IMHO, paper records aren't that important. It's probably a false sense of security anyway. I want the system to be as open and visible as possible, which eternal vigilance in checking and double checking the processes. A little faith is always required, but I would have more faith in a highly visible, proven electronic technology than I would ever have had in a paper only system. Look at how inaccurate that system seems when they do a recount. And accuracy isn't the only issue. It is sometimes a pain in the ass to go to the polls. I want to be able to log into the polls from my pc, enter my unique voter ID, vote for my unpopular candidate and see the vote show up on my precinct ticker in real time. I don't really care if they keep a paper record with my unique ID or not. If someone can prove it's me, what are they gonna do? Is George Bush going to kick my ass because I didn't vote for him? I don't see any reason that the system has to retain your personal information when the keys are being generated. One set of keys for each eligible voter in the US. Could people sell their keys? Sure, I guess. Would it be worth it to the politician? It would be pretty hard to keep that kind of think quiet. What if some bad politician or is supporters try to strong arm people into giving up their voter keys? I don't know. Once again, there would have to be a significant amount of this going on to swing an election and they would probably get caught. And if there are people out there that bad, they are going to be doing bad things anyway. You have to stand up to them or they are going to push you around anyway. Most Americans do not vote anyway. If we make the process convenient, open, and visible enough I think more people would vote and it might make a positive difference.
Too bad trial lawyers own the politicians. Remember Clinton vetoing a tort reform bill in 1996? Check out their campaign contributions: http://www.opensecrets.org/pubs/cashingin_104th/49 pl.html I remember the trial lawyer's FUD campaign commercials. One said that Congress wanted to allow big businesses to make products that hurt children. The other said that they wanted to end civil rights. Really, as I recall, the Common Sense Product Liability Reform Act of 1995 was just going to limit the damages. That would have had a huge impact on the bottom line of trial lawyers. So what they were really saying is that if they can't make a ridiculous amount of money suing companies that make products that hurt children, then they aren't interested in fighting for those children.
Anybody who says we are going to run out of room in the US needs to leave the city for a weekend and go for a long drive.
I've heard that one before. It's true, we'll not run out of room to actually store people. We'll not run out of room to grow food or provide a place to work either. But in 50 or 100 hundred years, people will no longer have the option to get out of the city for a long drive. There may be patches of forest or pasture land between strip malls and residential developments and a few set aside national parks, but nothing like the land that I used to hike, hunt and fish on when I was growing up (in Florida). Out in the country where I used to live, they are dividing up the pasture land into 5 acre lots, draining wetlands and setting up cheap planned communities, an Eckerds and a WalGreens directly accross the street from each other every few blocks. It keeps pushing out, slowly but surely. I've banned myself from the gene pool anyway, so I don't really care except for sentimental reasons. Change is inevitable, I guess.
I actually saw one of these in a biology lab when I was in school and wondered about the possibility of using them for fiber optics. I didn't actually think that it would work out of the box, but the mere fact that an organism had evolved to make a type of glass fibers in an intricate patter was amazing and I knew that there was something to be learned from studying it. It looks like it was even more promising that I thought. Damn, maybe if I had mentioned it back then I could have helped someone figure this out a few years sooner.
Since legally coipyright infringment damage can only me measured in economic terms of lost sales.. Disney just reported an increase in sales over the last year from $5.8 billion to $6.2 billion, "Fueled by gains in its film business and television networks."
article
If the rest of the entertainment industry has been that successful in this economy, then it's going to be difficult to prove that piracy is killing their business model. On the other hand, if the rest of the industry isn't doing as well, I wonder if the rest of the field will start marketing to children (perceived as being too young to pirate)?
Novell Statement on SCO Contract Amendment
PROVO, Utah -- June 6, 2003 -- In a May 28th letter to SCO, Novell challenged SCO's claims to UNIX patent and copyright ownership and demanded that SCO substantiate its allegations that Linux infringes SCO's intellectual property rights. Amendment #2 to the 1995 SCO-Novell Asset Purchase Agreement was sent to Novell last night by SCO. To Novell's knowledge, this amendment is not present in Novell's files. The amendment appears to support SCO's claim that ownership of certain copyrights for UNIX did transfer to SCO in 1996. The amendment does not address ownership of patents, however, which clearly remain with Novell.
Novell reiterates its request to SCO to address the fundamental issue Novell raised in its May 28 letter: SCO's still unsubstantiated claims against the Linux community.
That sounds less promising than their first press release, but it sounds like there are still some unanswered questions.
140,000 seems like a lot of computers for an upstart federal agency. They must be trying to help out the ole unemployment situation. Or could it be kickbacks?
I'm a Novell admin, and I look forward to the change. I'm a Linux newbie, but I've known for years that the market was headed in the Linux direction. Right after I got my CNE people kept telling me that there was no need for Novell guys, only MCSEs. It appeared that Novell was slowly being phased out at most offices and that there was no future in it, and no reason to invest in it as an admin, a company, or a developer. Now there is a viable upgrade path that and an opportunity for a smooth transition that does not waste our existing skills (or infrastructure). This really raises my opinion of Novell's future and makes me less afraid to keep my skills current with their products.
You know, I have thought about this too. The only logical explanation is that it is an agreement between world leaders that they not assasinate each other. Let the grunts do the dying. We apparenltly have a law against assasinating foriegn leaders, enacted when some wanted to off Castro. When Iraqi rebels wanted to assasinate Sadam (some time after the Gulf War) we told them no. We tried one of our CIA agents for treason or some nonsense because they thought that he had NOT carried out his orders to tell them NOT to kill Sadam. But it is ok to bomb the hell out of everyone else (civillians and grunts). It's ok to waste money and resources fighting a war, and take casualties (though we don't take too many from the enemy).
