So the toner particles have a charge and are rotated by an electric field, to show the white or the black side.
Imagine using this above the 48th parallel in winter - when in an unhumidifed room you can draw a quarter-inch arc from your finger to any handy piece of metal after walking across a rug or standing up from an upholstered chair.
The black (or white) lines twisting across the page from the point where you picked it up should be quite pretty.
>See a pattern yet? Or do you plan to argue that these strip joints are visited by "children" and should be shut down?
A few misguided individuals aren't indicative of the entire group. Timothy McVeigh was in the Army, does that mean that all men discharged from the army are terrorists?
I'm a republican with about 3gb of porn in my collection. My gun collection is impressive too.
...Hemos is getting to be worse than Sengan ever was.
I tried to post this earlier, but/. was responding too slowly: If I were Andover.net, I would jump at the chance to take over Slashdot....if only so I could force the "editors" to take Proofreading 101. --- Put Hemos through English 101!
This article may signify a break into new technology. Years of novels and concept articles discuss the economics of new news service, payment tracking, and other ventures waiting just shy of a business plan. When the units start to ship in sample quantities, another threashold will pass.
Silicon Valley depends on passing these marks to create new high mark-up products, and the old WIMP (Windows Interface Mouse Pointer) PC is running out of margin. What other technoligies are about to hit?
>I think you know very well what I meant. Kids shouldn't be watching sex acts online. That's not the way to learn about sex. Pleasejust address the point and leave the smart-aleck remarks behind.
I addressed the point, that it's not for you to tell me how to live my life. As long as I'm not hurting you or yours, my life is my business. Maybe you just didn't understand.
>I think you also know very well that education is a continual process. Telling a kid once not to go near something does not mean he's learned not to. For awhile you have to be there to reinforce the message, and no parent can do that 24-7. Society as a whole must bear a part of that.
Not even prison inmates are controlled 24-7. Do you ish to restrain your child even more than inmates at Attica? I don't. I want ot raise my children the way that I was raised. I was instructed as to what the rules were. I was expected to abide by them 90% of the time I did. When I didn't I faced the music.
Society wasn't my parent, my mother and father were.
>And I suppose that if a truck is bearing down on them while you happen to be walking along my sidewalk, you'll just let them get splattered.
I'm not going ot trade places with them, if that's what you mean. I'd yell "Hey Kid! Get outta the street!"
>Gosh, isn't it nice to know that you are not responsible. I hope you can sleep well at night.
I wouldn't sleep at all if I were to die trying to save the kids that were playing in traffic because their parents were incompetent
>Maybe my neighbor is "inept" at raising his kids and doesn't feed them. You'd just let them starve.
No, I'd call CYS and get the kids out of there.
> I'd take them in and feed them.
Then the next day, when they're hungry again? And the day after that? And so on?
Rob has sold us all to the suits. I know that it seems benign at first, and there is a contract that guarantees freedom and blah blah blah. That is not the point. By working near the suits at andover, Rob and co will be gradually assimilated by their marketroid culture. soon we won't be hearing about "linux" and "kernel" but "time to market" and "solutions". Rob will no longer be a linux guy, but a content-based information systems technologies solution provider. Hemos will usurp a similar title I'm sure, perhaps vice-president for source-based dynamic technology content editor, with a pinch of bullshit. Actually a lot more.
Soon the articles will turn into asskissing paeons to Microsoft and corporate America. This transition will be slow at first, and no one will realize until the debate is no longer over ESR vs RMS, but the price-to-market solution value of Windows NT workstation vs server.
When Rob finally updates the logo to be more honest, no one will even mind when instead of "News For nerds..." it says "dynamic information technology solution provider". Slashdot will become one big commercial.
The only question left is whether slashdot's new corporate overlords will allow Katz to continue writing here.
A couple weeks ago there was a discussion on/. about NCs and storing your data/programs at the ISP. I object to that concept and this story is an excellent example of why. --- Put Hemos through English 101!
if you read the terms and the article in wired real carefully you'll notice that anyhting currently on there does not fall under these guidelines, you just can't modify any of the information on your site. this is still pretty dumb, but at least they're not claiming ownership over things that already exist.
>>Kids don't need to be watching people copulating online.
Adults don't "NEED" to be watching people compulating online either.
>>Parents can't monitor their children 24-7.
Then they should TEACH them what the rules are. My step-dad had the playboy channel when I was 9 years old. My parents sat me down and explained to me that I was not to watch it. I didn't.
>>Society has a responsibility to pick up the slack.
I'm not responsible for anyone else's ineptness.
>>Personally I think the Fed should leave it up to local communities to decide for themselves, but they should restrict other entities (the ACLU springs to mind) from inhibiting those community's decisions on the matter. More local autonomy, less gov't control, no special interest group interference.
Even though I don't always agree with them the ACLU exists to make sure that the government (at all levels) obeys their own laws. If the constitution says that the government can't do something, it's up to the citizens and groups like the ACLU, the NRA, the JPFO and others to make sure that the government follows it's own rules. Otherwise we have a facist police state. Sure maybe kids in a facist police state can't look at porn, but I'd rather live in a free society and accept the respobsibility of teaching my kids better.
>>Parents should be the ones raising their children, and I'm all for empowering them to do that better. I am not an advocate of Big Government, but I am an advocate of family and morals.
