I'd only feel comfortable if this was a legally binding contract, violation of which would be punishable by the stampeding of a herd of rabid rhinos into the ass of the person who thought about it.
I wish I had a nickel for every time someone said "Information wants to be free".
I don't know, we're talking Marvel here. If you want non-camp, the origin of the material can't have been anywhere near Stan Lee.
Marvel always stretched my suspension of disbelief a bit too thin. Despite Superman's limitless powers, I always found it a bit more realistic than anything out of Marvel.
By the way, what do they mean by "X-Men"? did they have sex-change operations, or what?
I wish I had a nickel for every time someone said "Information wants to be free".
well, it's said that because of his illness, he applied himself in his field in a way he wouldn't have otherwise, and became very successful because of it.
on the other hand, I think his celebrity is due to his success in his field. Not due to his illness, no matter WHY he was successful.
I wish I had a nickel for every time someone said "Information wants to be free".
I think I can recall quite a few teachers that would have been nicely replaced by computers. Especially my 5th grade science teacher who told me that I would never amount to anything. (as I watch my stock investments near the $1M mark. . . heh heh heh)
I wish I had a nickel for every time someone said "Information wants to be free".
I know that this is a bit off topic, but I just had an idea - after reading Cmdr Taco's response to this question.
Now, what if slashdot could have a separate ad placement agency, to book advertisers, and link their banner ads to the site blindly through code, in such a way that the editors do not know or care WHO advertises on the site. This separate ad agency would be legally bound to isolate the other/. staff from the business of attracting or selling banner space - by some type of contract or certified ISO procedure or something. Their charter would still be to bring in revenue for the parent organization (or perish financially), but they will not be responsible in any way for content. Only advertising.
Then there could be some journalistic review authority that could certify/. (or other news organizations), as "unbiased". Such a certified rating system would improve the credibility of such organizations - and perhaps other news outlets would follow suit. This might not be technologically possible for printed news - possibly for broadcast news, and definately for web-accessed news. When it can be proved and certified that a news source's staff is not beholden to the wishes of an advertiser (other than, "put my ad in front of as many eyes as possible"), wouldn't that remove the horrible media bias we see throughout the journalism industry today? Sure, you'd still have your megacorp-owned news network, which would still serve it's own diverse corporate interests with bias, but they'd have to compete with the certified unbiased news agencies. . .
Or, I could be on drugs.
I wish I had a nickel for every time someone said "Information wants to be free".
I read a news item a year or two ago, about a conference on manned missions to Mars. It was mentioned by the speaker that a ONE-WAY manned mission to Mars would be about one-eighth the cost of a round-trip, due to the reduction in supplies, Martian launch vehicle, Earth re-entry vehicle (this assumed a completely self-contained mission, as opposed to a rendezvous-on-arrival with the International Space Station, or Shuttle or something). He then asked for volunteers for such a one-way mission. Assent was unanimous.
While nobody seriously expects the US Government to fund such a mission, and I sure as hell wouldn't volunteer for it - it's something to think about.
I wish I had a nickel for every time someone said "Information wants to be free".
I AM a bit pissed that Apple has taken the old, elegant concept of a window with Two widgets (close box and resize), clearly superior to the Windows approach, with four widgets that do some often redundant things, and trashed it in favor of the cluttered waste of space that is the Windows way of doing things.
Plus, the QT4 interface is still not fixed.
But - bring on the memory protection and multitasking. It's about fucking time Apple!
I wish I had a nickel for every time someone said "Information wants to be free".
Actually, Themes in OS X would not impact helpdesk support.
Just use whatever passes for NXHosting on Mac OS X (I've heard rumblings that Quartz will allow this kind of feature) - and you don't have to describe the interface to the tech, he can see it on his screen!
I wish I had a nickel for every time someone said "Information wants to be free".
That's BULLSHIT. I suggest you go check out their web page to see how secret they are.
There are female Masons, they're called Order of the Eastern Star. They're not a secret organization, though they do have rituals and mythology that they keep to themselves - people get Masonic badges to mount on the back of their cars in the states!
