I looked again, and I can pinpoint the problem better now. The story summary text is the same font size as the menu text on the left and right sidebars. This is what is causing it to all kind of run together, and be painful to read.
As a contrast, look at the runner-up design, which got this right. It is easy to differentiate between, and focus on, any of the page layout sections.
This design is too busy and too dense. You need to put some more whitespace in here. It is hard to focus on just the story summaries, for example, without feeling encroached on by the other elements.
Also, News for Nerds. Stuff that Matters is too tall and thin. It is difficult to read and distracting.
I wish we had something a little more fresh. This design it a little too loyal to the legacy design.
I do appreciate the move to Sans Serif fonts, however.
Part of the Slashdot Editor's job is to make a submission "Presentable".
Oh, I know, you must mean correcting obvious spelling and grammar mistakes, right?
Usually this means moving a few URLs around.
Oh, OK. But I guess it would also mean checking to see if the article summary is an accurate summary of the linked article.
I'd guess a good half of story submissions use the word 'here' or 'article' or something equally stupid as their anchor text. I prefer relevant words to be linked.
Well, yes. That would be nice. But about those spelling and grammar problems...
There are other minor things tho, like taking off extra intros like "Hi guys I read Slashdot every day and thought you would like this".
Uh, hello? Accuracy? Spelling and grammar? Anyone?
I am interested in building an HD-capable PVR system, but I am concerned that some HDTV capture card manufacturers have already built in Broadcast Flag support in anticipation of the regulation that was to go in effect last summer.
I know that pcHDTV is safe. Have any of the other manufacturers, such as ATI, already built in Broadcast Flag capabilities?
I am interested in buying one or more HDTV capture cards, but I am concerned that some manufacturers have already built in Broadcast Flag support in anticipation of the regulation that was to go in effect last summer.
I know that pcHDTV is safe. Have any of the other manufacturers, such as ATI, already built in Broadcast Flag capabilities?
I don't see how gamers' rejection of Wind Waker's specific look could possibly be interpreted as a rejection of stylized graphics in all videogames.
Everyone loved the use of heavily stylized graphics in games like Grim Fandango and Parappa the Rapper. These games were also huge critical successes.
When executed well, heavily stylized graphics can make a game far more compelling, and increase its emotional impact. When poor decisions are made, the use of heavily stylized graphics can be an annoying distraction to the gamer.
Clearly, a lot of players found Wind Waker's graphics to be a distraction.
He also cited as an example one of his daughters, who as a child was given two trucks in an effort at gender-neutral upbringing. Yet he said she named them "daddy truck" and "baby truck," as if they were dolls.
That example says "innate difference" to me, but I'd like to see more detail.
OK, here's some more detail. My three-year-old son does the exact same freaking thing. He also happens to be very bright on the math/techie side, although that is totally irrelevant.
Obviously, this brilliant economist has already made up his mind about gender differences, and is selectively interpreting data to support his conclusion.
"Well, I tried the give-her-a-truck thing, and she fucked that up. OK, sweetie, it's ten years of Barbie's Kitchen Wondeland for you!"
I am running Firefox 1.0. I tried the link that said 'With Pop-up Blocker', and it displayed a dialog saying that I did not have a pop-up blocker.
I refreshed the page, and tried the link that said 'Without Pop-up Blocker'. It opened up the Citibank website, but it did not hijack my Citibank popup window.
Same thing happened to me under IE6 (except I did not get the dialog when I clicked on the 'With Pop-up Blocker' link).
Maybe it works under certain circumstances, but I couldn't reproduce it.
Most of this rah-rah article can be disregarded. Its content had to be specifically approved by EA, and the author uses it primarily to promote his own curriculum.
But clearly the most telling piece is that Electronic Arts wishes to increase their hiring rate of college graduates from 10% to 75% of all open positions.
On page 14, the reasons given for this radical makeover of the workforce are that the college grads are more "malleable" and "idealistic". These grads also "draw lower salaries", and continuously replacing older workers with young ones means they do not have to "invest heavily in contuing education."
I think most of us reading this can decide if hiring 75% of your workforce with no previous job expierience is an attempt to:
a) Improve the quality of your products while promoting a family-friendly corporate culture; or
b) Find fresh meat that doesn't have the prior experience to understand that they are being mistreated, and that they do not deserve it.
I had trouble believing this, so I downloaded one of the.QDF files from the referenced link. I am feeling completely sick. This guy's checking account number, credit card number, and meticulously-maintained transaction history are sitting on my computer.
It's way too late to warn these people about the files. Their current identity is toast. So is their credit for the next seven or so years.
