Drop 'em a line asking about their silence on this issue.
Tom Swiss | the infamous tms | http://www.infamous.net/
Re:The best way to expose a bad law is to enforce
on
Still in DMCA Prison
·
· Score: 2
The FBI's job is to enforce the law...Just keep in mind, the folks who made the law are to blame, not the folks mandated to enforce it.
Sorry, but "I was only following orders" didn't cut it at the Nazi war crimes trials and doesn't cut it now.
Separation of powers has a purpose; legislatures can (in theory) prevent bad laws from passive, executives can (in theory) prevent bad laws from being enforced, and judiciaries can (in theory) prevent anyone from being convicted under bad laws.
He wasn't arrested for the speech...It is the software that he is being persecuted, err, prosecuted, for.
Software is speech. It is a string of symbols that transfer meaning. A computer program - in source or object form - is just as much a legitimate protected expression as is a photograph, a blueprint, a mathematical equation, or a dirty joke written in Linear B.
Tom Swiss | the infamous tms | http://www.infamous.net/
First, "force" does not mean only physical forces; you appear to be a fan of free markets, so I'm sure you're familiar with the term "market forces"?
Second, as a legal fiction created by the state, Microsoft isn't subject to physical force. We could use force against Bill Gates, the Board of Directors, and/or the various shareholders and employees; we could remove property from the control of this legal fiction; we could even evoke its corporate charter (and any or all of these may be good ideas); but we cannot use physical force against a corporation.
Third, the sophomoric "no initiaion of force" rule fails so badly that its apologists have to come up with some very creative defintions of "force". A simple example - if you sit down on my front lawn and decline to leave, you aren't using force against me.
(You also have negelected to account for fraud, but most libertarian capitalists will amend the rule to "force or fraud".)
Tom Swiss | the infamous tms | http://www.infamous.net/
And the United Nations meeting in New York is about removing all guns from private ownership.
Don't belive everything you read in Black Helicopter Times, ok? While there are definitely legitimate RKBA concerns with the proposals to limit small-arms sales, suggesting that the U.N. is assmbling a plan to confiscate our firearms is exageration.
Tom Swiss | the infamous tms | http://www.infamous.net/
I remember that some of those who were nerds acutally did things to deserve bullying.
No bullying victim ("nerd" or not) deserves to be bullied based on their behavior, any more than any rape victim deserves to be raped based on what they were wearing.
So are you trolling, or just a total and complete asshole?
Tom Swiss | the infamous tms | http://www.infamous.net/
I use VNC over my 192k SDSL line to access my PC at work in order to use Bloated Notes from home (yes, supposedly NOTES would work with WINE, but the VPN software doesn't like that), and to access intranet web pages. It's not the most lively interface, but it's ok for light use. (OTOH, I also typically have two telnet connections going at the same time, and I think there's a bit of a bottleneck in the VPN access that reduces the effective bandwidth even more.)
I use the -bgr233 option to set 8-bit color, it helps a lot though it uglifies things a bit.
Tom Swiss | the infamous tms | http://www.infamous.net/
I could see this replacing paperbacks
maybe, but this will do to good quality harcovers what CDs did to LPs: make elitists out of real readers.
While self-styled "audiophiles" may argue about the fidelity of analog vs. digital recording, how does a self-styled "real reader" argue that I'm not getting the full impact of the text of (to pick the used paperback I finished re-rereading for the nth time last night) A Wizard of Earthsea because it's printed in paperback?
A "real reader" loves the work. An elitist who buys books by the yard to make an impressive decoration for his living room may care more about hardcover vs. paperback.
Tom Swiss | the infamous tms | http://www.infamous.net/
Taking someone's else's money and spending it on something they do not wish to support nor do they reap benefits from, is not only an insult to morality, but also an insult to the American Constitution.
I suggest you re-read that Constitution, which explictly authorizes the income tax; and even before that amendment, other sorts of taxes were allowed.
Governments tax. It's their nature.
Tom Swiss | the infamous tms | http://www.infamous.net/
but some others don't honestly give a flying fuck about NASA, and would be more than happy to see it fold...don't force ME to pay for it.
Yes, and I don't give a flying fuck about the bloated military, corporate welfare, the patent office, the various federal para-military "law enforcement" organizations, etcetera. But government is (at least at our current point in human development) inevitable, and it is the nature of governments to tax - i.e., take money by force - and to spend.
Tom Swiss | the infamous tms | http://www.infamous.net/
Consider for a moment all the information I can get without directly paying a cent. (Yes, TANSTAAFL, and all of these get paid for one way or another, but they seem "free" at the moment of choice.)
I can turn on the radio and listen for hours.
I can turn on the ol' boob tube and watch broadcast TV. I can even watch basic satellite/cable for about the same cost as a basic ISP connection, so if you consider that more "service" than "content", it's free content.