Your morals may not be mine, and mine may not be yours. If you force your morals upon me, what is to stop me from doing the same to you?
Since I'm a republican, I guess I'll throw my hat into the ring.
>>Republicans tend to have a similar view for economic policies, but are very socially conservative. They are typically anti-abortion, pro-drug laws, pro-gun rights, pro-death penalty, and anti-porn. I think a majority are also unsupportive of homosexual rights and extremely free speech (supporting measures such as banning flag burning, etc). Many are extremely religious and try to force it on others.
You're pretty much on the mark, but I'll try to further refine a couple of your points. Republicans are Anti-porn in the hands of children. Republicans are not "unsupportive of homosexual rights". We don't believe that there is such a thing. There are no more "homosexual rights" than there are "heterosexual rights".
>>Exactly. Sex is a perfectly natural act, as nudity is a perfectly natural state. I find it highly confusing that people attack the porn industry so readily, yet balk at the idea of attacking violent movies and TV shows. In my mind, showing violence is a lot worse than showing people having sex.
Both activities are perfectly natural. We've got genitals for participating in sexual activity and procreation. We have fingernails, and ribcages because no matter how "enlightened" we think we've become we're still just animals and violencs is just another part of life for us.
Most wouldn't expect much from an open source OS compared to an over $500 "workstation", even if it is made by Microsoft. Therefore, Linux is incredible compared to NT, and all those tests by Microsoft-owned-or-hired companies about "Linux being slow", etc., should not affect the GNU\Linux\UFie\Anti-MS community in any way. * - I suspect that some people at ZD don't know this and continue to write columns about the bugs in IE5.
Slashdot must be overloaded, so I can't read a lot of what other folks are saying. But I still want to congratulate Rob and Jeff for pulling off a great deal.
Believe me, getting a white knight to come in, hand you serious bucks, and cede complete creative control to you is NOT an easy task. There are plenty of Internet start-ups that would kill for your secret, boys. That's a pretty incredible feat, and I'm glad you two will remain at the helm of this incredibly useful and interesting site.
And for all those who might be tempted to cry "corporate stooges" (you know who you are), get real. Producing a solid site with interesting content is an amazing challenge, one that leaves little room for hobbies, outside interests, dating, half your meals, nearly any sleep, and occasional breathing. If this gives Rob and Jeff creative freedom without worrying about suit-work, then more power to 'em.
OK, enuff ego stroking, guys. Now we get to hold Slashdot to a higher standard -- you have Andover's money to burn, after all!! Good luck.
Re:Informal Logical Fallacies
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RMS Responds
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· Score: 1
Posted by The Famous Brett Watson:
If you can't understand that the phrase replace copyright with copyleft means modify existing copyright law such that it embodies the essence of copyleft, that is to expressly permit copying of software and disallow withholding of source to provided binaries, then clarity is a luxury I can't afford. My posts are already too long by Slashdot standards. I think this is also your real gripe with the original post: it expressed its ideas in a compressed form which required some padding out to make a complete argument. I consider this normal and acceptable in an informal discussion.
Mind you, for every point I expand on in an attempt to make my argument clear you seem to come up with new ways to misunderstand it. "If eggs start laying chickens?" Good heavens. This could easily lead to an infinite regression, so I'll expand on nothing further for you.
Instead, you may be interested to hear this RMS quote from my limited personal correspondence with him. Judge for yourself whether your opinion above is accurate in light of it.
Copyright is not ethically neutral: it lends itself much more to evil than to good. The law should not encourage or facilitate evil, so I think the law should be changed. However, simply eliminating copyright won't eliminate or even minimize the evil--it is better to do somewhat more, or somewhat less.
For example, elimination of copyright on software, plus a consumer protection law requiring source code for software that is for sale to be made available to the user, would do the job.
-- Richard Stallman, quoted with permission from personal correspondence
Personally, I would summarise this by saying he advocates replacing copyright (on software) with copyleft, but since you think this is like saying eggs should lay chickens, ignore what I say and just take RMS at his word.
The first paragraph states that "the law should be changed", so presumably if he were king for a day he would jump at the opportunity to do what should (in his estimation) be done. The second paragraph effectively means that all commercially sold software would be available on the same terms that GPL software is available now. The only software that would not be "free software" would be whatever software developers and companies kept entirely to themselves (for in-house use).
I fear that in the hubbub about all this lossy compression and digital distribution, quality recording will fall by the wayside. CDs are already provide audio quality inferior to what's possible on a good stereo. They came up with the HDCD standard to fix this. MP3, on the other hand, sounds way worse than a CD(to someone with a decent stereo who really listens to their music). I don't care so much about free music vs "artist's rights" or whatever- I just want recordings that don't sound muddy and processed with blobby imaging. That's how all the MP3s I've ever heard sound to me. I love my music, and I've spent thousands of dollars getting equipment to reproduce it as flawlessly as possible. However, if all I can get is MP3, I may as well have bought some AIWA minisystem and saved myself the price of a new car.
Once again I am reminded why I registered Decline to State.
I can see a presidential election between a man who wants to tell me how many children I can have and a woman who wants to tell me how to raise them.
I take solace in the high probability that Gore advocates environmentalism and Dole advocates censorship for the same reason: to get attention.
