I know a few people who serve in some capacity with ARIN and there is a distinct bias against webhosting and the hypertext protocol in general. Too many of the ARIN and Internic directors are they type who lament what they see as the "death" of the Internet at the hands of commercial and individual entities and therefore blame the popularity of this protocol for changing the face of the Internet.
I wonder how much of their opinion came into play here.
Furthermore, the real problem is not the webhosting allocations, but the host allocations to large, workstation-based networks. I know of more than a few companies who have/19,/18 and larger allocated blocks who were assigned these networks many years ago. Rather, they should be actively using non-routable IP space, proxies, and DHCP rather than static IP configurations.
It does not make sense to choose a website, ftp site or any other Internet service host over a workstation.
Much to their credit, though, ARIN has actively sought out unused IP space from companies, universities and other organizations assigned A and B space in the past.
Not addressed was when, if ever, will I2 be open and available to organizations and individuals outside of the 180 academic institutions?
If it is opened, there will most likely be the typical Oklahoma Land Rush of speculators and "netrepreneurs" who wish to be the Amazon, Ebay and Sanford Wallace of the "New Internet". For better of for worse, this will change the landscape of I2 as its' current users know of it today.
If it is kept closed and limited to universities it will become purely an academic entity for research, development and communication and a test bed for future technology.
The problem which might happen in the latter possibility is the private sponsors, Worldcom, Qwest, others, may eventually want to see some return for their investment translated into profitable products. If I2 does not produce marketable products or technology which can add to the companies' bottom line, there is again, a possibility that stock holders, board directors or company officers may decide to withdraw funding.
Finally, a portion of I2 is financed by taxpayer money. As with nearly every federal program, there is always the possibility of Congress cutting or eliminating funding in the future jeopardizing I2's existance. See Super Collider for further reference.
"The 100 meter Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope (named after a West Virginia senator)"
has been nicknamed, "The Porkbarrel" out of respect for the free-spending representative and his spending practices since arriving in Congress.
Besides the 75million taxpayer dollars for the telescope, 44 million dollars in highway improvements were also added to the area. In addition, 22 million dollars was allocated with the project to maintain West Virginia's Fort Wayne, the only US Army post still servicing stage coaches and mule wagons for our nation's armed forces. Finally, a 14 million dollar grant was included with the telescope money for a new medical study into the benefits of leeches in medicine for the University of West Virginia.
Thousands of the Senator's supporters turned out for the festivities including government subsidy recipient Marla Thornhill of Buck Hill, WV. "My tobacco farm would have been closed down if it had not been for the generosity of Senator Byrd. Without those tobacco subsidies, I would have to quit growing the stuff and switch crops. Millions of Americans have to be thankful for Senator Byrd's committment to the family tobacco farm".
Senator Byrd was expected to arrive later today aboard an Air Force C141 cargo jet along with 40 of his staffers before leaving for a fact finding tour of Bermuda for the next week.
Think of the ramifications and benefits of cloning extinct people as well?
For instance, we could DNA from his now frozen brain and clone Hitler. We could then finally put him on trial for crimes against humanity during the war. Heck, we could televise it for ad revenue. Afterwards, we can have him put his face through a board at carnivals and allow people to throw pies at him.
We could clone Jesus Christ from the Shroud of Turin and start a whole new industry recreating "What Christ Really Looked Like". Wow, we might possibly have to repaint the Last Supper and hundreds of velvet paintings in people's homes.
We could clone up new versions of Alexander the Great, Augustus Ceasar, Ghengis Khan, and Abraham Lincoln and see if one of them would make a better president for the U.S.
We could bring back Andre the Giant and the Von Erich brothers to kick all these new wrestlers' butts.
Heck the possibilities are endless. Get writing your congressman and local cloning board!
I don't know about the rest of you, but I used to write news for an ABC affiliate for about three years.
We had a very strict rule for all news writing: who, what, when, where, and sometimes why and how.
Guesswork was not allowed nor were hyperbole or sentiment. Just the facts as they were available.
Let's say there was a murder somewhere in town.
