With a XHTS (eXtremely High-Temp Superconductor: read, can take a Saharan summer and still have less than 4 x 10^-25 ohms resistance), you could:
1. With a sufficient cooling system, your computer's current drain would drop to, maybe an amp. (Hey, the hard drive's gotta get its juice from somewhere!)
Maybe in the near future, if we get HTS's up to 0 Celsius, we could read about projects to wire your freezer and motherboard together.
2. Train tracks could be dual-used as power distribution. (Nice thought that the L would also be the thing juicing up my home entertainment rig. On second thought, maybe not:) )
Added bonus of an XHTS maglev: MUCH lower maintenance costs. Few to nil moving parts means less wear and tear.
The electric company and the public transit authority save oodles of cash.
3. The cost of an MRI would drop. MRI's use superconducting solenoids to produce the immence magnetic fields needed to produce those lovely polychrome images of the inside of your cavesa.
4. Again, thanks to lower-maintenance superconducting solenoids, high-temp fusion is a step closer to reality.
just thinkin' out loud
d.valued
Ruling The World, One Moron At A Time(tm)
"As Kosher As A Bacon-Cheeseburger"(tmp)
One could argue that PGP's main purpose is to keep information private from the ever-growing prying eyes of FedGov.
PS: I don't know WTF is going on, but at 2600's website, there's this funky Japanese or Chinese character and a chant..
Anyone have a clue what that is?
Yesterday, it looked like a 'pi' with the top bar as the top border of a square; today it looks like a capital 'ksi', three horizontal parallel lines with the middle line shorter than the other two.
Something is going down @ 2600. They don't have their usual news page, and they are adding a different character and chant everyday.
(The name of the image's file is 'preksbauv.gif', I dunno if that's the language, or if there's steg involved... more later)
Ruling The World, One Moron At A Time(tm)
"As Kosher As A Bacon-Cheeseburger"(tmp)
Realm plans to release Trade Wars on Macintosh, Linux and the console systems soon thereafter.
This is good for us Windows escapees.
Let's hope it isn't vaporware.... (hope I didn't just jinx it!)
PS: For those of you who remember Solaria... Earth:2025 is at games.swirve.com/earth. It a great, large mass of online strategy gaming. There's nearly 16,000 players in the Standard game....
(/shameless plug)
Ruling The World, One Moron At A Time(tm)
"As Kosher As A Bacon-Cheeseburger"(tmp)
There'sa load of info on the potential Hollywood shutdown.
Right now, SAG's 135,000 members (most of which make drek for pay) are working under a new contract. ( A link to NewCity-Chicago referencing the end of the strike; a link to SAG's own web site about the new commercial addendum.)
The Directors' Guild contract expires on 30 June 01 (AFAIK: correct me if I'm wrong), and the Writers' Guild contract terminates on 30 April 01, and I am trying (unsuccesfully) to dredge up web info confirming this.
The SAG contract also expires 30 June 01.
Without writers, no new scripts are made.
Without actors, no motion cinema is possible.
This means that Hollywood shuts down.
Maybe this also will mean that the MPAA will focus more on the contract dispute and send Proskauer Rose LLP (sp?) against the big bad unions as opposed to the little indie hacker 'zine.
(Wishful thinking never hurt anyone, did it?:)
Ruling The World, One Moron At A Time(tm)
"As Kosher As A Bacon-Cheeseburger"(tmp)
To clarify the quote:
Those willing to sacrifice privacy for security deserve neither.
This was - and now is - a bold stand the Americans are not taking.
That's the problem with an egomaniacal society; you don't act unless it affects you.
Then it's usually too late.
Ruling The World, One Moron At A Time(tm)
"As Kosher As A Bacon-Cheeseburger"(tmp)
If a copyright is owned by a corporation, as is the case with most modern cinema, music, books, and software, the copyright term is now 95 years.
Yes, Windows 95 won't be public domain until the year 2093.
Personally owned copyrights, like those in most GPL software, and the kind savvy musicians and writers keep rather than sell, are good for life plus 70 years.
Meaning that (assuming Linus lives a long, healthy life avoiding the Microsoft Mafia) the Linux kernel v. 0.1 won't be available as public domain for a century and a half.
Live long, Linus Torvalds!
(ps: I ANAL. Oops. I mean, I Am Not A Lawyer, and so if in doubt ask an attorney.
Final clarification: Personally means owned by a human being or a group of human beings not hiding behind another legal identity. Corporate means either a formal business partnership, corporation, or other artificial person.)
Ruling The World, One Moron At A Time(tm)
"As Kosher As A Bacon-Cheeseburger"(tmp)
In Winn Schwartau's book, Information Warfare, he makes mention of over 50,000 databases where you might be so blessed as to find your name, placed there without your knowledge, much less your consent.
You become a commodity, traded and used instead of respected as a human being.
I don't like that.
And unless you believe that PRIVACY is a valid exchange for security, neither should you. Ruling The World, One Moron At A Time(tm)
"As Kosher As A Bacon-Cheeseburger"(tmp)
One of the big problems with the adoption of linux is the lack of applications.
How does it go..?
Oh yeah.
The example I saw was an open-source tax software program. Now, if a lot of hackers got together, it would probably work.
Devil's in the details, though. There are myriad forms which need conform to specific guidelines, tax computation tables, allowances, deductions, electronic transmission protocols, the ease of use, ad infinitum, ad nauseum.
No group of hacks, no matter how dedicated, would be willing (or, more likely, able) to write a program whose guts may have to be completely reshaped in less than a year's time.
Not to mention that it has to be tested and has to be completely in complience with the law, giving every possible deduction to people...
One of the reasons I'm not prepping taxes this year. Maybe Junior's tax scam will help (j/k).
Ruling The World, One Moron At A Time(tm)
"As Kosher As A Bacon-Cheeseburger"(tmp)
We have no national privacy policy.
In the EU, the consumer has pretty good control over the information that they give out. They have to be told what information is gathered, why it's being gathered, and that the information cannot be redistributed to anyone else wothout the consumer's consent.
From Europe's Privacy Cops, a BusinessWeek article from '98 I dredged up:
The directive, which was negotiated among the EU governments over six years, guarantees European citizens absolute control over data concerning them. If a company wants personal information, it must get that person's permission and explain what the information will be used for. It must also promise not to use it for anything else without the citizen's consent. A company selling birdseed, for example, can't use its mailing list to hawk Audubon calendars. Citizens have the right to know where information about them came from, to demand to see it, to correct it if wrong, and to delete it if objectionable. And they have a right to file suits against any person or company they feel is misusing their data.
One piece of the law is particularly stringent. Article 29 demands that foreign governments provide data protections every bit as rigorous as Europe's, under a similar regulatory structure. Those that fail, the EU warns, could find their data flows with Europe, the world's largest economy, outlawed.
Now, I like the idea that in the EU, my info is protected ad nauseum. Hell, there are police forces whose job it is to protect private data!
The US is a database nation. By the time you're 18, dozens of companies have harassed you by phone, mail, Internet.
Then, when you turn 18, dozens upon hundreds more start to crawl down your throat.
I would like a law that gave the American citizen the same protections as our counterparts in the EU.
Ruling The World, One Moron At A Time(tm)
"As Kosher As A Bacon-Cheeseburger"(tmp)
You are guessing. You have obviously not spent time in Europe. A decent bottle of Bordeaux costs DM4-5, about $3, the same stuff you pay $10-15 for.
I have been to Europe, albeit not lately (and not much in the Western part of the continent).
