I loved the original series. I hated pretty much everything else. I like to see suave guys woo sexy girls without all of our post modern sensitivity baggage. I like to see fistfights. I like to see new things every episode, not the same 4 or 5 antagonists cycled through over and over again. Give me a new planet with some new "what if life was like this?" concept and show me how the crew of the USS whateverprise responds to the contact. ST needs to more exploration & conquest and less contemplation of its own belly-button.
I guess I'm not sure what your point is, are you arguing the uncostitutionality of "electricity as weapon" laws? What do you draw from the comma after State?
I would however, argue that lethal force has always been available to civilians whether or not our national constitution provides for it.
How much will they cost? How much will the civilian version cost? Or as I've read in many other articles about nifty new next-generation nonlethal gadgets, will it be marketed only to military and official law enforcement folks?
"I'm sorry, our nonlethal line is only available to law enforcement sir. Would you be interested in our line of top quality firearms?" Lethal force is only for civilians... what a time to be alive!
Perhaps we are a bit overworried about all this. Consider for example your shirt. You know, the one you wore to the bar last night at about 11 pm. The one you wore pushing through the crowd & getting a little closer to that pretty thing in the cheap sunglasses. By today, since you didn't do laundry, you've got SOME DNA from about 180 people clinging to your body and falling off in hairs, lint balls, and bits of dry sweat as you rob the convenience store... What on earth good will it do law enforcecment?
Is it luck, or is it the benefits of hard work from your parents & grandparents? It wasn't that long ago that my grandparents came from europe, driven by rampant poverty & oppression. They settled on 160 acres of fosaken land in the midwest and made a life for themselves. The one thing that set them apart is that they worked hard for my benefit. It wasn't luck, and they didn't spend hours pontificating on how pointless their lives were. They dedicated themselves to a better life for their descendants and I thank them for it. But there was no LUCK involved.
... Just because your software is open-source doesn't make it suddenly immune to the laws of your country.
Actually, in the United States at least it very easily could. See, the federal government does not have the power to regulate software that does not move in interstate commerce. It should therefore be perfectly legal to own software that does not have such inclusions untill such time as your local state legislature prohibits it.
There are different standards applied to your car and your computer, hence different application of things like the DMCA.
1. The owner of a car has a duty to keep that car in safe operating condition (if it is going to be used on the roads) If the law burdens a man with a responsibility, it must also provide him the means to carry it out. This generally precludes the law from tying him to a single vendor. (Think insurance, you can pay for it or post bond and insure yourself. You can pay for auto service or buy tools and do it yourself.)
2. The law does not presently burden the owner of a computer to keep it in operating condition (if it is to be used on the internet.) Thus the DMCA may be enforced without creating a conflict.
3. It might be beneficial to require the same standard of care for your computer that we require for your car, but don't hold your breath. Car accidents LOOK a lot more damaging than unsecure computers.
It seems to me that a consumer can effect all of these "rights" for himself in just a few easy steps.
1. Read every contract you sign, even the fine print, even the one at Blockbuster Video. The folks in line behind you can deal with it and might learn something.
2. Read the billing information and know the law in your state, even if the state taxes are not seperated from the company "fees" on the bill your 3rd grade math skills can work it out.
3. If you don't like the way the company operates or conducts its billing, don't do business with it. People have lived for betweeen 5,940 and a billion years without cell phones them so far. You can survive with a landline if you don't want to get the "screw-job."
(Author's disclaimer - I live in a state with many miles of road that lack cellular service of any kind)
I am reminded of my undergraduate geology professor's first lecture to our class. He took a candle and covered it with a jar. The candle went out. Then he asked the class for a show of hands, how many people thought the candle went out because all of the available oxygen had been consumed, and how many people thought the flame ceased because (if memory serves) the jar had become saturated with phogistan. Of course the vote was 100% for the oxygen answer. He then explained that 100 years ago, we all would have failed the exam. He then went on to discuss "vestigal organs," the fossil record, and other models that have not held up well in all cases.
His point? "Evidence" can often be made to support any number of theories, among them the 4.5 billion year age of the earth or in this case the cause of a mass extinction. In the future we will know more, but we should never assume we have all the answers right now.