Yes, some nasty conspiratorial stuff went on with the Masons 200 years ago. Yeah, some Masonic lodges are "good old boy" networks, and they take care of eachother, sometimes in not so nice ways; the same exact methods are used in any similar organization, from the KKK to Elks, to 4-H. THEY (Masonry as a whole) aren't responsible for things like that. I happen to be related to a few Masons, and know a few more, (am not one because of the religious ramifications), and some intestine-burnable "secrets" have been revealed to me, and as a whole, Masonry may be an excellent vehicle for small-scale conspiracy, but is really a beneficial organization of guys looking for a hobby, and an excuse to hang out with other guys and do guy things. I'm not so sure about British Masonry, but in America, they are a greatly beneficial charity, they run hospitals for poor children, and other things. Your slamming comes from a history that's hundreds of years old, when Masons were involved more in politics, mainly in Europe. Things have changed.
I wish I had a nickel for every time someone said "Information wants to be free".
Well, I believe this device would be a great thing too, only make a few minor changes:
Monitor which lane the person's driving in. If they're in the left lane, and aren't travelling at least 5mph faster than the traffic in the next lane to the right, it should control the car to drive faster, so they can use the passing lane for passing dammmit!
I wish I had a nickel for every time someone said "Information wants to be free".
"People, you do NOT have the right to drive. Diving is a privelage that the government has allowed you to have."
This is the biggest load of bull. I don't know where that reasoning has come from, but it's bullcrap. Where does it say in the constitution that folks have no right to drive, or seek any mode of transportation they want? Is walking on the sidewalk a privilage? Is riding a unicycle a privilage? Once the government convinced us that driving was a privilage, not a right, they won the battle, and nobody blinked an eye.
I wish I had a nickel for every time someone said "Information wants to be free".
This is the exact reason why the US tried to add 55MPH governors to cars back in the 70's when the national speed limit was lowered to 55. Know what? It didn't fly for just the arguments people are bringing up here.
Older cars are already considered more valueable in some cases, due to their simplicities, immunity from EPA laws, not requiring emissions controls, catalytic converters, etc. Much less hassle to maintain over the long-term. Plus, you're more likely to find Rear-Wheel drive on an older car (no vulnerabilities like CV-joints, etc. - plus for anyone even THINKING of arguing the superiority of Front-Wheel drive, ask yourself this: Why does Nascar take a "stock" car like a Taurus, which is Front-Wheel drive, and rebuild it into a Rear-Wheel drive chassis? FWD is better on the one or two days out of the year you have to drive through 2+ inches of snow, if you live in such a climate, but seriously, it's just a compromise for not having the truly superior solution, AWD.)
I wish I had a nickel for every time someone said "Information wants to be free".
ha ha, there's another ME out there! I have a 3yr old daughter and 6 yr old son, and they're the reasons I watch that stupid show, and collect those stupid cards, and spend hours helping them with that stupid Gameboy game. . .
It IS great, getting dirty looks from the neighbor-kids' parents when I "steal" their kids on the simple virtue that I have a clue who or what a Rhydon is.
Here's a good joke to play: I've convinced my kids, and their friends that there is a new type of Pokemon out there, that is going to be in the TV show someday, but there are no cards for this one, and it's not in the Nintendo game. It's called "Redrum", (for those of you that have seen "The Shining") and it talks with it's finger. It's a riot to see a bunch of kids running around, saying "REDRUM! REDRUM!" in gruff voices, wiggling their index fingers, just like the kid in the movie. . . I'd really like for this to become a nationwide phenomenon, just remember, when CNN is asking, from whence did this "Redrum" thing appear. ..
I wish I had a nickel for every time someone said "Information wants to be free".
not a great tourist town? Well shit! You've got the Mall of America, don't you?
The problem is, crappy weather, and you aren't even near any decent skiing. Face it, 9 months of Winter, and 3 months of Bad Sledding, is why my ancestors left Norway, and got more of the same in Minneapolis.
Although, I will give you the bit about Jesse Ventura. He f*cking rocks. I love how he totally disses Pat Buchanan. The Reform party's acceptance of Buchanan is a slap in the face to all party members, and will be the death of yet another attempt at breaking the two-party system in America. Will it last as long as the Libertarians have tried?
I wish I had a nickel for every time someone said "Information wants to be free".
I escaped Chicago 2 years ago. And I'll never move back.
