Even though I "am new here" (see my/. ID) I really wish I could find a slashdot like page frequented by real tech geeks/nerds.
That's what/. was, until we let the riff-raff in, somewhere around the 650,000 mark... Now that we're past double that, the old guys like myself simply get drowned out. And it seems the same phenomenon turned the moderation and meta moderation systems to crap as well, making it even worse.
what's with all the black in outer space anyway. Black holes, black energy, black matter, even the nothing part is black. Black black black. It's depressing.
"Dark" means we have no idea WTF it is.
Dark matter means our equations don't work, and the movements we can observer show there's additional matter out there, but we can't see it.
Dark energy means, notwithstanding the previous "dark" entity, our equations STILL DON'T WORK, so besides that extra mass, there's extra energy out there, too, which we also can't see.
Black holes are the original "dark matter" but instead of being spread uniformly across the universe, they're impossible objects at specific points in space...
Yes, how much we don't know is certainly depressing. Even more so when people go on and on about what we think we're sure of, and ignoring all of the above.
"I would have done it diffferently" does not mean that the format is bad.
Every open source multimedia developer outside of Xiph.org, who has had to do anything with Ogg, will tell you that Ogg is a flaming pile of crap. This notably includes Moritz Bunkus, the author of Ogmtools. Quotes of such are easy to find.
For a real challenge, just try to find ANYONE saying Ogg is a well-deigned and well thought-out container format...
won't you be charged for twice the bandwidth if you are using it as your desktop to surf the web?
Twice?! Haha. No.
Try 10X or so.
HTML and optimized compressed images are far, far smaller than an un-optimized, on-the-fly compressed X11 display. NX does a good job, but no way are you anywhere near just double the bandwidth. And YouTube? Forget it!
And let's remember, not only are you paying Amazon twice, you're also paying that much more for your own broadband connection.
isn't spending time in a Federal prison, but instead is free to start a new company that actually buys up some of SCO's alleged IP to start another round of "litigation as a business model" pump and dumps is beyond me.
This will remain the status-quo as long as Corporate personhood is the law.
You can create a "person" for a few bucks, commit all the crimes you want, and then let that "person" take all the blame for it. You were merely a slave to the corporation. And as an added bonus, there is no criminal law for corporate persons, so they only ever have to cough up some money, and that only after they've killed a LOT of people. Just ask Toyota.
TCP/IP takes up "a lot of code space and CPU on the device." Many other simple protocols do not. I think it's safe to say he does in fact believe TCP/IP is required...
DHCP for configuring a critical device is an utterly INSANE idea. The protocol needs to be PUSH, not PULL, for numerous reasons.
First, consider that the first time you connect to the device, you type in a static IP address. Great, EXCEPT YOU TYPED IT WRONG! Now it won't grab the DHCP address, and the device is now completely unreachable... via it's supposed MANAGEMENT INTERFACE. Great! Now you need to go plugin the serial cable to fix the management interface, or hard-reset the device, losing all the configuration.
Or maybe consider that the network addressing was change, and the management port configuration wasn't... Sure, an administrative oversight, but one that happens. And now you're stuck.
Even ethernet is not a protocol, it's a MAC scheme. You still need a TCP/IP stack to communicate
Those of us who have performed communications between two Ethernet-connected devices (at layer-2) without the use of higher level protocols (like IP), will be quite surprised to hear that...
The manufacturers of those ATA-Over-Ethernet devices will be aghast as well when you tell them their products can't work...
I think Ethernet is the real replacement. A little TFT or Telnet server / client is really trivial to write. This can (and often has been done) in firmware. For example, most (all?) home Ethernet and wireless routers dont have a serial port. Their management is over Ethernet - works great.
That works pretty well when the device is supposed to be a DHCP server to begin with, but not so much, otherwise.
How do you configure the IP address of a new device? With, say, printers, there's some proprietary software that will scan the entire network for BrandX devices and offer a GUI to configure them. And then any network protocol is pretty impractical for the simple reason that you get disconnected upon device reboots, and no way to know to auto-reconnect upon restart. Compare this to RS-232, where it's as simple as walking over and plugging-in to the device directly, and having a continuous connection as good as if you had a keyboard and monitor wired-up.
These issues make it very cumbersome and clumsy in enough ways that it won't catch on in the business-space as it currently is. A whole new protocol is needed for this kind of device management over ethernet... and good luck implementing all this in a PC BIOS...
