I don't find it all that surprising as it is standard operating procedure for 'Information Week', but they have once again seemed to tell only the "high level" side of the story. Even under the guise of attempting to vie for the sanity of the little cyber geek (me...), they still centered their piece around the thoughts and comments of yet more CIO's, CEO's, and (insert your favorite over-compinsated TLA)'s. With even the individuals they portrayed as IT "grunts" being relatively high-level consultants, I can only imagine if they heard and saw some of the 'TRUE IT Horror Stories' (TM).
Even more, I believe this article completely forsakes a major demographic of the IT industry - the hordes of masochistic geeks such as myself that actually ENJOY the long hours, tight deadlines, and impossible objectives. If I wanted a boring, 9 to 5 job I would have become a banker. Rather, I chose the ever-evolving, fast paced, IT world in which to make my "millions". I work an average of 60+ hours a week and to be honest I wouldn't know what to do with my self if I didn't. Don't get me wrong, I have a girlfriend, a dog, some might even say a life...the simple fact is that I love the challenge of computers. Generally speaking, if I am not doing something on a computer for work then I am on the same computer doing something for "fun" (Linux!!!).
All in all, I guess it just comes down to the old saying "each unto their own...". Certainly my lifestyle is not for everyone, if fact it is probably for very few.
Sorry buddy, but you OBVIOUSLY didn't read any of the report rendered by the NEO (you know the subject of this story).
According to their predictions / calculations, any near Earth object smaller than 50 meters in diameter is burnt up in the Earth's atmosphere (reference page 20 of the report).
And I don't know about you, but I have NEVER seen a car that was 50 meters long...
Nice idea, but next time get your **FACTS** straight before you start undermining someone else's theories...thanks...
This article will probably become a major controversy in the campaigns. Can't you here it...
"[F]irst he called me a rat and now he's paid someone to make fun of me for discovering the Internet...boo...fuckin'...hooo!!!" - Al Gore
The saddest part of this whole situation is that one of these two idiots in just over three months will be the most powerful man in the world. Forget fathom, plague, or nuclear holocaust....THAT scares the livin' **SHIT** out of me!!!
Associated with each article on your left is an "annoy lib" which will allow you to compose an anonymous email message to the persons named in the Article. It comes from us...no one will ever know it's you! (and we purge our records every night).
Why, you may ask? Bill Clinton and congress passed a law recently making it a felony to annoy them! Of all the fucking nerve. Supported, no less, by a whole bunch of folk, who in our opinion, are fucking indecent and annoying themselves - to say the least. So now it's payback time. We bring you the perfect tool to annoy them back! And as often as you like!
Some might call it subversive. We call it democracy.
They do **NOT** keep track of their users!!!. Per the bolded text I have quoted above from the annoy.com web site (can be seen here )
Chances are, that is why "the Man" (aka the government) got so pissed off and started this entire proceeding.
Associated with each article on your left is an "annoy lib" which will allow you to compose an anonymous email message to the persons named in the Article. It comes from us...no one will ever know it's you! (and we purge our records every night).
Why, you may ask? Bill Clinton and congress passed a law recently making it a felony to annoy them! Of all the fucking nerve. Supported, no less, by a whole bunch of folk, who in our opinion, are fucking indecent and annoying themselves - to say the least. So now it's payback time. We bring you the perfect tool to annoy them back! And as often as you like!
Some might call it subversive. We call it democracy.
I found the above text at a link on the annoy.com web site here .
To me, this passage immediately brings **TWO** questions to mind:
(1) If the acts that the web site were not just facilitating, but encouraging were in a "gray area" of legality, why didn't they do a more effective job of CYA (cover your arse)???
(2) When in the **HELL** was a law passed by congress declaring the act of "annoying" prominent politicians illegal???
The first question is easy to answer, (a) because they can and (B) because it is good for publicity (which equals traffic). Additionally, I personally like this idea because it pushes the limits of free speech. You know, the first amendment...the one that the government attempts to walk on CONSTANTLY.
The second question, however, has left me puzzled. When in the fuck and, more to the point, why in the fuck was a law limiting MY access to sending prominent political entities written communications created and passed through legislature. I apologize for my vulgarity, but this is one topic that really upsets me. How can we call ourselves a democracy if we limit people from communicating their views to the elected officials in power. Then there are the questions of who decides what is "annoying" or "harassing"??? What are the penalties??? Was the government attempting to identify the "anonymous user" who wrote the letter in question to seek prosecution???
All in all, I suppose I should be surprised. If the government can order a business to keep secret that fact that they are being persecuted, what would ever lead me to believe that I have a right to communicate to the people I helped get elected.
I think a lot of people here are way over-estimating the intelligence and practicality of the mass population. As many may have noticed of late, society has an acute fascination, perversion even, to having the latest and greatest toys with the **MOST** features. Even more so, rarely is the usefulness of these many "bells and whistles" ever taken into account.