If you want a concrete, rock-hard writer-knows-it-to-be-true example, fine.
A litre of Ouzo, a strong, anise-flavored Greek drink, can be purchased for about 1200 drachmas, or a little more than EUR 4.
A fifth of Ouzo 12 over in the US costs no less than 16 dollars, and usually costs 20.
Of course, that's because about half the shelf price of American liquor is sin taxes.
I admitted that the number was hack-and-slash. I don't, however, like people to just restate my disclamer.
Waste of bandwidth, you know.
As far as "the best teaching language", I feel Python is a pretty good choice.
Python is an extremely well-laid language, one where whitespace is significant, one line of
source is one statement (no free form semicolon-terminated lines, with exception of triple quoted text), and indentation is significant.
Unlike direct C derivitaves (C++, Java), variables need not be declared, and because it's semi-interpreted, it is easy to pick up.
Unlike Perl, it's damned neat and no one's going to have an Obfuscated Python contest.
It's a language with extreme real world exposure. Episode I was engineered with quickly brewed Python.
Don't get me wrong. I like learning other languages. However, as a starter, Python kicks.
I remember sometime last year when it was noted that, for a brief period of time on the markets, USD 1 = JPY 100 = EUR 1 (or for those unable to translate fiscalese, a buck, a euro-equivalent, and a hundred yen were interchangeable).
This does NOT mean, though, that your euro equivalent, dollar, and hectoyen could buy you the same amount of stuff.
Examples: A 750 mL bottle of a decent wine costs you at least $15 here. You can get wines of same quality for maybe FFr 50 (7 Euros), maybe cheaper.
A computer can be acked in the US for $400. A similar computer will run you an extra 50% or so in some parts of Europe.
These are hack and slash quesses, mind you, but the idea is this: A given amount of money means different things in different places.
When I was a teenager, I slipped a disk in my spine after practice (because I lifted my 50 lb. plus bookbag the wrong way) and had to see a doctor. I filled the forms and thought my insurance would pay for the procedure needed to jolt my disk back into place.
Boy, was I wrong.
The insurer started a credit file on me with all the agencies and, when I wanted credit at 18, I got no,no,no,no,no,no,NO!
I requested my files and saw this item.
I got in touch with the dispute resolution and told them that it was simply impossible for me to owe money before the age of majority. I mailed them a notarized affidavit with a xerographic copy of my passport and a few weeks later, it's gone.
Now, tips...
1. Very few people ever need your SSN. Basically, your employer, your bank (if you have an interest-bearing account), and your brokerage need it for tax purposes. Now, IANAL, but restricting access provides a level of protection.
1a. You don't need to give your SSN to a doctor, school, testing firm, grocery store, or anyone else who wants it for "identification." If they demand a 9-digit number, you can create an instant null SSN by replacing one 'field' of the number with 9's or 0's. (Eg: 999-00-9999: The 3,2,4 are the 'fields.')
2. You can pull your credit file from each of the major credit agencies at least once annually. They all have toll-free numbers for this use. Also, if you are declined you can request another personal pull.
NOTE: The 'gimme' pull they provide is much less detailed than a proper credit report given to a firm. Some firms will be able to give you a full pull, for a fee.
NOTE: It's worth mentioning that the number of pulls within 30 days, six months, and two years are factors in credit approval/denial. The more pulls, the more likely that you've been denied.
3. If you are denied for something which happened before the age of majority in your state, be it 18, 19, or 21, (check with a lawyer if you're not sure) you've got every right to contest until hell freezes over. As in my case, persistance pays off.
4. Check when you DON'T need it. Time is your friend; the more time you have, the more you can fix and rescind.
Later, when I'm less sleep-deprived, I'll follow up with phone numbers.
Dish Network offered a combination digital satellite receiver and D-VHS recorder.
Also: D-VHS records COMPRESSED data streams. You need a separate MPEG-2 decoder (in this case, the Echostar receiver portion) to properly view the stream.
This means that all the data included in the stream get recorded. You hit "Info" on your remote and you see the Info screen pop up with the ten-word synopsis, title, and some of the actors.
a) Make the code Windows-playable
b) Compile the code
They had to hunt throught 4 MILLION LINES OF CODE to locate certain disparities between Microsoft's idio(t)syncracies. They changed only 100 lines, which is pretty good.
Now, yes, you do need another package for it to properly work.
Big deal.
I can use Gnome (though I am a KDE man;) as the window manager for now and, when the next upgrade of Windows comes out, I can slip in Linux on the backend and no one outside my skull would know the difference. World domination, one company at a time?
"The best special effect is one the audience doesn't realize they've seen."
This is a near-quote from George Lucas w/r/t episode I.
When tricks like the blue eyes work so seamlessly, you stare at the pixels on your screen to see the vibrance, or the details of the worm, that's when it works.
I love B5. The fact that so many scenes were shot on 'virtual sets' (aka blue screen matte chopped through a computer) and the damned show still looks real was one of the things that attracted me to it.
Too bad Netter Digital has gone bankrupt.. and I can't try to get one of those SGI 540's.. drool...
Copyright on these works is owned by me, under the psuedonym d.valued and this
work was initiated on 29 Nov 2000, 0511z.
Story One.
Dan, a man in his mid-thirties, was geting up and getting ready to go to the
office. He took the reading slates of the newspapers he read: Chicago
Tribune, Wall Street Journal, and the New York Times. He still received
the Financial Times in paper format, a notion considered 'quaint' and
'antequated' by the mainstream media in the USA. He reviewed each paper
and jotted down the article reference numbers of the article he wished to
rent, as once you retrieved a new day's newspaper, the old one was
irretrievably erased. Each paper had a seprate Network Access Device attached
to the Internet through his fiber optic phone line.
He slotted each r-slate in its own port, swiped his credit card, and in three
minutes his personalized newspapers were ready to go. He initiated a few
extended viewing requests on the article he had noted. One article was a
staff article, so he only had to pay the base daily rate of $10 for use.
The other articles were written by individual writers who charged by the
view outside the newspaper, which could run up to the hundreds of dollars if
viewed frequently enough. It was a pretty good way to make a living if you
wrote articles in demand, such as on higher-level stocks. Consequently, writers
were vying for the priviledge of writing the next day's article on the big
technology, media, biotech, and other popular public megaconglomerates,
while news about smaller issues outpasing the market and the monoliths
of postmodern industry were ignored.
He slid his slates and his writing pad into his briefcase backpack and
hopped aboard the morning express to downtown and the financial office
where he worked.
The rails were slow today; there was a small accident involving an
electric bike and alocal train. This blocked up the tracks and he took
out his Journal. He gripped the edge so his fingerprints would prove
his identity, and he had to punch in a custom PIN when prompted. The hand
that gripped served two purposes. Firstly, the r-slate was organized so
that up-down movements and menu access could be done from one side of the
device. Secondly, and more importantly from the point of view of the
copyright holders, you could only read the r-slate if the fingers pressed
on the pad and the prints could be read. As soon as the finger pressure
was released, the slate turned off until you held the r-slate properly and
punched in your PIN again.
It was frustrating when a gentle bump derailed his train of thought and
caused him to lose his grip for a few moments in the midst of one of the
retained stories. Now he had to pay for a second reading when he barely
even had a first, and there was nothing he could do about it.