There questions we usually needed answers to included:
Who was murdered
Who was arrested for it
Who saw it
What was used to commit the murder
When did it happen
When did the victim die
When was the alledged assailant arested
Where did it happen
How did the victim die
How was the victim found
How was the alledged assailant arested
These days, some reporters have different questions like:
Who was killed
Was he in a gang
Was his family in a gang
Where are the gangs
What was his "community" like
What was his family life like
What is the reaction of his family, are they upset
Where are some gratuitous thugs and locals we can use for B-roll in the background
Where is the blood
Did the assailant have anything in his childhood that may have caused this murder
Why are guns sold to the public when guns are obviously only used by peaceful, loving, law abiding citizens who magically transform into hateful, monsters in the presence of a gun
Where can I do my standup which has the most bodies/blood/policecars/waving idiots in the background
What government program could have stopped this crime from happening
What government funded program was cut that resulted in this crime happening
How is this crime further examples of the problems between the haves and have nots
Whose fault is this
Will the assailant, oh wait, ALLEDGED assailant, be put to death
Does my hair look alright
BTW, the reason Jon Katz has not written an article in some time is he just finished shooting the TV show, "Survivor". Jon played the part of Rich and wants everyone to know how much fun he had with the other 15 castaways and he has big plans for the money.
90% of Slashdot's users live in Michigan in an old Airstream trailer parked at the Happy Drivin' Trailer and RV Park outside of Detroit.
5% are interns picked at random by our studio audience based upon talent, poise, speaking ability and the bathing suit contest.
The other 5% live somewhere else and found out about Slashdot via the WorldWide Electronic Brain Network and Compositorium otherwise known as the Internet.
We of Earth certainly are facinating. So facinating that any other citizens of our galaxy would be dying to meet us, so we think.
After all, there is probably a shortage of overweight, bearded, red suspender wearing, Star-Trek watching, condecending, IRC users in the universe.
There are so many galactic denizens whose lives are meaningless without Captain Crunch, Jolt Cola, Babylon 5 episodes, issues of The Onion, and numerous Linux distros.
And not to mention the shortage of stinky, anti-social, monitor tanned, science fiction reading dweebs amongst the stars that causes so many hot, horny, lonely, interstellar babes to wet themselves waiting for Earth to hurry up and start star travlin'. ("Look Zappo, I have found you a husband! He hates Windows, contributes regularly to SlashDot, has the largest Flash comic book collect in Michigan and has only been on three dates in his life! What a catch!").
Please. Whether it be the UFO nuts who insist that thousands of flying saucers visit our planet every year, or the sad people who insist they have been kidnapped or studied by little gray aliens numerous times or the Star Wars/Star Trek/ET crowd who cannot wait to graduate from Star Fleet and travel to Alpha Centauri and greet the first Centaurian , give it a break.
There is nothing of interest here on Earth to any sophisticated, interstellar, advanced civilization. And we are arrogant as hell to think we are.
Out only hope lies in an advanced race stumbling upon us and converting our planet to a new housing subdivision and allowing us to stay on as housekeepers, gardeners and nail stylists.
That is always my first reaction. Like you, my banking and investing works fine online. I can also shop at several other companies just fine. If Tesco or any other retailer requires too much info or will not give you sufficient answers to your questions, forget about them. And I make sure the company knows it too.
OT - How many times have those of us in the States been asked for our SS# during purchases?
I recently signed up for a new wireless phone and the sales guy needed my SS# for the application. I told him "um, nope, you don't need that, I am only buying a phone". Anyone else?
When at/., what is of interest to me is what OS/package some of these websites are running. It would be neat to some of the stats from each one (hits, data transfered, etc), interviews or background on the person(s) responsible, whether they chose a dedicated server option, multiple servers, or bought 10MB from a webhosting company, and possibly, where technology fits in with each candidate's philosophy (although that usually has no substance).
What matters not to me are the politics espoused by these websites and each/. opinion regarding them. I read about politics elsewhere and have no plans to be swayed by one/. opinion or another.
Ah, more information than I knew about. Give credit where credit is due. Thanks for the correction and the heads up. I care not for squatters anymore than the next person.
I would ignore any judgement from WIPO or any other UN-related organization. But, I have to admit, just the suggestion of the UN making judgements and having authority over individual's personal property scares me just a little bit; and I am not even one of those black heliocopter loons!
And although I can ignore the UN, (heck my country, the US, does not even pay their bill to them), that does not preclude ICANN or some other organization choice to abide by WIPO's rulings which may leave some of us in the cold. I mean, who knows what this UN's bodies motivation may be?
By the sound of the crew.com debacle, they may only side with corporations and not with individuals, for instance.
