You are seeing things exactly as I saw them when I wrote the original bill: I felt that its real power was not in the open source provisions -- those were there to get media attention -- but in the requirements for open standards.
I was unable to contact the one person I needed help from when writing the bill -- Larry Rosen of the Open Source Initiative -- until after the bill had been introduced with all of the flaws and mistakes I made.
Please, get advice from Larry Rosen in writing your sample bill. I won't post his contact info here, but I'm sure you can find him if you look.
Actually, Oregon IS the first. Not the first state to have an open-source bill introduced (that honor belongs to California), but the first state where an open-source bill actually got a committee hearing.
what's exceptional, that not every researcher accepts that humans are negatively affecting the climate, while most of them do?
Actually, most climate researches do NOT accept the notion that humans are negatively affecting the climate.
This specious claim comes from then-Senator Al Gore's infamous book titled "Earth in the Balance," a veritable treasure trove of environmentalist myths, half-truths and outright lies -- and has been thoroughly discredited many times. He has never bothered to corroborate his claim that there is a "scientific consensus" on the idea that humans are mostly responsible for the global temperature increases of the last century (most of which took place before there was any significant increase in atmospheric CO2), even though he has been asked to do so.
In the meantime, a Gallup Poll taken at about the same time shows that a significant majority of "real" climatologists (those that are doing and publishing actual research) do NOT believe that humans are responsible for so-called "global warming."
There's nothing exceptional that "some" researchers don't accept the global warming myth. It's the "researchers" (in the same vein as tobacco company "researchers" or "creation science researchers") who BELIEVE the myth that are the exception.
pumping a crapload of CO2 into the atmosphere is bound to have some sort of effect
Except that we're not pumping a "crapload" of CO2 into the atmosphere.
In the two-billion-plus years of the Earth's existence, the planet was at its lowest level EVER of CO2 until we started restoring a tiny amount of it into the atmosphere a hundred or so years ago.
Most of the CO2 that used to be in the atmosphere is locked up in rocks (limestone, etc.) and will never be restored into the atmosphere.
By restoring SOME of the planet's CO2 into the atmosphere, we might actually be saving some of its plant life. But since this idea flies in the face of the anti-capitalist anti-freedom zealots who are promoting the "global warming" scaremongering, it will probably be ignored in this debate.
Today's news item is nothing new to those of us who have been following the (real) science on the issue -- the fact of the Medieval Warming Period has been well-known among RESPONSIBLE climate scientists for years. I'm glad that the story is finally getting mentioned in the mainstream press.
So flame away, you environmental zealots that have been excoriating me here on Slashdot for my insistence that we deal with REAL science instead of environmentalist voodoo... looks like you have a little egg on your face today....
Uh... *ahem!* well, I'd love to answer that, but I'm afraid to do so on a "family-oriented" site such as this one... There ARE impressionable young teens here, after all, and I'd hate to corrupt any...
sorry, gotta go. My GF says it's time for me to get off of the computer and, uh, eat some more crack...
it can be very frustrating when 99.99% of the population is grossly misinformed, often to the point of perceived enlightenment.
[snip]
It gets to the point where you tire of correcting everyone. When a room full of people accept a set of ideas, even when completely wrong, you eventually start to just go along to save your own sanity...
I feel your pain. As it is in one's personal sphere, so is it with society in general. Challenge the orthodoxy with facts and/or reason -- even right here on slashdot -- and you're suddenly the recipient of a thousand points of flame.
I could say something here about the reputation I've earned here for my position on the "global warming" myth, but... I've given up trying to educate fools.
Yeah, I definitely know what you mean about just saying "Yeah, whatever" and just walking away.
webster.com is your friend. They even have a way you can put a dictionary/thesaurus on your home page
You can do the same thing with Google
Hell, what's the matter with GDict? Comes with Gnome. Faster than using a Web browser, and takes up less real estate on the screen. And if you REALLY want speed, you can put it on your taskbar...
with some very good help from Jeremy Hogan and Walt Pennington
And Bruce Perens. Sorry I forgot to mention him earlier.