I suspect a good review of a Linux Distro will not come from any one source any more than the distribution itself. Like Linux, a good understanding of a product's quality must be built upon the efforts of many. While commercial folks like Microsoft can spend the time and effort to test their products on an array of different platforms (do they?) a product review columnist at a tech magazine isn't given 100 different machines from 100 different vendors.
Perhaps some enterprising web-site might begin to compile information on distributions, but it seems unrealistic to find complete reviews of compatibility and usability across the spectrum from a single source.
It can't be long now, we'll start with the disclaimers and all... I can just imagine it:
"By accessing this node you indicate that you are not now, nor have you ever been a law enforcement agent, postal worker, or employee of any Media corporation engaged in interstate commerce, nor are employed by any such organization."
>but we can't get the fucking congress to fund education to the top of the list. We'll get our paybacks soon enough:(
Actually, it really isn't Congress that is to blame, because Congress has no direct authority to regulate education. Sure they can send money if they want, and they can attach strings to that money if they want, but it is and always has been the final responsibility of your own state to maintian public education systems. You want more money for your schools? Call your state capital and tell them you want to pay more taxes.
In the past there have been quite a number of similar investigations:
1. It was said for many years Pontius Pilate never existed, until digs started turning up roman coins & carvings with his name on them.
2. It was said that Ur never existed, until they found it a few years ago.
Up to now, bibilical texts have proven to be a remarkably good resource, and every bit as reliable as other texts from the periods in question. I'm really very interested to see what, if anything this investigation turns up. Biblically the Ark should be less than ten thousand years old, and even myths often start with some grain of truth.
What are the social and legal effects of this kind of business going to create? In the unlikely event that SCO were to win big money for BayStar, other groups will begin to seek similar "investments." I see a progression here:
1. Mutual funds and VC groups begin to seek out luctrative litigation opportunities.
2. People begin to invest in these groups, because of the high rate of return. Skilled lawyers scour the land for untapped "violations" or negligence.
3. The well begins to dry up. Investors need to keep the cash flowing in. but the only targets left don't carry enough cash to make them good targets. So they lobby the Federal Government to mandate the remaining targets to carry insurance.
4. The risk is spread out, and we all pay more to keep BayStar's numbers in the black... with no social benefit whatsoever.
>>One last thought: if you are not creating wealth, you are taking it from someone else. Asking us to buy ethanol to lower your taxes actually means we pay your taxes.
Well of course, thats the idea. I don't recall suggesting that I was interested in helping any economy outside of my own State. I'm in it for the short term gain.
I, my father, and some of my closes friends have worked in ethanol production from food crops, and we have 2 observations to present.
1. Farmers around the midwest are being paid not to raise crops. The crops they do raise are at times bought by the US and dumped at sea. Others are mixed with the maximum amount of dirt to make sure the maximum profit can be made on sales by weight & volume without violating health rules. From here, we can't see why there is any need to preserve food crops for "eatin'"
2. Ethanol from corn uses as much energy to make as it provides when you burn it right now. Like any new effort the process is going to be inefficient at the start. As we continue to streamline the process, produce continuous flow rather than batch production, and become more selective in the corn we use, this problem should fade away.
3. Ethanol generates a lot of money for my state. Use it and I get lower taxes.
It seems to me there are two issues that arise from this little raid.
1. The police used a warrant under seal. This is a bad thing. How exactly are one's constitutional rights to be secure in person, house, papers (electronic documents) and effects protected if one cannot even review the warrant? Is it justified by an FBI argument than they don't want to reveal the source? If so we've got bigger problems, like the FBI using that justification for to seal ANY warrant. Then of course you have your right to face accusers... Lots of work for the lawyers here.
2. We might actually get some real, hard, law out of this case. If you get enough people into the court system with large scale raids, eventually you'll catch a person with a lot of money and the intestinal fortitude to fight you rather than settle out of court. Then we can finally learn what fair use is, whether your rights to confront an accuser include a computer accuser, and whether these sealed warrants are... warranted.
IAAL, and as my tax professor always used to say, "I don't mind playing by the rules as long as I know what the rules ARE." - (F. Slagle, USD School of law.)
