Hey everyone- here's a mad lib to generate Jon Katz articles!
In the paper-and-pencil game [role-playing game], we are presented with a society in which the [big bad power] is doing evil to the [player-character class]. The [big bad power] wants everyone to obey it, but the [player-character class] feels threatened by it, and has retreated into the darker hiding spots of the world.
This strongly parallels our own world, where the geek culture is treated like the [player-character class] by the corporations and government, who very much resemble the [big bad power]. With [some ability not available to the big bad power] the [player-character class] fights and on-going battle with the [big bad power] - just like the geeks use thier intelligence to eek out an existance in this post-columbine society. To them, hanging out in chat-rooms is like using [some ability not available to the big bad power].
The authors of [role playing game] had great insight to predict a time where the minority would feel threatened by the majority.
It seems to me that "information" and "knowledge" are very different things.
different, but closely related. knowledge comes from reason and/or experience, depending on your epistomological orientation. information can serve as a basis for both. you can view information as a catalyst for knowledge. the common man, in possession of nuclear secrets, can choose to turn that information into knowledge. without that information, however, if he desires that knowledge he must invent or discover it himself.
This is why those nation states (and all such derviatives since the beginning of recorded history) have armed, military forces who are designed to efficiently and effectively kill, mame and destroy anything and anyone who poses a serious risk to their soveriegn power to rule.
But if you cripple the military's ability to organize, you have rendered it ineffective.
That's what the information revolution is about - putting information in the hands of the common man. Information that he could have never had before. Knowledge about How Things Work. This knowledge could spread as fast as MP3s on napster - except it could be nuclear weapons secrets, or other "dangerous" information.
The way to wage war against the US (or any other major power) is not with tanks and bombs. First you must destroy the government's ability to communicate - to share information. Then roll in with your tanks and bombs for cleanup. A disorganized military is easy to eliminate.
In any small conflict, brute force will win. (As with your gang member in LA). But in a large-scale conflict, crippling the information (communication) systems of your opponent is the way to victory.
what really matters is freedom of the internet - i don't care so much what happens to napster, but i care alot about laws and regulation of the internet. we need to stand together on this one. we can solve the music issue later. right now we need to keep free speech on the internet. kindof like what this guy was saying.
Their Helix Gnome software masks the drab, complex text interface of Linux with rich and colorful images that let users control Linux by clicking a mouse, just as they do with Microsoft Corp.'s Windows software.
Now how long has X been around? How long have window managers been there? How long have window managers had icons? Anyone remember fvwm95?
Friedman says "There's nothing new about any of this technology," - and he's right.
A determined corporation with a little ingenuity can do anything it wants. It spends a little money on its Human Relations and the employees think it's the greatest place in the world to work. You spend a little money on Public Relations, and the general public forgives your sins. You spend a little money on lobbying and the government plays into your hands. If some young hotshot from the government ever decides to oppose you, you spend a little money on lawyers to keep him occupied while you continue on with what you do.
corporations can buy ethics with money - that is to say, with enough money, distributed in the right places, only the thinking minority will ever think a company unethical.
he needs some of the 32" mitsubishi monitors they have at the conference center i used to work at. not just TVs with scan converters, actual monitors..
we put quake 1 on a laptop and sneaked in the storage room one night.. hooked the laptop up to the monitor, and routed sound through some really nice headphones.. we could only play for about 5 minutes, though, because we got motion sickness..
And C# is the first language to incorporate XML comment tags that can be used by the compiler to generate readable documentation directly from source code.
So the compiler uses the tags to generate documentation? Cool.. I don't have to document anymore... I just put in a tag and let the compiler figure out what my code actually does.
I think there are actually two separate issues to consider here:
1) How much libraries and schools should "protect" our children, and
2) Should censorware be used to do this protection
Now, in my mind, item 1 is open for discussion, as there will be good and valid arguments on both sides, and it an important issue.
However, item 2 has nothing substantial to recommend it. Censorware will do nothing that a lab monitor couldn't do - a lab monitor could keep children off the adult computers, and, at a glance, make sure that children aren't looking at porn or anything. Censorware could and would block helpful information while allowing "harmful" information, and could also be programmed per a political or religious agenda, as Katz's article mentioned. Censorware just does a bad job of censoring, all around. A human, library lab censor, would do a better job.
