That's what I do when I try to read here in the evenings and this kind of junk shows up. It's a really nice, handy, working system. All the junk just automagically goes away.
Rob should patent it! One-Two-click moderation and sensibility filtering!
That the data scrambling feature of DVDs is NOT useful for copyright protection. It is only useful for controlling playback of the video. Just because the plaintiffs say that "it is" does not mean that it really is. So...if the encryption that has been cracked is not used for protecting against copyright violations but only for control of playback, how is the DeCSS code in violation of the law? There is nothing in the DMCA that says anything about engineering, reverse or otherwise, of compatible players illegal. In fact, it actually says that it IS LEGAL to reverse engineer a product in order to make another that is compatible!
Just like anything else in the world from Heisenberg on up, there are tradeoffs. You don't get to have your cake and eat it too.
You want speed, you dump journalling or file systems alltogether and do raw, direct disk access. That is the fastest way to get data onto and off of the disk. It has the highest bandwidth both sustained and burst. It has the highest data density. It also is the least flexible and most prone to error.
You want reliability, and/or flexibility, you start taking care how, when, where you put your data, whether or not you do copies, add error correction codes, etc. All of this takes time, which negates speed.
Some people want speed at all cost. Some people want reliability at all cost. Some people are somewhere in between.
...is the dual pointing device setup. It has both the trackpad and two buttons for it near the edge, and the eraserhead trackpointer in the keyboard with two buttons for it right below the spacebar. It's much better than the touchpad when typing. The only drawback is when emulating three buttons/center button with a double button click is pretty difficult and unreliable using the two small buttons under the spacebar.
After some other/. discussions, I've been investigating VMWare although without much vigor. It is looking more and more interesting...
...was that it had an 'option' for no modem. I already had pcmcia ethernet and dialup modem cards so why pay for another, especially if it only will work under winXX? I traded the modem for more RAM.
The other was simply because the 3700 is smaller, and lighter. If I need a big screen that bad, I can hook it up to a monitor.
Mine works fine with Linux. It's not as bulky or heavy as the i7500 and the bright, beautiful, perfect display maxes out at 1024x768, but aside from some apmd suspend/standby/resume issues that I have not spent any time on, it is working just fine. The 433MHz Celery is plenty fast(blows the socks off of the 300MHz Gateway PII that I have at work, but then so does the 350MHz K6-2 at home!?!?). Under w98 I do Visual Cafe/Java applets and under RH6.1 I do the server/mysql side.
Plus, it's a great portable mp3 jukebox. The 12G drive has lots of space and I don't have to lug CDs over to my pal's house any more. I just plug in an adaptor cable to his aux inputs, bring up xmms and play random from ~70 CDs with plenty of room for more.
The limit to what they/the prosecutors can decrypt is not the same as the limit of the technology available. Rather the limit is their budget.
Most likely the prosecutors gave Mitnick's boxes a cursory scan, knew enough of what they were doing to recognize that some were encrypted and stopped there. For the rest of the time they have been sitting idle, ie no money being spent.
What I wonder about is how he managed to fit 9G into a couple of laptops 5 years ago?!?!?
>I can say that they do not offer Java in the >CS department. This is a reflection in the fact >that Java is not important for what programmers >actually do in the world.
Man have you got to get out in the real world! You and your profs that is. Right now Java is my job. A year ago I was coding c and asm on an 8051 derivative for an embedded project. Today I'm building a distributed network management system for a company that builds fiber backbones. Guess what the most universal platform for executing code is? I'll give you a few clues: All their winXX boxes support it. All their *nix boxes support it. Any ideas? It's called a web browser and everyone that might be interested in designing, configuring, maintaining a network, every one of their laptops, desktops, and workstations has one.
Sooo...which platform do we support? What language do we choose? You only get one choice. I suggest that you transfer to a, uh, more modern school ASAP.
>I may be one of the only Slashdot geeks to have majored in Classical Languages...
Indeed, you might be the only one, but some of us out here still enjoy learning something new everyday, and I will mention that good grammar and spelling is also appreciated by the literate among us.
