And before anyone brings up Gore's (narrow) win of the popular vote, the Electoral College exists for a very important purpose: to prevent small areas with dense populations to be able to run a tyranny over the rest of the people.
Also, it exists to quicken elections (or at least, that is one of its effects). Imagine this election, but multiply the confusion and political chaos by 50 (you know, 50 states and all). Of course, the electoral college discourages voting (due to the fact that your vote doesn't count if it isn't for the winner) and discourages third parties (plurality instead of representational voting). Also, Bush was the one who started this whole thing- the recount was started by Florida law, but Republicans have distorted that. Mind you, Gore is not free from guilt either. IMHO, both of these guys should have let the recounts procede without interruption and accepted the results like gentlemen instead of bickering like children. I voted Nader, i have less regrets now than i ever thought i would. Gore and Bush are both showing how much the people (not the powerful) actually mean to them- as soon as the votes are cast they each try to wrangle a victory through lawyering and obscuration.
Learning this the hard way. Apparently Star Office hates my hard drive and absolutely refuses to install (i've gone about 1/2 month of tech support, guru support, caffeine support, and beating my head against the wall. I can't get it to do anything and am just reformatting the docs by hand (blah).
-Elendale (I still have a "fucking_useless_sdw_stuff" directory)
What AOL lacks for in monopoly power, it makes up for in total lameness. If you've ever used AOL you would realize the evil that it is. M$ at least doesn't release new versions of windows with literally no new features (except bugs reclassified as features) and two dozen new ways to fuck the customer. Besides that, people can live their lives knowing nothing but AOL- get their news from time warner, their net from aol, etc.
This is like satan getting in bed with... err... himself...
At least before, we had two gigantic evil companies- are we going to end up with one octopus of satan? How many degrees of seperation will projects such as, say, mozilla be away from IE? Will AOL become the default Windows browser? *shudder* What else could they try to anal rape us with?
You're a genius!
While Intel and AMD are working on their ancient 7th and 8th generations chips, I'll be releasing my 486 chips! They run at an unbelievable 10 MHz!!! Thats a full 8 numbers more than they pentium 4! And its only twice the price!
While you address his (the poster's) problem, you don't address the problem at large: the 'fringe' stuff gets dropped. While it works well for us now as freenet is rather geeky, what happens when AOL puts a friendly (read: facist) UI on top of freenet and suddenly its usenet all over again? The problem is that, like with presidential elections, 49% of the people are completely ignored while 51% get their way all the time.
Once the operating system becomes more or less irrelevant, schools will of their own volition choose the operating system that is cheaper, more secure, easier to maintain programatically and so forth.
While this may seem like it makes sense, during the last year of my high school our school took a $70000 grant from a local teleco that was given to increase our (already quite formidable) computer science program. $6000 of it went to routers for us to play with, $64000 went to buying Windows NT Server edition for every computer in one of our labs. Schools are beurocracies, so they don't always (ever?) make common-sense decisions. Also note that they spent another $12000 of taxpayer's money for various methods to secure those boxes (but they still were around 1/10 as secure as the linux box at my house).
blah blah blah, i don't have time to meta-troll so i'll get right to the point:
I don't use mozilla because its open source. I don't use mozilla because i hate ie (though it would tip me over the edge if they were even). I use mozilla because it works better than ie. The gecko engine renders faster than ie does, the UI is cleaner to use. Like i said earlier, IMHO the only thing ie wins at is program integration and that has nothing to do at all with ie's quality, merely its quantity and/or mozilla is a 'new' browser.
Don't you dare disrupt our society, follow the rules or you will be punished. What happened to protest? Sure, when you protest you are literally asking for trouble but this is not a case where the actions of the school were appropriate. He should have the right to refuse: if it violates his ethics (i know it would violate mine) to be the head of the societal dick measuring contest then he should not be punished for that. Next will we start rounding up the Wiccans for not obeying the laws of the bible?
Says the fake document. So i point my mozilla at microsoft.com and laugh. Yes, i use mozilla nightlies. Yes, in windows. Yes, over ie. Its been a long, hard road but i think mozilla is finally above the usability level and its the best browser i've tried. The only complaints i have is that some browser integration programs don't work too well with it. Once mozilla gets more press that problem will go away. Just my opinion:)
and believe it or not, the government actually respects information sent in meat-mail form! Calling all terrorists! The US is actively helping you out, just send stuff by normal mail and your privacy is guaranteed by the very people you are trying to overthrow (or something)!!!
Damn, i hope they don't get any bad ideas out of this post...
-Elendale (I'm thinking of sending '1984' or 'Farenheit 451' to gov addresses with the subject 'plans to bomb washington' or something equally ominous)
Me: I want configuration Foo. No OS on it, plz.