Remember, that I am not taking a stand, in this post, on library censorship at all. I am saying that censorware is the worst possible way you could filter information for those not yet ready to encounter it.
Ten days later:
FBI:Well, it's going to be at least a year before we can tell you about the networking connections.. And another year before we will be able to disclose the processor.. We have planned an additional three years to disclose the operating system..... But this is a very complicated system.. At once? No we can't disclose everything at once.. Becasue, this is a very complicated system.. Ok, so after another six years... ---
uprizer won't work. they are talking about helping the smalltime and unsigned bands - and those are not the MP3s most people want. They want Britney Spears.* And neither Britney Spears nor her label are interested in micropayments.
Besides, if I want unsigned artists, I can go to mp3.com.
wishus
* I probably misspelled Britney. I am sure to get flamed for this. ---
Read the freakin reference man! Do I say anything about their HTML? No! If an AvantGo is just like any other Web site (but without HTML whistles) then give me the URLs to those 'just like any other site'. The problem is the conduit.
Yes, I read the reference. Then I explained to you how AvantGo works. Now I will give you some URLs, as per your request, to show you that AvantGo does not fragment the web. All the conduit does is cache HTML pages and store them on your device. You might want to quit believing everything you read. That guy from your link didn't know what he was talking about and neither do you.
The AvantGo service just keeps track of your favorite sites and allows you to download them into your pda when you sync with your computer. Handy. You can view any web page with the AvantGo viewer / service. I currently have AvantGo fetch my SETI@home stats every time I sync.
If you read the documentation about how to create an AvantGo channel, you will see that is is nothing more than a HTML file on a webserver somewhere. Yes, they encourage you to use a subset of HTML because their browser can't do things like tables... but it's still HTML.
Last time I checked, a popular console browser among linux enthusiasts only recognized a subset of HTML as well. No one accuses lynx of fragmenting the web. Do some research on AvantGo before you blast it.
From AvantGo Developer Resources: "In its most basic form, an AvantGo channel is just another web site.There's more to it than that, of course. An AvantGo channel page doesn't contain all the bells and whistles you might see on, say, a web page in Internet Explorer 5.0. But if you know how to create a web page, you can make yourself an AvantGo channel."
Slashdot has never "officially" supported a PDA interface before.. If you're going to go to the trouble of writing one, an official one, you should have created and AvantGo channel. That way Palm users (of any Palm), Handspring users, TRG Pro users, and, yes, even Pocket PC/Win CE users could get it on thier PDA.
Yes, I know AvantGo can read the "stripped-down" HTML version, but why not make an official AvantGo channel that looks good, with a little graphic or something. It seems this would reach a larger audience.
When I applied for an internship with the NSA, you sent me a brochure that mentioned your computing equipment was "5 years ahead of the civilian computer systems." Historically, has this always been the case? Has there ever been a scientific or engineering feat that brought the civilian computing world ahead of the NSA, if only for a short time?
you have a good point.. for some reason, i was going under the assumption that these guys would like to be on the nightly news. i guess if just knowing in your heart that you pissed a bunch of people off is what you're after, k5 is a good place to go.
some people out there just like to hurt other people. those people are pretty sick.
i don't understand animosity of this sort against k5. as the k5 guys said, it really proves nothing to take down k5.. the scoop software is written with the assumption that the community will make the site what it wants too, and so it allows the things that were exploited. it would be different, though no less moral, if the attackers were exploiting some bug in the software.. but they weren't.. it is just destruction for the sake of destruction.. and if your going to destroy like that, there are many better places to do it.
flood ebay with crappy auctions.. flood amazon with fake orders.. flood hotmail with fake accounts sending gigs of email to each other... i'm not advocating these things, but if you're going to do destruction for destruction's sake, pick something better than k5.
Slashdot Mirror
Hey everyone- here's a mad lib to generate Jon Katz articles!
In the paper-and-pencil game [role-playing game], we are presented with a society in which the [big bad power] is doing evil to the [player-character class]. The [big bad power] wants everyone to obey it, but the [player-character class] feels threatened by it, and has retreated into the darker hiding spots of the world.
This strongly parallels our own world, where the geek culture is treated like the [player-character class] by the corporations and government, who very much resemble the [big bad power]. With [some ability not available to the big bad power] the [player-character class] fights and on-going battle with the [big bad power] - just like the geeks use thier intelligence to eek out an existance in this post-columbine society. To them, hanging out in chat-rooms is like using [some ability not available to the big bad power].