Is there anything we can advise these people to do to minimize the damage at this point?
This is another ugly story that shows how little we need SCO and Microsoft to attack the open source community, because we are so willing to do their work for them.
First, JBoss Group betrayed the trust of what should have been a largely sympathetic community in TheServerSide with their anonymous posting campaign.
The fraud was exposed by levelheaded participants, including the submitter of this story and staff at TheServerSide.
Then, the opportunists jumped in.
Some bloggers gleefully joined the witchhunt, accusing their least favorite people of being anonymous posters, including real people, of course.
When I told one blogger that he needed to offer evidence when he accused someone of being an anonymous poster, he publically implied that I supported the posting scheme.
Several of the bloggers are themselves contributors to respected open-source projects, making this a particularly disturbing form of cannibalism.
The net result is another wedge driven into what was already an overly polarized community. No real winners here.
"Buyers and sellers on eBay enter into a binding contract, [Ebay spokesman Henry Gomez] said.
So officials of the auction service have to make sure the seller actually owns the item for sale and has the right to sell it."
This is not a very smart position to take. Ebay is basically saying, for example, that they are responsible if someone attempts to sell stolen property over their service.
I gave to a Presidential campaign during the 2000 cycle. Over the next few months, I was deluged with snail mail and phone calls begging me for more money. I found it very frustrating and invasive. This year, I tried to give to a candidate's campaign through his website, but the process required me to provide an e-mail address that was verifiably mine. I did not complete the donation.
I will give to a Presidential campaign that I support when I can check a box that says, 'Do not spam or harass me.' (Or when I can provide darl@sco.com as my e-mail address) But not before then, I'm afraid.
SCO If you: license our technology Then: you are first in line when we roll out our sue-the-world plan.
Whack-A-Burger If you: buy one of our burger value meals Then: the fry cook gets one free whack at you with a 2-by-4 on your way out of the restaurant
Ben Dover Bowling Lanes If you: rent one of our lanes for an hour Then: the ex-convict who works behind the counter demonstrates who is your daddy when you bend over to pick up your bowling shoes
The new autovacuum tool in "contrib/autovacuum" monitors the database statistics tables for "INSERT"/"UPDATE"/"DELETE" activity and automatically vacuums tables when needed.
SCO Group is to resume distributing Linux, but only if you agree to a new "IP license" which implicitly supports SCO's intellectual property claims.
So SCO can distribute code they do not own, and I can download the code I do not own, so long as SCO and I agree to our own made-up license for distributing this IP.
Don't you see where this is headed? SCO is entering the music distribution business!
Under this precendent, they will be able to host MP3s for major-label artists, even though the do not own the IP for the songs. Anyone can download the music, so long as you agree with SCO on the licensing terms!
Long live the Darl McBride Dance Dance Revolution!
You bet, man. Plus, if you buy a few shares of Home Depot, you can just walk out of the store with a barbecue grill. Nobody will stop you, because you're a part owner of the company!
You know, I have not read every bit of press related to the SCO case, but this part is news to me. Laura Didio, the analyst who was so impressed with SCO's evidence, says:
I saw Unix System V, version 4.1. Incidentally, this particular code is from the early 1980s, and hence predates Linus Torvalds' first Linux code.
This answers the question about how SCO can be claiming that Linux copied features that don't exist in SCO Unix. Their claims of copied code revolve around AT&T's System V Code!
This means that in order to even get started on this case, SCO has to establish:
1) SCO has free and clear ownership of the AT&T System V code
2) IP rights to the AT&T System V code were not dilluted by the BSD settlement
I am not an expert on these issues, but they seem to be very high hurdles to clear.
A layperson's reading of the judgement seems to be, "You owe your attorneys a bunch of cash. We are seizing your property and auctioning it to help pay back what you owe."
It's not clear to me why Mr. Novak can't just go out and buy his domain back on the open market. I can't imagine it is worth more than a couple of thousand dollars. And he shouldn't have any problems getting his hands on the cash since he in in bankruptcy protection.
Slashdot Mirror
I looked again, and I can pinpoint the problem better now. The story summary text is the same font size as the menu text on the left and right sidebars. This is what is causing it to all kind of run together, and be painful to read.
As a contrast, look at the runner-up design, which got this right. It is easy to differentiate between, and focus on, any of the page layout sections.
This design is too busy and too dense. You need to put some more whitespace in here. It is hard to focus on just the story summaries, for example, without feeling encroached on by the other elements.
Also, News for Nerds. Stuff that Matters is too tall and thin. It is difficult to read and distracting.
I wish we had something a little more fresh. This design it a little too loyal to the legacy design.