Yes, because adding one pain reliever to another pain reliever would make no other sense than to kill the patient.
The Acetaminophen is not in Vicodin because the manufacturer wants it to be there (for some good reason), but instead because the government offers less strict regulations if you do so (Schedule III drug versus Schedule II)...
If you'd like to offer an alternative explanation as to why the government basically REQUIRES the additive, I'd love to hear it.
The US has, for example, been poisoning marijuana fields with paraquat for decades.
Paraquat is a herbicide. It's effects on the marijuana should be fast enough that it can't be sold and used. Statistics show that only a very small number of human deaths from the agent are unintentional, so I don't even see any POTENTIAL basis for your claim.
Binaries of everything written in last 40 years still runs on current AS/400 iseries
Yes, the hardware is compatible. I guess if you're lucky enough not to have to support software written with some already-depreciated call to the underlying OS, you'll not have seen the worst of it...
You don't sound like an IBM mainframe veteran.
No, I'm a sysadmin. I'm not sure how I ever ended up working with the mainframe programmers on their problems, but I did, and still do as required.
OS/400 software has never needed a recompile, even when the AS/400 went from 48 bit CISC to 64 bit RISC in mid nineties.
I'm talking about hard-coded values in (very old) applications... before config files for all possible values became common practice.
but if available, IBM compilers of different levels are not rewritten and slightly different.
I can assure you, we've had to deal with multiple cases where just a minor version step of an IBM mainframe compiler resulted in failing code, requiring a rewrite using alternate methods. Waiting a week for someone in Australia to get back to us (only to find they weren't versed in anything nearly this old, and were even more stumped than us) wasn't too pleasant.
As has been noted in previous posts, newer IBM hardware runs the older software, so it shouldn't be ancient hardware falling apart as is implied here.
If you think it's that simple, you've never had to use it...
There's something like 10 different levels of issues with running old programs on a newer mainframe.
The old OS may not run on a newer mainframe. Perhaps because of devices that weren't available a half century ago, or what-not.
Even if IBM was so nice as to add that support to a slightly newer version of the same (old) OS, it doesn't guarantee that it won't have been changed enough that your old, very low-level programs just don't quite run right.
And even if they do, we're talking about the days when the simplest changes to an application typically require recompiling a binary.
The compiler originally used may be available for the newer system, but have a few subtle differences that make it not quite work.
A just-slightly-newer compiler may be the only thing available, and it will have changed significantly enough to ensure several of your old programs won't compile.
And don't dare mention IBM support. They're HEAVILY geared towards newer equipment. They don't have top-experts in each and every version of each and every bit of obsolete software just lying around, waiting for you to call.
Now, maybe if the government threw enough money at IBM, they might perform better, but I have a hard time seeing it even then. We certainly pay them several times more than the combined salaries of the handful of mainframe experts in the company, all for the one problem that crops up every 5 years, and all the support we ever get is: "Try a newer version. No good? Well feature X was depreciated when this program was written 40 years ago, and is now unsupported."
What I've never quite understood is why most operating systems boot every time like it's the first time.
Because you told it to do so. If you didn't want it to reboot, you should have suspended or hibernated the system instead.
Really, all of that work can be done in milliseconds, not minutes. Operating systems should just read the ~100MB "ready for use" image from a nice contiguous section of the disk, write it straight into memory, and then do a quick sanity check for changed hardware.
You've reinvented Hibernate mode, with it's existing limitations, and more mistakes you've added... Anyone who's used hibernate know it mostly works, but some devices need to be more fully initialized (like your video card) and starting to use it when it's in a different state than it last was, is a sure recipe for disaster. Despite claims to the contrary, I'd say S3 Suspend is easier to get working CORRECTLY, than Hibernate, and with power requirements less indistinguishable from the "off" load, and boot times of <2 seconds, S3 is far better all around.
I continue to use this old PC (Socket-A MSI Mobo) as my desktop because S3 Suspend mode works (almost) perfectly with FreeBSD-6.x. The ability sit down at my PC, hit the power button, and have all my apps open where I left them (not just the minimal OS up and running) is incredibly valuable. It's a real shame so few people have had the opportunity to experience it. In addition, it's great to be able to just get up and walk away from my computer at any time, for any reason without giving it a second thought... because in 10 minutes it'll be using no power, and when I come back, it'll be right where I left it. Never mind the implications for a UPS-powered system, like a system left right where it was when you last used it, which can be powered from the smallest battery for hundreds of hours, easily.
