The (somewhat vague) language of the page suggests that Win2000 may not coexist with Linux. This could be just cluelessness or FUD; OTOH, I wouldn't put it past MS to out in a few hidden "features" to encourage customer loyalty by making it harder to use Linux and Win2000 on the same system. Sort of like the way they did in DR DOS.
In the US "auction" legal system, whichever party places the highest bid (in legal fees) wins the verdict. It is unlikely that etoy.com (regardless of how long they've been around) will be able to outbid eToys.
Though by saying that "immorality means promiscuity", the poster is implying that Judeo-Christian morality is the default morality that is assumed unless otherwise qualified, and that the standard meaning of the word "immoral" implies transgressions against Christian beliefs. This is what I disagree with.
"Thou shalt not kill" I have no problems with. Lumping consenting adults who engage in extramarital sex with thieves and exploiters under the catch-all category of "immorals" belongs in a theocracy.
Given what a royal cock-up Netscape's "support" for UNIX platforms (at least Linux and IRIX) has been, using non-Windows machines for Web browsing is looking like less of an option every day. Unless you don't mind your browser crashing lots.
I've recently taken to using NT machines at university for browsing the Web, and just using MindTerm (a pure Java SSH client) to log in and check my mail. And I'm no Microsoft zealot.
Aside: anyone know whether there's a Windows Media player for MacOS?
Thus saying immorals are more likely to get AIDS (where immorality means promiscuity -- remeber morality is relative) is a statistically accurate statement.
Though semantically it is flawed. Why is non-monogamy "immoral"? Because the Bible said so? There is no reason why having more than one sexual partner (in itself) should be considered "immoral". If you believe it's wrong to have sex with anyone you're not married to, by all means don't do it. But don't judge others who don't share your beliefs.
"Man has the right to love as he will, where, when and whom he will."
Imagine this scenario: a serial killer is looking around for his next victim. Then, in the street or on the bus or at the McDonalds or somewhere, he sees one whom he fancies adding to his collection. He quickly takes out his pocket implant transceiver (which, despite them not being in the shops, he bought from a black-market dealer), points it discreetly at the prospective victim, presses a button and a second later puts it back. The victim's implant number is now in its memory.
At home, he logs into an online database (money can buy information, and if you're a committed "collector", you can no doubt invest a little in your hobby), enters the number and gets the victim's details; perhaps their home address, perhaps even a trail of where they have been recently, or even where they currently are.
He familiarises himself with his prospective victim; their movement patterns, the people they are often with, when they're likely to be alone. Soon enough he identifies an opportunity to pounce. He moves in, makes sure that the coast is clear and pounces.
The police check the tracker logs to see what happened, but draw a blank; either the killer had never been fitted with an implant or he had it removed. Perhaps his implant is sitting in a drawer somewhere, wired up to a modchip that simulates life signs, reporting that he has been at home all day.
Of course, it will be a cold day in Hell before Microsoft release any improvements to Apache to the outside world. Apache is the competition, after all, and an Apache server is one which will not be running IIS. It'd be against MS's interests to do anything that would deprive IIS of any advantages (such as MS's proprietary technologies).
Of course, if MS is split up and IIS and Hotmail go their separate ways, that could very well change.
Chemical abortion in space?
on
Sex in Space
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· Score: 1
Wouldn't the Republicans cut NASA founding drastically if they found out that their space programme includes provisions for abortion of any sort?
when you're talking about long-duration space flights (rotations aboard the International Space Station, trips to Mars, etc.) it would be silly to avoid the issue of sex altogether. I mean, let's be honest.. we are human beings, after all, and a period of six months or so is an awfully long dry spell.:-)
For some reason, reading this statement on Slashdot seems incongruously amusing...
In seriousness, a "celibacy drug" may be a better solution; a drug which suppresses the sexual drive, removing all desire for sex, physical intimacy or what have you.
The question is how this may be accomplished without nasty side-effects. Apparently both heroin and lithium are excellent libido suppressants, though both of these also adversely affect the user in many ways.
