I speak for myself and not the company I work for, this does not represent them, etc, etc...
This is very true for most cable-based ISPs. We have "busted" commercial customers who were reselling their connection without having a prior contract. We *do* allow reselling, for the most part, but we want to know about it and have a contract covering the asses of both sides, but mostly ours, I'm sure.
Why?
Just in case they inadvertantly allow a spammer on or some other less desirable bandwidth users.
Doesn't take that much common sense, however, to think about human nature and about our sexual instincts. The human starts to develop sexually right around 11-13, give or take, and is *fully* ready to reproduce physically by the age of 15-16. I say physically, because children these days are most definately not ready to be mothers and fathers -- however their bodies are saying, "Yes, we are ready for sexual interaction..."
So, children, these days, are in quite a quandry -- instincts kicking in and society, perhaps rightly so, holding them back. However, this was not always the case...
My grandmother, as long ago as the 1930's USA, got married at age 13 and had my mother at 15. This was *not* viewed as wrong, in fact, it was quite the norm back then. These days, it's a tragedy, and rightly so -- our children today are a luxury class and are *not* as prepared for the "adult" world like their age-wise brethern of 80-100 years ago.
To me, the cries for abstinence and such is *not* about age and marriage, but about the dangers of STDs. The "acceptable" age and being married is a measure of a societal scale, not a natural scale.
I'm not advocating sex with kids, just for those who skim over that and don't really read it. I'm saying that there *is* a schism between being physically ready to "have sex" and the customs of the popular society around us.
...well, dang it, I had an e-mail, yet unfinished, waiting in my outbox that I was going to send that asked several questions already posted. (About the move to linux, and also to congradulate you on that move -- t'is only a good thing, in my opinion.)
That said, after years of reading your works off and on, mostly Xanth and the Mode series (*thanks* for finally getting that final book out -- publishers should listen to the readers more often!) the one thing I have always enjoyed were your Authors Notes at the back. To be honest, I always read those first. I had thought, back in the day when I had deluded myself with dreams of being a published author, of doing the same. Even though it would be copying your style.;)
What made you decide to start putting those in the books? You are, as far as I know, the only published author to continually do so.
Hmmm, I thought the Mode novels were the exact opposite of what you say. Colleen was an in-charge female, who although has some issues, worked them out without necessarily *needing* a male to do so. In fact, with the exception of Seqiro, most of her healing was done with other female characters.
I have only read a handful of Xanth novels, and the only nudity I can remember from those were the childish illusions, which were wrong afterall. Oh, and the natural nudeness of the nymphs. *shrugs* They're nymphs and the satyrs, iirc, were equally nude.
I guess, this will give me the urge to read more of his novels, not for the textual nudity, but to see it from your point of view.
Good Question -- No Easy Answer.
on
What Free Cable?
·
· Score: 1
I can't speak for other areas in the USA, but here in the West Michigan area, cable building has never stopped and there are *still* areas that are cable-free. Cable building is not cheap, nor is the equipment that has to be installed to manage and run the whole operation.
Is there some price gouging? That's hard to tell. Logic would state that since most major cable companies are publically traded, with shareholders, they'll try to get as much revenue as possible -- but I think the truth is a lot more down to earth. A lot of cable companies, like many huge corporations are in debt due to buy outs, growth, and such.
And, please, don't forget the trickle down of it all; our upstream providers charge us, networks charge us, and it takes money to run a business, and after a while, it adds up.
I speak of my own opinions and thoughts, and this is in no way representing my employer.
Yanno, I used to think Sun was stupid, over-priced crap of a unix machine -- but then I have now seen their high-end boxen in a production enviroment and they are damned nifty. Hot-swappable drives and all; maybe not the best unix around, and maybe not cheap, but their not overly bad.
What about personal ("Ego") sites and hobby sites that don't fit as a.biz/.com or a.net? It's not a.org and it's not about.tv; maybe.info for hobby-type sites.
On the other hand, guidebooks for destroying railroad tracks server no other purpose than destroying railroad tracks in attempts to disrupt the service, with the unfortunate possibility of killing people.
