Yep, I'm a dumbass. I don't know, if I say something like that in humor I put something after it to explain my real view. Getting hit with something like this, whether through email or through "real" world interaction makes me want to beat someone's ass for thier narrow-minded view of me. When someone accuses me of something I didn't do, I feel like lashing out. I don't, but it still pisses me off.
I still say the guy was actually being serious. And as far as me being the dumbass, yeah I probably was. After all, I said that there are some smart people in the midwest. How un-cool is that.
BTW, for those that didn't catch it, I live in the midwest.
Netscape would have never changed the face of the Internet if its programmers had decided to stay in Illinois. I don't live in Silicon Valley myself, but you must admit that if you're a techie and want to make a difference, you had better live there (or within a 2-hour flight!).
So, did Linus live there when he started on that little project of his? I think just because one company did it that way doesn't mean that's the only way to do it. Of course, anybody with an idea runs instantly in that direction and once again re-inforces the idea that all midwesterners are just trying to get to the coast (or they are dumbass farmer hicks).
About my farmer hicks comments: I know some farmers that could put techies to shame with some of the high-tech gadgetry that they use nowadays (I know, sounds like a farmer's word). Seriously, just because we live in the midwest it doesn't mean we're a bunch of dumbasses.
The midwest. Flat prairie land. Grain siloes. Missile siloes. Rusting factories. Rusting missile siloes. Hard faces. Meat and potatoes. Eisenhower country. Lynch mobs with pitchforks. High school football. What do people expect hosting a Linux event in the midwest. If it's not in Reader's Digest or TV Guide it doesn't exist to the people there. Folks are always wanting to leave the midwest to make good of themselves in New York or California.
Yeah, this is exactly what I was talking about. This isn't the case. There are plenty of people in the midwest interested in this stuff. But if you have a conference, you have got to have some advertising. Like I said before, even in LA or Las Vegas, if you don't advertise your conference will fail. I read most of the Linux publications that I have heard of (Linux Magazine, Linux Journal, Maximum Linux, plus online forums) and heard nada about this forum until it failed. Why wouldn't you try to advertise if you were hoping to make a big conference? If you didn't have the money, then why try to make it a big conference? Like others have said, start small and build, don't think you can start at the top.
Unfortunately I and probably alot of other people don't knwo much about the goings-on of the midwest.
I think the point of having a show in the midwest would actually be to draw people from the midwest. I know it makes no sense to people on the coast for a show to be in the midwest, but it makes just as little sense to us living here to fly to the coast two or three times a year (not to mention only about one in 10,000 of us could afford it). Believe it or not there are a lot of people that actually live in the midwest. Should they be made to continue to suffer just because people on the coast don't think they are there?
I realize this may sound stupid if you've never been to the midwest. But honestly, we aren't all country bumpkins. Some of us work in the few thousand companies that have thier homes in the midwest. Some of those companies are even technical in nature. And the ones that aren't use technical products (like computers?!?) to get our jobs done. All of those system administrators and network administrators deserve just as much of a shot at getting to a conference as the people that live on the coasts.
As far as not knowing the goings-on of the midwest. Most people that live in the smaller towns (or even the bigger ones) like travelling to a city the size of Kansas City. It doesn't make sense if you live in LA or Las Vegas or New York, but it looks a lot different for someone from a smaller town, even something the size of Sioux Falls (100,000 people). There would appear to these people to be plenty to do in a city the size of Kansas City, or Minneapolis/St. Paul, or St. Louis. I know, I visit these cities regularly and haven't ever found them boring.
Why do people insist that if you live in the midwest you had either better get out to do something cool, or just sit on your hands and hope for some news from the latest coastal craze?
I know you shouldn't respond to your own posts, but this was just hilarious. A few minutes after posting this I recieved this in my email:
Re:Location (Score:2, Interesting) by talesout (leenat@willinet.net) on Friday June 30, @12:37PM EDT (#52) (User Info) Why did this guy get +4,Insightful for bringing up location? Everybody jump on the bandwagon. The midwest sucks. It's full of hicks and farmers and doesn't deserve a trade show.
I can picture you now, breathing the putrid, polluted coastal air while sitting in a mile long trafficjam, contemplating how to best stab your best friend in the back. You people have no integrity and take no accountabillity for your actions.
Things are different here...but you wouldn't know that because you have never been here. Which is good, because we don't want you.
Now, which is more interesting? Is it the fact that the guy really thought I was berating the midwest? Or is it the fact that he was too much of a coward to post his opinion on Slash himself, even as an AC?
Once again a Slashdot reader proves beyond any doubt that he is the intellectual equal to the rock sitting outside my front door. I know this is flamebait, but it's worth it. People deserve to know the response you get for trying to be honest on./. I'm just glad I don't know where that email came from. If I found out it was someone I know I'd have to do something drastic.
