devices. I, too, have heard those horrible rumors about people using their ni-cad battery chargers to make unauthorized copies of DVD movies. We can't allow this to go on, otherwise such fine 100% American companies as Sony and Universal-Vivendi might go bankrupt, depriving thousands of American workers of their jobs. Thank Heavens you care for your constituency!
Senator, like you, I too am a fan of Big Government. The bigger the better. Indeed, you can't trust the Free Market, not to mention those pesky Capitalists to do the Right Thing, and that's why Government Regulation and Sanctions, such as the SSSCA, are always necessary. Always. It's a mystery to me why people don't understand this. But I guess that's why you're a senator, so you can decide what's best for the people. And I'm thrilled the Republican party has finally Seen The Light and begun to co-opt some of the Marxist wisdom. Can't let the Communists keep all the Bright Ideas, can we?
For that matter, did you know that computers can be used to spread Subversive Ideas? I strongly suggest that you immediately introduce legislation to set up a Government agency to license and monitor *all* computer use. These infernal machines are just too dangerous to exist in an unregulated environment.
If the voters in Alaska, in their great wisdom, elected you as their senator, why it must certainly be a fine place. I'll be packing up to move there at my earliest convenience, so I can live the Wonderful Life and get on the Welfare Rolls. Meanwhile, I'm studying Senator Hollings' opening statement in the hearings, so I too can learn to Talk Tough and Threaten.
Not your constituent yet, but hope soon to be (please do your utmost to increase Public Assistance payments in Alaska - $50,000/month would be nice), and, nevertheless still a great fan of yours. Keep up the good work.
I used a slidrule to do my math homework in the 7th grade.
This would save me about an hour per night, but, due to roundoff error,
I would generally lose credit for a couple of problems. Still, it was generally worth it.
This was in 1959-60, when calculators were electro-mechanical, and cost a couple of hundred bucks.
The world's smallest computer was the size of a suitcase, and could just barely manage two-digit math.
Anyone here old enough to remember the World Power Systems ads about 20 years back?
All the major computer hobbyist publications had full-color spreads of
very neat add-on cards and peripherals for Trash 80's, and at a very good price. People sent their money
in to World Power Systems and waited, and waited. No merchandise was forthcoming.
It seems that this was all the inspiration of a scam artist, and the pictured devices and peripherals
were mockups. No one got their money back and the magazine ads were never paid for. Dunno if the guy was ever caught.
Does anyone have scans of these ads to post? Would be interesting.
Using space and ground-based telescopes, I should think it would be possible to look for "artifacts", evidence of technology.
As an example, how about searching for the flares produced by Bussard ram-jet drives? These should be visible for
hundreds of lightyears, at least. Also, look for cosmic anomalies that might point
to massive engineering projects by highly advanced civilizations, such as Dyson Spheres, "ringworlds" (a la Niven), etc.
It's not so much the floppy disks that are to blame
as the floppy drives. The hardware seems to be made
much more cheaply.
It seems to me that the same problem developed with 5-1/4" floppies
some years back. Manufacturers of the drives started cutting corners, using unstable pressed steel frames instead
of the more expensive kind. This produces frequent write errors.
> Science... when faced with a question that is unansweable at the present time says, "We don't know." >
All too often, science, when faced with unanswerable questions, rejects the questions.
Behavioral psychology, for example, when faced with the problem of "mind", came up with the novel suggestion that "mind" doesn't exist.
Trained scientific observers, asked to explain firewalking, come up with lame "scientific" explanations.
Scientists, confronted with verified UFO observations, claim mass hallucination.
Science, in its arrogance, is the conventional wisdom, religion the underdog, the rebellion, in contrast to the situation in Galileo's time.
Slashdot Mirror
The only logical way to answer Hasbro is to hurt them financially. Don't buy Scrabble products. Don't
participate in officially sanctioned Scrabble activities. If you are a member of the NSA (the National Scrabble Association, not the spooks), resign in protest.
There are all sorts of interesting alternative anagramming word games out there -- Perquackey is a good example. And, for that matter, why not invent a superior anagramming board game, one with more scope for strategy. A game with more of that ineffable quality of "beauty" that Scrabble so sorely lacks.
