We've got to beat them at thier own game. I started a mailing list after reading the "Slashdot in Politics" thread. I'm wanting to get involved, to change the system. Anyone want to help? We've got to do it open source style. Each person works on a small chunk, ending up with a massive effort.
Follow the link in my sig to sign up for the newsletter. We can't just stand by and let this happen.
Its the crappy prepackaged, overproduced garbage that is killing music. MTV, Clearchannel, the big chain stores choking out innovative new music, just rehashing the same crap over and over again. Not Gnutella, Limewire, or KaZaA
I personally can't wait to get a CD that won't play in my CD player at home. That would be my computer. I'll return it for being defective. That should be a fun arguement:)
I love his chair and the analogies it represents. It points out the idiocy of buying something that you can only use under certain circumstances.
For the SSSCA, maybe a book that you buy that is chained to a desk. Its your book, bought and paid for. But you can only read it at the desk. If you try to take the chain off you go to prison as a terrorist. Because we all know only terrorists would want to read a book anywhere but a desk.
These laws are madness, I can only pray that they are rejected by our leaders.
We know that the terrorists were upright citizens before the attack. Couldn't Bin Laden or some other nutball secretly sponser a small software company that makes crypto? The algorithm could be set up that if you have reader X, it encrypts the message complete with a government backdoor.
But if you have the secret reader Y, you encrypt message one that is opened with the backdoor key, AND a second message that the government's key can't touch. This would basically use the govt's backdoor law as a cover for steno!
Encryption, as well as other applications, have done far more good than evil. You can't outlaw nature or math. It doesn't work - people can just use thier own methods instead of going through legal channels. Then the only ones hurt are those you are trying to protect.
What's all this about 'only big corporation have the power to generate enough money to change things' and 'we're showing up to a gunfight with a knife'?
Yeah right. Just like only big companies can write complicated operating systems and applications. There's no way a bunch of volunteers could do something like this in their spare time.
Its pretty simple actually. We can't afford to get a crack team of well funded lobbyists to start working round the clock buying off senators. But if we get behind it we certainly can get 10000 people to put in a few hours a week to get things moving.
Si offered to host a web page with pre written letters to congressmen. I will volunteer to run a mailing list to discuss this project and see what we can do to get it off the ground. Others will fill in other roles in the project.
The concept behind the list is to determine exactly what we need to do to form a PAC, as well as educate people on the issues important to us and how to contact their representatives.
Many people have reported being unable to find contact information on their representatives. Try out
Its a simple program that has links to all the congressmen and senators' web pages, as well as information on various bills before them and how they voted. International information as well. Unfortunately its Windows-only, as it basically sits on top of IE. Someone might try it with WINE though...it doesn't seem like an overly complicated program.
Come join the list, lets not just whine about it on slashdot, lets DO something about it!
Try out Musicmatch Jukebox. Free version available at http://www.musicmatch.com. It has a feature on the web site that looks at your library of songs and recommends other songs that you don't have but might like. The database is based on other users that have logged on and the songs in thier libraries. It seems to be pretty accurate.
My needs in an office suite, where I work anyway, I'm afraid requires MS Office. Specifically, to
- make nice pretty locked down spreadsheets for data from the production floor to be entered. Leave one cell that isn't for data entry unlocked and they'll hose the entire system.
- Automatically copy the spreadsheet data to an Access database for sorting and querying
- Exporting that data to managers for review/analysis/whatever it is they do with it.
Setting that up in KOffice seems an order of magnitude more difficult than doing it in MS with some scripting. I understand KOffice offers python for scripts, but it isn't documented. We need descritpions of functions, the arguements they take, and sample code. I have no idea how to even start to make such a script interact with KOffice. Don't see a way to make macros and command buttons either.
As far as workers switching, it won't be as bad as all that. We switched them from Lotus to Excel, IT hand converted all the spreadsheets. 90% of them didn't even notice, except the icon was different.
I do use it at home, and am impressed at how far it has come in so short a time. Can't wait until it'll knock the socks off of Windoze.
Linux in general has come a long way. My install of RH 7.1 was faster and no harder than installing windows.
