The following is from an email I once received. I think it is appropriate to post it at this time.
This, from a Canadian newspaper, is worth sharing.
America: The Good Neighbor. Widespread but only partial news coverage was given recently to a remarkable editorial broadcast from Toronto by Gordon Sinclair, a Canadian television Commentator.
What follows is the full text of his trenchant remarks as printed in the Congressional Record:
"This Canadian thinks it is time to speak up for the Americans as the most generous and possibly the least appreciated people on all the earth. Germany, Japan and, to a lesser extent, Britain and Italy were lifted out of the debris of war by the Americans who poured in billions of dollars and forgave other billions in debts. None of these countries is today paying even the interest on its remaining debts to the United States.
When France was in danger of collapsing in 1956, it was the Americans who propped it up, and their reward was to be insulted and swindled on the streets of Paris. I was there. I saw it.
When earthquakes hit distant cities, it is the United States that hurries in to help. This spring, 5 American communities were flattened by tornadoes. Nobody helped.
The Marshall Plan and the Truman Policy pumped billions of dollars into discouraged countries. Now newspapers in those countries are writing about the decadent, warmongering America.
I'd like to see just one of those countries that is gloating over the erosion of the United States dollar build its own airplane. Does any other country in the world have a plane to equal the Boeing Jumbo Jet, the Lockheed Tri-Star, or the Douglas DC10? If so, why don't they fly them? Why do all the International lines except Russia fly American Planes?
Why does no other land on earth even consider putting a man or woman on the moon? You talk about Japan technology, and you get radios. You talk about German technology, and you get automobiles. You talk about American technology, and you find men on the moon--not once, but several times--and safely home again.
You talk about scandals, and the Americans put theirs right in the store window for everybody to look at. Even their draft-dodgers are not pursued and hounded. They are here on our streets, and most of them, unless they are breaking Canadian laws, are getting American dollars from ma and pa at home to spend here. When the railways of France, Germany and India were breaking down through age, it was the Americans who rebuilt them. When the Pennsylvania Railroad and the New York Central went broke, nobody loaned them an old caboose. Both are still broke.
I can name you 5000 times when the Americans raced to the help of other people in trouble. Can you name me even one time when someone else raced to the Americans in trouble? I don't think there was outside help even during the San Francisco earthquake.
Our neighbors have faced it alone, and I'm one Canadian who is tired of hearing them get kicked around. They will come out of this thing with their flag high. And when they do, they are entitled to thumb their nose at the lands that are gloating over their present troubles.
I hope Canada is not one of those."
Stand proud, America! Wear it proudly!!
This is one of the best editorials that I have ever read regarding the United States. It is nice that one man realizes it. I only wish that the rest of the world would realize it. We are always blamed for everything, and never even get a thank you for the things we do.
I would hope that each of you would send this to as many people as you can and emphasize that they should send it to as many of their friends until this letter is sent to every person on the web. I am just a single American that has read this, I SURE HOPE THAT A LOT MORE READ IT SOON.
I'm sending this letter to everybody in my address book. I'm sure everybody knows about the terrorist attacks on our country. What some of you might not know is that people in other countries celebrated the devastating attacks on thousands of lives in our country. This was shown on television.
I have never heard of Americans, or people of any *civilized* country for that matter, celebrating the deaths of so many thousands of *innocent* lives. I wish to point out that these same people--the ones who are celebrating right now--benefit from millions or billions of dollars of American money sent to them as foreign aid. The thought of these scumbags celebrating the deaths of those who support them disgusts me beyond belief. I am writing letters to folks in our state and federal governments, urging them to cut off monetary support for these countries. This will serve two purposes:
1. The money should be used to help those who lost family or friends to the disaster.
2. Cutting off foreign aid to these countries serves as a very mild punishment for their celebrating of the death and destruction in our country. If they celebrate our deaths, let them starve for lack of food and money.
I urge you to write similar letters, and to urge your family, friends and neighbors to do the same. The time has come to help our victims and punish those who would have us slaughtered.
I'm adding this note for posting on Slashdot:
I realize that since the Internet spans the globe, some of you reading this are from those very countries I'm talking about. I'd like to discourage you from bitching and moaning about what I'm saying here. If you celebrated, fuck you. I mean it. If you were not such an animal and scumbag, I urge you to kick the asses of those around you who are.
I'm sending this letter to everybody in my address book. I'm sure everybody knows about the terrorist attacks on our country. What some of you might not know is that people in other countries celebrated the devastating attacks on thousands of lives in our country. This was shown on television.
I have never heard of Americans, or people of any *civilized* country for that matter, celebrating the deaths of so many thousands of *innocent* lives. I wish to point out that these same people--the ones who are celebrating right now--benefit from millions or billions of dollars of American money sent to them as foreign aid. The thought of these scumbags celebrating the deaths of those who support them disgusts me beyond belief. I am writing letters to folks in our state and federal governments, urging them to cut off monetary support for these countries. This will serve two purposes:
1. The money should be used to help those who lost family or friends to the disaster.
2. Cutting off foreign aid to these countries serves as a very mild punishment for their celebrating of the death and destruction in our country. If they celebrate our deaths, let them starve for lack of food and money.
I urge you to write similar letters, and to urge your family, friends and neighbors to do the same. The time has come to punish those who would have us slaughtered.
The scene on the news looked like something out of Independance Day. People running for their lives, a building collapsing behind them, rubble flying in all directions and tons of smoke in the air. Nobody I talked to could describe it as anything but "something out of a movie."
The loss of life is so huge, so colossal, that nobody can really imagine the impact.
This country should get all its military forces together and destroy the military bases and government buildings of every country that has ever helped terrorists. The doors of all terrorists' (known, alleged or suspected) homes should be kicked in at night, and they should be dragged to jails, beaten and questioned. They should be held without bail until a trial. Any people found guilty, and their family members, should be punished severely.
