- mandatory drug testing
- sobriety check points
- running the other way when seeing a cop as 'probable cause'
- the ability to stop you for a traffic light infraction and then search your vehicle
- the whole carnivore thing
- Linda Tripp yadayadayada
as clear and patent violations of not just our civil rights, but of the Constitution in both letter and spirit.
That the British are willing to erode their citizen's rights to the extent where they legally can keep and read everything you type and speak (practically) just infuriates me to no end.
Okay, there, I said it. Is this what they call flamebait? I sure hope not. I'd like to add something insightful here, but it is so fing obvious that I really see no point in debating it.
When George Orwell wrote his insightful masterpiece, he was trying to tell us something important about how humanity can be trampled and reduced to nothing by a machine-like beauracracy. Please read the section where Winston is in the Ministry of Love. Read it carefully. The logic is undeniably accurate. It paints a portrait of the ultimate aim of all the systems of power: more power. But it is the 'how' that really is interesting. Thank God that there are some who can see those parallels, though I am not sure there are enough.
We must fight that power at every front. How you ask?
But of course: by submitting thousands and thousands of posts!
This doesn't make too much sense to me, as we devolve into more mindless speculation than CNN did on TWA Flight 800...
From http://www.geek.com/procspec/features/transmeta/cr usoe.htm
"...when problems or design issues come up they can be fixed in software instead of hardware. This makes it a lot easier to develop a chip, and work around any flaws that are encountered..."
and
"It would seem to me that users need to be able to update their Code Morphing software in some situations, like if a serious bug is found or new
features are added. "
Now, NEC is not an idiot, I assume, so they know all this is true. If that is the case then there is a bona fide h/w problem, is there not? If it were anything else, it could be corrected by flashing the EEPROM (or something...). But that's not the case... "NEC is mulling a recall". Help me out here, I could be wrong.
I could be wrong (IANAJournalist), but I think the "-Paper" reference refers to the Japanese daily Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper.
Either:
1) This can't be good during a time when dotcom stocks are being de-valued like nobody's business in the climate of 'make money before Christmas or die' (or is it 'holy shit remember the last time a Bush was in office' I can't be sure).
Or
2) This is the best time for a high-tech, new economy recently-IPO'd company to have bad news, since they are all going to hell anyway.
I can't be sure (IANAEconomist, either).
And to think TMTA was one of the brighter boys of the recent IPO's. Pity.
Please, Succeed, ICANN
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Say it... I CAN!
'Cuz if this global organization fails, you're going to see all the nations step in and manage the internet from behind their own borders. That could mean that content can be reduced to the least common denominator with respect to all kinds of aspects.
A global oversight committee is essential to the integrity of the internet.
Thinking "a startup in this industry has to walk before it can run, crawl before walk", it's my impression that they are basically trying to accelerate that part of the gaming maturity curve by having lots of contributors of content from the get-go, possibly (in their wildest dreams) helping start some new form of synergized, loosely-associated consortium of unemployed former dotcommers (?)...
I dunno, I told my 13-year-old son that Indrema's specs blew the hell out of PS2's and now he wants an Indrema for Christmas... well, I solved the problem this year, but what am I gonna do in the Spring when it arrives? I guess I will have to explain what a 'business plan' is to him now...
...and tell him how MS's X-BOX has better financial backing... eeesh
Face it. In an effort to attract a wider portion of the populous,/. has tended towrds centrism, taking on issues that the hoi polloi will respond to. But at least they (er, we...? I don't even program in C...) act like its unpalatable to them, unlike the politicians. How to regain your (our? hmm... I still keep forgetting what GNU stands for) radical-ness? Stay Tuned!
The Egyptians seem to have done nothing by chance, so this deliberate method of aligning with true North (as opposed to magnetic North) rings true.
You guys might like this page, it's got scads of math and measurements on the pyramids! It also supports this guy's theory that it couldn't have been Humans who built them. Not.
http://www.aloha.net/~hawmtn/pyramid.htm
And let's not forget the pyramids that are so prevalent on Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon album! There Must be some significance... some greater meaning... what can it be... there's gotta be more to it than just sharper razor blades...
It is and should remain up to the state to decide how to cast their ballot for a national figure, as well as (obviously) for one of their own. Yes, there are technical solutions to the ballot-counting problem, but they may not be implemented nation-wide, just suggested. Polling places must remain public vis a vis, the 'gun to the head' problem. Only in public can you reasonably be assured that votes weren't coerced.
I think Gore has a legitimate claim, but, more importantly, the state of Florida Must find it in their best interests to assure the rest of the nation that their method of choosing their electorate is fair and trustworthy.