Yes, you can get a huge draw on the coasts (like I keep hearing), but how many businesses in the midwest are going to foot the bill for you to fly out to the coast to attend a trade show? Not very many (I know mine won't). There are a huge number of companies in the midwest that might be interested in sending someone if they could do it in a reasonable fashion. The best way to do that? Make it a centrally located show that is close to the midwest. Kansas City isn't the center of the midwest, but it is close enough that I and many like me would have gotten a chance to go (had we heard about it before it flopped).
I realize you weren't attacking the midwest, but saying the midwest should be ignored because it isn't interesting isn't really the best thing to say either. IMO there are still plenty of people in the midwest that are interested in technology. Isn't that the focus of a trade show/convention/conference? I know I would go for that reason, but maybe I'm in the minority.
Yes, most computer companies are on the coasts, but who attends these conferences? It is usually representatives from companies that actually use the end products made by the computer companies. I don't think that us idiots that live in the midwest are supposed to be cut out of technical advances just because we buy them from the coasts. There are a huge number of people living in the midwest that buy these products and would love to attend a conference to learn more or meet the people involved. As for the mysterious ways of slashdot, that could be changed if moderators had someone to be accountable to. As it is, it's the same people that post (just under different user IDs) most of the time. Your post wasn't useless, it posted a view different from mine, but it wasn't useless.
Why did this guy get +4,Insightful for bringing up location? Everybody jump on the bandwagon. The midwest sucks. It's full of hicks and farmers and doesn't deserve a trade show.
I and many others would have been there if we would have heard of it. I can't afford to go to the coast (East or West) just to attend a Linux conference, and my company can't afford to send me there. But they would consider sending me to Kansas City, which is relatively just across the way.
I live in the midwest and get sick of seeing people say that if you want to do something cool you have to stay the hell away from the midwest. For a couple of years I've been wondering if there would ever be a Linux conference in driving distance. Now I find out about one after the fact. Why didn't they advertise? If they had, they would have gotten a really good turnout.
You know, I just don't understand why California and New York are the only places in the US that should be allowed to experience "real-time" advances. Over and over I hear people say that the midwest is not meant to have technical advances, or any advances. Concerts in the midwest are of bands that were statistically dead about 20 years ago, new bands tour the coasts (maybe they hit St. Louis), technical conferences get horrendous turnout because no one says they are happening until after they fail, and people just keep saying the midwest is for farmers only.
Yeah, fine. I don't think it was as much location as people keep implying. I think you need to advertise to bring people into a show like this. Even if you were in LV or LA, if you throw together a conference and just expect people to turn up it will fail too. The really sad part about this is that if the general computing press gets ahold of it we will be hearing for the next three months about how Linux is dead. Great, perfect planning guys.
I have been begging for a chance to attend a Linux show/expo/training session/anything. The only way my company would pay for it (or allow me the time off) was if I could find one in the midwest. I'm not sure if this would have been close enough for management (we are based around Sioux Falls, SD), but it's closer than any others I've heard of. And damn it, why didn't they publicize a little?
I know of at least thirty people right here in Sioux Falls that would have jumped at the chance to go to something like this (add up 30 people for each town over 100,000 in the midwest and add that to the possible attendance of the trade show, and it would likely be more if it was publicized well). Why didn't they really let people know about this. It shounds like a real mix-up with management, never heard of that happening before (sarcasm people).
If I actually hear about this next year I'll be there. I hate to see something like this fall flat as vendors will fail to appear at all for a show in the midwest if they get too many experiences like this.
Forcing thought is definitely needed. Most people can't get beyod anything that makes them do more than push a button.
Seriously though, this sounds like a really intersting read. I love the idea of tackling philosophy via story telling. When people can see something outside of themselves they are much more likely to consider the other viewpoints. A very good idea. I'll have to check this book out (after I finish re-reading the Hyperion books again).
OK, sorry about the outburst. I think I was having a bad day when I did that (probably not the best excuse) and I had seen a few similar posts and they were getting on my nerves.
I do read USENET, and there are days where you are better off just putting a funnel in your ear and hoping to hear something intelligent from your fellow office-mates.
The really bad thing about setting your filter level up now is that moderators (not all of them) tend to moderate down comments that they don't agree with instead of comments that really suck. It's too bad. I like the open forum idea, and I really like to hear actual opposing viewpoints worded well. There are a lot of them that get marked down to -1 just because some moderator apparently doesn't agree with the opinion they express. It's sad, but you are then forced to either miss the good comments that someone doesn't agree with, or filter through crap with your own eyes and read a lot of useless junk to catch the good ones. Hopefully we can see a fix for that someday. I hope.