Or perhaps these folks are refraining because the fine print of the license for XP includes the following:
"User agrees to indemnify Microsoft against any and all abuse of the legal system and will in no case whatsoever assist any governmnent, foreign or domestic, in levying sanctions against Microsoft."
(I don't run it, but it wouldn't surprise me to see this in there.)
I've heard this argument, but I've also worked in ethanol production areas. Its more a question of technology. The energy cost of producing these fuels includes the construction costs of facilities, the development costs of the technology, and the conversion of existing systems to a new fuel. Over time all of these are ameliorated and technology will continue to advancee.
One of my best friends is over there right now, he just found out his term has been extended up to 120 days.... This sucks.
On the other hand, out here in the dakotas we DO have Ethanol and Bio (Soy) Disel fuels that reduce our consumption, but only by about 15%. Fortunately that number keeps rising every year, so perhaps we can look forward to the day when troops are sent to North Dakota instead of Iraq?
I was born here, my family homsteaded here in 1882. I made no choice to live here. It was No decision of mine to move away from "civilization." Civilization concentrated itself far away through no fault of mine, how then can it be my fault if my continued survival depends on driving?
You migh suggest I move. With equal success you might also suggest I abandon all my religious beliefs and association with my family... yet the last time I read the 1st amendment these are rights too. A choice to abandon all that I know and love is illusory.
The relentless march of time has made the automobile essential to our survival, if this does not make it a right, then rights do not exist.
Slashdot Mirror
"It is IMPOSSIBLE for a common individual to be property informed about the issues that they must vote on."
It has always been this way. That is why we have the electoral college. We really should take better advantage of it.
To Quote many of my close personal friends when using my telephone, "HI, I would have called sooner but he's got a rotary phone."
I loved the original series. I hated pretty much everything else. I like to see suave guys woo sexy girls without all of our post modern sensitivity baggage. I like to see fistfights. I like to see new things every episode, not the same 4 or 5 antagonists cycled through over and over again. Give me a new planet with some new "what if life was like this?" concept and show me how the crew of the USS whateverprise responds to the contact. ST needs to more exploration & conquest and less contemplation of its own belly-button.
I guess I'm not sure what your point is, are you arguing the uncostitutionality of "electricity as weapon" laws? What do you draw from the comma after State?
I would however, argue that lethal force has always been available to civilians whether or not our national constitution provides for it.
How much will they cost? How much will the civilian version cost? Or as I've read in many other articles about nifty new next-generation nonlethal gadgets, will it be marketed only to military and official law enforcement folks?
"I'm sorry, our nonlethal line is only available to law enforcement sir. Would you be interested in our line of top quality firearms?" Lethal force is only for civilians... what a time to be alive!
(5 mod points and I had to comment.)
Perhaps we are a bit overworried about all this. Consider for example your shirt. You know, the one you wore to the bar last night at about 11 pm. The one you wore pushing through the crowd & getting a little closer to that pretty thing in the cheap sunglasses. By today, since you didn't do laundry, you've got SOME DNA from about 180 people clinging to your body and falling off in hairs, lint balls, and bits of dry sweat as you rob the convenience store... What on earth good will it do law enforcecment?
Is it luck, or is it the benefits of hard work from your parents & grandparents? It wasn't that long ago that my grandparents came from europe, driven by rampant poverty & oppression. They settled on 160 acres of fosaken land in the midwest and made a life for themselves. The one thing that set them apart is that they worked hard for my benefit. It wasn't luck, and they didn't spend hours pontificating on how pointless their lives were. They dedicated themselves to a better life for their descendants and I thank them for it. But there was no LUCK involved.
... Just because your software is open-source doesn't make it suddenly immune to the laws of your country.
Actually, in the United States at least it very easily could. See, the federal government does not have the power to regulate software that does not move in interstate commerce. It should therefore be perfectly legal to own software that does not have such inclusions untill such time as your local state legislature prohibits it.
There are different standards applied to your car and your computer, hence different application of things like the DMCA.
