I understand your frustration with calculator games in high school math. I believe my high school teacher put it best, however, in regards to what goes on in his class:
"I don't care what you do, as long as you don't disturb others. Paint your nails or sleep for all I care. While you're in summer school, I'll be teeing off on the golf course at 9am."
That's not maintenance on Internet Explorer. That'd be akin to you saying that you spent a lot of time maintaining Linux just because you develop programs for it, or for any OS, for that matter. You're developing something for it, not configuring something about it. Besides, for the most part, IE is the most forgiving of browsers to write web pages for. It's older browsers you have to worry about.
I know you're trying to use Microsoft's argument against them, but IE is free. You can get the full version for MacOS for free, and if you happen to uninstall it from Windows (it can be done), you can get a full version for free. Thus, it is completely free of charge, despite any integration arguments.
That's patently false, as evidenced by this article and the swarm of articles preceding it. IE costs "us" time, stress, and ultimately, yes, money.
By that argument, Linux isn't free either. I do buy the argument, in a basic sense, too. Both IE and Linux's face value is $0, but any time invested in it is money lost. However, it's not like you spend time with maintenance on Internet Explorer for hours on end, other than applying hotfixes every couple of months.
So wait a minute, it needs to be released on Linux to be free? Say, for instance, nVidia releases free 3D demos, for Windows only. Are they not free because they are only on Windows? Also, IE is available on Macintosh for free. You don't need to pay for Windows to download IE. What about that?
Then why don't the virus companies effectively block virus-like activity like this? I mean, if a virus scanner's only duty was to protect you from known viruses, it wouldn't do very well in new outbreaks. To many products' credit, they do do this.
If you have no content and great visuals, you don't have 1/2 a presentation, you have nothing.
I'd go as far as to say that in most situations where something is on the line (your job, or at the very least your audience's attention span), content and visuals are mutually inclusive. Obviously you need content for your speech to be interesting, just as you need content. A printout from notepad won't suffice as an outline handed out to your participants.
Powerpoint is horrible, even for presentations. The display medium is usually a projection, and that means typically an 800x600 distorted trapezodioal projection on a distant wall.
Well, they vary, so I won't stereotype it. I know of people who give PowerPoint shows on VGA TVs at 640x480, I know people who give them on 1024x768 projector screens that look crystal clear. That's more than enough space to give an outline. Remember, it's not going to be a teleprompter, it's an outline for you and your audience to follow.
Further, Powerpoint encourages you to waste what little precious space you have to work with. Logos, patterns, colored polygons, and bullets use space and add nothing.
Those designs force you to separate your notes into multiple pages, not necessarilly a bad thing. I'd rather have notes broken apart than crammed on one screen.
Damn, that was useful. Can we go over it again?
Again, an outline is an outline - be it on paper or in PowerPoint, it's not supposed to be a teleprompter, it is the notes to be followed by the speaker and anyone who wishes to follow on the screen.
Next thing: Powerpoint leaves no traces. You can't take it with you unless the presenter prints it out, which is an insult to the information carrying ability of paper.
I agree with you here. Printing out PowerPoint presentations isn't the best solution. I've seen it done, in a packet of about four sheets of paper with the slides printed out, along with background colors (which don't Xerox very well). However, most PowerPoint presenters usually carry around projectors with laptops or have some other means of displaying it.
Here's an exercise. Go to google. Search for powerpoint presentations. Find one that's really great. One that is really informative and beautiful.
I have a friend who is a high school physics teacher whose entire year-long curriculum is in PowerPoint format. He has a Mac laptop attached to a VGA screen and advances the notes one page at a time, and looks nice. It's not the most beautiful thing in the world, but it has the balance of content and visuals that make it not boring, so says he.
Kind of? KIND OF?! FrontPage is phenomenally awful, and the cause of the majority of bad design out there on the Web.
I don't know. I've never really sat down and used it, because I've never had to. I still don't understand its need for "FrontPage Server Extensions," which do seem worthless to me.
DreamWeaver is the only WYSIWYG tool I've used that actually saves time over hand-coding, while still producing usable HTML.
