Sorry, my willpower is weaker than my taste for an perfectly timed movie quote. As for my opinion, I think what they are wanting here is a guideline for future exploration and habitation, or possibly to try and narrow down what would constitute studying under "planetary" effects like rotation, atmosphere, etc. and debris effects, like asteroids and comets. Still though, it seems kinda silly, but I can understand them wanting a more explicit point of reference. Still, it does sound kinda silly, after all, its a big universe, and remember, we're still learning it's rules, it doesn't play by ours. I'm sure theres a rock the size of a winnebago with its own atmosphere out there.....
Someone hand Intuit the K-Y Jelly and set up the webcam, its time to watch these guys get the screwing they so rightly deserve. My stepdad uses Turbotax on his aged PC, and when it crashed, and crashed hard, during the middle of the process, he ran into this problem. He tried to get everything straightened out, and when they told him of the fee, this man, who never cusses, used words I shall not repeat here. So he got the joy of spending six hours doing it by hand instead. I'm gonna call him and tell him about this right after this post.
Onlookers were stunned today when it was found that the headquarters of the company SCO had been replaced by a giant smoking crater, which completly obliterated any trace of the company's phsyical prescence. The only clue to this occurence was a large amount of paper floating around the area, all of which seemed to be a copy of an IBM patent.
In other news, the world's largest catapult has recently been constructed on the rooftop of IBM's world headquarters. What it is being used for no one knows, but it now seems to be pointed at Redmond, with a sign on the front which says "Try that shit again, foolios, and see what happens."
While working for a local ISP 4 years ago, I was hanging out on the hardware side of the business one day when a customer came in asking us to see if anything could be salvaged from her computer.
Turns out, a thief had broken into their home at night, and her husband, who was apprently a gun nut, went Rambo-Style with a 12 gauge shotgun. In the process of chasing the thief out of the house(He didn't even wing him), he destroyed the TV, stereo, vcr, a large section of the wall, and had put an entire round through the tower. Literally, the case looked like swiss cheese, from where a round of buckshot had blasted right through it.
Basically, they assumed it was dead, and wanted to see if the hard drive was still in working order. So, we take it in the back, and unscrew the side panel on the case. Lo and behold about 20-30 buckshot pellets are lying in the bottom of the case, and the motherboard had an equivalent number of holes in it.
So, just for shits and giggles, after we unplugged the harddrive, which survived, we stuck an old 1 gig in to see what would happen. Much to our absolute astonishment it started right up! In looking closer at the motherboard, it turns out that most of the wounds had missed majot components. The only problem was that no sound card would work in it anymore.
To this day, that case sits on the shelf at that ISP, and gets a doubletake and a question everytime someone sees it. I'm told that nowadays they just tell the person that one of their techs got pissed off at a customer and.....
Right now I'm downloading a screener, or please, god, let it be a screener copy, of the Two Towers off of Kazaa.
Now, I've already seen this movie twice in the theaters. So, according to the MPAA, after this, even with the DVD release, they will see no more $ from me, right?
Well, oddly enough, I downloaded a screener of Fellowship of the Ring as well, and right here beside my computer, is not only the original wide screen release of LOTR: Fellowship of the Rings, but ALSO the deluxe extended edition. Doh! =)
As such, I also plan on going and buying both editions of the DVD again when they release it. Why, you ask, oh callow MPAA? BECAUSE I DON'T MIND GIVING SUPPORT OT MOVIES THAT DON'T SUCK FLAMING DONKEY BALLS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! *achem*
Anyway, its Kazaa, so as far as I know I may be currently downloading a copy of The Piano*shudder*, but, you rolls dem dice.....
What the hell did that comittee think? That they'd wave thier magic wand and the baby bells would suddenly turn into good little boys and girls? Were these guys drug tested before they ruled on this?
The simple fact of the matter is that the bells proved the smarter of the two sides here. There are numerous agreements dating back to the early part of the 1900s between phone companies and the government, but most of these were good faith actions, surprisingly, at least on the part of the government. When faced with the dilemna of providing stable, reliable communications for the new century across the country, the government realized that private companies would not only be best suited for this, but they would also willingly support the absolutely enormous initial investment, as long as they were allowed to play by different rules than other industries.
Due to this, so called baby bells have had a virtual monopoly ever since. And they're not stupid. Phone companies are some of the most intelligently planned companies in the world, at least as far as long term strategy is concerned.
When they realized how much capital was to be gained, my local bell, Bellsouth, aggresively entered into long distance, after first spearheading the charge to get legislation passed that would let them play the long distance game with the other kids. And now, I'm employed in the sales department of their cellular branch, Cingular, which is one of their smarter moves to date.