NASA solicited volunteers for this same experiment
...
back in 1970 at the Safford, Ariz. Federal Prison Camp. Only, they didn't offer monetary compensation
to the inmates who volunteered; it just counted as time served on their sentences.
IIRC, that time the testing was conducted at the Presidio, in SF, CA.
Maybe NASA figures they can do it right this time.
MSFT's cybernetic teddy bear is remiscent
of another teddy bear -- from Ted Sturgeon's
classic horror tale, "The Professor's Teddy Bear."
In that one, an alien intelligence embodied in a
young child's furry toy lends the kid strange powers,
powers that let him transform and destroy other
people. . . . Just like MSFT is doing, actually.
Yes, and for all the billions that MSFT has thrown
into "research" they've come up with surprisingly
trivial results. . . . They labored mightily,
and delivered a mouse (the famous MSFT mouse).
Back in early 2003, Microsoft helped keep the SCO Group afloat by purchasing a UNIX IP "license." Along with Sun's license purchase at about the same time, this enabled SCOG to proceed with its lawsuit against IBM and the Linux community. And, later in the year, Mike Anderer apparently brokered a deal that involved Microsoft, to enable the PIPE financing of SCOG by BayStar.
Mr. Taylor, do you feel that these moves by Microsoft are permissable competitive tactics?
This is an indication that Microsoft is having trouble bringing in
complex projects. It hints at deep organizational problems, and maybe
basic flaws in the factory assembly line approach to developing software.
And why have so many smart people left MSFT? Nathan Myrhvold, Rob Glaser,
Charles Simonyi, Rick Belluzo, and others . . . Maybe it's just not a
good environment for nurturing talent.
And Dave Cutler, Bill's star project leader, the guy who brought in NT
ten years back -- Cutler looks like he's burned out.
Yes, MSFT is definitely on the downward trajectory.
Enderle took a wrong turn . . .
He was billed in an act with Wayne Newton
(or was it Rodney Dangerfield?), but he mistakenly
ended up at SCOGForum.
The guy is a one-man dog-and-pony show.
My only question is, can he play the kazoo?
The SCO Group can revoke Unix licenses
only with the approval of Novell.
This is why the AIX "revocation" was invalid.
This is why the threat to revoke SGI's
IRIX license is nothing more than a PR ploy,
an attempt to pump the stock price.
confidential business proposal
i am barrister david boies and i am represtenting a nigerian firm in the
matter of the transfer of a large sum of moneys. this sum, $1,000,000,000
(one billion u.s.) is from the estate of a mr. thomas watson, deceased
ceo of the u.s. firm of ibm. our client, the lagos cruise operation (lco)
of lagos, nigeria, is a locally chartered cruise ship operator. we are
suing ibm on behalf of our client to recover the moneys from the aforesaid
estate which was promised to us in a contract with ibm giving ibm the
rights to develop and market eunuchs african tours. the management of
ibm reneged on the agreement by stealing our intelligent properties and
we are understandably annoyed over this but are responding by making
threats and filing frivolous lawsuits at the high court in lagos, nigeria.
kindly provide us with a bank account where we can transfer the moneys
gained from our frivolous litigation. for your services we can promise
you 28.8 million as a transfer fee.
strict confidentiality is necessary to evade the clutches of an
international consporacy known as "linux" which seeks to deprive our
client of its fair share of the proceeds.
If your coding skills aren't up to competing with .
myself and all the other hobbyists and Open Source
software writers . .
Well then, maybe you should just retrain as a plumber.
Why the hell did this guys *whine* get modded up to a 5?
Back almost a half century ago, when I was in the
fifth grade, I remember something very much like this.
One of the school bullies would come over to me and say,
"See them guys over there? If you give me half your lunch money,
I'll protect you from them. Otherwise, they'll take *all* your
lunch money, and kick your butt on top of that."
Different era. Same tactics.
Indeed. Music went rapidly downhill after the Big Bopper,
J.S. Bach, died in 1750.
It could have been worse. Imagine a law to permit the
music and movie industry to deputize a posse
to go after and lynch persons they suspect
of trading copyrighted materials. "We'll give you a fair trial, then hang you."