I am so damn close to entering into flamebait about so-called 'stolen elections' that I will stop now and go have lunch. This is an extremely heated topic right now. Lemme just say this: I hope both gentlemen stand back and let the Florida legislature, in full view of the entire nation, establish the legality and restore the integrity of its state electoral process. Anything less might (should?) incite rioting in the streets.
I am continually reminded of the quote from Jurassic Park about "you didn't stop to think if you should, only if you could", delivered by Ian to Hammond. http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Club/8660/disne yland.wav
This is a great moral debate about the future, and even more importantly, it asks us whether we have the power - not only to stop ourselves if our technology grows dangerous, but even to understand our basic nature. Is inquisitiveness such an essential part of us that we will not arrest our own technological development? I think the answer, as Kurzweil tells us is: Yes. But only because I am recalling Edward Teller recanting stories of "the Super". This was one zealous guy! He proposed, among other things, mining and excavation using atomic bombs. Recall this was at a time when the dangers of the technology were unthought of, or at least minimally perceived. Since then, however, he had pitched Star Wars to Ronald Reagan, receiving the lion's share of the early revenues for that boondoggle. So, to me, here is a scientist who would readily delude himself in order to delude others to advance some pet technologies. I suspect this man is not a unique specimen, and that all of us who participate in the advancement of technology are susceptible to this self-delusion.
It is just as Jon Katz (Bill Joy, as well) was saying: the dangers Shelley tried to warn us of in the mid-1800's (chron?) of man acheiving an arrogance that causes him to try to compete with God are more relevant today than they were then. But the monster is within, and the beast may not be tamed, after all. The further we take science in this admittedly uncontrollable and therefore uncontrolled direction, the more we invite the backlash from Religious Right to stifle scientific thought.
So when I read about flooding our brains with nanorobots, I get a chill of sorts. What if I don't want to flood my brain with nanorobots? I already can't stop the spread of genetically-altered corn...
All this is great fodder for pulp science-fiction movies starring Arnold Schwartzenegger. Written by Michael Crichton.
Re:another story - another slashdotted site
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It would be nice if the folks at say, guidescope would add a feature that sends you to the google site after oh, say, what, 10-15 seconds... It currently sends you to the google cache if you don't get a hit at all, but sooner would be better.
Perhaps some of you could help. F'rinstance, I may have that capability implicitly already... perhaps if I reduce the time out delay, then maybe guidescope will pick up on that and send me to the google site.
Of course, the google site often as not does not have the site cached...
To me, the fact that the election is sooo close indicates that the science of mass manipulation has finally matured, and each parties' operatives sought after, found, and successfully manipulated just the exact right targeted potential voters. So I now would add to my whine for Campaign Finance Reform another: please let's consider Election Reform, too. If for no other reason than to confuse the 'loophole finders' and 'system manipulators' for a few years so we can get decent public servants, perhaps a guy like Colin Powell would have considered running if the system weren't so bad; perhaps a guy like John McCain would have been nominated. Perhaps a guy like Bobby Kennedy wouldn't have been shot.
The only thing I can think of is that I hope that since we have become so centrist in our electoral-college-influenced political thinking, the difference won't be all that noticable. Giving how each politican pandered to all the special interest groups, one can only hope that the victor (George W, ya think they planned that oblique reference to the guy? "I knew George W, and you sir, are no George W...") will ignore them all equally as well as they pay back all that money in well-deserved favors and legislation.
Garry Trudeau, in a caricature of the new head honcho, would have penned an empty suit, I suppose. Is that better or worse than a feather or a bomb?
One last thought: It will be said that Ralph cost Gore the election, and so it should. In the future, such men can control the destiny of our country, but only vicariously... and through the eyes of only the enemy of his vanquished, erstwhile ally.
Oh, one more thing, and then, like all those tired, tired journalists tonight, I will surrender to my exhaustion: (/nasal on) What is the deal with the media telling us that Florida's election tallying computers are on the fritz after they retract that projection of a Gore victory?
Abuse of Power must be challenged, of course. And the consequences must be accepted as part of the protest. People who get the crap kicked out of them in the streets while protesting the NWO, er, sorry, WTO in Seattle should have expected that. That "butterfly" girl who sat in a tree month after month accepted the cold and wet as part of her protest. Etc... For all that, to ask that his record be expunged is to say, in essence: "Now that I have protested, you have to prove that I have made a difference by admitting that you were wrong." It doesn't work like that. It is harder to change the system than that. But you get the support of (where have we heard this before) "thousands and thousands of posts" - the modern www form of protest and social change. This is what you get. And the hopes that maybe they will stop having Homecoming Kings and Queens in the future. Did Thoreau get his record expunged? I doubt it.