It doesn't need to infect or modify the kernel at all. All it needs to do is copy itself into the filesystem somewhere and insert a line into/etc/inittab. Bingo! The malicious code is started at boot, can have root privileges and it can use the network to bootstrap/download a more sophisticated/larger/updated version of itself and so forth, link itself into other "normally running processes" whatever...
Imagine a virus-ized version of syslogd, init itself, or any other core component.
Once you have access to an unprotected file system, you can do whatever you want. The virus might even be able to run under windos and access the linux partitions directly. Forget infecting LILO, dual boot boxes are dangerous no matter.
Why do so many (mainstream) people have such difficulty understanding the 'net and the way it works? It's not just you. It is so very simple and obvious to those of us that grew up in it and built it. Why is the 'net useful? What is it's real and true value? What is it about the 'net that makes want to use it? All these questions, and the question "Why are there flames?" have the same answer. Are you stumped?
Here's the answer:
The 'net provides a free flow of reliable information. It is honest. It is not Politically Correct. Rather it is Simply Correct.
Realize the 'net would be useless if all the data that flowed through it carried the same "colors" as the data that comes across "mainstream media". There is no need for civility because there is no immediate threat due to physical presence. There is no need for manners, nor any need to defer to someone of larger physical stature simply because they (any potential threat) are not there (within reach).
How many times have you spoken derogatory comments about someone "under your breath"? How many times have you cursed someone who cut you off in the middle of the road? On the 'net, you don't express yourself "under your breath". Your comments, thoughts and reactions are all out there in the open for everyone to see if you choose to place them there and if they choose to read them. Here, you get to curse that idiot driver and have a certain confidence that he will hear your words. Surprise! You are not as well loved as you thought. Surprise! Your supposedly well thought out belief systems turn out to be rather "holy" after all; and here is someone in your face that in no uncertain terms, is calling you a lazy idiot for not thinking things through.
Some of us like it, relish it, learn and grow from from it.
Wouldn't it be nice if you could really, truly, honestly, tell your wife "No honey, that dress makes you look fat"? Then she could take that honest objective datum and use it to improve herself, or she could simply modify her opinion of you as a reliable data source.;-)
This happens all the time on the 'net for people that can really and truly use it. You have to be able to think, learn, CHANGE YOURSELF and your opinions of others before any discussion is really going to do you any good. Too many people in this world grow up without these abilities. Too many discussions are carried/acted out in the "real world" where there is actually nothing gained because all of the participants are fearful of offending others or in some fashion disrupting the discussion. Tell me, what good is a discussion that disturbs nothing? What's the point?
>There are good arguments in support of flaming. Flamers can deflate the >pompous, correct the inaccurate, educate the ignorant, level the >communications playing field.
The problem being there are so many people who are accustomed to simply having their way. It does not matter whether or not they can think, follow simple directions, or simply learn anything. These poor fools are the most frequent victims of flames and in my opinion, rightly so. For all too long our society has tolerated ignorance, idiocy, and simple laziness for various vague reasons like "fairness", "niceness" and so on. Now the tables have been turned. If you don't have your facts straight, someone will straighten them out for you and let everyone else know that you and your screwy ideas are worthless. If you don't have the ability to defend yourself, too bad. The ones that do think, do learn, do research will skewer you every time.
Once again, this is a good thing. It stops the pollution of true, useful information by the ill informed. It exposes and ridicules faulty concepts that are presented in the mainstream everyday as if they were viable and if you don't value that, go watch FOX for the rest of your life. At least you'll be happy there.
If you don't have the ability to think about what has been said, absorb new ideas and adjust your opinions based on the wealth of information that is available you can of course stay out of the fray, or off the 'net entirely and be left behind.
>Worse, the ferocity of the environment discourages all but the most >confident or determined posters.