Fry's Hardware Idiot: Erm... I can't do that- you need windows to use your computer.
Me: No i don't, i'm going to install my own OS on it.
FHI: Pirating your operating system is bad... blah blah blah...
Me: No you idiot, i'm going to use an OS i already own.
FHI: You can't use a current copy of windows with a new pc...
Me: I'm not going to use windows! I'm going to use a real OS made by people who don't treat me like shit!
FHI: We should install the OS for you, its easier and faster and safer, plus you'll get this shiny 'authentic' thingy.
Me: You'll install it for me? Great! I want QNX and Slackware installed, i'll draw up a partition table for you.
FHI: wha...???
If I'm a store owner, I can make it a condition that, in order to enter my store -- which is my own property -- you have to submit yourself to search.
True, but you can't force people to enter your store (as you aknowledged). What M$ is doing is equivalent to running a grocery store and then requiring anyone who wants to by groceries to buy from your store first, which also requires you to enter the store.
Don't tell the thugs at M$ but i actually got an OEM copy of WinME without purchasing additional hardware- actually, i bought some extra stuff from the same place so in effect i did but that isn't the point: i could have done it. Here's a question for you: can M$ force us to run the 'upgrade treadmill'? That's about as anti-competetive as you can get. One of the reasons i build computers instead of buy them is so i won't be gouged by the extra $200 or whatever windows costs. True, i could return it, but its much easier for me to not buy it in the first place. Mind you, microwaving NT disks in front of upper-level management is fun to do:)
OEM copies are illegal to distribute without a computer BUT it doesn't limit fair use.
Read the liscense punk. On WinME it states that the OS belongs to the hardware, and under no circumstances can it be used on different hardware. Of course, that was on a 'Restoration CD'... I just want to know why a restore cd has an EULA attached to it. Its not like it will run on any different hardware- even upgrades kill it (actually had to buy a copy of windows because of that problem last week)- so you aren't going to pirate it. I guess being abusive is just good for profits.
That program kicks so much ass. Its like the ultimate hacking tool for macs. I enjoy meeting Windos people and telling them to do the stuff on their crippled little boxes i can do on my mac. Completely re-work the GUI? check. Hack programs in machine code? check. Hack save games? check. Pull music from programs (albeit, non-compressed music)? check. There's just so much cool stuff. Of course, Linux rocks all over it as far as customizability. That said, i can't wait to play with OSX and the G4 my mom is getting:)
The problem with that is the current +1/-1 way of moderating works on a -1 to 5 point scale. Lets say i post some flamebait that half of the/. community likes, but half hates. Lets say there are 200 people who mark it -1, but 205 people who mark it +1. Now the comment is at +5, despite the fact that half the people think it sucks! I think K5 has done it right: let everyone moderate, but the sum is an average of the total moderation and not a flat number. This way, the comment above (half the people mark it a '5' and the other half mark it a '1' for grand total of 2.5) would get a fair mark. This also means your opinion counts! If someone finds a comment that is a troll (and say he's the only one who realises this), he will moderate it downward- yet there will be ten others who moderate it up giving it a total score of +5, effectively negating the thoughts of one of the moderators. However, with the 'average moderation' system a lot of people have to mark something up in order to completely negate a score of '1'.
This also reduces the effect of 'muliple account moderation' that is done. Lets say i have five accounts, at any given time 2 of them will have moderator privileges (not accurate, i know, but stick with me). When i comment, i log in with the two accounts and +1 it for a total of +2. If i already do this enough, i will post with a +1 basic and the grand total will be a +4 for an average comment. Again, with averages instead of flat bonuses a couple people can remove this advantage i have.
This isn't the extent of it, but its a good start. I may be writing something on K5 in the near future about this.
Sheesh... and here i've been pronouncing it all the time like you intended the Japanese translation... actually, i didn't read the FAQ so i pronounced it like the Japanese would too.
-Elendale (the name's not Japanese, anyone want to take a guess?)
Bwahahaha! I got ten:P Stretched across 5X5 virtual desktops. *cackle*. Maybe a non-netscape browser will handle the frames differently and i can get even more!
-Elendale (thinks he will be beaten by the time this is posted)
While i do agree the 'hackers' ethic means sharing, it does not mean foolishly allowing anyone access to your box on a network that has been shown as unsafe (the internet). This is even redundant, it was posted with the article. I would leave my box completely open, but experience has shown that you will be abused by the 1337 of the internet. Unfortunate, but that is my take. Feel free to do whatever you want to.
As if paying 25k USD per year isn't enough to get decent net access... after all, my college's excuse for high prices was the demand for new technology. *grumble* I would be wrathful if this were installed after i had paid for college that year.