Simply put, more and more people are doing what I do, and using my cell phone as my home phone. Rather than pay two bills, one for a landline and the other for the cell, I just enjoy the benefit of having my home phone with me at all times. Also, much like the earlier incarnations of the phone companies, cellular companies have massive agreements in place where they all use each others towers and relay points, and aggressively discourage, through lobbying and downright ugly business practices, the entry into the market of any new, radical companyies.
For example, take Cricket. Cricket allows unlimited local calls in your home service area, with an aggressive long distance plan. Only one problem: once outside your home footprint, Cricket no longer works, because it cannot receive a signal. This is because the larger cellular companies have unsigned agreements in place that prevent the sharing of resources, like signal towers and receivers, to anyone who is not already in the game. Competition? Ha!!
So, faced with the threat of their precious landlines and preferential zoning laws and permits being rendered obsolete by cellular technology, they simply all rushed in, then closed the doors, thus maintaining survivability, as well as the status quo.
The Government never stood a chance, they've been either outflanked or happily prison-raped by the phone companies at every turn.
Eh, too bad. I was hoping Google would stay out of this, but with their over-reaction to "googling" being the "most useful new slang word", and them demanding it be removed, I'm not too surprised they're going the "ultra obscure software patent" approach.
I remember when there was a time that when I thought about what a "patent" was, I would think of a specific invention, like a microwave, or VCR, or TV. But now most patents seem to be more along the lines of vague methods and unclear descriptions, which seem to have more of a shotgun effect, rather than a more precise one.
Everyone else is saying it, so I'll jump on the bandwagon too. The US patent system needs a swift kick in the ass.
Just got hold of the first season for this, as well as Farscape, and now that I'm starting to really get into them (believe it or not,ye doubters, Buffy is actually a very decent show), they go and @#$@#$@! cancel them. Argh, i say, ARGH!
As long as they don't cancel Toonami, I should be able to keep from going on a killing spree. But if that puppy goes......Hulk Smash!!!!!
The Sony idea is interesting
on
The Faded Sun
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· Score: 4, Interesting
For those of you who actually read the article =), Cringely makes an intersting point about a possible Sony acquisition of Sun. And, even if you feel the whole idea is as likely as MS starting to liscence products under the GPL, it does at least raise some interesting discussion points.
A couple of people have made the point that Sony and Sun have virtually nothing in common. I beg to differ. They have alot in common, i.e. a strong desire to get rich. But, for a non-flipant answer, heres a serious one.
Japan does not have the same anti-trustor trade laws we have in the US, therefore massive organizations of businesses, called kiretsu(sic?) exist. For an American equivalent, think Microsoft owning/merging with GM, McDonalds, and Disney. Essentially, the companies inside the organization are spread out over a very diverse area. This is to insure that when one industry, say automobiles, has a slump, others industries undergoing a boom, like consumer electronics or a theme park, can help support the ailing businesses with capital. Basically, all of these companies work together for a singular goal: the almighty dollar (or yen).
Sony, being a member, and a leading member no doubt, of their organization, would have some very good reasons to buy Sun, above and beyond the diversification reason listed above.
Firstly, the server side of the business. Tech geeks know and respect Sun's servers, even if they aren't always their first choice. Also, Sony has immense brand name recognition. This can be useful when management is trying to decide what hardware to buy, and since the atypical pointy-haired bosses may know jack about linux, NT, UNIX, they will recognize Sony.
Secondly is the consumer electronics side of the business, specifically handheld devices, like PDAs, MP3 players, etc. Remember when Java first got noticed in the mainstream, there was tons of talk about how soon we'd be driving cars with a Java OS inside, dialing phones run by Java, flushing toilets run by Java, etc., etc., etc. Sony may be looking at the possibility of aquiring a company with at least some experience, and a lot of potential, in writing and implementing embedded software for Cell phones, PDAs and whatnot. Microsoft does it, Linux sure as hell does it, Apple does it, so why not Sun? Sony might be thinking.
Finally, Sun is cheaper than hell right now. Like the article says, $3.00 bucks a share is an incredibly attractive buyout price for a company Sony's size, and at that cheap a price, a risk could be taken with the company, and a posible failure, while bad, would barely be a blip on the corporate accounting tables.
So, no matter what your stance, you have to admit that, when the facts are reviewed, the idea is, at the very least, interesting.
One problem with alot of the tricks people propose
on
File-sharing and AOL
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· Score: 1
Theres a law on the books right now which could possibly be applied to a situation wherein someone names a file one thing, but its actually another.
If you're standing on a corner selling cocaine, but that cocaine is, in reality, nothing more than sugar or flour, you can still be jailed for selling it. Why? The law states that even though it isn;t cocaine, you were advertising it as such. So, for arguments sake, the RIAA could say that, veen though your entersandman.mp3 was in fact an mp3 of a goat burping, you advertised it as such, so, under said law, it can still be "technically" considered an actual rip of said song, which would obviously be a big "Doh!" for honeypot/spoofing traps some people have proposed.
