Oh dear. Looks like Mr. McCartney is now staring his revolution in the face, and he doesn't like what he sees. Counter-culture hippy turned lawsuit-throwing mogul. Like he's one to talk about "musicians rights"..He doesn't even own his own work anymore! His entire body of work from 1960-1970 is owned by Michael Jackson! Sheesh!
Saying McCartney isn't going after MP3.com is like saying Bill Gates didn't try to undermine Netscape--he just happened to be the one who owned the company! Gimmie a break.
Welcome to the 00's, Mr. McCartney. The cat's already out of the bag, and a hundred lawsuits wont put the cat back in it.
I've been through something similar to this..I know what the frustration and misery feels like..I saw it every single day of my life for the past year or so. Through it all, I came away with a deeper understanding of why these sorts of things happen, and why they happen to good people. At first, it doesn't make sense..but given time, a few things rise to the surface and become clear.
As hard as it may be to understand right now, pain, fear and suffering are all integral parts of what it means to be alive. It reminds us that we're human. It helps define who we are, and provides us with a greater appreciation for the things we all take for granted sometimes..Happiness, good health, and the love of friends and family, among others.
If you believe in God, that's cool. He's there for you, and everyone. If you believe in yourself, that's cool too. Its the connection we all share that matters.
The old adage "That which does not kill you makes you stronger" is very true. Thats why it's been passed down for centuries..:) Try to think about the strengthening process whenever you feel down. Try not to dwell on the whole miserable mess, but instead think about the many ways you'll be better soon. It'll bring you so much joy when things are back to normal..you've got that and more to look forward to.
And you know he'd be doing the same for you, Cassie..Thats why you married the guy.:)
Best Wishes,
Bowie J. Poag Project Founder, PROPAGANDA For Linux (Moving to MetaLab/UNC!)
Actually, there's a Museum of Bad Art...Works retrieved from the dumpsters outside of art schools, mostly. You can visit it here. I laughed so hard I nearly puked when I first came across it.:)
In the meantime, don't be so down on this guy. He tells you upfront that they are _early_ test sketches. Not final products.
Bowie J. Poag Project Founder, PROPAGANDA For Linux (Moving to MetaLab/UNC!)
I read what you wrote. Thats why I replied, sonny. You apparently didnt read my reply, which asked you to clarify the difference between technologies such as nanotech, genetic engineering, and cybernetics and moveable type in respect to it's impact on mankind.
"In the beginning, there was a great flood which covered the surface of the Earth. The fish were the first to die, followed by plants and land animals." - An actual quote from a video I saw on Creationism. Apparently, your God says fish can drown. I dunno who your God is, but my own relationship with God is one where such laughable attempts at legitimate science are passed off as just that -- laughable attempts at legitimate science.
You sound like a 15th Century monk raving about how the printing press will open a pandoras box and morally bankrupt the human race. All it did was create more jobs and make people as a whole smater, and better-off. Tell me how innovations like nanotech, genetic engineering, or cybernetics differs from moveable type, and then i'll believe your claim.
By the way, here's what a true "militant athiest" would tell you:
"You have nothing to worry about. We have already proved our superiority to our creations. After all, we invented God.":)
I wrote a paper in my Philosophy class not too long ago, in where I argued two basic premises:
A) As AI improves, it reaches the point of self-obsolescence. A truly perfect AI is only a mirror of human thought and behavior, and we have that anyway. Why bother.
B) Any truly perfect AI should then in turn be able to produce AI of its own, as we have. So what good is it? It's just a dog chasing its own extremely, extremely long tail. Why bother.
NOT smart, if you ask me.
on
Laptop Exams?
·
· Score: 3
Sounds like a spiffy idea at the outset, but, keep in mind that quite a few laptops these days have IR ports on them. Nothing prevents you and your neighbor from sharing/comparing your answers. It defeats the whole purpose of having a test in the first place -- a test is meant to determine how well you've aquired a certain skill or chunk of knowledge -- not how fast you can _retrieve_ that knowledge from a secondary source. Friend in the seat next to you, internet, or otherwise.
Then again, if you trust anything you read on the Internet, you deserve to fail.
Actually, we did switch licenses. Propaganda (technically) is no longer flying the GPL flag. I've been waiting for Naru to change the contents of the page for quite a while now.