Indeed it does! This is Yet Another Good Thing. How often have you read erroneous reports or seen broadcasts that are so far out in left field that you are left wondering how the reporter/editor got/keeps the job? An erroneous reporter/speaker doesn't get away with that on the 'net. If you are not at least reasonably sure of yourself and where you stand in regard of any particular topic, what in the world are you doing talking about it as if you do know the subject thoroughly? The point is, you, yes YOU, can meet and learn from an expert on ANY subject at any time. So don't expect to be regarded as an expert when you hop into a forum and start talking, unless you are CONFIDENT that you know the subject. Of course, if you jump in and are found to ignorant while speaking as an authority, expect to be flamed. There would be a lot more well educated people in the world if this behavior was practiced face to face. There would be a lot fewer "offended" of various ethnic, racial, or whatever your pet peeve types if this behavior could be practiced face to face. Simply because they would have learned to either put up, back up, hold up, or in whatever way defend their ideas and positions or be told to shut up and listen until they have something worthwhile to say. So many people think that they know what "it is all about". They think they are the so important. They think they are "hot stuff", "top dog" or whatever. In reality, most of them simply don't think very well at all. In my opinion, it's high time someone showed them the error of their ways.
>Flaming, like skateboarding, seems overwhelmingly an adolescent form of >recreation.
Hardly, skillful flames are sometimes difficult to perceive. Well formed sentences, solid logic, a foundation of fact and skillful selection of words can produce a beautiful dart that often will not be perceived as such by the target. They are always educational for the interested and alert third party and often are for both the flamer and flamed as well. They are also something that very few adolescents can produce.
>Whole segments of the human population - women, the elderly, those who >speak foreign languages, newcomers, children - are excluded from the >conversation or choose to avoid it.
I have yet to see anyone excluded from a public, unmoderated, discussion until after they have already made fools of themselves or in some fashion rendered themselves as incompetent, ignorant, or in some way unreliable sources of information. Even then, the exclusion is generally made on an individual basis. It is a personal choice.
>Some are too vulnerable too join in
So be it, this is not a problem. There are activities of all types that are simply not available for some because they don't have what it takes. This is simply another. Fortunately, it is founded on that most fundamental of human features, the power and capability of thought.
>many are tough enough but they don't see much reason to bother.
Indeed, this is true of many activities such as one of my favorites, mountain climbing. I choose not to participate because I have a child to feed, a wife to maintain, etc. In other words, it is not worth it anymore. If some people decide that the insight and knowledge that is available on the 'net is not worth the trouble, that's OK, that's their decision. They can live with it and so can I. On the other hand, if you want to pollute or destroy what I consider a reliable and valuable information source just so that it is easier for the timid to use, then you will find yourself isolated.
You see, the 'net does not work like conventional channels. If you come along and mess up my space, I can move and my discussion can move right around you. If you or the gov tries to censor or moderate one discussion, I'll move on and start another. Try to tax or filter email, and the 'net will develop another method of moving data that is outside the legislation almost overnight. You can't influence the 'net with PAC money, advertisements, or whatever external force you wish to apply. By it's very nature it will simply slip from your grip if you attempt to squeeze. Finally, the people get to speak. You can speak or not. It's your choice. Just be prepeared to be treated as people really and truly perceive you.
>So flamers discourage free speech, prey on the weak and dominate discussion.
No, they discourage idiocy and ignorance. They certainly do prey on and dominate the weak which is of course the proper, natural thing for the strong to do. It does not require legislation or regulation. It is not nice or fair, or civil, but it is reality. The solution, which of course should be obvious, is not to whine about it, or in some fashion weaken the strong, rather it is to make the weak stronger.
This is one of MY pet peeves. Whining about problems that some people have does not improve anything. Putting shackles on the strong does not help the weak. The only way to truly improve the whole is to strengthen the weak or eliminate them.
This is the one feature of the 'net which will have the most influence on the populace in the long run. Of course it is also the one feature that all of pundits from the "classical media" have overlooked. For the first time since something like the printing press, a new form of data transportation has arrived. There will be no reliance upon the "classic media" as data conduits. YOU will be able to hear first hand from someone and converse with someone who was there and directly involved in whatever it is that interests you. YOU will be able to leave class and check out whatever it is that the prof was preaching and form your own conclusions. YOU will be able to test those conclusions not only against your classmates and your prof, but against the experts from around the world.