I'm not a dev, because I don't have the skills. But I do love open source software, and do my part by using the works of others, encouraging friends and co-workers to take a look at Linux, and faithfully reporting bugs.
So why do I use Open Source?
- Better quality. I'm sick of the blue screen of death and am appalled at Microsoft's licensing schemes. Its a lot easier to get a response from an OS developer than it is to get tech support from a company whose software I paid for. They help me because they want people to use thier software.
- Free as in beer. That is a factor. I can try out different OSes and applications at now or low cost. To do what you can do with a Mandrake or Red Hat installation would cost several thousand dollars in the commercial world.
- Politics. As an IT guy, I appreciate open standards. If commercial apps had open standards on thier file formats my job would be a lot easier.
- Education. With OSS, I can set up a variety of servers, build a low cost ghetto router, and learn programming by looking at the source code of serious web browsers, operating systems, and office suites. Cannot see the source of commercial applications at all. If I keep at it, maybe I'll be up to contributing someday.
- Freedom from mismanagement. As one example, the makers of the Dungeons and Dragons game is preparing to release a software program for thier game. A lot of it has turned to vaporware. To most players the program will be unusable because of lacking features and lack of customizability. An opensource project, PCGen, provides much of the missing functionality. To thier credit, the company has said "You don't have permission, this does not comply with out open gaming license (where certain concepts can be used by 3rd parties), but as long as you aren't making money off it we don't care." If not for open source there would not be a program to do this job at all.
Just thought that input from a user would be helpful. Mod me as you see fit.
You can get rid of it...Just start the hotmail account back up and use it to send spam. Include abuse addresses of several ISPs. That'll be sure to get the account canceled:)
The two year computer networking program I finished up last fall had a touch of Linux. We had a class on desktop operating systems, and spent a few weeks each on DOS, Win98, and Linux. It also got me involved in some LUGs and Linux in general.
I think the Novell classes would have been better served by a series of Linux classes. At least its a start. (plus they don't have anyone qualified to teach anything more than an intriductory course)
This seems benign, even benificial, as many posters have said. After all, what's the big deal if I get more ads for computer games and more FF and tomb raider trailers than tampons and cleo the psychic (Is she supposed to be Irish or Jamacian? I can't quite tell)
The real danger is how exactly do you think they are going to get the information to target the ads? The shows you watch? Maybe, at first. But that isn't enough information. They need to look somewhere else.
You KNOW they'll end up in bed with online merchants and credit card companies. They'll find out what you have bought and how much you have bought and tailor your ads based on that. That is an unnacceptable violation of privacy.
I urge eveyone to reject consumer culture. If you see an ad for a product, don't buy it if there is another alternative. A generic version is likely the same damn thing, only cheaper because the company that made it doesn't have to pay for ads.
I am not a fucking consumer! Advertising and sitcoms do not define my culture.
It is NOT thier internet. It doesn't belong to the government, the state of michigan, the soccer moms, the church, or the moral majority. Or Microsoft or other big business. It belongs to US.
The geeks made the net, by the geeks for the geeks. The businesses and AOLers are guests in our house. They have absolutely NO right to say anything about what goes on on the web.
I have a two year old daughter, and no she doesn't surf the net. I don't really want her looking at pr0n or talking to creeps in chat rooms in a couple years, but as the quote above me said I don't want her to say to me 'Daddy, where were you when they took the freedom of the press away from the internet?'
Re:What they won't show, perhaps ever...
on
15 Minutes
·
· Score: 1
Actually, there is, at least for now, though I tend to think it will happen soon enough, given America's appetite for "reality" TV:
Live Death Penalty
You want a really slimy idea? Why not have a daily show of the prisoners in a cell block together. Every week, the home audience could vote on who gets executed. The last one left 'wins' and has his sentance commuted to life in prison. The sick part is you KNOW it would get ratings!
Personally, I've liked all the trek franchises. TOS was essentially the 'wild frontier' TNG was basically to modernize the series, but after awhile it started to feel like they weren't boldly going where no one has gone before, but patrolling thier well known and well traveled borders.