I do agree with you there. I created my current site mostly in DreamWeaver (but like I said, used FrontPage for designing the tables), and its HTML output is phenominal for being computer generated. Then again, with the technology we have today, I don't know why I should be astonished because an editor produces HTML code that's human-readable, indented, and neatly organized.
Outlook is bad: security holes aplenty.
I feel pretty safe using it, never had a problem before. I'll feel even safer after Office XP SP1 is released next week. It's still a damn good task organizer and calendar as well as email management program. Plus, I can customize it with VBA so that it'll prompt me to confirm any outgoing mail that has an attachment before it sends it. Props to whoever posted that code on Slashdot the other day.
However, on Access - gah, what an awful, hideous, bloated, confusing mess.... it's gotta be the biggest example of the dark side of creeping featurism in commercial software today.
Well, I have no problem with the additional features. I mean, hell, without new features, what excuse would Microsoft have to release Access 2002? They couldn't win either way, it'd either be a "service pack fix" like Windows 98 or "feature creep" like Office XP. I know which I'd prefer. As far as intuitivity, I can agree that it may have a slight learning curve, but if you're working with SQL databases in the first place, I'm sure you can handle it.
Word is a very substandard document editor which focuses on layout over content, and at the same time is almost useless for layout.
If you wanted content-only, assuming no formatting, there are text-only tools such as Notepad for the job. Truth is, layout is just as important as content nowadays with catchy visual designs being crucial.
Powerpoint can only be used to create presentations to waste company time at tedious meetings. "Management Plan: Part A" can definitely be drawn on a chalk board faster than it can be written in powerpoint.
Uh, no, not at the meeting it can't. Sure, PowerPoint presentations may take a while to make, but after it's made, it can be presented instantly. Plus, going back to my former argument, visuals are half the battle, content is the other. Slide show applications such as PowerPoint play a great role in persuading bosses in decisions, among many other uses. Besides, I'll take a presentation with PowerPoint over a PHB speech any day.
Access should not be used to store any data your business actually needs, which implies that your business doesn't need Access.
Access doesn't need to store the data. It can interact with the data, connecting to remote SQL servers provided that you install the proper ODBC drivers.
Excel is the sole component of Office that does anything useful. This is probably the best spreadsheet for financial and scientific applications out there
I agree that it's useful, but I still think Word and Outlook are tied in my book for most useful. I rarely use Excel, whereas the former are used daily.
Too bad it is now bundled with all that other tripe.
Anyway, besides the aforementioned, FrontPage is kind of useless, being that I don't particularly care for its WYSIWYG features, except its stellar handling of tables. Visio is another superb program and really has a number of uses for designing physical layouts of rooms, computer networks, buildings. Hell, I even saw a segment on TV a while back about police using Visio to reconstruct car accident scenes.
Also, look for the Office XP SP1 which will be released next week to fix all of your Outlook (and other) bugs.
The question is, can Linux act as a USB attached hard drive
Oh yeah. In fact, you won't believe it, but I've actually got Linux acting as a power supply right now. I couldn't get Linux to act as a SoundBlaster Audigy, however, but I'm still working on it.
I completely agree. It's much worse when articles about the United States are posted and the liberal mantra arises demoting anything that the government does in protecting herself abroad. Attacking the 'innocent Afghans' is forbidden among these flaming liberals. Patriotism is unheard of in these corridors.
25 replies (and more replies-to-replies), and I don't think more than a couple were in support of the war. Plus, it was moderated up to +5, but then taken down lower than it started. Oh well, I guess you won't find any critical thinking here, it's foolish to assume otherwise.
I'm sick of hearing all of this anti-Americanism on Slashdot. Every post I read seems to be something along the lines of "Where's the proof?" or "What's next, America shutting down dissident sites?"
Well, I'll have you know, we're in a war here. The rules have been changed. It's like those people who shout "We must bring Usama back and try him in our courts!" That's absolutely ridiculous. We didn't try Hitler, nor would we have even considered it if we captured him. It's wartime, the rules are changed. Somalia is just as bad, if not WORSE than Iraq in its harboring and promotion of international terrorists. This could signify the next location of American strikes after the Taliban falls. Imagine how silly you'd seem now if you said we shouldn't be cutting the information lines to the Taliban. That's how silly all of you anti-Americans will sound after the pressure sets in on Somalia.
