Y'know..this is actually a great way that free software can generate revenue. Create it as a web page and then sell advertising. Capitalize on the fact that most people just deal with ads. You could sell other software or services (I'm thinking streaming music...). The time spent on the site would be amazing. Tons on ad inventory. Hmmm, anyone know some (ad)venture capitalists.......
Couple points here... first and scariest, M$ has recently (last two years) realized that contributing money to elected officials is a great way to get them to listen to you. from Time last year.. "...bringing the software giant's soft-money gifts to the party to more that $400,000 in the 1997-8 election cycle. Coincidentally, about that time, 10 Republican Senators signed a "Dear Colleague" letter criticizing the Clinton Administration for subjecting the software industry to "needless regulation through overzealous enforcement of antitrust" laws. "We must protect our high-tech indestry's freedom to innovate," said the Oct. 12 letter, copying Microsoft's p.r. machine practically verbatim."
and in this article... "an industry association of resellers, are meeting today with more than 30 congressional offices to discuss the potential costs to consumers of some of the antitrust remedies suggested by various organizations and individuals."
and some more.... "Estimating the Cost of Breaking Up Microsoft Windows," makes that claim that remedial actions against Microsoft could "'balkanize' an operating system standard that has been the overwhelming choice of business and consumers for their desktop computers."
Choice?! How many of your Moms (the ultimate anti-tech test) made a conscious decision about which OS to put on thier machines? And then to take this "choice" and use it as a reason to accept the status quo? My throat just ain't big enough to swallow this. And that $30B? Based on what another poster at the conference said, came from calling companies and asking how much it would cost to support 3 separate OSes. That ain't gonna happen, not a chance. The *huge* cost from such a situation would be support. Imagine...three seperate types of BSOD all caused by the same thing...normal use of the OS.
We *need* a standard OS, it just makes things sooo much easier, but I'd sure like an open, stable one, and make it free too!! (sounds like a farfetched wish doesn't it?;-)
As long as you can run other browsers on the Win OS, Microso~1 is dead. As the web becomes more central to applications and information, the OS matters less and less. (True of Linux, too!)
Agreed, more and more apps are moving straight to web interfaces. Is it that hard to imagine a word processor that runs in a brower? (yea, formatting would be a bitch, but.....) So all we really need is a nice, stable, cheap, OS to run under it all. Wonder where we could find one?
To me, the Mafia and Microsoft are perfect examples of why an unrestrained free market doesn't work.
These are examples of entities working inside a free market, _outside_ the laws. You can't blame the market when people don't follow the rules, you blame the people.
How much of Ziff-Davis do they own? Or I guess a better question is what percentage of ZD's advertising comes from M$? If anyone knows I like to see it, they seems to always be pushing for M$.
Are Gates and Allen still on good terms. They started M$ together, and now Allen owns *tons* of cable. He controls the access, gates controls the desktop. And have you seen that silly picture of Allen smiling smugly/slyly with his hand posed in the evil mastermind pose?
Off Topic: Q: What is the difference between Texas and yogurt? A: Yogurt has culture. Gimme a break. How many of your states used to be their own country? Damn Yankees. id is based in Texas and so are the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders. Sex and Violence, Texas kicks ass.
I've always thought of the Net as the *real* Hitchiker's Guide. I can't quote from memory (although I should be able to, read it enough:), but wasn't it described as a full compendium of human knowledge containing much useful informtion, but also a great deal that is erroneous, downright wrong, and often dangerous. Sounds like the Net to me. Douglas Adams is a visionary. Take a good (P5 1ghz) laptop, throw in a cellular connection (iridium 10mb/s), slap a big "Don't Panic" sticker on the front, and you're there. When this things comes out let's have a Perfectly Normal Beast BBQ, maybe Elvis could play....
(don't know what's wrong with the code, can you use tags in your sig?)
MP3Spy finds servers streaming MP3, from either shoutcast(win) or icecast (linux). It organizes them by ping (and genre) and allows one click streaming through WinAmp. It's the MP3 equivalent of Quake/GameSpy. The URL is www.mp3spy.com
That is unless some mainstream mags like PC Week published a counter explaining it was bogus. I don't think they have...
