Well, technically it's today the 31st right now in pretty England, although it is 2:30 in the morning... ahh, to have Slashdot when you can't sleep;)
Anyway, after careful negotiation regarding tonights parties and drinking plans, one of my friends has convinced me to start at six o'clock... because that gives us half an hour drinking time before the Inter-Continental Ballistic Missiles arrive from Australia where because of the Y2K bug they've been set off...
OK, they're trying to sue over distribution of this CSS decoding stuff for DVD. Fair enough, I'm no lawyer so I'm in no real position to reliably comment. However, as stated in many a comment, quite what does this company think it's trying to do by attempting to sue people in other countries ? Since when has that been possible. For proof, just think of the Spanish trying to get hold of General Pinochet from the UK and the problems there.
Also, there's that big list of sites that link to sites with the alleged dodgy data on them... how come there are no search engines there... if slashdot has a link on it and it threatened, then why shouldn't altavista or yahoo ? As far as I'm concerned, a link is a link is a link. There are no 'special-case' links in which one site can post a link and another not, surely... except in the obvious case of files and bandwidth which requires no explenation.
So, let the bastards sue. If they ever come to the UK they'll get what's coming to them 'cos they'll have to pay *everyones* legal fees when they lose.
Actually my 'claim' for Netscape is true. Nine times out of ten if I type something too quickly via alt-l so that, say, slashdot.org becomes slashdot.orguk then Netscape takes up 90%+ of memory and stays there until I kill it... shame.
On a point of History, Netscape at one time made a point of releasing buggy software... it was part of their corporate image... strange but true.
I must admit that I'm about to go back to Windows through frustration...
I have a laptop with an ESS Maestro soundcard... there is a commercial driver out there for it, but after spending weeks trying to find support for/dev/sequencer and proper midi support it just hasn't materialised.
I'm a musician. I want to be creative... it's just such a damn shame that the oppertunity isn't there for me... once it is I shall truly be a happy man.
Simple... SuSE 6.1 had serious problems with the Glibc2 (or something like that) libraries... I used to run 6.1 and couldn't run any program that required it, such as Mozilla...
However, I'm now running Sexy SuSE 6.3 which has them sorted and I'm flying with Opera at last;)
Quite a few comments seem to be slagging off this release with views such as 'segfaults after a mintue' and the like.
Well, what do you expect ? Tell me how many distributions of *nix's are there out there... and now how many libraries... and now how many versions of those libraries... and then which kernel versions ?
I think most of those who post these types of comments have never even attempted to get substantial program working accross many platforms. I certainly havn't, I'm a PHP programmer, so that isn't going to happen... but I can appreciate how difficult the task is.
So, chill out a little... This release of Opera just about works for me and it is very quick... it's not like Netscape which is so *slow* and crashes 90% of the time if a lookup on an URL fails... and that's happened on *every* platform I have tested it on...
As for the comparasins to Mozilla... I'm running on a 400 Mhz 128mb system... and yet it still crawls along... fair enough, it's not even officially alpha status yet.
So, finally, sod off to all you so ready to slag of an attempt to produce a half-decent browser.
P.S. Don't forget that Opera 3.62 works perfectly under WINE... well, for me that is;)
The only and only - Duke 3D
on
Quake 1 GPL'ed
·
· Score: 1
Groovy, I like quake as much as the next man, but...
I've always had a soft spot for Duke Nukem 3D, if only for the lightswitches and power sockets that are interactive...
First of all, I know this is about as off-topic as they come, but hey, karma may be sacrificied to get Slashdot the help it needs.
Now, I'm writing this as around 60 comments have been posted... of which nearly a fifth have been complete troll trash... and all apart from one of them has been an anonymous coward post.
I like to read at -1 or 0 because then I can read the unmoderated comments that may not be abusive, but not good enough to be top rated. However, it gets to me the amount of sheer abuse and crap there is in this story.
Sod the whole anonymous coward concept - make them register and then if they're abuse, report the ip and time/date to their isp... who have probably got stringent rules about such behaviour.
Whilst on the subject of RSI and computer keyboards, there is something that I have noticed in my piano playing :
I like to play jazz piano, I mean *lots* of jazz. Anyway one of the pieces I really like to improvise around is "Take Five" by Paul Desmond of the Dave Brubeck quartet. The piece has a difficult left hand riff which involves constant stretching over the notes. Whilst I am doing this, the left hand is constantly stretched hard. Now I carry on improvising for a good twenty minutes. I get up and my left hand is really throbbing... fair enough, lactic acid and the like. However, after learning this piece for a week, playing twice a day kind of thing, my hand and stretching right up to my arm would really ache. We're talking real noticable pain here.
