> Look at what happens when you don't nip nuclear > freaks of nature in the ass first chance you > get... > [snip] > Gozilla
Godzilla, yes, his sacred majesty was mutated by the test of the first hydrogen bomb, giving him huge size and the power of a god. Considering his mood in his last movie (last December) I would not call him a "freak" to his face, if I were you. That's assuming he let you live long enough to call him anything. Godzilla 2000 is a very cool dude that would probably let you live if you showed him your Mac. The GMK Godzilla is a ressurection of the 1954 original by the ghosts of the WWII dead, and is pretty much a walking nuclear bomb.
> Mothra
Mothra was never, ever, the product of nuclear radiation. Mothra's species evolved about 130 million years ago (as shown in "Mothra 3"), possibly earlier. The largest, by far, of the family Saturniidae (giant silk moths), her species is known for its gigantic size (one individual reached a wingspan of over 800 feet), huge head, superhuman intelligence, and for collectively achieving divinity. The closest known relatives to Mothra are the Japanese Silk Moth (change the caterpillars to brown and they look just like her, and the eyes of the adult are blue), and the Indonesian Atlas Moth (same orange stripped body). The original wing pattern was based on solar symbolism (Mothra is the kaiju incarnation of Japan's Sun Goddess, and as such, is the Goddess of civilization, life, peace, and happiness) and the katakana for "Mosura" ("mo" on her rear winglets, and "sura" on her fore winglets).
In 1961, when nuclear testing was done near Infant Island, the divine infant Mothra, still in her egg, shielded her island from the blast. Her tiny priestesses gave her people the juice of giant fungus growing on the island. The red juice proved to be an antidote to radiation poisoning, and it was shared with the crew of a Japanese ship that was shipwrecked near the island.
> Learn from the past... these trees can only > hurt us!!
Probably no more dangerous than your friendly "increasingly clean" coal power plant. After all, the coal they burn is tainted with uranium.
"Mothra, you are Life Eternal! Hear the prayers of your servants.
Come back to us from out of the legend. Come and save us with your power of Life!" "Mothra", May 10, 1962
> I'm sure most persons here know that there is a > large cost involved in the promotion and discovery > of talent.
Sure, the dumb way the evil sharks do it has a large cost. High paid exec goes through large numbers of hopefuls (takes a while and he is high paid) to find someone *he* likes. The promotion that follows is mostly trying to brainwash the world into thinking this performer has any talent. Many hours of high paid exec's time plus much slick advertising equals large cost and a lot of non-talented "pop stars".
On the other hand, a college student/musician has a professional recording studio (a Mac, some hardware and software, some microphones, cheap soundproofing from the hardware store he put up himself, etc.) in his basement. He records some mp3s and puts them on the P2P networks. Some people sample them, and tell all their friends (off and online) that this guy is awesome. Word spreads, and this guy has a market for his CDs that he sells online. The equipment pays for itself, because of his CD sales, and the recording and web site design he does for his fellow student/musicians.
Lower cost (free after the equipment and web hosting costs) promotion, no discovery costs, the artist gets to keep his copyrights and gets the lion's share of the money. Multiply him by hundreds and you have a new, better, music industry growing in the shadow of the old. Plus the guy has a choice of careers and real experience to put on his resume.
Sorry, all you Mr. and Ms. High-Paid Music Execs out there. We don't need you. We would have better music without you.:b
"They bind our hearts: 'Let's sell them again and again!'
Our plan understands the sea; we can wait for her coming." From the song "Infanto no Musume" in the Japanese version of Mothra (1961).
You turn around, and all your lovely Linux MAME servers are now displaying a boot screen logo that says "MILLENNIUM" in gold letters on a blue background.
A little later, after the government tries to blow Microsoft up to free the world's computers, the following words appear on all monitors:
Don't worry though. Godzilla is on his way. He'll destroy the threat to your computers, kill the evil government collaborator, and trash half your city.;) Next time, listen to him when he tries to warn you.
Quote and plot from "Godzilla 2000 Millennium" (Japanese version).
> thinking Microsoft would have to wait until 2002 > for a cross platform threat...
No, they had to wait until they had a Java-a-like that they could control, and a bunch of silly collaborators to port it to anything in sight for them. Convincing the world to make regular payments for the continuing use of their products, as opposed to one charge up front would also be a big help.
Then they can pull out the operating system Microsoft Research has been sitting on since the late 1990's. The operating system that is platform independent and runs on top of their Java replacement. The operating system that will swallow the internet into a single giant distributed network under their control, giving them the 100% monopoly of their wildest dreams. The operating system called Millennium (http://research.microsoft.com/research/sn/Millenn ium/mgoals.html).
With per use charging, the OS itself could be given away on CD ala AOL, made available for free download, and/or automatically installed on XP machines via Windows Update (gee, I hope you didn't install XP Service Pack 1 which includes permission for them to do this and the.Net runtime). Install it, or let it install itself, and you will be making regular payments to Microsoft if you ever want to use your computer again.
I don't think we have too long to wait..Net is available for Windows, and well on its way for Linux and OS X. Longhorn may well be Millennium.
Mind you, this is a giant gamble on Microsoft's part, and they are as likely to get nuked (figuratively, or even literally if a foreign country gets too annoyed with Microsoft's attempt to take over their country's computers) as they are likely to succeed. I don't think the company would survive a stunt like this, but they survived Bob, the antitrust trial's joke of a penalty phase, and Licensing 6.
This isn't a case of poor misunderstood Microsoft, either. Why else would they codename the original Millennium JVM "Borg" (http://research.microsoft.com/research/sn/)?
Shinoda: "The age of Millennium." Io: "What does that mean?" Shinoda: "A thousand year kingdom. It wants to create a home for itself. There is one flaw in its plan: Godzilla." "Godzilla 2000 Millennium" (Japanese version)
Dissenters are by definition disagreeing with whoever is in power. Dissenters are marginal when the majority rules.
Dissenters are non-marginal in these two situations:
1) When Congress follows the will of the corporations instead of the will of the people (as they do these days), the possibility exists for dissenters to become non-marginal. The situation is difficult to correct, because the corporations pay campaign dollars to candidates from most of the parties (Green is one exception, there may be others). So simply voting for the other guy does nothing if they too are in corporate pockets.
2) Dissenters also are non-marginal when a dictator is taking over against the will of the people. Once the dictator secures his power base, dissenters will be squelched down to near none.
The first situation is a reality, and so obvious even CNN comments that Bush ran on energy dollars when he acts to shield coal plants from the Clean Air Act.
Pray the second situation never becomes reality in the US. On the day that it does, the King of Terror will have won. Tyrants reign by terrorizing the people.
The states are challenging Bush's weakening of the Clean Air Act. The states are setting up their own privacy rules, taking on Verizon and defying the FCC. Nine states dissented from the ridiculous Microsoft settlement. You know, it looks like the states might be the last bastion of freedom and justice in the United States of America.
No, there is one other...
"The last hope is to fight by ourselves." Belebera, "Mothra 3: King Ghidora Attacks"
(Mothra, will you please get your cute buggy behind out of the Egg of Eternity already!
The King of Terror is being mean again and needs his can kicked. Armored Warrior, come quickly!)
> First of all, Microsoft's Pallium aims to secure > intellectual property from would-be hacker > thieves, how can you criticise them for that?
The purpose of DRM, which Microsoft won't tell you although they happily crow about it to content creators, is to allow per use charging for media and software. Instead of buying something once, they want to charge you over and over again. The aim is to make it seamless to the user, so that if you try to access something that you haven't paid for today, Microsoft's DRM will charge your credit card quietly and let you use it.
This is getting so ridiculous, that at a recent Seybold, Microsoft was touting the ability of their e book DRM to only allow reading for one hour every second Tuesday!