Is this all Katz talks about is this imaginary society? I can see him sitting about a musty, parlor with a dozen or so eggheads in tweed jackets, pipes, and syncophants tut-tutting about the death of intellectual America and the unsavory rise of technocrats and libertarians who are usurping power through uppity start-up ventures and online publishing.
I can hear him complaining about the Death of the Cafe Society.
I hear him complaining about the gall of universities that require their professors actually show up for class and teach rather than sending in barely literate GA's.
I hear him complaining about the lack of intellectuals as advisers in politics since the 1960's.
I see him ignoring the stifled yawns and empty desks as he ponders what could/should have happened with an effective Communist Party in the US in the 1972 elections.
I listen to him complain about the demise of publishing outlets for intellectuals, Harry Potter on the NYT booklist, how hard it is to find a nice tweed jacket with those patches on the elbows, and the shortage of fawning, demur, busty, college coeds.
I laugh my ass off as his kind fades away with each year until they are relegated to the history books with corsets, 8-track tapes and Edsels.
Analysts of society love to label people and put in them in neat little categories and pigenholes like "libertarian", "progressive", "conservative", "right-wing extremist" and so forth. I guess it makes it easier for them to quickly label others as to put forth their theories.
But how many of us can be described so simply?
For instance, I like some of the Libertarian ideas such as the problems with the war against drugs or free market economics. But at the same time, I like a few things about the Green Party and their complaints about corporate welfare.
I believe in free markets, welfare reform, keeping as much of my earned wages as possible and responsibility for my actions and those of my country.
However, I also wish to protect the environment (don't use toxic chemicals at home) and endangered species (don't want a world without whales, elephants, etc. and know that human encroachment is the single biggest problem) and want my children to grow up breathing clean air.
But, I don't care for a government "forcing" me to be compassionate or snooping on my privacy or confiscating my personal property for redistribution.
See? There is no one party or group which meets my needs. So these sociologists and writers who analyze people and trends could never pigeonhole me into some neat little category.
You were fine up until now. I don't know anything about you, your background, what you have learned or not learned in life. And neither do you about me and my education.
Of course classes in civics, sociology, philosophy and ethics teach varying views of different cultures and peoples. There are commonalities which are accepted by most which would apply here.
"If you think that what passes for the current mainstream American ethics is the pinnacle of human thought, think again."
Further, at no point did I make any statements to the affect that this involved the teaching "ethics" involved any particular school of thought.
*Most* culture, religions, etc. teach simple codes of conduct which would apply in most societies.
Apologies for not prefacing my earlier statements.
In the past couple of years, there have been a number of persons who have decided that not enough people have access to the Internet due to their economic situation. These people have claimed there is a "Digital Divide" between the haves and the havenots.
*One* of the arguments regarding the supposed Digital Divide is that persons without access to the Internet will be passed up for better jobs in the new economy based upon technology and internet-related employment.
The conclusion has been that Internet will supposedly somehow propel someone without prior experience into a better career in the IT field.
Mr. Katz, based upon his past writings and his conclusion in this article that Internet access is "vital" subscribes to this groundless falacy. Vital as in air, water, and food?
Whose ethics? Have you ever taken an ethics class in college? Or maybe a debate or philosophy class? Did you ever have any type of class that was perhaps called civics before? You know, like classes which encourage civil behavior and mature discourse rather than groundless statements, bland banalities, and anecdotal rhetoric?
Katz writes that internet access is "vital" to their social, educational and usefullness to society. Put that way, it is a wonder that any of us managed to survive prior to 1992.
Admit it. Its' an exagerration used to make an issue seem larger than it actually is, that the Internet is "vital" to a continued existance. Because if that is the case, there are many people I know who have no interest in the Internet whose lives will be alarmingly cut short.
There are no studies which prove a person is better or not with or without the Internet. None.
Further, you make the statement that "People using the net at libraries aren't using it to study computing, or networking." Where did you get this from? The top of your head? How do you know what people are using Internet access at the libraries for?
This statement by Katz is unfounded, emotional, handwringing. Not much different than your confused, tantrum of a response.
"If you're looking for a political issue that will advance freedom,..."
If you are looking for another Jon Katz article with wild statements, over generalized statements and no factual data, you have come to the right place.