It took me a good few weeks to link the two.
D'oh.
Not a lot of people know that...
on
Dumb Laws
·
· Score: 1
Well, we all know about how much people love animals, right ? So how many of you know that it was still illegal to beat your horse, even though it was legal to beat your wife ? Sorted !
Correct me if I'm wrong but is like a scene from a certain book I read as such :
If the universe is of an infinite size, then no matter how small the chances, a world *exactly* the same as ours must exist, except that in that world the desk I'm sitting at is in fact two feet to the right. And in another, two feet to the left. And in another I'm a big movie star, but in another my latest movie flopped and I end up dead from an overdose...
Is this the same kind of thing as "before the universe" because even thought the chances are so small, something *must* happen because with infinate chances, no matter the probability, something will happen so...
...kind of like if you take an infinite amount of monkeys with an infinte amount of typewriters and an infinite amount of time, one them will eventually type out the entire works of Shakespeare.
Alrighty then, hints from a young bloke who's still learnin'...
Stop trying to get a love life... concentrate on having a good time and meeting girls (*nice* girls) follows...
OK, you've found your nice girl, you like her so much you can't even remember what she looks like and even the slightest mention of her name causes you to faint... Well, the chances are the she feels the same as you so start off small, ask her for her phone number, ask her if she fancies doing anything next week. The chances are she will and with you... sorted.
Keep with it, let it flow and enjoy it. Don't push for sex within the first week and just again concentrate on enjoying the feelings flowing forth. Corney, but true...
...and so the course of true love follows (or not;)...
Say that you don't like this girl after all... how to 'dump' her without to many problems. First rule - DON'T do it over the phone, it's *so* rude and she'll tell all her friends what a complete git you are. Ask to see her for whatever reason, or wait for a day until you know you're going to see her in person. Now, as for the actual wording... just try to go for something along the lines of "It's not you, it's me". Minimum fuss and upsets. Plus makes you feel better than being a bastard.
Oh, and I agree don't go for those who you fancy from looks alone... Those types of girls just use you and destroy you. Ever been out with someone, slept with them and then a few days later been told by that very girl that she's been sleeping with another man since she's been seing you only to tell you "I'm really sorry". Believe me, that *hurts*.
I'm English, and Middle class... is that your definition of 'second class' ?
>Its real tough to fight a one sided debate, on this extremely biased excuse for a website.
Well, I once thought that Microsoft did things well. Then at work I was introduced to Linux. I liked the command line being a DOS freak as it was... and then I saw the versatility... and then I saw X windows and liked that. "Fair enough", I thought, "but where are the applications". I then went to the office Linux guru and asked for this and that, include a decent Music sequencer. He found them (Koobase for the sequencer) and showed me Freshmeat. So, I moved to Linux.
However, these comments are not biased towards Microsoft per se. The comments are putting down Windows and Microsoft for blatently trying to put bad PR on an Operating system that does not deserve it. Now, if it was about Microsoft products then I would hope that the comments would not be biased - Are there any people that *don't* think IE is the best browser ? Admit it, it is;)
OK, so loads of people have said this but anyway...
I have yet to come accross and Englishman (or woman for that point) who has said 'period' to mean anything other than a strech of time or menstruation (and who say's I can't speell).
Also, Slash ? Nope... I've met a few who say 'forwardslash' but here in Sussex (south England) most say 'stroke'.
British English... hmm, I've still got to find the time to play around with the MS word Australian English dictionary...
What is e-commerce ? I don't mean literally but does it mean via the internet, giving your credit card number over the phone, using pay-per-view on the satellite or all ?
Come on, this is plain stupid because I see the e-commerce as all the above and many a few more derivatives (remember the stock market ticker).
Personally I think that a death penalty should be imposed upon those stupid enough to register a patent like this... should make them think twice before trying it.
Oh for Gods sake stop being so paranoid. I'm not stating that you have no right not to sue at all, but just for the sake of making a few quid it is wrong. The whole idea of Law (certainly here in England although you've probably heard about the various traversties) is that is it available to all, and that includes the defendant. Innocent until proved guilty ? Yeah, that's worked in America hasn't it ?
That's definatly number one... I personally like the one about the man who got so drunk in a bar that he fell off his stoll and broke the bottom of his spine thus being paralysed from the waist down... he sued the bar landlord for serving him in the first place... and won.