It should be mentioned that InterTrust has been suing Microsoft for stealing their IP (patents). Infringing technologies include Microsoft's DRM, Windows XP, Office,.Net, etc. Sony and Philips have since bought InterTrust, which means that Microsoft now has to face their lawyers in a lawsuit that could take Microsoft out of the DRM game.
> As it is right now, the internet is a waistland > of pornography, blogs, and hacker filesharing
I guess you haven't noticed Amazon and all the other ecommerce sites, online news sites, and repositories of reference materials?
> I fully support Microsoft in their efforts to > "clean up the trash" and make computers and the > internet a safe place to conduct business for > reputable, long standing business establishments > such as the RIAA.
My computer is not Microsoft's to "clean up". My computer is my property, not Microsoft's and not the RIAA's. (BTW, the RIAA these days is a lobbying organization. The businesses are the recording labels.)
> When Trusted Computing becomes a commonplace > technology
The latest word from Microsoft is to remove them from Internet Explorer's list of "trusted publishers". It is the only way to get their latest security patch to work.
> we will all be able to rest at night knowing > that legitimate, respectable institutions such > as the RIAA and MPAA will no longer be suffering > grievous economic losses due to the generally > subversive nature of filesharing.
I quit my BMG club over the evils of the recording industry, so they are "suffering grievous economic losses" due to my not buying their CDs. I'd rather spend my money on good indie bands and imported Mothra soundtracks.
> due to the generally subversive nature of > filesharing
Which is, of course, far more evil than the media sharks making artists into work for hire "slaves" while keeping the profits for themselves. Not!
Mothra and her fairy priestesses knew what they were talking about 41 years ago. They do bind the artists' hearts (with work for hire contracts). They do sell them again and again, performance after performance, CD after CD. Heck if the RIAA gets their way, you will be buying separate copies of a CD for your stereo, your car, your computer, etc.
"They bind our hearts: 'Let's sell them again and again!'
Our plan understands the sea; we can wait for her coming." From the song "Infanto no Musume" in the Japanese version of Mothra (1961).
> Saying be careful is a non-issue. Saying people > should be responsible is part of an after school > special.
If you are going to put any technology with any potentially destructive capacity in the hands of a corporation, these are things you have to say to the over-worked, over-stressed, or just plain lazy workers over and over again. After all, they are just ordinary people like you and me trying to cope with the work of their ten coworkers who were let go in the latest round of layoffs. And then you still have accidents:
A nuclear plant in Tokai, Japan: a little too much uranium oxide is mixed with nitric acid (a fuel preparation method) with no safety precautions (basically a huge mixing bowl and spoon being the main tools). The resultant "soup" began to react. This accident (Japan's worst), its radiation release into the population, and the two deaths, was entirely preventable. Taking the more expensive and responsible route by enabling all the safety precautions that are supposed to go with this procedure, and a bit more care on the part of the workers, and it would not have happened.
In the Black Sea, some foreign jellyfish were accidentally introduced with a ship's ballast. The jellyfish reproduced to the point of collapsing the ecosystem, doing massive damage to the local fishing and tourism industries. In this case, a repeat of the accident introduced another species of jellyfish that found the initial invaders quite tasty.
In a recent Slashdot story, a whole bunch of soybeans from two states had to be dumped because the harvested soybeans had gotten mixed in with harvested corn genetically engineered to produce drugs. Considering drought conditions this year, this is not good news.
We have had fire how many thousands of years? This past summer should have convinced us what masters of that technology we are not. Entrusting greedy corporations and stressed workers with nuclear, genetic, and nano technologies is only going to result in accidents. That is a fact. The only way to reduce accidents is to be careful and responsible. The only way to get workers to be careful is to constantly remind them to be. The only way to get corporations to use these technologies responsibly is to watch them like a hawk and scream bloody murder at abuses.
We can build a bright future for humanity, with technology used responsibly. Or we can build a horrible self-destructive nightmare. Serizawa's way or Shiragami's: the choice is ours. As will be any resultant messes, providing we survive them.
"Our people.. stricken with disease.
You.. you played with the fires of the gods.
And you dare to come here and ask us for help!
You betrayed us! You expect us to trust you after what you have done?" Infant Island Chief, "Godzilla vs. Mothra" (US Version), 1964
> Everybody now is talking about Apple. Sure, It's > pretty cool that Macs run Unix, but well, it's not > Linux is it?
Macs run Linux too, either natively (Linux for PPC) or via emulation (Linux for x86). Between dual booting and emulation, I read somewhere that it was possible to get 11 operating systems running on a Mac.
> Geeks are now starting to get Macs, instead of > developing for Linux they're playing with all > the cool stuff on their mac.
Geeks are developing on their Macs, especially since the development tools (including a cool IDE) are free. They are also porting many Linux programs to give them a far wider audience.
> What next, will Linus get one? Will he decide > that getting stuff done on his mac is more > important than trying to get the next kernel out > the door?
Linus should not have to spend the rest of his life on Linux if he doesn't want to. If he wants to move on to some other project and there is still big demand for Linux, he will find someone else to take his place. Just be thankful for what he has done (which is a lot for something he did for fun as a student), and appreciate him while you have him.
OS X's success would not have been possible if Linus hadn't made Linux. He took the Unix world from the mortal wound Microsoft had inflicted back to interest, health, and even popularity. All of us, Linux users and Mac users alike, owe him a debt of gratitude for that!
> Mac running unix might sound like a good thing, > but all we're going to end up with is Apple as > the new M$ instead.
Apple wants their ancient 40% marketshare back. We don't talk about world domination, just being different (and possibly better;). If Apple got their 40% back, and Linux got 20-40%, Microsoft would not even have a majority of the market, and there would be no monopoly. Just a bunch of operating systems happily cooperating and competing, which is how it should be.
> I just think it's a really bad thing for the > whole Linux community.
Remember, Mac and Linux have different niches. The Mac is easy to use, and has commercial software readily available. Linux may not be so easy to use, but the GUIs available resemble Windows and Linux can be installed on existing PC's, making for a less expensive corporate "switch" from Windows. It has little commercial software readily available, but has a wealth of open source software. Linux is also scalable from embeded systems like PDAs all the way to mainframes, whereas Macs are desktops, laptops, and the XServe.
The Mac and Linux complement each other, and they work well together due to open standards. The only threat they pose is not to each other, but to Microsoft.
"Your way of thinking is completely different from mine!" Shinoda, "Godzilla 2000 Millennium" (Japanese version)
This story already ran Saturday (http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=02/11/16/14222 10&mode=flat&tid=109) on Slashdot, citing an article in Japan Today.
Chief Tsujimori: "I won't let you get away. I will never let you escape." Godzilla elegantly lifts his tail skyward to give her the "finger", crashes it down on the water, and submerges. "Godzilla X Megagiras", 2000
>... are for people too poor to buy all three (four > if you count the GBA/GC-GBA adaptor).
I have two of the three: PS2 and GameCube. I refuse to help Microsoft with their empire building by buying an XBox.
> Which, to be fair, is two more than my GC: Super > Mario Sunshine.
With all due respect to Mario, there are other good games out for the GameCube. One of my favorites is "Godzilla Destroy All Monsters Melee" (http://www.godzillaoncube.com/), the best Godzilla game ever. If Godzilla's atomic breath, King Ghidorah's deadly lightning storm, or Mechagodzilla's arsenal don't put a dent in your opponent, try throwing a skyscraper at them. If that fails, just call Mothra. The Queen of Monsters will happily whittle your opponents life force by nearly half, and she is gracious enough to leave the killing blow to you (gotta look good for the instant replays at the end).
If you are worried about iguanna imposters, don't. This is the one true King of Monsters, God of the Atom, Lord of Destruction, and Child of the Hydrogen Bomb! There are two incarnations of Godzilla in the game: the one from the early 1990's, and Godzilla 2000, the Dreaded God.
