The Chunnel, or the 32 mile undersea tunnel across the English channel connecting Calais, France and Brighton, UK, is the largest and greatest urban construction project ever. It cost the same -- roughly $15 billion -- but actually came in on schedule and cost, does wonders for the economies of both countries, and relies on clean mass transit systems that travel 200mph, run by open source software.
All of this was done with 13,000 engineers who spoke different languages. It was also voted the best project of the 20th century:
NASA still runs software, to this day, from the 1960s due to funding cuts and that fact that it "still works," much of it on the same computers from the 1960s.
In fact, most of this software is so old it actually can no longer be maintained because the people who wrote it are DEAD, and modern programmers who replaced the retirees can't make heads or tails of all the spaghetti code within. There's all kinds of fascinating data from the golden age of space exploration that we could still use, but it's in proprietary, decayed backup formats in proprietary structures.
If they started using Linux and open standards now, though, 30-40 years from now, they won't be having this problem, as Linux will still be around then -- and the rest will be in the dustbin of history.
I got one of these -- just the controllers, not the gamepads -- back in the day when I was looking for a good emulator controller. It looks like it has 8 buttons, but it actually only supports the old standard of 4 -- the extras are just "turbo" buttons. Even though that's good enough for NES, they're still unwieldy due to the crooked cross controller, making Contra hard to play when you have to aim down -- it keeps running forward.
Linux's USB Sidewinder Pro support is perfectly fine, and they're not longer made and cheap. For $15, you get a controller with 9 buttons and good handling, more than enough for any console emulation.
What, no mention of Saddam in this week's slashback? The story attacted nearly 3000 posts, and was a pivotal moment in world affairs.
The main news is that Bush wants the death penalty for Saddam, while the UN and the Catholic Church both strongly oppose it. Saddam is currently in the hands of the CIA for interrogation. The trial is going to be in Iraq, as well, and the council has been laying the groundwork. Howard Dean is also no longer the front runner in the Democratic primaries, and the Democratic candidates are scrambling to be the non-Dean.
Find a middle man in Mexico, as Mexico has very few laws regulating the importation of products from overseas, and the United States has greatly deregulated the laws concerning the importation of anything from Mexico due to NAFTA/WTO/etc.
Software is extremely difficult to regulate and probably won't ever be done, especially with the power of certain large corporations who put out shitty software and have no intention on releasing the source for inspection. Though a trade war with Europe is possible, the market trend is towards deregulation, especially with things like CAFTA, so it shouldn't be a huge fucking problem in the future, either.
Rob "CmdrTaco" Malda stepped off the bus and was led into the yard of the Michigan State Correctional Institute. He had been given ten years for participating in a stock fraud. Five with good behavior. Years spent basking in the glow of a CRT had been hard on him. His body was frail, his skin pallid. He knew he could never make it through ten years in the general population with his virginity intact. He had to get into solitary. As soon as the burly guard unshackled him he made his move. Exhaling a feminine "hmmph" he weakly slapped the guard. He was quickly taken to the ground, receiving a swift kick to the ribs before being restrained. As he was dragged to the solitary confinement cell he felt nothing but relief. "At least in solitary," he thought "I'll be safe." Unfortunately for CmdrTaco he had picked the wrong guard to mess with.
The next few days were uneventful. The time in his cell he spent evenly between sleeping, reading a "Perl for Dummies" book he had gotten from the book cart, and masturbating furiously. His self-flagellation was interrupted on the fourth day. The burly guard he had attacked earlier stepped into his cell. The gleam in the guards eye and the mean grin on his face made CmdrTaco's pecker quickly shrivel in his hand. "You fucked with the wrong man when you fucked with Michael Simms," said the guard. "The inmates here call me The Asshole for a reason. Now come with me, punk."
The guard led him down the hall to one of several empty shower stalls. He roughly threw CmdrTaco in the stall and locked the door. CmdrTaco was petrified. His mind raced as he imagined the myriad of different tortures that could be in store for him. His worst fears were confirmed when the guard returned. In his hands were a short black dress, black stilleto heels, and a curly blonde wig. "Strip down and put this on, bitch." CmdrTaco did as instructed and was pleased to notice that the dress fit well and the heels gave him a nice slimming effect. The burly guard admired the drag queen. "The GNAA is gonna love you!"
