I second that. If he's savvy enough to release under the GPL, I'd bet my white hat that someone on his staff is reading slashdot as religiously as the rest of us.
Taco? Can we interview Howard Dean? Please?
Although I'm politically more with Kucinich, I really admire the way Dean has taken the lead with using novel forms of communications technology. Everything he's done, from meetups to blogging to soliciting individual donations on the internet shows a kind of grasp of the technology that really reflects well on him (or, at least, his staff). The latest news is pretty much in line with that behavior.
It does beg the question--will a Dean presidency be geek friendly? Will it turn back the DMCA and scale back software patents? I'd like to know more, but I'm optimistic for the first time in a long time.
Actually, you should blame them. This runs counter to a whole history of case law that protects journalists' research material--and they damn well know it. Unless the government has a pressing reason to get at this information (i.e. it's not just going on a "fishing expedition"), they won't be able to get the notes of any reporter who cries foul. At the risk of getting modded redundant, here's a recent case that goes over this part of the law.
Actually, the courts have ruled repeatedly that journalists have an exception that allows them to keep confidential all their notes and research for their stories. Most recently, the ACLU helped student Jason Kitchen keep his notes that he made for a documentary about a death row inmate. The idea is that, unless the government has a very compelling reason to acquire those notes, they aren't allowed to get them. It prevents the government from conducting a "fishing expedition" based on reporters' confidential research.
There seem to be more and more of these kinds of ultra-independent movies coming out as the technology gets cheaper and the software more widespread. Is there a central rallying point for these kinds of zero-budget films? Some sort of collective or wiki or forum site or anything? This process of doing these movies really fascinates me, and I'd wonder what all these folks would say if they got themselves and their projects together in the same place. I mean, there's atomfilms, but that's even more more mainstream than this kind of stuff, IMHO. Anyone?
There is construo, which is free software (as in beer and speech) and runs on Linux. Is has nothing for graphics and is strictly 2D, but it is still a hell of a lot of fun. Plus, you aren't just restricted to bridges--you can build almost anything you like. It's like the Tetris of the construction game genre--it ain't pretty, but it is very addictive.
I'm not sure if that will get you in hot water with the RIAA. Yes, you may be violating your user agreement with the ISP. Worst case, they drop you. But it still leaves open the question of who was doing the file trading. You may wind up without your broadband connection, but, without proof of who did the downloading, an RIAA suit wouldn't have much to go on.
In fact, it is possible that everyone behind the router could be file-sharing. As long as the cloud of doubt remains, though (and the router logs remain non-existant), the router owner shouldn't be on the hook for anything beyond violating the terms of service with their provider.
Of course, IANAL, so ignore all of that and buy all of your music for full price at Best Buy. Rat out your friends. Run Win XP. Choose a starter home. Choose leisurewear and matching luggage...
I'm stoked. I really loved this game as a kid. But has anyone managed to get it compiled on Linux yet? Are there any binaries available? I'm gung-ho enough to roll my own, but I haven't had any success yet.
I notice, for instance, that a "Ween" song is on there. Ween has had a pretty good policy of allowing people to record and trade live shows, a la The Grateful Dead and Phish. I would think, given their fairly progressive track record in that respect, that they would not ask to appear on this list. Rather, I think the RIAA is just using the list to cast as broad a net as possible to pick up as many people as possible (Ween listners, Keith Sweat listeners, etc.) so they can keep handing out those subpeonas. I doubt that individual artists were asked to participate in the search.
...obvious...pr0n...joke....
"Need a small keyboard that's easy to clean? The iGesture Mini Keyboard is great for applications where two-handed touch typing is not the norm."
This could be the key to their defense against the C&D letter. Blizzard does not port its games over to Linux. It would be VERY diffcult for them to prove that the existence of Freecraft interfered with their business in a market where they do not even wish to operate. If they've lost money, it's because they have never chosen to sell their work to Linux users.
That said, I like Freecraft well enough to hope that a simple name change will bring the project back to life. That, or start developing it on freenet. In fact, I'm kicking myself for not having the latest code, 'cuz I'd insert it right now.
I've read in other places on their site (damn, can't find the links) that more distros are coming. As a poster above wrote, most of Ximian's biz is on Red Hat and SuSE, so they're rolling out first. I'm hoping they'll still have Yellow Dog support, since my wife's computer runs off that.
I'm actually worried about this. Yeah, it seems weird and bloaty, but XUL can be insanely useful for quickly developing apps, especially internal web apps. Sometimes, the standard HTML form widgets just don't cut it. Plus, there's a heap of potentially cool new projects that have started using XUL which would be totally shafted if XUL disappeared.
Not that I think it will be dropped, but it would be a shame if it was.
Ya know, as funny as this is, it's not a bad idea for a protest. Suppose the Michigan starts enforcing the law in the worst way possible and begins busting folks with NATs at home at the request of ISPs. I think a state-wide day (or more!) of protest smart mobbing should involve everyone using the Internet on that day jamming the ISP support lines with similar calls.
"Hello, I'd like to send email to my grandmother, can I get permission to do that? Could you be get that in writing and fax it to me? Thanks!"