Chief Tsujimori: "I won't let you get away. I will never let you escape." Godzilla elegantly lifts his tail skyward to give her the "finger", crashes it down on the water, and submerges. "Godzilla X Megagiras", December 2000
> Actually, I read about some manufacturer of an > external Firewire DVD-RW drive that made a piece > of software for the Mac that would hack iDVD so > that it would work with their drive. > > It lasted until Apple found out and told them to > stop altering their software. I can't recall the > manufacturer, but I think I read about it in a > MacWorld article last month.
The manufacturer was Other World Computing, and you have related the original version of the story (which broke around August 12th) accurately. In that version, Other World Computing claimed Apple had *requested* that they drop it because it violated the iDVD license, and OWC had complied to preserve their good relationship with Apple.
There was *no* mention of the DMCA, and no need to invoke it as Apple's iDVD license is quite clear.
The DMCA accusation came weeks later and was only based on a quote from Other World Computing's president. There was no quote from any document they received from Apple, no posting of any document as proof, and no confirmation from Apple.
My personal impression was that the DMCA accusation was an afterthought on the part of OWC's president to make Apple look bad. If Apple really used the DMCA, I want to see more proof than the word of someone with an axe to grind.
Chief Tsujimori: "I won't let you get away. I will never let you escape." Godzilla elegantly lifts his tail skyward to give her the "finger", crashes it down on the water, and submerges. "Godzilla X Megagiras", 2000
AMD worships the ground Microsoft walks on. Apple wants to crush Microsoft's skull (the way a Jaguar kills).
Not a real good basis for a partnership.
No, Apple's new processor, the thousand year dragon king, will come from the guardian god of the Big Blue sky. He will have his own reasons for hating Microsoft, and will be happy to help Apple.
On December 14, 1996, Mothra resurrected a charred Apple sapling ("Mosura" 1996). On December 14, 2001, Mothra returned to see its fruit ("Gojira, Mosura, Kingu Ghidora: Daikaiju Soukougeki"). OS X Jaguar: truly the Apple of Mothra's Aqua eye.
> Since Apple was technically correct in their > claims, the DRM folk could only counter by kicking > Apple between the legs.
Well, they tried. Then Apple sold a Mac to a college student, who set up his own basement, professional quality, music studio. Then Apple sold a Mac to a small business studio who produced a documentary that played in theaters in New York and LA. Just think how many more college student musicians and small business studios there are or could be out there!
Unless the Hollings' bill passes and forces the acceptance of DRM, Apple will have the last laugh. Piracy may or may not hurt the media industries. Only Apple has the power to destroy them - by democratizing media creation like they did for desktop publishing. When the power to sing songs and tell stories returns to the people, the evil cartels of media sharks will be no more.
"They bind our hearts: 'Let's sell them again and again!'
Our plan understands the sea; we can wait for her coming." From the song "Infanto no Musume" in the Japanese version of Mothra (1961).
> Gene swapping is common among strains of bacteria > (and several other microscopic buggers that > undergo asexual reproduction), but not in > eukaryotic or multicellular critters.
Pollen from genetically modified corn is carried via wind or insect to Farmer John's field. Farmer John's corn gets the pollen, and makes ears of corn from it.
Is Farmer John's corn now safe to eat if the modified corn was for medical purposes? Will it be next year if some of the hybrid corn kernels drop to the ground and reproduce?
Is there any testing Farmer John could have done to detect interbreeding with genetically modified corn before sending it to market?
Can Farmer John be sued for patent infringement?
Will evil biotech terrorists threaten to release Godzilla from a nearby volcano if Farmer John does not turn over his crops to them?
The daughter of Godzilla. The thorn in every rose. Biolante! Returned from space: Transformed by hate!
> The XScale clocks faster, but there are persistent > rumours that it runs slower per MHz than the > StrongARM.
I don't know about the hardware itself, but there is a software reason for XScale not to run as fast as it can on Pocket PCs: Microsoft was too lazy to recompile the OS to optimize it for the new chips.
XScale running Linux should not have that problem, as long as the distribution maker is not as lazy. Sharp is putting out an XScale based Zaurus (running embeded Linux) next year that should be a very zippy little model.
Chief Tsujimori: "I won't let you get away. I will never let you escape." Godzilla elegantly lifts his tail skyward to give her the "finger", crashes it down on the water, and submerges. "Godzilla X Megagiras", 2000
Cool site. Apple has great computers (I'm using one now), and a operating system that is a thing of beauty and a joy forever. It pleases me greatly to see any Apple growth in any market.
That said, Linux gives Japan one thing not even Apple can: a customizable operating system for all that cool Japanese hardware. Sharp has been one of the first Japanese companies to realize this, and go with it, producing the Linux based Zaurus PDA. That very same Japan Today website also contained an article about Sharp and IBM teaming up to provide some kind of wireless, Linux based, services.
Sharp's successes and this decision by the Japanese government might encourage other Japanese computer hardware makers to throw off the Microsoft yoke. Linux would give them more room to innovate (unlike Microsoft who issues yearly hardware specs on what it wants PCs to be that year) while connecting them with open standards to other versions of Linux and other operating systems from around the world.
"At this moment, it has control of systems all over the world.
And...we can't do a damn thing to stop it." Miyasaka, "Godzilla 2000 Millennium" (Japanese version)
> Wait until you hear it from Yomiuri or Asahi > shimbun-- then bother to burn some brain cells.
Exactly what part of "the Asahi Shimbun newspaper reported Saturday" did you not get? Japan Today is quoting an Asahi Shimbun article.
Why is the parent at score 5 if they didn't even bother to read the article?
"At this moment, it has control of systems all over the world.
And...we can't do a damn thing to stop it." Miyasaka, "Godzilla 2000 Millennium" (Japanese version)
Most important telescope astronomy tip for meteor viewing:
Don't use a telescope.
Meteors are pretty zippy. By the time you get a telescope trained on the exact spot where a meteor was, it and twenty of its fellows will be gone. Its even hard to train a pair of binoculars on an individual meteor, unless it is a particularly slow moving fireball.
Use your naked eyes (with glasses if you need them). Spend at least 20 minutes outside in the dark before begining any serious observations. Protect your eyes from street lights, porch lights, flash lights, looking directly at the moon, any light source that is non-red and/or bright. Do not go into your brightly lit home for anything.
And if you are in the Northern hemisphere, dress warmly. It is November. Dress for 20 degrees below the actual temperature, in layers.
General: "Increase voltage" Officer 1: "Turn power up" Engineer: "Captain, we're registering too much voltage for safety now." Officer 2: "Increase voltage" Voltage sound effects, shot of Godzilla struggling, cable burns through, substation fries, Godzilla is free. Scene from American version "Godzilla vs. Mothra" (1964)
Mothra: boldly going where no starship captain had gone before.
> I think this is just making political noise, and > not based on any shred of technical accuracy.
Actually, it is probably a kind of political comparison shopping. Microsoft's competitors (Linux, and to a lesser extent, Apple) will give a customer source code. It is a cool feature to have. So they go back to Microsoft and ask them to produce source code.
Then they go to whoever holds the purse strings: "Wah, Microsoft won't give us any neato whizbang source code. Buy Linux." (Which is a mature as politicos get sometimes.;)
Methinks the open source marketing plan is working.;)
Godzilla to Microsoft: "If you can't take the heat, RUN!" From the Godzilla 2000 trailer Tristar tried so hard to hide.
> Even, if Philips and Sony do nothing with DRM, > they prevent Microsoft from building a market > around it and forcing those two companies to > license it.
Even more important, InterTrust was involved in a ton of patent infringement lawsuits (DRM, trusted computing,.Net, etc.) against Microsoft (http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/7/25871.html ). Microsoft's Jim Desler described them as "This company's sole business focus is filing questionable patent lawsuits against us." Microsoft thought InterTrust was wearing down.