I can shuffle down to my local library and find enough content to last a lifetime.
I can rummage though the recycling bin at my coffeehouse of choice and pick up the day's newpaper (the Baltimore Sun is definitely not content worth paying for), or the local advertizing-support "alternative" weekly.
I can get all that for "free" (see above), and you want me to shell out to see you webpage?
We're inundated with content. It attacks us from the Muzak speakers at the supermarket and the gas station, the animated billboards on the streets, the ubiquitous glowing eye of the video monitor. Supply and demand...the supply is so high, and many people are feeling so overwhelmed that demand in some cases is going negative.
Tom Swiss | the infamous tms | http://www.infamous.net/
This old Baltimore City Paper"Cyberpunk" column (a now defunct feature) says that the BSA stormtroopers get a court order (often on the word of a disgruntled former employee) and show up with federal marshals. Government and industry, working togther for a better world. Blech.
Tom Swiss | the infamous tms | http://www.infamous.net/
Open up any newspaper, and take a look at how much of each page is advertising.
Which, you will note, does not pop-up in front of the page you're trying to read, nor fall out the back so that when you close the paper you're left with a mosaic of little cards to pick up, nor contains animations which distract your hard-working eyeballs from the text, nor puts little tags on you that ads in other papers can read.
Cease with the Flash, cease with the GIF animations, cease with the pop-ups and pop-unders, cease with the cookie abuse, and maybe - just maybe - it will be worth my while to turn off Junkbuster.
Of course, I still wouldn't be clicking on the ads...
Tom Swiss | the infamous tms | http://www.infamous.net/
Re:Try coils by Zelanzny
on
Lord of Light
·
· Score: 1
Coils was co-written with Fred Saberhagen. It's a good 'un.
Tom Swiss | the infamous tms | http://www.infamous.net/
setenv THISHOST `hostname | sed "s/\..*//"`
set prompt = " [$THISHOST \!] "
Something of a holdover from the pre-tcsh days, since I'm more likely to just use the up-arrow than type "!6"
Tom Swiss | the infamous tms | http://www.infamous.net/
other Zelazny wih mythological content
on
Lord of Light
·
· Score: 2
I recently re-read Lord of Light for what must have been the fourth or fifth time. I also re-read his books Creatures of Light and Darkness, which features characters who take on the roles of Egyptian deities, and Isle of the Dead, wherein a human become a sort of avatar of an alien god. If you enjoyed any of these, check out the others too.
Tom Swiss | the infamous tms | http://www.infamous.net/
Most people cannot be trusted with such responsibility because in the process they'll fuck up other people's "bodies and lives".
So then, why should we obey a government voted into power by an electorate who can't even be trusted to run their own lives?
If most people can't be trusted to manage their own affairs, then certainly a government "by the people, for the people, and of the people" can't do it for them. Indeed, if that's the case then giving that government more power would just be letting the majority of people who can't handle personal responsibility, run the lives of the minority who can handle it!
Yeah, it's stupid but would you rather have the morons (the most of the population in any country) decide their own moral
judgements?
Given that the alternative is letting other people think for you, and "only following orders", yes, people should be making their own judgements. And what does "moral" have to do with it, since we've been talking about law?
Tom Swiss | the infamous tms | http://www.infamous.net/
I'd say it's obvious that crime rates can be brought down by installing surveillance cameras, increasing the visible police presence on the streets and granting the law enforcement agencies more rights to carry out surveillance of suspects.
No, it's not obvious that a surveillance state lowers crime. Spying on people is outside the state's legitimate authority - it is therefore a crime in and of itself. Increasing the amount of crime commited by the state in return for a decrease in crime by independant operators is no bargain. I'd rather be mugged and have $100 stolen from me than be spied upon by the state - liberty is worth the risk.
The sheep-like attitude you display never fails to disappoint me. I'm guessing you live in the U.K. - can someone tell me what are the British equivalents of COINTELPRO, MK-UTLTRA, Watergate, the "enemies list", Waco, Amadou Diallo, and Rampart? What does it take to remind these people of the abuses to which state power is susceptible? Or is it a hopeless task to try to talk to a subject of a monarcy about freedom?
Tom Swiss | the infamous tms | http://www.infamous.net/
It's a BANK. It's not a marketing department for crying out loud.
Um, banks have marketing departments. And "partnerships" with other companies. And reporting requirements to the government. Banks are amoung the most privacy-invading, consumer-ripping-off, scumbag corporations around.
Tom Swiss | the infamous tms | http://www.infamous.net/
Last year, Bravo ran the old Max Headroom series on Sunday(?) afternoons for a while. It was amazing how well they stood up a decade and a half later. Definitely a show too good for television.
(Now that we've got Flash banner ads, can blipverts be far behind?)