Think actions like this are acts of terrorism? Think two wrongs don't make a right? Why don't you watch the news again and see that plane plunge into the tower. That airplane was full of innocent people, flying to a vacation or to conduct business, or returning home to their families and loved ones. jhaberman writes "A lady I work with has a friend that had a daughter on one of the flights. She said that her daughter (the passengers) were allowed to call loved ones and say goodbye before the planes crashed. To think of that just makes me sick to my stomach."
Pieces of shit scumbags destroyed so many lives today--not only those of their victims, but the victims' families, friends and coworkers. The United States should not play any more games. Terrorists and countries that support them understand only death and destruction. Attempting to reason with them is like talking to a wall, except that a wall will understand you better. All terrorists or would-be terrorists should have their puny balls shaking from fear and should lose much sleep over this. The US must teach the world that nobody fucks around with us. Governments of other nations will think one hundred thousand times before even letting some piece of shit garbage scumbag terrorist onto their soil, because they will know that if any terrorism, even the tiniest amount possible, happens in our country, those governments will be destroyed to the point that their people will have to put together a new government from scratch. NO FUCKING AROUND. AT ALL. PERIOD.
Don't even think about saying that this will cause new acts of terrorism. There won't be any fucking terrorists left.
I think we should build two very big, very strong pyramids in place of the former two towers. These should be built to withstand multiple missle attacks from outside and bomb attacks from inside.
Furthermore, I heard on the radio that it takes hours to evacuate the twin towers, so taking a lesson from that (and other historical events, such as the sinking of the Titanic) the new pyramids should be designed for complete evacuation within minutes.
If it really was Palestinians, as much as I hate to say this.. I sort of understand..
Did you know.... There is no such country or state as Palestine. The so-called Palestinians are really a whole lot of "refugees" from a number of countries in the middle east that don't want them. The Palestinian leaders are protected by big men with big guns, so nobody dares to speak out about any of the atrocities they cause. Israel isn't the source of their troubles: Israel is simply one more country, out of a large group of countries, that doesn't want them.
You can rest assured that 99.9999% of the people in the middle east simply want to live their lives without trouble. Death and destruction is caused by extremist organizations. Unfortunately, for years, newspapers have been misreporting the events in the middle east, making it look like the so-called Palestinians are innocent, poor people who just want to live their lives (I'm sure most are) and Israel is pushing them around for no reason. The truth is that extremist organizations which are part of so-called "Palestine" have been wreaking untold havoc on Israel and numerous other countries for years. They're just very good at making the other party look guilty. Trying to reason with them as with humans is a lost cause. They only understand force--that is, death and destruction. This is proven by the fact that Palestinians were filmed celebrating our massive destruction today. I don't see any Israelies celebrating any destruction, nor people from any of the other civilized countries in that region.
But as long as they're well fed, doped up, busy, and think they have something to lose, they'll never take up arms against the lawful authority. There's already a science built around the strategy of determining how far a government can push a populace before they realize they can't take it anymore.
(Emphasis mine)
Take up arms?!?! Excuse me for being rude, but where the hell have you been? With all the gun control laws being passed by "concerned mothers," when the time comes, we won't have any arms to take up! As you have probably noticed, this isn't about one law or another being passed. It's about government and big business (i.e., those in power) gaining more and more power. The end result? Power is no longer the means to an end: power simply becomes the end. Start visiting the bookstore, buying copies of 1984 and distributing them to your friends. You might even send copies along with a typed or preferably hand-written, polite letter to your state representatives and other officials. Oh yeah, and I highly recommend donating to the EFF.
Re:Give yourself enough time to switch to pedal po
on
Flywheel UPS
·
· Score: 1
There are thousands of criminals in prisons across the country. Make them ride stationary bicycles to generate electricity.
I think one possible solution to the problem of bad patents is to set up a sort of Foundation that takes donations and uses them to research and prove prior art (or something) on bad patents.
Excuse me. Did you say "crash course?" Well, I think you're absolutely right! You see, anybody studying Micro$oft products IS taking a course in crashing!
Micro$oft's sorry excuse for "products" SUCK! Their only real product is their marketing. Why oh why do so many people fall for their bullsh*t?
You know what? I hold RMS in the highest respect. If I had to choose one reason, this would be it: the Free Software Foundation is not a "pet-project" to him that was interesting for a few days and then faded to the back of his mind. He believes strongly in something, and he does what he believes. Ten years later, he is still doing what he believes.
I can't believe anyone would complain that:
Only RMS would insist on dredging up the same tired argument and same tired distinctions on such a matter.
I'd like to know, if the distinction between two philosophies is a "tired argument" then what exactly is Microsoft's argument? Every single sentence that comes out of that company includes the word "innovative." Well, if Microsoft is so innovative, why do their products suck so much? Why, in order to increase their profits, do they have to send lawyers after a free software community? This is, after all, what this story is all about. They want to damage the community in such a way that will benefit them. Is that what you call innovation?
Let me tell you what I believe. Innovation is finding out what is better for the consumer and then delivering a solution that satisfies all involved parties. Innovation is raising yourself by climbing higher, not by pushing others down. Microsoft actually never rises. They only push others down and step on them harder and harder. They constantly destroy the software industry for their own benefit. In my opinion, if anybody is spouting a "tired argument," it is Microsoft claiming how innovative they are. They aren't.
Richard Stallman, I salute you for your efforts. Keep up the fight and never give up.
Ideas like this disgust me. The scary thing is that most people are so stupid that they'll put up with it and let the rich corporate suits and politicians get away with this garbage.