I do appreciate the move to Sans Serif fonts, however.
Part of the Slashdot Editor's job is to make a submission "Presentable".
Oh, I know, you must mean correcting obvious spelling and grammar mistakes, right?
Usually this means moving a few URLs around.
Oh, OK. But I guess it would also mean checking to see if the article summary is an accurate summary of the linked article.
I'd guess a good half of story submissions use the word 'here' or 'article' or something equally stupid as their anchor text. I prefer relevant words to be linked.
Well, yes. That would be nice. But about those spelling and grammar problems...
There are other minor things tho, like taking off extra intros like "Hi guys I read Slashdot every day and thought you would like this".
Uh, hello? Accuracy? Spelling and grammar? Anyone?
I am interested in building an HD-capable PVR system, but I am concerned that some HDTV capture card manufacturers have already built in Broadcast Flag support in anticipation of the regulation that was to go in effect last summer.
I know that pcHDTV is safe. Have any of the other manufacturers, such as ATI, already built in Broadcast Flag capabilities?
I am interested in buying one or more HDTV capture cards, but I am concerned that some manufacturers have already built in Broadcast Flag support in anticipation of the regulation that was to go in effect last summer.
I know that pcHDTV is safe. Have any of the other manufacturers, such as ATI, already built in Broadcast Flag capabilities?
I don't see how gamers' rejection of Wind Waker's specific look could possibly be interpreted as a rejection of stylized graphics in all videogames.
Everyone loved the use of heavily stylized graphics in games like Grim Fandango and Parappa the Rapper. These games were also huge critical successes.
When executed well, heavily stylized graphics can make a game far more compelling, and increase its emotional impact. When poor decisions are made, the use of heavily stylized graphics can be an annoying distraction to the gamer.
Clearly, a lot of players found Wind Waker's graphics to be a distraction.
That example says "innate difference" to me, but I'd like to see more detail.
OK, here's some more detail. My three-year-old son does the exact same freaking thing. He also happens to be very bright on the math/techie side, although that is totally irrelevant.
Obviously, this brilliant economist has already made up his mind about gender differences, and is selectively interpreting data to support his conclusion.
"Well, I tried the give-her-a-truck thing, and she fucked that up. OK, sweetie, it's ten years of Barbie's Kitchen Wondeland for you!"
I am running Firefox 1.0. I tried the link that said 'With Pop-up Blocker', and it displayed a dialog saying that I did not have a pop-up blocker.
I refreshed the page, and tried the link that said 'Without Pop-up Blocker'. It opened up the Citibank website, but it did not hijack my Citibank popup window.
Same thing happened to me under IE6 (except I did not get the dialog when I clicked on the 'With Pop-up Blocker' link).
Maybe it works under certain circumstances, but I couldn't reproduce it.
Most of this rah-rah article can be disregarded. Its content had to be specifically approved by EA, and the author uses it primarily to promote his own curriculum.
But clearly the most telling piece is that Electronic Arts wishes to increase their hiring rate of college graduates from 10% to 75% of all open positions.
On page 14, the reasons given for this radical makeover of the workforce are that the college grads are more "malleable" and "idealistic". These grads also "draw lower salaries", and continuously replacing older workers with young ones means they do not have to "invest heavily in contuing education."
I think most of us reading this can decide if hiring 75% of your workforce with no previous job expierience is an attempt to:
a) Improve the quality of your products while promoting a family-friendly corporate culture; or
b) Find fresh meat that doesn't have the prior experience to understand that they are being mistreated, and that they do not deserve it.
I am really impressed with the work that went into this RC. GDB fixes, plus work on memory allocations and networking data structures.
Bravo! I hereby increase my bid to $52,000.
Sincerely,
Jeff Merkey
(Please remember that directing vitriol against the mentally disabled may be a violation of Federal Hate Crimes statues)
I had trouble believing this, so I downloaded one of the .QDF files from the referenced link. I am feeling completely sick. This guy's checking account number, credit card number, and meticulously-maintained transaction history are sitting on my computer.
It's way too late to warn these people about the files. Their current identity is toast. So is their credit for the next seven or so years.
Is there anything we can advise these people to do to minimize the damage at this point?
For the first time in his professional career, Clarence Thomas votes against the Republican party line. Of course, it is to support access to porn.
This is another ugly story that shows how little we need SCO and Microsoft to attack the open source community, because we are so willing to do their work for them.
First, JBoss Group betrayed the trust of what should have been a largely sympathetic community in TheServerSide with their anonymous posting campaign.
The fraud was exposed by levelheaded participants, including the submitter of this story and staff at TheServerSide.