The guard left the shower stall, only to return minutes later. He opened the door and led 20 large black men into the stall. "CmdrTaco, meet the Gay Nigger Association of America. GNAA, meet CmdrTaco. I'm sure you all will get along fine." With that the guard slammed the shower door closed and walked away laughing.
The men approached CmdrTaco, backing him into a corner. The apparent leader stepped forward. "No matter what I'm gonna fuck that purdy lil' ass of yours. Now I can fuck it dry or you can lube it up for me." CmdrTaco knew he had no choice. He kneeled in front of the leader, who began to slap his face with his 10 black inches. Puss from syphilictic sores quickly covered CmdrTaco's cheeks. When the leader was sufficiently aroused he placed his throbbing cock up to CmdrTaco's lips. As soon as CmdrTaco opened his mouth the leader violently shoved his manhood to the back of CmdrTaco's throat and exclaimed "Swallow my shit you cracker bitch!" CmdrTaco gagged as he was violently face fucked.
Just when he was about to pass out the leader pulled out, turned him around and shoved his cock into CmdrTaco's ass. CmdrTaco began to scream in agony but his cries were quickly muffled by one of the other gang member's cocks. They rode him like that for the better part of an hour. When one man finished another quickly took his place. Just as CmdrTaco was getting used to the throbbing pain in his anus the men stopped. One man lay down on the floor and CmdrTaco was told to get on top of him and take his dick inside him. Exhausted and humiliated, CmdrTaco had no will left to fight. As soon as he inserted the penis another man came up behind him and began to force his cock into CmdrTaco's already filled anus. Again his screams of agony were muffled, this time by a smelly black anus.
For another hour he was violated in this way. When the men were finished with him he co
The entire, long interview only mentions the word Linux once, and none of it takes place in the context of open source -- it's like something out of a 1999 BusinessWeek, when Linux/OSS was considered a joke and a non-factor.
It seems as if he's just pitting small businesses -- 19 year old wonder kid startups that often fail and caused the dot-com crash-- against brick and mortar computer companies, and COMPLETELY giving the cold shoulder to the open source and free software movement that's currently making all the difference and leading the way in innovation in the computing world.
Either this guy feels threatened by the free software revolution of the 21st century, or is still stuck in the past.
I wouldn't call a software economy that's worth roughly $30/billion year, with $10 billion being outsourcing, to be merely "nascent." Unless, of course, you consider that in 2008, the Indian IT Ministry plans to have $50 billion in outsourcing (meaning: your students' jobs, and possibly yours as well) and $90 billion overall.
I'm surprised such Indian localizations weren't done sooner. Perhaps one day, we'll have to navigate them -- at its current growth rate, India will dominate the world in software roughly by the time this year's new CS students graduate.
Slander is something that negatively affects a living person's reputation -- and in the US, a corporation is constituted as a living person, as well, under the law.
Linus' accusations, after all, under the magnifying glass of an overzealous attorney, could constitute slander. He rougly accuses McBride of wanting prostitutes instead of marriage, equates SCO people to the trash on Springer, accuses them of smoking crack and being in drug-induced stupors, and so on.
I do believe Linus should watch what he says, since the SCO people are ZEALOTS and will take action against the most spurious of things in order to smash Linux.
If someone wants to obtain access to easy credit, the easiest way is to simply steal people's wallets, which filthy street urchins have been able to do since the beginnings of civilization. You don't need to spend time and money to construct an ATM, as a few 13-year old delinquients in a crowded area like a shopping mall can obtain credit cards much quicker than that.
A lot of times, bank cards can be used as credit cards, and only require a signature that is seldom ever checked against the one on the back of the card inside the US, though in the EU they actually do it. The PIN number is hardly ever needed, but all that is required to access it is a quick phone call to a bank. Just walk into Best Buy and go on a shopping spree and hit credit on the little number pad, and all they'll ever do is make you sign a receipt.
Offshoring/outsourcing anything developed for a reason: to escape regulations. The whole idea of taking advantage of low-wage workers is all a part of that, as third world countries have no unions, no minimum-wage laws, no worker compensation, or anything like that, in addition to no environmental laws and no corruption, extortion, or bribery laws.
