Whenever he get ranters block he looks for stories with 500+ comments and then writes his own, calls it an article, and pisses off all the Katz haters. (Me? I like dogs...)
Coupla points... 1) It caused the impeachment of a president
I could have sworn it was our "old" media that wouldn't let this entire issue die. Oh, and the Republicans who could smell bood (or was it semen) The only website that I saw dedicated to this was "Censure and Move On" (now just MoveOn.org) dedicated to letting that non-issue die before it left egg on the collective face of the country. Alas, it didn't work and we got a farce of a trial and a total waste of taxpayer money.
2) The trouble is,/. is 18 to 25, a group that has a voting rate of only 20%. With a voting rate that low, you don't matter.
The thing is, most politicians also believe this. Perhaps the constant lying and related politics have soured the demo (in which I belong) and contributed to a overwhelming cynicism, maybe we're too happy living of the fat of the land to notice, I don't know what the real reason is, but that doens't mean it can't change. Two people who have felt our wrath, if you will, Norm Coleman and Skip Humphrey, who both played the fool as Jesse walked off with the prize. What was the deciding factor you ask? 18-24 yr olds who flocked to make a change./. (in particular and the 'Net in general) is doing a great deal to educate those folks, like myself, how to make a change or take a stand. Issues like the CDA and UCITA exemplify the importance of getting your voice heard.
3)The liberal sites aren't doing well, Salon has taken another pasting. The conservative sites, however, are doing quite well
More info would be nice... To sterotype hugely.. Have you seen the mean demo for the 'Net. White, educated, +$50,000/yr, pretty much screams conservative don't it? Perhaps it will shift as a wider variety of political views stake thier claim, we'll have to wait and see. Not that this was a valid point anyway, but there ya go.
I apoligize for the long winded ness (and the atrosious spelling), but it's Friday...
AC, I await your retort.
BTW, 'round here we call it Earth, come visit sometime;-)
It's Paul Allen's investment/venture capital co. They have been buying pretty much any cable companies they can get their hands on. My guess is that Bill and Paul have spend more than one night talking about how they can control the media both from the desktop (or settop-through CE) over the cable, on the server and in the browser. Thank god for grass roots, hippie "share the love" movements like Linux. (please, don't flame for silly little jokes..)
Well, thanks for the answers guys. I didn't see anything earth shattering, or even mango crushing, but that just shows where we are on the path to political influence (as a geek community). Maybe I just had my hopes up that somebody had already taken it upon themselves to provide the tools to be effective "internet lobbyists", but that doesn't seem to be the case. The tools I am thinking of would have to be up-to-the minute Congress trackers and very simple and organized ways to contact lawmakers (e-mail is great, but how about a form letter that surfers can print, sign, stamp, and put in the mail. E-mail is great, but if you turn off your machine (or if the power goes out *cough*) it simply ceases to exist. It's much more difficult to ignore physical paper. The impact, because of the additional effort, is also much greater. A database of congressmen and how they voted on particular issues would also be useful. Think about it... You (being a busy professional) don't have time to constantly follow how your reps are voting, but come election time you want to make an informed decision. How nice would it be to able to say click *(state), then *(city), then *(Your reps name) and see a complete voting history. If you really want to be nasty, er, honest you could also include major contributors to their campaign and all the other factors in how they vote (i.e. demographic % for their district, who is blackmailing them, etc.) (BTW I've visited a U.S. Congress legislattion site and quickly ran away screaming after dealing with it's interface, if you know of others please post 'em)
Anyway, I don't think political advocacy has even reached the Internet yet, at least not to the extent of e-commerce (which is still making baby steps IMHO). I think there is a grand opportunity for anyone who would like to start such a site (or give me 2 mil. to do it:-), and it would be welcome by all those people who feel our government doesn't listen to them. 100,000 voices singing in unison WILL be heard.
One of the points listed is that "evolution isn't in any of the biblical teachings". So what?
Hrmm, I guess not mainstream, er, fundamentalist religions.
I know I will get "the eternal flames of hell" for this, but here goes...
I broached this subject (evo. not tested (and therefore not taught) in Kansas) with my brother last night. My brother teaches Biology in high school in a small Utah town. My brother is Mormon (as am I by baptism although not in practice, nor would I claim to be one now, but that's another paper). He happily teaches evolution as a biological fact and it is completely compatible with the Mormon religion, even being referenced to in particular verses of the Book of Mormon (he knew them by heart, I don't, something to the effect of "small changes over long time, piece by piece, bit by bit, all is remade").