It doesn;t make much sense logic wise, but, how many of the legal actions of the RIAA make logical sense?
Come on everybody, grab your Buzzword Bingo cards, and lets play the game!
On the other hand, for those of you, like me, who have just woken up, a translation is provided below:
[translation]"We're gonna, um, do some security stuff, because, uh, security is cool, and uh, terrorism, is like, bad. We don't know what we're going to do yet, though. Or how. Or why. But, ummm......dude this is some good shit *sniiiiiiiifffffff*"[/translation]
Sorry for the sarcasm, but any press release that takes up three pages, and could be summarised into thirty words, deserves to be mocked shamlessly. Mod me down, it needed to be said!!
Possible alternative donation options
on
Adopt a KDE Geek
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· Score: 4, Insightful
For those of us without spare hardware lying around, here are some (possibly) acceptible alternatives:
Now, some people make think this is a joke post, but its not. Even if its not hardware, I think anyone who uses KDE should feel compelled to donate something. As someone who does a lot of Volunteer work for local charities, it always feels good when someone recognizes all the hard work you've put into a job. And since alot of these guys can't really spend alot of money on luxury items, I say give em something to make a geek's day a lil brighter.
In other news, it was discovered that when placed in a 0g environment, dung beetles still played with shit.
"Eh, its a job." one beetle was reported as saying, before munching on a space turd.
Seriously, I'm all for getting kids involved in science and mathematics, but this is probably one of the dumbest experiments I've ever heard of. Unless the ants evolve into giant mutant space ants before the shuttle returns, I don't see how this can be of any practical value.
I'm trying and I really can't think of any solid benefits from trying this. Couldn't they have tried to design something a little more practical, or was this just dumbing down the project for lower-level students, like all schools do?
I imagine some of the smarter students had some more interesting ideas, but they weren't accepted, cause lil john and jane wouldn't have a clue what was going on. God forbid we actually challenge kids to learn something advanced.
Alot of the general public, and unfortunately alot of companys and independent scientists as well, have forgotten what the true purpose and logical extension of cloning is.
Of course there will always be infertile couple who will want use this method to have babies, someday maybe, but otherwise we don't really need cloning to duplicate life forms. We already have a method. Its called sex. And while some arguments can be made for cloning endangered or extinct animals, until we could make a clone that was capable of reproduction, would there really be anything besides a novelty interest in this? I mean sure, yay, you've got a zoo with a thousand pandas. Unfortunately they'll all be dead in x number of years, and you'll have to clone a thousand more. Rather pointless.
The true purpose of cloning is, and should remain, complete and utter mastery of genetics and medical science. This is why the whole stem cell thing is so important, and should not be constarined in the way it is (For those who object to it on moral grounds saying it encourages abortions, it doesn't. The abortion doctor who made sales pitches like that to pregant women would be shot on principle.)
Stem Cell research and the race to human cloning are, objectively, two leaves on the same branch. Both should be refined and mastered to the point where the dream of human immortality is no longer a dream. This should be all about pushing genetics and microbiology to their absolute limits, not trying to make a Bob mark II or Fluffy 3.0 . Cloning a human just for the hell of it though, or trying to bring back to life a dead child or loved one or pet out of hopes for a "replacement" is irresponsible both scientifically, and morally.
So what would be "legitimate" applications of these technologies. Obviously, and one that was a main topic of debate during the stem cell controversy in congress, was the cloning of indivual organs, like hearts and livers. This way, instead of someone having to wait for months or years for a vital heart or liver transplant, a compatible one could be made up on the spot. And, since research into these fields will also yield advances in fields like neurological medicine, the possibility of new arms or legs, or even new eyes or audial organs becomes a possibility.
However, I do disprove of the notion that some people seem to think that we'll be planting out minds into "blank slate" bodies, sometime in the distant future. Thats not just ultra-late term abortion, thats essentially murder, unless something was done to the brain to keep it only restricted to base biological functions, and not the development of a psyche, and even that would be just weird.
And, for the record, I am pro-life, so no flames from pro-lifers on the stem cell stuff like last time.
I've never really thought about getting a pda, because whats the point of having a pda, when my cell phone had all the same basic features like a phonebook, calculator, an e-mail? I'd love to have a notebook, but my broke ass can't afford one.
Now, if I could go out and get a used pda for about $100.00 that could surf the net through my cell phone, and then do all my e-mails, some coding, and even possibly some older, classic games by just going out and getting one of these keyboards, instead of having to carry around one of those annoying "mini-keyboards" or a full sized ones, for another $100.00 or so, I'd break my neck going out and buying one.
Now a lot of people on here have raised the point that typing on a hard desk would be hell on the fingers, and, that also, people rely on the "feel' of the keys for typing. As the world's greatest two-fingered touch typist, me and my roommate decided to put this to the test.