On a related note, and one which I feel is much much more justified because it tries to bring attention to an alarming trend: Remember that kid who got suspended for wearing a Pepsi shirt to school on "Coke Day"?
Dude, why don't you write an article about how wrong Homecoming Day is and submit it to the local school paper? Articulate your beliefs and how they led to this nationalized scandal. We will probably be interested in hearing your side now, in more than a few newsquote quips. Stop trying to sound like a victim, it is beneath the dignity of a proponent of civil disobedience.
This whole discussion reminds me of that famous American pastime: going out and buying a lottery ticket and then lying around on the couch saying: "I know, I know we aren't really gonna win, but what IF we did! What would You do with Your share of the 11 million dollars!"
And to those who joke about fixing the bugs for the rest of the world... I hope it is a joke. Otherwise you are seriously deluded if you think one guy would single-handedly be able to diagnose and then fix the bug - without causing more problems - in less than several months...
I suspect that versions of the source code for Windows have been lying around for years any way.
How would you reform the way politicians currently campaign; would you reduce, more highly regulate, or otherwise obviate the need for politicians to spend 99% of their time raising money from fat-cat greedy un-American corporate bureaucrats who don't give a rat's ass for the citizens of this country and only want to subvert the legislative process toward their own gains? Or something like that...
I suspect that 'outsiders' like Browne, Nader and the rest would offer creative solutions, be more insightful of the problem, and be more highly motivated to reform. Gore Vidal is right: Nothing can improve or change without first removing the chokehold of special interests and lobbyists.
On another note: It is good to see the ascendancy of/. politically. I bet Ross Perot woulda answered this in his day... not that he didn't scare the be-jebus outta me, but at least he took on CFR. Like McCain.
And yes! the article was all positive treacle about Linux. He is saying that MS is not the competition for Linux; more specifically Linux is not competition for the desktop, MS may be (is) "Best of Breed" when it comes to the desktop...
...God, what kind of breed is that anyway... 'don't get too close to that breed, honey, it eats the other dogs...'
Anyway, Windows certainly cannot adapt as fast as Linux could. The question then becomes one of how fast is the hardware industry growing? Where are all those Internet appliances I have been hearing about? Am I gonna have to buy MS House someday? Will my house crash? Will I get the blue screen door of death? What if I can't find a device driver for my Amana Range?
Linux should be poised for the forseeable future, not the known past; the first 'appliance' other than a desktop and the various PDAs is gonna be the Sony PlayStation 2 (I am talking only about massively-accepted as criteria for home appliance, sure there are things out there, but they aren't ubiquitous), and that ain't gonna run off Linux. But other stuff should.
It is the structure of/. that makes it what it is. Based on a BBS concept, the technology makes possible what could never have been done by traditional media - participation of all the readers / viewers. The only thing that makes this place what it is (IMO) is the pledge to never delete, change, alter a single word of any post. Correct me if I am wrong.
The framers of the Constitution knew that it was the essential structure of the government that would do the best to assure that the excesses of previous governments, arising from the foibles of human nature, would not haunt this great country. They put the safes, the checks to power, in the structure of the organization. Of course new ways of being corrupt found their way through the safeguards, but the Constitution lasted for almost two hundred years in pretty good shape!
Likewise, the concept of/. depends at least partially on the simple single premise that its creators put forth: as Darren McGavin said to Melinda Dillon after she broke his Italian lamp that he won:
"Not a Finger!!!!"
http://clark.colgate.edu/doslander/acs/acs20.wav
Please don't change an element of/. and, no, in a just world (IANAL) the poster of each article is solely responsible for the content, not the guy who started the website.
...it will fit inside the car. No problem. They will also be developing the first buckyball sugar cube computer. It will plug into the cigarette lighter.
I can see the next upgrade to the SIMS now... not only can you have a genie in a lantern, a chemistry set that helps you make personality-altering potions, and a model rocket, but now you can shoot Martin Luther King, land on the moon, and overturn the OJ verdict!
That always bothered me. The GNP is well... here lookit this, from http://www.cyberus.ca/choose.sustain/Question/GDP- GNP.html:
". . . in 1991 the GNP was turned into the GDP - a quiet change that had very large implications.