I live in California now, and though my state income tax is much higher, I pay no tolls on the highways. The cost of living is a bit stiff, but I'm lucky I don't live in SV. I live in a nice smaller college town about halfway between LA and SF. Very nice climate, no crowding, no traffic, very little pollution, burgeoning software industry. The local university keeps the population progressive and diverse, and young. There is somewhat of a lack of culture compared to Chicago. I have to drive 250 miles to take my wife to the Opera, so we have to make a weekend of it, which is hell for finding babysitters. Local night life is fairly cool - if you like bar-band type places, as opposed to nightclubs and dancing. (Man, do I miss Chicago's Cabaret Metro and Aragon Brawlroom). But the elementary schools here are also pretty acceptable, since I have kids, that's more important than nightclubs.
Plus, we have the nice California climate, not as volotile as LA's hot summers, not as chilly as SF's winters, we're not in an earthquake zone, and we're close enough to Vandenburg AFB that we occasionally see launches. We have just about every outdoor activity you can imagine, rock climbing, offroading on the sand dunes in Oceano, boating, (fresh and ocean), fishing, hiking, mountain and road biking heaven, some golf.
Every day, I wake up, and look at the sun rising over the hills, and valleys, and I ask God what I did to deserve to live in heaven.
I wish I had a nickel for every time someone said "Information wants to be free".
Well, maybe they should name the kitten "Kyle". (as in Kyle's mom's a bitch).
Will this one cause YASDRFW (Yet Another Slash Dot Religious Flame War)? I think this is far less questionable than the creating life one. I think mankind *should* feel responsible to try to do anything in our power to fix things we broke. Maybe we make some mistakes. Clearly, cloning TRex and turning them loose would be a mistake. (JP2), but stuff like this lays the groundwork for possibly cloning a Wooly Mammoth (elephant born), or the Thylacine (who knows what the hell they'd use to birth that thing). Those would all be curiosities, but there are plenty of legitimate species we could bring back from the brink of extinction. Especially in the cases where they were put there by our previous mistakes.
I wish I had a nickel for every time someone said "Information wants to be free".
"The Pentium was developed because in 1993 we were in the depth of the worst recession since 1980 and engineers had two choices: work their asses off and get some major breakthroughs or join the thousands who were getting laid off. Since we don't have those pressures there's no need to develop anything new. Not until we have another crash like 1993 will there be anything phenomenal."
As if the Pentium were phenomenal? Anybody ever compare a 486DX2 100MHz (50MHz bus) vs a Pentium 100MHz? The 486 SMOKED it. I'm not saying that Intel hasn't come a long way since the first Pentium - I'm just saying that the Pentium itself was no major breakthrough, in any sense of the word other than in the marketing sense.
I wish I had a nickel for every time someone said "Information wants to be free".
What can the average user expect to see out of this? A higher price-ceiling on high-end systems. Another round of "pay double for an extra 5% performance". Another round of bunny-suit commercials.
I wish I had a nickel for every time someone said "Information wants to be free".
Just look at the VCR market (or actually, the game-console market:-) to see where the computer industry is headed.
Tighter integration, cheaper parts, lower costs, name and model changes every 3-6 months to beat comparison reviews, and warranties, monolithic engineering to prevent do-it-yourselfer repairs and upgrades, to cause the consumer to remain beholden to the manufacturer through eternal forced-upgrade cycles.
Is it Stereo? Dolby? Double Dolby? DBX? Surround? To me, that sounds just like the same questions asked in the CPU market today. Is it a PII? PIII? PIV? MMX? same garbage, different name stamped on the case.
I wish I had a nickel for every time someone said "Information wants to be free".
Slashdot Mirror
I'd only feel comfortable if this was a legally binding contract, violation of which would be punishable by the stampeding of a herd of rabid rhinos into the ass of the person who thought about it.
I wish I had a nickel for every time someone said "Information wants to be free".
I don't know, we're talking Marvel here. If you want non-camp, the origin of the material can't have been anywhere near Stan Lee.
Marvel always stretched my suspension of disbelief a bit too thin. Despite Superman's limitless powers, I always found it a bit more realistic than anything out of Marvel.