My roommate has a poster of the different keyboard layouts, so we pulled it off the wall and set it on our kitchen counter. Then, using the qwerty format, I tried typing out different sentences while looking at my computer screen from across the room, while he watched and saw what I typed.
While I did have more errors than I'm used to, they steadily decreased as we progressed. And, while it does feel weird not actually pushing the keys at first, after a few minutes I realized that this was Much more comfortable than using a keyboard. The trick is to remember that, with these things, you won't have to actually "push" the key, just tap it lightly.
All in all, I'm looking forward to seeing how well these things work. If they work well, I'll definitely be buying a PDA.
A USPS, UPS, FedEx, etc., employee in a mjaor city The Disabled Children Cops, EMTs, etc.
I will however injure with extreme prejudice Segway riders who are:
Yuppie Scum who want one because they think they're cool Drunken Frat Boys People too self important to actually use the form of bipedal transportation known was "walking"
Now all we need to do is pass this as a law, verbatim, and the Segway should have no problems whatsoever.
Seriously though, this is an incredibly useless device for average pedestrian use. I mean, if its going to be so horribly inconvenient for you to get somewhere by actually walking, take a Freakin Cab!!! It should cost abput the same in the long run.
From the headline to the end of the article, the transmission that is my brain is currently lying in a smoking, smoldering heap of molten metal five miles back on the information highway.
This is one of those articles that really raises the question "As an American, am I morally required to kill the people and politicians who make such brain numbingly stupid things possible?"
I don't even want to know how much money was spent by the government on this case. While, yes, from a business perspective, it is an issue of some small import, this is the type of thing that should make any self-respecting judge literally throw the gavel at the plaintiffs. And I mean literally throw the gavel at them. Instead she sits around and plays house with Wolverine and Mole Man. Which is disturbing in and of it self.
Yes, I'm sure this will be modded down, but damnit, it needed to be said.
Every industry needs a dedicated, colorful, and sometimes frighteningly aggressive and determined character to give them flavor. This sounds like a cool dude.
One does have to wonder though if connecting previously sheltered cultures, like Sherpas who rarely leave their home area, or small tribes in South America, will encourage them to join the rest of the world. If I had no previous contact with the outside world's mass culture, one look at the internet would scare the living hell outta me. Slashdot alone would convince me all ousiders should be killed on sight.
We have three stations that play a different style of music:
102.9 the Buzz-Basically, pop-rock, emo, and eminem; like the article says, what all the teeny-boppers are listening to
105.9 the Rock: A pretty cool station. They play classic rock, and by that I mean ACDC, Guns n Roses, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, that kinda stuff. The kinda stuff that you and your parents can listen to together without embarrassment.
101.1 the Beat: They say they're a rap station, but mostly R & B or piss poor Djs trying to spin R & B.
All three of these are owned by ClearChannel btw
All in all, not a lot of selection. So most of my time is spent on webradio, like digitally imported, or the local Vandy station, which occasionally plays electronica. I play CDs in the car, but sometimes you really do wanna be surprised by whats played, so I like radio, but, sadly, there is no such thing a electronica radio.
Thats why the first thing I'm doing when I get a new job is getting an XM receiver. I wanna be doing 100 Mph down the interstate and hear techno I've never heard before. I wanna hear ICP and other psychopathic records artists, and I wanna hear badass, shoot ya just to watch you die old country and classic rock. Hell yeah people will pay. I will.
Weren't nanotechnology agents supposed to be ridding my body of disease, putting out fires, and building space stations right now? Now we'll be using a wax like substance to clean our shoes and using a toothpaste to repair our teeth. Methinks priorities may have changed.
And I gotta agree with someone who posted above. When it comes to nanotechnology, which probably will be a cornerstone on science in years to come, and these are the applications the writer busts a hard on over, god help the man if he ever sees a porno. I mean come on, at least write about something I can't do by myself. I want tiny robots damn it! And flying F'in cars!
Sweet Jesus in a Tepee, can they get anymore asinine? This is never going to work, and not because its the right thing to prevent it, this is American politics, remember? The reason it worn't work is because there is legal precedence.
To impose a fee, penalty, fine, whatever, on a company like this, it has to be shown that the service or product used was designed for illegal use, or rather, by doing something illegal, you used said product or service in the way it was intended to be used.
This is why gun manufacturers can't be charged with murder, why pharmacutical companies can't be charged if someone Overdoses, why phone companies can't be sued for prank callers or telemarketers, and why car companies can't be sued for driver-error accidents or drunk drivers, and people have tried suing all those companies for those reasons. If a product is not used the way it was intended, it is not the manufacturers fault. As such, the only way an ISP could be sued or taxed in this manner is:
1.) They included a P2P service in their setup package.
2.) They advertised the service as being specifically good for file sharing, and no, advertising fast speed and downloads does not count.