SQUIDs and Sex Packets
on
Sex in Space
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· Score: 1
They just need to invent direct-neural-interface virtual-reality sex. Put on some headgear or pop a pill and you're getting righteously laid, with no chance of anyone getting pregnant or catching a disease.
Come to think of it, there could be a market for this kind of thing on Earth.
I believe the Soviet Union actually had a typewriter registry. And things like fax machines were strictly regulated.
The Soviets went as far as to introduce their own incompatible video cassette recorder technology; this was done in the 1980s as a Glasnost-driven concession to consumer demand, whilst keeping Western media out of the public's hands. I believe it died pretty quickly.
If anything, systems have gotten more complex, with more actual and potential security holes. With the dozens of daemons machines run these days, as well as various infrastructural mechanisms such as RPC, scripting languages, and systems made of lots of complex components interplaying with each other, security is a lot more tenuous.
If the EFF were to take on the Church of Scientology, or even make noises in that direction, the Church would probably start a campaign to take it over, infiltrating its members into its ranks and using other tactics. Apparently they did something similar to the Cult Awareness Network, and actually took over the organisation entirely.
In any case, defending against the machinations of a CoS determined on victory would leave the EFF with little if any resources to devote to other matters, such as encryption, censorship in general and abuses of copyright.
Even worse: what if we don't know what could get one damned. It is equally plausible that whether or not one goes to Hell depends solely on the way in which one ties one's shoelaces, or something that seems similarly trivial. Or any of an infinite number of even more bizarre hypotheses, most of which no-one save the most deranged (or perhaps insightful) have ever thought of.
Or to quote an old Discordian maxim: what if God was a rabbit?
I think it's a common enough pattern; a lot of the most humorous, wittiest people are deeply troubled, and their sense of humour is produced by the need to cope with the slings and arrows of life. Then at some stage it becomes too much, something gives, and they end it all. And everybody wonders how they could have been laughing and joking a few days earlier and now be dead.
To name one reasonably well-known example, Ian Curtis (of Joy Division) was supposedly quite a joker, and his suicide caught everybody by surprise.
If IE for Linux is anything like IE for Solaris, it will make Netscape 4 look like a paragon of reliability and efficiency.
If Microsoft could put the effort they did into the Mac port into UNIX, it may be a decent product. But they'd only do it if they absolutely needed to to kill Netscape on the platform and take control (which they don't).
Maybe a broken-up Microsoft's web-browser offshoot will change its strategy to making a high-quality browser for various platforms? We can hope, because sure as hell AOL/Netscape won't be doing it.
ZIP disks are large and bulky. To carry a portable ZIP Audio player, you'd need a backpack. CDs are too large as well. (Compared to MDs, anyway.)
A MD recorder, however, will fit in a trouser pocket snugly. And not only can you play music on it, you can also plug in a microphone and record whenever it takes your fancy to do so.
Many things with a lot of high frequencies will sound harsh when converted to ATRAC. (For example, most of The Glove's Blue Sunshine; great album, but the MiniDisc I made of it doesn't sound so good.)
Alas, there seem to be no MD Data drives for actual computers; MD Data seems to be only usable as a medium for multitrack recording.
Btw, how do MD Data discs differ from normal MDs? Is it just a matter of the makers marking them as usable for data and charging 5 times as much for them?
Moderate this +1 (Funny)
on
Linux on Palm
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· Score: 1
In case you don't know why this is funny, it refers to an unintentionally amusing personal homepage recently doing the rounds of the mailing lists. (I believe NtK mentioned it too.)
THen when it's anonymous, and no patch has any more reputation or credibility to it than any other, you can't trust it. When you don't know whether a patch is from Alan Cox, some script kiddie planting a trojan or an agent of Hollywood out to disrupt the process, you don't feel so confident about applying it.
If the law keeps legitimate businesses/entitles (RedHat, Debian, &c.) from touching DeCSS with a ten-foot pole, legitimate hackers from working on it and signing their names to it, and adds the taint of criminality to it (always good to make people uneasy about using it; could have a back door, you know), it will have served its purpose.
The purpose is not to annihilate DeCSS (that's not possible), just to starve it of oxygen.