Yeah, my last boss was a hunt and pecker (hehe) and he couldn't type more than about 10 words per minute (that's if he lucked out on his pecking). And his job was ---- Network Administrator (updated to systems administrator right before I left). I always think it is sad when a "computer specialist" has absolutely no idea how to type. He didn't belong in that job anyway. He seriously believed that the only good computer had Windows on it. It was also his plan to replace the AS/400 system in that company with Windows servers. Thiers some frickin' brilliance for ya!
Okay, first off, you said the exact same thing the guy above you did. Read all the posts before replying.
Okay, first off, I don't sit there hitting the reload button every five seconds dumbass. God, people like that piss me off. That's probably why it takes slashdot 45 seconds to bring a goddamn page up in my browser window. If I see an interesting comment, or something I want to respond to, I do. I'm not going to reload, wait 45 seconds (in which time another 30 people have responded) scroll back to my place on the page, reading all of the posts that have happened since the last time I reloaded, reaload again, re-reading again............
You know, you're right. Slashdot is a piece of trash now anyway. I probably shouldn't post at all. That would leave more room for posts like:
We need a beowulf cluster of Natalie Portman's, naked and petrified, set up with pnuematic wrists on tracks so that they can all come by my chair and pour hot grits down my pants to feed my penis birdz while screaming for Signal11 from thier digitized speakers and holding a sign for OSM in thier other hands.
Label me a troll, flamebait my post and moderate me down to hell. I'm sick of seeing people post the same drivel over and over and over (the penis bird and hot grits? Funny the first five thousand times in a day) while I get blasted for missing the last nano-seconds' worth of posts before I posted.
Got a problem with it. Eat me. Or better yet, email me at leenat@willinet.net and we can continue the flamefest.
Just think, for a minute, of parents who would have the mentality to try and have one. They would have to be pretty screwed up: some deep insecurity either about not wanting to go through the hardship they did, or about the world in general ("my kids have to be as good as possible or they won't get anywhere in life").
Yeah, and this is exactly the scary part. How many people do you know that aren't completely fucked up? I can only think of one, and that is my grandpa. The only reason he isn't fucked up is because his wife is a total nutball and he has to *be strong* for her. Now, as far as people within child bearing age, I think pretty much everyone from the boomer generation on is suffering from huge mental problems. I'll include myself in that. I don't have a problem admitting I've got the occasional bout with depression. But the problem comes from those people that think life is supposed to be one big happy playground, and when something bad happens ----*SNAP* and fifty people are found dead of gunshot wounds inside a KMart or something.
This is definitely not the right time for people to have the kind of power this is going to give them. The inferiority complexes and the "I'm better than that" attitudes of today will only get worse if you can *pay* for perfect children. God, this is one of those freakish things I hoped I wouldn't live to see. Guess only time will tell if we are smart enough to deal with it or not.
Re:Why shouldn't I be able to have designer kids?
on
Frankenstein Time
·
· Score: 2
I am a huge technology nut, but I see absolutely no good coming out of this (i.e. controlling your child's genetic code). If we start messing around with this sort of thing, who's to say we will get it right. Evolution has brought us to this point. If we go fiddling around with what we are made up of, will we actually *improve* ourselves? Perhaps, for the first generation or two. But, another couple generations down the road, when everyone looks exactly the same, and *we* all have the same personality (after all, it's a very narrow view in most places as to what's the perfect kid/person), and no one stands out, what happens when that one set of people decides to have kids the old fashioned way? Do the resulting children get to be outcasts? Or do they just get killed immediately rather than risk contaminating the 'prefectionists' gene pool?
I realize that this sounds a little alarmist, but it scares the hell out of me that this is within our grasp now. Never has there been a time in history when people were more convinced that they automatically had the right to do anything they were capable of. We (and by this I mean Americans) are sick with our own power. If *I* can do something, and it will make me happy, then by god I'm going to do it. It seems like this is the attitude we have adopted. We don't care what it does to anyone else. We don't care what it does to humanity on the whole. All we care about is that it makes us temporarily a little bit happier than we were.
Why can't we just stop and think about things before we do them? I see technology, especially in the genetic realm, jumping way too often without looking. I say, instead of constantly asking *how* to do the next thing, we occasionally need to ask *if we should* do the next thing. Do we really want complete control over our kid's genetic makeup? I sure as hell don't. My wife sure as hell doesn't (and yes I've talked with her about it, it's one of the few technology conversations we have that we agree on).
