I do understand why you posted what you did, and I agree completely that he was way out of line in what he said. However, it does not excuse the fact that you were as offensive to me, my family and most people in the South as he was to people of African descent. You are just as guilty of bigotry as he is, no matter your intentions.
Ummm...isn't calling someone a redneck bigotry as well? Not to mention that it seems you are implying that all Southern US Male citizens (i.e. "rednecks") are bigots. I know, it's a tired argument...but come on! I am so sick of people assuming I am a racist bigot asshole just because I was born and raised in Georgia, USA.
I suppose, by your way of thinking, that every person of Middle Eastern decent is a terrorist; that's another generalization that makes me sick.
Ok...I'm guilty: I fed the troll. But I guess someone had to do it.
I've thought about this myself, and I think Richard Burgi(picture) would be perfect. He's an excellent actor, and his personality fits naturally into the superhero role.
I'll go you one better: Don't use p2p or bittorrent at all. If you're into non-pop music, you'll soon find that most unknown or indie bands/musicians give away some of their best stuff from their own websites. A few examples:
There are hundreds more, these are just a few of my favorites. If for some reason the RIAA were to sue me and the judge asked for evidence, all they would find on my computer is music copied from my own CDs (fair use), and songs legally downloaded from the artists' websites. Since I don't use p2p or bittorrent to download music anyway, they will never sue me except by mistake. If that were to happen, THEY would be settling with ME when I bring a countersuit.
Also, if you hover over Products you get several versions of BatMax, including one called "BatMax/DSL". Last time I checked, DSL modems don't have batteries. I guess the "nanoceramic" material is supposed to pull more bits through the phone line?
Those are nice machines. The marketing branch of a small software company I used to work for (http://www.inphasetech.com/) used one to print brochures. If you didn't know better, you'd swear it came directly from a professional printing house.
Apparently it is back in their control, or else the hijacker has been kind enough/sneaky enough to mirror panix.net on panix.com. It is 7:30am EST Sunday morning as I type this, and panix.com seems to be back to normal.
However, I wouldn't trust it just yet. This could be a scheme by the hijackers to steal some info from panix customers.
In my county in Northwest Georgia, one can go into the tax assessor's office and ask to see the "big map book". This is a very large book with detailed aerial maps of the entire county, cross-referenced and with exact acreage. It doesn't cost a thing to look at the map; however, if you want a copy of a page, it's $4.00 for a full-sized (approx. 1m^2) page, or $1.00 for a 1/3-size version. I for one think this is very reasonable. It certainly was very useful when my wife and I went house-hunting and there was a dispute with the potential neighbor over the property lines. One quick trip to the assessor's office and that was cleared right up.
Exactly. This is effectively the same thing as me paying another tax on my truck because some asshole somewhere decided to use the same type of vehicle as a getaway car in a bank robbery. Just because you CAN use a type of technology (car or computer) for nefarious purposes doesn't mean everybody will. They are punishing society for a few individuals' crimes.
Well, coming from a law enforcement background, I know for a fact that (at least in the state of Georgia) the supposed "right to make one free phone call" is total crap perpetuated by movies and TV. You do have the right to contact an attorney and IF you ask for one it's a free call, but beyond that, unless you are good at sweet-talking the Sergeant on duty, you are usually only allowed to make collect calls from the payphone in the holding cell or general population detention area. There are exceptions; one jail I worked at allowed a free phone call to anyone (other than your victim) as long as you behaved yourself during the booking process. If you acted a fool and caused delays or other problems for the booking officers, you were promptly shown your holding cell until you decided to calm down. My point being, it's not a guaranteed right but rather a per-institution privilege.
This is right up there with the absurdity that you should wait 24 hours before reporting a missing person. Any police department or investigator will tell you that the first 24 hours are the most critical in finding someone. Thanks to shows like Law and Order, many missing people who might have been found if promptly reported are most likely lost forever.
I haven't bought a CD in nearly a year, even as a gift for someone else. And no, I don't download music from P2P sources; as a musician myself, I simply can't do it. So how do I get new music? I usually get whatever the band or musician gives away legally from their website, and occasionally freebies from live shows. Good examples are Velvet Chain, Daughter Darling, and Collide. When I have the money, I'll buy CDs directly from the artists, either from their website or from CD Baby. Since most of the new stuff I listen to (including all of the above) are independent musicians, they get most of the money from their CD sales.
Granted, if all you like is Pop/Top40 music (bleh), then this scenario won't work for you as the RIAA would skin them alive for giving any music away. But then, most Top40 acts get plenty of money while they are in their prime, so they actually want you to buy their CD from your local retail outlet.