So before you tell me all the other crazy things Mormons believe (and I've heard plenty, most patently false and all misunderstood) they have some things right. Of course any religion that believes we can all and, eventually, will all becomes Gods, has to give credence to theories like evolution.
I wouldn't be too surprised if Gamers drive a number of markets. We were the first to get CD-roms, 3-d cards, and now high speed internet. Right now I'm looking into dual slot boards and other speed tweaks, why? For those last few FPS that make the difference between being a llama and king of the world.
On another note, it's taken 20 odd years to go from Pong to Quake, what will we have in another 20? (when I can afford the really freak'n cool sh*t)
I used to read Computer Gaming World in high school and such. They kept a running total on their target demographic...which was exactly the same as this study pointed out. Nothing really interesting other than the fact that only 16% of "gamers" can rocket jump.
I wonder what that % is for/.ers, maybe 99.5-99.7%.
Quake is only evil in the amount of time it takes from your normal life. Of course using that as a measurement makes it EXTREMELY evil, or maybe that should be fun, maybe they are the same, and that's why its evil, hmmmm.
Sorry, friend, but if you're too busy to vote, then you're too busy to bitch about the results of not voting.
That was the implied reading. If you look at what I wrote more closely you'll see that all I was doing was pointing out that the majority of/.'s clientele are not the voting type and therefore not even on the radar of politicians and other policy makers. I was hoping on some deep level that my post might create that extra bit of social responsibility required to motivate said demographic to visit a voting booth. True, sterotyping can lead to trouble, but it's how my company makes money, mainly because it works when looking at the big picture.
Of course, when every copy on Windows need a key from M$ to install you guys should be just fine. (serious question) Anybody know what percentage of software is created in the U.S.? What percentage of the Internet?
Also, what kind of implications would this law have on Internet based apps (organizers, e-mail, word procs, yada yada yada)?
However, even considering the damage this could do to free software if it passes, its only possible ultimate effect is to create instability in the software market, and instability is always good for the revolutionary. Imposition of order equals escalation of chaos.
I think if this passes and is enforced it would be devastating to the free software movement. Far from creating instability it would create total software dependance, moving from vendor to vendor would be made more difficult and extremely expensive. What this does is lock down the status quo, which would have to be the big reason M$ is supporting it.
Linux isn't to the point that most folk can trash M$, so they'd be stuck and then totally unwilling ot move.
E-mail friends in the U.S. or use some other tactic to spread the word on this. Unfortunately the political power of the/. populace is next to nil (lots of college students and computer geeks all of which are too *busy* to vote on a regular basis), especially when compared to the senior vote (which is VERY powerful) which would most likely support this initiative considering their steel grip on technology issues.
Of course when Opensource loses all connectivity to proprietary software (after Samba is declared illegal or M$ changes a stack) its appeal will basically disappear for all but the hardest core.
The programmers who made all of this possible aren't the ones getting rich.
By "this" you would be referring to/.? It's my understanding that Rob did the programming and is, in fact, gettin' PAID.
If by "this" you mean free software... It should be obvious from the previous sentence when they aren't (clue: the word that starts with "f") Go read Linus's interview and see what he says about making money.
I'd love it if I got paid for my hobbies, alas, I have yet to win a PTQ and get on the gravy train.;-|
And finally, if you find profit taking "really bothersome" then you probably shouldn't live in America, it's what we do. If you don't, then maybe you should and you would understand.
The above poster has it absolutely correct. It's about monitoring, controlling, and censoring thoughts and opinions. The only "cybercrime" they should worry about is bank infiltration, cracking, and other crimes that use the Internet to take ACTION. Discussing these crimes should be no more illegal then discussing shoplifting, even to the point of how to do them. If I post a website on how to rob a convienence store am I breaking a law? What if I do it "as a joke"? Any lawyers around, this is actually a serious question. It seems that if this council continues with the current trend (i.e Internet is bad and needs to be controlled) then such actions (posting my "7-11 Retirement Account" webpage) would most definitely be illegal. Soon we won't be able to joke about guns or explosives anywhere (now it's only outside airport metal detectors:-)
Most likely they would recommend something like Autstralia got, national censoring regulations. Anybody know how that is working out?
