You've missed my point: silly articles like the linked one aren't going to help NASA. Successful missions are.
As to what Nasa's record is, they certainly have alot of succesful missions but the failures tend to be spectacular: smashing up a mars probe, blowing up a shuttle, destroying a billion dollar spy satellite, etc. Sure, these may only be 3 out of 20 (or whatever) but the reality is that the bar is higher for Nasa because the stakes are higher. All it takes is one of these failures at a $billion a pop to change public opinion. String together a couple of them and you've got a serious problem.
Now, I think you and I will have to disagree about the utility of that fucking little robot. In all likelyhood, it'll be 50 years or more before we get to mars. Would *you* want to rely on 50 year old pictures before you set your ass down on a planet millions of miles from home?
same outfit that smashed a probe into mars by not converting units, right? This is a feel good piece of fluff that's so transparent it's sickening. I'm all for NASA and continued exploration of space but NASA will have to earn it's keep by successfully executing missions. Even if they're somewhat ridiculous little robots that do little more than send back pictures.
Not that I agree or disagree with you but this is precisely what makes this issue so tough. The constitution defends (as long as Janet Reno isn't pissed at you) the rights of everyone regardless of whether they are in the minority or not. The problem here occurs at one of these strange crossroads that the internet has created: most everyone agrees that censorship is bad and most everyone agrees that having 10 year olds watch some girl or guy shove a 12" dildo into their ass is also bad.....
ICAAN could have made our lives alot easier by giving us a.sex or.xxx TLD. We could have neatly cubbyholed all of the porn. Whether or not you block it is another story altogether.
Forgive my rambling but this is one of the most divisive and difficult issues that I've considered in awhile. First of all, I'm disapointed in those that place the blame on parents for "not supervising their children 24x7". I'm a parent and I'd like to think that at some point before my daughter turns 30, dropping her off at the library to do some research, reading or studying wouldn't be a moral outrage.
Duuno, this seems like a clear first amendment issue but there are so many places where porn just isn't allowed for reasons that amount to the "greater good" that I don't see how we can get around having some sort of filter - the slippery slope if you will. Another thing that strikes me about this issue is the age of the combatants and how their ages affect their viewpoint. Seems like the older folk (not terribly old either, maybe 35+) likely don't understand just how pervasive the Internet seems to have become. The final solution is probably a ways off, the filtering tech just doesn't seem to be there.
This is funny and true but most of the porn on the net is very different from the porn I found in my dads stash. The overall "Obscenity" (sp?) level of the sites is far higher. Playboy, for instance wouldn't likely run pictures of some chick letting 5 guys shoot loads all over her. Don't know whether that's good, bad or indifferent but it's my take....
and agree with Taco and others. Some form of advertising must be found that works on the Internet. If not, the Internet will become a much more boring place. Here's why:
On the internet it's possible to build quirky, interesting sites like/., something aweful, fuckedcompany and tons of others. This really isn't possible to do anywhere else and garner a large audience. It isn't likely, for example, that there could be a/. TV show. The problem is that as these sites become more popular, they become more expensive to run. Slashdot wouldn't do too well on a $29.95 Interland account. If advertising isn't around to pick up the bill (or at least some of it) then the site owners must somehow make money or just watch their business be crushed under it's own weight. Sell something you say? Well, if all of my time is spent dicking around filling orders or processing returns, there isn't much time to code, parse story submissions or write content. In any event, it's not clear that "selling something" is a panacea either. In short, people expect that there will be new articles on their favorite website and if the flow of new stuff stops, so will the flow of visitors. In my market segment, DIY home improvement, most of the retailers that "sold something" have gone bust: irenovate, cornerhardware and others. They "sold something" and had decent content. It didn't stop their slide into oblivion.
"Well, fuck 'em then, they couldn't figure out a business model that works, let 'em go bust!" you say. Well, it's an easy thing to say but the reality of the Internet is that people come here to find free information. Plain and simple. The internet as an "entertainment medium" like TV just hasn't taken off. Sure, there's some funny and interesting stuff but that doesn't appear to me as the primary reason that people are getting online. It's for email (pretty much free) and to find stuff. This "stuff" is content. It's the reason you're on slashdot right now and it, too, is free. If the smaller content companies can't find a way to turn a buck, the Internet will devolve into the same colorless, odorless, tasteless content we are now force-fed on TV and every other medium. Each company that fails (aside from the clearly ridiculous) are another body on the bonfire and at some point, advertisers will get tired of the smell and leave. Hopefully we find something that works sooner than later.