If I knew then (back in November 98) what I know now, I would have never picked the GPL. If you're wondering what possessed me to choose the GPL in the first place, it was because there was some talk at the time that portions of the GPL might be rewritten to allow for non-coded forms of media such as sound, graphics, etc. Never happened, unfortunately. It just feels like the GPL started out a great idea, but in the end, it virtually forces you to remain poor if you stick with it. Thats the sad part, really. It sets the stage for the sort of thing we're seeing in the Linux community these days. A massive, massive inequity between the companies now swimming in billions of dollars of capital, and the programmers who can barely pay their rent.
By "compensated", I wasnt referring strictly to money. For example, wouldn't it be nice if programmers whos work appears in Red Hat could list a contact-person at Red Hat as a reference on their job resume? Or VA's volunteers, for that matter? I dont see them doing that. It would be horribly simple for them to do, and it would be extremely beneficial to the Linux community. It would cost Red Hat absolutely nothing to do, and they aren't doing it. They, ultimately, are a business. Red Hat and VA dont have to care. They have to make money. Expecting them to care goes beyond the call of any business if you think about it. The song remains the same. An $11B company makes money off my work, regardless of the fact that its not an "integral" part of the distrib.
By the way, for the record, Propaganda is now licensed under Perl Artistic. Thanks, Larry:)
Apparently Caldera only feels it should reward the developers who will make the company rich come IPO-day. Im surprised more people arent insulted by that idea. Its like, hey, you're an Apache developer--Here's a chance to get in on our stock! Meanwhile, lets suppose you're working on some equally relevant but less-popular project.. No jello for you, little boy. Youre not popular!
Does anyone know if Caldera bundles Propaganda with their distribution? If so, i'll fire off a little letter to them and ask them what the hell they're thinking, and post the results here. I think it would be rather novel for them to attempt to explain their choice of preference in handing out letters.
No, I dont expect letters, and thats not why I got into Linux in the first place. However, if some company like Red Hat, or VA, or Debian, or Mandrake starts making millions off my work (and other peoples work) I'm not going to sit back and not give a shit. I went into CompUSA the other day, and counted six boxes on the shelves which carry my work, going for anywhere from $39.95 to $99.95...Someone is making money, hand over fist, off your work, and off my work. I have a right to question why many of us remain uncompensated when theres money like that changing hands.
Red Hat is a 11 billion dollar company. Dont see them compensating the people who continue to make their distribution usable, do you?
In the last few months, I've had alot of time to sit back and examine what happens when people give out ideas freely, myself included in that..Giving it out in the name of "community", and the ideal that we should all work together on important things..
After alot of thinking, I've petty much come down to one simple conclusion. What happens to people who decide to be generous within the Linux community, ultimately, they get screwed.. And screwed hard. They get screwed hard because the Linux community is no longer the same because there are huge inequities between the key players. The distance between common users and key players used to be measured in terms of popularity. Now the distance is measured in billions of dollars of market capital. New motives (motives which have nothing whatsoever to do with community improvement) have woven their way into what it means to support the Linux movement.. The main goal of development has turned from simple joy into a profit-making frenzy.
Now, in my own case, I can look back over what I've done in the past 10 years, and I see two things. I see a group of people who have absolutely no qualms about ripping me off, and a group of people who were honestly thankful for the things I and others had contributed -- In the past, the group of people who had no qualms about ripping me off were comparably small, compared to the number of people who understood and appreciated the work I and others had done. Nowadays, everything is turned around. The group of people who have no qualms about basically using people has grown to an enormous size, and the group of well-meaning individuals has similarly shrank down to a tiny portion of what it used to be. This is what happens when people stop caring about the effort, and begin caring more about the money. It happened to every single company and project I can think of when it comes to Linux.
The party's over, as far as Linux is concerned. As time goes on, more and more people are going to figure this sort of thing out for themselves. If you're looking for an example, look at Red Hat. Right now, they're sitting on $11,000,000,000 in market capital. Eleven billion dollars, guys. Now, do you see Red Hat going out of their way to make amends for the fact that so many people got screwed out of their IPO invitations last year because they refused to lie on an investor quesitonairre? Were the efforts of countless Linux developers good enough to deserve the offer, but not good enough to try and remedy the situation now that they have ample resources, time, and opportunity to do so? They're still making money hand over fist with your work, aren't they? If you were at the helm, would it be different? Why are they (and other Linux companies making money off the free labor of others) doing nothing about this?
