As of this moment, Slashdot has officially decided to declare all "United States" postings as Karma Mine Fields. Please be aware when posting you run the risk of losing karma, no matter how well thought-out your arguments, because of political affiliation. Of course, this is different than the typical loss of Karma due to an unpopular viewpoint, because here there is no consensual popular view. It's a free-for-all, people! --
I'd just like to take a moment to quote from a true cultural savant, Eminem: "[D]on't blame me When little Eric jump off of the terrace You should have been watching him APPARENTLY YOU AIN'T PARENTS.
I think that pretty much sums up everything I could possibly say about media and violence. --
The interesting thing to think about here is the mindframe Microsoft seems to be exibiting. I mean, damn, exactly how anti-competative do you have to be to think that every PC will end up with your product on it??? This isn't even smart megalomania, and that's the sad part... --
I think this is one of the first Slashdot posts where people are actually clicking the link and downloading before posting... I'm at 3% right now... --
Wow, given the general stupidity of the way patent laws are implemented, where the largest corporation wins, I suggest that in a patent war between two varge corporations, there be one simple method of reaching a descision:
Well, this is a very interesting development. Of course, those of us in the real world are going to have to wait for a while as they figure out exactly where the fungi came from, how it grew, and its life cycle. The only thing we can guarentee is that new age "gurus" will probably use this to convince even more suckers that "There is life out there" (of course, there may be, but not the sentient, ready-to-make-first-contact life they allude to), and even in more extreme ones will use this to further the notion of halucionagenic mushrooms as a communication agent spread accross the universe by some ancient species... Damn, the next pagan get-together is gonna suck... --
This is a wonderful article. I remember my first experience with "Extropians" was at a dinner with some of the members of a large, international Extropian mailing list. I think that I realized exactly how far off the ideology was when I sat there and watch three men badger another man to sign a "Cryogenics Contract" where he would agree to be frozen when he died. Not only was it bad science, but it was the same kind of groupthink atmosphere that permiates the type of movements I was trying desperatly to get away from.
On a related note, you might wat to check out The Guy I Almost Was by Patrick S. Farley. I think that it gives one of the best descriptions of techno-fetishism among geeks, and the ways that we are being manipulated by it... (Also, it's a damn good story.) --
What makes you think your precious 'world government' will be working on the behalf of (and accountable to) the People?
A World Government will only be accountable if the average human will get out there and demand that it is. Unfortunantly, at least on this continent, too many people seem to spend their time bitching about how the people with moneyt are in control, and don't understand that money is still trumped by numbers, and the sheer will of the people. Stop being so cynical, or else there might be a reason to be one day!!! --
A friendly reminder that ratified treaties supercede the constitution.
Thank Goodness!!! It time that people start to realize that the only option we are going to have to balance the ever-increasing power of the multinational corporations is a ONE WORLD GOVERNMENT. Yes, I said it, and it's true. Unfortunantly, because too many of the people who are concerned for individual liberty have been bamboozled into thinking that government is the direct enemy of those rights, when in fact at least governments have to keep up some form of representation, while corporations, which have just as much ability to squash human rights, have no accountability. Now, if you care for your own liberty, get off your ass, drop your copy of 1984, and start trying to make a difference where it really matters, in creating and strengthening a strong, corporate-checking, world government. --
Well, I'm going to go ahead and count the chickens before they're hatched, and say that bringing this kind of director in is a triumph for the adult fans of comics everywhere. I'd imagine the high gross of the well-adapted X-men kinda convinced Warner, Inc. to keep away from the neon-pain and nipple-costume Batman deisgn concepts. Of course, I'm going to be wary, because those behind the WB shield have the incredible ability to fuck something up. I'll survive on 'Return of the Joker' and let the news for this one pass... --
Upon hearing this news at Redmond, a Microsoft PR person had this to say...
"It's good to hear that technology had gone so far forward, but we should remind you that Mircrosoft is still at the head of innovation. So OpenGL can simulate a black hole, DirectX has sucked that hard for quite some time."
Exactly! No single telescope is going to be able to cover such an extremly large area. What they ought to do is give everyone a telescope and an hour of free time a week. Then we'd be secure. Let's all get ready for distributed-armageddon watch!
Obviously, you didn't tr typing the domain into your browser before you posted taht comment. Try it, you'll find the experience enlightening. (And you'll probably realize why your post will probably be modded down...) --
If you breed breed out the concept of "freedom" and take related words out of the lexicon, you can control your population so that they don't know that they're free.
The only problem with that type of reasoning is that languages are not set in stone, and removing a concept from a populus isn't as simple as erasing some words in a dictionary. As long as the people feel the need to express "freedom", weather longing for it, celebrating it, or even removing it from others, there will be some term used to express it.