Also for what it's worth, the so-called "Initiative for Software Choice," the people whose job it is to fight open-source legislation, also kinda sorta contributed to this bill. Among their stated principles are exhortations to "Procure software on its merits" and "Promote interoperability through platform-neutral standards," so that language is part of the bill. If they show up to oppose it, they're going to have to explain to some non-tech-savvy legislators why they oppose something that promotes two of their core principles!
Yes, I wrote that bill at Phil Barnhart's request, with some very good help from Jeremy Hogan and Walt Pennington (who are hereby gratefully acknowledged) but I deliberately took myself out of the limelight when I wrote the press release -- and you'll notice that Jeremy and Walt aren't getting any credit at all for their contributions.
The story of how I came to write it is an interesting one that will supposedly show up on desktoplinux.com tomorrow.
I've been lurking here all day, just to see what people would say about this and I'm gratified that most of the comments are positive. Plus some VERY good jokes about Washington invading Oregon! But we're not worried 'bout those mean ol' Cougars and Dawgs with all of their claws and fangs coming down here and hurting us -- we Oregonians are well protected with...
... uh...
... ducks... and beavers... yeah, cute little Ducks and Beavers... they'll defend us, right?
We're not really worried about opposition coming from Micro$oft Corp. on this one. First of all, they have virtually no corporate presence in Oregon and secondly, I think we've caught them by surprise. Most of the key committee members have already heard our side of the story, and the only thing Micro$oft can do now is what they did in Maryland: Plaster the Speaker of the House with lots of money and liquor to get the bill diverted to a different committee. But now that I've mentioned that here, it will be a lot more difficult for M$ to get away with.
I'd love to write a long post explaining why we put certain things in the Bill and left certain other things out, but I won't. Basically it boils down to crafting a bill THIS year that we think has a chance of actually passing. Yes, it's watered down -- on purpose. As an IT admin myself, I don't want to anger a bunch of State IT people by telling them how to do their jobs -- so the Bill has lots of loopholes and "wiggle room" so that they hopefully won't object to it very strenuously. In the meantime the IT folks who WANT to implement Open Source will be able to do so without fear of losing their jobs.
That's a pretty good start. If it becomes law (not likely this time around) and too many state IT admins thumb their noses at it... well, the Legislature doesn't like to be ignored and they can sure as heck make it stronger down the road.
Hell, I got [bad grammar intentional] a story to top that.
I used to work at Northwest Christian College in Eugene, Oregon (USA). They train schoolteachers there. The college's PRESIDENT can't spell!
For a long time, his misspelled memos were merely funny. But when one came through reminding us to be careful of "breeches" of privacy (not a typo, that word was used several times), I finally realized why Johnny cannot write.
Until then, I say we should violate EVERY software patent we can find until the rules are changed.
ahknight responded:
Not a popular opinion on this site but it's against the law and breaking the law is breaking the law, no matter how wrong you feel the law is.
Except that Josh Crawley is advocating something called "civil disobedience" -- something that is a time-honored tradition for getting unjust laws changed.
Burning one's draft cards was also "breaking the law" thirty-five years ago but there were enough of us who were willing to go to jail rather than participate in a war we considered unjust-- that we made a point that is still being heard today.
Taking in a runaway "Negro" slave was "breaking the law" a hundred and forty years ago but enough people believed strongly enough in their principles to do it anyway.
Dumping a shipload of tea into a harbor was "breaking the law" two hundred and thirty years ago, but... well, you get my point.
When I get junk mail, they're using MY MAILBOX and TAXPAYER-PAID MAIL CARRIERS to force me to listen to their message.
Wrong. Letter carriers are not supported by taxpayers. The U.S. Postal Service is self-supporting... and the junk-mailers PAY to send their garbage. According to sources I once had within the postal system, the junk-mail postage is actually an important revenue stream to them (i.e., without it, we would have to pay even more to send letters).
I agree with you about "telemarketing" (read: phone solicitors) though.
What mechanism prevents students grabbing an unallocated address and setting it up statically
Most switches allow you to lock out ports when something like this happens. Most switches can also be configured to accept connections only from a certain MAC address -- adding another level of complexity to someone who wants to cause trouble.
MS may have some heavy-handed, and even illegal, tactics. But they don't lace their computers with a highly addictive substance.