Likewise, they have no real bureaucracy in the corporate world, mostly due to distance and the lack of regular face-to-face communication and personal issues. They don't have a team telling them what not to do -- they just do it, and it often works. They don't spend all their time in useless meetings, either, and often code all day for what amounts to pocket change for a US programmer.
Unless not only the government but also the corporations shape up and get rid of red tape and regulations, those 14 million jobs scheduled to go overseas by 2010 will arrive there ahead of time. Don't ever expect a populist political uprising to stop outsourcing, as that isn't going to happen in corporate USA, but deregulation is possible.
Though space invaders is a classic, I don't expect too many of these things to show up. The old Game Boy and SNES cartridges didn't sell to well -- why? Space Invaders is an outdated, frustrating game, and is only well known because it was ahead of its time with its false-cellophane colours. Thinking that people will pay $0.50 to play that cheap game is ridiculous, and most arcade vendors will have to set it down to $0.25.
If there was demand for it, it would have been remade, and I haven't seen space invaders in an arcade for 10 years. The only arcade games to be remade and be successful are Mrs. Pacman and Galaga, most of which fell apart after 20 years, with the survivors suffering from horrible screen burn. Some games that used to be ubiquitous, like TMNT and Mortal Kombat II, are now becoming increasingly scarce, but will probably not be remade just because they were popular in the contemporary sense only.
The US really doesn't have the financial resources to pay for or support another sustained space program like they did in the 1960s. It's not what everyone here wants to hear, but it's the truth.
America's industrial base is overseas in China, the country runs BOTH trade and government budget deficits of hundreds of billions of dollars every year, the Ponzi/pyramid schemes of Social Security and Medicare are beginning to crack, the nation is highly dependant on foreign oil and energy resources, and NASA can't even send robots to Mars half the time.
The whole point of this new rush to space is most likely to militarize it -- not explore it -- before China does, since if they shot down our GPS satellites in a war, we'd be clueless. The next generation of space shuttles will most likely be weapons platforms used to drop kinetic-force "rods of God" on enemy cities bunkers. Then again, anyone remember why the last superpower fell?
Billions in venture capital were sent to silicon valley back in the late 90s in the hope that anything and everything internet-related could be profitable, and were worth investing in the same style that brick-and-mortar companies were. We heard all kinds of great things from leading economists who were really misleading us to manipulate the market, short the stock, and fuck everyone else over. Then, in 1999, after the Microsoft ruling, the whole thing kind of collapsed.
As for today, just a few of the giants of e-commerce stand... so many companies went out of business on the predictions not far off from the ideas that we'd have groceries delivered to us over the internet (WebVan) or that we could actually stream TV-quality video over 28.8 kbps (Pixelon). It's never going to happen again, so the golden age of marketing ideas on the internet and obtaining massive capital influx is over.
It has all the classic formulas of the newest Star Trek series:
1) It is based on an old, out-dated Sci-Fi show that will not appeal to the mainstream public, no matter how much senseless T&A, sexually charged adult themes, pointless gun battles, and especially computer animation they add.
2) It does not appeal to the old fans whatsoever, because of many of the same reasons in #1, plus the fact that it is "untr00" and often fails to explore many of the themes of the older series, and rather focuses on the "development" of silly, stereotypical characters.
We all know Microsoft is trying to be the "standard" for cell-phone operating systems much in the way that they took over almost the entire desktop and workplace market, but will there ever be a Linux standard? I know Symbian is also trying to create a standard for cell phones that already is quite strong in Europe, but there really should be a consortium where Linux developers can get together and set standards, instead of them being scattered across the internet proposing a few ideas.
If there's going to be standards, they should always be open source and free as in beer. Corporate control of standards only creates monopolies. Even in America, a lot of people are dropping their landlines for cellphones, and if there's ever a Linux standard for it, it should be created quickly before it's too late.
Companies like Diebold and its cousin, the RIAA, know that they couldn't win an actual court case against groups like BlackBoxVoting and a bunch of college students that get in the way of their draconian agendas, but what they can do is win a warrant to send their corporate servants, the fascist pig cops to trash the place, arrest the owners, take down their websites, and confiscate all their property, most of which is never returned.