Slashdot Mirror
The (somewhat vague) language of the page suggests that Win2000 may not coexist with Linux. This could be just cluelessness or FUD; OTOH, I wouldn't put it past MS to out in a few hidden "features" to encourage customer loyalty by making it harder to use Linux and Win2000 on the same system. Sort of like the way they did in DR DOS.
In the US "auction" legal system, whichever party places the highest bid (in legal fees) wins the verdict. It is unlikely that etoy.com (regardless of how long they've been around) will be able to outbid eToys.
Though by saying that "immorality means promiscuity", the poster is implying that Judeo-Christian morality is the default morality that is assumed unless otherwise qualified, and that the standard meaning of the word "immoral" implies transgressions against Christian beliefs. This is what I disagree with.
"Thou shalt not kill" I have no problems with. Lumping consenting adults who engage in extramarital sex with thieves and exploiters under the catch-all category of "immorals" belongs in a theocracy.
Given what a royal cock-up Netscape's "support" for UNIX platforms (at least Linux and IRIX) has been, using non-Windows machines for Web browsing is looking like less of an option every day. Unless you don't mind your browser crashing lots.
I've recently taken to using NT machines at university for browsing the Web, and just using MindTerm (a pure Java SSH client) to log in and check my mail. And I'm no Microsoft zealot.
Aside: anyone know whether there's a Windows Media player for MacOS?
Thus saying
immorals are more likely to get AIDS (where immorality means promiscuity --
remeber morality is relative) is a statistically accurate statement.
Though semantically it is flawed. Why is non-monogamy "immoral"? Because the Bible said so? There is no reason why having more than one sexual partner (in itself) should be considered "immoral". If you believe it's wrong to have sex with anyone you're not married to, by all means don't do it. But don't judge others who don't share your beliefs.
"Man has the right to love as he will, where, when and whom he will."
Imagine this scenario: a serial killer is looking around for his next victim. Then, in the street or on the bus or at the McDonalds or somewhere, he sees one whom he fancies adding to his collection. He quickly takes out his pocket implant transceiver (which, despite them not being in the shops, he bought from a black-market dealer), points it discreetly at the prospective victim, presses a button and a second later puts it back. The victim's implant number is now in its memory.
At home, he logs into an online database (money can buy information, and if you're a committed "collector", you can no doubt invest a little in your hobby), enters the number and gets the victim's details; perhaps their home address, perhaps even a trail of where they have been recently, or even where they currently are.
He familiarises himself with his prospective victim; their movement patterns, the people they are often with, when they're likely to be alone. Soon enough he identifies an opportunity to pounce. He moves in, makes sure that the coast is clear and pounces.
The police check the tracker logs to see what happened, but draw a blank; either the killer had never been fitted with an implant or he had it removed. Perhaps his implant is sitting in a drawer somewhere, wired up to a modchip that simulates life signs, reporting that he has been at home all day.
Of course, it will be a cold day in Hell before Microsoft release any improvements to Apache to the outside world. Apache is the competition, after all, and an Apache server is one which will not be running IIS. It'd be against MS's interests to do anything that would deprive IIS of any advantages (such as MS's proprietary technologies).
Of course, if MS is split up and IIS and Hotmail go their separate ways, that could very well change.
Wouldn't the Republicans cut NASA founding drastically if they found out that their space programme includes provisions for abortion of any sort?
when you're talking about long-duration space flights (rotations aboard the International Space Station, trips to Mars, etc.) it would be silly to avoid the issue of sex altogether. I mean, let's be honest .. we are human beings, after all, and a period of six months or so is an awfully long dry spell. :-)
For some reason, reading this statement on Slashdot seems incongruously amusing...
In seriousness, a "celibacy drug" may be a better solution; a drug which suppresses the sexual drive, removing all desire for sex, physical intimacy or what have you.
The question is how this may be accomplished without nasty side-effects. Apparently both heroin and lithium are excellent libido suppressants, though both of these also adversely affect the user in many ways.
They just need to invent direct-neural-interface virtual-reality sex. Put on some headgear or pop a pill and you're getting righteously laid, with no chance of anyone getting pregnant or catching a disease.
Come to think of it, there could be a market for this kind of thing on Earth.