When it was Clinton vs. Bush, I had a lesbian friend who voted for Clinton because she thought that he would actually follow through on the promises he made to the gay community, and then felt betrayed when he didn't. I thought this was funny. Of course he lied, he's a politician, that's what we pay them for. Well, that's what they take a quarter of our pay without our permission for, but that's another rant and it's hard enough to keep this one coherent.
What I am upset about is that we as Americans seem all too willing to absolve our responsibilities as parents and let the government dictate what they can see, hear, learn, and know. And no, it's not just the Republicans - anybody remember the CDA ?
Looks like I'm voting for Chthulhu again.
P.S. Feel free to flame me, at least I'll know I made sense.
P.P.S. Anybody wanna bet how many flames I'll get over the spelling of "Chthulhu"?
P.P.P.S. So what does Shrub stand for besides getting elected?
First, this is entirely a political move by Dole. She is an odd duck, politically: A conservative female. Being a female she automatically appeals to the liberals. The conservatives are more likely to vote the issues (however stupid or inconsequential) so she has to invoke "Protect The Kids From Porn" war cry to appeal to them.
Second, to those who say this is not censorship: BS. Libraries are public data repositories. When the government causes data to be removed from these repositories, that is, by definition, censorship. End of story.
Third, there is already a petition about this over at e-thepeople. --- Put Hemos through English 101!
they would have to change the site's name to slashdot.com if they made a profit off from it. all the money they get has to go to some other cause, such as improving the site, donating to charity, etc. They can only take as much money out of slashdot as they put in.
Great news not only for/., but for all of its users! Can't wait to see what's in store for the future.
Glad to hear that my browser's favorite start page is getting a much-deserved boost. You guys all have worked your butts off to create one of the most unique and strongest online communities in the history of the net. Reap the benefits! (But don't wear ties!)
Don't get me wrong, Its a very cool step, but IIRC it is way easier to perform a hostile reverse engineering of monitor drivers than graphics card drivers...
when will SGI's graphics subsystem be supported?
Re:What a tangled web we weave...
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RMS Responds
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· Score: 1
Posted by The Famous Brett Watson:
You still haven't argued yourself out of your own hole.
That's what copyrights are, enslavement of code.
All that is copyrighted is enslaved. All GPLed software is copyrighted. Therefore all GPLed software is enslaved.
Your own logic here is self-refuting. If copyright is enslavement of code, then copyleft is also enslavement of code because copyleft uses copyright as a mechanism.
Fortunately for you, you have merely misunderstood Stallman's argument. Stallman believes that copyright as a mechanism lends itself to evil uses more than to good, but his argument is not with copyright. Nor is he trying to free code, but rather people.
If we were to talk about "free software" in the natural English sense, we would either assume that it was like free as in zero cost, or free as in unrestricted. Stallman's "free software" is strictly neither of these since it sometimes costs money and always comes with a load of restrictions known as the GPL attached. This is Tom's gripe with the FSF: they are calling that which isn't that which is.
What the FSF is really peddling is cunningly restricted software which ensures that the majority of users will be as free as possible. The GPL restricts only those freedoms which you could use to interfere with the freedoms of others, but the essence of the GPL is its specific restrictions.
The GPL does two specific things to restrict freedom. One is that it forbids changes to the license terms. In order to redistribute GPL software (in modified or unmodified form), you must agree to abide by the GPL's license terms, which are in themselves a restriction on your freedoms. You must agree to surrender certain natural rights for the purposes of dealing with that particular piece of software. Contrast that with a public domain program which makes no such demands or restrictions on your freedom.
The second prong of the GPL attack is to demand that you make the source code of the program available (whether you have modified it or not). This protects everyone else from nasty people who want to spread binary-only copies of programs, thereby circumventing our right to read and modify the program.
Those points again for the people who missed them the first time. By agreeing to abide by the terms of the GPL (which is the only thing that gives you the right to redistribute GPL software, since copyright restricts redistribution by default), you agree to abide by the following restrictions on your personal freedom.
It requires that you redistribute the work and all works you derive from it under the GPL also, so that you may not increase the restrictions on others (by reinstating copying restrictions) or weakening the existing restrictions (so that point two might be violated).
It requires that you make source code available to your programs if you release them at all. Binary-only distribution is streng verboten.
My personal conclusion: Tom's right. "Free" is a misleading term. "Copyleft" is a better term, as is the phrase "All Rights Reversed" (which, you will note, is not the same as "All Rights Reinstated"). The GPL places a minimum number of restrictions on the software with the noblest of intentions, but the software is fundamentally restricted, not free.
Whether we as users and programmers are freer with the GPL or the Public Domain is an interesting philosophical question. I might even try to write an essay on it someday. (And while I'm here I'll plug my existing essay, Philosophies of Free Software and Intellectual Property.)
I've seen soooo many posting about subject where the author has made it glaringly clear he or she doesn't even know what they are talking about - and they then lye and make up credentials to back it up.