At the office, he pulled out his Information Debit Card. Since the Internet
only proved profitable as an information distribution medium when the content
was controlled and paid for, this card was needed to access the most current
ratings on the stocks he traded within the company and recommended to his
clients. This information could only be accessed while onscreen; you could
not print it out (without an extrordinarily expensive Print Version; the
cost for a version which could go to hardcopy was about 1000 times more
pricy, as one could use it without further accountability) or save it
onto a local storage medium. It was a hard job which required a memory
beyond reproach, but he had one and he loved the challenge (and the
pay).
One of his coworkers was being escorted out while he was reading "Intel
and AMD: The Rivalry For The Next Twenty Years?" The escorters were not
normal security, or even normal cops. They were the Copyright Enforcement
Office, whose sole purpose was to locate people who were violating the
ironclad protections of copyright. They were an advanced intelligence
agency, one which could in time of war shut down parts of the DataNet
as needed. They were good at what they did. They boasted a 90% capture
rate and a 100% conviction rate. Like the early FBI, CEO involvement to
the eyes of the public, most police agencies, and most judges, you were
guilty. He felt sorry for his friend, who would be in a high-security
federal prison for at least nine years (assuming parole; federal sentances
mandate at least 90% completion of sentance before consideration for parole,
and in techcrimes, parole was less likely) and would have his assets
liquidated to cover at least part of the mandated $1,000,000 or 100,000 times
license fee, whichever was higher.
His heart pounded a little harder. He had bought, at high price, a small
device which could monitor DataNet transmissions without interference, in
theory. He feared discovery, as the CEO's were everywhere and encouraged
turning violators in for a share of the large penalties.
He wondered who the rat was.
This person was the one who introduced him to the device, and he claimed
that he used it for 'fair use', an antique concept that one could use
small segments of copyrighted works without needing to pay again for the
rights. He claimed he downloaded many works for future reference: music,
scripts, books, poetry, art. Probably was too zealous.
He unclipped the device out of fear just as his manager walked by. He
didn't seem to notice.
The CEO's were almost outside the door.
The manager snapped his fingers.
Almost instantly, the CEO's leapt upon him like a pack of wild animals.
They grabbed at him, restrained him, and patted him down to discover the
device.
He was dragged away.
End Story One
Story Two
This is the tale of two students. One lived in an affluent area, one
in the inner city.
Jack took a last look at the works on his library slate, and jotted the
concepts from the works just before midnight. At precisely 0000 hours, the
slate's memory erased itself. He had to plug it into a phone line before
morning, and he'd be up typing off the paper he had to turn in within ten
hours. He plugged it in, waited for the confirmation notice, and turned it
off. These measures were necessary to verify that the works were, in fact,
erased and that no extractions or duplication occurred. The library was now
free to lown its e-text to someone else with a proper slate, as they only had
a limited number of restricted use licenses for each work. The Copyright
Enforcement Office performed regular audits, and this little measure relaxed
the legal team at the library somewhat. He spent the next three hours typing
and proofing the digital text he had just created. He was pretty sure that
he hadn't done anything criminal, like using an exact quote or not citing
every source referred to. (Each source got a small fee from the school for
use.) He went to sleep a little more soundly as the text was copied onto a
mini-disk for computer assurance and grading.
Zoe had a stack of books in front of her in her small, one-bedroom apartment
in the near Southwest side of the city. Her library was one of a scant and
shrinking few to still have paper texts, and as her family couldn't afford
the cost of a single library slate, she was permitted use of the hardbacks.
They had their drawbacks, like being out of date the moment they left the
press, their weight, and the difficulty in tracking the segments relating to
a particular topic, but they were freer to use and utilize. She still could
not use exact quotes, after all fair usewas deemed a violation of copyright
holders' rights. She could get away with not listing a source or two, and
maybe a little smudging of lexicon here and there. (Not all works were in
digital format yet, and sometimes these little things got past the CEO's.)
She stuck in a disk and let the machine do its work while she got a few
precious z's before swimming practice.
Zoe's day started at 5:20, almost four hours after she went to sleep. The
disk was ready for inspection, and she stuck her old textbooks into her
schoolbag. Modern schoolbags were designed for the newer access-controlled
virtual books, so she had to use a large retro bag she picked up at a
garage sale over the summer. It was serviceable, and properly patched and
stickered it worked with her personality. She threw on some clothes to keep
warm, tossed her swimsuit and some clothes for during and after class in
her bag, and popped out the door with a couple of Pop-Tarts. She picked
up a pint of soymilk at the convinience store next to her bus stop. She
got on the bus, switched to a train, and got to school about ten minutes
before practice. She changed real quick, took a quick run through the showers,
and dived into the ice-cold pool. Coach's idea of a warmup.
Jack got into his car with about forty-five minutes to go before class
and a thirty-eight minute drive ahead of him. His small pack, smaller than
a laptop bag, contained the access-controlled, time-limited textbooks on
DVD his school bought into. The annual usage fee was about a quarter the cost
of a paper text, and the company assured "continual updates of the information"
on a near annual basis. So far, these versions were used for five years. They
had visual examples and a shorter, lecturelike style for the text itself, but
these books sometimes skipped and scratched and the replacement cost, at $200
plus license (which could sometimes run to $100 for a scholastic year) per book
was high even for an affluent school district. He straightened his tie, checked
his pockets.. he forgot the paper at home! Fortunately, he was just barely out
of the driveway and his first period teacher rarely gave detention for
tardiness.
Zoe finished practice. She had fifteen minutes to her first class, so she
took a slightly leasurely shower. When the clock said she had five minutes,
she scrambled to get dressed and to class. She was a half a minute late, so
she put her paper's disk onto the teacher's desk and took a seat. The teacher
was occupied running the papers through the CEO's systems. Already two students
of the five checked were caught with copyright violations.. make that three
of six. It was a very fine tightrope you had to walk on; too little and you
get a poor grade and a CEO warning for using too few sources, too much and
you probably violated copyright law. The teacher started to talk.
Jack had to scam a space in the boonies of the school's expansive parking
lots. He ran to the door, text-disks, player, and assignments in hand,
scrambling to the stairwell, going downstairs, making two rights, getting
to the door, and grabbing his seat. He was out of breath and took a moment
to catch it. "Mr. Chanar! Your assignments, please!" his teacher barked.
He fumbled through for the disk. The professor stuck it into a machine.
Zoe got lucky. Just enough sources. Just enough fudging of data. She passed.
Jack got busted. He received a zero-grade, in accordance with CEO policy.
Apparently, some of his style imitated the works cited.
Story Three
Blank tapes have been getting harder to get since the ruling. A legal, blank
VHS tape would both have a microchip tag and a macro-price tag of ten dollars
or more per tape, in bulk, easily. Illegal blank tapes without the chip
were at least doubel that, and possession was a crime since the chip prevented
recorders from recording unauthorized programs.
Even though the video quality was reduced, some still prefered the VHS to
the digital formats. Older, chip-free tapes were portable to older player-
recorders and had enough video fidelity (with a properly analog'd signal)
to record the stuff well enough for future viewing. Tape was still the
only way die-hard aficionados of certain science fiction series, like
the Star Trek series, Babylon 5, Doctor Who, Red Dwarf, and fiends of
the Monty Python Flying Circus would view the episodes.
Finding a source with the chipped tapes was hard enough. Manufacturers
focused primarily on digital tape formats with inbuilt copy restriction.
High-end shops and used equipment stores had them, primarily, but some
upscale retailers had small supplies available. Chip-free tapes could
only be obtained through the dark grey and black markets. Then, you
hoped for older, factory wrapped gear, as tapes manufactured by some outfits
were not reliable, some not even useful.
Chip-free tapes were the only way a digital-media movie could be copied.