After the harassment, they then drop the suits or whatever so they don't have to lose in court, and move on to other targets. The students still haven't won anything, but as long as Diebold machines live, democracy loses. The only way around it is for everyone to cast an absentee ballot, which HAVE to be hand-counted -- but it's not like voting makes a difference in corporate America, anyways.:(
The only solution to piracy in the third world is free, open-source software. Many countries being harassed by the various shady trade organizations for piracy, such as China, Brazil, and Vietnam, are switching over to open source as much as possible. There is no way that people who live on a dollar a day are going to be able to shell out hundreds of dollars every year for proprietary, closed-source software, and software companies are foolish to worry about it.
In fact, the Malaysian authorities punishing such persecution, usually at the indirect prodding of US corporations and the US corporate government, will backfire. If there's no persecution Windows is 95% pirated, then Microsoft makes 5% -- if they are persecuted and forced to switch to free software, and FreeBSD gets used for everything, then Microsoft gets 0%. Supporting punishment of third-world pirates, thus forcing them to switch to free software, is actually good for the open source movement.
Considering that the world is currently in a stage where third-world rogue nations, and not a duality of superpowers keeping each other in check, are developing high technology, especially weapons of mass destruction.
While the implementation of open source programs and operating systems are great, genetic science is playing God by modifying organisms in irreperable ways, whether they're perceived to be good, bad, or sort of silly like those glowing fish. Even worse, such tools under skilled hands -- usually free university education in the west -- could be used to make gene-specific bioweapons or unstoppable virii like our army just did.
Imagine their scientists getting a huge head start with "accessible" genetics tools under the iron fist of a dictator who would want to use them for blackmail, and then goes insane for one reason or another and acutally uses them. Even if they reached the level the US and the USSR were at in the 1970s or more realistically, the 1980s, with their research, it could still spell disaster.
Most of this playing-God genetic stuff shouldn't even be developed in the first place, much less be made more accessible to the despots of the third world like an open source program.
Quite often, people exchange quite a bit of crucial information across the convenience of instant messaging: passwords, credit card numbers, personal information, and so on. Unfortunately, IM companies often forget that they leave their messaging completely unsecure, so anyone who can sniff the packets can steal all their information, especially after AOL screwed all PGP encrypted messages when trying to stop Trillian.
In fact, Echelon is infamous for sniffing a lot of traffic from AIM and ICQ, and anyone who thinks MSN is secure is crazy. Even though it might catch some Al-Qaeda terrorists, even they have human rights, including the right to privacy. After all, it might be you who are the terrorist one day, and you might get sent to Camp X-Ray for sending the wrong IM as a joke.
Once again, the DVD screener for this movie was leaked days ago onto IRC, and I, along many others, have had it since. Waiting outside the theatre is a waste of time, considering in this day and age, anyone truly dedicated can hop online and find it quickly, and watch it a few hours later in the comfort of their own home.
One of the reasons they're doing this is that students often tend to use multiple extensions on a single outlet, which is the second leading cause of fire deaths, according to this.
In fact, the recent Moscow dorm fire that killed dozens and injured hundreds more was caused by such a fire, by a computer science student with dozens of electrical devices in his dorm. I suppose universities don't want such a thing to happen here.
You'll notice that the iPod has a maximum altitude of 10,000 feet, and is not meant to operate in temperatures greater than 95*F. For the millions living in these altitudes or climates, their iPod is in serious danger of being destroyed by the environment if the head crashes don't get it first, since it is basically a moving hard drive. So, if you're a basketball player travelling in a mountainous state or a soldier on the streets of Basrah, an iPod is pretty much useless to you.
If Slashdot is going to start posting erroneous stories from tabloids such as the New York Post, they should instead post stories from the Weekly World News. I don't believe what a newspaper says unless it has BatBoy endorsing it!
Before I ever read it on slashdot, my friends and I were hacking traffic lights thanks to phrack. It used to take me 25 minutes to get to work, but now it only takes 15:P
It also tells you how to get into the main traffic light control system, though you have to go through a bunch of backdoors into a VAX system. Imagine if Al-Qaeda managed to do that, though...