Well, I'm not lying - and I'm not about to claim I know everything... But, here's a little info about me before I start smashing myths and urban legends:
I am 22, and work as 3rd Shift Systems Operator at a Major Life Insurance firm. I'm a high school graduate, with the following certifications:
* MCP - Implementing and Supporting Windows 95 * CNA - Certified Novell Administrator - Netware v3.12 * A+ - Industry Standard in Computer Technician training. Proved proficient in MS/DOS, and basic PC Hardware
...And I have the following working experience in the following systems:
-Macintosh (PowerPC) -MacOS 8.6 -PCs -FreeBSD 2.2.2Release -RedHat Linux 4.2 -RedHat Linux 5.0 -RedHat Linux 6.0 -MS/DOS -OS/2 2.1 -OS/2 3.0 -OS/2 4.0 -Windows 3.1 -Windows For Workgroups 3.11 -Windows NT Server3.51 -Windows 95 -Windows 98 -Windows NT Workstation 4.0 -Windows NT Server 4.0 -RS/6000 (PowerPC) -AIX 4.2 -AS/400 -OS/400 -S/390 -MVS
Whew... With that out of the way...
RAIDS:
I've seen a few people question the reason to even test RAID performance on Linux, as it is a current weak spot. Big business uses RAID technology to support heavy load, and to break up the work of the filesystem among a group of equally capable drives. So it IS a feasible test - and just proves that Linux needs improvement in this department.
Multiple Network Cards:
A few people have said that there is no REAL life application for Multiple NICS. Linux's support for Multiple NIC cards is still premature - but it's promising (from what I can tell). I've built machines, and also maintained machines with multiple network cards - it IS a real-life factor. Another area of improvement...
Single Processors vs SMP:
Businesses will only use Single Processing machines - unless they are doing database related applications, or other heavy CPU-utilizing activity, then they will usually spare no expense to get the proper machine. Linux has primative support for SMP - but NT has better support. Linux needs to improve, so what.
Stability and Scalability:
These are both important issues in the business world. Linux currently has pretty good ground as it comes to stability. However, both NT and Linux get pounded by Solaris (so I've heard) - again, a learning experience...
I could go on and on and on... But why bother...
I use RedHat Linux 6.0, as well as Windows NT, Windows 98, and even MacOS. Each platform has it's own strength and weaknesses - and any honest-to-goodness computer professional stakes his/her career on this Maxum. Don't get caught in the hype war - cause it will only lead down the road to eventual failure...
Ray D.
PS: I will probably get flammed for this - but as I have learned - that is really the only thing left of the "Professional PC Person" world... Maybe I should have become a doctor?:P
Uhhh...what about Habitat for Humanity? ;)
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RMS Responds
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· Score: 2
Posted by Windigo The Feral (NYAR!):
Some anonymous coward said:
Your average charity doesn't compete with for-profit ventures. You don't see a brick layers charity going around to construction sites and submitting zero cost bids in competition with local contractors.
Methinks someone hasn't heard of a little nonprofit organisation called Habitat for Humanity.
Basically--for those who might be unaware--Habitat for Humanity builds houses for poor people under what is literally a "free housing" model. Essentially, if you qualify (you essentially have to be unable to afford other housing and be willing to contribute to helping build the house) they will set you up with loans for the supplies only and they will build one a house.
In return, the people have to help out at construction projects that Habitat for Humanity does for other people...but it works well in the end. People who otherwise couldn't afford decent housing get good houses, and they work to help other folks get good houses.
There are other groups, such as Mennonite groups, that do similar things for homeless families or who work with Habitat for Humanity in helping to build houses. And while they're still paying for supplies, a lot of companies donate supplies (yes, even companies that also sell to for-profit contractors) too so sometimes people can get houses close to free.
In a way, this is similar to how GPL'd software works. Basically the main stuff that is paid for is support (akin to "buying supplies" if not exactly an analogy); people get together and build stuff for the good of the community, and if you want to use GPL'd code you agree to "help out the community" and release your code under GPL too. (Just like how Habitat for Humanity "partner families" get houses built for them, but they have to help in building it and/or help in building other houses.) If you don't want to use GPL'd code and want to keep your code to yourself there are alternatives (just like if you're poor, you can choose not to get a house through HFH and instead live with relatives or in "section 8" housing or in a shelter).
Needless to say, many people use GPL'd software for the same reason a lot of poor folks get houses through Habitat for Humanity instead of living in section-8 housing or with relatives. GPL software (and free/libre software in general) is generally more reliable and solidly built than proprietary software because you've got a crew working on it-- for instance, we all know how much faster security bugs in Linux tend to be fixed than in Win95. (Yes, this is still directly comparable to housing. HFH houses have actually been raised in the span of a day or two, and are solidly built--one learns to do one's own homefixing stuff and one knows where everything is. Most houses done by contractors tend to take far longer. Most section-8 housing is [to put it delicately] in a state of disrepair to begin with, often has folks living there who are causing more damage, and things tend not to get fixed at all.)
(And yes, I realise I've just compared certain Microsoft operating systems to the projects. You may please put down the sharp objects. Now.:)
ObRMS--it's also rather interesting, in light of RMS's now-infamous "Jesus Quote", to learn that HFH is actually an offbranch of a Christian ministry (one that Jimmy Carter was involved in, if memory serves). Basically they're doing it cause they feel "Well, Jesus'd have done the same thing". One doesn't have to be Christian to volunteer time or supplies to them, though. (Just thought it'd be interesting to point that out...and yes, I support Habitat for Humanity, and I also happen to not be a practicing Christian. I think they're among the few folks I've met who do in fact "get it", though.)
Slashdot Mirror
Posted by Ungrounded Lightning Rod:
So the toner particles have a charge and are
rotated by an electric field, to show the white
or the black side.
