Misconception...kill kill kill
on
Virtual War
·
· Score: 2
Having been in the service myself and having talked to frields and relatives who went to war, the "Kill, Kill, Kill" attitude ends the first time you see some teenager laying face up on the ground with his eyes glazed over. Be it in person or the ever present news reporting. In modern times the only difference between sides in a battle seems to be the side thta lets the truth out that the other side is just a bunch of people caugt up in government propaganda against another side that shields its people from learning the truth about the other side.
That said, all it really takes is that one in a thousand psycho who really loves the violence to make a war brutal. All Germans weren't horrible just ad all Bosnians are not. When that rare psycho in in charge, so much the worse.
As far as pointing the blame finger to any nation for making the world as it is, choose France and Russia. By brutalizing their own people or putting in place governments willing to brutalize their own people they are largely to blame for the events of the last 100 years. See Etheopia, Serbia , Vietnam, Chechnya, Afghanastan,.....
Episode :A Taste of Armageddon
on
Virtual War
·
· Score: 2
I found a link to a synopsis or the old Star Trek Show Episode about virtual war A Taste of Armageddon
I remember this old Star Trek episode where two cultures/planets were battling each other on a virtual battlefield. When someone on either side became a casualty they voluntarily stepped into a disintegrator in the real world.
Judging war by any moral standard is absurd. War is the ultimate escalation in disagreement. Once you inject morals into the equation then war is horrid by any standard.
Long before we started this virtual war there was the precedent of the Geneva Convention for civilized warfare. Even that seemed strange- two sides engaged in mortal combat agreeing to policies for treating prisoners. Then you have various International standards for allowed weapons and armorments. Blinding lasers and serrated bayonets are illegal and so are.22 bullets.
Probably the first example of virtual warfare was the arrow. Before that you had to look your enemy in the eye to kill him. Subsequent examples make the killing more and more anonymous. Oops, sorry we dropped thta napalm or the civilian village, just a case of bad information. Or worse yet, sorry for bombing that Chinese Embasy, just a case of bad information.
Back to my origional point, nobody likes war, but in an increasingly irrational world virtual war has proven the most effective means of reducing casualties. For every body left dead on the battlefield there are hundreds of mental casualties stepping away from the field. If war has to be, let it be-- quick and decisive.
Viewsonic builds great quality monitors and they provide drivers for both Apple and PC computers. They sell cheaper versions under the brand Optiquest. My Viewsonic is almost 4 years old and the only problem I've had so far happened 1 month before the three year warranty window expired and they happily fixed it and returned it.
The funny thing is that a lot of people percieve musicians as unintelligent. Especially heavy metal musicians. I've seen two interviews with Lars and between that and reading this interview I'm certainly impressed.
When I first heard this Metallica vs Napster thing I was a little puzzled. Most MP3's I've heard sounded really crappy, and due to the lossy recording methons, the smaller the MP3 file the lower the quality. For me MP3's are a waste of time. I like to hear the imperfections of a live performance.
Is that Bull Shit or Bill's shit? Better yet, they sould tradmark scentless poop, that way they could say they are the only software company whose "Shit Don't Stink"{tm}.
All in the name of world peace. Now I'll be able to sue stinky bastards for violation of trademark. Only problem is, I'll have to have smelly armpits for the trademark to remain vaid:{ Ah well, world peace is worth it.
Judging from my own CD buying habits over the years I wonder how this alleged trend compares to normal cyclic trends in the entire music industry. Country music has been waning for the last six years, heavy metal is all but extinct, etc. the industry in general seems to be in search of the new "trendy thing". Its also important to note that viewership in MTV and other music channels has gone down. My guess is that in the competition for Advertising dollars the stations had to provide content that would attact viewers/listeners. Non-music content and repeating the top 20 to death. This is also detrimental to sales. Not to mention the music industry's illegal price fixing on CDs. Maybe sales will increase now that CD companies can't force online retailers and Wal-Mart to charge $13-$18 per CD.