Remember, this is a war. Your peacetime rules don't apply, so don't pretend to think that they do.
Actually, it inserts a space so that a long line of text or a long URL won't screw up the rendering of the page for people, creating a horizontal scrollbar.
I, too, have problems with the Audigy Platinum under Windows XP. I don't have sound in my rear speakers when using analog mode. I am using the latest update from the Creative website. A lot of people on news.creativelabs.com in products.sound_blaster.audigy reproduce my problem, but none can document a fix for it if they had experienced it. They say, however, that Creative is about to release new Audigy drivers on their website, so be patient.
This hasn't been suggested, and will probably be flamed, but have you looked into Windows XP? I know, I know, it's the old evil empire that you'll be contributing to. But put that behind you. Windows XP is actually has great accessibility features for the blind and deaf.
Windows XP comes with a Narrator application, which will read the window contents of any application to you. Your application needn't support it, it will do it for you. It will guide you through navigating windows and applications. Also, if you install Office XP, you also get a Speech Recognition engine which will work with Office XP and other applications which support it, such as Internet Explorer 6 (and possibly 5.5). Seriously, if you're looking for maximum usability, drop the bias and just go with the best suited solution.
Re:Bad screenshots for showing anti-aliasing
on
KDE 3.0 Screenshots
·
· Score: 2
Yep. Slash was even nice enough to refund my karma:)
Re:Bad screenshots for showing anti-aliasing
on
KDE 3.0 Screenshots
·
· Score: 2, Offtopic
This happens when someone moderated his comment Offtopic, then posted to the discussion, revoking his scored moderation. The comment remains there, however. So, theoretically, a Score: -1, Insightful would be possible. I suppose it wouldn't be too hard to fix this issue, I mean Slash already stores the type of moderations done to the comment, so when reducing 1 from the score, it could just pick one of the other categories that was used in moderation.
No, they wouldn't. Just as the previous poster said, it's not Veteran's day today, and the only thing significant about this post-Veteran's Day is that many people have the day off. Now why would a terrorist interested in killing Americans pick a day that Americans have off? I just heard on Fox News that the plane crashed very close to a school in Queens, which was incidentally closed because of Veteran's Day. Your rationale is ridiculous, so quit speculating.
Ashcroft clearly holds beliefs that are counter to the spirit and the letter of the constitution
Well, I'm sure you do too, and I'm sure plenty of people disagree with the Constitution (gun control advocates come to mind, but so do income tax abolitionists, or heck, even people who think 18 year olds shouldn't vote). That's okay. I can't fathom an example when Ashcroft has tried to use his disagreement with a position by the Constitution or any Amendment (note, I can't think of any disagreements with the Constitution that Ashcroft has). But if he were to do so, it would never get enacted into law, and if that happened, it would be overturned. Remember, checks and balances.
Now, since I have a keen ability to anticipate what liberals are thinking, I know exactly what you're thinking now. (DMCA!!) The problem is, in the eyes of the law (and by law, I mean the judges who interpret the law), reverse-engineering defenses and free speech on code was rejected. Remember, the First Amendment is explicitly vague in its definitions of speech, and almost every Supreme Court case has struck down cases of extreme matters of the First Amendment. I'm not saying I agree with the ruling, but it's not directly in violation of the Constitution (as the specific Amendment is open to interpretation).
The USSR was always Socialist, the Nazis were always facist. Facism and Socialism are completely different on the political spectrum (everyone's "equal" in socialism, only the upper class has power in facism), but the original poster wasn't talking ideology behind the two governments, he was talking about implementation. In essence, both socialism and facism result in no freedoms for the people, despite their friendly definition.