Slashdot Mirror
The Chunnel, or the 32 mile undersea tunnel across the English channel connecting Calais, France and Brighton, UK, is the largest and greatest urban construction project ever. It cost the same -- roughly $15 billion -- but actually came in on schedule and cost, does wonders for the economies of both countries, and relies on clean mass transit systems that travel 200mph, run by open source software.
All of this was done with 13,000 engineers who spoke different languages. It was also voted the best project of the 20th century:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/302345.stm
NASA still runs software, to this day, from the 1960s due to funding cuts and that fact that it "still works," much of it on the same computers from the 1960s.
In fact, most of this software is so old it actually can no longer be maintained because the people who wrote it are DEAD, and modern programmers who replaced the retirees can't make heads or tails of all the spaghetti code within. There's all kinds of fascinating data from the golden age of space exploration that we could still use, but it's in proprietary, decayed backup formats in proprietary structures.
If they started using Linux and open standards now, though, 30-40 years from now, they won't be having this problem, as Linux will still be around then -- and the rest will be in the dustbin of history.
I got one of these -- just the controllers, not the gamepads -- back in the day when I was looking for a good emulator controller. It looks like it has 8 buttons, but it actually only supports the old standard of 4 -- the extras are just "turbo" buttons. Even though that's good enough for NES, they're still unwieldy due to the crooked cross controller, making Contra hard to play when you have to aim down -- it keeps running forward.
Linux's USB Sidewinder Pro support is perfectly fine, and they're not longer made and cheap. For $15, you get a controller with 9 buttons and good handling, more than enough for any console emulation.
What, no mention of Saddam in this week's slashback? The story attacted nearly 3000 posts, and was a pivotal moment in world affairs.
The main news is that Bush wants the death penalty for Saddam, while the UN and the Catholic Church both strongly oppose it. Saddam is currently in the hands of the CIA for interrogation. The trial is going to be in Iraq, as well, and the council has been laying the groundwork. Howard Dean is also no longer the front runner in the Democratic primaries, and the Democratic candidates are scrambling to be the non-Dean.
Find a middle man in Mexico, as Mexico has very few laws regulating the importation of products from overseas, and the United States has greatly deregulated the laws concerning the importation of anything from Mexico due to NAFTA/WTO/etc.
Try here for starters:http://www.importexporthelp.com/
Software is extremely difficult to regulate and probably won't ever be done, especially with the power of certain large corporations who put out shitty software and have no intention on releasing the source for inspection. Though a trade war with Europe is possible, the market trend is towards deregulation, especially with things like CAFTA, so it shouldn't be a huge fucking problem in the future, either.
Rob "CmdrTaco" Malda stepped off the bus and was led into the yard of the Michigan State Correctional
Institute. He had been given ten years for participating in a stock fraud. Five with good behavior. Years
spent basking in the glow of a CRT had been hard on him. His body was frail, his skin pallid. He knew he
could never make it through ten years in the general population with his virginity intact. He had to get
into solitary.
As soon as the burly guard unshackled him he made his move. Exhaling a feminine "hmmph" he weakly slapped
the guard. He was quickly taken to the ground, receiving a swift kick to the ribs before being
restrained. As he was dragged to the solitary confinement cell he felt nothing but relief. "At least in
solitary," he thought "I'll be safe." Unfortunately for CmdrTaco he had picked the wrong guard to mess
with.
The next few days were uneventful. The time in his cell he spent evenly between sleeping, reading a "Perl
for Dummies" book he had gotten from the book cart, and masturbating furiously. His self-flagellation was
interrupted on the fourth day. The burly guard he had attacked earlier stepped into his cell. The gleam
in the guards eye and the mean grin on his face made CmdrTaco's pecker quickly shrivel in his hand. "You
fucked with the wrong man when you fucked with Michael Simms," said the guard. "The inmates here call me
The Asshole for a reason. Now come with me, punk."