Myth after myth will slowly be dispelled as more and more people are exposed to rational thought processes, logic, and real data rather than the output of "filters".
The world is going to be a better place Jon, and it won't be because the strong have been handicapped. Instead, the 'net will either strengthen the weak or it will kill them. I intend to survive and grow stronger. For your kids' sake, I recommend that you do the same.
I've had it about a month. The display is sharp and fast with the patched X server. Sound playback works(I haven't tried recording). There is some bug in the apmd/suspend functionality but I haven't been motivated to check it out since I ususally just shut down anyway. I guess it's a "desktop" habit.
...that's still no reason to abuse their good humor.
Somewhere in the past, I recall reading a thread about this very topic. The thread included some posts from the folks in charge at Hormel. The overall tone of their remarks was lighthearted and humorous. They were amused that their "trademark" had been appropriated. They commented on how many emails they had gotten on the subjsect and so forth...
The whole point of having kids is not about convenience or "niceness". It's about commitment, devotion, honesty, and believe it or not, expense, pain, and inconvenience.
If you need a "convenience" to help you raise your kids, then you need to re-evaluate your priorities. What comes first? Do you properly supervise your kids while they are surfing, or do you watch the bowl game on TV?
Come on, give me an honest answer. Is it really more important for you to watch the game or for you to do the best possible job of raising your kids?
If you would rather rely on a "cyber-sitter" to raise your kids so that you can "conveniently" watch the ball game, you really should check yourself for proper priorities and thought processes regarding your kids and what you do with them.
>...Filters are good...
So, once you throw the "need" for filters for kids out, what exactly are filters "good" for?
Why do we never see these claims along with math? I suppose that training in analytical thought processes actually does help one see the world.
>We would have had cheap, clean, virtually limitless power
Sorry dreamer, but the universe is against you. You cannot really "generate" energy, you can only convert from one form to another. So... what is the source of the power? How efficicent is the conversion process? Where does all the waste heat go?
>...he caused the Tunguska explosion
Ha ha, that's a new one. Calculate the energy released into the atmosphere. Calculate the strength of a magnetic field that would store that much energy. Design a mechanism for producing such a field. Design or demonstrate a means of converting that stored energy into heated, or at least really fast moving air. Show us how to do it quickly enough that the energy release(conversion) mimics an explosion. Show us the records of Tesla's purchases of such hardware or even raw materials. Show us evidence of the simple existance of the raw materials! Show us where he bought so many millions of tons of hay to burn and produce the energy...I grow weary.
>Obviously, if Tesla's, rather than Edison's, paradigm had caught on..."
Incredible, even when real world history supports you, you favor fantasy. Telsa's paradigm DID catch on. It's called AC(that's Alternating Current, not Anon Cow) power distribution and it is used world wide. It is far more efficient than Edison's DC method. Which of course is why it is used, not because of some conspiracy or fantasy.
Finally, a simple fundamental: There Aint No Such Thing As A Free Lunch(TANSTAAFL). Memorize it, comprehend it, realize it, apply it and you will be relieved of the burden of nonsense such as this.
...that so many fail to see. Of all the "rights" that are documentented here and there, the most important ones, the original ones, are the ones that protect the individual FROM THE GOVERNMENT.
The government has never been, and as far as I can see never will be, very good at protecting anything but itself.
Slashdot Mirror
That's what I do when I try to read here in the evenings and this kind of junk shows up. It's a really nice, handy, working system. All the junk just automagically goes away.
Rob should patent it! One-Two-click moderation and sensibility filtering!
That the data scrambling feature of DVDs is NOT useful for copyright protection. It is only useful for controlling playback of the video. Just because the plaintiffs say that "it is" does not mean that it really is. So...if the encryption that has been cracked is not used for protecting against copyright violations but only for control of playback, how is the DeCSS code in violation of the law? There is nothing in the DMCA that says anything about engineering, reverse or otherwise, of compatible players illegal. In fact, it actually says that it IS LEGAL to reverse engineer a product in order to make another that is compatible!