Because all of the other issues that you mentioned are issues. You may disagree on Ashcroft's stance on Abortion, you may disagree on his stance on certain issues involving God in public institutions, or you may disagree with him on a specific debatable issue about civil rights, but that's irrelevant. Article I, Section 9 is a power explicitly denied to Congress. If the Constitution said that "No woman shall be denied the right to an abortion", there would be no debate, and the only way to change that is an Amendment. Now, it's just a Supreme Court ruling.
I'm sure you're going to mention that "separation of church and state" are also explicitly stated in the Constitution, but this isn't what we're talking about, I'm sure (if I'm imagining what issues you're digressing with Ashcroft about). "God Bless America", IMHO (and that's why I present this - it's an OPINION, unlike Article I, Section 9), is NOT a federal sponsorship of religion, and to do so is foolish.
Also, if you think it's not so ridiculous that he'd try to go against Article I, Section 9, please cite where you (and the original poster) get the idea that he'd like to start passing ex post facto laws. It seems to me that all you are trying to do is just criticize anything Ashcroft does because he's not on the same side of the political spectrum as yourself.
Perhaps a re-read of either my post or the Constitution is in order. Article I, Section 9 addresses Congress passing ex post facto laws, and Article I, Section 10 addresses the States' passage of ex post facto laws. Both realms of power are addressed under the Constitution.
What if something that you do now is legal, but becomes illegal, and the go after people retroactivly?(something ashcroft wants to do)
Uh, no. That's unconstitutional, directly contradicting Article I, Section 9 of the United States Constitution regarding Congress: No bill of attainder or ex post facto Law shall be passed.
and Article I, Section 10 of the United States Constitution regarding the States:
No state shall enter into any treaty, alliance, or confederation; grant letters of marque and reprisal; coin money; emit bills of credit; make anything but gold and silver coin a tender in payment of debts; pass any bill of attainder, ex post facto law, or law impairing the obligation of contracts, or grant any title of nobility.
Look up "ex post facto" if you haven't learned what it is in 11th grade Government class yet. I'm sure you completely hate Ashcroft and will criticize everything he does, but don't falsify what he wants. He's not out to throw out the Constitution. I don't always agree with what he says (I absolutely abhor the idea of a national ID card), but saying a remark like that is just ridiculous.
NT has a "Run As..." function to allow you to run programs as another user. Heck, it allows you to modify a shortcut to always run a program as another user. You don't need to close all your work and re-log on if you wish to run a single program as another user. You can also create accounts as well via the Computer Management applet in the Administrative Tools control panel applet.
Windows XP, the new iteration of NT (XP Pro, at least), has "Fast User Switching" - which allows you to switch the currently logged on user to another user, while leaving all your programs open - you don't have to close all your programs, and all the data will be there when you log back on (more than you can say from KDE saving your session when exiting).
On the last point, however, if you've been following the Windows PowerToys development at Microsoft (they were the crew that brought you TweakUI and anti-aliased fonts for Windows 95 without the Plus! pack), they're developing a myriad of new utilities for XP, including a virtual desktop manager allowing you to switch the current desktops and all the open programs you have open, just like most *ix WMs. It's pretty slow right now, but it's still in beta.
Slashdot Mirror
"I don't care what you do, as long as you don't disturb others. Paint your nails or sleep for all I care. While you're in summer school, I'll be teeing off on the golf course at 9am."
That's not maintenance on Internet Explorer. That'd be akin to you saying that you spent a lot of time maintaining Linux just because you develop programs for it, or for any OS, for that matter. You're developing something for it, not configuring something about it. Besides, for the most part, IE is the most forgiving of browsers to write web pages for. It's older browsers you have to worry about.
I know you're trying to use Microsoft's argument against them, but IE is free. You can get the full version for MacOS for free, and if you happen to uninstall it from Windows (it can be done), you can get a full version for free. Thus, it is completely free of charge, despite any integration arguments.
By that argument, Linux isn't free either. I do buy the argument, in a basic sense, too. Both IE and Linux's face value is $0, but any time invested in it is money lost. However, it's not like you spend time with maintenance on Internet Explorer for hours on end, other than applying hotfixes every couple of months.