Uh, actually they do. It's called "vendor lock-in" and Bruce Perens has likened it to an addictive substance. I wish I could supply a link but his website appears to be down right now.
This is good news! I hope my lawyer can get me out of this federal pound-me-in-the-ass penitentiary soon! I only did this because Peter said we would go to a white-collar resort, where I could have conjugal visits!
This is truly a shame, since these hangars have such history in them. [snip] There aren't too many hangars this big left in the US, and it would be a terrible shame to destroy them.
Dude, check out the Tillamook Air Museum on the Oregon coast. Lots of WWII aircraft in a genuine WWII blimp hangar. If you're a pilot, you can fly in and taxi to within walking distance of the museum. The building is awesome.
Micro$oft's marketroids have been making a Big Deal out of their C2 certification for years, but have never bothered to mention that their systems only pass C2 if they're not connected to a network, are in a locked room with armed guards outside the door, and are powered off.
OK, just kidding about the last two criteria. But the part about not being connected to a network is no joke.
Okay, I just heard back from my replacement there. I have good news and I have bad news.
The good news is that it turns out that the problem wasn't with Samba. It seems that not all versions of the workstations there were running the same version of a certain Borland library.... causing the shared database to get hosed.
The bad news, of course, is that I don't have any information that will help you.
Slashdot Mirror
I am the author of the Oregon Open Source bill.
You are seeing things exactly as I saw them when I wrote the original bill: I felt that its real power was not in the open source provisions -- those were there to get media attention -- but in the requirements for open standards.
I was unable to contact the one person I needed help from when writing the bill -- Larry Rosen of the Open Source Initiative -- until after the bill had been introduced with all of the flaws and mistakes I made.
Please, get advice from Larry Rosen in writing your sample bill. I won't post his contact info here, but I'm sure you can find him if you look.
Ken BarberActually, Oregon IS the first. Not the first state to have an open-source bill introduced (that honor belongs to California), but the first state where an open-source bill actually got a committee hearing.
what's exceptional, that not every researcher accepts that humans are negatively affecting the climate, while most of them do?
Actually, most climate researches do NOT accept the notion that humans are negatively affecting the climate.
This specious claim comes from then-Senator Al Gore's infamous book titled "Earth in the Balance," a veritable treasure trove of environmentalist myths, half-truths and outright lies -- and has been thoroughly discredited many times. He has never bothered to corroborate his claim that there is a "scientific consensus" on the idea that humans are mostly responsible for the global temperature increases of the last century (most of which took place before there was any significant increase in atmospheric CO2), even though he has been asked to do so.
In the meantime, a Gallup Poll taken at about the same time shows that a significant majority of "real" climatologists (those that are doing and publishing actual research) do NOT believe that humans are responsible for so-called "global warming."
There's nothing exceptional that "some" researchers don't accept the global warming myth. It's the "researchers" (in the same vein as tobacco company "researchers" or "creation science researchers") who BELIEVE the myth that are the exception.
pumping a crapload of CO2 into the atmosphere is bound to have some sort of effect
Except that we're not pumping a "crapload" of CO2 into the atmosphere.
In the two-billion-plus years of the Earth's existence, the planet was at its lowest level EVER of CO2 until we started restoring a tiny amount of it into the atmosphere a hundred or so years ago.
Most of the CO2 that used to be in the atmosphere is locked up in rocks (limestone, etc.) and will never be restored into the atmosphere.
By restoring SOME of the planet's CO2 into the atmosphere, we might actually be saving some of its plant life. But since this idea flies in the face of the anti-capitalist anti-freedom zealots who are promoting the "global warming" scaremongering, it will probably be ignored in this debate.
Today's news item is nothing new to those of us who have been following the (real) science on the issue -- the fact of the Medieval Warming Period has been well-known among RESPONSIBLE climate scientists for years. I'm glad that the story is finally getting mentioned in the mainstream press.
So flame away, you environmental zealots that have been excoriating me here on Slashdot for my insistence that we deal with REAL science instead of environmentalist voodoo... looks like you have a little egg on your face today....
No seriously, do people actually EAT crack?