Under the old measure, the Gross National Product, the earnings of a multinational firm were attributed to the country where the firm was owned and where the profits would eventually return. Under the Gross Domestic Product, however, the profits are attributed to the country where the factory or mine is located, even though they won't stay there. This accounting shift has turned many struggling nations into statistical boomtowns, while aiding the push for a global economy. Conveniently, it has hidden a basic fact: the nations of the North are walking off with the South's resources and calling it a gain for the South."
In my paranoid moments back then I imagined that it made US look better since it included what seemed like massive Japanese investments in US soil at a time when the GNP would have been sagging.
The Laffer Curve helps understand this if you believe that the Government exists solely to help business. Termed 'voo-doo economics' by G. Bush (the Original, accept no substitutes!), it provides the means for finding an optimal taxation strategy.
Crap, see what you did? Got me wayyyyy off-topic and now I have to come up with a question or get modded down since I can't delete my words and start over... but it would be an interesting question if the politicians were required to provide a single (single-digit?) numerical answer.
Too lazy to search too much. Egypt is at about 30%...
Ob Question: Al, please, with as much detail and insight as you can muster: Why is - as you say - Napster just like the early days of Democracy?
...then stand back and remember to take notes, BTW. Al is not afraid of getting into the details.
I don't want to get too off-topic here, but it is really gratifying to see the heads of computer-related companies come out openly critical of MS, as in my opinion MS deserves much criticism. There was a time when only McNealy and the Oracle guy dared speak out against Gates and his legion. Others were fearful of their power and willingness to wield it over them. Hopefully it will become cachet for CEO's to bash the giant, as the giant crumbles under the combined weight of itself and the DoJ.
Bob is saying - explicitly - "Look! Here is a business model that is Not Microsoft! Embrace it! I Have Seen the Future and it is Open!" and he also seems to be saying to the default, anti-MS Slashdot community: "Can't we all just get along?"
Part of my feelings are tempered by the article I am reading in the current Wired that tells the "Truth, the Whole Truth, and Nothing But the Truth" about the MS trials and tribulations. Excellent article.
But a good rule of thumb for those who would otherwise trash a successful businessman for the conceptualization and execution of his idea is to first come up with a better alternative, and then suggest it. By the time you are through with that exercise you may find that your initial bad reaction (for instance, to a product having, say, 2000 known bugs) is somewhat mollified.
Or, in the case of MS, someone might actually come up with a much, much better way of doing business. One that is not necessarily purely profit-driven but otherwise more enlightened.
Is there any consideration by the DoJ that breaking up MS would bring about a world-wide depression? There was a brief put out by MS claiming that very thing; an economic penalty of billions and billions of dollars, not to mention that it would make us vulnerable to foreign attacks.
Every day MS delays, is what, hundreds of thousands of dollars? Millions? It's not hard to see their rationale. My question is: Why do the folks at DoJ put up with it? I thought they were more hard-headed than that.
How close are Wired News and Wired Magazine? It seems that DC is trying to find a spin on the issue that is politically acceptable for this Venue, whilst maintaining the pit bulldog attitude toward the hackers in general. How much was Wired involved in this? Did they dream up Doug's story? 'Cuz it sure is at odds with what we hear here.
How in-depth Could Wired have been to not even consider what the hackers are saying about Cue Cat? This immediately changes them in my mind from responsible journalists to puff-providers.
Leave the hard journalism to Suck (see Times article... http://suck.com/daily/2000/09/28/)!
Damn, Wired, print some kind of apology, retraction, addendum or Something! Plz...
Yes, if they charge money then they become a service, beholden to their clients. They have to guarantee... something, either the quality of the recording or the completeness of the song or the reliability of the connection. Of course, if you look hard, you discover that the customer i.e., You, were never in the equation anyway. RIAA cares as much about You as they apparently care for the musician. Very very little. And don't kid yourself: Napster Inc., is not championing your rights, either.
On another note: it appears that there is a guy out there who includes about ten band names in the song titles so that whenever I search for what I Really want, I get a mess of stuff I never wanted, and first in the queue (f'rinstance a title like "Black_Sabbath...Wayne_Newton_Daddy_dont_you _walk_so_fast.mp3). So people are messing with the system and finding ways to spoil it already. It was only a matter of time, after all.
(Wow, a lameness filter... what's that?)
How is my $5 gonna prevent that 'crapster' from occurring?
Slashdot Mirror
I swear I am insane. I see things like
- mandatory drug testing
- sobriety check points
- running the other way when seeing a cop as 'probable cause'
- the ability to stop you for a traffic light infraction and then search your vehicle
- the whole carnivore thing
- Linda Tripp yadayadayada
as clear and patent violations of not just our civil rights, but of the Constitution in both letter and spirit.