Not gonna happen, they get too much M$ advertising money. Not to mention the fact they own a NETWORK. Linux coverage(+)in the mainstream PC press is still sparse, although you can see media bubbles rising from the riverbed to the mainstream (/. --> Network TV)
(I tried to post this earlier, but I think/. get's dotted more than anyone now:)
Allright, I have preached about this before, but it probably won't be well received until a Linux version becomes available.(so take it with a grain of Time)
Many folks have mentioned that MP3 is not sufficient as a music medium. Citing low quality, artist support, the vaporware lock (something better will come along), industry resistance (wouldn't you), and others. I don't think any of these stand, but other have commented enough on them that I don't feel the need to. Instead I'd like to talk about why it is sufficient and will become the "CD" of the next 20+ years.
1) It's a standard. I don't know tech. specs. but I do know there is an official way that MP3s are made and that any player built to play them can. There aren't incompatible MP3 formats, it's a standard.
2) It's free. I think we all know how much that matters. Freedom from licensing fees make a huge difference.
3)The Internet. Again the Internet takes on the form of Middle-Man (lowering prices near you). Because of their shared digital nature, MP3 and the Net go hand in hand. So obvious I feel silly pointing it out.
4)Rippers. Widely available, and to the best of my knowledge, legal. The change from your old music collection medium to the new was never this easy.
5)Size. I'm talking physical size here folks. How many MP3s can you burn on a CD? a DVD? an Empeg:)? Your whole collection, available all the time, no switching, no scratching (!!!!!), no wait.
6)Convenience. see Size, also Internet.
7)MP3Spy. (no linux version yet, but it's gotta be coming) This is the real kicker and the program that will cause widespread use of MP3 (even amoung your mamas) If you've ever used Gamespy (I wonder:)) then you know how it works. You click once, it finds servers, you click again, and you're playing, or in this case listening. Could it be simpler? Could it provide more choice? Does it give _Nobody_ the same exposure as _TheMan_? No,no,yes.
Let's take a quick look at a *possible* distribution model using these points. 1. You want to listen to music. You click the Spy. 2. You have to pick a kind of music, so you do (or create your own). 3. You see a list of stations (with Ping, Capacity, and Quality) and pick one. 4. Streaming audio through Winamp.
How will people make money? I'll be the first to say that making millions in music will become MUCH more difficult, but that's what's the horrendous competitive environment of the Net does. What I envision is a scenario that when you are surfing through various Mp3 servers, you happen to find a song you like, click a link, visit a page, and make a purchase. It really is that simple. Many have said that such a thing wouldn't work becuase everyone would steal music and make illegal copies. That's the way it is now, but only becasue the vast majority of users and those who see nothing wrong with such actions (students and teenagers). I beleive their parents might feel differently, I've certainly matured in regards to digital theft (although I refuse to give M$ money). So there will be a market that will pay money, not much but I think a middle ground can be reached.
What this does to the music industry? Bu-bye big companies. The model won't support huge promotions or even huge profits, sorry but competition does that. It goes local. Now you can hear local bands (local bars set up a server and promote whoever is playing that week) with the same exposure as national. Good music becomes popular, as opposed to popular music being considered good. Live music becomes a bigger draw. Local bands also can gain an advantage because of better pings (gotta love that speed of light). I could go on, but alas I have to work.
Real quick, I knew this was cool, but I didn't appreciate how cool it was until I found a particular stream. I happen to be a fan of the band Phish. Phish, like the Dead before then, feel that music, once it's been presented, should be available to those who wish to hear it (a philosophy that should be well accepted here) and following this philosophy allow tapers (DATer's?) at each and every show. Much of this music has found it's way to the Net and MP3. Do you see how cool this can be?! Anytime I want to listen to live Phish it's two clicks away! ANY band could do this, ANYone can do this.
The times they are a changin' and getting damn cool if you ask me.
I think the hard part would be finding servers that are streaming music you want to listen to.....of course MP3Spy showed up before that became an issue, so there.