Why can't the system have a panel of retired judges look at civil cases before a full trial to ensure it is warranted?
That's exactly what your lawyer's job is. If he's lying to you, or horribly mistaken, you can sue him. That's why all the lawyers here on/. post lengthy disclaimers...
And with your pre-trial trial, how does "discovery" work? Does it have the full force to subpoena documents, in which case it's trivial for anyone to do so without consequences... Or does it have no such power, in which case it's a useless waste of time, as no information is available?
But the loser and the loser's lawyer should have to pay something to the winner.
The problems with a loser-pays system have been discussed to-death on/. and everywhere else. Your plan adds nothing new.
Also, anyone who has hooked up a Kill-A-Watt to their computer, and then calculated how much money per year they're spending on it, disagrees with you.
I've had a Kill-A-Watt for many years. Time and time again I've thought about getting a new system, a smaller monitor, etc.
Every time I do, the payback spans out into 5+ years. Even here in California, a 100W system is using 3 cents of electricity if it's powered-on 24/7. If it idles lower it may be less than half that. If you put it into standby/suspend or power it off, expect it to be less than 1/10th of that...
Let's go crazy, though, and consider a monster 300W system, running 24/7 for no good reason... You're paying well under $33/year for electricity. How much is it going to cost to replace this system? If you could replace it with something that used NO ELECTRICITY AT ALL for $300USD, it would still take 10 years before you come out ahead. Those aren't good numbers.
As always, the most environmentally friendly thing you can do is use an existing device as long as possible. And when that's no longer tenable, buying the absolute cheapest computer/car/house you can get your hands on is the best way to go, even if it's not incredibly efficient...
I hooked up a Kill-A-Watt to my whole computer/media center stack (computer/monitor/stereo/mixer/external HDDs/assorted electronics), and it was pulling about 65 watts. The only thing that pushed that number up was cranking the stereo.
A 17" LCD will draw 35 watts. I don't believe for a second the rest of your PC is even idling at under 60 watts on its own. The only way your numbers make any sense is if your "computer" is a laptop, drawing about 30 watts all together. In which case, you are the exception, not the rule...
the old computer eats almost that much power every month (assuming 40 watts for a tivo and 200 watts for a computer, running 24/7).
My "old computer" eats 60 watts while idle, up to 100 only while very busy.
My "old computer" was a new computer when I bought it for $300USD. Now it's gone 7 years, though my many switches between 3 cable companies, 2 satellite companies, and now, OTA digital HDTV, all for a pittance. My new HDTV tuner and new remote ran all of $50USD. Vastly larger hard drive eventually went in, for all of $100. Video card already did hardware acceleration and had DVI outputs when I bought it. Oh yeah, went through 2 power supplies in that time, for $25 each. How Tivos would you have gone through in that same stretch of time and changing requirements? I'm sure your SD Tivo isn't getting a $50 HDTV upgrade off the shelf...
And in addition to all this, I can trivially edit out commercials, and reencode anything I want to save to 10X smaller (but still high quality video). I regularly SSH between my desktop and my DVR, even running apps like OpenOffice on the DVR, over the network, because it's just less hassle than installing it again... Use my DVR in my work to have an off-site shell account for performing port-scans and similar.
And did I mention it plays all my DVDs, in fact ANY format on ANY media, pictures, MP3s, Oggs, etc? Not to menting RECORDING all of the above onto CDs/DVDs, or transferring onto external USB devices trivially? Routinely used to download all my torrents, since it's going to be on anyhow, saving my desktop PC from the job.
So, I AM saving the $10/mo., plus most the purchase price of the device at least 3 times over, plus getting far more functionality out of it.
But at the point where Joshua decides philosophically that his programmed function of launching missiles is futile because the war can't be won, and thus rejects his programming, they pretty much crossed over.
That's not what happened, actually. It was NOT designed to "launch missiles". It was designed to analyze attack/counter-attack scenarios, and determine which would guarantee the greatest success.
In the end, it ran through thousands of possible scenarios, and determined that there was no viable strategy. It's certainly not at all beyond a computer program to examine a logical puzzle and determine there is no viable solution. No philosophy required. Note the death tolls it produces at the end of each simulation. Just simple math...