That the British are willing to erode their citizen's rights to the extent where they legally can keep and read everything you type and speak (practically) just infuriates me to no end.
Okay, there, I said it. Is this what they call flamebait? I sure hope not. I'd like to add something insightful here, but it is so fing obvious that I really see no point in debating it.
When George Orwell wrote his insightful masterpiece, he was trying to tell us something important about how humanity can be trampled and reduced to nothing by a machine-like beauracracy. Please read the section where Winston is in the Ministry of Love. Read it carefully. The logic is undeniably accurate. It paints a portrait of the ultimate aim of all the systems of power: more power. But it is the 'how' that really is interesting. Thank God that there are some who can see those parallels, though I am not sure there are enough.
We must fight that power at every front. How you ask?
But of course: by submitting thousands and thousands of posts!
This doesn't make too much sense to me, as we devolve into more mindless speculation than CNN did on TWA Flight 800...
r usoe.htm
From http://www.geek.com/procspec/features/transmeta/c
"...when problems or design issues come up they can be fixed in software instead of hardware. This makes it a lot easier to develop a chip, and work around any flaws that are encountered..."
and
"It would seem to me that users need to be able to update their Code Morphing software in some situations, like if a serious bug is found or new
features are added. "
Now, NEC is not an idiot, I assume, so they know all this is true. If that is the case then there is a bona fide h/w problem, is there not? If it were anything else, it could be corrected by flashing the EEPROM (or something...). But that's not the case... "NEC is mulling a recall". Help me out here, I could be wrong.
I could be wrong (IANAJournalist), but I think the "-Paper" reference refers to the Japanese daily Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper.
Either:
1) This can't be good during a time when dotcom stocks are being de-valued like nobody's business in the climate of 'make money before Christmas or die' (or is it 'holy shit remember the last time a Bush was in office' I can't be sure).
Or
2) This is the best time for a high-tech, new economy recently-IPO'd company to have bad news, since they are all going to hell anyway.
I can't be sure (IANAEconomist, either).
And to think TMTA was one of the brighter boys of the recent IPO's. Pity.
Say it... I CAN!
'Cuz if this global organization fails, you're going to see all the nations step in and manage the internet from behind their own borders. That could mean that content can be reduced to the least common denominator with respect to all kinds of aspects.
A global oversight committee is essential to the integrity of the internet.
Thinking "a startup in this industry has to walk before it can run, crawl before walk", it's my impression that they are basically trying to accelerate that part of the gaming maturity curve by having lots of contributors of content from the get-go, possibly (in their wildest dreams) helping start some new form of synergized, loosely-associated consortium of unemployed former dotcommers (?)...
I dunno, I told my 13-year-old son that Indrema's specs blew the hell out of PS2's and now he wants an Indrema for Christmas... well, I solved the problem this year, but what am I gonna do in the Spring when it arrives? I guess I will have to explain what a 'business plan' is to him now...
...and tell him how MS's X-BOX has better financial backing... eeesh
Face it. In an effort to attract a wider portion of the populous, /. has tended towrds centrism, taking on issues that the hoi polloi will respond to. But at least they (er, we...? I don't even program in C...) act like its unpalatable to them, unlike the politicians. How to regain your (our? hmm... I still keep forgetting what GNU stands for) radical-ness? Stay Tuned!
The Egyptians seem to have done nothing by chance, so this deliberate method of aligning with true North (as opposed to magnetic North) rings true.
You guys might like this page, it's got scads of math and measurements on the pyramids! It also supports this guy's theory that it couldn't have been Humans who built them. Not.
http://www.aloha.net/~hawmtn/pyramid.htm
And let's not forget the pyramids that are so prevalent on Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon album! There Must be some significance... some greater meaning... what can it be... there's gotta be more to it than just sharper razor blades...
Sorry for not reading All the other posts, but...
It is and should remain up to the state to decide how to cast their ballot for a national figure, as well as (obviously) for one of their own. Yes, there are technical solutions to the ballot-counting problem, but they may not be implemented nation-wide, just suggested. Polling places must remain public vis a vis, the 'gun to the head' problem. Only in public can you reasonably be assured that votes weren't coerced.
I think Gore has a legitimate claim, but, more importantly, the state of Florida Must find it in their best interests to assure the rest of the nation that their method of choosing their electorate is fair and trustworthy.
I am so damn close to entering into flamebait about so-called 'stolen elections' that I will stop now and go have lunch. This is an extremely heated topic right now. Lemme just say this: I hope both gentlemen stand back and let the Florida legislature, in full view of the entire nation, establish the legality and restore the integrity of its state electoral process. Anything less might (should?) incite rioting in the streets.