Tom Swiss | the infamous tms | http://www.infamous.net/
Like a story *line* just won't cut it, nope, two dimensions are better than one. And how is it that this is exclusive, B5-specific jargon? You'll never hear mention of the Star Wars story arc, for instance.
"Story arc" is a writing term; it refers to the structure of the plot, elements like exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and denouement. "Story line" just means the series of events. If I tell you about going to the grocery store on a typical day, there's a story line ("First I went to the produce section, then I got some rice...") but no arc; there's no conflict being resolved, no plot.
Tom Swiss | the infamous tms | http://www.infamous.net/
...in that you can't go three episodes of B5 without religion in it. Sounds more like he's searching than an atheist.
You can't go three episodes of B5 without seeing an act of violence. Does that mean JMS is a violent person, or does it mean that he recognizes that violence is part of life and therefore a legitimate topic for art to deal with?
Tom Swiss | the infamous tms | http://www.infamous.net/
The scripts of Crusade (however revealing of the B5 universe) really sucked hard towards the end.
I'm not sure which "end" you mean, since the original airing on TNT and the recent SciFi channel run were shown in different orders. The SciFi run was closer to the way JMS originally wanted it, and the TNT-influenced scripts (may the TNT persons responsible be cursed with painful boils) were placed towards the end in that one.
Tom Swiss | the infamous tms | http://www.infamous.net/
Slashdot Mirror
Drop 'em a line asking about their silence on this issue.
Tom Swiss | the infamous tms | http://www.infamous.net/
Sorry, but "I was only following orders" didn't cut it at the Nazi war crimes trials and doesn't cut it now.
Separation of powers has a purpose; legislatures can (in theory) prevent bad laws from passive, executives can (in theory) prevent bad laws from being enforced, and judiciaries can (in theory) prevent anyone from being convicted under bad laws.
None of them gets to use the "look what you made me do" excuse.
Tom Swiss | the infamous tms | http://www.infamous.net/
Tom Swiss | the infamous tms | http://www.infamous.net/
First, "force" does not mean only physical forces; you appear to be a fan of free markets, so I'm sure you're familiar with the term "market forces"?
Second, as a legal fiction created by the state, Microsoft isn't subject to physical force. We could use force against Bill Gates, the Board of Directors, and/or the various shareholders and employees; we could remove property from the control of this legal fiction; we could even evoke its corporate charter (and any or all of these may be good ideas); but we cannot use physical force against a corporation.
Third, the sophomoric "no initiaion of force" rule fails so badly that its apologists have to come up with some very creative defintions of "force". A simple example - if you sit down on my front lawn and decline to leave, you aren't using force against me.
(You also have negelected to account for fraud, but most libertarian capitalists will amend the rule to "force or fraud".)
Tom Swiss | the infamous tms | http://www.infamous.net/
Don't belive everything you read in Black Helicopter Times, ok? While there are definitely legitimate RKBA concerns with the proposals to limit small-arms sales, suggesting that the U.N. is assmbling a plan to confiscate our firearms is exageration.
Tom Swiss | the infamous tms | http://www.infamous.net/
No bullying victim ("nerd" or not) deserves to be bullied based on their behavior, any more than any rape victim deserves to be raped based on what they were wearing.
So are you trolling, or just a total and complete asshole?
Tom Swiss | the infamous tms | http://www.infamous.net/
I use VNC over my 192k SDSL line to access my PC at work in order to use Bloated Notes from home (yes, supposedly NOTES would work with WINE, but the VPN software doesn't like that), and to access intranet web pages. It's not the most lively interface, but it's ok for light use. (OTOH, I also typically have two telnet connections going at the same time, and I think there's a bit of a bottleneck in the VPN access that reduces the effective bandwidth even more.)
I use the -bgr233 option to set 8-bit color, it helps a lot though it uglifies things a bit.
Tom Swiss | the infamous tms | http://www.infamous.net/
While self-styled "audiophiles" may argue about the fidelity of analog vs. digital recording, how does a self-styled "real reader" argue that I'm not getting the full impact of the text of (to pick the used paperback I finished re-rereading for the nth time last night) A Wizard of Earthsea because it's printed in paperback?
A "real reader" loves the work. An elitist who buys books by the yard to make an impressive decoration for his living room may care more about hardcover vs. paperback.
Tom Swiss | the infamous tms | http://www.infamous.net/
I suggest you re-read that Constitution, which explictly authorizes the income tax; and even before that amendment, other sorts of taxes were allowed.
Governments tax. It's their nature.
Tom Swiss | the infamous tms | http://www.infamous.net/
Tom Swiss | the infamous tms | http://www.infamous.net/
Consider for a moment all the information I can get without directly paying a cent. (Yes, TANSTAAFL, and all of these get paid for one way or another, but they seem "free" at the moment of choice.)