I agree; but the fact remains that extremist elements don't need that information anyways; they will create new ways or get the knowledge in less obvious ways. Banning the information solves nothing; if it's good for anything, that information can be used to find ways to keep the railways safer...
And as was mentioned in another post, by driving up the demand to censure the information, you draw more people to it -- it serves no purpose in the end, either way.
Hmmm.... That's like saying, "Would we even have cars if Henry Ford never got his company going?!?"
Of course we would -- and the same with computers, or any other device which we "take for granted" these days. If there had been no Microsoft, it would have been Apples everywhere, or some other OS/Hardware.
And then Slashdot (or whatever would have existed if CmdrTaco tripped over a tulip into oncoming traffic) would be filled with "MacBashers" or "SunBashers" instead.
For some time, I used a P75/40MB RAM/1.2GB HD running RH 7.0+ (several upgrades) as my "surfing" box while I played EQ or something. I slapped WindowMaker as the default desktop and it was relatively fast (once the browser was actually open) for what it was used for.
On my main box (900mhz/256 RAM/50GB) now, running RH 7.2 and KDE 2.2.2, I turn off a lot of bells and whistles simply for the increase in speed. But even with them all on, it's still is spiffy fast, for the most part.
Okay, so they are charging for the source, and as you say, the GPL says the charge is for the cost of producing the source.
Say, a couple bucks for a CD burn of a copy...
...or...
...or a couple bucks to pay for the bandwidth, the HDDs, and the hardware to host the source on.
It all costs money, even if you could download the source from the above hardware for "free" -- it doesn't mean the existance of that download point cost them nothing to create nor to maintain.
It's a pity those quotes couldn't be used while playing the clips from the movie they almost came from - it wouldn't quite make the fiar use criteria.:(
Do [Dial Up|Cable] tech support sometime and keep track of IE issues, bad.dlls, and other general nastiness. In my experience, using both *nix on the desktop (FreeBSD, Linux) and Windows -- they *all* crash and burn.
For the record, I prefer Konq on Linux, Moz on FreeBSD, and I have a choice in Windows these days?;)
As a writer, I may write a novel or I might write a short story; either way I want control over when and where that story may be published, for profit or not for profit.
If I write a short piece for a magazine, I might wish to later on grant permissions to publish it a collection of short stories (happens a lot in Fantasy/Sci-Fi land) two years later, long after the magazine was sold.
You idea may work on CDs and perhaps even full-fledge novels (but the above still applies, I think) but it would need some heavy-duty retuning...which would not make copyright laws any simplier or necessarily more fair.
Mind you, I am all for limiting the current copyright laws.
You're expected to have family that live after you die. Not counting Corporate Copyright issues, passing on the copyright to a family member ensures that your works can be handled properly after you pass on. Especially if the copyright can still bring in money for your family... (Think Dr. Suess here.)
As a aspiring writer, I fully back limited copyright laws. The Corporate Backing of constantly extending copyright makes me ill, because that is not about being creative, it's about being greedy.
My opinion:
Lifetime plus 10 years for non-Corporate copyrights.
Don't like it? Change the Constitution. Most people would support an amendment making it illegal to pass around bomb-making information. I do.
...and this is *somehow* going to stop it? It's illegal to buy and use cocaine and heroin, but it still happens. It's illegal to steal candy from a store, but it still happens.
Making something illegal does *not* make it go away. In this case, the sharing of bomb information has *nothing* to do with making it non-free speech to do so. People who want to learn how still will; regardless of our rights of free speech.
Why take away a basic right to justify no more bombs?
...but when my mother visited during the Thanksgiving holiday, I had her using KDE 2.2, to check her hotmail, surf, log into her ICQ account (using Licq) among other things, even solitaire. My mother is also one who I have had to teach to double-click, in fact she used to be in the habit of clicking too much.
My mother never graduated high-school and has never recieved any kind of computer training, other than what I taught her with Win9x in the past. However, with just a few pointers to where things were in the K-menu, she was *just* fine.
I'm not sure where the argument comes from that a normal user can't use a linux desktop. Setting it up and installing, okay, maybe, but *using* it is a different story.