I am continually reminded of the quote from Jurassic Park about "you didn't stop to think if you should, only if you could", delivered by Ian to Hammond. http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Club/8660/disne yland.wav
e ller.pdf
This is a great moral debate about the future, and even more importantly, it asks us whether we have the power - not only to stop ourselves if our technology grows dangerous, but even to understand our basic nature. Is inquisitiveness such an essential part of us that we will not arrest our own technological development? I think the answer, as Kurzweil tells us is: Yes. But only because I am recalling Edward Teller recanting stories of "the Super". This was one zealous guy! He proposed, among other things, mining and excavation using atomic bombs. Recall this was at a time when the dangers of the technology were unthought of, or at least minimally perceived. Since then, however, he had pitched Star Wars to Ronald Reagan, receiving the lion's share of the early revenues for that boondoggle. So, to me, here is a scientist who would readily delude himself in order to delude others to advance some pet technologies. I suspect this man is not a unique specimen, and that all of us who participate in the advancement of technology are susceptible to this self-delusion.
http://www.llnl.gov/planetary/pdfs/Summary/01-T
It is just as Jon Katz (Bill Joy, as well) was saying: the dangers Shelley tried to warn us of in the mid-1800's (chron?) of man acheiving an arrogance that causes him to try to compete with God are more relevant today than they were then. But the monster is within, and the beast may not be tamed, after all. The further we take science in this admittedly uncontrollable and therefore uncontrolled direction, the more we invite the backlash from Religious Right to stifle scientific thought.
So when I read about flooding our brains with nanorobots, I get a chill of sorts. What if I don't want to flood my brain with nanorobots? I already can't stop the spread of genetically-altered corn...
All this is great fodder for pulp science-fiction movies starring Arnold Schwartzenegger. Written by Michael Crichton.
It would be nice if the folks at say, guidescope would add a feature that sends you to the google site after oh, say, what, 10-15 seconds... It currently sends you to the google cache if you don't get a hit at all, but sooner would be better.
Perhaps some of you could help. F'rinstance, I may have that capability implicitly already... perhaps if I reduce the time out delay, then maybe guidescope will pick up on that and send me to the google site.
Of course, the google site often as not does not have the site cached...
To me, the fact that the election is sooo close indicates that the science of mass manipulation has finally matured, and each parties' operatives sought after, found, and successfully manipulated just the exact right targeted potential voters. So I now would add to my whine for Campaign Finance Reform another: please let's consider Election Reform, too. If for no other reason than to confuse the 'loophole finders' and 'system manipulators' for a few years so we can get decent public servants, perhaps a guy like Colin Powell would have considered running if the system weren't so bad; perhaps a guy like John McCain would have been nominated. Perhaps a guy like Bobby Kennedy wouldn't have been shot.
The only thing I can think of is that I hope that since we have become so centrist in our electoral-college-influenced political thinking, the difference won't be all that noticable. Giving how each politican pandered to all the special interest groups, one can only hope that the victor (George W, ya think they planned that oblique reference to the guy? "I knew George W, and you sir, are no George W...") will ignore them all equally as well as they pay back all that money in well-deserved favors and legislation.
Garry Trudeau, in a caricature of the new head honcho, would have penned an empty suit, I suppose. Is that better or worse than a feather or a bomb?
One last thought: It will be said that Ralph cost Gore the election, and so it should. In the future, such men can control the destiny of our country, but only vicariously... and through the eyes of only the enemy of his vanquished, erstwhile ally.
Oh, one more thing, and then, like all those tired, tired journalists tonight, I will surrender to my exhaustion: (/nasal on) What is the deal with the media telling us that Florida's election tallying computers are on the fritz after they retract that projection of a Gore victory?
I'd like to know!(/nasal off)
http://www.jabin.com/wavs/hello1.wav
Abuse of Power must be challenged, of course. And the consequences must be accepted as part of the protest. People who get the crap kicked out of them in the streets while protesting the NWO, er, sorry, WTO in Seattle should have expected that. That "butterfly" girl who sat in a tree month after month accepted the cold and wet as part of her protest. Etc... For all that, to ask that his record be expunged is to say, in essence: "Now that I have protested, you have to prove that I have made a difference by admitting that you were wrong." It doesn't work like that. It is harder to change the system than that. But you get the support of (where have we heard this before) "thousands and thousands of posts" - the modern www form of protest and social change. This is what you get. And the hopes that maybe they will stop having Homecoming Kings and Queens in the future. Did Thoreau get his record expunged? I doubt it.