Then there's the one about the old lady who had taken her dog for a walk when they were suddenly rained upon. Getting home, she felt so sorry for the darling animal she did what any self-respecting animal lover would do - microwaved it... she won...
I remember once hearing that one of the American mottoes came down to strive for money... please correct me if I'm wrong.
Anyway, this lawsuit just shows how this kind of view is open to exploitation...
If I do something wrong then I am willing to take the full blame for it. I'm only 17 so that's happened a fair bit so far;). However why is it that in America it seems so difficult to be accountable for ones actions ? Seen the South Park movie ? Funny but the point of the "Blame Canada" campaign rings so true.
I live in England and I have been to the United States twice now. I did quite like it there apart from the constant implication that I was stupid... in the bathroom of my hotel there's a hairdryer with the warning "WARNING ! Do not use in shower". No shit Sherlock, I though it was the hairdryers that wern't working... ... I carried on to a local supermarket where I took a look at the microwave foods - "WARNING ! May be hot after cooking". Huh ? Is that not really the defnintion in the first place.
Recently I saw a program with various MPs on it talking about how the Tobacco companies are now being sued... despite the fact that we've all known for the last twenty-five years that smoking is not good for you... be honest, we have. So when I smoke I know it is doing me damage *but* that is my choice and if in twenty years time I get cancer I will accept full responsibility - it was my fault.
So, the moral to this long and winding post ? Get your laws sorted out and make money-grabbing stupidity punishable by death.
Goh, when are companies and the like going to learn that there is not quick, easy way to gain money - It all takes hard work and a keen mind... ok (possible flamebait... I hope not)Microsoft might not follow that per se, but you've got to give it to Gates... he's got the brains...
Anyway, what happened to the hope of Linus being able to own the copyright... that seemed the clever idea, a bit like the GPL (yeah, I know... not linus) in effect.
Slashdot Mirror
Hey all,
;)
Well, technically it's today the 31st right now in pretty England, although it is 2:30 in the morning... ahh, to have Slashdot when you can't sleep
Anyway, after careful negotiation regarding tonights parties and drinking plans, one of my friends has convinced me to start at six o'clock... because that gives us half an hour drinking time before the Inter-Continental Ballistic Missiles arrive from Australia where because of the Y2K bug they've been set off...
Which is nice.
OK, they're trying to sue over distribution of this CSS decoding stuff for DVD. Fair enough, I'm no lawyer so I'm in no real position to reliably comment. However, as stated in many a comment, quite what does this company think it's trying to do by attempting to sue people in other countries ? Since when has that been possible. For proof, just think of the Spanish trying to get hold of General Pinochet from the UK and the problems there.
Also, there's that big list of sites that link to sites with the alleged dodgy data on them... how come there are no search engines there... if slashdot has a link on it and it threatened, then why shouldn't altavista or yahoo ?
As far as I'm concerned, a link is a link is a link. There are no 'special-case' links in which one site can post a link and another not, surely... except in the obvious case of files and bandwidth which requires no explenation.
So, let the bastards sue. If they ever come to the UK they'll get what's coming to them 'cos they'll have to pay *everyones* legal fees when they lose.
Actually my 'claim' for Netscape is true. Nine times out of ten if I type something too quickly via alt-l so that, say, slashdot.org becomes slashdot.orguk then Netscape takes up 90%+ of memory and stays there until I kill it... shame.
On a point of History, Netscape at one time made a point of releasing buggy software... it was part of their corporate image... strange but true.
I must admit that I'm about to go back to Windows through frustration...
/dev/sequencer and proper midi support it just hasn't materialised.
I have a laptop with an ESS Maestro soundcard... there is a commercial driver out there for it, but after spending weeks trying to find support for
I'm a musician. I want to be creative... it's just such a damn shame that the oppertunity isn't there for me... once it is I shall truly be a happy man.
Simple... SuSE 6.1 had serious problems with the Glibc2 (or something like that) libraries... I used to run 6.1 and couldn't run any program that required it, such as Mozilla...
;)
However, I'm now running Sexy SuSE 6.3 which has them sorted and I'm flying with Opera at last
Hey all,
... and then which kernel versions ?
;)
Quite a few comments seem to be slagging off this release with views such as 'segfaults after a mintue' and the like.