Along comes Philips and Sony (why am I hearing the "Godzilla has entered the bay!" line from "Godzilla 2000"?). Philips is quoting Mothra's pal Steve Jobs, and Sony seems to have suddenly understood just what "Godzilla 2000 Millennium" was all about. In one fell swoop, Microsoft goes from big bully with no penalties for its actions, to facing two giants and two armies of lawyers.
InterTrust tried to have Windows XP stopped. Philips and Sony could easily put paid to Palladium, Longhorn, and Microsoft's hopes for Millennium.
Shinoda: "The age of Millennium." Io: "What does that mean?" Shinoda: "A thousand year kingdom. It wants to create a home for itself. There is one flaw in its plan: Godzilla." "Godzilla 2000 Millennium" (Japanese version)
> I suggest people contact their representatives to > cancel the DMCA instead.
As has been pointed out by others, this bill will cancel some nasty chunks of the DMCA, as well as force CD manufacturers to be honest about their broken music disks.
Most importantly, this bill will raise the voice of the people in Congress. Up until now, lawmakers have only heard the voice of the media sharks urging them into one outrageous bill after another to "save" their industry. It is past time that we were heard.
This is especially vital in light of Hollings' CBDTPA bill. This bill will decimate remaining fair use rights by mandating DRM in everything. The resultant products would be a difficult sell, threatening the consumer electronics and IT industries (apart or together, these industries dwarf the media sharks).
Microsoft now has patents on the concept of a Digital Rights Management Operating System. CBDTPA could wind up being the mandate for a Microsoft DRMOS monopoly, using Palladium in Longhorn. Microsoft could use its patents to force Apple and Linux out, or use.Net based Longhorn to simply run on top of Macs and Linux machines. Since Longhorn would run best as the primary OS, even the latter could run Apple right out of business, and marginalize Linux.
Our congresscritters may not understand all the issues involved in CBDTPA, but even they can understand that consumers like to rip, mix, and burn their legally aquired media, because they like to do that too. That makes the DMCRA a good first line of defense, because it states the issues in congresscritter speak.
"They bind our hearts: 'Let's sell them again and again!'
Our plan understands the sea; we can wait for her coming." From the song "Infanto no Musume" in the Japanese version of Mothra (1961).
> These people don't screw around. In the current > global climate of anti-nuclear-anything, they'd be > idiots to even contemplate cutting a corner.
A great pity the nice folks running a plant in Tokai didn't share those fine sentiments. In 1999, they mixed uranium with nitric acid (to prepare it as a fuel) in an big open bowl with absolutely no safety precautions whatsoever.
To add insult to injury, they did this brilliant thing around the time that the crew of "Godzilla 2000 Millennium" was to be filming an attack by Godzilla on the plant. Needless to say, the big guy decided he wanted some soup, found theirs was too cold, and warmed it up a bit.
In the very next movie Godzilla destroyed the plant in Tokai in 1966 and banned all nuclear power and use of fossil fuels.
Sonora:"New Godzilla reading. He's moving inward toward Tokai." Shinoda: "The nuclear plants, I knew it. Sonora: "Afraid so." Yuki: "Well, that's just lovely. Another Chernobyl." "Godzilla 2000" (US version dialog)
> Nuclear power is feared in this country, for many > stupid reasons.
It is also feared for good reason.
In the early days of our species, fire was discovered. The event was reviled in many a cultural mythos as a theft. Fire warmed our homes, cooked our food, and destroyed us utterly if we were the least bit unattentive.
In the forties, a new fire was stolen, this time from the heart of the atom. It was more deadly than the first, even its ashes and smoke killed. We didn't know but what it might destroy everything, but the first atom bomb was used anyway. Testing of the first H-bomb in the Marshal Islands caused a peaceful Japanese fishing boat to be irradiated in an event the Japanese called the Second Atomic Bombing of Humanity. From outrage and fear a new god was born, new stories told (and with the application of a bit of latex, a successful movie career started). This god was capricious and cruel, killing all in his path.
When atomic power plants and nuclear medicine came into being, this god took on a friendly face (though he still enjoyed a good power plant stomping). However friendly he became, his touch was still deadly, and he was never tame. New words of horror were spoken in fear: Chernobyl, Three Mile Island, Tokai.
Accidents can and will happen, especially if the people running the plants cut corners like they did in Tokai. The technology is too new to trust, not when after millennia we still haven't tamed fire. The fear is real, and in this case, it is healthy. For my part, I will loose my fear of atomic power and fully embrace it when we have gained total control of it and fire, and have completely removed the capacity for greed and stupidity from the gene pool.;)
> Evidenced here [pbs.org]...the potential for > solving world energy demand was canned by > Clinton because of the American aversion to > nuclear power.
That's dumb, because that sounds like such a better solution than Yucca Mountain. What he said about coal certainly explains Godzilla's recent stand against both fossil and nuclear energy. Go forth and find some real "Clean Energy" if you want the big guy happy.
"Our people.. stricken with disease.
You.. you played with the fires of the gods.
And you dare to come here and ask us for help!
You betrayed us! You expect us to trust you after what you have done?" Infant Island Chief, "Godzilla vs. Mothra" (US Version), 1964
> I'm not siding with either paradigm on this one, > but you can't broadly apply something that > Microsoft did (of all companies) to the rest of > the closed source world.
The poster I responded to claimed it was impossible for closed source to be similarly cracked into. I simply pointed out one example where it was.
> No closed source corporation worth its salt > would ever leave source anywhere near a > webserver.
You don't need a webserver to have a computer cracked into. The web is a very recent addition to the internet. There were worms and other nastiness crawling around networks well before the web was ever invented.
If an individual closed source developer has internet access on their development machine (for say email and online help - MSDN in the Microsoft world), the internet has access to their source code. Something as simple as an emailed trojan executable arriving via Outlook could send source files home to its master, and deliver patches from its master. (I am pointing out a security hole to patch here, don't go doing anything like this!)
BTW, most corporations aren't worth a thimble of salt. Corners get cut, marketing makes insane deadlines, laziness and sloppiness abound. It is even worse now that more companies have 24 hour broadband access piped to the same PC that houses development work. People just don't think, and management only cares about the bottom line and department politics.
Windows: "Go talk to my friend, an 800 pound monopoly-abusing gorilla!" Mac: "And here's my good buddy, the 66,000 ton Godzilla!" Godzilla: Stomp!;)
> closed src doesn't have its src on some > webserver for some kiddie to trojan in the first > place. sure the possibility of some employee or > the employer itself to trojan the src, but most > open source trojans are someone breaking into > the web server and uploading modified src. by > definition this wont happen with closed src > since closed src doesn't release src, so your > argument is irrelevant.
Oh, no? Look here:
http://news.zdnet.co.uk/story/0,,s2082221,00.htm l
Microsoft had their source available to some cracker for three months back in 2000. Of course they later spun it down to "one day and we were watching them all the time".
Point is, closed source can be vunerable too. Only Microsoft knows if any damage was really done, and they aren't telling us squat.
"At this moment, it has control of systems all over the world. And...we can't do a damn thing to stop it." Miyasaka, "Godzilla 2000 Millennium" (Japanese version)
Slashdot Mirror
SuperDuG wrote:
... these trees can only
> Look at what happens when you don't nip nuclear
> freaks of nature in the ass first chance you
> get...
> [snip]
> Gozilla
Godzilla, yes, his sacred majesty was mutated by the test of the first hydrogen bomb, giving him huge size and the power of a god. Considering his mood in his last movie (last December) I would not call him a "freak" to his face, if I were you. That's assuming he let you live long enough to call him anything. Godzilla 2000 is a very cool dude that would probably let you live if you showed him your Mac. The GMK Godzilla is a ressurection of the 1954 original by the ghosts of the WWII dead, and is pretty much a walking nuclear bomb.