Language and concepts are tied very closely, but words themselves are only one form of communication. Also, there is always the tool of the anecdote and the metaphore. Suppose all the words relating to freedom vanished. Now, suppose an author wrote a book about a slave escaping his masters to live without their rule. Because that book's plot and theme relate to freedom so strongly, people could then use the anecdote of that book to express the concept. There are a thousand other examples, but suffice it to say that as long as there are any artists, storytellers, or visionaries around, a concept that exists in the minds of the people will have no problem finding a term by which to be expressed. --
I believe one of the primary motivations behind techies skipping college to head straight into the field (besides $) is the one single great flaw in most geek thinking, that high tech is everything. College is a rare time when you are allowed the oppertunity to gain a wide array of knowledge, to broaden your horizions.
Yes, you may have all the network or programming knowledge to make you very valuable in your workplace, but if that is all you know, how valuable are you as a human being? --
Okay, I'd always thought one of the best attributed of shopping on the net was the ability to compare prices, usually by going to a comparison website. This makes me worry, though, because given the precedent set by e-bay when it went after those auction sites that were linking to it, couldn't Amazon try to do the same thing to these comparison sites?
In the past, I wasn't particularly worried about this, because those sites usually helped online retailers make sales. Now, though, if personal pricing becomes a trend, I could see retailers wanting to keep users away from these sites. --
...Thanks to this story, Texas A&M is no doubt being slashdotted. While this means very little to a major universty with bandwidth to spare, but it might have an effect on the dorm residents. Finally, it's time to challenge those Aggie Bastards to a Quake match! --
Didn't you just say average salary estimate to be $12/hr? shouldn't that be 65,000,000 * 12 instead of 10? and if I can count (hopefully, that's true), your resulted turned out to be $650 million, not 65 million...
See, this is what happens when you're putting a comment up after a night of coding, having no real figures and just pulling things out of your ass...
Slashdot Mirror
What will you do to protect the rights of athiests and those who hold minority faiths, such as Wicca, Santaria, Shinto, et al?
--
As of this moment, Slashdot has officially decided to declare all "United States" postings as Karma Mine Fields.
Please be aware when posting you run the risk of losing karma, no matter how well thought-out your arguments, because of political affiliation.
Of course, this is different than the typical loss of Karma due to an unpopular viewpoint, because here there is no consensual popular view.
It's a free-for-all, people!
--
I'd just like to take a moment to quote from a true cultural savant, Eminem:
"[D]on't blame me
When little Eric jump off of the terrace
You should have been watching him
APPARENTLY YOU AIN'T PARENTS.
I think that pretty much sums up everything I could possibly say about media and violence.
--
A Ph.D. in nanotech...
Still not as cool as a BA in Magic. (Awarded to Isaac Bonewits by the Universit of California, Berkley)
--
The interesting thing to think about here is the mindframe Microsoft seems to be exibiting.
I mean, damn, exactly how anti-competative do you have to be to think that every PC will end up with your product on it???
This isn't even smart megalomania, and that's the sad part...
--
Where are the CS grad students in the audience?
You know the CS Grad students, they're the ones who do "First Post".
--
I think this is one of the first Slashdot posts where people are actually clicking the link and downloading before posting... I'm at 3% right now...
--
Wow, given the general stupidity of the way patent laws are implemented, where the largest corporation wins, I suggest that in a patent war between two varge corporations, there be one simple method of reaching a descision:
Thunderdome!
"Two Chief Intellectual Privacy Officers enter! once Chief Intellectual Privacy Officer leaves!"
--
Karl Auerbach's campaign web site is at: http://www.cavebear.com/ialc/index.htm.
Damn that guy's cool... After I get off work today, I'm going home, grabbing my PIN, and voting for him...
--
Well, this is a very interesting development. Of course, those of us in the real world are going to have to wait for a while as they figure out exactly where the fungi came from, how it grew, and its life cycle. The only thing we can guarentee is that new age "gurus" will probably use this to convince even more suckers that "There is life out there" (of course, there may be, but not the sentient, ready-to-make-first-contact life they allude to), and even in more extreme ones will use this to further the notion of halucionagenic mushrooms as a communication agent spread accross the universe by some ancient species...
Damn, the next pagan get-together is gonna suck...
--
Okay, this was origionally published in Salon right here.Now, noting this, I think we can stop thinking about the biad being toward the management types who read Red Herring. (not to say Salon doesn't have it's own biases...)
--
Don't you wish you had a stick you could hit corporations with...
*Whap!* Bad British Telecom! No Patent!
*Whap!* Bad Amazon! No One-Click!
The person who invents the corporate-whapping mechanism will become my one true personal hero...
--
This is a wonderful article. I remember my first experience with "Extropians" was at a dinner with some of the members of a large, international Extropian mailing list. I think that I realized exactly how far off the ideology was when I sat there and watch three men badger another man to sign a "Cryogenics Contract" where he would agree to be frozen when he died. Not only was it bad science, but it was the same kind of groupthink atmosphere that permiates the type of movements I was trying desperatly to get away from.