You see this everywhere, in every sect of business. Whether it be a luxury car or a expensive wrist watch - why should PDA's be an exception. Take the average geek, my self for example. I have a work-mandated pager which can receive alpha-numeric pages and email (not to mention the news, weather, sports, etc...), a cell phone that can not only receive phone calls but can also receive pages, email, and surf the web, and last but not least my trusty Palm Pilot PDA that can support a wireless Internet connection for receiving email and surfing the web. See any over lap in functionality here...I'd say so. So why do I have all of these little electronic toys??? Because I CAN!!! There is no rhyme or reason to it in the least.
Take a look at yourself, any overlapping functionality or useless features among the electronic arsenal that you carry around on a daily basis??? EXACTLY!!!
In the end, I don't believe that this is about a tremendous innovation at all. I don't even think that Palm believes it to be. Palm will simply bundle this new functionality into their latest and greatest offering and everyone (probably even me...) will end up with yet another barely, if at all, useful feature. The important part to Palm, as it is to any for-profit corporation, is the bottom line and features like this are what marketing execs dream about. Being able to offer something that none of your competitors has!!!
We are talking about FIFTY THOUSAND DOLLARS!!! And while I am sure that is mere pocket change for some of you, that represents a healthy chunk of coin to others. Certainly enough to bring considerably more attention to this endeavor and possibly spark interest with previously uninvolved developers. Right, wrong, or indifferent, many people WILL go after this with a total effort.
I think this little contest is an interesting, if not inventive, initiative to get a long overdue product to be developed in a much shorter timeframe!!!
The unfortunate aspect, in my mind, is that the criteria for the new application was not a bit more ambitious. Obviously this project will get quite a bit of attention - especially after being featured on/.!!! My complaint is that originators of this little venture did not seize this opportunity more effectively and put all of the intelligent minds that will be working on this venture to a bit more of a challenge.
- J
Obviously and intellegent individual...BUT...
on
Bob Metcalfe On NPR
·
· Score: 1
While this gentleman is by every measure an extremely intelligent individual, I believe that he is a bit naïve and short-sited to believe that "open source" and Linux will inevitably fail.
And to be honest, this comes as quite a surprise to me. Not because of his apparent mental aptitude as we have all encountered, at one time or another, a well respected, intelligent person whom is a non-believer in the "open source" model. Rather, I am perplexed by his position on this subject in light of his past accomplishments with Ethernet.
After all of the adversity and disbelief in his ideas that he faced during his innovative work with Ethernet, one would imagine that he would be very supportive and optimistic with the potential for advancement that the "open source" approach brings to the software world. I, for one, would have thought this man to be a vocal, public proponent of the "sharing" of source code and standards to better a product or technology. Especially when considering that it was this type of openness and willingness to cooperate that not only made the advent of Ethernet possible, but eventually aided in its acceptance as a widely used standard.
All that said, however, I still have a great deal of respect and admiration for this great man and his achievements. As does anyone, he has a right to his own opinion.... even if it is wrong!!!:-)
"Is it hypocritical to demand open source, but not be willing to share your design?"
Well, I would say that depends on the degree to which you believe information and data should be free. I believe that, as with anything, support of a belief or cause can manifest itself in certain levels. The important thing is to practice what you preach.
For instance, I am a very staunch advocate to the 1st amendment allowing freedom of speech. I believe that everyone has the right to voice their opinion, popular or otherwise, provided that it doesn't "hurt" anyone else. This is not say that everyone will like the opinion or agree with it, only that it does not "hurt" them directly. A quick example would be my lack of support for an individual screaming "FIRE!!" in a crowded movie theater. The line is crossed when your pursuit of expression (whether in speech or in code) infringes on the safety, well-being, or livelihood of another individual.
I believe the case is the same here. By copying the web sight design he is exhibiting his right to free speech - through the use of code. Now, if this individual's action infringes on the livelihood or well being of the LINUX.COM site, then yes action should be taken. However, I don't believe that to be the scenario. Sure, this man is committing a major act or disrespect and irresponsibility by passing off the design of this site as his own; however, I do NOT think this will have any ill affect on any other sites on the web including LINUX.COM.
In the end, I think this must be dealt with on a case by case basis. Making a blanket ruling would do nothing but complicate matters further. Not everything can always be solved by a judicial precedent or a congressional policy; sometimes it just takes a little common sense. The only problem is that common sense just isn't as common as it should be!!!
Thank you...I suppose I deserved the small lecture regarding the fact that"Not everything begins and ends in the US".
However, the main idea that I was attempting to convey remains intact. What I was suggesting was that pictures, mathematics, or programming code would be a far more reasonable and feasible means of communication with a future race than any language (whether it be English, French, or the African "clicking" language). I wasn't intentionally implying that all data contained on the disk would be in the English language or format - that would be both foolish and naive of me. Thanks anyway...