Thanks for the reply, it exposes an angle(s) that I wasn't aware of. Perhaps being close to the center of the storm has swayed my views. I still think we (US) need to ammend the Constitution as regards to privacy (a point no reply touched on), which I used as an example of something the founding fathers could not foresee and tried to transfer this to an issue they addressed (the right to own massively-lethal fire power). Anyway, thanks for the well-informed and presented reply, it's a big part of why I love/.
As with all things, it's not applications that will make any platform or operating system - it's the avalibility of games.
Game development has been the driving force behind faster cpu's for years, and with the current vendor community turn around to linux - it's going to drive home linux as a consumer operating system.
In full agreement here. Games drive the market. Notice how nearly all new PCs include 3d accs. I wonder why that is? Quake (and doom before it) has driven my upgrades as well as providing yet another reason why I NEED broadband. I think Q3 being released natively on Linux will do much to improve it's overall market acceptance. Without games an OS, however superior in other areas, simply won't garner a large market share. Notice Apple finally reaized this, we'll see what it does for them. Win9x have done amazing things for the PC game market, anybody else remember having to reconfigure memory for every game? Linux needs one button install and removal for game elements, so we can play all those wonderful FREE demos.
..and I love those 3dfx commercials. They hit dead-on the mix of high tech world-saving-possibilities used for straight pleasure.
The Problem WAS Our Fathers
on
Why Kids Kill
·
· Score: 1
Think how different the situation at Littleton, CO would have been with a couple of well trained gun owners incapacitating the killers.
There was. The campus security guard exchanged fire with the gunmen, then went for back-up. He missed.
Think how different the situation in Littleton, CO would be without this
Amendment II A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.
Before you flame read on. I think the framers of the Constitution simply couldn't comprehend what some laws might come to mean in the future. I would seriously doubt they would have advocated regular citizens owning enough firepower to blow up a school. Remember what a gun meant in those days, a musket, with a reloading time of what, a minute or two? Contrast that with what we have today and there is a change in weaponry power of such a magnitude that no ruler in his right mind would allow a normal citizen to own it, much less have a guaranteed right to own it. While I don't agree with freaking out over such a situation (or any of the associated "Symptoms" of this behavior, many of which I share) I do believe that some work needs to be done on the documents that created and defined this country (US) that allow such events (and possibly much worse ones) to occur. The word privacy is not in our Constitution, yet we are protected from being forced to house soldiers (which I'm sure was a hot topic at the time). I think now (millenium and all that) might be a good time to do a bit of house cleaning and remove much of the cruft that hampers our country's source code.
The problem WAS the future
on
Why Kids Kill
·
· Score: 1
Think how different the situation at Littleton, CO would have been with a couple of well trained gun owners incapacitating the killers.
There was. The campus security guard exchanged fire with the gunmen, then went for back-up. He missed.
Think how different the situation in Littleton, CO would be without this
Amendment II A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.
Before you flame read on. I think the framers of the Constitution simply couldn't comprehend what some laws might come to mean in the future. I would seriously doubt they would have advocated regular citizens owning enough firepower to blow up a school. Remember what a gun meant in those days, a musket, with a reloading time of what, a minute or two? Contrast that with what we have today and there is a change in weaponry power of such a magnitude that no ruler in his right mind would allow a normal citizen to own it, much less have a guaranteed right to own it. While I don't agree with freaking out over such a situation (or any of the associated "Symptoms" of this behavior, many of which I share) I do believe that some work needs to be done on the documents that created and defined this country (US) that allow such events (and possibly much worse ones) to occur. The word privacy is not in our Constitution, yet we are protected from being forced to house soldiers (which I'm sure was a hot topic at the time). I think now (millenium and all that) might be a good time to do a bit of house cleaning and remove much of the cruft that hampers our country's source code.
Sorry just went off a bit there, but hey, you can't stop me,:-)
If they really must blame someone for the tragedy, then let them put the blame where it belongs: on those who harrassed and alienated the teens and the parents who did not take responsibility for raising them with a sense of right and wrong and reality versus fantasy. Any other blame is misdirected.