As long as this sort of thing remains commonplace, people will get hurt. Conditions aren't right anymore to share ideas openly. There are too many sharks in the pool willing to advance their careers at the expense of small users and developers.
At least thats how I see it. Just putting my 2 cents into it.
Agreed. I dont think you guys (the four of you, specifically) were to blame. You were doing the same as us, basically, working in ultraprivate. However, theres at least one person at VA I know of who cant enjoy a position of innocence, and he knows who he is. He's also the one who has to live with it on his conscience.
I usually dont respond to trolls, but, Ill make an exception here for Mr. Anoymous.
I happened to be the guy heading up that "volunteer project". I cant speak for the 11 other people who were a part of that project, but I can certainly speak for myself.. If you or any other anonymous troll has something to say to me, you can email me. My address is right at the top of this response, and I generally check my mail 2-3 times per day.
If I really had anything to say about the whole mess that happened between VA and System 12 last year, I would have already said it. Infact, I've probably done a few key people at VA a favor by not telling more people what happened. I saw what happened. And yes, I have my suspicions. I choose to keep those to myself these days.
As for what other people may say or think about VA, sorry, that really isnt my concern anymore. I stopped waving the flag for VA once I found out for myself what sort of company they are.. I learned a very important lesson through it all, and I felt other people might somehow benefit from hearing it, I still couldnt say anything, or else get slapped with a libel suit. However, I'm kinda glad a few people know, if you want my honest opinion. Life has a happy way of finding an equilibrium between right and wrong, good and bad. What comes around goes around, I guess. VA isnt exempt from that.
Heh. For once, I can see the ninja guy's point. Slashdot is decaying..All the posts nowadays are so ripe with cluelessness that its really becoming tiresome.
Well, for the sake of ignoring this article, and talking about something truly interesting, lets have a look at this:
I propose we establish a standard unit of measurement for cluelessness. We will measure it in units of Gore. I think Al Gore's as good a benchmark as any..Alan Cox is, lets say, 0 Gore. He knows all. Whoever thought this original article deserved to be issued to upwards of a million readers weighs in at, say, 1.0x10^23 Gore.
Re:Jon Katz killed the first article due to bad re
on
LonelyNet (Part Two)
·
· Score: 1
I could care less if he uses Word. It would confirm alot of suspicions I have (i.e. Katz doesn't know a tinker's damn about the very things he claims to be an expert on)..I just thought it would be interesting for people to know what happened this morning.
As for going and making a new Slashdot somewhere else...naah. I've always said, imitation isn't the sincerest form of flattery. Imitation is showing the world youre too lazy and too stupid to do it better yourself.:)
Slashdot has problems. Doesn't mean we should turn our backs on it, tho. Its just the problems are becoming more numerous. The Linux community is turning from a fun experiment into a class-driven heirarchy of haves and have-nots. It just isnt the same anymore.
You can piss vinegar all you want about me , thats fine..You're welcome to. However, it doesn't erase the facts.
The fact is, Katz DID posted a different article this morning. The article was viewed many people, probably a few hundred of us. Had it remained online, he would have been flamed to no end for using Word by many of us.
The fact is, he posted it, and immediately people (like me) saw the embarassing truth.. By the time he (Katz) corrected it, it was already too late. The cat was out of the bag, and the flames were shaping up to be pretty immense. Now, in my opinion, to avoid having his reputation among Linux users sink even further, Katz used his power as a Slashdot author to then pull the article out of circulation, negating everyone who had posted responses to the original post in the process. Thats what I looks like to me. I call it like I see it.
Now, if i'm right, that means two things -- Katz's behavior not only smacks of stupidity, it smacks of censorship. If he's not prepared to take the full breadth of criticisms lodged against him (no matter how lame or intelligent) then he doesn't belong here, let alone in the profession he's chosen.
See, he has the ability to erase embarrasments like this. Ask yourself, do you have the same ability here on Slashdot?