I am as much an animal lover as anyone, probably more than some. I just wonder where some of the more extreme PETA people get the idea that it's "wrong" to kill an animal for food or clothing. Humans are as much animals as any other creature on this earth, and you don't see PETA freaks lobbying to stop lions from killing gazelles for meat. Also, you never hear them talk about indigenous tribes in Africa and South America for whom hunting and skinning is an integral part of their society and ecology. I guess when the natives start driving cars and watching TV it will suddenly be "wrong" of them to eat meat and wear animal parts!
I would gladly give up Slackware Linux for OS X/x86, that is if it fully supported all of my PC's hardware. That, I believe, would be the biggest obstacle to such an endeavor. Personally I think it could be attempted, given the BSD core, but it definitely wouldn't be easy. As it stands, under Slackware all of my PC's hardware works, as well as most of my peripherals (scanner, printer, etc). My Dell DJ player even works using the libnjb driver, which I understand has been ported to OS X.
I really believe, though, that the major attraction of OS X is the airtight integration with the hardware. That kind of thing can't even be achieved by Microsoft with their 95% installed PC base. I don't really think Apple will settle for less than what they have now.
He wasn't painting anything. From the grandparent:
That's not to say that Linux-using pirates don't exist. I simply have never met any.
He acknowledges that some linux users are pirates.
Personally, I have a theory that supports his assumptions. In my experience as a part-time consultant, most people that use Windows at home are unaware of the fact that the so-called "casual copying" that they do is illegal. I've stopped trying to educate them about it because of all of the arguments I get into (arguing with customers is bad for business). I have a feeling that if they understood the moral and legal implications of "borrowing" their neighbor's MS Office installation disc or Norah Jones music CD, many of them would not do it.
By contrast, most linux users are experienced techies who know more about copyright laws and EULAs. Therefore, assuming the same moral thread can be applied, they would not be likely to pirate software or music.
This is, as I said, based on my own experiences with people, as well as my own moral and intellectual progress over the past several years. In the "quickie slashdot poll", I truthfully answered 0% downloaded (illegally or otherwise), 2% my own recordings, and 98% ripped from my own CDs, which is fair use. Accordingly, 100% of the software on my computer is either open source or otherwise legally obtained from the author, including a few little programs written by me in my quest to learn C++.
I can't claim, as the grandparent does, that every Linux user I know is not a pirate. My brother still downloads music from questionable sources, and one of my good friends thinks nothing of using pirated OEM copies of Microsoft software. However, I am the person who introduced both of them to Linux, and hopefully I will be able to convince them of the illegality and immorality of what they do.
1) Roughly what percent of your music collection is unauthorized files from P2P like Kazaa, FTP, etc.?
0 percent.
2) Roughly what percent of your music collection comes from sources like iTunes Music Store, eMusic, etc?
0 percent.
3) Roughly what percent of your music collection comes from shareable sources like Creative Commons-licensed music?
2 percent. (My own recordings)
4) Roughly what percent of your music collection comes from rips of your own CDs?
98 percent.
5) Roughly what percent of your music collection comes from rips of friends' CDs?
0 percent.
Of course, I don't have an iPod; my music player is a Dell DJ 20GB and I connect it to a Slackware box. I wonder what Ballmer would think about that, since the DJ was designed for use with Windows. I guess since it's not the spawn of the enemy, as the iPod is, it wouldn't be on his radar at all. That's too bad, since I'm sure there is about as much "illegal" music on DJs as there is on iPods.
Same goes for entire numeric keyboard, but I believe it can be useful for people that need to enter a lot of numbers.
I feel the same way. I learned to touch-type on an IBM Selectric II in ninth grade (13 years ago, but who's counting?). I now work primarily in data entry, and I've gotten faster at entering numbers in the keypad than in the line above QWERTY. However, the keypad is a self-taught skill I could really do without. I've actually banged my fingertips on the desk more than once when using a laptop. Arghh!
Slashdot Mirror
Since I don't want this nice gentleman to die horrible water-y death, I will abstain from downloading Opera.
Ummm...dude, I think you're a bit too late.
What is really sad is that the fictional show "Lost" is quite a bit more believeable than such tripe as "Survivor".
I'm still waiting for the live-action Robotech/Macross movie. The original 80s series was more for adults than kids anyway.
They could even use an American Idol reject to play Lynn Minmei.
I do understand why you posted what you did, and I agree completely that he was way out of line in what he said. However, it does not excuse the fact that you were as offensive to me, my family and most people in the South as he was to people of African descent. You are just as guilty of bigotry as he is, no matter your intentions.