Now, the RIAA may try and dance around this, but they'd have to be very careful about it, because several labels, Warner Records (AOL Time Warner) and Universal (Vivendi) are owned by companies who run ISPs, and as such could accidentally shove their own feet even further up their own asses.
I think this is just the RIAA blowing smoke out their ass, instead of bad music.
Just support indie labels, like Phsycopathic Records. Juggalos of the world, unite!
And, if I'm wrong or misguided in anyway, please explain, don't flame.
Go ahead, make DRM hardware, someone will hack it.
It doesn't matter if this stuff is encrypted, locked, armed will a tamper-proof explosive device, and guarded by a rabid pitbull with aids, someone, somewhere, will hack it.
And then the files will get out on the net, and the geeks of the world will rejoice. And honestly, I think thats the one thing the RIAA and MPAA are most afraid of. They know they can't stop the geeks of the world. They can try and make it harder, they can actually make it harder, but they can't win this fight.
So the real question is, if its logical to assume that they know they can't achieve 100% victory, why aren't they trying to adapt?
Slashdot Mirror
"Size matters not. Judge me by my size, do you?"
Sorry, my willpower is weaker than my taste for an perfectly timed movie quote. As for my opinion, I think what they are wanting here is a guideline for future exploration and habitation, or possibly to try and narrow down what would constitute studying under "planetary" effects like rotation, atmosphere, etc. and debris effects, like asteroids and comets. Still though, it seems kinda silly, but I can understand them wanting a more explicit point of reference. Still, it does sound kinda silly, after all, its a big universe, and remember, we're still learning it's rules, it doesn't play by ours. I'm sure theres a rock the size of a winnebago with its own atmosphere out there.....
I'm sorry, but a story like this is just too good to pass up.....
Someone hand Intuit the K-Y Jelly and set up the webcam, its time to watch these guys get the screwing they so rightly deserve. My stepdad uses Turbotax on his aged PC, and when it crashed, and crashed hard, during the middle of the process, he ran into this problem. He tried to get everything straightened out, and when they told him of the fee, this man, who never cusses, used words I shall not repeat here. So he got the joy of spending six hours doing it by hand instead. I'm gonna call him and tell him about this right after this post.
In other news, the world's largest catapult has recently been constructed on the rooftop of IBM's world headquarters. What it is being used for no one knows, but it now seems to be pointed at Redmond, with a sign on the front which says "Try that shit again, foolios, and see what happens."
Turns out, a thief had broken into their home at night, and her husband, who was apprently a gun nut, went Rambo-Style with a 12 gauge shotgun. In the process of chasing the thief out of the house(He didn't even wing him), he destroyed the TV, stereo, vcr, a large section of the wall, and had put an entire round through the tower. Literally, the case looked like swiss cheese, from where a round of buckshot had blasted right through it.
Basically, they assumed it was dead, and wanted to see if the hard drive was still in working order. So, we take it in the back, and unscrew the side panel on the case. Lo and behold about 20-30 buckshot pellets are lying in the bottom of the case, and the motherboard had an equivalent number of holes in it.
So, just for shits and giggles, after we unplugged the harddrive, which survived, we stuck an old 1 gig in to see what would happen. Much to our absolute astonishment it started right up! In looking closer at the motherboard, it turns out that most of the wounds had missed majot components. The only problem was that no sound card would work in it anymore.
To this day, that case sits on the shelf at that ISP, and gets a doubletake and a question everytime someone sees it. I'm told that nowadays they just tell the person that one of their techs got pissed off at a customer and.....
Now, I've already seen this movie twice in the theaters. So, according to the MPAA, after this, even with the DVD release, they will see no more $ from me, right?
Well, oddly enough, I downloaded a screener of Fellowship of the Ring as well, and right here beside my computer, is not only the original wide screen release of LOTR: Fellowship of the Rings, but ALSO the deluxe extended edition. Doh! =)
As such, I also plan on going and buying both editions of the DVD again when they release it. Why, you ask, oh callow MPAA? BECAUSE I DON'T MIND GIVING SUPPORT OT MOVIES THAT DON'T SUCK FLAMING DONKEY BALLS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! *achem*
Anyway, its Kazaa, so as far as I know I may be currently downloading a copy of The Piano*shudder*, but, you rolls dem dice.....
What the hell did that comittee think? That they'd wave thier magic wand and the baby bells would suddenly turn into good little boys and girls? Were these guys drug tested before they ruled on this?
The simple fact of the matter is that the bells proved the smarter of the two sides here. There are numerous agreements dating back to the early part of the 1900s between phone companies and the government, but most of these were good faith actions, surprisingly, at least on the part of the government. When faced with the dilemna of providing stable, reliable communications for the new century across the country, the government realized that private companies would not only be best suited for this, but they would also willingly support the absolutely enormous initial investment, as long as they were allowed to play by different rules than other industries.