"Instead of tying the hands of educators and librarians, government should be doing everything possible to ensure that as many kids as possible have free access to the Net and the Web.."
We do. It is called the Universal Access Fee (federal tax) which I pay every month on my two phone lines. It was setup to subsidize Internet access to schools some time ago. At least I hope it was. I have not seen any numbers which show monies have actually been distributed to schools by the federal government.
"..because it will be vital to their social,
educational and economic opportunities."
Point of contention. Produce facts, studies, etc. which prove that having Internet access actually produces a better adjusted, educated, economically viable citizen. I contend this is your opinion fostered by the "Digital Divide" crowd. It would be far better to train young people on hardware, operating systems, coding, applications and ethics before throwing them into the maelstrom of the Internet - my opinion.
"Most of us don't need to go to the library for Net access, but millions of people -- mostly kids -- do"
Sorry, Jon. I am not accepting your statements as fact. Journalists learn how to make statements stick which involve numbers with the simple phrase, "According to ____, in 199____, over ____ of children depended upon libraries and schools for access to the Internet". Please present factual data to back up your sweeping generalizations.
Unlike many detractors, I could do a better job at this than you are currently. You know how to contact me. In the meantime, the University of Missouri has an excellent Journalism program you might want to investigate.
The truth is our elected officials have decided that there are other things here on earth which have priority over the space program.
In light of some previous comments both here and in the media, please consider the following.
The military gave birth to the space program. For the first 30 years, nearly all of our astronauts were active duty military persons.
The military initially trained most of our astronauts.
The military financed most of the early space program and continues to pay for several missions today.
(see
http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/factsh eet.htm )
The military needs satellites launched. That requires some NASA folks to get in that shuttle and get some flying time. That is better than playing with models in Florida.
(see
http://www-pao.ksc.nasa.gov/kscpao/schedule/mixf leet.htm )
Therefore, I believe that the military has been useful to our space program and hope thier interest will continue as it benefits the program as a whole.
Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and the host of other social programs do not require a space program. These *combined* programs eat more of the federal budget than the defense budget does.
(see http://w3.access.gpo.gov/usbudget/fy2001/guidetoc. html )
Does that mean these programs are not neccessary or not as important? Nonsense. However, truth is the success of these programs is not dependent upon a strong space program and these programs' needs will not diminish, on the contrary, they will grow in the future.
So what is the answer? That is up to the individuals which make up our country. I have posted here before that I will only vote for candidates who represent my ideas, which includes, an agressive, yet affective, space program. To that end, I am researching the candidates in order to choose who will best make a working, successful space program a reality. A working space program, however, has to be tempered with meeting the needs of our growing society including assisting our elderly and less fortunate, education, urban problems, committments and cleaning up the planet we were on first.
Than the ones I have had experience with in Mexico, France, Italy and England.
Maybe the Swedish Postal Service is good, maybe better. My opinion is considering the size of the USPS routes (all of the US), number of customers they service (nationally, about 280million) and the cost of delivery (first class postage for letter,.33US) they do a pretty good job.
I still mail letters to friends and family who receive them at their home and generally within two days of posting.
And few New Yorkers cannot afford Manhattan. And few Los Angelos'ers umm er something, cannot afford to live in LA without working two jobs and nobody can buy a house in the Silicon Valley or in Austin or Sante Fe or whereever.
This happens everywhere. For some reason or another, people who have lived in San Francisco for more than 10 years think it is there God-given right to have an affordable house in any neighborhood in town close the the trolleys and those cute hills and gingerbread houses, blah, blah blah.
Supply and demand, baby. NCals like having the successful, non-poluting businesses in their neck of the woods providing lots of jobs and tax revenue. But you have to take the good with the bad.
Slashdot Mirror
I know a few people who serve in some capacity with ARIN and there is a distinct bias against webhosting and the hypertext protocol in general. Too many of the ARIN and Internic directors are they type who lament what they see as the "death" of the Internet at the hands of commercial and individual entities and therefore blame the popularity of this protocol for changing the face of the Internet.
/19, /18 and larger allocated blocks who were assigned these networks many years ago. Rather, they should be actively using non-routable IP space, proxies, and DHCP rather than static IP configurations.
I wonder how much of their opinion came into play here.
Furthermore, the real problem is not the webhosting allocations, but the host allocations to large, workstation-based networks. I know of more than a few companies who have
It does not make sense to choose a website, ftp site or any other Internet service host over a workstation.