Ummm...isn't calling someone a redneck bigotry as well? Not to mention that it seems you are implying that all Southern US Male citizens (i.e. "rednecks") are bigots. I know, it's a tired argument...but come on! I am so sick of people assuming I am a racist bigot asshole just because I was born and raised in Georgia, USA.
I suppose, by your way of thinking, that every person of Middle Eastern decent is a terrorist; that's another generalization that makes me sick.
Ok...I'm guilty: I fed the troll. But I guess someone had to do it.
I've thought about this myself, and I think Richard Burgi (picture) would be perfect. He's an excellent actor, and his personality fits naturally into the superhero role.
I'll go you one better: Don't use p2p or bittorrent at all. If you're into non-pop music, you'll soon find that most unknown or indie bands/musicians give away some of their best stuff from their own websites. A few examples:
http://www.daughterdarling.com/
http://www.collide.net/
http://www.velvetchain.com/
There are hundreds more, these are just a few of my favorites. If for some reason the RIAA were to sue me and the judge asked for evidence, all they would find on my computer is music copied from my own CDs (fair use), and songs legally downloaded from the artists' websites. Since I don't use p2p or bittorrent to download music anyway, they will never sue me except by mistake. If that were to happen, THEY would be settling with ME when I bring a countersuit.
Based solely on what I saw in the screenshot, I'll paraphrase two of the detectives here at work:
Det. 1: "Hey Netscape! I like your moves..."
Det. 2: "...I like your style..."
Det. 1 & 2: "You're my kinda browser!"
Yes, it gets annoying somewhere around the tenth time they hit someone with that.
Kids play nintendo.
Adults use palm.
They do not mix. To be sure, I am an adult and I do both. But never at the same time...
I do. At least, I have a gameboy emulator on my Clie, so I'm using my Palm and playing Nintendo at the same time.
Also, if you hover over Products you get several versions of BatMax, including one called "BatMax/DSL". Last time I checked, DSL modems don't have batteries. I guess the "nanoceramic" material is supposed to pull more bits through the phone line?
Your car's bumper uses fuel? For what, a bigger explosion when you are rear-ended?
...you insensitive clod!
Oh wait, this isn't a poll.
Twits...Trolls....
Can't we all just get along?
*ducks*
Those are nice machines. The marketing branch of a small software company I used to work for (http://www.inphasetech.com/) used one to print brochures. If you didn't know better, you'd swear it came directly from a professional printing house.
Apparently it is back in their control, or else the hijacker has been kind enough/sneaky enough to mirror panix.net on panix.com. It is 7:30am EST Sunday morning as I type this, and panix.com seems to be back to normal.
However, I wouldn't trust it just yet. This could be a scheme by the hijackers to steal some info from panix customers.
In my county in Northwest Georgia, one can go into the tax assessor's office and ask to see the "big map book". This is a very large book with detailed aerial maps of the entire county, cross-referenced and with exact acreage. It doesn't cost a thing to look at the map; however, if you want a copy of a page, it's $4.00 for a full-sized (approx. 1m^2) page, or $1.00 for a 1/3-size version. I for one think this is very reasonable. It certainly was very useful when my wife and I went house-hunting and there was a dispute with the potential neighbor over the property lines. One quick trip to the assessor's office and that was cleared right up.
Exactly. This is effectively the same thing as me paying another tax on my truck because some asshole somewhere decided to use the same type of vehicle as a getaway car in a bank robbery. Just because you CAN use a type of technology (car or computer) for nefarious purposes doesn't mean everybody will. They are punishing society for a few individuals' crimes.
Well, coming from a law enforcement background, I know for a fact that (at least in the state of Georgia) the supposed "right to make one free phone call" is total crap perpetuated by movies and TV. You do have the right to contact an attorney and IF you ask for one it's a free call, but beyond that, unless you are good at sweet-talking the Sergeant on duty, you are usually only allowed to make collect calls from the payphone in the holding cell or general population detention area. There are exceptions; one jail I worked at allowed a free phone call to anyone (other than your victim) as long as you behaved yourself during the booking process. If you acted a fool and caused delays or other problems for the booking officers, you were promptly shown your holding cell until you decided to calm down. My point being, it's not a guaranteed right but rather a per-institution privilege.
This is right up there with the absurdity that you should wait 24 hours before reporting a missing person. Any police department or investigator will tell you that the first 24 hours are the most critical in finding someone. Thanks to shows like Law and Order, many missing people who might have been found if promptly reported are most likely lost forever.