DS9 essentially wanted to get politics into the mix. They did this well, and the characters were interesting and well developed.
I'm one of the rare who actually LIKE voyager (and not just for Jeri Ryan's ass, fine though it may be). The show in many ways return to TOS, giving much more of a feel for being out of the frontier.
Several people commented on hating holodeck...I don't have a problem with them except for one thing...why is there an option to override safety protocols? When is it EVER a good idea to let holograms kill you? So why would the programmers even put that choice in there?
Set in the past, I don't know. I don't think they can convince me that this is before kirk and his crew. They aren't about to go back to cheesy animations for phaser fire or overly large colored knobs on the control panels, or that weird bowl think Sulu used to steer the ship with
Cmon folks, if someone is geeky enough to be posting to/., they likely have broadband if available.
The comments about 'Well I want to run Q3 on my C64 why can't I do that' are completely missing the point. you can buy faster hardware, better graphics cards, etc., but unless you are one of the fortunate few who lives in the right place, you can't buy broadband at ANY price
I get on at 28.8, 31.2 if I'm lucky. I play Unreal Tournament, Diablo 2, and Asheron's Call. UT suffers the worst, but it isn't exactly unplayable. Diablo is fine, as long as I don't try with more than 2 or 3 people. AC usually runs great, little lag. Also Mechwarrior 3 seems to be really efficient.
I think the best solution is to control who you're playing with. I remember in Q2 days playing on the zone, people would label servers as either for dial up or broadband. That way, the BB guys don't get bogged down and the modem guys don't get slaughtered.
And yes, gamers will push the technological horizons, as they always have. If it weren't for games, we'd all still be using black and green 13" displays.
The whole point of nanotechnology isn't just that things are really small, but that the systems come to be governed by the weird laws of quantum mechanics instead of classical mechanics. I'm by no means an expert in QM, but one application I've heard is a quantum computer, where bits are not stored as 1s and 0s, but as a waveform of possible outcomes. As this waveform collapses under observation, incredibly complex calculations can be made, such as solving for factors of large numbers in a short period of time, which could crack nearly any encryption scheme out there. The quantum computers would also be orders of magnitude faster than what we have now.
Especially if this is spread to the animal kingdom. If viral vector research is successful, can you imagine ordering a leapord skin pattern and over the course of three weeks getting spots and a slight orange fuzz? Or a beautiful pair of wings growing out of your back? Or an extra long tongue, like a gecko's?
Oh, I'm gonna start saving for that one now! Imagine sitting at the bar, licking your eyebrows. You sure wouldn't have and trouble finding some female company:)
I feel the movie could have used some trimming during the scenes in FLorence. The business of the Italian cop simply went on too long. I'd liked to have seen it get on with Clarice and Hannibal's meeting, or maybe some of the flashback scenes to Lector's childhood. The cop was lunchmeat from the first moment he interacted with Lector, and everyone in the audience knew it.
On the ratings issue, I think they're too fucked up to be any use. I'd much rather my daughter see a couple making love or hear the word 'motherfucker' than see the scenes in Hannibal. None are appropriate (she's 2) but I doubt she's have nightmares from seeing the first two.
Re:Cannibalism is NOT ENTERTAINMENT.
on
Hannibal's Return
·
· Score: 1
I understand it will not affect everyone the same way, but over time it is like water on a rock. Would you want your 16-year old kid to watch this ? I certainly would not.
That is your right as a parent. Do you actually suggest that the government step in to censor what goes on? To turn this country into a christian version of Iran? No one is questioning your right to decide what you or your kids watch, why do you want to question what me or my kids watch?
More like, films like Eyes Wide Shut have to cut scenes of people having sex to avoid an NC-17, but a gore-fest of cannibalism, mutilation, and disembowelment only gets an R rating. That is a fucked up value system.
I appreciate that you value content over style, and as an amatuer web desiger I'm a believer that 'less is more' - like slashdot itself, simply presenting information in an elegant and easy to navigate fashion
However, my designs would be implemented much quicker once NS4.x goes obselete. I love CSS, it allows you to focus on the design and not have to figure out a dozen nested tables to get your site to look right. The older NS browsers only partially support CSS though. You are left with two options: write a mess of javascript to translate to the browser, or simply write a different version of the site for NS and IE. One is a waste of time, the other is a waste of disk space.