Re:Jon Katz killed the first article due to bad re
on
LonelyNet (Part Two)
·
· Score: 1
I call it like I see it. Katz's blather doesn't really belong here on Slashdot, IMHO. It never has, and I really don't think it ever will. This isn't simple Katz-bashing. He's earned his reputation, just the same as all of us have earned our respective reputations.
I think in the long run, the addition of Jon Katz to Slashdot will go down in the books as the beginning of the end. I remember when Slashdot used to be a friendly place. Now we're all polarized into camps due to the anger generated by a singular idiot on a soapbox. To this day, I dont think many of us really know _why_ Rob put this guy here, or why he insists on keeping him here.
Square peg, round hole. No matter how hard you bash the damn thing, twist it or encourage it to fit, it never will.
Slashdot Mirror
flame(on);
"You say you want a revolution, well, you know.."
Oh dear. Looks like Mr. McCartney is now staring his revolution in the face, and he doesn't like what he sees. Counter-culture hippy turned lawsuit-throwing mogul. Like he's one to talk about "musicians rights"..He doesn't even own his own work anymore! His entire body of work from 1960-1970 is owned by Michael Jackson! Sheesh!
Saying McCartney isn't going after MP3.com is like saying Bill Gates didn't try to undermine Netscape--he just happened to be the one who owned the company! Gimmie a break.
Welcome to the 00's, Mr. McCartney. The cat's already out of the bag, and a hundred lawsuits wont put the cat back in it.
flame(off);
Bowie J. Poag
Hi Cassie.. :) Hey, watch the hospital inbox for a little gift within the next few days..One for you, and one for Jason!
Bowie
Bowie J. Poag
Project Founder, PROPAGANDA For Linux (Moving to MetaLab/UNC!)
So _thats_ what those little flecks of green stuff are in salad croutons..hmm.
Bowie J. Poag
Project Founder, PROPAGANDA For Linux (Moving to MetaLab/UNC!)
For Jason, Cassie and everyone else:
I've been through something similar to this..I know what the frustration and misery feels like..I saw it every single day of my life for the past year or so. Through it all, I came away with a deeper understanding of why these sorts of things happen, and why they happen to good people. At first, it doesn't make sense..but given time, a few things rise to the surface and become clear.
As hard as it may be to understand right now, pain, fear and suffering are all integral parts of what it means to be alive. It reminds us that we're human. It helps define who we are, and provides us with a greater appreciation for the things we all take for granted sometimes..Happiness, good health, and the love of friends and family, among others.
If you believe in God, that's cool. He's there for you, and everyone. If you believe in yourself, that's cool too. Its the connection we all share that matters.
The old adage "That which does not kill you makes you stronger" is very true. Thats why it's been passed down for centuries..
And you know he'd be doing the same for you, Cassie..Thats why you married the guy.
Best Wishes,
Bowie J. Poag
Project Founder, PROPAGANDA For Linux (Moving to MetaLab/UNC!)
Rob likes (and uses) Propaganda. This proves he has taste.
(grin)
Bowie J. Poag
Project Founder, PROPAGANDA For Linux (Moving to MetaLab/UNC!)
Actually, there's a Museum of Bad Art...Works retrieved from the dumpsters outside of art schools, mostly. You can visit it here. I laughed so hard I nearly puked when I first came across it. :)
In the meantime, don't be so down on this guy. He tells you upfront that they are _early_ test sketches. Not final products.
Bowie J. Poag
Project Founder, PROPAGANDA For Linux (Moving to MetaLab/UNC!)
I read what you wrote. Thats why I replied, sonny.
You apparently didnt read my reply, which asked you to clarify the difference between technologies such as nanotech, genetic engineering, and cybernetics and moveable type in respect to it's impact on mankind.
"In the beginning, there was a great flood which covered the surface of the Earth. The fish were the first to die, followed by plants and land animals." - An actual quote from a video I saw on Creationism. Apparently, your God says fish can drown. I dunno who your God is, but my own relationship with God is one where such laughable attempts at legitimate science are passed off as just that -- laughable attempts at legitimate science.
The cure for fear is instruction.
Have a good one,
Bowie J. Poag
Project Founder, PROPAGANDA For Linux (http://propaganda.themes.org)
You sound like a 15th Century monk raving about how the printing press will open a pandoras box and morally bankrupt the human race. All it did was create more jobs and make people as a whole smater, and better-off. Tell me how innovations like nanotech, genetic engineering, or cybernetics differs from moveable type, and then i'll believe your claim.