Imagine using this above the 48th parallel
in winter - when in an unhumidifed room
you can draw a quarter-inch arc from your
finger to any handy piece of metal after
walking across a rug or standing up from
an upholstered chair.
The black (or white) lines twisting
across the page from the point where you
picked it up should be quite pretty.
Posted by Lord Kano-The Gangster Of Love:
>See a pattern yet? Or do you plan to argue that these strip joints are visited by "children" and should be shut down?
A few misguided individuals aren't indicative of the entire group. Timothy McVeigh was in the Army, does that mean that all men discharged from the army are terrorists?
I'm a republican with about 3gb of porn in my collection. My gun collection is impressive too.
LK
Posted by FascDot Killed My Previous Use:
/. was responding too slowly:
...Hemos is getting to be worse than Sengan ever was.
I tried to post this earlier, but
If I were Andover.net, I would jump at the chance to take over Slashdot....if only so I could force the "editors" to take Proofreading 101.
---
Put Hemos through English 101!
Posted by The Devout Capitalist:
This article may signify a break into new technology. Years of novels and concept articles discuss the economics of new news service, payment tracking, and other ventures waiting just shy of a business plan. When the units start to ship in sample quantities, another threashold will pass.
Silicon Valley depends on passing these marks to create new high mark-up products, and the old WIMP (Windows Interface Mouse Pointer) PC is running out of margin. What other technoligies are about to hit?
Posted by Lord Kano-The Gangster Of Love:
>I think you know very well what I meant. Kids shouldn't be watching sex acts online. That's not the way to learn about sex. Pleasejust address the point and leave the smart-aleck remarks behind.
I addressed the point, that it's not for you to tell me how to live my life. As long as I'm not hurting you or yours, my life is my business. Maybe you just didn't understand.
>I think you also know very well that education is a continual process. Telling a kid once not to go near something does not mean he's learned not to. For awhile you have to be there to reinforce the message, and no parent can do that 24-7. Society as a whole must bear a part of that.
Not even prison inmates are controlled 24-7. Do you ish to restrain your child even more than inmates at Attica? I don't. I want ot raise my children the way that I was raised. I was instructed as to what the rules were. I was expected to abide by them 90% of the time I did. When I didn't I faced the music.
Society wasn't my parent, my mother and father were.
>And I suppose that if a truck is bearing down on them while you happen to be walking along my sidewalk, you'll just let them get splattered.
I'm not going ot trade places with them, if that's what you mean. I'd yell "Hey Kid! Get outta the street!"
>Gosh, isn't it nice to know that you are not responsible. I hope you can sleep well at night.
I wouldn't sleep at all if I were to die trying to save the kids that were playing in traffic because their parents were incompetent
>Maybe my neighbor is "inept" at raising his kids and doesn't feed them. You'd just let them starve.
No, I'd call CYS and get the kids out of there.
> I'd take them in and feed them.
Then the next day, when they're hungry again? And the day after that? And so on?
LK
Posted by The Mongolian Barbecue:
Rob has sold us all to the suits. I know that it seems benign at first, and there is a contract that guarantees freedom and blah blah blah. That is not the point. By working near the suits at andover, Rob and co will be gradually assimilated by their marketroid culture. soon we won't be hearing about "linux" and "kernel" but "time to market" and "solutions". Rob will no longer be a linux guy, but a content-based information systems technologies solution provider. Hemos will usurp a similar title I'm sure, perhaps vice-president for source-based dynamic technology content editor, with a pinch of bullshit. Actually a lot more.
Soon the articles will turn into asskissing paeons to Microsoft and corporate America. This transition will be slow at first, and no one will realize until the debate is no longer over ESR vs RMS, but the price-to-market solution value of Windows NT workstation vs server.
When Rob finally updates the logo to be more honest, no one will even mind when instead of "News For nerds..." it says "dynamic information technology solution provider". Slashdot will become one big commercial.
The only question left is whether slashdot's new corporate overlords will allow Katz to continue writing here.
We are all doomed!!!
Posted by FascDot Killed My Previous Use:
/. about NCs and storing your data/programs at the ISP. I object to that concept and this story is an excellent example of why.
A couple weeks ago there was a discussion on
---
Put Hemos through English 101!
Posted by self assembled structure:
if you read the terms and the article in wired real carefully you'll notice that anyhting currently on there does not fall under these guidelines, you just can't modify any of the information on your site. this is still pretty dumb, but at least they're not claiming ownership over things that already exist.
Posted by Lord Kano-The Gangster Of Love:
>>Kids don't need to be watching people copulating online.
Adults don't "NEED" to be watching people compulating online either.
>>Parents can't monitor their children 24-7.
Then they should TEACH them what the rules are. My step-dad had the playboy channel when I was 9 years old. My parents sat me down and explained to me that I was not to watch it. I didn't.
>>Society has a responsibility to pick up the slack.
I'm not responsible for anyone else's ineptness.
>>Personally I think the Fed should leave it up to local communities to decide for themselves, but they should restrict other entities (the ACLU springs to mind) from inhibiting those community's decisions on the matter. More local autonomy, less gov't control, no special interest group interference.