Due to this, so called baby bells have had a virtual monopoly ever since. And they're not stupid. Phone companies are some of the most intelligently planned companies in the world, at least as far as long term strategy is concerned.
When they realized how much capital was to be gained, my local bell, Bellsouth, aggresively entered into long distance, after first spearheading the charge to get legislation passed that would let them play the long distance game with the other kids. And now, I'm employed in the sales department of their cellular branch, Cingular, which is one of their smarter moves to date.
Simply put, more and more people are doing what I do, and using my cell phone as my home phone. Rather than pay two bills, one for a landline and the other for the cell, I just enjoy the benefit of having my home phone with me at all times. Also, much like the earlier incarnations of the phone companies, cellular companies have massive agreements in place where they all use each others towers and relay points, and aggressively discourage, through lobbying and downright ugly business practices, the entry into the market of any new, radical companyies.
For example, take Cricket. Cricket allows unlimited local calls in your home service area, with an aggressive long distance plan. Only one problem: once outside your home footprint, Cricket no longer works, because it cannot receive a signal. This is because the larger cellular companies have unsigned agreements in place that prevent the sharing of resources, like signal towers and receivers, to anyone who is not already in the game. Competition? Ha!!
So, faced with the threat of their precious landlines and preferential zoning laws and permits being rendered obsolete by cellular technology, they simply all rushed in, then closed the doors, thus maintaining survivability, as well as the status quo.
The Government never stood a chance, they've been either outflanked or happily prison-raped by the phone companies at every turn.
I remember when there was a time that when I thought about what a "patent" was, I would think of a specific invention, like a microwave, or VCR, or TV. But now most patents seem to be more along the lines of vague methods and unclear descriptions, which seem to have more of a shotgun effect, rather than a more precise one. Everyone else is saying it, so I'll jump on the bandwagon too. The US patent system needs a swift kick in the ass.
As long as they don't cancel Toonami, I should be able to keep from going on a killing spree. But if that puppy goes......Hulk Smash!!!!!
A couple of people have made the point that Sony and Sun have virtually nothing in common. I beg to differ. They have alot in common, i.e. a strong desire to get rich. But, for a non-flipant answer, heres a serious one.
Japan does not have the same anti-trustor trade laws we have in the US, therefore massive organizations of businesses, called kiretsu(sic?) exist. For an American equivalent, think Microsoft owning/merging with GM, McDonalds, and Disney. Essentially, the companies inside the organization are spread out over a very diverse area. This is to insure that when one industry, say automobiles, has a slump, others industries undergoing a boom, like consumer electronics or a theme park, can help support the ailing businesses with capital. Basically, all of these companies work together for a singular goal: the almighty dollar (or yen).
Sony, being a member, and a leading member no doubt, of their organization, would have some very good reasons to buy Sun, above and beyond the diversification reason listed above.
Firstly, the server side of the business. Tech geeks know and respect Sun's servers, even if they aren't always their first choice. Also, Sony has immense brand name recognition. This can be useful when management is trying to decide what hardware to buy, and since the atypical pointy-haired bosses may know jack about linux, NT, UNIX, they will recognize Sony.
Secondly is the consumer electronics side of the business, specifically handheld devices, like PDAs, MP3 players, etc. Remember when Java first got noticed in the mainstream, there was tons of talk about how soon we'd be driving cars with a Java OS inside, dialing phones run by Java, flushing toilets run by Java, etc., etc., etc. Sony may be looking at the possibility of aquiring a company with at least some experience, and a lot of potential, in writing and implementing embedded software for Cell phones, PDAs and whatnot. Microsoft does it, Linux sure as hell does it, Apple does it, so why not Sun? Sony might be thinking.
Finally, Sun is cheaper than hell right now. Like the article says, $3.00 bucks a share is an incredibly attractive buyout price for a company Sony's size, and at that cheap a price, a risk could be taken with the company, and a posible failure, while bad, would barely be a blip on the corporate accounting tables.
So, no matter what your stance, you have to admit that, when the facts are reviewed, the idea is, at the very least, interesting.
If you're standing on a corner selling cocaine, but that cocaine is, in reality, nothing more than sugar or flour, you can still be jailed for selling it. Why? The law states that even though it isn;t cocaine, you were advertising it as such. So, for arguments sake, the RIAA could say that, veen though your entersandman.mp3 was in fact an mp3 of a goat burping, you advertised it as such, so, under said law, it can still be "technically" considered an actual rip of said song, which would obviously be a big "Doh!" for honeypot/spoofing traps some people have proposed.
It doesn;t make much sense logic wise, but, how many of the legal actions of the RIAA make logical sense?
Where did it all go so wrong......
Darwin isn't just rolling in his grave; hes shot the television, done a kilo of coke, and started a conga line with the girls from the strip club.
I mean come on. Do people really stop and say to each other:
Tatsuo!!