I can turn on the radio and listen for hours.
I can turn on the ol' boob tube and watch broadcast TV. I can even watch basic satellite/cable for about the same cost as a basic ISP connection, so if you consider that more "service" than "content", it's free content.
I can shuffle down to my local library and find enough content to last a lifetime.
I can rummage though the recycling bin at my coffeehouse of choice and pick up the day's newpaper (the Baltimore Sun is definitely not content worth paying for), or the local advertizing-support "alternative" weekly.
I can get all that for "free" (see above), and you want me to shell out to see you webpage?
We're inundated with content. It attacks us from the Muzak speakers at the supermarket and the gas station, the animated billboards on the streets, the ubiquitous glowing eye of the video monitor. Supply and demand...the supply is so high, and many people are feeling so overwhelmed that demand in some cases is going negative.
Tom Swiss | the infamous tms | http://www.infamous.net/
Tom Swiss | the infamous tms | http://www.infamous.net/
Which, you will note, does not pop-up in front of the page you're trying to read, nor fall out the back so that when you close the paper you're left with a mosaic of little cards to pick up, nor contains animations which distract your hard-working eyeballs from the text, nor puts little tags on you that ads in other papers can read.
Cease with the Flash, cease with the GIF animations, cease with the pop-ups and pop-unders, cease with the cookie abuse, and maybe - just maybe - it will be worth my while to turn off Junkbuster.
Of course, I still wouldn't be clicking on the ads...
Tom Swiss | the infamous tms | http://www.infamous.net/
Coils was co-written with Fred Saberhagen. It's a good 'un.
Tom Swiss | the infamous tms | http://www.infamous.net/
Why have a .profile when you can have a .cshrc?
setenv THISHOST `hostname | sed "s/\..*//"`
set prompt = " [$THISHOST \!] "
Something of a holdover from the pre-tcsh days, since I'm more likely to just use the up-arrow than type "!6"
Tom Swiss | the infamous tms | http://www.infamous.net/
I recently re-read Lord of Light for what must have been the fourth or fifth time. I also re-read his books Creatures of Light and Darkness, which features characters who take on the roles of Egyptian deities, and Isle of the Dead, wherein a human become a sort of avatar of an alien god. If you enjoyed any of these, check out the others too.
Tom Swiss | the infamous tms | http://www.infamous.net/
So then, why should we obey a government voted into power by an electorate who can't even be trusted to run their own lives?
If most people can't be trusted to manage their own affairs, then certainly a government "by the people, for the people, and of the people" can't do it for them. Indeed, if that's the case then giving that government more power would just be letting the majority of people who can't handle personal responsibility, run the lives of the minority who can handle it!
To summarize the summary of the summary: people are a problem.
Tom Swiss | the infamous tms | http://www.infamous.net/
Tom Swiss | the infamous tms | http://www.infamous.net/
No, it's not obvious that a surveillance state lowers crime. Spying on people is outside the state's legitimate authority - it is therefore a crime in and of itself. Increasing the amount of crime commited by the state in return for a decrease in crime by independant operators is no bargain. I'd rather be mugged and have $100 stolen from me than be spied upon by the state - liberty is worth the risk.
The sheep-like attitude you display never fails to disappoint me. I'm guessing you live in the U.K. - can someone tell me what are the British equivalents of COINTELPRO, MK-UTLTRA, Watergate, the "enemies list", Waco, Amadou Diallo, and Rampart? What does it take to remind these people of the abuses to which state power is susceptible? Or is it a hopeless task to try to talk to a subject of a monarcy about freedom?
Tom Swiss | the infamous tms | http://www.infamous.net/
Tom Swiss | the infamous tms | http://www.infamous.net/
So instead they decided to damage their reputation by engaging in mindless, heavy-handed, groundless legal harassment? Brilliant.
Tom Swiss | the infamous tms | http://www.infamous.net/
Last year, Bravo ran the old Max Headroom series on Sunday(?) afternoons for a while. It was amazing how well they stood up a decade and a half later. Definitely a show too good for television.
(Now that we've got Flash banner ads, can blipverts be far behind?)
Tom Swiss | the infamous tms | http://www.infamous.net/
It's not at all B5 specific. (In fact, the first Google result is a Star Wars reference, ah, the irony.)
"Story arc" is a writing term; it refers to the structure of the plot, elements like exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and denouement. "Story line" just means the series of events. If I tell you about going to the grocery store on a typical day, there's a story line ("First I went to the produce section, then I got some rice...") but no arc; there's no conflict being resolved, no plot.
Tom Swiss | the infamous tms | http://www.infamous.net/
Tom Swiss | the infamous tms | http://www.infamous.net/
Tom Swiss | the infamous tms | http://www.infamous.net/