Actually, Star Wars is a Western with the religion scenario and other twists. I mean, look at it. It's the classic vengeance variation of the Western.
It's definately got those elements, but Lucas was an equal-opportunity thief. I think that Star Wars is a Martial Arts movie. Young podunk farmer leaves his home because of restlessness. Finds a master who teaches him how to use the sword and to focus his Ki...er..Force. His master is killed so he finds an Old Master(tm) who teaches him the real skillz. Eventually, he and his redeemed father kill the Emperor (c'mon, you don't get to kill the emperor in a western). Heck, Skywalker was wearing a gi all the way through episode 4.
I'm not attacking, so put down your dukes. Liberalism may have followed your definition at one point, but by your definition, the Democratic Party is not a liberal party. The Democratic Party is trying to expand government power at an ever increasing rate. Every expansion of government power comes at the expense of the individual. When the government decides to expand welfare, create prescription drug benefits, federalize airport security, increase business regulation, etc... they deny the individual the opportunity to decide for themselves how their hard-earned money is spent. This is a limitation of their freedom. The political philosophy that you have described is libertarianism, not liberalism.
- Economic model is doubtful
It sure is. Of course there are exceptions, but that's why they're called exceptions. Personally, I think it's because the open source model is new, not because it's unworkable.
- Source code is useless
Well, source code is useless when you don't need it, but when you do need it, it's a lifesaver. It's also the best way to learn new techniques and styles. Books are a good way to get started, but to really call yourself a proficient programmer, you need to be able to simply read and understand source.
- Motivation for Open Source is inappropriate for most software
I quite agree. Most people write OSS to scratch an itch. However, most software is custom software. Telemarketing software. Inventory applications. CAT Scan software. No developer writes these things for themselves, a business hires developers to build it for them. These kind of applications have to be custom built, because the problem domain is extremely limited. Therefore, even if they were open source, who'd need it? I see more competent programmers coming to OSS every day. It is gaining in credibility. If you can get your client to GPL an application you write for them, good. I'd personally like to see some of the image construction code for a MRI scanner. However, most of it you wouldn't even want. It's better than the infrastructure is OSS, let the apps fall where they may.
- Nerd culture is counter-productive
How can he say that? I learn really super-valuable stuff reading/. all day at work!
Blah blah blah. 'Course if all of Florida had been recounted, then GWB would have requested a recount of a Red state. Then Gore would have requested a recount of another Blue state....and we'd still be sitting here wondering who the Prez was going to be. Then there'd be nobody around to stop the next skyscraper from getting knocked over.
When the hell are people going to get over this? Take one cup election, add 6 gallons of ugly partisan politics, 10 cloves of idiotic punditry, 300 different voting standards. Stir, cook at 90 degree Florida heat, and after an hour what do you get? A statistical TIE. The errors inherent in the process of having 270 mega-people voting in fifty different states with dozens of different counting standards drowns out any possible signifigance of the votes of a couple of Florida counties. That's all this election was, too fucking close to call. Mathematically undecided.
So here we are, years after the fact, and people are still whining over this. Get over it! The differences between the two major candidates was statistically too close to call anyway.
Easy. Because I am not trying to publish my personal information. If my personal information is required for a transaction, I may, begrudgingly, provide it. However, I only provide that information to allow that transaction to take place, not because I want an inbox full of spam. I opt-out any time that I have an opportunity, but the spam keeps coming.
If I'm not trying to publish my information, then it's not censorship. Simple as that. I should legally own information about myself, but until the law catches up, I don't.
I think I'm going to put a privacy policy on my homepage that says that any information provided by a company implicitly authorizes me to give or sell said info to any of my "associates". Then I can set up a 1337 w4R3z s3r\/3r of digital media.
Well, Oreilly published Programming with GNU Software. Doesn't have anything about DDD, Electric Fence, etc..., but it does cover gcc, gdb, make, gprof, ld, ar et.al.
The big issue is not what sane people, whether lawful or unlawful, will do with these items. The big question is what will the insane do.
You're absolutely right! We'd better outlaw anything that can be dangerous in the hands of a crazy person. I propose that we outlaw...
Planes ('natch)
Cars
Guns
Chainsaws
Gasoline
Knives
Forks
Nanotech (Bill Joy would love that)
Tequila
etc...