First off, can you enlighten me as to the amount of the "fortune" the napster people have made? I don't recall that they've "made" a cent.
Second of all, I'm not sure that there is this vast untapped market for hacks and workarounds that you do. I suspect that the vast majority of people could give a shit about how their VCR/DVD player encrypts or transfers the signal. All Joe 6-pack wants to do is stick his porn DVD in the player and have it work. Sure, he might be a sheep but he could care less. I, too, am of this mind. If I want to watch a movie, I can do it via PPV or go to blockbuster. If I want to watch it several times, I'll buy the fucking thing. In essence, I could care less how it works, as long as it works. I will, however, agree with you on region controls. I'm baffled as to why this is such an issue with the content industry.
why this is such a big deal? Don't get all bitter and flame me but as one of those people that just don't record anthing from TV, I'm a bit lost. Is everyone getting pissed off 'cause this is a "death of a thousand cuts" strategy from the hardware/content providers or is this the "One big thing" that could end it all? These debates are a bit lost on me as I don't really give a shit about recording anything from TV. Last time I recorded something from TV was when I was interviewed on the local news. Like 5 years ago. If I understand this correctly, certain devices won't unload their content onto other devices if they don't like their certificate or "ID". This will provide the content people with some form of assurance that their stuff isn't being copied?
I couldn't agree more. I cannot for the life of me figure out why they didn't approve a ".xxx" or ".sex". This was one of the things that I thought would have been an easy decision. Maybe they've got their head in the sand and somehow just don't want to "admit" or recognize that porn is pervasive on the net. It's not like the porn sites are just things like "hotsluts.com". Type one wrong letter someplace and you're very likely to wind up on some page for hot asian sluts. Although with the complete eradication of the difference between.net,.com and.org I suppose nobody could really enforce it anyways.
It seems like many times when a "breakthrough" like this comes about, it is always tied to the study of older data. Makes me think they should crank out a screen saver ala seti and crank through all of their old data.
I would concur that this was a success. What I was trying to wind my way to is that some people seem suprised that it took "so long" to find the back door. You know what? I'm abandoning this post. fuck it.
I'm not suprised in the least. Especially with the open source movement becoming more "mainstream". People don't say "Hey! Version 2.0 of rubandtug is out! Go download the source and audit it!!" It's always go "grab and use". Cripes probably only 10% of the people that download and use any software could read the code anyways. The underlying point being that people want to use software to get something done, not have to audit every line. That's why they are willing to pay for it. To presumably get high-quality apps that don't have this kind of crap.
I think it's butt-ugly. Interesting concept. Daimler seems to have some interesting ideas about the future of electronics in automobiles. Now if they could just get a couple of designers...
I don't disagree with you. I've given up on hotmail as the tidal wave of spam keeps rising and it's a shame. Hotmail was very convenient. The snail spam just pisses me off as I know that the same crap is delivered to all of the houses in the area and 99.999999% of them pitch it and off it goes to the dump. I'm not especially worried about the environment but that seems like a tremendous waste of resources for naught.
I agree that spam is a pain but it doesn't irritate me near as much as the junk I get via snail. I had to buy a seperate trash can just for this shit. At least with email, there's normally an unsubscribe mechanism. With snail spam (TM) there isn't any such. People who disagree with me will say that snail spam(TM) subsidizes the post office, etc but I could care less. I'd guess that 70% of the mail delivered winds up in the trash within 1 minute. All that shit goes right to the landfill.....there is no "delete" key in meatspace.
I had signed up for bcentral when I started my website a couple of years ago so I could use the banner exchange system. I quit using it completely about a year ago. I got sick of the daily email "updates" (full of crap) and also unsubscribed from that - twice. After unsubscribing the first time, the "daily updates" stopped for about a month and then restarted. The second unsubscribe didn't even faze them.
much of substance beyond the fact that e.coli and sugar are used and the creator doesn't think meat will work. I wonder how long the "digestive tract" is good for? Do the e.coli bacteria die at some point and the machine stop working? How does it scale?
In any event, the orange grove concept is a neat one but I wonder what "monitoring" needs to take place in an orange grove that a fixed sensor couldn't handle?
Slashdot Mirror
You've missed my point: silly articles like the linked one aren't going to help NASA. Successful missions are.
As to what Nasa's record is, they certainly have alot of succesful missions but the failures tend to be spectacular: smashing up a mars probe, blowing up a shuttle, destroying a billion dollar spy satellite, etc. Sure, these may only be 3 out of 20 (or whatever) but the reality is that the bar is higher for Nasa because the stakes are higher. All it takes is one of these failures at a $billion a pop to change public opinion. String together a couple of them and you've got a serious problem.