Then, the opportunists jumped in.
Some bloggers gleefully joined the witchhunt, accusing their least favorite people of being anonymous posters, including real people, of course.
When I told one blogger that he needed to offer evidence when he accused someone of being an anonymous poster, he publically implied that I supported the posting scheme.
Several of the bloggers are themselves contributors to respected open-source projects, making this a particularly disturbing form of cannibalism.
The net result is another wedge driven into what was already an overly polarized community. No real winners here.
"Buyers and sellers on eBay enter into a binding contract, [Ebay spokesman Henry Gomez] said.
So officials of the auction service have to make sure the seller actually owns the item for sale and has the right to sell it."
This is not a very smart position to take. Ebay is basically saying, for example, that they are responsible if someone attempts to sell stolen property over their service.
I gave to a Presidential campaign during the 2000 cycle. Over the next few months, I was deluged with snail mail and phone calls begging me for more money. I found it very frustrating and invasive. This year, I tried to give to a candidate's campaign through his website, but the process required me to provide an e-mail address that was verifiably mine. I did not complete the donation.
I will give to a Presidential campaign that I support when I can check a box that says, 'Do not spam or harass me.' (Or when I can provide darl@sco.com as my e-mail address) But not before then, I'm afraid.
SCO
If you: license our technology
Then: you are first in line when we roll out our sue-the-world plan.
Whack-A-Burger
If you: buy one of our burger value meals
Then: the fry cook gets one free whack at you with a 2-by-4 on your way out of the restaurant
Ben Dover Bowling Lanes
If you: rent one of our lanes for an hour
Then: the ex-convict who works behind the counter demonstrates who is your daddy when you bend over to pick up your bowling shoes
New autovacuum tool
The new autovacuum tool in "contrib/autovacuum" monitors the database statistics tables for "INSERT"/"UPDATE"/"DELETE" activity and automatically vacuums tables when needed.
SCO Group is to resume distributing Linux, but only if you agree to a new "IP license" which implicitly supports SCO's intellectual property claims.
So SCO can distribute code they do not own, and I can download the code I do not own, so long as SCO and I agree to our own made-up license for distributing this IP.
Don't you see where this is headed? SCO is entering the music distribution business!
Under this precendent, they will be able to host MP3s for major-label artists, even though the do not own the IP for the songs. Anyone can download the music, so long as you agree with SCO on the licensing terms!
Long live the Darl McBride Dance Dance Revolution!
You can purchase Quicksilver from bn.com
When you embed a sourceId into the link, it is reasonably ethical to disclose who will be the beneficiary of the referral.
You bet, man. Plus, if you buy a few shares of Home Depot, you can just walk out of the store with a barbecue grill. Nobody will stop you, because you're a part owner of the company!
Go ahead, try it. I'll wait outside.
Your mom was Frederick Nietzsche?
Ewww, that's worse than that whole 'Who is Cartman's Mom?' plotline.
I got a chance to review the format, and it looks like they need some more work on the audio / video syncing issues.
In the clip I saw, a martial artist was moving his mouth extremely rapidly, but the audio was just a slow voice intoning in English:
"So, my young sabretooth, it appears the student has now become the master."
Unclear is why SCO thinks they have the rights to RCU, since the technology was originally developed by Sequent in the early 1990s.
Also from the article:
[SCO seeks]..$1 billion for breach of the Unix contract signed by Sequent, which IBM acquired in 1999
I know that Sequent used to OEM the SCO stuff, but how does SCO become a stakeholder in a contract between IBM and... itself?
You know, I have not read every bit of press related to the SCO case, but this part is news to me. Laura Didio, the analyst who was so impressed with SCO's evidence, says:
I saw Unix System V, version 4.1. Incidentally, this particular code is from the early 1980s, and hence predates Linus Torvalds' first Linux code.
This answers the question about how SCO can be claiming that Linux copied features that don't exist in SCO Unix. Their claims of copied code revolve around AT&T's System V Code!
This means that in order to even get started on this case, SCO has to establish:
1) SCO has free and clear ownership of the AT&T System V code
2) IP rights to the AT&T System V code were not dilluted by the BSD settlement
I am not an expert on these issues, but they seem to be very high hurdles to clear.
A layperson's reading of the judgement seems to be, "You owe your attorneys a bunch of cash. We are seizing your property and auctioning it to help pay back what you owe."
It's not clear to me why Mr. Novak can't just go out and buy his domain back on the open market. I can't imagine it is worth more than a couple of thousand dollars. And he shouldn't have any problems getting his hands on the cash since he in in bankruptcy protection.