First off, I must state that having any type of time capsule (space based or otherwise) endure for the extent of time that this project is proposing is very ambitious to say the very least. However, should this craft beat the odds, dodging the ever-growing amount of space debris, meteors, and other obstacles constantly in orbit around the Earth, it still must overcome the natural deterioration of the medium (a Compact Disk in this case) on which the data is placed. As unlikely as all of this is, let us suppose for a brief moment that it did.
Hypothetically speaking, when the craft is recovered in 52001 by whatever intelligent race occupies the Earth at that time (yet another variable, you had better hope the evolution and extinction of species is on your side and an intelligent race is present, otherwise game over...), what is potential that they could ever decipher something as complicated as the English language. We would be far better served to send something a bit more universal such as a visual media or something based on mathematics. Programming code, pick your favorite flavor, would even be more desirable considering much of the underlying principles are rooted in mathematics and the use of variables.
Only under these extreme and diverse circumstances do I believe that such an undertaking would be of any benefit and do more than simply confuse the receivers of this package.
Slashdot Mirror
Even more, I believe this article completely forsakes a major demographic of the IT industry - the hordes of masochistic geeks such as myself that actually ENJOY the long hours, tight deadlines, and impossible objectives. If I wanted a boring, 9 to 5 job I would have become a banker. Rather, I chose the ever-evolving, fast paced, IT world in which to make my "millions". I work an average of 60+ hours a week and to be honest I wouldn't know what to do with my self if I didn't. Don't get me wrong, I have a girlfriend, a dog, some might even say a life...the simple fact is that I love the challenge of computers. Generally speaking, if I am not doing something on a computer for work then I am on the same computer doing something for "fun" (Linux!!!).
All in all, I guess it just comes down to the old saying "each unto their own...". Certainly my lifestyle is not for everyone, if fact it is probably for very few.
- j
According to their predictions / calculations, any near Earth object smaller than 50 meters in diameter is burnt up in the Earth's atmosphere (reference page 20 of the report).
And I don't know about you, but I have NEVER seen a car that was 50 meters long...
Nice idea, but next time get your **FACTS** straight before you start undermining someone else's theories...thanks...
- J
"[F]irst he called me a rat and now he's paid someone to make fun of me for discovering the Internet...boo...fuckin'...hooo!!!" - Al Gore
The saddest part of this whole situation is that one of these two idiots in just over three months will be the most powerful man in the world. Forget fathom, plague, or nuclear holocaust....THAT scares the livin' **SHIT** out of me!!!
-J
Why, you may ask? Bill Clinton and congress passed a law recently making it a felony to annoy them! Of all the fucking nerve. Supported, no less, by a whole bunch of folk, who in our opinion, are fucking indecent and annoying themselves - to say the least. So now it's payback time. We bring you the perfect tool to annoy them back! And as often as you like!
Some might call it subversive. We call it democracy.
They do **NOT** keep track of their users!!!. Per the bolded text I have quoted above from the annoy.com web site (can be seen here ) Chances are, that is why "the Man" (aka the government) got so pissed off and started this entire proceeding.
- J
Why, you may ask? Bill Clinton and congress passed a law recently making it a felony to annoy them! Of all the fucking nerve. Supported, no less, by a whole bunch of folk, who in our opinion, are fucking indecent and annoying themselves - to say the least. So now it's payback time. We bring you the perfect tool to annoy them back! And as often as you like!
Some might call it subversive. We call it democracy.
I found the above text at a link on the annoy.com web site here .
To me, this passage immediately brings **TWO** questions to mind:
(1) If the acts that the web site were not just facilitating, but encouraging were in a "gray area" of legality, why didn't they do a more effective job of CYA (cover your arse)??? (2) When in the **HELL** was a law passed by congress declaring the act of "annoying" prominent politicians illegal???The first question is easy to answer, (a) because they can and (B) because it is good for publicity (which equals traffic). Additionally, I personally like this idea because it pushes the limits of free speech. You know, the first amendment...the one that the government attempts to walk on CONSTANTLY.
The second question, however, has left me puzzled. When in the fuck and, more to the point, why in the fuck was a law limiting MY access to sending prominent political entities written communications created and passed through legislature. I apologize for my vulgarity, but this is one topic that really upsets me. How can we call ourselves a democracy if we limit people from communicating their views to the elected officials in power. Then there are the questions of who decides what is "annoying" or "harassing"??? What are the penalties??? Was the government attempting to identify the "anonymous user" who wrote the letter in question to seek prosecution???
All in all, I suppose I should be surprised. If the government can order a business to keep secret that fact that they are being persecuted, what would ever lead me to believe that I have a right to communicate to the people I helped get elected.