Now, I think you and I will have to disagree about the utility of that fucking little robot. In all likelyhood, it'll be 50 years or more before we get to mars. Would *you* want to rely on 50 year old pictures before you set your ass down on a planet millions of miles from home?
same outfit that smashed a probe into mars by not converting units, right? This is a feel good piece of fluff that's so transparent it's sickening. I'm all for NASA and continued exploration of space but NASA will have to earn it's keep by successfully executing missions. Even if they're somewhat ridiculous little robots that do little more than send back pictures.
Not that I agree or disagree with you but this is precisely what makes this issue so tough. The constitution defends (as long as Janet Reno isn't pissed at you) the rights of everyone regardless of whether they are in the minority or not. The problem here occurs at one of these strange crossroads that the internet has created: most everyone agrees that censorship is bad and most everyone agrees that having 10 year olds watch some girl or guy shove a 12" dildo into their ass is also bad.....
The congress, by proxy, regularly meddles with education at the local level. It's called the department of education.
ICAAN could have made our lives alot easier by giving us a .sex or .xxx TLD. We could have neatly cubbyholed all of the porn. Whether or not you block it is another story altogether.
Forgive my rambling but this is one of the most divisive and difficult issues that I've considered in awhile. First of all, I'm disapointed in those that place the blame on parents for "not supervising their children 24x7". I'm a parent and I'd like to think that at some point before my daughter turns 30, dropping her off at the library to do some research, reading or studying wouldn't be a moral outrage.
Duuno, this seems like a clear first amendment issue but there are so many places where porn just isn't allowed for reasons that amount to the "greater good" that I don't see how we can get around having some sort of filter - the slippery slope if you will. Another thing that strikes me about this issue is the age of the combatants and how their ages affect their viewpoint. Seems like the older folk (not terribly old either, maybe 35+) likely don't understand just how pervasive the Internet seems to have become. The final solution is probably a ways off, the filtering tech just doesn't seem to be there.
This is funny and true but most of the porn on the net is very different from the porn I found in my dads stash. The overall "Obscenity" (sp?) level of the sites is far higher. Playboy, for instance wouldn't likely run pictures of some chick letting 5 guys shoot loads all over her. Don't know whether that's good, bad or indifferent but it's my take....
31337 haX0rs have taken control of our systems servers and are spamming our mail servers....please. what goes around comes around.
I don't disagree but regarding your comment on Joe Schmoe, that's true of anything.
Then why post to slashdot? It's a (at least partly) ad-supported site? Why aren't you using tin to "exchange information" on newsgroups?
what about paypal?
I mostly agree with what you have to say but wonder how many "non-profit" arms otherwise profitable companies will want to absorb?
and agree with Taco and others. Some form of advertising must be found that works on the Internet. If not, the Internet will become a much more boring place. Here's why:
/., something aweful, fuckedcompany and tons of others. This really isn't possible to do anywhere else and garner a large audience. It isn't likely, for example, that there could be a /. TV show. The problem is that as these sites become more popular, they become more expensive to run. Slashdot wouldn't do too well on a $29.95 Interland account. If advertising isn't around to pick up the bill (or at least some of it) then the site owners must somehow make money or just watch their business be crushed under it's own weight. Sell something you say? Well, if all of my time is spent dicking around filling orders or processing returns, there isn't much time to code, parse story submissions or write content. In any event, it's not clear that "selling something" is a panacea either. In short, people expect that there will be new articles on their favorite website and if the flow of new stuff stops, so will the flow of visitors. In my market segment, DIY home improvement, most of the retailers that "sold something" have gone bust: irenovate, cornerhardware and others. They "sold something" and had decent content. It didn't stop their slide into oblivion.
On the internet it's possible to build quirky, interesting sites like
"Well, fuck 'em then, they couldn't figure out a business model that works, let 'em go bust!" you say. Well, it's an easy thing to say but the reality of the Internet is that people come here to find free information. Plain and simple. The internet as an "entertainment medium" like TV just hasn't taken off. Sure, there's some funny and interesting stuff but that doesn't appear to me as the primary reason that people are getting online. It's for email (pretty much free) and to find stuff. This "stuff" is content. It's the reason you're on slashdot right now and it, too, is free. If the smaller content companies can't find a way to turn a buck, the Internet will devolve into the same colorless, odorless, tasteless content we are now force-fed on TV and every other medium. Each company that fails (aside from the clearly ridiculous) are another body on the bonfire and at some point, advertisers will get tired of the smell and leave. Hopefully we find something that works sooner than later.
