I s'pose it's like sex - everyone says how great it is, and every teenage boy wants it. But then, when it's finally obtained or obtainable, it's just kind of, "Eh, it was ok, but not what I thought."
What this guy proposes sounds all well and good, but once all his specific proposals are implemented, the U.S. government will have a very robust methodology in place to gather information on EVERYONE, not just terrorists and evil-doers.
If you read the article with a bit of a paranoid mindset, you'll realize that the tools described, if they are ever developed, will enable any government to have a comprehensive picture of all things happening in the world, good or bad. Given the fact that most governments have very little regard for personal privacy and freedom, especially after September 11, what is going to prevent an Orwellian use of information against citizens?
The U.S. government, in particular, has enough money and enough self-righteousness to become a terribly effective Big Brother, and making a clear distinction between dangerous zealots and regular citizens with unpopular views will become ever more blurred.
To test this, I just converted a very large and complex Word doc (pure, unadulterated corporate bullshit) to.rtf, without any modification or care. File size: .doc 241 KB .rtf 954 KB
The premise that the common good is a powerful motivator is absolute hogwash. Human beings are selfish bastards, pure and simple. Every one of us will care for ourselves and ours. How we we define 'ours', however, is what makes this interesting.
In the experiments cited, there is no way participants can establish a trust rating, so they have no way to establish a co-operative subgroup where the common good is the prime objective. Ergo, everyone looks to advance their own positions before they get clobbered by someone else. To illustrate this, take a look at the following examples:
Democracy. Ideally, we appoint people we trust to manage things for us and work for the good of all. In reality, since we do not trust one another, competing factions crop up and battle within the legal/political arena for a piece of power to advance their own positions. Sadly, even these factions, which would function as a co-operative subgroup with their own good in mind, become fragmented when power is finally reached and everyone looks for personal profit.
In P2P, and in things like Open Source collaboration, we operate under the banner of freedom and common good, where each one of us sacrifices something (time, resources, etc.) for the advancement of a moral community, expecting everyone else to do the exact same thing. BUT, we sacrifice a) only surplus resources, or b) until we percieve we are being had by freeloaders. Then, as in every human endeavour, we turn to ourselves and ours and let everyone else go to hell.
I think it's about time we accepted the fact that most of us are selfish and suspicious. When we openly state this, true collaboration will be possible, since everyone will know where everyone stands.
---Reading this over, I'm reminded of Ayn Rand's Objectivism:)---
The Newton was a really cool toy. The original pilot and all its descendants are really cool toys AND really useful tools for all sorts of things. The fact that, in part, they became useful thanks to a few gazillion hackers and coders is irrelevant. The Newton came close, but no cigar. The pilot combined, right out of the box, a great form factor, battery life, intuitive interface, affordable price and just plain useful basic apps.
Perhaps I'm being hopelessly naive, but I believe that lobbying is evil. Why? Because it allows the people with the most money to directly influence the opinions and votes of congressmen in _their_ favor.
Perhaps we should do the same, since that is the way the political game is played. But the moral of lobbying is clear: You can buy politicians.
That's not really how it was supposed to work, is it?
Correct.
But the sudden increased load on every site, and how each site handled it, is what set/. apart.
Perhaps CNN had four or five times the load they usually have, while/. had "only" three. This does not diminish the achievement. The SlashTeam showed that when the shit hits the fan, they keep going.
I don't care if they did it through careful planning beforehand, quick reponses, steady nerves, raw talent or an interesting application of voodoo, Slashdot was the only place I could keep informed.
Knunov:
You're wrong. Latin Americans are NOT corrupt. We are just responding to a few lifetimes of being royally screwed by our respective governments and watching our countries being destroyed by the unbridled greed of our version of the old-boy network.
Look at it this way: You spend every waking moment fighting the powers that be for that extra cent that might keep your family from starving, knowing full well that those you fight will try _anything_ to take that cent away. Suddenly, you find yourself in a different country with an entirely different culture, where appointed leaders, business tycoons, traffic cops and the checkout girl at the corner store do not spend _their_ every waking moment planning how to screw you over. It's an almost impossible transition.
When Latin Americans try to refrain from paying for products or services, try to understand that for us it is clear that those we refuse to pay are screwing us over in another way. Quid pro quo, Clarice. Paranoid, don't you think?
How did we get this way, you ask? Simple. We were conquered. And not too long ago, mind you. When the spaniards came and took over, they neglected to perform the one essential task that would ensure peace and prosperity. They forgot to kill us off as quickly as possible. Thus, different races violently grew up together into the Latin American countries you see today. Countries rife with socio-economic extremes, racial discrimination so culturally ingrained that blacks and women in the U.S. couldn't even begin to comprehend it, power -hoarding and -wielding that would make the Kennedys blush and good old plain hatred for everyone not clearly on your side.