And (like the drug web page legislations posted here the other day) would not only target sites that sell guns or alchohol but also those that discuss such subjects.
My profound hope is that people will fight this type of legislation and learn that information needs to be presented objectively to be truly useful (not that these websites do that, I am talking about information as a whole, if that makes any sense)
The discussion with the Plumber(?) about the moral implications of destroying a full functional Death Star vs one under construction (ie. SW vs RotJ). Great stuff, that movie is so full of one-liners. Great viewing for anyone who hasn't seen it.
Is it possible that BWP represents the future of interactive gaming more than the future of non-interactive entertainment?
Yes and No. I hope to see greater competition for my entertainment dollar. Comp. games, movies, TV, cable, all competing for that buck. It did seem more like an interactive game, and I certainly felt the characters were MUCH more realistic than those in any other movie I've seen in a while. How long has it been since a horror movie didn't use stuff jumping out of the shadows to scare you?
As to the marketing of it (Aside from the competitive aspect (there is some sort of huge international LARP league), the best games are recorded and marketed.) I'm all for it. The BWP might have had a $50,000 production budget, but the marketing has to be in the millions.
Anyway, I thought BWP was entertaining, scary and it was quite nice to see something original (to me)
Capitalism : an economic system characterized by private or corporate ownership of capital goods, by investments that are determined by private decision, and by prices, production, and the distribution of goods that are determined mainly by competition in a free market
I was reading the other day that Eric (I think) had been on behavior modification drugs. The kid that wet nuts in Georgia had been on Ritalin for years. Perchance being on "good" drug just might have warped that sense of reality enough to make these action jusifyable?
Personally I think this way of dealing with interesting children is sick and disgusting. It's so much like Brave New World as to be extremely frightening.
Re:That's a very poorly constructed argument.
on
New Cyberlaws
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· Score: 1
I agree, no way would a law like this stand up in courts. It would just prove annoying for some time and could put some people out of business. (the lag time from passing the law to it being ruled unconstitional). I am curious as to who, in particular, thinks that proposing these types of laws is thier duty.
Slashdot Mirror
I second that opinion.
Whenever he get ranters block he looks for stories with 500+ comments and then writes his own, calls it an article, and pisses off all the Katz haters. (Me? I like dogs...)
hmm, you beat me to this one, hehe
Coupla points...
/. is 18 to 25, a group that has a voting rate of only 20%. With a voting rate that low, you don't matter.
/. (in particular and the 'Net in general) is doing a great deal to educate those folks, like myself, how to make a change or take a stand. Issues like the CDA and UCITA exemplify the importance of getting your voice heard.
;-)
1) It caused the impeachment of a president
I could have sworn it was our "old" media that wouldn't let this entire issue die. Oh, and the Republicans who could smell bood (or was it semen)
The only website that I saw dedicated to this was "Censure and Move On" (now just MoveOn.org) dedicated to letting that non-issue die before it left egg on the collective face of the country. Alas, it didn't work and we got a farce of a trial and a total waste of taxpayer money.
2) The trouble is,
The thing is, most politicians also believe this. Perhaps the constant lying and related politics have soured the demo (in which I belong) and contributed to a overwhelming cynicism, maybe we're too happy living of the fat of the land to notice, I don't know what the real reason is, but that doens't mean it can't change. Two people who have felt our wrath, if you will, Norm Coleman and Skip Humphrey, who both played the fool as Jesse walked off with the prize. What was the deciding factor you ask? 18-24 yr olds who flocked to make a change.
3)The liberal sites aren't doing well, Salon has taken another pasting. The conservative sites, however, are doing quite well
More info would be nice... To sterotype hugely..
Have you seen the mean demo for the 'Net. White, educated, +$50,000/yr, pretty much screams conservative don't it? Perhaps it will shift as a wider variety of political views stake thier claim, we'll have to wait and see. Not that this was a valid point anyway, but there ya go.
I apoligize for the long winded ness (and the atrosious spelling), but it's Friday...
AC, I await your retort.
BTW, 'round here we call it Earth, come visit sometime
Keep an eye on "Vulcan Ventures" too.
It's Paul Allen's investment/venture capital co. They have been buying pretty much any cable companies they can get their hands on. My guess is that Bill and Paul have spend more than one night talking about how they can control the media both from the desktop (or settop-through CE) over the cable, on the server and in the browser. Thank god for grass roots, hippie "share the love" movements like Linux. (please, don't flame for silly little jokes..)