Much to their credit, though, ARIN has actively sought out unused IP space from companies, universities and other organizations assigned A and B space in the past.
Not addressed was when, if ever, will I2 be open and available to organizations and individuals outside of the 180 academic institutions?
If it is opened, there will most likely be the typical Oklahoma Land Rush of speculators and "netrepreneurs" who wish to be the Amazon, Ebay and Sanford Wallace of the "New Internet". For better of for worse, this will change the landscape of I2 as its' current users know of it today.
If it is kept closed and limited to universities it will become purely an academic entity for research, development and communication and a test bed for future technology.
The problem which might happen in the latter possibility is the private sponsors, Worldcom, Qwest, others, may eventually want to see some return for their investment translated into profitable products. If I2 does not produce marketable products or technology which can add to the companies' bottom line, there is again, a possibility that stock holders, board directors or company officers may decide to withdraw funding.
Finally, a portion of I2 is financed by taxpayer money. As with nearly every federal program, there is always the possibility of Congress cutting or eliminating funding in the future jeopardizing I2's existance. See Super Collider for further reference.
Byrd is not a respectable fellow in all eyes.
s /Congress/Byrd_Pork_table.htm
s /062900/nationaldocs/29Congress-PayRaise.h tm
Check out how he has spent your money:
http://www.political-research.com/ps201/Lecture
And are our politicians overpaid? Not according to the latest law signed a couple of months ago:
http://www.kentuckyconnect.com/heraldleader/new
"The 100 meter Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope (named after a West Virginia senator)"
has been nicknamed, "The Porkbarrel" out of respect for the free-spending representative and his spending practices since arriving in Congress.
Besides the 75million taxpayer dollars for the telescope, 44 million dollars in highway improvements were also added to the area. In addition, 22 million dollars was allocated with the project to maintain West Virginia's Fort Wayne, the only US Army post still servicing stage coaches and mule wagons for our nation's armed forces. Finally, a 14 million dollar grant was included with the telescope money for a new medical study into the benefits of leeches in medicine for the University of West Virginia.
Thousands of the Senator's supporters turned out for the festivities including government subsidy recipient Marla Thornhill of Buck Hill, WV. "My tobacco farm would have been closed down if it had not been for the generosity of Senator Byrd. Without those tobacco subsidies, I would have to quit growing the stuff and switch crops. Millions of Americans have to be thankful for Senator Byrd's committment to the family tobacco farm".
Senator Byrd was expected to arrive later today aboard an Air Force C141 cargo jet along with 40 of his staffers before leaving for a fact finding tour of Bermuda for the next week.
Why stop with an extinct animal?
Think of the ramifications and benefits of cloning extinct people as well?
For instance, we could DNA from his now frozen brain and clone Hitler. We could then finally put him on trial for crimes against humanity during the war. Heck, we could televise it for ad revenue. Afterwards, we can have him put his face through a board at carnivals and allow people to throw pies at him.
We could clone Jesus Christ from the Shroud of Turin and start a whole new industry recreating "What Christ Really Looked Like". Wow, we might possibly have to repaint the Last Supper and hundreds of velvet paintings in people's homes.
We could clone up new versions of Alexander the Great, Augustus Ceasar, Ghengis Khan, and Abraham Lincoln and see if one of them would make a better president for the U.S.
We could bring back Andre the Giant and the Von Erich brothers to kick all these new wrestlers' butts.
Heck the possibilities are endless. Get writing your congressman and local cloning board!
I don't know about the rest of you, but I used to write news for an ABC affiliate for about three years.
We had a very strict rule for all news writing: who, what, when, where, and sometimes why and how.
Guesswork was not allowed nor were hyperbole or sentiment. Just the facts as they were available.
Let's say there was a murder somewhere in town.