By the way, what do they mean by "X-Men"? did they have sex-change operations, or what?
I wish I had a nickel for every time someone said "Information wants to be free".
It's "Joxter the Mighty" to you. . .
I wish I had a nickel for every time someone said "Information wants to be free".
the world being round is still considered controversial by some people too. . .
I wish I had a nickel for every time someone said "Information wants to be free".
well, it's said that because of his illness, he applied himself in his field in a way he wouldn't have otherwise, and became very successful because of it.
on the other hand, I think his celebrity is due to his success in his field. Not due to his illness, no matter WHY he was successful.
I wish I had a nickel for every time someone said "Information wants to be free".
I think I can recall quite a few teachers that would have been nicely replaced by computers. Especially my 5th grade science teacher who told me that I would never amount to anything. (as I watch my stock investments near the $1M mark. . . heh heh heh)
I wish I had a nickel for every time someone said "Information wants to be free".
I know that this is a bit off topic, but I just had an idea - after reading Cmdr Taco's response to this question.
/. staff from the business of attracting or selling banner space - by some type of contract or certified ISO procedure or something. Their charter would still be to bring in revenue for the parent organization (or perish financially), but they will not be responsible in any way for content. Only advertising.
/. (or other news organizations), as "unbiased". Such a certified rating system would improve the credibility of such organizations - and perhaps other news outlets would follow suit. This might not be technologically possible for printed news - possibly for broadcast news, and definately for web-accessed news.
Now, what if slashdot could have a separate ad placement agency, to book advertisers, and link their banner ads to the site blindly through code, in such a way that the editors do not know or care WHO advertises on the site. This separate ad agency would be legally bound to isolate the other
Then there could be some journalistic review authority that could certify
When it can be proved and certified that a news source's staff is not beholden to the wishes of an advertiser (other than, "put my ad in front of as many eyes as possible"), wouldn't that remove the horrible media bias we see throughout the journalism industry today? Sure, you'd still have your megacorp-owned news network, which would still serve it's own diverse corporate interests with bias, but they'd have to compete with the certified unbiased news agencies. . .
Or, I could be on drugs.
I wish I had a nickel for every time someone said "Information wants to be free".
On brave astronauts;
I read a news item a year or two ago, about a conference on manned missions to Mars. It was mentioned by the speaker that a ONE-WAY manned mission to Mars would be about one-eighth the cost of a round-trip, due to the reduction in supplies, Martian launch vehicle, Earth re-entry vehicle (this assumed a completely self-contained mission, as opposed to a rendezvous-on-arrival with the International Space Station, or Shuttle or something).
He then asked for volunteers for such a one-way mission. Assent was unanimous.
While nobody seriously expects the US Government to fund such a mission, and I sure as hell wouldn't volunteer for it - it's something to think about.
I wish I had a nickel for every time someone said "Information wants to be free".
I AM a bit pissed that Apple has taken the old, elegant concept of a window with Two widgets (close box and resize), clearly superior to the Windows approach, with four widgets that do some often redundant things, and trashed it in favor of the cluttered waste of space that is the Windows way of doing things.
Plus, the QT4 interface is still not fixed.
But - bring on the memory protection and multitasking. It's about fucking time Apple!
I wish I had a nickel for every time someone said "Information wants to be free".
Actually, Themes in OS X would not impact helpdesk support.
Just use whatever passes for NXHosting on Mac OS X (I've heard rumblings that Quartz will allow this kind of feature) - and you don't have to describe the interface to the tech, he can see it on his screen!
I wish I had a nickel for every time someone said "Information wants to be free".
That's BULLSHIT. I suggest you go check out their web page to see how secret they are.
There are female Masons, they're called Order of the Eastern Star.
They're not a secret organization, though they do have rituals and mythology that they keep to themselves - people get Masonic badges to mount on the back of their cars in the states!