Yeah, you're correct. I thought I said that, but I was in the middle of a phone call when typing.
We do track by Cable Modem MAC, *not* NIC MAC, but we *do* keep track of NIC MACs to limit the number of computers accessing the 'Net via the Cable Modem. Just as you said, changing the MAC would record as an additional MAC coming from the CM and if above the CPE for that policy, it won't be allowed access.
And again, right...our CNR machine logs all access...so doing a log search for Cable Modem MAC would show all NIC MACs that have accessed through it...
...but my point was, changing your NIC MAC to hide yourself just won't do much good in the long run.
That won't work on some systems... The Cable Modem Ternination System usually (should) only allows MACs on that it recognizes coming from the cable modem. This should be paired up with the MAC from the NIC. If not, then someone could run to Circuit City, buy a cable modem, plug it in and have access. Not good.
This is done by having a database of MACs that are assigned scopes (for their region) and policies (for the DS/US speeds, etc...) that is checked when a modem first comes online.
So, go ahead...change your MAC, and see if you still have access. Depends on your provider, however...
2. The police need to wire tap phones, they need to bounce lasers off glass windows, they need to spy on portions of society to protect us from the bad guys, ok?
Aye. The problem lies in the fact that, at the moment, there seems to be no checks-n-balances that our nation's gov't is famous for. There *has* to be public-noticable oversight of this, and right now, they don't even need a court order.
How fair is that?
It's easy to say to say it's a knee-jerk reaction, and in part it is, but I'd rather not live the next few decades with the left over bruises.
Slashdot Mirror
Forgent = Forge NT
Forge NT = Forge New Technology
Forge New Technology = Underhanded Patent Revenue
I speak for myself and not the company I work for, this does not represent them, etc, etc...
This is very true for most cable-based ISPs. We have "busted" commercial customers who were reselling their connection without having a prior contract. We *do* allow reselling, for the most part, but we want to know about it and have a contract covering the asses of both sides, but mostly ours, I'm sure.
Why?
Just in case they inadvertantly allow a spammer on or some other less desirable bandwidth users.
As so the head shrinkers would know, eh?
Hmm.
Doesn't take that much common sense, however, to think about human nature and about our sexual instincts. The human starts to develop sexually right around 11-13, give or take, and is *fully* ready to reproduce physically by the age of 15-16. I say physically, because children these days are most definately not ready to be mothers and fathers -- however their bodies are saying, "Yes, we are ready for sexual interaction..."
So, children, these days, are in quite a quandry -- instincts kicking in and society, perhaps rightly so, holding them back. However, this was not always the case...
My grandmother, as long ago as the 1930's USA, got married at age 13 and had my mother at 15. This was *not* viewed as wrong, in fact, it was quite the norm back then. These days, it's a tragedy, and rightly so -- our children today are a luxury class and are *not* as prepared for the "adult" world like their age-wise brethern of 80-100 years ago.
To me, the cries for abstinence and such is *not* about age and marriage, but about the dangers of STDs. The "acceptable" age and being married is a measure of a societal scale, not a natural scale.
I'm not advocating sex with kids, just for those who skim over that and don't really read it. I'm saying that there *is* a schism between being physically ready to "have sex" and the customs of the popular society around us.
That said, after years of reading your works off and on, mostly Xanth and the Mode series (*thanks* for finally getting that final book out -- publishers should listen to the readers more often!) the one thing I have always enjoyed were your Authors Notes at the back. To be honest, I always read those first. I had thought, back in the day when I had deluded myself with dreams of being a published author, of doing the same. Even though it would be copying your style.
What made you decide to start putting those in the books? You are, as far as I know, the only published author to continually do so.
Hmmm, I thought the Mode novels were the exact opposite of what you say. Colleen was an in-charge female, who although has some issues, worked them out without necessarily *needing* a male to do so. In fact, with the exception of Seqiro, most of her healing was done with other female characters.
I have only read a handful of Xanth novels, and the only nudity I can remember from those were the childish illusions, which were wrong afterall. Oh, and the natural nudeness of the nymphs. *shrugs* They're nymphs and the satyrs, iirc, were equally nude.