Even though I don't always agree with them the ACLU exists to make sure that the government (at all levels) obeys their own laws. If the constitution says that the government can't do something, it's up to the citizens and groups like the ACLU, the NRA, the JPFO and others to make sure that the government follows it's own rules. Otherwise we have a facist police state. Sure maybe kids in a facist police state can't look at porn, but I'd rather live in a free society and accept the respobsibility of teaching my kids better.
>>Parents should be the ones raising their children, and I'm all for empowering them to do that better. I am not an advocate of Big Government, but I am an advocate of family and morals.
Your morals may not be mine, and mine may not be yours. If you force your morals upon me, what is to stop me from doing the same to you?
LK
Posted by Lord Kano-The Gangster Of Love:
Since I'm a republican, I guess I'll throw my hat into the ring.
>>Republicans tend to have a similar view for economic policies, but are very socially conservative. They are typically anti-abortion, pro-drug laws, pro-gun rights, pro-death penalty, and anti-porn. I think a majority are also unsupportive of homosexual rights and extremely free speech (supporting measures such as banning flag burning, etc). Many are extremely religious and try to force it on others.
You're pretty much on the mark, but I'll try to further refine a couple of your points. Republicans are Anti-porn in the hands of children. Republicans are not "unsupportive of homosexual rights". We don't believe that there is such a thing. There are no more "homosexual rights" than there are "heterosexual rights".
>>Exactly. Sex is a perfectly natural act, as nudity is a perfectly natural state. I find it highly confusing that people attack the porn industry so readily, yet balk at the idea of attacking violent movies and TV shows. In my mind, showing violence is a lot worse than showing people having sex.
Both activities are perfectly natural. We've got genitals for participating in sexual activity and procreation. We have fingernails, and ribcages because no matter how "enlightened" we think we've become we're still just animals and violencs is just another part of life for us.
LK
Posted by airborn603:
Most wouldn't expect much from an open source
OS compared to an over $500 "workstation", even
if it is made by Microsoft. Therefore, Linux
is incredible compared to NT, and all those tests
by Microsoft-owned-or-hired companies about "Linux
being slow", etc., should not affect the
GNU\Linux\UFie\Anti-MS community in any way.
* - I suspect that some people at ZD don't know
this and continue to write columns about the bugs
in IE5.
Posted by Mike@ABC:
Slashdot must be overloaded, so I can't read a lot of what other folks are saying. But I still want to congratulate Rob and Jeff for pulling off a great deal.
Believe me, getting a white knight to come in, hand you serious bucks, and cede complete creative control to you is NOT an easy task. There are plenty of Internet start-ups that would kill for your secret, boys. That's a pretty incredible feat, and I'm glad you two will remain at the helm of this incredibly useful and interesting site.
And for all those who might be tempted to cry "corporate stooges" (you know who you are), get real. Producing a solid site with interesting content is an amazing challenge, one that leaves little room for hobbies, outside interests, dating, half your meals, nearly any sleep, and occasional breathing. If this gives Rob and Jeff creative freedom without worrying about suit-work, then more power to 'em.
OK, enuff ego stroking, guys. Now we get to hold Slashdot to a higher standard -- you have Andover's money to burn, after all!! Good luck.
If you can't understand that the phrase replace copyright with copyleft means modify existing copyright law such that it embodies the essence of copyleft, that is to expressly permit copying of software and disallow withholding of source to provided binaries, then clarity is a luxury I can't afford. My posts are already too long by Slashdot standards. I think this is also your real gripe with the original post: it expressed its ideas in a compressed form which required some padding out to make a complete argument. I consider this normal and acceptable in an informal discussion.
Mind you, for every point I expand on in an attempt to make my argument clear you seem to come up with new ways to misunderstand it. "If eggs start laying chickens?" Good heavens. This could easily lead to an infinite regression, so I'll expand on nothing further for you.
Instead, you may be interested to hear this RMS quote from my limited personal correspondence with him. Judge for yourself whether your opinion above is accurate in light of it.
Personally, I would summarise this by saying he advocates replacing copyright (on software) with copyleft, but since you think this is like saying eggs should lay chickens, ignore what I say and just take RMS at his word.The first paragraph states that "the law should be changed", so presumably if he were king for a day he would jump at the opportunity to do what should (in his estimation) be done. The second paragraph effectively means that all commercially sold software would be available on the same terms that GPL software is available now. The only software that would not be "free software" would be whatever software developers and companies kept entirely to themselves (for in-house use).
Posted by hyperman:
I fear that in the hubbub about all this lossy compression and digital distribution, quality recording will fall by the wayside. CDs are already provide audio quality inferior to what's possible on a good stereo. They came up with the HDCD standard to fix this. MP3, on the other hand, sounds way worse than a CD(to someone with a decent stereo who really listens to their music). I don't care so much about free music vs "artist's rights" or whatever- I just want recordings that don't sound muddy and processed with blobby imaging. That's how all the MP3s I've ever heard sound to me.
I love my music, and I've spent thousands of dollars getting equipment to reproduce it as flawlessly as possible. However, if all I can get is MP3, I may as well have bought some AIWA minisystem and saved myself the price of a new car.
Posted by generic kewl tech reference:
Once again I am reminded why I registered Decline to State.
I can see a presidential election between a man who wants to tell me how many children I can have and a woman who wants to tell me how to raise them.
I take solace in the high probability that Gore advocates environmentalism and Dole advocates censorship for the same reason: to get attention.