Having a browser that supports the standards and not kludgy proprietary replacements is essential.
Slashdot Mirror
We've got to beat them at thier own game. I started a mailing list after reading the "Slashdot in Politics" thread. I'm wanting to get involved, to change the system. Anyone want to help? We've got to do it open source style. Each person works on a small chunk, ending up with a massive effort.
Follow the link in my sig to sign up for the newsletter. We can't just stand by and let this happen.
Its the crappy prepackaged, overproduced garbage that is killing music. MTV, Clearchannel, the big chain stores choking out innovative new music, just rehashing the same crap over and over again. Not Gnutella, Limewire, or KaZaA
:)
I personally can't wait to get a CD that won't play in my CD player at home. That would be my computer. I'll return it for being defective. That should be a fun arguement
I love his chair and the analogies it represents. It points out the idiocy of buying something that you can only use under certain circumstances.
For the SSSCA, maybe a book that you buy that is chained to a desk. Its your book, bought and paid for. But you can only read it at the desk. If you try to take the chain off you go to prison as a terrorist. Because we all know only terrorists would want to read a book anywhere but a desk.
These laws are madness, I can only pray that they are rejected by our leaders.
Wouldn't this be perfectly feasable?
We know that the terrorists were upright citizens before the attack. Couldn't Bin Laden or some other nutball secretly sponser a small software company that makes crypto? The algorithm could be set up that if you have reader X, it encrypts the message complete with a government backdoor.
But if you have the secret reader Y, you encrypt message one that is opened with the backdoor key, AND a second message that the government's key can't touch. This would basically use the govt's backdoor law as a cover for steno!
Encryption, as well as other applications, have done far more good than evil. You can't outlaw nature or math. It doesn't work - people can just use thier own methods instead of going through legal channels. Then the only ones hurt are those you are trying to protect.
What's all this about 'only big corporation have the power to generate enough money to change things' and 'we're showing up to a gunfight with a knife'?
Yeah right. Just like only big companies can write complicated operating systems and applications. There's no way a bunch of volunteers could do something like this in their spare time.
Its pretty simple actually. We can't afford to get a crack team of well funded lobbyists to start working round the clock buying off senators. But if we get behind it we certainly can get 10000 people to put in a few hours a week to get things moving.
Si offered to host a web page with pre written letters to congressmen. I will volunteer to run a mailing list to discuss this project and see what we can do to get it off the ground. Others will fill in other roles in the project.
You can join the newly created group by going to
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/slashdot_politics
The concept behind the list is to determine exactly what we need to do to form a PAC, as well as educate people on the issues important to us and how to contact their representatives.
Many people have reported being unable to find contact information on their representatives. Try out
http://www.governmail.comIts a simple program that has links to all the congressmen and senators' web pages, as well as information on various bills before them and how they voted. International information as well. Unfortunately its Windows-only, as it basically sits on top of IE. Someone might try it with WINE though...it doesn't seem like an overly complicated program.
Come join the list, lets not just whine about it on slashdot, lets DO something about it!
maddman
Try out Musicmatch Jukebox. Free version available at http://www.musicmatch.com. It has a feature on the web site that looks at your library of songs and recommends other songs that you don't have but might like. The database is based on other users that have logged on and the songs in thier libraries. It seems to be pretty accurate.
My needs in an office suite, where I work anyway, I'm afraid requires MS Office. Specifically, to
- make nice pretty locked down spreadsheets for data from the production floor to be entered. Leave one cell that isn't for data entry unlocked and they'll hose the entire system.
- Automatically copy the spreadsheet data to an Access database for sorting and querying
- Exporting that data to managers for review/analysis/whatever it is they do with it.
Setting that up in KOffice seems an order of magnitude more difficult than doing it in MS with some scripting. I understand KOffice offers python for scripts, but it isn't documented. We need descritpions of functions, the arguements they take, and sample code. I have no idea how to even start to make such a script interact with KOffice. Don't see a way to make macros and command buttons either.