Microsoft also has hinted that the strategy of its "Next Generation Windows Services" is to insert "technological shackles" (Conclusions, p.10) in its monopoly desktop software to compel the use of Microsoft software throughout the Internet, so that the ocean of innovation on the Internet becomes a stagnant Microsoft-proprietary pond.
). In the alternative, the Court should order that the applications company make the Internet Explorer product -- which provides no royalties now -- an "open source" product so that other software developers could use the source code. Either of these small additions would ensure that the monopoly over productivity applications that Microsoft holds does not supplant the operating system as the point of leverage for a monopoly over the software used in Internet computing.
sure. just like in Malaysia, Taiwan, Indonesia, Mexico....
Yes...and the reason you know that US companies run business in these countries is because when they don't adhere to basic treatment of workers it gets plastered all over the news. Can we say Cathy Lee Gifford? Not to mention comparing Malay, Thai or Korean economic development before and after US companies started doling out the work.
It is good to point out that American Companies operating in China will provide better working conditions. This will lead to competition and overall an improvement in human treatment. American Companies not treating workers properly will face trouble back home. Still, I fear the prospect of China doing an about face onece they get into the WTO and MFN permanent status. Once either of these is granted then taking them away will be a political nightmare.
Companies like Levi and General Motors are poised to start operations, but who is to say that later in the near term future China develops their own facilities for manufacturing these goods and either kicks the US company out or the government works against them. It could be as simple as the Chinese government declaring that workers who work for real Chinese companies are more patriotic than those who don't or implementing a special tax/levy.
We are essentially giving up much of out leverage over their economy in hops that they will follow through on their end.
For me I enjoy making somthing from nothing. Programming is a lot like woodcarving in that you start with an idea and see where it takes you. Sys Admin in_and_of_itself can be pretty tedius, especially if you work in an environment where change is a bad_thing. I love trying the newest, best tools and applications available. I love hacking apps. Get everthing running, sit back and monitor, spend free time hacking. With each application that I write I learn a little more and learn how to creatively solve programming problems. Time for Zen moment: In a nutshell,The path is the goal.
There are some really good suggestions here, but another may be to team up with someone looking to start a business. The US is a great environment for starting a business, and as a partner in a business you would be less likely to be taken advantage of. This assumes you still have the skills to get the business running. For instance, I know I'd jump at the chance to collaborate with a well educated Indian programmer who wanted to start a programming outsourcing firm. As a business relationship this works quite well since one partner is the US resident with the ability to get things rolling on the US end and the other has the skills/connections for outsourcing the work in his/her home country. Both have leveredge and stand to benefit from the collaboration.
I haven't gone to the trouble of buying a DVD player yet. Without Linux support it wouldn't justify the exrtra expense. My questions is, does Linux have a driver for reading Data DVD's? DVDs are a storage medium capable of carying more data than CDs. Is the only issue getting a DVD movie decoder for Linux ir is it getting a driver to read DVD's at all?
Even if yo consider a project managment approach, often you will wind up rewriting the code from scratch anyhow. From personal experience I can tell you that realying too heavilty on user input in the proposal/design phase can cause a project to completey lose focus. Many rewrites are the result of "feature creep" associated with pandering to the user's every whim. The most sucessful projects I have seen started with a narrowly defined, strict set of goals. Even at that, the trend seems to be at least one major rewrite by the time the software reaches its third version. Code reuse is highly overrated.
,i>>3 load balanced Web servers dedicated to images
Why three image servers? Slashdot isn't exactly the most graphics intensive site I've seen. A few icons and the banner ads. Are you planning more graphics/art? Or, is this just to ensure that the Ads are loaded quicker than the rest or the page (jab to the ribs!).
I'm not exactly a "Linux Zealot" but the writing on the wall is here. Free *Nix development has hit critical mass and is displacing Windows. No singe company could try to compete in as many niche OS demands that are appearing. Embedded systems, gaming platform, terminal, workstation, standalone, server... Imagine popping in a game Cd and having the computer boot Linux off the CD and then start running the game program. How about a game OS twaeked to the max right out of the box for running games. Ever heard of NetMax? You can set up a webserver in either BSD or Linux without hitting the command line.