There are two people to *blame* for this and they both wasted themselves. I realize that many/.'ers feel empathy for these downtrodden souls citing common experiences of being picked on or ridiculed for the way they were. But please don't make these two out to be victims, They lost control of reality, They pulled the triggers, and they are to blame. Let's not move away from one of the better consistent themese here, personal responsibility. I was capable of abstract thought at the age of 10, I knew true from false, reality from fiction. These kids willfully chose to ignore that, and exact their own horrible revenge. I realize there are other factors, but that doesn't change the choices these people made.
Well I bought into this site originally, but my doubt grew quickly.
Check out this tag: META name="keywords" content="trenchcoat, trenchcoat mafia, mafia, littleton, columbine, columbine high school, colorado, shooting, massacre, kmfdm, marilyn manson, the matrix, hitler, jon katz, serbia, kenneth cole, van heusen, fidelity, leather, wool, textiles, cream soda"
Wow, I'm sure Jon would be happy at such a mention, right next to Hitler no less. I can see the thought process now..."hmmmm Marilyn Manson. Oh yeah definitely him, the Matrix was cool, let's put that in. How about Hitler, yea he was out of control. What next??? Ooh, I've got it, Jon Katz."
This only goes to show how extremely whacked these young men were. (if this in fact an "official" website).
that happens when you cater to idiots. No offense of course, are you AC because you couldn't figure out the registration process or was/. featured in an AOL "Cool Sites" listing.
Certain companies have made a great deal of money preying on the stupid and ignorant, as a true geek (which I SERIOUSLY doubt you are) you should avoid giving these companies more money. Vote with your wallet and make fun of these companies to your friends.
..and nice post, good to see katz called on rewriting history to more closely fit his position.(although it will make most/.'ers (39%) think they woke up in class today)
words are an excellent communication medium. But like any art it takes practice to make your audience "see" or "feel" what you do. Besides it saves on bandwidth (vs. voice/video).
However language will always be a barrier to free movement, hence the highly intelligent are more free than the uneducated, regardless of computer knowhow.
Slashdot Mirror
Don't have it, but not surprised. Their products are also pushed in their magazine (PC Mag I&II)
Y'know..this is actually a great way that free software can generate revenue. Create it as a web page and then sell advertising. Capitalize on the fact that most people just deal with ads. You could sell other software or services (I'm thinking streaming music...). The time spent on the site would be amazing. Tons on ad inventory. Hmmm, anyone know some (ad)venture capitalists.......
Couple points here...
;-)
first and scariest, M$ has recently (last two years) realized that contributing money to elected officials is a great way to get them to listen to you.
from Time last year..
"...bringing the software giant's soft-money gifts to the party to more that $400,000 in the 1997-8 election cycle. Coincidentally, about that time, 10 Republican Senators signed a "Dear Colleague" letter criticizing the Clinton Administration for subjecting the software industry to "needless regulation through overzealous enforcement of antitrust" laws. "We must protect our high-tech indestry's freedom to innovate," said the Oct. 12 letter, copying Microsoft's p.r. machine practically verbatim."
and in this article...
"an industry association of resellers, are meeting today with more than 30 congressional offices to discuss the potential costs to consumers of some of the antitrust remedies suggested by various organizations and individuals."
and some more....
"Estimating the Cost of Breaking Up Microsoft Windows," makes that claim that remedial actions against Microsoft could "'balkanize' an operating system standard that has been the overwhelming choice of business and consumers for their desktop computers."
Choice?! How many of your Moms (the ultimate anti-tech test) made a conscious decision about which OS to put on thier machines? And then to take this "choice" and use it as a reason to accept the status quo? My throat just ain't big enough to swallow this.
And that $30B? Based on what another poster at the conference said, came from calling companies and asking how much it would cost to support 3 separate OSes. That ain't gonna happen, not a chance. The *huge* cost from such a situation would be support. Imagine...three seperate types of BSOD all caused by the same thing...normal use of the OS.
We *need* a standard OS, it just makes things sooo much easier, but I'd sure like an open, stable one, and make it free too!! (sounds like a farfetched wish doesn't it?
As long as you can run other browsers on the Win OS, Microso~1 is dead. As the web becomes more central to applications and information, the OS matters less and less. (True of Linux, too!)
Agreed, more and more apps are moving straight to web interfaces. Is it that hard to imagine a word processor that runs in a brower? (yea, formatting would be a bitch, but.....)