Yeah?
Mind if I throw some napalm/buring materials at your face?
Sure!!!! I've got the gasoline and styrofoam!
On the other hand, for those of you, like me, who have just woken up, a translation is provided below:
[translation]"We're gonna, um, do some security stuff, because, uh, security is cool, and uh, terrorism, is like, bad. We don't know what we're going to do yet, though. Or how. Or why. But, ummm......dude this is some good shit *sniiiiiiiifffffff*"[/translation]
Sorry for the sarcasm, but any press release that takes up three pages, and could be summarised into thirty words, deserves to be mocked shamlessly. Mod me down, it needed to be said!!
A Case of Bawls - $29.99
Caffeniated Soap - $6.99-$14.99
Caffeine Candy Sampler, v3.0 - $19.99
And various other assorted goods and sundries.
Now, some people make think this is a joke post, but its not. Even if its not hardware, I think anyone who uses KDE should feel compelled to donate something. As someone who does a lot of Volunteer work for local charities, it always feels good when someone recognizes all the hard work you've put into a job. And since alot of these guys can't really spend alot of money on luxury items, I say give em something to make a geek's day a lil brighter.
"Eh, its a job." one beetle was reported as saying, before munching on a space turd.
Seriously, I'm all for getting kids involved in science and mathematics, but this is probably one of the dumbest experiments I've ever heard of. Unless the ants evolve into giant mutant space ants before the shuttle returns, I don't see how this can be of any practical value.
I'm trying and I really can't think of any solid benefits from trying this. Couldn't they have tried to design something a little more practical, or was this just dumbing down the project for lower-level students, like all schools do?
I imagine some of the smarter students had some more interesting ideas, but they weren't accepted, cause lil john and jane wouldn't have a clue what was going on. God forbid we actually challenge kids to learn something advanced.
Of course there will always be infertile couple who will want use this method to have babies, someday maybe, but otherwise we don't really need cloning to duplicate life forms. We already have a method. Its called sex. And while some arguments can be made for cloning endangered or extinct animals, until we could make a clone that was capable of reproduction, would there really be anything besides a novelty interest in this? I mean sure, yay, you've got a zoo with a thousand pandas. Unfortunately they'll all be dead in x number of years, and you'll have to clone a thousand more. Rather pointless.
The true purpose of cloning is, and should remain, complete and utter mastery of genetics and medical science. This is why the whole stem cell thing is so important, and should not be constarined in the way it is (For those who object to it on moral grounds saying it encourages abortions, it doesn't. The abortion doctor who made sales pitches like that to pregant women would be shot on principle.)
Stem Cell research and the race to human cloning are, objectively, two leaves on the same branch. Both should be refined and mastered to the point where the dream of human immortality is no longer a dream. This should be all about pushing genetics and microbiology to their absolute limits, not trying to make a Bob mark II or Fluffy 3.0 . Cloning a human just for the hell of it though, or trying to bring back to life a dead child or loved one or pet out of hopes for a "replacement" is irresponsible both scientifically, and morally.
So what would be "legitimate" applications of these technologies. Obviously, and one that was a main topic of debate during the stem cell controversy in congress, was the cloning of indivual organs, like hearts and livers. This way, instead of someone having to wait for months or years for a vital heart or liver transplant, a compatible one could be made up on the spot. And, since research into these fields will also yield advances in fields like neurological medicine, the possibility of new arms or legs, or even new eyes or audial organs becomes a possibility.
However, I do disprove of the notion that some people seem to think that we'll be planting out minds into "blank slate" bodies, sometime in the distant future. Thats not just ultra-late term abortion, thats essentially murder, unless something was done to the brain to keep it only restricted to base biological functions, and not the development of a psyche, and even that would be just weird.
And, for the record, I am pro-life, so no flames from pro-lifers on the stem cell stuff like last time.
Now, if I could go out and get a used pda for about $100.00 that could surf the net through my cell phone, and then do all my e-mails, some coding, and even possibly some older, classic games by just going out and getting one of these keyboards, instead of having to carry around one of those annoying "mini-keyboards" or a full sized ones, for another $100.00 or so, I'd break my neck going out and buying one.
Now a lot of people on here have raised the point that typing on a hard desk would be hell on the fingers, and, that also, people rely on the "feel' of the keys for typing. As the world's greatest two-fingered touch typist, me and my roommate decided to put this to the test.
My roommate has a poster of the different keyboard layouts, so we pulled it off the wall and set it on our kitchen counter. Then, using the qwerty format, I tried typing out different sentences while looking at my computer screen from across the room, while he watched and saw what I typed.
While I did have more errors than I'm used to, they steadily decreased as we progressed. And, while it does feel weird not actually pushing the keys at first, after a few minutes I realized that this was Much more comfortable than using a keyboard. The trick is to remember that, with these things, you won't have to actually "push" the key, just tap it lightly.