The guard led him down the hall to one of several empty shower stalls. He roughly threw CmdrTaco in the
stall and locked the door. CmdrTaco was petrified. His mind raced as he imagined the myriad of different
tortures that could be in store for him. His worst fears were confirmed when the guard returned. In his
hands were a short black dress, black stilleto heels, and a curly blonde wig. "Strip down and put this
on, bitch." CmdrTaco did as instructed and was pleased to notice that the dress fit well and the heels
gave him a nice slimming effect. The burly guard admired the drag queen. "The GNAA is gonna love you!"
The guard left the shower stall, only to return minutes later. He opened the door and led 20 large black
men into the stall. "CmdrTaco, meet the Gay Nigger Association of America. GNAA, meet CmdrTaco. I'm sure
you all will get along fine." With that the guard slammed the shower door closed and walked away
laughing.
The men approached CmdrTaco, backing him into a corner. The apparent leader stepped forward. "No matter
what I'm gonna fuck that purdy lil' ass of yours. Now I can fuck it dry or you can lube it up for me."
CmdrTaco knew he had no choice. He kneeled in front of the leader, who began to slap his face with his 10
black inches. Puss from syphilictic sores quickly covered CmdrTaco's cheeks. When the leader was
sufficiently aroused he placed his throbbing cock up to CmdrTaco's lips. As soon as CmdrTaco opened his
mouth the leader violently shoved his manhood to the back of CmdrTaco's throat and exclaimed "Swallow my
shit you cracker bitch!" CmdrTaco gagged as he was violently face fucked.
Just when he was about to pass out the leader pulled out, turned him around and shoved his cock into
CmdrTaco's ass. CmdrTaco began to scream in agony but his cries were quickly muffled by one of the other
gang member's cocks. They rode him like that for the better part of an hour. When one man finished
another quickly took his place. Just as CmdrTaco was getting used to the throbbing pain in his anus the
men stopped. One man lay down on the floor and CmdrTaco was told to get on top of him and take his dick
inside him. Exhausted and humiliated, CmdrTaco had no will left to fight. As soon as he inserted the
penis another man came up behind him and began to force his cock into CmdrTaco's already filled anus.
Again his screams of agony were muffled, this time by a smelly black anus.
For another hour he was violated in this way. When the men were finished with him he co
The entire, long interview only mentions the word Linux once, and none of it takes place in the context of open source -- it's like something out of a 1999 BusinessWeek, when Linux/OSS was considered a joke and a non-factor.
It seems as if he's just pitting small businesses -- 19 year old wonder kid startups that often fail and caused the dot-com crash-- against brick and mortar computer companies, and COMPLETELY giving the cold shoulder to the open source and free software movement that's currently making all the difference and leading the way in innovation in the computing world.
Either this guy feels threatened by the free software revolution of the 21st century, or is still stuck in the past.
I wouldn't call a software economy that's worth roughly $30/billion year, with $10 billion being outsourcing, to be merely "nascent." Unless, of course, you consider that in 2008, the Indian IT Ministry plans to have $50 billion in outsourcing (meaning: your students' jobs, and possibly yours as well) and $90 billion overall.
Indian Economy Report
Indian IT Plans
I'm surprised such Indian localizations weren't done sooner. Perhaps one day, we'll have to navigate them -- at its current growth rate, India will dominate the world in software roughly by the time this year's new CS students graduate.
Slander is something that negatively affects a living person's reputation -- and in the US, a corporation is constituted as a living person, as well, under the law.
Linus' accusations, after all, under the magnifying glass of an overzealous attorney, could constitute slander. He rougly accuses McBride of wanting prostitutes instead of marriage, equates SCO people to the trash on Springer, accuses them of smoking crack and being in drug-induced stupors, and so on.
I do believe Linus should watch what he says, since the SCO people are ZEALOTS and will take action against the most spurious of things in order to smash Linux.
If someone wants to obtain access to easy credit, the easiest way is to simply steal people's wallets, which filthy street urchins have been able to do since the beginnings of civilization. You don't need to spend time and money to construct an ATM, as a few 13-year old delinquients in a crowded area like a shopping mall can obtain credit cards much quicker than that.
A lot of times, bank cards can be used as credit cards, and only require a signature that is seldom ever checked against the one on the back of the card inside the US, though in the EU they actually do it. The PIN number is hardly ever needed, but all that is required to access it is a quick phone call to a bank. Just walk into Best Buy and go on a shopping spree and hit credit on the little number pad, and all they'll ever do is make you sign a receipt.