Yes, some nasty conspiratorial stuff went on with the Masons 200 years ago. Yeah, some Masonic lodges are "good old boy" networks, and they take care of eachother, sometimes in not so nice ways; the same exact methods are used in any similar organization, from the KKK to Elks, to 4-H. THEY (Masonry as a whole) aren't responsible for things like that. I happen to be related to a few Masons, and know a few more, (am not one because of the religious ramifications), and some intestine-burnable "secrets" have been revealed to me, and as a whole, Masonry may be an excellent vehicle for small-scale conspiracy, but is really a beneficial organization of guys looking for a hobby, and an excuse to hang out with other guys and do guy things. I'm not so sure about British Masonry, but in America, they are a greatly beneficial charity, they run hospitals for poor children, and other things. Your slamming comes from a history that's hundreds of years old, when Masons were involved more in politics, mainly in Europe. Things have changed.
I wish I had a nickel for every time someone said "Information wants to be free".
Of course, royalty (or divorced, former royalty) would be exempt from such speed limiting devices, so they can speed away from the paparazzi.
I wish I had a nickel for every time someone said "Information wants to be free".
you didn't mention the Ministry of Silly Walks. . .
I wish I had a nickel for every time someone said "Information wants to be free".
Well, I believe this device would be a great thing too, only make a few minor changes:
Monitor which lane the person's driving in. If they're in the left lane, and aren't travelling at least 5mph faster than the traffic in the next lane to the right, it should control the car to drive faster, so they can use the passing lane for passing dammmit!
I wish I had a nickel for every time someone said "Information wants to be free".
"People, you do NOT have the right to drive. Diving is a privelage that the government has allowed you to have."
This is the biggest load of bull. I don't know where that reasoning has come from, but it's bullcrap. Where does it say in the constitution that folks have no right to drive, or seek any mode of transportation they want? Is walking on the sidewalk a privilage? Is riding a unicycle a privilage? Once the government convinced us that driving was a privilage, not a right, they won the battle, and nobody blinked an eye.
I wish I had a nickel for every time someone said "Information wants to be free".
no.
This is the exact reason why the US tried to add 55MPH governors to cars back in the 70's when the national speed limit was lowered to 55. Know what? It didn't fly for just the arguments people are bringing up here.
Older cars are already considered more valueable in some cases, due to their simplicities, immunity from EPA laws, not requiring emissions controls, catalytic converters, etc. Much less hassle to maintain over the long-term. Plus, you're more likely to find Rear-Wheel drive on an older car (no vulnerabilities like CV-joints, etc. - plus for anyone even THINKING of arguing the superiority of Front-Wheel drive, ask yourself this: Why does Nascar take a "stock" car like a Taurus, which is Front-Wheel drive, and rebuild it into a Rear-Wheel drive chassis? FWD is better on the one or two days out of the year you have to drive through 2+ inches of snow, if you live in such a climate, but seriously, it's just a compromise for not having the truly superior solution, AWD.)
I wish I had a nickel for every time someone said "Information wants to be free".
It MAY be an evil plot after all, just think how much those Un-Geller cards will be worth if Nintendo has to change them.
.
In fact, my son has a Japanese Alakazam (holographic), but I don't think there are any roman characters on it, I don't remember. .
I wish I had a nickel for every time someone said "Information wants to be free".
ha ha, there's another ME out there! I have a 3yr old daughter and 6 yr old son, and they're the reasons I watch that stupid show, and collect those stupid cards, and spend hours helping them with that stupid Gameboy game. . .
.
It IS great, getting dirty looks from the neighbor-kids' parents when I "steal" their kids on the simple virtue that I have a clue who or what a Rhydon is.
Here's a good joke to play: I've convinced my kids, and their friends that there is a new type of Pokemon out there, that is going to be in the TV show someday, but there are no cards for this one, and it's not in the Nintendo game. It's called "Redrum", (for those of you that have seen "The Shining") and it talks with it's finger. It's a riot to see a bunch of kids running around, saying "REDRUM! REDRUM!" in gruff voices, wiggling their index fingers, just like the kid in the movie. . . I'd really like for this to become a nationwide phenomenon, just remember, when CNN is asking, from whence did this "Redrum" thing appear. .
I wish I had a nickel for every time someone said "Information wants to be free".
Cameron Diaz; you haven't seen "Being John Malkovich" yet have you? Recommended.
I wish I had a nickel for every time someone said "Information wants to be free".
not a great tourist town? Well shit! You've got the Mall of America, don't you?