:)
By the way, here's what a true "militant athiest" would tell you:
"You have nothing to worry about. We have already proved our superiority to our creations. After all, we invented God."
Agnostically yours,
Bowie J. Poag
Project Founder, PROPAGANDA For Linux (http://propaganda.themes.org)
Here's something to think about..
I wrote a paper in my Philosophy class not too long ago, in where I argued two basic premises:
A) As AI improves, it reaches the point of self-obsolescence. A truly perfect AI is only a mirror of human thought and behavior, and we have that anyway. Why bother.
B) Any truly perfect AI should then in turn be able to produce AI of its own, as we have. So what good is it? It's just a dog chasing its own extremely, extremely long tail. Why bother.
I got an A- on it. Any thoughts?
Bowie J. Poag
Project Founder, PROPAGANDA For Linux (http://propaganda.themes.org)
This school can't even afford intelligent teachers..What makes you think they can afford IR detectors? :)
Mirthfully yours,
Bowie J. Poag
Project Founder, PROPAGANDA For Linux (http://propaganda.themes.org)
Sounds like a spiffy idea at the outset, but, keep in mind that quite a few laptops these days have IR ports on them. Nothing prevents you and your neighbor from sharing/comparing your answers. It defeats the whole purpose of having a test in the first place -- a test is meant to determine how well you've aquired a certain skill or chunk of knowledge -- not how fast you can _retrieve_ that knowledge from a secondary source. Friend in the seat next to you, internet, or otherwise.
Then again, if you trust anything you read on the Internet, you deserve to fail.
Written from my happy IR-equipped Thinkpad,
Bowie J. Poag
Project Founder, PROPAGANDA For Linux (http://propaganda.themes.org)
Actually, we did switch licenses. Propaganda (technically) is no longer flying the GPL flag. I've been waiting for Naru to change the contents of the page for quite a while now.
If I knew then (back in November 98) what I know now, I would have never picked the GPL. If you're wondering what possessed me to choose the GPL in the first place, it was because there was some talk at the time that portions of the GPL might be rewritten to allow for non-coded forms of media such as sound, graphics, etc. Never happened, unfortunately. It just feels like the GPL started out a great idea, but in the end, it virtually forces you to remain poor if you stick with it.
Thats the sad part, really. It sets the stage for the sort of thing we're seeing in the Linux community these days. A massive, massive inequity between the companies now swimming in billions of dollars of capital, and the programmers who can barely pay their rent.
By "compensated", I wasnt referring strictly to money. For example, wouldn't it be nice if programmers whos work appears in Red Hat could list a contact-person at Red Hat as a reference on their job resume? Or VA's volunteers, for that matter? I dont see them doing that. It would be horribly simple for them to do, and it would be extremely beneficial to the Linux community. It would cost Red Hat absolutely nothing to do, and they aren't doing it. They, ultimately, are a business. Red Hat and VA dont have to care. They have to make money. Expecting them to care goes beyond the call of any business if you think about it. The song remains the same. An $11B company makes money off my work, regardless of the fact that its not an "integral" part of the distrib.
By the way, for the record, Propaganda is now licensed under Perl Artistic. Thanks, Larry
Bowie J. Poag
Project Founder, PROPAGANDA For Linux (http://propaganda.themes.org)
Apparently Caldera only feels it should reward the developers who will make the company rich come IPO-day. Im surprised more people arent insulted by that idea. Its like, hey, you're an Apache developer--Here's a chance to get in on our stock! Meanwhile, lets suppose you're working on some equally relevant but less-popular project.. No jello for you, little boy. Youre not popular!
Does anyone know if Caldera bundles Propaganda with their distribution? If so, i'll fire off a little letter to them and ask them what the hell they're thinking, and post the results here. I think it would be rather novel for them to attempt to explain their choice of preference in handing out letters.
No, I dont expect letters, and thats not why I got into Linux in the first place. However, if some company like Red Hat, or VA, or Debian, or Mandrake starts making millions off my work (and other peoples work) I'm not going to sit back and not give a shit. I went into CompUSA the other day, and counted six boxes on the shelves which carry my work, going for anywhere from $39.95 to $99.95...Someone is making money, hand over fist, off your work, and off my work. I have a right to question why many of us remain uncompensated when theres money like that changing hands.