We need to stop being so short-sighted. This is the most selfish "I WANT" based society in history. Giving this society the ability to actually "PLAY" with life itself is just completely insane. We are not the last generation of humans (I hope) and we need to stop acting like all that matters is the moment. Look ahead, look back, consider the implications of your actions, don't just jump up and grab the latest gizmo because you can. Ask why you need that gizmo. Ask if it's really necissary. How many times will humanity get to screw up before it's all over? After all, during the big nuclear scare we had the ability to destroy the surface of the earth seven times over. Now, if the right idiot gets ahold of this information, they can use it to create the "perfect virus" just as easily as we can use it to create the "perfect baby" can't they? Bye, bye people. With all the crackpots out there now, I wouldn't doubt there is already someone wetting themselves with the idea of creating that perfect virus. We've seen quite a few stories about what may happen if a few *lucky* people survive (The Stand, Twelve Monkeys), but what if they don't?
Yeah, I know, label me a freakish dumbass and get it over with. I know I'm probably wasting my breath. But I still think we should actually consider the consequences of our actions before we jump onto something like this. It's not just *us* (as in now) we are screwing with, it's *US* (as in forever) that we are screwing with. I don't think we have that right, and we should at least consider that viewpoint.
I hate the Microsoft Intellimice, but not for the scroll "button". I just don't like the shape of them, and the fact that they don't provide an alternative to the scroll button if you want a third button. Logitech Mouseman+ with the scroll button and the side mounted thumb button is my preference.
However, I don't see the problem with the MS Natural Keyboards. Some people really whine about them because of desktop space, and that I can at least respect. But I hear people say it hurts their hands and I want to slap them. I bought one (during the first revision of them) and immediately I was able to type faster (I'm a fairly high-speed touch typist anyway) and for longer without running into that "my wrists are starting to hurt" problem. If I could figure out a way to take one on the road with my laptop I definitely would. I don't like MS any more than the next Linux guy, but damn those keyboards rock.
Um, correct me if I'm wrong here, but isn't that how manned space flight started anyway? The only difference now is that this guy is doing it on his own, has the past experiences of NASA and other space programs to draw on, and has the time and money to do it "his way".
I know I remember an interview with the first few Americans that went into space and they talked about the eerie feeling right before launch of sitting on top of a missle and realizing that they were basically a bottle cap on what (they hoped) was the wrong end of a huge pile of fuel.
Personally, I hope this guy does succeed. I would like to see private individuals and businesses get into space travel. That's the only way we are ever going to see real progress in space. Make it something you can make a bit of money on (turn it into a tourist industry?) and businesses will flock to it. And, then we may just get enough funding (from those businesses) getting poured into research to see space flight become the norm.
DISCLAIMER I've been told that I'm given to flights of fancy rather easily. These are my opinions, and even I realize that this time (if ever) is a long ways away.
Yeah, but the net is just now garnering the attention of the "BIG BUSINESS/BIG GOVERNMENT" (usually considered the same thing as one is in the pocket of the other). As something realatively new, the net is still fairly "free" (as in speech). But given time, as is already starting to happen, business and government will get their grimy paws on it and mutate it into what they really want.
This has been said before, so I can't take credit for it. What the big guys really want is a T.V. with a buy button. This is absolutely the truth. They don't want the Internet to stay open and free (as in speech). They want it to become just another marketing tool. And the government wants to be sure that they also get a cut out of it. So, new net taxes and extra sales taxes, and ___________ taxes. It's just a matter of time.
While I truly hope you are the one that is right, I fear that you aren't. Big business and the government must control and regulate anything that people enjoy. If people enjoy it, there has to be a way to scrape some money out of it right? Too bad, the net was so much fun about two years ago. Now it's just as ridiculous as going to the local mall and watching the teenagers get into fights about who has the coolest hair style/color while trying to fight your way into whatever store you came for.
It was fun while it lasted, but the net community needs to face the reality that business will not let it live as it is.
You are totally missing the point. You won't be "asked" to take off your shoes. Someone will in effect walk up to you, knock you down, rip your shoes off and stand you back up. You will not have any choice in giving this information out. This is not any different than someone walking up to you when you walk in a store, taking your wallet, making a copy of every piece of paper in it and giving it back. They don't have to ask, it's there for them to take. This is a privacy issue that is just as real in the real world (if someone said they were going to do this) as it is in the online world. Pay attention.
While you have some valid points I will ask this one question:
If you just walk into a store a "window shop", do they automatically get your name, address, phone-number, credit card number, social security number, etc?
Then why the hell do you think that sites online have the right to do this. If I want to look at something out in the real world I am not required to give anyone any personal piece of information they want. With this, you could easily be a victim of identity theft (some moron in middle America builds a site to grab my info and uses it to purchase a thousand dollars worth of stuff, am I responsible?). This is the question with something like P3P.
Given time and left alone, Microsoft's products would eventually surpass the competing products in numbers sold. Why, because they eventually bundle what they can't push on people immediately. Internet Explorer isn't really superior to Netscape. Internet Explorer was put into Windows because Microsoft knew that they couldn't beat Netscape fair and sqare on technical terms. Money is slowly gaining ground on Quicken, and SQL server isn't old enough to look at as an example (I know it's been around for a while, but give it some more time. Microsoft sometimes takes years to figure out a strategy, look how long they missed the boat on Internet technology).