I guess, this will give me the urge to read more of his novels, not for the textual nudity, but to see it from your point of view.
I can't speak for other areas in the USA, but here in the West Michigan area, cable building has never stopped and there are *still* areas that are cable-free. Cable building is not cheap, nor is the equipment that has to be installed to manage and run the whole operation.
Is there some price gouging? That's hard to tell. Logic would state that since most major cable companies are publically traded, with shareholders, they'll try to get as much revenue as possible -- but I think the truth is a lot more down to earth. A lot of cable companies, like many huge corporations are in debt due to buy outs, growth, and such.
And, please, don't forget the trickle down of it all; our upstream providers charge us, networks charge us, and it takes money to run a business, and after a while, it adds up.
I speak of my own opinions and thoughts, and this is in no way representing my employer.
.ST.
Yanno, I used to think Sun was stupid, over-priced crap of a unix machine -- but then I have now seen their high-end boxen in a production enviroment and they are damned nifty. Hot-swappable drives and all; maybe not the best unix around, and maybe not cheap, but their not overly bad.
Slashdot needs a new Mod options: Sarcasm.
No, really.
Oh?
What about personal ("Ego") sites and hobby sites that don't fit as a
Maybe we need a
On the other hand, guidebooks for destroying railroad tracks server no other purpose than destroying railroad tracks in attempts to disrupt the service, with the unfortunate possibility of killing people.
I agree; but the fact remains that extremist elements don't need that information anyways; they will create new ways or get the knowledge in less obvious ways. Banning the information solves nothing; if it's good for anything, that information can be used to find ways to keep the railways safer...
And as was mentioned in another post, by driving up the demand to censure the information, you draw more people to it -- it serves no purpose in the end, either way.
A spoon in the hands of the wrong person can be deadly too. We should ban spoons and any information about spoons.
A brick, and any information about making or using bricks, can be dangerous in the wrong hands too; we should ban everything about those as well.
Blocking a page about some idea to sabotage is not going to make such extremists go away or stop their actions.
It's just about control and power; and it's silly.
Hmmm.... That's like saying, "Would we even have cars if Henry Ford never got his company going?!?"
Of course we would -- and the same with computers, or any other device which we "take for granted" these days. If there had been no Microsoft, it would have been Apples everywhere, or some other OS/Hardware.
And then Slashdot (or whatever would have existed if CmdrTaco tripped over a tulip into oncoming traffic) would be filled with "MacBashers" or "SunBashers" instead.
Heh.
...Samba on Linux as an alternative to Microsoft's server appliance kit.
;-)
I think you meant the Microsoft Server Compliance Kit.
Good point.
For some time, I used a P75/40MB RAM/1.2GB HD running RH 7.0+ (several upgrades) as my "surfing" box while I played EQ or something. I slapped WindowMaker as the default desktop and it was relatively fast (once the browser was actually open) for what it was used for.
On my main box (900mhz/256 RAM/50GB) now, running RH 7.2 and KDE 2.2.2, I turn off a lot of bells and whistles simply for the increase in speed. But even with them all on, it's still is spiffy fast, for the most part.
They're optional for a reason.
Okay, so they are charging for the source, and as you say, the GPL says the charge is for the cost of producing the source.
Say, a couple bucks for a CD burn of a copy...
...or...
...or a couple bucks to pay for the bandwidth, the HDDs, and the hardware to host the source on.
It all costs money, even if you could download the source from the above hardware for "free" -- it doesn't mean the existance of that download point cost them nothing to create nor to maintain.
I see no problem here.
It's a pity those quotes couldn't be used while playing the clips from the movie they almost came from - it wouldn't quite make the fiar use criteria. :(
Huh. Really?
Sounds like damn fine satire to me...
I realize this is a troll, most likely...
.dlls, and other general nastiness. In my experience, using both *nix on the desktop (FreeBSD, Linux) and Windows -- they *all* crash and burn.
;)
But IE has not stablity problems?