On a related note, you might wat to check out The Guy I Almost Was by Patrick S. Farley. I think that it gives one of the best descriptions of techno-fetishism among geeks, and the ways that we are being manipulated by it... (Also, it's a damn good story.)
--
What makes you think your precious 'world government' will be working on the behalf of (and accountable to) the People?
A World Government will only be accountable if the average human will get out there and demand that it is. Unfortunantly, at least on this continent, too many people seem to spend their time bitching about how the people with moneyt are in control, and don't understand that money is still trumped by numbers, and the sheer will of the people. Stop being so cynical, or else there might be a reason to be one day!!!
--
A friendly reminder that ratified treaties supercede the constitution.
Thank Goodness!!!
It time that people start to realize that the only option we are going to have to balance the ever-increasing power of the multinational corporations is a ONE WORLD GOVERNMENT. Yes, I said it, and it's true. Unfortunantly, because too many of the people who are concerned for individual liberty have been bamboozled into thinking that government is the direct enemy of those rights, when in fact at least governments have to keep up some form of representation, while corporations, which have just as much ability to squash human rights, have no accountability.
Now, if you care for your own liberty, get off your ass, drop your copy of 1984, and start trying to make a difference where it really matters, in creating and strengthening a strong, corporate-checking, world government.
--
Well, I'm going to go ahead and count the chickens before they're hatched, and say that bringing this kind of director in is a triumph for the adult fans of comics everywhere. I'd imagine the high gross of the well-adapted X-men kinda convinced Warner, Inc. to keep away from the neon-pain and nipple-costume Batman deisgn concepts.
Of course, I'm going to be wary, because those behind the WB shield have the incredible ability to fuck something up. I'll survive on 'Return of the Joker' and let the news for this one pass...
--
Upon hearing this news at Redmond, a Microsoft PR person had this to say...
"It's good to hear that technology had gone so far forward, but we should remind you that Mircrosoft is still at the head of innovation. So OpenGL can simulate a black hole, DirectX has sucked that hard for quite some time."
(Obligitory, I know.)
--
Exactly! No single telescope is going to be able to cover such an extremly large area.
What they ought to do is give everyone a telescope and an hour of free time a week. Then we'd be secure.
Let's all get ready for distributed-armageddon watch!
--
Obviously, you didn't tr typing the domain into your browser before you posted taht comment. Try it, you'll find the experience enlightening. (And you'll probably realize why your post will probably be modded down...)
--
I can see it now, fuckedcompany.com's new CEO- some kid who snatched it up at the last minute with a perl script...
--
If you breed breed out the concept of "freedom" and take related words out of the lexicon, you can control your population so that they don't know that they're free.
The only problem with that type of reasoning is that languages are not set in stone, and removing a concept from a populus isn't as simple as erasing some words in a dictionary. As long as the people feel the need to express "freedom", weather longing for it, celebrating it, or even removing it from others, there will be some term used to express it.
Language and concepts are tied very closely, but words themselves are only one form of communication. Also, there is always the tool of the anecdote and the metaphore. Suppose all the words relating to freedom vanished. Now, suppose an author wrote a book about a slave escaping his masters to live without their rule. Because that book's plot and theme relate to freedom so strongly, people could then use the anecdote of that book to express the concept. There are a thousand other examples, but suffice it to say that as long as there are any artists, storytellers, or visionaries around, a concept that exists in the minds of the people will have no problem finding a term by which to be expressed.
--
I believe one of the primary motivations behind techies skipping college to head straight into the field (besides $) is the one single great flaw in most geek thinking, that high tech is everything. College is a rare time when you are allowed the oppertunity to gain a wide array of knowledge, to broaden your horizions.
Yes, you may have all the network or programming knowledge to make you very valuable in your workplace, but if that is all you know, how valuable are you as a human being?
--
Okay, I'd always thought one of the best attributed of shopping on the net was the ability to compare prices, usually by going to a comparison website. This makes me worry, though, because given the precedent set by e-bay when it went after those auction sites that were linking to it, couldn't Amazon try to do the same thing to these comparison sites?
In the past, I wasn't particularly worried about this, because those sites usually helped online retailers make sales. Now, though, if personal pricing becomes a trend, I could see retailers wanting to keep users away from these sites.
--
...Thanks to this story, Texas A&M is no doubt being slashdotted. While this means very little to a major universty with bandwidth to spare, but it might have an effect on the dorm residents. Finally, it's time to challenge those Aggie Bastards to a Quake match!
--
Didn't you just say average salary estimate to be $12/hr? shouldn't that be 65,000,000 * 12 instead of 10? and if I can count (hopefully, that's true), your resulted turned out to be $650 million, not 65 million...
See, this is what happens when you're putting a comment up after a night of coding, having no real figures and just pulling things out of your ass...
See, statistics can be invented...
--