I believe the Soviet Union actually had a typewriter registry. And things like fax machines were strictly regulated.
The Soviets went as far as to introduce their own incompatible video cassette recorder technology; this was done in the 1980s as a Glasnost-driven concession to consumer demand, whilst keeping Western media out of the public's hands. I believe it died pretty quickly.
If anything, systems have gotten more complex, with more actual and potential security holes. With the dozens of daemons machines run these days, as well as various infrastructural mechanisms such as RPC, scripting languages, and systems made of lots of complex components interplaying with each other, security is a lot more tenuous.
Personally I pee in the ass of all the Ayatollahs.
"I unclog my nose at you, you sons of window-dressers! I fart in your general direction."
Sorry...
If the EFF were to take on the Church of Scientology, or even make noises in that direction, the Church would probably start a campaign to take it over, infiltrating its members into its ranks and using other tactics. Apparently they did something similar to the Cult Awareness Network, and actually took over the organisation entirely.
In any case, defending against the machinations of a CoS determined on victory would leave the EFF with little if any resources to devote to other matters, such as encryption, censorship in general and abuses of copyright.
L. Ron Hubbard claimed to have made a bet with J. R. "Bob" Dobbs?
I heard that it was Ayn Rand that Hubbard made the bet with, and Heinlein adjudicated.
Even worse: what if we don't know what could get one damned. It is equally plausible that whether or not one goes to Hell depends solely on the way in which one ties one's shoelaces, or something that seems similarly trivial. Or any of an infinite number of even more bizarre hypotheses, most of which no-one save the most deranged (or perhaps insightful) have ever thought of.
Or to quote an old Discordian maxim: what if God was a rabbit?
I think it's a common enough pattern; a lot of the most humorous, wittiest people are deeply troubled, and their sense of humour is produced by the need to cope with the slings and arrows of life. Then at some stage it becomes too much, something gives, and they end it all. And everybody wonders how they could have been laughing and joking a few days earlier and now be dead.
To name one reasonably well-known example, Ian Curtis (of Joy Division) was supposedly quite a joker, and his suicide caught everybody by surprise.
If IE for Linux is anything like IE for Solaris, it will make Netscape 4 look like a paragon of reliability and efficiency.
If Microsoft could put the effort they did into the Mac port into UNIX, it may be a decent product. But they'd only do it if they absolutely needed to to kill Netscape on the platform and take control (which they don't).
Maybe a broken-up Microsoft's web-browser offshoot will change its strategy to making a high-quality browser for various platforms? We can hope, because sure as hell AOL/Netscape won't be doing it.
ZIP disks are large and bulky. To carry a portable ZIP Audio player, you'd need a backpack. CDs are too large as well. (Compared to MDs, anyway.)
A MD recorder, however, will fit in a trouser pocket snugly. And not only can you play music on it, you can also plug in a microphone and record whenever it takes your fancy to do so.
Many things with a lot of high frequencies will sound harsh when converted to ATRAC. (For example, most of The Glove's Blue Sunshine; great album, but the MiniDisc I made of it doesn't sound so good.)
Alas, there seem to be no MD Data drives for actual computers; MD Data seems to be only usable as a medium for multitrack recording.
Btw, how do MD Data discs differ from normal MDs? Is it just a matter of the makers marking them as usable for data and charging 5 times as much for them?
In case you don't know why this is funny, it refers to an unintentionally amusing personal homepage recently doing the rounds of the mailing lists. (I believe NtK mentioned it too.)
THen when it's anonymous, and no patch has any more reputation or credibility to it than any other, you can't trust it. When you don't know whether a patch is from Alan Cox, some script kiddie planting a trojan or an agent of Hollywood out to disrupt the process, you don't feel so confident about applying it.
If the law keeps legitimate businesses/entitles (RedHat, Debian, &c.) from touching DeCSS with a ten-foot pole, legitimate hackers from working on it and signing their names to it, and adds the taint of criminality to it (always good to make people uneasy about using it; could have a back door, you know), it will have served its purpose.
The purpose is not to annihilate DeCSS (that's not possible), just to starve it of oxygen.