Just like anything else in the world from Heisenberg on up, there are tradeoffs. You don't get to have your cake and eat it too.
You want speed, you dump journalling or file systems alltogether and do raw, direct disk access. That is the fastest way to get data onto and off of the disk. It has the highest bandwidth both sustained and burst. It has the highest data density. It also is the least flexible and most prone to error.
You want reliability, and/or flexibility, you start taking care how, when, where you put your data, whether or not you do copies, add error correction codes, etc. All of this takes time, which negates speed.
Some people want speed at all cost.
Some people want reliability at all cost.
Some people are somewhere in between.
No one system is going to satisfy all of them.
...is the dual pointing device setup. It has both the trackpad and two buttons for it near the edge, and the eraserhead trackpointer in the keyboard with two buttons for it right below the spacebar. It's much better than the touchpad when typing. The only drawback is when emulating three buttons/center button with a double button click is pretty difficult and unreliable using the two small buttons under the spacebar.
/. discussions, I've been investigating VMWare although without much vigor. It is looking more and more interesting...
After some other
...was that it had an 'option' for no modem. I already had pcmcia ethernet and dialup modem cards so why pay for another, especially if it only will work under winXX? I traded the modem for more RAM.
The other was simply because the 3700 is smaller, and lighter. If I need a big screen that bad, I can hook it up to a monitor.
Mine works fine with Linux. It's not as bulky or heavy as the i7500 and the bright, beautiful, perfect display maxes out at 1024x768, but aside from some apmd suspend/standby/resume issues that I have not spent any time on, it is working just fine. The 433MHz Celery is plenty fast(blows the socks off of the 300MHz Gateway PII that I have at work, but then so does the 350MHz K6-2 at home!?!?). Under w98 I do Visual Cafe/Java applets and under RH6.1 I do the server/mysql side.
Plus, it's a great portable mp3 jukebox. The 12G drive has lots of space and I don't have to lug CDs over to my pal's house any more. I just plug in an adaptor cable to his aux inputs, bring up xmms and play random from ~70 CDs with plenty of room for more.
The Bud-dog-hedge-van was the best. Everybody at the party cracked up upon seeing that one.
All the rest left us wanting.
The limit to what they/the prosecutors can decrypt is not the same as the limit of the technology available. Rather the limit is their budget.
Most likely the prosecutors gave Mitnick's boxes a cursory scan, knew enough of what they were doing to recognize that some were encrypted and stopped there. For the rest of the time they have been sitting idle, ie no money being spent.
What I wonder about is how he managed to fit 9G into a couple of laptops 5 years ago?!?!?
It was properly credited, perhaps he could have included more detail. Such as:
By CARL S. KAPLAN in the cyber law journal of the january 2000 issue of of the ny times tech library.
>I can say that they do not offer Java in the
>CS department. This is a reflection in the fact
>that Java is not important for what programmers
>actually do in the world.
Man have you got to get out in the real world! You and your profs that is. Right now Java is my job. A year ago I was coding c and asm on an 8051 derivative for an embedded project. Today I'm building a distributed network management system for a company that builds fiber backbones. Guess what the most universal platform for executing code is? I'll give you a few clues: All their winXX boxes support it. All their *nix boxes support it. Any ideas? It's called a web browser and everyone that might be interested in designing, configuring, maintaining a network, every one of their laptops, desktops, and workstations has one.
Sooo...which platform do we support? What language do we choose? You only get one choice. I suggest that you transfer to a, uh, more modern school ASAP.
>I may be one of the only Slashdot geeks to have majored in Classical Languages ...
Indeed, you might be the only one, but some of us out here still enjoy learning something new everyday, and I will mention that good grammar and spelling is also appreciated by the literate among us.
...the system.