Thank goodness that we have such forward thinking people such as yourself to make sure that the world is nice and safe with no pointy edges. I don't think that any sacrifice is too great if it would save even one single life.
To the humor impaired: read it again, listen for the sarcasm.
Every time a story like this comes out, up comes a chorus of "Megacorporations shall rule us all! McWorld! Save us Nader!" And everybody misses the root cause.
Are corporations out of control? Yes. Are they powerhungry? Yes. Do they collect and trade Senators like baseball cards? Yes. But the problem is not with the corps themselves. The problem is with the Government.
The only reason that corporations are buying, is the the government is selling. Corporations are allowed to exist because of the laws that have been passed in the U.S. They play by (or fail to play by) the rules that are set by the government. Microsoft, the richest company on Earth, pales in comparison to the size and scope of the U.S. Government.
If you really want change. Quit focusing on corporations themselves. Yes, their actions are immoral, indefensible, and often illegal. However, they have absolutely no rights that have not been given to them by misguided, ignorant, and overbroad legislation. You can bitch on/. all day long and it won't change a thing. Spread the message. Help others understand the issues. Grow come consensus. And vote for chrissakes, with your ballot and with your checkbook.
Oh please! If you're going to look somewhere for theological or mathematical proof, you're going to have to do better than John Boatwright. He's been trolling alt.atheism for a long time, and he's come up with some other astonishing "proofs".
Proof God is a High Frequency Spectra of Energy
Proof Jesus's name is on his thigh
Proof God Predicted Nuclear Bombs
Proof God Described Planet Formation
Proof God Described the Moon's formation
Proof God Described Planet Density Trends
Proof Genesis Describes a "pre-sun" Star
Proof God's Firmament Allows Measuring an Exploding Star
Proof God Described the Planetary Dust Disk
Oh god please! I work on a USAF base and if I get one more 500K+ PowerPoint presentation containing three lines about a barbeque that I'm not invited to, I'm gonna snap.
Or Europe based web sites having to comply with the narrow laws (concerning e.g. nudity, drugs, or cryptography) of hyporcrite US.
Obvious flamebait aside, you're quite right. No country should be held to laws not passed under their own form of government. (or in the case of some countries, forced on their people) We'll end up with speech laws from China, drug laws from the U.S., food regulations from Israel, etc...
Besides, I get sick of conspiracy-freak, one-world-government types in the U.S., and I hate it when something helps prove them right.
And I don't know about you, but I LOVE the graphics. They are kicking some major ARSE. The refresh rate could be a bit higher, though, I still get blurry vision when stumbling home from the bar.:)
Perhaps from a computer science perspective, but engineers work with emergent phenomena all the time.
The gas laws are emergent phenomena of large numbers of gas molecules. (what's the pressure of one molecule of O2?) Color is an emergent phenomenon of bulk matter. An individual atom has no color.
Heck, even in computer science, neural networks are emergent properties of interacting nodes.
I guess it's a "superior" platform if you're just another bump-on-the-log in front of a monitor, writing email to Mom and playing Tribes, but I prefer to really use my computer, and Linux lets me and in fact encourages me to do so.
Ok, I use my Linux box to write email to my Dad, *and* to play Tribes. I also learn some new programming, or system administration trick every day. So I'm confused, am I a bump-on-a-log or not?
Try as I might, I've never even heard of "Ogg Vorbis" (it's like all those naysayers that say "Amiga" had such a "wonderful GUI", when only a small percentage played with it -- whatever), but if you asked the average teenager on the street, most would identify the term "MP3".
Try as I might, I've never even heard of "Beef Wellington" (it's like all those naysayers that say "Veal" had such a "wonderful flavor", when only a small percentage had tasted it -- whatever), but if you asked the average teenager on the street, most would identify the term "Big Mac".
And if safety issues concerning Chrysler products had come to light (which I haven't seen), they'd be crying in their beer along with Firestone. Now *that's* accountability.
Actually, while I was checking out their site, I read a little FAQ on Web Bugs. Little 1x1 transparent gifs loaded from other sites *specifically* so that the other site can store and read cookies while you're on another site.