As to Microsoft opening up APIs, who the hell cares? Windows is useless to me, so I don't. But all of those other companies trying to make Windows software probably do. They aren't Microsofts enemies until Microsoft makes them so by trying to leverage thier existing market (OS market share) to push into the developers market (application market share). As to security in Outlook. How many times in the last month have we seen some new virus that attacks only MS systems running some version of Outlook. The bugs have not been fixed, as the viruses keep taking advantage of them.
Just because you are blind to the problems do not mean that they don't exist. BTW. I love how the MS articles bring out the rabid wintrolls. It can get pretty intense.
I know many home users that use BSDs and/or Linux. You would be suprised with the number of useful things you can do once you get past that "reinstall every 90 days" crap.
Slashdot Mirror
Yep, I'm a dumbass. I don't know, if I say something like that in humor I put something after it to explain my real view. Getting hit with something like this, whether through email or through "real" world interaction makes me want to beat someone's ass for thier narrow-minded view of me. When someone accuses me of something I didn't do, I feel like lashing out. I don't, but it still pisses me off.
I still say the guy was actually being serious. And as far as me being the dumbass, yeah I probably was. After all, I said that there are some smart people in the midwest. How un-cool is that.
BTW, for those that didn't catch it, I live in the midwest.
So, did Linus live there when he started on that little project of his? I think just because one company did it that way doesn't mean that's the only way to do it. Of course, anybody with an idea runs instantly in that direction and once again re-inforces the idea that all midwesterners are just trying to get to the coast (or they are dumbass farmer hicks).
About my farmer hicks comments: I know some farmers that could put techies to shame with some of the high-tech gadgetry that they use nowadays (I know, sounds like a farmer's word). Seriously, just because we live in the midwest it doesn't mean we're a bunch of dumbasses.
Yeah, this is exactly what I was talking about. This isn't the case. There are plenty of people in the midwest interested in this stuff. But if you have a conference, you have got to have some advertising. Like I said before, even in LA or Las Vegas, if you don't advertise your conference will fail. I read most of the Linux publications that I have heard of (Linux Magazine, Linux Journal, Maximum Linux, plus online forums) and heard nada about this forum until it failed. Why wouldn't you try to advertise if you were hoping to make a big conference? If you didn't have the money, then why try to make it a big conference? Like others have said, start small and build, don't think you can start at the top.
I think the point of having a show in the midwest would actually be to draw people from the midwest. I know it makes no sense to people on the coast for a show to be in the midwest, but it makes just as little sense to us living here to fly to the coast two or three times a year (not to mention only about one in 10,000 of us could afford it). Believe it or not there are a lot of people that actually live in the midwest. Should they be made to continue to suffer just because people on the coast don't think they are there?
I realize this may sound stupid if you've never been to the midwest. But honestly, we aren't all country bumpkins. Some of us work in the few thousand companies that have thier homes in the midwest. Some of those companies are even technical in nature. And the ones that aren't use technical products (like computers?!?) to get our jobs done. All of those system administrators and network administrators deserve just as much of a shot at getting to a conference as the people that live on the coasts.
As far as not knowing the goings-on of the midwest. Most people that live in the smaller towns (or even the bigger ones) like travelling to a city the size of Kansas City. It doesn't make sense if you live in LA or Las Vegas or New York, but it looks a lot different for someone from a smaller town, even something the size of Sioux Falls (100,000 people). There would appear to these people to be plenty to do in a city the size of Kansas City, or Minneapolis/St. Paul, or St. Louis. I know, I visit these cities regularly and haven't ever found them boring.
Why do people insist that if you live in the midwest you had either better get out to do something cool, or just sit on your hands and hope for some news from the latest coastal craze?
Now, which is more interesting? Is it the fact that the guy really thought I was berating the midwest? Or is it the fact that he was too much of a coward to post his opinion on Slash himself, even as an AC?
Once again a Slashdot reader proves beyond any doubt that he is the intellectual equal to the rock sitting outside my front door. I know this is flamebait, but it's worth it. People deserve to know the response you get for trying to be honest on
Yes, you can get a huge draw on the coasts (like I keep hearing), but how many businesses in the midwest are going to foot the bill for you to fly out to the coast to attend a trade show? Not very many (I know mine won't). There are a huge number of companies in the midwest that might be interested in sending someone if they could do it in a reasonable fashion. The best way to do that? Make it a centrally located show that is close to the midwest. Kansas City isn't the center of the midwest, but it is close enough that I and many like me would have gotten a chance to go (had we heard about it before it flopped).