Uh... *ahem!* well, I'd love to answer that, but I'm afraid to do so on a "family-oriented" site such as this one... There ARE impressionable young teens here, after all, and I'd hate to corrupt any...
sorry, gotta go. My GF says it's time for me to get off of the computer and, uh, eat some more crack...
it can be very frustrating when 99.99% of the population is grossly misinformed, often to the point of perceived enlightenment.
[snip]
It gets to the point where you tire of correcting everyone. When a room full of people accept a set of ideas, even when completely wrong, you eventually start to just go along to save your own sanity...
I feel your pain. As it is in one's personal sphere, so is it with society in general. Challenge the orthodoxy with facts and/or reason -- even right here on slashdot -- and you're suddenly the recipient of a thousand points of flame.
I could say something here about the reputation I've earned here for my position on the "global warming" myth, but... I've given up trying to educate fools.
Yeah, I definitely know what you mean about just saying "Yeah, whatever" and just walking away.
webster.com is your friend. They even have a way you can put a dictionary/thesaurus on your home page
You can do the same thing with Google
Hell, what's the matter with GDict? Comes with Gnome. Faster than using a Web browser, and takes up less real estate on the screen. And if you REALLY want speed, you can put it on your taskbar...
Are you on the west coast, by any chance? If so, I'd like to hear from you.
You may contact me at
opensource4oregon@teleport.com
Ken Barber
Lead Author, Open Source Software for Oregon act (HB 2892)
Yes, that was my first reaction, too.
MASON County??? Talk about backwoods... Nothin' but loggers there... Every redneck joke you ever heard applies...
And THEY are getting fiber-to-the-curb? Hoo boy...
with some very good help from Jeremy Hogan and Walt Pennington
And Bruce Perens. Sorry I forgot to mention him earlier.
Also for what it's worth, the so-called "Initiative for Software Choice," the people whose job it is to fight open-source legislation, also kinda sorta contributed to this bill. Among their stated principles are exhortations to "Procure software on its merits" and "Promote interoperability through platform-neutral standards," so that language is part of the bill. If they show up to oppose it, they're going to have to explain to some non-tech-savvy legislators why they oppose something that promotes two of their core principles!
Hey, Ben -- chill out dude.
Yes, I wrote that bill at Phil Barnhart's request, with some very good help from Jeremy Hogan and Walt Pennington (who are hereby gratefully acknowledged) but I deliberately took myself out of the limelight when I wrote the press release -- and you'll notice that Jeremy and Walt aren't getting any credit at all for their contributions.
The story of how I came to write it is an interesting one that will supposedly show up on desktoplinux.com tomorrow.
I've been lurking here all day, just to see what people would say about this and I'm gratified that most of the comments are positive. Plus some VERY good jokes about Washington invading Oregon! But we're not worried 'bout those mean ol' Cougars and Dawgs with all of their claws and fangs coming down here and hurting us -- we Oregonians are well protected with...
... uh...
... ducks... and beavers... yeah, cute little Ducks and Beavers... they'll defend us, right?
We're not really worried about opposition coming from Micro$oft Corp. on this one. First of all, they have virtually no corporate presence in Oregon and secondly, I think we've caught them by surprise. Most of the key committee members have already heard our side of the story, and the only thing Micro$oft can do now is what they did in Maryland: Plaster the Speaker of the House with lots of money and liquor to get the bill diverted to a different committee. But now that I've mentioned that here, it will be a lot more difficult for M$ to get away with.
I'd love to write a long post explaining why we put certain things in the Bill and left certain other things out, but I won't. Basically it boils down to crafting a bill THIS year that we think has a chance of actually passing. Yes, it's watered down -- on purpose. As an IT admin myself, I don't want to anger a bunch of State IT people by telling them how to do their jobs -- so the Bill has lots of loopholes and "wiggle room" so that they hopefully won't object to it very strenuously. In the meantime the IT folks who WANT to implement Open Source will be able to do so without fear of losing their jobs.
That's a pretty good start. If it becomes law (not likely this time around) and too many state IT admins thumb their noses at it... well, the Legislature doesn't like to be ignored and they can sure as heck make it stronger down the road.
Stay tuned. This is going to be a lot of fun.
Ken Barber, aka "Mr. Firewall"
Just what the hell is OSen?
Actually, the question is, "What the hell are OSen?" Kinda like "boxen" -- using German rules, rather than English rules, to designate a plural.