I don't know how long you have been scoping out Linux/BSD, but the inroads that have been made in the last two years alone are simply astounding.
Myself I fit the "early adopter" profile. As such I started goofing with Linux five years ago. Back then doing an install was a monumental task. Now all you have to do is click the mouse a few times. Everthing from driver support to application support is moving at lightspeed. When I duel boot from MS to Linux the first thing I notice is the crystal clear KDE desktop.
When it comes to applications development the writing is on the wall. Companies like MS are running into the problem where their existing apps have all the bells and whistles that anyone could ask for. What motivates the consumer to buy a new version when there are no advantages? Obviosly you spend even more marketing dollars convincing an ever smaller pool of interrested consumers that they need to buy the upgrade. Add to this the trouble of managing bloated code for each new revision and you really have a task on your hands.
The part of the Constitiution I feel is being smashed is "Freedom of Speech". If translation of a work is Copyright infringement , what kind of reasoning does that make? No one is fundamentally trying to either steal or take credit for another persons work. Consent to disclose the work is implied since the work was already openly posted on the web. If I don't speak French how am I to learn about French culture and current events withut being able to translate available web content?
Another may be Illegal Search and Seizure since Judges have already shown a propensity to seize now and justify later . Lawyers know this, so when they threaten to sue you or threaten your host/ISP they know they have the advantage.
And don't forget that what this guy was doing was providing a translation service. Translations were make on-the-fly and no permenant copies of the documents were made. It was up to the user to choose a page for translation.
Nolo's website has a good overview of Fair use as applied to Copyright. I quote:
Uses That Are Generally Fair Uses Subject to some general limitations discussed later in this article, the following types of uses are usually deemed fair uses:
Criticism and comment--for example, quoting or excerpting a work in a review or criticism for purposes of illustration or comment.
News reporting--for example, summarizing an address or article, with brief quotations, in a news report.
Research and scholarship--for example, quoting a short passage in a scholarly, scientific or technical work for illustration or clarification of the author's observations.
Nonprofit educational uses--for example, photocopying of limited portions of written works by teachers for classroom use.
Parody--that is, a work that ridicules another, usually well-known, work by imitating it in a comic way.
Seems like fair use under the parody clause but we all know that he with the lawyer and the money wins. Call the ACLU.
What about Babelfish or Silk? Does this mean we all net translation software would amount to a copyright infringement? This is a horrible precedent. Though the intent of translating the pages was humor, there is little difference between dialect translation and language translation. Scary.
They probably told the lawyers that they didn't want anyone to freely distribute their proprietary libraries. The lawyers writing the license probably thought that meant no free distribution of source code.
Slashdot Mirror
That said, all it really takes is that one in a thousand psycho who really loves the violence to make a war brutal. All Germans weren't horrible just ad all Bosnians are not. When that rare psycho in in charge, so much the worse.
As far as pointing the blame finger to any nation for making the world as it is, choose France and Russia. By brutalizing their own people or putting in place governments willing to brutalize their own people they are largely to blame for the events of the last 100 years. See Etheopia, Serbia , Vietnam, Chechnya, Afghanastan, .....
I found a link to a synopsis or the old Star Trek Show Episode about virtual war A Taste of Armageddon
I remember this old Star Trek episode where two cultures/planets were battling each other on a virtual battlefield. When someone on either side became a casualty they voluntarily stepped into a disintegrator in the real world.
Judging war by any moral standard is absurd. War is the ultimate escalation in disagreement. Once you inject morals into the equation then war is horrid by any standard.
Long before we started this virtual war there was the precedent of the Geneva Convention for civilized warfare. Even that seemed strange- two sides engaged in mortal combat agreeing to policies for treating prisoners. Then you have various International standards for allowed weapons and armorments. Blinding lasers and serrated bayonets are illegal and so are .22 bullets.