I realize you weren't attacking the midwest, but saying the midwest should be ignored because it isn't interesting isn't really the best thing to say either. IMO there are still plenty of people in the midwest that are interested in technology. Isn't that the focus of a trade show/convention/conference? I know I would go for that reason, but maybe I'm in the minority.
Yes, most computer companies are on the coasts, but who attends these conferences? It is usually representatives from companies that actually use the end products made by the computer companies. I don't think that us idiots that live in the midwest are supposed to be cut out of technical advances just because we buy them from the coasts. There are a huge number of people living in the midwest that buy these products and would love to attend a conference to learn more or meet the people involved. As for the mysterious ways of slashdot, that could be changed if moderators had someone to be accountable to. As it is, it's the same people that post (just under different user IDs) most of the time. Your post wasn't useless, it posted a view different from mine, but it wasn't useless.
Why did this guy get +4,Insightful for bringing up location? Everybody jump on the bandwagon. The midwest sucks. It's full of hicks and farmers and doesn't deserve a trade show.
I and many others would have been there if we would have heard of it. I can't afford to go to the coast (East or West) just to attend a Linux conference, and my company can't afford to send me there. But they would consider sending me to Kansas City, which is relatively just across the way.
Advertise your show, and people will come.
I live in the midwest and get sick of seeing people say that if you want to do something cool you have to stay the hell away from the midwest. For a couple of years I've been wondering if there would ever be a Linux conference in driving distance. Now I find out about one after the fact. Why didn't they advertise? If they had, they would have gotten a really good turnout.
You know, I just don't understand why California and New York are the only places in the US that should be allowed to experience "real-time" advances. Over and over I hear people say that the midwest is not meant to have technical advances, or any advances. Concerts in the midwest are of bands that were statistically dead about 20 years ago, new bands tour the coasts (maybe they hit St. Louis), technical conferences get horrendous turnout because no one says they are happening until after they fail, and people just keep saying the midwest is for farmers only.
Yeah, fine. I don't think it was as much location as people keep implying. I think you need to advertise to bring people into a show like this. Even if you were in LV or LA, if you throw together a conference and just expect people to turn up it will fail too. The really sad part about this is that if the general computing press gets ahold of it we will be hearing for the next three months about how Linux is dead. Great, perfect planning guys.
I have been begging for a chance to attend a Linux show/expo/training session/anything. The only way my company would pay for it (or allow me the time off) was if I could find one in the midwest. I'm not sure if this would have been close enough for management (we are based around Sioux Falls, SD), but it's closer than any others I've heard of. And damn it, why didn't they publicize a little?
I know of at least thirty people right here in Sioux Falls that would have jumped at the chance to go to something like this (add up 30 people for each town over 100,000 in the midwest and add that to the possible attendance of the trade show, and it would likely be more if it was publicized well). Why didn't they really let people know about this. It shounds like a real mix-up with management, never heard of that happening before (sarcasm people).
If I actually hear about this next year I'll be there. I hate to see something like this fall flat as vendors will fail to appear at all for a show in the midwest if they get too many experiences like this.
Forcing thought is definitely needed. Most people can't get beyod anything that makes them do more than push a button.
Seriously though, this sounds like a really intersting read. I love the idea of tackling philosophy via story telling. When people can see something outside of themselves they are much more likely to consider the other viewpoints. A very good idea. I'll have to check this book out (after I finish re-reading the Hyperion books again).
OK, sorry about the outburst. I think I was having a bad day when I did that (probably not the best excuse) and I had seen a few similar posts and they were getting on my nerves.
I do read USENET, and there are days where you are better off just putting a funnel in your ear and hoping to hear something intelligent from your fellow office-mates.
The really bad thing about setting your filter level up now is that moderators (not all of them) tend to moderate down comments that they don't agree with instead of comments that really suck. It's too bad. I like the open forum idea, and I really like to hear actual opposing viewpoints worded well. There are a lot of them that get marked down to -1 just because some moderator apparently doesn't agree with the opinion they express. It's sad, but you are then forced to either miss the good comments that someone doesn't agree with, or filter through crap with your own eyes and read a lot of useless junk to catch the good ones. Hopefully we can see a fix for that someday. I hope.
Yeah, my last boss was a hunt and pecker (hehe) and he couldn't type more than about 10 words per minute (that's if he lucked out on his pecking). And his job was ---- Network Administrator (updated to systems administrator right before I left). I always think it is sad when a "computer specialist" has absolutely no idea how to type. He didn't belong in that job anyway. He seriously believed that the only good computer had Windows on it. It was also his plan to replace the AS/400 system in that company with Windows servers. Thiers some frickin' brilliance for ya!