The problem is, crappy weather, and you aren't even near any decent skiing. Face it, 9 months of Winter, and 3 months of Bad Sledding, is why my ancestors left Norway, and got more of the same in Minneapolis.
Although, I will give you the bit about Jesse Ventura. He f*cking rocks. I love how he totally disses Pat Buchanan. The Reform party's acceptance of Buchanan is a slap in the face to all party members, and will be the death of yet another attempt at breaking the two-party system in America. Will it last as long as the Libertarians have tried?
I wish I had a nickel for every time someone said "Information wants to be free".
I escaped Chicago 2 years ago. And I'll never move back.
I live in California now, and though my state income tax is much higher, I pay no tolls on the highways. The cost of living is a bit stiff, but I'm lucky I don't live in SV. I live in a nice smaller college town about halfway between LA and SF. Very nice climate, no crowding, no traffic, very little pollution, burgeoning software industry. The local university keeps the population progressive and diverse, and young. There is somewhat of a lack of culture compared to Chicago. I have to drive 250 miles to take my wife to the Opera, so we have to make a weekend of it, which is hell for finding babysitters. Local night life is fairly cool - if you like bar-band type places, as opposed to nightclubs and dancing. (Man, do I miss Chicago's Cabaret Metro and Aragon Brawlroom). But the elementary schools here are also pretty acceptable, since I have kids, that's more important than nightclubs.
Plus, we have the nice California climate, not as volotile as LA's hot summers, not as chilly as SF's winters, we're not in an earthquake zone, and we're close enough to Vandenburg AFB that we occasionally see launches. We have just about every outdoor activity you can imagine, rock climbing, offroading on the sand dunes in Oceano, boating, (fresh and ocean), fishing, hiking, mountain and road biking heaven, some golf.
Every day, I wake up, and look at the sun rising over the hills, and valleys, and I ask God what I did to deserve to live in heaven.
I wish I had a nickel for every time someone said "Information wants to be free".
Well, maybe they should name the kitten "Kyle". (as in Kyle's mom's a bitch).
Will this one cause YASDRFW (Yet Another Slash Dot Religious Flame War)? I think this is far less questionable than the creating life one. I think mankind *should* feel responsible to try to do anything in our power to fix things we broke. Maybe we make some mistakes. Clearly, cloning TRex and turning them loose would be a mistake. (JP2), but stuff like this lays the groundwork for possibly cloning a Wooly Mammoth (elephant born), or the Thylacine (who knows what the hell they'd use to birth that thing). Those would all be curiosities, but there are plenty of legitimate species we could bring back from the brink of extinction. Especially in the cases where they were put there by our previous mistakes.
I wish I had a nickel for every time someone said "Information wants to be free".
"The Pentium was developed because in 1993 we were in the depth of the worst recession since 1980 and
engineers had two choices: work their asses off and get some major breakthroughs or join the thousands who
were getting laid off. Since we don't have those pressures there's no need to develop anything new. Not until we
have another crash like 1993 will there be anything phenomenal."
As if the Pentium were phenomenal?
Anybody ever compare a 486DX2 100MHz (50MHz bus) vs a Pentium 100MHz? The 486 SMOKED it. I'm not saying that Intel hasn't come a long way since the first Pentium - I'm just saying that the Pentium itself was no major breakthrough, in any sense of the word other than in the marketing sense.
I wish I had a nickel for every time someone said "Information wants to be free".
What can the average user expect to see out of this? A higher price-ceiling on high-end systems. Another round of "pay double for an extra 5% performance". Another round of bunny-suit commercials.
I wish I had a nickel for every time someone said "Information wants to be free".
You're exactly right.
:-) to see where the computer industry is headed.
Just look at the VCR market (or actually, the game-console market
Tighter integration, cheaper parts, lower costs, name and model changes every 3-6 months to beat comparison reviews, and warranties, monolithic engineering to prevent do-it-yourselfer repairs and upgrades, to cause the consumer to remain beholden to the manufacturer through eternal forced-upgrade cycles.
Is it Stereo? Dolby? Double Dolby? DBX? Surround? To me, that sounds just like the same questions asked in the CPU market today. Is it a PII? PIII? PIV? MMX? same garbage, different name stamped on the case.
I wish I had a nickel for every time someone said "Information wants to be free".