That's why Marla went out. Their copy of "Titanic" was nearing the end
of its useful life. The license expired in two days and change, and she
liked the movie a lot, too much to have to pay the outrageously high
one disk, one player fee. That's why she ventured into this dark market.
"Fifty dollars, one hour. Two hundred dollars, two hour," the seller said.
She paid for the two-hour tape and walked away. Someone tailed her.
As soon as she put it in her VCR, a knock came from the CEO's.
That's it for now, I can't think of more as the Angel's Advocates. I've
put some ideas, like limited-use newspapers and library books, copyright-
checks in school and work, license fees for use. Some basic ideas, granted,
but some the courts probably can understand.
Ended 30 Nov 00, 0825z. Gotta go to church in a few hours. It's my
namesday.
I'm giving permission to put this out for the world to see, without charge
as long as not incorporated into a for-profit work, be it a novel, an
essay, or even a motion picture (yes I think evil thoughts;), with the
exceptions of the EFF (I know you guys are NFP, but I'm just covering my
rectum) and 2600: The Hacker Quarterly.
"50% of the royalties go to the copyright holders, MOST OFTEN THE RECORD LABELS. " (emphasis mine)
"The rest would be divvied up amongst the artists."
These are near-quotes from The Standard's article.
What this means is that the record labels get a hellova large chunk of that royalty money. They may get as much as 100% in situations where the artist got an advance prior to release.
The music industry is in the process of locking down holes instead of redefinition of themselves. They could see themselves as media distributors, or they could see themselves as record makers. This is another step backwards, and another reason a Sealand server seems more and more attractive.
Our rights as citizens of this country are being infringed every day in a new way. (Look at FLorida. jk.)
This competition is a way of playing (since I assume (wrongly) you are a pro-rights person) Angel's Advocate in a world of devils. You gotta think in a wicked-evil way how the world would be assuming the DMCA's provisions are enforced in the way they appear to be. In addition, you get to show legitimate uses for freecopy (uncontrolled, unrestricted access of certain works) in modern life. Libraries and academia are given, but there are countless others.
You get to use your imagination. Create a data tree of possible cause-and-effect scenarios for The Future. I see a hypercorporatized world where governments exists to take care of the dirty bits corps don't want to and to protect the corps' assets and products first.
Oh wait, we're already there.
And now, d.valued's Prediction Of The Day: Within the next 24 years, another extension of copyright act will be passed by Congress.
Mickey's expires in 2024 (thanks to the Sonny Bono F+++ The Public, err Memorial Copyright Act), and Disney don't want the mouse in the public domain.
It's painfully easy to determine the amount of juice your scumpuppy rig sucks from your wallet.
Assuming you have an electric bill (unless you use your own generator or leech off someone else;), you can see the cost per kilowatt-hour. Usually, somewhere less than ten cents per. (My place, it runs.085 dollars.) [This is an Americanocentric spiel.]
Now, look at the back of your box. Not at the expansion slots, but near the power input. It'll have a small sticker saying 100-240 V, 50-60 Hz, 100-200 W (or whatever your particular bastard creation of God uses). That is the amount of power used per hour. You get a fraction, this example assumes 200 W, so 2/10 kWh. Multiply by 24 hours per day and 30 days per month, you get a ballpark figure.
Now, there are other factors too, like OS (better OS = more uptime = more thoroughput) and boot time (lesser is better), but that's the basics.
Now, this organization is with companies that either GET it or ARE it. This org isn't controlling development, but promoting application.
And YES, I am a KDE partisan. However, this should not degenerate into a contest where KDE gets 48% of the vote, the Gnome gets 47.5%, and Other gets the rest, and everyone bitches about a recount.
(Besides, I am happy with KDE. I can use the file manager to surf without a) much overhead (useful on a laptop); b) releasing everything about the browser and system; c) no risk of Java; d) complete cookie control. Tee hee hee.)
I have been, and will continue to be, a vocal advocate of Ralph. So, if you want to give me a "Flamebait" point, at least read this first.
Ralph Nader, if anything, got more people interested in this election. The kinds of people who would vote for Ralph are people who found The Battle Of The Juniors (Bore Jr. and Gush Jr.) too comfy for those who gave them insane amounts of cash. (Enough to run NT well. That's scary.)
The people who voted for Ralph wanted their vote to count towards something. This time around, and with all probability next time as well, it was to get 5% of the popular vote and get federal funds in 2k4.
Too many of the people I talked to while I politicked (excuse the misspelling if any: I mean "the act of shamelessly promoting my candidate by passing out literature near a polling place") said the same lies that I had heard over and over again from people I knew, and who I converted to Nader from Gore.
x "Roe v. Wade": Bush Jr. and the Republicans ain't stupid. They may not like it, but women, a significant part of the voting population, do. They have said time and again that overthrowing Roe v. Wade would be tantamount to political suicide.
x "It's the Supreme Court, stupid.": A case of history for you. The postwar period had Republicans nominate a few judges for The Big Promotion to the Supreme Court. You might know them: Warren, Brennan, Stevens, Blackmun, and Souter. These guys were pretty damned liberal: they went for civil rights and against the conservative ebb of the Repos. Recently, the Democratic Senate in the early 90's allowed two drek judges, Scalia (who was put in 98-0 with Gore Jr. voting Aye) and Thomas (52-48, again a Gore Jr. Aye). Now, we have a nearly-even division of both houses, and that means (AFA the Senate) that the Dems can filibuster whatever, whenever. (You'll see a few newspapers under the arms of Dems to give time-killer filler.) So, assuming Bush Jr. wins, he's got to pick moderates with no paper (case history) on abortion.
x "A Vote For Nader is a Vote For Bush": The people who voted for Ralph ain't hardcore loyal Dems. They are technically classified as independant, but they lean towards the border between liberal and radical, in the fuzzy zone of progressive. They want change because there are ungodly numbers of poor and starving people in this country. They want change because the rich are building their fortunes, their mansions, their portfolios on the backs of people unable to get a simple checking account. They want change because no one else will talk about the dirty side of life in America where 1/4 of the families of Texas and California live in poverty, with another 1/4 damned near it.
Also, had Nader not ran, Gore wouldn't have switched tactics. He sounded like "Nader-lite" with his ripping on the rich. (They knew it was tactics: after all, they gave him his $125+M war chest.) He won people by sounding like a man for change, though we all know that at least the 107th Congress shalt do naught (good)
But the reason people turned out so much in this election was not so much to vote for a candidate. (Most of those people are either lifelong party members or Naderites.) They came out to vote AGAINST a candidate. They fell into the trap of two evils.
When you go for the lesser of two evils, you end up with.. two evils.
Here ends the lesson.
PS: I'm going to change the sig to "You voted Republocrat? Now we ALL suffer!"
If you were at H2K you'd remember me.. I was the bloody shouter. (Hey, don't knock it. I got the red shirt and all access;)
I would, however, doubt that Da Gov'na and Jello would run together. Great he abandoned the Reform Party like a sinking (into corporatism and reactionarism) boat and declaredc himself a neo-independant. (Besides, he's said he's happy as The Sworn Protector Of Minn-e-SO-ta.)
Jello's speech and Ralph Nader's candidacy have inspired me to announce I will run for Congress in 2004, whose election will be one day before I turn 25. (I'll still be eligible, I hope, because I *will* be 25 upon inauguration.)