On a related note, and one which I feel is much much more justified because it tries to bring attention to an alarming trend: Remember that kid who got suspended for wearing a Pepsi shirt to school on "Coke Day"?
Dude, why don't you write an article about how wrong Homecoming Day is and submit it to the local school paper? Articulate your beliefs and how they led to this nationalized scandal. We will probably be interested in hearing your side now, in more than a few newsquote quips. Stop trying to sound like a victim, it is beneath the dignity of a proponent of civil disobedience.
Obsession is a good word.
This whole discussion reminds me of that famous American pastime: going out and buying a lottery ticket and then lying around on the couch saying: "I know, I know we aren't really gonna win, but what IF we did! What would You do with Your share of the 11 million dollars!"
And to those who joke about fixing the bugs for the rest of the world... I hope it is a joke. Otherwise you are seriously deluded if you think one guy would single-handedly be able to diagnose and then fix the bug - without causing more problems - in less than several months...
I suspect that versions of the source code for Windows have been lying around for years any way.
I have Question 10:
/. politically. I bet Ross Perot woulda answered this in his day... not that he didn't scare the be-jebus outta me, but at least he took on CFR. Like McCain.
How would you reform the way politicians currently campaign; would you reduce, more highly regulate, or otherwise obviate the need for politicians to spend 99% of their time raising money from fat-cat greedy un-American corporate bureaucrats who don't give a rat's ass for the citizens of this country and only want to subvert the legislative process toward their own gains? Or something like that...
I suspect that 'outsiders' like Browne, Nader and the rest would offer creative solutions, be more insightful of the problem, and be more highly motivated to reform. Gore Vidal is right: Nothing can improve or change without first removing the chokehold of special interests and lobbyists.
On another note: It is good to see the ascendancy of
Yeah, a moment of clarification is in order here:
a daptive.html
A decent definition of adaptive radiation:
http://fig.cox.miami.edu/Faculty/Tom/bil160/06_
And yes! the article was all positive treacle about Linux. He is saying that MS is not the competition for Linux; more specifically Linux is not competition for the desktop, MS may be (is) "Best of Breed" when it comes to the desktop...
...God, what kind of breed is that anyway... 'don't get too close to that breed, honey, it eats the other dogs...'
Anyway, Windows certainly cannot adapt as fast as Linux could. The question then becomes one of how fast is the hardware industry growing? Where are all those Internet appliances I have been hearing about? Am I gonna have to buy MS House someday? Will my house crash? Will I get the blue screen door of death? What if I can't find a device driver for my Amana Range?
Linux should be poised for the forseeable future, not the known past; the first 'appliance' other than a desktop and the various PDAs is gonna be the Sony PlayStation 2 (I am talking only about massively-accepted as criteria for home appliance, sure there are things out there, but they aren't ubiquitous), and that ain't gonna run off Linux. But other stuff should.
It is the structure of /. that makes it what it is. Based on a BBS concept, the technology makes possible what could never have been done by traditional media - participation of all the readers / viewers. The only thing that makes this place what it is (IMO) is the pledge to never delete, change, alter a single word of any post. Correct me if I am wrong.
/. depends at least partially on the simple single premise that its creators put forth: as Darren McGavin said to Melinda Dillon after she broke his Italian lamp that he won:
v
/. and, no, in a just world (IANAL) the poster of each article is solely responsible for the content, not the guy who started the website.
The framers of the Constitution knew that it was the essential structure of the government that would do the best to assure that the excesses of previous governments, arising from the foibles of human nature, would not haunt this great country. They put the safes, the checks to power, in the structure of the organization. Of course new ways of being corrupt found their way through the safeguards, but the Constitution lasted for almost two hundred years in pretty good shape!
Likewise, the concept of
"Not a Finger!!!!"
http://clark.colgate.edu/doslander/acs/acs20.wa
Please don't change an element of
...it will fit inside the car. No problem. They will also be developing the first buckyball sugar cube computer. It will plug into the cigarette lighter.
I can see the next upgrade to the SIMS now... not only can you have a genie in a lantern, a chemistry set that helps you make personality-altering potions, and a model rocket, but now you can shoot Martin Luther King, land on the moon, and overturn the OJ verdict!
That always bothered me. The GNP is well... here lookit this, from http://www.cyberus.ca/choose.sustain/Question/GDP- GNP.html:
". . . in 1991 the GNP was turned into the GDP - a quiet change that had very large implications.