There questions we usually needed answers to included:
Who was murdered
Who was arrested for it
Who saw it
What was used to commit the murder
When did it happen
When did the victim die
When was the alledged assailant arested
Where did it happen
How did the victim die
How was the victim found
How was the alledged assailant arested
These days, some reporters have different questions like:
Who was killed
Was he in a gang
Was his family in a gang
Where are the gangs
What was his "community" like
What was his family life like
What is the reaction of his family, are they upset
Where are some gratuitous thugs and locals we can use for B-roll in the background
Where is the blood
Did the assailant have anything in his childhood that may have caused this murder
Why are guns sold to the public when guns are obviously only used by peaceful, loving, law abiding citizens who magically transform into hateful, monsters in the presence of a gun
Where can I do my standup which has the most bodies/blood/policecars/waving idiots in the background
What government program could have stopped this crime from happening
What government funded program was cut that resulted in this crime happening
How is this crime further examples of the problems between the haves and have nots
Whose fault is this
Will the assailant, oh wait, ALLEDGED assailant, be put to death
Does my hair look alright
BTW, the reason Jon Katz has not written an article in some time is he just finished shooting the TV show, "Survivor". Jon played the part of Rich and wants everyone to know how much fun he had with the other 15 castaways and he has big plans for the money.
This is how you get a 5. The only 5.
Umkay. Log Out, come back in a year.
90% of Slashdot's users live in Michigan in an old Airstream trailer parked at the Happy Drivin' Trailer and RV Park outside of Detroit.
5% are interns picked at random by our studio audience based upon talent, poise, speaking ability and the bathing suit contest.
The other 5% live somewhere else and found out about Slashdot via the WorldWide Electronic Brain Network and Compositorium otherwise known as the Internet.
We of Earth certainly are facinating. So facinating that any other citizens of our galaxy would be dying to meet us, so we think.
After all, there is probably a shortage of overweight, bearded, red suspender wearing, Star-Trek watching, condecending, IRC users in the universe.
There are so many galactic denizens whose lives are meaningless without Captain Crunch, Jolt Cola, Babylon 5 episodes, issues of The Onion, and numerous Linux distros.
And not to mention the shortage of stinky, anti-social, monitor tanned, science fiction reading dweebs amongst the stars that causes so many hot, horny, lonely, interstellar babes to wet themselves waiting for Earth to hurry up and start star travlin'. ("Look Zappo, I have found you a husband! He hates Windows, contributes regularly to SlashDot, has the largest Flash comic book collect in Michigan and has only been on three dates in his life! What a catch!").
Please. Whether it be the UFO nuts who insist that thousands of flying saucers visit our planet every year, or the sad people who insist they have been kidnapped or studied by little gray aliens numerous times or the Star Wars/Star Trek/ET crowd who cannot wait to graduate from Star Fleet and travel to Alpha Centauri and greet the first Centaurian , give it a break.
There is nothing of interest here on Earth to any sophisticated, interstellar, advanced civilization. And we are arrogant as hell to think we are.
Out only hope lies in an advanced race stumbling upon us and converting our planet to a new housing subdivision and allowing us to stay on as housekeepers, gardeners and nail stylists.
That is always my first reaction. Like you, my banking and investing works fine online. I can also shop at several other companies just fine. If Tesco or any other retailer requires too much info or will not give you sufficient answers to your questions, forget about them. And I make sure the company knows it too.
OT - How many times have those of us in the States been asked for our SS# during purchases?
I recently signed up for a new wireless phone and the sales guy needed my SS# for the application. I told him "um, nope, you don't need that, I am only buying a phone". Anyone else?
Is a no-no.
Weather patterns are part of the earth's ability to correct and maintain itself.
It is also used to control the bacteria called man from overrunning and destroying the planet.
When at /., what is of interest to me is what OS/package some of these websites are running. It would be neat to some of the stats from each one (hits, data transfered, etc), interviews or background on the person(s) responsible, whether they chose a dedicated server option, multiple servers, or bought 10MB from a webhosting company, and possibly, where technology fits in with each candidate's philosophy (although that usually has no substance).
/. opinion regarding them. I read about politics elsewhere and have no plans to be swayed by one /. opinion or another.
What matters not to me are the politics espoused by these websites and each
ymmv,
Ah, more information than I knew about. Give credit where credit is due. Thanks for the correction and the heads up. I care not for squatters anymore than the next person.
I would ignore any judgement from WIPO or any other UN-related organization. But, I have to admit, just the suggestion of the UN making judgements and having authority over individual's personal property scares me just a little bit; and I am not even one of those black heliocopter loons!
And although I can ignore the UN, (heck my country, the US, does not even pay their bill to them), that does not preclude ICANN or some other organization choice to abide by WIPO's rulings which may leave some of us in the cold. I mean, who knows what this UN's bodies motivation may be?
By the sound of the crew.com debacle, they may only side with corporations and not with individuals, for instance.