The authors of [role playing game] had great insight to predict a time where the minority would feel threatened by the majority.
wishus
Vote for freedom!
---
different, but closely related. knowledge comes from reason and/or experience, depending on your epistomological orientation. information can serve as a basis for both. you can view information as a catalyst for knowledge. the common man, in possession of nuclear secrets, can choose to turn that information into knowledge. without that information, however, if he desires that knowledge he must invent or discover it himself.
wish
Vote for freedom!
---
But if you cripple the military's ability to organize, you have rendered it ineffective.
That's what the information revolution is about - putting information in the hands of the common man. Information that he could have never had before. Knowledge about How Things Work. This knowledge could spread as fast as MP3s on napster - except it could be nuclear weapons secrets, or other "dangerous" information.
The way to wage war against the US (or any other major power) is not with tanks and bombs. First you must destroy the government's ability to communicate - to share information. Then roll in with your tanks and bombs for cleanup. A disorganized military is easy to eliminate.
In any small conflict, brute force will win. (As with your gang member in LA). But in a large-scale conflict, crippling the information (communication) systems of your opponent is the way to victory.
wish
Vote for freedom!
---
Has George Lucas been smoking crack lately?
Evidence:
* Jar-Jar Binks
* Samuel Jackson
* Episode 1 in general
and now
* Fake R2D2
hrmm...
wish
Vote for freedom!
---
what really matters is freedom of the internet - i don't care so much what happens to napster, but i care alot about laws and regulation of the internet. we need to stand together on this one. we can solve the music issue later. right now we need to keep free speech on the internet. kindof like what this guy was saying.
wish
Vote for freedom!
---
Now how long has X been around? How long have window managers been there? How long have window managers had icons? Anyone remember fvwm95?
Friedman says "There's nothing new about any of this technology," - and he's right.
wish
Vote for freedom!
---
The Power of the media lies not in how it tells its stories, but in which stories it chooses not to tell.
wishus
Vote for freedom!
---
A determined corporation with a little ingenuity can do anything it wants. It spends a little money on its Human Relations and the employees think it's the greatest place in the world to work. You spend a little money on Public Relations, and the general public forgives your sins. You spend a little money on lobbying and the government plays into your hands. If some young hotshot from the government ever decides to oppose you, you spend a little money on lawyers to keep him occupied while you continue on with what you do.
corporations can buy ethics with money - that is to say, with enough money, distributed in the right places, only the thinking minority will ever think a company unethical.
wish
---
yeah.. funny, isn't it.. i'm the first one with the news, yet i'm redundant 'cause some other guy got modded up to 5 quicker..
thanks for noticing, though..
wish
---
wish
---
...because i need a multi-user operating system on my wrist.
wish
---
he needs some of the 32" mitsubishi monitors they have at the conference center i used to work at. not just TVs with scan converters, actual monitors..
we put quake 1 on a laptop and sneaked in the storage room one night.. hooked the laptop up to the monitor, and routed sound through some really nice headphones.. we could only play for about 5 minutes, though, because we got motion sickness..
---
So the compiler uses the tags to generate documentation? Cool.. I don't have to document anymore... I just put in a tag and let the compiler figure out what my code actually does.
This will be a great debugging tool!
wish
---
I think C# contains some pretty interesting innovations that make component development easier
It's not as though this hasn't happened before, but the way we've applied it to the language is pretty innovative.
We're not saying, "Now that there's only one language, there shall be no further innovations in this race."
We want to create a platform where there can be innovation.
Microsoft's favorite word?
wish
---
I think there are actually two separate issues to consider here:
1) How much libraries and schools should "protect" our children, and
2) Should censorware be used to do this protection
Now, in my mind, item 1 is open for discussion, as there will be good and valid arguments on both sides, and it an important issue.
However, item 2 has nothing substantial to recommend it. Censorware will do nothing that a lab monitor couldn't do - a lab monitor could keep children off the adult computers, and, at a glance, make sure that children aren't looking at porn or anything. Censorware could and would block helpful information while allowing "harmful" information, and could also be programmed per a political or religious agenda, as Katz's article mentioned. Censorware just does a bad job of censoring, all around. A human, library lab censor, would do a better job.