So wait a minute, it needs to be released on Linux to be free? Say, for instance, nVidia releases free 3D demos, for Windows only. Are they not free because they are only on Windows? Also, IE is available on Macintosh for free. You don't need to pay for Windows to download IE. What about that?
Then why don't the virus companies effectively block virus-like activity like this? I mean, if a virus scanner's only duty was to protect you from known viruses, it wouldn't do very well in new outbreaks. To many products' credit, they do do this.
I'd go as far as to say that in most situations where something is on the line (your job, or at the very least your audience's attention span), content and visuals are mutually inclusive. Obviously you need content for your speech to be interesting, just as you need content. A printout from notepad won't suffice as an outline handed out to your participants.
Powerpoint is horrible, even for presentations. The display medium is usually a projection, and that means typically an 800x600 distorted trapezodioal projection on a distant wall.
Well, they vary, so I won't stereotype it. I know of people who give PowerPoint shows on VGA TVs at 640x480, I know people who give them on 1024x768 projector screens that look crystal clear. That's more than enough space to give an outline. Remember, it's not going to be a teleprompter, it's an outline for you and your audience to follow.
Further, Powerpoint encourages you to waste what little precious space you have to work with. Logos, patterns, colored polygons, and bullets use space and add nothing.
Those designs force you to separate your notes into multiple pages, not necessarilly a bad thing. I'd rather have notes broken apart than crammed on one screen.
Damn, that was useful. Can we go over it again?
Again, an outline is an outline - be it on paper or in PowerPoint, it's not supposed to be a teleprompter, it is the notes to be followed by the speaker and anyone who wishes to follow on the screen.
Next thing: Powerpoint leaves no traces. You can't take it with you unless the presenter prints it out, which is an insult to the information carrying ability of paper.
I agree with you here. Printing out PowerPoint presentations isn't the best solution. I've seen it done, in a packet of about four sheets of paper with the slides printed out, along with background colors (which don't Xerox very well). However, most PowerPoint presenters usually carry around projectors with laptops or have some other means of displaying it.
Here's an exercise. Go to google. Search for powerpoint presentations. Find one that's really great. One that is really informative and beautiful.
I have a friend who is a high school physics teacher whose entire year-long curriculum is in PowerPoint format. He has a Mac laptop attached to a VGA screen and advances the notes one page at a time, and looks nice. It's not the most beautiful thing in the world, but it has the balance of content and visuals that make it not boring, so says he.
I don't know. I've never really sat down and used it, because I've never had to. I still don't understand its need for "FrontPage Server Extensions," which do seem worthless to me.
DreamWeaver is the only WYSIWYG tool I've used that actually saves time over hand-coding, while still producing usable HTML.
I do agree with you there. I created my current site mostly in DreamWeaver (but like I said, used FrontPage for designing the tables), and its HTML output is phenominal for being computer generated. Then again, with the technology we have today, I don't know why I should be astonished because an editor produces HTML code that's human-readable, indented, and neatly organized.
Outlook is bad: security holes aplenty.
I feel pretty safe using it, never had a problem before. I'll feel even safer after Office XP SP1 is released next week. It's still a damn good task organizer and calendar as well as email management program. Plus, I can customize it with VBA so that it'll prompt me to confirm any outgoing mail that has an attachment before it sends it. Props to whoever posted that code on Slashdot the other day.
However, on Access - gah, what an awful, hideous, bloated, confusing mess. ... it's gotta be the biggest example of the dark side of creeping featurism in commercial software today.
Well, I have no problem with the additional features. I mean, hell, without new features, what excuse would Microsoft have to release Access 2002? They couldn't win either way, it'd either be a "service pack fix" like Windows 98 or "feature creep" like Office XP. I know which I'd prefer. As far as intuitivity, I can agree that it may have a slight learning curve, but if you're working with SQL databases in the first place, I'm sure you can handle it.
If you wanted content-only, assuming no formatting, there are text-only tools such as Notepad for the job. Truth is, layout is just as important as content nowadays with catchy visual designs being crucial.
Powerpoint can only be used to create presentations to waste company time at tedious meetings. "Management Plan: Part A" can definitely be drawn on a chalk board faster than it can be written in powerpoint.