- Pissed Off J
You see this everywhere, in every sect of business. Whether it be a luxury car or a expensive wrist watch - why should PDA's be an exception. Take the average geek, my self for example. I have a work-mandated pager which can receive alpha-numeric pages and email (not to mention the news, weather, sports, etc...), a cell phone that can not only receive phone calls but can also receive pages, email, and surf the web, and last but not least my trusty Palm Pilot PDA that can support a wireless Internet connection for receiving email and surfing the web. See any over lap in functionality here...I'd say so. So why do I have all of these little electronic toys??? Because I CAN!!! There is no rhyme or reason to it in the least.
Take a look at yourself, any overlapping functionality or useless features among the electronic arsenal that you carry around on a daily basis??? EXACTLY!!!
In the end, I don't believe that this is about a tremendous innovation at all. I don't even think that Palm believes it to be. Palm will simply bundle this new functionality into their latest and greatest offering and everyone (probably even me...) will end up with yet another barely, if at all, useful feature. The important part to Palm, as it is to any for-profit corporation, is the bottom line and features like this are what marketing execs dream about. Being able to offer something that none of your competitors has!!!
- J
I think this little contest is an interesting, if not inventive, initiative to get a long overdue product to be developed in a much shorter timeframe!!!
The unfortunate aspect, in my mind, is that the criteria for the new application was not a bit more ambitious. Obviously this project will get quite a bit of attention - especially after being featured on /.!!! My complaint is that originators of this little venture did not seize this opportunity more effectively and put all of the intelligent minds that will be working on this venture to a bit more of a challenge.
- J
And to be honest, this comes as quite a surprise to me. Not because of his apparent mental aptitude as we have all encountered, at one time or another, a well respected, intelligent person whom is a non-believer in the "open source" model. Rather, I am perplexed by his position on this subject in light of his past accomplishments with Ethernet.
After all of the adversity and disbelief in his ideas that he faced during his innovative work with Ethernet, one would imagine that he would be very supportive and optimistic with the potential for advancement that the "open source" approach brings to the software world. I, for one, would have thought this man to be a vocal, public proponent of the "sharing" of source code and standards to better a product or technology. Especially when considering that it was this type of openness and willingness to cooperate that not only made the advent of Ethernet possible, but eventually aided in its acceptance as a widely used standard.
All that said, however, I still have a great deal of respect and admiration for this great man and his achievements. As does anyone, he has a right to his own opinion.... even if it is wrong!!! :-)
- J
Well, I would say that depends on the degree to which you believe information and data should be free. I believe that, as with anything, support of a belief or cause can manifest itself in certain levels. The important thing is to practice what you preach.
For instance, I am a very staunch advocate to the 1st amendment allowing freedom of speech. I believe that everyone has the right to voice their opinion, popular or otherwise, provided that it doesn't "hurt" anyone else. This is not say that everyone will like the opinion or agree with it, only that it does not "hurt" them directly. A quick example would be my lack of support for an individual screaming "FIRE!!" in a crowded movie theater. The line is crossed when your pursuit of expression (whether in speech or in code) infringes on the safety, well-being, or livelihood of another individual.
I believe the case is the same here. By copying the web sight design he is exhibiting his right to free speech - through the use of code. Now, if this individual's action infringes on the livelihood or well being of the LINUX.COM site, then yes action should be taken. However, I don't believe that to be the scenario. Sure, this man is committing a major act or disrespect and irresponsibility by passing off the design of this site as his own; however, I do NOT think this will have any ill affect on any other sites on the web including LINUX.COM.
In the end, I think this must be dealt with on a case by case basis. Making a blanket ruling would do nothing but complicate matters further. Not everything can always be solved by a judicial precedent or a congressional policy; sometimes it just takes a little common sense. The only problem is that common sense just isn't as common as it should be!!!
-J
However, the main idea that I was attempting to convey remains intact. What I was suggesting was that pictures, mathematics, or programming code would be a far more reasonable and feasible means of communication with a future race than any language (whether it be English, French, or the African "clicking" language). I wasn't intentionally implying that all data contained on the disk would be in the English language or format - that would be both foolish and naive of me. Thanks anyway...
Hypothetically speaking, when the craft is recovered in 52001 by whatever intelligent race occupies the Earth at that time (yet another variable, you had better hope the evolution and extinction of species is on your side and an intelligent race is present, otherwise game over...), what is potential that they could ever decipher something as complicated as the English language. We would be far better served to send something a bit more universal such as a visual media or something based on mathematics. Programming code, pick your favorite flavor, would even be more desirable considering much of the underlying principles are rooted in mathematics and the use of variables.
Only under these extreme and diverse circumstances do I believe that such an undertaking would be of any benefit and do more than simply confuse the receivers of this package.
But hey, what do I know... J