And thanks to Orwell's 1984, we do know what happens when you start removing definitions and/or associations from words: people lose the ability to communicate certain ideas.
Yeah, thanks to 1984, we *know* that. 1984 is one of the best nonfiction works out there. Yup.
And thanks to "Alice in Wonderland", I will NEVER chase a white rabbit down a hole--we *know* what happens then. Also, never cross the streams of a proton blaster--see Ghostbusters for that one. That is pure disaster.
Please, you start off with "Your position is naive in the extreme" and then lay down a work of fiction as the basis of your argument. Maybe we should stick to facts, eh?
I find it so funny that consumers apparently need to be "protected" from an OS. Really, they aren't protecting consumers as much as protecting the competitors of MS.
Not to say the competitors shouldn't be protected from a monopolized MS, but lets not beat around the bush, eh?
I haven't seen this posted yet, but if you follow the "Try talking to ALICE" link on this page, you can see what all the fuss is about. Or not about, as the case may be:)
A real democracy, without the republican part, could be done now, because of technology.
Sure, it *could* be done now, but it would take so much of everyone's time that the country would come to a standstill. But then you say that only the people who cared enough would vote--they coudn't have actual jobs. Maybe we'd give them compensation so they wouldn't need jobs and could spend all day reading proposed bills. But how to figure out who to actually pay--maybe we could elect them?
you said it. I won't give up any of my freedom for any amount of safety
So you didn't give up your freedom to own a nuclear weapon so that you are safe from your neighbor blowing up your town?
Everyone always screams the Benjamin Franklin quote that "anyone who would sacrifice liberty for safety deserves neither" doesn't realize that Ben didn't live in the friggin 21st century. Back in the 1780s, there wasn't too much of a harm in having your neighbor own a musket (and there isn't much harm in that now). Up that musket to a 10 megaton bomb and you have a problem.
Everyone has give up some liberties for safety. 8 year olds don't have the liberty to drive a car, people under 21 (in most states) give up the liberty to drink themselves into a stupor, and YOU have given up liberties to provide for the safety of society as a whole.
The problem is in striking the perfect balance between the two--and this is something that may never be found. This goverment is about always tweaking to provide for the times. Look at amendments to the constitution, that allows for the goverment to make a small change that was not anticipated at the signing in 1787 without having to trash the whole thing every few years.
That's exacly how the Talibans took over Afghanistan, they said they would guarantee the people's safety and look at them now, look at them.
As a side note, I don't think that is how the Taliban took over--that was basically a small band of rebels who used force to take over the government.
since the moderators generally vote down things they don't agree with.
Actually, by including that line in your post, you are guaranteed to be modded up by moderators that are trying to prove that they are open minded to dissenting opinions. Case in point--you have been modded up.
But then again, this one will probably be modded down. Or did I just put that in there so I'd get modded up?:)
Which majority? The public voting majority or the senate majority?
Certainly you aren't implying that we have a nationwide vote on every issue that comes up. Having 280 million Americans actually read a 250+ page law and coming to an understanding about it would take far too long.
Another note, the washingtonpost.com article referenced mentions that many people are upset that there is no "sunset" provision in the law. This shouldn't be too big a problem since the Supreme Court can sunset it to hell. I hope.
When the neighbor lady down the street who starts rumors like these gets exposure to millions of readers, emm,.. I think I'll stick to television.
Yet is it so ironic that the way you debunked every one of those statements is by linking to information on another web site. (Not that I blame you, just an observation)
On a side note, snopes2.com claims to have tracked down the original author of the arab girlfriend email, and she stands by her story...to be continued I guess.
I think that Lucasfilm wanted to make sure that DVD was going to "take"--that it wouldn't become another laserdisc. Even 1.5 years ago, DVD was pretty new to most people. And since it takes quite a bit of time to put a disc like this together, you have a LONG wait.
And if there is a teaser of Episode 2, it will be well worth the wait IMHO!
This story may be not 100% accurate. FM104.3 in Baltimore is a ClearChannel station, and they played "Imagine" directly after the moment of silence at 8:48 this morning. "Imagine" is on the banned list.