Slashdot Mirror
With a XHTS (eXtremely High-Temp Superconductor: read, can take a Saharan summer and still have less than 4 x 10^-25 ohms resistance), you could:
:) )
1. With a sufficient cooling system, your computer's current drain would drop to, maybe an amp. (Hey, the hard drive's gotta get its juice from somewhere!)
Maybe in the near future, if we get HTS's up to 0 Celsius, we could read about projects to wire your freezer and motherboard together.
2. Train tracks could be dual-used as power distribution. (Nice thought that the L would also be the thing juicing up my home entertainment rig. On second thought, maybe not
Added bonus of an XHTS maglev: MUCH lower maintenance costs. Few to nil moving parts means less wear and tear.
The electric company and the public transit authority save oodles of cash.
3. The cost of an MRI would drop. MRI's use superconducting solenoids to produce the immence magnetic fields needed to produce those lovely polychrome images of the inside of your cavesa.
4. Again, thanks to lower-maintenance superconducting solenoids, high-temp fusion is a step closer to reality.
just thinkin' out loud
d.valued
Ruling The World, One Moron At A Time(tm)
"As Kosher As A Bacon-Cheeseburger"(tmp)
Thanks, at least w/r/t the 2600 countdown.
I'm still checking out the possibility of steg.
Ruling The World, One Moron At A Time(tm)
"As Kosher As A Bacon-Cheeseburger"(tmp)
Wait a second...
If PGP could by booked, why not DeCSS?
One could argue that PGP's main purpose is to keep information private from the ever-growing prying eyes of FedGov.
PS: I don't know WTF is going on, but at 2600's website, there's this funky Japanese or Chinese character and a chant..
Anyone have a clue what that is?
Yesterday, it looked like a 'pi' with the top bar as the top border of a square; today it looks like a capital 'ksi', three horizontal parallel lines with the middle line shorter than the other two.
Something is going down @ 2600. They don't have their usual news page, and they are adding a different character and chant everyday.
(The name of the image's file is 'preksbauv.gif', I dunno if that's the language, or if there's steg involved... more later)
Ruling The World, One Moron At A Time(tm)
"As Kosher As A Bacon-Cheeseburger"(tmp)
From the Trade Wars webpage:
Realm plans to release Trade Wars on Macintosh, Linux and the console systems soon thereafter.
This is good for us Windows escapees.
Let's hope it isn't vaporware.... (hope I didn't just jinx it!)
PS: For those of you who remember Solaria... Earth:2025 is at games.swirve.com/earth. It a great, large mass of online strategy gaming. There's nearly 16,000 players in the Standard game....
(/shameless plug)
Ruling The World, One Moron At A Time(tm)
"As Kosher As A Bacon-Cheeseburger"(tmp)
There'sa load of info on the potential Hollywood shutdown.
:)
Right now, SAG's 135,000 members (most of which make drek for pay) are working under a new contract. ( A link to NewCity-Chicago referencing the end of the strike; a link to SAG's own web site about the new commercial addendum.)
The Directors' Guild contract expires on 30 June 01 (AFAIK: correct me if I'm wrong), and the Writers' Guild contract terminates on 30 April 01, and I am trying (unsuccesfully) to dredge up web info confirming this.
The SAG contract also expires 30 June 01.
Without writers, no new scripts are made.
Without actors, no motion cinema is possible.
This means that Hollywood shuts down.
Maybe this also will mean that the MPAA will focus more on the contract dispute and send Proskauer Rose LLP (sp?) against the big bad unions as opposed to the little indie hacker 'zine.
(Wishful thinking never hurt anyone, did it?
Ruling The World, One Moron At A Time(tm)
"As Kosher As A Bacon-Cheeseburger"(tmp)
To clarify the quote: Those willing to sacrifice privacy for security deserve neither. This was - and now is - a bold stand the Americans are not taking. That's the problem with an egomaniacal society; you don't act unless it affects you. Then it's usually too late.
Ruling The World, One Moron At A Time(tm)
"As Kosher As A Bacon-Cheeseburger"(tmp)
Let's shoot this puppy here and now.
If a copyright is owned by a corporation, as is the case with most modern cinema, music, books, and software, the copyright term is now 95 years.
Yes, Windows 95 won't be public domain until the year 2093.
Personally owned copyrights, like those in most GPL software, and the kind savvy musicians and writers keep rather than sell, are good for life plus 70 years.
Meaning that (assuming Linus lives a long, healthy life avoiding the Microsoft Mafia) the Linux kernel v. 0.1 won't be available as public domain for a century and a half.
Live long, Linus Torvalds!
(ps: I ANAL. Oops. I mean, I Am Not A Lawyer, and so if in doubt ask an attorney.
Final clarification: Personally means owned by a human being or a group of human beings not hiding behind another legal identity. Corporate means either a formal business partnership, corporation, or other artificial person.)
Ruling The World, One Moron At A Time(tm)
"As Kosher As A Bacon-Cheeseburger"(tmp)
(That's my guess in UTC. EST is this minus 5 hours. I run in UTC. Sorry if it flips yer noodle.)
Anyways.. An interesting note I read in the Chicago Sun-Times a few days ago:
(Heavily edited)
"Is there anywhere safe from a potential MIR drop?"
A call was placed to the Russian Space Agency.
"Is there any city that's safe from an accidental MIR drop?"
"Moscow. There's no chance any MIR debris will hit Moscow."
How thoughtful.
The reason? The potential MIR drop point can be anywhere between 50 degrees north and 50 degrees south.
I thought it was funny.
Ruling The World, One Moron At A Time(tm)
"As Kosher As A Bacon-Cheeseburger"(tmp)
You're not complaining.
Neither are many others.
That's the problem.
In Winn Schwartau's book, Information Warfare, he makes mention of over 50,000 databases where you might be so blessed as to find your name, placed there without your knowledge, much less your consent.
You become a commodity, traded and used instead of respected as a human being.
I don't like that.
And unless you believe that PRIVACY is a valid exchange for security, neither should you.
Ruling The World, One Moron At A Time(tm)
"As Kosher As A Bacon-Cheeseburger"(tmp)
One of the big problems with the adoption of linux is the lack of applications.
How does it go..?
Oh yeah.
The example I saw was an open-source tax software program. Now, if a lot of hackers got together, it would probably work.
Devil's in the details, though. There are myriad forms which need conform to specific guidelines, tax computation tables, allowances, deductions, electronic transmission protocols, the ease of use, ad infinitum, ad nauseum.
No group of hacks, no matter how dedicated, would be willing (or, more likely, able) to write a program whose guts may have to be completely reshaped in less than a year's time.
Not to mention that it has to be tested and has to be completely in complience with the law, giving every possible deduction to people...
One of the reasons I'm not prepping taxes this year. Maybe Junior's tax scam will help (j/k).
Ruling The World, One Moron At A Time(tm)
"As Kosher As A Bacon-Cheeseburger"(tmp)
Ruling The World, One Moron At A Time(tm)
"As Kosher As A Bacon-Cheeseburger"(tmp)
You are guessing. You have obviously not spent time in Europe. A decent bottle of Bordeaux costs DM4-5, about $3, the same stuff you pay $10-15 for. I have been to Europe, albeit not lately (and not much in the Western part of the continent). If you want a concrete, rock-hard writer-knows-it-to-be-true example, fine. A litre of Ouzo, a strong, anise-flavored Greek drink, can be purchased for about 1200 drachmas, or a little more than EUR 4. A fifth of Ouzo 12 over in the US costs no less than 16 dollars, and usually costs 20. Of course, that's because about half the shelf price of American liquor is sin taxes. I admitted that the number was hack-and-slash. I don't, however, like people to just restate my disclamer. Waste of bandwidth, you know.