Don't believe me? I'll stray from the topic for a couple of paragraphs. I'm staying in Southern California right now. As it turns out, there is a so-called "energy crisis" here. Often (within fractions of an hour), there are commercials on TV or the radio telling consumers to cut down on their power usage to conserve the precious resources we have. And people are responding. Stores and other buildings actually have signs proudly stating that they have dimmed their lights! I'd like to know where these so-called consumer advocates groups were when the SOB governor of this state and his suit friends raked in 5 billion dollars of the electrical company's dough, when all kinds of politicians' pockets were lined with greenbacks, and now they want to patronize the consumers?! Excuse my language but f*ck those sons of bitches!
Look at the gasoline prices in California. Several months ago, prices rose by about 30 to 40 cents a gallon. There was a lot of noise and many people got upset. Well, the anger has faded, people have gotten used to the prices and now the prices have settled at the high end since nobody complains anymore. Now, with electrical prices rising just like fuel did a while ago, the electrical company is forcing consumers to pay a 5 billion dollar tab, and guess what? I think that after the debt is paid, prices will simply stay high, making some rich people very happy.
It upsets me so much that people live with these things and don't do anything about it! Oh, how much I wish a bunch of people would get together and start a "refuse to pay" campaign. Get everyone in this state to use all the power they want and refuse to pay their bill. What would the electrical company do? Cut everybody's power? They would lose such a significant portion of their customer base that they would be out of business and you can rest assured that the federal government will get involved and electrical prices will be back where they should be.
Back to the topic of consumer devices... The only way to stop this is to make people stop buying things. What's wrong with repairing your existing refrigerator instead of buying a new one? You've already paid for it. So pay a little more and it'll run for another ten years before you have to repair it again. What's wrong with your existing consumer electronics? What kind of bullsh*t is this to put GPS receivers in products to disable them if they're used in a way the company doesn't agree with? Things don't look good if they're going in this direction. On a positive note, I know that within no time of a tagged product being released, some smart hardware crackers will figure out how to disable the offensive tag. Who needs to broadcast pirate GPS signals if you can disable the receiver on the product?
Anyway, I hope I've made my point. Folks need to stop putting up with things like this. And I'm not being a hippocrite or whatever when I say that: I don't agree with DVD and I don't own any products incorporating that offensive attempt at so-called technology.
Of course Microsoft acknowledges the BSD license. Many, including myself, believe that everything with Microsoft's name on it that actually works is either copied, purchased or stolen from someone else. The BSD license allows Microsoft to get functional software at no cost, and in fact, Windows NT networking includes much BSD-licensed code. The proof was shown in someone's response to another/. story.
You know what drives me mad? That people think you need a faster processor and more memory to make things endurable.
Sure, for games and 3D graphics-intensive stuff, a really fast processor is great, but what do most people do with their computers. I've asked around. The answers I've got were:
Email
Web
IRC
Napster
Word processing
Programming
Who the hell needs a faster processor for those things? For programming, especially, I think a slower processor is better. It makes you think twice before compiling and it forces you write efficient programs.
Now if you want your existing computer to get things done faster, I suggest a faster hard drive (how come nobody builds a solid-state drive out of battery-backed RAM chips?) or get rid of that proprietary software and run something that actually works.
Morpheus says something along the lines of, "These people are doctors, lawyers" etc. etc. "the very minds we are trying to free, but they are part of the system" etc. etc. "and they will do anything to defend that system." (The system being the Matrix.) In other words, while we probably aren't physically trapped in a box, we are mentally trapped in this system of rules and bells and we will die advocating and defending that system because we know nothing better.
Try for a moment to think for yourself and not the way you were taught to think by governments and business executives who want to be in control of you. Remember that for every positive argument you can give about something there is a negative argument as well.
I used to think for myself when I was a kid in school. I knew how to read at a really young age, I caught on to math exceptionaly fast for a kid my age and I actually skipped kindergarden and went to first grade, making me the youngest student in my class at the time of high school graduation.
Why am I saying this? Because when I was in the first and second grades, I was hyperactive during recess and in class. I used to draw a lot of crap all over my assignments. I had all kinds of ideas about supernatural things. In short, I was a kid who wanted to play rather than learn in class. Actually, that's because in schools here in the U.S., teachers go over the same thing about fifty times, and I caught everything the first time so I got bored.
Anyway, the school psychologist decided that there was something wrong with me. At the time (early 80's) I don't think they classified kids as having ADD but they called it something else. Actually, to this day, I have a report written by this psychologist, several pages in length, which describes my "problems" in fine detail. It even includes something I said to her in the hall about having a magic stick or sword made of earth, fire and lightning or something like that. You know what, I think any kid who doesn't come up with bullsh1t like that should be expelled from school.
The psychologist had my parents get me some pills that were supposed to calm me down and make me pay attention in class. God only knows what was in those pills. One thing of which I am absolutely certain is that those pills actually damaged me. (There are certain chemicals used in some foods (aspertame), and in water (flouride), that have been scientifically proven to cause brain damage.) Those pills made me concentrate because they made me stupid, so I had to actually listen to understand what was going on. For years (up to my junior year in high school), I got bad grades and had a hard time keeping up with the rest of the class. The school system here made me think in a box, and I have spent the last five years or so working hard to make myself able to think for myself like I could when I was 6 years old. This entire situation frustrates me a great deal.
On a side note, I recommend Paulo Freire's The Banking Concept of Education. Actually, I recommend the first sentence or two of that paper. It says it all.
Pretty much everyone said that you can't get a home recording to sound as good as a professional recording.
Imagine this scenerio: a lot of people are angry at the music industry because they're a bunch of greedy people who profit off some artists' hard work. Most artists have trouble even breaking even after the expense of producing an album. Now I don't know about anyone else here, but I'd rather pay the artist directly for a home recording that sounds pretty good than pay the greedy recording industry for a version that sounds really good. I'm not talking about buying crap, either, I'm talking about buying truly artistic work, even if it sounds kind of hollow.