Scary.
Blah blah blah. All together.. USELESS!
Is this all Katz talks about is this imaginary society? I can see him sitting about a musty, parlor with a dozen or so eggheads in tweed jackets, pipes, and syncophants tut-tutting about the death of intellectual America and the unsavory rise of technocrats and libertarians who are usurping power through uppity start-up ventures and online publishing.
I can hear him complaining about the Death of the Cafe Society.
I hear him complaining about the gall of universities that require their professors actually show up for class and teach rather than sending in barely literate GA's.
I hear him complaining about the lack of intellectuals as advisers in politics since the 1960's.
I see him ignoring the stifled yawns and empty desks as he ponders what could/should have happened with an effective Communist Party in the US in the 1972 elections.
I listen to him complain about the demise of publishing outlets for intellectuals, Harry Potter on the NYT booklist, how hard it is to find a nice tweed jacket with those patches on the elbows, and the shortage of fawning, demur, busty, college coeds.
I laugh my ass off as his kind fades away with each year until they are relegated to the history books with corsets, 8-track tapes and Edsels.
Analysts of society love to label people and put in them in neat little categories and pigenholes like "libertarian", "progressive", "conservative", "right-wing extremist" and so forth. I guess it makes it easier for them to quickly label others as to put forth their theories.
But how many of us can be described so simply?
For instance, I like some of the Libertarian ideas such as the problems with the war against drugs or free market economics. But at the same time, I like a few things about the Green Party and their complaints about corporate welfare.
I believe in free markets, welfare reform, keeping as much of my earned wages as possible and responsibility for my actions and those of my country.
However, I also wish to protect the environment (don't use toxic chemicals at home) and endangered species (don't want a world without whales, elephants, etc. and know that human encroachment is the single biggest problem) and want my children to grow up breathing clean air.
But, I don't care for a government "forcing" me to be compassionate or snooping on my privacy or confiscating my personal property for redistribution.
See? There is no one party or group which meets my needs. So these sociologists and writers who analyze people and trends could never pigeonhole me into some neat little category.
Anyone else agree?
"Sounds like you didn't."
You were fine up until now. I don't know anything about you, your background, what you have learned or not learned in life. And neither do you about me and my education.
Of course classes in civics, sociology, philosophy and ethics teach varying views of different cultures and peoples. There are commonalities which are accepted by most which would apply here.
"If you think that what passes for the current mainstream American ethics is the pinnacle of human thought, think again."
Further, at no point did I make any statements to the affect that this involved the teaching "ethics" involved any particular school of thought.
*Most* culture, religions, etc. teach simple codes of conduct which would apply in most societies.
"Actually, this has not been true since Challenger. The schedule you point to shows no military space shuttle launches, "
Correction, you are right that the shuttle is not used for military satellite launches. My apologies.
However, there is still a direct relationship between the military and NASA which I believe to be beneficial.
Apologies for not prefacing my earlier statements.
In the past couple of years, there have been a number of persons who have decided that not enough people have access to the Internet due to their economic situation. These people have claimed there is a "Digital Divide" between the haves and the havenots.
*One* of the arguments regarding the supposed Digital Divide is that persons without access to the Internet will be passed up for better jobs in the new economy based upon technology and internet-related employment.
The conclusion has been that Internet will supposedly somehow propel someone without prior experience into a better career in the IT field.
Mr. Katz, based upon his past writings and his conclusion in this article that Internet access is "vital" subscribes to this groundless falacy. Vital as in air, water, and food?
Whose ethics? Have you ever taken an ethics class in college? Or maybe a debate or philosophy class? Did you ever have any type of class that was perhaps called civics before? You know, like classes which encourage civil behavior and mature discourse rather than groundless statements, bland banalities, and anecdotal rhetoric?
Katz writes that internet access is "vital" to their social, educational and usefullness to society. Put that way, it is a wonder that any of us managed to survive prior to 1992.
Admit it. Its' an exagerration used to make an issue seem larger than it actually is, that the Internet is "vital" to a continued existance. Because if that is the case, there are many people I know who have no interest in the Internet whose lives will be alarmingly cut short.
There are no studies which prove a person is better or not with or without the Internet. None.
Further, you make the statement that "People using the net at libraries aren't using it to study computing, or networking." Where did you get this from? The top of your head? How do you know what people are using Internet access at the libraries for?