Well, thanks for the answers guys. I didn't see anything earth shattering, or even mango crushing, but that just shows where we are on the path to political influence (as a geek community). Maybe I just had my hopes up that somebody had already taken it upon themselves to provide the tools to be effective "internet lobbyists", but that doesn't seem to be the case.
:-), and it would be welcome by all those people who feel our government doesn't listen to them. 100,000 voices singing in unison WILL be heard.
The tools I am thinking of would have to be up-to-the minute Congress trackers and very simple and organized ways to contact lawmakers (e-mail is great, but how about a form letter that surfers can print, sign, stamp, and put in the mail. E-mail is great, but if you turn off your machine (or if the power goes out *cough*) it simply ceases to exist. It's much more difficult to ignore physical paper. The impact, because of the additional effort, is also much greater. A database of congressmen and how they voted on particular issues would also be useful. Think about it... You (being a busy professional) don't have time to constantly follow how your reps are voting, but come election time you want to make an informed decision. How nice would it be to able to say click *(state), then *(city), then *(Your reps name) and see a complete voting history. If you really want to be nasty, er, honest you could also include major contributors to their campaign and all the other factors in how they vote (i.e. demographic % for their district, who is blackmailing them, etc.)
(BTW I've visited a U.S. Congress legislattion site and quickly ran away screaming after dealing with it's interface, if you know of others please post 'em)
Anyway, I don't think political advocacy has even reached the Internet yet, at least not to the extent of e-commerce (which is still making baby steps IMHO). I think there is a grand opportunity for anyone who would like to start such a site (or give me 2 mil. to do it
One of the points listed is that "evolution isn't in any of the biblical teachings". So
what?
Hrmm, I guess not mainstream, er, fundamentalist religions.
I know I will get "the eternal flames of hell" for this, but here goes...
I broached this subject (evo. not tested (and therefore not taught) in Kansas) with my brother last night. My brother teaches Biology in high school in a small Utah town. My brother is Mormon (as am I by baptism although not in practice, nor would I claim to be one now, but that's another paper). He happily teaches evolution as a biological fact and it is completely compatible with the Mormon religion, even being referenced to in particular verses of the Book of Mormon (he knew them by heart, I don't, something to the effect of "small changes over long time, piece by piece, bit by bit, all is remade").
So before you tell me all the other crazy things Mormons believe (and I've heard plenty, most patently false and all misunderstood) they have some things right. Of course any religion that believes we can all and, eventually, will all becomes Gods, has to give credence to theories like evolution.
I wouldn't be too surprised if Gamers drive a number of markets. We were the first to get CD-roms, 3-d cards, and now high speed internet. Right now I'm looking into dual slot boards and other speed tweaks, why? For those last few FPS that make the difference between being a llama and king of the world.
On another note, it's taken 20 odd years to go from Pong to Quake, what will we have in another 20? (when I can afford the really freak'n cool sh*t)
I used to read Computer Gaming World in high school and such. They kept a running total on their target demographic...which was exactly the same as this study pointed out. Nothing really interesting other than the fact that only 16% of "gamers" can rocket jump.
/.ers, maybe 99.5-99.7%.
I wonder what that % is for
Quake is only evil in the amount of time it takes from your normal life. Of course using that as a measurement makes it EXTREMELY evil, or maybe that should be fun, maybe they are the same, and that's why its evil, hmmmm.
not too many it would seem...
/. strikes again.
Sorry, friend, but if you're too busy to vote, then you're too busy to bitch about the results of not voting.
/.'s clientele are not the voting type and therefore not even on the radar of politicians and other policy makers. I was hoping on some deep level that my post might create that extra bit of social responsibility required to motivate said demographic to visit a voting booth. True, sterotyping can lead to trouble, but it's how my company makes money, mainly because it works when looking at the big picture.
That was the implied reading. If you look at what I wrote more closely you'll see that all I was doing was pointing out that the majority of
Of course, when every copy on Windows need a key from M$ to install you guys should be just fine. (serious question) Anybody know what percentage of software is created in the U.S.? What percentage of the Internet?
Also, what kind of implications would this law have on Internet based apps (organizers, e-mail, word procs, yada yada yada)?
Personally I'd like to avoid that scenario, "It's good to be the king!"