That's a shame. It can take a little while to get used to double-entry bookkeeping, but once you grok it, GnuCash really makes things sing. I've used GnuCash since 1.4.x, and it's still the best thing I've tried (including Quicken). You can get away with just using the checkbook type register to do simple finances. Really, the beauty of GnuCash is that it allows itself to be as simple or as complicated as you need it. I started using it for simple finances, and now I also run my consulting business on it. It's been great for both.
You can download transactions to it, too, in reply to one of the parent posts. Bill paying isn't in yet, but things seem to be moving along pretty well in that direction. Plus, the users mailing list is really active and helpful, so there's no need to bang heads.
There doesn't seem to be any smoking gun as far as contributions from the RIAA based on his list of contributors or the list of contributing industries. It is clear that the National Beer Wholesalers Association is his top contributor, so...maybe he was just drunk.
I think the word is "mondegreen," though it applies more specifically to song lyrics. "Mondegreen" itself is a mondegreen, taken from the name "Lady Mondegreen," which is a mistaken version of the actual lyric "laid him on the green." A longer explanation and some examples are here.
Yeah, yeah, it's offtopic. No one likes reading various insundry bits of crud that don't relate to the thread.
I'm not saying you're crazy, but tinnitus or a related phenomenon could be part of the reason for the sound you hear. It's surprisingly easy to habituate yourself into hearing buzzing, humming, or other types of noise that can be interpreted that way. There are, of course, other possible reasons for why you hear the sounds (degaussing on a CRT, maybe). And there are certainly other physiological causes for tinnitus, too. But it's not impossible that you're causing yourself to hear sounds when you expect to hear them. There's an interesting article on habituation and treatment of tinnitus that might be related. The human brain is truly a marvel.
It's a really interesting idea to clarify the Copyright Clause with an amendment to the Constitution, but what should the amendment say? Should it lock in the terms to 50 years? What if future generations have the opportunity to shorten it further? Could it implement a much more rigorous system for expanding/contracting the terms? What is to be done about life-of-author terms for individuals vs. corporate terms? Is anyone else nervous about even entering the word "corporation" into the constitution, lest it be interpreted into whole new areas of corporate law (i.e. setting a constitutional precedent for the "rights" of corporations? IANAL, just curious about the possibilities and pitfalls.
Slashdot Mirror
I second that. If he's savvy enough to release under the GPL, I'd bet my white hat that someone on his staff is reading slashdot as religiously as the rest of us. Taco? Can we interview Howard Dean? Please?
Although I'm politically more with Kucinich, I really admire the way Dean has taken the lead with using novel forms of communications technology. Everything he's done, from meetups to blogging to soliciting individual donations on the internet shows a kind of grasp of the technology that really reflects well on him (or, at least, his staff). The latest news is pretty much in line with that behavior.
It does beg the question--will a Dean presidency be geek friendly? Will it turn back the DMCA and scale back software patents? I'd like to know more, but I'm optimistic for the first time in a long time.
Actually, you should blame them. This runs counter to a whole history of case law that protects journalists' research material--and they damn well know it. Unless the government has a pressing reason to get at this information (i.e. it's not just going on a "fishing expedition"), they won't be able to get the notes of any reporter who cries foul. At the risk of getting modded redundant, here's a recent case that goes over this part of the law.
Actually, the courts have ruled repeatedly that journalists have an exception that allows them to keep confidential all their notes and research for their stories. Most recently, the ACLU helped student Jason Kitchen keep his notes that he made for a documentary about a death row inmate. The idea is that, unless the government has a very compelling reason to acquire those notes, they aren't allowed to get them. It prevents the government from conducting a "fishing expedition" based on reporters' confidential research.
There seem to be more and more of these kinds of ultra-independent movies coming out as the technology gets cheaper and the software more widespread. Is there a central rallying point for these kinds of zero-budget films? Some sort of collective or wiki or forum site or anything? This process of doing these movies really fascinates me, and I'd wonder what all these folks would say if they got themselves and their projects together in the same place. I mean, there's atomfilms, but that's even more more mainstream than this kind of stuff, IMHO. Anyone?
There is construo, which is free software (as in beer and speech) and runs on Linux. Is has nothing for graphics and is strictly 2D, but it is still a hell of a lot of fun. Plus, you aren't just restricted to bridges--you can build almost anything you like. It's like the Tetris of the construction game genre--it ain't pretty, but it is very addictive.
I'm not sure if that will get you in hot water with the RIAA. Yes, you may be violating your user agreement with the ISP. Worst case, they drop you. But it still leaves open the question of who was doing the file trading. You may wind up without your broadband connection, but, without proof of who did the downloading, an RIAA suit wouldn't have much to go on.
In fact, it is possible that everyone behind the router could be file-sharing. As long as the cloud of doubt remains, though (and the router logs remain non-existant), the router owner shouldn't be on the hook for anything beyond violating the terms of service with their provider.
Of course, IANAL, so ignore all of that and buy all of your music for full price at Best Buy. Rat out your friends. Run Win XP. Choose a starter home. Choose leisurewear and matching luggage...