This statement by Katz is unfounded, emotional, handwringing. Not much different than your confused, tantrum of a response.
"If you're looking for a political issue that will advance freedom,..."
If you are looking for another Jon Katz article with wild statements, over generalized statements and no factual data, you have come to the right place.
"Instead of tying the hands of educators and librarians, government should be doing everything possible to ensure that as many kids as possible have free access to the Net and the Web.."
We do. It is called the Universal Access Fee (federal tax) which I pay every month on my two phone lines. It was setup to subsidize Internet access to schools some time ago. At least I hope it was. I have not seen any numbers which show monies have actually been distributed to schools by the federal government.
"..because it will be vital to their social,
educational and economic opportunities."
Point of contention. Produce facts, studies, etc. which prove that having Internet access actually produces a better adjusted, educated, economically viable citizen. I contend this is your opinion fostered by the "Digital Divide" crowd. It would be far better to train young people on hardware, operating systems, coding, applications and ethics before throwing them into the maelstrom of the Internet - my opinion.
"Most of us don't need to go to the library for Net access, but millions of people -- mostly kids -- do"
Sorry, Jon. I am not accepting your statements as fact. Journalists learn how to make statements stick which involve numbers with the simple phrase, "According to ____, in 199____, over ____ of children depended upon libraries and schools for access to the Internet". Please present factual data to back up your sweeping generalizations.
Unlike many detractors, I could do a better job at this than you are currently. You know how to contact me. In the meantime, the University of Missouri has an excellent Journalism program you might want to investigate.
The truth is our elected officials have decided that there are other things here on earth which have priority over the space program.
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In light of some previous comments both here and in the media, please consider the following.
The military gave birth to the space program. For the first 30 years, nearly all of our astronauts were active duty military persons.
The military initially trained most of our astronauts.
The military financed most of the early space program and continues to pay for several missions today.
(see
http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/facts
The military needs satellites launched. That requires some NASA folks to get in that shuttle and get some flying time. That is better than playing with models in Florida.
(see
http://www-pao.ksc.nasa.gov/kscpao/schedule/mix
Therefore, I believe that the military has been useful to our space program and hope thier interest will continue as it benefits the program as a whole.
Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and the host of other social programs do not require a space program. These *combined* programs eat more of the federal budget than the defense budget does.
(see http://w3.access.gpo.gov/usbudget/fy2001/guidetoc
Does that mean these programs are not neccessary or not as important? Nonsense. However, truth is the success of these programs is not dependent upon a strong space program and these programs' needs will not diminish, on the contrary, they will grow in the future.
So what is the answer? That is up to the individuals which make up our country. I have posted here before that I will only vote for candidates who represent my ideas, which includes, an agressive, yet affective, space program. To that end, I am researching the candidates in order to choose who will best make a working, successful space program a reality. A working space program, however, has to be tempered with meeting the needs of our growing society including assisting our elderly and less fortunate, education, urban problems, committments and cleaning up the planet we were on first.
Your mileage may vary.
Than the ones I have had experience with in Mexico, France, Italy and England.
.33US) they do a pretty good job.
Maybe the Swedish Postal Service is good, maybe better. My opinion is considering the size of the USPS routes (all of the US), number of customers they service (nationally, about 280million) and the cost of delivery (first class postage for letter,
I still mail letters to friends and family who receive them at their home and generally within two days of posting.
MS owns Hotmail. They want to advertise how wonderful their products are, i.e. IIS, 2000, NT, etc.
Why don't they run Hotmail on their own OS and software? Why don't they eat their own dogfood?
This makes zero sense. You would think that every trade publication would have asked this question at least once.
Why they don't run on their own platform and why people keep buying their products in light of this is a mystery to me.
And few New Yorkers cannot afford Manhattan. And few Los Angelos'ers umm er something, cannot afford to live in LA without working two jobs and nobody can buy a house in the Silicon Valley or in Austin or Sante Fe or whereever.
This happens everywhere. For some reason or another, people who have lived in San Francisco for more than 10 years think it is there God-given right to have an affordable house in any neighborhood in town close the the trolleys and those cute hills and gingerbread houses, blah, blah blah.
Supply and demand, baby. NCals like having the successful, non-poluting businesses in their neck of the woods providing lots of jobs and tax revenue. But you have to take the good with the bad.