Red Hat is a 11 billion dollar company. Dont see them compensating the people who continue to make their distribution usable, do you?
Bowie J. Poag
Project Founder, PROPAGANDA For Linux (http://propaganda.themes.org)
In the last few months, I've had alot of time to sit back and examine what happens when people give out ideas freely, myself included in that..Giving it out in the name of "community", and the ideal that we should all work together on important things..
After alot of thinking, I've petty much come down to one simple conclusion. What happens to people who decide to be generous within the Linux community, ultimately, they get screwed.. And screwed hard. They get screwed hard because the Linux community is no longer the same because there are huge inequities between the key players. The distance between common users and key players used to be measured in terms of popularity. Now the distance is measured in billions of dollars of market capital. New motives (motives which have nothing whatsoever to do with community improvement) have woven their way into what it means to support the Linux movement.. The main goal of development has turned from simple joy into a profit-making frenzy.
Now, in my own case, I can look back over what I've done in the past 10 years, and I see two things. I see a group of people who have absolutely no qualms about ripping me off, and a group of people who were honestly thankful for the things I and others had contributed -- In the past, the group of people who had no qualms about ripping me off were comparably small, compared to the number of people who understood and appreciated the work I and others had done. Nowadays, everything is turned around. The group of people who have no qualms about basically using people has grown to an enormous size, and the group of well-meaning individuals has similarly shrank down to a tiny portion of what it used to be. This is what happens when people stop caring about the effort, and begin caring more about the money. It happened to every single company and project I can think of when it comes to Linux.
The party's over, as far as Linux is concerned. As time goes on, more and more people are going to figure this sort of thing out for themselves. If you're looking for an example, look at Red Hat. Right now, they're sitting on $11,000,000,000 in market capital. Eleven billion dollars, guys. Now, do you see Red Hat going out of their way to make amends for the fact that so many people got screwed out of their IPO invitations last year because they refused to lie on an investor quesitonairre? Were the efforts of countless Linux developers good enough to deserve the offer, but not good enough to try and remedy the situation now that they have ample resources, time, and opportunity to do so? They're still making money hand over fist with your work, aren't they? If you were at the helm, would it be different? Why are they (and other Linux companies making money off the free labor of others) doing nothing about this?
As long as this sort of thing remains commonplace, people will get hurt. Conditions aren't right anymore to share ideas openly. There are too many sharks in the pool willing to advance their careers at the expense of small users and developers.
At least thats how I see it. Just putting my 2 cents into it.
Bowie J. Poag
Project Founder, PROPAGANDA For Linux (http://propaganda.themes.org)
Looks like Sony is taking a page from Microsoft's marketing playbook. Pretty box, but..no thanks. Time to buy a Dreamcast. :)
Bowie J. Poag
Project Founder, PROPAGANDA For Linux (http://propaganda.themes.org)
Agreed. I dont think you guys (the four of you, specifically) were to blame. You were doing the same as us, basically, working in ultraprivate. However, theres at least one person at VA I know of who cant enjoy a position of innocence, and he knows who he is. He's also the one who has to live with it on his conscience.
Thats enough for me.
Bowie J. Poag
Project Founder, PROPAGANDA For Linux (http://propaganda.themes.org)
Excuse me?
I usually dont respond to trolls, but, Ill make an exception here for Mr. Anoymous.
I happened to be the guy heading up that "volunteer project". I cant speak for the 11 other people who were a part of that project, but I can certainly speak for myself.. If you or any other anonymous troll has something to say to me, you can email me. My address is right at the top of this response, and I generally check my mail 2-3 times per day.
If I really had anything to say about the whole mess that happened between VA and System 12 last year, I would have already said it. Infact, I've probably done a few key people at VA a favor by not telling more people what happened. I saw what happened. And yes, I have my suspicions. I choose to keep those to myself these days.
As for what other people may say or think about VA, sorry, that really isnt my concern anymore. I stopped waving the flag for VA once I found out for myself what sort of company they are.. I learned a very important lesson through it all, and I felt other people might somehow benefit from hearing it, I still couldnt say anything, or else get slapped with a libel suit. However, I'm kinda glad a few people know, if you want my honest opinion. Life has a happy way of finding an equilibrium between right and wrong, good and bad. What comes around goes around, I guess. VA isnt exempt from that.