Well, what do you expect ? Tell me how many distributions of *nix's are there out there... and now how many libraries... and now how many versions of those libraries
I think most of those who post these types of comments have never even attempted to get substantial program working accross many platforms. I certainly havn't, I'm a PHP programmer, so that isn't going to happen... but I can appreciate how difficult the task is.
So, chill out a little... This release of Opera just about works for me and it is very quick... it's not like Netscape which is so *slow* and crashes 90% of the time if a lookup on an URL fails... and that's happened on *every* platform I have tested it on...
As for the comparasins to Mozilla... I'm running on a 400 Mhz 128mb system... and yet it still crawls along... fair enough, it's not even officially alpha status yet.
So, finally, sod off to all you so ready to slag of an attempt to produce a half-decent browser.
P.S. Don't forget that Opera 3.62 works perfectly under WINE... well, for me that is
Groovy, I like quake as much as the next man, but...
;(
I've always had a soft spot for Duke Nukem 3D, if only for the lightswitches and power sockets that are interactive...
I want my Duke source code
In quakedef.h :
// This makes anyone on id's net privileged
// Use for multiplayer testing only - VERY dangerous!!!
// #define IDGODS
Hmm... sounds interesting to me...
First of all, I know this is about as off-topic as they come, but hey, karma may be sacrificied to get Slashdot the help it needs.
Now, I'm writing this as around 60 comments have been posted... of which nearly a fifth have been complete troll trash... and all apart from one of them has been an anonymous coward post.
I like to read at -1 or 0 because then I can read the unmoderated comments that may not be abusive, but not good enough to be top rated.
However, it gets to me the amount of sheer abuse and crap there is in this story.
Sod the whole anonymous coward concept - make them register and then if they're abuse, report the ip and time/date to their isp... who have probably got stringent rules about such behaviour.
Shame... 'Q' was my fave from the Bond films.
This isn't news for nerds... it's 'stuff that matters'.
Go figure.
Whilst on the subject of RSI and computer keyboards, there is something that I have noticed in my piano playing :
I like to play jazz piano, I mean *lots* of jazz. Anyway one of the pieces I really like to improvise around is "Take Five" by Paul Desmond of the Dave Brubeck quartet. The piece has a difficult left hand riff which involves constant stretching over the notes. Whilst I am doing this, the left hand is constantly stretched hard.
Now I carry on improvising for a good twenty minutes. I get up and my left hand is really throbbing... fair enough, lactic acid and the like.
However, after learning this piece for a week, playing twice a day kind of thing, my hand and stretching right up to my arm would really ache. We're talking real noticable pain here.
It took me a good few weeks to link the two.
D'oh.
Well, we all know about how much people love animals, right ? So how many of you know that it was still illegal to beat your horse, even though it was legal to beat your wife ? Sorted !
Correct me if I'm wrong but is like a scene from a certain book I read as such :
If the universe is of an infinite size, then no matter how small the chances, a world *exactly* the same as ours must exist, except that in that world the desk I'm sitting at is in fact two feet to the right. And in another, two feet to the left. And in another I'm a big movie star, but in another my latest movie flopped and I end up dead from an overdose...
Is this the same kind of thing as "before the universe" because even thought the chances are so small, something *must* happen because with infinate chances, no matter the probability, something will happen so...
...kind of like if you take an infinite amount of monkeys with an infinte amount of typewriters and an infinite amount of time, one them will eventually type out the entire works of Shakespeare.
Alrighty then, hints from a young bloke who's still learnin'...
;)...
Stop trying to get a love life... concentrate on having a good time and meeting girls (*nice* girls) follows...
OK, you've found your nice girl, you like her so much you can't even remember what she looks like and even the slightest mention of her name causes you to faint... Well, the chances are the she feels the same as you so start off small, ask her for her phone number, ask her if she fancies doing anything next week. The chances are she will and with you... sorted.
Keep with it, let it flow and enjoy it. Don't push for sex within the first week and just again concentrate on enjoying the feelings flowing forth. Corney, but true...
...and so the course of true love follows (or not
Say that you don't like this girl after all... how to 'dump' her without to many problems. First rule - DON'T do it over the phone, it's *so* rude and she'll tell all her friends what a complete git you are. Ask to see her for whatever reason, or wait for a day until you know you're going to see her in person.
Now, as for the actual wording... just try to go for something along the lines of "It's not you, it's me". Minimum fuss and upsets. Plus makes you feel better than being a bastard.
Oh, and I agree don't go for those who you fancy from looks alone... Those types of girls just use you and destroy you. Ever been out with someone, slept with them and then a few days later been told by that very girl that she's been sleeping with another man since she's been seing you only to tell you "I'm really sorry". Believe me, that *hurts*.