Don't say I didn't warn you.
As far as "the best teaching language", I feel Python is a pretty good choice.
Python is an extremely well-laid language, one where whitespace is significant, one line of
source is one statement (no free form semicolon-terminated lines, with exception of triple quoted text), and indentation is significant.
Unlike direct C derivitaves (C++, Java), variables need not be declared, and because it's semi-interpreted, it is easy to pick up.
Unlike Perl, it's damned neat and no one's going to have an Obfuscated Python contest.
It's a language with extreme real world exposure. Episode I was engineered with quickly brewed Python.
Don't get me wrong. I like learning other languages. However, as a starter, Python kicks.
I remember sometime last year when it was noted that, for a brief period of time on the markets, USD 1 = JPY 100 = EUR 1 (or for those unable to translate fiscalese, a buck, a euro-equivalent, and a hundred yen were interchangeable).
This does NOT mean, though, that your euro equivalent, dollar, and hectoyen could buy you the same amount of stuff.
Examples: A 750 mL bottle of a decent wine costs you at least $15 here. You can get wines of same quality for maybe FFr 50 (7 Euros), maybe cheaper.
A computer can be acked in the US for $400. A similar computer will run you an extra 50% or so in some parts of Europe.
These are hack and slash quesses, mind you, but the idea is this: A given amount of money means different things in different places.
All right.
When I was a teenager, I slipped a disk in my spine after practice (because I lifted my 50 lb. plus bookbag the wrong way) and had to see a doctor. I filled the forms and thought my insurance would pay for the procedure needed to jolt my disk back into place.
Boy, was I wrong.
The insurer started a credit file on me with all the agencies and, when I wanted credit at 18, I got no,no,no,no,no,no,NO!
I requested my files and saw this item.
I got in touch with the dispute resolution and told them that it was simply impossible for me to owe money before the age of majority. I mailed them a notarized affidavit with a xerographic copy of my passport and a few weeks later, it's gone.
Now, tips...
1. Very few people ever need your SSN. Basically, your employer, your bank (if you have an interest-bearing account), and your brokerage need it for tax purposes. Now, IANAL, but restricting access provides a level of protection.
1a. You don't need to give your SSN to a doctor, school, testing firm, grocery store, or anyone else who wants it for "identification." If they demand a 9-digit number, you can create an instant null SSN by replacing one 'field' of the number with 9's or 0's. (Eg: 999-00-9999: The 3,2,4 are the 'fields.')
2. You can pull your credit file from each of the major credit agencies at least once annually. They all have toll-free numbers for this use. Also, if you are declined you can request another personal pull.
NOTE: The 'gimme' pull they provide is much less detailed than a proper credit report given to a firm. Some firms will be able to give you a full pull, for a fee.
NOTE: It's worth mentioning that the number of pulls within 30 days, six months, and two years are factors in credit approval/denial. The more pulls, the more likely that you've been denied.
3. If you are denied for something which happened before the age of majority in your state, be it 18, 19, or 21, (check with a lawyer if you're not sure) you've got every right to contest until hell freezes over. As in my case, persistance pays off.
4. Check when you DON'T need it. Time is your friend; the more time you have, the more you can fix and rescind.
Later, when I'm less sleep-deprived, I'll follow up with phone numbers.
Joy.
D-VHS has been around for a few years now.
Dish Network offered a combination digital satellite receiver and D-VHS recorder.
Also: D-VHS records COMPRESSED data streams. You need a separate MPEG-2 decoder (in this case, the Echostar receiver portion) to properly view the stream.
This means that all the data included in the stream get recorded. You hit "Info" on your remote and you see the Info screen pop up with the ten-word synopsis, title, and some of the actors.
Let's clear this up right good.
;) as the window manager for now and, when the next upgrade of Windows comes out, I can slip in Linux on the backend and no one outside my skull would know the difference. World domination, one company at a time?
The article says it took a 1.5 weeks to:
a) Make the code Windows-playable
b) Compile the code
They had to hunt throught 4 MILLION LINES OF CODE to locate certain disparities between Microsoft's idio(t)syncracies. They changed only 100 lines, which is pretty good.
Now, yes, you do need another package for it to properly work.
Big deal.
I can use Gnome (though I am a KDE man
"The best special effect is one the audience doesn't realize they've seen."
This is a near-quote from George Lucas w/r/t episode I.
When tricks like the blue eyes work so seamlessly, you stare at the pixels on your screen to see the vibrance, or the details of the worm, that's when it works.
I love B5. The fact that so many scenes were shot on 'virtual sets' (aka blue screen matte chopped through a computer) and the damned show still looks real was one of the things that attracted me to it.
Too bad Netter Digital has gone bankrupt.. and I can't try to get one of those SGI 540's.. drool...
Copyright on these works is owned by me, under the psuedonym d.valued and this
;), with the
work was initiated on 29 Nov 2000, 0511z.
Story One.
Dan, a man in his mid-thirties, was geting up and getting ready to go to the
office. He took the reading slates of the newspapers he read: Chicago
Tribune, Wall Street Journal, and the New York Times. He still received
the Financial Times in paper format, a notion considered 'quaint' and
'antequated' by the mainstream media in the USA. He reviewed each paper
and jotted down the article reference numbers of the article he wished to
rent, as once you retrieved a new day's newspaper, the old one was
irretrievably erased. Each paper had a seprate Network Access Device attached
to the Internet through his fiber optic phone line.
He slotted each r-slate in its own port, swiped his credit card, and in three
minutes his personalized newspapers were ready to go. He initiated a few
extended viewing requests on the article he had noted. One article was a
staff article, so he only had to pay the base daily rate of $10 for use.
The other articles were written by individual writers who charged by the
view outside the newspaper, which could run up to the hundreds of dollars if
viewed frequently enough. It was a pretty good way to make a living if you
wrote articles in demand, such as on higher-level stocks. Consequently, writers
were vying for the priviledge of writing the next day's article on the big
technology, media, biotech, and other popular public megaconglomerates,
while news about smaller issues outpasing the market and the monoliths
of postmodern industry were ignored.
He slid his slates and his writing pad into his briefcase backpack and
hopped aboard the morning express to downtown and the financial office
where he worked.
The rails were slow today; there was a small accident involving an
electric bike and alocal train. This blocked up the tracks and he took
out his Journal. He gripped the edge so his fingerprints would prove
his identity, and he had to punch in a custom PIN when prompted. The hand
that gripped served two purposes. Firstly, the r-slate was organized so
that up-down movements and menu access could be done from one side of the
device. Secondly, and more importantly from the point of view of the
copyright holders, you could only read the r-slate if the fingers pressed
on the pad and the prints could be read. As soon as the finger pressure
was released, the slate turned off until you held the r-slate properly and
punched in your PIN again.
It was frustrating when a gentle bump derailed his train of thought and
caused him to lose his grip for a few moments in the midst of one of the
retained stories. Now he had to pay for a second reading when he barely
even had a first, and there was nothing he could do about it.
At the office, he pulled out his Information Debit Card. Since the Internet
only proved profitable as an information distribution medium when the content
was controlled and paid for, this card was needed to access the most current
ratings on the stocks he traded within the company and recommended to his
clients. This information could only be accessed while onscreen; you could
not print it out (without an extrordinarily expensive Print Version; the
cost for a version which could go to hardcopy was about 1000 times more
pricy, as one could use it without further accountability) or save it
onto a local storage medium. It was a hard job which required a memory
beyond reproach, but he had one and he loved the challenge (and the
pay).