If enough people would actually start doing this, artists will actually *profit* from their work, which would make it possible for them to get better equipment and produce better sounding music. So quit supporting the stupid music industry. They take your money and use it to pass legislation to take away our rights to fair use. Support the artists who deserve to be supported.
-NGH
"The tomorrow of Windows is the yesterday of UNIX."
Reminds me of the fairly recent movie Gattaca. That movie was really frightening and I have no doubt that the situation in the movie will soon become a reality.
While you're pondering the meaning of this, consider: it used to be the policy of the U.S. government to keep content producers and carriers separate.
I'd like to point out that it also used to be the policy of the U.S. government to keep trading and deposit institutions separate. In other words, a company couldn't be a bank and a stockbroker at the same time. If you look closely, you may see that the government is allowing this to slide as well.
It is really no use trying to understand the policy of the government or why certain things are done. You have to remember that the government is run by people. Some of them care for the better good of the nation and work hard towards that goal. Most of them (who are in any position of power) work hard to get their own way. (As in, if I were king, this is how the world would be. Now these are the steps I have to take to become king.) Always remember the golden rule: "He who has the gold makes the rules." And that means, quite simply, that large corporations can make the rules by paying off the right people in high places. (This is how, for example, legislation gets passed that is custom-tailored to MPAA specifications.)
As you can probably tell, I am against this merger. Sure, the companies can advertise how convenient their services will be, but there is an advantage and disadvantage to everything. They (companies, government, etc) gain control by advertising the advantages and forgetting the disadvantages until it is convenient for them to remember them.
I already don't support AOL or TimeWarner and they won't get any support from me in the future.
I'd like to thank you for all the work and effort you and your fellow developers are putting into this project. I currently use FreeBSD and have plans to try out your work on my next server configuration.
Could you give us a short overview of the process you're taking to make FreeBSD more secure? In particular, how does the TrustedBSD project compare with OpenBSD, which has been undergoing a line-by-line security audit for years? Most importantly, what are the advantages of choosing TrustedBSD over OpenBSD (besides the obvious project-loyalty factors)?
Nah, I don't think they'll be called TurboCare... they'll change their name to LinuxLinux!
...
Many corporate executives and shareholders who make important decisions that will affect the future of Linux don't really know or care what Linux is or does.
Now please, don't start listing the few CEOs who do understand; we're talking about business people who really don't give a damn. They make decisions without understanding the technical perspectives. They don't want or care to understand anything technical. Their world works in dollar amounts, and the technical knowledge, even just a scratch-the-surface understanding of anything, is just uninteresting microdetails to them.
My argument is that business executives who want to run a technical company NEED to understand technology. I've had this discussion with quite a few execs like this, and they insist... no, they demand not to understand. They want to look at everything from a business perspective and leave the technical "details" (which really aren't details at all but rather important facts) to the technical people. This is where business will fail.
These business executives think they know everything. The company wants to "jump on the bandwagon" (another phrase that means absolutely nothing) and deliver Linux solutions. Those idiots (the execs) don't even know what Linux is, but they make up fancy-looking (but meaningless) press releases that tell the world how their "solution" is going to change leverage innovative technology and improve the world. Then they assign the job -- the real work of making their solution a reality (they don't even know what reality they want to achieve) to the technical people who work their butts off to do it. And then (this is the worst part), because those corporate fools insist on not understanding anything technical, they wonder why it takes so long to deliver a reliable solution. So they put their hard-working technical people under extreme pressure, which results in unreliable solutions.
That is what pisses me off... the "market" is a bunch of people who don't know a damn thing about software. As a result of their incompetence, the world is going nowhere. Everyone (all those companies jumping on the f*cking bandwagon) has their pedal to the metal, but the trans is not in gear! This is why the tech sector, which was overinflated just a little while ago, is crumbling. Reality is setting in. As I've said: to be successful, business people NEED to bite the bullet and take the time to fully understand technology. If they insist on not doing this, as most of them do, they are in the wrong field of business. The tech-sector is not for those who don't understand tech.
I think that only time will tell... and I firmly believe that in a few years, the remaining tech-sector will consist of companies where the execs know what they're talking about when they mention Linux or another software product.
The law firm of Milberg Weiss Bershad Hynes & Lerach LLP announces that a class action lawsuit was filed on January 11, 2001, on behalf of purchasers of the securities of VA Linux Systems, Inc. (``Linux'' or the ``Company'') (NASDAQ: LNUX - news) between December 9, 1999 and December 6, 2000 inclusive.
This is bad press for the Linux community in general, because the company is called VA Linux Systems and they are being addressed simply as "Linux." (It's only bad because most non-technical people probably don't know that Linux isn't owned by a company. The name VA Linux and the symbol LNUX probably don't help.)
While it may be possible that Corel is dumping their Linux products because they simply aren't successful, I won't try to analyse their business decisions.
What I will do, on the other hand, is write to them and explain how disappointed I am at their decision. I have been following the development of Corel Linux and WordPerfect since it was announced. I did this because part of my company's long-term plan is a graphic design department, and we wanted to set it up with the Corel products we know and love, on Linux.
Their decision to dump Linux and team up with Microsoft is very disappointing, and I suppose we will have to get our solutions from their competitors.
I suggest that everybody interested in their products write to Corel and tell them the same thing.
It might be helpful to note that policies like this force you to be a crook. By implementing too many restrictive policies, the industry is actually adding fuel to the fire they're trying to put out.
On a happier note, this mistake on the part of greedy industry, while frustrating now, could actually be a great help to the revolution of free (as in freedom) intellectual-property exchange (such as free software). Many folks are likely to get upset about their fair-use freedom being hindered by Hollywood and the consumer electronics industry, and will discover the free community as a result. This would be very bad news to greedy industry (and is exactly what they deserve).