1. The owner of a car has a duty to keep that car in safe operating condition (if it is going to be used on the roads) If the law burdens a man with a responsibility, it must also provide him the means to carry it out. This generally precludes the law from tying him to a single vendor. (Think insurance, you can pay for it or post bond and insure yourself. You can pay for auto service or
buy tools and do it yourself.)
2. The law does not presently burden the owner of a computer to keep it in operating condition (if it is to be used on the internet.) Thus the DMCA may be enforced without creating a conflict.
3. It might be beneficial to require the same standard of care for your computer that we require for your car, but don't hold your breath. Car accidents LOOK a lot more damaging than unsecure computers.
It seems to me that a consumer can effect all of these "rights" for himself in just a few easy steps.
1. Read every contract you sign, even the fine print, even the one at Blockbuster Video. The folks in line behind you can deal with it and might learn something.
2. Read the billing information and know the law in your state, even if the state taxes are not seperated from the company "fees" on the bill your 3rd grade math skills can work it out.
3. If you don't like the way the company operates or conducts its billing, don't do business with it. People have lived for betweeen 5,940 and a billion years without cell phones them so far. You can survive with a landline if you don't want to get the "screw-job."
(Author's disclaimer - I live in a state with many miles of road that lack cellular service of any kind)
I am reminded of my undergraduate geology professor's first lecture to our class. He took a candle and covered it with a jar. The candle went out. Then he asked the class for a show of hands, how many people thought the candle went out because all of the available oxygen had been consumed, and how many people thought the flame ceased because (if memory serves) the jar had become saturated with phogistan. Of course the vote was 100% for the oxygen answer. He then explained that 100 years ago, we all would have failed the exam. He then went on to discuss "vestigal organs," the fossil record, and other models that have not held up well in all cases.
His point? "Evidence" can often be made to support any number of theories, among them the 4.5 billion year age of the earth or in this case the cause of a mass extinction. In the future we will know more, but we should never assume we have all the answers right now.
I suspect a good review of a Linux Distro will not come from any one source any more than the distribution itself. Like Linux, a good understanding of a product's quality must be built upon the efforts of many. While commercial folks like Microsoft can spend the time and effort to test their products on an array of different platforms (do they?) a product review columnist at a tech magazine isn't given 100 different machines from 100 different vendors.
Perhaps some enterprising web-site might begin to compile information on distributions, but it seems unrealistic to find complete reviews of compatibility and usability across the spectrum from a single source.
It can't be long now, we'll start with the disclaimers and all... I can just imagine it:
"By accessing this node you indicate that you are not now, nor have you ever been a law enforcement agent, postal worker, or employee of any Media corporation engaged in interstate commerce, nor are employed by any such organization."
More work for the lawyers, YIPPEE!
>but we can't get the fucking congress to fund education to the top of the list. We'll get our paybacks soon enough :(
Actually, it really isn't Congress that is to blame, because Congress has no direct authority to regulate education. Sure they can send money if they want, and they can attach strings to that money if they want, but it is and always has been the final responsibility of your own state to maintian public education systems. You want more money for your schools? Call your state capital and tell them you want to pay more taxes.
In the past there have been quite a number of similar investigations:
1. It was said for many years Pontius Pilate never existed, until digs started turning up roman coins & carvings with his name on them.
2. It was said that Ur never existed, until they found it a few years ago.
Up to now, bibilical texts have proven to be a remarkably good resource, and every bit as reliable as other texts from the periods in question. I'm really very interested to see what, if anything this investigation turns up. Biblically the Ark should be less than ten thousand years old, and even myths often start with some grain of truth.
What are the social and legal effects of this kind of business going to create? In the unlikely event that SCO were to win big money for BayStar, other groups will begin to seek similar "investments." I see a progression here:
1. Mutual funds and VC groups begin to seek out luctrative litigation opportunities.
2. People begin to invest in these groups, because of the high rate of return. Skilled lawyers scour the land for untapped "violations" or negligence.
3. The well begins to dry up. Investors need to keep the cash flowing in. but the only targets left don't carry enough cash to make them good targets. So they lobby the Federal Government to mandate the remaining targets to carry insurance.
4. The risk is spread out, and we all pay more to keep BayStar's numbers in the black... with no social benefit whatsoever.