Of course the point of it all was something akin to "Kids say the darnedest things." ie. A logical, unemotional robot with minimal intellect states, in one succinct sentence, the simple fact we struggled with for decades. Numerous times throughout the film it's well illustrated that it's decidedly non-philosophical, not understanding that it shouldn't launch the attack to continue "the game".
But I digress. Continue to believe as you please. It's hardly worth an argument.
Is Microsoft making a profit off of selling this document? Is Cryptome making a profit off of it? I really can't see any rationale for your above statement.
Um, you do realize that you're talking about a movie with a sentient computer, don't you?
It wasn't sentient, of course. It was a simplistic (far too advanced for the time) AI. It was given a bit more "personality" than any AI would really have, but only to make it interesting on-screen. Sure, you can attribute it's action's to "sentience" but almost all can be traced back to following simplistic rules... Calling back a phone number. Looking-up a person in a phone directory... Continuing a game that has been started. Yes, it was a bit of a contrivance, but not nearly as bad as most.
the computer had no way to disconnect the phone between calls. He just picked it up off the cradle and put it in the modem, and it magically made a bunch of separate calls.
It's a rather minor technical detail that they didn't show how the phone was hung-up between calls. But it's also not at all impossible... in the days of phreaking, a number of tones were discovered that would allow service modes, which would interrupt calls, and allow making a new connection without hanging-up the receiver. Phreaking does figure prominently in the plot, from not getting charged for all the long-distance calls, to using a pay phone for free... Not to mention unlocking doors with tape-recorded tones....
1) News reporting does not allow breach of copyright.
In the US, freedom of speech, and of the press, trumps damn near all else. There are only a few narrow exceptions to the two, and this isn't one of them. The fact that the two are cited in fair use rules is more a reflection of this, than the CAUSE.
Additionally, from http://www.copyright.gov/fls/fl102.html Section 107 contains a list of the various purposes for which the reproduction of a particular work may be considered fair, such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research.
And
Article 26(Use for Current News Report) In the case of reporting current events by means of broadcasts, newspapers or by other means, it shall be permissible to reproduce, distribute, perform publicly, or communicate(transmit) to the public a work seen or heard in the course of the event, to the extent justified by the information purpose."
3) Cryptome is using the whole work, and thus fails the test.
Amount is not the be-all factor. Fair-use can, and often enough does, apply to ALL of a work.
ie: "the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole"
Considering that Cryptome is spot-on for the other 3 factors, I can't imagine a judge would take such a lawsuit seriously.
From berating car company executives for flying in their jets (no, they should buy multi-million dollar jets and just let them rot),
Private jets have very high operating costs. Rotting is cheaper.
to coming down on Toyoda as if he were the embodiment of all evil (yeah, US manufacturers NEVER had recalls. I have yet to see the Toyota equivalent of the Ford Pinto),
You're seeing it right now. The comparison couldn't be more apt. Minor issue, vastly over-hyped by competitors, and then the media jumps on board. Scandal that a car company cares about profit more than human life. And all for a relatively minor problem from which a relatively minuscule number of people were injured.
It's the politicians in the US that need fixing. They didn't listen when the public said "no" to more war. They didn't listen when the public said "no" to the bailouts. They didn't listen when the public said "no" to the stimulus. There's a pattern here. "Voting" isn't going to change anything... real democracy died a long time ago, victim to the two party system set up by special interests.
The Republicans fell from power precisely because of the above. Secondly, the US was NEVER a direct democracy... Sometimes politicians vote against the majority, and this is necessary, as the majority is often wrong. That's why we have a Representative Republic. None of us is as stupid as all of us...
Slashdot Mirror
That's what /. was, until we let the riff-raff in, somewhere around the 650,000 mark... Now that we're past double that, the old guys like myself simply get drowned out. And it seems the same phenomenon turned the moderation and meta moderation systems to crap as well, making it even worse.
Whaaaa?!
Unless I'm gravely mistaken, this debut makes WD the VERY LAST major player in the hard drive market to see the writing on the wall.
Samsung, Hitachi, Seagate, ALL have had SSDs on the market for some time.
"Dark" means we have no idea WTF it is.
Dark matter means our equations don't work, and the movements we can observer show there's additional matter out there, but we can't see it.