> Mothra
Mothra was never, ever, the product of nuclear radiation. Mothra's species evolved about 130 million years ago (as shown in "Mothra 3"), possibly earlier. The largest, by far, of the family Saturniidae (giant silk moths), her species is known for its gigantic size (one individual reached a wingspan of over 800 feet), huge head, superhuman intelligence, and for collectively achieving divinity. The closest known relatives to Mothra are the Japanese Silk Moth (change the caterpillars to brown and they look just like her, and the eyes of the adult are blue), and the Indonesian Atlas Moth (same orange stripped body). The original wing pattern was based on solar symbolism (Mothra is the kaiju incarnation of Japan's Sun Goddess, and as such, is the Goddess of civilization, life, peace, and happiness) and the katakana for "Mosura" ("mo" on her rear winglets, and "sura" on her fore winglets).
In 1961, when nuclear testing was done near Infant Island, the divine infant Mothra, still in her egg, shielded her island from the blast. Her tiny priestesses gave her people the juice of giant fungus growing on the island. The red juice proved to be an antidote to radiation poisoning, and it was shared with the crew of a Japanese ship that was shipwrecked near the island.
> Learn from the past
> hurt us!!
Probably no more dangerous than your friendly "increasingly clean" coal power plant. After all, the coal they burn is tainted with uranium.
"Mothra, you are Life Eternal! Hear the prayers of your servants.
Come back to us from out of the legend. Come and save us with your power of Life!"
"Mothra", May 10, 1962
Gary Franczyk wrote:
:b
> I'm sure most persons here know that there is a
> large cost involved in the promotion and discovery
> of talent.
Sure, the dumb way the evil sharks do it has a large cost. High paid exec goes through large numbers of hopefuls (takes a while and he is high paid) to find someone *he* likes. The promotion that follows is mostly trying to brainwash the world into thinking this performer has any talent. Many hours of high paid exec's time plus much slick advertising equals large cost and a lot of non-talented "pop stars".
On the other hand, a college student/musician has a professional recording studio (a Mac, some hardware and software, some microphones, cheap soundproofing from the hardware store he put up himself, etc.) in his basement. He records some mp3s and puts them on the P2P networks. Some people sample them, and tell all their friends (off and online) that this guy is awesome. Word spreads, and this guy has a market for his CDs that he sells online. The equipment pays for itself, because of his CD sales, and the recording and web site design he does for his fellow student/musicians.
Lower cost (free after the equipment and web hosting costs) promotion, no discovery costs, the artist gets to keep his copyrights and gets the lion's share of the money. Multiply him by hundreds and you have a new, better, music industry growing in the shadow of the old. Plus the guy has a choice of careers and real experience to put on his resume.
Sorry, all you Mr. and Ms. High-Paid Music Execs out there. We don't need you. We would have better music without you.
"They bind our hearts: 'Let's sell them again and again!'
Our plan understands the sea; we can wait for her coming."
From the song "Infanto no Musume" in the Japanese version of Mothra (1961).
koko775 wrote:
;) Next time, listen to him when he tries to warn you.
> **In A.D. 2002 OS War Was Begun**
Actually, it goes like this:
You turn around, and all your lovely Linux MAME servers are now displaying a boot screen logo that says "MILLENNIUM" in gold letters on a blue background.
A little later, after the government tries to blow Microsoft up to free the world's computers, the following words appear on all monitors:
"Earth.. Destroy.. Erase.. Suppression.. Dominate.. Terror.. Prosperity.. Oppulence.. Oppression.. Revolution.. Kingdom.."
Then Microsoft counter attacks.
Don't worry though. Godzilla is on his way. He'll destroy the threat to your computers, kill the evil government collaborator, and trash half your city.
Quote and plot from "Godzilla 2000 Millennium" (Japanese version).
cant_get_a_good_nick wrote:
n ium/mgoals.html).
.Net runtime). Install it, or let it install itself, and you will be making regular payments to Microsoft if you ever want to use your computer again.
.Net is available for Windows, and well on its way for Linux and OS X. Longhorn may well be Millennium.
> thinking Microsoft would have to wait until 2002
> for a cross platform threat...
No, they had to wait until they had a Java-a-like that they could control, and a bunch of silly collaborators to port it to anything in sight for them. Convincing the world to make regular payments for the continuing use of their products, as opposed to one charge up front would also be a big help.
Then they can pull out the operating system Microsoft Research has been sitting on since the late 1990's. The operating system that is platform independent and runs on top of their Java replacement. The operating system that will swallow the internet into a single giant distributed network under their control, giving them the 100% monopoly of their wildest dreams. The operating system called Millennium (http://research.microsoft.com/research/sn/Millen
With per use charging, the OS itself could be given away on CD ala AOL, made available for free download, and/or automatically installed on XP machines via Windows Update (gee, I hope you didn't install XP Service Pack 1 which includes permission for them to do this and the
I don't think we have too long to wait.
Mind you, this is a giant gamble on Microsoft's part, and they are as likely to get nuked (figuratively, or even literally if a foreign country gets too annoyed with Microsoft's attempt to take over their country's computers) as they are likely to succeed. I don't think the company would survive a stunt like this, but they survived Bob, the antitrust trial's joke of a penalty phase, and Licensing 6.
This isn't a case of poor misunderstood Microsoft, either. Why else would they codename the original Millennium JVM "Borg" (http://research.microsoft.com/research/sn/)?
Shinoda: "The age of Millennium."
Io: "What does that mean?"
Shinoda: "A thousand year kingdom. It wants to create a home for itself. There is one flaw in its plan: Godzilla."
"Godzilla 2000 Millennium" (Japanese version)
danheskett wrote:
> Dissenters are by definition marginal.
Dissenters are by definition disagreeing with whoever is in power. Dissenters are marginal when the majority rules.
Dissenters are non-marginal in these two situations:
1) When Congress follows the will of the corporations instead of the will of the people (as they do these days), the possibility exists for dissenters to become non-marginal. The situation is difficult to correct, because the corporations pay campaign dollars to candidates from most of the parties (Green is one exception, there may be others). So simply voting for the other guy does nothing if they too are in corporate pockets.
2) Dissenters also are non-marginal when a dictator is taking over against the will of the people. Once the dictator secures his power base, dissenters will be squelched down to near none.
The first situation is a reality, and so obvious even CNN comments that Bush ran on energy dollars when he acts to shield coal plants from the Clean Air Act.
Pray the second situation never becomes reality in the US. On the day that it does, the King of Terror will have won. Tyrants reign by terrorizing the people.
The states are challenging Bush's weakening of the Clean Air Act. The states are setting up their own privacy rules, taking on Verizon and defying the FCC. Nine states dissented from the ridiculous Microsoft settlement. You know, it looks like the states might be the last bastion of freedom and justice in the United States of America.
No, there is one other...
"The last hope is to fight by ourselves."
Belebera, "Mothra 3: King Ghidora Attacks"
(Mothra, will you please get your cute buggy behind out of the Egg of Eternity already!
The King of Terror is being mean again and needs his can kicked. Armored Warrior, come quickly!)
EggplantMan writes:
.Net, etc. Sony and Philips have since bought InterTrust, which means that Microsoft now has to face their lawyers in a lawsuit that could take Microsoft out of the DRM game.
> First of all, Microsoft's Pallium aims to secure
> intellectual property from would-be hacker
> thieves, how can you criticise them for that?
The purpose of DRM, which Microsoft won't tell you although they happily crow about it to content creators, is to allow per use charging for media and software. Instead of buying something once, they want to charge you over and over again. The aim is to make it seamless to the user, so that if you try to access something that you haven't paid for today, Microsoft's DRM will charge your credit card quietly and let you use it.