5. Repeat, industry by industry.
>>One last thought: if you are not creating wealth, you are taking it from someone else. Asking us to buy ethanol to lower your taxes actually means we pay your taxes.
Well of course, thats the idea. I don't recall suggesting that I was interested in helping any economy outside of my own State. I'm in it for the short term gain.
I, my father, and some of my closes friends have worked in ethanol production from food crops, and we have 2 observations to present.
1. Farmers around the midwest are being paid not to raise crops. The crops they do raise are at times bought by the US and dumped at sea. Others are mixed with the maximum amount of dirt to make sure the maximum profit can be made on sales by weight & volume without violating health rules. From here, we can't see why there is any need to preserve food crops for "eatin'"
2. Ethanol from corn uses as much energy to make as it provides when you burn it right now. Like any new effort the process is going to be inefficient at the start. As we continue to streamline the process, produce continuous flow rather than batch production, and become more selective in the corn we use, this problem should fade away.
3. Ethanol generates a lot of money for my state. Use it and I get lower taxes.
It seems to me there are two issues that arise from this little raid.
1. The police used a warrant under seal. This is a bad thing. How exactly are one's constitutional rights to be secure in person, house, papers (electronic documents) and effects protected if one cannot even review the warrant? Is it justified by an FBI argument than they don't want to reveal the source? If so we've got bigger problems, like the FBI using that justification for to seal ANY warrant. Then of course you have your right to face accusers... Lots of work for the lawyers here.
2. We might actually get some real, hard, law out of this case. If you get enough people into the court system with large scale raids, eventually you'll catch a person with a lot of money and the intestinal fortitude to fight you rather than settle out of court. Then we can finally learn what fair use is, whether your rights to confront an accuser include a computer accuser, and whether these sealed warrants are... warranted.
IAAL, and as my tax professor always used to say, "I don't mind playing by the rules as long as I know what the rules ARE." - (F. Slagle, USD School of law.)
Or perhaps these folks are refraining because the fine print of the license for XP includes the following:
"User agrees to indemnify Microsoft against any and all abuse of the legal system and will in no case whatsoever assist any governmnent, foreign or domestic, in levying sanctions against Microsoft."
(I don't run it, but it wouldn't surprise me to see this in there.)
I've heard this argument, but I've also worked in ethanol production areas. Its more a question of technology. The energy cost of producing these fuels includes the construction costs of facilities, the development costs of the technology, and the conversion of existing systems to a new fuel. Over time all of these are ameliorated and technology will continue to advancee.
I hope.
One of my best friends is over there right now, he just found out his term has been extended up to 120 days.... This sucks.
On the other hand, out here in the dakotas we DO have Ethanol and Bio (Soy) Disel fuels that reduce our consumption, but only by about 15%. Fortunately that number keeps rising every year, so perhaps we can look forward to the day when troops are sent to North Dakota instead of Iraq?
It seems like a great idea for Malaysia, but lets consider North Dakota:
1. Heat: Its a high plains desert in a northern climate. If I need electric heat I'm going to burn a lot more hydrogen. Winters get down around -30F
2. Entertainment: Nights last longer up here, so I can't live without my 500w sound system, my Sun Lamps and outdoor lighting.
3. Oh yeah, water for Hydrogen production is in short supply.
It may be a few more years before technology catches up with us, right about the time the local theatre starts showing Phantom Menace.
You're working with too many assumptions.
I was born here, my family homsteaded here in 1882. I made no choice to live here. It was No decision of mine to move away from "civilization." Civilization concentrated itself far away through no fault of mine, how then can it be my fault if my continued survival depends on driving?
You migh suggest I move. With equal success you might also suggest I abandon all my religious beliefs and association with my family... yet the last time I read the 1st amendment these are rights too. A choice to abandon all that I know and love is illusory.
The relentless march of time has made the automobile essential to our survival, if this does not make it a right, then rights do not exist.
Its a warm sunday afternoon in Ridgeview, South Dakota. My wife is hungry, I can:
Walk 100 miles to buy groceries...
Ride a bike 100 miles to buy groceries...
Public transportation does not exist here...
How exactly do I have a choice again?