Dark energy means, notwithstanding the previous "dark" entity, our equations STILL DON'T WORK, so besides that extra mass, there's extra energy out there, too, which we also can't see.
Black holes are the original "dark matter" but instead of being spread uniformly across the universe, they're impossible objects at specific points in space...
Yes, how much we don't know is certainly depressing. Even more so when people go on and on about what we think we're sure of, and ignoring all of the above.
Every open source multimedia developer outside of Xiph.org, who has had to do anything with Ogg, will tell you that Ogg is a flaming pile of crap. This notably includes Moritz Bunkus, the author of Ogmtools. Quotes of such are easy to find.
For a real challenge, just try to find ANYONE saying Ogg is a well-deigned and well thought-out container format...
Twice?! Haha. No.
Try 10X or so.
HTML and optimized compressed images are far, far smaller than an un-optimized, on-the-fly compressed X11 display. NX does a good job, but no way are you anywhere near just double the bandwidth. And YouTube? Forget it!
And let's remember, not only are you paying Amazon twice, you're also paying that much more for your own broadband connection.
This will remain the status-quo as long as Corporate personhood is the law.
You can create a "person" for a few bucks, commit all the crimes you want, and then let that "person" take all the blame for it. You were merely a slave to the corporation. And as an added bonus, there is no criminal law for corporate persons, so they only ever have to cough up some money, and that only after they've killed a LOT of people. Just ask Toyota.
TCP/IP takes up "a lot of code space and CPU on the device."
Many other simple protocols do not. I think it's safe to say he does in fact believe TCP/IP is required...
DHCP for configuring a critical device is an utterly INSANE idea. The protocol needs to be PUSH, not PULL, for numerous reasons.
First, consider that the first time you connect to the device, you type in a static IP address. Great, EXCEPT YOU TYPED IT WRONG! Now it won't grab the DHCP address, and the device is now completely unreachable... via it's supposed MANAGEMENT INTERFACE. Great! Now you need to go plugin the serial cable to fix the management interface, or hard-reset the device, losing all the configuration.
Or maybe consider that the network addressing was change, and the management port configuration wasn't... Sure, an administrative oversight, but one that happens. And now you're stuck.
Those of us who have performed communications between two Ethernet-connected devices (at layer-2) without the use of higher level protocols (like IP), will be quite surprised to hear that...
The manufacturers of those ATA-Over-Ethernet devices will be aghast as well when you tell them their products can't work...
That works pretty well when the device is supposed to be a DHCP server to begin with, but not so much, otherwise.
How do you configure the IP address of a new device? With, say, printers, there's some proprietary software that will scan the entire network for BrandX devices and offer a GUI to configure them. And then any network protocol is pretty impractical for the simple reason that you get disconnected upon device reboots, and no way to know to auto-reconnect upon restart. Compare this to RS-232, where it's as simple as walking over and plugging-in to the device directly, and having a continuous connection as good as if you had a keyboard and monitor wired-up.
These issues make it very cumbersome and clumsy in enough ways that it won't catch on in the business-space as it currently is. A whole new protocol is needed for this kind of device management over ethernet... and good luck implementing all this in a PC BIOS...
There's a strange contradiction in having the freedom to sell yourself into slavery.
No, this doesn't apply to Marijuana, but it does to the truly addictive substances.
Freedom to make one mistake that will wreck you for the rest of your life? Hmmm...
The Acetaminophen is not in Vicodin because the manufacturer wants it to be there (for some good reason), but instead because the government offers less strict regulations if you do so (Schedule III drug versus Schedule II)...
If you'd like to offer an alternative explanation as to why the government basically REQUIRES the additive, I'd love to hear it.
Paraquat is a herbicide. It's effects on the marijuana should be fast enough that it can't be sold and used. Statistics show that only a very small number of human deaths from the agent are unintentional, so I don't even see any POTENTIAL basis for your claim.
Yes, the hardware is compatible. I guess if you're lucky enough not to have to support software written with some already-depreciated call to the underlying OS, you'll not have seen the worst of it...
No, I'm a sysadmin. I'm not sure how I ever ended up working with the mainframe programmers on their problems, but I did, and still do as required.
I'm talking about hard-coded values in (very old) applications... before config files for all possible values became common practice.
I can assure you, we've had to deal with multiple cases where just a minor version step of an IBM mainframe compiler resulted in failing code, requiring a rewrite using alternate methods. Waiting a week for someone in Australia to get back to us (only to find they weren't versed in anything nearly this old, and were even more stumped than us) wasn't too pleasant.