I stand corrected. Me being thick and it being the middle of the night in England have left be being slack ;)
>why are you soo bitter people??
;)
Probably because we can spell.
>Maybe because you are all second class??????
I'm English, and Middle class... is that your definition of 'second class' ?
>Its real tough to fight a one sided debate, on this extremely biased excuse for a website.
Well, I once thought that Microsoft did things well. Then at work I was introduced to Linux. I liked the command line being a DOS freak as it was... and then I saw the versatility... and then I saw X windows and liked that. "Fair enough", I thought, "but where are the applications". I then went to the office Linux guru and asked for this and that, include a decent Music sequencer. He found them (Koobase for the sequencer) and showed me Freshmeat. So, I moved to Linux.
However, these comments are not biased towards Microsoft per se. The comments are putting down Windows and Microsoft for blatently trying to put bad PR on an Operating system that does not deserve it. Now, if it was about Microsoft products then I would hope that the comments would not be biased - Are there any people that *don't* think IE is the best browser ? Admit it, it is
It must be cool jazz which you can tap your fingers to or type in time with... Dave Brubeck, nice !
OK, so loads of people have said this but anyway...
I have yet to come accross and Englishman (or woman for that point) who has said 'period' to mean anything other than a strech of time or menstruation (and who say's I can't speell).
Also, Slash ? Nope... I've met a few who say 'forwardslash' but here in Sussex (south England) most say 'stroke'.
British English... hmm, I've still got to find the time to play around with the MS word Australian English dictionary...
What is e-commerce ? I don't mean literally but does it mean via the internet, giving your credit card number over the phone, using pay-per-view on the satellite or all ?
Come on, this is plain stupid because I see the e-commerce as all the above and many a few more derivatives (remember the stock market ticker).
Personally I think that a death penalty should be imposed upon those stupid enough to register a patent like this... should make them think twice before trying it.
Oh for Gods sake stop being so paranoid. I'm not stating that you have no right not to sue at all, but just for the sake of making a few quid it is wrong. The whole idea of Law (certainly here in England although you've probably heard about the various traversties) is that is it available to all, and that includes the defendant. Innocent until proved guilty ? Yeah, that's worked in America hasn't it ?
Yep and she won... I can kind of see why because as I remember she was really old and so you know what old people are like with technology ;)
That's definatly number one... I personally like the one about the man who got so drunk in a bar that he fell off his stoll and broke the bottom of his spine thus being paralysed from the waist down... he sued the bar landlord for serving him in the first place... and won.
Then there's the one about the old lady who had taken her dog for a walk when they were suddenly rained upon. Getting home, she felt so sorry for the darling animal she did what any self-respecting animal lover would do - microwaved it... she won...
I remember once hearing that one of the American mottoes came down to strive for money... please correct me if I'm wrong.
;). However why is it that in America it seems so difficult to be accountable for ones actions ? Seen the South Park movie ? Funny but the point of the "Blame Canada" campaign rings so true.
Anyway, this lawsuit just shows how this kind of view is open to exploitation...
If I do something wrong then I am willing to take the full blame for it. I'm only 17 so that's happened a fair bit so far
I live in England and I have been to the United States twice now. I did quite like it there apart from the constant implication that I was stupid... in the bathroom of my hotel there's a hairdryer with the warning "WARNING ! Do not use in shower". No shit Sherlock, I though it was the hairdryers that wern't working...
... I carried on to a local supermarket where I took a look at the microwave foods - "WARNING ! May be hot after cooking". Huh ? Is that not really the defnintion in the first place.
Recently I saw a program with various MPs on it talking about how the Tobacco companies are now being sued... despite the fact that we've all known for the last twenty-five years that smoking is not good for you... be honest, we have. So when I smoke I know it is doing me damage *but* that is my choice and if in twenty years time I get cancer I will accept full responsibility - it was my fault.
So, the moral to this long and winding post ? Get your laws sorted out and make money-grabbing stupidity punishable by death.
...or the more likely Market Grabbing...
Goh, when are companies and the like going to learn that there is not quick, easy way to gain money - It all takes hard work and a keen mind... ok (possible flamebait... I hope not)Microsoft might not follow that per se, but you've got to give it to Gates... he's got the brains...
Anyway, what happened to the hope of Linus being able to own the copyright... that seemed the clever idea, a bit like the GPL (yeah, I know... not linus) in effect.