One of his coworkers was being escorted out while he was reading "Intel
and AMD: The Rivalry For The Next Twenty Years?" The escorters were not
normal security, or even normal cops. They were the Copyright Enforcement
Office, whose sole purpose was to locate people who were violating the
ironclad protections of copyright. They were an advanced intelligence
agency, one which could in time of war shut down parts of the DataNet
as needed. They were good at what they did. They boasted a 90% capture
rate and a 100% conviction rate. Like the early FBI, CEO involvement to
the eyes of the public, most police agencies, and most judges, you were
guilty. He felt sorry for his friend, who would be in a high-security
federal prison for at least nine years (assuming parole; federal sentances
mandate at least 90% completion of sentance before consideration for parole,
and in techcrimes, parole was less likely) and would have his assets
liquidated to cover at least part of the mandated $1,000,000 or 100,000 times
license fee, whichever was higher.
His heart pounded a little harder. He had bought, at high price, a small
device which could monitor DataNet transmissions without interference, in
theory. He feared discovery, as the CEO's were everywhere and encouraged
turning violators in for a share of the large penalties.
He wondered who the rat was.
This person was the one who introduced him to the device, and he claimed
that he used it for 'fair use', an antique concept that one could use
small segments of copyrighted works without needing to pay again for the
rights. He claimed he downloaded many works for future reference: music,
scripts, books, poetry, art. Probably was too zealous.
He unclipped the device out of fear just as his manager walked by. He
didn't seem to notice.
The CEO's were almost outside the door.
The manager snapped his fingers.
Almost instantly, the CEO's leapt upon him like a pack of wild animals.
They grabbed at him, restrained him, and patted him down to discover the
device.
He was dragged away.
End Story One
Story Two
This is the tale of two students. One lived in an affluent area, one
in the inner city.
Jack took a last look at the works on his library slate, and jotted the
concepts from the works just before midnight. At precisely 0000 hours, the
slate's memory erased itself. He had to plug it into a phone line before
morning, and he'd be up typing off the paper he had to turn in within ten
hours. He plugged it in, waited for the confirmation notice, and turned it
off. These measures were necessary to verify that the works were, in fact,
erased and that no extractions or duplication occurred. The library was now
free to lown its e-text to someone else with a proper slate, as they only had
a limited number of restricted use licenses for each work. The Copyright
Enforcement Office performed regular audits, and this little measure relaxed
the legal team at the library somewhat. He spent the next three hours typing
and proofing the digital text he had just created. He was pretty sure that
he hadn't done anything criminal, like using an exact quote or not citing
every source referred to. (Each source got a small fee from the school for
use.) He went to sleep a little more soundly as the text was copied onto a
mini-disk for computer assurance and grading.
Zoe had a stack of books in front of her in her small, one-bedroom apartment
in the near Southwest side of the city. Her library was one of a scant and
shrinking few to still have paper texts, and as her family couldn't afford
the cost of a single library slate, she was permitted use of the hardbacks.
They had their drawbacks, like being out of date the moment they left the
press, their weight, and the difficulty in tracking the segments relating to
a particular topic, but they were freer to use and utilize. She still could
not use exact quotes, after all fair usewas deemed a violation of copyright
holders' rights. She could get away with not listing a source or two, and
maybe a little smudging of lexicon here and there. (Not all works were in
digital format yet, and sometimes these little things got past the CEO's.)
She stuck in a disk and let the machine do its work while she got a few
precious z's before swimming practice.
Zoe's day started at 5:20, almost four hours after she went to sleep. The
disk was ready for inspection, and she stuck her old textbooks into her
schoolbag. Modern schoolbags were designed for the newer access-controlled
virtual books, so she had to use a large retro bag she picked up at a
garage sale over the summer. It was serviceable, and properly patched and
stickered it worked with her personality. She threw on some clothes to keep
warm, tossed her swimsuit and some clothes for during and after class in
her bag, and popped out the door with a couple of Pop-Tarts. She picked
up a pint of soymilk at the convinience store next to her bus stop. She
got on the bus, switched to a train, and got to school about ten minutes
before practice. She changed real quick, took a quick run through the showers,
and dived into the ice-cold pool. Coach's idea of a warmup.
Jack got into his car with about forty-five minutes to go before class
and a thirty-eight minute drive ahead of him. His small pack, smaller than
a laptop bag, contained the access-controlled, time-limited textbooks on
DVD his school bought into. The annual usage fee was about a quarter the cost
of a paper text, and the company assured "continual updates of the information"
on a near annual basis. So far, these versions were used for five years. They
had visual examples and a shorter, lecturelike style for the text itself, but
these books sometimes skipped and scratched and the replacement cost, at $200
plus license (which could sometimes run to $100 for a scholastic year) per book
was high even for an affluent school district. He straightened his tie, checked
his pockets.. he forgot the paper at home! Fortunately, he was just barely out
of the driveway and his first period teacher rarely gave detention for
tardiness.
Zoe finished practice. She had fifteen minutes to her first class, so she
took a slightly leasurely shower. When the clock said she had five minutes,
she scrambled to get dressed and to class. She was a half a minute late, so
she put her paper's disk onto the teacher's desk and took a seat. The teacher
was occupied running the papers through the CEO's systems. Already two students
of the five checked were caught with copyright violations.. make that three
of six. It was a very fine tightrope you had to walk on; too little and you
get a poor grade and a CEO warning for using too few sources, too much and
you probably violated copyright law. The teacher started to talk.
Jack had to scam a space in the boonies of the school's expansive parking
lots. He ran to the door, text-disks, player, and assignments in hand,
scrambling to the stairwell, going downstairs, making two rights, getting
to the door, and grabbing his seat. He was out of breath and took a moment
to catch it. "Mr. Chanar! Your assignments, please!" his teacher barked.
He fumbled through for the disk. The professor stuck it into a machine.
Zoe got lucky. Just enough sources. Just enough fudging of data. She passed.
Jack got busted. He received a zero-grade, in accordance with CEO policy.
Apparently, some of his style imitated the works cited.
Story Three
Blank tapes have been getting harder to get since the ruling. A legal, blank
VHS tape would both have a microchip tag and a macro-price tag of ten dollars
or more per tape, in bulk, easily. Illegal blank tapes without the chip
were at least doubel that, and possession was a crime since the chip prevented
recorders from recording unauthorized programs.
Even though the video quality was reduced, some still prefered the VHS to
the digital formats. Older, chip-free tapes were portable to older player-
recorders and had enough video fidelity (with a properly analog'd signal)
to record the stuff well enough for future viewing. Tape was still the
only way die-hard aficionados of certain science fiction series, like
the Star Trek series, Babylon 5, Doctor Who, Red Dwarf, and fiends of
the Monty Python Flying Circus would view the episodes.
Finding a source with the chipped tapes was hard enough. Manufacturers
focused primarily on digital tape formats with inbuilt copy restriction.
High-end shops and used equipment stores had them, primarily, but some
upscale retailers had small supplies available. Chip-free tapes could
only be obtained through the dark grey and black markets. Then, you
hoped for older, factory wrapped gear, as tapes manufactured by some outfits
were not reliable, some not even useful.
Chip-free tapes were the only way a digital-media movie could be copied.
That's why Marla went out. Their copy of "Titanic" was nearing the end
of its useful life. The license expired in two days and change, and she
liked the movie a lot, too much to have to pay the outrageously high
one disk, one player fee. That's why she ventured into this dark market.