Do [Dial Up|Cable] tech support sometime and keep track of IE issues, bad
For the record, I prefer Konq on Linux, Moz on FreeBSD, and I have a choice in Windows these days?
Groovy idea, but I do see one flaw.
As a writer, I may write a novel or I might write a short story; either way I want control over when and where that story may be published, for profit or not for profit.
If I write a short piece for a magazine, I might wish to later on grant permissions to publish it a collection of short stories (happens a lot in Fantasy/Sci-Fi land) two years later, long after the magazine was sold.
You idea may work on CDs and perhaps even full-fledge novels (but the above still applies, I think) but it would need some heavy-duty retuning...which would not make copyright laws any simplier or necessarily more fair.
Mind you, I am all for limiting the current copyright laws.
The answer is simple, really.
You're expected to have family that live after you die. Not counting Corporate Copyright issues, passing on the copyright to a family member ensures that your works can be handled properly after you pass on. Especially if the copyright can still bring in money for your family... (Think Dr. Suess here.)
As a aspiring writer, I fully back limited copyright laws. The Corporate Backing of constantly extending copyright makes me ill, because that is not about being creative, it's about being greedy.
My opinion:
Lifetime plus 10 years for non-Corporate copyrights.
20-25 years for Corporate copyrights.
Don't like it? Change the Constitution. Most people would support an amendment making it illegal to pass around bomb-making information. I do.
...and this is *somehow* going to stop it? It's illegal to buy and use cocaine and heroin, but it still happens. It's illegal to steal candy from a store, but it still happens.
Making something illegal does *not* make it go away. In this case, the sharing of bomb information has *nothing* to do with making it non-free speech to do so. People who want to learn how still will; regardless of our rights of free speech.
Why take away a basic right to justify no more bombs?
Not going to happen.
It makes no sense.
I can't speak for your mother, of course...
...but when my mother visited during the Thanksgiving holiday, I had her using KDE 2.2, to check her hotmail, surf, log into her ICQ account (using Licq) among other things, even solitaire. My mother is also one who I have had to teach to double-click, in fact she used to be in the habit of clicking too much.
My mother never graduated high-school and has never recieved any kind of computer training, other than what I taught her with Win9x in the past. However, with just a few pointers to where things were in the K-menu, she was *just* fine.
I'm not sure where the argument comes from that a normal user can't use a linux desktop. Setting it up and installing, okay, maybe, but *using* it is a different story.
...but there comes a point when it turns into yellow journalism and becomes childish M$ name calling.
...like putting a $ in MS? ;)
(As if I haven't before...heh.)
Yeah, you're correct. I thought I said that, but I was in the middle of a phone call when typing.
We do track by Cable Modem MAC, *not* NIC MAC, but we *do* keep track of NIC MACs to limit the number of computers accessing the 'Net via the Cable Modem. Just as you said, changing the MAC would record as an additional MAC coming from the CM and if above the CPE for that policy, it won't be allowed access.
And again, right...our CNR machine logs all access...so doing a log search for Cable Modem MAC would show all NIC MACs that have accessed through it...
...but my point was, changing your NIC MAC to hide yourself just won't do much good in the long run.
Um.
That won't work on some systems... The Cable Modem Ternination System usually (should) only allows MACs on that it recognizes coming from the cable modem. This should be paired up with the MAC from the NIC. If not, then someone could run to Circuit City, buy a cable modem, plug it in and have access. Not good.
This is done by having a database of MACs that are assigned scopes (for their region) and policies (for the DS/US speeds, etc...) that is checked when a modem first comes online.
So, go ahead...change your MAC, and see if you still have access. Depends on your provider, however...
2. The police need to wire tap phones, they need to bounce lasers off glass windows, they need to spy on portions of society to protect us from the bad guys, ok?
Aye. The problem lies in the fact that, at the moment, there seems to be no checks-n-balances that our nation's gov't is famous for. There *has* to be public-noticable oversight of this, and right now, they don't even need a court order.
How fair is that?
It's easy to say to say it's a knee-jerk reaction, and in part it is, but I'd rather not live the next few decades with the left over bruises.