As far as workers switching, it won't be as bad as all that. We switched them from Lotus to Excel, IT hand converted all the spreadsheets. 90% of them didn't even notice, except the icon was different.
I do use it at home, and am impressed at how far it has come in so short a time. Can't wait until it'll knock the socks off of Windoze.
Linux in general has come a long way. My install of RH 7.1 was faster and no harder than installing windows.
I'm not a dev, because I don't have the skills. But I do love open source software, and do my part by using the works of others, encouraging friends and co-workers to take a look at Linux, and faithfully reporting bugs.
So why do I use Open Source?
- Better quality. I'm sick of the blue screen of death and am appalled at Microsoft's licensing schemes. Its a lot easier to get a response from an OS developer than it is to get tech support from a company whose software I paid for. They help me because they want people to use thier software.
- Free as in beer. That is a factor. I can try out different OSes and applications at now or low cost. To do what you can do with a Mandrake or Red Hat installation would cost several thousand dollars in the commercial world.
- Politics. As an IT guy, I appreciate open standards. If commercial apps had open standards on thier file formats my job would be a lot easier.
- Education. With OSS, I can set up a variety of servers, build a low cost ghetto router, and learn programming by looking at the source code of serious web browsers, operating systems, and office suites. Cannot see the source of commercial applications at all. If I keep at it, maybe I'll be up to contributing someday.
- Freedom from mismanagement. As one example, the makers of the Dungeons and Dragons game is preparing to release a software program for thier game. A lot of it has turned to vaporware. To most players the program will be unusable because of lacking features and lack of customizability. An opensource project, PCGen, provides much of the missing functionality. To thier credit, the company has said "You don't have permission, this does not comply with out open gaming license (where certain concepts can be used by 3rd parties), but as long as you aren't making money off it we don't care." If not for open source there would not be a program to do this job at all.
Just thought that input from a user would be helpful. Mod me as you see fit.
maddman
You can get rid of it...Just start the hotmail account back up and use it to send spam. Include abuse addresses of several ISPs. That'll be sure to get the account canceled :)
The two year computer networking program I finished up last fall had a touch of Linux. We had a class on desktop operating systems, and spent a few weeks each on DOS, Win98, and Linux. It also got me involved in some LUGs and Linux in general.
I think the Novell classes would have been better served by a series of Linux classes. At least its a start. (plus they don't have anyone qualified to teach anything more than an intriductory course)
Just a joke man, relax.
/. readers :)
At least I TRIED to read the article. Doesn't that put me above 90% of
This seems benign, even benificial, as many posters have said. After all, what's the big deal if I get more ads for computer games and more FF and tomb raider trailers than tampons and cleo the psychic (Is she supposed to be Irish or Jamacian? I can't quite tell)
The real danger is how exactly do you think they are going to get the information to target the ads? The shows you watch? Maybe, at first. But that isn't enough information. They need to look somewhere else.
You KNOW they'll end up in bed with online merchants and credit card companies. They'll find out what you have bought and how much you have bought and tailor your ads based on that. That is an unnacceptable violation of privacy.
I urge eveyone to reject consumer culture. If you see an ad for a product, don't buy it if there is another alternative. A generic version is likely the same damn thing, only cheaper because the company that made it doesn't have to pay for ads.
I am not a fucking consumer! Advertising and sitcoms do not define my culture.
Luckily for the pilots, cell phone towers don't stand up very well to cruise missiles.
It is NOT thier internet. It doesn't belong to the government, the state of michigan, the soccer moms, the church, or the moral majority. Or Microsoft or other big business. It belongs to US.
:)
The geeks made the net, by the geeks for the geeks. The businesses and AOLers are guests in our house. They have absolutely NO right to say anything about what goes on on the web.
I have a two year old daughter, and no she doesn't surf the net. I don't really want her looking at pr0n or talking to creeps in chat rooms in a couple years, but as the quote above me said I don't want her to say to me 'Daddy, where were you when they took the freedom of the press away from the internet?'