Uh, no, not at the meeting it can't. Sure, PowerPoint presentations may take a while to make, but after it's made, it can be presented instantly. Plus, going back to my former argument, visuals are half the battle, content is the other. Slide show applications such as PowerPoint play a great role in persuading bosses in decisions, among many other uses. Besides, I'll take a presentation with PowerPoint over a PHB speech any day.
Access should not be used to store any data your business actually needs, which implies that your business doesn't need Access.
Access doesn't need to store the data. It can interact with the data, connecting to remote SQL servers provided that you install the proper ODBC drivers.
Excel is the sole component of Office that does anything useful. This is probably the best spreadsheet for financial and scientific applications out there
I agree that it's useful, but I still think Word and Outlook are tied in my book for most useful. I rarely use Excel, whereas the former are used daily.
Too bad it is now bundled with all that other tripe.
No, no it's not. You may certainly purchase it separately.
Anyway, besides the aforementioned, FrontPage is kind of useless, being that I don't particularly care for its WYSIWYG features, except its stellar handling of tables.
Visio is another superb program and really has a number of uses for designing physical layouts of rooms, computer networks, buildings. Hell, I even saw a segment on TV a while back about police using Visio to reconstruct car accident scenes.
Also, look for the Office XP SP1 which will be released next week to fix all of your Outlook (and other) bugs.
Oh yeah. In fact, you won't believe it, but I've actually got Linux acting as a power supply right now. I couldn't get Linux to act as a SoundBlaster Audigy, however, but I'm still working on it.
-Bodero
Actually, I am. I've been a registered FreeRepublic user since November, 2000. Nice, peaceful place it is.
Case in point, this comment I posted:
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=24081&cid=260
25 replies (and more replies-to-replies), and I don't think more than a couple were in support of the war. Plus, it was moderated up to +5, but then taken down lower than it started. Oh well, I guess you won't find any critical thinking here, it's foolish to assume otherwise.
I'm sick of hearing all of this anti-Americanism on Slashdot. Every post I read seems to be something along the lines of "Where's the proof?" or "What's next, America shutting down dissident sites?"
Well, I'll have you know, we're in a war here. The rules have been changed. It's like those people who shout "We must bring Usama back and try him in our courts!" That's absolutely ridiculous. We didn't try Hitler, nor would we have even considered it if we captured him. It's wartime, the rules are changed. Somalia is just as bad, if not WORSE than Iraq in its harboring and promotion of international terrorists. This could signify the next location of American strikes after the Taliban falls. Imagine how silly you'd seem now if you said we shouldn't be cutting the information lines to the Taliban. That's how silly all of you anti-Americans will sound after the pressure sets in on Somalia.
Remember, this is a war. Your peacetime rules don't apply, so don't pretend to think that they do.
Actually, it inserts a space so that a long line of text or a long URL won't screw up the rendering of the page for people, creating a horizontal scrollbar.
I, too, have problems with the Audigy Platinum under Windows XP. I don't have sound in my rear speakers when using analog mode. I am using the latest update from the Creative website. A lot of people on news.creativelabs.com in products.sound_blaster.audigy reproduce my problem, but none can document a fix for it if they had experienced it. They say, however, that Creative is about to release new Audigy drivers on their website, so be patient.
This hasn't been suggested, and will probably be flamed, but have you looked into Windows XP? I know, I know, it's the old evil empire that you'll be contributing to. But put that behind you. Windows XP is actually has great accessibility features for the blind and deaf.
Windows XP comes with a Narrator application, which will read the window contents of any application to you. Your application needn't support it, it will do it for you. It will guide you through navigating windows and applications. Also, if you install Office XP, you also get a Speech Recognition engine which will work with Office XP and other applications which support it, such as Internet Explorer 6 (and possibly 5.5). Seriously, if you're looking for maximum usability, drop the bias and just go with the best suited solution.