You said: " There is a reason Latins are flocking to America. They are fleeing a gigantic shithole.", so perhaps, deep down, you understand what is happening south of the border.
About Americans, you're right. You're not bad folks. Just suffering from the inherent blindness and xenophobia that comes from being top dog. It happens to everyone. Ask the Romans. Or the English.
Of Course! It's really simple. Tell the kid that caches will only be cleaned out by YOU. Empty cache: no web access! That way, she knows that anything she sees can be seen by you as well. Still, it is critical that you talk to her beforehand so she knows what the deal is and that she should talk to you when she comes across pr0n, neo-nazis, snuff and Slahdot!
How much of a visionary Clarke is can be quantified in the coming years. Check out his predictions for the future.
http://www.rense.com/ufo2/beyond2000.htm
This guy says: "...As I get into the thicker atmosphere it will gradually slow me down to normal speed."
As I see it, the thicker atmosphere will slow him down by friction, generating enormous amount of heat and maybe even a nasty high-frequency vibration. How is that survivable? I mean, they can't plaster the suit with ceramic tiles, right?
I dont mind banners on/. since they usually depict stuff I'm interested in. BUT, one thing I've wanted for a long time is some sort of assurance that the product being hawked complies with strict standards of quality, geekiness, usefulness, etc. as defined by the owners/moderators/spirit of/.
If company A is advertising its product B on/., and I know that Hemos et al. don't let just any dumb company occupy that space, I might click on that banner much more readily, thus making it more effective to the advertiser.
Think of it as a structured word-of-mouth model.
Click-through might decrease, but click-through-SALE would increase.
You said: "I mean, if you work in a pizziaria, you get sick of pizza fast."
CowboyNeal said: "I don't know if I have a favorite pizza topping. I used to work at a pizza place when I was in high school, and learned to like almost every pizza topping there is, even anchovies."
You, sir, picked the worst possible example!
Even so, I agree 100%
Morel
Re:NEWS: NASA Announces New Strategy
on
Sex in Space
·
· Score: 1
Whoa...hold on a second. Did I or did I not read about some bizarre plan to shoot a porn video on Mir? Anyone hear about this? Did I have an especially dense acid flashback?
AFAIK the term Guerilla Marketing was coined by Jay Conrad Levinson (see www.gmarketing.com) for his series of books by the same name. The idea was, for small businesses, to minimize the cost of marketing by employing alternative tactics that would provide big results without the typical and expensive mediums (TV) and strategies (Wide shotgun pattern approach). The tactics you describe sound a wee bit unethical to me, and it seems that this sort of usage of the web is increasing. There was an article in TIME recently that mentioned a similar phenomenon: a shift from a scientist/hacker dominated atmosphere where most things are free and meritocracy rules, to a place where MBAs from Stanford and Harvard are gunning for the IPOs without any regard for accepted web ethics.
Also, during WWII: I don't know if this really happened. I read about it a looong time ago. Apparently, the Allies were worried that the Nazis knew the date and location of the Normandie invasion. They couldn't change their plans for a variety of reasons, so they decided to fool them: They took a corpse, dressed it up as an intelligence officer, complete with handcuffed briefcase, realistically aged love letters, IDs and pictures, as well as several real and fake documents in the briefcase. The real ones were included to fortify the illusion and the fake one gave an erroneous date and location for the invasion. They uh, modified, the body to simulate wounds and burns from a plane crash and dropped it in the sea where it would be picked up by Nazi patrols. The Germans found it, bought the story, and moved a lot of their available troops to non-threatening areas of the coast. Can anyone confirm or deny?
After reading http://www.tabloid.net/1998/10/12/kidnapmicrochip_ 981012.html and http://www.telegraph.co.uk:80/et?ac=001202741341 225&rtmo=lwP7kQzt&atmo=99999999&pg=/et/98/ 10/6/wchip06.html and falling for them hook, line and sinker, I emailed Dr. Warwick for information. He promptly responded and said he'd heard a lot about it but had been unable to confirm the rumours. Undoubtedly a hoax, but still it has interesting possibilities.
Yesyesyesyes! We could have a Handspring Visor with Springboards for every country/region! Add the Palm VII wireless capabilities (after major work done on it to make it useful and FREE) for automatic information upgrades, and you got your Guide!
Slashdot Mirror
I s'pose it's like sex - everyone says how great
it is, and every teenage boy wants it. But then, when it's finally obtained
or obtainable, it's just kind of, "Eh, it was ok, but not what I thought."
Eh?! Man, you're obviously doing it wrong!
Besides, how many times have we come across 'new and improved' versions of our favorite software that just plain suck?
Careful sysadmins don't just set the Automatic Upgrade swith to "Full Throttle", they evaluate stuff before deploying it.