All in all, I'm looking forward to seeing how well these things work. If they work well, I'll definitely be buying a PDA.
A USPS, UPS, FedEx, etc., employee in a mjaor city
The Disabled
Children
Cops, EMTs, etc.
I will however injure with extreme prejudice Segway riders who are:
Yuppie Scum who want one because they think they're cool
Drunken Frat Boys
People too self important to actually use the form of bipedal transportation known was "walking"
Now all we need to do is pass this as a law, verbatim, and the Segway should have no problems whatsoever.
Seriously though, this is an incredibly useless device for average pedestrian use. I mean, if its going to be so horribly inconvenient for you to get somewhere by actually walking, take a Freakin Cab!!! It should cost abput the same in the long run.
This is one of those articles that really raises the question "As an American, am I morally required to kill the people and politicians who make such brain numbingly stupid things possible?"
I don't even want to know how much money was spent by the government on this case. While, yes, from a business perspective, it is an issue of some small import, this is the type of thing that should make any self-respecting judge literally throw the gavel at the plaintiffs. And I mean literally throw the gavel at them. Instead she sits around and plays house with Wolverine and Mole Man. Which is disturbing in and of it self.
Yes, I'm sure this will be modded down, but damnit, it needed to be said.
One does have to wonder though if connecting previously sheltered cultures, like Sherpas who rarely leave their home area, or small tribes in South America, will encourage them to join the rest of the world. If I had no previous contact with the outside world's mass culture, one look at the internet would scare the living hell outta me. Slashdot alone would convince me all ousiders should be killed on sight.
countrycountrycountrycountry-pop/country-countryco untrycountrycountrycountrycountry-pop/countrycount rycountrycountrycountrycountrycountry-pop/country- countrycountry
We have three stations that play a different style of music:
102.9 the Buzz-Basically, pop-rock, emo, and eminem; like the article says, what all the teeny-boppers are listening to
105.9 the Rock: A pretty cool station. They play classic rock, and by that I mean ACDC, Guns n Roses, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, that kinda stuff. The kinda stuff that you and your parents can listen to together without embarrassment.
101.1 the Beat: They say they're a rap station, but mostly R & B or piss poor Djs trying to spin R & B.
All three of these are owned by ClearChannel btw
All in all, not a lot of selection. So most of my time is spent on webradio, like digitally imported, or the local Vandy station, which occasionally plays electronica. I play CDs in the car, but sometimes you really do wanna be surprised by whats played, so I like radio, but, sadly, there is no such thing a electronica radio.
Thats why the first thing I'm doing when I get a new job is getting an XM receiver. I wanna be doing 100 Mph down the interstate and hear techno I've never heard before. I wanna hear ICP and other psychopathic records artists, and I wanna hear badass, shoot ya just to watch you die old country and classic rock. Hell yeah people will pay. I will.
And I gotta agree with someone who posted above. When it comes to nanotechnology, which probably will be a cornerstone on science in years to come, and these are the applications the writer busts a hard on over, god help the man if he ever sees a porno. I mean come on, at least write about something I can't do by myself. I want tiny robots damn it! And flying F'in cars!
To impose a fee, penalty, fine, whatever, on a company like this, it has to be shown that the service or product used was designed for illegal use, or rather, by doing something illegal, you used said product or service in the way it was intended to be used.
This is why gun manufacturers can't be charged with murder, why pharmacutical companies can't be charged if someone Overdoses, why phone companies can't be sued for prank callers or telemarketers, and why car companies can't be sued for driver-error accidents or drunk drivers, and people have tried suing all those companies for those reasons. If a product is not used the way it was intended, it is not the manufacturers fault. As such, the only way an ISP could be sued or taxed in this manner is:
1.) They included a P2P service in their setup package.
2.) They advertised the service as being specifically good for file sharing, and no, advertising fast speed and downloads does not count.
Now, the RIAA may try and dance around this, but they'd have to be very careful about it, because several labels, Warner Records (AOL Time Warner) and Universal (Vivendi) are owned by companies who run ISPs, and as such could accidentally shove their own feet even further up their own asses.
I think this is just the RIAA blowing smoke out their ass, instead of bad music.
Just support indie labels, like Phsycopathic Records. Juggalos of the world, unite!
And, if I'm wrong or misguided in anyway, please explain, don't flame.
It doesn't matter if this stuff is encrypted, locked, armed will a tamper-proof explosive device, and guarded by a rabid pitbull with aids, someone, somewhere, will hack it.
And then the files will get out on the net, and the geeks of the world will rejoice. And honestly, I think thats the one thing the RIAA and MPAA are most afraid of. They know they can't stop the geeks of the world. They can try and make it harder, they can actually make it harder, but they can't win this fight.
So the real question is, if its logical to assume that they know they can't achieve 100% victory, why aren't they trying to adapt?