Slashdot Mirror
The following is from an email I once received. I think it is appropriate to post it at this time.
This, from a Canadian newspaper, is worth sharing.
America: The Good Neighbor. Widespread but only partial news coverage was given recently to a remarkable editorial broadcast from Toronto by Gordon Sinclair, a Canadian television Commentator.
What follows is the full text of his trenchant remarks as printed in the Congressional Record:
"This Canadian thinks it is time to speak up for the Americans as the most generous and possibly the least appreciated people on all the earth. Germany, Japan and, to a lesser extent, Britain and Italy were lifted out of the debris of war by the Americans who poured in billions of dollars and forgave other billions in debts. None of these countries is today paying even the interest on its remaining debts to the United States.
When France was in danger of collapsing in 1956, it was the Americans who propped it up, and their reward was to be insulted and swindled on the streets of Paris. I was there. I saw it.
When earthquakes hit distant cities, it is the United States that hurries in to help. This spring, 5 American communities were flattened by tornadoes. Nobody helped.
The Marshall Plan and the Truman Policy pumped billions of dollars into discouraged countries. Now newspapers in those countries are writing about the decadent, warmongering America.
I'd like to see just one of those countries that is gloating over the erosion of the United States dollar build its own airplane. Does any other country in the world have a plane to equal the Boeing Jumbo Jet, the Lockheed Tri-Star, or the Douglas DC10? If so, why don't they fly them? Why do all the International lines except Russia fly American Planes?
Why does no other land on earth even consider putting a man or woman on the moon? You talk about Japan technology, and you get radios. You talk about German technology, and you get automobiles. You talk about American technology, and you find men on the moon--not once, but several times--and safely home again.
You talk about scandals, and the Americans put theirs right in the store window for everybody to look at. Even their draft-dodgers are not pursued and hounded. They are here on our streets, and most of them, unless they are breaking Canadian laws, are getting American dollars from ma and pa at home to spend here. When the railways of France, Germany and India were breaking down through age, it was the Americans who rebuilt them. When the Pennsylvania Railroad and the New York Central went broke, nobody loaned them an old caboose. Both are still broke.
I can name you 5000 times when the Americans raced to the help of other people in trouble. Can you name me even one time when someone else raced to the Americans in trouble? I don't think there was outside help even during the San Francisco earthquake.
Our neighbors have faced it alone, and I'm one Canadian who is tired of hearing them get kicked around. They will come out of this thing with their flag high. And when they do, they are entitled to thumb their nose at the lands that are gloating over their present troubles.
I hope Canada is not one of those."
Stand proud, America! Wear it proudly!!
This is one of the best editorials that I have ever read regarding the United States. It is nice that one man realizes it. I only wish that the rest of the world would realize it. We are always blamed for everything, and never even get a thank you for the things we do.
I would hope that each of you would send this to as many people as you can and emphasize that they should send it to as many of their friends until this letter is sent to every person on the web. I am just a single American that has read this, I SURE HOPE THAT A LOT MORE READ IT SOON.
Hi,
I'm sending this letter to everybody in my address book. I'm sure everybody knows about the terrorist attacks on our country. What some of you might not know is that people in other countries celebrated the devastating attacks on thousands of lives in our country. This was shown on television.
I have never heard of Americans, or people of any *civilized* country for that matter, celebrating the deaths of so many thousands of *innocent* lives. I wish to point out that these same people--the ones who are celebrating right now--benefit from millions or billions of dollars of American money sent to them as foreign aid. The thought of these scumbags celebrating the deaths of those who support them disgusts me beyond belief. I am writing letters to folks in our state and federal governments, urging them to cut off monetary support for these countries. This will serve two purposes:
1. The money should be used to help those who lost family or friends to the disaster.
2. Cutting off foreign aid to these countries serves as a very mild punishment for their celebrating of the death and destruction in our country. If they celebrate our deaths, let them starve for lack of food and money.
I urge you to write similar letters, and to urge your family, friends and neighbors to do the same. The time has come to help our victims and punish those who would have us slaughtered.
I'm adding this note for posting on Slashdot:
I realize that since the Internet spans the globe, some of you reading this are from those very countries I'm talking about. I'd like to discourage you from bitching and moaning about what I'm saying here. If you celebrated, fuck you. I mean it. If you were not such an animal and scumbag, I urge you to kick the asses of those around you who are.
Hi,
I'm sending this letter to everybody in my address book. I'm sure everybody knows about the terrorist attacks on our country. What some of you might not know is that people in other countries celebrated the devastating attacks on thousands of lives in our country. This was shown on television.
I have never heard of Americans, or people of any *civilized* country for that matter, celebrating the deaths of so many thousands of *innocent* lives. I wish to point out that these same people--the ones who are celebrating right now--benefit from millions or billions of dollars of American money sent to them as foreign aid. The thought of these scumbags celebrating the deaths of those who support them disgusts me beyond belief. I am writing letters to folks in our state and federal governments, urging them to cut off monetary support for these countries. This will serve two purposes:
1. The money should be used to help those who lost family or friends to the disaster.
2. Cutting off foreign aid to these countries serves as a very mild punishment for their celebrating of the death and destruction in our country. If they celebrate our deaths, let them starve for lack of food and money.
I urge you to write similar letters, and to urge your family, friends and neighbors to do the same. The time has come to punish those who would have us slaughtered.
The scene on the news looked like something out of Independance Day. People running for their lives, a building collapsing behind them, rubble flying in all directions and tons of smoke in the air. Nobody I talked to could describe it as anything but "something out of a movie."
The loss of life is so huge, so colossal, that nobody can really imagine the impact.