Slashdot Mirror
It's definately got those elements, but Lucas was an equal-opportunity thief. I think that Star Wars is a Martial Arts movie. Young podunk farmer leaves his home because of restlessness. Finds a master who teaches him how to use the sword and to focus his Ki...er..Force. His master is killed so he finds an Old Master(tm) who teaches him the real skillz. Eventually, he and his redeemed father kill the Emperor (c'mon, you don't get to kill the emperor in a western). Heck, Skywalker was wearing a gi all the way through episode 4.
I'm not attacking, so put down your dukes. Liberalism may have followed your definition at one point, but by your definition, the Democratic Party is not a liberal party. The Democratic Party is trying to expand government power at an ever increasing rate. Every expansion of government power comes at the expense of the individual. When the government decides to expand welfare, create prescription drug benefits, federalize airport security, increase business regulation, etc... they deny the individual the opportunity to decide for themselves how their hard-earned money is spent. This is a limitation of their freedom. The political philosophy that you have described is libertarianism, not liberalism.
Lets see...
- Economic model is doubtful It sure is. Of course there are exceptions, but that's why they're called exceptions. Personally, I think it's because the open source model is new, not because it's unworkable.
- Source code is useless Well, source code is useless when you don't need it, but when you do need it, it's a lifesaver. It's also the best way to learn new techniques and styles. Books are a good way to get started, but to really call yourself a proficient programmer, you need to be able to simply read and understand source.
- Motivation for Open Source is inappropriate for most software I quite agree. Most people write OSS to scratch an itch. However, most software is custom software. Telemarketing software. Inventory applications. CAT Scan software. No developer writes these things for themselves, a business hires developers to build it for them. These kind of applications have to be custom built, because the problem domain is extremely limited. Therefore, even if they were open source, who'd need it? I see more competent programmers coming to OSS every day. It is gaining in credibility. If you can get your client to GPL an application you write for them, good. I'd personally like to see some of the image construction code for a MRI scanner. However, most of it you wouldn't even want. It's better than the infrastructure is OSS, let the apps fall where they may.
- Nerd culture is counter-productive How can he say that? I learn really super-valuable stuff reading /. all day at work!
I'm wealthy, I'm not a communist, and I'll make my own decisions based on my knowledge and convictions thank you very much.
Blah blah blah. 'Course if all of Florida had been recounted, then GWB would have requested a recount of a Red state. Then Gore would have requested a recount of another Blue state. ...and we'd still be sitting here wondering who the Prez was going to be. Then there'd be nobody around to stop the next skyscraper from getting knocked over.
When the hell are people going to get over this? Take one cup election, add 6 gallons of ugly partisan politics, 10 cloves of idiotic punditry, 300 different voting standards. Stir, cook at 90 degree Florida heat, and after an hour what do you get? A statistical TIE. The errors inherent in the process of having 270 mega-people voting in fifty different states with dozens of different counting standards drowns out any possible signifigance of the votes of a couple of Florida counties. That's all this election was, too fucking close to call. Mathematically undecided.
So here we are, years after the fact, and people are still whining over this. Get over it! The differences between the two major candidates was statistically too close to call anyway.
Easy. Because I am not trying to publish my personal information. If my personal information is required for a transaction, I may, begrudgingly, provide it. However, I only provide that information to allow that transaction to take place, not because I want an inbox full of spam. I opt-out any time that I have an opportunity, but the spam keeps coming.
If I'm not trying to publish my information, then it's not censorship. Simple as that. I should legally own information about myself, but until the law catches up, I don't.
I think I'm going to put a privacy policy on my homepage that says that any information provided by a company implicitly authorizes me to give or sell said info to any of my "associates". Then I can set up a 1337 w4R3z s3r\/3r of digital media.
Well, Oreilly published Programming with GNU Software. Doesn't have anything about DDD, Electric Fence, etc..., but it does cover gcc, gdb, make, gprof, ld, ar et.al.
Speaking of faulty analysis, it wasn't his fucking computer! Read the article.
The big issue is not what sane people, whether lawful or unlawful, will do with these items. The big question is what will the insane do.
You're absolutely right! We'd better outlaw anything that can be dangerous in the hands of a crazy person. I propose that we outlaw...
Thank goodness that we have such forward thinking people such as yourself to make sure that the world is nice and safe with no pointy edges. I don't think that any sacrifice is too great if it would save even one single life.