/etc/inittab. Bingo! The malicious code is started at boot, can have root privileges and it can use the network to bootstrap/download a more sophisticated/larger/updated version of itself and so forth, link itself into other "normally running processes" whatever...
It doesn't need to infect or modify the kernel at all. All it needs to do is copy itself into the filesystem somewhere and insert a line into
Imagine a virus-ized version of syslogd, init itself, or any other core component.
Once you have access to an unprotected file system, you can do whatever you want. The virus might even be able to run under windos and access the linux partitions directly. Forget infecting LILO, dual boot boxes are dangerous no matter.
I wonder, melons have a rather large size range...
"But they lack the typical coloring and texture we find in those cases," he said.
Ha ha! The typical color of piss is what he's talking about.
Dear Jon,
;-)
Why do so many (mainstream) people have such difficulty understanding the 'net and the way it works? It's not just you. It is so very simple and obvious to those of us that grew up in it and built it. Why is the 'net useful? What is it's real and true value? What is it about the 'net that makes want to use it? All these questions, and the question "Why are there flames?" have the same answer. Are you stumped?
Here's the answer:
The 'net provides a free flow of reliable information. It is honest.
It is not Politically Correct. Rather it is Simply Correct.
Realize the 'net would be useless if all the data that flowed through it carried the same "colors" as the data that comes across "mainstream media". There is no need for civility because there is no immediate threat due to physical presence. There is no need for manners, nor any need to defer to someone of larger physical stature simply because they (any potential threat) are not there (within reach).
How many times have you spoken derogatory comments about someone "under your breath"? How many times have you cursed someone who cut you off in the middle of the road? On the 'net, you don't express yourself "under your breath". Your comments, thoughts and reactions are all out there in the open for everyone to see if you choose to place them there and if they choose to read them. Here, you get to curse that idiot driver and have a certain confidence that he will hear your words. Surprise! You are not as well loved as you thought. Surprise! Your supposedly well thought out belief systems turn out to be rather "holy" after all; and here is someone in your face that in no uncertain terms, is calling you a lazy idiot for not thinking things through.
Some of us like it, relish it, learn and grow from from it.
Wouldn't it be nice if you could really, truly, honestly, tell your wife "No honey, that dress makes you look fat"? Then she could take that honest objective datum and use it to improve herself, or she could simply modify her opinion of you as a reliable data source.
This happens all the time on the 'net for people that can really and truly use it. You have to be able to think, learn, CHANGE YOURSELF and your opinions of others before any discussion is really going to do you any good. Too many people in this world grow up without these abilities. Too many discussions are carried/acted out in the "real world" where there is actually nothing gained because all of the participants are fearful of offending others or in some fashion disrupting the discussion. Tell me, what good is a discussion that disturbs nothing? What's the point?
>There are good arguments in support of flaming. Flamers can deflate the
>pompous, correct the inaccurate, educate the ignorant, level the
>communications playing field.
The problem being there are so many people who are accustomed to simply having their way. It does not matter whether or not they can think, follow simple directions, or simply learn anything. These poor fools are the most frequent victims of flames and in my opinion, rightly so. For all too long our society has tolerated ignorance, idiocy, and simple laziness for various vague reasons like "fairness", "niceness" and so on. Now the tables have been turned. If you don't have your facts straight, someone will straighten them out for you and let everyone else know that you and your screwy ideas are worthless. If you don't have the ability to defend yourself, too bad. The ones that do think, do learn, do research will skewer you every time.
Once again, this is a good thing. It stops the pollution of true, useful information by the ill informed. It exposes and ridicules faulty concepts that are presented in the mainstream everyday as if they were viable and if you don't value that, go watch FOX for the rest of your life. At least you'll be happy there.
If you don't have the ability to think about what has been said, absorb new ideas and adjust your opinions based on the wealth of information that is available you can of course stay out of the fray, or off the 'net entirely and be left behind.
>Worse, the ferocity of the environment discourages all but the most
>confident or determined posters.