I think that everything is setup to keep the consumption of military resources at a constant level (or slightly increasing) over time. Seems kind of Orwellian.
Slashdot Mirror
What does it matter if it only cost them ten cents?
IMHO, paper records aren't that important. It's probably a false sense of security anyway. I want the system to be as open and visible as possible, which eternal vigilance in checking and double checking the processes. A little faith is always required, but I would have more faith in a highly visible, proven electronic technology than I would ever have had in a paper only system. Look at how inaccurate that system seems when they do a recount. And accuracy isn't the only issue. It is sometimes a pain in the ass to go to the polls. I want to be able to log into the polls from my pc, enter my unique voter ID, vote for my unpopular candidate and see the vote show up on my precinct ticker in real time. I don't really care if they keep a paper record with my unique ID or not. If someone can prove it's me, what are they gonna do? Is George Bush going to kick my ass because I didn't vote for him? I don't see any reason that the system has to retain your personal information when the keys are being generated. One set of keys for each eligible voter in the US. Could people sell their keys? Sure, I guess. Would it be worth it to the politician? It would be pretty hard to keep that kind of think quiet. What if some bad politician or is supporters try to strong arm people into giving up their voter keys? I don't know. Once again, there would have to be a significant amount of this going on to swing an election and they would probably get caught. And if there are people out there that bad, they are going to be doing bad things anyway. You have to stand up to them or they are going to push you around anyway. Most Americans do not vote anyway. If we make the process convenient, open, and visible enough I think more people would vote and it might make a positive difference.
This is good for everyone except the lawyers.
9 pl.html
Too bad trial lawyers own the politicians. Remember Clinton vetoing a tort reform bill in 1996? Check out their campaign contributions: http://www.opensecrets.org/pubs/cashingin_104th/4
I remember the trial lawyer's FUD campaign commercials. One said that Congress wanted to allow big businesses to make products that hurt children. The other said that they wanted to end civil rights. Really, as I recall, the Common Sense Product Liability Reform Act of 1995 was just going to limit the damages. That would have had a huge impact on the bottom line of trial lawyers. So what they were really saying is that if they can't make a ridiculous amount of money suing companies that make products that hurt children, then they aren't interested in fighting for those children.
Imagine the cruelty of slashdotting web servers with AI. They'll start suing us for pain and suffering.
great powers and whatnot, but then you only get laid once and die of a brain tumor
I'll bet that most Slashdotters would consider that an acceptable trade off.
Anybody who says we are going to run out of room in the US needs to leave the city for a weekend and go for a long drive.
I've heard that one before. It's true, we'll not run out of room to actually store people. We'll not run out of room to grow food or provide a place to work either. But in 50 or 100 hundred years, people will no longer have the option to get out of the city for a long drive. There may be patches of forest or pasture land between strip malls and residential developments and a few set aside national parks, but nothing like the land that I used to hike, hunt and fish on when I was growing up (in Florida). Out in the country where I used to live, they are dividing up the pasture land into 5 acre lots, draining wetlands and setting up cheap planned communities, an Eckerds and a WalGreens directly accross the street from each other every few blocks. It keeps pushing out, slowly but surely. I've banned myself from the gene pool anyway, so I don't really care except for sentimental reasons. Change is inevitable, I guess.
I actually saw one of these in a biology lab when I was in school and wondered about the possibility of using them for fiber optics. I didn't actually think that it would work out of the box, but the mere fact that an organism had evolved to make a type of glass fibers in an intricate patter was amazing and I knew that there was something to be learned from studying it. It looks like it was even more promising that I thought. Damn, maybe if I had mentioned it back then I could have helped someone figure this out a few years sooner.
Since legally coipyright infringment damage can only me measured in economic terms of lost sales..
Disney just reported an increase in sales over the last year from $5.8 billion to $6.2 billion, "Fueled by gains in its film business and television networks." article If the rest of the entertainment industry has been that successful in this economy, then it's going to be difficult to prove that piracy is killing their business model. On the other hand, if the rest of the industry isn't doing as well, I wonder if the rest of the field will start marketing to children (perceived as being too young to pirate)?
That sounds less promising than their first press release, but it sounds like there are still some unanswered questions.
140,000 seems like a lot of computers for an upstart federal agency. They must be trying to help out the ole unemployment situation. Or could it be kickbacks?
I'm a Novell admin, and I look forward to the change. I'm a Linux newbie, but I've known for years that the market was headed in the Linux direction. Right after I got my CNE people kept telling me that there was no need for Novell guys, only MCSEs. It appeared that Novell was slowly being phased out at most offices and that there was no future in it, and no reason to invest in it as an admin, a company, or a developer. Now there is a viable upgrade path that and an opportunity for a smooth transition that does not waste our existing skills (or infrastructure). This really raises my opinion of Novell's future and makes me less afraid to keep my skills current with their products.
You know, I have thought about this too. The only logical explanation is that it is an agreement between world leaders that they not assasinate each other. Let the grunts do the dying. We apparenltly have a law against assasinating foriegn leaders, enacted when some wanted to off Castro. When Iraqi rebels wanted to assasinate Sadam (some time after the Gulf War) we told them no. We tried one of our CIA agents for treason or some nonsense because they thought that he had NOT carried out his orders to tell them NOT to kill Sadam. But it is ok to bomb the hell out of everyone else (civillians and grunts). It's ok to waste money and resources fighting a war, and take casualties (though we don't take too many from the enemy).
I think that everything is setup to keep the consumption of military resources at a constant level (or slightly increasing) over time. Seems kind of Orwellian.