To the humor impaired: read it again, listen for the sarcasm.
Actually, it's the X Window system, X11, or just X. They've tried to make it clear that you just don't say X Windows.
Every time a story like this comes out, up comes a chorus of "Megacorporations shall rule us all! McWorld! Save us Nader!" And everybody misses the root cause.
Are corporations out of control? Yes. Are they powerhungry? Yes. Do they collect and trade Senators like baseball cards? Yes. But the problem is not with the corps themselves. The problem is with the Government.
The only reason that corporations are buying, is the the government is selling. Corporations are allowed to exist because of the laws that have been passed in the U.S. They play by (or fail to play by) the rules that are set by the government. Microsoft, the richest company on Earth, pales in comparison to the size and scope of the U.S. Government.
If you really want change. Quit focusing on corporations themselves. Yes, their actions are immoral, indefensible, and often illegal. However, they have absolutely no rights that have not been given to them by misguided, ignorant, and overbroad legislation. You can bitch on /. all day long and it won't change a thing. Spread the message. Help others understand the issues. Grow come consensus. And vote for chrissakes, with your ballot and with your checkbook.
Oh please! If you're going to look somewhere for theological or mathematical proof, you're going to have to do better than John Boatwright. He's been trolling alt.atheism for a long time, and he's come up with some other astonishing "proofs".
Proof God is a High Frequency Spectra of Energy
Proof Jesus's name is on his thigh
Proof God Predicted Nuclear Bombs
Proof God Described Planet Formation
Proof God Described the Moon's formation
Proof God Described Planet Density Trends
Proof Genesis Describes a "pre-sun" Star
Proof God's Firmament Allows Measuring an Exploding Star
Proof God Described the Planetary Dust Disk
Pretty heavy stuff. I'm sure it's all ironclad.
Oh god please! I work on a USAF base and if I get one more 500K+ PowerPoint presentation containing three lines about a barbeque that I'm not invited to, I'm gonna snap.
Or Europe based web sites having to comply with the narrow laws (concerning e.g. nudity, drugs, or cryptography) of hyporcrite US.
Obvious flamebait aside, you're quite right. No country should be held to laws not passed under their own form of government. (or in the case of some countries, forced on their people) We'll end up with speech laws from China, drug laws from the U.S., food regulations from Israel, etc...
Besides, I get sick of conspiracy-freak, one-world-government types in the U.S., and I hate it when something helps prove them right.
And I don't know about you, but I LOVE the graphics. They are kicking some major ARSE. The refresh rate could be a bit higher, though, I still get blurry vision when stumbling home from the bar. :)
That's motion blur. It's a feature.
Perhaps from a computer science perspective, but engineers work with emergent phenomena all the time.
The gas laws are emergent phenomena of large numbers of gas molecules. (what's the pressure of one molecule of O2?) Color is an emergent phenomenon of bulk matter. An individual atom has no color.
Heck, even in computer science, neural networks are emergent properties of interacting nodes.
I guess it's a "superior" platform if you're just another bump-on-the-log in front of a monitor, writing email to Mom and playing Tribes, but I prefer to really use my computer, and Linux lets me and in fact encourages me to do so.
Ok, I use my Linux box to write email to my Dad, *and* to play Tribes. I also learn some new programming, or system administration trick every day. So I'm confused, am I a bump-on-a-log or not?
Try as I might, I've never even heard of "Ogg Vorbis" (it's like all those naysayers that say "Amiga" had such a "wonderful GUI", when only a small percentage played with it -- whatever), but if you asked the average teenager on the street, most would identify the term "MP3".
Try as I might, I've never even heard of "Beef Wellington" (it's like all those naysayers that say "Veal" had such a "wonderful flavor", when only a small percentage had tasted it -- whatever), but if you asked the average teenager on the street, most would identify the term "Big Mac".
And if safety issues concerning Chrysler products had come to light (which I haven't seen), they'd be crying in their beer along with Firestone. Now *that's* accountability.
Nah, just settling some scores from the U.S. Revolutionary War.
Actually, while I was checking out their site, I read a little FAQ on Web Bugs. Little 1x1 transparent gifs loaded from other sites *specifically* so that the other site can store and read cookies while you're on another site.