Indeed it does! This is Yet Another Good Thing. How often have you read erroneous reports or seen broadcasts that are so far out in left field that you are left wondering how the reporter/editor got/keeps the job? An erroneous reporter/speaker doesn't get away with that on the 'net. If you are not at least reasonably sure of yourself and where you stand in regard of any particular topic, what in the world are you doing talking about it as if you do know the subject thoroughly? The point is, you, yes YOU, can meet and learn from an expert on ANY subject at any time. So don't expect to be regarded as an expert when you hop into a forum and start talking, unless you are CONFIDENT that you know the subject. Of course, if you jump in and are found to ignorant while speaking as an authority, expect to be flamed. There would be a lot more well educated people in the world if this behavior was practiced face to face. There would be a lot fewer "offended" of various ethnic, racial, or whatever your pet peeve types if this behavior could be practiced face to face. Simply because they would have learned to either put up, back up, hold up, or in whatever way defend their ideas and positions or be told to shut up and listen until they have something worthwhile to say. So many people think that they know what "it is all about". They think they are the so important. They think they are "hot stuff", "top dog" or whatever. In reality, most of them simply don't think very well at all. In my opinion, it's high time someone showed them the error of their ways.
>Flaming, like skateboarding, seems overwhelmingly an adolescent form of
>recreation.
Hardly, skillful flames are sometimes difficult to perceive. Well formed sentences, solid logic, a foundation of fact and skillful selection of words can produce a beautiful dart that often will not be perceived as such by the target. They are always educational for the interested and alert third party and often are for both the flamer and flamed as well. They are also something that very few adolescents can produce.
>Whole segments of the human population - women, the elderly, those who
>speak foreign languages, newcomers, children - are excluded from the
>conversation or choose to avoid it.
I have yet to see anyone excluded from a public, unmoderated, discussion until after they have already made fools of themselves or in some fashion rendered themselves as incompetent, ignorant, or in some way unreliable sources of information. Even then, the exclusion is generally made on an individual basis. It is a personal choice.
>Some are too vulnerable too join in
So be it, this is not a problem. There are activities of all types that are simply not available for some because they don't have what it takes. This is simply another. Fortunately, it is founded on that most fundamental of human features, the power and capability of thought.
>many are tough enough but they don't see much reason to bother.
Indeed, this is true of many activities such as one of my favorites, mountain climbing. I choose not to participate because I have a child to feed, a wife to maintain, etc. In other words, it is not worth it anymore. If some people decide that the insight and knowledge that is available on the 'net is not worth the trouble, that's OK, that's their decision. They can live with it and so can I. On the other hand, if you want to pollute or destroy what I consider a reliable and valuable information source just so that it is easier for the timid to use, then you will find yourself isolated.
You see, the 'net does not work like conventional channels. If you come along and mess up my space, I can move and my discussion can move right around you. If you or the gov tries to censor or moderate one discussion, I'll move on and start another. Try to tax or filter email, and the 'net will develop another method of moving data that is outside the legislation almost overnight. You can't influence the 'net with PAC money, advertisements, or whatever external force you wish to apply. By it's very nature it will simply slip from your grip if you attempt to squeeze. Finally, the people get to speak. You can speak
or not. It's your choice. Just be prepeared to be treated as people really and truly perceive you.
>So flamers discourage free speech, prey on the weak and dominate discussion.
No, they discourage idiocy and ignorance. They certainly do prey on and dominate the weak which is of course the proper, natural thing for the strong to do. It does not require legislation or regulation. It is not nice or fair, or civil,
but it is reality. The solution, which of course should be obvious, is not to whine about it, or in some fashion weaken the strong, rather it is to make the weak stronger.
This is one of MY pet peeves. Whining about problems that some people have does not improve anything. Putting shackles on the strong does not help the weak. The only way to truly improve the whole is to strengthen the weak or eliminate them.
This is the one feature of the 'net which will have the most influence on the populace in the long run. Of course it is also the one feature that all of pundits from the "classical media" have overlooked. For the first time since something like the printing press, a new form of data transportation has arrived. There will be no reliance upon the "classic media" as data conduits. YOU will be able to hear first hand from someone and converse with someone who was there and directly involved in whatever it is that interests you. YOU will be able to leave class and check out whatever it is that the prof was preaching and form your own conclusions. YOU will be able to test those conclusions not only against your classmates and your prof, but against the experts from around the world.