Okay, first off, I don't sit there hitting the reload button every five seconds dumbass. God, people like that piss me off. That's probably why it takes slashdot 45 seconds to bring a goddamn page up in my browser window. If I see an interesting comment, or something I want to respond to, I do. I'm not going to reload, wait 45 seconds (in which time another 30 people have responded) scroll back to my place on the page, reading all of the posts that have happened since the last time I reloaded, reaload again, re-reading again............
You know, you're right. Slashdot is a piece of trash now anyway. I probably shouldn't post at all. That would leave more room for posts like:
Label me a troll, flamebait my post and moderate me down to hell. I'm sick of seeing people post the same drivel over and over and over (the penis bird and hot grits? Funny the first five thousand times in a day) while I get blasted for missing the last nano-seconds' worth of posts before I posted.
Got a problem with it. Eat me. Or better yet, email me at leenat@willinet.net and we can continue the flamefest.
Yeah, and this is exactly the scary part. How many people do you know that aren't completely fucked up? I can only think of one, and that is my grandpa. The only reason he isn't fucked up is because his wife is a total nutball and he has to *be strong* for her. Now, as far as people within child bearing age, I think pretty much everyone from the boomer generation on is suffering from huge mental problems. I'll include myself in that. I don't have a problem admitting I've got the occasional bout with depression. But the problem comes from those people that think life is supposed to be one big happy playground, and when something bad happens ----*SNAP* and fifty people are found dead of gunshot wounds inside a KMart or something.
This is definitely not the right time for people to have the kind of power this is going to give them. The inferiority complexes and the "I'm better than that" attitudes of today will only get worse if you can *pay* for perfect children. God, this is one of those freakish things I hoped I wouldn't live to see. Guess only time will tell if we are smart enough to deal with it or not.
I am a huge technology nut, but I see absolutely no good coming out of this (i.e. controlling your child's genetic code). If we start messing around with this sort of thing, who's to say we will get it right. Evolution has brought us to this point. If we go fiddling around with what we are made up of, will we actually *improve* ourselves? Perhaps, for the first generation or two. But, another couple generations down the road, when everyone looks exactly the same, and *we* all have the same personality (after all, it's a very narrow view in most places as to what's the perfect kid/person), and no one stands out, what happens when that one set of people decides to have kids the old fashioned way? Do the resulting children get to be outcasts? Or do they just get killed immediately rather than risk contaminating the 'prefectionists' gene pool?
I realize that this sounds a little alarmist, but it scares the hell out of me that this is within our grasp now. Never has there been a time in history when people were more convinced that they automatically had the right to do anything they were capable of. We (and by this I mean Americans) are sick with our own power. If *I* can do something, and it will make me happy, then by god I'm going to do it. It seems like this is the attitude we have adopted. We don't care what it does to anyone else. We don't care what it does to humanity on the whole. All we care about is that it makes us temporarily a little bit happier than we were.
Why can't we just stop and think about things before we do them? I see technology, especially in the genetic realm, jumping way too often without looking. I say, instead of constantly asking *how* to do the next thing, we occasionally need to ask *if we should* do the next thing. Do we really want complete control over our kid's genetic makeup? I sure as hell don't. My wife sure as hell doesn't (and yes I've talked with her about it, it's one of the few technology conversations we have that we agree on).
We need to stop being so short-sighted. This is the most selfish "I WANT" based society in history. Giving this society the ability to actually "PLAY" with life itself is just completely insane. We are not the last generation of humans (I hope) and we need to stop acting like all that matters is the moment. Look ahead, look back, consider the implications of your actions, don't just jump up and grab the latest gizmo because you can. Ask why you need that gizmo. Ask if it's really necissary. How many times will humanity get to screw up before it's all over? After all, during the big nuclear scare we had the ability to destroy the surface of the earth seven times over. Now, if the right idiot gets ahold of this information, they can use it to create the "perfect virus" just as easily as we can use it to create the "perfect baby" can't they? Bye, bye people. With all the crackpots out there now, I wouldn't doubt there is already someone wetting themselves with the idea of creating that perfect virus. We've seen quite a few stories about what may happen if a few *lucky* people survive (The Stand, Twelve Monkeys), but what if they don't?
Yeah, I know, label me a freakish dumbass and get it over with. I know I'm probably wasting my breath. But I still think we should actually consider the consequences of our actions before we jump onto something like this. It's not just *us* (as in now) we are screwing with, it's *US* (as in forever) that we are screwing with. I don't think we have that right, and we should at least consider that viewpoint.
I hate the Microsoft Intellimice, but not for the scroll "button". I just don't like the shape of them, and the fact that they don't provide an alternative to the scroll button if you want a third button. Logitech Mouseman+ with the scroll button and the side mounted thumb button is my preference.