"Fifty dollars, one hour. Two hundred dollars, two hour," the seller said.
She paid for the two-hour tape and walked away. Someone tailed her.
As soon as she put it in her VCR, a knock came from the CEO's.
That's it for now, I can't think of more as the Angel's Advocates. I've
put some ideas, like limited-use newspapers and library books, copyright-
checks in school and work, license fees for use. Some basic ideas, granted,
but some the courts probably can understand.
Ended 30 Nov 00, 0825z. Gotta go to church in a few hours. It's my
namesday.
I'm giving permission to put this out for the world to see, without charge
as long as not incorporated into a for-profit work, be it a novel, an
essay, or even a motion picture (yes I think evil thoughts
exceptions of the EFF (I know you guys are NFP, but I'm just covering my
rectum) and 2600: The Hacker Quarterly.
Perhaps you should read the article.
"50% of the royalties go to the copyright holders, MOST OFTEN THE RECORD LABELS. " (emphasis mine)
"The rest would be divvied up amongst the artists."
These are near-quotes from The Standard's article.
What this means is that the record labels get a hellova large chunk of that royalty money. They may get as much as 100% in situations where the artist got an advance prior to release.
The music industry is in the process of locking down holes instead of redefinition of themselves. They could see themselves as media distributors, or they could see themselves as record makers. This is another step backwards, and another reason a Sealand server seems more and more attractive.
Our rights as citizens of this country are being infringed every day in a new way. (Look at FLorida. jk.)
This competition is a way of playing (since I assume (wrongly) you are a pro-rights person) Angel's Advocate in a world of devils. You gotta think in a wicked-evil way how the world would be assuming the DMCA's provisions are enforced in the way they appear to be. In addition, you get to show legitimate uses for freecopy (uncontrolled, unrestricted access of certain works) in modern life. Libraries and academia are given, but there are countless others.
You get to use your imagination. Create a data tree of possible cause-and-effect scenarios for The Future. I see a hypercorporatized world where governments exists to take care of the dirty bits corps don't want to and to protect the corps' assets and products first.
Oh wait, we're already there.
And now, d.valued's Prediction Of The Day: Within the next 24 years, another extension of copyright act will be passed by Congress.
Mickey's expires in 2024 (thanks to the Sonny Bono F+++ The Public, err Memorial Copyright Act), and Disney don't want the mouse in the public domain.
It's painfully easy to determine the amount of juice your scumpuppy rig sucks from your wallet.
;), you can see the cost per kilowatt-hour. Usually, somewhere less than ten cents per. (My place, it runs .085 dollars.) [This is an Americanocentric spiel.]
Assuming you have an electric bill (unless you use your own generator or leech off someone else
Now, look at the back of your box. Not at the expansion slots, but near the power input. It'll have a small sticker saying 100-240 V, 50-60 Hz, 100-200 W (or whatever your particular bastard creation of God uses). That is the amount of power used per hour. You get a fraction, this example assumes 200 W, so 2/10 kWh. Multiply by 24 hours per day and 30 days per month, you get a ballpark figure.
Now, there are other factors too, like OS (better OS = more uptime = more thoroughput) and boot time (lesser is better), but that's the basics.
Tag.
I've got the press release afront me and I see the following companies listed:
Borland, Caldera, Compaq, Corel, Fujitsu-Siemens,
Hewlett-Packard Company, IBM, KDE.com, Klarälvdalens Datakonsult, theKompany.com, Mandrakesoft, SuSE, Trolltech and TurboLinux.
Now, this organization is with companies that either GET it or ARE it. This org isn't controlling development, but promoting application.
And YES, I am a KDE partisan. However, this should not degenerate into a contest where KDE gets 48% of the vote, the Gnome gets 47.5%, and Other gets the rest, and everyone bitches about a recount.
(Besides, I am happy with KDE. I can use the file manager to surf without a) much overhead (useful on a laptop); b) releasing everything about the browser and system; c) no risk of Java; d) complete cookie control. Tee hee hee.)
I have been, and will continue to be, a vocal advocate of Ralph. So, if you want to give me a "Flamebait" point, at least read this first.
Ralph Nader, if anything, got more people interested in this election. The kinds of people who would vote for Ralph are people who found The Battle Of The Juniors (Bore Jr. and Gush Jr.) too comfy for those who gave them insane amounts of cash. (Enough to run NT well. That's scary.)
The people who voted for Ralph wanted their vote to count towards something. This time around, and with all probability next time as well, it was to get 5% of the popular vote and get federal funds in 2k4.
Too many of the people I talked to while I politicked (excuse the misspelling if any: I mean "the act of shamelessly promoting my candidate by passing out literature near a polling place") said the same lies that I had heard over and over again from people I knew, and who I converted to Nader from Gore.
x "Roe v. Wade": Bush Jr. and the Republicans ain't stupid. They may not like it, but women, a significant part of the voting population, do. They have said time and again that overthrowing Roe v. Wade would be tantamount to political suicide.
x "It's the Supreme Court, stupid.": A case of history for you. The postwar period had Republicans nominate a few judges for The Big Promotion to the Supreme Court. You might know them: Warren, Brennan, Stevens, Blackmun, and Souter. These guys were pretty damned liberal: they went for civil rights and against the conservative ebb of the Repos. Recently, the Democratic Senate in the early 90's allowed two drek judges, Scalia (who was put in 98-0 with Gore Jr. voting Aye) and Thomas (52-48, again a Gore Jr. Aye). Now, we have a nearly-even division of both houses, and that means (AFA the Senate) that the Dems can filibuster whatever, whenever. (You'll see a few newspapers under the arms of Dems to give time-killer filler.) So, assuming Bush Jr. wins, he's got to pick moderates with no paper (case history) on abortion.
x "A Vote For Nader is a Vote For Bush": The people who voted for Ralph ain't hardcore loyal Dems. They are technically classified as independant, but they lean towards the border between liberal and radical, in the fuzzy zone of progressive. They want change because there are ungodly numbers of poor and starving people in this country. They want change because the rich are building their fortunes, their mansions, their portfolios on the backs of people unable to get a simple checking account. They want change because no one else will talk about the dirty side of life in America where 1/4 of the families of Texas and California live in poverty, with another 1/4 damned near it.
Also, had Nader not ran, Gore wouldn't have switched tactics. He sounded like "Nader-lite" with his ripping on the rich. (They knew it was tactics: after all, they gave him his $125+M war chest.) He won people by sounding like a man for change, though we all know that at least the 107th Congress shalt do naught (good)
But the reason people turned out so much in this election was not so much to vote for a candidate. (Most of those people are either lifelong party members or Naderites.) They came out to vote AGAINST a candidate. They fell into the trap of two evils.
When you go for the lesser of two evils, you end up with.. two evils.
Here ends the lesson.
PS: I'm going to change the sig to "You voted Republocrat? Now we ALL suffer!"
If you were at H2K you'd remember me.. I was the bloody shouter. (Hey, don't knock it. I got the red shirt and all access ;)
I would, however, doubt that Da Gov'na and Jello would run together. Great he abandoned the Reform Party like a sinking (into corporatism and reactionarism) boat and declaredc himself a neo-independant. (Besides, he's said he's happy as The Sworn Protector Of Minn-e-SO-ta.)
Jello's speech and Ralph Nader's candidacy have inspired me to announce I will run for Congress in 2004, whose election will be one day before I turn 25. (I'll still be eligible, I hope, because I *will* be 25 upon inauguration.)