Morel
What this guy proposes sounds all well and good, but once all his specific proposals are implemented, the U.S. government will have a very robust methodology in place to gather information on EVERYONE, not just terrorists and evil-doers.
If you read the article with a bit of a paranoid mindset, you'll realize that the tools described, if they are ever developed, will enable any government to have a comprehensive picture of all things happening in the world, good or bad. Given the fact that most governments have very little regard for personal privacy and freedom, especially after September 11, what is going to prevent an Orwellian use of information against citizens?
The U.S. government, in particular, has enough money and enough self-righteousness to become a terribly effective Big Brother, and making a clear distinction between dangerous zealots and regular citizens with unpopular views will become ever more blurred.
Morel
.rtf is a bad idea.
.rtf, without any modification or care.
.rtf is just a reworked .doc
To test this, I just converted a very large and complex Word doc (pure, unadulterated corporate bullshit) to
File size:
.doc 241 KB
.rtf 954 KB
Remember,
Morel
Similar pages?
Hit F9 and configure the 'What's Related' option. It's been there for quite a while.
(Works fine on Win2000 and I'm not gonna reboot to check on the Linux version.)
Morel
Exactly.
:)---
The premise that the common good is a powerful motivator is absolute hogwash. Human beings are selfish bastards, pure and simple. Every one of us will care for ourselves and ours. How we we define 'ours', however, is what makes this interesting.
In the experiments cited, there is no way participants can establish a trust rating, so they have no way to establish a co-operative subgroup where the common good is the prime objective. Ergo, everyone looks to advance their own positions before they get clobbered by someone else. To illustrate this, take a look at the following examples:
Democracy. Ideally, we appoint people we trust to manage things for us and work for the good of all. In reality, since we do not trust one another, competing factions crop up and battle within the legal/political arena for a piece of power to advance their own positions. Sadly, even these factions, which would function as a co-operative subgroup with their own good in mind, become fragmented when power is finally reached and everyone looks for personal profit.
In P2P, and in things like Open Source collaboration, we operate under the banner of freedom and common good, where each one of us sacrifices something (time, resources, etc.) for the advancement of a moral community, expecting everyone else to do the exact same thing. BUT, we sacrifice a) only surplus resources, or b) until we percieve we are being had by freeloaders. Then, as in every human endeavour, we turn to ourselves and ours and let everyone else go to hell.
I think it's about time we accepted the fact that most of us are selfish and suspicious. When we openly state this, true collaboration will be possible, since everyone will know where everyone stands.
---Reading this over, I'm reminded of Ayn Rand's Objectivism
Morel
You want communication? Drool over this:
t ml
http://www.plantronics.com/bluetooth/products.h
Morel
Um, no.
The Newton was a really cool toy. The original pilot and all its descendants are really cool toys AND really useful tools for all sorts of things. The fact that, in part, they became useful thanks to a few gazillion hackers and coders is irrelevant. The Newton came close, but no cigar. The pilot combined, right out of the box, a great form factor, battery life, intuitive interface, affordable price and just plain useful basic apps.
Morel
Perhaps I'm being hopelessly naive, but I believe that lobbying is evil. Why? Because it allows the people with the most money to directly influence the opinions and votes of congressmen in _their_ favor.
Perhaps we should do the same, since that is the way the political game is played. But the moral of lobbying is clear: You can buy politicians.
That's not really how it was supposed to work, is it?
Morel
Correct. /. apart.
/. had "only" three. This does not diminish the achievement. The SlashTeam showed that when the shit hits the fan, they keep going.
But the sudden increased load on every site, and how each site handled it, is what set
Perhaps CNN had four or five times the load they usually have, while
I don't care if they did it through careful planning beforehand, quick reponses, steady nerves, raw talent or an interesting application of voodoo, Slashdot was the only place I could keep informed.
Morel
Knunov:
You're wrong. Latin Americans are NOT corrupt. We are just responding to a few lifetimes of being royally screwed by our respective governments and watching our countries being destroyed by the unbridled greed of our version of the old-boy network.
Look at it this way: You spend every waking moment fighting the powers that be for that extra cent that might keep your family from starving, knowing full well that those you fight will try _anything_ to take that cent away. Suddenly, you find yourself in a different country with an entirely different culture, where appointed leaders, business tycoons, traffic cops and the checkout girl at the corner store do not spend _their_ every waking moment planning how to screw you over. It's an almost impossible transition.
When Latin Americans try to refrain from paying for products or services, try to understand that for us it is clear that those we refuse to pay are screwing us over in another way. Quid pro quo, Clarice. Paranoid, don't you think?