However, I don't see the problem with the MS Natural Keyboards. Some people really whine about them because of desktop space, and that I can at least respect. But I hear people say it hurts their hands and I want to slap them. I bought one (during the first revision of them) and immediately I was able to type faster (I'm a fairly high-speed touch typist anyway) and for longer without running into that "my wrists are starting to hurt" problem. If I could figure out a way to take one on the road with my laptop I definitely would. I don't like MS any more than the next Linux guy, but damn those keyboards rock.
Um, correct me if I'm wrong here, but isn't that how manned space flight started anyway? The only difference now is that this guy is doing it on his own, has the past experiences of NASA and other space programs to draw on, and has the time and money to do it "his way".
I know I remember an interview with the first few Americans that went into space and they talked about the eerie feeling right before launch of sitting on top of a missle and realizing that they were basically a bottle cap on what (they hoped) was the wrong end of a huge pile of fuel.
Personally, I hope this guy does succeed. I would like to see private individuals and businesses get into space travel. That's the only way we are ever going to see real progress in space. Make it something you can make a bit of money on (turn it into a tourist industry?) and businesses will flock to it. And, then we may just get enough funding (from those businesses) getting poured into research to see space flight become the norm.
DISCLAIMER
I've been told that I'm given to flights of fancy rather easily. These are my opinions, and even I realize that this time (if ever) is a long ways away.
Yeah, but the net is just now garnering the attention of the "BIG BUSINESS/BIG GOVERNMENT" (usually considered the same thing as one is in the pocket of the other). As something realatively new, the net is still fairly "free" (as in speech). But given time, as is already starting to happen, business and government will get their grimy paws on it and mutate it into what they really want.
This has been said before, so I can't take credit for it. What the big guys really want is a T.V. with a buy button. This is absolutely the truth. They don't want the Internet to stay open and free (as in speech). They want it to become just another marketing tool. And the government wants to be sure that they also get a cut out of it. So, new net taxes and extra sales taxes, and ___________ taxes. It's just a matter of time.
While I truly hope you are the one that is right, I fear that you aren't. Big business and the government must control and regulate anything that people enjoy. If people enjoy it, there has to be a way to scrape some money out of it right? Too bad, the net was so much fun about two years ago. Now it's just as ridiculous as going to the local mall and watching the teenagers get into fights about who has the coolest hair style/color while trying to fight your way into whatever store you came for.
It was fun while it lasted, but the net community needs to face the reality that business will not let it live as it is.
You are totally missing the point. You won't be "asked" to take off your shoes. Someone will in effect walk up to you, knock you down, rip your shoes off and stand you back up. You will not have any choice in giving this information out. This is not any different than someone walking up to you when you walk in a store, taking your wallet, making a copy of every piece of paper in it and giving it back. They don't have to ask, it's there for them to take. This is a privacy issue that is just as real in the real world (if someone said they were going to do this) as it is in the online world. Pay attention.
While you have some valid points I will ask this one question:
If you just walk into a store a "window shop", do they automatically get your name, address, phone-number, credit card number, social security number, etc?
Then why the hell do you think that sites online have the right to do this. If I want to look at something out in the real world I am not required to give anyone any personal piece of information they want. With this, you could easily be a victim of identity theft (some moron in middle America builds a site to grab my info and uses it to purchase a thousand dollars worth of stuff, am I responsible?). This is the question with something like P3P.
Trust me, when it comes out it will be just like all of thier other products:
MICROSOFT
in huge capitol letters (about 72 point should do) then
C#
in letters about 8 points and hidden in a cloud of shit or some such nonsense.
Either one. I typically find that re-reading my own posts a couple of days later is enough to send my brain into the ground.
Given time and left alone, Microsoft's products would eventually surpass the competing products in numbers sold. Why, because they eventually bundle what they can't push on people immediately. Internet Explorer isn't really superior to Netscape. Internet Explorer was put into Windows because Microsoft knew that they couldn't beat Netscape fair and sqare on technical terms. Money is slowly gaining ground on Quicken, and SQL server isn't old enough to look at as an example (I know it's been around for a while, but give it some more time. Microsoft sometimes takes years to figure out a strategy, look how long they missed the boat on Internet technology).
As to Microsoft opening up APIs, who the hell cares? Windows is useless to me, so I don't. But all of those other companies trying to make Windows software probably do. They aren't Microsofts enemies until Microsoft makes them so by trying to leverage thier existing market (OS market share) to push into the developers market (application market share). As to security in Outlook. How many times in the last month have we seen some new virus that attacks only MS systems running some version of Outlook. The bugs have not been fixed, as the viruses keep taking advantage of them.
Just because you are blind to the problems do not mean that they don't exist.
BTW. I love how the MS articles bring out the rabid wintrolls. It can get pretty intense.
I know many home users that use BSDs and/or Linux. You would be suprised with the number of useful things you can do once you get past that "reinstall every 90 days" crap.