When it was Clinton vs. Bush, I had a lesbian friend who voted for Clinton because she thought that he would actually follow through on the promises he made to the gay community, and then felt betrayed when he didn't. I thought this was funny. Of course he lied, he's a politician, that's what we pay them for. Well, that's what they take a quarter of our pay without our permission for, but that's another rant and it's hard enough to keep this one coherent.
What I am upset about is that we as Americans seem all too willing to absolve our responsibilities as parents and let the government dictate what they can see, hear, learn, and know. And no, it's not just the Republicans - anybody remember the CDA ?
Looks like I'm voting for Chthulhu again.
P.S. Feel free to flame me, at least I'll know I made sense.
P.P.S. Anybody wanna bet how many flames I'll get over the spelling of "Chthulhu"?
P.P.P.S. So what does Shrub stand for besides getting elected?
Posted by FascDot Killed My Previous Use:
First, this is entirely a political move by Dole. She is an odd duck, politically: A conservative female. Being a female she automatically appeals to the liberals. The conservatives are more likely to vote the issues (however stupid or inconsequential) so she has to invoke "Protect The Kids From Porn" war cry to appeal to them.
Second, to those who say this is not censorship: BS. Libraries are public data repositories. When the government causes data to be removed from these repositories, that is, by definition, censorship. End of story.
Third, there is already a petition about this over at e-thepeople.
---
Put Hemos through English 101!
Posted by _DogShu_:
RMS does, and I think that's ESR's point.
Posted by mathman100@geocities.com:
they would have to change the site's name to slashdot.com if they made a profit off from it. all the money they get has to go to some other cause, such as improving the site, donating to charity, etc. They can only take as much money out of slashdot as they put in.
Posted by yuri-g:
/., but for all of its users! Can't wait to see what's in store for the future.
Great news not only for
Glad to hear that my browser's favorite start page is getting a much-deserved boost. You guys all have worked your butts off to create one of the most unique and strongest online communities in the history of the net. Reap the benefits! (But don't wear ties!)
Posted by Forward The Light Brigade:
Don't get me wrong,
Its a very cool step,
but IIRC it is way easier to perform a hostile reverse engineering of monitor drivers than graphics card drivers...
when will SGI's graphics subsystem be supported?
You still haven't argued yourself out of your own hole. All that is copyrighted is enslaved.
All GPLed software is copyrighted.
Therefore all GPLed software is enslaved.
Your own logic here is self-refuting. If copyright is enslavement of code, then copyleft is also enslavement of code because copyleft uses copyright as a mechanism.
Fortunately for you, you have merely misunderstood Stallman's argument. Stallman believes that copyright as a mechanism lends itself to evil uses more than to good, but his argument is not with copyright. Nor is he trying to free code, but rather people.
If we were to talk about "free software" in the natural English sense, we would either assume that it was like free as in zero cost, or free as in unrestricted. Stallman's "free software" is strictly neither of these since it sometimes costs money and always comes with a load of restrictions known as the GPL attached. This is Tom's gripe with the FSF: they are calling that which isn't that which is.
What the FSF is really peddling is cunningly restricted software which ensures that the majority of users will be as free as possible. The GPL restricts only those freedoms which you could use to interfere with the freedoms of others, but the essence of the GPL is its specific restrictions.
The GPL does two specific things to restrict freedom. One is that it forbids changes to the license terms. In order to redistribute GPL software (in modified or unmodified form), you must agree to abide by the GPL's license terms, which are in themselves a restriction on your freedoms. You must agree to surrender certain natural rights for the purposes of dealing with that particular piece of software. Contrast that with a public domain program which makes no such demands or restrictions on your freedom.
The second prong of the GPL attack is to demand that you make the source code of the program available (whether you have modified it or not). This protects everyone else from nasty people who want to spread binary-only copies of programs, thereby circumventing our right to read and modify the program.
Those points again for the people who missed them the first time. By agreeing to abide by the terms of the GPL (which is the only thing that gives you the right to redistribute GPL software, since copyright restricts redistribution by default), you agree to abide by the following restrictions on your personal freedom.
- It requires that you redistribute the work and all works you derive from it under the GPL also, so that you may not increase the restrictions on others (by reinstating copying restrictions) or weakening the existing restrictions (so that point two might be violated).
- It requires that you make source code available to your programs if you release them at all. Binary-only distribution is streng verboten.
My personal conclusion: Tom's right. "Free" is a misleading term. "Copyleft" is a better term, as is the phrase "All Rights Reversed" (which, you will note, is not the same as "All Rights Reinstated"). The GPL places a minimum number of restrictions on the software with the noblest of intentions, but the software is fundamentally restricted, not free.Whether we as users and programmers are freer with the GPL or the Public Domain is an interesting philosophical question. I might even try to write an essay on it someday. (And while I'm here I'll plug my existing essay, Philosophies of Free Software and Intellectual Property .)
Posted by rdobbs:
:)
Bravo! Level-headedness in a forum of Chaos!
I've seen soooo many posting about subject where the author has made it glaringly clear he or she doesn't even know what they are talking about - and they then lye and make up credentials to back it up.