Under the old measure, the Gross National Product, the earnings of a multinational firm were attributed to the country where the firm was owned and where the profits would eventually return. Under the Gross Domestic Product, however, the profits are attributed to the country where the factory or mine is located, even though they won't stay there. This accounting shift has turned many struggling nations into statistical boomtowns, while aiding the push for a global economy. Conveniently, it has hidden a basic fact: the nations of the North are walking off with the South's resources and calling it a gain for the South."
In my paranoid moments back then I imagined that it made US look better since it included what seemed like massive Japanese investments in US soil at a time when the GNP would have been sagging.
The Laffer Curve helps understand this if you believe that the Government exists solely to help business. Termed 'voo-doo economics' by G. Bush (the Original, accept no substitutes!), it provides the means for finding an optimal taxation strategy.
Crap, see what you did? Got me wayyyyy off-topic and now I have to come up with a question or get modded down since I can't delete my words and start over... but it would be an interesting question if the politicians were required to provide a single (single-digit?) numerical answer.
Too lazy to search too much. Egypt is at about 30%...
Ob Question: Al, please, with as much detail and insight as you can muster: Why is - as you say - Napster just like the early days of Democracy?
...then stand back and remember to take notes, BTW. Al is not afraid of getting into the details.
>>I've seen the future and it is Open.
I don't want to get too off-topic here, but it is really gratifying to see the heads of computer-related companies come out openly critical of MS, as in my opinion MS deserves much criticism. There was a time when only McNealy and the Oracle guy dared speak out against Gates and his legion. Others were fearful of their power and willingness to wield it over them. Hopefully it will become cachet for CEO's to bash the giant, as the giant crumbles under the combined weight of itself and the DoJ.
Bob is saying - explicitly - "Look! Here is a business model that is Not Microsoft! Embrace it! I Have Seen the Future and it is Open!" and he also seems to be saying to the default, anti-MS Slashdot community: "Can't we all just get along?"
Part of my feelings are tempered by the article I am reading in the current Wired that tells the "Truth, the Whole Truth, and Nothing But the Truth" about the MS trials and tribulations. Excellent article.
But a good rule of thumb for those who would otherwise trash a successful businessman for the conceptualization and execution of his idea is to first come up with a better alternative, and then suggest it. By the time you are through with that exercise you may find that your initial bad reaction (for instance, to a product having, say, 2000 known bugs) is somewhat mollified.
Or, in the case of MS, someone might actually come up with a much, much better way of doing business. One that is not necessarily purely profit-driven but otherwise more enlightened.
Bluesee
Is there any consideration by the DoJ that breaking up MS would bring about a world-wide depression? There was a brief put out by MS claiming that very thing; an economic penalty of billions and billions of dollars, not to mention that it would make us vulnerable to foreign attacks.
Every day MS delays, is what, hundreds of thousands of dollars? Millions? It's not hard to see their rationale. My question is: Why do the folks at DoJ put up with it? I thought they were more hard-headed than that.
Bluesee
Okay, so can we put all the '42' comments here under your post, then?
It was pointed out to me by a guy who most closely resembled the comic book dealer from the Simpsons that 6 times 9 Is forty-two... in base 13.
Anyway, I get mixed reviews from Yanks about the BBS series... some like it, some don't get it.
Bluesee
How close are Wired News and Wired Magazine? It seems that DC is trying to find a spin on the issue that is politically acceptable for this Venue, whilst maintaining the pit bulldog attitude toward the hackers in general. How much was Wired involved in this? Did they dream up Doug's story? 'Cuz it sure is at odds with what we hear here.
How in-depth Could Wired have been to not even consider what the hackers are saying about Cue Cat? This immediately changes them in my mind from responsible journalists to puff-providers.
Leave the hard journalism to Suck (see Times article... http://suck.com/daily/2000/09/28/)!
Damn, Wired, print some kind of apology, retraction, addendum or Something! Plz...
Bluesee
Yes, if they charge money then they become a service, beholden to their clients. They have to guarantee... something, either the quality of the recording or the completeness of the song or the reliability of the connection. Of course, if you look hard, you discover that the customer i.e., You, were never in the equation anyway. RIAA cares as much about You as they apparently care for the musician. Very very little. And don't kid yourself: Napster Inc., is not championing your rights, either.
On another note: it appears that there is a guy out there who includes about ten band names in the song titles so that whenever I search for what I Really want, I get a mess of stuff I never wanted, and first in the queue (f'rinstance a title like "Black_Sabbath...Wayne_Newton_Daddy_dont_you _walk_so_fast.mp3). So people are messing with the system and finding ways to spoil it already. It was only a matter of time, after all.
(Wow, a lameness filter... what's that?)
How is my $5 gonna prevent that 'crapster' from occurring?
Bluesee