I would like to commend and congratulate you on your co-sponsorship of
the SSSCA. If it had been up to me, I would have named it something
totally stupid, such as "MCPPA" (Media Cartel Profit Protection
Act). The SSSCA nomenclature is pure genius, but I guess that's why
you're a senator and I'm still a lowly peon.
Yes, indeed the time has come for the Government to require that digital
rights management be embedded in all electronic devices. I, too, have
heard those horrible rumors about people using their ni-cad battery
chargers to make unauthorized copies of DVD movies. We can't allow
this to go on, otherwise such fine 100% American companies as Sony and
Universal-Vivendi might go bankrupt, depriving thousands of American
workers of their jobs. Thank Heavens you care for your constituency!
Senator, like you, I too am a fan of Big Government. The bigger the
better. Indeed, you can't trust the Free Market, not to mention
those pesky Capitalists to do the Right Thing, and that's why
Government Regulation and Sanctions, such as the SSSCA, are always
necessary. Always. It's a mystery to me why people don't understand
this. But I guess that's why you're a senator, so you can decide what's
best for the people. And I'm thrilled the Republican party has finally
Seen The Light and begun to co-opt some of the Marxist wisdom. Can't
let the Communists keep all the Bright Ideas, can we?
For that matter, did you know that computers can be used to spread
Subversive Ideas? I strongly suggest that you immediately introduce
legislation to set up a Government agency to license and monitor *all*
computer use. These infernal machines are just too dangerous to exist
in an unregulated environment.
If the voters in Alaska, in their great wisdom, elected you as their
senator, why it must certainly be a fine place. I'll be packing up to move
there at my earliest convenience, so I can live the Wonderful Life and get
on the Welfare Rolls. Meanwhile, I'm studying Senator Hollings' opening
statement in the hearings, so I too can learn to Talk Tough and Threaten.
Not your constituent yet, but hope soon to be (please do your utmost
to increase Public Assistance payments in Alaska - $50,000/month would
be nice), and, nevertheless still a great fan of yours. Keep up the
good work.
Yours sincerely,
I used a slidrule to do my math homework in the 7th grade. This would save me about an hour per night, but, due to roundoff error, I would generally lose credit for a couple of problems. Still, it was generally worth it. This was in 1959-60, when calculators were electro-mechanical, and cost a couple of hundred bucks. The world's smallest computer was the size of a suitcase, and could just barely manage two-digit math.
Anyone here old enough to remember the World Power Systems ads about 20 years back? All the major computer hobbyist publications had full-color spreads of very neat add-on cards and peripherals for Trash 80's, and at a very good price. People sent their money in to World Power Systems and waited, and waited. No merchandise was forthcoming. It seems that this was all the inspiration of a scam artist, and the pictured devices and peripherals were mockups. No one got their money back and the magazine ads were never paid for. Dunno if the guy was ever caught. Does anyone have scans of these ads to post? Would be interesting.
Using space and ground-based telescopes, I should think it would be possible to look for "artifacts", evidence of technology. As an example, how about searching for the flares produced by Bussard ram-jet drives? These should be visible for hundreds of lightyears, at least. Also, look for cosmic anomalies that might point to massive engineering projects by highly advanced civilizations, such as Dyson Spheres, "ringworlds" (a la Niven), etc.
It's not so much the floppy disks that are to blame as the floppy drives. The hardware seems to be made much more cheaply. It seems to me that the same problem developed with 5-1/4" floppies some years back. Manufacturers of the drives started cutting corners, using unstable pressed steel frames instead of the more expensive kind. This produces frequent write errors.
> Science... when faced with a question that is unansweable at the present time says, "We don't know." > All too often, science, when faced with unanswerable questions, rejects the questions. Behavioral psychology, for example, when faced with the problem of "mind", came up with the novel suggestion that "mind" doesn't exist. Trained scientific observers, asked to explain firewalking, come up with lame "scientific" explanations. Scientists, confronted with verified UFO observations, claim mass hallucination. Science, in its arrogance, is the conventional wisdom, religion the underdog, the rebellion, in contrast to the situation in Galileo's time.
For the record, it's Deutschland, not Deutcheland deutsch, not deutche Get your own facts straight before you accuse others of ignorance.