I haven't bought a CD in nearly a year, even as a gift for someone else. And no, I don't download music from P2P sources; as a musician myself, I simply can't do it. So how do I get new music? I usually get whatever the band or musician gives away legally from their website, and occasionally freebies from live shows. Good examples are Velvet Chain, Daughter Darling, and Collide. When I have the money, I'll buy CDs directly from the artists, either from their website or from CD Baby. Since most of the new stuff I listen to (including all of the above) are independent musicians, they get most of the money from their CD sales.
Granted, if all you like is Pop/Top40 music (bleh), then this scenario won't work for you as the RIAA would skin them alive for giving any music away. But then, most Top40 acts get plenty of money while they are in their prime, so they actually want you to buy their CD from your local retail outlet.
I am as much an animal lover as anyone, probably more than some. I just wonder where some of the more extreme PETA people get the idea that it's "wrong" to kill an animal for food or clothing. Humans are as much animals as any other creature on this earth, and you don't see PETA freaks lobbying to stop lions from killing gazelles for meat. Also, you never hear them talk about indigenous tribes in Africa and South America for whom hunting and skinning is an integral part of their society and ecology. I guess when the natives start driving cars and watching TV it will suddenly be "wrong" of them to eat meat and wear animal parts!
I would gladly give up Slackware Linux for OS X/x86, that is if it fully supported all of my PC's hardware. That, I believe, would be the biggest obstacle to such an endeavor. Personally I think it could be attempted, given the BSD core, but it definitely wouldn't be easy. As it stands, under Slackware all of my PC's hardware works, as well as most of my peripherals (scanner, printer, etc). My Dell DJ player even works using the libnjb driver, which I understand has been ported to OS X.
I really believe, though, that the major attraction of OS X is the airtight integration with the hardware. That kind of thing can't even be achieved by Microsoft with their 95% installed PC base. I don't really think Apple will settle for less than what they have now.
He wasn't painting anything. From the grandparent:
That's not to say that Linux-using pirates don't exist. I simply have never met any.
He acknowledges that some linux users are pirates.
Personally, I have a theory that supports his assumptions. In my experience as a part-time consultant, most people that use Windows at home are unaware of the fact that the so-called "casual copying" that they do is illegal. I've stopped trying to educate them about it because of all of the arguments I get into (arguing with customers is bad for business). I have a feeling that if they understood the moral and legal implications of "borrowing" their neighbor's MS Office installation disc or Norah Jones music CD, many of them would not do it.
By contrast, most linux users are experienced techies who know more about copyright laws and EULAs. Therefore, assuming the same moral thread can be applied, they would not be likely to pirate software or music.
This is, as I said, based on my own experiences with people, as well as my own moral and intellectual progress over the past several years. In the "quickie slashdot poll", I truthfully answered 0% downloaded (illegally or otherwise), 2% my own recordings, and 98% ripped from my own CDs, which is fair use. Accordingly, 100% of the software on my computer is either open source or otherwise legally obtained from the author, including a few little programs written by me in my quest to learn C++.
I can't claim, as the grandparent does, that every Linux user I know is not a pirate. My brother still downloads music from questionable sources, and one of my good friends thinks nothing of using pirated OEM copies of Microsoft software. However, I am the person who introduced both of them to Linux, and hopefully I will be able to convince them of the illegality and immorality of what they do.
Ok, Slashdotters!
1) Roughly what percent of your music collection is unauthorized files from P2P like Kazaa, FTP, etc.?
0 percent.
2) Roughly what percent of your music collection comes from sources like iTunes Music Store, eMusic, etc?
0 percent.
3) Roughly what percent of your music collection comes from shareable sources like Creative Commons-licensed music?
2 percent. (My own recordings)
4) Roughly what percent of your music collection comes from rips of your own CDs?
98 percent.
5) Roughly what percent of your music collection comes from rips of friends' CDs?
0 percent.
Of course, I don't have an iPod; my music player is a Dell DJ 20GB and I connect it to a Slackware box. I wonder what Ballmer would think about that, since the DJ was designed for use with Windows. I guess since it's not the spawn of the enemy, as the iPod is, it wouldn't be on his radar at all. That's too bad, since I'm sure there is about as much "illegal" music on DJs as there is on iPods.
Wow. And I thought I impressed people when I recite my two (paid for, thank you) Win98SE license keys from memory.
Same goes for entire numeric keyboard, but I believe it can be useful for people that need to enter a lot of numbers.
I feel the same way. I learned to touch-type on an IBM Selectric II in ninth grade (13 years ago, but who's counting?). I now work primarily in data entry, and I've gotten faster at entering numbers in the keypad than in the line above QWERTY. However, the keypad is a self-taught skill I could really do without. I've actually banged my fingertips on the desk more than once when using a laptop. Arghh!
Morgan