This country should get all its military forces together and destroy the military bases and government buildings of every country that has ever helped terrorists. The doors of all terrorists' (known, alleged or suspected) homes should be kicked in at night, and they should be dragged to jails, beaten and questioned. They should be held without bail until a trial. Any people found guilty, and their family members, should be punished severely.
Think actions like this are acts of terrorism? Think two wrongs don't make a right? Why don't you watch the news again and see that plane plunge into the tower. That airplane was full of innocent people, flying to a vacation or to conduct business, or returning home to their families and loved ones. jhaberman writes "A lady I work with has a friend that had a daughter on one of the flights. She said that her daughter (the passengers) were allowed to call loved ones and say goodbye before the planes crashed. To think of that just makes me sick to my stomach."
Pieces of shit scumbags destroyed so many lives today--not only those of their victims, but the victims' families, friends and coworkers. The United States should not play any more games. Terrorists and countries that support them understand only death and destruction. Attempting to reason with them is like talking to a wall, except that a wall will understand you better. All terrorists or would-be terrorists should have their puny balls shaking from fear and should lose much sleep over this. The US must teach the world that nobody fucks around with us. Governments of other nations will think one hundred thousand times before even letting some piece of shit garbage scumbag terrorist onto their soil, because they will know that if any terrorism, even the tiniest amount possible, happens in our country, those governments will be destroyed to the point that their people will have to put together a new government from scratch. NO FUCKING AROUND. AT ALL. PERIOD.
Don't even think about saying that this will cause new acts of terrorism. There won't be any fucking terrorists left.
I think we should build two very big, very strong pyramids in place of the former two towers. These should be built to withstand multiple missle attacks from outside and bomb attacks from inside.
Furthermore, I heard on the radio that it takes hours to evacuate the twin towers, so taking a lesson from that (and other historical events, such as the sinking of the Titanic) the new pyramids should be designed for complete evacuation within minutes.
Why pyramids? Read 1984.
takochan writes:
Did you know.... There is no such country or state as Palestine. The so-called Palestinians are really a whole lot of "refugees" from a number of countries in the middle east that don't want them. The Palestinian leaders are protected by big men with big guns, so nobody dares to speak out about any of the atrocities they cause. Israel isn't the source of their troubles: Israel is simply one more country, out of a large group of countries, that doesn't want them.
You can rest assured that 99.9999% of the people in the middle east simply want to live their lives without trouble. Death and destruction is caused by extremist organizations. Unfortunately, for years, newspapers have been misreporting the events in the middle east, making it look like the so-called Palestinians are innocent, poor people who just want to live their lives (I'm sure most are) and Israel is pushing them around for no reason. The truth is that extremist organizations which are part of so-called "Palestine" have been wreaking untold havoc on Israel and numerous other countries for years. They're just very good at making the other party look guilty. Trying to reason with them as with humans is a lost cause. They only understand force--that is, death and destruction. This is proven by the fact that Palestinians were filmed celebrating our massive destruction today. I don't see any Israelies celebrating any destruction, nor people from any of the other civilized countries in that region.
But as long as they're well fed, doped up, busy, and think they have something to lose, they'll never take up arms against the lawful authority. There's already a science built around the strategy of determining how far a government can push a populace before they realize they can't take it anymore.
(Emphasis mine)
Take up arms?!?! Excuse me for being rude, but where the hell have you been? With all the gun control laws being passed by "concerned mothers," when the time comes, we won't have any arms to take up! As you have probably noticed, this isn't about one law or another being passed. It's about government and big business (i.e., those in power) gaining more and more power. The end result? Power is no longer the means to an end: power simply becomes the end. Start visiting the bookstore, buying copies of 1984 and distributing them to your friends. You might even send copies along with a typed or preferably hand-written, polite letter to your state representatives and other officials. Oh yeah, and I highly recommend donating to the EFF.
There are thousands of criminals in prisons across the country. Make them ride stationary bicycles to generate electricity.
Unbreakable encryption is possible: the key must be the same size as the data. See http://www.bebits.com/app/1100... Source included.
I think one possible solution to the problem of bad patents is to set up a sort of Foundation that takes donations and uses them to research and prove prior art (or something) on bad patents.
Excuse me. Did you say "crash course?" Well, I think you're absolutely right! You see, anybody studying Micro$oft products IS taking a course in crashing!
Micro$oft's sorry excuse for "products" SUCK! Their only real product is their marketing. Why oh why do so many people fall for their bullsh*t?
You know what? I hold RMS in the highest respect. If I had to choose one reason, this would be it: the Free Software Foundation is not a "pet-project" to him that was interesting for a few days and then faded to the back of his mind. He believes strongly in something, and he does what he believes. Ten years later, he is still doing what he believes.
I can't believe anyone would complain that:
I'd like to know, if the distinction between two philosophies is a "tired argument" then what exactly is Microsoft's argument? Every single sentence that comes out of that company includes the word "innovative." Well, if Microsoft is so innovative, why do their products suck so much? Why, in order to increase their profits, do they have to send lawyers after a free software community? This is, after all, what this story is all about. They want to damage the community in such a way that will benefit them. Is that what you call innovation?Let me tell you what I believe. Innovation is finding out what is better for the consumer and then delivering a solution that satisfies all involved parties. Innovation is raising yourself by climbing higher, not by pushing others down. Microsoft actually never rises. They only push others down and step on them harder and harder. They constantly destroy the software industry for their own benefit. In my opinion, if anybody is spouting a "tired argument," it is Microsoft claiming how innovative they are. They aren't.
Richard Stallman, I salute you for your efforts. Keep up the fight and never give up.
Ideas like this disgust me. The scary thing is that most people are so stupid that they'll put up with it and let the rich corporate suits and politicians get away with this garbage.