How about respecting our rights? Ah, a little parody is good for the soul, if not the legal bills.
I'm stoked. I really loved this game as a kid. But has anyone managed to get it compiled on Linux yet? Are there any binaries available? I'm gung-ho enough to roll my own, but I haven't had any success yet.
I notice, for instance, that a "Ween" song is on there. Ween has had a pretty good policy of allowing people to record and trade live shows, a la The Grateful Dead and Phish. I would think, given their fairly progressive track record in that respect, that they would not ask to appear on this list. Rather, I think the RIAA is just using the list to cast as broad a net as possible to pick up as many people as possible (Ween listners, Keith Sweat listeners, etc.) so they can keep handing out those subpeonas. I doubt that individual artists were asked to participate in the search.
...obvious...pr0n...joke.... "Need a small keyboard that's easy to clean? The iGesture Mini Keyboard is great for applications where two-handed touch typing is not the norm."
This could be the key to their defense against the C&D letter. Blizzard does not port its games over to Linux. It would be VERY diffcult for them to prove that the existence of Freecraft interfered with their business in a market where they do not even wish to operate. If they've lost money, it's because they have never chosen to sell their work to Linux users.
That said, I like Freecraft well enough to hope that a simple name change will bring the project back to life. That, or start developing it on freenet. In fact, I'm kicking myself for not having the latest code, 'cuz I'd insert it right now.
I've read in other places on their site (damn, can't find the links) that more distros are coming. As a poster above wrote, most of Ximian's biz is on Red Hat and SuSE, so they're rolling out first. I'm hoping they'll still have Yellow Dog support, since my wife's computer runs off that.
But not 10 to the 10^1.42 meters.
I'm actually worried about this. Yeah, it seems weird and bloaty, but XUL can be insanely useful for quickly developing apps, especially internal web apps. Sometimes, the standard HTML form widgets just don't cut it. Plus, there's a heap of potentially cool new projects that have started using XUL which would be totally shafted if XUL disappeared.
Not that I think it will be dropped, but it would be a shame if it was.
Ya know, as funny as this is, it's not a bad idea for a protest. Suppose the Michigan starts enforcing the law in the worst way possible and begins busting folks with NATs at home at the request of ISPs. I think a state-wide day (or more!) of protest smart mobbing should involve everyone using the Internet on that day jamming the ISP support lines with similar calls.
"Hello, I'd like to send email to my grandmother, can I get permission to do that? Could you be get that in writing and fax it to me? Thanks!"
Call. Rinse. Repeat...about 5 million times.
The link posted by the AC is very good. There's also a PDF which is a pretty concise walk through the basic features (pre-1.8, but still very useful).
Also, when you start GnuCash for the first time, there's a "Druid" that will walk you through and help you get your accounts downloaded and set up.
That's a shame. It can take a little while to get used to double-entry bookkeeping, but once you grok it, GnuCash really makes things sing. I've used GnuCash since 1.4.x, and it's still the best thing I've tried (including Quicken). You can get away with just using the checkbook type register to do simple finances. Really, the beauty of GnuCash is that it allows itself to be as simple or as complicated as you need it. I started using it for simple finances, and now I also run my consulting business on it. It's been great for both.
You can download transactions to it, too, in reply to one of the parent posts. Bill paying isn't in yet, but things seem to be moving along pretty well in that direction. Plus, the users mailing list is really active and helpful, so there's no need to bang heads.
There doesn't seem to be any smoking gun as far as contributions from the RIAA based on his list of contributors or the list of contributing industries. It is clear that the National Beer Wholesalers Association is his top contributor, so...maybe he was just drunk.
I think the word is "mondegreen," though it applies more specifically to song lyrics. "Mondegreen" itself is a mondegreen, taken from the name "Lady Mondegreen," which is a mistaken version of the actual lyric "laid him on the green." A longer explanation and some examples are here.
Yeah, yeah, it's offtopic. No one likes reading various insundry bits of crud that don't relate to the thread.
I'm not saying you're crazy, but tinnitus or a related phenomenon could be part of the reason for the sound you hear. It's surprisingly easy to habituate yourself into hearing buzzing, humming, or other types of noise that can be interpreted that way. There are, of course, other possible reasons for why you hear the sounds (degaussing on a CRT, maybe). And there are certainly other physiological causes for tinnitus, too. But it's not impossible that you're causing yourself to hear sounds when you expect to hear them. There's an interesting article on habituation and treatment of tinnitus that might be related. The human brain is truly a marvel.
Just one consideration among others.
It's a really interesting idea to clarify the Copyright Clause with an amendment to the Constitution, but what should the amendment say? Should it lock in the terms to 50 years? What if future generations have the opportunity to shorten it further? Could it implement a much more rigorous system for expanding/contracting the terms? What is to be done about life-of-author terms for individuals vs. corporate terms? Is anyone else nervous about even entering the word "corporation" into the constitution, lest it be interpreted into whole new areas of corporate law (i.e. setting a constitutional precedent for the "rights" of corporations? IANAL, just curious about the possibilities and pitfalls.