This is getting so ridiculous, that at a recent Seybold, Microsoft was touting the ability of their e book DRM to only allow reading for one hour every second Tuesday!
It should be mentioned that InterTrust has been suing Microsoft for stealing their IP (patents). Infringing technologies include Microsoft's DRM, Windows XP, Office,
> As it is right now, the internet is a waistland
> of pornography, blogs, and hacker filesharing
I guess you haven't noticed Amazon and all the other ecommerce sites, online news sites, and repositories of reference materials?
> I fully support Microsoft in their efforts to
> "clean up the trash" and make computers and the
> internet a safe place to conduct business for
> reputable, long standing business establishments
> such as the RIAA.
My computer is not Microsoft's to "clean up". My computer is my property, not Microsoft's and not the RIAA's. (BTW, the RIAA these days is a lobbying organization. The businesses are the recording labels.)
> When Trusted Computing becomes a commonplace
> technology
The latest word from Microsoft is to remove them from Internet Explorer's list of "trusted publishers". It is the only way to get their latest security patch to work.
> we will all be able to rest at night knowing
> that legitimate, respectable institutions such
> as the RIAA and MPAA will no longer be suffering
> grievous economic losses due to the generally
> subversive nature of filesharing.
I quit my BMG club over the evils of the recording industry, so they are "suffering grievous economic losses" due to my not buying their CDs. I'd rather spend my money on good indie bands and imported Mothra soundtracks.
> due to the generally subversive nature of
> filesharing
Which is, of course, far more evil than the media sharks making artists into work for hire "slaves" while keeping the profits for themselves. Not!
Mothra and her fairy priestesses knew what they were talking about 41 years ago. They do bind the artists' hearts (with work for hire contracts). They do sell them again and again, performance after performance, CD after CD. Heck if the RIAA gets their way, you will be buying separate copies of a CD for your stereo, your car, your computer, etc.
"They bind our hearts: 'Let's sell them again and again!'
Our plan understands the sea; we can wait for her coming."
From the song "Infanto no Musume" in the Japanese version of Mothra (1961).
D+iz+a+n+k+Meister wrote:
> Saying be careful is a non-issue. Saying people
> should be responsible is part of an after school
> special.
If you are going to put any technology with any potentially destructive capacity in the hands of a corporation, these are things you have to say to the over-worked, over-stressed, or just plain lazy workers over and over again. After all, they are just ordinary people like you and me trying to cope with the work of their ten coworkers who were let go in the latest round of layoffs. And then you still have accidents:
A nuclear plant in Tokai, Japan: a little too much uranium oxide is mixed with nitric acid (a fuel preparation method) with no safety precautions (basically a huge mixing bowl and spoon being the main tools). The resultant "soup" began to react. This accident (Japan's worst), its radiation release into the population, and the two deaths, was entirely preventable. Taking the more expensive and responsible route by enabling all the safety precautions that are supposed to go with this procedure, and a bit more care on the part of the workers, and it would not have happened.
In the Black Sea, some foreign jellyfish were accidentally introduced with a ship's ballast. The jellyfish reproduced to the point of collapsing the ecosystem, doing massive damage to the local fishing and tourism industries. In this case, a repeat of the accident introduced another species of jellyfish that found the initial invaders quite tasty.
In a recent Slashdot story, a whole bunch of soybeans from two states had to be dumped because the harvested soybeans had gotten mixed in with harvested corn genetically engineered to produce drugs. Considering drought conditions this year, this is not good news.
We have had fire how many thousands of years? This past summer should have convinced us what masters of that technology we are not. Entrusting greedy corporations and stressed workers with nuclear, genetic, and nano technologies is only going to result in accidents. That is a fact. The only way to reduce accidents is to be careful and responsible. The only way to get workers to be careful is to constantly remind them to be. The only way to get corporations to use these technologies responsibly is to watch them like a hawk and scream bloody murder at abuses.
We can build a bright future for humanity, with technology used responsibly. Or we can build a horrible self-destructive nightmare. Serizawa's way or Shiragami's: the choice is ours. As will be any resultant messes, providing we survive them.
"Our people.. stricken with disease.
You.. you played with the fires of the gods.
And you dare to come here and ask us for help!
You betrayed us! You expect us to trust you after what you have done?"
Infant Island Chief, "Godzilla vs. Mothra" (US Version), 1964
Hulver wrote:
;). If Apple got their 40% back, and Linux got 20-40%, Microsoft would not even have a majority of the market, and there would be no monopoly. Just a bunch of operating systems happily cooperating and competing, which is how it should be.
> Everybody now is talking about Apple. Sure, It's
> pretty cool that Macs run Unix, but well, it's not
> Linux is it?
Macs run Linux too, either natively (Linux for PPC) or via emulation (Linux for x86). Between dual booting and emulation, I read somewhere that it was possible to get 11 operating systems running on a Mac.
> Geeks are now starting to get Macs, instead of
> developing for Linux they're playing with all
> the cool stuff on their mac.
Geeks are developing on their Macs, especially since the development tools (including a cool IDE) are free. They are also porting many Linux programs to give them a far wider audience.
> What next, will Linus get one? Will he decide
> that getting stuff done on his mac is more
> important than trying to get the next kernel out
> the door?
Linus should not have to spend the rest of his life on Linux if he doesn't want to. If he wants to move on to some other project and there is still big demand for Linux, he will find someone else to take his place. Just be thankful for what he has done (which is a lot for something he did for fun as a student), and appreciate him while you have him.
OS X's success would not have been possible if Linus hadn't made Linux. He took the Unix world from the mortal wound Microsoft had inflicted back to interest, health, and even popularity. All of us, Linux users and Mac users alike, owe him a debt of gratitude for that!
> Mac running unix might sound like a good thing,
> but all we're going to end up with is Apple as
> the new M$ instead.
Apple wants their ancient 40% marketshare back. We don't talk about world domination, just being different (and possibly better
> I just think it's a really bad thing for the
> whole Linux community.
Remember, Mac and Linux have different niches. The Mac is easy to use, and has commercial software readily available. Linux may not be so easy to use, but the GUIs available resemble Windows and Linux can be installed on existing PC's, making for a less expensive corporate "switch" from Windows. It has little commercial software readily available, but has a wealth of open source software. Linux is also scalable from embeded systems like PDAs all the way to mainframes, whereas Macs are desktops, laptops, and the XServe.
The Mac and Linux complement each other, and they work well together due to open standards. The only threat they pose is not to each other, but to Microsoft.
"Your way of thinking is completely different from mine!"
Shinoda, "Godzilla 2000 Millennium" (Japanese version)
This story already ran Saturday (http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=02/11/16/14222 10&mode=flat&tid=109) on Slashdot, citing an article in Japan Today.
Chief Tsujimori: "I won't let you get away. I will never let you escape."
Godzilla elegantly lifts his tail skyward to give her the "finger", crashes it down on the water, and submerges.
"Godzilla X Megagiras", 2000
vrai wrote:
... are for people too poor to buy all three (four
>
> if you count the GBA/GC-GBA adaptor).
I have two of the three: PS2 and GameCube. I refuse to help Microsoft with their empire building by buying an XBox.
> Which, to be fair, is two more than my GC: Super
> Mario Sunshine.
With all due respect to Mario, there are other good games out for the GameCube. One of my favorites is "Godzilla Destroy All Monsters Melee" (http://www.godzillaoncube.com/), the best Godzilla game ever. If Godzilla's atomic breath, King Ghidorah's deadly lightning storm, or Mechagodzilla's arsenal don't put a dent in your opponent, try throwing a skyscraper at them. If that fails, just call Mothra. The Queen of Monsters will happily whittle your opponents life force by nearly half, and she is gracious enough to leave the killing blow to you (gotta look good for the instant replays at the end).