Well, I'm not lying - and I'm not about to claim I know everything... But, here's a little info about me before I start smashing myths and urban legends:
I am 22, and work as 3rd Shift Systems Operator at a Major Life Insurance firm. I'm a high school graduate, with the following certifications:
* MCP - Implementing and Supporting Windows 95
* CNA - Certified Novell Administrator - Netware v3.12
* A+ - Industry Standard in Computer Technician training. Proved proficient in MS/DOS, and basic PC Hardware
...And I have the following working experience in the following systems:
-Macintosh (PowerPC)
-MacOS 8.6
-PCs
-FreeBSD 2.2.2Release
-RedHat Linux 4.2
-RedHat Linux 5.0
-RedHat Linux 6.0
-MS/DOS
-OS/2 2.1
-OS/2 3.0
-OS/2 4.0
-Windows 3.1
-Windows For Workgroups 3.11
-Windows NT Server3.51
-Windows 95
-Windows 98
-Windows NT Workstation 4.0
-Windows NT Server 4.0
-RS/6000 (PowerPC)
-AIX 4.2
-AS/400
-OS/400
-S/390
-MVS
Whew... With that out of the way...
- RAIDS:
I've seen a few people question the reason to even test RAID performance on Linux, as it is a current weak spot. Big business uses RAID technology to support heavy load, and to break up the work of the filesystem among a group of equally capable drives. So it IS a feasible test - and just proves that Linux needs improvement in this department.- Multiple Network Cards:
A few people have said that there is no REAL life application for Multiple NICS. Linux's support for Multiple NIC cards is still premature - but it's promising (from what I can tell). I've built machines, and also maintained machines with multiple network cards - it IS a real-life factor. Another area of improvement...- Single Processors vs SMP:
Businesses will only use Single Processing machines - unless they are doing database related applications, or other heavy CPU-utilizing activity, then they will usually spare no expense to get the proper machine. Linux has primative support for SMP - but NT has better support. Linux needs to improve, so what.- Stability and Scalability:
These are both important issues in the business world. Linux currently has pretty good ground as it comes to stability. However, both NT and Linux get pounded by Solaris (so I've heard) - again, a learning experience...I could go on and on and on... But why bother...
I use RedHat Linux 6.0, as well as Windows NT, Windows 98, and even MacOS. Each platform has it's own strength and weaknesses - and any honest-to-goodness computer professional stakes his/her career on this Maxum. Don't get caught in the hype war - cause it will only lead down the road to eventual failure...
Ray D.
PS: I will probably get flammed for this - but as I have learned - that is really the only thing left of the "Professional PC Person" world... Maybe I should have become a doctor?
Some anonymous coward said:
Methinks someone hasn't heard of a little nonprofit organisation called Habitat for Humanity.
Basically--for those who might be unaware--Habitat for Humanity builds houses for poor people under what is literally a "free housing" model. Essentially, if you qualify (you essentially have to be unable to afford other housing and be willing to contribute to helping build the house) they will set you up with loans for the supplies only and they will build one a house.
In return, the people have to help out at construction projects that Habitat for Humanity does for other people...but it works well in the end. People who otherwise couldn't afford decent housing get good houses, and they work to help other folks get good houses.
There are other groups, such as Mennonite groups, that do similar things for homeless families or who work with Habitat for Humanity in helping to build houses. And while they're still paying for supplies, a lot of companies donate supplies (yes, even companies that also sell to for-profit contractors) too so sometimes people can get houses close to free.
In a way, this is similar to how GPL'd software works. Basically the main stuff that is paid for is support (akin to "buying supplies" if not exactly an analogy); people get together and build stuff for the good of the community, and if you want to use GPL'd code you agree to "help out the community" and release your code under GPL too. (Just like how Habitat for Humanity "partner families" get houses built for them, but they have to help in building it and/or help in building other houses.) If you don't want to use GPL'd code and want to keep your code to yourself there are alternatives (just like if you're poor, you can choose not to get a house through HFH and instead live with relatives or in "section 8" housing or in a shelter).
Needless to say, many people use GPL'd software for the same reason a lot of poor folks get houses through Habitat for Humanity instead of living in section-8 housing or with relatives. GPL software (and free/libre software in general) is generally more reliable and solidly built than proprietary software because you've got a crew working on it-- for instance, we all know how much faster security bugs in Linux tend to be fixed than in Win95. (Yes, this is still directly comparable to housing. HFH houses have actually been raised in the span of a day or two, and are solidly built--one learns to do one's own homefixing stuff and one knows where everything is. Most houses done by contractors tend to take far longer. Most section-8 housing is [to put it delicately] in a state of disrepair to begin with, often has folks living there who are causing more damage, and things tend not to get fixed at all.)
(And yes, I realise I've just compared certain Microsoft operating systems to the projects. You may please put down the sharp objects. Now. :)
ObRMS--it's also rather interesting, in light of RMS's now-infamous "Jesus Quote", to learn that HFH is actually an offbranch of a Christian ministry (one that Jimmy Carter was involved in, if memory serves). Basically they're doing it cause they feel "Well, Jesus'd have done the same thing". One doesn't have to be Christian to volunteer time or supplies to them, though. (Just thought it'd be interesting to point that out...and yes, I support Habitat for Humanity, and I also happen to not be a practicing Christian. I think they're among the few folks I've met who do in fact "get it", though.)
Posted by The Mongolian Barbecue:
I will find it a good home. I'll make sure some gets to nanotech people too