If you think it's that simple, you've never had to use it...
There's something like 10 different levels of issues with running old programs on a newer mainframe.
The old OS may not run on a newer mainframe. Perhaps because of devices that weren't available a half century ago, or what-not.
Even if IBM was so nice as to add that support to a slightly newer version of the same (old) OS, it doesn't guarantee that it won't have been changed enough that your old, very low-level programs just don't quite run right.
And even if they do, we're talking about the days when the simplest changes to an application typically require recompiling a binary.
The compiler originally used may be available for the newer system, but have a few subtle differences that make it not quite work.
A just-slightly-newer compiler may be the only thing available, and it will have changed significantly enough to ensure several of your old programs won't compile.
And don't dare mention IBM support. They're HEAVILY geared towards newer equipment. They don't have top-experts in each and every version of each and every bit of obsolete software just lying around, waiting for you to call.
Now, maybe if the government threw enough money at IBM, they might perform better, but I have a hard time seeing it even then. We certainly pay them several times more than the combined salaries of the handful of mainframe experts in the company, all for the one problem that crops up every 5 years, and all the support we ever get is: "Try a newer version. No good? Well feature X was depreciated when this program was written 40 years ago, and is now unsupported."
Because you told it to do so. If you didn't want it to reboot, you should have suspended or hibernated the system instead.
You've reinvented Hibernate mode, with it's existing limitations, and more mistakes you've added... Anyone who's used hibernate know it mostly works, but some devices need to be more fully initialized (like your video card) and starting to use it when it's in a different state than it last was, is a sure recipe for disaster. Despite claims to the contrary, I'd say S3 Suspend is easier to get working CORRECTLY, than Hibernate, and with power requirements less indistinguishable from the "off" load, and boot times of <2 seconds, S3 is far better all around.
I continue to use this old PC (Socket-A MSI Mobo) as my desktop because S3 Suspend mode works (almost) perfectly with FreeBSD-6.x. The ability sit down at my PC, hit the power button, and have all my apps open where I left them (not just the minimal OS up and running) is incredibly valuable. It's a real shame so few people have had the opportunity to experience it. In addition, it's great to be able to just get up and walk away from my computer at any time, for any reason without giving it a second thought... because in 10 minutes it'll be using no power, and when I come back, it'll be right where I left it. Never mind the implications for a UPS-powered system, like a system left right where it was when you last used it, which can be powered from the smallest battery for hundreds of hours, easily.
That's exactly what your lawyer's job is. If he's lying to you, or horribly mistaken, you can sue him. That's why all the lawyers here on /. post lengthy disclaimers...
And with your pre-trial trial, how does "discovery" work? Does it have the full force to subpoena documents, in which case it's trivial for anyone to do so without consequences... Or does it have no such power, in which case it's a useless waste of time, as no information is available?
The problems with a loser-pays system have been discussed to-death on /. and everywhere else. Your plan adds nothing new.
I've had a Kill-A-Watt for many years. Time and time again I've thought about getting a new system, a smaller monitor, etc.
Every time I do, the payback spans out into 5+ years. Even here in California, a 100W system is using 3 cents of electricity if it's powered-on 24/7. If it idles lower it may be less than half that. If you put it into standby/suspend or power it off, expect it to be less than 1/10th of that...
Let's go crazy, though, and consider a monster 300W system, running 24/7 for no good reason... You're paying well under $33/year for electricity. How much is it going to cost to replace this system? If you could replace it with something that used NO ELECTRICITY AT ALL for $300USD, it would still take 10 years before you come out ahead. Those aren't good numbers.
As always, the most environmentally friendly thing you can do is use an existing device as long as possible. And when that's no longer tenable, buying the absolute cheapest computer/car/house you can get your hands on is the best way to go, even if it's not incredibly efficient...
A 17" LCD will draw 35 watts. I don't believe for a second the rest of your PC is even idling at under 60 watts on its own. The only way your numbers make any sense is if your "computer" is a laptop, drawing about 30 watts all together. In which case, you are the exception, not the rule...
My "old computer" eats 60 watts while idle, up to 100 only while very busy.