As a side note, the playing of the song was very very moving--I always thought of it as only a song of hope...but there is now a very sad overtone in it.
Given that the human face recognition performed by the check-in agents did not keep the hijackers out, there is no reason to think that computer face recognition would help.
Is he serious? A person can probably only recognize a relatively low number of faces (in relation to world population). Does he really think that if you showed a check-in agent 1000 pictures of suspected hijackers, they would be able to recognize any of them given that they check in several thousand people per day (if not more).
A computer face recognition system could plow through many many more than that. I'm not saying such a system should be implemented blindy--there are obvious drawbacks to this type of system (wrongful accusation). I'm not even going to continue to type...this argument is pointless.
A high bug count is actually a very good indicator of excellent testing, and this testing leads to high quality.
I don't think it's so much that a high bug count indicates quality, but the number of those bugs that are actually fixed, of course. Supposedly Win95 shipped with something like 50K unresolved bugs (could be wrong)--in that case, 50K bugs found != quality.
I think this is a fair theory. Maybe people didn't like my original post because as of yesterday I was ready to close the borders and tell the world to fuck off. At that point, I figured "there are enough places in this country to keep me busy for the next 50-60 years, so fuck the world."
I've retreated from that as the events of yesterday go farther and farther into the past, but I think that you're right, there are thresholds of that people have for how much liberty must be given up to insure safety. If that's so, I'm leaning towards giving up a hair more...right now at least--check with me tomorrow and I may be saying the opposite. Confusing time.
It's hard to not let emotions take control when the guy who sits next to you at work can't get in touch with his sister-in-law who worked in the WTC. I understand your points, and when I chill a bit more I probably even agree, but I get somewhat angry when everything here at/. becomes a conspiracy, especially at a time like this.
As for some of the other replies, I don't think I'll go kill myself because someone who calls themselves "Fleet Admiral Ackbar" tells me to.
mkelley writes: "This is only the beginning folks...looks like the internet is going to be blamed for this...Wired has a story that is sure to cause panic. This is going to be the goverment's way to push wiretapping into your email and web surfing. In this time of crisis, people in high places are going to use this to get their agenda through."
This is about the most arrogant view on this that I can imagine--that your privacy is more important than human life. In my opinion, if installing Carnivore/etc and monitoring my emails would help save the possibly 10,000+ lives that were lost yesterday, I am all for installing it.
Nothing, and I mean NOTHING (including my privacy), is worth the deaths of that number of innocent civilians. Keep your politically-motivated banter to a minimum in this time of crisis. Privacy means nothing anymore. Two days ago, maybe protecting your emails was a big deal, but after yesterday, I would gladly trade my future privacy in return for the lives of all those poor people who died and for the future security and safety of my family.
If you aren't totally anti-microsoft, you can even use a PocketPC w/ terminal server client on it. The next version of PocketPC (2002) will be out next month, has terminal server client included.
Very cool stuff, maybe just a glimpse into the future (MS and otherwise). Again, a good possibility especially if you want an out of box solution fairly cheap.
True, they have a lot of marketshare NOW, but that's because the early adopters were all nerds and geeks.
Yes, the early adopters were nerds and geeks, but I think if you bought one now, you aren't considered an "early adopter". They are close to mainstream now--no one stops in amazement if you pull out a Palm III.
And as for all this about how "no one wants a whole computer in their pocket", I happen to like having a lot of power in my pocket (in the computing sense, and otherwise).
This article was posted 2 days ago. Since then (also on CNET), the FCC has pulled its approval for both devices at the request of the companies. Odd, no?
Slashdot Mirror
And thanks to Orwell's 1984, we do know what happens when you start removing definitions and /or associations from words: people lose the ability to communicate certain ideas.
Yeah, thanks to 1984, we *know* that. 1984 is one of the best nonfiction works out there. Yup.
And thanks to "Alice in Wonderland", I will NEVER chase a white rabbit down a hole--we *know* what happens then. Also, never cross the streams of a proton blaster--see Ghostbusters for that one. That is pure disaster.