So all we really need is a nice, stable, cheap, OS to run under it all. Wonder where we could find one?
To me, the Mafia and Microsoft are perfect examples of why an unrestrained free market doesn't work.
These are examples of entities working inside a free market, _outside_ the laws. You can't blame the market when people don't follow the rules, you blame the people.
How much of Ziff-Davis do they own? Or I guess a better question is what percentage of ZD's advertising comes from M$? If anyone knows I like to see it, they seems to always be pushing for M$.
Quick conspiracy question/notice.
Are Gates and Allen still on good terms. They started M$ together, and now Allen owns *tons* of cable. He controls the access, gates controls the desktop. And have you seen that silly picture of Allen smiling smugly/slyly with his hand posed in the evil mastermind pose?
Off Topic:
Q: What is the difference between Texas and yogurt? A: Yogurt has culture. Gimme a break. How many of your states used to be their own country? Damn Yankees. id is based in Texas and so are the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders. Sex and Violence, Texas kicks ass.
..about six feet down, huh?
(sorry, couldn't resist)
I've always thought of the Net as the *real* Hitchiker's Guide. I can't quote from memory (although I should be able to, read it enough:), but wasn't it described as a full compendium of human knowledge containing much useful informtion, but also a great deal that is erroneous, downright wrong, and often dangerous.
Sounds like the Net to me.
Douglas Adams is a visionary. Take a good (P5 1ghz) laptop, throw in a cellular connection (iridium 10mb/s), slap a big "Don't Panic" sticker on the front, and you're there.
When this things comes out let's have a Perfectly Normal Beast BBQ, maybe Elvis could play....
fixed the link, and yes, many times a day, I am an idiot.
(don't know what's wrong with the code, can you use tags in your sig?)
MP3Spy finds servers streaming MP3, from either shoutcast(win) or icecast (linux). It organizes them by ping (and genre) and allows one click streaming through WinAmp. It's the MP3 equivalent of Quake/GameSpy. The URL is www.mp3spy.com
That is unless some mainstream mags like PC Week published a counter explaining it was bogus. I don't think they have...
Not gonna happen, they get too much M$ advertising money. Not to mention the fact they own a NETWORK. Linux coverage(+)in the mainstream PC press is still sparse, although you can see media bubbles rising from the riverbed to the mainstream (/. --> Network TV)
(I tried to post this earlier, but I think /. get's dotted more than anyone now:)
:)? Your whole collection, available all the time, no switching, no scratching (!!!!!), no wait.
:)) then you know how it works. You click once, it finds servers, you click again, and you're playing, or in this case listening. Could it be simpler? Could it provide more choice? Does it give _Nobody_ the same exposure as _TheMan_? No,no,yes.
Allright, I have preached about this before, but it probably won't be well received until a Linux version becomes available.(so take it with a grain of Time)
Many folks have mentioned that MP3 is not sufficient as a music medium. Citing low quality, artist support, the vaporware lock (something better will come along), industry resistance (wouldn't you), and others. I don't think any of these stand, but other have commented enough on them that I don't feel the need to. Instead I'd like to talk about why it is sufficient and will become the "CD" of the next 20+ years.
1) It's a standard. I don't know tech. specs. but I do know there is an official way that MP3s are made and that any player built to play them can. There aren't incompatible MP3 formats, it's a standard.
2) It's free. I think we all know how much that matters. Freedom from licensing fees make a huge difference.
3)The Internet. Again the Internet takes on the form of Middle-Man (lowering prices near you). Because of their shared digital nature, MP3 and the Net go hand in hand. So obvious I feel silly pointing it out.
4)Rippers. Widely available, and to the best of my knowledge, legal. The change from your old music collection medium to the new was never this easy.
5)Size. I'm talking physical size here folks. How many MP3s can you burn on a CD? a DVD? an Empeg
6)Convenience. see Size, also Internet.
7)MP3Spy. (no linux version yet, but it's gotta be coming) This is the real kicker and the program that will cause widespread use of MP3 (even amoung your mamas) If you've ever used Gamespy (I wonder
Let's take a quick look at a *possible* distribution model using these points.