Don't believe me? I'll stray from the topic for a couple of paragraphs. I'm staying in Southern California right now. As it turns out, there is a so-called "energy crisis" here. Often (within fractions of an hour), there are commercials on TV or the radio telling consumers to cut down on their power usage to conserve the precious resources we have. And people are responding. Stores and other buildings actually have signs proudly stating that they have dimmed their lights! I'd like to know where these so-called consumer advocates groups were when the SOB governor of this state and his suit friends raked in 5 billion dollars of the electrical company's dough, when all kinds of politicians' pockets were lined with greenbacks, and now they want to patronize the consumers?! Excuse my language but f*ck those sons of bitches!
Look at the gasoline prices in California. Several months ago, prices rose by about 30 to 40 cents a gallon. There was a lot of noise and many people got upset. Well, the anger has faded, people have gotten used to the prices and now the prices have settled at the high end since nobody complains anymore. Now, with electrical prices rising just like fuel did a while ago, the electrical company is forcing consumers to pay a 5 billion dollar tab, and guess what? I think that after the debt is paid, prices will simply stay high, making some rich people very happy.
It upsets me so much that people live with these things and don't do anything about it! Oh, how much I wish a bunch of people would get together and start a "refuse to pay" campaign. Get everyone in this state to use all the power they want and refuse to pay their bill. What would the electrical company do? Cut everybody's power? They would lose such a significant portion of their customer base that they would be out of business and you can rest assured that the federal government will get involved and electrical prices will be back where they should be.
Back to the topic of consumer devices... The only way to stop this is to make people stop buying things. What's wrong with repairing your existing refrigerator instead of buying a new one? You've already paid for it. So pay a little more and it'll run for another ten years before you have to repair it again. What's wrong with your existing consumer electronics? What kind of bullsh*t is this to put GPS receivers in products to disable them if they're used in a way the company doesn't agree with? Things don't look good if they're going in this direction. On a positive note, I know that within no time of a tagged product being released, some smart hardware crackers will figure out how to disable the offensive tag. Who needs to broadcast pirate GPS signals if you can disable the receiver on the product?
Anyway, I hope I've made my point. Folks need to stop putting up with things like this. And I'm not being a hippocrite or whatever when I say that: I don't agree with DVD and I don't own any products incorporating that offensive attempt at so-called technology.
Of course Microsoft acknowledges the BSD license. Many, including myself, believe that everything with Microsoft's name on it that actually works is either copied, purchased or stolen from someone else. The BSD license allows Microsoft to get functional software at no cost, and in fact, Windows NT networking includes much BSD-licensed code. The proof was shown in someone's response to another /. story.
You know what drives me mad? That people think you need a faster processor and more memory to make things endurable.
Sure, for games and 3D graphics-intensive stuff, a really fast processor is great, but what do most people do with their computers. I've asked around. The answers I've got were:
Who the hell needs a faster processor for those things? For programming, especially, I think a slower processor is better. It makes you think twice before compiling and it forces you write efficient programs.
Now if you want your existing computer to get things done faster, I suggest a faster hard drive (how come nobody builds a solid-state drive out of battery-backed RAM chips?) or get rid of that proprietary software and run something that actually works.
God, I love The Matrix.
Morpheus says something along the lines of, "These people are doctors, lawyers" etc. etc. "the very minds we are trying to free, but they are part of the system" etc. etc. "and they will do anything to defend that system." (The system being the Matrix.) In other words, while we probably aren't physically trapped in a box, we are mentally trapped in this system of rules and bells and we will die advocating and defending that system because we know nothing better.
Try for a moment to think for yourself and not the way you were taught to think by governments and business executives who want to be in control of you. Remember that for every positive argument you can give about something there is a negative argument as well.
I used to think for myself when I was a kid in school. I knew how to read at a really young age, I caught on to math exceptionaly fast for a kid my age and I actually skipped kindergarden and went to first grade, making me the youngest student in my class at the time of high school graduation.
Why am I saying this? Because when I was in the first and second grades, I was hyperactive during recess and in class. I used to draw a lot of crap all over my assignments. I had all kinds of ideas about supernatural things. In short, I was a kid who wanted to play rather than learn in class. Actually, that's because in schools here in the U.S., teachers go over the same thing about fifty times, and I caught everything the first time so I got bored.
Anyway, the school psychologist decided that there was something wrong with me. At the time (early 80's) I don't think they classified kids as having ADD but they called it something else. Actually, to this day, I have a report written by this psychologist, several pages in length, which describes my "problems" in fine detail. It even includes something I said to her in the hall about having a magic stick or sword made of earth, fire and lightning or something like that. You know what, I think any kid who doesn't come up with bullsh1t like that should be expelled from school.
The psychologist had my parents get me some pills that were supposed to calm me down and make me pay attention in class. God only knows what was in those pills. One thing of which I am absolutely certain is that those pills actually damaged me. (There are certain chemicals used in some foods (aspertame), and in water (flouride), that have been scientifically proven to cause brain damage.) Those pills made me concentrate because they made me stupid, so I had to actually listen to understand what was going on. For years (up to my junior year in high school), I got bad grades and had a hard time keeping up with the rest of the class. The school system here made me think in a box, and I have spent the last five years or so working hard to make myself able to think for myself like I could when I was 6 years old. This entire situation frustrates me a great deal.
On a side note, I recommend Paulo Freire's The Banking Concept of Education. Actually, I recommend the first sentence or two of that paper. It says it all.
Pretty much everyone said that you can't get a home recording to sound as good as a professional recording.
Imagine this scenerio: a lot of people are angry at the music industry because they're a bunch of greedy people who profit off some artists' hard work. Most artists have trouble even breaking even after the expense of producing an album. Now I don't know about anyone else here, but I'd rather pay the artist directly for a home recording that sounds pretty good than pay the greedy recording industry for a version that sounds really good. I'm not talking about buying crap, either, I'm talking about buying truly artistic work, even if it sounds kind of hollow.