Hell, I got [bad grammar intentional] a story to top that.
I used to work at Northwest Christian College in Eugene, Oregon (USA). They train schoolteachers there. The college's PRESIDENT can't spell!
For a long time, his misspelled memos were merely funny. But when one came through reminding us to be careful of "breeches" of privacy (not a typo, that word was used several times), I finally realized why Johnny cannot write.
Quoth Josh Crawley:
Until then, I say we should violate EVERY software patent we can find until the rules are changed.
ahknight responded:
Not a popular opinion on this site but it's against the law and breaking the law is breaking the law, no matter how wrong you feel the law is.
Except that Josh Crawley is advocating something called "civil disobedience" -- something that is a time-honored tradition for getting unjust laws changed.
Burning one's draft cards was also "breaking the law" thirty-five years ago but there were enough of us who were willing to go to jail rather than participate in a war we considered unjust-- that we made a point that is still being heard today.
Taking in a runaway "Negro" slave was "breaking the law" a hundred and forty years ago but enough people believed strongly enough in their principles to do it anyway.
Dumping a shipload of tea into a harbor was "breaking the law" two hundred and thirty years ago, but... well, you get my point.
When I get junk mail, they're using MY MAILBOX and TAXPAYER-PAID MAIL CARRIERS to force me to listen to their message.
Wrong. Letter carriers are not supported by taxpayers. The U.S. Postal Service is self-supporting... and the junk-mailers PAY to send their garbage. According to sources I once had within the postal system, the junk-mail postage is actually an important revenue stream to them (i.e., without it, we would have to pay even more to send letters).
I agree with you about "telemarketing" (read: phone solicitors) though.
What mechanism prevents students grabbing an unallocated address and setting it up statically
Most switches allow you to lock out ports when something like this happens. Most switches can also be configured to accept connections only from a certain MAC address -- adding another level of complexity to someone who wants to cause trouble.
MS may have some heavy-handed, and even illegal, tactics. But they don't lace their computers with a highly addictive substance.
Uh, actually they do. It's called "vendor lock-in" and Bruce Perens has likened it to an addictive substance. I wish I could supply a link but his website appears to be down right now.
This is good news! I hope my lawyer can get me out of this federal pound-me-in-the-ass penitentiary soon! I only did this because Peter said we would go to a white-collar resort, where I could have conjugal visits!
Signed,
Samir
The investigation into the fire that destroyed Tillamook's other hangar showed that it was arson. They never found out who did it.
My personal theory is that they know good and well who did it -- and it was someone who was too politically connected to indict.
I took a lady up to a little-used grass-strip airfield up on top of a hill one fine summer night for a little bit of lovemaking under the stars.
She said, "What if a plane comes in?" I said, "Don't worry about it. Nobody uses it at night. They have no lights."
After we were all done and heading back to the car, I tripped over... one of a newly installed set of runway lights....
This is truly a shame, since these hangars have such history in them. [snip] There aren't too many hangars this big left in the US, and it would be a terrible shame to destroy them.
Dude, check out the Tillamook Air Museum on the Oregon coast. Lots of WWII aircraft in a genuine WWII blimp hangar. If you're a pilot, you can fly in and taxi to within walking distance of the museum. The building is awesome.
You are correct
Micro$oft's marketroids have been making a Big Deal out of their C2 certification for years, but have never bothered to mention that their systems only pass C2 if they're not connected to a network, are in a locked room with armed guards outside the door, and are powered off.
OK, just kidding about the last two criteria. But the part about not being connected to a network is no joke.
And yes, I work somewhere that is probably going to implement hundreds of copies of RH AS, and pay for the support.
Do they have any openings? There's nothing but M$ shops around here...
Okay, I just heard back from my replacement there. I have good news and I have bad news.
The good news is that it turns out that the problem wasn't with Samba. It seems that not all versions of the workstations there were running the same version of a certain Borland library.... causing the shared database to get hosed.
The bad news, of course, is that I don't have any information that will help you.
Sorry, dude.
Hmmm, too bad we're not in Soviet Russia...
...wouldn't that be where the trolls feed YOU? I'd love to feed some of these bastards to my dog....