How did we get this way, you ask? Simple. We were conquered. And not too long ago, mind you. When the spaniards came and took over, they neglected to perform the one essential task that would ensure peace and prosperity. They forgot to kill us off as quickly as possible. Thus, different races violently grew up together into the Latin American countries you see today. Countries rife with socio-economic extremes, racial discrimination so culturally ingrained that blacks and women in the U.S. couldn't even begin to comprehend it, power -hoarding and -wielding that would make the Kennedys blush and good old plain hatred for everyone not clearly on your side.
You said: " There is a reason Latins are flocking to America. They are fleeing a gigantic shithole.", so perhaps, deep down, you understand what is happening south of the border.
About Americans, you're right. You're not bad folks. Just suffering from the inherent blindness and xenophobia that comes from being top dog. It happens to everyone. Ask the Romans. Or the English.
Morel
Of Course! It's really simple. Tell the kid that caches will only be cleaned out by YOU. Empty cache: no web access! That way, she knows that anything she sees can be seen by you as well. Still, it is critical that you talk to her beforehand so she knows what the deal is and that she should talk to you when she comes across pr0n, neo-nazis, snuff and Slahdot!
How much of a visionary Clarke is can be quantified in the coming years. Check out his predictions for the future.
http://www.rense.com/ufo2/beyond2000.htm
Morel
This guy says: "...As I get into the thicker atmosphere it will gradually slow me down to normal speed."
As I see it, the thicker atmosphere will slow him down by friction, generating enormous amount of heat and maybe even a nasty high-frequency vibration. How is that survivable? I mean, they can't plaster the suit with ceramic tiles, right?
Morel
I dont mind banners on /. since they usually depict stuff I'm interested in. BUT, one thing I've wanted for a long time is some sort of assurance that the product being hawked complies with strict standards of quality, geekiness, usefulness, etc. as defined by the owners/moderators/spirit of /.
/., and I know that Hemos et al. don't let just any dumb company occupy that space, I might click on that banner much more readily, thus making it more effective to the advertiser.
If company A is advertising its product B on
Think of it as a structured word-of-mouth model.
Click-through might decrease, but click-through-SALE would increase.
Morel
You said: "I mean, if you work in a pizziaria, you get sick of pizza fast."
CowboyNeal said: "I don't know if I have a favorite pizza topping. I used to work at a pizza place when I was in high school, and learned to like almost every pizza topping there is, even anchovies."
You, sir, picked the worst possible example!
Even so, I agree 100%
Morel
Whoa...hold on a second. Did I or did I not read about some bizarre plan to shoot a porn video on Mir? Anyone hear about this? Did I have an especially dense acid flashback?
Morel
AFAIK the term Guerilla Marketing was coined by Jay Conrad Levinson (see www.gmarketing.com) for his series of books by the same name. The idea was, for small businesses, to minimize the cost of marketing by employing alternative tactics that would provide big results without the typical and expensive mediums (TV) and strategies (Wide shotgun pattern approach).
The tactics you describe sound a wee bit unethical to me, and it seems that this sort of usage of the web is increasing.
There was an article in TIME recently that mentioned a similar phenomenon: a shift from a scientist/hacker dominated atmosphere where most things are free and meritocracy rules, to a place where MBAs from Stanford and Harvard are gunning for the IPOs without any regard for accepted web ethics.
Morel
Also, during WWII:
I don't know if this really happened. I read about it a looong time ago.
Apparently, the Allies were worried that the Nazis knew the date and location of the Normandie invasion. They couldn't change their plans for a variety of reasons, so they decided to fool them: They took a corpse, dressed it up as an intelligence officer, complete with handcuffed briefcase, realistically aged love letters, IDs and pictures, as well as several real and fake documents in the briefcase. The real ones were included to fortify the illusion and the fake one gave an erroneous date and location for the invasion.
They uh, modified, the body to simulate wounds and burns from a plane crash and dropped it in the sea where it would be picked up by Nazi patrols.
The Germans found it, bought the story, and moved a lot of their available troops to non-threatening areas of the coast.
Can anyone confirm or deny?
Morel
As a matter of fact, the Ayn Rand Institute has a Microsoft Defense Site.
http://microsoft.aynrand.org/microsoft.html
After reading http://www.tabloid.net/1998/10/12/kidnapmicrochip_ 981012.html 1 225&rtmo=lwP7kQzt&atmo=99999999&pg=/et/98/ 10/6/wchip06.html
and
http://www.telegraph.co.uk:80/et?ac=00120274134
and falling for them hook, line and sinker, I emailed Dr. Warwick for information. He promptly responded and said he'd heard a lot about it but had been unable to confirm the rumours.
Undoubtedly a hoax, but still it has interesting possibilities.
Morel
Yesyesyesyes! We could have a Handspring Visor with Springboards for every country/region! Add the Palm VII wireless capabilities (after major work done on it to make it useful and FREE) for automatic information upgrades, and you got your Guide!