My "old computer" was a new computer when I bought it for $300USD. Now it's gone 7 years, though my many switches between 3 cable companies, 2 satellite companies, and now, OTA digital HDTV, all for a pittance. My new HDTV tuner and new remote ran all of $50USD. Vastly larger hard drive eventually went in, for all of $100. Video card already did hardware acceleration and had DVI outputs when I bought it. Oh yeah, went through 2 power supplies in that time, for $25 each. How Tivos would you have gone through in that same stretch of time and changing requirements? I'm sure your SD Tivo isn't getting a $50 HDTV upgrade off the shelf...
And in addition to all this, I can trivially edit out commercials, and reencode anything I want to save to 10X smaller (but still high quality video). I regularly SSH between my desktop and my DVR, even running apps like OpenOffice on the DVR, over the network, because it's just less hassle than installing it again... Use my DVR in my work to have an off-site shell account for performing port-scans and similar.
And did I mention it plays all my DVDs, in fact ANY format on ANY media, pictures, MP3s, Oggs, etc? Not to menting RECORDING all of the above onto CDs/DVDs, or transferring onto external USB devices trivially? Routinely used to download all my torrents, since it's going to be on anyhow, saving my desktop PC from the job.
So, I AM saving the $10/mo., plus most the purchase price of the device at least 3 times over, plus getting far more functionality out of it.
That's not what happened, actually. It was NOT designed to "launch missiles". It was designed to analyze attack/counter-attack scenarios, and determine which would guarantee the greatest success.
In the end, it ran through thousands of possible scenarios, and determined that there was no viable strategy. It's certainly not at all beyond a computer program to examine a logical puzzle and determine there is no viable solution. No philosophy required. Note the death tolls it produces at the end of each simulation. Just simple math...
Of course the point of it all was something akin to "Kids say the darnedest things." ie. A logical, unemotional robot with minimal intellect states, in one succinct sentence, the simple fact we struggled with for decades. Numerous times throughout the film it's well illustrated that it's decidedly non-philosophical, not understanding that it shouldn't launch the attack to continue "the game".
But I digress. Continue to believe as you please. It's hardly worth an argument.
Is Microsoft making a profit off of selling this document? Is Cryptome making a profit off of it? I really can't see any rationale for your above statement.
It wasn't sentient, of course. It was a simplistic (far too advanced for the time) AI. It was given a bit more "personality" than any AI would really have, but only to make it interesting on-screen. Sure, you can attribute it's action's to "sentience" but almost all can be traced back to following simplistic rules... Calling back a phone number. Looking-up a person in a phone directory... Continuing a game that has been started. Yes, it was a bit of a contrivance, but not nearly as bad as most.
It's a rather minor technical detail that they didn't show how the phone was hung-up between calls. But it's also not at all impossible... in the days of phreaking, a number of tones were discovered that would allow service modes, which would interrupt calls, and allow making a new connection without hanging-up the receiver. Phreaking does figure prominently in the plot, from not getting charged for all the long-distance calls, to using a pay phone for free... Not to mention unlocking doors with tape-recorded tones....
In the US, freedom of speech, and of the press, trumps damn near all else. There are only a few narrow exceptions to the two, and this isn't one of them. The fact that the two are cited in fair use rules is more a reflection of this, than the CAUSE.
Additionally, from http://www.copyright.gov/fls/fl102.html
Section 107 contains a list of the various purposes for which the reproduction of a particular work may be considered fair, such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research.
And
Article 26(Use for Current News Report) In the case of reporting current events by means of broadcasts, newspapers or by other means, it shall be permissible to reproduce, distribute, perform publicly, or communicate(transmit) to the public a work seen or heard in the course of the event, to the extent justified by the information purpose."
Amount is not the be-all factor. Fair-use can, and often enough does, apply to ALL of a work.
ie: "the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole"
Considering that Cryptome is spot-on for the other 3 factors, I can't imagine a judge would take such a lawsuit seriously.
Private jets have very high operating costs. Rotting is cheaper.
You're seeing it right now. The comparison couldn't be more apt. Minor issue, vastly over-hyped by competitors, and then the media jumps on board. Scandal that a car company cares about profit more than human life. And all for a relatively minor problem from which a relatively minuscule number of people were injured.
The Republicans fell from power precisely because of the above. Secondly, the US was NEVER a direct democracy... Sometimes politicians vote against the majority, and this is necessary, as the majority is often wrong. That's why we have a Representative Republic. None of us is as stupid as all of us...