Probably the first example of virtual warfare was the arrow. Before that you had to look your enemy in the eye to kill him. Subsequent examples make the killing more and more anonymous. Oops, sorry we dropped thta napalm or the civilian village, just a case of bad information. Or worse yet, sorry for bombing that Chinese Embasy, just a case of bad information.
Back to my origional point, nobody likes war, but in an increasingly irrational world virtual war has proven the most effective means of reducing casualties. For every body left dead on the battlefield there are hundreds of mental casualties stepping away from the field. If war has to be, let it be-- quick and decisive.
Viewsonic builds great quality monitors and they provide drivers for both Apple and PC computers. They sell cheaper versions under the brand Optiquest. My Viewsonic is almost 4 years old and the only problem I've had so far happened 1 month before the three year warranty window expired and they happily fixed it and returned it.
When I first heard this Metallica vs Napster thing I was a little puzzled. Most MP3's I've heard sounded really crappy, and due to the lossy recording methons, the smaller the MP3 file the lower the quality. For me MP3's are a waste of time. I like to hear the imperfections of a live performance.
Is that Bull Shit or Bill's shit? Better yet, they sould tradmark scentless poop, that way they could say they are the only software company whose "Shit Don't Stink"{tm}.
All in the name of world peace. Now I'll be able to sue stinky bastards for violation of trademark. Only problem is, I'll have to have smelly armpits for the trademark to remain vaid :{ Ah well, world peace is worth it.
Judging from my own CD buying habits over the years I wonder how this alleged trend compares to normal cyclic trends in the entire music industry. Country music has been waning for the last six years, heavy metal is all but extinct, etc. the industry in general seems to be in search of the new "trendy thing". Its also important to note that viewership in MTV and other music channels has gone down. My guess is that in the competition for Advertising dollars the stations had to provide content that would attact viewers/listeners. Non-music content and repeating the top 20 to death. This is also detrimental to sales. Not to mention the music industry's illegal price fixing on CDs. Maybe sales will increase now that CD companies can't force online retailers and Wal-Mart to charge $13-$18 per CD.
Microsoft also has hinted that the strategy of its "Next Generation Windows Services" is to insert "technological shackles" (Conclusions, p.10) in its monopoly desktop software to compel the use of Microsoft software throughout the Internet, so that the ocean of innovation on the Internet becomes a stagnant Microsoft-proprietary pond.
Excerpt from the CIIA brief:
). In the alternative, the Court should order that the applications company make the Internet Explorer product -- which provides no royalties now -- an "open source" product so that other software developers could use the source code. Either of these small additions would ensure that the monopoly over productivity applications that Microsoft holds does not supplant the operating system as the point of leverage for a monopoly over the software used in Internet computing.
sure. just like in Malaysia, Taiwan, Indonesia, Mexico....
Yes...and the reason you know that US companies run business in these countries is because when they don't adhere to basic treatment of workers it gets plastered all over the news. Can we say Cathy Lee Gifford? Not to mention comparing Malay, Thai or Korean economic development before and after US companies started doling out the work.
It is good to point out that American Companies operating in China will provide better working conditions. This will lead to competition and overall an improvement in human treatment. American Companies not treating workers properly will face trouble back home. Still, I fear the prospect of China doing an about face onece they get into the WTO and MFN permanent status. Once either of these is granted then taking them away will be a political nightmare.
Companies like Levi and General Motors are poised to start operations, but who is to say that later in the near term future China develops their own facilities for manufacturing these goods and either kicks the US company out or the government works against them. It could be as simple as the Chinese government declaring that workers who work for real Chinese companies are more patriotic than those who don't or implementing a special tax/levy.
We are essentially giving up much of out leverage over their economy in hops that they will follow through on their end.
For me I enjoy making somthing from nothing. Programming is a lot like woodcarving in that you start with an idea and see where it takes you. Sys Admin in_and_of_itself can be pretty tedius, especially if you work in an environment where change is a bad_thing. I love trying the newest, best tools and applications available. I love hacking apps. Get everthing running, sit back and monitor, spend free time hacking. With each application that I write I learn a little more and learn how to creatively solve programming problems. Time for Zen moment: In a nutshell,The path is the goal.