If you are worried about iguanna imposters, don't. This is the one true King of Monsters, God of the Atom, Lord of Destruction, and Child of the Hydrogen Bomb! There are two incarnations of Godzilla in the game: the one from the early 1990's, and Godzilla 2000, the Dreaded God.
Chief Tsujimori: "I won't let you get away. I will never let you escape."
Godzilla elegantly lifts his tail skyward to give her the "finger", crashes it down on the water, and submerges.
"Godzilla X Megagiras", December 2000
cacav wrote:
> Actually, I read about some manufacturer of an
> external Firewire DVD-RW drive that made a piece
> of software for the Mac that would hack iDVD so
> that it would work with their drive.
>
> It lasted until Apple found out and told them to
> stop altering their software. I can't recall the
> manufacturer, but I think I read about it in a
> MacWorld article last month.
The manufacturer was Other World Computing, and you have related the original version of the story (which broke around August 12th) accurately. In that version, Other World Computing claimed Apple had *requested* that they drop it because it violated the iDVD license, and OWC had complied to preserve their good relationship with Apple.
There was *no* mention of the DMCA, and no need to invoke it as Apple's iDVD license is quite clear.
The DMCA accusation came weeks later and was only based on a quote from Other World Computing's president. There was no quote from any document they received from Apple, no posting of any document as proof, and no confirmation from Apple.
My personal impression was that the DMCA accusation was an afterthought on the part of OWC's president to make Apple look bad. If Apple really used the DMCA, I want to see more proof than the word of someone with an axe to grind.
Chief Tsujimori: "I won't let you get away. I will never let you escape."
Godzilla elegantly lifts his tail skyward to give her the "finger", crashes it down on the water, and submerges.
"Godzilla X Megagiras", 2000
AMD worships the ground Microsoft walks on. Apple wants to crush Microsoft's skull (the way a Jaguar kills).
Not a real good basis for a partnership.
No, Apple's new processor, the thousand year dragon king, will come from the guardian god of the Big Blue sky. He will have his own reasons for hating Microsoft, and will be happy to help Apple.
On December 14, 1996, Mothra resurrected a charred Apple sapling ("Mosura" 1996).
On December 14, 2001, Mothra returned to see its fruit ("Gojira, Mosura, Kingu Ghidora: Daikaiju Soukougeki").
OS X Jaguar: truly the Apple of Mothra's Aqua eye.
standards wrote:
> Since Apple was technically correct in their
> claims, the DRM folk could only counter by kicking
> Apple between the legs.
Well, they tried. Then Apple sold a Mac to a college student, who set up his own basement, professional quality, music studio. Then Apple sold a Mac to a small business studio who produced a documentary that played in theaters in New York and LA. Just think how many more college student musicians and small business studios there are or could be out there!
Unless the Hollings' bill passes and forces the acceptance of DRM, Apple will have the last laugh. Piracy may or may not hurt the media industries. Only Apple has the power to destroy them - by democratizing media creation like they did for desktop publishing. When the power to sing songs and tell stories returns to the people, the evil cartels of media sharks will be no more.
"They bind our hearts: 'Let's sell them again and again!'
Our plan understands the sea; we can wait for her coming."
From the song "Infanto no Musume" in the Japanese version of Mothra (1961).
E. T. Alveron wrote:
> Gene swapping is common among strains of bacteria
> (and several other microscopic buggers that
> undergo asexual reproduction), but not in
> eukaryotic or multicellular critters.
Pollen from genetically modified corn is carried via wind or insect to Farmer John's field. Farmer John's corn gets the pollen, and makes ears of corn from it.
Is Farmer John's corn now safe to eat if the modified corn was for medical purposes? Will it be next year if some of the hybrid corn kernels drop to the ground and reproduce?
Is there any testing Farmer John could have done to detect interbreeding with genetically modified corn before sending it to market?
Can Farmer John be sued for patent infringement?
Will evil biotech terrorists threaten to release Godzilla from a nearby volcano if Farmer John does not turn over his crops to them?
The daughter of Godzilla.
The thorn in every rose.
Biolante! Returned from space:
Transformed by hate!
melonman wrote:
> The XScale clocks faster, but there are persistent
> rumours that it runs slower per MHz than the
> StrongARM.
I don't know about the hardware itself, but there is a software reason for XScale not to run as fast as it can on Pocket PCs: Microsoft was too lazy to recompile the OS to optimize it for the new chips.
XScale running Linux should not have that problem, as long as the distribution maker is not as lazy. Sharp is putting out an XScale based Zaurus (running embeded Linux) next year that should be a very zippy little model.
Chief Tsujimori: "I won't let you get away. I will never let you escape."
Godzilla elegantly lifts his tail skyward to give her the "finger", crashes it down on the water, and submerges.
"Godzilla X Megagiras", 2000
Cool site. Apple has great computers (I'm using one now), and a operating system that is a thing of beauty and a joy forever. It pleases me greatly to see any Apple growth in any market.
That said, Linux gives Japan one thing not even Apple can: a customizable operating system for all that cool Japanese hardware. Sharp has been one of the first Japanese companies to realize this, and go with it, producing the Linux based Zaurus PDA. That very same Japan Today website also contained an article about Sharp and IBM teaming up to provide some kind of wireless, Linux based, services.
Sharp's successes and this decision by the Japanese government might encourage other Japanese computer hardware makers to throw off the Microsoft yoke. Linux would give them more room to innovate (unlike Microsoft who issues yearly hardware specs on what it wants PCs to be that year) while connecting them with open standards to other versions of Linux and other operating systems from around the world.
"At this moment, it has control of systems all over the world.
And...we can't do a damn thing to stop it."
Miyasaka, "Godzilla 2000 Millennium" (Japanese version)
nikko wrote:
> Wait until you hear it from Yomiuri or Asahi
> shimbun-- then bother to burn some brain cells.
Exactly what part of "the Asahi Shimbun newspaper reported Saturday" did you not get? Japan Today is quoting an Asahi Shimbun article.
Why is the parent at score 5 if they didn't even bother to read the article?
"At this moment, it has control of systems all over the world.
And...we can't do a damn thing to stop it."
Miyasaka, "Godzilla 2000 Millennium" (Japanese version)
Most important telescope astronomy tip for meteor viewing:
Don't use a telescope.
Meteors are pretty zippy. By the time you get a telescope trained on the exact spot where a meteor was, it and twenty of its fellows will be gone. Its even hard to train a pair of binoculars on an individual meteor, unless it is a particularly slow moving fireball.
Use your naked eyes (with glasses if you need them). Spend at least 20 minutes outside in the dark before begining any serious observations. Protect your eyes from street lights, porch lights, flash lights, looking directly at the moon, any light source that is non-red and/or bright. Do not go into your brightly lit home for anything.
And if you are in the Northern hemisphere, dress warmly. It is November. Dress for 20 degrees below the actual temperature, in layers.
General: "Increase voltage"
Officer 1: "Turn power up"
Engineer: "Captain, we're registering too much voltage for safety now."
Officer 2: "Increase voltage"
Voltage sound effects, shot of Godzilla struggling, cable burns through, substation fries, Godzilla is free.
Scene from American version "Godzilla vs. Mothra" (1964)
Mothra: boldly going where no starship captain had gone before.
bmajik wrote:
;)
;)
> I think this is just making political noise, and
> not based on any shred of technical accuracy.
Actually, it is probably a kind of political comparison shopping. Microsoft's competitors (Linux, and to a lesser extent, Apple) will give a customer source code. It is a cool feature to have. So they go back to Microsoft and ask them to produce source code.
Then they go to whoever holds the purse strings: "Wah, Microsoft won't give us any neato whizbang source code. Buy Linux." (Which is a mature as politicos get sometimes.
Methinks the open source marketing plan is working.
Godzilla to Microsoft:
"If you can't take the heat, RUN!"
From the Godzilla 2000 trailer Tristar tried so hard to hide.
