They must have a competent IT department that prevents much email spam getting to the writers. Otherwise I suspect the the writers would have less sympathy for spammers of all sorts.
I disagree. The dog translator, now that's flim-flam. But this, in contrast, ought to be testable and verifiable. And flashing-light gadgets have been used, by real scientists, to induce lucid dreaming for years:
http://www.lucidity.com/
I agree in general, but to me the big problem is likely to be NASA itself. They've become a huge, entrenched bureaucracy that too often spends billions to study problems to death without producing an end result (National Aerospace Plane, etc. etc.). The last time a President announced a Mars plan (1989), NASA came up with a plan so expensive that the whole idea was dropped.
I'm only kidding a little when I say that if it were up to me, I'd contract the whole thing out to Burt Rutan. Give him $10 billion and I'm sure we'd have a Moonbase within ten years!
I had a similar experience a few weeks ago in a thread about spam. Someone asked for Alan Ralsky's address, I posted it, and immediately got modded "-1, Troll"! I asked why, and eventually it moved up to 1. Apparently some folks are a bit loose with their labels....
And let's not forget the standard consumer electronics pricing system, which Apple follows as much (if not more) than anyone: charge as much as you can when something's new, then drop the price (and/or add features and/or power) when demand slackens and components get cheaper. Within a year, the iPod mini may well be $199 or even $149.
...who believe "secrecy" and "censorship" is always bad, please walk the talk by using this thread to post your credit card numbers with expiration dates and your real names.
One thing I'd like to see is a public service TV/radio ad campaign on the theme of "Spammers are Scammers". Given all the multimedia talent in the Slashdot community, it shouldn't be difficult or expensive to produce. The ads should attack all spammers as scam artists, and all people who buy things from them as fools. No, a pill won't make a body part larger. No, it's not a bargain price for a prescription drug if it's fake or diluted or contains poisons.
The second idea is to publicly identify the actual spammers and their collaborators and organize protests and boycotts. Yes, I know about Spamhaus and ROKSO, which is why this is only half an idea, because they don't go far enough. I want to see web pages that not only tell me that Alan Ralsky is a major spammer, but tell me which spams he sends, plus his home address, phone numbers, personal email addresses, and car make/model/license number. I want to see photos of him. I very much want to know who provides him with Internet connectivity so that they can be publicly shamed and boycotted. It shouldn't take much money to hire a few private eyes to dig out this information.
Might these ideas provoke lawsuits? Possibly, but I doubt spammers will risk even more public exposure by suing.
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They must have a competent IT department that prevents much email spam getting to the writers. Otherwise I suspect the the writers would have less sympathy for spammers of all sorts.
I disagree. The dog translator, now that's flim-flam. But this, in contrast, ought to be testable and verifiable. And flashing-light gadgets have been used, by real scientists, to induce lucid dreaming for years: http://www.lucidity.com/
I agree in general, but to me the big problem is likely to be NASA itself. They've become a huge, entrenched bureaucracy that too often spends billions to study problems to death without producing an end result (National Aerospace Plane, etc. etc.). The last time a President announced a Mars plan (1989), NASA came up with a plan so expensive that the whole idea was dropped.
I'm only kidding a little when I say that if it were up to me, I'd contract the whole thing out to Burt Rutan. Give him $10 billion and I'm sure we'd have a Moonbase within ten years!
I had a similar experience a few weeks ago in a thread about spam. Someone asked for Alan Ralsky's address, I posted it, and immediately got modded "-1, Troll"! I asked why, and eventually it moved up to 1. Apparently some folks are a bit loose with their labels....
And let's not forget the standard consumer electronics pricing system, which Apple follows as much (if not more) than anyone: charge as much as you can when something's new, then drop the price (and/or add features and/or power) when demand slackens and components get cheaper. Within a year, the iPod mini may well be $199 or even $149.
Somebody asked for his address, I supplied it (from Spamhaus/ROKSO), and that counts as flamebait?? Sheesh....
Alan M. Ralsky
6747 Minnow Pond Dr.
West Bloomfield, MI 48322-2663
248-926-0688
amr777@comcast.net
...who believe "secrecy" and "censorship" is always bad, please walk the talk by using this thread to post your credit card numbers with expiration dates and your real names.
Thanx in advance!
One thing I'd like to see is a public service TV/radio ad campaign on the theme of "Spammers are Scammers". Given all the multimedia talent in the Slashdot community, it shouldn't be difficult or expensive to produce. The ads should attack all spammers as scam artists, and all people who buy things from them as fools. No, a pill won't make a body part larger. No, it's not a bargain price for a prescription drug if it's fake or diluted or contains poisons.
The second idea is to publicly identify the actual spammers and their collaborators and organize protests and boycotts. Yes, I know about Spamhaus and ROKSO, which is why this is only half an idea, because they don't go far enough. I want to see web pages that not only tell me that Alan Ralsky is a major spammer, but tell me which spams he sends, plus his home address, phone numbers, personal email addresses, and car make/model/license number. I want to see photos of him. I very much want to know who provides him with Internet connectivity so that they can be publicly shamed and boycotted. It shouldn't take much money to hire a few private eyes to dig out this information.
Might these ideas provoke lawsuits? Possibly, but I doubt spammers will risk even more public exposure by suing.