1. You want to listen to music. You click the Spy.
2. You have to pick a kind of music, so you do (or create your own).
3. You see a list of stations (with Ping, Capacity, and Quality) and pick one.
4. Streaming audio through Winamp.
How will people make money? I'll be the first to say that making millions in music will become MUCH more difficult, but that's what's the horrendous competitive environment of the Net does. What I envision is a scenario that when you are surfing through various Mp3 servers, you happen to find a song you like, click a link, visit a page, and make a purchase. It really is that simple.
Many have said that such a thing wouldn't work becuase everyone would steal music and make illegal copies. That's the way it is now, but only becasue the vast majority of users and those who see nothing wrong with such actions (students and teenagers). I beleive their parents might feel differently, I've certainly matured in regards to digital theft (although I refuse to give M$ money). So there will be a market that will pay money, not much but I think a middle ground can be reached.
What this does to the music industry?
Bu-bye big companies. The model won't support huge promotions or even huge profits, sorry but competition does that. It goes local. Now you can hear local bands (local bars set up a server and promote whoever is playing that week) with the same exposure as national. Good music becomes popular, as opposed to popular music being considered good. Live music becomes a bigger draw. Local bands also can gain an advantage because of better pings (gotta love that speed of light). I could go on, but alas I have to work.
Real quick, I knew this was cool, but I didn't appreciate how cool it was until I found a particular stream. I happen to be a fan of the band Phish. Phish, like the Dead before then, feel that music, once it's been presented, should be available to those who wish to hear it (a philosophy that should be well accepted here) and following this philosophy allow tapers (DATer's?) at each and every show. Much of this music has found it's way to the Net and MP3. Do you see how cool this can be?! Anytime I want to listen to live Phish it's two clicks away! ANY band could do this, ANYone can do this.
The times they are a changin' and getting damn cool if you ask me.
I think the hard part would be finding servers that are streaming music you want to listen to.....of course MP3Spy showed up before that became an issue, so there.
Thanks for the reply, it exposes an angle(s) that I wasn't aware of. Perhaps being close to the center of the storm has swayed my views. I still think we (US) need to ammend the Constitution as regards to privacy (a point no reply touched on), which I used as an example of something the founding fathers could not foresee and tried to transfer this to an issue they addressed (the right to own massively-lethal fire power). Anyway, thanks for the well-informed and presented reply, it's a big part of why I love /.
As with all things, it's not applications that will make any platform or operating system - it's the avalibility of games.
Game development has been the driving force behind faster cpu's for years, and with the current vendor community turn around to linux - it's going to drive home linux as a consumer operating system.
In full agreement here. Games drive the market. Notice how nearly all new PCs include 3d accs. I wonder why that is? Quake (and doom before it) has driven my upgrades as well as providing yet another reason why I NEED broadband. I think Q3 being released natively on Linux will do much to improve it's overall market acceptance. Without games an OS, however superior in other areas, simply won't garner a large market share. Notice Apple finally reaized this, we'll see what it does for them.
Win9x have done amazing things for the PC game market, anybody else remember having to reconfigure memory for every game? Linux needs one button install and removal for game elements, so we can play all those wonderful FREE demos.
..and I love those 3dfx commercials. They hit dead-on the mix of high tech world-saving-possibilities used for straight pleasure.
Think how different the situation at Littleton, CO would have been with a couple of well trained gun owners incapacitating the killers.
There was. The campus security guard exchanged fire with the gunmen, then went for back-up. He missed.
Think how different the situation in Littleton, CO would be without this
Amendment II
A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.
Before you flame read on. I think the framers of the Constitution simply couldn't comprehend what some laws might come to mean in the future. I would seriously doubt they would have advocated regular citizens owning enough firepower to blow up a school. Remember what a gun meant in those days, a musket, with a reloading time of what, a minute or two? Contrast that with what we have today and there is a change in weaponry power of such a magnitude that no ruler in his right mind would allow a normal citizen to own it, much less have a guaranteed right to own it.