Please, you start off with "Your position is naive in the extreme" and then lay down a work of fiction as the basis of your argument. Maybe we should stick to facts, eh?
Seems like more and more companies are going this route.
Which route? The one where a company can actually make money? They aren't a non-profit group, you know.
I find it so funny that consumers apparently need to be "protected" from an OS. Really, they aren't protecting consumers as much as protecting the competitors of MS.
Not to say the competitors shouldn't be protected from a monopolized MS, but lets not beat around the bush, eh?
Or it could be as successful as NeTraverse, Loki, Penguin Computing, or VA Linux! Rock on!
True, under a lot of pressure, but it seems the media has totally forgotten about him. Luckily he probably won't run for reelection.
Oh, Conduit. I have nothing to say about that.
Then look here--a lot of programs that implement ALICE. Included is a bot for ICQ!
I haven't seen this posted yet, but if you follow the "Try talking to ALICE" link on this page, you can see what all the fuss is about. Or not about, as the case may be :)
A real democracy, without the republican part, could be done now, because of technology.
:)
Sure, it *could* be done now, but it would take so much of everyone's time that the country would come to a standstill. But then you say that only the people who cared enough would vote--they coudn't have actual jobs. Maybe we'd give them compensation so they wouldn't need jobs and could spend all day reading proposed bills. But how to figure out who to actually pay--maybe we could elect them?
Oh, wait...
you said it. I won't give up any of my freedom for any amount of safety
So you didn't give up your freedom to own a nuclear weapon so that you are safe from your neighbor blowing up your town?
Everyone always screams the Benjamin Franklin quote that "anyone who would sacrifice liberty for safety deserves neither" doesn't realize that Ben didn't live in the friggin 21st century. Back in the 1780s, there wasn't too much of a harm in having your neighbor own a musket (and there isn't much harm in that now). Up that musket to a 10 megaton bomb and you have a problem.
Everyone has give up some liberties for safety. 8 year olds don't have the liberty to drive a car, people under 21 (in most states) give up the liberty to drink themselves into a stupor, and YOU have given up liberties to provide for the safety of society as a whole.
The problem is in striking the perfect balance between the two--and this is something that may never be found. This goverment is about always tweaking to provide for the times. Look at amendments to the constitution, that allows for the goverment to make a small change that was not anticipated at the signing in 1787 without having to trash the whole thing every few years.
That's exacly how the Talibans took over Afghanistan, they said they would guarantee the people's safety and look at them now, look at them.
As a side note, I don't think that is how the Taliban took over--that was basically a small band of rebels who used force to take over the government.
since the moderators generally vote down things they don't agree with.
:)
Actually, by including that line in your post, you are guaranteed to be modded up by moderators that are trying to prove that they are open minded to dissenting opinions. Case in point--you have been modded up.
But then again, this one will probably be modded down. Or did I just put that in there so I'd get modded up?
Which majority? The public voting majority or the senate majority?
Certainly you aren't implying that we have a nationwide vote on every issue that comes up. Having 280 million Americans actually read a 250+ page law and coming to an understanding about it would take far too long.
Another note, the washingtonpost.com article referenced mentions that many people are upset that there is no "sunset" provision in the law. This shouldn't be too big a problem since the Supreme Court can sunset it to hell. I hope.
When the neighbor lady down the street who starts rumors like these gets exposure to millions of readers, emm, .. I think I'll stick to television.
Yet is it so ironic that the way you debunked every one of those statements is by linking to information on another web site. (Not that I blame you, just an observation)
On a side note, snopes2.com claims to have tracked down the original author of the arab girlfriend email, and she stands by her story...to be continued I guess.
I also hate how TV shows are interrupted to show commercials too. Oh, that's right, TV networks are *profitable*.
It's about time these web people tried to actually make money. Annoying, yes--and necessary.
It may seem a minor point, but the more and faster connections are built in, the less frequently the upgrade gremlins have to strike. 3.2Gbps!
Yeah, I remember back in '89 when I upgraded to a 40MB hard drive and said the same thing. The upgrade gremline will never stop striking!
Microsoft has delayed the XBox.
I submitted this as a story but apparently it's not juicy enough (rejected).