Yep. Slash was even nice enough to refund my karma :)
This happens when someone moderated his comment Offtopic, then posted to the discussion, revoking his scored moderation. The comment remains there, however. So, theoretically, a Score: -1, Insightful would be possible. I suppose it wouldn't be too hard to fix this issue, I mean Slash already stores the type of moderations done to the comment, so when reducing 1 from the score, it could just pick one of the other categories that was used in moderation.
No, they wouldn't. Just as the previous poster said, it's not Veteran's day today, and the only thing significant about this post-Veteran's Day is that many people have the day off. Now why would a terrorist interested in killing Americans pick a day that Americans have off? I just heard on Fox News that the plane crashed very close to a school in Queens, which was incidentally closed because of Veteran's Day. Your rationale is ridiculous, so quit speculating.
Well, I'm sure you do too, and I'm sure plenty of people disagree with the Constitution (gun control advocates come to mind, but so do income tax abolitionists, or heck, even people who think 18 year olds shouldn't vote). That's okay. I can't fathom an example when Ashcroft has tried to use his disagreement with a position by the Constitution or any Amendment (note, I can't think of any disagreements with the Constitution that Ashcroft has). But if he were to do so, it would never get enacted into law, and if that happened, it would be overturned. Remember, checks and balances.
Now, since I have a keen ability to anticipate what liberals are thinking, I know exactly what you're thinking now. (DMCA!!) The problem is, in the eyes of the law (and by law, I mean the judges who interpret the law), reverse-engineering defenses and free speech on code was rejected. Remember, the First Amendment is explicitly vague in its definitions of speech, and almost every Supreme Court case has struck down cases of extreme matters of the First Amendment. I'm not saying I agree with the ruling, but it's not directly in violation of the Constitution (as the specific Amendment is open to interpretation).
The USSR was always Socialist, the Nazis were always facist. Facism and Socialism are completely different on the political spectrum (everyone's "equal" in socialism, only the upper class has power in facism), but the original poster wasn't talking ideology behind the two governments, he was talking about implementation. In essence, both socialism and facism result in no freedoms for the people, despite their friendly definition.
I'm sure you're going to mention that "separation of church and state" are also explicitly stated in the Constitution, but this isn't what we're talking about, I'm sure (if I'm imagining what issues you're digressing with Ashcroft about). "God Bless America", IMHO (and that's why I present this - it's an OPINION, unlike Article I, Section 9), is NOT a federal sponsorship of religion, and to do so is foolish.
Also, if you think it's not so ridiculous that he'd try to go against Article I, Section 9, please cite where you (and the original poster) get the idea that he'd like to start passing ex post facto laws. It seems to me that all you are trying to do is just criticize anything Ashcroft does because he's not on the same side of the political spectrum as yourself.
Perhaps a re-read of either my post or the Constitution is in order. Article I, Section 9 addresses Congress passing ex post facto laws, and Article I, Section 10 addresses the States' passage of ex post facto laws. Both realms of power are addressed under the Constitution.
Uh, no. That's unconstitutional, directly contradicting Article I, Section 9 of the United States Constitution regarding Congress:
No bill of attainder or ex post facto Law shall be passed.
and Article I, Section 10 of the United States Constitution regarding the States:
No state shall enter into any treaty, alliance, or confederation; grant letters of marque and reprisal; coin money; emit bills of credit; make anything but gold and silver coin a tender in payment of debts; pass any bill of attainder, ex post facto law, or law impairing the obligation of contracts, or grant any title of nobility.
Look up "ex post facto" if you haven't learned what it is in 11th grade Government class yet. I'm sure you completely hate Ashcroft and will criticize everything he does, but don't falsify what he wants. He's not out to throw out the Constitution. I don't always agree with what he says (I absolutely abhor the idea of a national ID card), but saying a remark like that is just ridiculous.
On the last point, however, if you've been following the Windows PowerToys development at Microsoft (they were the crew that brought you TweakUI and anti-aliased fonts for Windows 95 without the Plus! pack), they're developing a myriad of new utilities for XP, including a virtual desktop manager allowing you to switch the current desktops and all the open programs you have open, just like most *ix WMs. It's pretty slow right now, but it's still in beta.