Slashdot Mirror
Also, it exists to quicken elections (or at least, that is one of its effects). Imagine this election, but multiply the confusion and political chaos by 50 (you know, 50 states and all). Of course, the electoral college discourages voting (due to the fact that your vote doesn't count if it isn't for the winner) and discourages third parties (plurality instead of representational voting). Also, Bush was the one who started this whole thing- the recount was started by Florida law, but Republicans have distorted that. Mind you, Gore is not free from guilt either. IMHO, both of these guys should have let the recounts procede without interruption and accepted the results like gentlemen instead of bickering like children. I voted Nader, i have less regrets now than i ever thought i would. Gore and Bush are both showing how much the people (not the powerful) actually mean to them- as soon as the votes are cast they each try to wrangle a victory through lawyering and obscuration.
-Elendale
-Elendale
-Elendale (I still have a "fucking_useless_sdw_stuff" directory)
-Elendale (blah)
At least before, we had two gigantic evil companies- are we going to end up with one octopus of satan? How many degrees of seperation will projects such as, say, mozilla be away from IE? Will AOL become the default Windows browser? *shudder* What else could they try to anal rape us with?
-Elendale (moving to canada...)
You're a genius!
While Intel and AMD are working on their ancient 7th and 8th generations chips, I'll be releasing my 486 chips! They run at an unbelievable 10 MHz!!! Thats a full 8 numbers more than they pentium 4! And its only twice the price!
-Elendale (</sarcasm>)
-Elendale
While this may seem like it makes sense, during the last year of my high school our school took a $70000 grant from a local teleco that was given to increase our (already quite formidable) computer science program. $6000 of it went to routers for us to play with, $64000 went to buying Windows NT Server edition for every computer in one of our labs. Schools are beurocracies, so they don't always (ever?) make common-sense decisions. Also note that they spent another $12000 of taxpayer's money for various methods to secure those boxes (but they still were around 1/10 as secure as the linux box at my house).
-ElendaleI don't use mozilla because its open source. I don't use mozilla because i hate ie (though it would tip me over the edge if they were even). I use mozilla because it works better than ie. The gecko engine renders faster than ie does, the UI is cleaner to use. Like i said earlier, IMHO the only thing ie wins at is program integration and that has nothing to do at all with ie's quality, merely its quantity and/or mozilla is a 'new' browser.
-Elendale
-Elendale (*screams, rants, raves more*)
-Elendale
Damn, i hope they don't get any bad ideas out of this post...
-Elendale (I'm thinking of sending '1984' or 'Farenheit 451' to gov addresses with the subject 'plans to bomb washington' or something equally ominous)
-Elendale (couldn't resist)
Me: I want configuration Foo. No OS on it, plz.
-Elendale (next time...)Fry's Hardware Idiot: Erm... I can't do that- you need windows to use your computer.
Me: No i don't, i'm going to install my own OS on it.
FHI: Pirating your operating system is bad... blah blah blah...
Me: No you idiot, i'm going to use an OS i already own.
FHI: You can't use a current copy of windows with a new pc...
Me: I'm not going to use windows! I'm going to use a real OS made by people who don't treat me like shit!
FHI: We should install the OS for you, its easier and faster and safer, plus you'll get this shiny 'authentic' thingy.
Me: You'll install it for me? Great! I want QNX and Slackware installed, i'll draw up a partition table for you.
FHI: wha...???
True, but you can't force people to enter your store (as you aknowledged). What M$ is doing is equivalent to running a grocery store and then requiring anyone who wants to by groceries to buy from your store first, which also requires you to enter the store.
-Elendale-Elendale
Read the liscense punk. On WinME it states that the OS belongs to the hardware, and under no circumstances can it be used on different hardware. Of course, that was on a 'Restoration CD'... I just want to know why a restore cd has an EULA attached to it. Its not like it will run on any different hardware- even upgrades kill it (actually had to buy a copy of windows because of that problem last week)- so you aren't going to pirate it. I guess being abusive is just good for profits.
-Elendale (and fair use is dead)-Elendale
This also reduces the effect of 'muliple account moderation' that is done. Lets say i have five accounts, at any given time 2 of them will have moderator privileges (not accurate, i know, but stick with me). When i comment, i log in with the two accounts and +1 it for a total of +2. If i already do this enough, i will post with a +1 basic and the grand total will be a +4 for an average comment. Again, with averages instead of flat bonuses a couple people can remove this advantage i have.
This isn't the extent of it, but its a good start. I may be writing something on K5 in the near future about this.-Elendale (see the .sig)
-Elendale (the name's not Japanese, anyone want to take a guess?)
-Elendale (personally, if it was me i would tell anyway. My time & money is worth preventing abuse like this)
-Elendale (thinks he will be beaten by the time this is posted)
-Elendale (blah)
-Elendale (sorry, tech support is getting to me... *rant, scream, moan in agony*)
-Elendale (blah)