If enough people would actually start doing this, artists will actually *profit* from their work, which would make it possible for them to get better equipment and produce better sounding music. So quit supporting the stupid music industry. They take your money and use it to pass legislation to take away our rights to fair use. Support the artists who deserve to be supported.
-NGH
"The tomorrow of Windows is the yesterday of UNIX."
Reminds me of the fairly recent movie Gattaca. That movie was really frightening and I have no doubt that the situation in the movie will soon become a reality.
Hi folks... from the story:
I'd like to point out that it also used to be the policy of the U.S. government to keep trading and deposit institutions separate. In other words, a company couldn't be a bank and a stockbroker at the same time. If you look closely, you may see that the government is allowing this to slide as well.
It is really no use trying to understand the policy of the government or why certain things are done. You have to remember that the government is run by people. Some of them care for the better good of the nation and work hard towards that goal. Most of them (who are in any position of power) work hard to get their own way. (As in, if I were king, this is how the world would be. Now these are the steps I have to take to become king.) Always remember the golden rule: "He who has the gold makes the rules." And that means, quite simply, that large corporations can make the rules by paying off the right people in high places. (This is how, for example, legislation gets passed that is custom-tailored to MPAA specifications.)
As you can probably tell, I am against this merger. Sure, the companies can advertise how convenient their services will be, but there is an advantage and disadvantage to everything. They (companies, government, etc) gain control by advertising the advantages and forgetting the disadvantages until it is convenient for them to remember them.
I already don't support AOL or TimeWarner and they won't get any support from me in the future.
Hi,
I'd like to thank you for all the work and effort you and your fellow developers are putting into this project. I currently use FreeBSD and have plans to try out your work on my next server configuration.
Could you give us a short overview of the process you're taking to make FreeBSD more secure? In particular, how does the TrustedBSD project compare with OpenBSD, which has been undergoing a line-by-line security audit for years? Most importantly, what are the advantages of choosing TrustedBSD over OpenBSD (besides the obvious project-loyalty factors)?
Kindest regards,
NGH
(And speculate on names: TurboCare?)
Nah, I don't think they'll be called TurboCare... they'll change their name to LinuxLinux!
...
Many corporate executives and shareholders who make important decisions that will affect the future of Linux don't really know or care what Linux is or does.
Now please, don't start listing the few CEOs who do understand; we're talking about business people who really don't give a damn. They make decisions without understanding the technical perspectives. They don't want or care to understand anything technical. Their world works in dollar amounts, and the technical knowledge, even just a scratch-the-surface understanding of anything, is just uninteresting microdetails to them.
My argument is that business executives who want to run a technical company NEED to understand technology. I've had this discussion with quite a few execs like this, and they insist... no, they demand not to understand. They want to look at everything from a business perspective and leave the technical "details" (which really aren't details at all but rather important facts) to the technical people. This is where business will fail.
These business executives think they know everything. The company wants to "jump on the bandwagon" (another phrase that means absolutely nothing) and deliver Linux solutions. Those idiots (the execs) don't even know what Linux is, but they make up fancy-looking (but meaningless) press releases that tell the world how their "solution" is going to change leverage innovative technology and improve the world. Then they assign the job -- the real work of making their solution a reality (they don't even know what reality they want to achieve) to the technical people who work their butts off to do it. And then (this is the worst part), because those corporate fools insist on not understanding anything technical, they wonder why it takes so long to deliver a reliable solution. So they put their hard-working technical people under extreme pressure, which results in unreliable solutions.
That is what pisses me off... the "market" is a bunch of people who don't know a damn thing about software. As a result of their incompetence, the world is going nowhere. Everyone (all those companies jumping on the f*cking bandwagon) has their pedal to the metal, but the trans is not in gear! This is why the tech sector, which was overinflated just a little while ago, is crumbling. Reality is setting in. As I've said: to be successful, business people NEED to bite the bullet and take the time to fully understand technology. If they insist on not doing this, as most of them do, they are in the wrong field of business. The tech-sector is not for those who don't understand tech.
I think that only time will tell... and I firmly believe that in a few years, the remaining tech-sector will consist of companies where the execs know what they're talking about when they mention Linux or another software product.
From the press release:
This is bad press for the Linux community in general, because the company is called VA Linux Systems and they are being addressed simply as "Linux." (It's only bad because most non-technical people probably don't know that Linux isn't owned by a company. The name VA Linux and the symbol LNUX probably don't help.)
In connection with the recent /. story "Ballmer Claims Linux Is Top Threat To MS", I'm sure the folks over in Redmond are having a good chuckle over this one.
While it may be possible that Corel is dumping their Linux products because they simply aren't successful, I won't try to analyse their business decisions.
What I will do, on the other hand, is write to them and explain how disappointed I am at their decision. I have been following the development of Corel Linux and WordPerfect since it was announced. I did this because part of my company's long-term plan is a graphic design department, and we wanted to set it up with the Corel products we know and love, on Linux.
Their decision to dump Linux and team up with Microsoft is very disappointing, and I suppose we will have to get our solutions from their competitors.
I suggest that everybody interested in their products write to Corel and tell them the same thing.
---
It might be helpful to note that policies like this force you to be a crook. By implementing too many restrictive policies, the industry is actually adding fuel to the fire they're trying to put out.
On a happier note, this mistake on the part of greedy industry, while frustrating now, could actually be a great help to the revolution of free (as in freedom) intellectual-property exchange (such as free software). Many folks are likely to get upset about their fair-use freedom being hindered by Hollywood and the consumer electronics industry, and will discover the free community as a result. This would be very bad news to greedy industry (and is exactly what they deserve).