Viva la revoluccion
I'll do you one better
:)
All I want is thier source code
Live Death Penalty
You want a really slimy idea? Why not have a daily show of the prisoners in a cell block together. Every week, the home audience could vote on who gets executed. The last one left 'wins' and has his sentance commuted to life in prison. The sick part is you KNOW it would get ratings!
Personally, I've liked all the trek franchises. TOS was essentially the 'wild frontier' TNG was basically to modernize the series, but after awhile it started to feel like they weren't boldly going where no one has gone before, but patrolling thier well known and well traveled borders.
DS9 essentially wanted to get politics into the mix. They did this well, and the characters were interesting and well developed.
I'm one of the rare who actually LIKE voyager (and not just for Jeri Ryan's ass, fine though it may be). The show in many ways return to TOS, giving much more of a feel for being out of the frontier.
Several people commented on hating holodeck...I don't have a problem with them except for one thing...why is there an option to override safety protocols? When is it EVER a good idea to let holograms kill you? So why would the programmers even put that choice in there?
Set in the past, I don't know. I don't think they can convince me that this is before kirk and his crew. They aren't about to go back to cheesy animations for phaser fire or overly large colored knobs on the control panels, or that weird bowl think Sulu used to steer the ship with
Cmon folks, if someone is geeky enough to be posting to /., they likely have broadband if available.
The comments about 'Well I want to run Q3 on my C64 why can't I do that' are completely missing the point. you can buy faster hardware, better graphics cards, etc., but unless you are one of the fortunate few who lives in the right place, you can't buy broadband at ANY price
I get on at 28.8, 31.2 if I'm lucky. I play Unreal Tournament, Diablo 2, and Asheron's Call. UT suffers the worst, but it isn't exactly unplayable. Diablo is fine, as long as I don't try with more than 2 or 3 people. AC usually runs great, little lag. Also Mechwarrior 3 seems to be really efficient.
I think the best solution is to control who you're playing with. I remember in Q2 days playing on the zone, people would label servers as either for dial up or broadband. That way, the BB guys don't get bogged down and the modem guys don't get slaughtered.
And yes, gamers will push the technological horizons, as they always have. If it weren't for games, we'd all still be using black and green 13" displays.
The whole point of nanotechnology isn't just that things are really small, but that the systems come to be governed by the weird laws of quantum mechanics instead of classical mechanics. I'm by no means an expert in QM, but one application I've heard is a quantum computer, where bits are not stored as 1s and 0s, but as a waveform of possible outcomes. As this waveform collapses under observation, incredibly complex calculations can be made, such as solving for factors of large numbers in a short period of time, which could crack nearly any encryption scheme out there. The quantum computers would also be orders of magnitude faster than what we have now.
Why? Because making babies the old fashioned way is just too much damn fun.
I feel the movie could have used some trimming during the scenes in FLorence. The business of the Italian cop simply went on too long. I'd liked to have seen it get on with Clarice and Hannibal's meeting, or maybe some of the flashback scenes to Lector's childhood. The cop was lunchmeat from the first moment he interacted with Lector, and everyone in the audience knew it.
On the ratings issue, I think they're too fucked up to be any use. I'd much rather my daughter see a couple making love or hear the word 'motherfucker' than see the scenes in Hannibal. None are appropriate (she's 2) but I doubt she's have nightmares from seeing the first two.
I don't think that's what Katz is saying at all
More like, films like Eyes Wide Shut have to cut scenes of people having sex to avoid an NC-17, but a gore-fest of cannibalism, mutilation, and disembowelment only gets an R rating. That is a fucked up value system.
I appreciate that you value content over style, and as an amatuer web desiger I'm a believer that 'less is more' - like slashdot itself, simply presenting information in an elegant and easy to navigate fashion
However, my designs would be implemented much quicker once NS4.x goes obselete. I love CSS, it allows you to focus on the design and not have to figure out a dozen nested tables to get your site to look right. The older NS browsers only partially support CSS though. You are left with two options: write a mess of javascript to translate to the browser, or simply write a different version of the site for NS and IE. One is a waste of time, the other is a waste of disk space.
Having a browser that supports the standards and not kludgy proprietary replacements is essential.