Remember, that I am not taking a stand, in this post, on library censorship at all. I am saying that censorware is the worst possible way you could filter information for those not yet ready to encounter it.
wish
---
Ten days later:
FBI:Well, it's going to be at least a year before we can tell you about the networking connections.. And another year before we will be able to disclose the processor.. We have planned an additional three years to disclose the operating system..... But this is a very complicated system.. At once? No we can't disclose everything at once.. Becasue, this is a very complicated system.. Ok, so after another six years...
---
Just think.. with one of these, you could build a PDA that would run Windows95!!! No WinCE, or Pocket PC crap.. You would have the REAL DEAL!!!
How exciting... uh.. yeah...
wish
---
Actually, I don't.. Neil Young & Crazy Horse, sure, but no Britney.. Still, your comment made me laugh, and I thank you for that.
wish
---
uprizer won't work. they are talking about helping the smalltime and unsigned bands - and those are not the MP3s most people want. They want Britney Spears.* And neither Britney Spears nor her label are interested in micropayments.
Besides, if I want unsigned artists, I can go to mp3.com.
wishus
* I probably misspelled Britney. I am sure to get flamed for this.
---
Yes, I read the reference. Then I explained to you how AvantGo works. Now I will give you some URLs, as per your request, to show you that AvantGo does not fragment the web. All the conduit does is cache HTML pages and store them on your device. You might want to quit believing everything you read. That guy from your link didn't know what he was talking about and neither do you.
http://avantgo.hollywood.com/
http://www.pdalive.com/avantgo/
http://avantgo.10best.com/
http://www.women.com/avantgo/horoscopes/
http://www.all-legends.com/avantgo/
http://www.mapquest.com/avantgo/
Anything else you'd like to add?
wish
---
The AvantGo service just keeps track of your favorite sites and allows you to download them into your pda when you sync with your computer. Handy. You can view any web page with the AvantGo viewer / service. I currently have AvantGo fetch my SETI@home stats every time I sync.
If you read the documentation about how to create an AvantGo channel, you will see that is is nothing more than a HTML file on a webserver somewhere. Yes, they encourage you to use a subset of HTML because their browser can't do things like tables... but it's still HTML.
Last time I checked, a popular console browser among linux enthusiasts only recognized a subset of HTML as well. No one accuses lynx of fragmenting the web. Do some research on AvantGo before you blast it.
From AvantGo Developer Resources: "In its most basic form, an AvantGo channel is just another web site.There's more to it than that, of course. An AvantGo channel page doesn't contain all the bells and whistles you might see on, say, a web page in Internet Explorer 5.0. But if you know how to create a web page, you can make yourself an AvantGo channel."
wish
---
Slashdot has never "officially" supported a PDA interface before.. If you're going to go to the trouble of writing one, an official one, you should have created and AvantGo channel. That way Palm users (of any Palm), Handspring users, TRG Pro users, and, yes, even Pocket PC/Win CE users could get it on thier PDA.
Yes, I know AvantGo can read the "stripped-down" HTML version, but why not make an official AvantGo channel that looks good, with a little graphic or something. It seems this would reach a larger audience.
Maybe it wouldn't be as cool as wireless though..
It's an idea.
wish
---
When I applied for an internship with the NSA, you sent me a brochure that mentioned your computing equipment was "5 years ahead of the civilian computer systems." Historically, has this always been the case? Has there ever been a scientific or engineering feat that brought the civilian computing world ahead of the NSA, if only for a short time?
What was it?
wishus
---
you have a good point.. for some reason, i was going under the assumption that these guys would like to be on the nightly news. i guess if just knowing in your heart that you pissed a bunch of people off is what you're after, k5 is a good place to go.
some people out there just like to hurt other people. those people are pretty sick.
wish
---
i don't understand animosity of this sort against k5. as the k5 guys said, it really proves nothing to take down k5.. the scoop software is written with the assumption that the community will make the site what it wants too, and so it allows the things that were exploited. it would be different, though no less moral, if the attackers were exploiting some bug in the software.. but they weren't.. it is just destruction for the sake of destruction.. and if your going to destroy like that, there are many better places to do it.
flood ebay with crappy auctions.. flood amazon with fake orders.. flood hotmail with fake accounts sending gigs of email to each other... i'm not advocating these things, but if you're going to do destruction for destruction's sake, pick something better than k5.
wish
---