I think that Lucasfilm wanted to make sure that DVD was going to "take"--that it wouldn't become another laserdisc. Even 1.5 years ago, DVD was pretty new to most people. And since it takes quite a bit of time to put a disc like this together, you have a LONG wait.
And if there is a teaser of Episode 2, it will be well worth the wait IMHO!
This story may be not 100% accurate. FM104.3 in Baltimore is a ClearChannel station, and they played "Imagine" directly after the moment of silence at 8:48 this morning. "Imagine" is on the banned list.
As a side note, the playing of the song was very very moving--I always thought of it as only a song of hope...but there is now a very sad overtone in it.
Given that the human face recognition performed by the check-in agents did not keep the hijackers out, there is no reason to think that computer face recognition would help.
Is he serious? A person can probably only recognize a relatively low number of faces (in relation to world population). Does he really think that if you showed a check-in agent 1000 pictures of suspected hijackers, they would be able to recognize any of them given that they check in several thousand people per day (if not more).
A computer face recognition system could plow through many many more than that. I'm not saying such a system should be implemented blindy--there are obvious drawbacks to this type of system (wrongful accusation). I'm not even going to continue to type...this argument is pointless.
A high bug count is actually a very good indicator of excellent testing, and this testing leads to high quality.
I don't think it's so much that a high bug count indicates quality, but the number of those bugs that are actually fixed, of course. Supposedly Win95 shipped with something like 50K unresolved bugs (could be wrong)--in that case, 50K bugs found != quality.
I think this is a fair theory. Maybe people didn't like my original post because as of yesterday I was ready to close the borders and tell the world to fuck off. At that point, I figured "there are enough places in this country to keep me busy for the next 50-60 years, so fuck the world."
I've retreated from that as the events of yesterday go farther and farther into the past, but I think that you're right, there are thresholds of that people have for how much liberty must be given up to insure safety. If that's so, I'm leaning towards giving up a hair more...right now at least--check with me tomorrow and I may be saying the opposite. Confusing time.
It's hard to not let emotions take control when the guy who sits next to you at work can't get in touch with his sister-in-law who worked in the WTC. I understand your points, and when I chill a bit more I probably even agree, but I get somewhat angry when everything here at /. becomes a conspiracy, especially at a time like this.
As for some of the other replies, I don't think I'll go kill myself because someone who calls themselves "Fleet Admiral Ackbar" tells me to.
mkelley writes: "This is only the beginning folks...looks like the internet is going to be blamed for this...Wired has a story that is sure to cause panic. This is going to be the goverment's way to push wiretapping into your email and web surfing. In this time of crisis, people in high places are going to use this to get their agenda through."
This is about the most arrogant view on this that I can imagine--that your privacy is more important than human life. In my opinion, if installing Carnivore/etc and monitoring my emails would help save the possibly 10,000+ lives that were lost yesterday, I am all for installing it.
Nothing, and I mean NOTHING (including my privacy), is worth the deaths of that number of innocent civilians. Keep your politically-motivated banter to a minimum in this time of crisis. Privacy means nothing anymore. Two days ago, maybe protecting your emails was a big deal, but after yesterday, I would gladly trade my future privacy in return for the lives of all those poor people who died and for the future security and safety of my family.
If you aren't totally anti-microsoft, you can even use a PocketPC w/ terminal server client on it. The next version of PocketPC (2002) will be out next month, has terminal server client included.
Very cool stuff, maybe just a glimpse into the future (MS and otherwise). Again, a good possibility especially if you want an out of box solution fairly cheap.
True, they have a lot of marketshare NOW, but that's because the early adopters were all nerds and geeks.
Yes, the early adopters were nerds and geeks, but I think if you bought one now, you aren't considered an "early adopter". They are close to mainstream now--no one stops in amazement if you pull out a Palm III.
And as for all this about how "no one wants a whole computer in their pocket", I happen to like having a lot of power in my pocket (in the computing sense, and otherwise).
This article was posted 2 days ago. Since then (also on CNET), the FCC has pulled its approval for both devices at the request of the companies. Odd, no?