While I don't agree with freaking out over such a situation (or any of the associated "Symptoms" of this behavior, many of which I share) I do believe that some work needs to be done on the documents that created and defined this country (US) that allow such events (and possibly much worse ones) to occur. The word privacy is not in our Constitution, yet we are protected from being forced to house soldiers (which I'm sure was a hot topic at the time). I think now (millenium and all that) might be a good time to do a bit of house cleaning and remove much of the cruft that hampers our country's source code.
Think how different the situation at Littleton, CO would have been with a couple of well trained gun owners incapacitating the killers.
:-)
There was. The campus security guard exchanged fire with the gunmen, then went for back-up. He missed.
Think how different the situation in Littleton, CO would be without this
Amendment II
A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.
Before you flame read on. I think the framers of the Constitution simply couldn't comprehend what some laws might come to mean in the future. I would seriously doubt they would have advocated regular citizens owning enough firepower to blow up a school. Remember what a gun meant in those days, a musket, with a reloading time of what, a minute or two? Contrast that with what we have today and there is a change in weaponry power of such a magnitude that no ruler in his right mind would allow a normal citizen to own it, much less have a guaranteed right to own it.
While I don't agree with freaking out over such a situation (or any of the associated "Symptoms" of this behavior, many of which I share) I do believe that some work needs to be done on the documents that created and defined this country (US) that allow such events (and possibly much worse ones) to occur. The word privacy is not in our Constitution, yet we are protected from being forced to house soldiers (which I'm sure was a hot topic at the time). I think now (millenium and all that) might be a good time to do a bit of house cleaning and remove much of the cruft that hampers our country's source code.
Sorry just went off a bit there, but hey, you can't stop me,
If they really must blame someone for the tragedy, then let them put the blame where it belongs: on those who harrassed and alienated the teens and the parents who did not take responsibility for raising them with a sense of right and wrong and reality versus fantasy. Any other blame is misdirected.
/.'ers feel empathy for these downtrodden souls citing common experiences of being picked on or ridiculed for the way they were. But please don't make these two out to be victims, They lost control of reality, They pulled the triggers, and they are to blame. Let's not move away from one of the better consistent themese here, personal responsibility. I was capable of abstract thought at the age of 10, I knew true from false, reality from fiction. These kids willfully chose to ignore that, and exact their own horrible revenge. I realize there are other factors, but that doesn't change the choices these people made.
There are two people to *blame* for this and they both wasted themselves. I realize that many
Well I bought into this site originally, but my doubt grew quickly.
Check out this tag:
META name="keywords" content="trenchcoat, trenchcoat mafia, mafia, littleton, columbine, columbine high school, colorado, shooting, massacre, kmfdm, marilyn manson, the matrix, hitler, jon katz, serbia, kenneth cole, van heusen, fidelity, leather, wool, textiles, cream soda"
Wow, I'm sure Jon would be happy at such a mention, right next to Hitler no less. I can see the thought process now..."hmmmm Marilyn Manson. Oh yeah definitely him, the Matrix was cool, let's put that in. How about Hitler, yea he was out of control. What next??? Ooh, I've got it, Jon Katz."
This only goes to show how extremely whacked these young men were. (if this in fact an "official" website).
set up shout/icecast, let people find you with MP3Spy, broadcast to them and share your music with the world.
If you haven't (and you probably wouldn't if you don't look out a Window) seen it MP3Spy is the coolest piece of software ever.(my new siguote)
Especially now that I found a Phish channel all else is bliss.
AOL has it's downsides.
/. featured in an AOL "Cool Sites" listing.
that happens when you cater to idiots. No offense of course, are you AC because you couldn't figure out the registration process or was
Certain companies have made a great deal of money preying on the stupid and ignorant, as a true geek (which I SERIOUSLY doubt you are) you should avoid giving these companies more money. Vote with your wallet and make fun of these companies to your friends.
Are you a Bengal Lancer?
/.'ers (39%) think they woke up in class today)
..and nice post, good to see katz called on rewriting history to more closely fit his position.(although it will make most
words are an excellent communication medium. But like any art it takes practice to make your audience "see" or "feel" what you do. Besides it saves on bandwidth (vs. voice/video).
However language will always be a barrier to free movement, hence the highly intelligent are more free than the uneducated, regardless of computer knowhow.
http://babelfish.altavista.com/
kewl things the net can do #1,098,428,324