However, even considering the damage this could do to free software if it passes, its only possible ultimate effect is to create instability in the software market, and instability is always good for the revolutionary. Imposition of order equals escalation of chaos.
I think if this passes and is enforced it would be devastating to the free software movement. Far from creating instability it would create total software dependance, moving from vendor to vendor would be made more difficult and extremely expensive.
What this does is lock down the status quo, which would have to be the big reason M$ is supporting it.
Linux isn't to the point that most folk can trash M$, so they'd be stuck and then totally unwilling ot move.
E-mail friends in the U.S. or use some other tactic to spread the word on this. Unfortunately the political power of the /. populace is next to nil (lots of college students and computer geeks all of which are too *busy* to vote on a regular basis), especially when compared to the senior vote (which is VERY powerful) which would most likely support this initiative considering their steel grip on technology issues.
(run-on sentence provided at no charge)
Of course when Opensource loses all connectivity to proprietary software (after Samba is declared illegal or M$ changes a stack) its appeal will basically disappear for all but the hardest core.
The programmers who made all of this possible aren't the ones getting rich.
/.? It's my understanding that Rob did the programming and is, in fact, gettin' PAID.
;-|
By "this" you would be referring to
If by "this" you mean free software... It should be obvious from the previous sentence when they aren't (clue: the word that starts with "f") Go read Linus's interview and see what he says about making money.
I'd love it if I got paid for my hobbies, alas, I have yet to win a PTQ and get on the gravy train.
And finally, if you find profit taking "really bothersome" then you probably shouldn't live in America, it's what we do. If you don't, then maybe you should and you would understand.
The above poster has it absolutely correct. It's about monitoring, controlling, and censoring thoughts and opinions. The only "cybercrime" they should worry about is bank infiltration, cracking, and other crimes that use the Internet to take ACTION. Discussing these crimes should be no more illegal then discussing shoplifting, even to the point of how to do them. If I post a website on how to rob a convienence store am I breaking a law? What if I do it "as a joke"? Any lawyers around, this is actually a serious question. :-)
It seems that if this council continues with the current trend (i.e Internet is bad and needs to be controlled) then such actions (posting my "7-11 Retirement Account" webpage) would most definitely be illegal. Soon we won't be able to joke about guns or explosives anywhere (now it's only outside airport metal detectors
Most likely they would recommend something like Autstralia got, national censoring regulations. Anybody know how that is working out?
And (like the drug web page legislations posted here the other day) would not only target sites that sell guns or alchohol but also those that discuss such subjects.
My profound hope is that people will fight this type of legislation and learn that information needs to be presented objectively to be truly useful (not that these websites do that, I am talking about information as a whole, if that makes any sense)
There is but one true benchmark--Quake.
The discussion with the Plumber(?) about the moral implications of destroying a full functional Death Star vs one under construction (ie. SW vs RotJ). Great stuff, that movie is so full of one-liners. Great viewing for anyone who hasn't seen it.
Is it possible that BWP represents
the future of interactive gaming more than the future of non-interactive entertainment?
Yes and No. I hope to see greater competition for my entertainment dollar. Comp. games, movies, TV, cable, all competing for that buck. It did seem more like an interactive game, and I certainly felt the characters were MUCH more realistic than those in any other movie I've seen in a while. How long has it been since a horror movie didn't use stuff jumping out of the shadows to scare you?
As to the marketing of it (Aside from the competitive aspect (there is some
sort of huge international LARP league), the best games are recorded and marketed.) I'm all for it. The BWP might have had a $50,000 production budget, but the marketing has to be in the millions.
Anyway, I thought BWP was entertaining, scary and it was quite nice to see something original (to me)
Capitalism
: an economic system characterized by private or corporate ownership of capital goods, by investments that are determined by private decision, and by prices, production, and the distribution of goods that are
determined mainly by competition in a free market
Capitalism only works with competition, hence our current predicament.
I was reading the other day that Eric (I think) had been on behavior modification drugs. The kid that wet nuts in Georgia had been on Ritalin for years. Perchance being on "good" drug just might have warped that sense of reality enough to make these action jusifyable?
Personally I think this way of dealing with interesting children is sick and disgusting. It's so much like Brave New World as to be extremely frightening.
I agree, no way would a law like this stand up in courts. It would just prove annoying for some time and could put some people out of business. (the lag time from passing the law to it being ruled unconstitional). I am curious as to who, in particular, thinks that proposing these types of laws is thier duty.