What's next, how to run a '68 TransAM in SMP?
There are some really good suggestions here, but another may be to team up with someone looking to start a business. The US is a great environment for starting a business, and as a partner in a business you would be less likely to be taken advantage of. This assumes you still have the skills to get the business running. For instance, I know I'd jump at the chance to collaborate with a well educated Indian programmer who wanted to start a programming outsourcing firm. As a business relationship this works quite well since one partner is the US resident with the ability to get things rolling on the US end and the other has the skills/connections for outsourcing the work in his/her home country. Both have leveredge and stand to benefit from the collaboration.
Thanks, I appreciate the info.
I haven't gone to the trouble of buying a DVD player yet. Without Linux support it wouldn't justify the exrtra expense. My questions is, does Linux have a driver for reading Data DVD's? DVDs are a storage medium capable of carying more data than CDs. Is the only issue getting a DVD movie decoder for Linux ir is it getting a driver to read DVD's at all?
Even if yo consider a project managment approach, often you will wind up rewriting the code from scratch anyhow. From personal experience I can tell you that realying too heavilty on user input in the proposal/design phase can cause a project to completey lose focus. Many rewrites are the result of "feature creep" associated with pandering to the user's every whim. The most sucessful projects I have seen started with a narrowly defined, strict set of goals. Even at that, the trend seems to be at least one major rewrite by the time the software reaches its third version. Code reuse is highly overrated.
,i>>3 load balanced Web servers dedicated to images
Why three image servers? Slashdot isn't exactly the most graphics intensive site I've seen. A few icons and the banner ads. Are you planning more graphics/art? Or, is this just to ensure that the Ads are loaded quicker than the rest or the page (jab to the ribs!).
I don't know how long you have been scoping out Linux/BSD, but the inroads that have been made in the last two years alone are simply astounding.
Myself I fit the "early adopter" profile. As such I started goofing with Linux five years ago. Back then doing an install was a monumental task. Now all you have to do is click the mouse a few times. Everthing from driver support to application support is moving at lightspeed. When I duel boot from MS to Linux the first thing I notice is the crystal clear KDE desktop.
When it comes to applications development the writing is on the wall. Companies like MS are running into the problem where their existing apps have all the bells and whistles that anyone could ask for. What motivates the consumer to buy a new version when there are no advantages? Obviosly you spend even more marketing dollars convincing an ever smaller pool of interrested consumers that they need to buy the upgrade. Add to this the trouble of managing bloated code for each new revision and you really have a task on your hands.
I appreciate the lead.
The part of the Constitiution I feel is being smashed is "Freedom of Speech". If translation of a work is Copyright infringement , what kind of reasoning does that make? No one is fundamentally trying to either steal or take credit for another persons work. Consent to disclose the work is implied since the work was already openly posted on the web. If I don't speak French how am I to learn about French culture and current events withut being able to translate available web content?
Another may be Illegal Search and Seizure since Judges have already shown a propensity to seize now and justify later . Lawyers know this, so when they threaten to sue you or threaten your host/ISP they know they have the advantage.
And don't forget that what this guy was doing was providing a translation service. Translations were make on-the-fly and no permenant copies of the documents were made. It was up to the user to choose a page for translation.
Uses That Are Generally Fair Uses Subject to some general limitations discussed later in this article, the following types of uses are usually deemed fair uses:
Seems like fair use under the parody clause but we all know that he with the lawyer and the money wins. Call the ACLU.
What about Babelfish or Silk? Does this mean we all net translation software would amount to a copyright infringement? This is a horrible precedent. Though the intent of translating the pages was humor, there is little difference between dialect translation and language translation. Scary.
They probably told the lawyers that they didn't want anyone to freely distribute their proprietary libraries. The lawyers writing the license probably thought that meant no free distribution of source code.