Have a good one,
Bowie J. Poag
Project Founder, PROPAGANDA For Linux (http://propaganda.themes.org)
Well said.
Bowie J. Poag
Project Founder, PROPAGANDA For Linux (http://propaganda.themes.org)
Bahahaha..good one!
Bowie J. Poag
Project Founder, PROPAGANDA For Linux (http://propaganda.themes.org)
Heh. For once, I can see the ninja guy's point. Slashdot is decaying..All the posts nowadays are so ripe with cluelessness that its really becoming tiresome.
Well, for the sake of ignoring this article, and talking about something truly interesting, lets have a look at this:
I propose we establish a standard unit of measurement for cluelessness. We will measure it in units of Gore. I think Al Gore's as good a benchmark as any..Alan Cox is, lets say, 0 Gore. He knows all. Whoever thought this original article deserved to be issued to upwards of a million readers weighs in at, say, 1.0x10^23 Gore.
All those in favor say "I".
Bowie J. Poag
Project Founder, PROPAGANDA For Linux (http://propaganda.themes.org)
You want me to buy you a t-shirt or something?
Bowie J. Poag
Project Manager, PROPAGANDA For Linux (http://propaganda.themes.org)
Nice poem. Really.
(laugh)
Bowie J. Poag
Project Manager, PROPAGANDA For Linux (http://propaganda.themes.org)
I could care less if he uses Word. It would confirm alot of suspicions I have (i.e. Katz doesn't know a tinker's damn about the very things he claims to be an expert on) ..I just thought it would be interesting for people to know what happened this morning.
:)
As for going and making a new Slashdot somewhere else...naah. I've always said, imitation isn't the sincerest form of flattery. Imitation is showing the world youre too lazy and too stupid to do it better yourself.
Slashdot has problems. Doesn't mean we should turn our backs on it, tho. Its just the problems are becoming more numerous. The Linux community is turning from a fun experiment into a class-driven heirarchy of haves and have-nots. It just isnt the same anymore.
Bowie J. Poag
Project Manager, PROPAGANDA For Linux (http://propaganda.themes.org)
You can piss vinegar all you want about me , thats fine..You're welcome to. However, it doesn't erase the facts.
The fact is, Katz DID posted a different article this morning. The article was viewed many people, probably a few hundred of us. Had it remained online, he would have been flamed to no end for using Word by many of us.
The fact is, he posted it, and immediately people (like me) saw the embarassing truth.. By the time he (Katz) corrected it, it was already too late. The cat was out of the bag, and the flames were shaping up to be pretty immense. Now, in my opinion, to avoid having his reputation among Linux users sink even further, Katz used his power as a Slashdot author to then pull the article out of circulation, negating everyone who had posted responses to the original post in the process. Thats what I looks like to me. I call it like I see it.
Now, if i'm right, that means two things -- Katz's behavior not only smacks of stupidity, it smacks of censorship. If he's not prepared to take the full breadth of criticisms lodged against him (no matter how lame or intelligent) then he doesn't belong here, let alone in the profession he's chosen.
See, he has the ability to erase embarrasments like this. Ask yourself, do you have the same ability here on Slashdot?
And shouldn't you?
And why not?
Bowie J. Poag
Project Manager, PROPAGANDA For Linux (http://propaganda.themes.org)
I call it like I see it. Katz's blather doesn't really belong here on Slashdot, IMHO. It never has, and I really don't think it ever will. This isn't simple Katz-bashing. He's earned his reputation, just the same as all of us have earned our respective reputations.
I think in the long run, the addition of Jon Katz to Slashdot will go down in the books as the beginning of the end. I remember when Slashdot used to be a friendly place. Now we're all polarized into camps due to the anger generated by a singular idiot on a soapbox. To this day, I dont think many of us really know _why_ Rob put this guy here, or why he insists on keeping him here.
Square peg, round hole. No matter how hard you bash the damn thing, twist it or encourage it to fit, it never will.
I miss the old Slashdot.
Bowie J. Poag
Project Manager, PROPAGANDA For Linux (http://propaganda.themes.org)