Wow. I had no idea. Do you have to have a license to watch ITV?
Can you explain what a "non-cheap" license is? I don't get it. Does everyone have to have a license to watch TV?
First off, can you enlighten me as to the amount of the "fortune" the napster people have made? I don't recall that they've "made" a cent.
Second of all, I'm not sure that there is this vast untapped market for hacks and workarounds that you do. I suspect that the vast majority of people could give a shit about how their VCR/DVD player encrypts or transfers the signal. All Joe 6-pack wants to do is stick his porn DVD in the player and have it work. Sure, he might be a sheep but he could care less. I, too, am of this mind. If I want to watch a movie, I can do it via PPV or go to blockbuster. If I want to watch it several times, I'll buy the fucking thing. In essence, I could care less how it works, as long as it works. I will, however, agree with you on region controls. I'm baffled as to why this is such an issue with the content industry.
why this is such a big deal? Don't get all bitter and flame me but as one of those people that just don't record anthing from TV, I'm a bit lost. Is everyone getting pissed off 'cause this is a "death of a thousand cuts" strategy from the hardware/content providers or is this the "One big thing" that could end it all? These debates are a bit lost on me as I don't really give a shit about recording anything from TV. Last time I recorded something from TV was when I was interviewed on the local news. Like 5 years ago. If I understand this correctly, certain devices won't unload their content onto other devices if they don't like their certificate or "ID". This will provide the content people with some form of assurance that their stuff isn't being copied?
I couldn't agree more. I cannot for the life of me figure out why they didn't approve a ".xxx" or ".sex". This was one of the things that I thought would have been an easy decision. Maybe they've got their head in the sand and somehow just don't want to "admit" or recognize that porn is pervasive on the net. It's not like the porn sites are just things like "hotsluts.com". Type one wrong letter someplace and you're very likely to wind up on some page for hot asian sluts. Although with the complete eradication of the difference between .net, .com and .org I suppose nobody could really enforce it anyways.
It seems like many times when a "breakthrough" like this comes about, it is always tied to the study of older data. Makes me think they should crank out a screen saver ala seti and crank through all of their old data.
I would concur that this was a success. What I was trying to wind my way to is that some people seem suprised that it took "so long" to find the back door. You know what? I'm abandoning this post. fuck it.
I'm not suprised in the least. Especially with the open source movement becoming more "mainstream". People don't say "Hey! Version 2.0 of rubandtug is out! Go download the source and audit it!!" It's always go "grab and use". Cripes probably only 10% of the people that download and use any software could read the code anyways. The underlying point being that people want to use software to get something done, not have to audit every line. That's why they are willing to pay for it. To presumably get high-quality apps that don't have this kind of crap.
I think it's butt-ugly. Interesting concept. Daimler seems to have some interesting ideas about the future of electronics in automobiles. Now if they could just get a couple of designers...
I don't disagree with you. I've given up on hotmail as the tidal wave of spam keeps rising and it's a shame. Hotmail was very convenient. The snail spam just pisses me off as I know that the same crap is delivered to all of the houses in the area and 99.999999% of them pitch it and off it goes to the dump. I'm not especially worried about the environment but that seems like a tremendous waste of resources for naught.
I agree that spam is a pain but it doesn't irritate me near as much as the junk I get via snail. I had to buy a seperate trash can just for this shit. At least with email, there's normally an unsubscribe mechanism. With snail spam (TM) there isn't any such. People who disagree with me will say that snail spam(TM) subsidizes the post office, etc but I could care less. I'd guess that 70% of the mail delivered winds up in the trash within 1 minute. All that shit goes right to the landfill.....there is no "delete" key in meatspace.
I had signed up for bcentral when I started my website a couple of years ago so I could use the banner exchange system. I quit using it completely about a year ago. I got sick of the daily email "updates" (full of crap) and also unsubscribed from that - twice. After unsubscribing the first time, the "daily updates" stopped for about a month and then restarted. The second unsubscribe didn't even faze them.
much of substance beyond the fact that e.coli and sugar are used and the creator doesn't think meat will work. I wonder how long the "digestive tract" is good for? Do the e.coli bacteria die at some point and the machine stop working? How does it scale?
In any event, the orange grove concept is a neat one but I wonder what "monitoring" needs to take place in an orange grove that a fixed sensor couldn't handle?