Myth after myth will slowly be dispelled as more and more people are exposed to rational thought processes, logic, and real data rather than the output of "filters".
The world is going to be a better place Jon, and it won't be because the strong have been handicapped. Instead, the 'net will either strengthen the weak or it will kill them. I intend to survive and grow stronger. For your kids' sake, I recommend that you do the same.
I've had it about a month. The display is sharp and fast with the patched X server. Sound playback works(I haven't tried recording). There is some bug in the apmd/suspend functionality but I haven't been motivated to check it out since I ususally just shut down anyway. I guess it's a "desktop" habit.
...that's still no reason to abuse their good humor.
Somewhere in the past, I recall reading a thread about this very topic. The thread included some posts from the folks in charge at Hormel. The overall tone of their remarks was lighthearted and humorous. They were amused that their "trademark" had been appropriated. They commented on how many emails they had gotten on the subjsect and so forth...
>You've never adminned a news server, have you?
I was going to post the same. I guess it's obvious.
Convenience perhaps?
The whole point of having kids is not about convenience or "niceness". It's about commitment, devotion, honesty, and believe it or not, expense, pain, and inconvenience.
If you need a "convenience" to help you raise your kids, then you need to re-evaluate your priorities. What comes first? Do you properly supervise your kids while they are surfing, or do you watch the bowl game on TV?
Come on, give me an honest answer. Is it really more important for you to watch the game or for you to do the best possible job of raising your kids?
If you would rather rely on a "cyber-sitter" to raise your kids so that you can "conveniently" watch the ball game, you really should check yourself for proper priorities and thought processes regarding your kids and what you do with them.
>...Filters are good...
So, once you throw the "need" for filters for kids out, what exactly are filters "good" for?
It works like a charm and the screen is faultless.
Really.
Why do we never see these claims along with math? I suppose that training in analytical thought processes actually does help one see the world.
>We would have had cheap, clean, virtually limitless power
Sorry dreamer, but the universe is against you. You cannot really "generate" energy, you can only convert from one form to another. So... what is the source of the power? How efficicent is the conversion process? Where does all the waste heat go?
>...he caused the Tunguska explosion
Ha ha, that's a new one. Calculate the energy released into the atmosphere. Calculate the strength of a magnetic field that would store that much energy. Design a mechanism for producing such a field. Design or demonstrate a means of converting that stored energy into heated, or at least really fast moving air. Show us how to do it quickly enough that the energy release(conversion) mimics an explosion. Show us the records of Tesla's purchases of such hardware or even raw materials. Show us evidence of the simple existance of the raw materials! Show us where he bought so many millions of tons of hay to burn and produce the energy...I grow weary.
>Obviously, if Tesla's, rather than Edison's, paradigm had caught on..."
Incredible, even when real world history supports you, you favor fantasy. Telsa's paradigm DID catch on. It's called AC(that's Alternating Current, not Anon Cow) power distribution and it is used world wide. It is far more efficient than Edison's DC method. Which of course is why it is used, not because of some conspiracy or fantasy.
Finally, a simple fundamental: There Aint No Such Thing As A Free Lunch(TANSTAAFL).
Memorize it, comprehend it, realize it, apply it and you will be relieved of the burden of nonsense such as this.
...to improve your shooting skills of course.
Well, if no mod is going to score you up, I'm going to reply so you'll know that someone appreciated your thoughts.
You make a good point, a lot of non-y2k bugs got fixed by the y2k cleanup efforts and now, no one will notice them either!
All that bottled water and canned goods will last be OK until he can sell it all.
...that so many fail to see. Of all the "rights" that are documentented here and there, the most important ones, the original ones, are the ones that protect the individual FROM THE GOVERNMENT.
The government has never been, and as far as I can see never will be, very good at protecting anything but itself.