Likewise, they have no real bureaucracy in the corporate world, mostly due to distance and the lack of regular face-to-face communication and personal issues. They don't have a team telling them what not to do -- they just do it, and it often works. They don't spend all their time in useless meetings, either, and often code all day for what amounts to pocket change for a US programmer.
Unless not only the government but also the corporations shape up and get rid of red tape and regulations, those 14 million jobs scheduled to go overseas by 2010 will arrive there ahead of time. Don't ever expect a populist political uprising to stop outsourcing, as that isn't going to happen in corporate USA, but deregulation is possible.
If there was demand for it, it would have been remade, and I haven't seen space invaders in an arcade for 10 years. The only arcade games to be remade and be successful are Mrs. Pacman and Galaga, most of which fell apart after 20 years, with the survivors suffering from horrible screen burn. Some games that used to be ubiquitous, like TMNT and Mortal Kombat II, are now becoming increasingly scarce, but will probably not be remade just because they were popular in the contemporary sense only.
The US really doesn't have the financial resources to pay for or support another sustained space program like they did in the 1960s. It's not what everyone here wants to hear, but it's the truth.
America's industrial base is overseas in China, the country runs BOTH trade and government budget deficits of hundreds of billions of dollars every year, the Ponzi/pyramid schemes of Social Security and Medicare are beginning to crack, the nation is highly dependant on foreign oil and energy resources, and NASA can't even send robots to Mars half the time.
The whole point of this new rush to space is most likely to militarize it -- not explore it -- before China does, since if they shot down our GPS satellites in a war, we'd be clueless. The next generation of space shuttles will most likely be weapons platforms used to drop kinetic-force "rods of God" on enemy cities bunkers. Then again, anyone remember why the last superpower fell?
Does anyone remember the whole Dot-Com Bubble?
Billions in venture capital were sent to silicon valley back in the late 90s in the hope that anything and everything internet-related could be profitable, and were worth investing in the same style that brick-and-mortar companies were. We heard all kinds of great things from leading economists who were really misleading us to manipulate the market, short the stock, and fuck everyone else over. Then, in 1999, after the Microsoft ruling, the whole thing kind of collapsed.
As for today, just a few of the giants of e-commerce stand... so many companies went out of business on the predictions not far off from the ideas that we'd have groceries delivered to us over the internet (WebVan) or that we could actually stream TV-quality video over 28.8 kbps (Pixelon). It's never going to happen again, so the golden age of marketing ideas on the internet and obtaining massive capital influx is over.
1) It is based on an old, out-dated Sci-Fi show that will not appeal to the mainstream public, no matter how much senseless T&A, sexually charged adult themes, pointless gun battles, and especially computer animation they add.
2) It does not appeal to the old fans whatsoever, because of many of the same reasons in #1, plus the fact that it is "untr00" and often fails to explore many of the themes of the older series, and rather focuses on the "development" of silly, stereotypical characters.
It'll fail after a few seasons of low ratings.
We all know Microsoft is trying to be the "standard" for cell-phone operating systems much in the way that they took over almost the entire desktop and workplace market, but will there ever be a Linux standard? I know Symbian is also trying to create a standard for cell phones that already is quite strong in Europe, but there really should be a consortium where Linux developers can get together and set standards, instead of them being scattered across the internet proposing a few ideas.
If there's going to be standards, they should always be open source and free as in beer. Corporate control of standards only creates monopolies. Even in America, a lot of people are dropping their landlines for cellphones, and if there's ever a Linux standard for it, it should be created quickly before it's too late.
Companies like Diebold and its cousin, the RIAA, know that they couldn't win an actual court case against groups like BlackBoxVoting and a bunch of college students that get in the way of their draconian agendas, but what they can do is win a warrant to send their corporate servants, the fascist pig cops to trash the place, arrest the owners, take down their websites, and confiscate all their property, most of which is never returned.