An AC wrote:
.Net, etc.) against Microsoft (http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/7/25871.html ). Microsoft's Jim Desler described them as "This company's sole business focus is filing questionable patent lawsuits against us." Microsoft thought InterTrust was wearing down.
> Even, if Philips and Sony do nothing with DRM,
> they prevent Microsoft from building a market
> around it and forcing those two companies to
> license it.
Even more important, InterTrust was involved in a ton of patent infringement lawsuits (DRM, trusted computing,
Along comes Philips and Sony (why am I hearing the "Godzilla has entered the bay!" line from "Godzilla 2000"?). Philips is quoting Mothra's pal Steve Jobs, and Sony seems to have suddenly understood just what "Godzilla 2000 Millennium" was all about. In one fell swoop, Microsoft goes from big bully with no penalties for its actions, to facing two giants and two armies of lawyers.
InterTrust tried to have Windows XP stopped. Philips and Sony could easily put paid to Palladium, Longhorn, and Microsoft's hopes for Millennium.
Shinoda: "The age of Millennium."
Io: "What does that mean?"
Shinoda: "A thousand year kingdom. It wants to create a home for itself. There is one flaw in its plan: Godzilla."
"Godzilla 2000 Millennium" (Japanese version)
mirko wrote:
.Net based Longhorn to simply run on top of Macs and Linux machines. Since Longhorn would run best as the primary OS, even the latter could run Apple right out of business, and marginalize Linux.
> I suggest people contact their representatives to
> cancel the DMCA instead.
As has been pointed out by others, this bill will cancel some nasty chunks of the DMCA, as well as force CD manufacturers to be honest about their broken music disks.
Most importantly, this bill will raise the voice of the people in Congress. Up until now, lawmakers have only heard the voice of the media sharks urging them into one outrageous bill after another to "save" their industry. It is past time that we were heard.
This is especially vital in light of Hollings' CBDTPA bill. This bill will decimate remaining fair use rights by mandating DRM in everything. The resultant products would be a difficult sell, threatening the consumer electronics and IT industries (apart or together, these industries dwarf the media sharks).
Microsoft now has patents on the concept of a Digital Rights Management Operating System. CBDTPA could wind up being the mandate for a Microsoft DRMOS monopoly, using Palladium in Longhorn. Microsoft could use its patents to force Apple and Linux out, or use
Our congresscritters may not understand all the issues involved in CBDTPA, but even they can understand that consumers like to rip, mix, and burn their legally aquired media, because they like to do that too. That makes the DMCRA a good first line of defense, because it states the issues in congresscritter speak.
"They bind our hearts: 'Let's sell them again and again!'
Our plan understands the sea; we can wait for her coming."
From the song "Infanto no Musume" in the Japanese version of Mothra (1961).
dbarclay10 wrote:
> These people don't screw around. In the current
> global climate of anti-nuclear-anything, they'd be
> idiots to even contemplate cutting a corner.
A great pity the nice folks running a plant in Tokai didn't share those fine sentiments. In 1999, they mixed uranium with nitric acid (to prepare it as a fuel) in an big open bowl with absolutely no safety precautions whatsoever.
To add insult to injury, they did this brilliant thing around the time that the crew of "Godzilla 2000 Millennium" was to be filming an attack by Godzilla on the plant. Needless to say, the big guy decided he wanted some soup, found theirs was too cold, and warmed it up a bit.
In the very next movie Godzilla destroyed the plant in Tokai in 1966 and banned all nuclear power and use of fossil fuels.
Sonora:"New Godzilla reading. He's moving inward toward Tokai."
Shinoda: "The nuclear plants, I knew it.
Sonora: "Afraid so."
Yuki: "Well, that's just lovely. Another Chernobyl."
"Godzilla 2000" (US version dialog)
Remik wrote:
;)
> Nuclear power is feared in this country, for many
> stupid reasons.
It is also feared for good reason.
In the early days of our species, fire was discovered. The event was reviled in many a cultural mythos as a theft. Fire warmed our homes, cooked our food, and destroyed us utterly if we were the least bit unattentive.
In the forties, a new fire was stolen, this time from the heart of the atom. It was more deadly than the first, even its ashes and smoke killed. We didn't know but what it might destroy everything, but the first atom bomb was used anyway. Testing of the first H-bomb in the Marshal Islands caused a peaceful Japanese fishing boat to be irradiated in an event the Japanese called the Second Atomic Bombing of Humanity. From outrage and fear a new god was born, new stories told (and with the application of a bit of latex, a successful movie career started). This god was capricious and cruel, killing all in his path.
When atomic power plants and nuclear medicine came into being, this god took on a friendly face (though he still enjoyed a good power plant stomping). However friendly he became, his touch was still deadly, and he was never tame. New words of horror were spoken in fear: Chernobyl, Three Mile Island, Tokai.
Accidents can and will happen, especially if the people running the plants cut corners like they did in Tokai. The technology is too new to trust, not when after millennia we still haven't tamed fire. The fear is real, and in this case, it is healthy. For my part, I will loose my fear of atomic power and fully embrace it when we have gained total control of it and fire, and have completely removed the capacity for greed and stupidity from the gene pool.
> Evidenced here [pbs.org]...the potential for
> solving world energy demand was canned by
> Clinton because of the American aversion to
> nuclear power.
That's dumb, because that sounds like such a better solution than Yucca Mountain. What he said about coal certainly explains Godzilla's recent stand against both fossil and nuclear energy. Go forth and find some real "Clean Energy" if you want the big guy happy.
"Our people.. stricken with disease.
You.. you played with the fires of the gods.
And you dare to come here and ask us for help!
You betrayed us! You expect us to trust you after what you have done?"
Infant Island Chief, "Godzilla vs. Mothra" (US Version), 1964
Marc2k wrote:
;)
> I'm not siding with either paradigm on this one,
> but you can't broadly apply something that
> Microsoft did (of all companies) to the rest of
> the closed source world.
The poster I responded to claimed it was impossible for closed source to be similarly cracked into. I simply pointed out one example where it was.
> No closed source corporation worth its salt
> would ever leave source anywhere near a
> webserver.
You don't need a webserver to have a computer cracked into. The web is a very recent addition to the internet. There were worms and other nastiness crawling around networks well before the web was ever invented.
If an individual closed source developer has internet access on their development machine (for say email and online help - MSDN in the Microsoft world), the internet has access to their source code. Something as simple as an emailed trojan executable arriving via Outlook could send source files home to its master, and deliver patches from its master. (I am pointing out a security hole to patch here, don't go doing anything like this!)
BTW, most corporations aren't worth a thimble of salt. Corners get cut, marketing makes insane deadlines, laziness and sloppiness abound. It is even worse now that more companies have 24 hour broadband access piped to the same PC that houses development work. People just don't think, and management only cares about the bottom line and department politics.
Windows: "Go talk to my friend, an 800 pound monopoly-abusing gorilla!"
Mac: "And here's my good buddy, the 66,000 ton Godzilla!"
Godzilla: Stomp!
An AC wrote:
m l
> closed src doesn't have its src on some
> webserver for some kiddie to trojan in the first
> place. sure the possibility of some employee or
> the employer itself to trojan the src, but most
> open source trojans are someone breaking into
> the web server and uploading modified src. by
> definition this wont happen with closed src
> since closed src doesn't release src, so your
> argument is irrelevant.
Oh, no? Look here:
http://news.zdnet.co.uk/story/0,,s2082221,00.ht
Microsoft had their source available to some cracker for three months back in 2000. Of course they later spun it down to "one day and we were watching them all the time".
Point is, closed source can be vunerable too. Only Microsoft knows if any damage was really done, and they aren't telling us squat.
"At this moment, it has control of systems all over the world.
And...we can't do a damn thing to stop it."
Miyasaka, "Godzilla 2000 Millennium" (Japanese version)