After the harassment, they then drop the suits or whatever so they don't have to lose in court, and move on to other targets. The students still haven't won anything, but as long as Diebold machines live, democracy loses. The only way around it is for everyone to cast an absentee ballot, which HAVE to be hand-counted -- but it's not like voting makes a difference in corporate America, anyways. :(
The only solution to piracy in the third world is free, open-source software. Many countries being harassed by the various shady trade organizations for piracy, such as China, Brazil, and Vietnam, are switching over to open source as much as possible. There is no way that people who live on a dollar a day are going to be able to shell out hundreds of dollars every year for proprietary, closed-source software, and software companies are foolish to worry about it.
In fact, the Malaysian authorities punishing such persecution, usually at the indirect prodding of US corporations and the US corporate government, will backfire. If there's no persecution Windows is 95% pirated, then Microsoft makes 5% -- if they are persecuted and forced to switch to free software, and FreeBSD gets used for everything, then Microsoft gets 0%. Supporting punishment of third-world pirates, thus forcing them to switch to free software, is actually good for the open source movement.
Considering that the world is currently in a stage where third-world rogue nations, and not a duality of superpowers keeping each other in check, are developing high technology, especially weapons of mass destruction.
While the implementation of open source programs and operating systems are great, genetic science is playing God by modifying organisms in irreperable ways, whether they're perceived to be good, bad, or sort of silly like those glowing fish. Even worse, such tools under skilled hands -- usually free university education in the west -- could be used to make gene-specific bioweapons or unstoppable virii like our army just did.
Imagine their scientists getting a huge head start with "accessible" genetics tools under the iron fist of a dictator who would want to use them for blackmail, and then goes insane for one reason or another and acutally uses them. Even if they reached the level the US and the USSR were at in the 1970s or more realistically, the 1980s, with their research, it could still spell disaster.
Most of this playing-God genetic stuff shouldn't even be developed in the first place, much less be made more accessible to the despots of the third world like an open source program.
Quite often, people exchange quite a bit of crucial information across the convenience of instant messaging: passwords, credit card numbers, personal information, and so on. Unfortunately, IM companies often forget that they leave their messaging completely unsecure, so anyone who can sniff the packets can steal all their information, especially after AOL screwed all PGP encrypted messages when trying to stop Trillian.
In fact, Echelon is infamous for sniffing a lot of traffic from AIM and ICQ, and anyone who thinks MSN is secure is crazy. Even though it might catch some Al-Qaeda terrorists, even they have human rights, including the right to privacy. After all, it might be you who are the terrorist one day, and you might get sent to Camp X-Ray for sending the wrong IM as a joke.
Don't believe me?
irc://81.223.243.18/DC-Warez
Then type /ctcp xDCC-SK12633M xdcc send #1
and #2 and #3, as well.
One of the reasons they're doing this is that students often tend to use multiple extensions on a single outlet, which is the second leading cause of fire deaths, according to this.
In fact, the recent Moscow dorm fire that killed dozens and injured hundreds more was caused by such a fire, by a computer science student with dozens of electrical devices in his dorm. I suppose universities don't want such a thing to happen here.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/ 2001802164_dormfire27.html
If you look at the iPod specs here:
http://www.apple.com/ipod/specs.html
You'll notice that the iPod has a maximum altitude of 10,000 feet, and is not meant to operate in temperatures greater than 95*F. For the millions living in these altitudes or climates, their iPod is in serious danger of being destroyed by the environment if the head crashes don't get it first, since it is basically a moving hard drive. So, if you're a basketball player travelling in a mountainous state or a soldier on the streets of Basrah, an iPod is pretty much useless to you.
If Slashdot is going to start posting erroneous stories from tabloids such as the New York Post, they should instead post stories from the Weekly World News. I don't believe what a newspaper says unless it has BatBoy endorsing it!
New today: litterboxes for humans!
http://www.weeklyworldnews.com/news/index.cfm
Before I ever read it on slashdot, my friends and I were hacking traffic lights thanks to phrack. It used to take me 25 minutes to get to work, but now it only takes 15 :P
It also tells you how to get into the main traffic light control system, though you have to go through a bunch of backdoors into a VAX system. Imagine if Al-Qaeda managed to do that, though...
http://www.phrack.org/phrack/60/p60-0x0e.txt